THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
07/04/03 -- Vol. 22, No. 1
Big Cheese: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Little Cheese: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
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Topics:
Science with Your Eyes Closed Redux (letters of comment
and responses by Mark R. Leeper)
Who Should Document History? (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
28 DAYS LATER (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
Is This SF?? Alias Considered (TV comment by Dale L. Skran)
This Week's Reading (THE COALWOOD WAY, JEW STORE,
TWELVE FAIR KINGDOMS) (book comments by
Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Science with Your Eyes Closed Redux (letters of comment
and responses by Mark R. Leeper)
Kevin Meis writes:
Interesting you spoke about this, I really haven't thought
of them for years but from time to time I have also
experimented with the night-time visual images and recall
that as a child, having been prone to nightmares anyway,
they actually frightened me.
As I got older I enjoyed watching the patterns. Mine seem
to be waves of light that start in one place and radiate
outward and fade, similar to a "life" screensaver. I also
note that if I squeeze my eyes tightly together I can get
relatively bright images, sometimes even sparkles, that
are probably due to the pressure on my eyeballs.
And Bill Higgins queries (by implication):
I await your Modified Leeper Scale ratings of these
apparitions.
To which Mark replies:
Well, usually they are pretty dull on an absolute scale.
However, 2003.05.27.23.05 was *really* cool. I am
thinking of putting together financing to adapt it into a
film. So far nobody has called me back. I hope I can
interest someone with money before I forget what it looked
like.
===================================================================
TOPIC: Who Should Document History? (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I got a rather interesting piece of e-mail from someone of
Armenian descent. It was a comment on my review of Atom Egoyan's
recent film ARARAT which was about, in part, the making of a film
about the Armenian Holocaust. In that review I said that I had
friends who were Armenian and friends who were Turkish. I do not
want to offend either. The Armenian people talk of the holocaust
inflicted on their people by the Turks in the early part of this
century. Turks claim that the accounts are exaggerated. They
admit the incursion but not the degree of persecution the
Armenians claim. In my review I simply said I would not take a
stand on this issue due to my own ignorance on the subject. My
correspondent was irate that I did not immediately accept the
Armenian Holocaust as history.
That puts me in a difficult position. I certainly believe that
the Nazi Holocaust occurred and I have little use for those who
deny it in the face of what appears to me to be overwhelming
evidence. What is the difference in my attitude toward the two
events? Simply put, it is the overwhelming evidence being made
public and the public attention the Nazi Holocaust gets. And
though a dramatic film is not really evidence of anything, films'
re-ennactments of historical events do bring them to the public's
attention.
The film ARARAT is a fiction work about people making a powerful
film about the Armenian Holocaust. To that extent it may be
inaccurate. As far as I have ever heard, nobody is making such
films. That is probably the film that director Atom Egoyan
should have been making, and I said so in my review. Egoyan is
an Armenian and should be documenting the Armenian experience.
And to go a step further, my correspondent was an Armenian and
also should be documenting the Armenian experience. He could be
collecting stories from family members and writing them down. I
think the public is thirsty for this information.
There is a frequent complaint that the film industry seems
interested in the Holocaust against Jews and very little else
along similar lines. I will take it a step further. I will say
that it is probably the Jews in the industry who are interested
in dramatizing this horrible part of the Jewish experience. But
I see nothing wrong with that. Jews should be publicizing the
Jewish experience. Blacks should be publicizing the Black
experience. If Mongolians feel they need to publicize the
Mongolian experience, they should be doing that. Egoyan should
be publicizing the Armenian experience and he actually is, though
he is not choosing the most direct way that he could.
I do not happen to think that the Nazi Holocaust gets too much
coverage in the film industry, but even assuming it is true, how
should the distribution of films be changed? Who is to say how to
do that objectively? And even then, most steps in that direction
tend to meet resistance from the very people that they are
intended to help. Steven Spielberg, a Jew, tried to bring alive
the black experience with THE COLOR PURPLE. I thought it was
quite a good film. It had faults, but from my point of view it
was quite moving. And being moving was precisely what it should
have been doing, being a way to convey emotion. There was,
however, a reaction from the Black community that a Jew should
not be making films capitalizing on the Black experience. Jews
should stick to films about Jews. And Spielberg took that
advice. A few years later Spielberg made SCHINDLER'S LIST, which
I consider a really great film.
But if Jews should not be making films about the other ethnic
groups' experiences, who but Armenians should be making films
about the Armenian experience? If there are major Armenian
filmmakers--and Atom Egoyan is one--they are the ones who should
be documenting those events that they do not want the world to
forget.
And I would tell my correspondent that film is not the only medium
that Armenians should use. The written word is also a powerful
medium and it is accessible to nearly everybody. He should be
collecting the stories and publishing them himself. Web sites are
fairly accessible to the general public. Newspapers are also.
Hoping that someone else will do it for him is probably being
foolish. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: 28 DAYS LATER (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: A modestly budgeted science fiction film has society
being destroyed by a virus that turns people into violent killers.
While some of the ideas and some of the story seem borrowed from
THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, the film itself seems freshly
nightmarish. Rating: 7 (0 to 10), low +2 (-4 to +4)
When a young George Lucas made AMERICAN GRAFFITI he felt he had a
good sci-fi film in him. A lot of successful artists feel
similarly they want to get back to the roots of their creativity
and do horror or science fiction or perhaps even a comic book
film. Fiction writer Alex Garland has been considered one of the
most promising talents in novel-writing since he published THE
BEACH back in 1997. Danny Boyle directed the jarring
TRAINSPOTTING in 1996. Now the two have gotten together to make a
modest horror film at the edges of the zombie sub-genre. 28 DAYS
LATER has strong echoes of John Wyndham's novel THE DAY OF THE
TRIFFIDS (adapted poorly as a feature film and well as a BBC
television production) and Richard Matheson's short novel I AM
LEGEND (adapted into the films THE LAST MAN ON EARTH and OMEGA
MAN). The film also owes a debt to "The Survivors," a good
British science fiction television series rarely seen in the
United States.
The story of 28 DAYS LATER involves a highly contagious virus that
improbably reduces its victims to ravening killers in just twenty
seconds. Society has fallen apart as the infected victims have
warred on those not yet infected. Consider that the person who
loves you right now can in thirty seconds be mortally determined
to kill you by any means necessary. How do social relationships
change? Do people become afraid to love? Is just staying alive,
as one character suggests, as good as it gets? Can one still
afford to be charitable to strangers? The one and only positive
is that if you are not sure if a person has been infected, in
twenty seconds you will know for sure.
The film opens with animal rights terrorists freeing chimpanzees
that have been infected with the virus. A lab attendant discovers
only a bit too late that much better security was needed to keep
the virus in the lab. Flash forward 28 days later. In a scene
borrowed from the beginning of THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, a man
comes out of a coma in a London hospital only to find the city
apparently has been deserted. The hospital is in a shambles; the
street is no better. As our confused patient wanders the familiar
streets in his hospital pajamas he can find nobody . . . until the
sun goes down. Then he finds more people than he really wanted.
Eventually he hooks up with some uninfected people, but their
troubles are far from over. Never explained is how a virus could
possibly work to take over a victim's mind in as little as twenty
seconds. It seems to be a contrivance of the premise. Equally
contrived is the fact that those who have been infected seem to
have a homicidal hatred of all those who are not yet infected but
seem to be immune from turning on each other. They even seem to
cooperate with other victims in plotting campaigns against those
not yet infected.
Anthony Dod Mantle's photography stylishly reduces the view of the
world to washes of ghoulish yellows and greens. The rather
artificial technique of reducing the picture to lower rates of
frames per second can be effective, but seems to be overused by
cinematography stylists. Here it is occasionally bothersome.
Still there are some scenes that, while perhaps not really being
frightening, are undeniably effective. One sequence in a tunnel
is certainly disquieting. The final third of the film breaks down
emphasizing more action than horror.
The casting budget has also been kept low with the most familiar
face being that of Irish actor Brendan Gleeson as a family man
caught up in the nightmare madness. Between 28 DAYS LATER and
CABIN FEVER, the latter due to be released in September, this will
be a much better than average year for inventive and disturbing
horror films. I rate 28 DAYS LATER a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a
low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Is This SF?? Alias Considered (TV comment by Dale L. Skran)
There is a weekly TV show running that contains the following
fantastic elements:? Genetic technology used to create perfect
duplicates? Energy weapons? Artificial eyes? A seer that can
predict the future? A super-genius who has made and hidden dozens
of fantastic inventions, including, apparently, a device for
extracting energy from vacuum? Immortality as an actual fact,
with centuries old characters? A secret program to select genius
children with spatial aptitudes and train them to be assassins at
the age of 8? A beautiful but deadly female super-spy who is the
first output of the above mentioned program? Her brilliant and
ruthless parents, who work for opposite sides? Just about every
amazing surveillance gizmo and weapon you’ve ever dreamed of? The
whole show being run by a cruel yet paternalistic father figure
who thinks of the beautiful super-spy as his own daughter.
Sounds like this might a TV show based on Heinlein’s novel Friday,
right? Clearly sounds like SF, right? Surely something the
critics will raise their noses at, right?
Wrong on *all* accounts!!!!
The above themes and ideas are all to be found in "Alias," an ABC
weekly drama staring Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow, a girl
with a really amazing aptitude for spatial puzzles and languages,
besides being really athletic, who is one day recruited by the
CIA. She gets trained, does well, becomes a field agent, and gets
engaged. Then she decides she really needs to tell her fiancé
that she is with a special division of the CIA, SD6, that is
really, really hush-hush. Within 24 hours she finds him dead in
the bathtub. Turns out that SD6 is really serious about folks not
being told, and for a good reason – SD6 is not the CIA. SD6 is
part of the Alliance, an underground group whose subdivisions are
called SD1, SD2, etc. made up mainly of ex-intelligence types who
trade arms and engage in other fun but highly illegal stuff. They
are highly trained, well organized, and have cool toys.
She decides to go the real CIA and ends up becoming a double agent
working with – incredibly enough – her father, Jack Bristow
(played by Victor Garber), who is the #2 guy at SD6, and is also a
double agent. Needless to say, this is all a big surprise to her
– she thought he worked in some kind of international business.
Her boss at SD6 is Arvin Sloan (played brilliantly by Ron Rifkin),
a man at once gentle and sadistic, fanatically dedicated to the
search for Rambaldi artifacts.
Up to this point we have a complicated plot, but nothing this is
more than X-files paranoia combined with James Bond. Now it gets
interesting. Turns out that about 500 years ago the Pope’s
architect, Rambaldi, was burned for being a warlock. Turns out he
had a lot of followers. Turns out he was a prophet. Turns out he
has secreted dozens of weird inventions around the world, and it
sure seems like he know the secret of immortality. Turns out that
whoever figures out all his secrets might end up running the
world.
Beneath the surface, a war rages around the world, as SD6, the
CIA, the NSA, K-directorate (the Russians), and "The Man" battle
for control of the artifacts. Sidney tries to balance the
competing goals of (a)working for SD6, (b)working for the CIA,
(c) staying alive, while (d) having a life and (e) getting closer
to her rather distant, controlled father. Now, things get really
interesting. At the end of season one, we learn that "The Man" is
really Sidney’s mother, played by Lina Olin, long believed to be
dead and known to be a KGB agent who killed the father of Sidney’s
CIA handler, Michael Vaughn. Sidney’s mother ends up working with
Sloan after the CIA puts the kibosh on the Alliance. Seems they
share the desire to understand the secrets’ of Rambaldi. Towards
the end of season two, Sloan climbs a mountain in Tibet to visit a
strange monastery. Inside he finds "Conrad" (played by David
Carradine), who reveals yet another layer of mystery surrounding
Rambaldi, which we can only hope will be revealed in season three
next fall.
This gives you some of the flavor of what "Alias" is all about.
Perhaps most amazing of all, "Alias" has generally received the
Emmy nominations that "Buffy" is routinely excluded from. By
and large the acting is excellent, with Sidney, her father, and
her mother putting in believable, affecting performances. On some
level, "Alias" is about the ultimate dysfunctional family. They
are attracted and yet repelled by each other while playing a
deadly game, in which it is prophesized by Rambaldi that either
Sidney or perhaps her mother will bring about the ruination of the
world.
One of the more interesting aspects of "Alias" is the extent to
which SF has penetrated the "normal" world of TV. This has been
going on for a while, as Tom Clancy created the "Techno-thriller"
genre which would certainly have been billed as SF, but now is
just a "thriller." "Alias" takes this even further, melding
themes that are much further out than are usually seen in "Techno-
thrillers" with Bond, LeCarre, and X-files paranoia. The result
is tons of fun for adults (this is not a show for kids – violence,
sex, torture, etc. but not gruesome either). It would certainly
be interesting to know to what extent, if any, "Friday" influenced
the writers involved in "Alias" as there are many parallels. I
also wonder if "Conrad" is not a deliberate reference to Zelazny’s
"This Immortal" – also called "And Call me Conrad."
A few more words about Sidney are appropriate. She has been
trained in Krav Maga, the self-defense method of the Israeli armed
forces, which can be best described as a set of refinements to
Bruce Lee’s "straight blast" attack. Generally, the fight
choreography fits this well. She is portrayed as a sneaky and
highly capable fighter, although not invincible when facing
larger, stronger, or quite numerous opponents. She also seems to
have an "Uncle Scrooge" like ability to learn languages. It is a
sort of running joke in Carl Bark’s Uncle Scrooge comics that
Scrooge can speak virtually any language fluently. Sidney seems
almost at this level, and sometimes it strains credulity.
However, there are still a lot of questions unanswered her,
including just how smart Sidney (or her father, or her mother) are
really supposed to be. They certainly have genius level IQs based
on their vast array of technical skills, command of languages, and
strategic insight, as well as ability to act/lie. Her mother
seems to have mastered a lot of oriental mind/body control
techniques, including slowing her breathing, staying fit while
locked in a tiny cell, being rested in odd positions, and
resisting pain. Sidney was used by her father as a test subject
for "Project Christmas" – a program to identify children with
strong spatial abilities and train them as assassins at age 8,
afterwards using unspecified techniques to suppress the memory of
this training. Besides being a legendary field agent, a master of
emotional control, and a strategic wizard, Jack Bristow seems to
have had the spare time to develop a program for training genius
children to be super-agents. Judging from Sidney, the program
was quite successful.
I highly recommend Alias – there have only been a few weak
episodes – and I certainly enjoy it more than "The Prisoner" (no
real plot) or "The Avengers." (fun, but more parody than not).
PS: I just want to put into writing my long-term predication as
to what this is really all about. I think that Rambaldi *is* one
of the major characters, perhaps Sloan or Jack Bristow, and that
he is trying to get the future to build a time machine so that he
can go back in time and become Rambaldi. This would explain
(easily) the accuracy of all his predications. If this is true, I
doubt that he died at the stake, as it has been established that
the technology to create a perfect physical duplicate of a person
exists. In any case, with a story this complicated, any
speculation is risky but fun!!! For example, for the 54th Emmys,
Alias was nominated for "Outstanding Casting for Drama," "Best
Lead Actress for Drama" (Jennifer Garner), and "Best Supporting
Actor for Drama" (Victor Garber). [-dls]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
During our trip to Oklahoma, I read a lot of topical books. In
West Virginia I read THE COALWOOD WAY by Homer Hickam, Jr., the
third book in the "Coalwood" trilogy. The first two are ROCKET
BOYS (made into the film OCTOBER SKY) and SKY OF STONE. THE
COALWOOD WAY takes part of the period of ROCKET BOYS and expands
upon it. While an authentic view of life in a coal town (and
perhaps more authentic in that aspect than ROCKET BOYS), it isn't
as enthralling as ROCKET BOYS. First of all, if you've read
ROCKET BOYS, you know how a lot of things in THE COALWOOD WAY will
turn out. And the other stories added made me feel as though the
first book had been, if not censored, at least somewhat
fictionalized by leaving out a lot of fairly important events. Of
the three, it is the most disappointing.
Stella Suberman's JEW STORE is a memoir of the author's family's
life in a small town in Tennessee, where they moved so her father
could open a dry goods store. (The title comes from the name
given to the dry goods stores opened in these small towns by
Jews. Apparently almost every small town large enough in the
South of the 1920s had one of these stores.) While it is true
that Hickam's memoirs have their hard times, they at least seem to
have a lot of friendship and happy events, while Suberman's story
is more downbeat. Her mother was never happy in Tennessee, the
neighbors never really accepted them (and they never really
accepted the neighbors), the Ku Klux Klan was always a threat, and
the Depression almost wiped everyone out. I was reminded of
RACHEL CALOF'S STORY, the memoir of a Jewish bride brought to a
sod house in North Dakota in the 1870s. That too was filled with
a lot of hard work, loneliness, and misery. In JEW STORE, the
misery is almost all Suberman's mother's, but it serves to drag
down the entire story. For Jews (or Southerners, I suppose) this
book has some interest, but I doubt others would get much from it.
I started Suzette Haden Elgin's TWELVE FAIR KINGDOMS, the first of
her "Ozark" trilogy, but other than the islands on this distant
planet having names similar to Arkansas and Tennessee, and a
geography that is basically a mirror image of the geography here
(except with islands), there seemed to be nothing Ozarkian about
the society. (Oh, there were "Grannies", but the social hierarchy
and structure put them in a different position than the
traditional Ozark "Granny".) [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
We can be knowledgeable with other men's
knowledge but we cannot be wise with other
men's wisdom.
--Michel de Montaigne
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