THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
06/29/07 -- Vol. 25, No. 52, Whole Number 1447
El Presidente: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
The Power Behind El Pres: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
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Topics:
Steam Trek (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Irony (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
The Vanishing Movie Theater Experience (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
IN BETWEEN DAYS (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
Almost Human (letter of comment by Andre Kuzniarek)
SH20--The Seeds of Destruction (letter of comment
by Daniel Kimmel)
SH20--The Seeds of Destruction (letter of comment
by John Purcell)
This Week's Reading (Science Fiction Museum and Hall of
Fame) (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Steam Trek (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
A fairly amusing "Star Trek" parody is available at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y39gHihP74. If you like it,
remember that it is eligible for the Hugo for Best Dramatic
Presentation, Short Form. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Irony (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
George Carlin says: "Think of how stupid the average person is,
and realize half of them are stupider than that." I think he
meant how stupid the median person is. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: The Vanishing Movie Theater Experience (comments by Mark
R. Leeper)
I like to discuss current films with friends, just as I like to
write reviews. I have noticed a disturbing trend in that my
friends have frequently seen current major films that I have not.
Well, just because I review films does not imply I see all the
major films that are released. A lot of people I know go to the
movies more frequently than I do these days. I don't consider it
a responsibility to see all the major films that are released,
just because I like to write about my impressions of the films I
do see. Actually, these days I simply do not go to the movie
theater very often. That should not be disturbing to me, it
should be disturbing to theater owners. True, I am just one
person, but I really am a cinema fan. If I do not want to go see
a movie in a theater, a lot of people less fanatic than I am will
probably not want to either. I like cinema as much as ever, but
a lot of things are happening.
First, what is happening is that DVDs have improved the film
experience in the home. This is even truer for people who have
hi-tech home entertainment systems. I have not gone very hi-tech
myself. It surprises me to realize that of my immediate family I
have the lowest tech means of watching films at home. I have not
invested in much but a nice but outdated television--no HD, no
digital. I watch on a 34-inch screen. But that is sufficient to
my needs for now. There are few films that I would want to
purchase on DVD that are more expensive than two theater tickets
would cost for even a matinee. And if I buy the DVD I can see it
as many times as I want whenever I want. If I rent a film from
NetFlix the Evelyn and I can see it at home for under $.75 a
piece. That is about *one tenth* the price of two matinee
theater tickets. And the film comes to my mailbox, so I save
even more in driving and personal time. If I want refreshments
they are in the kitchen at grocery store prices without waiting
in line.
Of course, I cannot ignore the fact that the theater experience
is enjoyable to me. I really like the big towering screen. I
can sort of get that effect at home by just sitting on the floor
near the television and watching the relatively high-quality DVD
picture. (I actually do that, by the way. Incidentally, I have
recently read that all you heard from your parents that sitting
near the television destroys your eyes or sends deadly rays into
your head is poppycock. Actually television sets purchased prior
to 1968 did emit X-rays, but that time is long gone. It is a
myth that sitting too near to the television can cause anything
but possible eye fatigue. Probably the myth should have died
when people realized they would sit even closer to a PC monitor
and the issue of X-rays does not come up with PCs. Now cell
phones may be a different matter.)
But as I say, the movie theater has a big disadvantage in that it
is so much more expensive than going the DVD route. Movie
theaters seem to go in cycles and every one of them seems to jack
up the price about the same time. Where I am most theaters are
now in the $7.00 range for matinees. Other parts of the country
matinees are higher than they are around here. I remember when
New York Mayor Koch was suggesting a boycott of theaters that
charged $7 for evening performances. Today that would be a
bargain price.
But that is not enough for the theaters to rake in. The
distributor is taking in a big piece of the take so the theaters
have to make money any way they can. For a long time they would
do it by overcharging for popcorn and candy and drinks. That did
not affect me much since usually I chew gum at a movie. Anything
in my hands makes it harder to take notes. I never minded much
when the ads were coming attractions for films, but that is no
longer the case. Now they are ads for the same things you see
advertised on television. (It was not all that long ago that I
was shocked to see theaters in England ran car ads and soda ads.
They were always at the beginnings of films and were presented as
if the ads were entertainment. Two people named Pearl and Dean
had their names at the beginning of the ads like ruining the
movie experinece was something that Pearl and Dean were proud of.
Well it must have worked in England because it seems to have
spread here.) Our local Regal Cinema--yes, I will use the name--
runs twenty minutes of ads including movie ads. They are an
eleven-minute drive away. I have come to realize that if I leave
home when the listings say or even five minutes after they say
the film will start, I will be in my seat when the movie actually
does start and I will be somewhat less annoyed.
The only thing that can slow me down is if walking to my seat I
get stuck to the floor. Okay, that is a bit of an exaggeration,
but the theaters are just not kept very clean. Popcorn on the
floor is not a real problem. You can walk on that fairly easily
and it does not stick to your shoes unless you have treads.
Candy does stick, but usually is easy to dislodge. Chewing gum
on the floor is more of a problem. Spilled soda does less damage
than gum, but over a much wider area, so it is a toss-up. And
luckily I do not often run into toss-up, which would be the worst
of all. And this is scary: the last time I went to a theater I
tried to leave by the exit door in the theater. I pushed on the
door and it made a gritty scraping noise of metal on cement and
opened about an inch. Shove as I might, that was as far as it
opened. That has to be illegal. But the muckiness of the
theaters irritates me so that I cannot see straight.
Sometimes not seeing straight is an advantage because more and
more these days the film there is a horizontal strip at the top
of the picture that should be at the bottom or vice versa. Over
the past decade the incidence of projection errors has increased
markedly. The film is not properly framed or is out of focus or
the sound is not working. I have to go back out, risking the
dirty floors, to find someone to fix the picture. Usually there
is nobody obvious. You find just a ticket taker and he/she says
he/she may or may not tell the guy running the projectors. There
is one person running all the projectors. And this is not
someone you would put a lot of faith in. First they have screwed
up already and secondly they look like a teenager or someone in
their early twenties at the oldest. It is someone who the
theater could hire cheaply, but usually nobody who could possibly
have much technical experience projecting films. I assume that
the projection equipment is made so idiots can run it, even for
20 screen theaters. But that assumes that nothing goes wrong.
With a responsibility for twenty screens they have no time to
monitor the theaters to see if things are being projected
properly. Time was you had fewer projectors and fewer screens
and someone more elderly who knew the equipment cold and how to
use it. Experienced people would take this job because they got
to see the movies free as a fringe benefit, and they were mature
enough to appreciate cinema.
Today most of the multiplex films would only appeal to the
younger people they get to run the theaters. There are far fewer
films that have what we used to consider good and interesting
writing. Instead, the multiplexes seem to be going in for fast-
and-furious-paced bubble-gum films with lots of superheroes and
giant explosions and creatures that come out of a computer. That
is what the younger set wants to see and to talk about. They
cannot wait for the film to be over to talk about it. And they
don't. They have to talk to their friends right then and there.
They even talk on cell phones in the middle of the movie as if
they were watching it from their own den. And I don't blame them
because these days the den is becoming the most logical place to
see a film, even if it is a few months after other people have
first seen the film. As long as you can avoid having other
people tell you about the ending. So these days I go weeks and
sometimes months between times when I go to see a movie in a
theater. Theaters are just not as inviting as they used to be.
I think the exhibitors are cutting throats since they are in
competition with a lot more other media. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: IN BETWEEN DAYS (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: First time writer and director So Yong Kim gives us a
naturalistic portrait of the relationship between two disaffected
Korean teenagers living in Toronto. Aimie is sullen and
antagonistic. In her efforts to hold on to her boyfriend and to
punish her mother she is entering a self-destructive spiral. IN
BETWEEN DAYS is shot in a documentary-like style, but some of the
artistic decisions do not always work in the film's favor.
Rating: high 0 (-4 to +4) or 5/10
Even at 82 minutes IN BETWEEN DAYS seems to drag. The film opens
with about 40 seconds of a handheld camera shot of the back of
someone's head as she walks through Toronto's snow. That someone
turns out to be Aimie (played by Jiseon Kim), a 16-ish immigrant
from Korea. Aimie is in a new country and not adapting well to
living in Canada. Aimie's father has abandoned his small family
and Aimie takes her frustration on her mother. She has become
sullen and uncommunicative with her teacher, her mother, and even
her boyfriend Tran (Taegu Andy Kang) whom right now she sees as
the only good thing in her life.
Aimie is taking the same English class that Tran does, but
Aimie's attitude is getting in the way, and her only pleasure
seems to be her time spent with Tran. She is nearly as silent
with him as she is with her mother. Tran is finding Aimie
uninteresting and beginning to drift away from her to the world
of sex and drugs. Aimie secretly quits her English class, gets a
refund, and spends the proceeds on Tran in an effort to hang on
to him. First time director So Yong Kim creates a very realistic
portrait of his alienated subject, and her problems seem little
different from those any teenager might face.
A film like this either works or fails depending on how well the
characters are drawn. So Yong Kim gives the film an almost
documentary feel showing us Aimie's long withdrawn silences and
her efforts to talk without really communicating, but the film is
definitely taxing. And at least three sequences of trudges
through the snow looking at the back of Aimie's head do not make
the film any less taxing. Sarah Levy's camera focuses on close
ups on hands and faces but the passive expressions are equally
uninformative.
So Yong Kim came from Korea at age 12 and grew up in Los Angeles
in a culture of suppressed sexual interest and tension and that
experience inspired and informed her script. So Yong Kim's
experiences of coming of age and at the same time trying to
understand an alien society were the source for the conflicts
that define Aimie. Jiseon Kim (no relation to the director)
expresses her impassive character well enough to wall us out, but
not expressively enough to pull us in.
This is a film that is selective in its appeal. Its minimalist
approach and its long silences will limit its appeal. IN BETWEEN
DAYS is a sincere effort, but one almost feels one is watching
someone's video-camera diary. I rate it a high 0 on the -4 to +4
scale or 5/10.
Film Credits: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0492463/
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Almost Human (letter of comment by Andre Kuzniarek)
In response to Mark's comments on "Almost Human" in the 06/22/07
issue of the MT VOID, Andre Kuzniarek writes, "Indeed, there was
a 'Dr. Who' story (Episode? Actually collection of four
episodes, as was the way that show used to tell stories) from the
80's that dealt with this topic, called 'The Robots of Death' I
believe..." [-ak]
===================================================================
TOPIC: SH20--The Seeds of Destruction (letter of comment by
Daniel Kimmel)
In response to Mark's article on the second half of the 20th
century in the 06/22/07 issue of the MT VOID, Dan Kimmel writes:
I must take great exception to Mark's reading of the current
political climate.
Bush is not a misguided soul doing his best. He is a man who--
through his own desires or those of the people around him--is
conducting one of the biggest seizures of power by the government
in the history of this nation. No, they're not trying to stop you
from reading "Huckleberry Finn." But they ARE trying to pry into
every aspect of your life, unless you're a corporate CEO or gun
owner, the only areas where they seem to insist on a right of
privacy. From illegal and unauthorized wiretapping, to signing
statements where the president assumes the power of the
legislature and the judiciary in determining how the law should
apply, this is a presidency that feels itself responsible to no
one but itself. The use of Guantanamo Bay as a prison camp
outside of our legal system is alone enough to condemn him, but
there's much more.
Mark also falls into the trap of many people in blaming the
Democratic leadership in Congress in failing to turn the country
around. It's a common mistake, since the rightwing media (which
still insists that our media is dominated by the left) keeps
telling us this. In fact, the Democrats have only slim
majorities in both houses of Congress. In the Senate it's a
single vote, and that vote is Joe Lieberman, a repugnant
"independent" who even voted with Bush on the recent attempt to
censure our criminally incompetent attorney general. The
Democrats have *tried* to change things. They tried to set a date
to end the war. They tried to lift the ban on government funded
stem cell research. In both cases Bush vetoed it, and in both
cases the Democrats simply do not have the votes to override. To
blame the *Democrats* for this (in a faux "a plague on both your
houses" attempt at being even-handed) is completely misleading.
In the 570 or so days remaining in the Bush administration
(assuming he doesn't exempt himself from the expiration of his
term as well), the job of the Democrats is to keep raising the
issues and convincing the Republicans--by whatever licit means
are necessary--that continuing to defending this corrupt and
failing administration is doing tremendous harm to the country.
Pretending that this is anything but a problem *caused* by Bush
and those Republicans who support him in Congress is an attempt
to relieve them of the responsibility for the terrible damage
they have done and continue to do. [-dk]
===================================================================
TOPIC: SH20--The Seeds of Destruction (letter of comment by John
Purcell)
In response to Mark's article on the second half of the 20th
century (and others) in the 06/22/07 issue of the MT VOID, John
Purcell writes:
Good morning, Mark!
Say, it appears that my little Daily Show-esque joke certainly
prompted an interesting response from you. Truth be told, I also
don't believe that the Bush Administration is being deliberately
malicious or trying to be a Big Brother type of entity. However,
like you and many other Americans, I have strong disagreements
with the President's decisions and decision-making process. It
is definitely counter-productive to use name-calling and such at
this stage of the game, and I am afraid that the administration's
decision to take military action in Iraq may have been well-
intended at the beginning, but was guided by misinformation with
a definite lack of planning and foresight. This is a bad
combination, and how this situation will eventually resolve is a
long ways off. Thus many Americans are drawing a parallel
between the Iraq war and Vietnam, despite the fact that they are
two completely different conflicts with extremely different
results.
I dunno. I guess all we can do is hope that cooler, more
rational heads will prevail, and that the new, "Democrat-
controlled" Congress will try to do something. Who knows? I, for
one, am not holding my breath for immediate results. That is
unrealistic. Sadly, I think too many Americans want results NOW
and they don't understand that some things--like war, economies,
social change, etc.--take a long time to work themselves out. So
we are only going to have to hurry up and wait.
Also, as far as LaHaye and Jenkins are concerned, I don't
necessarily agree with their conclusions, but was merely pointing
them out. Taken at their own level, what those writers have
presented is interesting reading, at least I think so. You might
find this shocking, but I have actually read all twelve of the
Left Behind books. They were, for the most part, quite
entertaining reading. I don't believe in what LaHaye and Jenkins
wrote as Scriptural Truth or anything like that; after all, it is
all fiction, and nothing more. When those novels became preachy
instead of telling their stories, then they bogged down. A lot.
Take this for what you will. I enjoyed reading them at that
level: entertainment. If anything, that series definitely falls
in the unique sub-genre of Christian Science Fiction. Now
there's a special interest group if there ever was one!
One other final comment: I really like your self-description of
being "Geometrically Considerate." Like many other American males
in their 50s, I am fighting my own Battle of the Bulge. The
enemy advance has been halted, but is not retreating. I think
it's time for both sides to call a truce and eat a chocolate bar
of peace.
Take care, and thank you for sending your zine this way. [-jp]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Last April we visited Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in
Seattle. Since over the summer travel and vacation tend to
decrease the amount of reading I do, I will be reporting on the
Museum in my column--for several weeks.
[A note on typography: Normally I use all caps for book and film
titles, but I am converting this *back* from HTML, so I have gone
for the easy way, and am putting them in quotation marks
instead.]
This being Seattle, we drove around a bit to try to find
reasonably priced parking. It turns out there is a garage at the
corner of Thomas and 1st Avenue that charges $6/day, which is
considerably cheaper than the standard downtown garages.
The admission price used to be $12.95, or $26.95 in combination
with the EMP (Experience Music Project). (EMP alone was $19.95.)
After *everyone* said that was way over-priced, they lowered the
price as of April 1, 2007. The new price is $15 for both
museums, with no separate individual museum pricing. In
addition, AAA membership gets you a $4 discount, bringing the
price down to $11/person. This is actually on a par with movie
ticket prices, and since both museums are considered must-sees by
the tour books, it solves a dilemma. You see, the building is
open 10AM to 5PM, or seven hours. AAA says to allow three hours
minimum at the Science Fiction Museum and four hours minimum at
EMP. A visitor who is interested primarily in one museum may say
to himself, "Well, if I spend more time than the minimum in one,
I won't have very much time for the other, so the combination is
not a good deal. But if I want to see both, the combination *is*
a good deal."
I will say now that this is a must-see for science fiction fans,
but I will have more to say at the end.
One downer is that the Museum does not allow cameras.
In the lobby, we were met by a full-size model of Gort. The
Museum has the same restroom labels as at L.A.con IV (see
http://tinyurl.com/2xem2a), done (I think) by Therese Littleton.
(One assumes that the Museum had them first.) There were movie
posters for "Alien", "At the Earth's Core", "Final Fantasy",
"Riddick", and "Battlestar Galactica", and the Robert McQuarrie
concept art for "Star Wars". (I think the latter were the
originals, but it was hard to tell.)
The first section was "HOMEWORLD". This described "What if?" as
the basic theme of science fiction. Ironically, there was very
little about alternate history in any of the exhibits, and that
is the classic "what if?" genre. They did have "Years of Rice
and Salt" by Kim Stanley Robinson ("what if the Black Death wiped
out all of western civilization?"), "The Man in the High Castle"
by Philip K. Dick ("what if the Allies had lost World War II?"),
"Redshift Rendezvous" by John Stith ("what if the speed of light
were only 22 miles per hour?"), and "The Sound of Thunder" by Ray
Bradbury.
Throughout, one found quotes, such as, "Everything considered,
the world of science fiction is not a bad place to live."
(Frederik Pohl)
There was a painting, "Ray Harryhausenland" by Michael
Pucciarelli, which was a mural that included images from most of
Harryhausen's films.
The first, and sort of underlying, exhibit was a science fiction
timeline, divided into sections displaying book covers, magazines
covers, movie posters, etc.:
- Prolog/The Early Years: Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, H. G.
Wells, Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, "Argosy" 1922 issue
with "The Chessmen of Mars", "Science and Invention" August issue
(labeled "Scientific Fiction Number")
- 1926-1937/Classic Pulps: "Metropolis", "Brave New World",
"Amazing" (April 1939 issue with "World Without Women"), "Super
Science Stories" (May 1942 issue with "The Prisoner of Time"),
"Thrilling Wonder Stories" (June 1940 issue with "Dr. Cyclops"),
"The Thing of Venus" by Wilbur S. Peacock, and "Swastika Night"
by Murray Constantine
- 1938-1946/A Golden Age: "Astounding" issue from 1942, "Out of
the Silent Planet", Donald Wollheim's "The Pocketbook of Science
Fiction", "Astounding" issue of October 1939, "Deadline" by Cleve
Cartmill ("Astounding" March 1944), Orson Welles's "War of the
Worlds", and "Million Year Picnic" by Ray Bradbury
- 1947-1951/Masters of the Universe: "Rocketship Galileo" by
Robert A. Heinlein; "The Thing from Another World"; "1984" by
George Orwell; "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov; "Slan" by A. E. Van
Vogt; "Galaxy" (November 1950 issue); and "The Martian
Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury
- 1952-1960/Soft Science: "The Twilight Zone"; "Childhood's End"
by Arthur C. Clarke; "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury; "A Case of
Conscience" by James Blish; "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter
M. Miller, Jr.; "If" (May 1962 issue); "The Magazine of Fantasy &
Science Fiction" (issue #8); "20,000 Leagues under the Sea";
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers"; "Twenty Million Miles to
Earth"; "Forbidden Planet"; "Them"
- 1961-1976/The New Wave: "My Favorite Martian", "The Lovers" and
"To Your Scattered Bodies Go" by Philip Jose; Farmer, Harlan
Ellison's "Dangerous Visions", "The Left Hand of Darkness" by
Ursula K. LeGuin, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by
Philip K. Dick, "The Female Man" by Joanna Russ, "Analog" (March
1965 issue, "Prophet of Dune"), "Vertex" issue, "The Jetsons",
"The Planet of the Apes", "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Dr.
Strangelove", "Star Trek", "Worlds of Tomorrow" (April 1963
issue), and "Lost in Space"
- 1977-1984/Science Fiction Goes Global: "Isaac Asimov's Science
Fiction Magazine" (Fall 1977 issue), "Close Encounters of the
Third Kind", "Timescape" by Gregory Benford", an issue of "Omni",
"Blade Runner", "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial", anime, "Riddly
Walker" by Russell Hoban, "Neuromancer" by William Gibson,
"Schismatrix" by Bruce Sterling, "The Handmaid's Tale" by
Margaret Atwood, "Forge of God" by Greg Bear, "Brazil", "Akira",
Queen record cover, "Star Wars", and "Dr. Who"
- 1985-1991/The Cyber Revolution: "The Uplift War" by David Brin;
"Cyteen" by C. J. Cherryh; "The Difference Engine" by William
Gibson and Bruce Sterling; "A Fire upon the Deep" by Vernor
Vinge; "The Abyss"; "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever" by James Tiptree,
Jr.; "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card; and "The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams
- 1992-Present/Ad Astra, Again: "Parable of the Talents" by
Octavia Butler, "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson, "The Golden
Compass" by Philip Pullman, "Trouble and Her Friends" by Melissa
Scott, "Vacuum Diagrams" by Stephen Baxter, "Interzone" (issue
132), "The Matrix", "Men in Black", "Futurama", "Contact". "A.I.:
Artificial Intelligence", "The Story of Your Life and Other
Stories" by Ted Chiang, "Revolution Space" by Alistair Reynolds,
"The Steampunk Trilogy" by Paul Di Filippo, "Wolverine", and
"Signs"
[On the chart, some of these seemed to be in the wrong sections,
but I think that was because the boundaries were not strictly
vertical lines.]
[to be continued] [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
What is faith? Credulity gained at the cost of self.
-- Anonymous