From the trailer for The Golden Compass,  I was someone concerned with the liberties the screenplay had taken.  I was pleasantly surprised that the movie actually followed the book pretty well, and the plot changes that were most noticeable actually did seem like improvements.  The film downplayed (but did not eliminate) the idea that the Magisterium is a religious organization, and made an agent of the Magisterium directly responsible for an attempted poisoning early in the film.  The ending of the novel was omitted from the film, however, presumably in order to end on a more positive note.

The biggest problem with the film is that it is too short; there is a great deal of action in the novel and it has been packed into less than two hours, resulting in a frenetic pace.  I think it would have been much better if the running length was two and a half or even three hours.

It will be very interesting to see the film treatments of the middle and final novels if they are made.  It would be impossible to make a faithful treatment of the third novel while eliminating the religious nature of the Magisterium.

On the whole, I thought it was a good film, but recommend reading the novel before watching it.  I’ll want to see the extras on the DVD or Blu-Ray when it is released in May.

In the mean time, I purchased two of Wilson’s earlier novels, The Chronoliths and Blind Lake, Hugo Award nominees in 2002 and 2004. I’m astonished that The Chronoliths is already out of print. I just finished reading the Blind Lake, and while the story is very different from Spin, it was every bit as hard to put down, and created the same sense of awe.

In Blind Lake, a government research facility dedicated to “New Astronomy” is suddenly quarantined, with no explanation to the researchers or the journalists that happened to be there. Food is delivered weekly by autonomous trucks, but no contact with the outside world is allowed, and those that attempt to leave are killed by military drones.

About a quarter of the way into the novel, I thought I had a good guess as to the reason for the quarantine, but I was completely mistaken. Anti-spoiler ahead.

The Blind Lake facility and its sister facility Crossbank use O/BEC computers, quantum computers that run self-replicating evolving software. They were tasked with extracting weak signals from the noise of failing space telescopes examining planets in nearby star systems. Although the systems occasionally have hiccups, they generally do a remarkable job, especially when they keep working even though the telemetry from the telescopes completely fails.

My immediate conclusion was that if the O/BECs can be trained to use quantum effects to provide images of life forms on planets fifty light years distant, they could also be trained to provide images of things right here on earth. Train an O/BEC with a spy sat pointed at a particular target. Once it has locked in, you don’t need the spy sat any more, and you can get the O/BEC to focus on a particular person and follow them around.

Like the problem with Asimov’s “chronoscope” in his short story “The Dead Past”, it would destroy our notions of privacy, especially as technology advances bring the size and cost of an O/BEC down from something found only at government research labs to something you can buy at the shop around the corner for $499.95.

I’d previously read some of Peter David’s Legions of Fire Babylon 5 novels, which were extremely good. If you’re a B5 fan, you shouldn’t miss these, as JMS actually provided the storyline which details what happens on Centauri Prime after the series.

I just started reading Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction by Nick Montfort (MIT Press, 2003). This is a great history and survey of interactive fiction from its origins the Crowther and Woods ADVENTURE and MIT/Infocom Zork to the present-day interactive fiction community using the Inform, TADS, and other compilers.

I read “Lyra’s Oxford” by Phillip Pullman. It’s a story that follows the “His Dark Materials” trilogy. Not nearly as deep or engaging, but still fun. Don’t read it until after you’ve read the trilogy, though.

When I got home, I discovered that they’d stuck an adhesive anti-theft device to the inside of the cover, hidden by the dust jacket. Which wouldn’t be so much of a problem, except that the inside of the cover is a map. It appeared likely that attempting to remove the anti-theft device would damage the book, so I returned it to the store tonight. The cashier thought they were supposed to be easily removable, so he tried it, and the paper started to tear. All the other copies had these as well. He offered me a damage discount, but I just returned it. I’ll buy another copy elsewhere.

A friend and I saw the film “Monster” on the weekend. It was very well-made, and I enjoyed it. Well, maybe “enjoyed” isn’t quite the right word, since it is one of the most dark and depressing films I’ve ever seen, second only to “Leaving Las Vegas”. It was the most uplifting movie I’ve seen all week, but only because it is the only film I’ve seen all week.

I wouldn’t have even recognized Charlize Theron. Her acting was so believable it was scary. As always, Christina Ricci offers an excellent portrayal of an unusual character.