Ready: Player One: A Review

Posted on January 6, 2015 by markjonesbooks | Leave a comment

I’m less impressed with this novel than the author is with himself. As dazzling as the story can be, (and it has a few genuinely great moments) it ultimately collapses in on itself. The never-ending onslaught of 1980s pop culture minutia and namechecking, reduces the entire novel to a level of superficiality of a Knight Rider episode. The characters are as flat and two-dimensional as PacMan.

Basic story:

Ready Player One takes place in the not-so-distant future. The world has become a very bleak place, but luckily there is OASIS, a virtual reality world that has grown into an online utopia. People plug into OASIS to play, go to school, earn money, and even meet other people – or at least their avatars. For Wade Watts it certainly beats passing the time in his grim, poverty-stricken real life. Along with millions of other world-wide citizens, Wade dreams of finding three keys left behind by James Halliday, the now-deceased creator of OASIS and the richest man to have ever lived. Halliday grew up in the golden age of the 1980s in the United States, and OASIS is an extreme (and fully enveloping) immersion in that decade, movies, music and most of all … video games.

The keys are rumored to be hidden inside OASIS, and whoever finds them will inherit Halliday’s fortune. But Halliday has not made it easy – he has created real life dangers in his virtual world. All across the globe, players are exploring OASIS looking for the keys and suddenly one day, Wade discovers one and the international race is on! Wade, with the help of several other on-line avatars, challenge Halliday’s games, puzzles, and contests, with clues drenched in full tilt 80s nostalgia.

I was not an 80s gamer kid (I grew up in the previous decade) so for me, a lot of this name-checking various geek/fanboy bits of 80s culture quickly became an irritating distraction of a fairly ingenious story. I got the impression that author Ernest Cline is that guy at a party who spends the entire evening trying to impress everyone by talking about and quoting endlessly every single song/movie/tv show/videogame he’s ever enjoyed. At some point you just want him to shut up!

Spoiler Alert!

So finally, after 380 pages of being bombarded with more Journey and Rush lyrics that I needed to hear, or bad 80s movies I never wanted to watch again, or detailed descriptions of obscure video games I never played (or even heard of), we get to the conclusion. James Halliday’s avatar is waiting in the room which holds the last key – the key to his vast fortune. His avatar then lectures the winning player (come on, you think I was gonna tell you the winner!) and his advice is … (wait for it) … spend more time outside and less time playing video games!

WOW. The only reason I didn’t throw the book across the room is because I read it on my Kindle and I didn’t want to break it.

Today In Charleston History: January 6

Posted on January 6, 2015 by markjonesbooks | Leave a comment

1740 – Religion

Rev. George Whitefield arrived in Charlestown for the second time, to visit his brother, the captain of ship. By this time, Whitefield was one of the most famous recognized public figures in colonial America, drawing massive, passionate crowds (10,000+) to his open air services and field services in New York and Philadelphia. His radical methods made traditional clergy uncomfortable.

He preached from the pulpit of Josiah smith’s Independent Meeting House and accused the people in attendance of “sin and worldliness” and being “polite and unaffected.” He called upon their sins of “affected finery, gaiety of dress … and balls and assemblies.” He promised them that “God intended to visit some in Charlestown with His salvation.”

1861

A workman at Ft. Sumter brought a Northern newspaper with the news that the Star of the West was en route to Charleston. Maj. Robert Anderson and Capt. Abner Doubleday, ranking officers at Sumter, not having received official confirmation, concluded the story was false, since Washington would send a warship, not a civilian steamer.

1864 – Bombardment of Charleston

Maj. Henry Bryan, Confederate assistant inspector-general, reported that the damage from Federal Bombardment included:

145 houses
Five people killed
Eight wounded

Thomas Hale, Confederate military observer in the steeple of St. Michael’s, wrote that:

The enemy’s principal line of fire upon the city has been St. Michael’s church steeple, radiating north-eastward as far as St. Phillips church … their shells usually landing no further west than Archdale St.

Archdale Street – damage from 1861 fire and Federal bombardment. St. Johns Lutheran & Unitarian Churches.

1874

South Carolina representative Robert B. Elliott delivers a passionate speech in favor of Charles Sumner’s Civil Rights Act in the House of Representatives. The Act, which guaranteed equal treatment in all places of public accommodation to all people regardless of their “nativity, race, color, or persuasion, religious or political,” was passed on March 1, 1875.

Robert Elliott. Library of Congress

Elliott’s speech gained national attention as he rebuffed opponents of the bill, who argued that federal enforcement of civil rights was unconstitutional. Responding to former Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens of Georgia, who had been re–elected to the House, Elliott reaffirmed his belief in the right and duty of Congress to legislate against discrimination. He concluded by evoking the sacrifices made during the Civil War and asserting that its true purpose was to obtain civil rights for all Americans, including women, who experienced discrimination.

Before a packed House, Elliott stated his universal support for civil rights,

“I regret, sir, that the dark hue of my skin may lend a color to the imputation that I am controlled by motives personal to myself in my advocacy of this great measure of national justice. The motive that impels me is restricted to no such boundary, but is as broad as your Constitution. I advocate it because it is right.”

Elliott’s youthful appearance and the “harmony of his delivery” contrasted sharply with those of the elderly Stephens, who, confined to a wheelchair, dryly read a prepared speech. The Chicago Tribune published a glowing review, noting that “fair–skinned men in Congress … might learn something from this black man.”

With a legislative style more flamboyant and aggressive than his predecessors’, and considerable oratorical skills, young, talented Robert Elliott regularly dazzled audiences. Possessing a strong, clear voice “suggestive of large experience in outdoor speaking,” Elliott fought passionately to pass a comprehensive civil rights bill in his two terms in Congress. However, his fealty to the South Carolina Republican Party led him to resign his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to serve the state government in Columbia. Elliott’s classical education, photographic memory, and obsession with politics impressed contemporary observers.

Today In Charleston History: January 5

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1758

John Rutledge

John Rutledge sailed to England to study law at the Middle Temple at the Inns of Court. While in London he spent considerable time at the Carolina Coffee House on Birchen Lane, “dining, drinking and fellowship.”

The Coffee House was the center for Carolinians in London or Englishmen with business connections to the colony. Sixty years before the Coffee House was the location where the Lords Proprietors met potential colonists. Many ship captains sailing to and from Carolina frequented the Coffee House so it was the best place to send and receive mail get news from home or book passage.

Birchen Lane, London, modern view.

1776

Capt. Joseph Vesey, a privateer of an “armed pilot boat,” Hawke, captured a British brigantine off the Carolina coast and dragged the prize up the Stono River. He was then ordered to sail to Philadelphia to pick up Christopher Gadsden and the rest of the South Carolina delegates to the Continental Congress.

1861

The merchant vessel, Star of the West, left New York, captained by John McGowan. It was a 1,172-ton steamship built for Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1852, 228.3 feet in length and 32.7 feet in beam, with a wooden hullside, paddle wheels and two masts. For several years she was in service making regular runs between New York, Havana, and New Orleans until she was chartered by the U.S. War Department. On board the Star supplies for the Sumter garrison and 250 new recruits.

Star of the West Courtesy Library of Congress

Known for its speed, Gen. Scott thought the ship would be able to slip past the newly constructed Morris Island Battery. The drawback however, was that it was not reinforced to sustain cannon fire.

Assistant Adjutant General Thomas wrote to Major Anderson:

I yesterday chartered the steamship Star of the West to re-enforce your small garrison with two hundred well-instructed recruits from Fort Columbus … likewise, three months’ subsistence for the detachment.

Should a fire … be opened upon any vessel bringing re-enforcements or supplies, or upon tow boats with reach of your guns, they may be employed to silence such fire. You are warned to be upon your guard against all telegrams, as false ones many be attempted to be passed to you.

Late in the day Gen. Scott realized that news of the mission to resupply Fort Sumter was already known in Charleston. Upon learning that the Star of the West had already departed New York. Scott ordered Captain Farragut to take the Brooklyn and intercept the civilian vessel. However, the Star was too fast, and the Brooklyn had no success of catching it.

Today In Charleston History: January 4

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1739

First issue of the South Carolina Gazette, edited by Elizabeth Timothy was published. The masthead said “Printed by Peter Timothy.”

Masthead of the first edition of the South Carolina Gazette edited and published by Elizabeth Timothy.

In the first issue, at the bottom of the front page Elizabeth announced that she was now publishing the newspaper, under the name of her son, making her made her the first female editor and publisher of a newspaper in America and the first female franchisee in America.

Whereas the late Printer of this Gazette hath been deprived of his life by an unhappy accident. I take this Opportunity of informing the Public, that I shall contain the said paper as usual; and hope, by the Assistance of my Friends, to make it as entertaining and correct as may be reasonable expected. Wherefore I flatter myself, that all those Persons, who, by Subscription or otherwise, assisted my late Husband, on the prosecution of the Said Undertaking, will be kindly pleased to continue their Favours and good Offices to this poor afflicted Widow and six small children and another hourly expected.

Over the next seven years, Elizabeth Timothy increased the quality of the newspaper. She not only included local news, but news from Boston, Newport, and Philadelphia and European news from London, Paris, and Constantinople. Many times she dedicated at least a full page of her four-page newspaper to advertising.

Benjamin Franklin praised her, stating that she was a better business manager and accountant than her late husband had been. He remarked in his Autobiography that while her husband was “a man of learning and honest, but ignorant in matters of account,” Mrs. Timothy:

not only sent me as clear a state as she could find of the transactions past, but continued to account with the greatest regularity and exactness every quarter afterwards, and managed the business with such success, that she not only brought up reputably a family of children, but, at the expiration of the term, was able to purchase of me the printing-house, and establish her son in it.

Elizabeth Timothy also took over her husband’s position as the official “public printer” for the colony of South Carolina. She printed acts, laws, and other proceedings for the Assembly of the colony of South Carolina. In addition to publishing the South-Carolina Gazette and government documents pretty much as her late husband did, she printed sermons and religious materials. She also published some 20 historical books and pamphlets between 1739 and 1745. She also was the postmaster for Charlestown, in charge of the postal deliveries of letters, packages, and newspapers.

1815 – Religion. Arrivals.

Rev. John Bachman arrived in Charleston as minister of St. John’s Lutheran church, a position he held for the next fifty-six years.

Prior to his arrival, the church had been without a pastor for four years, and had depended on other protestant ministers to conduct services. The church totaled sixty-two members. Ailing from tuberculosis, Bachman had taken the position to live in the warmer climate for his health. For the first year in Charleston, Bachman lived in the house of Col. Jacob Sass and joined the German Friendly Society.

As a child, Bachman had been fascinated in the birds and mammals in his rural home, and had considered studying science in college, until the ministry called him. As he journeyed deeper into the lush semi-tropical landscape of the low-country, his scientific mind was instantly engaged. Next to his religious ministry, the study of the low country’s natural history became Bachman’s lifelong obsession.

Today In Charleston History: January 3

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1840 – Religion

The ceremony for the laying of cornerstones for the new Beth Elohim synagogue on Hasell Street took place.

Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, (Holy Congregation House of God) was organized in 1749 making it the fourth oldest Jewish congregation in the continental United States (after New York, Newport and Savannah). Prayers were initially recited in private quarters and in 1775 an improvised synagogue adjacent to the present-day grounds was constructed.In 1792 America’s “largest and most impressive” synagogue was constructed which was destroyed in the great Charleston fire of 1838 and replaced in 1840 on the same Hasell Street site by the Greek Revival structure in use today.

Today, KKBE has the second oldest synagogue building In the United States and the oldest in continuous use. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1980.

1864

Captain Walpole, commander of the Confederate outpost on John’s Island, captured a “mulatto fellow” who claimed to be the cook of Union General Gillmore. He reported that 18,000 troops were being removed from the Charleston area.

Today In Charleston History: January 2

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1813 – Deaths

Most scholars agree that the sometime today, the Patriot wrecked off Cape Hatteras. Lost with the ship was South Carolina first lady, Theodosia Burr Alston.

Theodosia Burr Alston by John Vanderlyn – New York Historical Society

On December 31, 1812, Theodosia sailed aboard the schooner Patriot from Georgetown, South Carolina to visit her father, former vice president Aaron Burr in New York. The Patriot was a famously fast sailer, which had originally been built as a pilot boat, and served as a privateer during the War of 1812, when it was commissioned by the United States government to prey on English shipping. The schooner’s captain, William Overstocks, desired to make a rapid run to New York with his cargo; it is likely that the ship was laden with the proceeds from her privateering raids.

Logbooks from the British warships report a severe storm of the Carolina coast on January 2, 1813. The Patriot would have been just north of Hatteras when the storm was at its fiercest, facing hurricane-force winds on the early morning hours of Sunday. The Patriot was never heard from again. Despite many romantic conspiracy stories that Theodosia survived the wreck, or was captured by pirate, she most likely was lost at sea with the rest of the passengers and crew.

Today In History: January 1

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1787 – Deaths

TOP: Arthur Middleton & the Great Seal of South Carolina BOTTOM: Middleton tomb at Middleton Place

Arthur Middleton died and was buried at Middleton Plantation. The death notice from the State Gazette of South-Carolina described him as a “tender husband and parent, humane master, steady unshaken patriot, the gentleman, and the scholar.”

He was educated in Britain, at Westminster School, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.He then studied law at the Middle Temple and traveled extensively in Europe where his taste in literature, music, and art was developed and refined. In 1764, Arthur and his bride Mary Izard settled at Middleton Place.

Arthur Middleton was one of the more radical thinkers in South Carolina politics – a leader of the American Party in Carolina and one of the boldest members of the Council of Safety and its Secret Committee. His attitude toward Loyalists was said to be ruthless. In 1776, Arthur signed the United States Declaration of Independence and designed the Great Seal of South Carolina with William Henry Drayton.

During the American Revolutionary War, Arthur served in the defense of Charleston. After the city’s fall to the British in 1780, he was one of the 30+ Patriot leaders imprisoned in St. Augustine, Florida.

1788

The City Gazette reported that a man “was paraded through the streets, covered with feathers, stuck in a coat of tar, as a spectacle for the execration of others more honest than himself.”

No, it was not a drunken New Years Eve celebration. Apparently, the man had gone “on board of a vessel, where he saw some goods so bewitching as to induce him to break at least one of the commandments, which says ‘Thou shalt not steal.’”

1808 – Slavery.

African American History Slave Ships The foreign slave trade ended by Federal law, as negotiated during the creation of the U.S. Constitution. When the US Constitution was written in 1787, a generally overlooked and peculiar provision was included in Article I, the part of the document dealing with the duties of the legislative branch:

Section 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.

In other words, the government could not ban the importation of enslaved people for 20 years after the adoption of the Constitution. And as the designated year 1808 approached, those opposed to enslavement began making plans for legislation that would outlaw the trans-Atlantic trade of enslaved people.

1865 – Civil War

Maj. John Johnson, a Confederate engineer wrote, “The first of January 1865, found Charleston gathered within her circle of defenses – Not invested, but much perplexed.”

Today In Charleston History: December 31

Posted on December 31, 2014 by markjonesbooks | Leave a comment

1738

By the end of the year the city had completed a hospital on “an acre of … Land called the old Burying Ground, lying on the back Part of Charles Town” – along Mazyck Street (now Logan). The hospital would also serve as a “Workhouse and House of Correction.”

**1781 –*England, Tower of London***

Henry Laurens was released from the Tower, in exchange for Lord Cornwallis and the payment of £12,000. Edward Rutledge had forcefully argued against Cornwallis’ release. Most South Carolina patriots blamed Cornwallis for the wholesale murder and plundering across the state. Rutledge wrote that Cornwallis should be “held a Prisoner for Life … because he was a Monster and an Enemy to Humanity.”

On the day of his release Laurens wrote:

On the 31st of December, being, as I had long been, in an extreme ill state of health, unable to rise from my bed, I was carried out of the Tower to the presence of the Lord Chief Justice of England, and admitted to bail “to appear at the court of king’s bench on the first day of Easter term, and not to depart thence without leave of the court.

Laurens immediately sent for his daughters to join him from France in London. He then went for several weeks to recuperate with the waters of Bath.

Tower of London; Laurens marker. Photo by author.

Tower of London; Laurens marker. Photos by Mark R. Jones.

1799 – Slavery, Denmark Vesey Rebellion

On the last day of the 18^th century, Denmark Vesey handed over one-third of his earnings from the lottery. In return he was handed his manumission papers, signed by Capt. Joseph Vesey. To Denmark the future looked bright. As Archibald Grimke, a Charleston mulatto and Denmark’s first biographer, wrote, Vesey was:

In possession of a fairly good education – was able to read and write, and to speak with fluency the French and English languages … [and had] obtained a wealth of valuable experience.

At that time, the total free black population in South Carolina was 3,185, the majority of them being of mixed race ancestry – called Browns. After being a dark-skinned slave for seventeen years in Charleston, Denmark, at thirty-three years of age, entered the 19^th century as a free black man.

1864 – Civil War

P.G.T. Beauregard

Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard left Charleston to inspect what was left of Gen. Hood’s army in Georgia. Gen. Hardee’s Georgia troops withdrew into South Carolina. Beauregard ordered:

You will apply to the defense of Charleston the same principle applied to that of Savannah – that is, defend it as long as compatible with the safety of your forces … The fall of Charleston would necessarily be a terrible blow to the Confederacy, but its fall with the loss of its brave garrison would be still more fatal to our cause.

Gen. Willliam T. Sherman communicated with Admiral Porter off the North Carolina coast, “The President’s anxiety to take Charleston may induce Grant to order me to operate on Charleston.”

Today In Charleston History: December 30

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1820 – Religion

Bishop John England

The Catholic Church in Rome created a new diocese out of the Carolinas and Georgia. The newly consecrated Bishop John England arrived in Charleston. He discovered that conditions were most uninviting and unpromising in the new diocese, with Catholics scattered in little groups over these states. Most of the few in Charleston were very poor immigrants from Ireland or ruined refugees from San Domingo and their servants.

1874 – Births

Future mayor John Patrick Grace was born in Charleston. He grew up on Society Street and attended the High School of Charleston. All four of his grandparents were natives of Ireland.

John P. Grace

His most lasting accomplishment as mayor was the construction of the John P. Grace Memorial Bridge, which spanned the Cooper River to connect Charleston and Mt. Pleasant. It replaced the ferry system had been used to that point and opened in 1929.

John P. Grace Memorial Bridge

Today In Charleston History: December 29

Posted on December 29, 2014 by markjonesbooks | Leave a comment

1778

The British captured Savannah, Georgia, giving them a strong base to build up a land force in the South. It placed South Carolina and Charlestown, directly in the sights of British troops.

Savannah Marker, photo by author.

1811

Joel Poinsett of Charleston arrived in Santiago, Chile. President James Madison had appointed him as Consul in General to investigate the prospects of the revolutionists in Chile and Argentina, in their struggle for independence from Spain.

1899

The South Carolina Jockey Club voted to disband and donate the club’s property to the South Carolina Library Society. As the News & Courier noted:

The prospects of the amusement of horse racing on a respectable and financially safe footing have proved hopeless and the South Carolina Jockey Club finds itself the owner of property which can no longer be utilized for the purpose in which it was formed …

Read this great on-line manuscript about the Jockey Club.

Washington Race Track – 1857. A one-mile loop around what is present day Hampton Park. Library of Congress

MarkJonesBooks

Author ~ Speaker ~ Tour Guide

Ready: Player One: A Review