In the late Kurt Vonnegut’s (1930-2007), book called “The Sirens of Titan,” the reader is tagging along in a strange journey through the solar system and beyond. The interesting characters and their journeys of time and space will compel the reader to take a step back at the way he/she looks at life, in order to see another perspective. Questions of time, mortality, and the meaning of life give this book an appealing undertone. The reader will first be introduced to an interesting character named, Malachi Constant, a wealthy playboy from Hollywood California. Constant is the richest man alive in the 22nd century. The man possesses profound and seemingly endless luck, which he uses to further build the estate that his very wealthy father had left him. When Constant realizes that he hasn’t really done anything of significance in life, and that he has no idea what his purpose for living is, an adventure ensues.
The reason I picked this book is because I was told that Vonnegut books were great. I discovered that he spent some time here in Iowa, at the University of Iowa, many years ago. Being an Iowa native myself, I thought it would be nice to read what this iconic writer shared with Iowa and the rest of the literary world. I also chose it because I like a well written futuristic type book from time to time. It turned out to be a good fit for me because it was unlike any other novel I had ever read. The book is not really as much a science fiction work as it is a satire novel about what it means to be alive as a human. This is one of those rare books that bridge the gap that separates sci-fi from great literary works. I didn’t regret the choice.
The character development of this book is well done, but it is also part of the mystery of the story that isn’t fully realized until the final quarter of the book. I thought it was easy to follow where the writer was going with each character’s personality because there was a lot of care and detail that went into them. Introductions were organized in an appropriate way, rather than jumping all over like some other character rich stories can be. In other words, while not being a shallow story by any means, it was fairly easy to follow.
The character dialogue was written in a way that makes the reader feel like they are in an actual conversation, rather than a novel—complete with individual character language style and varying levels of sophistication. For instance, there is a lot of focus on a gentle brut of a man named Unk. His struggles in life, and in his personal pursuit of answers, lead the reader to feel empathy for him. This man is soldier that seems to have a low level of intelligence, but he makes a valiant effort to find his estranged son, Chrono. One of the sadder parts of Unk’s story is that when he finally finds Chrono, Chrono wants nothing to do with him.
I liked the action of this book, though it did not exactly keep me “on the edge of my seat” the entire time. I was a little bored during the second quarter of the book where there were parts of the story that seemed to run on and on about nothing… or so I thought. Thankfully, it was not a total waste of time, as the “little nothings” added to the reward. This became especially noticeable during the last quarter of the book as Vonnegut so eloquently brought it all together. I began to see why Vonnegut was writing in a manner I have never before been exposed to in a novel. Vonnegut’s unique style of writing is better understood after a reader has at least one of his books “under their belt”, so to speak. I am not sure if it is common for Vonnegut, but this book offers a lot of lengthy detail that I thought was meaningless at first. Actually, it turned out to be a form of developing the readers understanding of the characters while experiencing the story along the way. That was kind of refreshing, as most authors tend to burn up the first several chapters with boring character introductions. This was a great way to get on with the story while imbuing it with a unique feeling that worked well with the story’s plot and conclusion.
The character interactions were interesting and even complex at times. Like when a sentient robot, from the future, is stranded in Unk’s time. He needs parts for his ship in order to get back home, but has no practical way of communicating with his colleagues of the future. He ends up leaving messages in significant locations on Earth that have lasted for thousands of years—like Stone Hinge, for example. In order for his future counterparts to get him the parts he needs, they have to alter the technological history of mankind. That way, by the time the robot gets stranded, Earth will have the capability to construct the parts he needs to fix his ship. Of course, this results in fascinating effects on the way the characters flow through the story. Not only that, but it calls into question the significance of man and if we are all controlled by a sort of puppeteer rather than being in charge of our own destinies.
To my personal delight, unlike what one might expect with a book such as this, there is very little sci-fi techno-babble. Though there are some interesting word choices, including some that the author likely made up himself. An example of that would be the phenomena that one of the characters interacts with called a “chrono-synclastic infundibulum.” The author does not try to explain such things scientifically, rather more simplistically, in a way that anyone would understand. This simplicity gives it a degree of believability even though it is obviously a fictional work. I feel that is what makes this book more of a literary work than a sci-fi or techno-adventure type book. Moreover, these sci-fi elements do not define the story. In fact, one could replace them with other words that we have heard of before, such as the Bermuda Triangle. Likewise, the location is basically irrelevant; it takes place in space and between planets, but could just as easily take place here on Earth between continents and major cities.
Reading this book does require a little open-mindedness and a good sense of humor. There is a lot more depth here than what initially meets the eye. Even after reading the book, ponderous thoughts continue to flow—so much so, that it is almost like reading a sequel as more and more of the details are linked together and their meanings become clear. Truly, this book has its own twists and turns that few writers can pull off in such an intricate, yet comprehensible way. This book has been hailed as one of the best literary works of it’s time. With all of the ‘simple-complexities’, interesting characters, and the profound implications, I can see why. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read, if only for the sole purpose… to take the mind on a ride that is out of this world!
Saturday, April 28, 2007
The Sirens of Titan
Dead by Dusk
The book, Dead by Dusk by Shannon Drake, was an exciting choice for me. In this supernatural mystery an American, Stephanie Cahill, takes a summer job in Bella Vista, Rome. Stephanie is an actress from Chicago and will now be directing her own improve group at a local resort in Bella Vista. She had just left Chicago after a nasty break up with her ex-boyfriend, Grant Peterson. As fate would have it Grant, who is a director and amateur archeologist, winds up in Bella Vista also. An earthquake uncovered the ancient archaeological dig site that Grant is working on. As the excavation uncovers more and more artifacts, they discover two bodies with shields. A legendary battle was said to have taken place there, and now they have the proof. But the more digging they do, the stranger the townspeople become and weird, unexplained things begin to happen. Stephanie and Grant begin to reconnect and heat things up again, but both can’t dismiss the strange illness that is seemingly striking without warning, or why they are both having dreams connecting them to the ancient battle that once occurred there.
Shannon Drake’s strength in this book was the element of surprise. I believed, through out much of the story that reincarnation was the connection between Stephanie, Grant, and the ancient battle that unfolded there. I was surprised and very excited to discover it was vampires, not reincarnation. Shannon Drake is an author known for her books about vampires and paranormal phenomenon.
I though Drake’s weakness in this book was a slow start. It took almost half of the book to introduce the characters and tell their stories. Once I got past the initial introductions, the story picked up and became more interesting. This book held my attention.
The story line is one that I could see happening, if vampires were real that is. Drake also follows modern folklore “rules” about vampires. She stays consistent in what are the vampire’s weaknesses, strengths, what can kill them, and what “rules” they must follow. For example, a local girl went missing towards the beginning of the book. She is discovered dead at Grants dig site, killed by what looked like wolves or some kind of animal. At her funeral, her mother storms in and begins to sever her head. She knew her daughter was gone and what was now in her daughter’s body was a vampire.
I enjoyed Drake’s style of writing in this book very much. She began the book with the battle that was legend to have taken place there before introducing me to the modern day characters and their stories. I enjoyed how she gave me a little background on the event that is the connection between past characters and the modern ones. In choosing this style of structure, Drake made it easier for me to make connections between the past and present and understand why the strange events that were occurring were significant. For instance, Grant and Stephanie were both having strange dreams connecting them to the past. Grant was dreaming of an ancient battle in which he was trying to save his love, Valeria. But Grant didn’t know a Valeria. Stephanie was being visited by a strange, seductive, and dark personification of Grant in her dreams. This made the bond between the two grow strong again.
Drake’s character development is quite strong in this book. I am always excited to read a book by Drake. She gives solid physical descriptions of her characters that helped me understand their personalities. Gema Harris, who is an actress in Stephanie’s improve group, is describes by Drake as, “a good actress, a good comedic actress, with a quick wit, which made her a natural for ensemble work that included a lot of improvisational theater. She was far more average-looking, being a tall blonde with a natural hourglass figure and beautiful, long legs-if she did say so herself.” The way Drake described her characters gave me a clear picture of what they looked liked and, for me, made it easier to make a mental picture to distinguish between characters.
My experience of this book was a delightful one. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a little paranormal activity, love story, and mystery all wrapped into one. The book does have somewhat of a slow beginning, but don’t give up on it too soon. If readers like vampires, a present-day story that is entangled with a mysterious, ancient battle of honor, and unusual connections between these story elements, then this book would be a great fit.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Star Trek fans disagree
Fans disagree on what the new Trek movie should be about
There is no shortage of opinions online, when it comes to the new Star Trek movies’ preliminary plans. As for deciding what the movie should be about, I read in one of the forums, as one surfer exclaimed, “Fans really don’t know what they need, if Star Trek were left to the Trekkies to make money for the franchise, it would be gone within a year”.
Sadly, I think there is some truth to that statement. There seems to be many passionate, yet diverse suggestions circulating on the web. Some of the forums on the subject are so heated that there should be some censorship for young readers. I am kind of taken back by all of the negativity. After all, one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover… especially when the book hasn’t been written yet!
It is ironic that Star Trek is all about an "evolved sensibility", yet all the fans gripe and whine so. Rodenberry predicts that we all learn to get along and work together to rid ourselves of things like famine and war etc., but the fans are quick to argue angrily about trivial issues—jumping to conclusions and it goes round and round. It’s an interesting observation.
I have to admit, I was kind of upset at first with the thought of a so-called “re-imagination” of my beloved Star Trek. I am not usually in favor of such films.
Like the Hulk for instance, while it was probably closer to what Stan Lee originally had in mind (more like a comic book), I was disappointed that they strayed so far away from the Bixby series. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for up-to-date cinematics—I even sort of liked the new movie, but it wasn’t what I was looking for. Though I’m sure it was just right for other Hulk fans. Not everyone can be pleased, but there was some entertainment value in it for me.
So anyway, it was a little unsettling for me when I heard they are going to retool Star Trek—at first. However, like I said earlier, Star Trek is always redefining itself anyway. As long as they stay in the same realm and don’t get too contradictive or totally undermining of all previous Star Trek, it should be fine as long as it is a good story.
Regardless, there really are some things that they need to rethink. In reality, we have technologies today that were considered futuristic in Kirk’s time (like ion propulsion) and other technologies that weren’t even conceived, let alone considered in the original Star Trek universe. Some things are being developed right now that would make one think that Kirk’s time would be much more advanced with. For instance, the colored wooden blocks they used for data storage are far surpassed today with flash drives that fit inside a wrist watch or a credit card. There are even data storage cards that you can find in Wal-Mart today that are smaller than my thumbnail. Heck, they used those blocks on Star Trek like we used to use the 5 ¼ floppy disks.
And then there are technologies that we are no where near—like the transporters that we likely will not have yet by Kirk’s time. I hate to be pessimistic (not usually my style), but ST: ENT is way more advanced than we will be at that time… unless we actually meet the Vulcan’s sometime soon. ;-) Among the biggest hurdles would be warp drive, interstellar communication, transporters, and gravimetric plating—not that we shouldn’t keep having fun imagining them in Star Trek. In fact, we could go even further with some things and even some new things not considered in Star Trek. For example, we will likely develop personal cloaking technology by then (that is underway right now for the military). We may even have holodecks by then (or something very close), which was not available on ST: ENT.
I personally would like to see a movie put out that has the ideals and hope of Star Trek but more that of a realistic vision of our future in space. There are too many space movies that depict grim views of our future in space. I want to see some of the visions of our futurists put into film. Moon and Mars bases and other inter-solar planetoid exploration would be interesting. Maybe a movie about what the implications might really be if we discover an Earth-like planet, or even one with intelligent life. The movie Contact was so close until the end—when it got weird.
Star Trek reboot, why not?
It seems like to me that a "reboot" wouldn't really be out of the way for Star Trek.
I was raised on TOS and when TNG came out I was upset. Com-on... a bald captain!? The character Counselor Troi was pretty cheesy at first too. Then TNG did some revamping as more money pored in and it took off and lasted for seven seasons. To this day, TNG is my favorite, by far, and Picard is probably my all-time favorite character. And Troi... she got it goin’ on! Then came DS9 and VOY. I think every trek series had good, bad, and ugly scripts, but I watched them all (and still do) because it is Star Trek. For instance, I still watch TOS, not because I like the 60's decor, but because I love the characters and the concept of trek and the connections in the histrionics.
In one way or another, trek history has always been up for grabs anyway because of the time dilations in multiple episodes. Who's to say that this new movie isn't the history of one of the quantum states that might have emerged in TNG episode "Parallels" or a possible timeline created due to Kirk, Spock, and McCoy’s journey through the portal in the episode “The City on the Edge of Forever” or from countless alternative decisions made by any character in any other such episode? As long as a movie with Star Trek in the title is somehow connected to Star Trek as we know it, and pays homage to Rodenberry in some way (is based on his idea), and is not about a pig and a spider… we should be okay.
If we are honest, there is no way to keep the histrionics in the exact time-line or space-time-continuum. Time related episodes are partly to blame, and the fact that there is more than one person involved in the development and evolution of the franchise (reality check). How could anyone keep track of it all? What is the “right” time-line anyway?
To some degree, ST:ENT essentially rewrote everything we have ever known about Trek from Kirk’s time and beyond due some of the decisions made (or not made) with the whole Daniels time thing. Not that ST:ENT was a triumph (one problem in my mind, too many gray/drab colors), but there is no reason why that wasn’t a valid story line in the Trek universe.
For the most part, I think the main idea Rodenberry was going for has been maintained throughout the franchise and, I'm guessing it will remain that way in any subsequent renditions. Star Trek is among Rodenberry’s greatest gifts to the rest of us—let’s just enjoy it! It is a vision of the future of man’s quest for knowledge and adventure. It’s a vision of our social accomplishments and brings hope that one day we will all put aside our differences and combine our efforts to know the universe (straying from my point).
My point is that Star Trek is always redefining itself anyway and there is no way to make everyone's ideal Star Trek possible at any given time. Of course, the best thing for the franchise would be to capture the biggest possible audience—both recapturing old fans and captivating new ones. After all, the money is what is going to keep the franchise alive (reality check again). Maybe the new director and writers will have something and maybe they wont... that's just the way the cookie crumbles.
Despite my disappointments in recent trek, I am happy to see additions on film along with the other mediums. Besides, I'm not writing the story, nor do I have the time to do so. I am just looking forward to being entertained and immersed in the Star Trek fantasy/dream once again.
Star Trek: Reboot
The new upcoming Star Trek movie has fans in an uproar
The next Star Trek film has officially gone into production. The new movie will be the eleventh feature film for the franchise and is set to hit the theaters by Christmas 2008.
So far, the detail about the movies’ plot is still quite secret. However, the word on the web is that it will be based on James T. Kirk and Spock’s training years at Starfleet Academy.
The original Star Trek series (also called ST: TOS or TOS), starred William Shatner (the Shat), as Captain Kirk, and his first officer, Spock, played by Leonard Nemoy. The series, created by the late Gene Rodenberry, lasted for three years when it was first aired back in the 1960’s. Since then, there have been five television spin-offs, including the animated series, and eleven feature films. There have also been a number of related spin-offs in the book industry.
The first six films were based on TOS; the last four have been extensions of the second television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). Star Trek has yet to make a movie based on the other main Star Trek television series, ST: Voyager (VOY), Deep Space Nine (DS9), and Enterprise (ENT). Of all the series though, TOS and TNG seem to be the most beloved by fans. Recent incarnations have been somewhat unsuccessful.
The decision to base another movie on TOS will take advantage of the largest Star Trek fan base, it is hoped. Furthermore, the franchise feels the need to expand the fan base by attracting new fans to the world of Star Trek. To do this, the franchise is apparently looking to “re-imagine” the Star Trek concept.
Some say this is a risky proposition. Many “re-imagined” or “re-tooled” films, such as the latest Hulk and Planet of the Apes, were disappointing to their respective fans. The thought of redoing Star Trek has many fans in an uproar. The worry is that it will undermine the forty-year histrionics of the popular television portrayals.
It is unclear how far the new director and writers of the film will go with this revamp. Ultimately, it may simply be too early to tell.
To learn more about what fans are saying about the next Star Trek film and for the latest news on all new Trek, logon to http://www.trekmovie.com/ or www.startrek.com .
Moon Base
The moon has fascinated man ever since people came into existence. It has only been recently that man has developed the ability to visit the moon in person. Recently, that is, relative to the entire time man has lived with eyes to see the spectacle that is the moon and the mind to wonder about it. Technologically speaking however, it has been some time since we have exercised our ability to step foot on our nearest celestial neighbor.
Back in the 1960’s the space race was on. It was then that President Kennedy committed us to this giant leap. Though technology was still in its infancy, we did it—we achieved the impossible in only a few short years. Touted to be man’s greatest achievement, this was to usher man into the space age, promising a new beginning for all mankind. Sadly, since Eugene Cernan’s last walk on the moon nearly forty years ago, we haven’t been back and have achieved little in the way of manned space exploratory advancement.
So what is so special about space? Why would we want to go there? What’s the big deal with the moon? How can we expand our existence into space? What are we doing right now to step forward in the space age? Some say these questions are important to ask and answer soon, rather than later. Some even say it is vital. One example of that is the idea that the moon can help us overcome today’s energy crunch.
The moon can supplement Earth-based renewable energy systems to meet future energy demand. Ample energy from the Sun reaches the moon and is not interrupted by weather, pollution, or volcanic ash. Solar energy farms on the moon can “beam” limitless clean energy down to where it is needed on Earth or to satellites for relay to our planet. There also are other potential sources of energy, including platinum for fuel cells and an isotope called helium-3, which could be used in fusion reactors of the future. Moreover, supplying energy from the moon will enable us to help provide the Earth’s energy needs without destroying our environment.
