My twilight prediction...

I'm going to make a prediction. I think a path that Stephenie Meyer will take with Jacob is to reveal that he really imprinted on Bella. After recalling how Jacob explained imprinting to Bella, I remembered her making a light hearted comment about the condition. To this, Jacob responded very defensively... Almost as if he, himself, were afflicted...

Even though it can be pointed out that on at least two occasions the question of whether or not Jacob has imprinted has come up and he has denied it both times, I think he did so for a couple of reasons. The first time Bella asked him I think he was just too embarrassed to admit it. He hadn't expressed his love for her yet and knew that he was a long-short to win her. Part of his anger and frustration is that he probably intended to reveal his imprinting on her the night she jumped off the cliff. His plans were derailed because of the course of action that inevitably put Bella out of reach for him. He feels like he was getting her ready for the perfect time to tell her the truth, but before that time came, she went to Italy...

His imprinting on Bella is also supported by the insane tenacity that he is demonstrating in trying anything and everything to keep her. He explained to Bella that when you are imprinted you want to be anything to the person that they want. This would explain why he is so eager to be her friend. And when he infers that she wants her lover (which is actually Edward) Jacob can sense this and wants badly to fill that role. His feelings for her seem to run much stronger than the usual teenage infatuation. There's a primal sense of urgency in his actions. It's almost as if he really feels (and the end of Eclipse gave me more confirmation of this) like he cannot live without her... like anyone that has imprinted cannot live without their soul mate.

For the sake of confusion... Let's call the imprinted werewolf imprinter and the target of his desire imprintee.

Jacob has also said that the imprintee will inevitably fall for the imprinter. He said something to the effect that 'all the affection and attention' will turn them and that 'being their everything at all times' will turn the imprinter into everything the would/could ever want. This is yet another source of frustration for Jacob because his charms aren't really doing what he's been taught they would do.

There it is. My prediction that Jacob will reveal that he has imprinted on Bella. Of course, this information will come out after the wedding and will probably be the source of much drama.

Coding by Twilight...?

My wife recently read a series by an LDS author named Stephenie Meyer. The series is called Twilight. I soon found myself reading the series and getting as caught up with it (probably more) as my wife is. I don't feel like boring anyone with the details as a simple wikipedia look up would deliver a far better synopsis than I would be able to. I would like to vent a few frustrations I had while reading this series (which will be ending with the final book due out August 2).

I loathe Jacob Black. I have a hard time deciding if it is due to Stephenie Meyer's (SM) failure to build his character up in my mind over the 2nd and 3rd books or because of some deep-set antipathy towards individuals like him. I got the distinct feeling that SM tried very much to build Jacob in the 3rd book into someone that the reader could relate to. At every turn I found myself shaking my head (sometimes in fury, sometimes in frustration) at the things that Jacob did. I suppose if SM's intent was to get a reaction out of me, she succeeded... greatly. His personality is despicable. His childish attempts to manipulate Bella into choosing him make me gag with disdain. The ultimate frustration came when he forced himself upon her. I could not believe that SM would actually go in that direction in order to have Bella realize her love for Jacob. I find myself refusing to believe that Bella is truly in love with the Jacob-dog. I really do not think that True Love can be dragged out of somebody. My conclusion is that she just doesn't know how she feels about Jacob. I would venture a guess that her hormones had a great deal to do with the things she thinks she feels for Jacob-dog. Teenagers are generally a carnal bunch. Under the right circumstances I'll bet that any two teenagers could swear to their undying love for each other. The raw truth is, it isn't love. It is 150-proof lust.

Edward is the real man's man. He is the soul of control. He has insane power but has the ability to keep that power in check. I wish that SM would have gone deeper into the difficulty that Edward has to restrain himself from tearing Bella apart. I think that a memorable, well-thought out analogy would have worked better than a few idle comments sprinkled here-and-there. Edward's patience rivals Job's. His primary want; his true desire is for Bella to be happy. If Bella chose someone else Edward would not stand in the way. He would not resort to manipulative (Jacob) tactics to selfishly keep Bella to himself. Jacob's attempt to compare himself to the mother of the baby in the story of Solomon made me physically ill. His statement that he was willing to let Bella go in order to keep her from being ripped apart was in and of itself a barbed comment. Even after all he did, he was still trying to manipulate and coerce Bella into choosing him because he was screaming LOOK AT ME I CAN BE HONORABLE PICK ME PICK ME. I'm glad Bella has seen through it.

Maybe at the end of this series we will see the real man win. I think this could be part of the dilemma of the book. Jacob, still somewhat human, is actually less human than Edward, the vampire.

Fun with Nelly2PCM

I'm currently on the bench with the consulting firm I work for. This leaves me with way too much time to explore fun technologies and even the occasional blog. During my travels, I came across a site that discussed a solution to Adobe's NellyMoser encoder nightmare that is imposed on anyone that wishes to transmit real-time microphone audio streams. If that didn't make sense just think softphone. The solution was a google code open source project called nelly2pcm. The irony and point of my post is that within 12 hours of the post, the nelly2pcm google code project received a DMCA cease and desist; effectively shutting it down.

In my infinite boredom I decided to port the nelly2pcm source to java. I have a twisted sense of fun so to me this sounds like a blast. The current nelly decoders at best use a command line native console app to convert .flv to ulaw and from there off to pcm. I figure hey... why not have the converter in 100% pure java?

I am of the opinion that voip/sip communication is going to be far more prevalent in websites and even in blogs. Let's see how long this port takes me before I get dragged into a mundane money-making venture...