Monthly Archives: October 2018

Movie Review: First Man

First Man is the biopic about Neil Armstrong, the first person to step onto the surface of the moon. Biopics are a particularly difficult beast, real life rarely fits into a conventional three act structure and people are complex amalgamations of conflicting impulses, drives, and justifications and as such the genre often turns to reduction and simplification to craft a satisfying narrative and First Man is no different in that regard. Rather than attempt to cover the entirety of film focuses on a period of about ten years covering Armstrong’s from X-15 pilot to the Apollo 11 lunar mission. An additional challenge in this story is that Armstrong was a famously reserved man who disliked the glare of public life and rarely spoke of himself. Ryan Gossling does an excellent job of portraying a man who spoke little but yet it is clear that he not only thinks but also feels quite deeply. Damien Chazelle understands the power of subjectivity. While there a few glamour shots of the craft in the vast void of space the majority of the scene are shot from a point of view restricted to the interiors, putting the audiences in the squarely into the emotion truth of being trapped in a tin can surrounded by an lethal environment.

The comparison that leaps to mind is Apollo 13 and while both films are true-life events their tones are vastly different. Apollo 13 is a story of triumph, of amazing survival against a terrible disaster and its climax, truly a great achievement for a film whose ending is well known, is designed to induce cheers. First Man is not about the fantastic voyage but it is a story about faith, how one can lose it, and the redemption when it is regained. This movie is, like its subject, a quiet study of a deeply internalized person and that is not going to appeal to everyone. However I enjoyed the film and if you go see I highly recommend you do so in an Imax theater.

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Halloween Movie Review: Magic (1978)

Long before he shot to international stardom for his chilling performance as Doctor Hannibal Lector in 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, Anthony Hopkins played the lead in numerous films but the first place I recall seeing him was 1978’s Magic. The film’s tag line billed it as a terrifying love story.

Playing Corky a stage magician whose act includes his foul-mouthed ventriloquist’s dummy Fats. On the eve of his break out as a major star and with Networks wanting him to star in a series (It was 70s and at that time that actually gave prime time shows to mimes.) Cork panics, shocking his agent/manager Ben Greene (Burgess Meredith) by bolting from the city and vanishing into parts unknown. Cork flees to his childhood home in the Catskills and reconnects with the Peggy Ann Snow (Ann Margaret) the girl he had a crush on in high school but never asked out. Peggy, trapped in a failing marriage, connects with Corky but unfortunately for everyone involved, Fats has his own ideas.

Existing in that liminal space between thriller and full out supernatural horror film Magic, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, is a taunt psychological script by William Goldman, adapted from his own novel of the same name. For those who only know Goldman from the delightfully charming The Princess Brideor the conventional action thriller The Marathon Man, this movie may come as quite a shock. Magicworks it spell not by way of gruesome kills and spectacular make up effects, techniques that would come to dominate the horror genre following that massive success of the following year’s film Halloween, but through in-depth character work and marvelous performances. The movie is currently available for streaming on the horror dedicated service Shudder and at just under two hours it makes for a treat if your taste for horror turns more on character than on blood.

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An Argument Against the Electoral College

Recently I have seen the map displaying the concentration of the U.S.’ population versus the area of the states utilized as an argument in favor of the Electoral College, affirming the position that the College protects the rights of smaller states, preventing a tyranny of the majority. That is certainly the intent of our entire Federal system, including the Electoral College, but we have drifted far from intent and it is best to deal with our current reality. How we drifted from intent is really a product of two factors, one which was evident but ignored by the framers of US Constitution and the other unknown to them but clear now.

The Constitution’s architects had hoped to avoid the rise of political parties but immediately upon the Constitution’s adoption they split into two factions, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists and our two party system was off and running. It would have been a blessing if right then and there they had recognized their error and made adjustments to account for parties but locked in their own bitter battles they passed onto the future generations a system designed against factions powered by the two parties.

The second factor was the changing nature of our identities. I believe that a strong argument can be made that the identity of ‘an American’ was truly born not in 1776 with our independence but in 1865 with the crushing of the states’ rebellion. Before the Civil War a person’s principal sovereign identity lay with their state and post Civil War that identity transferred to the United States of America. Today, while states have their own unique cultures and temperaments, it is the exception that a person identifies as by their state identity over their national one. Combined with the direct election of Senators the Federal system of advocating states interests has been weakened significantly since the adoption of the Constitution.

Today we live in the confluence of these two factors; a political system ill suited to parties with a winner-take-all system of elections and dissolution of state identity that has left the states mapped directly to one party or the others. This has yielded not only plurality presidents but also president who won a minority of the popular vote. It is interesting how those who most loudly reminded everyone during the 90s that Bill Clinton failed to win a majority of the votes have fallen silent as a president assumed office with 3 million votes fewer than his opponent.

For these reason and the ones I put forth in my other post I believe we must move to a popular vote presidency.

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A Regeneration

Sunday night premiered series 11 (season 11 for those of us speaking US television terms) of Doctor Who. For those who do not know Doctor Whois a long running British SF/Fantasy series about the time and space traveling alien known only as ‘The Doctor’ and his various companions as they get themselves into adventures throughout the Universe. The show ran from 1963 through 1989 and then was restarted but critically not rebooted in 2005. A central conceit of the program is that The Doctor’s race upon death can regenerate allowing the series to pass the torch from actor to actor as The Doctor. Typically the character’s incarnations are referred to by their place in their sequence, the original Doctor being 1 and the most current Doctor is 13. (Though 14 actors have played the Doctor one is referred to as ‘The War Doctor.’ Played by the late John Hurt and was used only in specials and never helmed a series of his own.)

13 represents the boldest regeneration for the character as actor Jodie Whittaker take the role becoming the first woman to play the long running hero.

So how did it go?

In my opinion it went brilliantly. Now in terms of science in science fiction I have never held Doctor Whoto a very high standard. The program has always been more fantasy than science fiction but it often uses that fantasy to tell thrilling and compelling stories; which is what really matters. Whittaker stepped into the role of The Doctor and as with her predecessors made it her own while maintaining a core that was recognizable as the character we have seen in some many so varied incarnations. I was not terrible familiar with Whittaker before Doctor Who having seen her only in the murder mystery series Broadchurchbut in both shows she is terrific.

In the first episode of series 11 ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth.”The Doctor finds herself without her TARDIS, her Sonic Screwdriver, or her memories. (This is not the first time regeneration has delayed The Doctor’s recall of her life but it is not a common occurrence either.) A pair of aliens is moving through the town of Sheffield, people are dying, and The Doctor quickly takes the lead in unraveling the mystery while gathering up a collection of friends who will be her companions for the new series.

From the moment that Jodie Whittaker was announced as the new Doctor there has been a backlash from predictable quarters of the Internet. The usual complaints that the character is male and should be only played by male actors. In the case of The Doctor this is a particularly weak argument. The Doctor, beyond being an alien that sheds bodies and forms, also adopts a new personality with each regeneration. Sometimes the character is hard, cold and distant, sometimes the character haunted and tragic, and sometimes the character is childish and goofy. With such a diverse set of traits that is nothing that locks the character in a particular gender. The Doctor’s core attribute is the character’s morality and transcends sex, gender, and race.

Under the program’s new leadership, Chris Chibnall who also worked with Whittaker on Broadchurchthe series11 launched with a great start and I have high hopes for The Doctor’s future.

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The Collins Initative was a Failure to Understand Incentives

In the recent fight over the appoint of Judge Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court one group is liberals tried to incentive Senator Susan Collins of Maine to defect from her party, the Republicans, and vote against the judge’s confirmation. To do this that started a crow-funded campaign to raise money for her yet unknown 2020 general election campaign opponent. Their statement was simple vote yes and the money raised would be donated to the unknown Democratic politician, vote no and the people would never be charged for their contribution and the money would never materialize. Collins votes yes and to date I think they have passed the 3 million dollar mark in their fund raising, but in my opinion their attempt was doomed before it began.

Certainly Collins needs to fight and win her general election campaign to keep her spot in the U.S. Senate but before she faces the public in a general election she’ll face her party in a primary election and if she fell there and hazards for the general are instantly meaningless and that is the crux of the reason why this threat was always empty and impotent.

Maine, along with the rest of the GOP, has been becoming more conservative including electing LePage, a Tea party type of Republican, to the governorship. If Collins had voted no on Kavanaugh she would have certainly attracted a primary challenge and already hobbled by a moderate pro-choice position in this increasingly conservative party she would have very likely not survived the primary to go on to the general election so any pressure focused on the general is pointless. Collins was never going to be bowed by a general election threat when taking an action to avoid it cost her the primary election.

Setting aside the issue if the scheme violated any of the incredibly complex campaign finance laws this was never going to succeed and for Collins is may have been meaningless to agonize over this vote. Taking a position to confirm Kavanaugh is no way assures her survival in 2020’s primary, her pro-choice stance along with a smattering of other moderate position already invites a challenge as the party move closer to becoming a reflection of its leader Trump she becomes a progressively poor fit.

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Back Into The Saddle

Last night was the first meeting for October for the Mysterious Galaxy Writers Support Group. We meet twice a month, taking turns reading out 1200-1500 words of our works in processed and getting feedback from each other. This really is a wonderful group of writers to hang out with. We are supportive, encouraging, polite, and honest in a feedback without the nastiness that sometime occurs in these sorts of informal settings. I count myself truly fortunate to have been with this bunch since the beginning.

In an earlier post I discussed how recent reversal had hampered my motivation in writing and that over coming that setback was taking more work than I had anticipated. The support and good will from my fellow writers at the group meeting is a boost to my flagging confidence and I hope that I am equally helpful to each of them.

Last night I read out my first attempt as flash fiction, a tiny story that comprised a grand total of 638 words. It was well received and I got some very fine critique on the piece. Just that, the honest feedback on what worked and what didn’t work helped put me back into the right frame of mind motivating me to put butt to chair and fingers to keyboard.

I have a short story in progress another ready to start and after then perhaps I’ll take on writing my first novel length horror project.

Speaking of horror novels I am currently, via an audio book, working my way through the original Dracula. There is one element in the novel, a tiny little detail that had slipped my mind, that I wish some of the film version had taken the time to capture. Early in the story Jonathan Harker, newly minted solicitor, in in a coach heading for a rendezvous at the Borgo Pass where another carriage will take him top the client, Count Dracula. The locals have tried to warn him off but business wait for no man and Harker will have nothing it. The driver of Harker’s coach whips his horses, pressing them for greater and greater speed and this element is often there in the cinematic version, playing to the locals’ terror of the Count and his true nature, but when the coach arrives at the pass is where the novel does something I love. When they arrive the coach’s drive looks around and announces that there is no carriage to meet Harker and he will not leave a man alone in the mountains and begins to insist that Harker must go on to the next destination. The driver has arrived an hour early in an attempt to make Harker miss the appointment, but then Dracula’s coach arrives with it’s driver noting that that coachman had attempted to make Harker miss this connection. Harker of course transfers to Dracula’s carriage and the story progresses. I love the fact that the locals had worked hard, very hard, at trying to save Harker from his impending fate. That in the novel they are more than terrified villagers but people will to take risks to save another person from the evils in those mountains. It would be nice to see that occasionally in the films.

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Sunday Night Movie: The Silence of the Lambs

It’s hard to believe that this fantastic film is now more than 25 years old. This is the movie that catapulted Anthony Hopkins into the upper reaches of stardom, though he had been headlining movies for decades before this film’s release including wonderful gems such as Magicand The Bounty. The Silence of the Lambsis also the movie that injected the serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lector into the popular culture spawning film and television sequels and prequels. Though five years earlier Brian Cox has done a perfectly serviceable performance as Lector in Michael Mann’s Manhunter, an adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novel Red Dragon, where Lector made his fiction entrance, it was Hopkins’ depiction that caught fire with audiences. In addition to Hopkins The Silence of the Lambsboasts a terrific cast of Jodie Foster, who successfully navigated the treacherous seas between child and adult actor, Scott Glenn, and Ted Levin giving a credible and creepy performance as the serial killer ‘Buffalo Bill.’

Jodie Foster plays Clarice Starling who is finishing her school at the FBI school in Quantico when her boss Crawford (Scott Glenn), desperate for a break to identify and capture ‘Buffalo Bill’ send her to interview the notorious imprisoned serial killer and psychiatrist Hannibal Lector. Sensing that Clarice is driven by a dark and tragic past Lector agrees to help but only if she does the one thing that Crawford insisted she must never do, allow Lector into her head. Once ‘Buffalo Bill,’ who is known to kidnap and hold his female victims for several days before killing them, abducts, unwittingly Catherine, the daughter of a U.S. Senator, Clarice and Crawford begin a race to discover ‘Bill’s’ identity and location before it’s too late.

With tight taunt plotting, well-developed characters, and sharp cinematic skill The Silence of the Lambs, stormed the box office and took several well-deserved Oscars. A modern classic this is a film that is timeless and always worth watching and studying.

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Feeling Unmotivated

The reversal I suffered in August to my writing seems to have hit me emotionally a little more that I had first estimated. Gathering up the motivation for a project seems difficult and I have two incomplete short stories currently sitting on my hard drive.

Still, this will not dissuade me. Setbacks are a part of life, well until you get to the ultimate setback and that one you do not recover from but on that front I see no serious dangers.

No, this is not something that will make me give up and such. As I often joke I am too stupid and too stubborn to give me. In fact in the middle of this artistic Sargasso I have found myself becalmed in hints and glimmers of hope continue to break on my horizon. I have a story in the current issue of Newmyths.com, that certainly help my mood and confidence, there are a few nibbles for new representation, but perhaps best of all a senior editor at a major SF publisher after reviewing my sample chapters requested the full manuscript. Now that editor may still decline to move ahead but while not fully good news the request is quite encouraging.

So what does an artist do in this spot? I think the answer is quite clear. Stop wasting time reading political websites at lunch, finish the two short stories in progress, write the new story that has blossomed in my imagination, and then serious consider working on a full novel outside of my comfort zone.

As always the hardest part of writing is ‘butt to chair, fingers to keyboard.’

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Podcasts I Listen To

Until earlier this year I scarcely listened to that new art form podcasts but now there are quite a few and I must admit that they have made my workdays significantly more bearable. I’m going to share with you the podcasts I enjoy and what I am still looking for to add to the rotation. The podcasts break down into several categories; Writing & Craft, Politics &Current Affairs, Entertainment & The Arts, and, Tips & Hacks.

Right now only Writing Excuses occupies the sole position as subscribed to and regularly listened to for Writing & Craft. Boasting a weekly format and hosted by a rotating core of well-established writers this is one I would recommend to anyone seeking to improve their writing and their understanding of the craft.

For Entertainment & The Arts there are several podcast I enjoy and they are in fact the category that originally caused me to engage with the art form. PBS’s Pop Culture Happy Hour is a twice a week broadcast that covers all manner of popular arts, Film, TV, Books, Music, and Theater. They do a decent job of discussing the works without going deeply into spoiler territory. This podcast has introduced me to several new shows and films. Local KPBS film Critic Beth Accomando hosts Cinema Junkie is a twice-monthly celebration of all things cinema, drawing from her deep archives of interviews and love for all manner of film this podcast covers everything from Shakespeare to Zombies. Damn Dirty Geek sis more of an inside the industry podcast about Hollywood and movie making. The show is centered on three hosts and their special guests and usually is filled with loving behind the scenes stories of movies and movie making. The Good Place: The Podcast is dedicated to the NBC’s unusual sitcom The Good Place. Marc Evan Jackson – he plays Shawn – brings actors, writers, and all manner of technicians from the show to have in-depth and often hilarious discussions about the show and its production.

20 Minute Delay is a Tips & Hacks about travel hosted by writers Gail Carriger and Piper J. Drake. Both women have sharp minds, quick wits, and loads of practical tip for how to make travel go a little smoother.

Politics & Current Affairs is the largest category of Podcasts in my library. The list includes Today Explained, NPR’s Politics Podcast, 538’s Political Podcast, The Weeds, Intelligence Matters, Slow Burn which explores both the Nixon and Clinton Impeachments, The Daily from the NYT Trump Inc, a long term investigative podcast into Trump’s finances, and most recently added The Erza Klein Show. Erza does a great job of getting guests he does not agree with and letting them make their cases, explore their arguments, without any hint of shouting match. I really wish I could find someone on the right who did this same thing.

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Is The Good Place Nietzscheian?

This post will contain the key reveal/spoiler from Season One of NBC’s unusual sitcom The Good Place, now starting its third season last week.

 

 

The Good Placeis a sitcom concerning Eleanor Shellstrop, a woman who clearly did not lead a good life, she was vain, bitter, and self-serving, and who finds herself in the afterlife in ‘the good place,’ a reward for virtuous people. Most of the first season operates in and around Eleanor as she strives to become a better person and earn her spot in the good place. Along the way she collects a group of friends and they both torture each other with their conflicting personalities and improve each through their friendship. When season one concludes Eleanor realizes that the ‘good place’ has been the ‘bad place’ all along and that their ‘caring’ architect Michael is actually the eternal being that designed this unusual torture for them.

In season two, for reasons of his own, Michael joins with the afterlife humans, working against his former demons, and conspires to help the humans escape to the actual good place. Over the course of the season Michael gradually becomes a better being growing a sense of empathy, compassion, and affection for his friends.

The Good Place, in addition to farcical character driven humor, is deeply concerned with ethical decision-making and entire episodes are built around a single ethical question or dilemma. Many famous philosophers, Kant, Hegel, Plato, etc, are mentioned and their core concepts used as vital elements in understanding the thorny issues of what makes a person good and how do you know what is a good act. Absent from the roster of thinkers is Frederick Nietzsche. On the surface this is not a surprise. Nietzsche is famous for his nihilism and is often attributed with philosophy that emphasizes an individual’s will over any absolute morality. And yet at 5:00 am this morning when I awoke to biological needs it suddenly struck me that from Season Two that there was a very Nietzscheian element in plain sight. Consider one of Nietzsche’s most famous quotes.

 

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.

 

Prolonged contact with evil can make you evil and that very nature can stealthily seep into you, but is the inverse also true? It seems to me that one aspect of season two can be the application of the sentiment ‘Whoever fights angles should see to it that he does not become an angel.’ Michael’s closes association with humans, over nearly a thousand reboots of his good place torture village, as they strove to continually improve themselves, profoundly altering his very nature. Late in the second season Michael’s transformation is so complete that self sacrifices in order to save his human friends. Truly he gazed into the heavens until the heavens gaze back into him.

The Good Placeavoids taking any religious stand, it makes no preference for Christian, Jewish, Islamic, or any other of the major religions but rather keeps it focus on the ethics action and the question of what does it mean to be good? It is a show that places ‘Lonely Lady Margarita Mix’ jokes right next to discussion of Utilitarianism and how many major network shows pull that off?

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