SciFi Fashion

This io9 article makes an interesting point about fashion taking more and more inspiration from the word of science fiction but modern science fiction turning its back on the world of fashion. If one man could merge the world of science fiction, entertainment and fashion it was Paco Rabanne. Well known for his far out metal dresses and stunning fantastic fashions for Barberella, Rabanne’s hey day were the swinging sixties, where as an enfant terribles he was a revolutionary visionary.

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Posted on June 6, 2010

by Gene Wolfe (1980)

The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories and Other Stories has me torn. Some stories rank among my favorite sci if, while others took me days and days to slog through and left me more confused than satisfied. Author Gene Wolfe is a science fiction writer’s science fiction writer. If you begin to research who inspired your favorite writers, his name is likely to pop up eventually.

Jim just recommended his most admired work, The Book of the New Sun, but I decided to start easier, with this short story collection considering how dense science fiction might get from the mind an engineer and a devoted Catholic. Often times, I felt a bit lost and even ended up skipping over the latter half of The Eyeflash Miracles.

But in a complete opposite reaction, I swooned over the title story (The Island of Dr Death and Other Stories) which displays an incredible combination of moods and genres. The brief tale of a pre teen, angsty boy trying to comprehend the complexities of the adults around him while burying himself in stories of adventure is unlike anything I’ve ever read and it’s tone is haunting.

Another favorite is the last one in the book, Seven American Nights, which shows a future that would be even more terrifying to many today in our post 9/11 sensitivity to our role as a world power. America, once a great country is now fallen, below third world, and the citizens are deformed. The new world is viewed through the eyes of a middle easterner who is daring enough to leave his wealthy, scientifically advanced and comfortable country to brave the ruins of Washington D.C.

I also loved the super short La Befana which imagines that pain-in-the-ass mothers-in-law will still exist even as we find new planets to colonize and aliens to befriend. I also liked Hour of Trust, Tracking Song, and Three Fingers. I’ve never been so divided by one book and I think every reader will find themselves more drawn to some stories over others, but everyone will find something interesting.

Click here for the rest of The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories and Other Stories

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Posted on December 13, 2009

by Gene Wolfe (1980 – 1983)

Gene Wolfe‘s imagination is truly formidable. A industrial engineer (and devoted Catholic) who has become a living SF legend, Wolfe’s work is rich, dense, and not always exactly what I’m looking for. But that’s no slight: when Wolfe’s writing what I want to read, it’s amazing; when he’s not, it’s still fine, it just tends to get a bit… overly complicated and less than satisfying – but a return to form is always just a few pages away.

Brittany will be posting her impressions of Wolfe’s early short story compilation, The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories and Other Stories (not a typo, FYI), and I imagine her take on Wolfe will be equally conflicted.

But the Book of the New Sun is the big one: the magnum opus (he’s since spun off a coda and two additional series, the Book of the Long Sun and the Book of the Short Sun).

The four novels that make up the tetralogy are packed so densely with episodes alternately incredibly compelling and kind of… kind of like you just want to get through them as quickly as you can, that, sitting here now recalling the bits I remember, I’m truly astounded at the way the story is so compartmentalized in my brain.

The plot unfolds in a distant future inspired by the work of the writer who has appeared more times then any other on this blog, the great Jack Vance. The first novel, the Shadow of the Torturer, opens with its protag, Severian (who is blessed/cursed with a perfect memory), serving as an apprentice in the guild of torturers. His kind of weirdly idyllic childhood is interrupted by a key chance meeting in the nearby necropolis and the professional discipline he’ll expertly develop over the next few years is kind of slow-burn compromised.

While I suppose I could offer a more comprehensive plot synopsis, I’d really be doing everyone (particularly you, dear reader) a disservice. Suffice to say, a lot happens very quickly: Severian makes a judgement call that ultimately results in his exile from Nessus (the capital city), is challenged to an alien poison flower duel, demolishes a church, meets a young lady who’s been submerged in (for lack of a better description) internment water for who knows how long, meets another young lady who’s definitely hiding something, gets a crazy note from a bus boy, and becomes aquatinted with a fairly unique traveling acting troupe. Oh, and he’s given an awesome sword called Terminus Est and dispatched to a place called Thrax: the city of windowless rooms.

Click here for the rest of The Book of the New Sun

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Posted on December 6, 2009

directed by Larry Cohen (1976)

Larry Cohen is best known for his campy horror romp The Stuff, but even with that blockbuster under his belt, he’s remained an elusive and under-appreciated filmmaker with a cult fan base only (Jim goes so far as to insist that he’s responsible for the only ‘bearable’ episode of Masters of Horrible). God Told Me To, a cheap low-grade horror movie, will not necessarily win over those of you not already a part of that fan base, but it’s a strangely interesting, audacious and compelling movie for anyone trawling the horror section for something a little off-kilter.

Like many of my favorite horror films, God Told Me To benefits from its small budget, even the grainy and worn out looking film transfer enhances the weird mood. From the opening scenes of a busy Manhattan street suddenly under attack from a rooftop sniper, the movie is propelled by a simple but incredibly effective terror premise: innocent, law abiding people are suddenly (and seemingly randomly) turning into homicidal maniacs. The phenomenon is spreading like a virus, and in the aftermath of the bloodbaths, all the people who have been affected claim that God told them to kill (their spouses, children, neighbors, etc).

It’s a fascinating story and one that with or without credit, I think highly influenced the excellent Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s film Cure where a police officer uncovers the strange connection between seemingly normal people committing sudden random murders.

The police officer in this film is played by Tony Lo Bianco, who I was thrilled to see from Honeymoon Killers. Other familiar faces are here as well, including Sandy Dennis (from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf), Andy Kaufman (against type as a police man and mass murderer), and Sylvia Sidney (who I recognized instantly as the old lady who blows smoke out of her open neck in Beetlejuice).

There’s a straightforwardness and lack of melodrama to the direction which can be refreshing but is just as frequently a flaw; the lack of accentuated drama can make the latter half of the film drag, and huge elements of the plot are simply skimmed over… and what a plot it is! Quite daringly, it’s ultimately a movie about an alien evil Jesus with Cronenbergian elements. Could this have been made into a better film? Probably, but I doubt many would dare to.

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Posted on November 15, 2009

Kurt Vonnegut is an utterly beloved author by anyone that's discovered his equally humorous and gravely poignant novels, but he is rarely given satisfactory adaptation to screen. His time traveling anti war sensation Slaughterhouse Five, adapted in 1972 by George Roy Hill, is an exception.

It's been many years since I read the book, but the film to my memory seems to capture the languid fatalism and realistic surrealism of the book personified perfectly by the toothy smiled, calm voiced Michael Sacks as Billy Pilgrim. Even Vonnegut is a fan, which is rare among novelists of their big screen interpretations. He said “I drool and cackle every time I watch that film, because it is so harmonious with what I felt when I wrote the book.”

The cinematography is appropriately lovely considering Miroslav Ondricek (Amadeus) is behind the camera, and the exceptional Glenn Gould supplies the Bach. While the film may not have captured the intricacies of the novel, it captures the essence and gets one in the mood to re-read his novels (for some of us for a third time).

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Posted on September 28, 2009