THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
05/31/13 -- Vol. 31, No. 48, Whole Number 1756
Hamlet: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Ophelia: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Changing Your Email Address (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups, Lectures,
etc. (NJ)
Science Fiction Novels for Economists (comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
So This Is the Science Fiction Future (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
My Picks for Turner Classic Movies in June (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
SAVE THE FARM (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN (letter of comment
by Bill Higgins)
NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS (letter of comment by Kip Williams)
This Week's Reading (MY BOOKSTORE) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
==================================================================
TOPIC: Changing Your Email Address (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
In the past, if you wanted to change the email address that the MT
VOID was sent to you merely had to email Mark or me. Alas,
Yahoogroups has changed their processes and discontinued the
ability of us to add unilaterally any new addresses. As a result,
you will now get an email at the new address inviting you to join
the group, and you need to follow its instructions.
Or you can just send an email to
from the new address.
To remove the old address, you can still mail us, or send an email
to from the old address.
[-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups, Lectures,
etc. (NJ)
[Note that several dates have changed.]
June 6: THE BANK JOB, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 6:30PM
June 13: JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1959), Middletown (NJ)
Public Library, 5:30PM; discussion of film and the book by
Jules Verne after the film
June 27: THE FLOATING OPERA by John Barth, Old Bridge (NJ) Public
Library, 7PM
July 11: ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS, Middletown (NJ) Public
Library, 5:30PM; discussion of film and ROBINSON CRUSOE by
Daniel Defoe after the film
July 25: TRSF by the MIT Technology Review, Old Bridge (NJ) Public
Library, 7PM
August 22: [canceled]
September 26: THE TIME SHIPS by Stephen Baxter, Old Bridge (NJ)
Public Library, 7PM
October 24: THE LANGUAGE INSTINCT by Steven Pinker, Old Bridge
(NJ) Public Library, 7PM
November 21: DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? by Philip
K. Dick, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
December 19: THE MOON AND SIXPENCE by W. Somerset Maugham,
Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
Speculative Fiction Lectures:
July 6: Keith DeCandido, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 12N
Northern New Jersey events are listed at:
http://www.sfsnnj.com/news.html
==================================================================
TOPIC: Science Fiction Novels for Economists (comments by Evelyn
C. Leeper)
Noah Smith lists thirteen science fiction novels dealing with
economics at http://tinyurl.com/void-sf-for-economists:
1. A DEEPNESS IN THE SKY, by Vernor Vinge
2. MAKERS, by Cory DOCTOROW
3. THE DISPOSSESSED, by Ursula K. LeGuin
4. DOWN AND OUT IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM, by Cory Doctorow
5. RAINBOWS END, by Vernor Vinge
6. ACCELERANDO, by Charles Stross
7. LUCIFER'S HAMMER, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
8. THE WINDUP GIRL, by Paolo Bacigalupi
9. THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS, by Robert Heinlein
10. SCHISMATRIX, by Bruce Sterling
11. PERMUTATION CITY, by Greg Egan
12. REAMDE, by Neal Stephenson
13. "The Game of Thrones" series, by George R.R. Martin
Descriptions (and lots of comments can be found on the page
Itself (URL above). Paul Krugman has responded at
http://tinyurl.com/void-sf-for-economists-2 with additions: The
"Foundation" Trilogy, Stross's "Merchant Princes" novels (rather
than ACCELERANDO), Stephenson's THE DIAMOND AGE or ANATHEM (rather
than REAMDE), Ian Banks's "Culture" novels, and Ken MacLeod's THE
RESTORATION GAME. [-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: So This Is the Science Fiction Future (comments by Mark
R. Leeper)
I am not sure this was the future world I pictured when I was
young, but I would have been impressed knowing that in the future I
would have a machine on my desk that would answer random questions
like "how do you hard boil an egg?" and "how do you clean vinyl
siding?" But would have really excited me was to know that I would
be able to tell people truthfully that I had real live dinosaurs in
my back yard. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: My Picks for Turner Classic Movies in June (comments by Mark
R. Leeper)
Once again I am doing monthly guide to lesser-known movies on TCM
but which are still recommended. I have no connection to TCM
except as an admirer of what is basically a never-ending film
festival on cable. Other countries I have visited and/or heard
people from are envious that we have such a cable station. Even if
you are interested in only one or two percent of the films they
show, that still means you will find a lot to like. As I write
they are running a package of Spanish-language Laurel and Hardy
films. Who knew such a thing even existed? Apparently Stan and
Ollie had just a bit of Spanish language and their films do not
have them speaking much. But these films constitute a genuine
curio. Curiously all the films I am highlighting this month are on
one day. (The times I give below are in Eastern Daylight Time.)
Willis O'Brien thought that a film that crossed genres would
attract fans of either genre. He decided he wanted to make a
Western with dinosaurs. It was to be called GWANGI. He did not
live to see GWANGI made, but he did live to work on the script for
a dinosaur western and that film hit screen while he was still
alive. The film was THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN (1956).
Curiously he did not work on the effects or at least did not take
credit for effects work. The model work is not up to O'Brien's
best anyway. I will not say this is a very good film. The plot is
fairly standard children's matinee stuff. The film stars Guy
Madison (TV's Wild Bill Hickock) trying to put together a ranch in
Mexico with a villainous local standing in his way. There are also
mysterious disappearances happening in the subplot you came to see.
It turns out there is a local theropod dinosaur that livestock have
been running into to their detriment. We do not see the title
creature until the last ten minutes of the film. This is a TCM
premiere of a film that is not easy to find. [Thursday, June 27,
12:45 PM]
Later that same day THE BLACK KNIGHT (1954) tells a tale of King
Arthur's Court. A blacksmith (Alan Ladd) wants to prove he can be
a knight. There is a great ensemble cast of British actors: André
Morell, Harry Andrews, Anthony Bushell, Laurence Naismith, and
Patrick Troughton. The villain of the piece, and he is nasty, was
an unknown, who just that year was becoming a name actor. The evil
Palamides is played by Peter Cushing. I think this is his first
serious villain, tough he had been a prankster in A CHUMP AT OXFORD
(1940). Peter Cushing completists should take note. [Thursday,
June 27, 5:00 PM]
That was a King Arthur story. The other great hero of English
fable is Robin Hood and still later that same day TCM will be
showing what is in my opinion the best Robin Hood film, ROBIN AND
MARIAN (1976). Sean Connery is Robin and Audrey Hepburn is Marian.
The theme is what happens to Robin Hood when aging overtakes him.
It is an adventure film, but it is also a whole lot more. It is
about Robin letting go of the hero he can no longer be. There is
adventure, but the accent is on drama, and director Richard Lester
gives us a less action-filled and more realistic view of life in
service of King Richard. [Thursday, June 27, 11:00 PM]
What film would I most recommend? Well unless you are really into
completism of one form or another, the best film is ROBIN AND
MARIAN. Definitely it is a must if you have not seen it.
Also you should see THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952) [Wednesday,
June 13, 2:30 AM]. This is an insider's look at the state of
Hollywood filmmaking. Look for a tribute to Val Lewton and his
horror films. Overall the best film of the month is 12 ANGRY MEN
(1957), Sidney Lumet's premiere feature film, and a classic.
[Monday, June 17, 4:00 AM]
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: SAVE THE FARM (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: The story of the South Central Farm is brought to the
screen in a short documentary by Michael Kuehnert. This fourteen-
acre plot of land in dilapidated South Central Los Angeles was
given to the community by the city following the Rodney King riots.
350 families, mostly Latino, grew their food in the plot and
supported themselves. Then the value of the land grew to outweigh
the largess of the city and a struggle for possession began.
Kuehnert takes us to see the farm, the people planting it, and the
food it produced. And we see the people who used the land for more
than 14 years finding they have to fight to hold it and resist
armored police. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
SAVE THE FARM is the story of an American tragedy. Yeah, I will
take sides on a political issue from a film and say what happened
in South Central Los Angeles reflects very poorly on local
government in Los Angeles and the country in general. On the other
hand, it reflects well on the predecessors of the current
government. In 1986 the City of Los Angeles bought fourteen acres
of land for the purpose of building an incinerator. The seller was
one Ralph Horowitz who was paid $4.8M for the property, but was
given the right to buy it back. When the locals objected to having
an incinerator in their neighborhood the city abandoned the plan.
The land went to the L.A. Harbor Department in 1994. They had no
immediate use and following the Rodney King riots they granted the
Food Bank a permit for the land to be used as a community garden.
350 families used the garden to produce food and medicinal plants.
With hard work the land became very productive. People could feed
their families and sell their surplus at their own farmers' market.
In 2001 Ralph Horowitz decided the land was valuable after all. At
first the city resisted selling the land back, but following
closed-door negotiations with the city Horowitz was sold the land
for $5.1M. As part of the settlement Horowitz agreed to donate 2.6
acres for a public soccer field. But there would be no gardening.
The farmers brought a lawsuit to prevent the sale of the land to
Horowitz, but they lost. Horowitz offered the land for sale at his
current price of $16.3M. The farmers were able to raise a little
over $6M, but Horowitz would not sell. The Annenberg Foundation,
impressed by the good being done for the farm agreed to donate the
funds necessary to buy the land, but Horowitz refused to sell
saying that their offer came too late and citing anti-Jewish
remarks made against him, though they appear to have come from
supporters of the farm and not the farmers themselves.
On June 13, 2006, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
ordered the land to be evacuated and cleared. Forty protesters
were arrested and the actions set off protests to that attracted
celebrities including Alicia Silverstone, Daryl Hannah, Amy Smart,
Joan Baez, Danny Glover, Martin Sheen, Laura Dern, and others.
But it was to no avail. On July 5 the land was bulldozed and the
crops destroyed. Wikipedia reports that as of June, 2011, the land
that had been a the United States's largest urban farm remains a
bulldozed vacant lot.
Director Michael Kuehnert shows us the farm that had provided food,
a park, money though a farmers' market, and what was really a
community center. Now it is a vacant lot. We see the struggle to
hold on against the forces of profit-takers. SAVE THE FARM is a
tragedy of land that was used for 14 years to feed and help people
but now having been returned to being one more eyesore in a dingy
part of Los Angeles. I give the film a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or
7/10. SAVE THE FARM is a succinct 31 minutes currently available
as VOD and DVD from Cinema Libre. It is available for streaming
from NetFlix.
Wikipedia on the South Central Farm:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Central_Farm
Film Credits: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1789050/combined
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/save_the_farm/
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN (letter of comment by Bill
Higgins)
In response to Mark's review of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS in the
05/24/13 issue of the MT VOID, Bill Higgins writes:
I recall your dissection of STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN, a film
you felt had an undeservedly high reputation.
In the wake of a new "Star Trek" movie comes this review, whose
conceit is "a review of the second "Star Trek" film, written as if
Internet culture had existed in 1982":
http://tinyurl.com/void-wrath
All very well, but the proto-Internet did exist in 1982, so one
does not have to conjecture about its reaction. Instead one can
examine the reaction of ARPANET correspondents in the archive of
SF-LOVERS Digest, volumes 5 and 6. Keith Lynch has placed the
volumes as downloadable files on the Web:
http://keithlynch.net/sfl/sflv5
http://keithlynch.net/sfl/sflv6
[-wh]
Mark replies:
I have mellowed considerably on STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN. I
think screenwriters of other films could have used ideas from STAR
TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN.
In THE ADVENTURES OF ROBN HOOD Robin and Gisbourne are having a
great sword fight. Gisbourne knocks the sword from Robin's hand
and disarms him. It looks like it is curtains for the good guys.
But in the repartee between them just before the end Robin says he
knew Gisbourne's sword-maker and knows a secret about his sword.
One tap on a spring release at the end of the blade and Gisbourne's
sword falls to pieces. Now Robin can kick him off the stairway.
Who knew Robin Hood was so powerful? The fans would have loved it.
SO COOL!
Or in (the good) CASINO ROYALE it is the big poker game with Le
Chiffre. If the screenwriter had remembered the excitement of the
Kobayashi Maru. Bond wins because he had arranged to have Le
Chiffre given--get this--a marked deck. EXCELLENT!!!
I just never appreciated how well-written STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF
KHAN really was. I could have thought most of the afternoon and
not come up with a better story.
Thanks for the links. The proto-Internet did exist in 1982, but
the current Internet culture did not. That keeps
evolving/devolving as time goes on. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS (letter of comment by Kip Williams)
In response to Mark's review of NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS in the 05/24/13
issue of the MT VOID, Kip Williams writes:
Thanks for the review of the stage play, NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS. I
will heed your warning. Shortness of life, and all that. Invest
that time in watching the five-hour LES MISERABLES from the 1930s
instead, maybe. Anyway, this is an insignificant nitpick: Esmeralda
is not (ethnically) a gypsy. Her skin might be darker from the sun,
but that's about all.
P. S. (for another day): Spoilers. I believe in them by default,
and try not to ruin anything for the ones like me out there who
would as soon control whether they know all the plot twists ahead
of time or not. Sometimes, even pointing out that something is a
spoiler can be a spoiler, so I didn't go into detail in my comment
up there. I love the dizzying panoply of plot twists in HUGO.
[-kw]
Mark responds:
You are talking about the 1934 LES MISERABLES produced and directed
by Raymond Bernard. Up until this year I would have picked it as
the best version.
You are right. I am not sure it shows up in any film version but
Esmeralda is not of Gypsy birth. In this musical they make quite a
point that her skin tones are different, but the camera shows no
difference.
And you are right about spoilers. If you say in a review, "I will
not reveal the twist ending," you are already revealing that there
is a twist ending. I would say that the rules of writing film
reviews are:
1) Do not diminish the reader's pleasure when seeing the film.
2) Tell the reader only the truth about the film unless in conflict
with the first rule.
3) Tell the reader what you think about the film unless in conflict
with the first two rules. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
MY BOOKSTORE: WRITERS CELEBRATE THEIR FAVORITE PLACES TO BROWSE.
READ, AND SHOP edited by Ronald Rice and Booksellers Across America
(ISBN 978-1-57912-910-1) is the sort of book I expected to love.
But every author loves their particular bookstore so much that they
cannot manage to give a coherent description of it. I read the
description of the Odyssey Bookshop (South Hadley, Massachusetts),
a bookstore with which I am familiar, and could barely recognize
it. I read the description of the Strand (New York) and were I not
familiar with it, I could not have pictured it. (Actually, now
that they remodeled, I probably am not picturing it anyway.) Most
of the descriptions seem to be how wonderful their readings were,
or the great signing they had there, not about the actual bookstore
aspect of the bookstore. (In fact, other than the Strand, every
bookstore description I read talked about readings and signings.)
For example, the Odyssey is a wonderful store for what it is, but
it is not that much larger than Amherst Books. It doesn't have the
serendipitous atmosphere than the Old Book Store (in Northampton)
has. What it has is a schedule of book readings and a lot of
visibility. I am not criticizing the Odyssey, but I think the
criteria used by the authors to choose their favorite bookstore are
not the criteria a reader would use to choose their favorite
bookstore. [-ecl]
==================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
The reason my early books are so bad is because
I never had the time or the money to afford
constant revisions.
-- Gore Vidal