Monthly Archives: August 2023

Why An Armed Society is NOT a Polite Society

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‘An Armed Society is a Polite Society’ is a phrase I first encountered in the 1948 Science-Fiction novel Beyond This Horizon by Robert A. Heinlein. In the novel a futuristic society populated by eugenically bred and genetically manipulated humans one aspect is that people routinely go about armed and that dueling is not only socially acceptable for socially valued. This society is portrayed as prosperous, civil, and peaceful.

Today American society, while heavily armed, is far from polite. Armed people often brandish and use their firearms for minor altercations and annoyances, to say nothing of the epidemic of mass murder that shows no sign of abating.

 Why is that? Why doesn’t the knowledge that others around you may be very likely carrying lethal firearms promote more caution and deference in our society.

Heinlein himself provides what I believe is the reason that his ‘armed’ society is not a polite and civil one with the quote ‘Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal.’ (Tunnel in the Sky 1955)

I do not know if Heinlein ever reconciled these contradictory sentiments.

The armed society is only polite if it is rational. If the people can calmly, dispassionately recognize that in any incident of violence they are the potential losers. Perhaps only super humans, bred for exceptional intelligence and mental stability, can achieve this armed yet peaceful society.

People are rationalizing. It is rational to wear seatbelts every time to ride on a motor vehicle, but many do not because they have rationalized that they are excellent drivers and will not cause a crash. Vaccines have plenty of evidence for the effectiveness and safety, but people rationalize not getting vaccinated because they will not get sick. It won’t happen to them.

Firearms are subject to the same faulty rationalizations. The viewpoint is not that ‘they’ might use their weapons on me, but I will be safe because I will use my weapons on them. The gun makes me the dominate in the power struggle, it makes me the victor, imposing my will on the dangerous and unpredictable world.

At our hearts humans remain tribal, hierarchal, social creatures for whom social standing is a powerful motivator and the alure of firearms to ‘elevate’ one’s status to a dominate position eradicates most ability to be truly rational.

Of course the irony is that if were coolly rational not only would we not need to be armed to be polite we would no longer even be human.

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My Tangled History With Star Trek

CBS Studios

Credit: Paramount Pictures

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When Star Trek first hit the air in 1966, I was a wee lad of five. I have some memories of watching the series then, being confused as to how the Enterprise blasted-off from Earth, (I was an avid watcher of the American space launches) until the concepts ‘built in space’ and ‘never landing’ was explained to me. It was the 70s that cemented by love for Trek, with the afternoon ‘stripping’ of the series where episodes were shown in random order each weekday afternoon usually alongside other classics such as Gilligan’s Island or Green Acers.

When Star Trek: The Motion Picture hit the silvered screens in 1979 I was there for multiple screens in my local theater. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan remains one of my favorite films. Of course, in 1988 Star Trek: The Next Generation was released into syndication, and I was pleased to have new Trek in my life.

However, I never loved Next Gen the way I loved the original series. I watched it weekly for most of its run, but by season six found that the storylines and writing simply didn’t command my attention. I went to the theater for some of this cast’s feature films but was so repelled by Star Trek: Insurrection that even that stopped being one of my activities.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine came along and it was (shoulder shrug) alright. I watched a few seasons, but not as much as I had Next Gen and dropped out of regular viewership before they progressed to their ‘war’ storyline.

Star Trek: Voyager I managed to choke down three episodes before I fled from it. I found too much of that series either poorly thought out or simply stupid to continue watching save for an episode here and there written by a friend.

Star Trek: Enterprise held promise that enticed me. The idea of going back to a less tech advanced Federation I found fascinating, but I managed only the pilot episode and walked away. It was not for me, and I had absolutely no interest in a ‘temporal cold war.’

Star Trek: Discovery held my attention for several episodes, but I have a clear memory of switching off an episode when they mentioned a ‘space sonar’ and I never returned.

Star Trek: Lower Decks I watched several episodes and generally found I liked it on the same level as The Next Generation but ultimately the characters grated on my nerves. Farce is fine on limited doses, but I have a low tolerance for it as a running series.

Which brings us to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

I adore this show.

It is difficult to understand why this series is working for me when so many of the others repel me. I do think part of the reason is that it has embraced an episodic format. While not as episodic as television of the 1960s where the episodes were intended to be ‘stripped’ and shown out of order,Strange New Worlds has enough continuing storylines that the order of the shows is vitally important, but it also has the freedom to do episodes with standalone stories much like the original series. Not every episode is a banger and some certainly engage me more than others, but the series overall has grabbed.

This set of characters are far more interesting than the fairly bland set from Next Generationwho were presented as far too perfect for my tastes. Chapel has become one of my personal favorites instead of the one-note cardboard cutout as presented in the original run. After all, did anyone really notice her absence in Wrath of Khan?

For those people who love the various variations that didn’t work for me I am happy for you. What a boring world it would be if we only loved the same things. Strange New Worlds hasn’t worked for everyone and their big swings like the cross-over with Lower Decks and the musical episodes have sparked strong emotions but that is so far better than a bland meh. Take swings in your art, try something outrageous, most of all create what you want to see.

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Not a Proper Review: Ahsoka

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Last week on Disney+ the latest series et in the Star Wars universe, Ahsoka released the two episodes.

Disney Studios

Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) is a character from the animated Star Wars Series Rebels and has been briefly depicted by Dawson in the companion series The Mandalorian. The series Ahsoka centers on the chaos and rebuilding following the fall of the Galactic Empire including threats from still loyal Imperials along with the return of a much-feared Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen.)

This is not a proper review because I feel that to fully analyze the success or failure of a piece you must continue to the conclusion. It is in the ending that films and stories ‘come together’ and a botched ending can undermine and ruin an otherwise strong piece. I will not be following Ahsoka to its conclusion as the series in the first two episodes failed to give me any sort of emotional connection that compelled anymore of my time.

I have seen on social media that a number of fans are quite pleased with the series and thrilled to watch more. I am happy for them. It is good to find the art that speaks to you and thrills you and makes you happy. Happiness is a resource all too scarce in these days and years and I will not gainsay anyone for the art that gives it to them.

For me, however, Ahsoka, came across as flat in its characterizations. Not one the major characters presented in the first two episodes seemed to have any real interior life, speaking and acting solely in service of the plot. The plot itself felt like a retread, a McGuffin hunt with a device already employed in the sequel trilogy, a map to lost character. While the visual effects, particularly the ‘Volume’ set are impressive and make locations unavailable to television budgets a reality, and the fights are well-choregraphed there is not enough on the screen to hold my interest.

I hope the fans are happy and I hope for them that the series delivers the excitement and drama that it promises but for me this is a miss.

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Foreign Series Review: Shadow Lines (Nyrkki)

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Finland, 1955, following the cataclysm of the Second World War, is a country caught between the East, dominated by the Soviet Union and the West, led by the Americans NATO. After fighting two wars within 20 years with Soviets the Finns are rightfully apprehensive about their nuclear armed, expansive, and communist neighbor maintaining a knife’s edge neutrality in the freezing danger of the growing Cold War.

In this environment of lies, shadows, and covert threats the ‘Fist’ as dedicated group of Finnish Security agents conducts operations against Soviet and American intelligence agents and even against their own political parties to defend, protect, and ensure Finland’s independence.

The television series Shadow Lines is quite difficult to review and discuss in a short article because it is so dense with characters and plot lines that weave together is a tale of shadowy warfare that would have made John le Carré proud. The series’ various factions include;

  • The Fist – The above-mentioned Finnish security team, with member willing to murder their own to secure Finland’s future.
  • The KGB – Soviet Intelligence working in both the USSR and Finland. Itself riven by political dissentions as power struggles continue at the USSR’s highest levels.
  • The CIA – working to elect, by any means within their ability, their preferred candidate to Finland Presidency, but riven with agents harboring personal secrets utterly unacceptable in 1950s.
  • Rogue Soviets — The political warfare within the USSR includes officers and politicians willing to risk war defying their own leadership to seize control of Finland and its vital strategic location.

Shadow Lines is a compelling cynical and realistic espionage series. The program avoids the glitter and glam of a James Bond adventure for the dirty and ambiguous approach of realism. The technology presented isn’t the Sci-Fi of Q branch but the crude and often dysfunctional machinery of the post-war world. Characters, nearly every single one, harbors secrets and agendas that motivate them and bring them into conflict with their factions and fellow agents. While the high-level plotting of the series is about geo-politics and the gamesmanship of the Cold War the stories at the ground level are about people, their messy lives and loves, and the faults and flaws that drive them on.

Shadow Lines streams on Sundance+ and is available to purchase on VOD. We watched it via DVDs loaned from the local Library.

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A More Apt Nazi Germany Analogy for the GOP

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This is coming off the top of my head, but I think there are some useful analogies to be found here.

Fascist Italy: This is the Old Guard Republican Establishment. With the ‘Southern Strategy’ and playing directly to disaffected racist voters they built the new Fascism believing that the dominate position would always be theirs, dreaming of a great Empire that would never materialize. Now they find themselves the powerless junior partner, locked out of their own systems and suffering at the system that they created.

Nazi Germany: This is Trump and his death-cultist, poisoned by the Flavor-Aide and devoted to the one man, the one leader, that is leading them to destruction. Trump seized the machine built by the Establishment and made it serve himself and only himself. Trump and his cult are the driving force of the conflict and they will never stop believing their own deluded lies and myths.

Austria: Remember that Austria was an independent Republic that was ‘annexed’ by Nazi Germany, well these are the Evangelicals. They share a language and a culture with the Trumpists at their side but had until the death-cult ‘annexed’ remained their own force in Conservative American Politics. However, after enthusiastically welcoming the new strong man across their borders they have lost all that independence. Look to that new survey that reports more Republicans trust Trump to tell them the truth than their own pastors. They are now indistinguishable from the Trumpists.

Romania and the minor Axis Powers: These are the wealthy seeking their tax cuts, the businesses looking to escape any and every regulation that impedes even a single penny to their coffers, and the gun-right enthusiasts. They have signed the Axis pact; they have supplied the men and material for the invasions and conquest but now see that they have lashed themselves to a foundering ship. They desperately want to be saved from the consequences of their own actions but are wholly occupied by the death-cult and there is no escape. Their fate, deservedly so, is tied to the cult’s.

Finland: These are the ‘Anti-anti-Trumps’. For these there is no greater enemy than ‘liberals.’ And like Finland they’ll give resources and co-ordinate attacks against the shared ‘enemy’ with the Trumpists all while tutting the co-belligerents war crimes, genocide, and racism. I also suspect that they will also flip the moment their own survival is imperiled turning on those that had just moments before been defending.

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The Werewolf Experiment Continues

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My work in progress, an un-outlined novel about werewolves in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho has reached or nearly has reached the half-way point.

I am aiming for a novel from 80,000 to 90,000 words in length. Yesterday the total word count for the project passed 40,000 as I wrote the unfinished chapter 12.

As I have laid out in earlier posts, my approach to this novel is quite different, starting with a scene that I had no concept of where it might belong in the story and spinning out from there. While there is no formal outline and certainly nothing like the monstrous ones I have produced in the past for other novels, there is a single page document laying out the five acts and very rough plot points that might occur in each of those. But even that is subject to inspirational and sudden change. Last Friday as I reclined in the dentist’s chair while they implanted a socket in my skull for an implanted false tooth a new understanding of the story’s third act, the one I am currently in, came together in an epiphany.

I am unsure of the market for this piece. The genre I am aiming for is horror, modern, real-world set but with fantastic elements horror. Currently there are a lot of werewolf type stories out for people, but an awful lot of the prose ones are romances, with commanding ‘alphas’ as dominate, sexy leads and that is pretty much the opposite of what I am trying to craft.

This work is in theme much closer to the subtext of Siodmak’s The Wolf-Man with a commentary on fascism and how that brutal ideology can be seductive. My werewolves, discarding the discredited ‘alpha wolf’ theory for the junk science that it is, is focuses on wolf family dynamics, transforming these werewolves into ‘Family Value’ fascists. That’s a lot of political weight to carry in a horror novel but I firmly believe that stories have to be about something more than plot and horror needs more than gore.

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Streaming Review: They Cloned Tyrone

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Written by Juel Taylor & Tony Rettenmaier and directed by Juel Taylor They Cloned Tyronecaptures the spirit of 70’s Blaxploitation with a 21st century approach to cinema, storytelling, and metaphor.

Fontaine (John Boyega) is a low-level street drug dealer in the community of the Glenn. Haunted

Netflix

by past tragedy and absent any support systems of people his life is one of ruin, repetition, and violence. While attempting to recover cash owed to him from pimp Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx) and sex worker Yo-yo (Teyonah Parris) Fontaine is ambushed by rival drug dealer Isaac but the fallout from the attack leads Fontaine, Slick Charles, and Yo-yo to discover a vast racist conspiracy at work on the people of the Glenn.

With a supporting cast that includes Kiefer Sutherland and David Alan Grier They Cloned Tyrone is a sharp social satire dealing with the African American community’s twin issues of assimilation or annihilation. In the best tradition of Blaxploitation, the ultimate conflict is between the marginalized community and ‘the man’, ‘the system’ and everything that those terms represent. Stark in its violence, unflinching in the community’s despair, and cutting with both its humor and its satire the film is an excellent outing for its first-time feature film director. Boyega delivers a naturalistic and compelling performance filled with a subtlety that reveals an inner life for Fontaine that he cannot bring himself to speak. Parris is unrecognizable here from her more well-known role as Monica Rambeau from the Marvel Cinematic Universe fully immersing herself into Yo-yo a woman of hidden talents. Foxx of course delivers another talented performance, giving this film’s trio the star power to sell it to both studios and audiences.

If there is a fault in this film, it lies with cinematographer Ken Seng.

Photographic dark-skinned performers can be a challenging task for cinematographers, and this is magnified with scenes that are primarily in darkened room or at night. It is possible that in a properly calibrated auditorium the entire film would present in a dark clarity but They Cloned Tyronewas produced for Netflix, intended for streaming on home screen that vary greatly in their quality and settings. The truth of the matter is that in several scenes I found it impossible to actually see the performances. These are all very talented actors and depriving the audience of the expression is a crime against such a cast.

Aside from the cinematography I found the entire film quite interesting, engaging, and compelling. I would favorably compare this Boyega’s pre–Star Wars film Attack the Block.

They Cloned Tyrone is streaming on Netflix.

 

A gentle reminder that I have my own SF novel available from any bookseller. Vulcan’s Forge is about the final human colony, one that attempt to live by the social standard of 1950s America and the sole surviving outpost following Earth’s destruction. Jason Kessler doesn’t fit into the repressive 50s social constraints, and he desire for a more libertine lifestyle leads him into conspiracies and crime.

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Post Tropical Storm Hilary

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Tropical Storm Hilary has swept over San Diego on its way north towards Idaho and here’s the first impression report for my family and friends.

While throughout the country there have been serious effects from so much rain and wind, flooding, downed trees, and electrical outages here and there, overall, it looks as if the county has weathered the storm well and for myself and my sweetie-wife it was super easy, barely an inconvenience.

At our condo we suffered no interruption in the power and very little damage around the complex. at least one major branch has come down off one of the trees, landing on a van but aside from that we have not seen serious damage. During the early evening the internet services might have suffered a little lag but then again that could have been Netflix’s servers producing the glitching as we watched They Cloned Tyrone. Later in the night I watched Star Tek: Strange New Worlds and witnessed no issues with the stream.

It is now nearly eight o’clock in the morning on August 21st and I have finished my preparations to go into work. Aside from rain swept streets and road closures that are not on my commute I expect today to proceed in a fairly typical manner.

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Movie Review: The Last Voyage of the Demeter

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In development for more than two decades The Last Voyage of the Demeter, adapted from a chapter of Bram Stoker’s Dracula finally arrived in theaters last weekend.

Universal Studios

Told from the point of view of Doctor Clemens (Corey Hawkins) a late addition to the Demeter’s crew, as the aging ship transports 50 crates from Transylvania to London, unaware that one of the crates harbors the vampire Dracula. In addition to Clemens the crew included Captain Elliot (Liam Cunningham) a captain near retirement, Tobey (Woody Norman) the captain’s eight-year-old grandson and cabin boy, Wojeck (David Dastmalchian) the ship’s mate. Upon discovering a woman, Anna (Aisling Franciosi) that they believe to have stowed away on the vessel before it sailed, they crew turns fearful and superstitious. Once animals and crew begin dying and vanishing is mysterious manners the fear transforms into terror and the crew find themselves locked in a battle for survival against a creature that defies rationality.

I am notoriously picky and finicky about horror films. It is a genre that I adore but a great many of the fare leave me cold. While much of the horror community raved about ‘X’ I found it a rather standard slasher and uninteresting. The Last Voyage of the Demeter a film and subject I have long wanted to see is neither a great horror film nor is it a terrible one. The is much to admire in the film and the craft of those that created it. André Øvredal’s direction is sharp and sure. He moves his characters confidently both in their blocking and their emotional space, never leaving the audience at sea for what is transpiring in the scene or in the minds of the cast. The script by scribes Bragi Schut jr, and Zak Olkewicz is well structured, wastes little time while still providing enough establishment and backstory to flesh out the characters as people. They also avoid the trope of conveniently having a person aboard familiar with the legends and myth to act as an instructional guide to the others. All of the crew and Anna are clueless in the monsters weakness and true nature. Tom Stern’s cinematography is excellent. With much of the story occurring at night the simulated darkness is as convincing as that performed for Jordan Peele’s Nope, utterly credible and never too murky to see except for when it is by design. When the film revealed the full cast with the ship committed to its doomed voyage, I mentally predicted an ending that if it came to pass, I would have proclaimed as ‘trite’ or ‘unexpected,’ and I can say that ending did not arrive. The filmmakers showed the courage to go places with their script and story that I would have thought invoked a terrible storm of executive’s notes.

And yet with all this going for it, I cannot say I loved this movie.

Some quality, some element was missing that prevented me from fully engaging with the piece. I never lost myself in the story that played upon the screen, remaining detached enough to analyze as I watched. Where other horror films fully pulled me into their nightmare dreams, Get Out, Hereditary, and the like The Last Voyage of the Demeter just missed that mark. This is in all likelihood an idiosyncratic reaction and I have no doubts that many a horror fan will enjoy this film. Even with my own lukewarm response I do not feel my time was wasted and it deserves to be seen on the big screen.

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Deadloch; a Companion Piece to Barbie

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Set in the small Tasmanian town of Deadloch this series is a satirical black comedy that pairs wonderfully with Gerwig’s whip smart Barbie.

Amazon Studios

A murder disrupts Deadloch and a royal visit in the region means that former Detective and now Senior sergeant Dulcie Collins (Kate Box) must partner with the abrasive and outspoken out of town detective Eddie Redcliffe (Madeleine Sami) while managing the drama of small-time life and the turbulence of her marriage to Cath (Alicia Gardiner.) As the number of murders and suspects explodes Dulcie, Eddie, and the residents of Deadloch are forced to confront long buried secrets while navigating a changing culture.

Deadloch‘s satire is sharp, delivered with perfect wit, and never plays favorites. The more ‘enlightened’ townspeople are targeted with equal ferocity as the sexist men and boys of the ‘footy’ club. Never shying away from topics as charges as sexuality, changing demographics, or even colonialism the show’s creatives explore each without a need to become preachy or lose track of either the murder mystery or the near farcical comedy.

Developed and produced in Australia the regional accents and slang may cause some viewers to be momentarily at sea with precisely what a character said or meant but turning on subtitling will alleviate that issue for viewers in need of a little assistance.

Season one totals just eight episodes with the finale just a bit longer that the preceding ones. Shot like a feature film and with a large cast of memorable and quirky characters Deadloch is a good fit for people who not only enjoyed Barbie but Twin Peaks as well.

Deadloch is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

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