THE MT VOID
07/26/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 4, Whole Number 2338
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper,
mleeper@optonline.netCo-Editor: Evelyn Leeper,
eleeper@optonline.netSending Address:
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.comAll 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
eleeper@optonline.netThe 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:
Middletown (NJ) Science Fiction Discussion Group
Mark's Picks for Turner Classic Movies in August (comments
by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
WITCH KING by Martha Wells (audio book review
by Joe Karpierz)
This Week's Reading (Kanopy and Hoopla) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Middletown (NJ) Science Fiction Discussion Group
August 1 (postponed from July) THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960)
& two short stories:
"The Flowering of the Strange Orchid" by H.G. Wells (1894)
<
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12750>
hoopla: <
https://tinyurl.com/WellsOrchid>
"The Reluctant Orchid" by Arthur C. Clarke: (1956)
<
https://archive.org/details/talesfromwhiteha0000clar_g2a5/>
September 5: THE HUNGER GAMES (2012) & novel by Susan Collins
(Book 1)
October 10 (not October 3): TBA
November 7: Halloween Horror fest: THE METAMORPHOSIS & novella
by Franz Kafka
December 5: Xmas double feature TBA
===================================================================
TOPIC: Mark's Picks for Turner Classic Movies in August (comments
by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
PAT AND MIKE (1952) is one of several Spencer Tracy/Katherine
Hepburn comedies, and one of two featured in this month's set of
ten Katherine Hepburn films. In this sports film, Tracy starts
out as a confirmed sexist who is promoting a gum teacher as the
world's top athlete, but who ends up having his world view shaken.
It is the same message you could see today, but with Tracy and
Hepburn it is presented more politely. The main criticism is that
it spends too much time with cameos of famous sports stars of the
time. WOMAN OF THE YEAR (1942) is the other Spencer
Tracy/Katherine Hepburn film this month (and was the first of
their nine films together), and is also a sports film, but neither
are athletes; Hepburn is a political reporter and Tracy covers the
sports pages. [-mrl/ecl]
[PAT AND MIKE, Sunday, August 18, 12:15AM]
[WOMAN OF THE YEAR, Monday, August 19, 10:15 AM]
Other films of interest include:
SUNDAY, August 11
8:15 AM Topper (1937)
10:00 AM Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
THURSDAY, August 15
8:00 AM From the Earth to the Moon (1958)
MONDAY, August 19
9:30 PM Flesh and the Devil (1926)
WEDNESDAY, August 21
6:00 AM The Swarm (1978)
FRIDAY, August 23
4:00 AM The Nanny (1965)
MONDAY, August 26
11:00 AM The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
WEDNESDAY, August 28
6:00 AM Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
THURSDAY, August 29
10:15 AM Spooks Run Wild (1941)
11:30 AM Ghosts on the Loose (1943)
8:00 PM Angels in Disguise (1949)
11:45 PM Ghost Chasers (1951)
2:15 AM Bowery to Bagdad (1955)
===================================================================
TOPIC: WITCH KING by Martha Wells (copyright 2023, Macmillan
Audio, 13 hours and 9 minutes, narrated by Erik Mok, ASIN:
B0BFG5HVR9) (audio book review by Joe Karpierz)
I came upon Martha Wells late. She had an establish career
writing fantasy when she started her Murderbot series with ALL
SYSTEMS RED. I've read all the Murderbot books, but as I've said
lately in those reviews it's time for her to take a break from
them. The original premise was terrific, but the stories were, in
my mind, becoming stale. Everybody loves the Murderbot character,
and wants to see more of them. I think that as the series has
gone on we're not really seeing anything new, either with the
stories or our favorite SecUnit. Again, this is my opinion;
please don't send me angry emails.
So, Martha Wells did what I suggested, which was to write
something else. Now, to be fair, she released a new Murderbot AND
a new fantasy novel in the same year, but she did branch out. And
while I was more interested in SYSTEM COLLAPSE, the latest
Murderbot novel (and not really all that interested at this
point), it was time to give her fantasy a try as 2023's WITCH KING
is up for the Hugo this year for Best Novel.
Side note. It's been a very difficult reading year for me, and as
a result, I've been mostly listening to audiobooks rather than
reading print or e-books, and this is especially true for
consuming several of the Hugo finalists as audiobooks. There was
no way I was going to have time to consume all of them by the
deadline if I were to read them traditionally. So I pulled up the
audio book of WITCH KING and began to listen.
I knew I was in trouble when the first thing being read was a list
of the Dramatic Personae. I'm not one to shy away from complex
books, but if the first thing I have to know is every character in
a book that I just happen to be consuming in audio format I know
I'm in for a rough ride.
Yes, the book is complex. It takes place in two different
timelines, both of which involve the main characters. In the past
timeline, Kaiisteron (Kai, as we come to know him), is a demon, a
race of creatures who have to ability to take over the bodies of
folks who live in the upper worlds (this is an agreed upon thing
with the residents of the upper world). His people were overrun
by the invading Hierarchs and Kai was captured. The story in the
past tells of how Kai escaped and started a rebellion against the
Hierachs.
In the present timeline, Kai is the titular Witch King, and we
first encounter him as he is escaping a watery trap with his
companion, another witch named Zeide. Of course, they have a
desire to find out what happened to them and why. They go in
search of Zeide's wife, who is missing as well, who they believe
will be able to help them find out who is behind their capture.
It should be noted that in the present timeline, the Hierarchs
have been defeated and there is a new group coming to power.
I should note that I personally believe that WITCH KING should not
be consumed as an audio book. In a book as complex as this, where
there is a lot of work the reader is expected to do to put
everything together and keep up with what's going on, the reader
needs to go back and forth within the text (well, at least I
would) to review what has occurred in relation to what is
happening right now. I don't mind doing that, but it's awfully
difficult in an audio book.
On the positive side, like THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS, this is a
beautifully written and wonderfully complex story. The characters
are rich with backstory and the world itself is beautifully laid
out without so many world building details that the reader is
bogged down in them (unless, of course, you like that kind of
thing, then that is a different story).
I don't think it's fair of me to, given the circumstances, make
any comments about the narrator. My belief is that if I'm
struggling with the audio book for reasons that are totally
unrelated to the narrator, it's not reasonable to try to review
the narrator's performance as my opinion might be skewed toward
the negative. Also, I suspect that I've learned a valuable lesson
in that I probably shouldn't consume the Hugo finalists as audio
books, since I'll end up including the audio performance (or, in
this case, consider the appropriateness of audio) as part of my
evaluation of the material. We'll see if I can change things up
next year. [-jak]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (letter of comment by Paul
Dormer)
In response to Evelyn's comments on THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
in the 07/19/24 issue of the MT VOID, Paul Dormer writes:
There was also the 1978 version with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore
as Holmes and Watson. I've not seen it but I gather it was really
bad. [-pd]
Evelyn responds:
There was, and it was. My watching of the various versions was on
hold for a long time as I had hit that one next, but didn't want
to watch it. Eventually I decided I would just skip it, as I
wasn't watching *every* version anyway. (It gets a 4.5 in the
IMDb, and a 0% in Rotten Tomatoes.) [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
We "finished" watching "Epic Engineering Failures", which became
available on Kanopy. I put "finished" in quotation marks, because
we did not watch all of the lectures. The checkout period for the
entire course is 21 days, and we didn't watch it every day. There
seems to be a lot of repetition, and after "The Great Molasses
Flood", we had only another day, so we did the three remaining
ones of most interest: "The Leaning Tower of Pisa", "Chernobyl",
and the final lecture, "Learning from Failure: Hurricane Katrina".
We could check it out again for the ones we skipped, but will wait
until we've done others that we are interested in (or the end of
the month). We get 15 points a month, and it takes 5 points to
check out a Teaching Company course (and 2 or 3 points for a
movie). So come July 31, I'll see what points we have left for
July and spend them all.
We also watching another Teaching Company course on Hoopla. (It's
called "Wondrium" rather than either "Teaching Company" or "Great
Courses", but it seems to be the same company.) This one is "A
Historian Goes to the Movies: Ancient Rome". On Hoopla, each
lecture counts as a check-out good for 3 days, and you get 8
check-outs a month, so it is easier to spread a course out. We
have so far watched the introductory lecture as well as the ones
on QUO VADIS, BEN-HUR, SPARTACUS, CLEOPATRA, and THE FALL OF THE
ROMAN EMPIRE. I'm finding this really interesting, undoubtedly
because I'm on an ancient Rome reading binge (as you may have
noticed in my review column). Coming up next are I, CLAUDIUS and
THE LIFE OF BRIAN.
(And co-incidentally, QUO VADIS is showing up on TCM in September,
so I'll probably watch it then.)
Also on Hoopla is a documentary, PERIODICAL, about
menstruation--definitely not a film that would play at your local
multiplex. For the multiplex sort of film, there's always Netflix
and Tubi, although THE WANDERING EARTH is also on Hoopla. I've
been using Hoopla mostly for its ebooks and have a half-dozen on
my list. (Books get a 21-day check-out; movies and TV get a
3-day.) Again, come July 31, I'll use my remaining July
check-outs.
(Actually, we have twice the number of check-outs, since Mark has
his own library card, and hence Kanopy and Hoopla accounts. But
so far we haven't needed that many, and it's easier to stick with
one login.)
[-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net Infidel: In NY, one who does not believe in the
Christian religion; in Constantinople, one who does.
--Ambrose Bierce
MT VOID, 07/26/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 4, Whole Number 2338