THE MT VOID
12/09/22 -- Vol. 41, No. 24, Whole Number 2253
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper,
mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper,
eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Breaking the Sound Barrier (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Mini Reviews, Part 6 (WENDELL & WILD, GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S
PINOCCHIO, DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS, BLACK ADAM)
(film reviews by Mark R. Leeper
and Evelyn C. Leeper)
WEDNESDAY (television review by Dale Skran)
The MT VOID (letter of comment by Guy Lillian III)
What Are Your Passenger Rights in Space? (letters
of comment by Dale Speirs, Peter Trei,
Scott Dorsey, and Keith F. Lynch)
Cows (letter of comment by Dale Speirs)
This Week's Reading (NEPTUNE'S BROOD) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Breaking the Sound Barrier (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
We just passed the 75th anniversary of an aircraft breaking the
sound barrier on October 14, 1947, but there din't seem to be any
news items about it.
I say "an aircraft breaking the sound barrier" because before this,
the sound barrier was broken by bullwhips and some firearm
projectiles. It is also speculated that some long-tailed dinosaurs
may have been able to break the sound barrier with the tips of
their tails. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 6 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)
This is the sixth batch of mini-reviews, all films of the
fantastic, and mostly animated.
WENDELL & WILD: WENDELL & WILD is the second of three stop-motion
films from Netflix this year (the other two being THE HOUSE
[reviewed in the 05/13/22 issue of the MT VOID] and GUILLERMO DEL
TORO'S PINOCCHIO [reviewed below]). It is directed and co-written
by Henry Selick, the same person who wrote and directed CORALINE.
(The other co-writer is Jordan Peele, who wrote GET OUT, US, and
NOPE). The stop-motion is well-done; for example; there is a nice
effect of someone stepping into a frozen-over pothole. And there
are definitely bits of humor ("holistic goat yoga"). The basic
story--evil villains are trying to take over a town--has elements
of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, though here we have demons rather than
angels interfering. (The similarities between the Villainous
Klaxons and a certain recent First Couple are no accident,
according to Selick. Even the name is a pun.) And it also appears
to have been heavily influenced by THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.
Well worth watching.
Released 28 October 2022. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5181830/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wendell_and_wild>
GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO: This is called "GUILLERMO DEL
TORO'S PINOCCHIO" to distinguish it from the *other* 2022 Pinocchio
film, PINOCCHIO, which is a live-action Disney film starring Tom
Hanks, while GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO is a stop-motion
animated Netflix film. (This makes the third stop-motion animated
film from Netflix this year, the first two being THE HOUSE
[reviewed in the 05/13/22 issue of the MT VOID] and WENDELL & WILD
[reviewed above].) There was also a Roberto Begnini version in
2002. GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO obviously has a very
different look from current CGI animation--not as realistic, for
example--but apparently del Toro is hoping for a stop-motion
revival. del Toro is also not afraid to change the classic story
in many ways. For example, it takes place in pre-World-War-II
Italy, and fascism and war play an important role in the film. The
animation is stunning, but the story was never really one of our
core memories from childhood, so we had more difficulty connecting
to it than many others will.
Released on Netflix streaming 9 December 2022. Rating: high +1 (-4
to +4), or 6/10.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1488589/reference>
What others are saying: <
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/guillermo_del_toros_pinocchio>
DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS: In DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS, the dog Krypto
comes to Earth with Superman, and of course he has super-powers.
But when Lex Luthor and Lulu the Guinea Pig (don't call her a
hamster!) start fooling around with green kryptonite and orange
kryptonite, a group of animals at the shelter gain super-powers as
well. This is clearly made to provide a family-friendly Marvel
superhero movie (or family-friendler, since the Marvel superhero
movies are, we believe, all PG-13). This is not an amazing
addition to the canon (is it even canonical?), but there are some
humorous moments, both for the adults and for the younger viewers.
(It is a little bizarre to have Dwayne Johnson voicing both Krypto
and--in the inevitable coda--Black Adam.)
Released theatrically 29 July 2022. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8912936/reference>
What others are saying: <
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dc_league_of_super_pets>
BLACK ADAM: BLACK ADAM is another film in the DC Universe, and if
we were more familiar with that universe, it would have been easier
to follow. As it is the film has characters that are assumed to be
familiar to the viewer, but for us, their powers are pretty much of
the deus ex machina sort. the familiar starts with a scene so
reminiscent of the beginning of SPARTACUS that we almost expected
Peter Ustinov to show up (although one character is inexplicably
wearing a pseudo-Viking-style horned helmet). This all takes place
in Kahndag, a city-state in the Middle East apparently between
Egypt and Palestine/Israel, according to Wikipedia. (Since Black
Adam first appeared in print in 1945, the reference to Palestine
would have been to British Palestine. This placement, by the way,
makes the cuneiform writing shown in Kahndag incorrect, or at least anachronistic. Cuneiform was primarily a Mesopotamian writing
method; its appearance in Egypt would be a couple of thousand years
after the events in the early scenes.) The first scene is
thousands of years ago, but in the present Kahndaq is occupied by
the "Intergang". The MacGuffin is the Crown of Sabbac, which is
made of Eternium, which is "too dangerous for anyone to have". (We
found ourselves thinking they should throw it into the fires of
Mordor.) Casting Dwayne Johnson as Teth Adam is a step away from
realism but perhaps makes the film more fun. And even before one
character expresses it, the audience may well find themselves
thinking that given the actions of the Justice Society and those of
Teth Adam, the assignment of the terms "good guys" and "bad guys"
may be just a little off.
(Is it worth pointing out that the laws of inertia don't seem to be
the same in this universe? As with so many superhero films, when
the superhero grabs someone falling by the arm, or the shirt
collar, or whatever, in *our* universe, this would not end well for
the falling person.)
There is also some very annoying cheating in the editing, where you
think you are seeing a single scene, but it is actually not.
And I don't know if they thought that referring to Black Adam with
the line, "The world doesn't always need a white knight; sometimes
it needs something darker," was clever, but to me it sounded more
than a little offensive.
Released theatrically 21 October 2022. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4)
or 6/10
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6443346/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/black_adam>
[-mrl/ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: WEDNESDAY (television review by Dale Skran)
I have never been a fan of the "Addams Family" in any of their many incarnations. I've never found this particular brand of macabre
humor to my taste, so I can't explain whether WEDNESDAY will please
old-time fans or not, whether it follows "canon," and so on. What
I can say is that WEDNESDAY, a new series on Netflix, is tons of
fun. And yes, the Addams Family has been given the "Buffy"
treatment, although in many ways Buffy the Vampire Slayer was built
on the foundation of the Addams Family in the first place.
WEDNESDAY re-envisions the original material, but makes Wednesday,
the daughter in the Addams family, the main character. Add a bit
of BUFFY and a dollop of the updated CW NANCY DREW and you get a
supernatural detective story running on girl-power. And yes, this
is a bit of a super-hero/super-team story as well, just as the CW
NANCY DREW is and BUFFY was.
What's different in WEDNESDAY is Jenna Ortega playing the darkly
cynical, whip smart, and mildly psychopathic Addams daughter to
perfection. Ortega commands the screen, and is a joy to watch,
transcending the usual super-powered stuff with a portrayal of a
broken soul in search of some human connection, even if she won't
admit it even to herself.
Wednesday faces down a dangerous modern villain and an ancient
enemy of her family as she struggles to solve various crimes at the
Nevermore Academy for outcast children. In this fantasy world, all
the monsters you've ever heard of co-exist with "normies" but live
in the shadows, perhaps with good reason. She is supported by her
roommate, a werewolf who can only grow her claws to about three
inches, "Thing," the familiar disconnected hand, and the
"Nightshades," as this version of the "Scooby Gang" is called,
including a Gorgon and a Siren, along with other monsters.
Mostly though Wednesday works alone, even if she needs the help of
her friends in the final episode. Being an Addams has prepared
Wednesday for virtually any danger, providing kung-fu training from
Uncle Fester, sword fighting from her father Gomez, and
precognitive visions inherited from her mother. Add to this her
brilliant intellect [she has been writing mystery novels for
years], a deep education in languages, the ability to solve codes
and riddles, a total lack of fear, and more than bit of PTSD
induced psychopathology, and you get a formidable supernatural girl
detective.
WEDNESDAY feels like Hogwarts, but it's not. In many ways her
isolation makes the character more real, and many modern folks
suffering from trauma/PTSD may identify with her endless bleak
outlook. And don't miss the outstanding dance sequence, where
Ortega channels Siouxsie and the Banshees as she dances to The
Cramps song "Goo Goo Muck."
I'm rating WEDNESDAY a solid +1 on the way to a +2 on the -4 to +4
scale. It seems like a lot of CW shows, but with Jenna Ortega as
the lead, there is a lot more going on than in apparently similar
shows. Although mostly directed by Tim Burton, the macabre aspects
are more fun than not, making the series similar to Buffy in terms
of gore, fear, and fighting, but with more chaste romance. You do
have to get over Wednesday being a bit of an anti-hero. At one
point to retaliate against bullies who torment her brother, she
dumps piranhas in the pool they are swimming in, for example. I've
seen some complaints about woke dialog, but to my ears Wednesday
says the kind of things a very smart, but also very cynical teenage
girl might say. Some of it is not true, or is misguided, but lots
of things teenagers say are like that. Like BUFFY, WEDNESDAY
targets a teenage audience, but many adults will find it a fun
ride. Also, like BUFFY, although to a greater degree, this is a
series about a girl, her friends and frenemies, the boys she finds
attractive, and the women who variously mentor her or menace her.
The men are not empty stereotypes of misogyny, but this is a story
about Wednesday, and not any of the male characters. Although the
ending satisfies, there are plenty of threads left to pull, so I am
hoping Netflix renews the show. [-dls]
===================================================================
TOPIC: The MT VOID (letter of comment by Guy Lillian III)
In response primarily to the 11/30/22 issue of the MT VOID, Guy
Lillian III writes in THE ZINE DUMP #56:
Every week or so The MT Void--get the pun? it took me a while--in
my inbox, bearing reviews, anecdotes, funky LOCs, what have you.
Let's take a gander at the latest issue, as I write at the end of
November. Star of this issue is a cacophony of one-liners in
response to a review of BLOOD RELATIVES in the last issue and
discussion of NOSFERATU in the number before that. It asks the
question, "Why would a crucifix affect a Jewish vampire (or, by
extension, any unbeliever)?" Most are appropriately silly, but one
or two are worthy extrapolations of classic vampire lore. (I like
to think that Jesus, being the most powerful of spiritual beings,
was a natural enemy of parasites like vampires, and his symbology
would be deadly to them be they onetime Christians or not.) And
the editor pokes fun at an antisemitic novel with "a fair amount of
misogyny." This is just an example: Evelyn’s reviews are almost
always sharp. Mark Leeper often talks old movies (a fascination of
mine) and was the first SFer to send personal regrets when I
revealed my Parkinson's--kind fella, he. I highly recommend MT Void
for its variety, energy, and quality, and for the regular flow of
fannishness it offers its subscribers. [-gl]
Evelyn responds:
"Every week or so The MT Void"? In the last two decades, we have
missed a Friday publication date just once. (And before that, I
don't think we ever missed one, because if I was on vacation, I
delegated the sending out of the MT VOID.)
Even while traveling, most hotels we went to had Internet, so most
of the US, Canada, Britain, Italy, Costa Rica, Cambodia, and
Vietnam were no problem. Although once in Canada, we had the last
room on a strip motel and the WiFi did not quite reach that far, so
we had to sit in the office and mail the MT VOID. And in 2011 we
had to send the 08/05 issue a day early because we were headed to
an area around Crater Lake which had no Internet.
In Italy in 2010, we had to purchase an hour's worth of Internet in
Florence and again in Venice, because it was not included in the
hotels. In South Africa in 2012, one week we went to an Internet
cafe in Cape Town, and we sent the next week's from the lodge at
Kruger National Park. In Cambodia in 2014, our tour guide set up a
WiFi hotspot on the bus while we were driving. And on the cruise
ship in Greece in 2017, we bought a day's worth of Internet.
In 2012, when our power was out for ten days from Hurricane Sandy,
we sent the MT VOID from (I think) the public library. And when I
broke my right hip in 2013, I managed to send it from the hospital
on my netbook.
In fact, the only time in the last twenty years we missed the
Friday deadline was when I broke my left hip on a Thursday in 2021,
and I could have sent it from my smartphone except that it turned
out that the "Contacts" icon on my phone did not access my actual
Gmail mailing lists, but some local "Contacts". (I did send it out
the next day, and also fixed my phone.)
On the other hand, if one doesn't read one's mail every day, I
guess the "or so" makes sense.
(I realize this sounds petty. But having gotten to issue #2253, I
am quite proud of having only once missed a deadline in spite of
travel to remote places, major injuries, and natural disasters.)
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: What Are Your Passenger Rights in Space? (letters of comment
by Dale Speirs, Peter Trei, Scott Dorsey, and Keith F. Lynch)
In response to the link to an article on passenger rights in space
in the 12/02/22 issue of the MT VOID, Dale Speirs in Calgary,
Alberta (CA), writes:
"What Are Your Passenger Rights in Space?" is an issue that was
addressed by the Canadian government when the Canada Space Agency
joined the International Space Station. By law, any crime
committed by a Canadian astronaut in space will be considered the
same as if it were committed on Canadian soil. Currently the House
of Commons is considering an update to extend that law to the Moon,
since Canada is a partner in the Artemis project. [-ds]
Scott Dorsey writes:
Help! I'm at Marsport but my luggage is on a generation ship to
Groombridge 1618! [-sd]
Peter Trei asks:
Does your 'baggage' rejoice in the name Hilda, by any chance? [-pt]
Scott responds:
I've never travelled in plastons. I'm not even sure what they are.
[-sd]
Keith F. Lynch explains:
You're in Marsport Without Hilda. [-kfl]
and adds:
I had always heard that Saturn's rings are composed of lost luggage.
It was later determined that the size range of the ring particles
is consistent with this claim. [-kfl]
Scott replies:
Thank you for explaining the joke. [-sd]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Cows (letter of comment by Dale Speirs)
In response to Mark and Evelyn's review of COW in the 12/02/22
issue of the MT VOID, Dale Speirs writes:
[Mark and Evelyn write,] "It took scientists a while to realize
that cows make friends with other in much the same way that humans
do, and that does not come out at all."
Farmers have known this for millennia but scientists would not take
countless anecdotes as evidence. I grew up on a cattle ranch in
west-central Alberta. Many times as a boy I would lean on a
fencepost and watch our beef cattle grazing in the fields. Their
behaviour was much the same as any group of humans strolling
through a park.
Calves chase each other about and play tag. Mama always knew where
her calf was and if it looked to be straying too far from the herd,
she would moo at it. Just as with humans, every bovine has a different-sounding voice, so the calf in question could recognize
its mother's moo.
As the herd moved across the rangeland, the cows would be looking
at each other to see who had found the best grass. Those sitting
on the ground chewing their cuds acted as babysitters for the
calves.
Very young calves were like toddlers, not straying too far from
Mama. (See the YouTube video "Acrobatic Hereford Calf" for a
wonderful demonstration of this.)
As calves grew older, they became like teenagers, straying further
and clumping together in cliques, exactly like human children.
Think about your high school and how the cafeteria had a cool
table, a jocks table, one for nerds, etcetera.
Newly introduced adult cows are hesitant of the herd and vice
versa. The newcomers hang about on the edge and over several days
work themselves into the herd.
Those were the days. Alas, the Speirs ranch is now part of the
city of Red Deer, with no trace left of its existence.
The movie mentioned dehorning dairy cows. I was surprised to read
that because I thought by now all dairy cattle were polled, that
is, naturally hornless by controlled genetic breeding. Our beef
cattle were horned because of coyotes on the rangeland but in many
parts of the world even beef cattle are bred to be polled because
large predators have been eliminated. [-ds]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
In her review of NEPTUNE'S BROOD by Charles Stross (Penguin, ISBN 978-0-425-25630-5), Nalini Haynes writes, "Most novels are written
using the basic 5,000 words of English; I guesstimate that Stross
used several hundred words that are not included in the basic
5,000." (And in passing, I'll guess that "guesstimate" isn't,
either.) I noted down all (or at least most of) the obscure (and
possibly made-up) words in a single three-page interlude:
mechanocytes, tensegrity, motiles, auroral, exsanguinated,
thermocline, disphotic, saprophytic, visera, integument,
mesopelagic, Bezos worms, stomatogastric, acuator, quiescent,
techne, aphotic,intracellular, paraproteins, ribofabricators,
now-flense, abyssal, dermal, vestigal, Hadean, Cerenkov, and
disarticulated.
Which is to say that Stross is not for the faint of heart. His
complicated economic structure, with fast, medium, and slow money,
is also complex. Haynes thinks it is derived from Asimov and
Heinlein, but I don't see that. For starters, the use of
faster-than-light travel makes slow money unnecessary. Russell
Letson says, "I just trust Stross on the key enabling idea [fast,
medium, and slow money] in the same way I trust Greg Egan when he
starts explaining N-dimensional geometries."
Okay, so the language is difficult and the underlying science seems
to be economics (although there is a fair amount of biology and
robotics as well). (Liz Bourke says, "I don't think I've ever read
a novel so closely involved with financial theory and the workings
of money and debt.")
Naomi Kanakia wrote of book discussions:
"One book club had a strong, vigorous discussion of Patrick Radden
Keefe's history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland,SAY NOTHING
(2018). Another book club had an equally prolonged discussion of
Cory Doctorow's quartet of speculative novellas about the future of
work, RADICALIZED (2019). So, what separated these books from ones
we've had trouble discussing, books like Maggie O'Farrell's HAMNET
(2020), Patricia Lockwood's NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS (2021), or
Han Kang's THE VEGETARIAN (2007)? I mean, it's obvious, isn't it?
The latter books are contemporary literary novels, whereas the
former are nonfiction and science fiction, respectively. SAY
NOTHING and RADICALIZED were fundamentally about ideas: What does
the future hold? What motivates a person to kill for a cause?
These are big, open questions that you can readily discuss. We all
think about ideology. We all think about current events. We can
engage easily with these texts and do it on a more even footing,
arguing with their conclusions and adding our own experiences to
provide a counterpoint. These are big, open questions that you can
readily discuss. We all think about ideology. We all think about
current events. We can engage easily with these texts and do it on
a more even footing, arguing with their conclusions and adding our
own experiences to provide a counterpoint. But because it's not
grounded in literal truth or in ideology, most fiction isn't as
permeable. You can read it. You can enjoy it. But when the
experience is over, you're left with nothing to say other than 'I
liked it' or 'I didn't like it.'"
I think Kanakia would approve of NEPTUNE'S BROOD as a book
discussion book, even though she never explicitly says that
discussion groups should choose more science fiction. (Her focus
is to decry current literary fiction, not promote idea fiction.)
[-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Newfoundland dogs are good to save children from
drowning, but you must have a pond of water handy and
a child, or else there will be no profit in boarding
a Newfoundland.
--Josh Billings
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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