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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 11/10/00 -- Vol. 19, No. 19
Chair/Librarian: Mark Leeper, 732-817-5619, mleeper@avaya.com
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper, 732-332-6218, eleeper@lucent.com
Distinguished Heinlein Apologist: Rob Mitchell, robmitchell@avaya.com
HO Chair Emeritus: John Jetzt, jetzt@avaya.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. I heard a commercial on TV from a certain Church that shall
remain nameless, but usually associated with a certain Western
state. Basically they will send you a free religious tract in
videotape form. I guess this is keeping up with the times. They
say this Thanksgiving people will be watching a videotape that will
"touch their hearts and change their lives." I cannot see
volunteering to get a religious tract, unless maybe to get a
reusable videotape out of it. But I love the line in the ad "and
best of all the tape is free." I figure that with the effort to
send the tape and the cost of materials, if they were selling it
they might want to change maybe $3. So you save that $3 getting it
free. And they say that's the best part. They must figure that
touching your family's hearts and changing their lives is almost as
good as saving $3. I guess touching hearts and changing lives
comes in on the open market at a value of about $2.70. [-mrl]
===================================================================
2. Originally I had planned to talk about something else this week.
Chili, actually. But this is the wrong week for that. Everybody
else is talking about the really unique election, so I will also.
Back the day after Halloween I remember thinking that it would be
nice to go forward one week in time, to November 8, and find out
who won the election. Good thing I didn't waste the time travel.
I have seen little holes growing in our national infrastructure.
It bothers me that once we had the capability to put people on the
moon and we genuinely have lost that ability. Overall intellectual
acumen in the country had gone downhill a great deal but now is on
the incline again. Thank goodness. Lots of things that used to be
reliable now break too easily. I never thought that one of the
things that we have lost is our ability to run a National Election.
I have to admit that there is a sort of bitter irony in our
election this week. America is the champion of free and honest
elections worldwide. We tell other countries that in the name of
human rights we want to send observers to oversee their elections.
We set high standards, and do not get me wrong, we really should.
The sad and scary thing is that is that not every election in this
country meets our own high standards. Perhaps we should have
international observers watching our elections. There is
sloppiness in our process of asking our people what government they
want. Apparently the sort of irregularities that people are seeing
in the Florida polls is not new, they just never have been noticed
before. They were not that important. If one of the candidates
had a clear lead and Florida did not have the importance it has
this year, most people would have shrugged off the stories of
Election Day problems. Not so this year when circumstance makes it
very important to get the vote precisely right. The Florida
polling system has become the O-ring of American politics. Their
small failures led to big disasters. And who do we have to thank
for discovering the problems? Ralph Nader, doing what he does
best. He is finding flaws in the system. I figure he has turned
up eight major flaws in the Florida election system.
I had thought of writing a humorous editorial here because at first
sight this sounds like a very funny situation. I am sure the likes
of Jay Leno are having a field day wisecracking about what is going
on. But the Constitution is carefully written so that you can
never have two different people each with a legal claim to the
highest office. That is the sort of thing that frequently leads to
civil wars. I can just imagine an army of Gore supporters fighting
an army of Bush supporters. Scary thought. And let's face it, the
great majority of the arms are on the latter side.
Personally I would hope that what comes out of this incident is the
abolition of the Electoral College. It was established so that
there would be some control by the ruling class over the will of
the people. Some demagogue might come along and convinces the
majority of the American people that he is a combination of the
finest parts of Jesus, Batman, and Will Rogers. But the members of
the Electoral College are educated and in theory can't be fooled.
So we have a system in which the people do not choose the
President, they choose the people who do have the power. It is a
check on the power of the common people. But it is one that is
terribly out of date. First of all it is an embarrassment. When I
was in China envious locals would ask me if the people really did
choose the President. I lied and said they did. It is
embarrassing to tell them that in this bastion of Democracy it is
not really the people who choose the President. Further if we had
a popular vote the vagaries of Florida's polls would be much less
likely to be important. The uncounted Florida votes are at nowhere
near enough to reverse the popular vote. Another reason that the
Electoral College is an embarrassment is that it does just the
opposite of what people are claiming it does. I have heard several
people claim that the election situation demonstrated that every
vote counts in a democracy. That's the bunk. Really what it shows
the world is that with states having winner-take-all systems with
the electoral college, some people's votes can be worth a lot more
than other people's votes.
Regardless of who wins, the final National Election of the 20th
Century will have to be one of the most interesting of the century
and may well drag on with implications that will shadow the next
four years. As a Democrat, I cannot help but wonder. After eight
years of the Republican Machine taking every innuendo about the
Presidency and turning it into a national headline, I just wonder
what that machine would have made of this incident had the tables
been reversed. I mean, Bush was declared victor in a state where
there were so many voting irregularities almost all of which by an
odd coincidence seemed to help Bush and in which Bush's brother
holds the highest political office. Had the table been reversed we
would have heard about it from the Republicans for years to come.
There is smoking gun there enough for any headline hound. [-mrl]
===================================================================
3. MEN OF HONOR (a film review in bullet list form by Mark R.
Leeper from the Toronto International Film Festival):
Capsule: No disrespect to the hero this film is
about, but the film is a lot like a lot of
other films. The characters are such cliches
it is hard to believe they are based on real
people. DeNiro does a standout job as racist
turned and turning good guy. Film is
competently made and well-directed. Rating:
high +1
- In the opening Master Chief Billy Sunday does not like to hear
Carl Brashear (Cuba Gooding Jr.) called "n-----"
- Carl's story told in flashback
- Swims superbly as youth
- Father works hard plowing fields but wants better for his son
- Goes into Navy but assigned kitchen duty. Must prove self to
go to diving school
- Diving school in Bayonne, NJ
- Faces learning problems, challenge of diving, and above all
racism, overcomes all with iron will
- Chief racist is training officer Billy Sunday
- Cliche: only student who likes Brashear is semi-loser
- Cliche: meets future wife and wins her with his determined
attitude
- Brashear hero but denied credit
- Camp commander (Hal Holbrook) wants Brashear washed out
- Murky underwater photography
- Melodramatic climax
- Very familiar story, redux of AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMEN,
crossed with TUSKEEGEE AIRMEN
- Scott Marshall Smith wrote screenplay
- George Tillman Jr. directed
- Helmet and water in bar, unlikely
- DeNiro reasonable as sadist, but much like his role in CAPE
FEAR
- Gooding is okay in role, but it is not a subtle one. He has
charm but does nothing memorable. Vulnerable yet determined.
- Hal Holbrook, Powers Booth do not have enough to do
[-mrl]
===================================================================
4. THE DISH (a film review in bullet list form by Mark R. Leeper
from the Toronto International Film Festival):
Capsule: This is a real winner of a comedy from
Australia, based on fact. Parkes, Australia
was turned upside down when its radio telescope
was chosen by NASA to receive the TV signals
from Apollo 11. A nice comedy of characters
and discussion of the value of science.
Rating: high +2
- July, 1969, Parkes, Australia radio telescope, most powerful
in world, chosen to relay Apollo 11 television pictures to
Earth
- Seen in flashback remembered by lead scientist (Sam Neill)
- Neglected telescope and shy team get national attention
- Town goes crazy with excitement and pride, "We're not part of
it, we're in the middle of it."
- Local politicians use it, people arrange parties
- Unusual uses of dish
- NASA rep and American Ambassador come to Parkes
- Different types, mayor, boy who idolizes army, college
protester
- Friction between dish team and NASA man
- Crises add tension
- Discussion of importance of science
- Choral pieces in score
- Snatches of James Horner
- Great mix of comedy, good dialog
- Good comprehensible description of technical problems and
solutions
- Everyone affected, audience still misty about Apollo 11
- Directed by Rob Sitch, based on real incidents
[-mrl]
===================================================================
5. POSSIBLE WORLDS (a film review in bullet list form by Mark R.
Leeper from the Toronto International Film Festival):
Capsule: A complex science fiction story with a
lot of beautiful visual images, but in the end
totally confusing and almost totally
incomprehensible. It deals with a murder in
which a brain was stolen and a man who seems to
be able to place himself into parallel
universes and perhaps has been everybody in the
world. I never caught on entirely but it was
very nicely filmed by Jonathan Freeman.
Rating: 0
- Murderer stole only brain
- George Barber claims to know everything and have been
everywhere
- George remembers billions of lives
- Scientists are extracting info from brains
- Imagination courses
- George seems to be traveling back and forth among possible
parallel worlds
- Worlds are flowing together
- Confused? So was I
- In medical cafeteria George stands out without white lab coat
- Nice use of whites and blues in some scenes
- Scene in earth tones: reds and browns
- Director Robert Lepage based on his play with ideas in common
with Heinlein's "All You Zombies."
- Very confusing story
- No violence beyond head with stolen brain
- No special effects
- Ideas but never makes sense
- Tilda Swinton only familiar actress
[-mrl]
===================================================================
6. HEY! RAM (a film review in bullet list form by Mark R. Leeper
from the Toronto International Film Festival):
Capsule: In the days prior to partition in
India a mild man sees his wife raped and
murdered by Muslims in Hindu-Muslim riots. He
blames Gandhi's political policies and is
groomed to be an assassin to kill Gandhi. The
story is handled as a historical drama in the
conventions of Indian neighborhood films (i.e.,
it includes songs and comedy!), but it also
presents both sides of the issues, not just
those the filmmaker would like accepted.
Strange by our standards, but also a very
powerful film. Rating: high +2
Hindi language
- Ram archeologist returns to Calcutta during 1946 riots (Hindu
vs. Muslim)
- At first minimizes importance of riots but his beloved wife
very concerned
- Goes out and saves life of man chased by Muslims
- Returns home to find his house under attack, he is held as his
wife is raped and murdered
- Ram routs Muslims, kills in cold blood his former tailor who
took part
- Meets another man named Ram. Charismatic who tells him Gandhi
is at fault, becomes anti-Gandhi extremist
- Responds to "The Hindu and Muslim are brothers" with "The goat
and the butcher are brothers"
- Ram tormented by memories
- Parents arrange new marriage with very young woman, fiancee
likes Gandhi
- Joins anti-Gandhi group and chosen as assassin
- Film done in style of Indian neighborhood film: comedy and
songs, comedy dispense with early
- Powerful scenes, after riot scanning down a building with dead
person on each floor
- Process shot of plane, morphing
- Scenes during 1999 race riot in black and white with touches
in color like flames from riots
- Dramatic dream sequence, nice process shot of airplane,
morphing effects
- Nice choral music
- "This horse was once great and useful. Now its life is a
burden, it is a kindness to put to sleep."
- Ambivalent telling, both sides of argument
- Many languages used in film
- Love song removed from this version
[-mrl]
===================================================================
7. THE MONKEY'S MASK (a film review in bullet list form by Mark R.
Leeper from the Toronto International Film Festival):
Capsule: A very thin mystery story with a
lesbian detective. Not really a very good
mystery story but a film that can be enjoyed by
anybody who likes seeing naked ladies. This is
a film with strong sexual content and a rather
indifferent TV-level mystery story. Columbo is
a better detective story but is not so much fun
to look at. Rating: -1
- Setting near Sydney, Australia
- Based on Dorothy Porter novel
- Lesbian detective Jill Fitzpatrick
- Mickey Norris, budding young poet is missing, Jill is hired by
Mickey's parents who still think Mickey is virtuous. She
isn't.
- Jill gets involved in a lesbian affair with Diana (Kelly
McGillis) one of the principles of the case. For a while
number of nude lesbian love scenes stays ahead of number of
facts known about the case
- Case goes deep into Sydney's poetry community
- Overripe narration particularly in describing lesbian
attraction
- Told in chapters with titles
- Case develops slowly
- Screenwriter Anne Kennedy needed better poetry than she could
write
- Simple not very satisfying murder mystery, audience not given
all the clues, does not play fair with audience
- Scenes in Sydney Art Museum
- Whole production seems like first immature effort (actually
second feature film) and telling good mystery story was not
the first priority
- Error: sees explosion across a valley and light and sound
reach her at same time
[-mrl]
===================================================================
8. THE WEDDING (a film review in bullet list form by Mark R. Leeper
from the Toronto International Film Festival):
Capsule: The events leading up to and during a
big social event with several plot lines going
at once. This is a popular format for Eastern
European comedies. In this case it is a
wedding. A little drama, a little sex, a lot
of comedy. Passable, but nothing really
special. Rating: 0
Russian language
- Tania Simikova returns to village of her birth after being
away years
- In memories of youth she liked Mishka Krapivin who now works
in mines
- Miners' paid months late, but finally arrives, most go on
drinking episodes
- People are money grubbing
- Mishka's friends are undependable
- Mishka's friend steals Mishka's gift money, wants to make it
up by getting another wedding gift leading to more problems
- Russian Orthodox wedding
- A lot of drinking
- Tania has past
- Comic sex
- Groom arrested by police, must return to prison at 11
- Master of ceremonies has to fill time
- Brawl
- Most interesting in showing conditions in Russia, life there
is hard, does not seem to be much personal fulfillment
- Bleak life by our standards, even if people get money only
drink
- Like Milos Forman's FIREMAN'S BALL
- Several plots going at once, some sex, some drama
- No happiness without a touch of sadness
- Comic misunderstandings
- Characters of varying degree of interest, one or two
interesting actors
[-mrl]
===================================================================
9. PLACIDO RIZZOTTO (a film review in bullet list form by Mark R.
Leeper from the Toronto International Film Festival):
Capsule: True but overly familiar tale, albeit
true story, of one courageous man standing up
to the Mafia. The star is not the plot but the
atmosphere and topography of Corleone, Sicily.
The film gives some insight into the how the
relatively rudimentary Mafia operated in its
native Sicily. Rating: high +1
Italian language
- Directed by Pasquale Scimeca
- Corleone, Sicily
- Rizzotto hardened by father taken by police, fought Nazis in
WWII
- Town controlled by criminal association
- Placido stands up to Mafia families
- Lia is friend of Placido though her mother does not like him
- Placido organizes peasants in taking land back from landowners
- Mafia families agree to kill Placido
- Photography of vistas of Sicily
- Mafia ceremony when crime families really were just families
- Nazis picnic in shadow of gallows
- Rustic times, donkeys for travel
- Rustic version of Mafia
- True story, but same plot elsewhere, including cable TV's
recent EXCELLENT CADAVERS
- Relative of Rizzotto says all true but she did not know he had
a girlfriend
[-mrl]
===================================================================
10. THE HIT (a film review in bullet list form by Mark R. Leeper
from the Toronto International Film Festival):
Capsule: A 1984 crime film from Stephen Frears.
Ten years ago Willie betrayed his gang to the
law. He has been hiding in Spain, and now the
gang has found him and wants to take him to
Paris to be killed. Two assassins are sent for
the job and the three are in for some days of
mind-game playing Rating: high +1
- Stephen Frears directed in 1984
- Four men on a robbery that goes wrong, Willie Parker (Terence
Stamp) grasses (i.e., was a stool pigeon)
- Convicted, the other three sing "We'll Meet Again" to Willie
- Ten years later Parker living in Spain
- Kidnapped by Braddock and Myron (John Hurt and Tim Roth)
- Myron (Tim Roth looks like a teen
- At trial Stamp seemed half-witted, Stamp now seems a lot
smarter
- Police know about kidnapping
- Stamp is too friendly and cheerful, unnerves Myron and
Braddock
- Another person picked up on way
- Parker has a philosophical approach to death
- Only a teaspoon of blood shown but audience gasps
- Hurt is cold and calculating
- Roth is impatient, odd with red hair
- Stamp too cheerful
- Fernando Rey as detective
[-mrl]
Mark Leeper
HO 1K-644 732-817-5619
mleeper@avaya.com
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
-- George Bernard Shaw