THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
01/21/22 -- Vol. 40, No. 30, Whole Number 2207
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper,
mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper,
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Topics:
Bond Songs (Part 8) (CASINO ROYALE, QUANTUM OF SOLACE
("Another Way to Die"), SKYFALL, SPECTRE
("Writing's on the Wall"), NO TIME TO DIE)
(comments by Mark R. Leeper)
NO TIME TO DIE (film review by Mark R. Leeper
and Evelyn C. Leeper)
51 by Patrick O'Leary (book review by Joe Karpierz)
DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: A LIFE ON OUR PLANET (film review
by Gregory Frederick)
Bibles (letter of comment by Paul Dormer)
DON'T LOOK UP and THE EXPANSE(letter of comment
by John Purcell)
This Week's Reading (BLACK WATER, "Enoch Soames")
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Bond Songs (Part 8) (CASINO ROYALE, QUANTUM OF SOLACE,
SKYFALL, SPECTRE ("Writing's on the Wall"), NO TIME TO DIE)
(comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I have been taking a nostalgic walk through the lyrics of James
Bond films, poking a little fun at the title songs. This will
cover the final five, or the "Daniel Craig Quintet". I am going
to give CASINO ROYALE a break. I am going to let it get by with
only one jibe. My one complaint is that I associate only one
melody and no lyrics. I associate this film with "The Nutcracker
Suite". Pardon the vulgarity.
And the last four:
QUANTUM OF SOLACE ("'Another Way to Die")
In the film this song started with a psychedelic montage
of melodies, reminiscent of AUSTIN POWERS.
Another blinger with the slick trigger finger for Her Majesty
Another one, with the golden tongue, poisoning your fantasy
Another bill from a killer turned a thrill into a tragedy
A door left open
A woman walking by
A drop in the water
A look in the eye
A phone on the table
A man on your side
Someone that you think that you can trust
Is just another way to die
Just what we needed.
Another tricky little gun giving solace to the one
That will never see the sunshine
Another inch of your life sacrificed for your brother in the nick
of time
Another dirty money heaven-sent honey turning on a dime
Well, a door left open
A woman walking by
A drop in the water
A look in the eye
A phone on the table
A man on your side
Someone that you think that you can trust
Is just another way to die
Is just another (hey!)
Is just another
You got to d-d-die!
Is just another (tell 'em, baby)
Woah!
Another girl with her finger on the world
Singing to ya what you wanna hear
Another gun thrown down and surrendered
Took away your fear
Hey!
Another man that stands right behind you looking in the mirror
Makes me yearn for the GOLDFINGER days.
Well, a door left open
A woman walking by
A drop in the water
A look in the eye
A phone on the table
A man on your side
Oh, someone that you think that you can trust
Is just another way to die
Is just another, is just another
Is just another way
Shoot 'em up, bang, bang
Hey! Hey! (Is just another)
Yeah! Yeah!
Is just another, is just another
Is just another, just another
It's just another way! Just another)
Bang, bang, bang, bang
But this is tiny compared to the deaths from corona-virus.
I am not joking because it is no laughing matter.
SKYFALL
This is the end
Hold your breath and count to ten
Feel the Earth move and then
Hear my heart burst again
For this is the end
I've drowned and dreamt this moment
So overdue, I owe them
Swept away, I'm stolen
Isn't that what is called "kidnapping"?
Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together
Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together
At Skyfall
At Skyfall
Skyfall is where we start
A thousand miles and poles apart
I seem to remember that Bond drove it in just a few hours.
Where worlds collide and days are dark
You may have my number, you can take my name
But you'll never have my heart
Let the sky fall (let the sky fall)
When it crumbles (when it crumbles)
We will stand tall (we will stand tall)
Face it all together.
Let the sky fall (let the sky fall)
The sky is falling. The sky is falling.
When it crumbles (when it crumbles)
We will stand tall (we will stand tall)
Face it all together
At Skyfall
If the sky is falling you are in big trouble no matter
who is facing it.
Where you go, I go
What you see, I see
One of you is redundant.
I know I'd never be me
Without the security
Keeping me from harm
Put your hand in my hand
And we'll stand
Let the sky fall (let the sky fall)
When it crumbles (when it crumbles)
We will stand tall (we will stand tall)
Face it all together
Let the sky fall (let the sky fall)
When it crumbles (when it crumbles)
We will stand tall (we will stand tall)
Face it all together
At Skyfall
Let the sky fall
We'll stand tall
At Skyfall
Ooh
SPECTRE ("Writing's on the Wall")
The writing's on the wall. Craig does one more Bond film
and he's out.
I've been here before
But always hit the floor
Let's see. That would be with George Lazenby.
I've spent a lifetime running
And I always get away
But with you I'm feeling something
That makes me want to stay
That would be for something like $30,000,000.
I'm prepared for this
I never shoot to miss
But I feel like a storm is coming
If I'm gonna make it through the day
Then there's no more use in running
This is something I got to face
If I risk it all
Could you break my fall?
How do I live? How do I breathe?
When you're not here, I'm suffocating
I want to feel love run through my blood
Tell me, is this where I give it all up?
For you I have to risk it all
'Cause the writing's on the wal
A million shards of glass
That haunt me from my past
As the stars begin to gather
And the light begins to fade
When all hope begins to shatter
Know that I won't be afraid
If I risk it all
Could you break my fall?
How do I live? How do I breathe?
When you're not here, I'm suffocating
I want to feel love run through my blood
Tell me, is this where I give it all up?
For you I have to risk it all
'Cause the writing's on the wall
The writing's on the wall
And my salary is on the ceiling
How do I live? How do I breathe?
When you're not here, I'm suffocating
I want to feel love run through my blood
Tell me is this where I give it all up?
How do I live? How do I breathe?
When you're not here I'm suffocating
I want to feel love, run through my blood
Tell me, is this where I give it all up?
For you I have to risk it all
'Cause the writing's on the wall
Just so the signature is on the check.
NO TIME TO DIE
I should've known
I'd leave alone
Just goes to show
That the blood you bleed
Is just the blood you owe
We were a pair
But I saw you there
Too much to bear
You were my life
But life is far away from fair
Was I stupid to love you?
Was I reckless to help?
Was it obvious to everybody else
That I'd fallen for a lie?
You were never on my side
Fool me once, fool me twice
Are you death or paradise?
Now you'll never see me cry
There's just no time to die
I let it burn
You're no longer my concern
Faces from my past return
Another lesson yet to learn
That I'd fallen for a lie
You were never on my side
Fool me once, fool me twice
Are you death or paradise?
Now you'll never see me cry
There's just no time to die
No time to die
No time to die
Fool me once, fool me twice
Are you death or paradise?
Now you'll never see me cry
There's just no time to die
Have you tried a good time management course?
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: NO TIME TO DIE (film review by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn
C. Leeper)
The latest Bond film, NO TIME TO DIE, is also the longest, clocking
in at 165 minutes, and what have they one with the extra time?
They padded out the film with incoherent machine gun fights full of
sound and fury, and fights in general. There is also more of
Bond's personal life, but not as much as they could have used, and
there is a discussion of the philosophy of being a James Bond or a
Blofeld. And the Russian accents seem to come from the Ensign
Chekov Institute of Languages. But for once the villain's
super-weapon is not something Bond or anyone else has ever faced
before. It isn't simply a rocket aimed at Washington or a decoder;
it is something whose very existence is science fiction and beyond
the power of existing science (though the idea seems to hearken
back to Nathaniel Hawthorne).
Also, and this is just my opinion, Daniel Craig is the best James
Bond. But I have to say he is the ugliest James Bond. He has a
face like like a prizefighter who has lost more than once. There
are times the script calls for him to be attractive. Maybe part of
the reason he is interesting playing Bond is that he is different
from the pack. It is like Jean-Paul Belmondo. Ever notice?
Released theatrically 10/08/21; available on various streaming
platforms. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), or 7/10.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2382320/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_time_to_die_2021>
[-mrl/ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: 51 by Patrick O'Leary (copyright 2022, Tachyon Publications,
$15.95, 296pp, paperback, ISBN-10 1616963484, ISBN-13
978-1616963484) (book review by Joe Karpierz)
There is no one good way to describe Patrick O'Leary's new novel,
51, just as there was no one good way for O'Leary to tell the story
itself. Between Lavie Tidhar's THE ESCAPEMENT and this novel,
I've had an interesting time getting my head around stories
recently. 51 defies a reviewer to say "51 is this meets that".
It's more like "51 is this meets that meets the other thing meets
something else", and even that's simplifying the issue.
People have been fascinated for decades about Area 51. The U.S
government runs an Air Force facility at Area 51, and its
operations are not made public. From Wikipedia, "The base has
never been declared a secret base, but all research and occurrences
in Area 51 are Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information".
This has led the general public to believe that the government is
hiding the existence of aliens and UFOs there. Which brings us to
the story of 51.
In 51, O'Leary posits that the story of aliens and UFOs is itself a
cover up for something more sinister and frightening. Yes, there's
a conspiracy going on there, something secret and foreboding. But
it's something different that we've ever seen before--at least that
I've ever seen before. And the cover up has been going on for
decades.
The story starts off with Nuke (Adam Pagnucco) driving home from an
AA meeting in a brutal winter snowstorm. He encounters an old
homeless guy on the road, and, in an act of humanitarianism, pulls
over to get him out of the cold. As they talk, Nuke realizes that
it's his old college buddy Winston Koop. Nuke takes him home,
cleans him up, and in return Koop begins to tell him the most
bizarre story about Imaginary Friends. Imaginary Friends that came
through a portal called the Door to Anywhere that opened up, most
likely, at the site of the Trinity nuclear bomb test back in the
neighborhood of World War II.
And that's just the start of it. Koop's story is woven back and
forth through time, back to the 1940s, of course, through the
present day across a number of varied locations. The story is told
in a non-linear fashion, jumping around in a seemingly nonsensical
way but which ends up supporting the weirdness of the tale itself.
And the tale is indeed strange. Koop is hired--more like
selected--by the government to erase the memories of people who
have encountered IFs (Imaginary Friends) by a process that
apparently was taught to him by his own IF (see what I mean about
this being strange?). Every U.S. President is told about the Door
to Anywhere, of course, and Koop is present at every one of these
meetings (it should be pointed out that an IF is along for the ride
to actually make the revelation to the President) because, after
all, he needs to make the President forget about it.
No, we're not done yet.
There's something else going on here, involving Koop, Nuke, and
Koop's ex-wife and getting the IFs back to where they belong and
closing the portal behind them. But of course there's more to it
than that, and to say any more would be spoiling it (And no, what
I've written here so far doesn't even scratch the surface of what's
going on, so I'm not spoiling much of anything--trust me).
O'Leary packs a lot into this relatively short novel, but it
doesn't feel rushed or cramped in anyway. He also finds time to
make this a story of friendship and growing old, among other
things. Koop and Nuke are in their 70s at the time of the story,
and yet the two of them, loyal to each other, go on one last
adventure together to save humanity. We all should have someone
like Koop and Nuke have each other, to tell weird stories to and
have adventures with. I'd like to think that those stories and
adventures would be just as weird as the tale O'Leary tells us in
51. I think I would like to live that kind of life. [-jak]
===================================================================
TOPIC: DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: A LIFE ON OUR PLANET (film review by
Gregory Frederick)
This has to be one of the best nature films by Attenborough. It
covers the changes on our planet just since Attenborough has been
alive and what the future could be like if this continues. And
that future is really bad. But Attenborough also talks about how
we can fix it and have a much better future. [-gf]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Bibles (letter of comment by Paul Dormer)
In response to Jim Susky's comments on Bibles in the 01/14/22 issue
of the MT VOID, Paul Dormer writes:
[Jim Susky writes,] "Anyway, the NIV New Testament was then newly
published. Mr. Combs recommended it, and I got a copy. The
difference between 1603 KJV and 1976 NIV was striking. Plain
English--a blessed relief." [-gmg]
I wonder how that compares with the New English Bible, which came
out in the Sixties. [-pd]
===================================================================
TOPIC: DON'T LOOK UP and THE EXPANSE (letter of comment by John
Purcell)
In response to Mark and Evelyn's review of DON'T LOOK UP in the
01/14/22 issue of the MT VOID, John Purcell writes:
Well, good deal: I am off and running on a bit of letter writing
catch-up. It appears that the long-running zine from Mark and
Evelyn Leeper is the kickoff loc for this binge. Let's see how
long the return run lasts.
Tackling things in order--and to keep the football metaphor
going--Valerie and I really enjoyed DON'T LOOK UP (2021) as a dark
satire on the human condition these days, especially taking pot
shots at mass media, politicians, and how society in general seems
so uninterested in things that truly matter and is massively
obsessed with itself. We think it's brilliant satire about how
misinformation is the credo of the day, and that those who truly
care about getting the truth out are stymied and frustrated as
hell. The on-air meltdowns of Leonardo DeCaprio's character Dr.
Mindy and his graduate assistant Kate Dibiasky, played perfectly by
Jennifer Lawrence, recall Peter Finch's rant in NETWORK (1976),
which was another brilliant commentary on broadcast media. I have
read that the writer and director of DON'T LOOK UP have stated that
their movie is an allegory about the climate change crisis and how
politics, the media, and the public all ignore the scientists with
their irretrievable facts about the long-range prospects for planet
Earth. Yeah, I feel that this movie is spot on target: human
civilization is doomed unless the aforementioned triad of
terror--media, politicians/government, and society--can pull their
collected heads out of their anal cavities and take action NOW. To
me, the message of this movie is pretty clear.
Onward to commenting--and lamenting--on THE EXPANSE. Okay, so I'm
riffing off of Joe Karpierz's review of the audiobook version of
LEVIATHAN FALLS (2021) by James S. A. Corey (we know who he
*really* is, though). I cannot disagree with Joe's review at all:
this final book is wonderful and Joe hits all the main points well.
My problem is that the television series, arguably the best
science fiction tv show of all time so far, is ending way too soon.
I mean, really: there are nine novels in all, and one season per
novel means this show should run for a total of nine seasons. End
of story. But, nooooo! I cry "foul" and throw down my yellow
hanky penalty flag on this. Obviously an unsportsmanlike conduct
penalty here, maybe even illegal use of hands, or encroachment
across the neutral zone... Oops! that's a STAR TREK reference.
Can't cross the media streams, y'know. Maybe what I need to do is
have another cup of coffee and ignore this rumbling in my stomach,
which feels as if something alien is about to burst out...
*WHISTLE BLOWS"
Too many stfnal references in that last paragraph, and deliberately
running out of bounds to delay the game.
Those responsible have been sacked. [-jp]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
I have been re-reading BLACK WATER edited by Alberto Manguel
(Picador, ISBN 978-0-330-28141-6), a fantastic anthology in more
ways than one. First, it is subtitled "The Anthology of Fantastic
Literature", and second, it is a fantastic anthology in the sense
of being wonderful. I loved it in 1983 and I love it now, all
marvelous 992 pages of it. I even gave a copy to my father,
because it had a lot of Hispanic authors and the stories had a
literary value.
Now, almost forty years later, there is the occasional "surprise."
For example, in "Enoch Soames" by Max Beerbohm, Soames says of a
hundred years in the future [of the story's events], "We shall not
be here. No, ... but the [British] museum will still be just where
it is. And the reading-room just where it is. And people will be
able to go and read there."
So the devil overhears him, comes up to him, and says, "You wish
... to visit now--this afternoon as-ever-is--the reading-room of
the British Museum, yes? But of a hundred years hence, yes?
Parfaitement. Time--an illusion. Past and future--they are as
ever present as the present, or at any rate only what you call
'just round the corner.' I switch you on to any date. I project
you--pouf! You wish to be in the reading-room just as it will be
on the afternoon of June 3, 1997? You wish to find yourself
standing in that room, just past the swing-doors, this very minute,
yes? And to stay there till closing-time? Am I right?"
So he does, and finds the reading room, though [SPOILER] not full
of books by him and about him as he had hoped.
When Beerbohm wrote this, it sounded rock solid. In actuality, the
British Library was moved from the British Museum to a separate
location, and the Reading Room space was kept as an area for a
display *about* the British Library, rather than as the Reading
Room *of* the British Library. And this was ... checks notes ...
in 1997. Ah, the irony! [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
That knowledge which stops at what it does not know,
is the highest knowledge.
--Chuang Tzu
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