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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 07/09/93 -- Vol. 12, No. 2
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Holmdel 4N-509
Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
07/14 SIGHT OF PROTEUS by Charles Sheffield (Human Metamorphosis)
08/04 Hugo Short Story Nominees
08/25 CONSIDER PHLEBAS by Iain Banks
(Space Opera with a Knife Twist)
09/15 WORLD AT THE END OF TIME by Frederik Pohl
(Modern Stapledonian Fiction)
Outside events:
07/31 Deadline for Hugo Ballots to be postmarked
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the second
Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call 201-933-2724 for
details. The New Jersey Science Fiction Society meets on the third
Saturday of every month in Belleville; call 201-432-5965 for details.
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 908-834-1563 holly!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell HO 1C-523 908-834-1267 holly!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzfs3!leeper
HO Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 908-949-7076 homxc!11366ns
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 908-576-3346 quartet!lfl
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzfs3!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 mtgpfs1!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. There is a Leeper film festival announcement on page 2 (didn't
want you to miss it).
2. Our next discussion is of Charles Sheffield's _S_i_g_h_t _o_f _P_r_o_t_e_u_s,
of which Mark Thorn says:
Charles Sheffield is a Ph.D. physicist who has been the first Vice
President of the American Astronautical Society, Vice President of
Special Projects for Earth Satellite Corporation, and an advisor to
Congress on the space program. _S_i_g_h_t _o_f _P_r_o_t_e_u_s is his first
novel.
THE MT VOID Page 2
To quote the book cover: "In the 22nd century a combination of
computer-augmented bio-feedback and chemotherapy techniques has
given man the ability not only to heal himself, but to CHANGE
himself--to alter his very shape at will. But Form Change has its
darker aspects, ranging from unauthorized experimentation on human
subjects to a threat to the very essence of humanity--a SIGHT OF
PROTEUS."
The book is an SF detective story, with a style reminiscent of
Asimov's robot detective stories (without robots). The central
idea is an interesting one--if man was able to metamorphose into
other biological forms, what would be (or should be) the limits?
What would define a human being? How could this capability be
effectively or frivolously used? What would be its effect on
society, especially on a vastly overcrowded Earth that is teetering
on the brink of social breakdown? And could external influences
drive this metamorphosis to unexpected results?
Although the story is well written compared to some other scientist
sf writers, the ideas are not as well developed as they could be
(compared, say, to Forward), and the social conditions on 22nd
Century Earth are only slightly developed (compared, say, to Brin's
_E_a_r_t_h). However, the basic idea is a fascinating one.
These days the means are more likely to involve nanotechnology, but
the idea does not seem that far-fetched. After all, many other
animals can change forms on their own, and others can grow back
large parts of their bodies. Humans are known to go through other
forms as developing embryos, and a small chemical stimulus can
cause large changes and "foreign" animal structures to appear in
developing organisms (see "Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes" by Stephen
Jay Gould). With a better understanding of developmental biology
and the human genome, and with nanotechnology to assist, human form
changes may be possible. In that case, what would you like to be,
and how much would you be giving up?
3. On Thursday, July 15, at 7PM, we will finally have a film
festival I have wanted to have for four years. The best film
festivals are those in which each film comments on the other so
that the pairing is stronger than the sum of the two films. We
showed _E_l_e_n_i with _Z. One is about how bad the Communists were for
Greece; one is about how bad the anti-Communists were. We are
going to have another of those fests on July 15. The films are
both about the influence of teachers on students, but they see that
influence in very different ways.
One Teacher's Influence
DEAD POETS SOCIETY (1989) dir. by Peter Weir
THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE (1969) dir. by Ronald Neame
THE MT VOID Page 3
_D_e_a_d _P_o_e_t_s _S_o_c_i_e_t_y stars Robin Williams and Robert Sean Leonard.
While Williams is the nominal star as unconventional teacher John
Keating, this is more the story of the boys at a posh prep school
who are faced with the pressure to conform and be ordinary but
effective bread-winners. Keating wants them to be more than that
and comes to the school with his own message of "Seize the Day."
Leonard plays a student with a yearning to play Shakespeare.
(Note: He gets his wish in _M_u_c_h _A_d_o _a_b_o_u_t _N_o_t_h_i_n_g.)
Another private school, this one in Edinburgh, is the setting for
_T_h_e _P_r_i_m_e _o_f _M_i_s_s _J_e_a_n _B_r_o_d_i_e. Maggie Smith stars in the title
role as a creative teacher also fighting the tide of her school to
make mediocre students. But the issues are not quite so simple in
this film as they are in _D_e_a_d _P_o_e_t_s _S_o_c_i_e_t_y. Jay Presson Allen's
screenplay, based on the Muriel Spark novel, has a very different
interpretation of the charismatic teacher. Robert Stephens, Pamela
Franklin, and Gordon Jackson also star.
4. Charlie Harris sends in the following item:
_U_n_t_i_l _t_h_e _E_n_d _o_f _t_h_e _W_o_r_l_d described as the "ultimate sci-fi road
movie," will be shown as the second part of a double feature this
Sunday evening, July 11, in the refurbished State Theater, New
Brunswick. The State Theater "is a 1,350-seat movie palace, which
offers a stupendous sound system" and a big screen. It is located
near the corner of George Street and Livingston Avenue in central
New Brunswick, next to the George St. Playhouse.
From the Rutgers Film Co-op flier: "_U_n_t_i_l _t_h_e _E_n_d _o_f _t_h_e _W_o_r_l_d
takes viewers through 4 continents, 15 countries, and includes an
incredible cast and soundtrack.... Starring William Hurt, Sam
Neill, Jeanne Moreau, and Max Von Sydow. From the director of
_W_i_n_g_s _o_f _D_e_s_i_r_e [Wim Wenders]." 1991, 158 min.
_U_n_t_i_l _t_h_e _E_n_d _o_f _t_h_e _W_o_r_l_d will be preceded at 7PM by _Z_e_n_t_r_o_p_a, an
"internationally acclaimed... haunting thriller that takes viewers
on a surreal journey into the past and future of Europe....
Strikingly photographed by Henning Bendsen, narrated by Max Von
Sydow [he's everywhere!], and starring Barbara Sukowa, Jean-Marc
Barr, and Eddie Constantine...." Directed by Lars von Trier, 1991,
107 min.
Admission is $7 for the double feature, sponsored by the Rutgers
Film Co-op. For further information: 908-932-8482.
In all honesty, I must note that although the State Theater screen
is indeed big, I was disappointed by the lack of clarity in the
sound and picture (not to mention the lack of freshness in the
popcorn) for _B_l_a_d_e _R_u_n_n_e_r last month. [-csh]
THE MT VOID Page 4
5. The "Electric Science Fiction" 1993 Hugo & Nebula Award
Anthology is now available via network, modem and CD-ROM.
Containing basically _a_l_l the Hugo nominees (fiction, fan writing,
and art) and a whole lot more, you can get it via FTP for as little
as $11.95. (Enhanced and CD-ROM versions cost more.) For further
information, send email to net-sf@clarinet.com. [-ecl]
6. _P_u_b_l_i_s_h_e_r_s _W_e_e_k_l_y (April 5, 1993), in reviewing _T_h_e _I_n_n_e_r _S_i_d_e
_o_f _t_h_e _W_i_n_d: _O_r, _T_h_e _N_o_v_e_l _o_f _H_e_r_o _a_n_d _L_e_a_n_d_e_r, says: "Like his
cleverly designed _D_i_c_t_i_o_n_a_r_y _o_f _t_h_e _K_h_a_z_a_r_s, which was printed in
both male and female versions, Serbian writer [Milorad] Pavic's
lyrical and brooding new work is inventively structured. It
consists of two surrealistic and remarkably beautiful stories:
'Hero," begins, conventionally, at the front of the book, and
'Leander' begins when the book is turned over and opened at the
"back" cover." Inventively structured? Ace Doubles did that forty
years ago! [-ecl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzfs3!leeper
A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own
side in a quarrel.
-- Robert Frost
THE FIRM
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1993 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: A very good cast tells the
story of a young lawyer who gets a job offer that
seems too good to be true. Then he finds out the
catch. _T_h_e _F_i_r_m is long and complex, but polished
and intriguing. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4).
(Extended spoiler follows review.)
When I was in the Galapagos I was on a boat of about a hundred
people and I was reading the newly published _H_u_n_t _f_o_r _R_e_d _O_c_t_o_b_e_r.
I noticed that about four other people were reading the same novel
at the same time. Out of a population of a hundred people that is a
surprisingly high percentage of people reading the same novel. That
sort of popularity rarely happens unless there is a film imminent.
(I saw a lot of people reading _J_u_r_a_s_s_i_c _P_a_r_k just before the film
came out, but that film had a lot of hype.) The only other book I
remember seeing that so many people seemed to be reading at once was
John Grisham's novel _F_i_r_m. Now nuclear-powered submarines and Cold
War warfare is a subject with natural appeal, but the story of a
yuppie lawyer and a law firm does not have the same trappings to
entice people so I guessed it must be a pretty good thriller. Now
_T_h_e _F_i_r_m, like _T_h_e _H_u_n_t _f_o_r _r_e_d _O_c_t_o_b_e_r, has made it to the screen.
There is an old rule of business that a deal that sounds too
good to be true probably is. That is what young lawyer Mitch
McDeere (played by Tom Cruise) and his wife Abby (played by Jeanne
Tripplehorn) discover when Mitch is choosing a firm for employment.
One company in Memphis offers Mitch a package that sounds too sweet
to turn down. His salary will be 20% higher than the next best
offer, and he gets a beautiful home and a free Mercedes. The
company just force-feeds Mitch one Perquisite after another.
Bendini, Lambert, and Locke is just one big family, Mitch is told,
but Abby balks when she sees how strongly the firm wants to run both
Mitch's life and her own. And there have been some mysterious
deaths of young lawyers at the new company. Then there are two
mysterious strangers who are not with the firm but seem to know a
little too much about the company and about Mitch. And, like the
law firm, they too seem to have targeted Matich for something
unknown to him. Mitch is a clever lawyer but he will need all his
skill just to stay alive when he is caught between his own
unscrupulous law firm and the government.
What made people want to read the book is the question, "What
is _r_e_a_l_l_y going on?" The same question will probably intrigue movie
audiences, but the answer is disappointingly prosaic. In the book
the answer makes some sense, but there were major revisions in the
Firm July 3, 1993 Page 2
film and it does not make quite as much sense. (More on this in a
heavy spoiler at the end of the review. Don't worry; I will flag
it.)
This is a long film--more than two and a half hours long--and
it feels like a long film, mostly because it is tightly packed with
a lot happening throughout. But it is still a carefully crafted
thriller. Much of the cost of the production had to be in the
casting. This film has a powerhouse cast. Cruise is, of course,
box-office gold and just recently played a lawyer in _A _F_e_w _G_o_o_d
_M_e_n. His skills are improving with time until he is a respectable
actor now, though his range is limited. Tripplehorn also gets some
chance to take part in the action and is adequate. But the two
leads are not the most interesting casting. For members if the
sinister law firm, David Rubin cast people who have generally played
gentle, nice-guy roles, people of some integrity, the sort of actors
who are chosen to do voice-overs for commercials. We have Gene
Hackman, Hal Holbrook, and Wilford Brimley--people you naturally
feel are friendly. It makes them seem all the more sinister when
their real natures are covered with this air of pleasant control.
Then you have the grungies, the people who have less gentility and
who cannot get away with it when they break the law. Here we have
Gary Busey and a character actor I have been pointing out for years,
David Strathairn. And cast against type is Holly Hunter, playing a
gum-chewing tartish secretary. Playing government agents are Ed
Harris (who plays straight arrows occasionally with sinister sides,
as he did in _U_n_d_e_r _F_i_r_e), and Stephen Hill (who headed the IMF in
the first season of _M_i_s_s_i_o_n _I_m_p_o_s_s_i_b_l_e).
_T_h_e _F_i_r_m is a thriller that does not cover tremendously new
territory, nor does it have a lot of substance, but it is well made
and exciting. And its thrills come from human interactions, not
from explosions or martial arts or car chases. I give it a high +1
on the -4 to +4 scale.
SPOILER ON NEXT PAGE SPOILER ON NEXT PAGE SPOILER ON NEXT PAGE
Firm July 3, 1993 Page 3
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
First, I cannot claim actually to have read the book. This
comment is based on a three-hour abridgement on audio tape. But in
the book, the reason the firm could make such generous offers was
that it actually was the Mafia. They desperately needed the best
lawyers they could get and were willing to spend whatever it took to
get them. When Mitch decided to betray the firm, he was going
head-to-head with the Mafia. It seems to me that the novel glosses
over the question of how you can be a Mafia lawyer without realizing
that your clients are all in the syndicate, but perhaps that is
possible.
In the film, Bendini, Lambert, and Locke is not the Mafia,
though it does work for them. This introduces a logical problem.
There is nothing intrinsically against the law about being the legal
counsel for the Mafia. In fact, the Constitution guarantees even
the Mafia the right to legal counsel. So then what really is the
nature of Bendini, Lambert, and Locke's villainy in the film> They
try to control their staff's lives to the point of killing them when
they want to leave. And they overbill by about 25% in the example
we see. Both actions probably help the bottom line. And they
probably do some illegal work for their clients. But none of this
seems profitable enough to explain their very bizarre way of doing
business. By making Bendini, Lambert, and Locke the villain rather
than the Mafia, there is more that is left unexplained.
THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT ALMOST BLANK
WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1993 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: This film biography of Tina
Turner shows Tina abused by her ex-husband Ike and by
her mother, but remaining a sweet and wonderful
person. It is based on her own account in her
autobiography. Fights that should not have occurred
and if they did should have been private, take place
in public and now people are paying to see them on
the wide screen. The film will probably do well with
Turner fans. Rating: low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
A number of critics considered _R_a_g_i_n_g _B_u_l_l to be the best film
of the 1980s. I cannot say I was all that keen on it. While I will
accept that the acting and the style gave the film a feel of
authenticity, the film really just gave me two hours to be around
people I would cross a street to avoid. Perhaps even a highway. I
got that same feeling of wanting to get away from the people in
_W_h_a_t'_s _L_o_v_e _G_o_t _t_o _D_o _w_i_t_h _i_t, without the feel of authenticity.
This is what I would call a "dirty linen" story, like _M_o_m_m_i_e
_D_e_a_r_e_s_t. Tina Turner (nee Anna Mae Bullock) got divorced and is now
telling the world what terrible things her husband did and how she
remained a sweet, loving mother to her children and all the while
how terrible she felt. Not that I am doubting the accuracy. I am
sure Ike Turner was this bad from Tina's point of view, and I am
sure Tina was a good person from her own point of view. Still, she
was not an unbiased observer and her character may be a bit too good
to be true albeit a little too naive.
The story starts with young Anna Mae (played at this age by
Rae'ven Kelly) being dragged by the ear out of a rural church's
choir practice because she insists on jazzing up her singing beyond
what passed in churches in those days. Apparently it would not be
the last time she would be physically abused for not singing the way
someone wanted her to sing. Anna Mae goes home only to see her
mother leaving home and leaving her in the care of Anna Mae's
grandmother. Flash forward to 1958 St. Louis and Anna Mae (now
played by Angela Bassett) has come to the city to be with her
mother. The rage with her sister is rhythm and blues singer Ike
Turner (played by Laurence Fishburne) who, as part of his act,
brings women in the audience up to the stage to sing with him. Ike
hears Anna Mae sing this way, realizes she is a belter, and sweet-
talks her first into joining his band--named Ike Turner and the
Ike-ettes--and then into marrying him. As they work together, Ike
realizes the power of Anna Mae's voice could be his ticket to
success. He dumps the "Ike-ettes" from the group's name, redubs
Anna Mae ad Tina, and forms the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. The
Whats Love Got to Do July 4, 1993 Page 2
operative wording is that he forms the group since Anna Mae is given
little say. As they work, more and more of the brutal side of Ike
comes out, until he is beating and even raping his wife. He insists
on running both careers even though he is making mistakes and
getting hooked on narcotics. Eventually through a conversion to
Buddhism Tina gets the strength to fight back, then to leave Ike.
Angela Bassett does a good acting job as a person in Tina
Turner's position, easily winning audience sympathy. The problem,
of course, is that she does not really resemble Tina Turner and her
speaking voice does not have the same almost-purring quality. She
does lip-sync to Tina Turner's singing fairly well. But somehow her
appearance keeps her from transforming into her character the way
Denzel Washington transformed into Malcolm X on the screen.
Laurence (a.k.a. Larry) Fishburne does a good job in a role that
destroys his former nice-guy image. He also does his own singing.
I think I might have had more interest in this film had I been
a Tina Turner fan. But for this one viewer the film rates a low +1
on the -4 to +4 scale. Fans can adjust accordingly.