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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 10/09/98 -- Vol. 17, No. 15
MT Chair/Librarian:
Mark Leeper MT 3E-433 732-957-5619 mleeper@lucent.com
HO Chair: John Jetzt MT 2E-530 732-957-5087 jetzt@lucent.com
HO Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 732-949-7076 njs@lucent.com
Distinguished Heinlein Apologist:
Rob Mitchell MT 2E-537 732-957-6330 robmitchell@lucent.com
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 3E-433 732-957-2070 eleeper@lucent.com
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4824
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the
second Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call
201-447-3652 for details. The New Jersey Science Fiction Society
meets irregularly; call 201-652-0534 for details, or check
http://www.interactive.net/~kat/njsfs.html. The Denver Area
Science Fiction Association meets 7:30 PM on the third Saturday of
every month at Southwest State Bank, 1380 S. Federal Blvd.
1. URL of the week: http://us.imdb.com/Columns/Stump/. The
Internet Movie Database's "Stump The Staff," featuring someone
familiar to you all. [-ecl]
===================================================================
2. Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus. Computers are from
Pluto. PCs are from Xargght. [-mrl]
===================================================================
3. You may have seen McArthur's Universal Corrective Map of the
World. This is the new politically correct map of the world that
places the South at the top. How corrective is this politically
correct map? Well it is just a standard Mercator Projection map
turned upside-down. They do not correct land size like some recent
maps of the world. McArthur, who claims to be correcting matters,
chose to correct only the matters important to McArthur. Political
correctness bothers to correct only that which is political.
And not everybody will be happy with the correction. I can name
you two countries that would object to this map. First there is
Canada. Canada has always known that there is no special cachet
associated with being at the top of the map. They are there above
the United States and you don't find people getting excited about
the thrilling and romantic place that is Canada. Even most
Canadians I have met have a hard time working up a lot of
enthusiasm about being Canadian.
The other country that probably does not like the new map is
Australia. You see the map has revealed the secret about
Australia. Even most Australians may not have realized the secret
of Australia. But the new map makes it painfully obvious. You see
a lot of countries actually have shapes that are suggestive of
things. Italy looks like a boot kicking Sicily around. This is an
image that may have even appealed to Italy. They will lose that on
the new map. But Australia comes out even worse. On the new
politically correct map Australia looks--and you can check this out
be looking at Australia upside-down on any standard map--like
nothing so much as an over-fed chicken.
But what is it that makes a place seem romantic? And I don't mean
amorous. I mean what does it take about a place to make the blood
race when one thinks about it. United States has that something.
England has that something. Canada doesn't. Italy does. Sweden
has it only slightly more than Canada. So what is it? Is McArthur
right and it really is how high you are on a map? And if so why is
Italy so much more romantic than Sweden? OK, now I am at the point
where most writers who have looked at this phenomenon turn to
cheese. I have heard this question discussed before and this is
where it falls dead. Most writers seem to want to just say that it
is an indefinable something. And that is a load of duck tires. I
can tell you what gives a country cachet. I am ready to divulge
what makes a country (or a city) romantic in the eyes of the world.
It has been asked by a lot of people and yet the answer is so
simple people will ask why am I even bothering to say it.
What gives charisma to a region? There are two things required.
You need a history of conflict. And you need an exciting
literature to romanticize that conflict. The literature need not
come from that country and it can include film, poetry, anything.
Now this should be a simple and obvious thing to say. To capture
people's imagination all that is necessary is that you capture
people's imagination. Canada has been mostly peaceful and where it
wasn't, nobody has written any epics to interest people in what
conflict there was. We have never had a great epic film of
Canadian conflict. Not much up there captures our imagination.
Belgium has had the conflict, but not enough people to write about
it. Switzerland has had its share of educated people but not
enough conflict to enthuse anyone. England has had a fairly
ordinary set of struggles for political power, probably far less
than most Central American banana republics, but they have had
people to make those conflicts come alive for the reader and
viewer. Bingo! And what about the United States? If the truth
were known our history has been pretty bland. We have had only two
major threats to our country as a whole. Once was when the British
burned our Capitol and once when some of the states went to war for
the right to leave the Union. Beyond that we have had some minor
fringe conflicts. These are small compared to most other
countries. But there were Penny Dreadful writers who glamorized
the minor conflicts on the Western frontier. They started a
tradition so strong and entertaining that a century later Italians
for gosh sake were able to get rich making films about that period
in American history using those same conventions.
Growing up I was pretty bored with the French and Indian Wars. I
could not imagine them very well. They could have been taking
place on another planet. Now I find that I am fairly interested in
that period of history. What made the difference? I saw the film
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. That did it for me. All of a sudden
upper New York State is more than a woody set of suburbs. Now it
is a place where tall settlers and Indians shot very long rifles at
each other and clobbered each other with tomahawks. It is a place
where loud cannons were lit and exploded firing over the walls of
forts.
So if Canada really wants to be part of the public consciousness,
the thing to do is find a good war that took place in Canada, and
yes there were some, and fund some young would-be Canadian John
Ford to make some gut-rattling thriller about it. I would say you
could write novels, but I suspect that cinema is the medium that
will capture imaginations best these days. Do it quick while you
still have a dollar to do it with. [-mrl]
===================================================================
4. The 1998 Toronto International Film Festival (film reviews and
commentary by Mark R. Leeper) (part 1 of 6)
Films Seen:
1. 23 (German)
2. AFTER LIFE (Japanese with subtitles)
3. ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE (United States)
4. ANTZ (United States)
5. APRIL STORY (Japanese with subtitles)
6. APT PUPIL (United States)
7. AT SACHEM FARM (United States)
8. BUTTONERS, THE (Czech, in Czech and English)
9. CASCADOR-THE AMBER CHAMBER (German)
10. CLAY PIGEONS (United States)
11. CRUISE, THE (United States)
12. CURE (Japanese with subtitles)
13. DANCING AT LUGHNASA (US/Irish)
14. DOG PARK (Canadian)
15. ELIZABETH (British-Indian)
16. EVE-OLVE (Canadian shorts)
17. EXTRAORDINARY VISITOR, THE (Canadian)
18. FINDING GRACELAND (United States)
19. FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI (Hong Kong)
20. FULL MOON (Russian, in Russian with subtitles)
21. GIRAFFE, THE (German/Swiss, In English and German with
subtitles)
22. GOD SAID "HA!" (United States)
23. HOLE, THE (Taiwan/French with subtitles)
24. HOME FRIES (United States)
25. I WOKE UP EARLY THE DAY I DIED (United States)
26. IKINAI (Japanese with subtitles)
27. IMPOSTERS, THE (United States)
28. IN THE WINTER DARK (Australian)
29. J'AIMERAIS PAS CREVER UN DIMANCH (French with subtitles)
30. JEANNE AND THE PERFECT GUY (French with English Subtitles)
31. JERRY AND TOM (United States)
32. LAST NIGHT (Canadian)
33. LOVERS OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE (Spanish with subtitles)
34. MAN WITH RAIN IN HIS SHOES, THE (United Kingdom)
35. MIGHTY PEKING MAN (Hong Kong)
36. NIGHT TRAIN (United Kingdom)
37. PERDITA DURANGO (Spanish, in English and Spanish with
subtitles)
38. PLEASANTVILLE (United States)
39. RETURN TO PARADISE (United States)
40. RUSHMORE (United States)
41. SHATTERED IMAGE, THE (United States)
42. SIX-STRING SAMURAI (United States)
43. SLEEPWALKER, THE (Argentina with subtitles)
44. SMOKE SIGNALS (United States)
45. SWEETY BARRETT (Ireland)
46. THIS IS MY FATHER (Canadian/Irish)
47. TRAFFIC (Portuguese/French with subtitles)
48. TRANCE (United States)
49. VERY BAD THINGS (United States)
50. WELCOME BACK MR. MCDONALD (Japan with subtitles)
09/09/98
Well, I am not going to drive myself crazy this trip keeping an
activity by activity log the way I do when we travel for the sake
of travel. We are off to the Toronto International Film Festival.
It is about 5:12 PM. So what is the story so far. This is our
third major film festival, having been to the Montreal and the
Edinburgh. This is one of the four largest film festivals in the
world along with Venice, Cannes, and Berlin.
Members of the Leeper Expedition include Evelyn Leeper, Mark
Leeper, and Kate Pott. The latter is an old friend. I will not go
over the registration process in detail. Evelyn managed that and
can cover it better. Suffice it to say that the Federal Expressed
us their list of films and a ticket order form. We had just an
evening to decide what we wanted to see. You send them back the
forms Federal Express with a list of first and second choice films.
They then have to make some sort of reasonable selection for us.
Last night after work we drove to Amherst, Massachusetts, and
picked up Kate. Of some concern is the fact that her choice
closely mirrored our own. Probably the films we chose will be
popular. We may end up seeing a bunch of films from Kazakhstan.
We stayed overnight with Kate.
This morning we left about 8:30, bidding a fond farewell to Kate's
two longhaired cats. Kate treats the cats in a very egalitarian
manner, which means each has an equal vote on the rules of the
apartment. Unfortunately the cats tend to vote in a block and
overrule her in matters of whether the furniture looks better
intact or in ribbons. Just outside of Stockbridge I quietly spit
up a small hairball into my handkerchief.
On the way we had a bit of rain. We stopped for a comfort stop
next to the interstate. It had a McDonalds, a Pizza Hut, and a
Mrs. Fields Cookies, but the big draw was the restrooms. Evelyn
got coffee, but I didn't get anything. I thought the place seemed
too touristy. We stopped for lunch in a place called Weedsport,
New York. Just what is a weedsport? I had a tuna submarine
sandwich. Somehow having the fish actually inside the submarine
and the people on the outside feeds my sense of irony as well as my
stomach.
Crossing the border they asked us where we were from and then waved
us through.
We also stopped on the way to stare at Niagara Falls. I tried to
explain to our group that some of the molecules going over the
falls had been over many times. The elements keep shuffling and
recombining molecules. Somehow it did not seem to impress them.
Well, it was just another couple of hours into Toronto. The roads
into town were just a bit congested. I was passenger in the front
seat reading. Evelyn slammed on the brakes and the book I was
reading jumped out of my hand and ended at Evelyn's feet. She
blamed me for not holding onto the book; I blamed her for not
watching the car ahead of her. Yup. All systems functioning
normally.
It took us a little while to get to our hotel, a Days Inn. We
pulled into the parking lot and were told it was full. No, we
explained, we were guests. It is full for everybody. Well, there
is an overflow lot across the street. Our room is big by Japanese
standards. It may be 2/3 of what you would get at a Motel 6. In
the room we did our unpacking.
We got our car and went to dinner. The restaurant was Xam Yu. It
happened to be near where we could find a parking space. Actually
it wasn't quite that easy since we looked at three restaurants and
picked the busiest. We had hot and sour soup, squid with black
bean sauce, mango chicken, and fried grouper. Total cost with tip
was $37 Canadian. Not a bad price since the Canadian dollar is so
low. That is $8 American/person. I left stuffed. I asked the
owner of the restaurant if the name of the restaurant was the three
carp. I was close. It was more general. It was the three fish.
I could recognize the ideogram for three and the second ideogram
looked like the symbol for fish, but modified. Apparently it was
not so much modified that it did not mean fish too. We talked
about ideograms. Afterward we returned to the room.
09/10/98
Well, my day started early. Whoever was the last person in the
room had left the alarm on. There are alarms that err on the side
of being too gentle and risk not waking the sleeper. This is a
particularly effective alarm. I am sure nobody sleeps through this
one. It sounded like something you would want to warn people
either of a very bad fire or of a small incoming nuclear missile.
I guess most hotels have the maids check when a guest leaves to
make sure that the alarm is off in their normal duties. Days Inn
did not. Oh, well. It got the day off with a sort of surprise.
This will probably be a lazy sort of day. We have only one film to
see. If we understood what was said that would mean we would see
THE RED VIOLIN. It is not clear what the instructions were about
getting tickets for their so-called Gala films. It is complicated
and Evelyn and Kate are laboring over the rules like Talmudic
scholars. "Depending on where you put the parentheses in that
sentence...," Evelyn s----ays. The radio plays its third Strauss
waltz and I do about a five-minute schtick about "Vienna bevore de
Vore" and how "ve shlept till drei und drahnk bier."
People attending the festival, according to the radio, include Tom
Cruise and Meryl Streep. Evelyn goes "whoop-de-doo" and swings a
finger in the air. Evelyn is not much impressed by star power.
Breakfast was at an Indian-run croissant shop. I had an omelet on
croissant and a cup of coffee. I almost never drink coffee at
home, but I sometimes do when I travel.
We went to pick up our tickets at a building called "College Park."
We had to wait about 20 minutes in line, but then we were there
early and they opened about five minutes late. They returned our
order form and we looked over it to see what of the films we could
not get tickets for. We were pretty lucky getting about 36 of our
40 or so films. The spaces in our program we quickly looked and
got films to fill them. It turned out we could not get tickets for
THE RED VIOLIN after all.
Well, from there we scouted to find where the theaters were and
went to bookstores. I showed a great deal of reserve and did not
buy books until I got to Chapters, a local bookstore along the
lines of our Barnes and Noble. They had British editions of
Bernard Cornwall's Sharpe novels. I had been seeing these novels
dramatized on Masterpiece Theater and enjoyed them immensely. I
will probably read the novels.
We tried to find the Cumberland Theater. There was a Lumiere
Theater on Cumberland, but no Cumberland. I asked directions and
was pointed in a direction by a woman who said I would see the name
Cumberland on the marquee. It had to be the Lumiere. Well, it
turns out just starting today the theater will be called Lumiere.
I guess the theater is gone, leaving a Cumberland gap.
Lunch was at a deli where I had a tuna sandwich and a Lime Rickey.
Then another bookstore and back to the room. I have made a listing
of each of my films and have the page numbers in the catalog.
Well, we spent an uneventful afternoon looking at what films were
coming up. On the way up Yonge we scouted possible restaurants.
At the Varsity things were very confused. They told Evelyn and me
to line up outside for our 6:45 film and Kate to go inside for her
6:30 film. Someone inside sent Kate back out. Kate was ping-
ponged in and out of the theater a couple more times. Evelyn and I
are at the head of the line. Then they let us in and there is
already a line that has formed for the movie inside. Clearly there
are problems with crowd control.
The guy ahead of Evelyn asks her to watch his backpack and he will
return. She agrees. I tell her this was not a good idea. From
now on we will agree to hold the place, but the person must not
leave anything behind. Just being careful.
It is a little daunting to take on the responsibility to review 46
films. I will compromise. I will make all the comments I would
have made in a review, but I will not organize them or write
surrounding comments. I will write just capsule and comments.
Maybe some people will even prefer my reviews this way.
FULL MOON (Russian, in Russian with subtitles)
CAPSULE: This is a story-less film told in a series of vignettes.
Each vignette is linked to the next as a background character
becomes the main character of the next. Diverting though very
little more than the sum of its parts in spite of some repeated
themes. Rating: 6 (0 to 10), 1 (-4 to +4)
- Probably most notable for the many points of view as the film
progresses.
- Directed by Karen Shakhnazarov.
- I first saw this style of story-telling, or lack thereof, as a
joke on MONTY PYTHON though the subsequent film SLACKER also
used the technique. The camera follows one character, jumps
to a passerby, then follows him. When it is all over you have
a mosaic of life, but do not know any of the characters
particularly well.
- We see life in modern Russia and a little bit of history,
though we do not actually learn very much.
- There are some repeated themes. A high proportion of the men
seem to ogle women. There are repeated references to Mongolia
and to Genghis Khan. Three different characters were affected
by a scene in a restaurant in 1948.
- At least twice there is sudden and unexpected violence.
- Much of this film seems to take place almost in real time, but
there are continuity errors. We go from evening to the middle
of the day. A sunny day is suddenly dismal.
- There are some well-known Russian actors, but none is on the
screen very long.
- There is a central mystery about a scene in a restaurant, but
we never have even the simplest part of it answered.
- The most enjoyable vignette puts us in the mind of a dog.
- There is a minor piece about Pushkin stopping in Mongolia on
his way to fight the Turks.
- There are a few dream sequences, though none of any great
fantasy value.
- Winner of several international cinema prizes but not likely
to be seen on the art-house circuit in the US.
Leaving the theater we passed Kate who really enjoyed UNLUCKY
MONKEY, a sort of Japanese action movie with a lot of violence.
We ate a late dinner at a Thai, Malaysian, and Philippine
restaurant, then went to the Cineplex Odeon to see SMOKE SIGNALS.
This is not included in the film festival but we have wanted to see
it. This may be our last chance.
SMOKE SIGNALS (United States)
CAPSULE: An odyssey of two Indians in their early 20s going to pick
up the pickup truck of one's deceased father. This is a film with
good characters that makes some profound points. The dialog is
very good. Rating: 9 (0 to 10), +3 (-4 to +4 scale)
- Coeur d'Alene Indians of Idaho.
- Victor Joseph is slightly stereotypical, a tall handsome
Indian, but bitter about his alcoholic father not being
around.
- Thomas Builds-a-Fire is an original. He is a sort of nerdy
boy with braids and glasses. Rather than playing basketball
like his friend Victor he watches. He tells stories, many of
which are lies. Victor looks down on him and derides him.
Yet where Victor is empty he is full. His stories are what
will sustain his people. They are something that is lasting.
- The conversations are worth hearing. (But they are totally
wrong about John Wayne's teeth. The claim that you never see
John Wayne's teeth in a film is totally misinformation.)
- In 1976 Victor's father Arnold saved Thomas's life when a fire
burned down his parents' house.
- Victor's father was an alcoholic. He left home a few years
ago to live near Phoenix. Took up with Suzy Song.
- As with CHAMBERMAID ON THE TITANIC, a good lie from Thomas
seems to do more to heal and to build people up than a harsh
truth.
- Local reservation traffic report is more a gossip column. But
there is no traffic anyway.
- Lots of nice little surprises understated. Many are humorous.
- Only images of bad Indians on TV.
- Suzy Song is everything Victor is not. She embraces life and
is not bitter.
- Tom Skerritt has a small role as a threatening policeman.
- Based on LONE RANGER AND TONTO HAVE A FISTFIGHT IN HEAVEN, a
short story collection. This was one of the stories.
- Really about all fathers and sons.
Since this was at the theater just down the block from our hotel,
it was just a short walk to return. That will not happen again.
All of the theaters that are venues are about a 20-30 minute walk
away.
Kate came back and again was very pleased with the film she saw,
SPANISH FLY. It is a Spanish film about a woman who goes to Spain
to investigate the myth of Machismo. I guess that is where they
make it.
[to be continued] [-mrl]