A Boy, a Dog, a Nuke, and What They Influenced

Watching A Boy and His Dog brought up several things to mind: the fact that people in the future would look for women for carnal and culinary reasons, people underground would fake happiness with clown makeup and dogs would be smarter than humans by not pressing the red button. I also could not help but make comparisons to a comic and a video game series that features a man and man's best friend.

Post Nuke - Set in a land where nuclear winter has befallen Earth, the comic follows the adventures of survivor Christopher Manic and his (non-talking) dog Aries as they survive post-nuke raiders, zombies and a dystopian empire's control on Earth. The artwork by Andreas Duller is simply incredible, with a heavy amount of details going into textures in vivid black and white. Duller's style is both enthralling and harrowing and the story of Chris' journey and its plot will keep readers interested.

Post Nuke was originally to be a film project, but because of budget constraints, comic creater Duller decided to make an online graphic novel instead. You can look at the blog and artwork for Post Nuke and other creations here.

Fallout - In my graphic novel class, we read comics that depicted the creation and the atrocious consequences of using a nuclear weapon. The comic was Fallout, a scientific graphic nonfiction book I covered on my comics blog, The Graphic Maelstrom. Coincidentially, there is a game series called Fallout (Which I have not played yet) that depicts a man and his dog. The game is a role playing game where players walk around a post nuclear landscape in an alternate timeline. Below is the trailer for the latest entry of the series, Fallout 3. The trailer has a 1950s "nuclear war" spoof (Which serves as part of the backstory for the game). This is an Mature Rated game, so expect post nuclear carnage in form of hot lead, energy and missles to take place.

So what's with the "male human and his dog" complex? Did Duller borrow the concept from A Boy and His Dog? Duller commented that he had never played the Fallout games, so the possibility of him playing the game and borrowing the game's influences can be ruled out as a possibility. I have no idea if he ever saw A Boy and His Dog, but if he didn't, then it can be said the "boy and his dog" concept in a post-nuclear adventure would be as iconic as the warrior with his sword fighting ogres and dragons in swords and sorcery fantasy or spaceships being iconic with the realm of science fiction.

Yes, A Boy and His Dog was science fiction, and so is Post Nuke and Fallout. So where are the spaceships? Where are the aliens? Where are the ray guns? Well, it depends on what kind of science fiction you are looking into.

- Kristopher

Waiting for the Zephyr...And Wind Power

In the twenty-first century, one would expect to ponder about energy alternatives to fossil fuels. "Waiting for the Zephyr" by Tobias Buckell answers this question by taking a familiar theme of a kid wanting to leave her parents' farm to work in a flourishing city. The city may not offer any better alternatives to life but it could be better than nothing with the farms dying out in a world that has officially run out of conventional fuel.

So would "Waiting for the Zephyr" be based on possibilities for wind power, that we should stop using fossil fuels and start searching for alternatives? I would believe that would be the case. You already have examples of wind power through wind mills. Wind power is considered to be "renewable" because wind will continue to blow as long as the sun shines on Earth's surface. The ancient Egyptians and other cultures used sails to power their vessels with wind. The wind mills were constructed to grind wheat and other crops, not to mention pumping water. In the 1970s, due to concern of oil shortages, wind power was explored as an energy alternative. The 1990s also saw exploration of wind power for concerns of the environment. Today, wind power and other sources of energy, such as biofuel, are being explored as possible replacements for fossil fuels. Most wind programs are based on the United States and Europe, where governments place most support in wind production. The United States is rated as number six in terms of wind power in the world. Holland, of course, is best known for its windmills.

There are even projects related to wind generators, with websites like this one here that details research and construction of wind power devices. People can gather some materials to make their own wind powered instruments! It goes so far that people are responsible for the world around them and that they should do their best to make it as less polluted as possible.

The Chinese proverb "May you live in interesting times" has never been so revelant. Humanity is threatened by nuclear weaponry, biological armaments and the possibility of its resources being used up. "Waiting for the Zephyr" offers a future where there is doom, but not so much gloom that there are wind-powered devices moving around. Perhaps one day we will rely on not only alternate fuels, but alternate vehicles that take advantage of the sky's versatility and grandeur.

- Kristopher

Guide to the Apocalypse

After reading "Still Life With Apocalypse" by Richard Kadrey, I thought of a television program on the History Channel that asked people what they would do before the world ended. There were quite a few responses and varied answers, so I decided to make a post that reflected these fears and worries.

I read this article from The Guardian, a United Kingdom-based news site that had a reporter visit a man preparing the apocalypse. Here is what she laid out in the article provided if anyone survived the apocalypse:

• "Pop into the National Gallery and take Jan Van Eyck's Portrait of a Man off the wall. (If you have no taste, take a Renoir.) The Van Eyck is hanging in the Sainsbury Wing. If you want to preserve it properly, Thomas Almeroth-Williams of the National Gallery suggests you store it in a slate mine, where the temperature and humidity levels are perfect for its conservation."

• "Go to the British Library and help yourself to one of its two copies of Shakespeare's First Folio. One is in a box in a strong room under the library floor; the other is in a glass case in the Treasure Room. If you want to preserve it properly, Helen Shenton of the British Library suggests you store it in a cool, dark place, and watch it carefully for infestations by animals or fungi. Dust regularly."

• "Steal the crown jewels. If you can. "There are contingency plans in place in event of a power failure," says a Royal Palaces spokesperson, "so the crown jewels should remain safe." Really? To preserve them properly, do nothing. A diamond is for ever."

• "Invade the News of the World - it's in Wapping - and read all its secret files. Then break into M15. It's on Millbank. Read all its secret files too. Oh, no! She was murdered! I knew it!"

• "Go and stand on the stage at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Skip over the bodies of the dead actors. Re-enact the whole of Oliver!"

To be honest, I might interpret her guide to being satirical. Would money and jewels be worth anything after all the governments fail on this planet due to a planetary catastrophe? Who cares? The world would be over and people would be ransacking everything all over the place. People could raid the CIA database and see if the crackpots concocting JFK conspiracies were off their rocker or not. People could see if American astronauts landed on the news or not (They did according to history, you naysayers!). Whatever happens, new revelations and new ways of biding time would be provided with the apocalypse. Not that the apocalypse should not be openly embraced but anything's better than cowering in a fallout shelter, right?

- Kristopher

The Arthurian Legend and the Apocalypse

"Artie's Angels" by Catherine Wells was nothing like I expected from the book we are using in class, titled Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse. It was a biography of a flawed but heroic figure named Artie who was accompanied by a girl named Faye (Similiar to Moran LeFey) as he starts a bicycle business on post-apocalyptic Earth. It was a fictionaly biography inspired by another life's story which is truly legendary: the life of King Arthur who started his famous Round Table of Knights. I have looked up King Arthur's history, though a lot does not mirror too much of Artie's life. Still, there are tones from the Arthurian legend that make it to the short story.

Like Arthur in legend, Artie was pragmatic, clever, and resourceful. He was also good moral support for Faye, who was told no one could hurt her because she was "magic." Artie began amassing several followers and even instated a code where thieving was necessary but that no one could steal from anyone poorer than his group was. Artie's gang rides on bicycles. Because of this, Faye (Who renames herself Morgan) dubbed her group as the "Knights of the Wheel Round." There is certainly a reference to the "Knights of the Round Table," where Arthur and his knights had their meetings.

Artie also had another hobby that can be attributed to most famous male figures: woman chasing. Artie had several girlfriends and even fooled around with some while another woman was waiting for him. But the only one he takes for granted is Faye, who had ill confidence of being with him. Artie also kept refusing to focus on working with building bigger machines than bicycles. There was technology developed to save humankind from doomsday but Artie wanted to continue helping those who could not help themselves. Artie, though a womanizer, had immense credibility. Rather than looking out for himself and pursuing means that could advance his life in a time of apocalyptic crisis, Artie ignored greater risks imposed on himself.

Like Arthur, Artie's presence became larger after he died from a gang's shotgun blast. Faye put it this way, "The stories of Artie's exploits grow richer with each telling; and in them he succeeds, in ways he could only dram of, in protecting the helpless and improving the lives of those he left behind." The stories of King Arthur was very popular today in literature, movies, comic books and any other media you can think of. Artie was placed in a cryogenic chamber by Faye after his demise much like King Arthur was placed Avalon by Morgan LeFey.

Even in the apocalype, some old stories would carry on to create new ones. "Artie's Angels" is an example of this case, where themes from a previous source would still be prevalent in a new one.

- Kristopher

Dark, Dark Is Human Degeneration

I finished reading George R. R. Martin's "Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels" with a feeling of dreadful revelation. The story began in an ambigious fashion with the main character, Greel, hunting with his pet rat H'ssig in the dark tunnels. Meanwhile, you have two explorers from the moon who descended into a post-apocalyptic Earth to look for "fresh genetic stock." Needless to say, as the reader gets deeper into the story, he or she will find humanity "degenerated" both ways: one from radiation and adaptation to a hostile world and another from being too comfortable in an environment where the greatest risk was inbreeding.

Greel was afraid of the "fire," or the bright lights that the explorers for toting. The reason was that Greel was adjusted to dark situations after keeping away from the surface for so many centuries. Greel would be the "ignorant" half of humanity, the cave man who has been in the cave for so long. I thought of my World Literature class that I took while I was in Highland Community College when my instructor had us read Plato's "Allegory of a Cave." Plato stated that humanity would live in a state of ignorance, which would be personified as a cave. Greel woudl be among the people who would only be aware of his ancestors' past only through oral traditions of the elders who did not know much about their ancestry either. Greel can be a forgotten creature among a forgotten people.

Greel's description as a hunched, humanoid being with milky white skin and large eyes reminded me of the blind, humanoid monsters featured in The Descent, a movie where a group of six women descend for a spelunking trip gone horribly wrong. The picture I inserted probably looks nothing like Greel, who is described having very large eyes and is able to see. But this creature has pale white skin, so it is a good enough match. He is guided by a rat companion named H'ssig who serves as a type of "hunting dog."

I guess another comparison to the "big eyed human rodent" would be Gollum from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings saga. I find it coincidential that Martin is a fantasy writer, just like Tolkien was a fantasy writer. And that Gollum and Martin's "rat man" share strong resemblances. Then again, maybe I am overanalyzing. Then again, Gollum detested light and had a connection with the One Ring. Greel hated light and had a connection with his rat companion. The biggest difference was that Greel would not be a jewlery addict that gets a couple of naive hobbits into trouble. He would just throw a spear at some prick from the moon who shot his pet rodent dead.

The connection between the both of them can be likened that they are "brothers." Both are very rat-like and live underground away from a hot, ugly surface. They "sense" each other because they are one and the same lurking though the tunnels. Dogs would have been "man's best friend" but centuries later, we have "humankind" on Earth befriending what they sought to destroy for many centuries. Martin could be making a point that humandkind had become what it sought to destroy. Centuries later, the near blue-blooded elite who lived on the moon for so long would view the survivors as something as less than they were. They would not befriend the rats, they would smoke out every last one.

Not to ramble too far on a different subject but I would not be surprised that if (Heaven forbid, only if) an nuclear war were to go on, cockroaches would be able to survive. But rats are cunning and resourceful in their own way. Both humans and rats are mammals, so to me, it would not make sense if humans evolved into cockroaches. Besides, eating cockroaches would most likely kill you if you tried to adapt to dining on them. Rats, unlike cockroaches, have their set of behaviors and set of intelligence higher than a cockroach would possess. They would not be the simple minded animals that cockroaches would be.

"Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels" provides an apocalyptic scenario of if we survived the apocalypse. We would face another apocalypse entirely; we would lose our humanity and lose what had made us strong. Sure, we can preserve whatever we can of our culture like the lunar explorers did but then we would lose the strength to survive on earth. Like the lunar people, our muscles would grow weak of floating around in a zero gravity environment for so long. As for the "tunnel people," we could grow strong and adapt to our environment but we would lose our humanity and knowledge of who we were. We would face extinction on a gene-based level.

- Kristopher

Trailer Comparisons - The Day the Earth Stood Still

I decided to kick off the week with a couple of trailers of a film we will see in class: The Day the Earth Stood Still, a film where a mysterious figure who gives a warning that if humanity does not cease its violent activities, the Earth will be destroyed.

Below is the trailer for the original movie:



Having seen the original movie, I will say that this trailer is the better of the two I displayed. You have the typical '50s "big words" that tell what the movie is about to intrigue the audience but it is less "campy" than The Thing from Another World Was. It makes you go "Wow, what's that big robot thing? What will it do to that poor woman and the world?"

Below is the trailer for the recent movie starring Keanu "Whoa" Reeves:



Sad to say, Mr. Reeves is not as convincing in the recent trailer as the original actor for Klaatu was. You have improved special effects but there is not real mystery that the original trailer depicted. All you get is a nonchalant Reeves, black "insects" eating everything in sight and Jennifer Connelly looking confused. A person can see the trailer and think "Where's the Watchmen trailer?"

- Kristopher