The brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière were two of the earliest and most influential film directors. La Charcuterie Méchanique (1895), considered one of the earliest “sc-fi” films of all time, predicts the mechanical butcher. A rather simple machine “transforms” a pig into Continue reading
A Film Rumination: A Sunday in the Country, Bertrand Tavernier (1984)
7/10 (Good)
The famous French director Bertrand Tavernier has produced some remarkable films (Coup de Torchon and Life and Nothing But for example). A Sunday in the Country is considered by many to be among his best. My opinion is more tempered — if you’re in the mood for a minimalist family drama in the beautiful French countryside without much “drama” Continue reading
A Film Rumination: It! The Terror from Beyond Space, Edward L. Cahn (1958)
5/10 (Bad — but definitely watch if you’re a B-film sci-fi fan)
I think the most important lesson I learned from the hilariously (occasionally) bad 50s sci-fi alien monster caper It! The Terror from Beyond Space is that in future female scientists and doctors still serve coffee and lunch… Continue reading
Book Review: The World Inside, Robert Silverberg (1971)
5/5 (Near Perfect, a Masterpiece)
1972 Hugo Nomination for Best Novel, withdrawn (I suspect because Silverberg had another novel in the running that year, A Time of Changes)
Science fiction from the late 60s and early 70s dealing with overpopulation has always fascinated me Continue reading
Book Review: Bow Down To Nul (variant title: The Interpreter), Brian W. Aldiss (1960)
2/5 (Bad)
Ok, I admit, I bought this book because of the gorgeous red/helium-breathing alien/humans toting spears cover… Sadly, there’s very little behind the cover besides a standard uninventive pulp-ish romp. Aldiss expends little effort and as result the work lacks an interesting society or an involving plot and all the action takes place in the slip-shop last few pages. Continue reading
A Film Rumination: Tales from the Gimli Hospital, Guy Maddin (1988)
8/10 (Very Good)
Guy Maddin’s first feature film is a spectacle to behold. A classic sort of frame story devolves (positively) into a dreamlike wandering in an alternative Iceland, with strange preachers, bark fish, a woman discovered on the shore wrapped in nets, young girls floating down rivers in coffins… Maddin manipulates silent black-and Continue reading
A Film (documentary) Rumination: The Atomic Cafe, Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty (1982)
8/10 (Very Good)
Atomic Cafe (1982) is a scathing documentary on the atomic age created from archival film from the 40s-early 60s. The scope of the material is extensive: military training films (often the most morbidly hilarious and poorly acted of the bunch), television news, various other government-produced propaganda films Continue reading
Book Review: Synthajoy, D. G. Compton (1968)
4.5/5 (Very Good)
I had not heard of the relatively unknown British sci-fi writer David G. Compton until I read a fantastic review by Ian Sales of Compton’s most famous novel, The Unsleeping Eye (1971) (his review and blog here). In my normal circuitous fashion, I decided to read a lesser-known work of Compton’s first, Synthajoy (1968). And, I was not disappointed, Continue reading
A Short Story Review: Recall Mechanism, Philip K. Dick (1959)
First publication for 'Recall Mechanism', If, July 1959
4/5 (Very Good)
“In the privacy of his living room, he sat dully examining a series of reports on carrot mutations.”
Paul Sharp files reports on what to rebuild in the swathes of H-bomb blasted California landscape for the Division of War Destruction Salvage… Continue reading
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 