Eruditorum Press

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Shabcast 23, Part 1 – The Ruling Class Thinks Idiocracy and Democracy are Synonyms

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Please find attached the latest Shabcast.  It’s the first part of another long chat between myself and Daniel.  In this episode we talk about the 2006 Mike Judge movie Idiocracy, which is ‘relevant’ nowadays as loads of people have jumped to the wrong conclusions about the Trump phenomenon and clambered aboard the everyone’s-an-idiot-nowadays-except-me bandwagon, using Idiocracy as a cultural touchstone.  (Seriously, google the phrase ‘Trump Idiocracy’ and behold the avalanche of sneering, purblind, elitest drivel.)  Daniel has little time for the film and isn’t shy about saying why.  And nor am I. 

Download or listen here.

The rest of this Shabcast will be available on Thursday, and will feature Daniel and myself moving on to the broader (and connected) subject of the New Atheists, etc.  This little mini-arc of linked posts will then conclude on Friday with Daniel’s new written piece about… well, wait and see.

 …

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Eruditorum Presscast: David J

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I’m not going to get into the habit of using my Monday slot for podcasts, but this one’s a big enough deal that I felt like it justified it. I say down with David J Haskins of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets to, in classic Eruditorum Press fashion, talk about absolutely none of that in favor of talking about his magical practice and work with Alan Moore, including V for Vendetta, “March of the Sinister Ducks,” The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels, and The Birth Caul. It’s a fun time. You should listen to it here.…

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Psychic Landscape 3: Properties of the System

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This Post is Based on a True Story

 

Let’s start on familiar but seemingly irrelevant territory.

In the Doctor Who story ‘The Satan Pit’ (and its interesting that this happens in the most openly Horror-inspired story of the new series to that point), the Doctor fights against the possession of the Ood by the Beast, but not against their possession by the humans.  He implicitly sees one form of possession – psychic possession by an alien force – as sinister and illegitimate, while seeing another – the reduction of an entire race to owned things, to property – as normal and acceptable, or at least a non-urgent issue.  (In a relatively rare example of the new series really doing what it claims to do all the time, this ‘mistake’ on the part of the Doctor does actually come back to bite him later, and he does actually seem to learn from it.)  This sort of thing is not unique to the new series, or even to that story within the new series.  But why is it that one form of possession is recognised as evil while the other is seen as legitimate, at least arguably so?  Why is one opposed and the other passed over in silence?  Actually, that isn’t such a big mystery.  We normalise horror if it is structural to our lives.  The fact that the story ‘The Satan Pit’ seems only dimly aware of a double standard only tells us that we live in a society where even the poor have ‘slaves’ elsewhere in the world, and that culture automatically tends towards legitimising the ruling facts of life, by default. 

There’s a more interesting question: why does ‘The Satan Pit’ even put the two concepts together in one story?  Dimly aware of the issues, it nevertheless raises them, even if unconsciously, behind its own back, as it were.  As suggested, the reason for this is that it draws on the genre of Horror, and grafts some of that genre’s associations onto itself.

But the genre of Horror is generally much less concerned with examining the technical functioning and ramifications of the concepts it plays with than is SF, or even Fantasy.  Horror, for all its faults, has the great virtue of being content (or being able to be content) with the unexplained and the numinous, the irrational, and the logic of association.  SF and Fantasy trade in such things too, but are always troubled by it.  They always worry, as it were, about how the inexplicable works, or at least about their own failure to explain.  Horror, based far more directly on unfiltered human psychological unease, is much more content to allow association to stand for explanation.  Indeed, Horror will often use the proximity of certain shapes or representations as explanation enough for plot developments, something SF/Fantasy is far more leery of doing.  Thus, when SF/Fantasy gets hold of the concept of possession, it tries to parse it in ways that Horror doesn’t bother with.  Beyond technobabble explanations, SF tries to separate out and rationalise the various modes or forms of the concept of possession, to categorize them. …

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Comics Reviews (August 3rd, 2016)

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As always, from worst to best of what I bought.

Trees #14

This series has always only barely worked in single issue format, so, shocker of shockers, an eight month delay before the final issue of the arc did not do it any favors. Apparently there’s a third arc planned, which at this point I assume we’ll see shortly after Doktor Sleepless wraps up. I’m sure it’ll read brilliantly in trade, although I suspect I’ll have to reread the first trade to have any appreciation for who the characters who drop in for the finale are. Which is fine, because it’s Ellis and going to be brilliant, but fucking hell this comic is just a terrible fucking idea in issue form.

Klaus #7

There’s a four-issue cut of Klaus that would straightforwardly be among Morrison’s greatest post-Final Crisis works. The fact that this flabby seven issue miniseries is still a strong contender is a depressing commentary on his late career, but let’s not use up all our Last War in Albion snark in comics reviews. (Almost done with Chapter 6, btw.) The final issue of this is actually pretty solid, and if one were to go about politely informing Grant Morrison that he needs an editor this is probably the issue you’d cut the least. If nothing else I appreciated the underplaying of the “Santa Claus cannot die” moment.

Cinema Purgatorio #4

A middling run out for the title comic, a stretch of Modded that has too much to do for it to waste time being clever about it, and typically filler installments of A More Perfect Union and The Vast leave Code Pru as the belle of the ball this month. It’s particularly good this time around, though, and so the whole package balances out nicely, though if I’m being honest $5.99 is probably a bit much for it most months, and especially this month. Not that I’m remotely tempted to even blink at that, but hey.

Normal Part Four

This wraps with a gloriously bleak ending, but also ends up being a bit disjointed, with no shortage of things that were just sort of thrown in because Ellis wanted to riff on them as opposed to because they contributed to the story. The use of a riff on Curtis Yarvin as the cliffhanger for part two grates particularly in this regard, though there’s obviously an element of personal bias there. Still, the ending is heartbreaking and beautiful, the book’s main premise is a hoot, and its main sci-fi idea is a solid bit of plausible horror-technology. Very worth checking this out, either in its “four parts for $1.99 each” digital edition or in the paperback omnibus due in November.

James Bond #8

Yeah, I didn’t expect this to hit the top either, but man, Ellis is absolutely killing with his second arc on this, finding delightful twists on James Bond classics This time it’s “Bond seduces the woman he rescues,” a trope in dire need of being made brilliant by Warren Ellis.…

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Myriad Universes: Divided Light Part 2: Of Two Minds

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So the Ergeans are really annoyed that Alexander/Deanna, Lwaxana/Worf and Geordi/Selar are up and about, so they order them back to their cells. Worf (as Lwaxana) isn’t having any of that though and, in a single, beautiful moment I *really, really* wish Majel Barrett had gotten to act out, throws his/her head back, yells out a battle cry, body slams the Ergeans and powerbombs all three of them to the mat while bellowing “Cowards! This time you have bitten off a great deal more than you can chew!”.

Frankly if you’re not already sold on this book by the concept of Majel Barrett powerbombing aliens and immediately convinced this series is one of the greatest things in the history of Star Trek, there’s nothing more I can do for you, so you might as well pack it all in now.

Back on the Enterprise, the Sakerions exposit that while outsiders have long believed that the Ergeans were governed by a succession of triumvirates, this is actually not the case. In truth, there was only ever one triumvirate, but they gave themselves functional immortality through a machine that allowed consciousnesses to be transplanted from one body to the next. And due to the Ergeans’ strong regard for life, the donor body’s original consciousness was transplanted as well, so nobody would ever have to die. But over time, the triumvirate grew authoritarian as Ergean society went through hardship, and one day the people refused to transplant their consciousnesses, instead sealing them away in mind receptacles until the time where it was felt they would be needed again. The Sakerions think the Ergeans might feel that time has come, and they’ve chosen the bodies of Worf, Selar and Deanna as the latest “volunteers”. Captain Picard asks if the process is reversable, and the Sakerions say yes (luckily for us they managed to…acquire…the necessary technology from the Ergeans) but they will have to hurry, as the bonds between consciousnesses and their original bodies break down if they are separated for too long.

Down on the planet, the issue’s requisite fight scene is still going on. Selar (as Geordi) is busting some sick action moves until one of the Ergeans grabs Deanna who, as Alexander, is not in much of a position to fight back. It looks like Selar will be forced to surrender too until Worf (again as Lwaxana) unloads a phaser rifle round into his chest from across the room. Lwaxana herself re-enters the picture shortly thereafter, and is decidedly not amused by the alleged indignity of being forced to become a warrior. This is no throwaway joke either, because it’s promptly followed by a truly great scene where Alexander returns to the surface and expresses shock and horror at being able to feel the emotions of his attackers the same way Deanna Troi can, because it makes it difficult to be a warrior. To which Selar responds, “this is why Vulcans prefer peace”.

Geordi comes back and explains that he’s found a way out in the form of a sealed off room with a large energy flow.…

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Resurrection (memoir)

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Dawn creeps across the ragged field, quiet and diffuse.  I’ve been looking out the window, waiting for my long dark night to end.  Am I still dead?  No.  Flushed with relief, I cross over to the kitchen.  I make coffee, strong and dark. The bubbling echoes in our small loft, but still I have to rouse my carpenter, Harley.  Make breakfast.  Scrambled eggs, sausage patties, buttered toast.  Wake up!  Barely containing myself.  Everything changes.  In the flesh.  I made it. 

Some day, I will go back again, but not today.

We take the dogs for their morning walk.  Damp softness beneath my sandaled feet.  It rained last night.  Three hearty squalls, as promised. It’s warm for early December.  Unlike the carpenter, I don’t wear a jacket, just a long shift.  

“You’re not cold?” he wonders.

“Not at all,” I say.  I’d just as soon wear nothing.

The dogs are all over me like cheese on pizza. The bulldog drools, his slobbering maw agape and panting.  The rat terrier runs around in circles, rubs against me as if he were some kind of cat.  Even the carpenter’s eyes well, but he says nothing of it. 

The light isn’t quite right.  The lavender sky, the fluorescent grass, the copper halos of the street lamps still burning.  A skinny adolescent tree throbs, its thin bark veined with blood-colored sap.  I inhale the musky air.  I love it.  Connected to all.  Pure love.  I will never be alone, never grow cold, for I am one with all the world.  On the other side.  I remembered.  All I can do is choke on my giggles.  This is eternity?  The chorus laughs.  I’m hearing voices, but I don’t care.  Neither do they.

“Are you all right?” Harley asks.  He’s nervous.

“Yes.”  I smile, and look down at the callouses on my feet.  “I’m perfect.”…

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A Brief Treatise on the Rules of Thrones 4.10: The Children

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Man, that looks almost as much fun as this blog series has been.

State of Play

The choir goes off. The board is laid out thusly:

Lions of King’s Landing: Tyrion Lannister, Naime Lannister, Cersei Lannister, Tywin Lannister
Dragons of Meereen: Daenerys Targaryen
Direwolves of the Wall: Jon Snow, Bran Stark
Ships of the Wall: Davos Seaworth
Burning Hearts of the Wall: Stannis Baratheon, Melisandre
Archers of the Wall: Samwell Tarly
The Direwolf, Arya Stark
The Dogs, Sandor Clegane
Paws of the Wall: Tormund Giantsbane
The Shield, Brienne of Tarth
Spiders of King’s Landing: Varys
Flowers of King’s Landing: Shae

Winterfell is abandoned and in ruins, Moat Cailin and Braavos are empty.

The episode is in seven parts. The first runs eleven minutes and is set just at the Wall. The opening image is of Jon’s hair as he walks out of the gate.

The second runs seven minutes and is set in King’s Landing. The transition is by hard cut, from Jon Snow to an infected wound.

The third runs seven minutes and is set in Meereen. The transition is by hard cut, from Jaime and Cersei on the white table to Daenerys.

The fourth runs thirteen minutes and is in two sections; it is set at the Wall. The first section is five minutes long; the transition is by family, from Daenerys to Aemon Targaryen and Jon Snow. The second section is eight minutes long; the transition is by family, from Jon Snow to Bran Stark. It features the death of Jojen Reed, stabbed and then set on fire.

The fifth part runs twelve minutes and is set in the Vale. The transition is by family, from Bran to Arya Stark. It doesn’t feature the death of Sandor Clegane, but it sure looks like it does.

The sixth runs nine minutes minutes and is set in King’s Landing. The transition is by dialogue, from Sandor begging Arya to kill him to Tyrion saying more or less the same thing. It features the deaths of Shae and Tywin, both killed by Tyrion.

The last runs three minutes and is set in the Vale. The transition is by musical cue, with a choral version of the theme song continuing over both scenes, and by image, with both scenes featuring people sailing for Essos. The final image is of Arya landing on a ladder and doing just that.

Analysis

And so we come to the end of this Brief Treatise; I don’t reckon there’s much to be gained writing second essays about Seasons Five and Six, and anyway, this has been a hilarious flop of an essay series that vividly illustrates the maxim that there’s room for two books on any given subject, the first one and the best. It also serves to highlight the problems with using my general critical approach on an in-progress text. A game is, on a very fundamental level, defined by its end state; the ethical and thematic implications of events are ultimately shaped by how the narrative ends in ways that makes analyzing them difficult at best.…

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Shabcast 22ish

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Another week, another Shabcast. 

Sadly, I haven’t been able to manufacture an actual brand-new episode recently, so I’ve put together a compilation of some of the more interesting bits of previous Shabcasts which had to be cut for one reason or another.  But it does mean that you get more guests for your money.  This episode features myself in conversation with Daniel, Jane, Josh and Elliot.  If it’s the most disjointed Shabcast ever, it’s also the second-most populous after the Christmas episode. 

Enjoy here. …

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Comics Reviews (July 27th, 2016)

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Oof. Rough week. From worst to best of it.

Mechanism #1

Another dud for my “Image #1s” policy. The most immediately obvious problem is an art style that seems to be traced from 3D rendering software, giving all the characters a frustrating woodenness. Two big sci-fi concepts in “a world that’s been invaded by lizard people” and “a world with intelligent robots” are both undersold. The only female character gets fridged. The premise isn’t clear by the end. Generally a trainwreck.

Batgirl #1

An undercooked “the hero tours Asia” concept that’s high on western stereotypes, and that sets up “next month a new location” instead of trying to build on any of the ideas it sets up. Of course the Burnside supporting cast is immediately jettisoned in favor of a bespoke childhood friend of Barbara’s. And you’ve got to raise an eyebrow at the choice of the artist of the Batgirl “Joker variat” cover for the book – not that I particularly blame him for taking a commission DC never should have given, but man, exact wrong book to put him on. Generally speaking this isn’t particularly grating in its badness, but it’s not interesting enough to hook me on a second issue.

Wonder Woman #3

The new take on the Wonder Woman/Cheetah relationship is decently interesting, but this storyline is still longer on mood than event in a way that isn’t giving me much to sink my teeth into and invest in. It’s fine – perfectly competent Wonder Woman. But it feels directionless – after four issues of Rucka on the character, I don’t have a feel for what his take is and it doesn’t feel like anything has happened. Which feels like wasted momentum. Think I may be done with this.

Spider Gwen #10

An utterly unremarkable issue of this often frustrating book. Actually, I kind of like the alternate universe take on Kraven, and there’s a lovely May Parker moment, so as lackluster issues of it go this is better than most, but again, I’m looking at a week of nine comics the bulk of which I was underwhelmed by, and a book that has two mediocre issues for every good one is another obvious candidate to be done with.

Black Panther #4

Individual moments of this – particularly any scenes with T’Challa’s mother – are subtle, intelligent stuff of the sort one wants from this book. But the overall structure is still a mess. I couldn’t actually tell you what happened over the first arc of this book, or who most of the supporting cast is. I don’t think that’s specifically Coates’s fault or Stelfreeze’s so much as a combination, but this just doesn’t have the basic tightness that monthly serialization needs to succeed. I’ll stick with it, but more out of hope than judgment.

The New Avengers #14

In most regards an unremarkable fight book, but man, there’s a really solid demonstration of the difference between a skilled comics writer and an unskilled one here. Any character who’s introduced gets a big moment to either shine or demonstrate what their deal is.…

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Myriad Universes: Divided Light Part 1: Companionship

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This is far and away among the weirder story arcs in the DC Star Trek: The Next Generation series. And given this is a comic book line that had the Enterprise literally meet Santa Claus in 1987, that goes a way towards saying something. And yet Divided Light is *just* audacious and weird enough to work: Michael Jan Friedman’s signature deft hand at writing the crew and his knack for having his stories’ main themes and motifs reoccur on multiple levels makes this one memorable for all the right reasons instead of all the wrong ones. Perhaps most importantly for our purposes, it marks the beginning of a critical and formative time when the spin-off media, particularly the comic books, steered the course of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
 
Lwaxana Troi is aboard, and is regaling her daughter with stories of her recent tryst with Constable Odo on Deep Space 9. Deanna seems a bit unconvinced that Odo is quite as malleable and impressionable as Lawxana seems to think he is, but as far as Lwxana is concerned Odo is her dream man. But Lwaxana isn’t aboard the Enterprise solely for social reasons; she’s been asked to participate in a diplomatic conference on the third moon of Sakerion, where it is expected that Ergeus, Sakerion’s neighboring civilisation, will petition to join the Federation, thereby bringing a long period of isolationism for that culture to an end. Lwaxana thinks the move would be a strategic gain for the Federation given that Ergeus is on the border of Cardassian territory, but is concerned about stories she’s heard about the brutal Triumvirates that have historically been known to rule Ergeus. Meanwhile in the phaser shooting range, Captain Picard and Commander Riker discuss how the Federation wants the Enterprise to send a contingent of engineering, operations and medical personnel to the conference as well, the idea being to present an “open and friendly image”. The two commanding officers remark that, given this, Ambassador Troi was the best possible choice.
 
In sickbay, Doctors Crusher and Selar are discussing the conference. Bev wants to send Selar over as a representative, to which she eagerly accepts. In the holodeck, Lwaxana, dressed as Snow White, has taken Alexander back to the time of Earth’s dinosaurs. It is casually mentioned in passing that Lwaxana’s powers of telepathy extend to the level of being able to effectively mind-meld with the Enterprise itself. Although Alexander loves the mesozoic adventure, he confesses to Lwaxana that he often feels frustrated that he isn’t allowed near anything “important”, and expresses a desire to visit the diplomatic conference. Lwaxana begins to broach the idea of taking Ms. Kyle’s class (including Alexander) with her to Captain Picard as an “educational opportunity”, but Jean-Luc accepts her proposal before she even finishes proposing it, although he suggests ending Worf and a security detachment with them just in case, to keep everyone safe. Evidently Captain Picard can read minds too.
…

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