Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
08/13/21 -- Vol. 40, No. 7, Whole Number 2184
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, *mleeper@optonline.net *
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Topics:
Bond Songs (Part 2) (THUNDERBALL, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE,
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER)
(comments by Mark R. Leeper)
THE CITY WE BECAME by N. K. Jemisin (audiobook review
by Joe Karpierz)
James Bond Films (letters of comment by Fred Lerner
and Daniel Kimmel)
This Week's Reading (THE MAN WHO MADE VERMEERS,
THE LEFT-HANDED BOOKSELLERS OF LONDON, MEXICAN GOTHIC,
ESCAPING EXODUS, WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GO TO WAR,
and THE ART OF EATING) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Bond Songs (Part 2) (THUNDERBALL, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, ON
HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER) (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
(It may seem that I have been writing a lot about the James Bond
films. The reason for this is that I actually have been writing a
lot about the films. I had one such discussion going and it
sprouted another such discussion.)
Here we are continuing the discussion of the lyrics to the title
songs from the James Bond films. Well, I am anyway.
The title song for THUNDERBALL may have been the best Bond ditty up to
that point. Just about every line describes Largo, the villain.
The only bad line is the one working in the title. "He strikes
like Thunderball." Who or what is Thunderball and how does
Thunderball strike? Are we talking about something nuclear?
Really I am picturing a dark storm cloud punctuated with bolts of
lightning on its surface. But the story for the film is thin and
is driven by coincidences, more than with most Bond films.
After this high point we fall to YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. The lyric
goes:
You only live twice or so it seems,
One life for yourself and one for your dreams.
You drift through the years and life seems tame,
Till one dream appears and love is its name.
And love is a stranger who'll beckon you on,
Don't think of the danger or the stranger is gone.
This dream is for you, so pay the price.
Make one dream come true, you only live twice.
I don't think that is about anything in the film. I would
interpret the song for you but frankly, I cannot figure out what it
is talking about. There seems to be sort of an Australian
aborigine philosophy there that you live half your life in the
Dreamtime. Then suddenly an invader from the Dreamtime shows up in
the wrong world and that is love. There is some concept that love
is both dangerous and expensive, but it is worth it because it has
your name on it. Besides you have to take one dream from the
Dreamtime and make it real in our world because there is just the
real world and the Dreamtime. I don't know what I'm talking about.
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE had no main title song, but it did
have a rather nice love song "We Have All The Time In The World"
that almost entirely makes sense in the context of the film. Of
course this lyric pictures a life that will get boring:
We have all the time in the world,
Just for love,
Nothing more, nothing less,
Only love.
It sounds like they will get bored with each other all too soon.
Now DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER has a song that restores some of the
earlier nuttiness.
Diamonds are forever,
They are all I need to please me,
They can stimulate and tease me,
They won't leave in the night,
I've no fear that they might desert me.
Diamonds are forever,
Hold one up and then caress it,
Touch it, stroke it and undress it,
I can see ev'ry part,
Nothing hides in the heart to hurt me.
I don't need love,
For what good will love do me?
Diamonds never lie to me,
For when love's gone,
They'll lustre on.
Diamonds are forever,
Sparkling round my little finger.
Unlike men, the diamonds linger;
Men are mere mortals who
Are not worth going to your grave for.
I don't need love,
For what good will love do me?
Diamonds never lie to me,
For when love's gone,
They'll lustre on.
Diamonds are forever, forever, forever.
Diamonds are forever, forever, forever.
Forever and ever.
This song is about some woman who gets odd tactile pleasure I can
hardly imagine from fingering diamonds. I would not like to think
about it. I hope after one of these sessions she at least had the
grace to have brought some Windex to give the gemstones a quick
once-over. How sharp are the edges of a cut diamond?
Now the claim has been made that there is a male chauvinist taint
to the Bond films. Here clearly is a feminist song if I ever heard
one. Never mind the fact that the singer seems to have deep
psychological problems and in addition is doing things with
diamonds that not only seem rather kinky, they are bound to reduce
the value of the stones on the open market. Also her attitude will
probably ruin her social life as well as the luster on the
diamonds. These are images best not dwelled on.
That was the last time that Sean Connery would play James Bond for
Eon Productions. He did repeat the role in the remake of
THUNDERBALL for another set of filmmakers, but that does not really
count. I am getting into the swing so I will talk about the next
few next week. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE CITY WE BECAME by N. K. Jemisin (copyright 2020, Orbit,
16 hours and 12 minutes, ASIN: B083Z2HWBB, narrated by Robin Miles)
(audiobook review by Joe Karpierz)
THE CITY WE BECAME is the angriest book I have ever read or
listened to.
N. K. Jemisin's latest novel is her first since the triple Hugo-
award-winning "Broken Earth" trilogy completed a few years ago.
It's a prequel of sorts to a previous short story, "The City Born
Great". THE CITY WE BECAME is a terrific story, but in my opinion
the story is almost lost in the amount of anger that spills out on
to the page (or the ears, if you listened to it like I did).
The premise that cities essentially become alive, and are
represented by human avatars. Cities go through birthing pains, if
you will, as the people that are chosen to be the avatars by the
cities essentially don't know what hit them. There is a whole
multiversal, inter-dimensional thing going on with regard to cities
coming alive, an idea that I like very much. Since this is the
first book in a series called, appropriately enough, the "Great
Cities" trilogy, I'm sure we'll not only get tales of more "Great
Cities", but we'll get more background on how the whole thing
works.
This book, however, centers on New York City, arguably one of the
greatest cities on the planet, although not the first to awaken as
an entity. A city has powers, manifested within the city's avatar.
In the case of NYC, the city has six avatars, one for each borough
and one for the entire city itself. In and of itself, the
awakening of a city is not necessarily an interesting story,
although as we the readers are introduced to the process here it is
a captivating tale. So, as with any good tale, there must be
conflict, and so there is.
It seems that the process of cities coming alive has been occurring
for thousands of years, and goes way back to some of the great
cities in history. Some times the process succeeds, sometimes it
fails, and fails spectacularly. But what is different hear is that
an ancient evil is getting involved in the birth of NYC, and this
is against protocol. We know this because the most recently
birthed city must send its avatar to the city being born to help it
along and make sure nothing goes wrong. And there is indeed
something is going wrong.
I mentioned before that the story is multiversal and inter-
dimensional. Jemison does invoke the horrors of Lovecraft into THE
CITY WE BECAME, complete with tentacles that rise out of the ground
and attack the avatars--in general, normal citizens have no idea
what's going on--and frightening beings from other dimensions
lurking just out of reach of our own. And it seems that the head
bad guy (if you will), is breaching said protocol by attempting to
stop New York City from being born.
Let me reiterate: This is an absolutely terrific story. While I'm
primarily a science fiction reader, I am fascinated by Lovecraftian
horrors. I found this story invigorating and fascinating.
On the other hand, I found the trappings of the novel distracting.
Jemisin uses the novel to angrily rail against all the injustices
and bigotry that exists in the world. She is not shy about it.
While one would expect a backlash against Lovecraft--and it's here
in the book--she uses Lovecraftian horror to make her points about
racism, bigotry, and hatred. To me it felt very over the top and
heavy-handed. There are those who have said that her handling of
this issue in the novel is necessary and well done. While her
points are valid and correct and I support them, I felt as if I was
constantly being hit over the head with a hammer, and I was
constantly taken out of the story.
Yet, I will most likely read (or listen) to the other novels in the
series. I did like THE CITY WE BECAME, and I expect I'll like the
rest of the books in the series.
Robin Miles' narration of this book is nothing short of
magnificent. Her ability to change voices between characters, make
the characters sound distinct and believable, and her tone and
pacing are all outstanding. In fact, really, the whole production
staff for this audio book is to be commended, as sound effects and
atmosphere--it's hard to describe, but trust me, it's good--add to
the story. A great many more books can benefit from this kind of
production. [-jak]
===================================================================
TOPIC: James Bond Films (letters of comment by Fred Lerner and
Daniel Kimmel)
In response to Mark and Evelyn's comments on James Bond films in
the 08/06/21 issue of the MT VOID, Fred Lerner writes:
Many thanks. I've added eight films to my skimpy Netflix DVD queue,
which should see me through the summer. [-fl]
Daniel Kimmel writes:
I'm with Evelyn nearly all the way. Watch them in chronological
order. Mark seems to be watching them for a different reason. I
can't imagine anyone preferring ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE to
GOLDFINGER or THUNDERBALL.
I differ on the spoof version of CASINO ROYALE. First, it's not
the "Woody Allen" movie. He's *in* it, but isn't even the main
character. (And he claims he's never seen it.) And second, I'm no
masochist, but I love the film. It's a complete train wreck with,
IIRC, *five* credited directors (including John Huston!), but it's
my favorite guilty pleasure. It's got a great score, including the
standard "The Look of Love" and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
doing the title song, and a hilariously unwieldy cast. Peter
Sellers and Orson Welles did not get along to the point that their
big scene together--the baccarat game--had to be shot separately
and then created in the editing room. Not necessary for Bond
completists, but a definite '60s cinematic curio. [-dmk]
Mark responds:
Actually, I frequently find people who think that ON HER MAJESTY'S
SECRET SERVICE was the start of Eon making more serious spy
thrillers. That may be overstating the point.
But GOLDFINGER for one thing never explains why Bond is kept
around, but after the gold table is never interrogated. He seems
to be kept as a pet. It would be interesting to hear what the
readers think are the relative merits of GOLDFINGER and ON HER
MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Having now browsed the Old Bridge Library twice (resulting in
thirteen books checked out) and the Matawan-Aberdeen Library once
(four books checked out), I figured I should at least comment on
the books.
My Matawan-Aberdeen books were VERITAS: A HARVARD PROFESSOR, A CON
MAN, AND THE GOSPEL OF JESUS'S WIFE by Ariel Sabar, THE MAN WHO
MADE VERMEERS by Jonathan Lopez (both about forgeries), THE LEFT-
HANDED BOOKSELLERS OF LONDON by Garth Nix, and MEXICAN GOTHIC by
Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
And my second Old Bridge visit netted THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
by Michael Grant, HOW YOU SAY IT: WHY YOU TALK THE WAY YOU DO AND
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT YOU by Katherine D. Kinzler, IN THE LAND OF
INVENTED LANGUAGES: A CELEBRATION OF LINGUISTIC CREATIVITY,
MADNESS, AND GENIUS by Arika Okrent, LOST LANGUAGES: THE ENIGMA OF
THE WORLD'S UNDECIPHERED SCRIPTS by Andrew Robinson, and DINNER AT
MR. JEFFERSON'S: THREE MEN, FIVE GREAT WINES, AND THE EVENING THAT
CHANGED AMERICA by Charles A. Cerami. (Boy, do those subtitles
make that a long sentence!)
And as if that weren't enough, the next day my last ILL book
arrived: THE ART OF EATING by M. F. K. Fisher. This wouldn't be so
bad, except that it turns out to be an omnibus of five books and is
almost 800 pages long.
The Hugo and Lodestar finalists will get their own columns. I have
already commented (or will comment) on many of the others, so this
is just quick comments on some of the rest.
THE MAN WHO MADE VERMEERS: UNVARNISHING THE LEGEND OF MASTER FORGER
HAN VAN MEEGEREN by Jonathan Lopez (Mariner, 978-0-547-24784-7) is
yet another book about the man who forged not just Vermeers, but
many Old Masters, and far from being someone who was a patriot and
did this to scam Goering, he was a Nazi sympathizer, or at least
someone to go whichever way the wind was blowing. The problem is
that there are so many people involved in van Meegeren's dealings
over the years that it was impossible for me to follow who was who,
or even who were the con artists, who were the unknowing
accomplices, and who were the victims. Those with better memories
for names might get more out of this book than I did. For now, I
would recommend Edward Dolnick's THE FORGER'S SPELL instead, which
goes more into the technical details of forgery and less into how
the economics (and psychology) of the forgeries are marketed.
THE LEFT-HANDED BOOKSELLERS OF LONDON by Garth Nix (Katherine Tegen
Books, ISBN 978-0-06-26825-0) is enjoyable enough, even if there is
very little about bookselling in it.
MEXICAN GOTHIC by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey, ISBN 978-0-525-
62078-5) is pretty much what its title indicates, a Gothic thriller
set in Mexico. Recommended.
Several books I gave up on for various reasons.
ESCAPING EXODUS by Nicky Drayden: I found the "geography" of the
ship and in particular the sails too hard to follow.
WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GO TO WAR by Karl Marlantes (Grove Press, ISBN
978-0-802-14592-5: I read a few chapters of this book, which was
recommended by historian podcaster Dan Carlin, which seems to be
basically a memoir of Marlantes's time in Vietnam, though told more
by "topic" than chronologically. At any rate, I was not motivated
to read any further.
THE ART OF EATING by M. F. K. Fisher (Wiley, ISBN 978-0-7645-4261-
9): This is an omnibus of SERVE IT FORTH, CONSIDER THE OYSTER. HOW
TO COOK A WOLF, THE GASTRONOMICAL ME, and AN ALPHABET FOR GOURMETS.
It's a classic (or five classics, if you prefer) but frankly, it
didn't work for me. I did read the chapter in AN ALPHABET FOR
GOURMETS titled "K Is for Kosher" and while Fisher's views are
interesting, I am not convinced that Moses (or more accurately, the
rabbis who followed him hundreds of years later) invented kashering
utensils as a way to fight bacteria, both because no one really
knew about bacteria at the time, and because the kashering method
described doesn't really apply to the vast majority of utensils in
Moses's time. Other claims about the purposes of the various
kosher laws are equally suspect. [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
*mleeper@optonline.net *
This above all, to thine own self be true,
and it must follow, as the night the day,
thou canst not be false to any man--
--William Shakespeare