* * * * *
                                        
                            The Color of Television
                                        
> The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead
> channel.
> 
> “–William Gibson”, _Neuromancer_ [1] (1984)
> 

I saw that it made the Top 100 Best First Lines from Novels [2] (link via
Jason Kottke [3]) and it struck me that today's kids will get a vastly
different feel from that opening line than I did when reading the book as a
kid.

Why?

Because the color of television, tuned to a dead channel, has changed in the
past twenty-two years. Twenty-two years, the color of television, tuned to a
dead channel was:

> The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead
> channel.
> 
> “–William Gibson”, _Neuromancer_ [4] (1984)
> 

And the color of television, tuned to a dead channel, these days:

> The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead
> channel.
> 
> “–William Gibson”, _Neuromancer_ [5] (1984)
> 

I don't think Mr. Gibson envisioned a bright blue sky for the opening of his
book.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441000681/conmanlaborat-20
[2] http://www.litline.org/ABR/100bestfirstlines.html
[3] http://www.kottke.org/remainder/06/01/10341.html
[4] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441000681/conmanlaborat-20
[5] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441000681/conmanlaborat-20

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

.