THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
08/17/07 -- Vol. 26, No. 7, Whole Number 1454
El Presidente: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
The Power Behind El Pres: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Administrivia and Names (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Commoner Vulgarities (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Why Are British Tools Incompatible with American Ones?
(comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Is Ray Bradbury the New James Fenimore Cooper? (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
More on Ray Bradbury (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
STARDUST (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
GLASSHOUSE by Charles Stross (book review by Joe Karpierz)
MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET) (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (letter of comment
by Dan Kimmel)
Unexpexcted Emergencies (letter of comment
by Stephen Lelchuk)
Nano NASFIC Report (letter of comment by Dan Kimmel)
School Supplies, RATATOUILLE, WONDERFUL LIFE and "Mystery"
(letter of comment by Joseph T. Major)
HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, WONDERFUL LIFE,
the Second Half of the 20th Century,
and THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM (letter of comment
by Taras WOlansky)
This Week's Reading (REVISITING NARNIA and THE MAN FROM
THE DIOGENES CLUB) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Administrivia and Names (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Thanks to Steve Goldsmith and Rob Mitchell for mailing out the MT
VOID while we were on a five-week vacation to the Canadian
Rockies. The issues were composed before we left, which is why
several letters of comment are appearing much later than they were
actually sent.
Also, some of you may have noted that the names for letters of
comment are not always consistent: sometimes the first name is
used in full and sometimes a nickname, or sometimes a middle
initial is used and sometimes not. This is because I am working
from e-mail headers, e-mail signatures, and memory. I will merely
quote Walt Whitman, that great New Jersey poet: "Do I contradict
myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I
contain multitudes.)" If you have an actual preference for how I
should refer to you, please let me know. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Commoner Vulgarities (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I note an increase of the use in family and children's programming
the use of phrases that have a sexual interpretation. It seems to
me to be just a little vulgar. On such phrase that I have heard
increasingly frequently is "size matters." It was already a stale
joke when the bad GODZILLA used it as their film tagline. This
morning CNN used the line "You never forget your first time."
These naughty double entendres may have been fresh and funny at
one point but certainly not since the 1980s. Still, I don't want
to feel I am as prudish as the women at one of my former companies
who was hooking up her PC. The Help Desk asked her if a cable end
was male or female. She did not know what that meant and the Help
Desk made the mistake of explaining to her. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Why Are British Tools Incompatible with American Ones?
(comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Interesting fact for mechanics and math fans: The British system
for defining the size of a hexagonal bolt is to give the length of
one side.of the hexagon. The American system was to give the
distance between the parallel sides. If the edge length is one,
the distance between the parallel sides is the square root of
three. This is why American and British wrenches are
incompatable. British widths and American widths vary by a factor
of the square root of three. To work on both you use an
adjustable monkey wrench. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Is Ray Bradbury the New James Fenimore Cooper? (comments by
Mark R. Leeper)
I was recently in a discussion about Ray Bradbury's THE MARTIAN
CHRONICLES. The book is a novel written in 1950 about the
colonization and subjugation of Mars by humans who had screwed
things up on Earth pretty badly and were migrating to Mars. The
conflicts with the native Martians in some ways reflect the
coming of Europeans to the New World and the destruction of the
native peoples. It is not really a novel in the traditional
sense but a collection of short stories Bradbury had written
about the conquest of Mars in the 1940s. A local radio station
found radio broadcasts of the individual stories in THE MARTIAN
CHRONICLES. Most of these came from the programs DIMENSION X and
X MINUS ONE. What struck me as it had not before was that the
individual stories were not of that high a quality. Most were on
the level of TWILIGHT ZONE episodes or comic book stories. Now I
generally like TWILIGHT ZONE episodes, but I do not consider them
great literature.
The MARTIAN CHRONICLES stories are not very good. The whole is
more than the sum of the parts. I think that later generations
will wonder what we saw in Bradbury. Perhaps he will be
remembered more for his novel FAHRENHEIT 451 about a future in
which all reading including classics like OLIVER TWIST will be
forbidden. It is a frightening vision of a possible future. I
will, however, point out that that is not the future we are
currently in. If I want to read OLIVER TWIST, I can download it
free to my palmtop with about five minute's effort. It was a lot
harder and probably more expensive to get to get a copy in 1953
when Bradbury wrote FAHRENHEIT 451. For over fifty years this
book has been interpreted as a warning against Soviet-style
censorship.
Recently Bradbury has commented on the book and said it was not
really about censorship. Now he says it was not about people not
being able to get books but about their disinclination to read.
Indeed, in our world the forces who want censorship are currently
losing their battle and the Internet is more and more triumphant,
but alliteracy, people who could read choosing not to, is indeed
very much with us. But for half a century Bradbury never
commented on this claimed "misinterpretation" of his novel. I
believe the novel is about censorship. Montag, his main
character, really does want to read and is not allowed to possess
literature. That is censorship; the book is not about his refusal
to read.
FAHRENHEIT 451 is a good novel, but its prediction of universal
censorship of literature is simply wrong. In my opinion THE
MARTIAN CHRONICLES is not a very good novel. His science was
absurd, even for its time. His writing style is lyrical and his
writing is admired because of it.
Ray Bradbury is considered to be a literary giant. In April
Bradbury was given a special recognition from the Pulitzer Prize
Committee for "his distinguished, prolific and influential career
as a science fiction and fantasy author." While this was not a
Pulitzer Prize, it was a recognition of his life achievement.
I think Ray Bradbury is the James Fenimore Cooper of our age.
Cooper was considered a great writer in his time. He had a great
humanitarian agenda to create respect for the Native Americans.
His stories were rather simplistic and often absurd. I remember
one incident in which his hero Natty Bumppo escapes from hostile
natives when he finds a bear skin, puts it on, and convinces his
captors that he is actually a bear. Cooper was at one time
considered one of America's greatest writers. Wilkie Collins said
of him, "Cooper is the greatest artist in the domain of romantic
fiction in America."
Then Mark Twain wrote an essay "Fenimore Cooper's Literary
Offenses" and it was like the Emperor's New Clothes. People
started looking at Cooper's writing and discovering his books were
not that good. Today Cooper is remembered as a minor writer.
(The essay can be found at
http://ww3.telerama.com/~joseph/cooper/cooper.html.
Bradbury is a beloved figure. When I was in school he was the one
science fiction writer who got some respect from English
teachers. Unlike Twain with Cooper, I am not saying that he is
not a reasonably good writer with a poetic strong style. But in a
time when fewer of the young generation are reading at all--
Bradbury is right about that--the poetry of his word choice is
becoming a dubious virtue. I do not think the next generation
will hold him in any special awe. I am just not sure that under
the style his stories are more than just okay. His writing has
been for his time, perhaps a time that is already passing. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: More on Ray Bradbury (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
An additional note about Ray Bradbury: When FAHRENHEIT 9/11 came
out, Ray Bradbury (author of SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, THE
GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN, and I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC) complained
bitterly that Michael Moore had appropriated his title FAHRENHEIT
451 and used it on his own work. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: STARDUST (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: With little pre-release fanfare, Neil Gaiman's STARDUST,
directed by Matthew Vaughn, comes to the screen as a first-class
fantasy film, one of the best. The story is convoluted but not
really confusing. A young man from our world on a quest to win
his love ends up being the fulcrum in a battle for the rule of a
kingdom in a magical world. Gaiman is a fresh and a different
voice in fantasy writing so the film is full of surprises and
some genuinely funny jokes. Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
Right now is the Golden Age of fantasy films. This year I have
already seen for the first time three fantasy films that are
among the best I can ever remember seeing. One was PAN'S
LABYRINTH and two have been based on the writings of Neil Gaiman.
The earlier one I got to too late to give it a review while it
was playing. That was MIRRORMASK. The story is in the range
okay to good, but the visuals are hypnotic. And now I was caught
by surprise by STARDUST. The title seems a tad twee and the
trailer was not very encouraging. It showed the film as mixing
unicorns and pirates, which seemed a little over the top to me.
Actually it mixes a lot more including ghosts, witches, human-
goats, and even some of the feel of the Gormenghast books. And
the film does work. It works so well in fact that while I was
watching it I was asking myself what other fantasy film could I a
make a good case was better. It is not easy to find one that
combines character, wit, a fast-paced plot, and visuals that are
done as well. (THE WIZARD OF OZ, for example, is a sentimental
favorite, but I would have to say that this film beats that one
on each of these counts.)
The combination of high fantasy and comedy make THE PRINCESS
BRIDE an obvious comparison. That film has considerably more
comedy, but the fantasy is a little threadbare (sometimes
intentionally as in the case of the giant rodents). STARDUST has
a better plot with more original fantasy, but in spite of some
very good humor, the older film has the edge.
When this film started I had no idea where it was going. An hour
or more into the film I had little better idea, and still was not
sure. The film begins with an odd little town in England called
Wall. It is so named because it has this circular wall that
nobody dares cross. It is claimed that inside the circle is
another world. Young Dunstan Thorn crosses the wall and surely
enough finds a mysterious land where magic works. He also finds
love with a mysterious princess held captive by a magical chain.
He returns home the only man knowing what is on the other side of
the wall. Uh, actually Dunstan is not really even an important
character in this story. What is important is that nine months
later he is presented with a son, the result of the romantic
encounter. It is Tristran (played by the relatively unfamiliar
Charlie Cox) the son with this magical beginning who will be our
hero. Well, actually not much of a hero. He is a sort of misfit
store clerk in love with a beautiful woman who finds him nearly
as fascinating as wallpaper paste is. To win her he sets himself
a quest to retrieve a fallen star from the other side of the
wall. The star has human form as Yvaine (Claire Danes). The
star is also sought by Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer). Also involved
are the sons of a recently dead king (the king played by Peter
O'Toole) who are blithely murdering each other since only one can
possess the throne. And I have not even mentioned how the Robert
De Niro character fits in since the less that you know the
better.
The idea of a celestial star in human form may be a bit sugary,
as we have in this film is a tad cloying. This is a film full of
strange fantasy ideas. Robert De Niro's character is a fresh
idea, but I am not sure I like how he takes the role. Still, I
like his dialog and the film's wit. One thing that cannot be
denied is that STARDUST has a lot of screen fantasy for a single
film. This is a creative, fresh, and subversive fairy tale and a
lot of fun. I rate it a low +3 on the -4 to +4 scale or 8/10.
Film Credits: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0486655/
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: GLASSHOUSE by Charles Stross (copyright 2006, Ace, $24.95,
335pp, ISBN 0-441-01403-8) (book review by Joe Karpierz)
As I just told my daughter, I have yet to read a Hugo-caliber
book among the three nominees that I've read to this point.
GLASSHOUSE is better; it's the best of the lot so far. But I'm
really not impressed.
Stross is a prolific writer, if nothing else. He's written some
pretty terrific stuff, in my mind, but GLASSHOUSE, while
interesting, seems to miss the mark for me. The novel apparently
takes place in the same universe as ACCELERANDO and not too long
after the events of that book. It wasn't clear to me that that
was the case--I only discovered that when reading the Wikipedia
entry about the book. I guess maybe that's the problem--I had to
read the entry to find out more about the book.
Our protagonist's name is Robin, and he's just woken up with most
of his memories missing. He's gone through a complete memory
edit of sorts, apparently of his own volition. Very early on he
discovers that someone is out to kill him. Meanwhile, he is
offered a chance to participate in a study of sorts of how folks
lived in the Dark Ages--in this case, the Dark Ages is our
current timeframe. He's still trying to decide whether to
participate in the study when he wakes up after backing himself
up to find himself in the study. And things are quite different
there.
First of all, he is a she. Second of all, it's primitive by
Robin's--now Reeve's--standards. It's more or less just like our
time period, with all the trappings, although the fact that
Stross states that the women stay home and the men go to work is
a little grating to me because it doesn't fit what I know as the
present day, although I suppose it could be a couple of decades
earlier than our own. The study is being run by sort of a
religious hierarchy--the "couples" (every one must pair off in a
"traditional" heterosexual relationship, another thing that
doesn't quite match today's society) must go to church every
Sunday, but it's not a traditional religious service of any kind.
It's more of a status update on the state of the "polity" and how
folks are doing in the study. You see, there's a point system,
and the more points you get, the better things are for you. For
example, certain standard, traditional behaviors are rewarded,
like having sex with your husband, having children, or living by
the rules of the society from the Dark Ages.
But there's something sinister going on, of course. It all has
to do with Curious Yellow, a memory-editing virus that infects
the gate system. It came to prominence in the Censorship Wars.
It turns out that there are probably rogue cells of those who
deployed Curious Yellow who are planning to try and reintroduce
it into the network of habitats that orbit various brown dwarfs
throughout the galaxy.
And that's where Robin/Reeve comes in. It turns out that he's in
the glasshouse (originally a military prison) on purpose, sent on
assignment to find out what's doing on in that polity. It seems
that something is amiss, and it all points to Curious Yellow and
the glasshouse project.
GLASSHOUSE is a nice little story--no more, no less. Aside from
the Family Trade series of novels, this is the most
straightforward of all the Stross novels I've read to date.
Still, it's not spectacular. It's a well-crafted, solid novel.
Nothing more, nothing less. It's not one of Stross' better
efforts. Still, it's the best of the bunch so far.
Next time--EIFELHEIM (no, I didn't write that rhyme on purpose).
Until then.... [-jak]
===================================================================
TOPIC: MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET) (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: In an account that is by turns funny, shocking, and
revolting, director Jason Kohn documents the state of modern-day
Brazil, ravaged by poverty, horrendous crime, and political
corruption. Chosen for a major investigation is Senator Jader
Barbalho who is claimed to have looted two billion dollars from a
fund to bring relief to the peoples of the Amazon region.
Visuals and descriptions are harrowing. Rating: low +2 (-4 to
+4) or 7/10
[Note that I have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the
point of view of the makers of this film. But since I cannot
vouch for the accuracy or inaccuracy, the views presented below
should be taken as those presented by the filmmakers and not a
viewpoint to which I personally can attest.]
MANDA BALA is the picture of a country and a society that is
entirely out of control. Told with black humor and stomach-
churning detail, this is a portrait of Brazil. In Jason Kohn's
film directorial debut we see the ravages that political graft
and that unchecked crime have caused. In particular, the film is
an indictment of Senator Jader Barbalho who has totally raped the
country. Barbalho has administered the funds of SUDAM
(Superintendência para o Desenvolvimento da Amazônia), the Amazon
Region Development Authority. This investment fund that Brazil
established to aid the peoples of the Amazon regions and to
foster investment. Instead the film tells us that the
investments have been 100% for corrupt projects and to siphon the
funds off for graft. They set up 400 projects, all claimed to be
corrupt. Nearly two billion dollars was stolen. Barbalho has
become very wealthy by graft as his country descends into chaos.
And we see the chaos. The only rich region of Brazil is Sao
Paulo. The poor have gravitated there as matter of survival and
its population is now about twenty million people. Because this
is where the money is, this is also where the crime is, and it
has reached apocalyptic levels. The people of San Paulo have
adapted as well as possible to the huge rated of kidnappings, at
the level of one a day in the city. These are among the most
brutal kidnappings one can imagine. The kidnappers favorite
tactic is to cut pieces off of the hostages and send them to the
family. This has become so common that there is, as the film
examines, a major industry in plastic and reconstructive surgery
to undo the maiming that kidnappers have done to extort ransom.
The filmmakers interview a kidnap victim whose ear was cut off
and sent to her family. In what seems like a digression of
questionable relevance we hear from a plastic surgeon what the
process is to reconstruct an ear from the cartilage remaining and
from flesh taken from other parts of the body. We get to see
close-up footage of such an operation. We also see the details
of bullet-proofing a car, something that has become a necessity
of living in Sao Paulo. Courses are given on how to drive the
heavier armored automobiles and how to handle an attack by
machine guns.
The documentary is told with a dark painful wit. It begins with
a frog farm, one of the corrupt projects set up by SUDAM. Frogs
are raised here to be eaten as a delicacy. This is farm is used
both literally and metaphorically. Under the end-credits we see
a tadpole pool with a small open drain. Most of the tadpoles
swim around unconcerned while those near the drain get sucked
down. Eventually more and more tadpoles fall through the drain
and the water level falls until every tadpole is affected.
The film is primarily in English, but with a fair proportion in
Portuguese. When a character is talking sometimes it will be
subtitled and sometimes an onscreen translator will interpret for
the camera. Many will find the verbal descriptions and the
images shown on the screen to be disturbing. The filmmakers note
that the film is not allowed to be shown in Brazil. And it is a
powerful and discouraging picture of life in that country. I
rate MANDA BALA a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10.
Film Credits: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0912590/
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (letter of comment
by Dan Kimmel)
In response to Evelyn's report of the Science Fiction Museum and
Hall of Fame, Dan Kimmel writes, "[W]hen I visited in 2005 (in
town for the NASFIC) ... I have to say it was the *worst* gift
shop I've experienced. I was *primed* to spend money, and
couldn't find anything. The t-shirt selection was mediocre. The
only lapel pins were in elaborate sets. I couldn't believe I
walked away with nothing." [-dk]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Unexpexcted Emergencies (letter of comment by Stephen
Lelchuk)
In response to Mark's article on cliffhangers in the 08/03/07
issue of the MT VOID (in which he says, "Think about what
unexpected emergency may happen to you any moment.", Steve
Lelchuk writes, "Tell me about it. (He says, looking out his
office window in Minneapolis at the remains of the I-35 bridge.)"
[-sl]
Evelyn replies, "Which we probably drove over four weeks ago.
But I don't think our Toyota was what did it in, even loaded as
it was." [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Nano NASFIC Report (letter of comment by Dan Kimmel)
The NASFIC just justified itself with a panel I did this morning
on the 7th Harry Potter book. It was a roomful of people who had
read it and could freely discuss their reactions and favorite
parts (or criticisms) without people screaming about spoilers.
-:) [-dk]
===================================================================
TOPIC: School Supplies, RATATOUILLE, WONDERFUL LIFE and "Mystery"
(letter of comment by Joseph T. Major)
In response to the 08/10/07 issue of the MT VOID, Joseph Major
writes:
School Supplies: "Trapper Keepers" are a kind of three-ring
notebook noted for having a different kind of binder lock:
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=556960
What really worries me is the costs of college. It was hard
enough for my mother but at least I didn't end up owing my soul
to the college-loan bank. Now all the kids seem to do this, but
they need to have a laptop or two, an iPod, a cellphone with
camera, a Palm Pilot . . . and the expenses of subscribing to the
various services, too. They are so connected that they have
nothing to say.
RATATOUILLE: The talking rat makes me think of THE COACHMAN RAT
(1989) by David Henry Wilson, a very dark retelling of the story
of Cinderella from a different point of view. It too had a
talking rat. Not to mention a rather surprising gloss on the
Fairy Godmother.
WONDERFUL LIFE: The evolution of the horse exhibit at the
International Museum of the Horse at the Kentucky Horse Park
shows a tree of proto-horses, even as it still concentrates on
the trail leading to Equus equus. I wonder why no one's
mentioned in a time-travel story the idea of picking up
Hyracotherium as a house pet. Two hands high, let's hope
it's easy to potty train.
"Mystery" adaptations: There was a paper given at the Sherlock
Holmes/Arthur Conan Doyle Symposium a few years ago about the
deficiencies of the later Granada TV adaptations (which often
didn't have Jeremy Brett, due to his ill-health by then; the
stories had Mycroft Holmes [Charles Gray] and Watson). They
added subplots and characters to stretch the stories out to two
one-hour episodes. [-jtm]
===================================================================
TOPIC: HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, WONDERFUL LIFE,
the Second Half of the 20th Century, and THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
(letter of comment by Taras Wolansky)
In response to Mark's review of HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE
PHOENIX in the 08/10/07 issue of the MT VOID, Taras Wolansky
writes:
Review of Harry Potter #5, IMAX: Actually, having things poke out
at the audience has been pretty routine for 3D movies since the
early 1950s, but is looked upon as something of a cheesy stunt.
[-tw]
[Mark notes, "They save it for just one or two shots per film.
Most of THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON is recessed but the
have a spear gun come out of the screen at the audience. HOUSE
OF WAX had the ball and paddle sequence and not a whole lot
else." -mrl]
The IMAX version of SUPERMAN RETURNS, with a couple of pretty
useless 3D scenes inserted, had Superman fly out over the
audience at the end. It looked like a plastic doll on strings.
The 3D sequence in HP5, though it is also computer-generated
rather than filmed with two cameras, is far more satisfying and
worthwhile, adding something to an important part of the movie.
The only oddity was that the filmmakers had already used depth of
focus to give a 3D impression in 2D. So there were 3D blurry
objects in the background at times.
The politics of HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX can be
read in more than one way. For years, with tongue in cheek, I've
been calling this volume in the series "Harry Potter Starts a
Right-Wing Militia".
Wands are, after all, more dangerous than guns. And while
Dolores Umbridge and the Ministry of Magic don't quite try to
make Hogwarts a "Wand-Free School Zone", they do try to prevent
the students from using, or learning how to use, their wands as
weapons.
Note that the generally accepted chronology of the seven books
runs from 1991 through 1998. See http://tinyurl.com/2e6swk
(Caution: contains spoilers.)
The Nineties were, indeed, a period in which governments were
trying to sweep the growing threat of terrorism under the rug.
However, it's pretty obvious the real-world analogue Rowling was
thinking of was the reluctance to oppose Hitler in 1930s Great
Britain and Germany. [-tw]
In response to Evelyn's column on books in the same issue, Taras
writes:
This Week's Reading: Interesting that you spotted the Christian
bias in one scholar, J. Rufus Fears, but not the leftist bias in
the other: Stephen Jay Gould. Darwinism has always been a
problem for the left because, if intelligence developed by
natural selection, there had to have been hereditary differences
to select.
Gould tries to deal with this in several ways. He pushes human
evolution as far back as he possible can, and posits that it
stopped maybe a hundred thousand years ago; wishful thinking even
before recent DNA work showing significant changes as little as
7000 years ago. He emphasizes randomness over selection in
evolutionary history, thereby giving creationists ammunition.
Gould's view of the Burgess Shale as showing the randomness of
evolution has not held up well in the years since he published
WONDERFUL LIFE in 1989. For example, a very weird creature that
walked on pointed legs turned out to be a sort of spiny worm,
upside down. Wikipedia shows 19 Burgess Shale species assigned to
known taxa and only 8 of "uncertain classification". [-tw]
[Evelyn responds, "I guess didn't mention Gould being leftist
because I think everyone pretty much recognizes it. As for his
conclusions being shown to be incorrect, I suspect he would be
among the first to think that was a good thing." -ecl]
In response to Mark's three-part article on the second half of
the 20th century starting in the 06/06/13 issue of the MT VOID,
Taras adds:
Going back a few issues, the declining amenities of air travel
have nothing to do with fuel costs. Ever since airline
deregulation passed in 1978 and airlines were permitted to
compete on price as well as on amenities, there's been a blizzard
of articles about this. I've probably read dozens myself.
Deregulation finally permitted consumer sovereignty to operate:
it turned out most people preferred cruddy but cheap over fancy
but expensive. The airlines that couldn't adjust to the new
environment died, while new ones took their place. [-tw]
And finally, he writes, "Thanks for the useful consumer info on
the new 'Bourne' movie. I will avoid." [-tw]
[Mark replies, "You might want to get a second opinion. Frankly,
I am in the minority on this one." -mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Last week I talked about some of what I read (or listened to) on
our recent trip to the Canadian Rockies. But wait, there's more.
The BBC ran an adaptation of C. S. Lewis's "Chronicles of
Narnia"--all seven books, running about twenty-four hours in
total. We listened to this (over several days), and I also read
REVISITING NARNIA: FANTASY, MYTH AND RELIGION IN C. S. LEWIS'
CHRONICLES edited by Shanna Caughy (ISBN-13 978-1-932100-63-1,
ISBN-10 1-932100-63-6). This is a collection of essays about the
Narnia books from various perspectives. For example, in "Greek
Delight" Nick Mamatas explains how Lewis's theology is very Roman
Catholic and often completely at odds with the Greek Orthodox
view of God and Jesus. (And also how if you want to recreate the
taste of Turkish Delight, you should "find a well-worn sliver of
fragrant soap, dip it in confectioner's sugar, and eat it."
Naomi Woods's "God in the Details" makes a lot of points I agree
with. Woods says that at times it seems as if Aslan had created
Narnia for the benefit of children from Earth, so that they could
come there and learn spiritual/religious lessons. Also, all the
good children seem priggish, possibly because what Aslan teaches
is blind obedience to him. Lewis at times uses characters' looks
to signal that they are not the "good guys": "prim dumpy little
girls with fat legs" or boys who look like pigs. Eustace's love
of informational books and his parents' vegetarianism are
considered negative qualities, and the Calormenes embody all the
negative stereotypes of the Arabs.
There are *two* essays on the "correct" reading order for the
books. They agree that the correct order is that in which they
were written, but for completely different reasons.
My own observation is that in THE LAST BATTLE, Shift (the ape)
deceives everyone by telling them that they cannot speak to Aslan
directly, but only through him. This sounds to me very much like
the traditional Catholic view that the priest is needed to
intercede between God and man, and I was a bit surprised to see
Lewis show that as such a negative thing and prone to abuse.
And if the end of THE LAST BATTLE is "the beginning of the real
story", what kind of story can it be, with no conflict and no
change? "The term is over; the holidays have begun." But what
is the purpose of a never-ending holiday? It may be enjoyable,
but as a story, it is not very interesting.
THE MAN FROM THE DIOGENES CLUB by Kim Newman (ISBN-13 978-1-
932265-17-0, ISBN-10 1-932265-17-1) are stories centering around
Richard Jeperson, a detective specializing in the supernatural in
1970s Britain. (I wondered if Newman had been inspired by
Seabury Quinn's Jules de Grandin, but in an afterword Newman
lists the authors who had influenced him and Quinn is not one of
them.) "Tomorrow Town" is probably of the most interest to
science fiction fans, since it takes place in a utopian community
and involves science fiction writers, Hugo awards, and so on.
(The writers and even some of the Hugo categories are fictional,
making this an alternate history of sorts.) The best story,
though, may be "Egyptian Avenue"; it is also the shortest. Some
of the longer ones seem to drag a bit, something I never thought
I would say about Newman's writing.
Oh, yes, and synchronicity seems to be omnipresent: I read the
glossary for THE MAN FROM THE DIOGENES CLUB, which explained
(among other terms) "Heath Robinson" (the British equivalent of
Rube Goldberg), and two days later I was watching an episode of
the BBC's "Planet Earth" in which they used the term. And
watching a documentary on American photography, we saw a
high-speed photograph of a bullet going through an apple that we
had just seen in a display in the National Inventors Hall of Fame
in Akron six days earlier. [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle;
Old Age a regret.
-- Benjamin Disraeli, Coningsby