“Red Skies: Soviet Sci-Fi”

call_of_the_heavens — "The Heavens Call" movie poster (1959)

This morning, I came across a very cool article in Scoop.it, about science fiction as a genre in the former Soviet Union. As it explained, until recently this area has remained virtually unexplored, with historians focusing on the “greats” of the 1920’s – men like Eisenstein – and the “socialist realism” of the 1930’s (aka. Stalinist propaganda). However, between those decades and the opening up of the former Soviet Union in 91, a lot of interesting developments happened. And, interestingly enough, it seems as though sci-fi in the Eastern Bloc went through a similar transition to that in the west.

And let’s not forget that, even though there was a very real wall preventing cultural exchange between East and West during these years, some degree of exchange did take place. Take for example Yevgeny Zamyatin, author of “We“. His classic tale of a super-rationalized world state where emotion and individuality were suppressed and sex served only reproductive purposes had a profound influence on George Orwell, Ayn Rand and (presumably) Aldous Huxley, thought he denied ever reading it.

In addition, Yakov Protazanov’s Aelita (Queen of Mars), a story about a man who travels to Mars and finds a totalitarian government which he helps to topple, inspired a movie adaptation. Made in 1924 and featuring constructivist-style sets, the movie had a profound influence on Fritz Lang, who’s 1927 classic Metropolis featured sets of similar design. The 1957 film Road to Mars, directed by the famous Pavel Klushantsev, contained several slow-motion scenes of astronauts floating weightlessly through space. This movie apparently had a profound influence on Stanley Kubrick and his shooting of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

And with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the west was flooded with previously inaccessible stories which began to be adapted (or plagiarized, depending on your point of view). Not the least of these was Hungarian sci-fi writer István Nemere’s story Holtak harca. Translated to “Fight of the Dead”, this story is about a criminal and a police officer who are cryogenically frozen, only to wake up in a future where society has been purged of violent behavior. This story became the basis for the Hollywood movie Demolition Man, not to mention a law suit or two!

In any case, it’s a good read and makes me think I should be on the lookout for added movies and book titles. Here’s the link and I recommend checking it out:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49760

Weyland Industries “David 8”: a Prometheus preview

Just caught this, thanks to a scholar I follow (thanks Owl!). It certainly is an interesting way to go about previewing his new movie, but then again, Ridley Scott has always been known for being a creative bastard! In addition to revisiting the universe of aliens, he seems to be doing everything in his power to give it some genuine subtext and backstory.

As I’m sure we all remember, in the universe of Alien and Aliens, Weyland-Yutani was responsible for running… well, everything. In addition, “artificial lifeforms” or “synthetics” like Ash and Bishop were considered commonplace on board company ships, it seemed only natural that we that this movie give us a preview of their predecessors.

Good watching. Click on the video below and you’ll see…

The Future is Here: Tupac and the Magic Hologram

Somewhere in Vancouver, William Gibson must be smiling smugly to himself. Less than an hour ago, yours truly – usually the last to hear about recent events in pop culture – was made aware that Tupac, through the magic of a holographic projector, made a comeback appearance at Coachella. This, naturally, triggered a massive reaction on twitter and just about every other form of social media. One can expect that this will add a whole lot of impetus to the conspiracy theory that states that Tupac is still alive and releasing albums that contain clues that he faked his death. In fact, there are already sites going up that are claiming that this act wasn’t an act. But for the most part, no one was fooled.

Not that they were meant to be. The hologram, despite the advanced technology behind it and the obvious skills of the technicians, looked very much like a hologram.

From the side, it looked 2-dimensional, was pretty translucent, and when it moved, the feet seemed to disappear for a few seconds at a time. But what was astounding was just how interactive the hologram was. Performing alongside headliners Dr. Dre, Eminem and Snoop Dogg, the hologram not only performed some of Tupac’s greatest hits with these veteran rappers, it also interacted with the crowd and seemed to be saying things that weren’t taken from old footage. This would imply that the hologram was not simply a recording, but a dynamic thing that the techs had programmed to act like the real-life version. Pretty cool huh?

Of course, I mention William Gibson because it was he who predicted this sort of thing. In his 1996 post-cyberpunk novel Idoru, Gibson wrote about the growing popularity of digital personalities in Japan. Apparently, they have many renditions of the Tupac hologram there, virtual beings who sing, dance, and even go on tour – which is apparently what the Tupac hologram will doing in the near future! But Gibson’s novel went beyond by dealing with a hologram that had achieved sentience. Due to advances in the realm of AI, the Idoru had developed a mind of its own, and was therefore looking for a normal life.

This sort of thing is often explored in science fiction, the line between artifice and real, but usually in the form or robots or cyborgs. But this takes it to a whole new level! Let’s face it, there’s something inherently eerie about holograms isn’t there? Beings of light with no physical presence, they appear as angels or ghosts, which is surely what the techs at Coachella were going for. If they can become real, in the sense that they have independent thoughts and actions, well… who knows? The line won’t be blurred, it will disappear entirely!

Update: Just about every piece of footage from the concert has been pulled due to copyright issues. But here’s a clip from Jimmy Kimmel live where they show a clip or two:

Data Miners – Chapter 6

Six

Nina was about nine minutes late getting to her desk that morning. Gareth had borrowed the car again last night and casually forgotten to fill the tank up when he dropped it off. Typical Gareth behaviour, but she was forced to take some of the credit. Had she not let him sleep over, he wouldn’t have been around to disrupt her morning routine. She could have superseded him simply by setting her clock, but such behavior is for grunts. Let the new kids greet the day, she decided long ago. Now that she’s got some clout around her office, she refuses to be a slave to an alarm clock.

The drive was pleasant, if a bit rushed. It was a pristine West Virginian morning, the air nice and dewy and mildly warm. It’s the kind of morning that’s pleasant for the first few hours, before the noon sun turns it all into sweltering heat. By then the residents of the sleepy town of Clarksburg were all too happy to retire to a working environment that boasted some kind of air-conditioning. Those that did not enjoy this luxury would just have to suffer or find some other way to stay cool.

Nina had broken a bit of a sweat getting to work and was pleased with herself for making sure her desk was outfitted with a box of Kleenex that was waiting for her on arrival. Grabbing a handful of the tissues, she dabbed at her face and around her neck, letting the AC do its job and cool her down until her pores closed. She looked at her keyboard and noticed there was a note sitting there with a prescriptive message scrawled across it.

Check our surveillance files, following j-pegs:

*TBK.192.jpg

*AU.298,jpg

*ACLU.0098.jpg

Possible forgeries detected! Need to know basis.

Mark J.

Nina was about to get herself a cup of coffee and ease her way into her work, but someone obviously intended to light a fire under her. The note also seems to suggest he got here a lot earlier than her today. What could have been so important as to warrant a really early start? She hops right onto her computer and calls up their surveillance database. Entering the names of each file, she waits as the machine does a search and pulls up each one. She sends each to her desktop for eventual printing and picks up her phone. Punching in Mark’s extension, a quick call ensues. Explanations are necessary, and they better be good! No one starts their morning with something like this without a damned good reason!

Nina looks around to make sure she’s alone. One after the other, the damning photos are rolled off and set down in the printer’s tray, their fresh, glossy surfaces reflecting the room’s fluorescent lighting back at her.

The photos are on the nearest side table a second later and Nina grabs a black and a white marker. She circles the pictures in white, underlines the name at the bottom in black. Grabbing a manila envelope from the shelf, she slides the three photos in and leaves the copy room in great haste. She is at the dark mahogany door with two plaques not a moment later. One reads Dave Griswold, Deputy Director, and the other, Law Enforcement Services Branch. Without announcing herself, she walks right in and slams the envelope down on his desk. He is in the process of finishing a call and looks up at her just in time to hear her speak.

“Sir, I think we’ve been hacked. I was alerted to these forgeries this morning.”

Griswold takes the folder and opens it carefully. Years of dealing with sensitive materials has conditioned the habit in him to treat every file folder as if it were containing anthrax powder or a copy of the constitution. He lays the photos out, and immediately forgets this habit. The three photos spread out around the desk so he can see all three circles that Nina has drawn.

“What the hell are these?”

“Fakes, sir. Found in the surveillance files. Not too convincing ones either.”

“Just what are you saying here, Righetti?”

“I’m saying that Johnson reported that someone hacked into the CJIS and planted these is our files.”

“Johnson came to you with this when?”

“This morning. He says he got a call from some press agent over at the Washington Post, something about these photos being sent to him from an anonymous source within our department. They wanted confirmation that they were real.”

“Confirmation…” Griswold said with a laugh. Trust the good ol’ boys at the WP to actually check first. Unlike most of their liberal counterparts, they knew how to take national security seriously. “So what have we told them?”

“Well, nothing yet sir. First thing I did was pull the photos and send them down to Criminal Investigations, asked if they knew anything about them. They said they had no idea what I was talking about, so I asked them to examine them for us. They all came back as a fake.”

“Jesus clusterfuck!”

Nina clears her throat. There’s something about a boss swearing so openly that makes her want to laugh, which she cannot allow right now. Combining religious obscenity with a compound word that strongly denotes group sex makes that especially hard. Why the hell is that word so popular with government people?

“They do look real enough, don’t they?”

“People can do some amazing things these days with Photoshop, sir.”

Griswold looks up at her. He is the first to admit that he’s not the most technologically literate person in the world. That’s why the Bureau is in the habit of hiring these young ‘uns. They do the leg work while the old workhorses do the thinking.

“Okay, so what else?”

“Well, sir, I asked Johnson to start a more thorough search of our surveillance files, just to see if there’re any more fakes. In the meantime, I think we should consider giving the Post a statement.”

“Forget the Post,” Griswold replies. “A hundred papers must have their hands on these by now. There’s no way this isn’t going to be big news. We can expect to get reamed real good, real soon.”

“Yes, sir.” Nina’s stance tightens up some more. She knows this is serious. He’s using a butt metaphor. He looks down at the photos again and takes a deep breath. Reaching for the phone, he fetches it from its cradle and hits the button to connect him to the Criminal Investigations Branch. As it rings, he issues some new orders for Nina.

“I need to send these up the line. You get over to Johnson and ask him exactly who the hell contacted him at the Post. See if you can’t suck any more information out of them, like who sent them these.” A pause as the phone beeps a few times, waiting for the CIB to pick up. “I need to talk to the Cyber Division on this. Find out how in the hell those bastards let someone get into our files.”

She is about to leave when Griswold stops her for one last reminder.

“And for God sakes, keep this under your hat!”

Nina nods and is waved away as the answering service at the other end picks up his call. She can hear his bawling into the receiver just as she leaves the office.

“Andrei! I’m sending you something my grunts just brought to my attention. We’ve got a fucking leaky ship and I’m putting the blame squarely at the feet of your Cyber Division! PATCH YER FUCKING HOLES!”

The door shuts and all she can hear now are the muffled thuds of the DD’s explosive tirade. The noise follows her down the hall until she is finally back in the vicinity of her office space. Just about everyone she has passed is looking in the direction of the DD’s door.

More Badasses!

Last time, my list was already going kind of long with everyone from Alucard to Private Vasquez. So I thought I might make a second installment and include all the people I couldn’t, and break the mold a little by venturing outside of the world of science fiction. But as usual, the only real criteria is sheer badassness, those people who went above and beyond at kicking ass, keeping their cool and staying alive when all around them was dying or exploding! So here they are, the other badasses who deserve recognition for all their awesomeness!

Bill Kilgore:
“I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn’t find one of ‘em, not one stinkin’ dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like … victory.”

These are the words that soldier, surfing enthusiast and notorious badass Lt. Col Bill Kilgore is most remembered for. A seminal character is the 1979 epic war film Apocalypse Now, Kilgore was the commander of the an Air Cavalry brigade that was responsible for getting special agent Capt. Benjamin L. Willard and his PT Boat escort up the Mekong River. This he did by assaulting a company of Viet Cong that was controlling the mouth of the river, flying in low in attack choppers to the tune of “Flight of the Valkyries” by Wagner, blowing the shit out of everything, distributing death cards on the corpses of the enemy, and then ordering his men to surf on the breaking waves!

That’s right, in the midst of enemy fire, he disembarked on the Mekong Delta and told his men that it was either “fight or surf”. When told that this was too risky, Kilgore replied simply that “if I say it’s safe, it’s safe!” He would also remark in the midst of it that “Charlie don’t surf!” Loved by his men and feared by his enemies, Kilgore combined balls, daring, eccentricity and wry humor into one package. As if this wasn’t enough, Kilgore seemed to lament the fact that one day, the war would end. And why not? With no asses to kick and no death to defy, men like him would surely run out of things to do and die from boredom.

And as Willard himself remarked in his journal, Kilgore had a certain aura about him, as if nothing could touch him. Yes, given his indifference to explosions and bullets’ ability to miss him, Kilgore could only strike audiences as crazy, invincible, or some odd combination of both. But given his reputation, I wouldn’t be surprised if Kilgore survived the war and went on kicking ass until the day he died. I’m sure there’s even shrines somewhere along the Mekong river that are dedicated to him!

Bo:
Man, demon hunting has been growing in popularity in recent years! And with more and more heroines taking to the stage, its also been getting a lot sexier! This is especially true of Bo, the an ass-kicking vixen of Lost Girl and a leather-wearing succubus to boot! Much like her male peers, Blade and D, she is a supernatural being with mixed origins who uses her abilities to help those in need. Largely, this consists of hunting other supernatural beings who prey on the innocent and just like to stir shit up. In addition to her leather getup, her weapons of choice appear to be traditional in nature, crossbows and blades rather than guns.

Working with the only real friend she’s known since discovering her true identity, Bo and Kenzi run a sort of Fae/Human detective agency where they investigate paranormal events and learn more about the world she comes from. In the course of learning about her true origins, Bo is brought face to face with the Fae world and its particular struggles. After being told that she must choose between “the light or the dark” of the Fae world, Bo chooses instead to remain neutral and fight for humanity, largely out of loyalty to her friend.

In time, she meets and develops relationships with other beings, like the wolf-shifter Dyson, who holds down a day job as a police detective, and a human doctor named Lauren. These relationships, in addition to the nature of her job, allows Bo to keep one foot in both worlds, which seems to be the natural resolution to her predicament (i.e. having “lost” her humanity years before).

Bryan Mills:
“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.”

Just as Ellen Ripley taught never to come between a mother and her child, Mills taught us never to come between a father and his daughter. Yes, with the release of Taken in 2008, we were all indebted to Liam Neeson for proving that a retired father-figure can still be the biggest badass on the block! Within ninety-six hours of learning that his daughter had been kidnapped, Mills flew to Paris and took down an entire Albanian mob ring and all those involved in their human smuggling. And part of what made it so damn cool was how effortless he made it look!

After spending years honing his skills with the CIA, a job which eventually cost him his job and custody of his daughter, Mills quit his job and moved to LA to be closer to her. However, things went awry when his daughter decided to take a trip to Europe to follow U2 on tour and ended up being kidnapped by a bunch of sex-slave traffickers. Thus the very thing that cost him a life with his daughter would allow him to bring her back home safe and sound! Not only was he able to deduce the identity of her kidnappers from a single phone call, he was also able to determine who amongst the authorities were on the take from them, where the bad guys safe houses were, and who they were doing business with. Not bad for an old man!

But really, the scene that took the cake for me was when he walked right into one of the Albanian mobs hideouts, impersonating a French government agent, and extorted the bad guys for more money!

Awesome, especially when you consider that it was all an act so that he could find out which amongst them was the guy he had a phone conversation with. And once he knew, he says so cooly, “You don’t remember me? We spoke on the phone two days ago. I told you I would find you.” Then proceeds to take them all out with his bare hands and their own guns! Oh, and that torture scene afterwards, where he hooks up Marko to the power grid? It was so good, I feel the need to quote his opening threat in full:

“You know, we used to outsource this kind of thing. But what we found was the countries we outsourced to had unreliable power grids. Very Third World. You’d turn on a switch – power wouldn’t come on, and then tempers would get short. People would resort to pulling fingernails. Acid drips on bare skin. The whole exercise would become counterproductive. But here, the power’s stable. Here, there’s a nice even flow. Here, you can flip a switch and the power stays on all day.”

Bad-Ass! If only Mills and Ripley could get together and make a baby, that kid would be the safest, most badassed kid in the world!

Dirty Harry:
“You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well do ya, punk?” One of the most quoted lines in Hollywood history. You almost forget that the man saying it was threatening to blow the head off some thug with an empty .44 magnum. And this was after he single-handedly foiled a bank robbery. Yes, this scene not only made Clint Eastwood’s career, it also immortalized Inspector Harry Callahan as one of the baddest dudes of all time!

Working for the SFPD, Inspector Callahan became the template for an entire generation of movie cop. Nicknamed “Dirty” because of his reputation for crossing boundaries in order to get the bad guy, Callahan was also a man of deep principles who believed very strongly in what he was doing. Always, his weapon of choice was his trusty .44 magnum service revolver, a gun that is notorious for packing an incredibly punch! Though he might use other weapons in the course of duty, or just his bare hands, the magnum was always the gun he is seen wielding in iconic images.

Often condemned by higher ups and authorities for being a “rogue” or “loose cannon”, he was in fact the kind of guy who only broke the rules – including his own – when it was absolutely necessary. And when it came right down to it, his rough exterior hid a semi-tortured soul that longed for a world in which life was simpler, people were civil, and no one committed grisly crimes. But as long as they still did, he was prepared to whip out his gun and shoot them up!

Sounds like a cliche now doesn’t it? Well, that’s because Eastwood established it as a household theme! Callahan was, for all intents and purposes, the original bad-boy cop, willing to bend, grease and even break the rules in order to take down the criminal psychopaths and avenge the victims of violent crime. But always, he loved what he did, and was a hell of a lot more committed than the pencil-pushing bosses and red-tape bureaucrats who complained about his methods! (Whoa, speaking of cliches!)

John McClain:
The man who put the hard in Die Hard! Unlike most of his peers, Detective John McClain of the NYPD was good at taking down bad guys not because of his big brain or super human fighting skills, but because of his raw, unrelenting determination. Relying on a cop’s instincts, a strong sense of duty and the desire to protect the ones he loved, McClain triumphed over criminals and terrorists through persistence and his refusal to just roll over and die. Basically, he was like an itch they couldn’t scratch, slowly driving them mad until they lost all control and died in a fiery explosion or a spectacular fall.

A veteran cop with the NYPD, McClain established his reputation as a badass by taking down twelve terrorists in LA who decided to celebrate Christmas by seizing control of a multinational corporate building and taking its employees (including his wife) hostage.

This reputation was further cemented when, on the following Christmas, a bunch of paramilitary goons decided to hold an airport hostage so they could fly a Central American war criminal in safely and then ferry him away. His third stint involved stopping a former East German infiltration expert-turned mercenary who also happened to be the brother of Hans Gruber (his first victim) . Last, but not least, he managed to foil a bunch of cyber terrorists who chose July 4th to stage a massive heist involving “fire sale”ing the US economy and all its utilities. Again and again, McClain brought them down by enduring endless beatings, running around, and getting there just in time to screw up some element of their plan.

In this way, McClain did demonstrate a sort of subtle genius by being able to get under the bad guy’s skin. In all cases, the criminals he was dealing with were adept at planning and manipulation, relying on fear, feints and bluffs that would make their opponents play into their hands. Intrinsic to their plans was a sense of control, ensuring that all things went according to schedule so they could get in and get out without being caught. By putting himself at the center of things and constantly gumming up the works, McClain robbed them of this control, thus making them act rashly and stupidly until their plans unraveled. But of course, the bad guys were always on the verge of getting away when McClain finally did them in, ensuring that things stayed suspenseful until the end.

Tragically, his commitment to badassery and being in the wrong place at the wrong time cost him his marriage and pretty much alienated him from his daughter. It also led to a love-hate relationship with the bottle and a 401k that had seen better days. And though it seemed like time had run out on his marriage, John was ultimately able to rebuild things with his daughter, mainly because he saved her life! And, as predicted, she was pretty ballsy and tough herself. Guess the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree

Rambo:
Much like Dirty Harry, John Rambo is one of those heroes that has been imitated so many times over the years that he’s become somewhat of a cliche. However, if one were to dig deep beneath all the merchandizing, knock-offs, and half-assed imitations, one finds an original creation who was quite the badass indeed. And like most of Stallone’s roles, there was some real substance to this character before a series of sequels buried it under a mountain of cliches and repetitive plotlines.

Born to a Navajo father and Italian/German mother, Rambo enlisted in the army at an early age and was sent to Vietnam where he served two tours: one as a regular solider and another with the Green Berets. After being taken prisoner and tortured, he escaped and deployed one last time. After all that, Rambo returned to the US to find that people had turned against the war and hated him for being a veteran. This led to a severe case of PTSD and some serious trouble with the law.

In the original novel, Rambo was arrested, escaped from jail and became the target of a manhunt. This ended with his death in a secluded wood after he had taken down several officers and National Guardsmen. In the movie however, Rambo doesn’t die but surrenders, speaking of the horrors he’s witnessed and lamenting how he cannot return to a normal, civilian life. He then is taken to jail where he remained until the second movie came out.

In the sequels, Rambo finds a sort of resolution to his conflict by returning to active duty, again and again. Ultimately, it seems that the solution to his inability to reintegrate into a peaceful lifestyle is to embrace a life of violence, but for the sake of helping those in need.

His first redeployment (in First Blood, Part II) is to his old stomping grounds of Vietnam where he is tasked with rescuing POW’s who never made it home. His second is to Afghanistan, where Soviet forces have taken his old friend and mentor Col. Trautman prisoner and he and a bunch of mujaheddin warriors must break into the camp to save him. In the fourth and final installment, Rambo comes out of retirement one last time to help a bunch of missionaries who have been taken hostage by the military Junta in Myanmar/Burma. In every case, Rambo racks up the kills, relying on his trusty bow and arrow, M60, KBAR knife, and any machinegun he can get his hands on to eviscerate, carve, punch holes in or blow the bad guys away!

Yes, as I said, things got pretty cliche with this series, relying on the latest news sensation and the repetitive theme of an old warrior returning to what he knows to make the carnage seem emotionally accessible. But who the hell cared? If there was one thing Rambo was good at, it was kicking some serious ass and it didn’t really matter who’s it was! In the end, they fell by the hundreds, overwhelmed by his mighty arsenal and signature sneer!

Raylan Givens:
What do you get when you cross a cowboy with a Federal Marshall? Why, Raylan Givens, of course! The star of the hit series Justified, Raylan Givens is a no-nonsense, gun-toting, wisecracking lawman who seems to have learned the art of law enforcement from guys like John Wayne and Dirty Harry. Much like his predecessors, he has a penchant for breaking the rules and pissing off his superiors in order to reign in the bad guys. But of course, no one can fire him because he’s just too damn good!

Born to a criminal family in Harlan County, Kentucky, Raylan joined the Marines in order to get away from the drugs, criminals and white supremacists that his hometown was known for. After becoming an expert in small arms and the quick draw, he enlisted with the US Marshalls and became a law man. Known for his accuracy, fast hands, tendency to wind up shooting people and signature cowbow hat, Raylan quickly earned the reputation of being a “cowbow”, both in terms of appearance and sensibilities. Naturally, he would be the first to say that he tries to resolve things peacefully, but somehow, violence keeps breaking out.

After a “justified shoot” involving an arms dealer whom Raylan told to leave Miami in 24 hours or risk getting shot on sight, Raylan was transferred back to his home state of Kentucky. Here, he found the county of his youth overrun by the Oxycontin trade, prostitution, and violence, often involving people he used to call family and friends. More often than not, Raylan is forced to reign in people who are much like him, people who he could have easily become if he had made slightly different choices (echoes of Garry Cooper there!).

Xena:
Don’t ask me how I managed to forget Xena last time around! This iconic, heroine, warrior-princess, inspirational figure is someone without whom no list of inspirational badasses should even be written! So I amend my previous mistake, and include her here and now. I knew not what I did, please don’t send me hate mail. Moving on…

Xena is without a doubt one of the most popular heroines to come out of popular culture and fantasy/sci-fi in recent decades. Tough, smart, and sassed mouth, she is anything but prim and proper and has been generally known to kick some serious ass and look good while doing it. Whether she’s high-kicking, wielding that Chakram (throwing disc), slashing through bad guys with her sword, or just leering at people with those eyes, Xena is to badass heroines what AC/DC is to classic rock. In short, it’s dam hard to imagine one without the other! Originally appearing in the series Hercules as a villain, Xena went on to become his friend and lover and even earned herself a spin-off which did better and ran longer than its forebear.

Her own back story begins with her as a pirate and criminal, until she met and was double-crossed by a young, ambitious Roman officer named Julius Caesar (played by none other than Karl Urban). After surviving his brutal betrayal, she went to the East and joined some warlords, losing herself in revenge and violence until she tired of it and returned to the west. Here, she continued warring and raiding, until she met a demi-God named Hercules whom she initially tried to kill, but soon joined forces with him in order to defeat a warlord who had taken control of her army.

In time, she and Hercules had a love affair and she decided to change her ways. Nicknamed the “warrior-princess”, she soon teamed up with a young woman named Gabrielle who she taught to fight. Together, the two began roaming the lands of the ancient world, seeking out injustice and fighting for what was right. As she fights the forces of evil, Xena must also fight the forces of her own past, striving to resist the temptation to return to her old ways. Oftentimes, Gabrielle’s friendship and company prove to be the difference between resisting and succumbing.

Sounds cheesy, no? But it’s also pretty effective. In addition to being a hero to women and young girls everywhere, Xena’s relationship with Gabrielle has proven to be an inspiration to the lesbian community who claim that this powerful bond is a prime example of love which transcends gender norms or social mores. So in addition to her trademark war cry, disc-throwing and swashbuckling skills, Xena is a hero for being brave in a way that has nothing to do with ass-kicking or weapons. She is brave just for being true to herself and not giving a damn what anybody else thinks!

Final Thoughts:
Okay, now that I’ve paid homage to all these badass icons, I think I got what I need to draw some tentative conclusions. Basically, it seems to me that all of them share certain characteristics that set them apart and make them so damn unforgettable. So if you want to be badass like them, you better start thinking about adapting some of the following to your repertoire:

Roguish Personality: Whether we are talking about detectives, mercenaries, or freelance hunters, it seems that in order to be badass, you need to be willing to break the rules a little. Things like convention, regulations, and red tape are the kind of things that inspire annoyance, tediousness and the desire for you to do something outlandish and possibly reckless. Screw what other people think, you know what needs to be done and someone’s got to do it! If not you, then who?
Strong Values: But it’s not enough to simply break the rules. There has to be a higher purpose to what you are doing to justify this disregard for procedure and discipline. Basically, you need to have a strong commitment to what is right and know the difference between simply following orders and doing what needs to be done. After all, people following orders led to some of the worst crimes and miscarriages of justice in history! You gotta see the big picture and circumvent those who don’t sometimes, otherwise shit can happen!
Mad Skills: Whether you’re weapon of choice is a gun, a sword, some high-tech device, or just your hands and feet, you need to practice hard and be good at what you do! No hero has ever excelled by being lazy or neglectful of their basic fighting skills. You don’t need to be the best, mind you. Many a time you will confront someone who is more skilled than you are. But in these cases, your wits and your righteousness will overcome. Hell, you may even find yourself being rescued by a sidekick or someone you thought was against you. Heroes are good like that. They have friends and helpers where the bad-guys do not 😉
Troubled Past: Let’s face it, all this ass-kicking and smart-ass talk can’t conceal the fact that you’ve got some demons! Hell, all heroes do. Perhaps you’re struggling with your past, perhaps you’re not 100% okay with where you came from. But whatever the case, you know that ultimate resolution will come only through confrontation. Only by facing those who best embody your fears and demons will you prevail over the darkness you hold inside. But don’t do it too quickly! Chances are, you’ll become boring once you’ve vanquished your enemies and found inner peace!

Well that’s my assessment at least. But of course, if you are a true badass, you aren’t going to follow MY rules are you? Of course not! So take what you will from these “guidelines” and find your own path to badassery. For no matter what people may tell you, badasses are all rugged individuals at heart. If everybody did it, it would cease to be badass wouldn’t it?

A Tribute to Badasses!

You know those characters, people who come to us from our favorite movies, TV shows, or pop culture in general. The kinds of people who excel at kicking ass and taking names? The kinds of people that just never seem to die, they just keep getting bigger and badder the more time passes? Yeah, we all have people like that in our collective imagination, the inspiration heroes and villain who just impressed the hell out of us and made us want to be badass like them!

Well today, I felt inspired to do a little tribute piece to characters such as these. On the one hand, this seemed like a good diversion from my usual conceptual pieces which deal with big and potentially boring stuff. I mean, outside of people like me, who really cares about planetary cultures and mega cities? On the other, it felt like an overdue acknowledgement to all the characters that were well written, well scripted and well executed over the years. Yes, today I’m paying tribute to all the people in sci-fi who were so good at being so bad, or just bad enough…

Here they are!

Alucard:
The main character from the short-lived by popular Hellsing series. Not to be confused with Van Hellsing, also about a vampire hunter, this series was all about an organization in the UK that was dedicated to fighting vampires, ghouls, and other hellish creatures. Their chief operative, a mysterious vampire named Alucard (Dracula backwards), was quite the epitome of badassness!

In addition to his cape, Victorian-era clothes, and massive handgun, he had the supreme confidence and “man of few words” thing going that can only come from being alive for so freaking long. As they say with most vampire series, the longer they live, the more powerful they get. And Alucard has been around for a long, long time!

Ordinarily, he would just dispatch his enemies with a few blasts of his massive double-action pistol. But when faced with truly powerful demons, he would break the really scary shit! We’re talking seriously dark, scary energies that would tear an enemy to pieces, body and soul! Though it was never made clear why he was helping humanity in the animated series, the original comic did a better job of exploring his back story and motivations.

Taking its cue from Bram Stoker’s original novel, Dracula was apparently defeated by the notorious Abraham Van Hellsing and agreed to become the family’s loyal servant. The main story takes place several hundred years, later when the latest descendent of the Hellsing family is carrying on the tradition of keeping England safe from the forces of evil.

Blade:
Here we have another vampire hunter who’s more than just your average guy! Though his real name is Eric Brooks (according to the comic series), this street hunter goes by the professional name of “Blade”. Little wonder, considering that just about every weapon in his arsenal features an acid edged pig-sticker or a sharpened silver stake! But of course, the real twist comes in why he does what he does.

As if that wasn’t badass enough though, he also alternates between a Gran Torino and a motorbike, wears a leather cape over segmented body armor, and packs enough firepower to take down an entire SWAT team single-handedly! All the while, he utters his few, but cryptic lines through those big, vampire incisors.

Known ominously as the “Daywalker” to vampires who are scared shitless of him, he combines the best of both worlds when it comes to human and vampires. He is immune to silver, garlic and daylight, but can heal almost instantaneously and has super strength. His only weakness however comes in the form of the “thirst”, the need for blood which every vampire suffers from and must eventually succumb to, or die. In order to preserve his humanity, Blade relies on a synthetic “serum” which temporarily satisfies his cravings.

In a theme that has growing in popularity and familiarity since the early 80’s, Blade is a half-man, half-vampire who’s mother was bitten while pregnant with him. Tormented by his split identity, and the supposed loss of his mother, he has chosen to resolve this crisis by hunting those that made him what he is and robbed him of his human life. However, the question of what he will do once he’s rid the world of the last vampire, and what he will do when the serum stops working, are questions that remain unresolved, and help to drive the story.

Boba Fett:
When you hear the name Star Wars and the word badass, what naturally comes to mind? Assuming you know anything about Star Wars, then chances you thought of Boba Fett! This notorious bounty hunter was probably the most badass thing about the series, dwarfing Vader, Jabba, and the Emperor in terms of shear awesomeness!

Hell, this guy not only appeared repeatedly in movies two and three (with a small cameo in a deleted scene in movie one), he also had entire novels, comics, and games dedicated to him. Annnnd, if the Dark Horse series Dark Empire is to be believed, Fett even escaped the mighty sarlacc. Who else amongst the expanded cast of the Star Wars saga can boast that kind of record? Lando? HA!

Though Lucas attempted to explain Boba’s origins in the prequel movie Attack of the Clones, other stories from the expanded universe claims that Boba was in fact a former Stormtrooper of Mandalorian origin.

However, on this latter point, all sources agree. Clearly, Boba Fett was of Mandalorian origin, a warrior race that had become virtually extinct after the Sith Wars and had relegated themselves to the role of bounty hunters and mercenaries. Boba had apparently distinguished himself amongst his rivals by delivering on contracts, charging exorbitant fees, and being very hard to kill. Hell, somebody who crawled their way free of the sarlacc aint no pushover!

The Joker:
Batman’s nemesis, and Gotham’s smiling psychopath, the Joker is one of those villians you just love to hate! And yes, he’s also pretty damn badass! Though he has gone through countless renditions and adaptations over the years, all the variations revolve around the same basic theme.

Basically, the Joker is a sociopathic criminal who thrives on chaos, the perfect polar-opposite to Batman’s vigilante persona. Over the years, he has been in and out of Gotham’s Arkham Asylum, examined by doctors, but always seems to escape to stir up shit again.

In his most recent incarnation, as performed by Heath Ledger, the Joker reached new heights of popularity and badassery! Not only did he manage to rip off the mob, turn Gothamites against the Batman, drive Harvey Dent mad, commandeer the mob, bring Gotham to the brink, and stay one step ahead of the Batman and police the whole time. He managed to do it all with a twisted smile on his face! That’s an awful lot for a man who claims he doesn’t do planning!

Looking to the comics and expanded franchise, one sees even more examples of badassery! Here, as well as in the movies, new and old, the Joker is notorious for causing trouble and doing it with a shit-eating grin. In addition to the general mayhem he’s been known to cause, his credentials include turning a psychologist into his willing sidekick (Harley Quinn), kidnapping and torturing the Commissioner’s daughter, killing one of the Robin’s, and nearly killing Batman on numerous occasions. Yet somehow, he always manages to escape, survive, and live to inspire chaos another day. Malevolent? Yes. Psychotic. Oh yes! But a notorious badass as well? You betcha!

Raven:
“Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world… Hiro used to feel this way, too, but then he ran into Raven. In a way, this was liberating. He no longer has to worry about being the baddest motherfucker in the world. The position is taken.”

That pretty much says it all. Taken from Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, Raven is one of the chief antagonists of the story and one of the baddest motherflechter’s around! An Aleut by ancestry, he is skilled in the art of harpoon throwing, knife fighting, killing people, and being untouchable. Of course, this might have a lot to do with the fact that in the sidecar on his motorbike (pretty badass in itself!) he has a thermonuclear device stashed. This, apparently, he got off a Russian sub after stowing aboard and killing the entire crew with glass knives, and its wired to go off in case anybody does the unthinkable and kills him. Hence, nobody messes with Raven, as if his size and skill with weapons weren’t intimidating enough!

People recognize Raven not only by his obvious size, leather jacket, and motorbike, but also by the words “Poor Impulse Control” tattooed on his forehead. This is a holdover from his years in the corrections system of the future, where they’ve resorted to tattooing a prisoner’s particular maladjustments directly on their forehead for all to see. But for those who’ve pissed him off, or are just on his hit list, the first indication that Raven’s around is the telltale presence of his harpoon in your chest!

Molly Millions:
Also known as “Sally Shears”, Molly is a recurring character in William Gibson’s Sprawl Trilogy. Technically, she is what is known as a “razor girl”, though cyber-ninja works just as well. Basically, she’s a gun (or razor blade) for hire who gets paid by high-rollers to take out anyone who stands between them and their objectives. This, she typically does by slashing people with razor claws that are imbedded in her fingertips, though she’s adept at hand to hand combat and wield firearms with the best of them too!

Thought tough, deadly and ruthlessly efficient, she has shown herself to have a softer, sensitive side, not to mention a sympathetic past. For instance, her first appearance is in Gibson’s short story (and film adaptation) of Johnny Mnemonic. Here, she goes beyond her usual mandate and begins to fall in love with the story’s protagonist, Johnny.

In her follow-up appearance in Neuromancer, she admits that he was the first “client” she overstepped her boundaries with and still mourns him years later. She also reveals that she began as a “meat puppet”, a form of prostitute who allows their body to be controlled by handlers while they are maintained in a blank-outed state. This is how she apparently paid for her cybernetic enhancements and became a mercenary ninja.

On top of all that, she is a fiercely loyal and levelheaded woman who, despite the nature of her job, is committed to her moral code and values the kinds of human relationships that are becoming increasingly rare in Gibson’s world. One might say that she’s tough because she has to be and would much rather live an ordinary life where love is not obsolete and murder for hire is not the only way for street people to get ahead. Still, don’t mess with her! Just because she’s got a soft side doesn’t mean she won’t fillet your ass!

Ripley:
Mother, warrior, humanitarian and xenocidal ass-kicker, Ellen Ripley defined female badassery for an entire generation of moviegoers! From her humble origins as a crewman aboard the Nostromo to her showdown with the mother Alien, Ripley demonstrated the full range of the heroine protagonist. She was began as a regular officer who was put into a terrifying and claustrophobic situation, a lone survivor of a xenomorph attack aboard a confined spacecraft.

But living to fight another day, she faced her vulnerability, overcame her fear, and put it all on the line to save a little girl. And in the course of that, she also strapped on some heavy artillery and kicked some serious ass! And in the end, the showdown between herself and the Alien hive queen was not only cinematic gold, it was so thick with allegory you could cut it with a knife! Two mothers, two titanic forces, coming together to fight for their young!

Let’s face it, this is what makes Sigourney Weaver and her character so awesome and sympathetic. She’s a regular woman who, when faced with treacherous odds, went above and beyond to do the right thing. And let’s not forget that her motives were purer than anyone else’s. Whereas some people were interested in their bonuses and others in shooting shit up, she fought tooth and nail to protect and save the life of a young child, a girl who reminded her of the daughter she lost.

And it worked. In the end, she outlived all the professionals who ignored her or were sent in to “protect her”. When all else failed, this lady came through and showed that you don’t come between a mother and her child and you don’t underestimate a determined woman, or she’ll kick your ass! Yes, years later and Ripley still remains an inspiration to women everywhere, and a reminder to us boys to respect and honor the women in their lives. In the end, they are a hell of a lot tougher than you think 😉

Vampire Hunter D:
Yet another vampire hunter who’s got some questionable ancestry! Vampire Hunter D is based on a novel series with manga and anime adaptations. Taking place in the distant future, thousands of years after WWIII took place, D wanders through a pre-industrial world hunting the demons, vampires and assorted creatures that have come to plague it. Apparently, in the distant future, vampires have established themselves as a sort of Nobility that control their fiefdoms through a combination of advanced technology and magic.

Much like Alucard, D has a questionable ancestry which is gradually established as time goes on. Right off the bat, it is clear that he is a dhampire, the child of a vampire mother and a human mother. As time goes on, it becomes established that he is fact the son of the ancient Count himself. As a result, he has some pretty badass powers, which include spontaneous healing, super strength, and some pretty dark powers! Unfortunately, he also has his share of weaknesses as well. Sun-sickness, garlic; all the things that are fatal to vampires are pretty harmful to him as well.

Believing that vampires have overstepped their traditional authority, D is dedicated to sending them back to the darkness from whence they came. Though he is part vampire, he values his human side and cannot condone how vampires abuse the humans they have dominion over.

Ah, and his weapon of choice for dispatching vampires and demons? A big katana-style sword! This weapon can decapitate even the most powerful vampire, or rend him from his neck to his navel. Oh, and did I mention he also has a smartass symbiot living on his hand? Might sound weird, but this thing keeps him company, keeps him honest, and has even saved his life a few times.

Vasquez:
Yes, I realize I’m doubling down on a single franchise. But no list of badasses would be complete without mentioning Private Vasquez. Also of Aliens fame, this woman put the bad in badass, toting that massive smartgun and telling everybody who got smart with her where to go! Seriously, those iconic lines, “Let’s ROOOOOCK!” and “I just want to know one thing… where-they-are!” Bam! There wasn’t a single person in the audience who wasn’t get goose bumps.

Not only was she clearly a tough, take-no-prisoners kind of woman, she commanded the respect of those around her, particularly the men. Hudson, played by Bill Paxton, would get smacked down anytime he tried to sass her. Recall the lines: “Vasquez, anybody ever mistake you for a man?” “No, how about you?” Classic! And of course Private Drake, her partner in arms, practically followed her around, even though he was twice her size!

But of course, she too had a sensitive side. When Drake fell protecting their group, she took it really hard. She was even willing to go back into the den of the xenomorph’s when it became clear he was still alive. Even though it was obvious he and the others were being used as symbiotes and the odds of them making it out alive were virtually nil, she was still willing to risk her life. One seriously got the impression that she loves the big lug after all…

But mainly, she was an ice cold chick and tough as nails. When those around her began to panic and cry “game over, man!”, she raised her gun and started kicking ass! And when at last she was cornered and wounded, did she roll over and die? Hell no! She grabbed hold of that grenade and went down with a bang, taking as many of those buggers as she could buggers with her! RIP Vasquez. You rock!

Well that’s all for now. I was going to include some non sci-fi examples in this list as well, but that would made it too long to post! Stay tuned, I’m thinking I’ll save those examples of mainstream badassery for next time. And I might just have some final thoughts to offer on this whole phenomenon known as badassesness. I love inventing words! Bye!

Kreative Blogger Award!

Yaaaaay! This means you love me! You really love me! Alright, now that I got that out of the way, let me explain what this means and thank those responsible. The Kreative Blogger Award, which is much like the Versatile Blogger Award, is now making the rounds. I would personally like to thank versipellusfenris for the nod, and in accordance with the rules of the KBA, I will now share seven things about myself and nominate seven other worthy candidates:

1. I look good in golf shirts!: Years ago, I amassed a pretty respectable collection of short sleeve, three button shirts, most of which had a logo over the right breast. These are otherwise known as golf shirts, and I kind of went through a phase with them. Then I kind of got of that wagon, only to realize again more recently that they really suit me! Somehow, they just seem to hang off my shoulders and chest in a way that’s quite flattering.

2. I am vain: Yep, whenever I walk by a mirror, I can’t help but stop and wonder about my appearance. I don’t put much work into my hair, face, or wardrobe really. And hell, I can go days without shaving! But I will always wonder how my current getup makes my midsection look. Yes, I hate looking like I have a paunch or a beer gut, which is probably the biggest reason I work out. Call me vain or insecure, but I’ve found that when my abs are flat, the ladies give me way more second looks!

3. I start way more things than I can finish: When it comes to my writing, I often joke that I have a combination of ADD and OCD. A more accurate diagnosis would be that I will get into a project, become totally focused on it… for a few days, and then lose interest and move onto something else. I have about three dozen open projects in my documents folder as a result of this, many of which are undeveloped sequels or ideas that have been abandoned in their infancy. Some might say this is a natural part of the process, but frankly I’d like to be able to finish my ideas so I would have a wide selection to choose from!

4. I am all about Dystopian lit: This kind of goes without saying, but I just love stories that are dark, gritty and painfully realistic. I especially love writing them. While I’m not a misanthropist and I tend to think that humanity has plenty of redeeming features, I prefer to read and write stories that contain death, destruction, and don’t end with tidy little resolutions. Human beings are morally ambiguous, and there is no such thing as “happily ever after”!

5. The most important thing to me is friends and family: Many years ago, my family and I experienced several losses within a relatively short space of time. The one thing I took from this experience is that in the end, all we have is each other. When one of us dies, it becomes all the more important to pull each other closer. Years later, when my family moved all the way across the country (which is far since I live in Canada!) I found that being alone in the big city was not too nice. Lucky for me, I had my best friends close at hand. Now that I live on the other side of the country from them, I miss them terribly. Every time I go back for a visit is a very heartfelt time and I try to do it as often as possible. And of course, I can’t imagine life without my wife and kitty cat! They are the most important thing in my life and I would do anything for them, within reason of course 😉

6. The parable of the man in the hole: I’m not a very religious person. But there’s a parable I have done my best to live by, a sort of variation on the Golden Rule: A man is walking down a street when suddenly, he falls into a deep hole. He looks up and realizes there’s no possible way he can climb out on his own. One by one, he calls to passersby and asks them for help. One by one, the people try to help him, but fail. First someone tries to pass him a rope, but the rope breaks. Second, someone tells him to crawl up, spider-style, but he falls back down. Third, a priest tells him he can’t help, but that he can pray for him. Finally, the man’s best friend comes along, he jumps down into the hole with him. The man asks, “Why did you do that? I want to get out, not for you to come in!” His friends answers, “I’ve been down here before, I know the way out.” Make sense? Sure did to me! If there’s one rule I try to live by, it to help others who are in need out. Chances are, we’ve all been where they are, or may be someday in the future, and its what we’d want for ourselves.

7. I love beer!: Sure, lots of people love the combined result of malted grains, hops, water and yeast, not the least of which is for its deleterious effects, but I love it for so much more than that! I love the history, the process, and the culture of beer and beer making and could tell you volumes about it if prompted. Hell, I even started a website dedicated to it, check it out! The same is true of wine and other spirits, but not quite to the same extent. Maybe its the fact that its an organic process, or that it’s really dated, or that it is such a part of our social history. Whenever I go to a new place, I love to soak up the culture, and part of that is sampling its peculiar kinds of drink 😉

Okay, enough about me. Let’s get to who I want to see win this award (in alphabetical order)!

Ash Silverlock Fantasy enthusiast and someone who’s articles I’ve been known to read and find very interesting. Seriously, the guy combines an attention to detail and a working knowledge of fantasy and sci-fi with some mad research skills. Look him up!
David Arthur Beatson Aka. Literary Dormouse, a spritely writer and fan of fantasy fiction who’s love for the written word is reflected in the fact that he’s about to complete his Bachelors Degree in English Lit. Good luck!
David DeMar A recent acquaintance of mine who’s witty insights on the daily world and the grind we go through are sure to inspire, insight, and make you laugh.
Joachim Boaz A fellow lover of science fiction who’s interest and dedication to the genre are apparent from the very first post!
Nonoy Manga An artist and enthusiast of the popular Manga style. Check out the illustrations, they are real beauts!
The Tousled Apostle My buddy, fellow writer and literary enthusiast, Jamie A Hughes. Her insights on life, books, spirituality and family constantly leave me with a warm feeling in my heart!
Vandhana Snape A new discovery, first she found me and then I found her back! Though I’ve only known about her for a short time, I have found her perspective on several key global issues to be both fascinating and relevant.

Congrats to all of you guys and best of luck!

Prometheus and an interview with Ridley Scott

Recently, I came across the lovely article entitled “Don’t f—- around with gods” from the Sydney Morning Herald. The subject was director Ridley Scott’s new movie, Prometheus, which is currently in post-production and set to be released in June of this year. As I’m sure everyone is aware by now, this movie is a return to the universe of Alien, a franchise which Scott began in earnest 30 years ago. Originally thought to be a prequel, Scott has since revealed that this movie is in fact a sort of standalone movie which explores the concept of Exogenesis – the idea that life came to Earth or other planets from an extra-solar source.

Although linked to the original Alien movie in that it deals with the same derelict that the crew of Nostromo encountered, the story is far more concerned with the alien race known as the Space Jockeys than the xenomorphs themselves. Or at least, that appears to be the focus. I’m sure the xenos make an appearance, and probably end up screwing everybody over, as is there tendency! But mainly, Scott emphasized that the plot, as suggested by the title, has to do with the discovery of powerful, dangerous things. When one encounters alien technology, the specter of the bound god who gave fire to humanity can’t help but be resurrected. It’s just timeless like that!

In the course of the interview, Scott also spoke extensively about his reasons for getting into science fiction in the first place. I have to say that I loved his answer: “Science fiction is a wonderful – sorry about the pun – universe for – again, another much overused word – creativity. It’s an arena where anything goes… The opportunity presents itself to fundamentally do anything you want, providing that you draw up a rule book in the first place. You’ve got to draw up the rules of your drama and within that universe you’ve got to actually stick to your own rule book. I think that’s what’s happening – we’re not drawing enough rules up when we do materials. It feels like writing a book…”

Wow. It’s wonderful when you see words that you yourself have said put into the mouths of true veterans! If I was to make a list of directors whom I admire for their creativity and vision over the years, Scott would be tied with Stanley Kubrick for first place! With movies like Alien, Blade Runner, Black Hawk Down and Gladiator to his credit, I got to say that I’m pleased as punch that he and agree on two fundamental precepts. One, science fiction is a great realm for creativity and inventiveness due to the fact that the only limitations are those of the author’s imagination. And two, that it’s best to have a detailed game plan worked out in advance. This is what sunk Lucas’ prequels people! Always know where you’re going in advance and try to stick to the plan. Otherwise you wind up with contrived plot twists and forced situations. Trust me, I know!

Another great thing to read was Scott’s indictation that Prometheus wouldn’t be a massive CGI fest. Something which set Cameron’s Aliens apart from the dubious Avatar was the use of real live actors in suits or animatronics instead of digital creations. Granted, this was done in an age when CGI wasn’t available, but those who followed in Scott and Cameron’s footsteps understood the value of shooting things this way. If there was one thing AVP did right, it was the use of costumed actors and real sets rather than blue screens and generated images.

Having set the precedent, I think it’s only right that Scott remain true to this heritage. After all, his environments, especially that of the Space Jockey Ship, were known for their dark, gritty, grimy look, something which was very… Lovecraftian! Try doing that with digital effects, it just doesn’t work! CGI might be great for creating visuals, but the textures are always too clean and sterile. Or in the case of Avatar, too cartoony! And actors are far more convincing when they’re interacting with a real person, or even a robotic alien, than a standing stick or a tennis ball on the end of a string!

In any case, here’s the link to the article. It’s a good read, and definitely for fans of Scott, the Aliens franchise, and just sci-fi in general!

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/dont-f-around-with-gods-20120403-1wb3s.html#ixzz1rwMj1yQD

Data Miners – Chapter 5

Alone in his cubicle again. The clock is moving so slowly it’s almost running backwards. The memory of some weird dream has been taunting him all day. It was one of those cut offs, when you wake up suddenly and your mind is able to hang on to the tail end of it for a few minutes, but every waking minute makes it that much duller. He received a shock of déjà vu when he came to his desk at 9:08 (late again, but no one really noticed). The dream had to do with work. He was at his desk, people were crowded around. The woman who works in the cubicle a few blocks down was sitting on top of his desk. Her short skirt was hiked up and she was clearing Prad for a landing. He was just about to get into that skirt when she clocked him. Remembering that part wasn’t too nice. Prad had been just settling into his chair, hoping he might be recalling a nice sex dream when that embarrassing detail emerged. Then he remembered the rest, how everyone else in the office was pointing and laughing at him, and how his teeth started to fall out. One by one, the molars, the incisors, the front two. They all just seemed to painlessly come loose and he began pulling them out. Tiny shards of the rest followed. He looked in a mirror at the remainders and saw that they were chipped beyond repair. Not a nice dream. He was happy to have forgotten it and tries to do so again.

Coffee’s better today, and Prad makes sure he sneaks a few cups while the current batch is still hot and fresh. Artificial stimulation is necessary given the mood he’s in. He’s somewhere in the hump of the week, it feels like Thursday but its damn near impossible to tell. The anticipation that comes with the late afternoon, so close to Friday, which in turn is so close to the weekend, has not yet hit him. Still feels like a Wednesday. But at least he has the six o’clock report to look forward to. It might be early, hard to tell. Any day now they are expecting their little “story” to break. Every night since Tuesday, Prad and the others have been waiting on the press conference. They figured it would take until Friday, just in time for the weekend edition on every network in the country.

The anticipation is making him uneasy. He can barely acknowledge the stripper who’s filling the Youtube screen with her massive rack. His other task, the matter of sorting through lines and lines of code, is moving at a rate of about one key a minute. Were it not for the anonymity of the modern office space, he would have been fired several times over by now. Once he’s done with a scheduled task, he pulls up the template form for a task report and fills in the idiot boxes. He then attaches it to an email for the people down at filing.

That reminds him. He hasn’t dropped in on Rohit lately. MSN is forbidden during work hours, so he can’t send him a message to join him in the rec room. But a quick pass by his cubicle is always permissible. He finds Rohit with his back to the room, filling in some forms that look like they should mean something to him.

“Hey, Roti! How are your caffeine levels?”

Rohit turns around in his seat and checks his pulse. “I could stand a top up.”

“Great, come on. I got something to tell you – Oh shit!”

Prad remembers that he left the stripper running on his machine. He jets back to his cubicle and shuts down the internet, runs a quick clean to erase the web directory’s memory and all temporary internet files. He does this every day, his way of staying ahead of the corporate snoops. Now is as good a time as any, and he jets back to the break room to find Rohit already waiting for him.

“Hey, sorry. Okay, so what’s up?”

“What do you mean? You called me in here.”

“Oh yeah,” Prad needs a second to remember what he wants to talk about. Then he remembers Angie’s orders. No bragging. He needs something else to talk about, quick!

“So how’s the layoff talk?”

Well done, he tells himself. It’s the perfect diversion, and something he probably should care about.

“There’s supposed to be a big meeting this Friday with HR. The execs are going to be reviewing people’s files.”

“Uh-oh. What are they looking for specifically?”

“Complaints. Indications of bad work ethics, unprofessional attitudes.”

The way he says it leaves little doubt who he is talking about. Prad sneers at him for the self-righteous attitude.

“It’s so hypocritical. Why do they even file those things anyway. No one ever reads them, not until it’s time to fire people.”

“Same with all the work logs. Which, by the way, they’re going to be sorting through the day before.”

Prad nods. So between a bad attitude and poor work performance, the brass will have their one-two layoff punch ready.

“Well, I know I’m up to date on my task reports. HR might be a problem.”

“Now you take me seriously?” Rohit asks.

“Guess I’ll have to hack into their files and wipe my record clean.”

Rohit chokes on his coffee and looks at the door again. He can’t tell Prad to shut up in words right now, so puts his hands on his shoulders and gives them a hard squeeze. Taking a few breaths, he clears his wind pipe and is able to speak again.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Never mind, I don’t want to know. Don’t even talk like that.”

“C’mon, Roti!” Prad says, shaking loose from Rohit’s grip. “No one ever reads those things anyway. Who’s gonna’ know? I could fix your file too.”

“Last thing I need is another excuse for them to fire me.”

“No one will know, Roti. I got the skills to make it happen. All you need to do is give me the green light.”

“You know, you keep saying that, but I’ve never seen you do anything that proves you have any skills whatsoever.”

Angie’s orders are ringing in Prad’s ears. His mouth desperately wants to open but his lips are clamped shut and refuse to budge. Her wrath would be terrible, should she ever find out.

“I mean, you work here, man. What’s that say about you?”

Prad needs to talk. The words are bulging in his throat like a log jam and threatening to break it open. Rohit’s taunts are deeply distressing to him and it’s overriding his orders.

“Top of the line white hats make software companies, man. They design computers in their garage and take the world by storm with new innovations. They’re not second rate programmers working in a cubicle.”

“Second rate!” Prad’s voice has broken free. “Hey, I don’t need this job. This is a pathetic waste of my abilities.”

“Then why are you still here?”

“You’re here. What’s that say about you?”

“And I’m your superior,” Rohit reminds him.

“Oh, sorry, sir.” Prad does a mock salute. “You know, maybe my days here are numbered but I’ll have opportunities afterward.”

“Oh yeah?” Rohit’s grinning at him now. More acid-tongued words are coming, Prad can sense it. What the hell? He’ll never meet Angie.

“Yeah,” Prad replies. “Just ask Congressman Dangle. He’ll tell you just how fucking good I am. Oh, actually he can’t, because he has no fucking idea it was me!”

Rohit’s looking down at him with unbelievable incredulity. He has no idea what he’s talking about, and can’t fathom how he’s come up with such a tale. They’ve been joined too by Donna, cream lady, who is not to be talked loudly around. This complicates matters further.

“What the hell are you talking about?” he whispers to Prad.

“Wait and see, I’m sure it’ll be in the news real soon.”

Prad leaves Rohit standing at the counter with his fresh cup of coffee. He tries to follow him but his coffee spills from the sudden forward momentum, forcing him to go to the sink and wash his burnt fingers. When he finally manages to clean up the mess he’s made and place his cup safely on the counter, he storms after Prad. They end up in the men’s room, which at the moment is slightly more private.

“What are you talking about, Prad? Did you do something illegal?”

The words are whispered and one of his ears is kept open for sounds of flushes or people coming in behind them. Prad meanwhile has both eyes on the road and both hands on his wheel, smiling like he just got it waxed by some hottie in the supply closet. He says nothing as he goes to wash his hands and Rohit is still hanging on him.

“I’m serious, man! If you did anything that’s going to threaten your job here, or mine, I’ll fucking squeal on you. I’m not going down as an accessory for anything.”

“Calm down,” Prad says as he shakes his hands off and grabs a paper towel from the dispenser. “I told you, no one knows I had anything to do with it. I shouldn’t even have said anything to you, you’ll probably squeal on me anyway. God knows you can’t keep anything a secret.”

“Hey, we’re not talking about the usual crap you pull around here that I’m always covering for. If you’re doing something on the side that could wind you in jail, I’m not going to protect you.”

“Like you could!”

Prad leaves and has Rohit following him back to his cubicle now. He is extremely self-conscious about all the people who might hear them, but refuses to let the topic go. Already Prad is feeling stupid for bringing it up. Not for fear of his job or the law, but because of the trust he might have betrayed. No one needs to know that the Society did something it wouldn’t ordinarily do. That’s the whole point of a one time thing. You do it once, and forget about it. Those who wouldn’t understand are kept in the dark for just that reason.

“Prad, just tell me what you’ve done and maybe I can help get you out of it.”

“Nothing serious,” he says finally. Taking his seat, he swivels in it a bit to make sure the gears are still sliding just right. “Just had a little fun with some government resources. That’s all. And no one is going to know about it, provided everyone who now knows keeps their fricking mouth shut!”

“Who else knows about this?”

“Only a couple people, but they helped. So it’s just us, and you.” Prad admits with a shrug. “And I wasn’t exactly supposed to share it with anyone, so consider yourself part of my inner circle,” he finishes uncomfortably.

Rohit shakes his head mournfully. “Breaking your conspirators trust should be the least of your worries, man.”

“Yeah, but it isn’t. So, can I count on you not to say anything?”

“I don’t know,” Rohit confesses. “You sure this can’t be traced back to you?”

“Positive, Roti. You and I both know the system’s ins and outs, which is why it’s an insult for the both of us to be working here. Speaking of which, were you done telling me about layoffs?”

Rohit looks relieved to be talking about that again. Only comparatively is the thought of being laid off not a source of stress for him anymore. “Well, next week they’re thinking of starting up interviews.”

“Interviews? What, for like new people?”

Rohit chuckles sardonically. “No, I mean that’s when they drag all of us in, one by one, and ask us to explain how we’re productive and useful around here. They start with the senior people and then work their way down, section by section. You’re asked to explain, in your own words, what you bring to the company.”

“Lazy shits! They want us to do their work for them!”

“Yeah, basically. It’s easier than taking an interest in what your employees actually do on company time.”

“And they’ve got our HR files and our work reports to compare it against?”

“It’s so they catch you in lie. If you say you work hard, they pull up your reports and demand to know why it took so long to do this, why you haven’t finished that, etc. And then they ask about your fellow employees, and if you say you get along, they point out how people have complained.”

“Fucking inquisition.”

Rohit leans in and looks all self-conscious again. “Keep your voice down. And don’t say I didn’t warn you. You’re going to have some serious explaining to do come next week.”

Rohit is about to leave, but Prad stops him with a little reminder. “Dude, just remember, I can have a look at the files HR’s got on you and me.” He illustrates with his fingers, playing air keyboard. “Few strokes, all complaints are gone!”

Rohit leans into his cubicle again. “Just do me one favour, Prad. If you have to start looking for a new job, don’t list me as a reference.”

Mega Cities!

Back with another conceptual post, this time about something which I’ve been pretty invested in lately. And it comes from the same general universe inhabited by cyberpunk and dystopian sci-fi. And that thing is the concept of the “Mega City”. As I’m sure I’ve said before, this is not only a very cool concept right out of modern science fiction, its also a genuine sociological and geographical theory.

In fact, it was a French geographer named Jean Gottmann who coined the term “megalopolis” in his 1961 book Megalopolis: The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States. He used this term to describe the massive urban region which extended from the suburbs of Boston to those of Washington D.C. The concept quickly caught on, resulting in names like “BosWash” and “Northeast Megalopolis” when referring to the urban sprawl, and igniting the imaginations of science fiction writers and geographical planners.

However, in recent decades, this same concept has been extended to refer to several other “megalopolis'” as well. And not just in the US; such regions have been noticed developing in Canada, Mexico, Europe, East and South Asia. Wherever one urban center appears to be converging with another, through urban sprawl, connecting townships, and major highways, the roots of mega-cities are being laid!

First off, here are some more examples from North America, grouped from North to South, East to West:

Boston-Washington Megalopolis: As already noted, this baby inspired the concept of a megalopolis thanks to the post-war boom and growth of urban centers along the Eastern Seaboard of the US. In addition to having several major urban centers and ports closely linked by major transportation routes, some of the largest suburban developments in North America exist in this region, which have allowed for these major cities to converge by a very noticeable degree. All told, roughly forty-tw0 million people live in the BosWash according to a year 2000 census with projected estimates for 45 million by 2025.
Quebec-Windsor Corridor: Looking at the nearly unbroken urban landscape which stretches from Quebec city and the Outaouis region all the way down to Windsor on Lake Erie, one could easily get the impression that a mega-city existed throughout these regions, and was merely distributed in a long line because of geographic necessity. Embracing the St.Laurence River corridor and the National Capital Region and Southern Great Lakes Region, the Quebec-Windsor Megalopolis includes such urban centers as Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, London and Winsor and boasts a population of roughly 18 million (as of 2000) and is expected to reach 21 million by 2025.
The Great Lakes Region: An alternative to the Quebec-Windsor megalopolis, which is based entirely in Canada, this megalopolis is based around the Great Lakes region and includes urban centers in in the Midwestern US, the Southern Ontario area of Canada, and parts of Pennsylvania, New York, and Quebec. The region officially extends from the Milwaukee–Chicago to the Detroit–Toronto corridor, and includes Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Louisville, Ottawa, Rochester, and Toledo. The region had an estimated population of 54 million, as of the 2000 Census and is expected to reach about 65 million by the year 2025.
Piedmont-Atlantic: the Southern US megalopolis, running from Charlotte, North Carolina to Memphis, Tenessee, and embracing the urban regions of Atlanta, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Columbia, and everything in between. Its population as of 2000 was estimated at a modest 15 million, at least by mega-city standards. However, it is expected to reach a good twenty million or more by 2025.
Florida: Named in honor of the fact that all its urban centers are located squarely in the state of Florida, this megalopolis incorporates the urban centers of Coral Springs, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, and Tampa and has also has a relatively modest population of 15 million with expectations to reach 21 and a half by the quarter century.
Texas Triangle and the Gulf Coast: Here are two megalopolis’ that are often considered separately, but which have already converged as far their boundaries are concerned. Thus I think it’s fitting that they be considered as one. From the east, the mega-city range embraces Pensacola and Mobile and extends south and west, with New Orleans in the middle and Corpus Christi at the southernmost tip. However, at the western edge, it then extents north-west, incorporating Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Tulsa, and Wichita. Considered as one, this region boasts a hefty 28 million inhabitants and is expected to reach as high as 40 million in the near future.
So-Cal: Fans of Demolition Man ought to know this one right off the bat (if not, see below). Otherwise known as Southern California range, this region encompasses the north-south coastline and the urban regions of greater Los Angeles, San Diego, Anaheim, Tijuana, and Bakersfield, but also reaches eastward to include Las Vegas. It’s overall populated was posted at 25 million in 2000 with a projected expectation of 35 million by 2025.
No-Cal: Comparatively small next to its southern cousin, the Northern California Megapolitan region is still an impressive specimen. Reaching both north-south along the coast, and east-west into the interior, this region encompasses the cities of San Jose, San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Stockton, Fresno, and Sacramento. It’s total population, circa 2000, was estimated at roughly 13 million and is expected to reach close to 17 and a half by 2025.
Cascadia:Named in honor of the Cascade Mountain Range, this mega-city, like the mountains extends from north to south and incorporates the urban centers of British Columbia and the states of Washington and Oregon. Beginning with Vancouver and Victoria in Canada and reaching south to include Bellingham, Everett, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and Portland in the south, the region hosts a modest 10 million inhabitants and is expected to actually recede in population! Fans of space and coastal weather, travel here! You will crushed anywhere else!

The World at Large:
Blue Banana: Also known as the “European Megalopolis” or “European Backbone”, this hypothetical mega-cityscape reaches across Western Europe. Stretching along a south to north-east axis (thus forming the shape of a banana), the region runs from Milan in Italy through Southern Germany and the Low Countries and ends in northern Wales. In terms of major cities, the corridor includes Milan, Genoa, Venice, Munich, Luxembourg, Frankfurt, Brussels, London, Manchester and Leeds. It’s total population, hang onto your hats, is estimated at 92.4 million people!
Greater Mexico City: The most populous metropolitan region in the Americas, embracing the entire metropolitan area of the “Valley of Mexico” and boasting a population of over 21 million, according to a 2009 survey conducted by National Population Council of Mexico. Although it does not embrace multiple urban centers, its large landmass and density are characteristic or a mega-city.
Indo-Gangetic Plain: Also known as the “Northern Indian River Plain”, referring to its geographic boundary in Northern India along the Indus and Ganges river basins. The area is traditionally very dense due to its fertile soil and strategic locations between river basins, the Himalayan mountain chain to the east, and the Iranian plateau to the west. In terms of urban centers, this corridor extends between Pakistan and India to Bangladesh and includes the cities of Karachi, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Lahore, Delhi, Kanpur, Dhaka, and Kolkata. Overall, roughly 1 billion people – 1/7th of the world’s total population – live in this region, making it the most population dense area in the world!
Pearl River Delta: Located in Guangdong province in the People’s Republic of China, the Pearl River Delta is one of the most densely urbanised regions in the world and one of the main hubs of China’s economic growth. This is due largely to the fact that such coastal centers as Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kowloon City, and Macua are all located in this relatively small region. In addition to these tightly packed urban centers, suburban developments have led to many geographers to think of the area as a single mega-city. According to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the overall population of the delta region is estimated at 120 million people, and growing fast!
Taiheiyo Belt: Over to Japan, where densely populated urban centers have been a fact of life for nearly half a century. Translated literally, the term “Taiheiyo beruto” means Pacific Belt, referring to the series of linked metropolises that are nestled on Japan’s western shores. Officially, the region extends from greater Utsonomiya in the north, through to Tokyo harbor, then follows the coastline circuitously through Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, and ends at Saga on the southern island of Satsuma. These areas account for the bulk of Japan’s population, its industrial base, and its major economic centers. In addition, it packs a population of 83 million into a very narrow corridor.
Yangtze River Delta: Also known as the Golden Triangle of the Yangtze, this megalopolitan region has much in common with its cousin on the Pearl River. Here again, we see a bunch of urban centers built along one of the traditional river routes that are clustered around the mouth of it. In addition, this area also accounts for a very large and growing portion of China’s economic and industrial infrastructure. Linked by high-speed rail, major highways, bridges, and urban sprawl, this region unites the cities of Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, and a whole lot of others! In total, roughly 100 million people live in this densely packed area in addition to its many farms, factories, and transportation hubs; which, in conjunction with its location at the mouth of the Yangtze, makes it the leading cause of maritime pollution in the Pacific Ocean.

Examples in fiction:
Mega-City One: Taken from the graphic novel of Judge Dredd, MC-1 is the setting of the majority of the series. According to the series’ background info, MC-1 grew naturally out of urban sprawl between all the major cities of the East Coast US. It was only officially made into the dark, overcrowded and heavily encapsulated place that one sees in the comics after WWIII took place. It’s current population in the series is estimated at over 400 million, the majority of whom lives in massive apartment blocks that house 50,000 people apiece. And of course, just about everything is automated, all resources (including food!) are recycled, and unemployment is almost universal. Other mega-cities are mentioned in the series as well, including Mega-City Two, which encompasses the greater urban sprawl of Southern California.
Metropolis: Not to be confused with the setting for Superman, this city was the focal point for events in the classic movie of the same name. When asked where he got the idea for such a world, director Fritz Lang said that he was inspired by his first glimpse of the New York city skyline. While traveling there by ship in 1924, he saw skyscrapers for the first time, and these left quite the impression on him. This was evidenced in his conception for a massive future city where buildings were designed to look like artistic representations of the Tower of Babel, the rich lived on high in the sun and the workers lived in the dark depth below.
No-Cal/So-Cal: The setting of Gibson’s Bridge Trilogy, in which California had split into two regions, the one centering around the greater San Fransisco region in the north, and the other around the LA region in the south. Most events in the story take place in San Francisco, particularly the Golden Gate Bridge, which has become a home for indigents and squatters (hence the name of the trilogy).
San Angeles: The setting for the movie Demolition Man, in which a cryogenicaly frozen LA police officer is woken up in 2032 and told that it is now called San Angeles, which resulted from the merger of Los Angeles, Santa Barabara and San Diego after the “Big One” Earthquake of 2010 leveled most of LA and Southern California.
The Sprawl: Otherwise known as the BAMA, or Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis, this mega-city serves as the setting of Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson. But unlike the Boston-Washington megalopolis which is likely to have inspired it, this axis extends as far south as Atlanta and is contained beneath a series of geodesic domes.

Conclusions?:
For starters, one can see without the need for much imagination where the concept for “Metropolis”, “Mega-City One”, “San Angeles”, and “The Sprawl” came from. For the last century, at least, megalopolis’ have been slowly becoming a reality, and this in turn has been reflected in our literature. And when it comes to dystopian science fiction, what could be more dark and gritty than a big, overcrowded cityscape? Especially one where differences in wealth and modern technology make everything just a little more interesting and dangerous? Like most people, I can’t imagine ever wanting to live in such a world, but damn if I don’t want to read about it from time to time!

Stories by Williams

Classic sci-fi books, reviews, and the best of from a dedicated fan and author!

“Red Skies: Soviet Sci-Fi”

Weyland Industries “David 8”: a Prometheus preview

The Future is Here: Tupac and the Magic Hologram

Data Miners – Chapter 6

More Badasses!

A Tribute to Badasses!

Kreative Blogger Award!

Prometheus and an interview with Ridley Scott

Data Miners – Chapter 5

Mega Cities!

Classic sci-fi books, reviews, and the best of from a dedicated fan and author!

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