While the Soviet Union is a thing of the past and the Cold War has been replaced with the War on Terror, I still found James Morrow’s darkly satirical post-apocalypse meditation This is the Way the World Ends to be very insightful.
Under the threat of an all-out nuclear war the latest fashion among the American public is to buy SCOPAS suits – high-tech protective gear supposedly equipped with everything needed to survive the nuclear aftermath. Our protagonist, George Paxton, is a tombstone engraver in a small Massachusetts town. Being a loving family man he is deeply mournful to the fact that he can’t afford such a suit to protect his daughter, until he is given an offer for a free SCOPAS suit on the condition that he signs a special contract – with an agreement Paxton doesn’t put much consideration to with the love for his daughter in mind.
Then the nuclear war, with retaliations and counter-retaliations happens, and Paxton finds himself on a submarine along with the five other survivors of the human race. They find out that they are on the way to a trial – prosecuted by the “unadmitted”, the future generations that never got to be born because of the war. While the other defendants all had active roles in the nuclear proliferation, Paxton is tried as a representative of the bystanders that passively let the arms race happen.
Morrow’s storytelling is quite full of fantastic elements, besides the overall concept of the unadmitted there is also a few passages taking place in 16th century France, featuring no other than Nostradamus himself. In the trial itself the author makes excellent use of the Cold War rhetoric, and speculates on ideas of deterrence contra disarmament. There is also a what probably is described as a certain kind of bizarre over-exaggeration in the way certain scenes are depicted, like a fairy-tale gone horribly bad, but I think it fits quite well with the big picture.
Even though two decades has passed since This is the Way the World Ends was published, I thought it was an excellent piece of speculative fiction. Well worth reading for anyone in need of some food for thought.
While I am on the subject of the author: another novel by James Morrow that I feel is worth mentioning, even though I feel it was too long since I read it to write anything detailed about it, is Towing Jehovah, in which a disgraced sea captain is contracted by the Vatican to tow the corpse of God to the Arctic for preservation. An intriguing speculation, and a great example of a satire where the author manages to get equally into the mindset of both the religious and the atheists.
Related links:
James Morrow on Wikipedia
Author’s homepage
This is the Way the World Ends at Amazon.com
and Amazon.co.uk
Towing Jehovah at Amazon.com
and Amazon.co.uk
Tags: Books, James Morrow, review, speculative fiction, This is the Way the World Ends, Towing Jehova
June 20, 2006 at 12:59 am · Filed under Books, Entertainment & Culture
In a mall, just like any other, Sun and her two friends get on the wrong foot with the wrong gang. What follows is a fight for survival on a battleground littered with trademarks.
In another place and time Meniscus, a cloned test subject locked up in a sealed chamber, is waging his own battle against the viruses he has been infected with.
Of course the two storylines are connected and together will affect the future of humanity. I quite liked that connection, but going into further detail would probably give away too much.
Having picked up Maul (along with Lethe by the same author, but more about that one later) when browsing the library’s sci-fi section while waiting for a bus one rainy day, I didn’t know what to expect – but I have to say I’m not very disappointed with this discovery. While the author herself describes the science in the book as “pure fudge”, the concepts she writes about are quite clever. Sun’s world is full of glorified consumerism – not without an underlying reason – and Meniscus’s future is an interesting take on a world where men have become an endangered gender and propagation is big business.
To conlude, I’d say that my opinion of Maul is “a bit better than not half bad” – a not too heavy but still stimulating read. “Good for lazy summer afternoons” may be the appropriate description.
(and the links for those who want to check it out at Amazon.com
or Amazon.co.uk)
Tags: Books, Maul, review, sci-fi, Tricia Sullivan
June 18, 2006 at 1:33 am · Filed under Books, Entertainment & Culture
Frank Martin is a transporter. He delivers things – not asking what or for whom. But at the moment he is filling in as chauffeur for the family of a high profile government policymaker engaged in narcotics control. Then a doctor’s appointment leads to a kidnapping, and Frank’s specialist military background implicates him as being responsible for abducting the family’s son. But Frank promised Jack never to let anyone hurt him. And the Transporter always keeps his promises…
So, what about the movie? I think the best way to describe Transporter 2 it is that it is the kind of movie that has a top of the line German sedan – armored to the outer coat of paint. And Lola, a heroin chic-type who considers the best accessories to pink lingerie to be a pair of laser-sighted sub-machine guns. And a latino mercenary practicing Kendo, as well as a few russians, including thugs and a scientist. Oh, and high-tech vials containing cartoonishly bright substances. You get the idea.
I don’t think there’s much to say about the acting – Frank Martin might not be the deepest of characters, but Jason Statham plays a good enough anti-hero, and the rest of the cast does a good job of providing various sterotypes. The script (by Robert Mark Kamen and Luc Besson) won’t win any awards. Some bits are way over the top, but it’s good enough to last the duration of the movie and provides for plenty of action.
Compared to the original Transporter, it feels like a combination of sequel and remake. The story, with Frank Martin working as a family driver, feels like standard sequel-seasoning, and the overall feel is, well, more American than European.
As a mindless action movie, I think it was quite entertaining. If you’re in the mood for something in that direction, but can’t decide if you want to watch Die Hard or something with Jackie Chan – then Transporter 2 might be what you want. There’s plenty of gunfights, car chases and clever Hong Kong-ish fight sequences. But if you’re looking for more than an hour and a half of simple entertainment, look somewhere else. Rating? 8/10 on the roundkick scale, 5.5/10 on the regular.
Some convinient links:
amazon.com: Transporter 2
| The Transporter (Special Delivery Edition)
amazon.co.uk: Transporter 2
| The Transporter
Tags: movies, review, Transporter 2
January 19, 2006 at 11:48 pm · Filed under Entertainment & Culture, Movies & TV
I finally got to see A History of Violence the other day (it opened here in Sweden three weeks ago), and I found it to be a very rewarding cinematic experience . I have noticed that opinions have been very varied, and I suppose it is one of those films that doesn’t fit everyone.
Based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, A History of Violence tells the story about the mild-mannered family man Tom Stall, who becomes a local hero after defending his diner from a pair of fugitive criminals. But the following media coverege attracts attention, and Stall’s diner is visited by a scarred mobster who greets him as Joey Cusack and claims to know him from Philadelphia…
I havn’t read the graphic novel, but I think David Cronenberg presents the story in a gritty, mundane tone that could be true to the atmosphere of the original medium. The whole film feels quite unspectacular – and that I mean in a positive sense, as I think that solid, straight-forward films are becoming too few and far apart in the main stream.
The cast is overall good, Maria Bello plays the part of Stall’s wife very well, as well as Ed Harris as Carl Fogarty, the aforementioned mobster. And then there’s Viggo Mortensen, who hasn’t made any particular impression on me, just an actor among others – until now, that is. I found this performance absolutely remarkable, but I can’t really put it in words. The same goes for the story, which I feel is of the kind that is hard to discuss unless I’m talking to someone who also has seen the film. I think much of its effect lies in the impression on the viewer, rather then in the plot itself.
There has been a few remarks regarding the violence and sexual content, but personally I don’t think it was any excessive amounts. In comparsion titles like, for example, Sin City and Kill Bill, had much more of that, but perhaps the mundane atmosphere of A History of Violence gives it a stronger, more realistic impact. Or maybe those complaints were from people who thought “Oh, I loved Viggo in LOTR and Hidalgo, I have to see this!”
In conclusion I have to say this is one of my favorite movies of the year, in close competition with Oldboy and Million Dollar Baby (I know those were originally released in 2003 and 2004 respectively, but they didn’t open here until this year so they’re on my 2005 list)
Tags: A History of Violence, movies, review
December 22, 2005 at 4:48 pm · Filed under Entertainment & Culture, Movies & TV
So, once again the gamer inside me has gone from latent to roaring wild, and this time it’s becuase of Sid Meier’s Civilization IV. Civ has been around since I moved from the family’s first Nintendo to playing games on the Amiga when I was ten or so, and I guess it has become sort of an periodic addiction. And this time is no different. In fact I think I must say – nostalgia put aside – that this is the best Civilization so far.
The new features, like religion, civics and great people are a great addition to the long term aspects of the gameplay, and the design of the game makes control over cities and units easier than ever before. The added features in Civ 2 and 3 made interaction more and more complex, but this time the developers have made a great work with the interface so that I feel I can focus on my strategies without getting lost – the information I want is simply there when I need it.
The new graphics and audio are great as well, full of little details that emphazise the culture and point of history of the moment as well as giving a good overview of the game. Building a wonder (which includes classics like the Pyramids and Colossus and more modern examples like Hollywood and the UN) rewards you with a nice movie.
For more information check the official site or reviews at Gamespot or IGN. Unless you’re a fan of the earlier games, of course, in which case you should have used the time you spent reading this on running to the game store to get your copy.
Or get it from Amazon:
Sid Meier’s Civilization IV
(amazon.com)
Sid Meier’s Civilization IV
(amazon.co.uk)
Tags: Civilization IV, games, review
November 6, 2005 at 5:47 pm · Filed under Entertainment & Culture
I thought I’d use some space in this blog to mention the books I read, new as well as old. I don’t have any real ambitions in literary criticism, but I still think it could be fun to share some thoughts, as well as keep a tally of what I’ve read and maybe enhance my reading experience by reflecting about the books.
Anyway, The Butlerian Jihad, by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson is set about ten thousand years before the events of Frank Herbert’s Dune, in a time when thinking machines are ruling over the Old Empire, including Earth. This period is the source of the technophobic aspects of the society in the original Dune novels. But humanity still clings to life, many as slaves under the machines, but some on free worlds such as Salusa Secundus. Here we find Serena Butler, the idealistic daughter of the planet’s viceroy, and Xavier Harkonnen, officer in the Salusan Armada – two people dedicated to standing up against the machines.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Books, Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, Legends of Dune: The Butlerian Jihad, review, sci-fi
September 27, 2005 at 8:00 pm · Filed under Books, Entertainment & Culture
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