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MT VOID, 12/10/21 -- Vol. 40, No. 24, Whole Number 2201
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evelynchim...@gmail.com
Dec 12, 2021, 10:33:21 AM12/12/21
to
THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
12/10/21 -- Vol. 40, No. 24, Whole Number 2201
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mle...@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, ele...@optonline.net
Sending Address: evelynchim...@gmail.com
All material is the opinion of the author and is copyrighted by the
author unless otherwise noted.
All comments sent or posted will be assumed authorized for
inclusion unless otherwise noted.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send mail to ele...@optonline.net
The latest issue is at <http://www.leepers.us/mtvoid/latest.htm>.
An index with links to the issues of the MT VOID since 1986 is at
<http://leepers.us/mtvoid/back_issues.htm>.
Topics:
Mini Reviews, Part 3 (FAUCI, MY SALINGER YEAR, SWAN SONG)
(film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
LIGHT CHASER by Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell
(book review by Joe Karpierz)
BEING THE RICARDOS (film review by Mark R. Leeper
and Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE DYBBUK (1938) (letter of comment by Kip Williams)
THE LAST PAGAN (letters of comment by Peter Trei, Kevin R,
Gary McGath, and Paul Dormer)
This Week's Reading (THE PAST IS RED, LINCOLN'S DREAMS)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 3 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)
Here is the third batch of mini-reviews, biographical
documentaries and biopics.
FAUCI: This film covers Dr. Anthony Fauci's work not only with the
COVID-19 pandemic, but also with the AIDS/HIV epidemic in the 1980s
and 1990s. (Interestingly, both were politicized, though in very
different ways, and we can see how politics often drives people's
positions more than science does.) In both epidemics, Fauci had a
major role. Though most of the film is about his efforts against
disease, there is some biographical material, as he talks about
trying to balance his family life and his professional career (hard
to do when he is the point man during an epidemic). (Warning: on-
line ratings such as in the IMDB tend to be skewed by political
factors and should not be trusted.)
Released theatrically 09/10/21; available on Disney+ and NatGeoTV.
Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), or 7/10.
Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13984924/reference>
What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fauci>
MY SALINGER YEAR: A semi-autobiographical film based on the non-
fiction book by Joanna Smith Rakoff, covering her time in 1996 and
1997 with a New York literary agency who had J. D. Salinger as a
client. (Careful angles avoid showing the face of the actor
playing Salinger, so the filmmakers emphasize Salinger's famous
reclusiveness, while also avoiding the need for extensive make-up.)
Our main character learns to see much of life through the lens of
Holden Caulfield, in spite of not having read THE CATCHER IN THE
RYE when she started the job. One envies Joanna the chance to walk
down the street and be greeted by world-famous writers. For those
who are into the New York literary lifestyle I can recommend also
CROSSING DELANCEY.
Released theatrically 03/05/21; available on DVD. Rating: +2 (-4
to +4), or 7/10.
Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2222052/reference>
What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/my_salinger_year>
SWAN SONG: [There are two 2021 films titled SWAN SONG. One is a
science fiction film with Mahershala Ali. This is not that film.
This is a drama film with Udo Kier.]
Udo Kier got his real start as the star of FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN
and for BLOOD FOR DRACULA, and has been known mostly as a character
actor in his over-200 films. In SWAN SONG, he is a retired hair
dresser asked to do the hair and make-up for a former client with
whom he had a falling-out. His character, Patrick Pitsenbarger,
was a real hairdresser to the Sandusky socialites "back in the day"
and a well-known drag performer. Patrick (a.k.a. "Mister Pat")
keeps his history alive with a set of very old photographs and
memories of himself and his family. This is a familiar story of
old person revisiting places from their youth, as well as a story
of someone discovering that they never understood what the real
situation was. What starts as pity in the viewer transforms into an
appreciation of "Mister Pat's" charm and joie de vivre, with some
moments of sadness for the disappearance of a gay culture he was
such a part of. (Upon hearing that the drag bar where he used to
perform is closing, Pat plaintively asks, "But where will we dance
now?")
Released on various streaming services 08/13/21. Rating: high +1
(-4 to +4), or 6/10.
Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10832274/reference>
What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/swan_song_2021>
[-mrl/ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: LIGHT CHASER by Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell
(copyright 2021, Tordotcom, $13.99, trade paperback, 173pp, ISBN
978-1-250-76982-4) (book review by Joe Karpierz)
Science fiction is a funny, weird genre (go figure). Some of the
best SF stories are told with emphasis on their characters and on
character development. It's not unusual to talk to fans who will
say that they "want more stories about character X" because they
fell in love with that character. It's also not unusual to talk to
fans who love stories that are built around interesting ideas; and
really, that's how the genre started in the first place. Science
fiction was the genre of fantastic ideas, of the sense of wonder
that people get from stories that contain wild, outside the box
ideas. Many people like one type of story over another, and that's
okay. Others like stories that have both great character
development and wild ideas that generate a sense of wonder. That's
okay too.
But here's another oddball one. Peter F. Hamilton, one of the
great space opera writers of our time, who has so many wonderful
ideas running through his novels that it's impossible to write them
in anything less than the length of WAR AND PEACE, is a
collaborator on a novella, of all lengths, which contains some
pretty spectacular ideas. The thing is, the novella is actually
the right length for the story. How does *that* happen? To be
fair, I've never read anything by Gareth L. Powell before, but I'll
bet he at least had something to do with the cat being in the
story.
While there really is only one main character, Amahle, there isn't
much time for the full character development that many people like
to see. And yet, I think we see enough to get a feel for her
motivations as we move through the story. Amahle is a Light
Chaser, an explorer who travels from planet to planet in the
universe--and it's not clear whether all her stops are within the
same galaxy or not--alone except for an onboard AI traveling
companion, trading baubles and trinkets for life stories. She
makes her stops throughout The Domain. At the end of her round
trip cycle, she turns in the memories (stored on a kind of
necklace) in exchange for more baubles, and goes back out on the
trip again. She is revered wherever she goes; she is remembered by
each of the civilizations she visits. All are interested in making
sure she gets the memories she asked for so they can get the
trinkets she gives in return.
Yet, something is amiss.
She gets bored on her journeys, so she views the memories that have
been handed in to her. There is a voice, a person, who is telling
her that something is wrong. It seems to be the same person, but
from different times and different places. This person knows her,
and knows that she can do something about what is wrong. She is
warned not to trust her AI. And as she puts all the stories
together, she realizes that something is indeed wrong, and that she
can and should do something about it, for the future of humanity is
at stake.
Which brings us to the beginning of the book.
Okay, that's not fair, but really the rest of the book sets up the
beginning, which is the result of everything that has transpired in
the rest of the story. We don't know what hits us at first, but as
the story continues we do come to realize that the beginning is the
culmination of the rest of it. Granted, this is not a new
storytelling method, but in this case it is very compelling.
Hamilton and Powell pack a lot into this novella. There is no
extra fluff here. Everything counts, and everything matters. And
it's all good, even great. This will be on my Hugo nomination
ballot for Chicago next year. That's about as high a
recommendation as I can make. [-jak]
===================================================================
TOPIC: BEING THE RICARDOS (film review by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn
C. Leeper)
BEING THE RICARDOS is a fictional telling of three crises that
affected Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz during the early 1950s: Ball
was declared a Communist by Walter Winchell, there was a front-page
tabloid scandal about Arnaz and another woman, and Ball was
pregnant. (The latter may not seem like much of a crisis, but in
the early 1950s, television had never shown a pregnant woman, and
had certainly never used the word "pregnant".) The film has a lot
of flashbacks, but there seems to be a change of film stock that
helps us know what is 1950s and what is earlier. In a tribute to
the show, the first line (after the "documentary" opening--see
below) is, "Lucy, I'm home!"
In addition to all this, there is reasonable coverage of the
technical aspects of rehearsing and filming an episode at that
time.
There are a few criticisms one can make of the film. One that has
been made by many is that they cast a Spaniard (Javier Bardem) as
Arnaz, rather than someone from Cuba, or at least from Latin
America. (Similar casting, such as Antonio Banderas as a Cuban in
THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE in 1992, attracted less
attention. Indeed, the fact that they chose someone Hispanic for
MAMBO KINGS was considered a big step forward by some.) On the
other hand, Javier Bardem does get a chance to show off his singing
voice with Latin (American) songs.
There seems to have been less of a commitment to have the
characters in the film look like their real-life counterparts than
there often is in films of this sort. Perhaps that's a good thing;
the actors are actors, not impersonators, and covering actors in
lots of make-up to achieve an artificial resemblance is often
counter-productive. (They did do accurate hairstyles, though.) On
the other hand, it took me quite a while to realize that J. K.
Simmons was playing William Frawley (as Fred Mertz)--he was just
too recognizable as Simmons.
The film also does some major time compression, showing all these
crises as happening in one week, while in fact Ball was pregnant in
1951 and brought before HUAC--and event happening *before*
Winchell's accusation--in 1953. And unlike in REDS, the
"witnesses" (the people labeled as people who worked with Ball and
Arnaz in what is filmed in a documentary style) are not the real
people, but actors. (Quite possibly they are delivering things
that the real people actually said.) As in many biopics, the
viewer has a choice what there is to believe.
One suspects this will have more appeal for those who remember the
original "I Love Lucy" show, but its continuing popularity will
extend the audience for this.
Released theatrically 12/10/21. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4), or
8/10.
Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4995540/reference>
What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/being_the_ricardos>
[-mrl/ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE DYBBUK (1938) (letter of comment by Kip Williams)
In response to Mark's review of THE DYBBUK in the 12/03/21 issue of
the MT VOID, Kip Williams writes:
Thanks for spoilers [warning]. Some of us read old works of
literature for actual enjoyment, and not seeing the author's work
unraveled by punchline shouters helps. [-kw]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE LAST PAGAN (letters of comment by Peter Trei, Kevin R,
Gary McGath, and Paul Dormer)
In response to Evelyn's comments on THE LAST PAGAN in the 12/03/21
issue of the MT VOID, Peter Trei writes:
Nit: When you write about a non-famous historical event, it helps to
include the date: Julian ruled 361 to 363 AD. He was the second
Emperor after Constantine.
There's a good portrait of him from a coin on his Wikipedia page.
It's a profile, so can't speak to the beard's point, but his lip
looks pretty normal:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_(emperor)>
[-pt]
Evelyn responds:
I should have included his dates. But while we're picking nits:
It's "A.D. 361", not "361 A.D." (Whether or not it includes
periods seems to be a style thing, and may differ in the UK.)
I would say "361 C.E.", *especially* for Julian! (He'd probably
prefer 1114 AUC.) [-ecl]
But Kevin R writes:
I'm all for adding relevant dates, but Julian is far from obscure.*
ObMundane Fiction:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_(novel)>
* That'd be Jude:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jude_the_Obscure>
Julian would have been considered infamous, if not famous, in
Christendom.
My opinion may be skewed by 12 years of Catholic El-Hi education,
including two years of Latin, and a history B.A. from a Jesuit
university. I had maybe more than average exposure to things
classical than was usual for a late 20th century schoolboy? [-kr]
Peter replies:
Just a tad. Or maybe, I'm just a Philistine. My school was, to the
extent it was anything, Church of England, and that as little as
possible. I didn't study history past 8th grade (the UK made you
specialize early, which I regard as one of its
weak points.).
If I were of a more serious-lit bent, I might have read the Vidal,
but I wasn't. [-pt]
Gary McGath adds:
Ibsen wrote an extra-long play, "Emperor and Galilean", about
Julian. [-gmg]
And Evelyn notes:
The BBC did a radio version of it, which is one of the extras in
their Ibsen DVD set. [-ecl]
And Paul Dormer adds:
Saw it at the National Theatre in London back in 2011, apparently
its UK stage premiere. Andrew Scott was the lead. [-pd]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE PAST IS RED by Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom, ISBN 978-1-
250-30113-0) was actually pretty good for most of it, if a bit
unlikely. Tetley Abednego lives on the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch, a.k.a. Garbagetown, which is divided into regions such as
Electric City, Pill Hill, Cardboard Flats, and Clotheschester.
People get their names from things on the patch. I was willing to
accept all this, and even that there supposedly was no dry land
left, even though in actual fact if all the ice melted, the sea
level would rise only 215 feet. (See
<https://www.goodshomedesign.com/maps-of-what-the-earth-would-look-
like-if-all-ice-melted/> for what Earth would look like.) But when
Tetley finds a radio and has a real-time conversation with a girl
on Mars (i.e., with no time lag), I gave up on accurate science.
(Valente's novelette "The Future Is Blue" forms the first part of
this novella.)
Interesting note: James David Nicoll reports on Twitter that Connie
Willis's novel LINCOLN'S DREAMS, about Robert E. Lee and the Civil
War, doesn't mention the word "slave" once. Or the word "black"
(except in referring to objects), "African (except in referring to
violets) or even "Negro".
[-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mle...@optonline.net
The Micawber Principle:
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure
nineteen nineteen six, result happiness.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure
twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
--Wilkins Micawber
(Charles Dickens,
DAVID COPPERFIELD)
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
12/10/21 -- Vol. 40, No. 24, Whole Number 2201
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mle...@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, ele...@optonline.net
Sending Address: evelynchim...@gmail.com
All material is the opinion of the author and is copyrighted by the
author unless otherwise noted.
All comments sent or posted will be assumed authorized for
inclusion unless otherwise noted.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send mail to ele...@optonline.net
The latest issue is at <http://www.leepers.us/mtvoid/latest.htm>.
An index with links to the issues of the MT VOID since 1986 is at
<http://leepers.us/mtvoid/back_issues.htm>.
Topics:
Mini Reviews, Part 3 (FAUCI, MY SALINGER YEAR, SWAN SONG)
(film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
LIGHT CHASER by Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell
(book review by Joe Karpierz)
BEING THE RICARDOS (film review by Mark R. Leeper
and Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE DYBBUK (1938) (letter of comment by Kip Williams)
THE LAST PAGAN (letters of comment by Peter Trei, Kevin R,
Gary McGath, and Paul Dormer)
This Week's Reading (THE PAST IS RED, LINCOLN'S DREAMS)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 3 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)
Here is the third batch of mini-reviews, biographical
documentaries and biopics.
FAUCI: This film covers Dr. Anthony Fauci's work not only with the
COVID-19 pandemic, but also with the AIDS/HIV epidemic in the 1980s
and 1990s. (Interestingly, both were politicized, though in very
different ways, and we can see how politics often drives people's
positions more than science does.) In both epidemics, Fauci had a
major role. Though most of the film is about his efforts against
disease, there is some biographical material, as he talks about
trying to balance his family life and his professional career (hard
to do when he is the point man during an epidemic). (Warning: on-
line ratings such as in the IMDB tend to be skewed by political
factors and should not be trusted.)
Released theatrically 09/10/21; available on Disney+ and NatGeoTV.
Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), or 7/10.
Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13984924/reference>
What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fauci>
MY SALINGER YEAR: A semi-autobiographical film based on the non-
fiction book by Joanna Smith Rakoff, covering her time in 1996 and
1997 with a New York literary agency who had J. D. Salinger as a
client. (Careful angles avoid showing the face of the actor
playing Salinger, so the filmmakers emphasize Salinger's famous
reclusiveness, while also avoiding the need for extensive make-up.)
Our main character learns to see much of life through the lens of
Holden Caulfield, in spite of not having read THE CATCHER IN THE
RYE when she started the job. One envies Joanna the chance to walk
down the street and be greeted by world-famous writers. For those
who are into the New York literary lifestyle I can recommend also
CROSSING DELANCEY.
Released theatrically 03/05/21; available on DVD. Rating: +2 (-4
to +4), or 7/10.
Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2222052/reference>
What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/my_salinger_year>
SWAN SONG: [There are two 2021 films titled SWAN SONG. One is a
science fiction film with Mahershala Ali. This is not that film.
This is a drama film with Udo Kier.]
Udo Kier got his real start as the star of FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN
and for BLOOD FOR DRACULA, and has been known mostly as a character
actor in his over-200 films. In SWAN SONG, he is a retired hair
dresser asked to do the hair and make-up for a former client with
whom he had a falling-out. His character, Patrick Pitsenbarger,
was a real hairdresser to the Sandusky socialites "back in the day"
and a well-known drag performer. Patrick (a.k.a. "Mister Pat")
keeps his history alive with a set of very old photographs and
memories of himself and his family. This is a familiar story of
old person revisiting places from their youth, as well as a story
of someone discovering that they never understood what the real
situation was. What starts as pity in the viewer transforms into an
appreciation of "Mister Pat's" charm and joie de vivre, with some
moments of sadness for the disappearance of a gay culture he was
such a part of. (Upon hearing that the drag bar where he used to
perform is closing, Pat plaintively asks, "But where will we dance
now?")
Released on various streaming services 08/13/21. Rating: high +1
(-4 to +4), or 6/10.
Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10832274/reference>
What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/swan_song_2021>
[-mrl/ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: LIGHT CHASER by Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell
(copyright 2021, Tordotcom, $13.99, trade paperback, 173pp, ISBN
978-1-250-76982-4) (book review by Joe Karpierz)
Science fiction is a funny, weird genre (go figure). Some of the
best SF stories are told with emphasis on their characters and on
character development. It's not unusual to talk to fans who will
say that they "want more stories about character X" because they
fell in love with that character. It's also not unusual to talk to
fans who love stories that are built around interesting ideas; and
really, that's how the genre started in the first place. Science
fiction was the genre of fantastic ideas, of the sense of wonder
that people get from stories that contain wild, outside the box
ideas. Many people like one type of story over another, and that's
okay. Others like stories that have both great character
development and wild ideas that generate a sense of wonder. That's
okay too.
But here's another oddball one. Peter F. Hamilton, one of the
great space opera writers of our time, who has so many wonderful
ideas running through his novels that it's impossible to write them
in anything less than the length of WAR AND PEACE, is a
collaborator on a novella, of all lengths, which contains some
pretty spectacular ideas. The thing is, the novella is actually
the right length for the story. How does *that* happen? To be
fair, I've never read anything by Gareth L. Powell before, but I'll
bet he at least had something to do with the cat being in the
story.
While there really is only one main character, Amahle, there isn't
much time for the full character development that many people like
to see. And yet, I think we see enough to get a feel for her
motivations as we move through the story. Amahle is a Light
Chaser, an explorer who travels from planet to planet in the
universe--and it's not clear whether all her stops are within the
same galaxy or not--alone except for an onboard AI traveling
companion, trading baubles and trinkets for life stories. She
makes her stops throughout The Domain. At the end of her round
trip cycle, she turns in the memories (stored on a kind of
necklace) in exchange for more baubles, and goes back out on the
trip again. She is revered wherever she goes; she is remembered by
each of the civilizations she visits. All are interested in making
sure she gets the memories she asked for so they can get the
trinkets she gives in return.
Yet, something is amiss.
She gets bored on her journeys, so she views the memories that have
been handed in to her. There is a voice, a person, who is telling
her that something is wrong. It seems to be the same person, but
from different times and different places. This person knows her,
and knows that she can do something about what is wrong. She is
warned not to trust her AI. And as she puts all the stories
together, she realizes that something is indeed wrong, and that she
can and should do something about it, for the future of humanity is
at stake.
Which brings us to the beginning of the book.
Okay, that's not fair, but really the rest of the book sets up the
beginning, which is the result of everything that has transpired in
the rest of the story. We don't know what hits us at first, but as
the story continues we do come to realize that the beginning is the
culmination of the rest of it. Granted, this is not a new
storytelling method, but in this case it is very compelling.
Hamilton and Powell pack a lot into this novella. There is no
extra fluff here. Everything counts, and everything matters. And
it's all good, even great. This will be on my Hugo nomination
ballot for Chicago next year. That's about as high a
recommendation as I can make. [-jak]
===================================================================
TOPIC: BEING THE RICARDOS (film review by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn
C. Leeper)
BEING THE RICARDOS is a fictional telling of three crises that
affected Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz during the early 1950s: Ball
was declared a Communist by Walter Winchell, there was a front-page
tabloid scandal about Arnaz and another woman, and Ball was
pregnant. (The latter may not seem like much of a crisis, but in
the early 1950s, television had never shown a pregnant woman, and
had certainly never used the word "pregnant".) The film has a lot
of flashbacks, but there seems to be a change of film stock that
helps us know what is 1950s and what is earlier. In a tribute to
the show, the first line (after the "documentary" opening--see
below) is, "Lucy, I'm home!"
In addition to all this, there is reasonable coverage of the
technical aspects of rehearsing and filming an episode at that
time.
There are a few criticisms one can make of the film. One that has
been made by many is that they cast a Spaniard (Javier Bardem) as
Arnaz, rather than someone from Cuba, or at least from Latin
America. (Similar casting, such as Antonio Banderas as a Cuban in
THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE in 1992, attracted less
attention. Indeed, the fact that they chose someone Hispanic for
MAMBO KINGS was considered a big step forward by some.) On the
other hand, Javier Bardem does get a chance to show off his singing
voice with Latin (American) songs.
There seems to have been less of a commitment to have the
characters in the film look like their real-life counterparts than
there often is in films of this sort. Perhaps that's a good thing;
the actors are actors, not impersonators, and covering actors in
lots of make-up to achieve an artificial resemblance is often
counter-productive. (They did do accurate hairstyles, though.) On
the other hand, it took me quite a while to realize that J. K.
Simmons was playing William Frawley (as Fred Mertz)--he was just
too recognizable as Simmons.
The film also does some major time compression, showing all these
crises as happening in one week, while in fact Ball was pregnant in
1951 and brought before HUAC--and event happening *before*
Winchell's accusation--in 1953. And unlike in REDS, the
"witnesses" (the people labeled as people who worked with Ball and
Arnaz in what is filmed in a documentary style) are not the real
people, but actors. (Quite possibly they are delivering things
that the real people actually said.) As in many biopics, the
viewer has a choice what there is to believe.
One suspects this will have more appeal for those who remember the
original "I Love Lucy" show, but its continuing popularity will
extend the audience for this.
Released theatrically 12/10/21. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4), or
8/10.
Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4995540/reference>
What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/being_the_ricardos>
[-mrl/ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE DYBBUK (1938) (letter of comment by Kip Williams)
In response to Mark's review of THE DYBBUK in the 12/03/21 issue of
the MT VOID, Kip Williams writes:
Thanks for spoilers [warning]. Some of us read old works of
literature for actual enjoyment, and not seeing the author's work
unraveled by punchline shouters helps. [-kw]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE LAST PAGAN (letters of comment by Peter Trei, Kevin R,
Gary McGath, and Paul Dormer)
In response to Evelyn's comments on THE LAST PAGAN in the 12/03/21
issue of the MT VOID, Peter Trei writes:
Nit: When you write about a non-famous historical event, it helps to
include the date: Julian ruled 361 to 363 AD. He was the second
Emperor after Constantine.
There's a good portrait of him from a coin on his Wikipedia page.
It's a profile, so can't speak to the beard's point, but his lip
looks pretty normal:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_(emperor)>
[-pt]
Evelyn responds:
I should have included his dates. But while we're picking nits:
It's "A.D. 361", not "361 A.D." (Whether or not it includes
periods seems to be a style thing, and may differ in the UK.)
I would say "361 C.E.", *especially* for Julian! (He'd probably
prefer 1114 AUC.) [-ecl]
But Kevin R writes:
I'm all for adding relevant dates, but Julian is far from obscure.*
ObMundane Fiction:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_(novel)>
* That'd be Jude:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jude_the_Obscure>
Julian would have been considered infamous, if not famous, in
Christendom.
My opinion may be skewed by 12 years of Catholic El-Hi education,
including two years of Latin, and a history B.A. from a Jesuit
university. I had maybe more than average exposure to things
classical than was usual for a late 20th century schoolboy? [-kr]
Peter replies:
Just a tad. Or maybe, I'm just a Philistine. My school was, to the
extent it was anything, Church of England, and that as little as
possible. I didn't study history past 8th grade (the UK made you
specialize early, which I regard as one of its
weak points.).
If I were of a more serious-lit bent, I might have read the Vidal,
but I wasn't. [-pt]
Gary McGath adds:
Ibsen wrote an extra-long play, "Emperor and Galilean", about
Julian. [-gmg]
And Evelyn notes:
The BBC did a radio version of it, which is one of the extras in
their Ibsen DVD set. [-ecl]
And Paul Dormer adds:
Saw it at the National Theatre in London back in 2011, apparently
its UK stage premiere. Andrew Scott was the lead. [-pd]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE PAST IS RED by Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom, ISBN 978-1-
250-30113-0) was actually pretty good for most of it, if a bit
unlikely. Tetley Abednego lives on the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch, a.k.a. Garbagetown, which is divided into regions such as
Electric City, Pill Hill, Cardboard Flats, and Clotheschester.
People get their names from things on the patch. I was willing to
accept all this, and even that there supposedly was no dry land
left, even though in actual fact if all the ice melted, the sea
level would rise only 215 feet. (See
<https://www.goodshomedesign.com/maps-of-what-the-earth-would-look-
like-if-all-ice-melted/> for what Earth would look like.) But when
Tetley finds a radio and has a real-time conversation with a girl
on Mars (i.e., with no time lag), I gave up on accurate science.
(Valente's novelette "The Future Is Blue" forms the first part of
this novella.)
Interesting note: James David Nicoll reports on Twitter that Connie
Willis's novel LINCOLN'S DREAMS, about Robert E. Lee and the Civil
War, doesn't mention the word "slave" once. Or the word "black"
(except in referring to objects), "African (except in referring to
violets) or even "Negro".
[-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mle...@optonline.net
The Micawber Principle:
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure
nineteen nineteen six, result happiness.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure
twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
--Wilkins Micawber
(Charles Dickens,
DAVID COPPERFIELD)
Paul Dormer
Dec 13, 2021, 6:23:56 AM12/13/21
to
In article <4855edf0-b00b-4462...@googlegroups.com>,
evelynchim...@gmail.com () wrote:
> Tetley Abednego
Are Tetley teabags known in the US. (Or Tetley beer, although that
brewery no longer exists.)
evelynchim...@gmail.com () wrote:
> Tetley Abednego
Are Tetley teabags known in the US. (Or Tetley beer, although that
brewery no longer exists.)
Jeff Urs
Dec 13, 2021, 8:12:15 AM12/13/21
to
Walmart.
--
Jeff
evelynchim...@gmail.com
Dec 13, 2021, 12:05:17 PM12/13/21
to
--
Evelyn C. Leeper
Jeff Urs
Dec 13, 2021, 1:38:05 PM12/13/21
to
touchdown was 25 miles SW of us.
--
Jeff
Kevrob
Dec 13, 2021, 5:00:47 PM12/13/21
to
My folks bought Tetley Tea most of the time.
I'll buy it if the shop I get tea from is out of Barry's.
https://www.instacart.com/shoprite/tetley-tea-bags
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFfEbWqjuYU&ab_channel=EllisFeaster
--
Kevin R
Tim Merrigan
Dec 13, 2021, 6:45:11 PM12/13/21
to
--
Qualified immuninity = virtual impunity.
Tim Merrigan
--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com
Kerr-Mudd, John
Dec 14, 2021, 5:19:50 AM12/14/21
to
On Mon, 13 Dec 2021 15:45:09 -0800
Tim Merrigan <tp...@ca.rr.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Dec 2021 11:23 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
> p...@pauldormer.cix.co.uk (Paul Dormer) wrote:
>
> >In article <4855edf0-b00b-4462...@googlegroups.com>,
> >evelynchim...@gmail.com () wrote:
> >
> >> Tetley Abednego
> >
> >Are Tetley teabags known in the US. (Or Tetley beer, although that
> >brewery no longer exists.)
>
> The teabags are, I've never heard of the beer.
Lucky you!
Tim Merrigan <tp...@ca.rr.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Dec 2021 11:23 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
> p...@pauldormer.cix.co.uk (Paul Dormer) wrote:
>
> >In article <4855edf0-b00b-4462...@googlegroups.com>,
> >evelynchim...@gmail.com () wrote:
> >
> >> Tetley Abednego
> >
> >Are Tetley teabags known in the US. (Or Tetley beer, although that
> >brewery no longer exists.)
>
> The teabags are, I've never heard of the beer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetley%27s_Brewery#Beers
(Old news)
--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.
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