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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 1/7/93 -- Vol. 12, No. 28
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Middletown 1R-400C
Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
01/26 Bookswap
02/16 Demo of Electronic Hugo and Nebula Anthology (MT 3D-441)
03/09 A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ by Walter M. Miller (Vividly Memorable SF)
Outside events:
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 MT 2G-432 908-957-5087 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 HO 2C-318 908-949-4156 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. The United States Congress is the most resourceful political
body in the world. Some of the greatest political minds of all
ages sit in our country's halls of legislation. If this tremendous
political force could ever be harnessed to work for the good of the
nation, I think all we would be in terrific shape. Unfortunately,
it is Congress who decides what Congress will do and how much they
will be paid to do it. That is why we are in this mess.
Ours is the Congress who has figured out how to vote itself a pay
raise while having 100% of its members are officially on record as
opposing. Do you think that 90% of the Colombian government would
be in the pharmaceutical business if they could wangle a deal like
our legislators have? I doubt it.
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And now our Congress is now coming up with another proof that it is
the wiliest set of legislators money can buy. This morning I have
heard of a new device, a new congressional concept that will
further make our legislators he envy of every crooked politician
throughout the world. Our Congress has invented the concept of the
"stealth bribe." It came up in a discussion on NPR about the
nation's leading medical problem, tobacco. Many congressmen are
trying to have it appear that they are not getting their cut of the
tobacco company obscene profits. What they say is that they cannot
tell if they are getting tobacco money or not because the tobacco
companies are so diversified these days. They can get scads of
money from tobacco companies and never realize it! And the tobacco
companies are too polite to ask for anything in return. Honest,
this is what this congressman said.
Now does he really believe that tobacco companies are going to go
to all this effort to sneak him money without telling him they want
him to vote for tobacco? Or does he really believe that once his
secret backers tell him who they are and that he has been bribed it
is unethical to vote his conscience. I guess once you know who is
stuffing greenbacks in your pocket if you don't vote their way it
might not be ethical. And worse you might not be bribed again.
===================================================================
2. There was a mistake in last week's review of _G_r_u_m_p_y _O_l_d _M_e_n.
The end of the first paragraph should have read: "Her presence in
Wabasha is never very well explained, nor is what she lives on, nor
even her interest in Max and John. But her presence will transform
them." And the beginning of the next should have been: "Jack
Lemmon and Walter Matthau are almost a classic comedy team after
_T_h_e _O_d_d _C_o_u_p_l_e, _T_h_e _F_o_r_t_u_n_e _C_o_o_k_i_e, and _T_h_e _F_r_o_n_t _P_a_g_e."
===================================================================
3. THE CASE OF THE TOXIC SPELL DUMP by Harry Turtledove (Baen, ISBN
0-671-72196-8, 1993, 367pp, US$5.99,) (a book review by Evelyn C.
Leeper):
This is, I suppose, an alternate history of sorts. Magic works,
all the gods and goddesses and other supernatural beings are real,
and so on. Yet except for a few minor name changes (the District
of Columbia is the District of Saint Columba, for example, and Los
Angeles is Angel City), everything else is pretty much the same.
While this is extremely unlikely in a real alternate history (is
that an oxymoron?), it hardly matters here however, since this
story is _n_o_t trying to be a classic alternate history story. I
mention it only for those who have come to expect Turtledove to
write alternate history stories.
THE MT VOID Page 3
There are two aspects to this book: plot and puns. The plot
involves David Fisher, an inspector for the EPA (Environmental
Perfection Agency) and his investigation of a possible leak at a
toxic spell dump. This leak appears to be causing babies to be
born without souls. The puns are layered on top of the plot--
often, in my opinion, obscuring it completely. It's too easy to
get so wrapped up in spotting puns that you stop following the
storyline. And Turtledove is shameless when it comes to puns. Not
only does he refer to an overweight psychic and a Britisher who
contacts spirits from the past as "the large medium and the English
channeler," but he doesn't shirk from talking about the "devil with
a blue dress on" or even including as narrative almost an entire
verse of "Love Potion Number Nine." It may seem an odd criticism,
but I think Turtledove's plot is interesting enough that the
constant puns hurt, rather than help, the book. Conversely, the
puns are good enough that you sometimes wish the plot didn't
distract you from them. I like sushi and I like hot fudge, but
they don't mix well either.
One aspect of the premise I found fascinating, if a bit
paradoxical, was the idea that all religions were "right." With
the constant proof of them in everyday life, people in Turtledove's
universe are more religious--because they really believe that they
will be punished if they're not. Aside from what ramifications
this has for free will and faith versus proof, it leads me to
wonder why the god(s) of one religion don't (or can't) punish the
believers in a different religion. David Fisher is an observant
Jew (actually another nice touch--one rarely finds the heroes of
novels to be observant Jews, or even observant anything-elses), but
why? He recognizes that all other religions are "true," so why
does he remain Jewish? Is conversion not allowed? If so, what
does that do to religions that require "informed consent" (i.e.,
you can become a full member only when you are old enough to make
your own choice)? Do these religions never form in this universe?
Does it have only religions one is born into? (Or baptized into at
birth?) Maybe this whole subject interests me because I've been
reading about why people change their religion and it seems to be
more a social or emotional thing than that they decide they
actually believe the formal tenets of one religion over another.
(Lots of stuff here in case there's a sequel, I guess.) At any
rate, Turtledove gives one a lot of food for thought here, and this
may be somewhat of a surprise in a book that is basically a
comedy-adventure.
It may be just my personal taste for religious-based science
fiction and fantasy, but I found _T_h_e _C_a_s_e _o_f _t_h_e _T_o_x_i_c _S_p_e_l_l _D_u_m_p
enjoyable and surprisingly meaty. If you have an appreciation--or
at least a high toleration--for endless puns, I strongly recommend
it.
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===================================================================
4. SCHINDLER'S LIST (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: I have said before that it is
impossible to make a film about the Holocaust that
does justice to the subject. _S_c_h_i_n_d_l_e_r'_s _L_i_s_t comes
as close as any film could. This is a supremely
powerful depiction of the banality of evil and--for
once on film--the seductiveness of good. I will not
rate this film and hence compare it to other films
like _S_t_a_r _W_a_r_s. I think this is the best and most
important film I have ever seen.
The people who are most revered by the Jewish religion are the
great rabbis and the righteous non-Jews who have risked their lives
to save the lives of Jews. Unfortunately, history provides ample
opportunity for people to enter the latter category. One of the
greatest of that category was Oskar Schindler. He was a real
person made famous, or more famous, as the main character of Thomas
Keneally's novel _S_c_h_i_n_d_l_e_r'_s _L_i_s_t, now adapted for the screen by
Steven Zaillian and directed by Steven Spielberg.
The Austrian-born Schindler (his home town of Zwittau became part
of Czechoslovakia in 1918) was a self-styled tycoon, a playboy, and
an aristocrat who early in World War II had a scheme to make money
in the recently conquered Poland using Jewish slave labor leased to
him by the SS. The Jews would be willing to work for him, he
reasoned, because it really was in their best interest to be paid
off in tradable goods. Later the reason became that work is
preferable to extermination. These Jews are rounded up and sent to
Plaszow Forced Labor Camp, so Schindler moves his operation closer
to the camp, actually creating a sub-camp to save lives within a
camp intended to destroy them. His manufacturing is able to save
most the "Schindler Jews" from being ground up in the worst
excesses of the Holocaust, but not from witnessing them. So from
their point of view we can see both the best and the worst in
people of that time. And with Spielberg's startling camera work
making extensive use of hand-held cameras for a feel of immediacy,
we witness the excesses also--admittedly toned down but still
shocking.
At first Schindler's motives are callous exploitation of the
condition of the Jews. As he explains, if he is going to get labor
he would rather pay the SS for Jewish slaves than hire Poles.
"Poles cost more," he says simply. Though Schindler's motives are
part selfishness and part humanity, the audience and probably
Schindler himself never know just how much of each. And often just
when the audience thinks it knows, the rug will be pulled out.
After a last-instant rescue of his Jewish accountant, Schindler
turns angrily on the poor man asking him "If I were five minutes
THE MT VOID Page 5
later, then where would I be?"
I think not even the mammoth documentary _S_h_o_a_h has more vividly
shown the real horror of the Holocaust. Documentaries do not have
the latitude to expand on people's personalities and involve the
viewer in the lives of the characters to the degree a drama does.
We see in the film a situation in which people who want to live
have no formula, no possible strategy, that will save them. In our
own times even those who claim to know God's will give you a
formula for salvation. Nazis would murder people because they were
uncooperative and they would murder people because they were too
cooperative. There is no way to act or behave that could reliably
increase your chances of survival. Schindler sees all this and as
one of the few people who can influence Goeth, the commandant of
Plaszow, he cleverly manipulates him to save a few lives.
Schindler treads a dangerous tightrope always appearing to be
acting in his own selfish interest and hiding an ulterior motive of
doing good, apparently often hiding it even from himself. He is a
living contraction to his own philosophy that war never brings out
the good in men, only the bad.
Spielberg's style has been criticized for getting in the way of the
storytelling, but I did not find myself at all bothered by
stylistic touches. At times he is even fairly inventive. During
moments of chaos he will show a montage of apparently random
scenes, yet the viewer can pick out scenes to form small sub-
stories. Spielberg plays with shadow and light throughout the
film. He focuses in on the smoke from a Shabbos candle and later
on the smoke and ash of the chimney at Auschwitz. Most of the film
is black and white and that helps to build the atmosphere and gives
his visual images a sharper edge. When there is violence it really
is more shocking in black and white in part because it does not
compete with any number of gory color films. Blood is still
disturbing when seen in black and white. The use of monochrome
also allows Spielberg to highlight a point of attention in a scene
much as color was used in _Z_e_n_t_r_o_p_a. In a scene of chaos
Schindler's eye follows one little girl and so does ours because
her red coat is the only piece of color in the scenes.
Unfortunately the film stocks are not quite matched and one can
always tell when Spielberg is about to use a color effect.
In some ways the script of the film is more subtle than the novel.
In an early scene we overhear a small part of a conversation.
"They always weather the storm," someone says. In the novel the
same phrase is used saying to whom the word "they" refers.
However, the meaning still comes across in the film without
spelling it out for the viewer. Small details of people's reaction
to what was happening and details of what people had to do to
survive have never been better depicted in a film.
THE MT VOID Page 6
Liam Neeson's performance certainly will be noticed as the
aristocratic and enigmatic altruist, Schindler. But in 195 minutes
there is not one single bad performance. Ralph Fiennes's Goeth is
a vicious child, killing people like a little boy shoots down
plastic Indians. Ben Kingsley as Itzhak Stern is small and mousey,
constantly on edge. He is no stranger to stories of the Holocaust
having played Simon Weisenthal on HBO's film _T_h_e _M_u_r_d_e_r_e_r_s _A_m_o_n_g
_U_s. Apparently this gave him the opportunity to begin a
relationship with Weisenthal and Holocaust survivors allowing him
to prepare for this role.
In the English language words get deflated from over-use. The word
"genocide" gets applied to many political situations that fall far
short of true genocide. And the word "searing" applied to a drama
is also overused. If you want to see a genuinely searing drama or
to understand the true meaning of genocide, this is the film to
experience. For twenty-one years I have considered _A _M_a_n _f_o_r _A_l_l
_S_e_a_s_o_n_s to be the best film I had ever seen. I have never said any
other film was better in all that time. I do not change that
choice lightly, but I now think that _S_c_h_i_n_d_l_e_r'_s _L_i_s_t is the best
film I have ever seen.
===================================================================
5. TOMBSTONE (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: The story of the Gunfight at the
O.K. Corral is told with some OK performances, OK
photography, and for once nearly OK attention to the
facts. As a piece of storytelling, it has some
problems. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4). Following
the review is a discussion of the historical
accuracy of the film that may contain minor
spoilers.
So many films have been made about Wyatt Earp and the famous
gunfight at the O.K. Corral that it almost qualifies as its own
subgenre of the Western. Films such as _T_o_m_b_s_t_o_n_e, _T_h_e _T_o_w_n _T_o_o
_T_o_u_g_h _T_o _D_i_e; _M_y _D_a_r_l_i_n_g _C_l_e_m_e_n_t_i_n_e; _G_u_n_f_i_g_h_t _a_t _t_h_e _O._K. _C_o_r_r_a_l;
_H_o_u_r _o_f _t_h_e _G_u_n; and _D_o_c have reenacted the gunfight with little
respect for the truth. Almost none agree on what happened and each
is certainly correct that all the others got the facts wrong. It
may come as a surprise to some that the Earps were no paragons of
virtue any more than the Clantons were and that there were no crew
members of the Starship Enterprise present. In fact, this dirty
little gunfight lasted under three minutes and was no more dramatic
nor much different in character than gang gunfights that take place
in the streets of New York City frequently. However, somehow this
particular gunfight has become legend and has been dramatized
inaccurately many times. One of the problems that films have had
THE MT VOID Page 7
is that the gunfight itself is most famous part of the Earp-Clanton
conflict, yet it happened toward the middle of the proceedings, and
it settled very little. That makes it difficult to build a film
around. Kevin Jarre has written a script that gets a lot of the
facts right, a lot of the facts wrong, and almost nearly accurately
tells what happened leading up to the gunfight. Unfortunately,
from there on it plays even more fast and loose with even what is
known happened after the gunfight. Or at least it gives way to
legend, speculation, and to its own outright fictionalizing.
The early 1880s was a time of colorful gunfighters in Arizona.
This is a story that involves some of the most famous. The plot
begins with Curly Bill Brocius (Powers Booth) and his gang
including Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn) shooting up a Mexican
wedding. At the same time three Earp Brothers are settling down in
Tombstone, Arizona to find peace. Wyatt particularly wants to live
peacefully, so he waits until he is in town for at least ten
minutes before he starts making enemies. One of the ways Wyatt
makes enemies is by renewing his friendship with Doc Holliday and
thereby inheriting Holliday's numerous enemies, but Wyatt was
talented at making enemies all by himself. Wyatt also meets and
falls for Josephine Marcus, a free-thinking Jewish actress from San
Francisco, stealing her from her lover, the County Sheriff Johnny
Behan. Though under-stressed in the film, this was also a cause of
much of the trouble that was to come.
Kurt Russell is only a moderate actor but under George Cosmatos'
direction he gives a reasonable and even understated performance as
Wyatt. That means he brings to the role less baggage than does Val
Kilmer in the somewhat more flamboyant role of Doc Holliday.
Holliday was sickly, but Kilmer is a bit too close to death for a
bit too much of this film. Kilmer starts being too hard to
believe. Dana Delany is less attractive than the real Josephine
Marcus, based on available photos, but she does exude a charming
spontaneity. Powers Booth as Curly Bill Brocius and Michael Biehn
as the Latin-spouting Johnny Ringo are colorful but have little
opportunity to be engaging. Charleton Heston and Harry Carey, Jr.,
are around as a tip of the hat to classic Westerns, but neither has
a very important role. Perhaps for the same reason Robert Mitchum
narrates the film.
Moments of this film are genuinely exciting, though more because of
style than plot. The opening has films of the old West, mixed with
footage of the original _T_h_e _G_r_e_a_t _T_r_a_i_n _R_o_b_b_e_r_y, and a fake shot or
two of Kurt Russell as Earp, all in scratchy prints and on narrow
screen. Jumping from that to wide screen and color is an
impressive touch very similar to one at the beginning of _R_o_a_d
_W_a_r_r_i_o_r. It will, however, lose that impact on video. And the
film does have a few dramatic scenes internally like the requisite
sunsets. But it takes more than style to tell the story and in
some ways the storytelling is muddled. At times perhaps it
THE MT VOID Page 8
sacrifices dramatic effect for accuracy. For example, it has not
concentrated on the Clantons and McLaurys until the famous
gunfight, so it is not clear why they are so important as to merit
the shoot-out when it comes.
This is an entertaining retelling of the story, often with insight
into the principal participants. Director Cosmatos only
occasionally raises the story to actual excitement. Overall, I
would give the film a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
FURTHER COMMENTS ON HISTORIC ACCURACY: (Some spoilers follow.)
A great deal has been written about the event covered by this film
and while the Old West is not a particular interest of mine, I did
do some reading about this famous gunfight and about Wyatt Earp
during and after a recent trip to Arizona. Similar interests
served me well in reviewing the recent _G_e_r_o_n_i_m_o: _A_n _A_m_e_r_i_c_a_n
_L_e_g_e_n_d.
Jarre's script gets as much wrong as right in this story. But
still that is a far better average than most films about Tombstone.
Wyatt is shown to be a peaceful man who just wants to retire in
Tombstone. Sheriff Behan does not even know he is coming. In
truth Earp played either side of the law that suited his fancy. He
had been a horse thief, a bunco artist, a card cheat, and worse.
At the time he went to Tombstone it is true that he had recently
basked in a reputation as a lawman. Actually he was more a sort
of hired thug for the law in a number of cow towns, usually using
his fists more than guns. But he had little respect for the law
itself except as a meal ticket and was occasionally thrown out of
jobs for taking bribes. The script is correct in that he had been
in only one real gunfight before the events of the story though
many were to come. The film has Wyatt making the unlikely decision
to settle in Tombstone and Sheriff Behan surprised that he has
come. Actually Wyatt came to Tombstone invited by Behan. He came
actually hoping to replace Behan as Sheriff, could not, and took
the job of deputy (not just before the gunfight as the film says).
If he could not steal Behan's job he could and did steal Behan's
lover, Ms. Marcus.
Wyatt more or less abandoned his own common law wife, Mattie, who
was loyal and _n_o_t a drug addict. She, however, did have to become
a prostitute to support herself after being abandoned and committed
suicide shortly thereafter at the age of 30. Incidentally, Wyatt
himself was part owner of several whorehouses, as were other
members of the Earp family.
The major historic failure of the film was that there was no
mention of the Wells Fargo stagecoach robbery that Earp accused the
Clanton's of and the Clanton's accused Doc Holliday of. For that
matter the importance of the Clanton family was understated.
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Brocius and Ringo were only loose allies of the Clantons who were
the Earp's main enemies.
Holliday's lover is called Kate so I presume that she was intended
to be Big Nose Katie Elder. Apparently they got a much more
attractive woman for the role than the actual person. That is
probably true for all the women but Josephine Marcus, who was the
one woman of the story who really would still be attractive by
today's standards.
I have been in the Birdcage Theater, now a tourist museum, and they
obviously had a _v_e_r_y accurate reproduction. I doubt those scenes
were shot in the real theater, but the reproduction is so accurate
it is difficult to tell. Similarly the Corral itself looked just
about perfect. This film had as accurate a dramatization of the
gunfight at the O.K. Corral as I remember. The dialog is taken
from court testimony. When I get the film on video I will run it
in slow motion and see if the action follows the court testimony
also.
It is a little difficult to get hard facts on what happened after
the famous gunfight due to the prevalence of liars on each side of
the conflict. That is what makes legends, I suppose. Many people
believe that Johnny Ringo committed suicide and that was what the
court ruled, though there is good evidence he was murdered.
(Wyatt, years later, claimed he had killed Ringo, but Wyatt lied _a
_l_o_t.)
So overall, the accuracy could have been _a _l_o_t better and could
have been _a _l_o_t worse.
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com
We cannot take anything from granted, beyond the first mathematical
formalae. Question everything else.
-- Maria Mitchell
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