Sunday, July 30, 2017

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick

I recently reread Philip K. Dick's classic novella. There was a lot in it I didn't remember, and a lot that struck me differently this time around. I found the descriptions of the 'post-World War Terminus' world - it's desolation and crumbling decay - particularly vivid and compelling. Also the emphasis on compassion and the value of life. The scene in which the android Pris systematically snips the legs off a spider in order to see how many it really needs in order to walk was . . . ghastly.

The whole Mercerism plot-line still confuses me, especially where it weaves in and out of normal reality, and I continue to be confused by what, exactly, Deckard, has learned or gained from the entire experience, particularly when the toad turns out to be electronic. I find Deckard's, well, let's call them 'romantic' relationships for lack of a better word, stilted. At least, they feel forced and don't ring true for me.

Do Androids Dream is, of course, the inspiration behind the 1982 "Blade Runner." It's quite possibly been 20 years since I've seen the movie, and man, the tech does not age well :), so I'm glad Ridley Scott's team has rebooted the concept in the new "Blade Runner 2049" coming out in October.

I don't want to offend anyone, because I know the original was HUGE (iconic, groundbreaking, and so on). I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of noir as a genre - I am frequently and deeply cynical about life, but it's too easy to wallow there - and if you cut out all the establishing seedy city shots and Harrison Ford drinking, that's possibly a third of the Director's Cut. What struck me this time, oddly, was the pervasive scent of middle-aged white man's fear: tenuously employed in a city that looks more like Shanghai than Los Angeles, in danger of having his neck crushed in the grip of a woman's thighs/crotch, etc.

And then there's the violence, toward women in particular, although Ford and Hauer exchange a lot male-male in the end. The, again I'll use quotes, 'romance' between Deckard and Rachel has an ugly quality (She's saying no, but I know she wants me) that I had forgotten. It's even more ugly, I think, because they've realized she's an android, and so there's an element of her being a machine, less than a person, something he can do whatever he wants to. I think, incidentally, there was a missed opportunity to double-cast Rachel and Pris (although I'd hate to miss Daryl Hannah in this role), because in the book they're the same model, and I liked Deckard's ethical dilemma of being on a mission to kill a copy of the one he's realized he has feeling for.

Mercerism, naturally, is gone from the movie version, as is any sense of reverence for life. If anything, Deckard's world is packed with (ethnically non-white) people. There is no equivalent to the 'spider' scene, and with that, I think we lose what's wrong with these androids and why they might need to be killed, even if it looks a lot like murder.

This is actually something that bothers me about both the book and the movie. The androids, mostly, attack when threatened, but people do that too. Some of them are cruel and violent, but then, some people are too. They've committed murders, but then, lots of humans have done that as well. I'm not sure what it is about being an android that justifies destroying them.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Mindscan, Robert J. Sawyer

BRILLIANT concept. If "Self/Less" is a 2 body problem, this is a 2 mind problem. I loved the opening chapters setting up the split. Particularly insightful was Jake's "oh crap" moment when he realizes that copying is not the same as transferring, and the new I quickly becomes 'he' in Jake's mind, whereas the new I quickly slips into thinking of his previous, original self as 'it.' I thought the narrative split into two separate I's was absolute genius.

And then I expected more of a plot (because of this, XYZ happens). The main event, however, is really a long legal trial. I give Sawyer enormous credit because it's a thought-provoking extended legal, philosophical, cutting edge scientific, meditation on the definition of personhood. Overall, however, the book feels . . . curiously heartless to me, lacking the kind of character change and emotional arc I look for.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

"De-Mystifying Mindfulness" Coursera.org


Wanted to put in a recommendation for this FREE online Coursera course I'm currently taking, led by Chris Goto-Jones of Leiden University.

 Coursera page
Coursera page
It's got a great combination of short video lessons with practical exercises. If you've thought about meditating, or the stress-reduction benefits of meditation, it's worth checking out. Love it!

https://www.coursera.org/learn/mindfulness/home/info

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

The Plutonium Blonde, John Zakour & Lawrence Ganem

Best kind of campy, tongue-in-cheek, private investigator-saves-the-world adventure story with a SF twist. Absolutely HILARIOUS. I kept laughing out loud when I read it. I only regret I didn't stumble across this series sooner!

     BB-2 suddenly dove to the ground and rolled, lightning quick, away from the weapon-fire. The attackers tried to keep up. They sprayed the area wide with energy blasts and explosive shells .... But it was like trying to catch a quicksilver bullet with a butterfly net. They were four steps behind from the start and in three heartbeats' time, BB2 was upon them .... 
      HARV's face replaced the video images on the screen. "The encampment was protected by three dozen heavily armed guerrilla soldiers. It took BB-2 less than six minutes to raze the entire compound ...."
     "And it's our job to stop her," I said. "Well, I guess we're going to have to outsmart her."
     "I hope my next human has your sense of humor," HARV sighed.

"Self/Less" (2015)

The science of the premise is a bit of a stretch, but the story is just SO terrific. Worth remembering the only thing worse than death is trying to cheat it ....

Sunday, July 2, 2017

"Legend of the Black Scorpion" | "Royal Deceit"


 imdb link
Click for imdb link
(2006) Chinese movie, also known as "The Banquet" or "The Night Banquet" starring Ziyi Zhang ("Crouching Tiger"), You Ge, and Daniel Wu ("Into the Badlands").

I don't usually review movies on my blog, but this is an extremely interesting version of Hamlet, and worth mulling over. Many of the Hamlet elements are there: the prince who comes back to find his uncle has killed his father and seized the throne, a nod to the ghost, a nod to Ophelia and Polonius and Laertes, the play-within-a-play, a nod to being sent off to death, the poisoned cup, and final showdown in which almost everyone ends up dead. Lots of martial arts swordplay and gorgeous cinematography.

Then there are the innovations (this is the exciting part!). The knockout is the Empress Wan who is established in the opening narration as having been a young woman in love with Prince Wu Luan (Hamlet), until Wu Luan's father took her as a wife for himself. The uncle kills Wu Luan's father and inherits the Empress Wan, so that the "Gertrude" in this case is four years younger than "Hamlet," and is, in a sense, both lover and step-mother. Who needs an Oedipal complex? On top of this, the Empress Wan is a brilliantly enigmatic, tricky character--a survivor, and a Romantic--one has the sense she does not entirely know herself, and her actions are driven by conflicting motivations. She completely steals the show.

I was also very impressed by the handling of the Emperor Li (Claudius). He is controlled, brutal, and yet you can see he's utterly smitten by the foxy Empress Wan, and gradually over the course of the movie lets down his guard to her, only to be devastated by her betrayal. Much more human and heart-breaking than one usually sees a Claudius. He's also dangerous, established early on by his treatment of the Empress and dissenters in the court, which is important because so often Hamlet (in Hamlet) can come off as too comfortable, too secure, too in control, in which case the audience is left wondering why Hamlet doesn't just get a move on with things. By the middle of this movie, it looks nigh impossible for Prince Wu Luan to get anywhere close to the Emperor, let alone kill him, which ups the intensity of the drama immensely and adds an element of "How on earth is he going to do this??"

Add I should mention Xun Zhou ("Cloud Atlas") who plays Qing Nu, the Ophelia character, who formed an interesting love triangle with Wu Luan and the Empress. I wish I could see all Ophelias like this, but unfortunately, we are left with Shakespeare's flower-strewing neurotic.

 imdb link
Click for imdb link
If you are interested in versions of Hamlet that shed light on Hamlet, I also recommend (1994) "Royal Deceit" with Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren, Christian Bale, and Kate Beckinsale. The attempt here was to go back to the original Danish source story for Hamlet, and the setting feels like Beowulf, but it is fascinating to compare--this is essentially what Hamlet would be if Hamlet were not philosophizing and overly burdened with conscience or thought, so essentially a straight revenge story. The Ophelia story line makes way more sense, the trip to England makes way more sense, and the ending satisfies the premise: Amled returns from exile, kills the bad king, marries the English princess he picked up, and lives happily ever after. Typical Hollywood revenge/action blockbuster for Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson or Liam Neeson. So what's interesting is how flat that feels. By omission, you realize how complex a character Hamlet is, how complex Shakespeare has made what started as a straight "kill the bad guy" revenge story.