MT VOID, 12/24/21 -- Vol. 40, No. 26, Whole Number 2203

[evelynchim...@gmail.com]

THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
12/24/21 -- Vol. 40, No. 26, Whole Number 2203

Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mle...@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, ele...@optonline.net
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Topics:
Our Christmas Issue? (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Hugo Awards/Lodestar Award/Astounding Award Winners
Mini Reviews, Part 5 (FALLING FOR FIGARO, THE NOWHERE INN,
THE VILLAGE DETECTIVE--A SONG CYCLE) (film reviews
by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
SNOW WONDER (film review by Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE GREEN KNIGHT (and Other Arthurian Films) (film comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Mini-Reviews, CRYPTOZOO, and DESIGNER GENES
(letter of comment by John Purcell)
This Week's Reading (A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: Our Christmas Issue? (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

This seems to be a Christmas issue, with reviews of Connie Willis's
Christmas stories, her Christmas movie (SNOW WONDER), and several
versions of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", which takes place
during two Christmases. [-ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: Hugo Awards/Lodestar Award/Astounding Award Winners

Best Novel: NETWORK EFFECT, Martha Wells (Tor.com)
Best Novella: "The Empress of Salt and Fortune", Nghi Vo (Tor.com)
Best Novelette: "Two Truths and a Lie", Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)
Best Short Story: "Metal Like Blood in the Dark", T. Kingfisher
(Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2020)
Best Series: "The Murderbot Diaries", Martha Wells (Tor.com)
Best Related Work: BEOWULF: A NEW TRANSLATION, Maria Dahvana
Headley (FSG)
Best Graphic Story or Comic: Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel
Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian
Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings (Harry N. Abrams)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: THE OLD GUARD
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: "The Good Place: Whenever
You're Ready"
Best Editor, Short Form: Ellen Datlow
Best Editor, Long Form: Diana M. Pho
Best Professional Artist: Rovina Cai
Best Semiprozine: FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction
Best Fanzine: nerds of a feather, flock together
Best Fancast: The Coode Street Podcast
Best Fan Writer: Elsa Sjunneson
Best Fan Artist: Sara Felix
Best Video Game: Hades

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (presented by the World
Science Fiction Society): A WIZARD'S GUIDE TO DEFENSIVE BAKING,
T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions)

Astounding Award for Best New Writer (presented by Dell Magazines):
Emily Tesh (2nd year of eligibility

Chengdu (China) won the bid for Worldcon in 2023.

===================================================================

TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 5 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)

Here is the fifth batch of mini-reviews, this time of films
centered around music.

FALLING FOR FIGARO: At the beginning of FALLING FOR FIGARO, at
least one member of the audience has fallen asleep on a performance
of an opera. Worse, it is the boyfriend of our main character,
Millie Cantwell (played by Danielle Macdonald), who loves opera and
dreams of becoming an opera singer. (It is unusual, and a bit
refreshing, to see a lead actress in a film who is not thin.)
Though the film takes place entirely in Britain, our main character
(Millie) is an American. At one time the British would make sure
the main character has appeal for Americans. I hope this is not a
return to that requirement. Millie decides to go after her dream,
quits her job as a London fund manager, and travels to Scotland to
study under a tyrannical teacher (played by Joanna Lumley). Millie
wants to compete in the "Singer of Renown" contest. (There
actually was a "Singers of Renown" contest for many years, but it
took place in Australia. Its use may be due to the writer/director
Ben Lewin being Australian, and the film being an Australian film.)
The film has a nice selection of operatic arias, with the ones
"sung" by the two leads actually voiced by Stacey Alleaume and
Nathan Lay.

Released theatrically 10/01/21. Rating: low +1 or 5/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7392014/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/falling_for_figaro>

THE NOWHERE INN: (**SPOILERS**) A bit of background here: Alice
Clark is a real actress and musician, whose stage name is St.
Vincent. Carrie Brownstein is a writer and actress. This film,
co-written by them, is semi-autobiographical. I will refer to the
internal documentary that is being made as "the documentary" and
the film itself as THE NOWHERE INN.

THE NOWHERE INN begins with a chaotic rock song, which is somewhat
indicative of the film. In fact, all the songs in this concert
mockumentary have nonsensical lyrics. The main character, singer
Annie Clark/St. Vincent (played by Annie Clark) asks a friend
(Carrie Brownstein, played by Carrie Brownstein) to write and
direct a documentary about her for her fans. But while the stage
persona of St. Vincent is dynamic and exciting, the reality of
Annie Clark is boring. THE NOWHERE INN shows a parade of
miscalculations, mistakes, and personal conflicts along the tour,
like a low-key THIS IS SPINAL TAP. The problem, Brownstein says,
is that Annie/St.Vincent is "nerdy and normal in real life." THE
NOWHERE INN examines the difference between on- and off-stage
personae; the documentary's director wants the off-screen world to
be more interesting, but things go awry, and things get even more
uncomfortable when two of the women go for salacious images. Annie
keeps trying to control and then stage the documentary, complete
with planned break-up with girlfriend, and a fake family and back
story, and not just for herself. Annie doesn't want grit and dirt
(and jail), she wants a different kind of film and imagines herself
in a sophisticated party scene instead. Meanwhile, the director of
the documentary is always reaching for an inappropriate tone or an
inappropriate color. Annie and Carrie have profound differences in
their interpretation of film and eventually it tears their
relationship apart.

There are certainly some striking images in THE NOWHERE INN. There
are the inappropriate color choices mentioned above. In one scene,
we see only the back of someone's head and straight black hair,
even as she turns around, like a image from a Japanese horror
movie. There are aspects of this reminiscent of SYNECDOCHE and of
THE TRUMAN SHOW. As noted, this is semi-autobiographical; it is
also somewhat self-referential. (For what it's worth, it also
seems to fail a reverse Bechdel test--there do not seem to be any
conversations between two named male characters.)

Released theatrically 09/17/21; available on Apple TV+. Rating:
low +1 (-4 to +4), or 5/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10441822/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_nowhere_inn>

THE VILLAGE DETECTIVE--A SONG CYCLE: THE VILLAGE DETECTIVE--A SONG
CYCLE is a documentary about several reels of a 1969 film (THE
VILLAGE DETECTIVE ["Derevenskiy detektiv"]) from the Soviet Union
that were pulled up in 2016 in an Icelandic fishing trawler's net
(so yet another film this year with underwater photography!). The
film introduces itself with a song sung/recited by someone who
looks to be a Russian peasant in militaristic uniform--the "village
detective" of the movie. The movie starred Mikhail Ivanovich
Zharov, and the documentary is apparently called a song cycle
because many of the films shown have Zharov singing. The
documentary is more a history of Soviet film and Zharov's career as
a terrifically popular Soviet film star than about the ocean find,
but it does begin with an explanation of how the film was preserved
underwater for many decades. Unfortunately, there are too many
extended shots of damaged film with no sound or explanation. For
those interested in popular Soviet film, it is probably worth
seeing, but it is not of general interest. (On the plus side, the
subtitling is quite legible, avoiding the "white-on-white"
problem.)

Released theatrically and on Apple TV+ 09/22/21. Rating: 0 (-4 to
+4), or 4/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9463622/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_village_detective_a_song_cycle>

[-mrl/ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: SNOW WONDER (film review by Evelyn C. Leeper)

I *finally* got to see SNOW WONDER. When it was first scheduled in
2005, we set up to record, but as had happened before, some sports
game ran over, and the movie was either joined in progress or
delayed and we did not record the whole thing. It was never re-
run, and never showed up on home video, and only now did I think to
check YouTube. (I suspect that is an illegal upload, but who
knows? Willis actually mentions it on her blog page, so *she*
doesn't mind.)

The movie is based on the novella "Just Like the Ones We Used To
Know", which first appeared in the December 2003 issue of ASIMOV'S
SCIENCE FICTION. It has several stories: a wedding in Kentucky, a
young writer in New York cooking for his first time ever, a
divorced family in Los Angeles, a straying husband in Baltimore, an
inept weatherman also in Baltimore, and a grieving widow in
Virginia--all experience a freakish worldwide snowstorm in
different ways. Most of this comes from the original novella, but
there are some changes. Some of the stories take place in
different locations (e.g., the widow goes to a Virginia plantation
rather than to Santa Fe), and some have additional fleshing out
(e.g., the young cook and his Aunt Lulla). I particularly liked
the additions to the story of the husband in Baltimore. As with
most of Willis's Christmas stories, this is fairly schmaltzy (as
one review dubbed it). Indeed, her objection to IT'S A WONDERFUL
LIFE is that it does not really have a happy ending: Potter gets to
keep the money and keep abusing people, George remains a person who
is constantly sacrificing for others, etc. She prefers MIRACLE ON
34TH STREET. If you like Willis's Christmas stories, you'll
probably want to see this. [-ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: THE GREEN KNIGHT (and Other Arthurian Films) (film comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)

I recently watched THE GREEN KNIGHT and that brought to mind
comparisons with other Arthurian films, so here are comments on
some of those, as well as on THE GREEN KNIGHT.

The best-known Arthurian movie is probably CAMELOT (1967), but it
also may be the worst, and not just on a historical basis. Yes,
everything is too clean, and the make-up and hairdos are all wrong,
and where on earth did Guenevere (this movie's spelling) get that
ridiculous-looking carriage?, but go a *little* deeper and there is
even more wrong.

What an ego Arthur has, that he thinks *everyone* is thinking, "I
wonder what the king is doing tonight?" In fact, he's pretty
obnoxious throughout the film--but then, everyone is.

Clearly this is Christian England, but it must be somewhere between
when the Romans left and before the Normans arrived. On the other
hand, chivalry seems to have been invented already. Pellinore
makes a reference to Charlemagne, putting this at least in the 9th
century. So we're pretty much between 800 and 1000.

When her entourage stops to rest, Guenevere asks for tea. There
was no tea in England then.

"By 9PM the moonlight must appear." How exactly is this managed
when the moon is new? Or for that matter, in general? This seems
astronomically questionable.

There is no way Guenevere's wedding train could be splayed so
perfectly if she walked unattended.

The English Channel is labeled as such on Arthur's map, but was not
called that in England until the 18th century.

"The knights will whack only for good. Might for right." But who
is defining what is good or right? I mean, I suspect the knights
thought that having the peasants grovel to them was good and right.
(Later Pellinore reinforces this theory when he is having a
Socratic dialogue with Arthur about trial by jury.)

The Queen won the May Day footrace--what a surprise! Her requests
to the knights before the joust also seem quite bloodthirsty.

"I'll barbecue him." The word was first used in English in 1661.

There is THE SWORD OF LANCELOT (1963) with Cornel Wilde, which may
be more accurate, but the dialogue and the music are both a bit
over-ripe.

GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT (1973) was basically a children's film
which had very little to do with the actual Gawain legend. Yes,
the Green Knight shows up with his challenge, but the film
concentrates on Gawain's adventures during the following year
rather than his temptations by the lady of the castle at the end,
although the green scarf and Gawain's flinching do make an
appearance. And there is also SWORD OF THE VALIANT (1984) with
Sean Connery, but that got even worse reviews than GAWAIN AND THE
GREEN KNIGHT, so I watched only part of it.

EXCALIBUR (1981) claims to take place during "the Dark Ages", but
the armor, stirrups, and so on are basically those of the 15th
century.

Merlin makes Arthur a king upon whom the health of the land depends
(the Fisher King), rather than any sort of Christian king. (There
are echoes of this sort of king/leader in THE WICKER MAN.)

EXCALIBUR certainly shows more of the dirt and blood of the time
(either time) than CAMELOT.

The scene where the callow youth (Perceval) wants to serve
Lancelot, is rejected, catches and cooks dinner for Lancelot, and
then is accepted seems inspired by a similar sequence in THE
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. The sword between Lancelot and Guinevere is
taken from the legend of Tristan and Iseult.

THE MISTS OF AVALON (2001) was based on Marion Zimmer Bradley's
book of the same name. It is much more focused on the women of the
story, and much more centered on "the religion of the Goddess" and
its power. (The priestesses of the Goddess must have special
powers: their cloaks always drag at least a foot on the ground, yet
remain completely clean, with no trace or dirt or mud.) It's not
very accurate to Malory et al, yet it is not wildly divergent
either, and certainly better than a lot of more traditional
Arthurian films.

Then there's A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT (1948), a
musical comedy that has both Sir Thomas Malory and Mark Twain
spinning in their graves.

The movie doesn't even have Hank Martin get hit on the head in
Britain; he goes unconscious in Connecticut in 1912 and wakes up in
England in 528--a very clean England, by the way. The filmmakers
seem to have decided that Pendragon Castle is in Cornwall, although
the name "Pendragon" is Welsh. For reasons unknown, everyone calls
Hank "Monster".

The date being 528, there are anachronisms galore: stirrups,
battlements on castles, full armor, a telescope, and slave markets.
The language is a totally mangled version of Early Modern English.

In reality, London was basically abandoned in 528, and there is no
way the characters could have walked from any reasonable location
for Pendragon Castle to London in the time shown.
And finally we have the latest film, THE GREEN KNIGHT (2021).

[My first comment is that it was a mistake to try to watch this
right after I got home from a cataract operation. Between one eye
being partially covered by the tape holding the shield on, the
distortion caused by the shield itself, the pain in the eye which
made me want to keep it closed, and the falling asleep that
happened when I closed my eye, my first viewing was less than
ideal. So I watched it again the next day under more normal
conditions.]

There are quite a few changes in this version from the canonical
poem. In this version, for example, that the "game" involves a
beheading is not explicitly known before Gawain accepts the
challenge, so Gawain has no reason to think there will be any sort
of real reckoning in a year. It becomes, therefore, a different
sort of test--he had the option to show mercy and *not* behead the
Green Knight. The Gawain of this film also tries to avoid seeking
out the Green Knight, and there seem to be multiple green sashes.
The ending, much discussed, is also different from the poem's (and
I won't reveal it here). The film was worth watching, and better
as a film than either of the two earlier versions I watched.

(Apparently Dev Patel is considered quintessentially English,
having now played both David Copperfield and Sir Gawain. Still,
when I picture him, it is in his roles as Sonny in THE BEST EXOTIC
MARIGOLD HOTEL and as Ramanujan in THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY.)
[-ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: Mini-Reviews, CRYPTOZOO, and DESIGNER GENES (letter of
comment by John Purcell)

In response to various comments in the 12/17/21 issue of the MT
VOID, John Purcell writes:

Well, it has been very, very long since I last wrote a letter of
comment to you two, but now that the semester is over I can start
in the next issue of ASKANCE (gonna try to get it done before the
year runs out) and write some letters of comment, and finish an
article for Justin Busch's fanzine. Wish me luck, but truly feels
wonderful to not be grading essays and such from dawn to dusk for a
change.

The mini-film reviews are a nice touch, and of these three the one
that I'm interested in watching is CRYPTOZOO. The premise sounds
like fun, and thanks to my eight-year-old grandson, the Japanese
anime shows he enjoys watching end up catching my eyes whenever he
and his little sister are in our care. There is always something
on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime that he likes, so once in a while
we succumb to his pleading and put one on our large-screen
television. The artwork style is what interests me, not so much
the storylines and dialogue, so I suspect he will want to watch
this at some point, that is, if it is offered on a streaming
service we get. We shall see.

Hmm. I am not much for e-books, but I do understand their
attraction both in terms of saving shelf-space and costs. Brian
Stableford is an author who I have not read very much of, and
DESIGNER GENES: TALES OF THE BIOTECH REVOLUTION does sound
interesting. In fact, the only book of his I have in severely
trimmed down collection is THE EMPIRE OF FEAR (1991), and even that
book sits unread on the shelf. *sigh* Some year.

Well, I think I shall do a little fanzine work and maybe enjoy some
light reading for a change. It will be a challenge to not grade
it, though. [-jp]

===================================================================

TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

After I watched SNOW WONDER, I wanted to re-read the original story
to compare it. The story, "Just Like the Ones We Used to Know", is
in a collection of Willis's Christmas stories, but other than that
has not been anthologized more than once or twice.

The collection, A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS by Connie Willis (Del Rey,
ISBN 978-0-399-18234-1) is an expanded edition of MIRACLE AND OTHER
CHRISTMAS STORIES and contains a dozen stories. (It also drops
"The Pony", which is annoying for completists.)

"Miracles" (1991) is dated, not just by its mentions of videotapes

and such, but by a corporation that is so intensely Christmas-
focused (Christmas parties, Secret Santas, Christmas gifts etc.).
Maybe I've been influenced by being in a fairly diverse corporate
environment, but these days I suspect the "Christmas" element is
scaled back and the "holiday aspect promoted. And employees are
probably more likely to get bonuses than useless presents from the
company.

"All About Emily" (2011) is just completely unlikely. I like all
the classic film references and the basic premise/conflict. I just
think the resolution is completely unrealistic, and as evidence I
will point out that you don't see American farm workers picketing
and signing petitions to allow illegal immigrants to take jobs
here--and the illegal immigrants are actually human. The idea that
we would see such support for non-humans strikes me as being
impossibly Pollyana-ish. In other words, this is your typical
Connie Willis Christmas story.

"Inn" (1993) is one of the more overtly religious of Willis's
Christmas stories. There is some humor, but it is not at the level
of, say, "Now Showing". It is also only the second of her
Christmas stories, so that might be the reason.

"All Seated on the Ground" (2007) is a typical sentimental
Christmas story from Willis. This one appeals to me even less than
some of her earlier ones--the notion that a single line from a
Christmas carol is the key to inter-species communication leaves me
cold. (Surely one can find similar lines in popular songs--why not
those?)

"In Coppelius's Toyshop" (1996) reminds me of Thomas M. Disch's
"Descending" and is more a Christmas horror story than the more
cheerful Willis offerings.

"Adaptation" (1994) is a fantasy updating of Charles Dickens's "A
CHRISTMAS CAROL".

"deck.halls@boughs/holly" (2001) drives me crazy with the totally
scrambled syntax of the title. The plot revolves around people
hiring decorators/planners for Christmas events, but implies this
is a product of the Internet age. The Internet may have nurtured
it, but it was around long before then.

"Cat's Paw" (1999) seems patterned after Agatha Christie's
ADVENTURE OF THE CHRISTMAS PUDDING in set-up and setting, and is a
bit predictable and barely a Christmas story.

"Now Showing" (2014) has an interesting premise (regarding the
current trend in movies and movie theaters), but goes on way too
long.

"Newsletter" (1997), not surprisingly is about Christmas
newsletters. (My observation: One can argue that they are too
impersonal, but in fact, now that they are generated on your
computer, the ability to produce subtle variations for various
people can make them *more* personal. You can add a line about
teaching flower arranging to your aunt who loves flowers, and take
out the line about Jimmy's football success from the one to your
cousin, who just broke his leg playing hockey.)
"Epiphany" (1999) is another updating, this time of the story of
the Three Magi.

"Just Like the Ones We Used to Know" (2003) is the basis of the
film SNOW WONDER, which I reviewed above.

For a full list of Willis's Christmas stories, see her blog page on
them at <http://azsf.net/cwblog/?page_id=223>. [-ecl]

===================================================================

Mark Leeper
mle...@optonline.net


The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words
left unsaid and deeds left undone.
--Harriet Beecher Stowe

[Gary McGath]

On 12/26/21 10:12 AM, ele...@optonline.net wrote:
> FALLING FOR FIGARO: At the beginning of FALLING FOR FIGARO, at
> least one member of the audience has fallen asleep on a performance
> of an opera.

There's a filksong about someone who always falls asleep watching
Wagner's Goetterdaemmerung. Understandable, since it's one of the
longest operas in the regular repertoire.

> The film has a nice selection of operatic arias, with the ones
> "sung" by the two leads actually voiced by Stacey Alleaume and
> Nathan Lay.

Marnie Nixon's ghost is glad they got credited.

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <sqa3bh$dkh$1...@dont-email.me>,

Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
>On 12/26/21 10:12 AM, ele...@optonline.net wrote:
>> FALLING FOR FIGARO: At the beginning of FALLING FOR FIGARO, at
>> least one member of the audience has fallen asleep on a performance
>> of an opera.
>
>There's a filksong about someone who always falls asleep watching
>Wagner's Goetterdaemmerung. Understandable, since it's one of the
>longest operas in the regular repertoire.

Indeed.

I'm blanking on the name of the famous 20th-century conductor who
habitually conducted without a score, having memorized the whole
enchilada.

One day he was preparing to conduct _Goetterdaemmerung_ (where
"preparing" consisted of things like finding his cufflinks and
checking to make sure the soloists had all shown up), and a
friend of his suggested that he have the score on hand "to keep
track of all the tempo changes."

"My dear Ermintrude," he answered, "there ARE no tempo changes in
_Goetterdaemmerung._ It plods along from 7 p.m. to quarter past
midnight like a damned old cart-horse."



--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

[Paul Dormer]

In article <r4qJ3...@kithrup.com>, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt)
wrote:

>
> "My dear Ermintrude," he answered, "there ARE no tempo changes in
> _Goetterdaemmerung._ It plods along from 7 p.m. to quarter past
> midnight like a damned old cart-horse."

Which reminds me of the comment by an American music critic: "Parsifal is
one of those operas that start at 6 p.m. Four hours later, you look at
your watch and it's a quarter after 6." (I now like Parsifal, but it
took me a long time to get into it.)