@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 05/19/00 -- Vol. 18, No. 47
Chair/Librarian: Mark Leeper, 732-817-5619, mleeper@lucent.com
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper, 732-332-6218, eleeper@lucent.com
Distinguished Heinlein Apologist: Rob Mitchell, robmitchell@lucent.com
HO Chair Emeritus: John Jetzt, jetzt@lucent.com
HO Librarian Emeritus: Nick Sauer, njs@lucent.com
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
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 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. There was a time that the Medical Department at Lucent seemed
nice and stable with a healthy respect for the mainstream beliefs
in medicine. There has been what might be an alarming increase in
the number of alternative medicine techniques apparently sanctioned
by the company. Members of the medical staff are giving forum to
some pretty strange ideas these days. These people are allowed to
come in and give presentations in our facilities for therapies that
run counter to scientifically verified medicine.
I thought things were a little strange when I saw
Weight Reduction Thru Hypnosis
The Weight Reduction thru hypnosis program which will help you
change your eating patterns as you look forward to your weight goal starts
Tuesday. The program consists of five (1) hour sessions scheduled optimally
to lead to the best results. Includes behavioral changes and hypnosis to
help a person lose or maintain their desired weight. Fee for the program is
$125 for the five sessions and includes a hypnotic reinforcement audio tape.
If interested, please register in the Medical Department HO 1C201 today or
tomorrow.
Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2000
Time: 12 noon - 1pm
Place: HO5G201
Speaker: NAME WITHHELD
Info: NAME WITHHELD
I am not pointing any fingers at anyone in specific, so I am
withholding the name of the person who sent these out, but it is a
major member of our medical staff and these messages are hardly
private since they went out to hundreds of people.
I thought the whole idea of endorsing hypnosis a bit strange.
Later came:
BRANDNAME WITHHELD products presented and demonstrated by NAME WITHHELD
BRANDNAME WITHHELD Magnets are used by millions of people to provide
relief from discomfort in their bodies, improve quality of sleep, and
increase athletic performance. Come see what BRANDNAME WITHHELD has
to offer you. Please bring questions!
Date: Monday, May 8, 2000
Time: 12 noon - 1pm
Place: HO 5G202
Info: NAME WITHHELD
Soon we got to:
Feng Shui, Astrology and Yoga are three ancient systems for creating
harmony and balance in our lives. This seminar will introduce concepts
from these systems that can help reduce the stress in your everyday life.
Date: Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Time: 12 noon - 1pm
Place: Holmdel Mini Auditorium--West Conference Area
Speaker: NAME WITHHELD
Info: NAME WITHHELD
Twice now I have sent mail to members of the medical department
asking for comment on the change in policy and the request has gone
unanswered.
Now I know I am going to get mail from someone saying that their
maiden aunt was cured of years of migraine headaches by standing
under a gyroscope and facing Northwest. And when that therapy is
tested and proves to work, I will think it is just fine. But until
Feng Shui has been verified with scientific method and shown to
provide some statistical benefit, I feel a little funny about a
medical department that endorses it.
What is really happening? Well perhaps we have a medical staff
that has suddenly decided that there is something in New Age
therapy. I think this is really the next logical step after the
company going to reliance Health Maintenance Organizations. I
think that the company is giving their sanction to these esoteric
healers because there are some people who do believe in these
arcane healing philosophies work and there are not many people who
believe in HMOs. [-mrl]
===================================================================
2. GLADIATOR (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule: The sand-and-sandal epic film returns
to the screen with a tale of one of the less
familiar Caesars, the Emperor Commodus. Ridley
Scott plays with the genre by adding
surrealistic images and annoyingly tampers with
the visuals digitally to throw the viewer off
balance. It is original, but the film works in
spite of his enhancements rather than because
of them. Rating: 8 (0 to 10), high +2 (-4 to
+4) Note: some discussion of the historical
accuracy follows the main review. It has
spoilers.
It has been many years since we have had a film about ancient Rome
of the sort we have gotten from Ridley Scott, and in some ways we
have never had a film like this. This is a sort of post-modern
ancient Rome. I expected to love the giant battle scenes. But
they start early in the film and my eye kept rebelling at what it
was seeing. Something was wrong with the images I was seeing.
Scott has always played with his visual images. He used to shoot
through incense to create an odd filtered effect. In GLADIATOR he
was doing a lot more. I cannot authoritatively say what Scott was
doing but it looked like images in the background were filmed
normally, images in the foreground were moving more jerkily. I
could be wrong, but it seemed that instead of the foreground images
being different each frame, they were kept on the screen for a
count of two or perhaps even three frames each. This is impossible
to do with normal filming but it is quite possible with digital
processing of images. For me the irritation is about the same as
if there was a buzz on the soundtrack. I suppose Scott may have
felt that it enhanced the mythic effect. Time and again images in
the film felt like they had been tampered with and were somehow
off-kilter. Perhaps I was over-sensitive, but it was an annoyance
that just had to be ignored.
Of course, Ridley Scott does odd experiments with the visuals. In
this film he frequently plays with fog or smoke. Other times he
uses backgrounds that look more like postcards than reality. The
film is heavy on sunrises and sunsets. Other scenes play with
color.
The film covers the same historic interval and figures as THE FALL
OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964) and some of the incidents of this film
are borrowed from that rather than history. Even the fictional
character Livius in the 1964 was carried over as the hero Maximus.
The emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) is off in snowy
Germania where he is in the last stages of victory over the
barbarians. His general Maximus (Russell Crowe) is "unleashing
hell" against the last stronghold of resistance. Unleashing hell
is releasing the kind of power one probably would have thought
required modern weapons. The scene fully justifies the fear that
most of the world at that time had of the Romans. But the most
powerful position in the known world is about to change hands.
Philosopher and gentle soul Marcus Aurelius wants to restore the
Republic that Julius Caesar abolished. He knows his son Commodus
is too anxious for power to restore the republic so Marcus plans to
name Maximus as his successor, entrusting him to return the
republic. But when Marcus breaks this news to Commodus, Commodus
murders his father. To complete the task he also has a contingent
of men take Maximus to be murdered and another to kill his family.
The general does not die so easily, however. The attempt to kill
Maximus only leaves him wounded and wandering, then collected as a
slave. The slave is purchased by a wise old gladiator-turned-
freeman and gladiator-dealer Proximo (Oliver Reed in his last and
probably best role). The gladiator, now called "the Spaniard" is
sent to Rome to fight before Emperor Commodus, where he hopes he
may work his revenge. Tired of the war, tired of seeing death, and
disillusioned about the causes he has fought for, the gladiator is
sent to Rome to fight and die in front of audiences anxious to see
death.
The plot borrows from THE TEN COMMANDMENTS the ruler who creates
jealousy in his son by choosing another as an heir. It borrows
from BEN HUR the blood feud of old close friends. There is even a
line borrowed from THE UNTOUCHABLES. Of course, there is a lot of
SPARTACUS and THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. The major plot
elements are not new. But most of what is borrowed is from films
of the last generation. And some of what is new, like the Ken-
Russell-style surrealistic scenes, seems far more out of place than
they would seem in a film of modern setting.
Ridley Scott is a reasonable action director with a good feel for
integrating actors with special visual effects. Somehow Russell
Crowe seems out of place in an ancient setting. It took a while to
get used to him. Joaquin Phoenix is actually a little too
dignified and reserved the psychotic Commodus. For once an actor
could have chewed the scenery and been more faithful to the history
books. It seems almost cliche to say that an actor who died in the
production gave one of his best performances, but it is true of
Oliver Reed who finally has overcome the stiffness of his earlier
acting. Connie Nielsen as Lucilla is appealing, though it is a
little strange to see the demure actress cast in the role that in
1964 went to Sophia Loren. Derek Jacobi plays a Senator trying to
preserve the Senate. The score by Hans Zimmer is not one of his
most memorable. He is quick to capitalize on a minor location in
Africa, probably because the LION KING composer is not known for
his German or Latin musical themes.
With a few reservations for Scott's visual style this is pleasant
return of a type of film we have not seen made since the 60s. I
rate it an 8 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high +2 on the -4 to +4
scale.
Note on historical accuracy:
This film grossly misrepresents the Emperor Commodus whose actual
wacko quotient rivaled Caligula's and Nero's. The real Commodus
renamed the months of the year to be his twelve titles so that he
might be worshipped each month. He renamed Rome "The Colony of
Commodus." He identified himself with Hercules and he would dress
for the role in lion skins and would beat prisoners to death with a
large wooden club. He would fight in amphitheater as a gladiator,
but would give his opponent a nearly useless lead sword. Commodus
would slaughter animals in the ring, including elephants and
giraffes. He would behead ostriches with arrows headed with
crescent razors. All this could have been shown in GLADIATOR and
would have been quite cinematic. Instead he is reserved and almost
dignified. As Roman Emperors go, Commodus as portrayed in
GLADIATOR might almost have been respectable.
It should be noted Commodus showed far more tolerance of Christians
than his father Marcus Aurelius had. His motives are open to
speculation.
Eventually those closest to him grew tired of living in the fear of
his capricious displeasure and the immediate death that might
follow. A conspiracy, likely headed by his mistress Marcia,
poisoned his drink one day on his return from hunting. When he
fell asleep rather than dying a young wrestler, Narcissus,
strangled him without him resisting.
Both GLADIATOR and THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, however, have him
die in a dramatic sword fight with the former general of the German
campaign. In both that general was also a former friend of
Commodus favored for emperor by Marcus Aurelius over Commodus.
Actually Marcus Aurelius had publicly named Commodus his heir and
there is not likely to be any historic record that Marcus favored
anyone else.
As has been pointed out in the arena the signals were not thumbs up
or thumbs down, it was thumb hidden in fist for life, thumb
sticking out for death. But the first responsibility of the
director is to communicate hat is going on. The actors are
speaking English, but they have to speak the audience's language.
The audience knows thumbs up and thumbs down.
So there are inaccuracies, but if one waits to the end of the
credits the film clearly says that some of the characters are real
but that the story is fiction. With that in mind the accuracy of
this film is not at all bad. [-mrl]
Mark Leeper
HO 1K-644 732-817-5619
mleeper@lucent.com
A narcissist is someone better looking than you
are.
-- Gore Vidal