Theater of the Absurd

photog Current Events , , , , ,

If ten years ago you had told me that the most interesting television presidential interview would be Greg Gutfeld and Donald Trump, I would have said, “Greg who?” followed by, “You mean the guy from The Apprentice?”

But Gutfeld provides Trump with one of the only television spaces where he’s not fending off attacks from so-called journalists.  Now I don’t count the Hannity type infomercial.  It’s too phony for anyone to take seriously.  And surprisingly, Trump doesn’t seem at ease when he sits down with Tucker Carlson for whatever reason.

With Gutfeld and his panel of goofballs Trump seems jovial and loose which is when he’s at his best.  And Gutfeld has a decent sized audience for cable tv.  I’ve been watching Gutfeld on and off since his “Red Eye” days.  He’s basically a libertarian but he doesn’t attack the Right much anymore so he’s relatively benign.  Good to see Trump getting a platform.

Aspects of World Building – 2

photog Book Reviews, My Fiction, OCF, photog's Corner, Reviews, Science Fiction / Fantasy, SF&F Book Reviews , , , ,

This installment is a fake.  What I want to talk about isn’t really part of world-building but rather different aspects of writing characters.  But since I’m too lazy to start another series of posts for non-world-building writing considerations I’ll put them here.  And in fact, I might even do that with other posts on other aspects of writing because I am inherently messy and undisciplined.

So, aspects of characterization in science fiction!

Over the years I have noticed that characters in science fiction have become more detailed.  The earlier writers in the 1930s and 1940s often produced stories that were more about some aspect of science driving a plot that didn’t require well rounded human characters.  Even the protagonist might be something of a cardboard cutout.  Sometimes this was intentional because the author didn’t care about the characters.  They were merely a means to an end.  They just had to move the plot along to the payoff.

And sometimes this flatness was more a consequence of the extremely limited abilities of the authors to portray normal human speech and actions.  They weren’t good writers.

But the opposite problem is now the case.  There are “science fiction” authors who write “literary” stories that are extremely character driven and psychologically grounded and lavish enormous attention to the interactions of these characters but which do not produce any interesting plot.  So, if your story takes place in a dystopic or utopic future but all your characters do is discuss their romantic problems, I have a hard time thinking of that as science fiction.

It seems to me that a happy medium is what’s needed.  But that is easier said than done.

In my latest story-writing, “The Sniper,” most of the text is taken up with the plot.  There is dialog and interaction and character development but I wouldn’t say it is sufficient.  There are several relationships between the characters that need further development.  But the tricky part is fitting the required dialog into the storyline.  It’s almost as if I’ll need to have two of the characters pinned down together during a battle for them to have the time to say what’s needed.  I remember in Heinlein’s “Beyond This Horizon” there was some such scene that was pivotal for the exposition of the two major characters’ points of view and the resolution of the plot.  The hard part is making it seem spontaneous and not contrived.  Apparently, there is some art to this writing thing.

It’s funny.  Over the years I have developed a taste for some literary fiction.  Specifically, I enjoy well-written short stories.  What I have been toying with is the idea of embedding one or more literary scenes in an otherwise non-literary science fiction story.  There could be a minor scene going on and two characters, possibly neither one of them very important to the plot become involved in a discussion or an activity that has only incidental importance to the plot but which is inherently meaningful and aesthetically interesting.  Of course, that presupposes that I can come up with something that displays those qualities.

With respect to characterization, I intend to go back into my sniper novel and add more dialog to some of the secondary plot lines.  I need to work on my female characters.  I may even try to get Camera Girl’s advice on these.  She is, after all, a girl, so she may have valuable recommendations.  But I fear she may make her characters too ruthless.  Like all barbarians she is inherently merciless

And I still have to decide what I will do with my AI character.  If her creator dies, I’m not sure whether I want her to survive or not.  I had decided that she would suicide.  But I’m growing attached to her.  And I see her value in future stories.  Perhaps death of a parent can be a maturing experience.  She is rather childlike.

In conclusion, the correct amount of characterization in a story is an indication of the balanced writer.  Not so much that the plot bogs down nor so little that you don’t care what happens to the characters.

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances.”

Throwing Light on Dark Matter

photog Current Events, Science , ,

I was rooting around on X and I saw a link to a review of a physics book, “Quantised Accelerations: From Anomalies to New Physics” by Michael McCulloch that Hans G. Schantz reviewed on his substack.  What caught my attention was that this book attempts to explain the observed higher velocity of stars on the outer edges of galaxies without resorting to “dark matter.”

I confess that the review describes concepts of quantum behavior that I am unqualified to evaluate but I liked the analogy of dark matter to the mythical existence of planet “Vulcan” to explain the perturbations of the planet Mercury that was required before relativity was proposed by Einstein.

It makes sense to me that before accepting that the majority of matter in the universe is indetectable it would make sense to probe a little deeper into all of the effects of the physical phenomena we’ve already confirmed.

This one is for those who enjoy contemplating the brain-twisting weirdness of the very large and the very small.

Tom’s World – 18SEP2024 – Museum Aircraft – 2

photog Guest Contributors, Photography, TomD , , ,

Tom | Flickr

TomD

Aircraft Museum WWII Naval Aircraft

 

Catalina- This aircraft was not glamorous and so, doesn’t figure into the war stories of WWII but it was probably one of the most important aircraft from the Pacific theater. It was commonly used as a scout and rescue aircraft and was the one that initially reported the location of the Japanese fleet prior to the Battle of Midway.

 

NAS Pensacola was the location from which all Catalina initial training was conducted. This is an actual Catalina modified to be a WWII training aid showing typical activities on the seaplane.

 

Army P40. P40’s were US Army frontline aircraft introduced in 1938 but were pretty much outclassed by the Mitsubishi Zero but nonetheless had a successful record against other Japanese types in the Flying Tigers prior to the US entry into WWII.

Battle of Midway: to anybody with even a passing awareness of the Pacific Theatre of the war knows of the central importance of the June 1942 battle of Midway in which the US sank 3 Japanese aircraft carriers in about 15 minutes and a 4th several hours later.  Such a decisive victory was to leave the Japanese trying to catch up for the remainder of the war. Though things were pretty tough later that year in the 5 Guadalcanal battles that created the Iron Bottom Sound populated chiefly but not exclusively by US ships. Things were pretty desperate for the first 1-1/2 years of the war.

 

This beautifully restored Douglas SBD, the type that actually sank the carriers, is the last aircraft remaining on earth that took part in the battle. Sometime after the battle, it was declared to be worn out and sent to the US as a training aircraft where some trainee Ensign missed an approach to a training carrier in Lake Michigan. The plane stayed at the bottom of the lake for 50 years until it was retrieved and restored to this condition.

 

F4U- This famous aircraft probably doesn’t need an intro. Upon its initial intro, the F4U Corsair was considered to be too dangerous and unsuitable for carrier operation because of its essentially zero forward visibility when on carrier approach. Until the British showed to Americans how to do it, the Corsair was limited to ground based Marine Corps usage. The Corsair racked up an incredible kill/loss ratio but it probably was helped by the fact that the Japanese had no means of effective pilot training to replace their losses later in the war. Unlike the US, they left their experienced pilots in the fight until they were killed, losing all of that experience.

The Corsair remained in production longer than any other US fighter and was still in  frontline use in some air forces well into the 50’s and the jet age.

In the foreground is a Pratt and Whitney R-2800, a motor that put out as much as 2800 HP in some late war versions and was used in so many US aircraft that I’d have to research to list them all.

 

What’s in the Air

photog Book Reviews, Current Events, My Fiction, OCF, photog's Corner, Reviews, Science Fiction / Fantasy, SF&F Book Reviews, The Honeymooners, TV Reviews , , , , , ,

This week the Autumnal Equinox occurs and marks the point where the scales tip in the direction of night over day.  It’s subtle.  We still are enjoying days that have 80-degree temperatures, bright sun and the sound of cicadas and crickets.  But all the summer flowers are dead or dying.  The butterflies are almost all gone as are the hummingbirds.  The frogs still croak at night but their rhythm has slowed to a crawl and their hearts aren’t in it.

In a couple of weeks, the wolfbane will bloom and the short days will give way to frosty nights and the windows will close and the meals will feature oatmeal for lunch and soups for dinner.  And I’ll have to send for the guy who tunes up the heating system (may the Fire god Agni protect our dear furnace).

So indoor activities become more important.  I’ve been reading another book on the ancient DNA results.  It is very trendily named, “Who We Are and How We Got Here” by David Reich.  It has many of the results I have previously read but it made some further clarifications or conclusions.  I also watched a YouTube video that Reich was in.  In this video he made a very interesting assertion.  He said words to the effect that it probably isn’t the case that the Neanderthals and Denisovans went extinct.  Basically, they were reabsorbed in the various successive waves of migration from Africa and the Middle East northward after the last Ice Age.  He is of the opinion that the 2-4% Neanderthal genetic content of non-African humans is probably much higher, more like 10-20%.  And a similar case exists for the Denisovans.  And there may even be other intermediate species or races that we haven’t identified especially where DNA doesn’t survive as well.

Also, he clearly stated that Native Americans are a combination of about 1/3 ancient Siberian (sort of a proto-European group) and two thirds East Asian (e.g., Chinese, Korean, Japanese) ancestry that crossed the Bering Land Bridge in three waves.  There is a hint that a small relict population that includes some Australasian traits (e.g., Australian aborigine, New Guinean) exists in the Amazon rainforest but when and how they got there is unknown.

So, there is all this amazing information including the clarification of how the Yamnaya people from the space between the Black and Caspian Seas used the domestication of the horse and invention of the wagon to expand out and replace most of the inhabitants of Europe and Iran and half the inhabitants of India while spreading their language (Prot-Indo-European) to half of Eurasia and subsequently the world.

But the discouraging part of the book is how much hand-wringing Reich does about the fact that these ancient people weren’t feminists and how the conquerors managed to spread their DNA by having children with the lion’s share of the women of the conquered people.  And then we get the genetics of slavery.  Which is a similar story.  In fact, there is a whole chapter called Genomics of Inequality.  And then there is one called The Genomics of Race and Identity.  So, there is a whole lot of hand-wringing.  Oh well.  There is a lot of interesting results.  You just have to read between the whines.

I’m also reading Hans G. Schantz’s book “The Wise of Heart.”  It’s a reimagining of the Scopes’ Monkey Trial with biological sexuality standing in for Darwinian evolution in an environment where transgender activists have passed laws against stating biological reality.  I’m about a third of the way through and I can see he has carefully studied the courtroom nuances that such a legal confrontation would involve.  I’ll provide a full review when I finish.

And finally, now that the summer has ended, I hope to begin watching and reviewing the classic 39 episodes of “The Honeymooners,” the 1950’s sit-com that Jackie Gleason created.  I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for this show.  I believe it is the greatest contribution that Brooklyn ever made to western civilization (well, except for, maybe, ringalevio).

And of course, I’m continuing with my outlining of the universe for my epic sf series (WHATEVERITSCALLED).  Believe it or not musing over it actually provides measurable progress in making the choices I need, in order to provide scope and direction to the plot choices I want built into the “world.”  One thing’s for sure.  No xenomorphs in my universe.  Ridley Scott stole that monster from “Voyage of the Space Beagle” but even though that book was terrible it still gave the xenomorph a better showcase.

So, lots of good stuff going on.  Stay tuned.

18SEP2024 – Quote of the Day

photog Quote of the Day ,

Poems on Age

I feel like one,

Who treads alone

Some banquet-hall deserted,

Whose lights are fled,

Whose garlands dead,

And all but he departed!

 

Oft, in the stilly night,

Ere Slumber’s chain has bound me,

Fond Memory brings the light

Of other days around me;

The smiles, the tears,

Of boyhood’s years,

The words of love then spoken;

The eyes that shone,

Now dimm’d and gone,

The cheerful hearts now broken!

 

What though youth gave love and roses,

Age still leaves us friends and wine.

 

All that’s bright must fade,—

The brightest and the fleetest;

All that’s sweet was made,

But to be lost when sweetest.

 

Thomas Moore