Salon Des Geeks

I was asked recently if I had a motto. That prompted me to make the following list:

1. Qui aime juste s’attire un destin
2. I never look at you but there is some new virtue born in me, some new courage
3. A comma not an exclamation mark
4. Dulcius ex asperis
5. Nemo me impune lacessit

It made me think of the Salon. If you were to pick a motto what would it be? Is it more importnat that it capture the essence of your being, or should it be something that you strive to attain?

Discussing this with Natarajan, we came up with a game. For a given motto, what sort of person would have that motto? (’I would buy your book’) Could that be the center of a collaborative short story?

I watched the film Stardust the other day and found it utterly charming. Apparently it is based on a well reviewed Neil Gaiman graphic novel. I highly recommend the film to all you salonniers. I really like fables, and this one is so charming that even the sinister murderers are … well… somehow not _that_ bad.

I was listening to Fresh Air last week. The interview was of Guillermo del Toro, the writer and director of Pan’s Labyrinth. Terri Gross started by introducing the film. The film is about a young girl in Franco’s Spain(1944), whose mother has remarried. Her husband is a vicious Captain who is hunting Communists in a rural area. The girl deals with the horror of her life thorough her imagination…

Say what?

I was really surprised. To me, the fantasy was more important to the story than the elements of realism. The point of the Fable is to illustrate something more meaningful, more transcendant than telling a simple story. In fact, it bothers me a lot not to believe the fantastic elements within the context of the story. The girl is the daughter of the King, no matter what may happen in the story.

Apparently a lot of the reviewers treat the film in this way, and I wonder how the lovers of Speculative Fiction out there felt about the ‘reality’ of the film.

I saw one of the most disturbing news stories ever on television last night.

Unsuspecting, I happen to change the channel to Fox News. The man at the desk introduces the next story. It is about nuclear weapons. But first, he describes what happened last week on “24″: A terrorist set off a `suitcase bomb’ in a US city. Hmm. Then, he introduces two individuals presented as experts. He asks the first, “What is the probability that the scenario presented in 24 could actually happen?” Answer: “Zero. I am glad we can put this myth to rest. It is basiclaly an internet hoax which is out of control.” The news-man pauses, and the mumbles through a vague sentence, including reference to Jack Bauer(the fictional main character in 24), and poses a similar question to the second expert. She proceeds to answer a different question about the concerns of proliferation of radioactive material. The follow up question is again about 24. At no point did anyone affirm the truth of 24, but the presentation weakened the denial.

At this point, incensed, I realized that I was watching a callow advertisment (for an entertaining show) masquerading as news. I changed the channel.

Rather than the too familiar indulgence in paranoia to sell cheap news, they serve paranoia to shill expensive fiction. The Horror.

A while back there was a discussion about good science fiction books. I decided to put together a ‘reading list’ of Science Fiction films. It can be found here.

I decided to arrange the films into weeks with the notion that films could be watched once per day. Which means that I tried to pick films you could watch back to back and still remain sane.

I kind of ran into a problem with Week 7. I wanted to capture films which confront human enlightenment. But unfortunately, all I could really think of were films like 2001/Close Encounters of the third kind/Red Planet/Chronos which would be unwatchable on adjacent days for most people. Suggestions?

I heard this excellent review of the latest Pirates film on Fresh Air.

Personally, I thought that for all the mess the film is, it was so totally stupid that I can forgive the mess. I had a blast watching it. Master and Commander has nothing on a film which introduces forward facing, triple barrelled, breech loading, gatling cannon to the age of sail. I loved the awesome three-way sword fights: Douglas Fairbanks eat your heart out. I was just depressed that the audience did not seem to get how ridiculous the film was :) I could not stop laughing. Everyone should go see it.

A while back there was a discussion about good science fiction books. I decided to put together a ‘reading list’ of Science Fiction films. It can be found here.

I decided to arrange the films into weeks with the notion that films could be watched once per day. Which means that I tried to pick films you could watch back to back and still remain sane.

I kind of ran into a problem with Week 7. I wanted to capture films which confront human enlightenment. But unfortunately, all I could really think of were films like 2001/Close Encounters of the third kind/Red Planet/Chronos which would be unwatchable on adjacent days for most people. Suggestions?

I am really enjoying the SciFi channel’s new series. I have a great nostalgia for the original series (`Face in Space’?), but I really think that the newer series has taken the general situation in interesting directions.

The basic setting of BG is that a robotic enemy, the Cylons, has almost completely eradicated the human race. Only one warship ‘Battlestar Galactica’ escaped the betrayal. The few survivors have decided to seek refuge with the lost tribe, which left to some place called ‘Earth.’ They are constantly running from the superior forces of the Cylons.

I really like the dynamic of having protagonists who are in an essentially losing position, and must constantly flee. So many series have superhero protagonists with plot immunity, which tends to remove character motivation. (I really like to use this technique in role-playing games).

The interesting direction the new series has taken is have the Cylons be man-made robots, and to have some subset of the Cylons appear human.

Now, I think the definitive film in this genre is Bladerunner. If you have not seen it, then you really should watch it three or four times. It is an aquired taste, but it is really the best Science Fiction film ever made. (Or is that Abres Los Ojos?) .

Any time I hear this sort of plot I begin to worry that the result will be an abomination like Will Smith in “I, Robot.” But, I really think that the new BG has steered clear of those pitfalls, and also has introduced a way to examine Identity, which is really what Robot Sci Fi is all about.

The net of it all is that I recommend watching the series….

There are many windows on a train at night. Out of each, you might see a glimpse of a city, a face, a scene. But the rushing movement takes each away. The action limits your capacity to dwell. Whatever catches your eye, you are held fast to the journey.

The characters in Kong are on such a train. They are confronted by mortal crises. They are surrounded by moral dilemmas. But in each moment is the action which carries them past. I think that this is a strength. It keeps the story pure. If any one character were to grapple with a problem, discuss it, analyze. They would anchor the entire train, and it would turn the film into a train wreck of dialogue. The response of action to each crisis, and action for each dilemma, prevents this. Which is good, because the central conceit is so delicate that without this protection we would not be held fast to it.

“And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And it stayed its hand from killing. And from that day, it was as one dead.”

Last weekend I felt like watching a few movies, so I went to go see Wallace and Gromit, Elizabethtown, Domino, and A History of Violence. I have the following report:

If you have not seen the Wallace and Gromit movie yet, then go. Yes, go now. It is fabulous. It wonderfully conflates the great horror films of the 20’s, rabbit control, and cheese. It far exceeded my expectations, and I might just have to go again to catch all the jokes I missed because of the laughter in my ears, and the tears in my eyes. it is just that good.

The next two films can be missed, but are both charming in their own way. Elizabethtown is overflowing with charisma. My take on the film is that it is Cameron Crowe’s homage to Audrey Hepburn, with Kirsten Dunst filling the role that Audrey would have. Lots of nice visual cues, the standard classic rock soundtrack. shrug. Now the encouraging thing about Domino, other than being a watchable quasi-action film is Mickey Rourke. Clearly the after effects of his performance in Sin City is going to be that Mickey Rourke will cast in every craggy tough guy role for the next five years. Not quite as good as the casting of Nick Nolte in The Good Thief, but close.

Finally, The History of Violence. Elizabeth, I don’t think that you will like it. Fabulous direction, steady pacing, but sort of disappointing when compared to the standard of Cronenberg’s other films (My favorite would be Crash).