THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
11/22/13 -- Vol. 32, No. 21, Whole Number 1781
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Doris Lessing, R.I.P. (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Solution to the Puzzle for "Game of States" Players
(submitted by Tom Russell)
Modern Forensics (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Anniversaries (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
The Mystery of Jewish Food (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Mid-Fall Season SF TV Report (television reviews
by Dale L. Skran, Jr.)
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
Ye Old DVD Catch-Up Reviews (BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, HANCOCK,
KICK-ASS, and THE COLONY) (film reviews
by Dale L. Skran, Jr.)
Nobel-Prize-Winning Science Fiction Authors (letter
of comment by Fred Lerner)
The Shadow (letter of comment by Tim Bateman)
States, Presidents, and Elements (letter of comment
by Jim Susky)
Oh, Well (Redux) (letter of comment by John Hertz)
This Week's Reading (ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FICTIONAL & FANTASTIC
LANGUAGES, SPHERE, and ENCOUNTERS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
==================================================================
TOPIC: Doris Lessing, R.I.P. (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and Guest
of Honour at the 1987 Worldcon in Brighton, England, died at age
94. She frankly described herself as writing science fiction and
(according to Wikipedia) claimed her most important works were her
"Canopus in Argos" series.
(I mentioned her last week in my article on Jose Saramago.) [-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Solution to the Puzzle for "Game of States" Players
(submitted by Tom Russell, Jerry Ryan, Dan Cox, Steve Milton, and
David Goldfarb)
To recap:
The geography teacher assigns her students a special challenge:
Plan a trip through the 48 contiguous US states, starting in a
state with eight neighboring states, and visiting each state
just once.
When she grades the papers she finds that of her 27 students, just
eleven have proper trips. All eleven trips are different, as she
expected, but to her surprise the 42nd state visited is the same
state on all eleven correct trips.
What is the likelihood of this happening?
The answer is: 100%.
Jerry Ryan writes:
It will always happen that the 42nd state will be the same (NY).
I observe that Maine has only one neighbor... and it's the only
state that does... thus on all correct paths Maine is #48 and its
neighbor NH is thus always #47.
If you work your way through all paths from NH and discard dead
ends, you see that you have to then go VT (46), MA(45), RI(44),
CT(43) and NY (42).
Any other path gets you to a dead end at Rhode Island and/or forces
you to visit a state more than once.
There's a similar dead end to consider after this, such that
Delaware is always #39 or #40. [-gwr]
Dan Cox adds more detail:
Assuming no cheats (airplane, Canada, Mexico, Oceans, or the Gulf
of Mexico etc.), the 42nd state visited must be New York.
The states with 8 neighbors are Tennessee and Missouri. Maine has
1 neighbor, which is New Hampshire. So the last 2 states in the
trip are New Hampshire and Maine.
New York isolates the following states from the other contiguous
states: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New
Hampshire, and Maine, so we get
New York = 42, { Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont
}, New Hampshire = 47, Maine = 48
{} used to denote the order between the {} is not yet determined
It can be narrowed down further: Rhode Island can only be reached
from Connecticut and Massachusetts, so we either need (Connecticut,
Rhode Island, Massachusetts) or (Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut)
() used to indicate an ordered sequence
New York + Massachusetts cut off Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
We have enough to know the last 7 states are
New York = 42, Connecticut = 43, Rhode Island = 44, Massachusetts
45, Vermont = 46, New Hampshire = 47, Maine = 48
Pennsylvania + Delaware combined isolate New Jersey + the last 7
states. So New Jersey must be number 41 in the sequence.
Beyond that it starts branching out. [-dtc]
Correct answers were also submitted by Steve Milton, and David
Goldfarb. [-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Modern Forensics (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
It seemed the real world is catching up with CSI in doing some
phenomenal work solving past crimes. With cutting edge forensic
techniques we are making discoveries that are shedding new light on
old mysteries. We now know for certain that Lee Harvey Oswald did
not act alone. There was a second shooter who has now been
positively identified as Teddy Roosevelt. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Anniversaries (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of C. S. Lewis, creator
of the "Narnia" and "Perelandra" series of books.
Today is also the 50th anniversary of the death of George Orwell,
creator of 1984 and ANIMAL FARM.
And today is also the 50th anniversary of the death of some other
guy who never wrote any science fiction or fantasy. [-ecl]
[Have you read PROFILES IN COURAGE? -mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: The Mystery of Jewish Food (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Why is Italian cuisine popular among Italians and non-Italians
alike? The same goes for Chinese food. But with few exceptions
Jewish food is unpopular even, in my experience, by most Jews. Why
cannot a creative people like the Jews create a popular ethnic
cuisine?
There is an old adage that says if you want to find a good Chinese
restaurant, look for one in which many of the customers look
Chinese. Chinese people are the most knowledgeable and the
toughest critics of Chinese food. And of course this will
generalize to other ethnicities. If an Italian restaurant attracts
a lot of Italians, it is probably good. A Thai restaurant that
attracts Thais ought to be pretty great. A Jewish restaurant will
be nearly all Jews and should be great, right? Well, ... perhaps
not. In my experience of just about any ethnic group, Jews have
the least enthusiasm for their own cuisine. Jews eating in a
Jewish restaurant may or may not be greatly pleased about what they
are eating. Most Jews I know would rather eat an eggroll than
tzimmes. That is a stew of cooked carrots and dried fruit. Jewish
food.
If someone wants to go out for Jewish food, he/she probably is
Jewish. You just do not get a lot of non-Jews who are crazy about
Jewish cooking. Few non-Jews have ever even tried Jewish food more
obscure than delicatessen or bagels. (Actually I guess we think
of that as Jewish food, though in truth neither bagels nor
delicatessen are really Jewish in origin. Bagels were brought to
this country mostly by Polish Jews, but in Poland they were not
particularly Jewish. I think the same is true of deli food.)
Certainly if you want to find traditionally Jewish foods at a
restaurant it will not be easy, and your best bet is a Jewish
delicatessen. I am Jewish and I don't even know where I would buy
a plate of cholent. But particularly if you are not Jewish, the
odds are you do not have a particular desire to try Jewish cuisine.
You can go to a Chinese restaurant and find non-Chinese people
poring over the menu and trying delicacies like Mu-shu Pork. Even
in kosher delis you do not find anyone with similar enthusiasm for
finding foods like kugel, gefilte fish, chopped liver, and sweet
noodle casseroles. A vast majority of people who like these foods
are Jewish. And even among Jews they are not at all popular. Like
Jackie Mason says he never finds a little Chinese man who says he
is looking for a good piece of gefilte fish. (Of course I am
Jewish and I consider "good piece of gefilte fish" to be an
oxymoron.) The dark secret is that even among Jews true fans of
chopped liver and lokshen kugel are thin on the ground (if not
around the waistline). So the question is what is happening here?
How can a people like the Jews who are creative enough to have
contributed 41% of all Nobel Prize winners in Economics and more
than a quarter of the Nobel Prize winners in Physics fail so badly
at developing a cuisine that is popular among its own people and so
much less so people of other cultures?
Adding to the paradox is the question of contacts with the outside
world. If people of different cultures live together, they tend to
pick up the best of each other's cuisine. I could easily believe
that the isolated natives of New Guinea who never had a lot of
contact with the outside world might never have tasted other
people's food and might never have looked for ways to improve their
own cuisine. Their cuisine could go for centuries without changing
much. That is not like the history of the Jewish people. It is
hard to come up with another culture as international and
cosmopolitan as Jewish culture. What country has developed a great
cuisine and does not have Jewish visitors, if not residents? Why
did Jewish cuisine go so many centuries without evolving into a
more popular form?
Well, in fact good dishes from other cultures and adopted by
smaller groups of Jews, but do not get adopted by the cuisine as a
whole. The best Spaghetti Bolognaise I think I ever was my
mother's. But it does not get adopted by Jewish cuisine the way
that kishke has. Kishke is real Jewish food. What is it? It is
beef intestine stuffed with a seasoned filling. I am Jewish and I
cannot tell you off hand one person, Jewish or not, who wants to
have some "beef intestine stuffed with a seasoned filling." I am
sure they are out there.
The easiest explanation for why Jewish food has not evolved and
improved is a mixing of cuisine was not always possible. The rules
of Kosher say no shrimp, no pork, and no mixing of meat and dairy.
That is a real barrier to cuisine exchanges. A friend could be
offering a Jew a sample, but little of what could be offered was
kosher and far less actually could be absolutely trusted to be
kosher. So Jews have to shy away from other cuisines. My mother's
Chicken Paprikash was delicious, but it was not as good as Chicken
Paprikash made with sour cream. It is the rules of Kosher that put
in place a barrier between Jews and other cultures' foods. And
there is no way to make a kosher pepperoni pizza or a kosher
cheeseburger.
But the answer cannot be the rules of Kosher alone. As I say the
Jews are a highly creative people. They should be able to find
good foods within the kosher restriction. The question of how
these foods would become part of Jewish cuisine is more
complicated. There are a lot of good Kosher cooks. But I think
that Jewish cuisine has not adopted their contribution. Instead
what seems to happen is the better foods are adopted more by the
outside world. If a lot of people are eating bagels across
cultures they are not really Jewish any more. As I say, bagels
were once mostly a Jewish food and now they seem to be just another
part of American cuisine. Matzo ball soup seems to be showing up
in a lot of non-Jewish restaurants these days.
Take away the stuff like matzo ball soup from Jewish cuisine and
what is left is dishes like lokshen kugel. That is not a pretty
picture. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Mid-Fall Season SF TV Report (television reviews by Dale
L. Skran, Jr.)
Here we are again for another round of my infamous SF TV mini-
reviews. I admit to being unable to keep up with all the genre TV
I could potentially watch. I watch GAME OF THRONES and TRU BLOOD
on DVD after the fact as I am not a HBO subscriber. Currently I am
not watching quite a few shows--ONCE UPON A TIME, SLEEPY HOLLOW,
AMERICAN HORROR STORY: COVEN, and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. I may be
leaving out a few--such is the richness of the current list of
offerings. I've also fallen into the habit of not watching
REVOLUTION since it conflicts with other shows I like better. I
may catch up with it on-line or on DVD at some point. It's fair to
say that while it has not fallen off the deep end into idiocy, it
isn't that compelling either.
First let's look at old friends making a return visit. Now bereft
of the Originals, who have moved to their own show, the VAMPIRE
DIARIES continues to amaze with its ever more embroidered plot
lines. The new season pits the now human Catherine against a
powerful ancient witch Qetsiyah who has recently returned to
physical world from "the other side" and Silas, Qetsiyah's long ago
and now immortal lover. The plot is way too complicated to explain
to newbies, but DIARIES continues to dig deeper into the back story
for more thrills and chills as Damon, Stefan, and Elena, now all
vampires, struggle to work out their literally eternal triangle
while dealing with the knowledge that at least two of them are
doppelgangers as well.
Audrey has returned to HAVEN from the other-dimensional "Barn" to
find that the Troubles are on a path to destruction. Sheriff
Carter from EUREKA is now a regular, and we've learned a lot more
about what is happening without understanding anything. HAVEN
continues to function well as a supernatural/superhero detective
story with a long-running fantasy/SF background that still remains
unexplained.
Sam and Dean are back for a new season of SUPERNATURAL, and the
show continues to mine folklore and fantasy for plot lines. Recent
episodes featured the Wicked Witch from Oz (and Dorothy!) and a
chef who takes on animal powers by eating parts of different
creatures ritualistically. Both episodes work surprisingly well,
and the bit where Dean drinks a potion to allow him to communicate
with a dog who witnesses a murder was especially funny. It turns
out in the Oz episode that Dorothy was a Hunter who worked with the
Men of Letters, and that the story books may have gotten a few
details wrong. I fundamentally like what they've done by anchoring
Sam and Dean in the "Men of Letters" back story and giving them an
art deco headquarters, partly because I am a fan of secret history
stories, but mostly because it is just plain cool.
ARROW has been renewed for a second season, and things are off to a
good start, with a non-super powered Black Canary coming on-stage
for the first time, bringing ARROW a bit more in tune with the DC
comic universe. Trained as an assassin by none other than Ra's Al
Ghul himself, Canary's origin on the show is much improved over the
various versions found the comics. Not every episode is equally
good, but ARROW is fundamentally an interesting story about
superheroes with no real powers, which almost always makes for the
best superhero tales.
The last returning show is THE MENTALIST. The big news here is
that the show's writers are bringing the Red John story line to a
close, apparently by mid-season, so this has been a white-knuckle
roller-coaster ride as Patrick Jane closes in on his nemesis. One
episode in particular has some torture scenes that are hard to
watch, and are a bit out of character for the show. The reputation
of THE MENTALIST is riding on how this story line is resolved. If
the job is well done, THE MENTALIST will be remembered as one of
the great TV mystery/crime shows. If it is done poorly, I'm going
to be even angrier than I was after watching the last episode of
LOST.
The good news is that they are trying to end the Red John story
line, thus avoiding the mistake of THE X-FILES. From the
scuttlebutt on the net, they also plan to "play fair" with the
audience. In other words, Red John is not Jane himself, for
example, but one of the remaining seven suspects. Clues that have
been given in the show will be binding. This is a huge balancing
act for the writers. To explain Red John's apparently superhuman
abilities in a believable yet interesting way is a vast challenge
given all the water under the bridge. Once the story line
resolves, the writers will face an even greater challenge as they
try to continue the show without one of the major factors that
raised it above the general run of TV crime shows.
Onward to the new shows! Perhaps the most awaited and most talked
about is AGENTS OF SHIELD, Joss Whedon's new show. Clark Gregg
starts as Phil Coulson (who has appeared in a number of the Marvel
movies), who leads a motley team of agents as they investigate new
weirdness after the Battle of New York chronicled in THE AVENGERS
movie. This show seems pitched at a younger audience than ALIAS or
NIKITA. If you are looking for very complex storylines or adult
themes you won't find them here. However, AGENTS at its best is
well made, well acted, and decently entertaining for a wide range
of audiences. Some episodes are weak, but it seems to be improving
and I'm definitely watching it. You can see the Joss touches here
and there and they are frequently the best part of each episode.
I wasn't sure whether THE ORIGINALS could sustain itself outside
the cocoon of the VAMPIRE DIARIES, but I was pleasantly surprised.
THE ORIGINALS follows three of the surviving original vampires--
Klus (Joseph Morgan), Elijah (Daniel Gillies), and Rebekah (Claire
Holt)--as they seek to regain their home in New Orleans from
Klaus's protege, Marcel. Part Machiavellian power plays and part a
meditation on redemption and living with immortality, THE ORIGINALS
is violent and surprisingly entertaining. Part of what keeps me
watching is just that the three main characters are well cast and
fun to watch on the screen together.
The final "new show" is THE TOMORROW PEOPLE. This is definitely
the weakest of the three new programs I'm watching, and I don't
recommend it. It is mildly entertaining, and I am still watching
it, but it suffers from back story silliness. The "Tomorrow
People" all have the powers of telepathy, telekinesis, and
teleportation, but can't kill anyone. Why? Who knows? But as this
is the 2nd or 3rd version of this TV show, we are stuck with the
fundamental silliness of the basic concept. The heroes have a
supercomputer in their underground hideout--where did it come from?
One could go on and on, but THE TOMORROW PEOPLE collects random
ideas from other movies, shows, and SF stories and jumbles them
together incoherently. By comparison, every aspect of ALPHAS seems
tightly reasoned!!!
One final show awaits--TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY. This is now running
on BBC America as a repeat, but I'm seeing it for the first time.
Like most Torchwood outings, it is not perfect SF, but credit is
due for taking on the idea: suppose one day people just stopped
dying? MIRACLE DAY contains a decent extrapolation of how society
might react. It has the main conceit that the normally immortal
Captain Jack Harkness has now been rendered the only mortal man on
Earth, a strange reversal of fortune. I have yet to see the final
episode, but so far I'm pretty happy with this Torchwood
installment. The only two surviving members of Torchwood, Jack
(John Barrowman) and Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) must recruit new
allies as they face a vast and deeply established conspiracy that
has transformed the world beyond recognition.
And so, in summary:
SUPERNATURAL, VAMPIRE DIARIES, THE ORIGINALS: Recommended fantasy
series with adult/violent/horror/sexual content--not for kids.
HAVEN: Not recommended except for those who like this kind of
thing--not for kids due to strong horror elements.
AGENTS OF SHIELD: Recommended superhero show--entertaining but not
setting the world on fire--fine for kids.
ARROW: Recommended superhero show--some episodes may be too dark
and violent for kids. In particular, avoid season two episode
"Broken Dolls."
THE TOMORROW PEOPLE: Not recommended, but ok for kids.
THE MENTALIST: Highly recommended crime show with fantasy
elements--some episodes may be too dark and violent for kids.
Also, features complex plot lines that kids may not be able to
follow.
TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY: Recommended but not for kids due to
violence and adult themes.
[-dls]
==================================================================
TOPIC: DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Matthew McConaughey dropped a lot of weight as well as his
romantic image to play Ron Woodroof. Woodroof was big into cocaine
and sex and (in the film) rodeo until in 1985 he was diagnosed with
AIDS. He was given one month to live. The FDA-approved treatment
was worse than useless so Ron set up an international network to
buy in mass anti-viral drugs unapproved by the FDA. With
McConaughey's role in MUD followed by this role McConaughey clearly
transforms himself from heartthrob to serious actor. Jean-Marc
Vallee directs a screenplay by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack.
Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
This year the Christian Bale Award for Starving for One's Art goes
to Matthew McConaughey for DALLAS BUYERS CLUB. Officially, it was
stated he lost 38 pounds, but there are a number of sources saying
it was closer to 50. McConaughey was shedding more than pounds.
He was also shedding his romantic comedy good looks in an effort to
be taken more seriously as an actor. And there is some chance that
he may net some acting awards for in one year making MUD and DALLAS
BUYERS CLUB. Both are films in which he was not likely to be
considered anybody's dreamboat. But he might be considered Best
Actor.
Back in the 1980s when AIDS was a new horror, a modern-day plague,
Ron Woodroof (played by Matthew McConaughey) is a heavy drinker, a
cocaine user, a homophobe, and is heavily into sex. (In the film
he is also a rodeo rider, though the real Ron Woodroof on whom the
film is based was not.) Diagnosed with full-blown AIDS he is
hospitalized. There his roommate is Rayon (Jered Leto), just about
what Ron hates most, a gay transvestite seeking sex reassignment
and dying of AIDS. His doctor is Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner) who
will become involved in his case and his life.
Woodroof very nearly dies on the drug azidothymidine (AZT). He
staggers through denial, anger, and bargaining before with waning
strength he goes to Mexico where a one-time doctor who had lost his
license treats him with drugs that were not approved in the US and
finds they are much better for him than the hospital therapy back
home.
It is not long before he is bringing large quantities of these
medications into the US and re-selling them. To get around the
United States law that says he cannot sell these medications, he
forms a "buyers club" in which the drugs are provided free to
members who pay a $400/month membership fee. He is soon travelling
all over the world to find suppliers of anti-viral drugs and
becomes one corner of a three-way fight among the hospital, the
FDA, and Woodroof. After a while Woodroof's legal machinations may
not sustain the same viewer interest, but the relationship between
Ron and Rayon--the homophobe and the gay transvestite--grows in
interest value.
Beyond the fact that there was a Ron Woodroof who founded a drug
buyers club to improve the treatment AIDS, I am not sure how much
of this film I really believe. And Woodroof himself, I am told,
had no connection to the rodeo. But the viewer will come away with
a better feel for the issues of AIDS therapy. The film could have
used more discussion of the issues of how thoroughly a drug has to
be tested before being given to people who might die without it.
That is not an easy question. The FDA's policy is criticized, but
there is little suggestion what the appropriate policy would be.
McConaughey's is a performance that will be remembered. It is hard
to believe that after a year in which McConaughey starred in both
this film and in MUD that his name will not appear on the Best
Actor ballot and deservedly so. On the other hand Jennifer Garner
could and certainly should have done more to raise her character
above a walking cliche in a white lab coat. Writers Craig Borten
and Melisa Wallack might well have consigned Jered Leto's role to
the same fate, but Leto does more for his gay transvestite than the
writers do.
I rate DALLAS BUYERS CLUB a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 8/10.
Film Credits: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790636/combined
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dallas_buyers_club_2013/
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Ye Old DVD Catch-Up Reviews (film reviews by Dale L. Skran,
Jr.)
It is often the case that in the course of my sometimes busy life,
I miss the first run of a movie in the theaters. In this case I
wait until the DVD shows up on the bargain rack, and then watch it.
Recently I've caught up on a number of films I would have seen in
theaters if I went to the movies twice a week.
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (2013)
I had high hopes for this movie. The previews looked interesting,
and the critical review was okay--46% on the tomato-meter. The
results were somewhat disappointing. The basic plot of a magic
user coming of age, torn between two sides, and forced to make a
choice was presented in a simplistic and uninteresting fashion.
Her love interest turns out to be that durable icon of southern
tales, the intellectual lad stuck living with bible-thumping
idiots. This movie might be better named "Tennessee Williams and
his Magical Love." Every stereotype of the religiously intolerant
Southerner is on display here. TRU BLOOD handles this material much
better.
Rating: 0 on the -4 to +4 scale. Rated PG-13; okay for teens and
up; entertaining but best to see on DVD.
HANCOCK (2008)
I had pretty low expectations here, and I was not disappointed.
Will Smith and Charlize Theron star as superheroes with the powers
of gods because, well, they ARE gods!!! This tale of the
irresponsible hero who learns his true origin and overcomes his
baser instincts is brimming with crude humor and stupid jokes. The
"big secret" was a bit surprising but ultimately not very
interesting. The tomato-meter gave HANCOCK a very appropriate 41%
Rating: 0 on the -4 to +4 scale. Rated PG-13 for comic violence
and toilet humor.
KICK-ASS (2010)
There has been a lot of press about how vile this movie was,
including its supposed ultra-violence and sexualization of
children. It got 77% on the tomato-meter so I was moved to check
it out. The brief of KICK-ASS apparently was to show just how
brutal the action would be if you set out to really be a super-hero
and fight crime.
Dave Lizewski (Aaraon Taylor-Johnson) is inspired by his
meaningless life to put on a scuba suit and fight crime as "Kick-
Ass." On his first outing the crooks beat him to a pulp and he is
hit by car. Many operations later, he recovers, but now has
extensive nerve damage and metal plates all over his body. The
result is a mild case of a super-power: he can take a beating that
others could not.
Fairly soon Kick-Ass encounters some more professional super-
heroes: "Big Daddy" (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace
Moretz). Big Daddy is a former policeman seeking revenge on the
criminals who framed him for drug dealing and drove his wife to
suicide. He styles himself as Batman with a lot of guns, and Hit-
Girl, his daughter, as his Robin. In the KICK-ASS world, Hit-Girl
is the real deal. As an eleven-year-old girl who has trained her
entire life by her father to be a living weapon, she is totally
psychopathic and utterly remote from anything like normal human
reactions. With a child's disregard for both death and moral
limitations, and powered by Moretz's considerable acting talent,
Hit-Girl was a big hit with critics and fans alike.
Critics of the film viewed Hit-Girl as an exercise in pedophilia,
but I guess they watched a different movie than I did. If you
think children should only be presented as innocents on film, then
KICK-ASS is not the movie for you. On the other hand, I suspect
Hit-Girl may be relatively restrained compared to the real-life
heroin addicted child-soldiers of Sierra Leone.
At first fairly realistic, the movie eventually moves to more
familiar fantasy terrain as the action becomes more exaggerated.
Chloe Grace Moretz is by far the best thing about KICK-ASS, and I
understand the adulatory reviews I've seen. She has had a very
successful movie career so far, and I predict she will go on to
even better things.
Rating: +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. Rated R for good reason, this
movie is worth watching but ONLY for those who like this kind of
thing. If you enjoyed KILL BILL, KICK-ASS is for you. Definitely
not for kids or teens--bad language, violence, torture, drugs, etc.
etc.
THE COLONY (2013)
This is a bad film. Rated only 17% on the tomato-meter, it is
filled with numerous flaws. However, for an apocalypse film
completist, it is a must-see. Laurence Fishburne stars as Briggs,
the leader of a post ice age colony. The rationale for this ice
age is that humanity built a large number of weather control towers
to counter the effects of global warming. They appear to have
worked rather too well, bringing on an uncontrolled winter. As
back stories go, this is not especially scientific, but it
certainly fits into the broad range of acceptable SF starting
points.
The colony itself is interesting. It is located underground, in
what may be a factory or a mine--this is never made clear. The
colonists have quite a bit of technology, including hydroponic
farms, bee colonies, TV monitors, tests for the flu, and so on.
There is a single large wind turbine in front of the colony
entrance. It's unclear whether this is to measure wind speed or
generate power. It seems too small to generate power for 400
people. Inside the colony, people walk around dressed like it's
freezing, which I suspect is inaccurate. Body heat from 400 people
would tend to make the colony warm, not cold. Flaws aside, this is
a fine starting point for an SF tale.
The colony is having problems. Their rabbits are not thriving, and
disease keeps spreading. They have a strict policy of quarantine
and exile/death for those who don't rapidly recover. Suddenly an
SOS arrives from a nearby colony that they have a mutual aid pact
with. Briggs leads two companions on a rescue expedition. Once
they get to the other colony, which is clearly located in an old
factory, the ominous mood leads one to expect zombie attack, but
the real problem turns out to be a band of cannibals led by a
generic unkillable tall bald guy wrapped in chains. I'm sure I've
seen him before! Nothing that happens after this will surprise
you. There is plenty of gross violence as they make their way home,
followed by the cannibal legion.
For some reason, once the attack gets underway the colony seems to
have about 50 members rather than 400, and the cannibal legion,
which never seems to be more than about 20 when seen outside the
colony are quite numerous once inside. The tactics the colonists
use to defend themselves vary from the stupid to the idiotic. In
particular, they avoid trying to stop the cannibals as they enter
through the single main door to the colony, where a few people
could have held off hundreds.
This all concludes in an orgy of violence, with an olive branch of
hope as our surviving heroes set out for a weather station which
apparently has been turned on to warm the area around it. In the
hands of a better writer, this could have been a real movie rather
than an excuse for a lot of running around inside tunnels. The
only plus point I can think of is that the weather stations are
cool to look at.
Rating: -2 on the -4 to + 4 scale. Not recommended. Rated R for
good reason, lots and lots of violence.
[-dls]
==================================================================
TOPIC: THE HUNT (JAGTEN) (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: In a small town in Denmark a popular kindergarten teacher
is accused of sexual misconduct with first one and later with many
children. Lucas (played by Mads Mikkelsen) struggles against a
gossip-fed witch-hunt of hatred and prejudice that threatens to
destroy his life. Thomas Vinterberg directs and co-authors a film
that makes a very interesting companion piece to his THE
CELEBRATION (1998). This will certainly be one of the best films
of the year. Rating: +3 (-4 to +4) or 9/10
Lucas is a well-regarded kindergarten teacher in a somewhat
isolated Danish village. He has a good relationship with all the
kids. One of his favorites is the angelic Klara who loves Lucas
and his dog. Klara's father is Lucas's best friend. One day
Klara, disappointed that Lucas would not accept her valentine,
makes up a story that is interpreted by an adult that Lucas has
sexually abused her. That turns out to be one accusation for which
it is impossible to prove oneself innocent. Klara admits to her
parents that she had lied only to have them reject her confession
and continue to believe the charge. The child is questioned
suggestively so anything she says makes Lucas look guiltier.
Where possible deviant sex with children is concerned the people of
the town are simply not ready to believe anything but bad or worse.
The school will not stand by Lucas while more and more of the town
gives way to gossip as the lie spreads contagiously. Lucas is
divorced and has nearly lost contact with his son, but this makes
him all the more resolved that he will not throw out another life
and start over a third time. But even those closest to him cannot
be sure they are absolutely on his side.
The film is directed and co-written by Thomas Vinterberg who also
directed THE CELEBRATION (1998) on a related theme. His story
combines aspects of Lillian Hellman's "The Children's Hour" and
Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People." THE HUNT also could have
been inspired by the McMartin Preschool Incident and Trial in which
the court decided that false memories of sexual abuse had been
planted in children's heads. One would hope the court ruling would
end the matter, but some accusations it is impossible to be found
completely innocent of in the public's mind. Humans bear strong
instincts to protect the young and those instincts are hard to
overcome with logic. The school principal insists against all
evidence that children do not lie. It is a pleasant fantasy, but
while it might be nice to believe it, it is false. And here that
fantasy could destroy a man's life.
Lucas is played by Mads Mikkelsen, best known to me as the villain
Le Chiffre from CASINO ROYALE (2006) and as Struensee from last
year's excellent A ROYAL AFFAIR (2012). Mikkelsen also is the
title character in TV's "Hannibal." He is a fascinating actor with
the sort of face that suggests fires going on behind his eyes.
Alfred Hitchcock made several films about accused innocent men; THE
39 STEPS, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, and FRENZY come to mind. His films
all return the man character to normality when the story is over
and his accusers have been proved wrong. In the real world things
are not nearly so neat, unfortunately. This is a serious treatment
of what it is to be in that position, and it is much more
disturbing than anything in a Hitchcock thriller. I rate THE HUNT
a +3 on the -4 to +4 scale or 9/10. This is *not* a Dogme 95 film,
incidentally.
Film Credits: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2106476/combined
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hunt_2013/
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Nobel-Prize-Winning Science Fiction Authors (letter of
comment by Fred Lerner)
In response to Evelyn's comments about science fiction in the
mainstream in the 11/15/13 issue of the MT VOID, and authors of
science fiction who have won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Fred
Lerner writes:
There's another SF writer who won the Nobel Prize for literature--
Rudyard Kipling. [-fl]
Evelyn adds:
Also (to varying extents) Harry Martinson, Saul Bellow, Isaac
Bashevis Singer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and William Golding.
[-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: The Shadow (letter of comment by Tim Bateman)
In response to Mark's and my comments on the 1938 Retro-Hugos in
the 11/15/13 issue of the MT VOID, Tim Bateman writes:
[Mark wrote,] ""Initially the Shadow just started out as the
host of a crime show. When the producers got the idea to actually
make him a character in the story the sponsors said no. Eventually
when the sponsors were told that if they made the Shadow a
character, they could always go back to the original format if the
character did not catch on. The Shadow did catch on and his
program was the highest rated program on the radio. A pulp
magazine was started with a character called the Shadow, but who
did not have the psychic powers."
Whoa there, Nellie!
I have always understood that The Shadow started on the radio as a
narrator, then appeared in the pulp novels as a continuing
character, then the radio series changed to include (at least a
version of) this continuing character. As you know, Mark, the
Shadow novels constitute one of the longest series of novels
depending on how one writes the rules (English-language, all
written by the same writer, etc. all affect the results). [-tmb]
Mark responds:
I am not sure I follow what you are disagreeing with. He was
initially just a host like the Whistler. Then was made into a
character with special powers. Or are you saying that I have
events out of order? [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: States, Presidents, and Elements (letter of comment by Jim
Susky)
In response to Mark's comments on the "Game of the States" in the
11/08/13 issue of the MT VOID, Jim Susky writes:
Growing up in Alaska during the 1960s we didn't have the "Game of
the States" board game. We did have at least two jigsaw-type
puzzles with the states as pieces.
(Both had the usually misplaced Alaska and Hawaii off the coast of
Baja California.)
(This was okay, since those were the "easy ones" for us.)
This was augmented later by the Landslide board game. This helped
me to learn, among other things, that New York, California, and
Texas (then in that order) were by far the most populous states.
This, along with somewhat omnivorous reading habits, helped me as a
science-kid to expand my horizons--at least to the shores of the
Atlantic.
Flash-forward to one of several consulting jobs--late 1980s, no
place to go, after hours, during the long, dark, cold Alaskan
winter. A challenge was set: sit down and write out a list of the
States--you get 1/2-hour. Thirty minutes hence I was stuck at 46--
a little disconcerting, but not obsessively so--I forgot about this
until ten years later.
While discussing a question (with the CFO) about whether our
electrical cooperative should adopt a new information system, I
cited a corollary of Scot Adams' Dilbert Principle:
"If a manager doesn't know how to do something, he assumes it must
be easy."
(I thought, and still do think, that this particular CFO was a
grownup with enough self-awareness and an ego healthy enough to
take that in a positive light.)
Despite my opinion of him, I was rewarded by being assigned to a
committee for a series of eight-hour evaluation sessions, which
were unspeakably boring. I passed part of my sentence by taking up
the States Challenge once again. This time I drew a map and scored
a 50.
Here's another challenge, considerably less time-consuming, if only
because the trail (trial?) usually peters out quickly and is
usually performed verbally.
I call it "The Standard US Trivia Question". Its origin is lost to
the mists of time--at any rate no one will contradict me when I say
I came up with this independently.
Name United States Presidents, starting with the current one, in
reverse order.
This is not interesting for the actual naming of the list, but for
the *process* involved with its extraction from the wetware. It's
fascinating to watch the associations that are uttered as the list
goes backwards in history. For instance, one nice lady, who took
the challenge, recalled the wars her male relatives and ancestors
had fought and associated those wars and their timing with the
presidents. The associations are the fun part, so I always
encourage the player to take her time.
The process of recalling associations harkens to an interesting
book--Hirsch's CULTURAL LITERACY: WHAT EVERY AMERICAN NEEDS TO
KNOW--In which two key ideas are asserted:
1) that a core of knowledge is necessary to infer, read-between-
the-lines, and to understand wholly much written material, and;
2) that *content* is vital in education--the mental organization of
which (though association and other means) is essential to becoming
educated.
To demonstrate another assertion, namely that public education is
largely failing; Hirsch claimed that a majority of high school
seniors can not correctly answer this question:
"In what decades did the Civil War, World War I, and World War II
occur?" I was 35 when I read this and asked it (in 1995) of a 25-
year-old architect. I was sorry to see Hirsch's statement borne
out--the young man would not even attempt an answer.
I'll close my naming one other challenge, which is to name the
elements. I got a neat coffee cup for Christmas a few years back--
on which was printed a legible periodic table. I put this challenge
to my teenagers who had a slightly older friend with us (ages
ranged from 14-17). I said I'd pay them five dollars each if they
got ten and twenty each if they got twenty (and hand over your
smart phones). After some fruitless negotiating on their parts to
lower the bar, they collectively came up with eight.
FWIW, I tried it one weekend afternoon and got somewhere between 60
and 70. I'd bet you could name more. [-js]
Mark responds:
My memory these days is tricky, but appropriately enough your mail
brought back memories. I also had a jigsaw puzzle of the United
States. It may have been old enough that it did not have Alaska
and Hawaii.
At one time, for a short time, I could list all 50 states in
alphabetical order. I linked each state with the next state by
some visual mnemonic. Sadly I have forgotten the mnemonics so I
doubt I could do it again.
I do remember enough mnemonics to be able to figure the day of the
week for any date AD. But those I practice regularly.
Decades of wars I would have thought would be easy for most people,
but it really helps to be a film fan for this. (I would like to
think I would remember them even if I was not a film fan, but
knowing movies makes trivia a lot easier even for non-film
questions.) I would have a really hard time with the elements.
[-mrl]
Evelyn responds:
When I list the states, it's geographically--I picture a map of the
United States and work my way through it. [-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Oh, Well (Redux) (letter of comment by John Hertz)
[Mark summarizes, "In the 11/01/13 issue of the MT VOID, I
commented on a quote I heard that--I'll give his name, I guess--
Beethoven slept with every woman he could get his hands on. I said
I did too, but it did not do me any good. -mrl]
John Hertz writes:
Granting that in your use, Mark, N = E = 1, and not knowing
[unreadable] of tour personal [unreadable], I still think I have
reason to suppose it's done you a bit of good. [-jh]
[Alas, the Post Office managed to rub off a couple of spots on
John's post card, but the gist is still there. -ecl]
[Touche. I guess I meant beyond the obvious. -mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FICTIONAL & FANTASTIC LANGUAGES by Tim Conley &
Stephen Cain (ISBN 978-0-313-33188-6) is the sort of book that has
been somewhat superseded by the Web in the sense that if you Google
any of the languages, you would find more about it than you do in
the book. Yet without the book you probably would not have any
idea what languages there were for you to Google. One might
quibble about the choice to arrange this encyclopedia by source
work (book, film, or whatever) instead of by language, but since
many of the languages are not actually named there really was not
much choice. (There is an index so that you can look up a language
by name.)
SPHERE by Michael Crichton (ISBN 978-0-061-99055-7) is very
cinematic. This is not precisely a compliment. It is written in
short simple scenes, with not very well-fleshed out characters: the
mathematician is a bad guy, the woman is defensive about her
gender, and so on. It is full of sloppy science and writing. For
example, the marine biologist refers to "octopi" (the correct term
is "octopuses"). Another character talks about a computer using
"askey code." And there are several (other) awkward info-dumps as
well.
The stories in ENCOUNTERS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES edited by George Mann
(ISBN 978-1-781-18003-9) are well-written, but they are all too
often "doubly derivative" (or in Hollywood terms, "high concept").
You know the sort of thing: "Sherlock Holmes meets Raffles",
"Sherlock Holmes meets the Martians (and H. G. Wells and Rebecca
West)", and so on. And since many of the authors have on-going
series with other well-known characters, it is not surprising that,
for example, Mark Hodder writes about Algernon Swinburne and Sir
Richard Francis Burton. (And for anyone who knows the real-life
characters in Hodder's stories, there is not much mystery.)
Still (as I said), the stories are competently written and not so
overtly divorced from the original setting and mood of the Holmes
stories as to be jarring, so I do recommend this book. [-ecl]
==================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
The problem with America today is that too many
people know too much about not enough.
--Anonymous