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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 03/20/92 -- Vol. 10, No. 38
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
04/01 LZ: Book Swap
04/22 LZ: WONDERFUL LIFE by Stephen Jay Gould (Science non-fiction as a
source of ideas)
05/13 LZ: ONLY BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER by James Morrow (Books we heard are
very good)
_D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C.
03/21 Forbidden Planet: Signing by John Byrne (2-3 PM)
03/28 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: Robert Fenelon
(Japanese animation) (phone 201-432-5965 for details)
(Saturday) (NOTE DATE CHANGE)
03/30 Hugo Nomination Forms due
04/11 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Nicholas
Jainschigg (artist) (phone 201-933-2724 for details)
(Saturday)
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 908-834-1563 hocpb!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell HO 1D-505A 908-834-1259 mtuxo!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
HO Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 908-949-7076 homxc!11366ns
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 908-576-3346 mtfme!lfl
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. I notice that one of our local classical radio stations is
broadcasting apologies to its listeners. Apparently over the past
few months they have, during the week, had a policy of broadcasting
just pieces of major works of music. Rather than playing an entire
symphony, they would play just one movement--presumably a movement
that has a familiar melody. This was evidently a concession to
listeners who have a short attention span and who want quickly to
hear something that they find familiar and can hum. It was
probably done for the ex-Top-40 listeners who want to hear the same
THE MT VOID Page 2
melodies over and over. This would seem to me to be a result of
the confusion in many people's minds between appreciating a piece
of music and merely knowing what is coming next in a piece of
music. If you have heard the same piece of music repetitively, you
always know what to expect in the next part. And of course that is
what you hear, so you think you are grooving with the music. This
is what psychologists call McDonald's Syndrome. Sufferers of
McDonald's Syndrome take great pleasure in getting the same
hamburger, Coke (tm), and fries anywhere in the country, having
music sound the same each time or at least always being familiar,
that sort of thing.
Even AT&T has fallen prey to McDonald's Syndrome thinking from time
to time. One of its definitions of "quality" is "always meeting
customer expectations." "If your customer expects your product to
be unreliable, you darn well better make it unreliable if you want
quality." This love of repetition led to another phenomenon that
had people fooled for a while. The Top 40 listeners would hear the
same piece of music so many times that their subconscious would
memorize it note for note and play it back for them. These guys
would head a piece of music in the heads and would think they were
picking up radio waves. For a while it was thought to be some new
psychic phenomenon. It was thought dome people could pick up radio
broadcasts without radio equipment. But no station seems to be
playing that music at that time and it never is a piece of music
new to the subject.
Occasionally you find classical fans who fall into the cult of
repetition and familiarity. That's why you see these albums like
"The 632 Most Beloved Melodies." The pieces are about two minutes
each. (Hey, how can 632 melodies be "beloved" anyway? How many
melodies can you love?) This sort of record is the most popular
excerpts from much longer pieces of music. No build-up, no nothing
to follow the piece. An entire symphony or opera cut almost too
short to use in a perfume ad. Just the prime part and then moving
on to the next. What's wrong with this? Imagine you had a big
bowl with samples of the frosting of the 100 best cakes ever made.
Can you imagine how disgusting a mess that would be?
What makes good music good is that it takes its time to do things
right.
2. PBS has been showing coming attractions for _F_o_o_l'_s _F_i_r_e, an
American Playhouse production of Edgar Allan Poe's "Hop Frog." A
word to the wise: the ads make it look pretty good. It looks like
a fairly stylized fantasy piece with a nice dark tone. There are
some interesting fantasy make-up effects. Channel 13 will run it
Wednesday, March 25 at 8 PM and again at midnight. It will
probably be run the second week in April on Channel 31.
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
THE MISSING MATTER by Thomas R. McDonough
Bantam Spectra, 1992, ISBN 0-553-29364-8, $4.99.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper
This book is sitting on my review stack staring at me, saying,
"Okay, now that you've read me, say something about me." The
problem is I don't know what to say. (All right, you out there who
just said, "But you've never let that stop you before"; I heard
that!)
Well, I'll start with basics. This is the third book in the
"Next Wave" series packaged by Byron Preiss. Each book consists of
a novel based on some hard science concept, prefaced by a short
science article on the subject by Isaac Asimov (though his
recently-announced retirement may change that), and followed by a
somewhat longer science essay by a "real" scientist. The first two
novels were _R_e_d _G_e_n_e_s_i_s by S. C. Sykes and _A_l_i_e_n _T_o_n_g_u_e by Stephen
Leigh. Now, somewhat delayed from its originally announced release
date, is the third volume, _T_h_e _M_i_s_s_i_n_g _M_a_t_t_e_r by Thomas
R. McDonough.
The science concept behind the novel is that of "black matter,"
or "missing matter." That is, it has been postulated that there
isn't enough matter in the universe to explain the physical laws.
So where is this "missing matter"? McDonough _s_e_e_m_s to be saying
that it's stuck in parallel universes and that there are planets
traveling between (among?) these universes. I say "seems" because
none of this was very clearly stated or shown in the novel itself; I
conclude this only because of the essays.
And that may be one of the problems with packaging _T_h_e _M_i_s_s_i_n_g
_M_a_t_t_e_r this way--a perfectly good novel which could stand on its own
is turned into a novel appearing to illustrate some point in
physics, and not to do it very well. The story is that of a
Plutonian colony which discovers a planet moving towards our solar
system and sends a team to explore it. Once on the planet, however,
the team finds itself traveling between universes, because that's
what the planet is doing. It's a good old-fashioned adventure
story, with interesting characters (well, okay, the bureaucrat is a
bit two-dimensional, but think of her as comic relief), and works
far better as a story if you don't try to learn physics from it. As
with the others in this series, if you like the sort of science
fiction of the 1950s but with better characters and up-to-date
(i.e., non-outdated) science, you'll probably enjoy _T_h_e _M_i_s_s_i_n_g
_M_a_t_t_e_r.
MY COUSIN VINNY
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Two boys charged with murder in
Alabama are defended by one boy's cousin, a loser
played by Joe Pesci. All the stereotyped characters
are there, but by the end of the film they have all
become interesting characters. Not great but fun.
Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4).
Teenagers Bill Gambini (played by Ralph Macchio) and Stan
Rothstein (played by Mitchell Whitfield) are driving through Alabama
on their way to UCLA. They drive illegally. Bill shoplifts a can
of tuna. Then a cop pulls them over. The charge is murder. They
need a good lawyer. The lawyer they get is just about the world's
worst. Bill's cousin Vinny (played by Joe Pesci) just passed the
bar six weeks before on his sixth try. He knows nothing about court
procedure, and has never even served in a trial. But he will work
free of charge, so down to Alabama he comes with his obnoxious bimbo
girlfriend (played by Marisa Tomei). Now Bill and Stan are
surrounded by stereotypes: the whiney girlfriend, the redneck cop,
the silken, ambitious district attorney, the Southern judge who has
pre-judged the case. About the only person who is not a stereotype
is Vinny himself. Then something funny happens. The stereotypes
start interacting and each becomes an interesting person. Even the
trial gets interesting.
Joe Pesci, top-billed for the first time, doesn't quite have
enough charisma to carry the film and Marisa Tomei very nearly
steals the film from him. Meanwhile Macchio and Whitfield have
little to do but stand around and say, "Oh, gee!" And of them, it
is the lower-billed Whitfield who has the better role.
The comedy was written by Dale Launer, who also co-produced.
This film is on a par with Launer's previous _D_i_r_t_y _R_o_t_t_e_n _S_c_o_u_n_d_r_e_l_s
though neither film is up to his _R_u_t_h_l_e_s_s _P_e_o_p_l_e. _M_y _C_o_u_s_i_n _V_i_n_n_y
is a bright, pleasant comedy with a slightly distorted view of life
in the South. It was directed by Jonathan Lynn, who wrote and
directed the hit British comedy series "Yes, Minister" and "Yes,
Prime Minister." Pesci's run-ins with the local culture are
reminiscent of _D_o_c _H_o_l_l_y_w_o_o_d, also directed by a Briton. It is
almost as if filmmakers are deciding that the rural South has gotten
a bad rap in films and are now trying to give it a better image, or
at least play off of expectations of the worse image. _M_y _C_o_u_s_i_n
_V_i_n_n_y is a likeable comedy that delivers at least most of the goods.
I rate it a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
LAWNMOWER MAN
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: In _L_a_w_n_m_o_w_e_r _M_a_n, a mix of
virtual reality and mind-expanding drugs turn a
mentally retarded handyman into a psychic monster.
The film borrows heavily from _A_l_t_e_r_e_d _S_t_a_t_e_s,
_F_o_r_b_i_d_d_e_n _P_l_a_n_e_t, and _C_h_a_r_l_y, and pays back in some
nice computer graphics and an over-used revenge plot.
Rating: +1 (-4 to +4).
Dr. Lawrence Angelo (played by Pierce Brosnan) is one more
Stephen King character being exploited by the evil government
intelligence agency "The Shop." His experiments with drug-enhancing
virtual reality not only make the effect more complete, it may
actually be raising the intelligence of his chimpanzee subject.
Unfortunately, the chimp does not want to find out. The ape picks
the lock of his cage and is killed walking to freedom, zapping
humans as he goes. Angelo continues with Jobe (Played by Jeff
Fahey), a mentally retarded lawn man.
In over-used King style (perhaps "pseudo-King" since King had
little to do with the story in the film), Jobe lives in a world of
people willing to torment him because he is so powerless. If only
he had the intelligence and power to get back at his tormenters.
But then the brain boost he is getting from the ultimate video game
and psycho-active drugs starts giving him a super intellect as well
as telekinetic powers. As Angelo's wife tells him early in the
film, "It may be the future to you, Larry, but it's the same old
shit to me." She obviously knows her Stephen King films. Other
lines seem downright silly. "He learned Latin in two hours! It
took me a year to learn the Latin alphabet." That may well be true,
Larry, but I assume you were about four years old at the time.
If the plot is overly predictable--and believe me, it is--the
computer graphics are spectacular. They may not always make sense.
Jobe's new girlfriend sneaks into the lab to try the virtual reality
equipment. While she appears to be the first woman who has been in
the lab, the computer knows to visualize her virtual reality body as
a female. The computer visuals make one wish this film had been
shot in 3-D. Even shot flat, the visuals are quite a trip.
The screenplay is loosely based on the short story by Stephen
King. (No, let me correct that: it is tightly based on a Stephen
King story title. It has virtually nothing to do with King's story
of a lawnman who worships the God Pan.) It was written by the
director Brett Lawrence and the producer Gimel Everett. It is
dedicated to the memory of the co-producer, the late Milton
Lawnmower Man March 16, 1992 Page 2
Subotsky. Those of you who are fans of British horror film will
remember some classics, particularly anthology films such as _T_h_e
_H_o_u_s_e _T_h_a_t _D_r_i_p_p_e_d _B_l_o_o_d, _A_s_y_l_u_m, _T_a_l_e_s _f_r_o_m _t_h_e _C_r_y_p_t, and _B_e_y_o_n_d
_t_h_e _G_r_a_v_e that were co-produced in the 1960s by Subotsky for his
production company Amicus Films. His last film was typical for him:
entertaining but not heavy on thought. I would rate _L_a_w_n_m_o_w_e_r _M_a_n a
+1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
======================================
BARRAYAR by Lois McMaster Bujold
Baen, 1991, ISBN 0-671-72083-X, $4.99.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper
In this novel, Bujold goes back in time in her saga of Miles
Vorkosigan, and relates the events of the period surrounding his
birth. As with any book that is part of an on-going series, one
must ask of it two questions: how is it as part of the series, and
how is it as a stand-alone?
Now, last year's Hugo winner, _T_h_e _V_o_r _G_a_m_e, was the first of
its series that I had read (I don't count _F_a_l_l_i_n_g _F_r_e_e, although
Bujold includes it in her timeline, because it far predates Miles),
and I felt it stood well enough on its own that I had no problems
with its winning the Hugo. I would assume that to those who had
read the other novels (some of which cover events before _T_h_e _V_o_r
_G_a_m_e, some after--a complete timeline is provided in each new book)
enjoyed it even more. But _B_a_r_r_a_y_a_r is not as satisfying as a
stand-alone; much of the interest in the events is based on the
knowledge of Miles's future. Since all the blurbs, etc., reveal
that Miles goes on further adventures, his survival is never in
question, and the book's attempt to add tension here is somewhat
annoying. (True, one can't blame an author for the blurbs, but
surely Bujold must have realized that most readers would know the
outcome even if they hadn't read any other works in the series.)
Given all this, however, I think that for people who have read
other works in the series--even just one--this book is very
enjoyable and enlightening. It provides background and context for
Miles which help show the forces that shaped him, both physically
and emotionally. And it makes me want to read the other books in
the series, which is perhaps the ultimate test, and why I recommend
this (though I suggest reading _T_h_e _V_o_r _G_a_m_e first).