SF/F Commentary

SF/F Commentary

The Election: My Late Thoughts (In Case You Care)

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My original intention was to do a long post about what exactly went wrong for Democrats, with bullet points and the like laid out and organized appropriately.  But then I realized that doing that would mean this post would be extraordinarily long, and unnecessarily so.  Besides, if you want to see some interesting opinions on the election, Scalzi has fairly detailed ones here. But I do want to throw out my two cents, in contracted form, for those that actually care about my political opinions.  Considering the outcome, I am not surprised.  Democrats got exactly what they deserved.  I hate saying it, but it’s true.  That’s not to say that they haven’t done anything good since taking control of the Presidency, the House, and the Senate.  They have, albeit not to the extent many of us had hoped, but they’ve also taken an extraordinary amount of power and squandered it by trying to appease an opposition who publicly declared that they were essentially going to be the party of obstruction (anything Obama was pretty much not a-ok with them).  Democrats allowed Republicans and Tea Baggers to control the dialogue and turn public opinion around based on false information and half-truths, and the result was exactly what I thought would happen:  Democrats would lose power. At the same time, though, the election didn’t go as poorly as I had thought it would.  Democrats barely control the Senate, which means that even if a Republican were our President, hardly any major Republican policies woiuld make it through (assuming the remaining blue senators have the spine to stand up for Americans over corporate interests).  There’s a glimmer of hope there, and maybe Democrats will have learned a lesson about what happens when you don’t control the dialogue and point out your opposition’s lies. So, on the one hand, I’m disappointed.  Despite pulling in over 800,000 jobs this year (paltry as it may be compared to the 8 million lost) and the announcement that the recession is actually over (which is different than saying that the economy has fully recovered), people decided that the party that claimed to want to change things was better than the party that said the same thing two years before with an actual plan of change, but who didn’t do that at all.  The fact that Republicans are essentially running on an economic platform that prizes trickle-down economics hasn’t registered with many voters, perhaps because we constantly hear about how great the system is without also paying attention to the fact that it doesn’t work.  It sucks, but I also understand it. There’s good news, though.  Several Tea Bagger crazies lost their races (like O’Donnell, who lost by 17% to Coons).  Amendment 62 in Colorado was shot down something awful (71% against) and almost 75% supported providing tax benefits for military service men and women in Florida, which is pretty damn awesome in my book.  The one thing the election reminded me of is that there are things that we can agree on (like benefits for soldiers, etc.).  So, it’s not all bad, and you better bet that I’m going to latch onto the good as things go quickly into the toilet. So, that’s how I view the election.  What about you?

SF/F Commentary

Movie Review: 2081

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When I first heard about 2081, an independent film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron,” earlier in the year, I had high hopes that something good would come of it.  I am always skeptical of adaptations of science fiction works largely because they have been periodically butchered by Hollywood producers for decades.  But after seeing the trailer, I had a feeling that this would be a film to see, and when I was offered the chance to review the DVD, I jumped on it. And?  I’m happy to say that I am not disappointed.  2081 is both an excellent adaptation of Vonnegut’s short story and a visually arresting, emotionally-charged film that makes the most of its modest runtime (25 minutes).  It succeeds where, sadly, most full-length science fiction films have not by presenting a self-contained, complicated (but not convoluted) plot in a developed and fully-realized future. 2081 is set in a world where true equality is mandated by law.  The strong must wear weights so that they aren’t stronger than anyone else; the intelligent wear transmitters that send loud, distracting sounds into their heads to keep them from being more intelligent; and the beautiful must wear masks, lest their beauty afford them an advantage over others.  Vonnegut’s vision of the future conjoins equality politics and government intervention, pushing them both to their limit. 2081 presents Vonnegut’s world in detail, changing the original story only when necessary and leaving the main thrust of Vonnegut’s narrative, and the ultimate social critique within it, intact.  From a film perspective, this is risky, because faithful adaptations (or even semi-faithful adaptations) often flounder due to the untranslatable elements that exist within stories.  But 2081 succeeds, partly because of its length and partly because of the cleverness of the creators; instead of drawing the story out into a full-length film or drastically changing the plot or characters, the creators of 2081 instead add minor details to thicken the social critique and keep the story contained within a thirty-minute time span, which prevents already thin narrative elements from being dragged out to infinity.  These two elements create a vision that is perhaps darker than the satirical “Harrison Bergeron,” but equally as poignant and gripping.  Much of what I perceived as the humor (dark though it may be) in the original story seems to have been lost in the film, but to the benefit of the story, rather than to its detriment.  2081 is supposed to threaten our sense of security, both in our biological makeup and natural right to advantage, and in our strong hold on the protected nuclear family (social Darwinism vs. capitalism’s influence on the nuclear family as the family unit we see today).  Drawing out the influence of family on Vonnegut’s narrative and making it far more central and troubling than in the original story makes 2081 into a powerful family tragedy, since the struggles of a family (and father) to remember a lost loved one amidst handicaps that make such remembrance impossible suggest undertones of Alzheimer’s disease–the primary difference being that 2081‘s future is preventable.  But the strength of the narrative is not the film’s only strong point. From a visual perspective, 2081 is modest, but expertly crafted.  To be fair, “Harrison Bergeron” is not an intergalactic tale, nor an extravagantly scenic one.  All of its scenes are set in relatively simple locations:  a home and a theater, for example.  But these locations are handled well and serve to enhance the more technological aspects of the presented world–the high point of the visuals for me.  Televisions are updated to be slightly more interactive and noticeably more advanced (one of the characters fixes the television at the beginning of the film to highlight this); even the programs on the TV are shifted so that we get a sense of Vonnegut’s world both from the interaction of the two primary characters and from the world outside as relayed from a proxy device (the TV). Likewise, the machinery that makes everyone “equal” is marked by lighted displays (CGed as far as I can tell), presumably to suggest that there are details to be seen there that we don’t actually need to see to get the point (except, perhaps, to remind us that the removal of these devices comes with a heavy penalty, which implies that the government is always watching).  All of these minor changes to the objects are handled with care in a way that many science fiction films are incapable of doing:  they are not gimmicks or CG-extravagant monstrosities to light up the screen, but accessories to heighten the impact of the world. However, the film does not stop there.  It becomes obvious throughout who the central figure is, not just because the character in question receives the most screen time, but noticeably because the screen itself distorts as the “equality” machinery works to keep his intellectual capacities at bay.  These distortions are nothing new in science fiction (let alone film in general), but are used, much like the slight alterations to the technology presented on screen, to highlight the severity of the reality of 2081‘s future.  We, like the characters, are regularly disoriented by these shifts, but only for a moment; the result is that we are left with the truth, while the characters are subjected to full disorientation. But effective disorientation requires good acting, and 2081 delivers just that.  James Cosmo (as George Bergeron) is superb here; Cosmo has moments where we can both hear and see the tremendous weight left on his character’s shoulders by a tragic past and the world itself (literally and metaphorically).  For a story with very little dialogue, 2081 has to relay a great deal of its emotive power through facial and bodily expression, which Cosmo displays with great aptitude.  Even Julie Hagerty (known best, perhaps, for her role in Airplane! some thirty years ago) fulfills her role as Hazel Bergeron with such success, playing the somewhat dimwitted un-handicapped wife/mother with skill (Hazel even has a kind of charm that both amuses and annoys).  Armie Hammer as Harrison Bergeron, though in the

SF/F Commentary

The Skiffy and Fanty Show, Interjection A is live!

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We have a short episode this week due to computer problems (namely, with Jen’s).  This week I talk about zombies, fantasy awards, digital piracy nonsense, and silly things political talk show hosts say about science fiction books. If you’d like to check out the episode (it’s about 16 minutes), you can do so here. Thanks!

SF/F Commentary

Haul of Books 2010: Stuff For Me v.25

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Some things I’ve learned over the past few months: The mailman is a moron and thinks very thick books that obviously don’t fit into my mailbox should instead be folded up and crammed in there anyway. People have my address who shouldn’t and are at least kind enough to send me things I like instead of trying to kill me in my sleep (i.e. they send me books). Bookstores are my crack. With that in mind, here are the books that I’ve managed to add to my collection: And here are the descriptions, from left to right, top to bottom (taken from Amazon): 1. Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi The eleven stories in Pump Six chart the evolution of Paolo Bacigalupi’s work, including the Hugo nominated “Yellow Card Man” and the Sturgeon Award-winning story “The Calorie Man,” both set in the world of his novel The Windup Girl. This collection also demonstrates the power and reach of the science fiction short story. Social criticism, political parable, and environmental advocacy lie at the center of Bacigalupi’s work. Each of the stories herein is at once a warning and a celebration of the tragic comedy of the human experience. Paolo Bacigalupi has won the Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award, the John W. Campbell Award, the Compton Crook Award, the Locus Award, and the Hugo Award. Between his award-winning debut novel and this landmark collection of short fiction, Paolo Bacigalupi demonstrates why he is one of the most celebrated science fiction writers of the twenty-first century. 2. The Mirrored Heavens by David J. Williams In the 22nd century, the first wonder of a brave new world is the Phoenix Space Elevator, designed to give mankind greater access to the frontier beyond Earth. Cooperatively built by the United States and the Eurasian Coalition, the Elevator is also a grand symbol of superpower alliance following a second cold war. And it’s just been destroyed. With suspicions rampant, armies and espionage teams are mobilized across the globe and beyond. Enter Claire Haskell and Jason Marlowe, U.S. counterintelligence agents and former lovers—though their memories may only be constructs implanted by their spymaster. Now their agenda is to trust no one. For as the crisis mounts, the lives of all involved will converge in one explosive finale—and a startling aftermath that will rewrite everything they’ve ever known—about their mission, their world, and themselves. 3. The 13th Reality: The Hunt For Dark Infinity by James Dashner It’s been a quiet summer for Tick, Paul, and Sofia, but the latest message from Master George changes everything. The Realities are in danger — and from something more terrible than Mistress Jane and the mutated Chi’karda of the Thirteenth Reality. People from all Realities are unexplainably going insane. Worse, some Realities are fragmenting, disintegrating into nothingness. Master George has learned that Mr. Chu from the Fourth Reality is working on a mysterious new weapon called Dark Infinity. But no one has any idea how to stop the weapon — or even if it can be stopped. To make matters worse, Tick and his friends have been kidnapped, forced to wink from Reality to Reality, solving impossible riddles in order to survive the deadly traps surrounding them. Mistress Jane and Tick find themselves in a race to reach the weapon first — but who will destroy it and who will become its master? 4. Mozan and the Return of Magic by Stephan Davied (this is from my book stalker) When the vile sorceress of Fyonhaireshizer kidnaps thirteen year old Mozan, prince of Mazolean, he has no choice but to lead four other abducted royal children on a quest to save their families and kingdom. They must battle dark spirits, gargoyles, one eyed ogres and their own internal demons before they ultimately unite in the kingdom of Mazolean. It is here they meet Anzon, The Lion King and where Mozan learns that his very existence fulfills an ancient and powerful prophecy. 5. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (this is the book the mailman folded up and shoved into my mailbox) Widely acclaimed for his work completing Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga, Brandon Sanderson now begins a grand cycle of his own, one every bit as ambitious and immersive. Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter. It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them. One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable. Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity. Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war. The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement

SF/F Commentary

New Poll: Do you stop reading authors whose political beliefs you vehemently disagree with?

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A new poll is up, folks.  This is partially in response to the Elizabeth Moon fiasco, but mostly in response to the occasional discussions among readers and authors about whether one continues to read authors who hold unfavorable political beliefs (such as Orson Scott Card or John C. Wright, et. al.). There are three answers:  yes, sometimes, and no.  Simple enough, right?  You can find the poll on the left sidebar (scroll down a little).  But if you’d like to leave a more detailed comment, feel free to do so here. The poll will run for two weeks.

SF/F Commentary

Poll Results: How do you feel about book bannings?

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The poll has been over for a while now, but I haven’t had time to take it down and replace it with a new one yet (or present the results to all of you).  So, without further delay, here are the results are: 81.25% said that book bannings are “pure evil.” 18.75% said that book bannings are “rarely necessary.” Nobody said that book bannings are “sometimes necessary” or “great.” Am I surprised by the numbers?  Nope.  My blog is a literature-oriented one, so finding out that my readership mostly despises book bannings makes perfect sense.  I would have been more surprised if some of you had said book bannings are “great.” But I do have a question:  why did some of you say that book bannings are “rarely necessary?”  What constitutes “rarely necessary?”  Is it because you are of the opinion that pornography (in the literal sense, not the literary sense) shouldn’t be in libraries, or do you think certain books (in the actual written sense) shouldn’t be in libraries?  Leave a comment if you’re one of the few who said “rarely necessary” on the poll, because I’d really like to know your opinion on the matter. Anywho.  A new poll will be up later today.  Thanks for voting!

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