I first read Brave New World
when I was 13 or 14. My class was assigned to write an essay on a book in
English so I went to the library to find something that interested me. Now
Icelandic libraries in the early 90's did not have great selection of English books
(at least I do not recall them) but the librarian helped find some Sci-Fi that
was appropriate for me and my reading abilities.
She showed me a simplified version of a Brave New World. I read the book and
loved it. Now 20 years later I read it again and now the original version. My
memory of the novel was so different. The emphasis on the society’s addiction
to Soma was not as prevalent in the simplified version. I see now how this
theme is rich in many other dystopian novels. The free love aspect was really
interesting to a shy teenager but now I see how it is connected to numbness
induced by the Soma.
The story is slow and it really drives home some of its themes (some of which I
do not agree with). Now when reviewing a work like this I always feel conflicted.
Should I judge as I would a contemporary novel or should I take into account
the influences the book has had? I am never sure but I would recommend this to
anyone who is a fan of dystopian fiction and wants to explore the roots of the
genre.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Speed reading
Last winter I attended a speed reading seminar. Before I was a relatively fast reader but decided to see if I could improve. Now the main thing you learn at these speed reading seminars is running your finger under or next to the text you are reading. I was given some exercises that would improve my speed even more. I gave these a try and sure enough the worked. The thing is I am not sure that speed reading is useful on all occasions.
Now I am a native Icelander but i learned English at a young age. I found right away that the methods worked better for me when reading Icelandic. This is not surprising as it is my native language. For simpler English text it also worked really well but if the books are to difficult I prefer reading regularly. Maybe I should practice more or maybe the method just works better with easier texts.
So should one try speed reading? Sure, especially if you are a slow reader. The teacher in the course said some books can be read twice if necessary but I prefer to read them just once and spend longer amount time on the first go. I think from here on out I will mix the two depending on the case.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Enemy Mine: Movie v Book
Last
weekend I finished reading Enemy Mine by Barry Longyear. I had seen the movie
as a kid and really loved it so I decided to check out the book. After I
finished reading and I revisited the movie to compare the two. Spoilers
below!
Enemy Mine
is the story of Willis Davidge an earth pilot who is stranded on a deserted planet
alongside an alien named Jeriba Shingan who is member of the Drac race. The two
enemies need to work together to survive in the harsh environment. When Jeriba
dies in childbirth it falls to Davidge to take care of Zammis, Jeriba’s
offspring.
The
interaction between Jeriba (Jerry) and Davidge is very interesting as the two
try to explain their own philosophy to each other. After Jerry’s passing
Davidge has to teach Zammis everything he has learned about Drac culture. In
this part of the story the movie is very faithful to the novella. It ads in a
few differences but story is mostly the same.
One thing I
wanted to note is that in the beginning when Davidge refers to Jeriba as ‘it’ you get
the sense that is because of his hatred of the alien. When Davidge started to call
Jeriba Jerry I got the impression that the alien was a masculine being, maybe I
was influenced by the movie were that part was played by Louis Gossett Jr. After
Zammis is born Davidge sometimes refers to him as ‘it’. At this time in the story
we know that Drac are neither male nor female but both (they reproduce
asexually). So ‘it’ is not derogatory but an attempt to address his neutral sex.
The last part
of the story differs greatly between the movie and novella. In both cases Zammis
and Davidge are separated but that is where the similarities end. In the book
Davidge travels back to earth. The war has ended but many humans still hate the
Drac due to government propaganda. Davidge has problems adapting into this society
which appears to be a reference to problems encountered by Vietnam veterans as
they returned to the US after that war. After some troubles Davidge travels to
Drac and finds Zammis in an asylum. The two are reunited and travel back
to the planet. In the movie Zammis is captured by slavers and forced to work in
a mine. Apparently a producer insisted that mine be added else the title would be to confusing for audiences. Davidge is badly wounded but recovers and mounts a rescue mission. The
movie ending is more exiting and suits a movie better than the original (both
in regards to excitement and budget) but it could have been done better.
Davidge’s problems regarding his reintroduction into human society are abandoned
but didn’t need to be. I really liked this theme and would have liked to seen it
referenced in the movie.
The movie had
massive production problems. It started with a completely different director,
Richard Loncraine, who wanted to make a bleaker movie. Filming began in Iceland
in the fall of 1984 but was shut down after weeks of shooting. A new director
Wolfgang Peterson was brought on board and the movie production restarted almost
from scratch. The Drac design was among the things that were changed
so it would be more similar to the novella. Peterson used nothing of Loncrain’s
footage although some claim that a few shots of Quaid walking in the movie’s beginning appear
to be from Iceland (I agree with this). According to interviews with Dennis Quaid
and Peter Jurasik (cut from Peterson’s version) they both liked Loncrain’s
version. Apparently there was a lot of footage shot in Iceland that hasn’t been
seen. Some say it is completely lost but Quaid believes it still exists somewhere. It would be nice if these
were included in some future DVD release. Because of these problems the movies budget
ballooned and to 40$ million. Enemy Mine was released in December 1985 and only
made about 12$million.
Below are a
few stills from the Icelandic production I found in old newspapers, there are
also a few more in the links.
 |
| Construction of giant tree stubs |
 |
| The completed tree stubs. These were not used in Peterson's version |
 |
| A crashed spacecraft, most likely Davidge's craft. There were also pictures of covered spacecraft which were likely the Drac ship. According to the article four crafts were created bu only two were used in Peterson's version. |
References:
Monday, September 1, 2014
Hangover day
Last week I read and watched The Halloween Tree by Bradbury and Enemy Mine by Barry Longyear. I wanted to write a short blog about both stories yesterday but alas I was so hungover I didn't do anything. Hopefully I will find the time to write about these and I plan to put up some pictures from Richard Loncraine's unseen version of Enemy Mine which I found online.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Blogger or Wordpress?
As I finished LonCon earlier this month I decided it
would be nice to start a little blog. I had previously made an Icelandic
website (einarleif.is) so I had looked at a few platforms and decided to go
with Wordpress in the past. This website is however with Blogger. So why did I
change platforms?
Simple answer is time. I had planned to blog and
setting up a new Wordpress site takes time. I would have needed order a new
domain name and inquire about a few things from my friend (who has worked in
web design), like:
- How do you run two Wordpress sites on the same
computer?
- Should a go with a new domain provider or keep
using the Icelandic company (can I even book a .com with them)?
This would mean that I would not start blogging for
weeks, maybe even months (procrastination is king). Also what if I didn't like
blogging? Or just did a few posts and then nothing more?
As blogger is a much simpler platform then Wordpress
that would be up and running in seconds I decided to at least start using them.
Later I might set up a fancier Wordpress site but until then this is more than
enough for my needs.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Can You Learn Creative Writing? or The Story of How I Got a Little bit Better
Next Monday I am starting
my masters in creative writing (don't worry I am not giving up my day job) so I
wanted to tell you a little bit about my experience so far.
As a kid I loved
movies and making up stories with my G.I. Joes (UK: Action Man) but I didn’t
read much. Books just didn’t do it for me. Comics’ sure but not books. This
changed when I was eleven when someone, most likely my mom, found a copy of The
Hobbit translated into Icelandic. I ate up that book and loved every bit. The very
next week I created my own fantasy and even wrote eleven pages that are now
sadly lost but since then I have been writing and as the years have gone by I
have gotten a little bit better.
When I was young I
started three or four books that were never finished (although I plan to write
my epic space opera one of these days). The strange thing was that for the longest
time I believed the stupidest things. For example:
- That if I showed strangers my
works they would steal the ideas but this was probably due to shyness.
- I could not write because my
spelling was so bad and there wasn’t any room for improvement.
- I also thought that no one
would be interested in the stories I had to tell as SFF was almost never
translated into Icelandic but I continued to write mostly for
myself.
- If someone taught me to write I
would lose my own voice and become part of the establishment that never
hand any original ideas.
Thankfully most people
know that these notions are pretty childish but I have heard young or
inexperienced writers talking about similar worries. Ray Bradbury said that
studying writing was a waste of time and that your time would be better spent
writing and honing your craft. This is in many ways true. Reading and writing a
lot is necessary if you want to become a better writer. I myself try to write
for at least two hours every day and read a hundred books or more each year
(audiobooks count too).
In the early 00's I
started to write a lot. I stopped focusing on large manuscripts that I couldn’t
finish and focused more on short stories. Everything I wrote I submitted on an
Icelandic writing website were the works could be criticized and commented
upon. Some people liked the stories while other did not. But none of the
comments helped me evolve as a writer although at the time I didn’t realize it.
I just kept on writing and learned how to become more disciplined and even
finished my first 50.000+ word manuscript.
After I completed my
master's degree things came to a complete halt. I always wanted to write but I
had a demanding career and no extra time. The financial collapse of 2008
changed that. I was fired from my banking job but was lucky enough to get a new
one quickly but there wasn't much to do at the new office so I started to write
again. In mid-2011 I saw an ad from a small publisher in Iceland and sent them my
novel. The liked it and together we tried to make the story as good as
possible.
It was through this
process of editing with another person that my writing really started to improve.
After I published my book and was more open to new ideas. I actively started
looking for courses on writing. In the last year I signed up for three writing
courses, attended two conventions on writing and watched lots of lectures on YouTube
and my craft has continued to improve. I might not be great but I am always
getting better and it is my hope that my master's studies will help me even
more. Who knows? Maybe one day I can make a living doing this.
So in conclusion it is
my opinion that reading and writing are very important but there are also many
other things that can help. There are many course, lectures, websites, books
and advice out there. Look at whatever you find but use your own judgment to
assess if it something that might suit you.
P.S. I plan to use
this blog to improve my English writing skills, so all comments are appreciated.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Damnation Alley
I bought a 2£ (about 3$) copy of Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny at LonCon3 and almost read the whole thing on my flight back to Iceland. It is a short book that was originally written as a novella in 1967 and then converted into a book in 1969. This is the second book a read by Zelazny, the first one being Lord of Light, and I have to say this is very different. Lord of Light was nominated for the Nebula and won the Hugo in 1968 and is considered among the classics of Science Fiction. Also it was the fake movie Ben Affleck wanted to make in Iran in the movie Argo (just a little bit of trivia there). Damnation was on the other hand was not nominated for a Hugo or a Nebula but was made into a movie in 1977 starring Jan-Michael Vincent.
The Book
The books synopsis is as follows (taken from Wikipedia):
The story opens in a post-apocalyptic Southern California, in a hellish world shattered by nuclear war decades before. Several police states have emerged in place of the former United States. Hurricane-force winds above five hundred feet prevent any sort of air travel from one state to the next, and sudden, violent, and unpredictable storms make day-to-day life a mini-hell. Hell Tanner, an imprisoned killer, is offered a full pardon in exchange for taking on a suicide mission—a drive through "Damnation Alley" across a ruined America from Los Angeles to Boston—as one of three vehicles attempting to deliver an urgently needed plague vaccine.
The book’s protagonist, Hell Tanner, starts of as a nominal hero that is eerily similar to Snake Plisskin from 1981’s Escape from New York. As the story progresses we see more of Hell’s human side but I found these scenes to be few and very short. The character could have been fleshed out more but the book isn’t trying to be a character study it’s just a simple post apocalyptical story. In truth I found Hell to be too much of a badass. He has very few faults and very little humanity. On the other hand he is the only memorable character in the book. At the time he was probably a more memorable character but today he is a bit of a cliché.
The nuclear wasteland that is the main setting of the book is interesting and Zelazny conjures up huge mutants that and shows a tiny bit of this new worlds ecology. For example how the big creatures are eaten by bigger monsters that are in turn eaten by something smaller. To get through Damnation Alley Hell and his fellow travelers use three huge vehicles armed with flamethrowers and rockets. The reason I mention these is that it is one of the few redeeming qualities of the movie.
The book is a very short read and as a 60’s Sci-Fi novel is far from the worst I have read. I you have some time to kill and come across it at a used bookstore I would recommend you give it a try. It is a simple story about a protagonists travel from A to B. On the way we get loads of monsters and desolate human outposts. It has tons of plot holes but it is an easy read.
The book has had some impact on popular culture as the book Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams is an homage to Damnation Ally. A long running ark in the Judge Dredd comic is similar to the book and Hawkwind wrote a song inspired by the story.
The Movie
When I had finished Zelazny’s book I decided to check out the movie. It is the only movie ever to be made from a Zelazny novel and commercially it was a huge flop. The movie came out in 1977 same year as Star Wars which had half its budget.
Zelazny was apparently happy with the first draft of the script but that was later completely rewritten. So the movie has the following in common with the book.
- The US is a nuclear wasteland.
- The hero is named Tanner but John Tanner and he is a classic American hero that has nothing in common with the book’s anti-hero
- There are Landmasters armed with flamethrowers and rockets. Apparently the vehicle built for the film has had more of legacy then the movie itself.
- The group is travelling east but not to Boston.
- There is a scene with a storm that is somewhat similar two separate scenes in the book.
I think that is it. There are a few other very minor things like there is a character in the book named Denton, which is the name of the movie’s second protagonist. The movie has neutered the books main plot and is a very watered down story. The funny thing is that if they would have gone with a meaner protagonist this movie might have some cult status today.
The movie was apparently an inspiration for the game Fallout which I have heard of but never played (not much of a gamer).
P.S. This is my first blog post in English. Hopefully there will be a few more. If you have any pointers for me please let me know.
References:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DamnationAlley http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/DamnationAlley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnation_Alley_(film) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnation_Alley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Zelazny http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/blog/forum/topic.php?id=908562 http://blackholereviews.blogspot.com/2008/05/damnation-alley-1977-not-on-dvd.html http://www.stmoroky.com/reviews/authors/zelazny.htm http://www.avclub.com/review/damnation-alley-59164 http://angstandspeed.blogspot.com/2013/10/damnation-alley.html http://www.prometheus2-movie.com/community/forums/topic/14416&page=2 http://bronzeageofblogs.blogspot.com/2014/07/damnation-alley.html
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