THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
08/22/08 -- Vol. 27, No. 8, Whole Number 1507
El Honcho Grande: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
La Honcha Bonita: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Catching Up to the iPod (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Four Short Takes (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper)
Fanzines, the Internet, Comic Book Films,
Jorge Luis Borges, and Brother Cadfael
(letter of comment by John Purcell)
This Week's Reading (Olaf Stapledon and LAST AND FIRST
MEN) (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Catching Up to the iPod (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I am somewhat behind curve on new technology. I think everybody
is fated to be behind the curve sooner or later. Back in the
time of the first VCRs people came to me for technical advice.
That was probably in the late 1970s. Sadly, technology moves
faster and faster and I just do not. I may be one of the world's
greatest experts on the creative uses of the HP 200LX palmtop
computer. There is no prestige there. They stopped making them
in the late 1990s and stopped supporting them in a year or so
later. I would move on to a Blackberry, but I have so much
functionality I built into my palmtop I could never give it up.
So it seem like well after much of the world is using iPods I
bought myself a little 8-Gigabyte Nano iPod. Now my first
observations are that you do not get a full 8 billion bytes.
Some of that is to run the operating system. I am not sure how
much memory is actually usable, but it has better than seven 24-
hour days of audio and three hours of video. And it is not even
full. I find that pretty astounding. Moore's Law says that the
amount of storage you have in a given space will double about
every 18 months. You wait long enough and memory makes great
strides. Actually Moore stated that in terms of the number of
transistors on a chip, but it has been re-phrased and generalized
a lot since it was originally stated. But it says that digital
cameras and iPods can have really large memories, compact and
cheap.
My Nano is light, small, and very portable. I am surprised at
how fast the charging of the battery is--about four hours--and how
long-lasting a single charge is.
I see the iPod as a technology that if we let it can really
transform life styles. Perhaps not for the better, but perhaps
it is for the better. One does not recognize how much of life is
spent in waiting. It is much less than it used to be, but it is
still a great deal. Suppose you are going to the dentist with
your spouse. You have to get dressed to go out. While you are
dressing your hands may be busy but your head is really just
waiting for them to finish. Then you are waiting for your mate
to be ready to join you. In the car you are waiting to get to
the dentist's office. You get to the office and you are waiting
in the waiting room to be called. When the appointment is over
you drive back home waiting to get there. Your mind might be
engaged the ten minutes talking to the dentist, but you may have
invested 120 minutes in appointment. Your mind was underused the
other 110.
It would be nice to reclaim some of that time. Suppose eighty of
those minutes could be reclaimed and used to read a good book.
That can't be done. Now. But what can be done is that you can
have the book read to you. You can download unabridged readings
of books to an iPod. You turn is on when (it is safe and) your
mind is unengaged. The little bits and pieces of time you are
not using your mind add up. In the first three or so weeks I had
the iPod I listened to two fair-sized books and it was probably
less elapsed time than it would have taken me to read them if I
had to set aside the time to do that reading.
I realize that I am retired and not everybody shares my
lifestyle. But just about everybody has housework time or
jogging time or gardening time when they are not using their
ears. I find that I am going out walking for exercise more now
that I have books read to me while I walk. And once or twice
walking with Evelyn, on returning home I have told Evelyn that
the story has gotten too interesting for me to stop then and I
repeat the walk a second time with or without her. This is from
someone who all too often shuns exercise.
There are definitely downsides to this technology. Evelyn gets
very frustrated talking to me only to have me tell her to hold it
while I put the iPod on pause and then ask her to repeat what she
said. It seems my ears are not so unused all the time as I was
assuming. They are there waiting for someone to speak to me.
Evelyn at first would complain about this but of late has been
more understanding. After all she puts up with a lot worse from
me and I from her. And it has made me more patient. Rather than
waiting for her, I can be listening to a book so the time is not
wasted.
There is the problem that if you go through life with iPod buds
in your ears people tend to assume you are a mentally-deficient
anti-social techno-dweeb. It does not help that the Apple ads
for the iPod seem to picture silhouettes of what appear to be
mentally deficient techno-dweebs dancing like crazy to music only
they can hear. And I am glad only they can hear the music.
Before the iPod people carried these huge "boom-boxes," awkward
but portable stereo systems and they would inflict their so-
called music on all who surround them. The iPod is a whole lot
better technology. But the ads give the impression that the
listener is engulfed in orgasmic, frenzied musical nirvana. And
the person in the ads does not look like the sharpest cheddar in
the cheese shop.
It does not help that the basic unit of storage seems to be the
"song". Most of my music is melodic and wordless. But I spend
more time listening to spoken podcasts and books. I have very
few songs on my iPod. I do have some operatic arias.
I talked a few issues back about the T.E.D. Talks. iTunes offers
them free as podcasts. These are more uses for otherwise wasted
brain-time. Overall I think this device has the potential to be
very useful and not just a time waster for fans of bad music.
[-mrl]
[Postscript: This is true. I wrote this editorial weeks ago and
then decided not to print it. I thought I would just end up
sounding foolish. After all most of my readers probably are more
used to an iPod than I am. But Evelyn mentioned in the VOID that
we were getting into mp3 players and a friend read that and
decided to take the plunge himself. His comment to us was just
what I said above that it was really good for making use of those
scattered moments when one's mind would otherwise be wandering
and waiting. So now I am sharing this information with other
behind-the-curve folks. -mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Four Short Takes (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper)
THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN
Director Frank Capra was known for his humane films. This one
from 1933 gets swept under the rug. An American woman (played by
Barbara Stanwick) is in China, engaged to a missionary, but held
prisoner by the insidious warlord General Yen (a heavily made-up
Swede, Nils Asther. The woman is attracted to Yen but despises
him. And she hates him with good reason. Her window looks out
on the courtyard where Yen arranges mass executions. Yen is, of
course, attracted to the attractive, blond foreigner. Each feels
the magnetism of the other but also wants to convert the other to
his philosophy. Central to the film is a dream sequence in which
Stanwick the general as sort of a cross between Fu Manchu and the
vampire from NOSFERATU. Then she sees him as a high-society
Englishman. The early parts of the film have chaotic images of
China at war reminiscent of the opening sequences of LOST
HORIZON. (The latter also had a racist air.) Those in love with
Capra's more romantic images of average decent Americans may be
shocked to see how nasty this film is. This was a very hard film
to find, and now I think I see why. Rating: +1 or 6/10
THE WESTERNER
This is director William Wyler's story of the real and notorious
Judge Roy Bean, frequently a figure in westerns. This 1940
comedy/drama is told against the backdrop of the Texas range wars
of free-range cattlemen against homesteaders. Gary Cooper plays
the title character as Cole Hardin, a drifter who wanders too
near Vinegaroon, Texas. He is arrested for horse stealing and
dragged before the saloonkeeper judge. By a trick he avoids
hanging and befriends Bean. He stays to mediate in the range
war. Cooper is the star but Walter Brennan upstages him in an
Oscar-winning performance as the self-appointed Judge Roy Bean.
Bean's rulings are arbitrary and ludicrous. He also had a
passion for beautiful English actress Lily Langtry whom he had
never met. Contrary to the film, Bean died at 77 from drink and
old age. The story plays fast and loose with history but it is
entertaining. Director William Wyler would go on to make THE
BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, THE BIG COUNTRY, and BEN-HUR. Rating:
low +2 or 7/10
THE ALAMO
This is John Wayne's version of the story of the defense and
defeat of the mission-stronghold. And when I say it was Wayne's
I mean that he produced it, directed it, is the top billed star,
and had a son and two daughters acting in the film. Also
starring are Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie, and Laurence Harvey as
Colonel Travis. Wayne saved the role of Davy Crockett for
himself. One sour note is Frankie Avalon who just does not look
like someone from 1836. The screenplay by longtime Wayne
associate James Edward Grant serves Wayne's politics and
incidentally his ego far better than it serves historic truth.
(Part of Santa Ana's so-called "tyranny" was the abolition of
slavery in Mexico, including Texas. That little tidbit was left
out of the movie.) However, it is hard to imagine anyone
preferring Billy Bob Thornton as Crockett in 2004 film. The film
features a rousing and haunting score, one of Dimitri Tiomkin's
best. The filmmaking is epic even if the story as told is
heavily propagandized. Rating: low +2 or 7/10
GANGSTER
This is a 2006 Indian Bollywood film that came highly recommended
and I have to admit that for most of the film I was wondering why
the recommendation. Many of the film's charms may not transcend
the culture barrier. The film does rally toward the end as the
pace picks up. This is a story with a female main character. I
have not seen many Indian films with female main characters. The
film is set in Korea, which is another unusual touch. Simram is
an alcoholic who is self destructive until she meets a young
nightclub singer, Akash, whom she falls in love with. She only
slowly comes to trust the singer enough to tell the reason she
drinks. She is also in love with a notorious gangster, Daya,
whose clutches she now is trying to escape. For much of the film
we see the love triangle slowly work itself out. There are
action scenes as Daya does his gangstering and also is jealous of
Akash. There are long poetic sequences without dialog. And it
would not be a Bollywood film without song sequences. This does
not leave a lot of time to develop the plot. The acting is
frequently a little overripe by American film standards. But as
is becoming more and more common in Asian films the photography
is rich and colorful. It makes heavy use of bright red hues
wherever they can be shoehorned into an image. The music seems
very Indian at time and then will sound very Western. The film
is short for a Bollywood film at just about two hours and even so
it takes a while for the plot to get interesting. It does that
late in the film. Rating: low +2 or 7/10
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Fanzines, the Internet, Comic Book Films, Jorge Luis
Borges, and Brother Cadfael (letter of comment by John Purcell)
In response to the MT VOID of 08/15/08, John Purcell writes:
A few comments on your latest MT Void are in order, I feel, so
here goes.
First off, many thanks for expanding on your club origins and
noting that this year is your zine's Pearl Anniversary. That
puts you in some rarefied company; earlier this year, "File 770"
celebrated its 30th anniversary, and there aren't many other
zines whose names leap to mind that have such a long run. I can
think of assorted clubzines and apazines; of course, Tucker's "Le
Zombie" ran for ages, but it would require my opening another
window on my computer to look things up. I will leave that task
to others. Suffice to say that you and Evelyn have quite a
history to look back on, and all I can say is "Whow!" Good show,
Mark and Evelyn.
Interesting comments about the Internet and Fandom. I can see
where the one has such an extensive influence on the other; it
makes sense. "Homogenized," eh? Sometimes fandom gets curdled
when it overheats or runs past its expiration date. I was
wondering what that smell in the fridge was...
Comic book films definitely are the current riders of the wave of
Hollywood's big buck generators. I still haven't seen any of
them this summer--been very busy and lack of fundage, too,
contributing to this state of affairs--but the film adaptations
can offer interesting insights into characters and such in the
comic book universe. You could easily argue that movies are the
modern-day comic book. They definitely appeal to the masses and
offer large-scale entertainment. At eight dollars a movie ticket
(here in town, according to my kids), that's not too far off the
cost of a contemporary comic book or graphic novel. Films are
fun eye-candy, and if the actors & actresses are nice to look
at--besides all the fun explosions and such--so much the better.
Yeah, this makes sense to me.
Evelyn's reading of BORGES: A LIFE reminds me that I use a few of
his stories in my literature classes. He is an interesting
writer; many, many levels to dig through and interpret. Once
they get into his writings, my students seem to enjoy them.
Borges' style is a bit thick at times, but always worth the
effort. The more I read him, the more I like his stories.
Speaking of current reading, I am back to another novel in the
Brother Cadfael series (A MORBID TASTE FOR BONES) and more Hal
Clement. In a week or so I won't have much luxury time for
pleasure reading, so right now I'm enjoying it.
Many thanks for the issue, and keep them coming. Congratulations
on the Pearl Anniversary! Where are you taking Evelyn for the
anniversary dinner? Fish Daddy? [-jp]
[Thank you for the good wishes. As for films being the modern-day
comic books, Perhaps. But comic books also do a good job of being
the modern day comic books. Where did I take Evelyn on the Pearl
Anniversary. Where else but Denvention? The dinner was at a
modest taco shop in Denver and then to a bookstore. Thanks again
for the comments. -mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
One reason I never catch up on my reading list is that I keep
adding to it in arguably insane ways. For example, each month I
have three new reading group books, and each year I have five
Hugo novels (and fifteen somewhat shorter pieces). And then
there are the conventions.
You see, I am just conscientious (a.k.a. crazy) enough when
assigned as moderator to a panel on Olaf Stapledon to decide I
have to try to re-read every I have by (and about) him. (Thank
God they did not put me on a panel about Robert Silverberg or
Edgar Rice Burroughs!) In any case, I managed only Stapledon's
four major novels, and three books of literary criticism of
Stapledon.
[I say "four major novels", but LAST AND FIRST MEN and STAR MAKER
are not really novels in any traditional sense. They did not have
characters in the usual sense--even the few individuals discussed
in them are most archetypes than characters. Someone described
counterfactuals as "alternate history with characterization" and
that seems a reasonable parallel. However, I will occasionally
use the term "novel" in referring to Stapledon's major works;
just translate that as "long work of fiction.")
Let me start by saying that re-reading the books that one enjoyed
immensely years ago may be a depressing experience, especially
when supplemented by reading critical commentary. For example, I
recently re-read Asimov's "Foundation Trilogy" and Joseph F.
Patrouch's comments on it. Patrouch observes that the Second
Foundation says that the destruction of the planet Tazenda and
its "many millions" was necessary because the ends justify the
means: "The alternative would have been a much greater
destruction generally throughout the Galaxy over a period of
centuries." Patrouch points out that this sort of justification
has been used by people of less than savory reputations, and he
has definite moral problems with it. And in Stapledon's work,
one also finds some supposedly good (or at worst, morally
neutral) acts that we would similarly condemn. So, while I loved
works such as LAST AND FIRST MEN years ago, the negative aspects
are now much more obvious.
First, an overview of LAST AND FIRST MEN (1930). In its Dover
edition it is 246 pages, or about 130,000 words. (All page
numbers given are for the two Dover omnibus editions of Stapledon
works.) This is really the equivalent of a standard 500-page
book. Pretty much everyone who reads this is fascinated by
Stapledon's idea of "Deep Time". And it is Stapledon's idea.
The only real predecessor that looked at the far future was H. G.
Wells in THE TIME MACHINE, and he want only to A.D. 802,701 for
the Eloi and 30,000,000, for the end of the world.
Stapledon, on the other hand, gives us five time scales. Time
Scale 1 (page 56) goes to 4000 (that is, 2000 years forward as
well as 2000 backward). Time Scale 2 (page 99) goes 200,000
years each way. Time Scale 3 (page 141) goes 20 million years
each way. Time Scale 4 (page 213) goes 2 (American) billion
years each way, and Time Scale 5 (also page 213) goes 10 trillion
years each way. (On the final one a single entry on the timeline
says, "Planets formed; end of Man"!) When I first read this, I
fell in love with the timelines.
Of course, now I notice all sorts of problems. I must have
noticed his description of the Jews (page 67) even then:
"One other race, the Jews, were treated with a similar
combination of honour and contempt, but for very different
reasons. In ancient days their general intelligence, and in
particular their financial talent, and co-operated with their
homelessness to make them outcasts; and now, in the decline of
the First Men, they retained the fiction, if not strictly the
fact of racial integrity. They were still outcasts, though
indispensable and powerful. Almost the only kind of intelligent
activity which the First Men could still respect was financial
operation, whether private or cosmopolitan. The Jews had made
themselves invaluable in the financial organization of the world
state, having far outstripped the other races because they alone
had preserved a furtive respect for pure intelligence. And so,
long after intelligence had come to be regarded as disreputable
in ordinary men and women, it was expected of the Jews. In them
it was called satanic cunning, and they were held to be
embodiments of the powers of evil, harnessed in the service of
Gordelphus. Thus in time the Jews had made something like "a
corner" in intelligence. This precious commodity they used
largely for their own purposes; for two thousand years [sic] of
persecution had long ago rendered them permanently tribalistic,
subconsciously if not consciously. Thus when they had gained
control of the few remaining operations which demanded
originality rather than routine, they used this advantage chiefly
to strengthen their own position in the world. For, though
relatively bright, they had suffered much of the general
coarsening and limitation which had beset the whole world.
Though capable to some extent of criticizing the practical means
by which ends should be realized, they were by now wholly
incapable of criticizing the major ends which had dominated their
race for thousands of years. In them intelligence had become
utterly subservient to tribalism. There was thus some excuse for
the universal hate and even physical repulsion with which they
were regarded; for they alone had failed to make the one great
advance, from tribalism to a cosmopolitanism which in other races
was no longer merely theoretical. There was good reason also for
the respect which they received, since they retained and used
somewhat ruthlessly a certain degree of the most distinctively
human attribute, intelligence."
[I realize that I spend a lot of time in my columns commenting on
authors' attitudes towards Jews. For Stapledon, I could have
pulled out passages showing his apparent prejudice against
Africans, or Asians, or women. But I figure I should choose the
category I know the best. There was, however, a certain irony in
that all three panelists at Worldcon were Jewish.]
And Stapledon's notion of the effects of time does not seem to
match our current knowledge. For example, he claims that the
forms of buildings are still visible after 100,000 years (page
76). The recent documentary "Life After People" looked at the
effects of time on untended building and materials. After only
10,000 years, they say, iron corrodes, concrete crumbles, and
wood and paper decay. All that will remain (according to the
documentary) would be the Great Wall, the Great Pyramid, Hoover
Dam, and the most enduring of all, Mount Rushmore. Stapledon can
be forgiven for not mentioning the last two--they were not
completed until after LAST AND FIRST MEN was published. (I am
surprised "Life After People" did not mention the Crazy Horse
Monument, though.)
Stapledon does predict a lot of current and predicted future
problems: atomic energy, oil and coal shortages, metal shortages,
and so on (page 73). He even has Arctic islands and Antarctica
melting, though with no comments on rising ocean levels (page
62).
In OLAF STAPLEDON (Starmont Reader's Guide 21), John Kinnaird
says that Stapledon's publishers pressed him for a sequel to LAST
AND FIRST MEN (page 51), proof that sequelitis is not new. I
find it ironic that Stapledon wrote the entire future history of
humanity/mankind all the way to its end with the destruction of
the Solar System--and his publisher wanted a sequel! (Perhaps
even more ironic is that Stapledon produced one.)
(Kinnaird lists Stapledon's "principal heirs" as Brian W. Aldiss,
James Blish, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Ursula K. LeGuin, Stanislaw
Lem, Clifford D. Simak, and Cordwainer Smith. Many would also
include Poul Anderson, even if only for TAU ZERO.)
Next week I will conclude my comments on Stapledon and his works.
[-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
My Country, right or wrong" is a thing no patriot
would think of saying except in a desperate case.
It is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober."
-- G. K. Chesterton
(1874-1936)