Honeymoon 6: "With her head tucked underneath her arm..."

The Birthday Trilogy, Part II

In the Tower of London large as life,
The Ghost of Anne Boleyn walks they declare.
For Anne Boleyn was once King Henry's wife,
Until he made the headsman bob her hair!
Ah, yes, he did her wrong, long years ago
And, she comes up at night to tell him so!

R.P. Weston & Bert Lee, With her head tucked underneath her arm

Before I met Karli, I used to travel for my birthday - it was an extra little gift, and I enjoyed the opportunity to do something completely different to celebrate the day in a foreign country.  Karli's work schedule has made September travel a bit more of a challenge for the last few years, but this year we had the excuse of taking our honeymoon, so here we are in England, far from home on September 26th.

So - what does the well-travelled geek do in London for their birthday?

The day starts with an appropriately themed card from my wife (it's only been five weeks since the wedding, so it's still neat to say "wife".)  After a leisurely cup of tea and a croissant at our AirBnB, conveniently located just south of Waterloo Station, we make our way to the Underground, buy a pair of day passes, and we're off to our first stop: the Tower of London, one of my favourite sightseeing spots in London.

Karli had expected the Tower of London to be just that: a tower. She was surprised to discover that in fact we were visiting a small castle somehow left untouched over the centuries by London's ongoing urban development. The castle encloses almost 12 acres of land, with another six acres in the surrounding grounds, known as the Tower Liberties. (The castle's moat was drained and filled in at around 1830.)

I've always been fascinated by history, perhaps because there's a point in time where it's a lot like epic fantasy, just without magic, elves or dragons.  Castles and sieges, swords and armour, kings and queens, deadly combat, base betrayals, brutal torture and silent assassination, it's all there.  In fact, some of the events in George R. R. Martin's epic Game of Thrones series are based on the 15th century War of the Roses, where the House of York was locked in battle with the House of Lancaster for control of the English throne for 32 years.  (And Martin's Red Wedding is partially based on the Black Dinner, a 1440 Scottish dine-and-die party.)

The Tower of London's grim history stands testament to the bloody nature of those past centuries - not as long past as one might think, the Tower last saw use as a prison and killing ground in 1941.  Imprisonments, tortures, executions, midnight murders, mysterious disappearances, the Tower has seen them all. Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, lived her last days in captivity at the Tower of London, which also witnessed her execution - oh, and the executioner's axe and block are on display in the castle. Henry's less famous fifth wife, Catherine Howard, suffered the same fate.

The Tower's current incarnation is far friendlier than its role in decades and centuries gone by:  one part museum, one part history lesson, one part arsenal, one part school, and home to the Crown Jewels, the Tower sees over two million visitors annually.

The central keep, known as the White Tower, is the oldest part of the castle. This Norman fortification was built in 1087 under the orders of Harold the Conqueror, and now showcases the more noteworthy items from the Royal Armouries collection.

The White Tower's exhibits are not intended to present a comprehensive history of arms and armour, but rather its most impressive examples: the armour of kings.*  As such, the samples on display are skillfully crafted, artfully articulated, and artistically embellished - gilded, embossed, and engraved.

The exhibits also feature a full range of functionality: specialized jousting and mêlée armours for the make-believe of tournaments, fantastic parade armours, multi-pieced garniture armours with interchangeable pieces, and practical field armours for the battlefield itself.

The final display is far more utilitarian and perhaps shows a grim sense of humour:  it's a contemporary P90 submachine gun, stubby, ugly and unornamented - which, at 900 rounds per minute, is a completely democratic solution to the final argument of kings.

- Sid

* There is also a small apologetic plaque that addresses the lack of the armour of queens - or any mention of queens at all, really.

Honeymoon 5: Sidebar

The Birthday Trilogy, Part I

Dear Colin:

Hello, my friend!  It’s been a while since I’ve put pen to digital paper with you in mind, but I felt that your generous gift for my birthday deserved a longer response than just a thank-you text.

I’ve always felt that a birthday gift should involve something that, for whatever reason, the person wouldn’t buy for themselves, but might want to if they could - which is why I earmarked my gift to you as part of your guitar replacement fund.  However, I freely admit that I'm a tougher crowd in that sense, I don't even play the guitar, let alone have the need to replace a broken one.

Regardless, I do have a short list of extravagances that I might indulge in given the opportunity, starting with the Chris Hadfield MasterClass on Space Exploration.

 

The MasterClass program showcases an unbelievable list of instructors, featuring chess lessons from Garry Kasparov, Bob Woodward on journalism, Jane Goodall teaching conservation, Annie Leibovitz for photography, film making from Spike Lee, and a much longer list of luminaries from a wide range of specialties. Commander Hadfield is an obvious choice for Space Exploration, with a class that features 29 video sessions dealing with a fascinating range of topics that includes Astronaut Training, Orbital Mechanics, Capsule Design, the exploration of Mars,  and concludes with an overview of Chris’ journey to becoming an astronaut and the lessons he learned on his way.

The $120 MasterClass fee would still leave part of your gift - what to do with the rest?

It seems obvious to me that a visit to the past would be a suitable compliment for a visit to the future – as such, the balance of your present will go towards four weeks of training in swordplay at Vancouver's Academie Duello, conveniently located about eight blocks from my workplace.  The school offers a choice between rapier and broadsword, and given that the latter features two-handed broadsword, sword and shield, and poleaxe, that may well be my class of choice.

Don’t be surprised if this doesn’t happen right away.  We’re currently on our honeymoon, and I’m also in the middle of a 12-week introductory continuing education course in Occupational Health and Safety, so I won’t have free time to dedicate to other pursuits until December.  My current plan is to sign up for Commander Hadfield’s class at the start of the month, and then take a four week break from my regular gym schedule in January for longsword classes at Academie Duello – the beginner’s course runs two nights a week for a month, which would make for an interesting start to the new year.

And that's the plan!  Thank you again, and my best to Jennifer!

Cheers,
Sid

Honeymoon 4: The City of Love

If l had my way
I'd just walk out those doors 
And wander
Down the Champs-Élysées
Going cafe to cabaret
Thinking how I'll feel when I find
That very good friend of mine.

Joni Mitchell, Free Man in Paris

After a night out for dinner (the unusual Burger & Lobster) and theatre (Everybody's Talking About Jamie, an exuberant coming-of-age drag queen musical) on Monday night in London's West End, our Tuesday morning 7:55 Eurostar departure from St. Pancras Station seemed VERY early.  Nonetheless, we arrived within the prescribed one hour security and Customs window before departure, boarded the train, and were off through the Chunnel to Paris for the day.

Arriving at the Gare du Nord just before lunch, we hopped onto a Hop On Hop Off tour bus, and made our way down to the Galerie d'Orsay, where we hopped off for a few hours, browsing through the little street-side stalls near the Seine, strolling through les Jardins des Tuileries, where we enjoyed croque monsieur and Kronenberg for two at a little outdoor cafe, and then wandering down the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe where we once again hopped onto a tour bus.

Sadly, the base of the Eiffel Tower is being sealed away behind bulletproof glass and tall steel fences in response to fears of terrorist attacks, and we didn't want to invest the time in standing in line to gain entry - thereby dashing my hopes of a tower-top re-proposal.  We finished the balance of the day with more bus sightseeing, caught our train, and were back in London by ten in the evening:  all in all, a wonderful day out for two in the City of Love. 

During our time spent shopping beside the Seine, I noticed a French paperback collection of H.P Lovecraft stories on sale for an affordable three euros, and decided to pick it up on a whim.  (Which resulted in a brief French transaction with the bouquiniste - because if I didn't speak French, why would I be buying a French book? Fortunately my limited French was easily up to understanding, "Trois euros," and "Merci.")

The joke is that Lovecraft is famous for his archaic and obscure English - lord knows what the French version will look like.  Regardless, I'm looking forward with a certain degree of curiousity as to the Gallic equivalents for "squamous" and "eldritch", although with my limited French, that will be the least of my problems in actually reading this book.

- Sid

 

Honeymoon 3: "The thing about aliens is, they're alien."

Wandering about the south bank of the Thames in the rain while we wait to check in to our AirBnb, and gosh, I won't say that I'm not tempted by this theatrical opportunity at the appropriately named Southbank Underbelly Festival.

- Sid

P.S. Sadly, not meant to be, we would have had to attend that evening, and jetlag recovery won out. 

Honeymoon 2: "Seriously, there's an outrageous amount of running involved."

Jenny: Oh, I've got the whole universe. Planets to save, civilisations to rescue, creatures to defeat and an awful lot of running to do.

The Doctor’s Daughter, Doctor Who

In my opinion, there’s a certain cachet in being able to watch Doctor Who in England, but sadly the premier of the new season takes place one day after we get back to Canada from our honeymoon.  However, it’s not all bad - I somehow doubt that any of the Airbnb’s (or regular BnB’s, for that matter) will have 65 inch HD televisions.

- Sid

P.S. The second trailer for the new season is out, and based on that cursory overview it all seems to fit into the standard format as per The Doctor’s Daughter:  planet saving, civilization rescuing, creature defeating and an awful lot of running, which is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether or not you’re expecting new show runner Chris Chibnall to break the mold. Commenting on the new season, he said:

It’s not a reboot it’s just that great, unique thing which is built into Doctor Who: a fresh start happens every few years. This is no different to when Tom Baker changed to Peter Davison, or when the show went from black and white to colour, with Patrick Troughton handing over to Jon Pertwee. The show has a history of renewal, while also staying faithful to what it is.

It’s the amazing thing about Doctor Who is this fresh start every few years which brings a whole new jolt of energy to the show. And hopefully encourages the next generation of audiences to try the show, while also reminding existing audiences why they love it.

Casting a new actor also brings in new opportunities to think about where the show is, think about where the world is, think about where you might want the stories to go. I hope we’ve got a fresh set of stories that are engaged with, and resonate with, the world we live in now.

It's a busy time for the show, with a new showrunner and a new Doctor, and the first episode, written by Mr. Chibnall, will be under a lot of scrutiny as the frontrunner for the new season.  Will it manage to successfully combine tradition and innovation?  As always, time will tell…

Honeymoon 1: London Calling*

It's been just over a month since our wedding, and Karli and I are at last heading out on our honeymoon: we leave today for six days in London (with a day trip to Paris), an overnight stay in York, a quick Ryanair puddlejumper flight from Leeds to Dublin, followed by a four-day coach tour of Southern Ireland and then back to Dublin for the last three days of our trip. 

We're very excited and eager for the trip:  we've both been to London before, although it's been a while for Karli, but Ireland is unknown territory for me, so I'm quite looking forward to our time there. Really, though, it's all going to be a little more special this time because we're going to be there together.

In addition to just wandering hand in hand beside the Thames in the autumn rain, we do have some definite plans for our time in the capital of the Commonwealth.  We'll be there for my birthday, which we'll commemorate with a trip to the Tower of London and a visit to London's geek shopping paradise, the Forbidden Planet megastore.  We also have tickets for the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour, which will take us out of the city to suburban Watford for a visit to Diagon Alley and the Great Hall, among other locations. (Platform 9 3/4 can be found at King's Cross Station in London, if you're curious.)

 

But first, we need to finish packing and get ready to head out to the airport for our afternoon flight. Poor Jaq the Cat can sense that something's going on, and he's been roaming around meowing apprehensively while we stack up clothing, iPad chargers and toiletries.  Sorry, little fellow - we'd love to take you with us, but I don't think you'd enjoy it quite as much as we're expecting to.

- Sid

* I've never really looked at the lyrics to the Clash song before this - it's an astonishing list of apocalyptic disasters:

The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growin' thin
Engines stop running, but I have no fear
'Cause London is drowning, and I, I live by the river

"The stars are ours."

"We creators are the engineers of possibility. And as this genre finally - however grudgingly - acknowledges that the dreams of the marginalized matter, and that ALL of us have a future, so will go the world. Soon, I hope."

N.K. Jemisin, 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novel acceptance speech

At the 76th Annual Worldcon on August 19th, the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novel was presented to author N. K. Jemisin for Stone Sky, the third novel in her Broken Earth series, and the third novel in the series to win the Best Novel Hugo.  This makes her the only person to win the Best Novel Hugo three years in a row, and the only person to win for every book in a trilogy.

Her triumphant acceptance speech recognizes the barriers that she has had to overcome in order to stand at the podium. Unfortunately, not everyone has felt that she deserves to be recognized in this fashion. She has been insulted, harassed and dismissed, which makes her victory all the more laudable.

Her treatment reflects a larger problem in the science fiction community, which has been caught up in an unhappy conflict for the last few years.  It is a conflict which in all ways defies and denies the fundamental truths of the genre. 

The dispute is based on the contention of some writers and fans that too much of the science fiction being recognized with awards is receiving that recognition solely because of the race, sexuality or political convictions* of its creators rather than the quality of the writing**.  In the short-sighted view of these reactionaries, divided into the Sad and Rabid Puppies***, winners such as Jemisin are only winners because of liberal politics.

To protest this perceived inequity, for the past few years the Rabid Puppies has been attempting (with some degree of success) to subvert or ruin the Hugo Awards by gaming the voting process so as to load the list of nominees with their choices, some of which are deliberate jokes rather than valid nominees.

The rest of the Worldcon membership has rallied in opposition to this unfortunate strategy, and Jemisin's third victory is a milestone that marks their ongoing success. 

However, I'm puzzled and disappointed by the position taken by the Puppies in all their incarnations.  For me, one of the core lessons that science fiction has taught me is acceptance of diversity.

Over the years, I've read books where the hero was a six foot long alien centipede who was afraid of heights, books where Martians eat the bodies of their dead as a sign of respect and love, and books where an artificial intelligence the size of a planet displays its penmanship by sending greeting cards.

As such, the question of race or sex is almost a joke - if you can empathize with an alien insect's acrophobia, how can stories with gay characters or people of colour be a challenge in terms of acceptance?

Similarly, it doesn't matter to me if the work is created by authors of colour, gay authors, gay authors of colour, or gay authors of colour who worship Satan, worship God, deny God, or believe in Bigfoot - it's all irrelevant other than as minor biographical information, like being from Seattle or having two cats.

The thing that does matter to me is that I share a wider view of the universe with these authors, something which is far more important to me than the colour of anyone's skin or the nature of their sexuality.  That wider view makes us members of the same family, a family that I am proud to belong to.

I discussed this whole situation with my wife Karli, and she made an observation about the Puppies that perfectly summarized the problem:  "They're afraid of the future."

What a sad, sad state of mind for a group of science fiction fans and authors.

- Sid

* Or d), all of the above.

** I haven't had the pleasure of reading any of Ms. Jemisin's work (although I certainly plan to) so in lieu of personal experience I looked at her resume, which turned out to be both extensive and impressive.  It's obvious that she has won her multiple awards by honing her craft, by working really really hard, and by being a talented writer - or, as she puts it, "Because I worked my ass off."

*** This innocuous sounding name comes from Sad Puppies founder Larry Correia, who said that the omission of his work from the Hugo ballots "made puppies sad".

"Thus it was that America sank further and further into Americanism. "

In particular the whole of American life was organized around the cult of the powerful individual... 

Following yesterday's post, it occurs to me that this post has aged remarkably well.

- Sid

1984.

WAR IS PEACE.

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

One of the interesting things about George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is that we do not witness the transition to the totalitarian state of affairs described in the book.  We enter the dystopian future of Winston Smith in medias res, rather than observing the process whereby the world of Newspeak and Ingsoc comes into being.

However, it's very easy to look at the current state of affairs in the United States and think that it could be showing us the first steps down the horrifying road that results in Smith's milieu, a comparison driven home sharply by the recent comment from Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Guiliani that "truth is not truth".

Although Guiliani has since attempted to explain that he didn't mean that statement in the way that it's been interpreted, it follows hard on far too many similar examples from the White House such as the obvious doublethink of "alternative facts" - described by Orwell as “an unending series of victories over your own memory” - which is matched by Trump's recent exhortation to a crowd in Kansas City that "What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening." Or, as in Nineteen Eighty-Four:

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.

As with the government of Oceania, one-time allies become foes, and foes become allies.  Members of the inner circle are cast out and demonized: a role played in Nineteen Eighty-Four by Emmanuel Goldstein, once a member of the government and now the Enemy of the People, accused of crimes such as "advocating freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of thought”.  (Remember Trump's announcement that the media is "an enemy of the people"?)

After a while, it starts to feel like Trump has based his rhetoric on some long-forgotten reading of Orwell's text.  In 1984, "nothing is illegal, because there are no laws", and the government is opposed by " a vast shadowy army, an underground network of conspirators dedicated to the overthrow of the State."

One wonders if the Trump government would ever take the final step as described in the novel:

In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense.

It seems unlikely, but then, they've certainly managed to nail the "ignorance is strength" part - once you have that, the rest must be easy.

- Sid

Eat, drink and be married.

I'm sorry, I've got nothing.

In spite of more than a few jokes, there was not a word of Klingon at our wedding ceremony on the 18th.  No one showed up in Jedi robes, regardless of my suggestion to Karli that, when asked about dress code, we should tell just one person that the wedding had a Star Wars theme.  My friend Chris took a long shot at connecting the number of attendees with the total number of rings in the poem from The Lord of the Rings (Three rings for the Elven-kings under the sky...) - sorry, 21 wedding guests, 20 rings. Our officiant's name, Kadee Wirick Smedley, would be completely acceptable for a faculty member at Hogwarts, but her degree is in Divinity rather than Defence Against the Dark Arts. In other words, to the best of my knowledge, there was not a single element of either the service or the reception that in any way involved science fiction or fantasy, although it was very definitely a magical day for both of us - as are all of the days that I share with Karli.

- Sid

Gratitude:
I'd like to thank Karli's parents and step-parents for all of their help and support throughout the wedding process, from helping us select our venue up to delivering the cake, and for their incredible generosity in helping us out financially.  I'd also like to thank all of the friends and relatives who attended the wedding ceremony for sharing a very special event with us - your love and support was very much a part of what made it so special.  And to all of the people who attended our reception/party, thank you for helping us celebrate being married, and for your equally incredible generosity.  My sole regret from my wedding day is that I didn't talk to enough people at the party, I hope that no one was offended by that.

And, finally, I have to express my thanks to Karli for marrying me.  As I said in my vows, I have never been happier in my life, and I owe all my happiness to her.

Phasers and longswords optional.

Hello, all.  There have been some late-breaking inquiries regarding dress code for both the wedding ceremony and the reception/party this Saturday.  It's actually very simple - as you would think, semi-formal for the wedding: 

And dressy casual for the party:

Sorry, no, just kidding - suit and tie* for the wedding, and dressy casual is whatever you think it is. See you Saturday!

- Sid

* Actually, I've already been warned that the father of the bride may well show up for the wedding in khakis and a golf shirt - welcome to West Coast Formal.

"We've got a schedule to keep."

Earl Bassett: We gotta run. We've got a schedule to keep.
Valentine McKee: Yeah. See, we plan ahead, that way we don't do anything right now. Earl explained it to me.

- Tremors

As we edge up on our wedding date, it's obvious that  Karli and I have chosen Tremor's Earl and Valentine, two of the great minds of the 20th century, as our spirit animals.*  With nine days to go, all of the large planning tasks are long since taken care of, and we have a rapidly shrinking list of minor things that had to be left until more or less the last minute.

And yes, I am counting down the days in happy anticipation of being married to Karli.  I feel that the people who are describing this as "my last days as a free man" suffer from a fundamental lack of understanding about the nature of our relationship, if not relationships in general.

- Sid

* My apologies for cultural appropriation.

Truer words.

As a bit of an introvert myself, I have never heard a better description of the role that science fiction plays in my life.

And thanks to Karli for another great pin!

- Sid

P.S. We are sorry to hear that Jasmine, the owner of My Cat Is People, has recently lost her cat person Mickey.  It's sad, they leave such a big hole in our lives when they're gone...

Science fiction. Fantasy. The universe. And related subjects.

We are an odd rocket, veering our way through a universe full of epic fantasy rereads, lists featuring our favorite musical horse videos, deep dives into the history of military fantasy, nakedly open personal essays, Game of Thrones recaps, rankings of the kloo horn players in Star Wars, and more. How do you contain that into a singular voice?

We needn't have worried.

In my eagerness to post about my friend Joe's Apollo 11 gift, I have been remiss in not acknowledging - and celebrating - the 10th anniversary of tor.com, which also took place on July 20th.

I can't remember what originally prompted me to join the Tor Books mailing list - I suspect it was a link on one of the geek news sites that I sometimes visit.  Regardless, it was well worth the click of a mouse and a typed e-mail address. The tor.com site, represented by its mascot, Stubby the Rocket, has proven to be a valued source of genre news updates, excellent free short fiction by both established and new authors, and well-written and thought-provoking opinion pieces from the tor.com staff.

The opinion postings are perhaps the best part of the site. They're thoughtful, well-informed, personal, passionate, but most of all, concerned.  Concerned with the state of the genre, concerned with where it's been and where it's going, concerned with questions of race, gender and hierarchy in science fiction, fantasy and horror, concerned with the roles played by people of colour, women and LGBT characters, concerned with how genre writing has dealt with these characters over time, and concerned with how they will deal with them going forward - pivotal questions for both creators and fans at this point in time.

Obviously they're a bit partisan in promoting their own publications, but for the most part I've been pleased with the Tor books that I've purchased. Tor has a well established track record in the genre which is reflected in their professional recognition:  as of 2015, Tor became the most nominated and awarded publisher in the science fiction, fantasy and horror field, with a March 2018 score of 579 nominations and 111 wins.  As an example, looking at the 2018 Hugo Award nominees, eight of the 24 nominated novels, novellas, novelettes and short stories are from Tor, twice as many as any other publisher.*

In conclusion, congratulations to the tor.com team, please keep doing what you're doing, and here's to the next ten years.  Or ten thousand, after all, science fiction should always look to the future.

- Sid

P.S. If you'd like to sign up for their newsletter - which I strongly recommend -  visit:

https://read.macmillan.com/tordotcom/newsletter-signup/

* They did better in 2017, 13 out of 24.

"I'm pretty sure I've invented a time machine..."

One of Karli's friends was hiking on nearby Bowen Island recently and came across the following cautionary missive:

First, I'd like to say that British Columbia is a surprisingly busy spot for time travel, what with the Stanley Park Time Machine and my own experience of discovering a time machine while taking a walk at lunch.

That being said, back to the matter at hand. It's very courteous of this hopeful time traveller to post a warning, but I do have one small problem with their announcement.

If you don't want people to stand in that exact spot, putting up a notice that takes about 20 seconds to read is a bad idea  - because they will stand in that exact spot to read it.

Regardless, good luck with your arrival on Friday August 4th or Friday August 3rd  - depending on how your calculations end up.  Pro tip: given that the next Friday August the 4th is in 2024, you should probably have laminated your sign if you wanted it to last that long.

- Sid

Armstrong, Collins, Aldrin.

My friend Joe retired at the start of 2018, and, as people tend to do when they retire, he and his partner Drew have relocated to a less expensive neighbourhood. (This is easy to do if you've been living in Vancouver.)  In their case, they ended up in exotic Chilliwack, just east of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley.  However, things like medical appointments still bring Joe back into the big city, which has made it easier for use to keep in touch.

We met for lunch last week, and he cheerfully announced that he had a little present for me.  He explained that he'd been going through some of his possessions to clear out the clutter, and had stumbled across something that he thought would be perfect for me.  He then handed me a small envelope that contained a commemorative plated aluminum medal from the Apollo 11 landing in 1969, in absolutely beautiful condition.

Surprisingly, there's almost no information about this medal online.  There are a couple of what appeared to be matching coins for sale on eBay, but both with absolutely no provenance or history. Littleton Stamp and Coin is still in business, but their site doesn't offer any sort of historical information.*  At 60 cents each, Littleton must have struck thousands if not tens of thousands of these medals, but there's no documentary evidence of them at all - which just makes it a more interesting and intriguing present.

I honestly hadn't realized the significance of the timing of Joe's gift until I showed the coin to Karli, who said, "Oh, July 20th, you can post about that on the actual anniversary date." 

Thank you very much, Joe.  As per previous postings, I treasure my friends and their inexplicable willingness to indulge and enable my interests - which is part of what friendship is.

- Sid

 * Ironically so, considering that they sell antique coins and commemorative items.

"Dun dun dun, dun da dun, dun da dun...."

Tonight Karli and I are off to see Star Wars IV: A New Hope at the Orpheum Theatre, with the music provided live by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

The first film in the Star Wars series is famous for its epic storyline and its innovative special effects, but it's equally renowned for its music. John Williams' brilliant Oscar-winning score defines the Star Wars universe: the opening fanfare, the majestic main theme, the threatening Imperial motif, Princess Leia's evocative melody, the tense, driving background music of the final battle - it's impossible to imagine the movie without its distinctive musical accompaniment.

As I've said before, A New Hope holds a special place in my heart, and I'm looking forward to experiencing it in a unique fashion this evening - even if it probably isn't going to be the original cut, I've never liked the additional special effects that Lucas retrofitted into the film. I'm also a bit curious about how they're going to handle the music performed by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes* in the Mos Eisley cantina scenes, but then, I'm not sure how it was performed originally.

Normally I'm a quite conservative dresser for things like this, but for tonight I've decided that it's acceptable to wear a Star Wars t-shirt with jeans - and a blazer, of course, I haven't completely lost my mind.

The VSO has sent out a cautionary e-mail warning attendees that a large turnout is expected, and that people should arrive well in advance to be certain that they are seated in time for the opening credits. When Karli and I reach the venue, it's obvious that the warnings were somewhat premature - although it is busy, we're inside the theatre immediately, where it's equally obvious that this isn't the usual symphony crowd.

 

My decision to go with a Star Wars t-shirt puts me right in the median for dress code: most of the crowd is wearing similar gear, with three standouts wearing full Star Wars-themed suits and one or two guests in Jedi robes. (There's also one fellow in a tuxedo - clearly not everyone is willing to compromise their standards just because it's Luke Skywalker night.)

"Look, sir, droids!"

The Orpheum has also brought in some more extreme fans dressed in costumes from the movie: there are photo ops with Darth Vader; Imperial Stormtroopers, officers and fighter pilots; a lone Sandperson; and Boba Fett - who isn't in this movie, but let's not be picky.**

After a few pictures, we make our way to our seats. The lights dim, the conductor raises his baton, and the film begins.

It's surprisingly fun - the difference between recorded soundtrack and live performance is astonishing. There's a bit of a struggle between dialogue and music, they're obviously not able to balance the audio in the same fashion that a sound mixer could, but the conductor does an excellent job of modulating the orchestra to suit the action, and they've cleverly compensated by added subtitles to the film.

Sometimes the orchestra's performance blends seamless into the experience, and at other times I find myself thinking, "Wait, is there actually music for that scene?" Given that there are sections of the film where the entire orchestra falls quiet and simply watches the movie with the rest of us, presumably they're matching the original soundtrack. The complexity of the music is also more obvious: there are sections where I notice an overt bit of oboe or a hint of harp that I didn't realize was there.

In the fullness of time, the Death Star explodes, the Rebellion celebrates its heroes, and the movie ends. Unlike the situation for most movies, the entire audience remains for the credits, after which we give the orchestra a standing ovation.

Overall, I'm extremely pleased and satisfied by the experience, it was certainly an enjoyable way to re-experience the film. My only disappointment is that no one in the orchestra attempted to match the cantina band, that was one of the sections where they fell silent.

And I still think Chewbacca should get a medal at the end.

- Sid

* Hey, trivia fans:  the Cantina Band is made up of members of the Star Wars production team, most notably makeup artists Rick Baker and Rob Bottin, and special effects technican Phil Tippett.

** Actually, he is, for about two seconds - I had forgotten that as part of his changes to the film, Lucas had added in Han's confrontation with Jabba the Hutt, wherein Boba Fett makes a brief appearance. (See previous comments regarding my opinion of the reworked version of the film.)