Science Fiction: New York Deep By Andrew Morgan

  (Drivebycuriosity) - Workers are drilling a tunnel below New York´s Central Park. Suddenly they hit on something unexpected and strange events follow ( amazon). The novel "New York Deep" by Andrew Morgan is a science fiction adventure story with very different elements (this is a spoiler free blog). 

Some of the action parts were ridiculous and unbelievable, but there are also some scifi paragraphs based on cutting edge physics. The whole thing is blended with some metaphysics - and there is also a family story involved.

I found the book entertaining and liked the scifi ideas and browsed just the action and family parts. The book is a easy read for a day on the beach and in the moment of writing the Kindle version costs $3.99.

Culture: Psycho Las Vegas 2021 Redux

 (Drivebycuriosity) - The long waiting had an end, Psycho Las Vegas came back. Last year`s event had to be cancelled because of Covid-19. The fest restarted last Thursday with the usual Psycho Swim event on a pool deck, called "Day Light" @ the Mandalay Bay Resort, a huge tourism machine. Then followed three days of thunder on 3 stages: The Main Stage (Michelob ULTRA Arena), House of Blues and the Beach area.

The fest was again handicapped. Foreign bands could not participate because of travel restrictions and many US bands may also have cancelled because of risks, infections and quarantines. Manhattan´s regional blog "Bowery Boogie" reports that many major performers still are cancelling or postponing their concerts ( boweryboogie). It was almost a miracle that such a huge event could happen.  

The management did a great job and they amassed again a full program with about 70 performers, even though the average quality of the set did not fully match the level of past Psycho events ( driveby). I missed bands in the caliber of Neurosis, Yob or Amenra, and there were too many Slayer clones for my taste.

Anyway, I could see some of my favorites again and discover amazing bands I did not know before. Large festivals are a chance to expand my metal horizon.

I  loved to see Wovenhand again, who came on short notice. Bandleader David Eugene Edwards performed alone, a kind of acoustic concert, with a mandolin and 2 more stringed instruments, enhanced by an electronic device. It was pure pleasure to experience this intimate event in the almost empty House of Blues, a hall with amphitheater seating.

 

I also was happy to watch another Deafhaven show. This was the 10th gig by this band I had the pleasure to experience. Their performance was more aggressive than before, mixing again very melodic parts with pure power. George Clarke, the front man of the Californian band, fascinated by his unique choreography - a spectacular show. But anyway, the huge Main arena was only partly filled.

At the same time performed the highly popular Eyehategod in the more intimate House of Blues. We had to run to be able to see both bands playing - at least part of their gigs. Frontman Mike IX Williams delivered a funny and somewhat sick show enhanced by the band`s heavy & bluesy guitar riffs. I need to see this band again.

Goatwhore, whom I had already enjoyed @ Psycho 2019 in the House of Blues, entertained a large audience this time in the Main Hall. Seems their popularity is rising - rightly so. The band performed again extremely heavy & aggressive sounds and the front man amazed with deep growls which rocked the big hall.


Frankie and the Witch Fingers was the discovery of the festival for me. The band delivered a mix of garage rock, heavy metal and psychedelic sounds and blended dream like melodies with aggressive noise explosions. I want to hear more from them.

 

There were a lot of impressive death & black metal bands: Vaelmyst, Toke & Khemmis & Profanatica were wild and fun to watch. The sludge metal band Glacial Tomb celebrated a really dark and cavernous show and the death metal band Vitriol shook the House of Blues with violent riffs.

New York´s death metal band Immolation (founded  1986) amazed with very fast riffs, usually not my taste - I prefer bands like Yob and Amenra -, but the sheer power and guitar virtuosity accumulated over 4 decades fascinated me.

On the beach area played Dyingfetus and the very popular Canibalcorpse, who justified their names by heavy growls & super massive riffs. We observed them from a nearby pool deck and enjoyed the warm dessert night as well 

The stoner bands Bongzilla & Weedeater, who also played on the beach area with blurred and deep riffs, turned the warm dessert night in pure bliss. And on the pooldeck proofed Black Water Holilight & the Death Valley Girls that females can deliver strong rock music as well.

Unfortunately many did not wear a mask, even in the sometimes crowed House of Blues and the jammed elevators. But anyway, Psycho Las Vegas 2021 was a lot of fun. I am looking forward to Psycho Las Vegas 2022.

 

Culture: Psycho Las Vegas 2021 - Day Four - Warm Dessert Night

 (Drivebycuriosity) - On Sunday Psycho Las Vegas 2021 ended. The set was not at strong as the 2019 finale (driveby ), but there were still interesting bands to discover.

I enjoyed Frankie and the Witch Fingers, a real discovery. The band delivered a mix of garage rock, heavy metal and psychedelic and blended dream like melodies with aggressive sound explosions. I want to hear more from them.

The sludge metal band Glacial Tomb celebrated a really dark and cavernous show and the death metal band Vitriol shook the House of Blues with violent riffs.

New York´s death metal band Immolation (founded  1986) delivered very fast riffs, usually not my taste - I prefer bands like Yob and Amrena -, but the sheer power and guitar virtuosity accumulated over 4 decades amazed me.

The stoner band Weedeater, who played on the beach area with blurred and deep riffs, turned the warm dessert night in pure bliss.

I am looking forward to Psycho Las Vegas 2022

Culture: Psycho Las Vegas 2021 - Day Three - Conflict Of Interests

 (Drivebycuriosity) - We are still attending Psycho Las Vegas @ the Mandalay Bay Resort. Yesterday was Day Three of the festival. Again about 20 bands played on 3 stages, sometimes 2 strong groups at the same time, causing a conflict of interests.

I was happy to see Deafhaven again. This was the 10th gig by this band we had the pleasure to experience. Their performance was my aggressive than before, mixing again very melodic parts with pure power. George Clarke, the front man of the Californian band, fascinated by his unique choreography - a spectacular show. But anyway, the huge Main Hall was only partly filled.

At the same time performed the highly popular Eyehategod in the more intimate House of Blues. We had to run to be able to see both bands playing. Frontman Mike IX Williams delivered a funny and somewhat sick show enhanced by the band`s heavy, detuned, and bluesy guitar riffs. I need to see this band again.

The death metal bands Vaelmyst & Profanatica (image above) were wild and fun to watch as well.

On the beach area played Dyingfetus and the very popular Canibalcorpse, who justified their names by heavy growls & riffs. We observed them from a nearby pool deck and enjoyed the warm dessert night as well.

To be continued.

 

Culture: Psycho Las Vegas 2021 - Day Two - Different Styles

 (Drivebycuriosity) - We are still attending Psycho Las Vegas @ the Mandalay Bay Resort. Friday was Day Two of the festival. More than 20 bands played on 3 stages, offering very different styles.

I loved to see Wovenhand again, who came on short notice. Bandleader David Eugene Edwards performed alone, a kind of acoustic concert, with a mandolin and 2 more stringed instruments, enhanced by an electronic device. It was pure pleasure to experience this intimate event in the almost empty House of Blues.

Foie Gras, a girl and a band, delivered another untypical show, also in the house of blues.

I also enjoyed Goat Whore again, who entertained a large audience in the Main Hall. The band, which I had seen first @ 2019 Psycho, performed again extremely heavy & aggressive sounds and the front man amazed with deep growls which rocked the big hall.
 

And the death metal bands Toke & Khemmis impressed as well.

To be continued

Culture: Psycho Las Vegas 2021 - Day One - Thunder Over The Pool

 (Drivebycuriosity) - The long waiting had an end, Psycho Las Vegas is back. Last year`s event had to be cancelled because of Covid-19. Yesterday the fest restarted with the usual Psycho Swim event @ the Mandalay Bay Resort, a huge tourism machine. 

It was unusually cool on this day. The mercury column crawled just to 92F (34 C), last time it peaked at 109 F (42C).  The show started around 3pm on a pool deck, called "Day Light".  6 bands played this time (last time they had 8 bands). My favorites were Bongzilla, a stoner band, who created deep blurred riffs, and Old Man Gloom, who had played 2019 in the big hall.

 

I also liked Black Water Holilight & the Death Valley Girls who proofed the females can deliver strong rock music as well.

There was a party mood supported by the great weather, the pools and the booze.

 

To be continued.

 

 

Economics: China`s Digital Dilemma

 (Drivebycuriosity) - China`s government has a conflict of interest. Recently Beijing announced to build a “Digital China” (scmp seetao). The government intends to increase added value in the digital economy to 10% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025, up from 7.8% in 2020. The new five-year plan (the 14th in history) nurtures new digital industries, including artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain and cloud computing, along with expanding the use of 5G technologies to more industries such as smart transport and logistics. But on the other side Beijing started a crackdown of China`s leading tech companies and imposed new sharp regulations on China`s big technology corporations which is throwing sand into the gears of the digital sector (reuters  ).

China`s  phenomenal growth in the recent decades was fueled by (partly) opening the economy and allowing more capitalism. China`s rise was also driven by internet-focused technology companies like Alibaba (e-commerce, cloud) & Tencent (entertainment, WeChat with over 1.2 billion users ) & Baidu (search, artificial intelligence). Beijing had accepted that these companies grew fast and reached market capitalizations of hundred billion dollars and more on the stock market. Alibaba & Co. became the engines of China`s growth and modernization because they are are driving e-commerce, AI, digital communication and much more, reducing costs and are making China`s economy more efficient. Without their services the Chinese would suffer even more in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic with lockdowns and quarantines. 

But it looks like that Beijing´s attitude has changed and the government started to sabotage their own growth engines for ideological reasons. Apparently Alibaba & Co. got too big and too powerful for the communist government who wants to defend their monopoly power and is not happy with so much capitalism. 

The government has been harassing Baidu for years, accusing them to spread false news. They forced the search engine operator to restructure and to give up business fields. Last November, regulators called off the IPO (dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong) of the online payment platform Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba. In April, China hit Alibaba with a $2.8 billion fine after antitrust regulators concluded the company was behaving like a monopoly by preventing third-party retailers from selling their products on competitor platforms. Regulators also forced Tencent, operator of the messaging platform WeChat, to suspend all new user registrations temporary. Recently Beijing restricted businesses of online food deliverer Meituan and ride-hailing firm Did and they also turned the booming online education firms into nonprofits, allegedly protecting the interests of low income families who cannot afford their services.

Bejing`s assault on China´s Big Tech does not only slow down their growth considerably, the attack creates also enormous headwinds for China`s economy. The crackdown leads to more  bureaucracy which " is the death of any achievement” according to Einstein. New regulations and restrictions reduce the productivity & efficiency of Big Tech companies; they shrink their abilities to further innovate, making business more complicated and costly. Many services will not be available any more or for much higher prices.  

The new crack down looks like a soft version of the cultural revolution in the 1960s when the Red Guards, followers of Mao`s widow, attacked anybody who could be accused being a "capitalist", which threw the country into a deep depression. Since then there has been a tug of war between pro-business thinkers and old guard communists, who don`t care about the economy and don`t understand it. It looks like that the stone age communists have been gaining ground in the recent months.

 

Books: There Is No Antimemetics Division

 (Drivebycuriosity) - Memories are tricky and often elusive. I rarely remember what I have dreamt. Usually the stories I had experienced during my REM phases disappear in the moment I awake. 

The short novel "There is no Antimemetics Division" plays with similar phenomena - here called antimemetics ( amazon). An unidentified force - ore are there more? - attacks humans by erasing their memory swiftly and destroying them this way. There are a lot anomalous objects/phenomenons which are tacked with the acronym SCP and a number. "Information about SCP-55`s physical appearance  leaks out of human mind soon after such an observation". When for instance people observe an object, called SCP-055, they soon forget about it, written notices became unreadable, photo and film material can not be identified.

The early parts of the book read like Phillip K. Dick came back from the afterworld and delivered his masterpiece. Phillip couldn´t have done this better. Later the book turns into something Franz Kafka could have written followed by surreal parts and horror.

The novel is fun to read, very eclectic, stuffed with funny original ideas and very weird. There is a website called "SCP Foundation" ( scp-wiki.wikidot). The site is a wiki and invites apparently everybody to publish texts there. The "SCP Foundation" website contains a large number of pages and includes many tales, some are related to this novel. According to Wikipedia "the SCP Foundation is a fictional organization documented by the web-based collaborative-fiction project of the same name. The real-world website is community-based and includes elements of many genres such as horror, science fiction, and urban fantasy"  (wikipedia ).

"There is no Antimemetics Division" is a very interesting and exciting project. In the moment of writing the Kindle version cost just $2.99.

Contemporary Art: Summer Camp @ GR Gallery New York

(Drivebycuriosity) - New York City is still fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. But at least some art galleries survived and are open, giving me the chance to continue my series about contemporary art gallery shows. This week I saw again an interesting group exhibiton @ GR-Gallery on Manhattan´s Bowery (gr-gallery).

 

 

The show is called "Summer Camp" and features "34 fresh works executed in the last months by seventeen trendsetting artists from all around the world" (summer-camp ). I display my favorites here, a very subjective selection as usual.

 

On top of this post you can see Tania Marmolejo Andersson`s "YOU WOULD LOOK PRETTIER IF YOU SMILED" followed by Park Sun-Kyo`s "crossed legs No 4"; Leo Park`s "Ice cream"& Therese Mulgrew`s "emani and tangina hands".

Unfortunately not all works are tagged. So I post these images above and below without naming the artists. I find them interesting anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued

Economics: The European Union Behaves Like Medieval Robber Barons

(Drivebycuriosity) - It`s hard to believe, but recently the European Union (EU) hit Amazon with a $886 million fine for an alleged data law breach ( bbc.com). The fine was issued by Luxembourg's National Commission for Data Protection, which claimed the tech giant's processing of personal data did not comply with EU law.

Holly cow. The EU behaves like medieval robber barons. They decide that Amazon has done wrong and they force Amazon to pay what ever they want, otherwise they could shut down Amazon`s business in the European Union. The medieval robber barons put swords on the throats of business travelers who traveled through their territory. The effect was the same.

The purpose of this fine is to extort lots of money from a huge international company. Big Tech has a lot money - and the EU has the power to extort that. The giant fine is also a part of the anti-business attitude of the giant administrations, who rule Europe. Europe behaves like China`s communist government which does the same with their leading tech companies - harassing them with new regulations and extorting tons of money (techtarget   wsj).

The powerful European administration decides about more and more European matters, without being democratic legitimated. This reminds of Byzantium and Kafka`s castle ("Das Schloss"). Herbert Giersch coined once the term "Eurosklerosis". The anti-business and hyper-bureaucratic stance of Europe`s administration is the cause that Europe did not develop global tech companies who could play in the same league as Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Alibaba or Microsoft.

If the byzantine and anti-business behavior continues Europe`s consumers will have to pay for this. Big Tech will have to raise prices/and or reduce their services in Europe.

 

 

Books: Vengeance By Benjamin Black

 (Drivebycuriosity) - A man commits suicide which causes a lot consternation with family & business partners. This is the begin of the novel "Vengeance" by Benjamin Black ( amazon). The book - set in Ireland in the 1950s - is part of a series around Quirke, a pathologist who works in a morgue

Quirke is twisted and very curious. He develops interest in cases which are not really his business. When Quirke believes that something is not right he starts a personal investigation, whatever it may cost him. This time he snoops into the families of the suicide and his business partner, discovering their secrets (this is a spoiler free blog).

"Vengenance", the number five in the Quirke series, is a pleasure to read. The plot plays only a secondary role, more interesting are the described characters and their opaque connections. I indulged into Black`s elaborate style and his descriptions of persons, environments & situations. And as usual in the series the author sprinkled some erotics on the plot.  

Benjamin Black is the pen name of the Irish writer John Banville. I loved his novels "Kepler" and "Wolf on a String" (here my reviews Kepler & wolf ) and enjoyed the other books of the Quirke series as well. I plan to read more by Black/Banville. 

Covid-19: The Curse Of The Greek Alphabet

 (Drivebycuriosity) - The world is still struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic. In spring we seemed to make a lot of progress, thanks to a series of vaccines. Especially in Great Britain the number of new infections dropped sharply, a result of a swift vaccination campaign (drivebycuriosity ). 

But then came the delta-variant, which is now common. The graph above shows that in many countries most of the recent infections are caused by the delta-variant (  ourworldindata ). Unfortunately delta is more aggressive and causes more infections. There are reports that people who a fully vaccinated (after receiving 2 doses) got infected anyway. As a result the number of news infections are climbing again, even in the UK which is still vaccination leader in Europe.

To make things worse, there is already another variant around: Lambda (yahoo ). This mutation may be even more infectious than delta, challenging the vaccines even more.

Is lambda the last of the virus mutations or are more variants following? The fresh history with Covid-19 gives the impression, that the virus is mutating all the time, and more variants are following, maybe getting more aggressive. Maybe these mutations will also be named by Greek letters. I call the risk of more and more mutations the curse of the Greek alphabet.

But I am still an optimist. I believe that we can deal with more Covid-19 mutations, even when they are getting more and more dangerous. Wearing masks (in closed rooms), being careful with social contacts and  handwashing should reduce the infection risks. I also believe that the creators of the vaccines, especially Moderna & Biotech, the maker of the RNA vaccines, are able to adept their products to the new variants. We may still win against the curse of the Greek Alphabet.

Science Fiction: Why Tomorrow`s Kin By Nancy Kress Is So Disappointing

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Nancy Kress belongs to my favorite science fiction writers. I loved her "Probability" trilogy, where she interwove weird quantum mechanic effects with a thrilling but plausible story and I enjoyed many of her short stories, often base on cutting edge physics. Apparently the admiration is shared by many. Kress collected tons of awards, including 6 Nebula and 2 Hugo Awards (wikipedia ).

Unfortunately Kress got very profolic and has been producing tons of books, including a series of trilogies, watering down the quality. I was disappointed by her novel "The Eleventh Gate" (my review ). I just finished her novel "Tomorrow`s Kin", the begin of a trilogy (amazon ). This book is even worse. Here aliens appear out of nowhere and warn about a coming catastrophe on earth. 

The book is full of clichés. The aliens aren`t really aliens and they resemble comic book illustrations for school kids. And Kress ignores basic physical facts. Aliens don´t just show up, they have to deal with limitations of the speed of light when they travel hundreds of light years and spaceship don´t land on earth because of the gravity (they are put in an orbit). Kress also developed ridiculous causality chains: Virus from outer space kills mice, mice don´t eat crop anymore, prices of corn & wheat drop because of rising supplies and the global economy crashes. Holly cow, what did this woman smoke? The novel is basically a family story about a grandmother and her children & grand children. Kress could do better.

Economics: Why Did The Price Of Canned Beer Drop Suddenly?

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - There is a lot talk about rising inflation. Indeed, the prices of many goods & services are going up, driven by the economic recovery. But one price dropped suddenly this year - the price of canned beer.

 

 

 ( source)

 

I found the graph above in the blog "Economist-writing-every-day ( economist). The author does not give an explanation. But I have (an educated) guess. 

During the pandemic many beer pubs were closed. People drank more beer at home and they bought more cans. In the recent months many pubs reopened, thanks to the ongoing vaccination. People went back to the pubs and they drank more draft beer. 

Therefore the price of beer kegs went up - as for almost everything else. But the pub visitors drank fewer canned beer - and the price responded to the falling demand.