I decided to bring up two trailers of The Thing from Another World and John Carpenter's The Thing. I can be called unappreciative but after seeing the original Thing, I can say I prefer Carpenter's version for its intensity and clever tactics of the monster hiding as various characters.
The Thing from Another World
This film definately has the '50s style trailer: large words which promise a new type of monster that bullets can't stop. The film does spoil one of the best parts of the movie, where the Thing runs around in an inferno.
John Carpenter's The Thing
Not only does it do a good job not spoiling what the Thing is or who might be the Thing, but it intrigues the audience of what The Thing is all about. The creature's harrowing yell at the end of the trailer is enough to chill and thrill anybody, including yours truly.
I was happy with the pleasure of reading "People of the Sand and Slag" by Paolo Bacigalupi. Its subject matter is fairly grim but there was the macabre facination of people cutting their own limbs and stylizing their bodies with broken pieces of metal and glowing materials.
What hit me most about this story was the future humanity's disregard for non "biojobs" such as a dog running among Montana's acid-soaked surface. Humanity is fond of playing video games, blowing rubbish up and having sex on the beach. Is this different from modern humanity who do similiar things? Well, we would care more for the dog by buying food for it. The characters in "People of the Sand and Slag" think it is a waste of time to care for the poor pooch. Would some humans in real life think caring for a kitten would be less important than say, playing Halo 3? We certainly don't have TS-101's to incinerate things with and not all of us have the day job of being mercenary security guards. Yet we cling to more material goods than the wholesome, "warm" materials such as Fido.
In my Science Fiction class, there was a discussion that people in the future had become the earth; irradiated, toxic, and fruitless. Humans have not lost their taste for food and sex but when it does some to food and sex, it comes up in strange ways. The characters eat rock and sand, considering that all other life forms are up for study and not for culinary purposes. Humans have become the Earth it created; unknowing and uncaring of its environment.
Bacigalupi, a winner of the Theodore Sturgeon Award, would be making a statement about our relationship with technology and nature. If we keep too close to technology and neglect nature, we will become like the "people of the sand and slag," nuking things for the fun of it because the surface is already destroyed and become something less than human. This story featured in this blog post was a finalist for the Hugo and Nebula Awards and is featured in Pump Six and Other Tales. -Kristopher
We all dread the world ending, and we dread it in many ways. We dread our civilization being destroyed in a technolocial, natural or otherwordly fashion. Stephen King, a popular American icon and prominent horror novelist, just loves to remind us that there are many ways of us being destroyed.
In my Science Fiction class, we read "The End of the Whole Mess." The end of the world revolves around a substance called the Calmative, which was found by a young man named Bobby. King's narrator, Bobby's brother Howie, does not start explaining the Calmative immediately; instead he summarizes his predicament with the world ending and everyone around him (Including himself) going senile. Howie recounts how his brother was born a child prodigy, studying everything and experimenting on anything he could get his hands on, including machines. One of the warmest moments in the story is when Bobby convinces Howie to launch him in a makeshift plane comprised of a wagon with wings attached. Anyone who's ever read or seenStand by Me(Which I haven't yet, sadly) will know that King likes working with themes of brotherhood and boyhood. You will feel very sorry for these characters in their demise because you got to know them a little bit first. It is their bond that unites them but it is also the bond that would later destroy both of them. Skipping a few years later, Bobby comes from La Plata, Texas with some wasps and bees. He uses the Calmative to make the insects respond to him in a pacifistic manner. These insects are tamed through the use of sucrose dioxin in Bobby's system. Bobby asks Howie to help him transfer the rest of the Calmative throughout the world to prevent humankind from killing itself. Howie reluctantly agrees, even with the question of what the long term results would be after the Calmative is adminstered throughout the world. Both of them somehow raise enough money to insert the Calmative through a volcano. How could they put in a volcano in the first place? My best guess is Earth's constantly shifting surface. Earth is the only planet in our solar system with active tectonics and King was probably making a rough guess on how the Calmative would be distributed. Pretty soon, as indicated by Howie's declining writing style, everyone suffers from an illness similiar to Rodney's Disease.
King is no stranger to the apocalypse with his story "The End of the Whole Mess." He has concentrated on the apocalypse on different levels based on his following works.
The Dark Towerseries, King's "magnum opus," takes place in a decaying alternate universe similiar to our own. The protagonist is Roland of Gilead, the last of a heroic order known as the gunslingers who is hot on the trail of the Man in Black. The Man in Black holds the key to the secrets of the Dark Tower. Roland hopes to reach the tower to reverse the damage done to his world, as his world has "moved on."
Along the way, he recruits other members to his ka-tet from different time periods; the 1960's, the 1970's and the 1980's and even a creature with some speech and arithmatic capacity from his own world. The ka-tet must journey through their respective time frames and various areas which hold mutants, evil geniuses, cyborg animals and even a psychotic train that transport them through a desolate, irradiated landscape! Think Lord of the Rings if it was macabre, had a Wild West setting and with King's various edgy settings and characters. Ironically, the Lord of the Rings saga, along with westerns featuring Clint Eastwood, was what inspired King to create this seven volume series. The series also has its own collection of comic books based on some of the books or with original storylines.
The Standis considered to be one of King's best novels regarding the apocalypse and one I would like to get my hands on. The storyline concerns of a pathogen named "Captain Trips" breaking loose into the world and killing most of the populace. The survivors of the epidemic must choose two major figures to follow; one who resembles good and another resembling pure evil. It is regarded to be one of King's best and also has its line of comic books to look into.
King's latest foray into the apocalypse is Cell. The premise of the series is that everyone becomes a "zombie" by answering their cell phones. These "zombies" operate during the day and hunt after the survivors who have to take cover in the night. If this sounds similiar to George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, comparisons can definately be made.
King explores the apocalypse in different ways in his works. Whether it is through our mutual destruction (pathogen in The Stand and senility-inducing substance in "The End of the Whole Mess") or through nuclear disaster and whatnot (The Dark Tower), or through techonology (Cell), King is among the authors who want to warn us about our destruction. Like him or not, King is part of our psyche when it comes to horrific scenarios and stories on the end of the world.
James Tiptree, Jr. A.K.A. Alice Bradley Sheldon, is a science fiction writer who worked in the areas of gender politics and apocalyptic themes. She is best known for her stories such as "The Screwfly Solution"and "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain."I have been meaning to cover her and her works earlier, along with La Jete, but it took a while longer to get used to the student schedule than I expected. And so, without further ado...
Sheldon was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1915. She is the daughter of Mary Hastings Bradley who was a writer of travel literature and Herbert Bradley, who was an attorney, African explorer and a naturalist. Sheldon traveled with her parents to many parts of the world, including Africa between 1921-1922. She originally wanted to be a professional painter and a graphic artist. She married William Davey in 1934 and divorced from him in 1931. Sheldon became an art critic for the Chicago Sun in 1941 and later joined the military's Air Intelligence in 1942. She was discharged from the military in 1946 with the rank of Major.
Sheldon first published story was "The Lucky Ones," which was featured in The New Yorker. She also managed a business with her husband, Huntington Sheldon. Both Tiptree and her husband began working for the C.I.A. in 1952. Tiptree resigned from the C.I.A. in 1959. She attended American University in 1956, eventually receiving a B.A. in 1959. Sheldon worked for her doctorate in experimental psychology at George Washington University, which she earned in 1967. It was after this point Sheldon started to write fiction under the pseudonym "James Tiptree, Jr." She earend acclaim from using a "masculine" point of view to write about female characters and themes in fiction.
Sheldon's/Tiptree's first story story collection, Ten Thousand Light Years from Home, was published in 1974 by Ace Books. Sheldon also adopted the pseudonym "Racoona Sheldon," which went with the short story "Angel Fix" and "The Screwfly Solution." Sheldon's first novel was Up the Walls of the World, published in 1975. By the time another set of her collection of short stories titled Star Songs of an Old Primate was published, it was revealed that Tiptree was indeed a female writer. Regardless of her discovery, Sheldon won a Nebula Award for "The Screwfly Solution. Sheldon died tragically on May 19, 1987 by shooting herself in the head after killing her invalid husband, who was eighty-four, blind and bedridden.
Sheldon's stories have a very pessimistic tone about them, but the pessimism describes humankind's facination with destroying itself. In "The Screwfly Solution," Sheldon's feminist views come to place when men turned violent towards women after being infected by a mysterious disease. Her views also show up in "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain," where the disease-ridden protagonist hungers for an imaginary woman who is supposed to resemble Earth itself. This could possibly be an analogy that mankind-or humankind for that matter-would want to devour the earth and unwittingly poison it with our technologies. Both these stories can be found in Her Smoke Rose Up Forever.
Sheldon deserves to be studied and read because of her contribution to the science-fiction genre. For those who like some horror in their fiction with science-fiction tones, Sheldon will provide a good reading and analysis for those who are interested (and fear) the apocalypse.
I have seen numerous films, read numerous books, played numerous games and listened to numerous CDs. Were they all good? Oh, some of them. Were some of these films, books, games and CDs utter garbage? The answer is a solid "YES, AS MUCH GARBAGE AS YOU CAN SHOVE DOWN INTO EBERT AND ROEPER'S THROAT!"
I have reviewed some stuff in the past and I am a fan of reading reviews of various media by other writers. I always chuckle at the bad reviews, where the acting is mentioned as decent as acting performed in a first grade play. Or when the production had the budget price of a Subway Meatball Marinara sandwich. Or when the script was apparently written by monkeys suffering from arthritis. Anyone who enjoys reading and writing reviews, whether they are of good media or bad, should know Sturgeon's Law.
What is this law? It is derived from science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon, whose real name Edward Hamilton Waldo. He chose the pseuodonym he is known by because he allegedly liked the nickname "Ted." Sturgeon won an International Fantasy Award for his novel More Than Human. Sturgeon is well known for his statement of most material being uninspired:
"Ninety percent of everything is crap."
I believe Sturgeon was referring to how people regarded the science fiction genre as nothing but a landfill of kiddie literature and brainless plotlines. Sturgeon was defending the genre he was working in by saying that there was "crap" in the science fiction genre but there is also some "crap" in romance, "crap" in horror, "crap" in drama and so on. A fellow blogger also used Sturgeon's quote to list what he believed was overrated media.
I consider myself to be somewhat of a snob when it comes to various books, films, game, etc. I would choose something with value even if it does not receive mainstream attention. The stuff that does get mainstream attention, however, is stuff I would deem leftovers from the dumpster. That is not always the case, but I could list some examples of the science fiction/fantasy crop that fits into the "ninety percent" realm.
The Eye of Argon is an infamously horrible novella written by Jim Theis, who at the time was sixteen years old. At some science fiction and fantasy conventions, there would be a contest of who could read through this failed epic without bursting out laughing. Try reading this excerpt from the beginning of the story:
The weather beaten trail wound ahead into the dust rackedclimes of the baren land which dominates large portions of theNorgolian empire. Age worn hoof prints smothered by the siftingsands of time shone dully against the dust splattered crust ofearth. The tireless sun cast its parching rays of incandescensefrom overhead, half way through its daily revolution. Smallrodents scampered about, occupying themselves in the dailyaccomplishments of their dismal lives. Dust sprayed over threeheaving mounts in blinding clouds, while they bore the burdonsomecargoes of their struggling overseers.
Can we say "rough draft?"
Alone in the Dark - Starring Christian Slater and Tara Reid; Directed by Uwe Boll
Not only is this a really, really inept horror film, but it is a really, really inept horror film that also happens to be a video game adaptation. The plot involves Christian Slater as a paranormal investigator trying to find why some people are waking up in the middle of the night to walk through the middle of nowhere. I am not going to spend too much time telling about more of the plot because it is shoddily written. The special effects are fake, the dialogue and acting is at the level of a chimpanzee doing Shakespeare (I apologize to the chimpanzees or any other animals used for parodying mediocre material.) and all of this was done by infamous director Dr. Uwe Boll whose style closely relates to Ed Wood. His films are so bad that there is a petition to ask Dr. Boll to stop producing them.
To illustrate its lameness, here is the promo below:
So I have showed some of the worst of the worst. I believe however, that the Science Fiction Film and Literature class I'm taking will showcase some of the best material science fiction has to offer.
Hello everyone. This is Kristopher speaking from Aboard the Spaceship, a blog dedicated to a Science Fiction Film and Literature class I'm currently taking. Science fiction based movies and stories that will be featured in class will be studied on this blog. Of course, there will be other related materials outside of the class that I might bring up.
So why "Aboard the Starship?" It could be a close Star Trek reference with "...aboard the starship Enterprise..." but I have not delved too deep into the Star Trek mythos. I have enjoyed all the Star Warsmovies (Yes, even the one with the ever intolerable Jar Jar Binks, with his insufferable stereotypical Jamaican accent...), Dune, Ender's Game,The Matrixmovies, the television show Heroes, and Japanese anime such as Cowboy Bebop, Trigun and Neon Genesis Evangelionamong other works encompassing the wide atmosphere that is the science fiction genre.
So just kick back, relax and enjoy a wide galaxy aboard the star ship.
Sheldon's stories have a very pessimistic tone about them, but the pessimism describes humankind's facination with destroying itself. In "The Screwfly Solution," Sheldon's feminist views come to place when men turned violent towards women after being infected by a mysterious disease. Her views also show up in "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain," where the disease-ridden protagonist hungers for an imaginary woman who is supposed to resemble Earth itself. This could possibly be an analogy that mankind-or humankind for that matter-would want to devour the earth and unwittingly poison it with our technologies. Both these stories can be found in Her Smoke Rose Up Forever.
The Eye of Argon 
