THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
05/27/11 -- Vol. 29, No. 48, Whole Number 1651
Frick: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Frack: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Nebula Awards Winners
The CDC and the Zombie Apocalypse (comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Tuna Brands (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
My Picks for Turner Classic Movies for June (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
Another Mystery Solved (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Superman (letter of comment by Evelyn C. Leeper)
This Week's Reading (CITIZEN IN SPACE and THE LIVES OF THE
ARTISTS) (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
==================================================================
TOPIC: Nebula Awards Winners
Novel: BLACKOUT/ALL CLEAR, Connie Willis
Novella: "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's
Window", Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Summer 2010)
Novelette: "That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made", Eric James Stone
(Analog 9/10)
Short Story (tie): "Ponies", Kij Johnson (Tor.com 1/17/10)
"How Interesting: A Tiny Man", Harlan Ellison
(Realms of Fantasy 2/10)
Ray Bradbury Award (for script): Inception
Andre Norton Award (for YA): I SHALL WEAR MIDNIGHT, Terry Pratchett
==================================================================
TOPIC: The CDC and the Zombie Apocalypse (comments by Evelyn
C. Leeper)
The Centers for Disease Control have published a web page on what
to do in case of a zombie apocalypse:
http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp
It begins:
"There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare
for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That's right, I said
z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it
happens you'll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you'll even
learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency."
You can't make this stuff up. Or as Mark Twain said, "Truth is
stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to
stick to possibilities. Truth isn't." [-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Tuna Brands (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I have been looking at the cans of tuna fish in our cupboard.
Where do they get these strange brand names? First there's Bumble
Bee Tuna. Now ordinarily tuna and bumblebees just do not come in
very close contact. Living, as tuna do, in water I doubt that very
many tuna have ever even seen a bumblebee. For that matter I doubt
that tuna ever see the stars, much less being kissed by them as
suggested by the name StarKist. Chicken of the Sea makes the most
sense of any of these, but I would like to know how they believe
that tuna is the maritime equivalent of chicken. For one thing,
tuna is one meat that really does not taste like chicken. Would
you say that chicken is tuna of the land? I don't think so.
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: My Picks for Turner Classic Movies for June (comments by
Mark R. Leeper)
[Note: all times given are Eastern Daylight Time.]
This is my monthly list of recommendations for Turner Classic
Movies in June. TCM has a month with a bumper crop of
horror/SF/fantasy genre films. I think that only in October does
Turner have so many good genre films. But even so scratching
around for a good obscure film or two is not easy. I can think of
a lot worse double features than GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS and
RODAN (Thursday, June 2, 8 PM and 9:45 PM). That is a pairing I
could get behind. The problem is, I could arrange that double
feature for myself any time I like. It might not be high def, but
the DVD would make it look pretty good. And I could even arrange
high def with Netflix Instant.
There is one fairly good obscure film coming up in June, but it is
not really a genre film. It is a historical action film. I had
never heard of it until less than a year ago. And it turns out to
be a surprisingly good adventure film set during the French
Revolution's Reign of Terror. In fact, though it is entitled THE
BLACK BOOK (1949), the alternate title is THE REIGN OF TERROR. The
French Reign of Terror has not been used very often for thrillers.
I don't think I would call an adaptation of A TALE OF TWO CITIES an
action film. There have been a bunch of cinema versions of THE
SCARLET PIMPERNEL, but not much else form that place and time comes
to mind. I did not have high expectations when I first saw THE
BLACK BOOK, and truthfully it is not totally successful, but the
film has the pacing of a Hitchcock, or maybe even a James Bond
film. It stars Robert Cummings. Okay, he is not my favorite
action star, but it is filmed in atmospheric monochrome and really
is film noir--unusual for a history film. The main character gets
himself into one scrape after another. This Cummings character is
masquerading as a public prosecutor to get his hands on Maximilian
Robespierre's little black book. This book is a death list that
proves that Robespierre is the murderer that history remembers him
as being. Robespierre (played by Richard Basehart) is a major
force behind the Reign of Terror. I think the most interesting
character is the one played by Arnold Moss (the alien from THE 27TH
DAY), sort of a mysterious agent. The love interest is Arlene Dahl
who a decade later would be on a JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE
EARTH. Anthony Mann directs--usually a good sign. (Thursday, June
30, 3 PM)
That is about it for films that are 1) obscure, 2) which I can
personally recommend, and 3) I have not written about before.
Okay, so I might ease rule 3. The first film I ever recorded on a
VCR was SO LONG AT THE FAIR. I can remember watching one scene
about five times just because I could. This is an early film
directed by Terrence Fisher before he became Hammer Films's most
respected director. The story is quite familiar, being a
dramatization of a popular urban legend. This film is a remake of
EYES OF MYSTERY (1932) and was remade for The Alfred Hitchcock
Presents television show. Jean Simmons plays a young woman
traveling with her brother. They stay at a fancy hotel getting
separate rooms. Over night the brother disappears, which would be
strange enough, but also his hotel room seems to wink out of
existence and nobody can remember the room or the brother ever
existed. Dirk Bogarde is along and tries to help Simmons find her
brother and to stay sane. It is not easy to guess from the film
that Terrence Fisher was less than a decade away from being an icon
of horror filmmaking. It would have been just as hard for Fisher,
who always felt indifferent toward horror films. (Tuesday, June
14, 9:45 PM)
I will call to your attention to RUN FOR THE SUN. The IMDB lists
more than ten film versions of Richard Connell's story "The Most
Dangerous Game." This one was the first time it was shot in
widescreen and Technicolor and with a big budget. The names were
changed so it is not quite so obvious that this is a remake of THE
MOST DANGEROUS GAME (1932). Not great, but the film is
entertaining. Trevor Howard menaces Richard Widmark in the jungles
of Mexico. (Sunday, June 26, 2:30 AM)
I suppose it is not accurate to call J'ACCUSE a zombie movie, but
in a sense it is. This is a silent, anti-war film that is slow and
a little self-important. It is remembered mostly for a sequence at
the end when all of the dead of World War I return from their
graves to admonish the living for allowing the horrible war to
happen. And classic silent film director Abel Gance films it
horrifically. (I would say that there are better reasons to avoid
war than just that the dead may come back and complain.) You might
want to watch just the last half hour if you think it is likely
you would give up on it before. (Monday, June 6, 12 AM) [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Another Mystery Solved (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Do you ever wonder why you see so many Virginia state quarters, but
have yet to see a single quarter commemorating the Northern Mariana
Islands? Many of you probably didn't even realize there was a
Northern Mariana Islands quarter, or perhaps even that there was a
Northern Mariana Islands.) Part of it is obviously that the
Virginia coins have been in circulation longer (since 2000), hence
are more distributed. But even the Alaska and Hawaii coins from
2008 are much more common than those for the Northern Mariana
Islands from 2009. This is all part of the economic crisis. We
just don't need as many new quarters every few months. They minted
1,594,616,000 Virginia quarters, 517,600,000 Hawaii quarters, and
just 72,800,000 Northern Mariana Islands quarters.
They have now switched to "America the Beautiful" National Parks
and Monuments coins. The first ones were issued in 2010; I have
yet to see any of them either. The first, Hot Springs National
Park, had just 42,400,000 minted. [-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Superman (letter of comment by Evelyn C. Leeper)
In response to Taras Wolansky's comments on Superman "[planning] to
renounce his American citizenship at the United Nations" in the
05/06/11 issue of the MT VOID, Evelyn writes:
I thought that one had to renounce American citizenship at a United
States diplomatic office, not someplace like the United Nations.
But when did Superman become an American citizen anyway? His
parents smuggled him into the United States, he has no visas or
other documentation, he took a job under an assumed name, and he
spends time operating outside the law. As noted by Kinky and
others, Superman is a classic illegal alien. [-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
CITIZEN IN SPACE by Robert Sheckley (Ballantine, 1962, no ISBN) was
Mark's choice for this month's science fiction discussion group.
Mark is a fan of the "Golden Age" of science fiction, particularly
Robert Sheckley, and though this collection has long been out of
print, luckily there were copies available on the used market. (It
has also been put on-line illegally on a server in Russia that
seems to be working at putting a *lot* of works on-line.)
The first story, "The Mountain Without a Name" seems like it is
going to be just another "Earthmen invade another planet and get
their come-uppance from the 'backward' natives." It isn't.
"The Accountant" is one of those "reversal" stories. Usually the
parents want the child to follow some practical career and the
child wants something off the wall. Here the parents want the
child to be a wizard, but the child wants to be an accountant.
Move along, nothing to see here.
"Hunting Problem" is yet another reversal, with an alien "Scouter"
hunting "mirashes", which we find out very early on are humans.
And because we find this out early, we are expecting some other
twist at the end of the story.
"A Thief in Time" might almost be the inspiration for "Paycheck"--
the protagonist in "A Thief in Time" is told by a time traveler
that he will invent a time machine. He ends up traveling to the
future and discovering that (on a previous trip?) he has stolen an
odd assortment of items: lifebelts, shark repellant, micro-copies
of world literature, hand mirrors, carrot seeds, .... Naturally,
as the story progresses, we (and he) discover why these items were
necessary.
"The Luckiest Man in the World" is another fairly predictable
story, and as such seems to go on much longer than it needs to.
"Hands Off" is a combination "first-contact" and slapstick story.
Humans try to operate an alien craft they have found (well, stolen)
with somewhat less success--but more realistically--than the
Americans had with U-571 in the movie of the same name.
"Something for Nothing" is a story about the dangers involved in
relying on credit and a good credit rating to acquire what you
want. Alas, the main character cannot just declare bankruptcy and
start over.
At forty pages,"Ticket to Tranai" is the longest of the stories.
While there is much to like in its depiction of a "utopia" with no
crime, no poverty, and hardly any government, I cannot help but
note that the characterization of women in it leaves a lot to be
desired. I can understand how the rationale Sheckley gives for
their attitude might seem reasonable, but only based on 1950s
assumptions. The theory is that a woman would prefer to
be kept in stasis most of the time, taken out only for parties and
such. There are two problems with this. First, what about
reproduction? There is no indication of artificial wombs, so even
if one assumes that robots raise the children--which seems
unlikely--the woman has to be out of stasis for nine months, and
popping in and out cannot be good for a pregnant women. But
second, it assumes that a women is willing to live as a pampered
plaything for a man for some unspecified subjective time in return
for a wealthy widowhood, apparently spent in idleness. The idea
that she might want something more out of life does not seem to
occur to anyone.
And as you might suspect, the "no crime, no poverty, and hardly any
government" aspects of Tranai turn out to be not what Goodman
expects.
Sheckley seems a bit prescient regarding the current decline of
public services, and the concurrent enrichment of the few:
"Marvin Goodman had lived most of his life in Seakirk, New Jersey,
a town controlled by one political boss or another for close to
fifty years. Most of Seakirk's inhabitants were indifferent to the
spectacle of corruption in high places and low, the gambling, the
gang wars, the teen-age drinking. They were used to the sight of
their roads crumbling, their ancient water mains bursting, their
power plants breaking down, their decrepit old buildings falling
apart, while the bosses built bigger homes, longer swimming pools
and warmer stables. People were used to it."
I really liked "The Battle", but I have a fondness for theological
science fiction: science fiction where the "what if?" is "what if
Christianity [or some other religion, but it is usually
Christianity] is literally true?" In this case, the question is,
what will happen during the Final Battle between humanity and the
minions of Satan, particularly if humanity brings its advanced
technology to bear? It's not what you think.
"Skulking Permit" is almost the flip side of "A Ticket to Tranai":
there is a utopia which has been out of contact with Earth for
generations, and now that contact has been re-established the
colonists want to do their best to prove how normal and conformist
they are, including creating a jail and a criminal. The story is
just a bit too twee, though, and the ending is just too convenient
and unbelievable.
The title story, "Citizen in Space", is about ubiquitous government
surveillance. Written during the McCarthy era, it still (or
perhaps again) has relevance in a world where the FBI attaches GPS
units to people's cars and you need to have a full body scan to fly
to Grandma's house.
And the final story, "Ask a Foolish Question", is not even really a
story at all, but a philosophical musing on the function of
background in illocutionary acts. If you don't understand what
that means, well, that's the point.
When we were in Italy, we heard a lot about THE LIVES OF THE
ARTISTS by Giorgio Vasari, so when I saw it at a book sale
(translated by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella) (ISBN
978-0-19-281754-9) for only a dollar, I picked it up. It was a bit
of a disappointment to discover that this was an abridged edition,
particularly since there was barely any indication of this on the
cover--just some text in the description saying that Vasari wrote
about "hundreds of artists" and that this was a translation of
"thirty-six of the most important lives." On the other hand, it
could be that an unabridged edition would be too long, with too
much about minor artists and too much minor information about major
artists.
As it is, there is a lot of detailed description of works Vasari
attributed to the artists (often erroneously). Vasari wrote in the
mid-16th century, so you'd think he would have more accurate
information, but he apparently did not let such things as accuracy
stand in the way of a good story--witness what the translator's
call "his engrossing account of how Andrea del Castagno murdered
Domenico Veneziano." The fact that del Castagno died in 1457, but
Veneziano lived until 1461 does not seem to have bothered Vasari at
all.
Vasari does cover the major influences of many of the artists, such
as Paolo Uccello's obsession with perspective, but it seems like
this book would be more meaningful if I had read it with the works
(or photos thereof) in front of me. [-ecl]
==================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Comfort, or revelation: God owes us one of these,
but surely not both.
--Mignon McLaughlin,
The Neurotic's Notebook