Testing for America readers.

I've just started reading Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men, originally published in 1930.  Last and First Men is a unique entry in the library of science fiction, in that for the most part it's without characters or any sort of a plot, and as such it's not really a novel at all.

Then what is it?

Last and First Men is a history of humanity, told from the perspective of the incredibly evolved denizens 2,000,000,000 years in the future. As with actual history, it is episodic, full of tragedy and accomplishment, marked by great leaders, compassionate humanitarians, and brutal villains.  Unlike actual history, Stapledon's version is punctuated by alien invasions, evolutionary alterations, and the eventual entropic death of our species, altered almost beyond description by millennia of evolutionary change.

I'm currently reading the section dealing with the very near future, circa 2030, where Stapledon offers the following description of the United States a hundred years into his own future:

In the Far West, the United States of America openly claimed to be custodians of the whole planet. Universally feared and envied, universally respected for their enterprise, yet for their complacency very widely despised, the Americans were rapidly changing the whole character of man's existence. By this time every human being throughout the planet made use of American products, and there was no region where American capital did not support local labour. Moreover the American press, gramophone, radio, cinematograph and televisor ceaselessly drenched the planet with American thought.

Thus it was that America sank further and further into Americanism. Vast wealth and industry, and also brilliant invention, were concentrated upon puerile ends. In particular the whole of American life was organized around the cult of the powerful individual, that phantom ideal which Europe herself had only begun to outgrow in her last phase.

Those Americans who wholly failed to realize this ideal, who remained at the bottom of the social ladder, either consoled themselves with hopes for the future, or stole symbolical satisfaction by identifying themselves with some popular star, or gloated upon their American citizenship, and applauded the arrogant foreign policy of their government. Those who achieved power were satisfied so long as they could merely retain it, and advertise it uncritically in the conventionally self-assertive manners.

Is it just me, or is the Internet the only thing missing from that description?

 - Sid

Starships, supersoldiers and steampunk.

Neon in the window
Sirens far away
News on the radio, happy birthday
Happy birthday, happy birthday

Concrete Blonde, Happy Birthday

Friday afternoon, and it's more or less the middle of my birthday.  As usual, I've booked the day off - generally I take the entire week, but in this case it's next week instead, I'm off to Ontario to visit my friend Colin. It's grey and rainy here in Vancouver, but I've had a pleasantly relaxing day regardless - a much needed break, work this week was a bit manic, to say the least.

It's a generally accepted fact that I'm a tough crowd when it comes to birthday presents, due to the fact that first, if there's something that I want, I tend to buy it, and second, my interests are a bit off the beaten path.  When you combine these aspects of my life, it's challenging to pick something which is both of interest to me and which I don't already own.

That being said, in the past few years people have stepped up in an admirable fashion that fully recognizes my geek-oriented lifestyle.  As an example, completely out of the blue yesterday one of my coworkers, Glen the field training supervisor, surprised me with a model kit for the Enterprise NX-01*.  Not too surprisingly, it's a snap-together model (they generally avoid letting people like me use model airplane glue) but at least I fit into the age range for the skill level.

After some negotiation, the Evil Doctor Smith weighed in with Captain America:  The Winter Soldier on blu-ray, an excellent movie that's just recently hit the stores, and one that I'm looking forward to watching again in high definition.  Hmmm...you know, I'm not sure that the good Doctor has actually seen this film.  If not, we'll need to plan a movie night - the combination of drama, martial arts and athletic stunts (with a pinch of parkour) should work really well for her.

However, I have to give my artist friend Norah the prize for the Geek Gift of the Year (pending late-arriving presents, there are still some districts that haven't reported in, as they say on election night.)

Last night Norah treated me to an excellent dinner at Cloud Nine, a rotating restaurant located on the 43rd floor of a hotel on Robson Street.  While we were waiting for our appetizer to arrive, Norah somewhat nervously (see above re: the challenge of picking presents) presented me with a hardcover copy of the first British edition of The Difference Engine, a collaborative 1990 steampunk novel by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, poster boys of the cyberpunk genre. 

Oh, sorry, that's not quite correct.  She actually presented me with a SIGNED first edition of The Difference Engine in hardcover. Given that she was only able to describe William Gibson as "that Canadian science fiction author who lives in Point Grey", to the person who was helping her choose a book, it's an impressive accomplishment to have come up with such a fabulous gift.

Thanks again for a perfect evening, Norah, and for future reference, you may now consider yourself a fully-fledged geek gift guru.

 - Sid

*  For non-fans, this is the Enterprise from Enterprise.**

** Ummm - did that help? 

"You are a broom."

I never know where the faces come from.

Doctor Who, Deep Breath

At long last, the new Doctor Who:  the new series, and the new Doctor, Peter Capaldi.

Unfortunately, they kicked off with another one of those episodes that just didn't seem to make any sense, and as such didn't give the new fellow a lot to work with.  It may be that there was a sort of quiet assumption that the novelty of a new face would make up for that, with the debut of Mr. Capaldi filling in for any shortcomings in the story itself.

The funny thing is that if you ignore the plot, it's actually quite a good episode.*  There's a lot of discussion about the process of regeneration, and what it would actually mean to repeatedly recreate yourself, century after century.  During the now well-established post-regeneration mania, the new Doctor finds himself looking at his new face and wondering as to its origins - and quite validly so.  The human face is very much the result of experience, and as such, the lined visage that he sees in the mirror puzzles him:  as he says, "Who frowned with this face?"

The alien robot/android/cyborg villain, who has apparently been repairing and rebuilding himself for millennia, is well used as a comparative foil for this question during the climax:

 Question:  you take a broom. You replace the handle. And then later you replace the brush.  And you do that over and over again.  Is it still the same broom? Answer: no, of course it isn’t.

You have replaced every piece of yourself, mechanical and organic, time and time again. There’s not a trace of the original you left…you probably can’t even remember where you got that face from.

There is an evocative moment where the Doctor holds a polished silver plate in front of the cyborg to illustrate his point, a plate which also reflects his own face - and the same question.

The obvious subtext here would be that Steven Moffat, who wrote the episode, is laying the groundwork for the new Doctor being exactly that, a new man - not the same broom, in other words.  On the other hand, the episode ends with a poignant moment between the Doctor and Clara, where he desperately tries to convince her that he's the same person if only she would let herself see him as himself.

When you think about it, the same issues apply to Peter Capaldi. He's certainly going to give us a very different interpretation of the Doctor, and my initial impression is that it's going to be quite good, and, indeed, very different, I think he has enormous potential. 

But I also think he's going to need to establish himself in the role - Capaldi's Doctor is likely to be less flamboyant and outgoing than his predecessors, and perhaps a bit edgier.  As he says, "That's good, oooh...oooh... that's good... I'm Scottish... I'm Scottish...I am Scottish...I can complain about things, I can really complain about things now."

Finally, let's discuss the question of Missy, who appears at the end of the episode.  The first episode of each season of Doctor Who always sets up the final episode, and it's quite likely that we will see this enigmatic character again.  But who is she? I would dearly enjoy finding out that Missy is the new Master - if they're not going to give Helen Mirren a shot at the Doctor, it would at least be a step in the right direction to give the part of the Doctor's nemesis to a woman.

 - Sid

* It is a sad comment that there have been many, many, many episodes of the rebooted Doctor Who that fit into exactly that category:  quite good if you ignore the plot.