THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
03/07/08 -- Vol. 26, No. 36, Whole Number 1483
El Honcho Grande: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
La Honcha Bonita: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Fighting Words (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Electronic Rumors (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
COYOTE by Allen Steele (book review by Joe Karpierz)
COLD DECEMBER (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
Robert A. Heinlein (letters of comment by Joe Karpierz
and Mike Glyer)
This Week's Reading (THE ANNOTATED PRIDE & PREJUDICE,
DIASPORA, M IS FOR MAGIC, and FREE FOR ALL)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Fighting Words (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
When two mathematicians hate each other they accuse each other of
being one basis vector short of a spanning set. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Royalty Milestone (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
If my calculations are correct, today (7 March 2008) Queen
Elizabeth II becomes the English/British monarch with the third-
longest reign, passing King Henry III with 56 years, 0 months,
and 30 days to his 56 years, 0 months, and 29 days.
Anyone who calculates the precise number of days (rather than
years, months, days) will discover this still gives the same
date.
She will match King George III on 11 May 2011 (if she lives to
85), and Queen Victoria on 20 August 2015 (if she lives to 91).
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Electronic Rumors (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I have a friend who seems to enjoy being a forwarding point for
her friends on the Internet. You know the sort of person. They
get and forward mail with a warning that there is some new
computer virus loose that will melt your hard drive and you will
loose the virus on your computer if you read a piece of mail with
a subject line that says "Free Ice Cream on Tuesday." The mail
comes with the suggestion that you forward this message to
everybody you can think of. Or they may say that if you are
feeling a heart attack coming on you can save your life by
grabbing your left elbow and pushing it up and behind your left
ear. [Don't try this at home, kiddies. If you feel a heart
attack coming on, dial 911.] For years when I get one of these
things I cut and paste a phrase into the search window of Snopes
(http://www.snopes.com/). The Snopes people are professional
rumor investigators. (Did such a profession exist before the
Internet?) They do the legwork to get to the bottom of whether
the warnings are true or not. Usually I can get back to the
sender with the facts. I do this now as a public service. It
actually used to be part of my job when forwarded rumor mail
clogged up email servers at the corporation where I worked. I
used to try to tell people not to do this forwarding when it was
just a resource problem. Once Snopes came along I had an even
better reason for telling people not to forward these things. It
turned out that only very, very rarely did the messages actually
tell the truth. For a long time I never saw one of these urban
legends that was true. Every single one was misinformation. In
fact, over more than a decade there have only been two or three
of these send-arounds that were *not* misinformation.
I have taken it a step further and have tried to understand the
psychology of people who start these rumors and the people who
act as their accomplices by forwarding them. There is a
psychology behind why people send around misinformation. Let me
digress a moment. Years ago there was a string of forest fires
started by arson. My dad said that he could not imagine why
anybody would want to start a forest fire. He didn't seem to
like my response that I didn't see the mystery. But I really
don't see the mystery. You have a kid who has very little power
who is able to do something that makes front page news across the
country. That is a very affirming thing, even if what you have
done has a bad effect. Apparently powerless people like to feel
they can do something big. There probably is something of a
thrill in having everybody talking about an event and to know
that they are really talking about you. (They also make this
point in the recent film BREACH, by the way.) It is probably a
power trip for somebody to say something, true or false, and have
something between thousands and millions of people repeating it.
So this sort of person makes up plausible lies and tells them to
a few other people and then watches the chain reaction. The
people who forward the pieces probably are people wanting to
share a juicy piece of gossip and to be the first to tell people
about it. These pass-arounds are attention-getters. I think
technically the pass-around are non-technical computer viruses.
They are dependent on people to do the spreading, but if people
are willing to do it, they become just part of the mechanism.
There is a history of such urban legends, of course. Urban
legends did not need the Internet to get started. They have been
with us probably since ancient times. Who knows how much of
Herodotus or Suetonius is rumor? But the Internet has been a
godsend to the rumor starter. Churchill said, "A lie gets
halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its
pants on." Now that there is an Internet you can strike the word
"halfway."
Like computer viruses, this electronic spreading of invented
rumors started out as just a (frequently nasty) practical joke
and went on to being done intentionally for gain. I have not
seen many for financial gain beyond a few Ponzi schemes. But
they work particularly well for aiding in dirty politics. If you
want to spread a false rumor about a political candidate it does
not have to be even all that plausible. If you sent it to a
small group of like-minded people soon a lot of people are going
to be spreading your rumor. Then people assume because so many
people are saying it there must be a grain of truth. Then even
people who would normally doubt such a rumor will see that a lot
of people are saying the same thing, so it will have credibility.
Over the last few years I have seen a real upswing in the amount
of political misinformation intentionally spread around. Things
that if you check them out just are twisted. From my point of
view an inordinate proportion of this misinformation (though by
no means all) seems to benefit the Right Wing. PBS's news
program "Now" recently did a very good piece on this and other
forms of dirty politics. It is available online at
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/401/index.html
Also it is one thing to forward around urban legends, but it gets
a lot worse when it comes to medical misinformation ("coughing
during a heart attack can save your life"). That is dangerous
one way. If you sent around political information ("Obama is a
madrassa-trained Muslim") that is bad in a different way. You
are probably playing into somebody's hands. I never forward
information that I don't have from a good source (obvious jokes
are an exception). "New York Times" articles are one thing, but
I don't forward strange things that show up in my email saying
tell everybody you know.
Now you know my attitude about these things you can tell it to
everybody you know. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: COYOTE by Allen Steele (copyright 2002, Ace Science Fiction,
$7.99, 431pp, ISBN 0-441-01116-0) (book review by Joe Karpierz)
COYOTE is one of those books that I've been meaning to get around
to for a number of years now. I picked it up when I was working
in downtown Chicago and meant to read it on the train to and from
work, but for some reason that never happened. The book came
highly recommended, and had won some critical and popular
acclaim. So, when looking for something on my to-read stack, I
spotted it and decided that it was time.
COYOTE is billed as "A Novel of Interstellar Exploration". I
don't know about that. It is, however, a novel of interstellar
colonization and pioneering. And it's a darned good one. What I
didn't know is that the 8 "Parts" of this book were originally
written as shorter works that were published in ASIMOV'S SF
MAGAZINE from January 2001 through December 2002. Steele took
those pieces and deftly combined them into a wonderful novel full
of strong characters, characters that are reminiscent of our
pioneering days as they set out to colonize the stars.
The novel starts on earth in the year 2070. The United States of
America no longer exists. In its place is the United Republic of
America, which has sacrificed the good life of its citizens to
build the URSS Alabama, the ship that will take just over 100
colonists to Coyote, the moon of a planet in the 47 Ursae Majoris
system, more than 45 light years away. Its Captain, Robert E.
Lee, descended from *that* Robert E. Lee, is leading a conspiracy
that will steal the Alabama; Lee does not care for the current
state of his country and plans to start a new life with the
colonists a long way away from the current regime. The
conspiracy was widespread and infiltrated to high levels of the
government--I'm somewhat surprised that something like this could
have been pulled off.
It almost wasn't. Lee left a note for his ex-wife, a country
loyalist and cold-hearted woman, explaining what he was doing.
She found the note earlier than was intended, and she was almost
able to stop the conspiracy. Even though she couldn't, there was
yet another fail-safe on board, where a crew member loyal to the
URA was to awaken early and "terminate" the mission if things
hadn't gone as originally planned. However, he was in the wrong
biostasis chamber, and another person woke up to find himself
alone with no way to get back into stasis. He spent his
remaining days trying to remain alive and sane--a sanity which
may have been in question because of another starship he thought
he spotted out a window.
Once the ship gets to Coyote, the story settles down into a look
at how colonists would handle their first few years on a new
planet. There's nothing really extraordinary about the stories
themselves--what *is* extraordinary is the cast of characters
whose lives we follow throughout the novel as they try to make a
new life for themselves on Coyote.
This is a terrific read. While it never really slows down, for
me it dragged in some spots once the Alabama landed on Coyote.
The characters do save the story, however, as Steele tries,
successfully I think, to give the reader some feel for what
pioneers would face on a new world. The book deserved the praise
it received. There are two more novels in the series--I look
forward to reading them. [-jak]
===================================================================
TOPIC: COLD DECEMBER (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: In this very low-budget drama a man in his twenties
realizes that in spite of his outward appearance of success he is
dissatisfied with just about every aspect of his life. His
friends have the intellects and curiosity of Eloi. His job and
his boss are painful to even think about. Chris has to decide if
he will go back to living death or if he will seize the day. In
spite of its modest production values the film tells its story
and it might be a situation that the viewer will find familiar.
Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10
You know a completed film you are dealing with is low-profile
when you put the title of the film and the director's name--he is
also the writer--into the Internet Movie Database and it comes
back not found. This is a film made on the cheap--the really
cheap. Supposedly the shooting costs were $3000. That is for
actors (all seven of them), crew, everyone. It has no
explosions, no car chases, no superheroes, no zombies, and no
familiar actors (at least not familiar to me). Instead it is
about people in a situation and how they react. Digital
photography brings with it the promise of films much like COLD
DECEMBER. A newcomer no longer needs a studio to back him as a
filmmaker. A feature film can now be made for the price of a
hobby.
Chris (Chris Fountain) has a pretty wife, a well-paying job,
fancy Chicago surroundings, friends, and a deep feeling
dissatisfaction. As the film opens he admits to his life that he
is just not very happy. It turns out this is not the first time
he has made this declaration to his wife Kate (Alyssa
Roehrenbeck). He has been quietly desperate for the last five
years. But this cold December is the winter of his discontent.
His life has become bland and repetitive. He works each day at a
job he secretly hates, for a boss he not-so-secretly hates. He
goes to the gym after work. When the weekend comes he gets
together with his friends he drinks and he talks about sports.
Sometimes he does drugs. And when the week is gone all he has to
show for it is a paycheck and a week is gone from his life.
At first we wonder if he is not just having a psychological
crisis. But writer/director Brian Wright soon dispels that
interpretation by showing us his friends. They are painfully
boring. They all are cut with the same cookie cutter. They all
like (incredibly) heavy drinking. When the wives are not around
they talk about sex on a very dull level. In front of the wives
the topic goes back to sports. The wives meanwhile talk about
the transcendental experience they had seeing these beautiful
fur-topped boots that are for sale and are just perfect. Somehow
Chris has awakened and realized that all his friends are dead
already. Not so much literally, but they are mentally moribund.
The film is shot mostly with what appears to be a handheld
digital camera, reportedly over a five-day shooting schedule that
would have made Roger Corman proud. Sometimes the camera shakes
even when the characters are standing still. The film is about
82 minutes long and even then it sometimes lingers on a scene
after the characters have left it, perhaps just to show a Chicago
building-scape. It is nearly impossible in film to convey the
fact that someone is bored without being a little boring to the
audience. About the only way to show people are boring without
boring the audience it to make it humorous. Sometimes Brian's
friends are funny and sometimes they are just dull.
I would like to feel that these dull people are a comic fiction.
Unfortunately, I think that Brian Wright might be right. The
eventual statement made by the film may be a little trite even
for so short a film. I rate COLD DECEMBER a +1 on the -4 to +4
scale or 6/10. My understanding is that this film will not play
on the art house circuit. It will go direct to DVD and to
Netflix. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Robert A. Heinlein (letters of comment by Joe Karpierz
and Mike Glyer)
In response to Evelyn's comment's about Heinlein in the 02/22/08
issue of the MT VOID ("a reading binge of STARSHIP TROOPERS, Joe
Haldeman's THE FOREVER WAR, and John Scalzi's OLD MAN"S WAR would
not be unreasonable to suggest"), Joe Karpierz writes, "I've read
two of the three books. I read THE FOREVER WAR back in the
1970s, and OLD MAN'S WAR when it was nominated for the Hugo. I
remember FOREVER WAR as one of those novels that blew me away,
the kind of which you don't see too many times in your life. I
loved OLD MAN'S WAR, and am trying to figure out how to squeeze
in more books in that universe. I've been considering STARSHIP
TROOPERS on and off for a long time now, but as I previously said
I never felt compelled to read any earlier Heinlein. [-jak]
In response to Rob Mitchell's recommendation of THE MOON IS A
HARSH MISTRESS and Taras Wolansky's recommendation of
METHUSELAH'S CHILDREN in the 02/29/08 issue, Joe writes, "As I
speak, I'm running an audiobook search on my local library's
website. It looks like I can get MOON and TROOPERS as sound
recordings. I'll go that way with those, and I'll try to find
CHILDREN in print. Thanks to all for the recommendations."
[-jak]
And Mike Gleyer writes, "Taras Wolansky writes, 'For Heinlein, the
defense of sexual freedom was one of the reasons you had a strong
military.' LOL! Certainly the people who made the movie from
STARSHIP TROOPERS seem to have believed this...." [-mg]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE ANNOTATED PRIDE & PREJUDICE by Jane Austen, annotated by
David M. Shapard (ISBN-13 978-0-307-27810-4, ISBN-10
0-307-27810-7) is well done. First, the text is on the left-hand
pages and the notes on the right-hand ones, with every note on the
page opposite what it is annotating. If that meant that there
would be blank space at the bottom of the text page (because of
lengthy notes), then there is. The notes are very thorough,
covering definitions as well as comments on mores and attitudes,
and even drawings of various types of carriages and so on.
The science fiction discussion group picked DIASPORA by Greg Egan
(ISBN-13 978-0-061-05798-4, ISBN-10 0-061-05798-3) for this
month. I know I read it when it first came out (1997), but I
don't remember it being as difficult to follow as it was this
time. Maybe I made more use of the glossary last time, but
frankly, I don't think a novel should require a glossary--or
Java-enabled pages demonstrating the mathematical concepts (as
Egan has provided for this as well)--to be understood. His
shorter fiction (so far) doesn't seem to have this problem; one
suspects that there just isn't enough space in a short story to
work in characters, a plot, *and* semi-Riemannian manifolds as
well.
M IS FOR MAGIC by Neil Gaiman (ISBN-13 978-0-06-118642-4, ISBN-10
0-06-118642-2) is the latest collection of Gaiman's short
fiction. It includes the Hugo-nominated "How to Talk to Girls at
Parties" as well as many other excellent stories from various
regular sources, and some deal with fairly adult issues of aging
and so on, yet is marketed as "Young Adult" (and is catalogued
this way in my library). All of which means that if you are
looking for Neil Gaiman books, you have to check several
locations in your bookstore or library. This may be another way
that amazon.com is an improvement over a brick-and-mortar
bookstore: you type in "Nail Gaiman" and it shows you *all* his
books, not just a fraction of them.
FREE FOR ALL: ODDBALLS, GEEKS, AND GANSTAS IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
by Don Borchert (ISBN-13 978-1-9052-6412-4, ISBN-10
1-9052-6412-7) is an anecdotal account of Borchert's experiences
in a public library in the Los Angeles area. He does not tell us
the actual city, but instead refers to it as "Bay City". Fans of
Raymond Chandler will recognize this as the city that Philip
Marlowe had the most problems with, because the police there 1)
thought they were a law unto themselves, and 2) hated private
detectives (along with minorities, the poor, and anyone else who
did not fit their notion of who should be allowed in Bay City).
Borchert's description of the police in his city seems somewhat
similar, though in a much toned-down fashion. It is more like
what an Indian friend of ours described around here. This friend
was stopped for some sort of traffic violation and was addressed
rather rudely by the policeman when he asked for his license.
When our friend opened his wallet to take out his license, his
Bell Labs ID was facing it. Suddenly the policeman became much
more polite, with "Mr." this and "Mr." that. (Chandler's Bay
City was actually Santa Monica, but that does not mean Borchert's
is.) [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
Some boundless contiguity of shade,
Where rumour of oppression and deceit,
Of unsuccessful or successful war,
Might never reach me more.
-- William Cowper