Filed under: Architecture, Art, Blade Runner, BoingBoing, Hobbits, movies, Paleo-Future, Peter Jackson, Philip K. Dick, Predictions, R. Buckminster Fuller, Ridley Scott, Science Fiction, Society, Space, tech, Tolkien, Wired, Writing stuff
What do you visualize when I say “Hobbit”?
How about “Blade Runner”?
Chances are, in both cases you had a mix of images you thought of. But I would wager that you had at least one architectural image both times: of a ‘Hobbit Hole’ and of the Tyrell Corporation’s vast pyramid. In both cases the iconic images help to anchor us in an alternate reality, whether it is Tolkien’s Middle Earth or Ridley Scott’s dystopian LA of 2019. (I’m sorry to say I don’t remember how much description of architecture Philip K. Dick had in his novel from whence Blade Runner is drawn – mea culpa.)
Odd or (paleo-) futuristic architecture has been a common device to help create a sense of setting for SF and fantasy just about forever. Descriptions in text, or images used in movies, quickly communicate that the setting is something different than our everyday world. And even before you get into a book or movie this works. With a movie poster or a book cover the visual image of architecture can instantly convey something about content to the viewer, and when it is well done it both informs and intrigues, and can come to symbolize or summarize the entire story the director or author wishes to tell.
I use architecture this way in Communion of Dreams. There are descriptions of how the US Settlement Authority offices reflect the passive defenses of the chaos following the fire-flu, of how they also incorporate some elements of the new building technologies from space colonization. There are descriptions of the colonies themselves, and of the space stations (both old and new), not to mention Darnell Sidwell’s Buckminster Fuller style dome habitat. There are even descriptions of how homes have evolved somewhat, adapting to a more communal style and drawing on the resources of huge numbers of abandoned buildings.
But the book opens with a small research facility in the ‘buffalo commons‘ out on the Great Plains prairie. I don’t give a lot of description of the station in the book (perhaps that’s something I should change . . . hmm), but envision it as a small, modular unit which could be relocated easily if necessary. Perhaps something like this. Or this. Or even this.
Those are all from a Wired column by Rob Beschizza titled “Small and Fabulous: Modular Living as it Should Be.” (Via BoingBoing.) I can’t say that I would really want to live in any of the dozen designs profiled in the article – but I am a spoiled American in an 1883 Victorian home with about a dozen rooms. Realistically, most of the world lives in much smaller spaces. And when you start considering the cost of transporting materials and managing environmental controls in space, then some fairly radical changes will be necessary.
Architecture, like any art, is a reflection of the society which produces it. Of course, until an architectural style is widely adopted it cannot be said that it is representative of society. As interesting as the various modular homes in the Wired article are, I cannot imagine that they will become emblematic of our society anytime soon. But because of that, they’d be perfect for use in, say, a film adaptation of Communion of Dreams. I wonder what Peter Jackson will be up to once he is done overseeing the production of The Hobbit in 2011 . . .
Jim Downey
Filed under: ACLU, BoingBoing, Civil Rights, Constitution, Cory Doctorow, General Musings, Government, movies, Privacy, Science Fiction, Society, tech
Intrusive governmental surveillance is a staple of Science Fiction, and was part of the horror of Communism during the Cold War. Just about every spy movie set behind the Iron Curtain showed it, and of course the fictional world of George Orwell’s 1984 was predicated on a complete lack of privacy.
We do not live in a totalitarian society. I was behind the Iron Curtain during the 1970s for a brief period, and saw what it was like first hand. And say what you will, 1984 did not become a reality.
But we are living in an “endemic surveillance society”. And it is as bad here in the US as it is in China and Russia. That is the conclusion of Privacy International‘s 2007 International Privacy Ranking. From the report:
In recent years, Parliaments throughout the world have enacted legislation intended to comprehensively increase government’s reach into the private life of nearly all citizens and residents. Competing “public interest” claims on the grounds of security, law enforcement, the fight against terrorism and illegal immigration, administrative efficiency and welfare fraud have rendered the fundamental right of privacy fragile and exposed. The extent of surveillance over the lives of many people has now reached an unprecedented level. Conversely, laws that ostensibly protect privacy and freedoms are frequently flawed – riddled with exceptions and exceptions that can allow government a free hand to intrude on private life.
At the same time, technological advances, technology standards, interoperability between information systems and the globalisation of information have placed extraordinary pressure on the few remaining privacy safeguards. The effect of these developments has been to create surveillance societies that nurture hostile environments for privacy.
Actually, while we are grouped in the tier of worst countries (along with China and Russia) when it comes to protection of privacy, our score is slightly better than both of them. This doesn’t give me a lot of comfort. Take one look at the map they have created, and you’ll shudder too.
Jim Downey
(Via BoingBoing. Cross posted to UTI.)
Filed under: Bad Astronomy, Jupiter, Man Conquers Space, movies, Paleo-Future, Phil Plait, Predictions, Science, Science Fiction, Space, tech, Writing stuff
It is said that it was a single photograph taken by one of Columbia’s crew during Christmas 1961 that changed the course of history. Showing the Earth from the perspective of the Moon changed the mind of the commander of Eagle One from claiming the Moon in the name of the United States (as required by his military commanders) to claiming the Moon for all mankind. After Eagle One’s touchdown in July 1963, followed closely by Eagles Two and Three, the Moon becomes a new and vigorous outpost of humanity. Successive missions range far and wide over Earth’s satellite, discovering sites that in the decades to come would become bases, sources for mining resources, and even a large colony.
Celebrating the early history of space exploration and eventual exploitation, leading up to the recent landings of three manned missions on Mars is a fantastic new documentary: Man Conquers Space.
Wait a second . . . say what?
Via Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy comes news of the Paleo-Future project, an excellent alternative-history of the middle and end of the 20th century. From the website for the project:
This film is based on an alternative timeline to the Mercury-Gemini-Apollo era of reality – it is based on the premise that all that had been proposed in the early 1950’s in Collier’s actually came to pass – and sooner than they expected.
Through the expert use of special visual effects and computer-generated imagery (CGI), the world of wonder and imagination expressed though Collier’s has become real. The film Man Conquers Space looks like a documentary made today, and is peppered with archival footage from the dawn of the space age during WWII, through to today, narrated by the people who were there – the engineers, the astronauts, the scientists, the visionaries, the politicians.
Wow. This sort of alternative history is what I have done as the background for Communion of Dreams, leading to a more robust space-faring tech by our own time, and setting the stage for the colonization of other planets in our system by the time of the novel 50 years hence. Fascinating.
I’m very much looking forward to the release of this movie. But in the meantime, poke around their site and check out some of the clips they have posted online.
Jim Downey
Yesterday was dreadful.
I don’t know what happened to trigger it, but it was one of the worst days that my MIL has had in a while. At least since this day. And this time it manifested itself as a constant need for reassurance. As I told a friend in an email:
Ugh. Not with the ongoing problems with MMIL. It can take me 20 minutes to get her to settle down, only to have her get wound back up about something ten minutes later. Needless to say, I’ve accomplished almost nothing today.
I literally spent at least half the day just sitting and talking with her, doing my best to help her remain calm and not obsess over contacting her parents or going “back to school”. Even with all my experience and what I’ve learned about distracting her and redirecting her attention, it was an almost constant battle.
And in the middle of it, I got an email from another friend with a link to this video:
That’s basically the last six years of my life compressed into six minutes. You want to have some idea what it is like to be a care-provider for someone with Alzheimer’s or other age-related dementia? Watch it.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Climate Change, Daily Kos, Flu, Flu Wiki, Government, Health, movies, NYT, Pandemic, Predictions, Press, Richard Matheson, Science Fiction, Society, Writing stuff
It’s been a little while since I’ve written about our old friend H5N1 – the “Avian Flu” virus. Partly this is because I like to keep my posts varied according to topic (which is a nice way of saying my attention wanders a lot these days). Partly, though, is because the mainstream media pays little attention to the threat of this flu virus as a general rule. Which is curious, given the potential threat it presents and the amount of governmental effort going into tracking and preparation for a possible epidemic/pandemic. Even if you take the cynical view that our news is event/entertainment-driven, you’d think with the release of I am Legend, the latest adaptation of Richard Matheson‘s SF novel of the same name, would be a natural tie-in to news about the flu.
Because yes, there is indeed news about the flu:
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – International health experts have been dispatched to Pakistan to help investigate the cause of South Asia’s first outbreak of bird flu in people and determine if the virus could have been transmitted through human contact, officials said Sunday.
Four brothers — two of whom died — and two cousins from Abbotabad, a small city about 30 miles north of Islamabad, were suspected of being infected by the H5N1 virus, said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl in Geneva. A man and his niece from the same area who had slaughtered chickens were also suspected of having the virus.
Another person in a separate case who slaughtered poultry in nearby Mansehra, 15 miles away, also tested positive for the disease, he said.
And if you saw either this diary on the front page of Daily Kos yesterday or check out the Flu Wiki, then you’d know that the situation is even potentially more troubling. From the Daily Kos diary:
See Flu Wiki’s Sunday wrap-up for the week’s documented human and bird cases, courtesy of the wiki volunteers who track cases around the world – helpful to CDC and WHO and other public health officials as they do their work (more than a few have written me that they stop there to get the morning news – this is netroots activism applied to public health!). Not only are there new human cases scattered throughout Asia (including Pakistan, Burma, China and Indonesia, all of whom are less than than transparent about internal news), there are also new bird cases of H5N1 in Germany, Poland, Russia, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia (and the hadj is soon, 1.5 million pilgrims expected).
Now, I’m not claiming that it’s the end of the world. Or even the end of what passes for civilization. But I do find it somewhat curious that this reality gets so little press attention, even when there is an obvious entertainment tie-in that can be made to the latest big-budget post-apocalyptic movie. Odd.
Well, when I do get back around to trying to find an agent or publisher for Communion of Dreams, at least I’ll be able to point to the ongoing threat of a pandemic flu that exists. Provided, of course, that the pandemic isn’t already underway.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Comics, Darths & Droids, George Lucas, Humor, movies, Music, Science Fiction, Star Wars, YouTube
In response to my last post on Friday before skipping town for a few days, a friend reminded me of this Weird Al Yankovic version of American Pie:
What adds a bit to the weirdness is that one of the people I was visiting with this past weekend was from Clear Lake, Iowa and hence is more than a little sick of American Pie, and the song was the topic of considerable conversation and humor. Having this version pop into my inbox this morning was more than a little serendipitous.
Anyway, while I usually only enjoy Weird Al in somewhat small doses, I do respect his particular variety of genius, and this is a good example of just what he is capable of. Enjoy!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Comics, Darths & Droids, George Lucas, Humor, movies, Science Fiction, Space, Star Wars, Twenty Sided
As Shamus Young, of “DM of the Rings” said:
Also, for those people who suggested that I should take on the Star Wars movies next, I’m happy to report that someone has stepped up to the challenge. David Morgan-Mar, the guy behind Irregular Webcomic is now working on Darths & Droids, a send-up of Phantom Menace. According to the site, it’s going to be a collaboration between six or seven people? Wow. I was barely able to get along with myself during the run of DMotR, so I don’t know how that’s going to work. Still, I wish them luck. They’re off to a good start.
Indeed they are. The humor has a different flavor, and there’s a bit more rationalization about what they’re doing, but this has promise. Since they’re only 23 strips into the project (at this point), you can start now and follow along. Working within the limitations of what Lucas created with the Star Wars franchise, there is still a lot of material which will lend itself to this kind of interpretation. So we’ll see.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Hospice, movies, Science, Science Fiction, Star Wars
When my MIL’s hospice nurse was here the week before last, she clearly saw a decline in my MIL, as I noted here. What I didn’t mention in that post was that one of the things she suggested we consider was to move to a transdermal patch to help alleviate some of the pain associated with the breathing difficulty my MIL is starting to develop. (When people start to develop pulmonary aspiration problems, the coughing and gagging can be quite painful and cause a great deal of distress for both the patient and care providers.) Pain relief and comfort are our primary concerns with my MIL, but choosing to go to a derm patch of a powerful drug could well contribute to hastening her death – a common concern about all opioid-class drugs with the elderly. My wife and I discussed the matter, agreed that it was an option we should consider if conditions worsened.
Well, when Lisa (the hospice nurse) came this week, it was clear that my MIL had continued to develop aspiration congestion in her lungs. And we’d seen several instances of very painful and frightening coughing fits, usually late in the day when she was tired. My MIL was exhibiting additional effort at breathing even when just sitting at rest. We talked it over again with Lisa, and decided to give the derm patch with the lowest dosage a try, in spite of the potential problems.
Lisa also recommended using an oxygen supplement for my MIL, to ease her breathing problems. We discussed it, and agreed to give it a try. Lisa left, saying she’d make the arrangements for getting the derm patches to us, and would have an oxygen set-up delivered to the home, both that afternoon (this was Friday).
The guy from the medical supply place called, then came over to deliver the oxygen machine. We got a back-up tank of compressed oxygen as well. He walked us through the operation of this machine, which concentrates O2 from the air and delivers it in a regulated flow at whatever volume you need. It’s about the size of a kitchen trash can and sounds just like the food cooker ‘Aunt Beru’ was using in the original Star Wars movie.
When my MIL got up from her afternoon nap, we got her settled in her chair in the front room, where she usually looks at magazine and whatnot. And we showed her the new oxy set-up, explained that it would help her breathe when she was sitting up. To say that she looked on it with a dubious eye would be understatement. I’ve mentioned before that Alzheimer’s patients don’t respond well to change, and as far as she was concerned, this new-fangled thing with the tubes coming up to her nose was just more than a little weird. But we convinced her to give it a try.
A short while later Lisa came by with the derm patches. We got one on my MIL, and discussed how we should change the mix of her other pain meds once the new drugs got into her system (a derm patch takes 12 -18 hours to saturate the system, then delivers a constant dosage for a period thereafter, in this case about 60 hours). Lisa also checked to make sure we had the oxy set-up correctly, just to be sure. Everything was fine.
So, results since then? The new pain meds have definitely helped my MIL. She has been sleeping better at night, and seems more free of pain. But she has also been inclined to just stay in bed more, particularly the last two mornings. The oxygen has also been a clear help, and she is working less hard to breathe when she is sitting in her chair.
The difficulty is that she pretty clearly doesn’t like the oxygen delivery system. The tubing coming up to a simple cannula is strange and distracting, and she wants to fuss with it or just take it off altogether. We told her that we wanted her to try it through this weekend, to see if she could get used to it, but that if she still didn’t like it, we wouldn’t force her to wear it.
Because while this would probably lengthen her life, if it is decreasing her ‘quality of life’, it isn’t worth it. It is the exact flip side of the ethical considerations of whether or not to use the transdermal patch, where quality of life is improved but there is a risk of shortening her life. And that’s not a neat and easy calculation to make. We know that she is entering the final weeks of life, but there are no clear mile-markers indicating just exactly where we are on this journey. We want her to enjoy as much life as she can, but that is a judgement call as to whether it is better to go for a longer period, or for more comfort.
And no matter what choices we make, we can never be entirely sure that they were the right ones.
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to dKos.)
Filed under: Flu, General Musings, Global Warming, Habanero, Migraine, movies, Pandemic, Plague, Predictions, Science Fiction, Society, Writing stuff
Umberto Eco, when asked why he wrote The Name of the Rose, famously replied: “I wanted to poison a monk.”
I can sympathize.
There are times when I’m a little grumpy, or have just had a little too much exposure to my fellow monkeys, when I’d like to kill a few people myself. In fact, catch me when I’m feeling more than a bit honest, and I’ll admit that part of the backstory of Communion of Dreams is because I think that the world really would be better off with about 2/3 of the population gone, as traumatic and painful as that might be. No, I am not advocating it – I can just see the benefit of some pandemic flu or plague, in terms of the carrying capacity of the planet.
And of course I see plenty of ways in which we’re well on the road to having this happen, as I write about here upon occasion. Take your pick: war, terrorism, global warming, disease, or even just eating ourselves to death. I just came from the store, where I needed to get some frozen raspberries for a habanero jelly recipe I want to make. There in my neighborhood supermarket were 120 feet of freezers carrying various ice creams and other dessert treats. One aisle over was 60 feet of frozen pizzas. I looked and looked for frozen fruits, and found one narrow little rack, about half the width of one 10′ wide freezer unit, containing a small selection of fruits. Think there’s something wrong there?
*Gah.*
OK, I am a little grumpy. I’m in a cycle of migraines, it seems, having had two in the last week. Still living with the echoes of the one yesterday. But still, sometimes I feel very pessimistic about our future . . . and take a certain perverse pleasure in it.
Well, this is the 200th post. Woo-hoo. I’ll be a little more upbeat later.
Jim Downey
Communion Of Dreams 