Perhaps the Most Perfect Science Fiction Novel Ever

Currently, I am reading Jem by Frederick Pohl. It’s all right, quite interesting really, a very dark view of humanity with some well-rounded characters. Of course, characterization has always been science fiction’s missing link, but that never seemed to stop Frederick Pohl.

I am reading this novel because my favorite science fiction novel ever is Gateway. I guess I could even take away the words ’science fiction’ and call it my favorite novel. Of course, it is also by Frederick Pohl. And Frederick Pohl was a great writer.

There has always been an academic divide between what is considered literature and your so-called genre fiction. I am here to tell you that this divide is illusory. The best genre fiction is on a par with your so-called mainstream crap, and perhaps even superior. Well, okay, I really enjoyed Blue Angel by Francine Prose, but how does that compare with Orwell’s 1984. Even Wells’ War of the Worlds is still immanently readable one hundred years after the fact. I’m not sure that will be true with the Prose novel.

The problem that most people have with Gateway is that the main character is an alcoholic. If you read the negative reviews on amazon.com, the people who gave it one or two stars are wondering where is the action. The people that rated it highly seem to appreciate the chapters where the main character is talking to his robot psyochotherapist.

As for me, I like novels with a fully realized main character and Robinette fits the bill, even if certain aspects of him are not very likable. I think the alternate chapters with his robot psychotherapist are the weak link in the book, although it does all come together in the end.

Quite frankly, I identify with Robinettte. Life is a crapshoot, and I think the deciding factor has more to do with the family you are born into than your innate abilities. (Thus, George W. Bush.) Robinette won his way into this incredible situation through the lottery. And once there, he had a failure of nerve. But you know, who really wants to be a ‘winner’ anyway? Science fiction would be much better perceived if more of its novels invoked this sort of humanity.

 

From Electrelane to Can

My partner gave me a Zune for Christmas. I’d asked for an MP3 player because my job is really dull and this would help get me through it. I’d only wanted a 4 gigabyte device, but I ended up with 30. It took me over a week to get all my CDs loaded onto the computer and still I had over 20 gb left. So I decided to get myself a Zune pass and listen to all the music I’d always wanted to hear but couldn’t afford and wasn’t played on the radio.

So I downloaded a bunch of Lou Reed and Sigur Ros, Television and the Residents, Wire, John Cale, Alien Ant Farm (they sucked), more Brian Eno and Patti Smith’s latest. I also discovered a great band called Ladyhawk that Carrie Brownstein mentioned in Monitor Mix. It’s great having access to all this music, and as long as I pay the monthy fee, I can keep it.

I really don’t buy many CDs these days but last summer I went to my local gay-owned CD store and one of the co-owners, Curtis, mentioned the name Electrelane to me. I’d never heard of them before. But I managed to get a few downloads off the internet, enough to know I liked them, and I went back just before Christmas and bought myself their Axes CD. Perhaps it’s not one of their best, but I do love the third track. Overall, I find the album to be a bit uneven. The jazz influence is a little too strong for my taste, although I do admire the piano player.

But now that I have the Zune pass, I can go in and check out their influences. So I started listening to a bunch of Stereolab. This is band that I’d heard of, but never heard. During the 90’s I was too busy raising children and dealing with a failing marriage to pay much attention to new music. I feel lucky that I was able to find Sleater-Kinney during those days.

But further research revealed a band called Can from the late-60s and 70s. Now where did this come from? I have never heard of Can and neither has my partner. But I already love one of their earliest albums, Soundtracks. I’ve also listened to Tago Mago a few times, and the first half is great but some of the latter pieces are a bit trying. O Peking reminds of the Resident’s song about Westinghouse which really is not very pleasant to listen to. I need to listen to more of their stuff, and it is so exciting to discover this band from so long ago. How could they have been so thoroughly buried? Why are most people content to listen to pop crap? I doubt that these questions can ever be satisfactorily answered.

 

On Typesetting

Lately I’ve been playing around with the demo version of TypeTool3 from Fontlab. Back in the mid-80’s I lived in NYC and worked for a few years as a typesetter. This was on the cusp of the home computer revolution. Our machines were computerized Linotypes and cost in the 6-figure range. We printed the type out on special photographic paper that ran through a big developer right there in the room. The letters were very, very black with clean, crisp edges. And we paid close attention to kerning, the spacing between individual letter sets. When the paper dried, we took it to the strippers to be cut and pasted into place.

Of course, now, anyone can set type in the comfort of their own home and cut and paste it into place with Quark Xpress or css style sheets. But no one pays attention to kerning. Even in otherwise slick magazine advertisements, I’ll see gaping holes between “W” and ”o” or “A” and “v”. It used to make me feel a little bit ill but now I’m getting used to it.

I never had any formal training in graphic design, but my years as a typesetter instilled a love of type in me that is still there two decades later. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at designing my own typeface, but it seemed like so much work. And now, thanks to TypeTool, I know that it is. I heard about Fontographer several years ago, but it was quite expensive. TypeTool is fairly cheap and quite powerful, but there’s a bit of a learning curve. I don’t know if I have the patience to master it.

Anyway, while thinking about type, I looked up a website that I had bookmarked some time ago. It features one man’s collection of travel brochures from the 1920’s and ’30’s, primarily from Europe. There is some great stuff here and anyone with an interest in design would do well to spend some time checking it out. Just to pique your curiosity, I thought I’d share a couple of my favorites. I particularly like the watercolor illo in the German piece ( which is written for an Italian audience), but the type is nice, too. Futura, I think.

The website is called Travel Brochure Graphics. Spending time there is like walking through a wonderful little museum. Kudos to David Levine for making his collection available to all of us.

 

The Saddest Little Collection in the World

Many years ago, I decided to start a collection of American communist paraphenalia. The catch was that items had to be pro-communist. Sure, there’s all kinds of stuff out there talking about the red menace, but it’s not easy to find things that say “vote communist” as if it were a valid choice. I’ve found two.

Truth be told, I’m not a collector by nature so perhaps I haven’t searched as hard as I might have for pro-communist collectibles. But I think it’s sad that so much effort is required. I think it’s sad that an alcoholic gambler like Joseph McCarthy could ruin careers just by calling someone a communist without any evidence to support his accusations. But then, the right-wing has had more than its share of reactionary nut jobs who grab power by appealing to people’s fears.

Take, for example, the Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act of 1956. Here was an innocuous bill to fund mental health services in the territory of Alaska. Prior to this act, Alaska had no mental health services, and state residents had to travel to Portland, Oregon for treatment. The act proposed to fund services locally by means of a land grant. The selling of mineral and forestry rights would provide a revenue stream. The bill had wide bi-partisan support, but then controversy erupted.
The American Public Relations Forum, an anti-communist women’s group from Southern California made an observation and jumped to an incredibly stupid conclusion:

“We could not help remembering that Siberia is very near Alaska and since it is obvious no one needs such a large land grant, we were wondering if it could be an American Siberia.”

They claimed that the act would allow the government to grab people off the street and send them to “concentration camps” in Alaska on the flimsiest of excuses. That would be a gross violation of civil rights, but, of course, the act said no such thing. On the other hand, I guess they felt that what McCarthy was doing was okay. As a bunch of housewives and anti-communists in pre-feminist America, it wasn’t their careers that were in danger.

Well, I decided I wanted a t-shirt that said “vote communist”. Ever since George Bush stole the presidency in the “election” of 2000, I’ve had no faith in the American electoral process. And, of course, there is no valid communist candidate for which one might choose to vote. But that doesn’t mean I can’t wear the t-shirt. So, once again, using my trial copy of Xara Xtreme, I drew a fist. It took me hours, but I was quite pleased with final result.

Unfortunately, my trial copy has now expired so I won’t be drawing any more t-shirt designs unless I pony up $90 to buy the Xara program. It’s something Im considering. Click on the fist if you’d like to buy a shirt and help fund this purchase. If not, that’s okay. I do have a job.

 

Why I Love Jack Clark

A few months ago, I came across a podcast on podcast alley called “Blast the Right”. After reading the description, I quickly subscribed and have not been disappointed since.

Being a left-winger in Tulsa, Oklahoma is no easy task. Even most of the lesbians I know are republicans. One friend of mine, who had spent some time in the military and had her brain screwed up, was supporting Fred Thompson in the early days of the 2008 election. I suppose now she’s for McCain.

So it is refreshing for me to be able to listen to someone like Jack Clark and know that I am not alone in the world in my political views. I moved to New York City when I was 18 and my first girlfriend was from Staten Island so his accent doesn’t bother me. Jack claims he does not have a radio voice, but I disagree. I guess my move also influenced my political views because I had none before I arrived. Living in NYC in the 80’s, I soon learned to hate Ronald Reagan, and I still do, even though he’s dead.

If you are looking for a liberal voice, “Blast the Right” is the podcast for you. If you are a conservative spy and want to know how liberals think, “Blast the Right” is a must. You can listen to the most recent bi-weekly program, but I would suggest at some point checking out podcast #56 entitled “Class Warfare, International-Style: The Right Wing’s Assault Against the World’s Poor”. This talks about the Bretton Woods conference and the start of the IMF and World Bank. It inspired me to do some research of my own.

Thanks, Jack, and keep up the good work.

 

On Building Robots

Who among us does not harbor a secret desire to build robots? They permeate our cultural consciousness, from Rosie on the Jetsons to the little Star Wars droid, R2-D2. My favorite fictional robot is Gort from the movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. He is both intimidating and benevolent, like a strict disciplinarian father figure, keeping us in line for our own good. Sure, he doesn’t look like much but his power is symbolic, not sexual. I first saw this movie as a young teen and it struck a chord with me, perhaps because my own father had died of cancer a few years earlier and I felt my life veering out of control. Or perhaps the media coverage of Watergate and the Vietnam War and policies of Mutually Assured Destruction, while I may have been too young to understand them at the time, had given me an inkling into the greedy and short-sighted nature of humankind.

I saw on IMDB that they are currently remaking this movie with Keanu Reaves and Jennifer Connelly. Apparently the new film focuses on being kind to Mother Earth rather than preventing nuclear holocaust. I think that’s a good message. Now more than ever, we need to develop sustainable technologies or we may not have a culture left. Given Hollywood’s tendancy to focus on visual effects rather than story-telling, I don’t have particularly high hopes for this film, but I am glad that Tim Burton is not directing.

So yes, I have always wanted to build robots (or maybe synthesizers). I had taken a couple of classes at the local community college in electronics before I was diagnosed with cancer. But I can’t take any classes right now, and I haven’t even bought myself a soldering iron so I haven’t progressed very far with my plans. That doesn’t mean I have given up. Somethings just take time.

Awhile ago I asked my teenage daughter to draw me a picture of a “cute” robot. Gort was certainly not cute. My typical idea of a robot seems to be stuck in childhood images, quite blocky and unengaging. We had both read an article in Wired Magazine about the science of cute, as epitomized by Japanese creations like Hello Kitty and Pikachu. Cuteness requires a large head and small, useless appendages. Just like a baby! Apparently, we humans are biologically wired to perceive helpless beings of this sort as cute.I suppose there is some allowance for variations in taste when it comes to animation styles, but it’s certainly hard to deny that most mammal babies are cute even though they’re not human.

My daughter drew what I perceived to be a very cute robot and I recently turned it into a vector drawing using a trial copy of Xara Xtreme. Xara is a great program for creating web graphics and the like. I also have Paint Shop Pro which is good for formatting but unwieldy for drawing. I liked the little robot so much that I put it on a t-shirt and bought one for myself from Cafe Press. Here’s a picture of the robot. You can click on it to see what the t-shirt looks like.

 

 

And yet, drawing a robot is not the same as building one. I did run across a very inspiring website the other day called Communist Robot. It has videos from robotics labs around the world. The walking legs from Tsinghua were particularly cool. Maybe I should go buy that soldering iron.

 

 

 

 

 

Here Comes My Top Ten

I’ve been listening to Brian Eno’s “Here Come the Warm Jets” lately on my drive to and from work. What a great album! I’m always amazed by the variety of sounds and textures in these ten songs. From the weird buzzing and wild thrumming on “The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch” to the quavering Hawaiianesqe slide guitar on “Some of Them Are Old” or the strident ‘Oh No’s in the background of “Dead Finks Don’t Talk”, it all adds up to more than the sum of its parts.

My favorite song on this CD has always been “On Some Faraway Beach”. The innocuous piano line repeats, a pure and simple melody, as the background builds, the drums becoming more intense, a crescendo of orchestral obbligatos adding depth, building toward a climax that leaves the listener feeling insignificant in a universe that is beyond human comprehension. And then finally the lyrics, which are best not examined too closely, for who among us has ever found the meaning of life in a pop song. Eno, himself, has stated that the lyrics take hardly anytime to write and that he often begins with nonsense syllables.

What makes this music so great is that it is exactly as it should be. There is nothing you could add that would make it better, nor is there anything that needs to be taken away. His later ambient work is, of course, more minimalist and good in its own way, but, while I often find myself in agreement with the philosophy that ‘less is more’, I doubt I will ever like it as much as I like this album.

Realizing for the umpteenth time how much I like this music prompted me to think about my top ten list which heretofore has never existed. Unlike the John Cusack character in the movie “High Fidelitiy”, I am not a list maker by nature nor even, if truth be told, the type to blog. But I’ve decided not to let either of these factors stand in my way.

One problem that has always prevented me from making such a list is the idea of deciding which album deserves the number one spot, so I’ve decided to rank them in chronological order rather than favorites because, after all, different moods deserve different songs. Here it is then:

1. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground (1969)

2. Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets (1973)

3. Patti Smith - Horses (1975)

4. Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express (1977)

5. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (1979)

6. Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville (1993)

7. Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)

8. Elliott Smith - XO (1998 )

9. Stephen Trask - Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)

10. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods (2005)

A quick glance at this list shows that the musical choices span four decades. A more detailed examination reveals a curious phenomenon: not a single work from the 1980’s has made my top ten. Why is this? you ask. In a word, Reaganomics.

I moved to New York City in 1982 and lived there for four years. In 1986 I moved to San Francisco where I remained for three years. These are inarguably two of America’s best cities. But by the end of the decade I’d had enough. I moved to Taiwan, married a local, had a kid, and really had no intention of ever returning here. An unfortunate series of events brought me back to my home town some thirteen years ago and I don’t know if I’ll ever get to leave again.

I was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer last May and, except for a little pill that I am to take daily for the next 5-10 years, I have finished treatment. Chemo and radiation have turned my mind to sludge. Maybe the fog will lift soon. Maybe the cancer won’t come back. The important thing is I finished my top ten list. I always wondered what it would like.