THE MT VOID
12/29/23 -- Vol. 42, No. 26, Whole Number 2308

Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Middletown (NJ) Public Library Science Fiction Discussion
Group
Mark's Picks for Turner Classic Movies in January
(comments by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
TRANSLATION STATE by Ann Leckie (audio book review
by Joe Karpierz)
Will Science Fiction Conventions Ever Be the Same?
(comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
"Happy Birthday to You" (letters of comment by Kip Williams
and Gary McGath)
BLIND WILLOW SLEEPING WOMAN (letter of comment
by Gary McGath)
This Week's Reading (Agatha Christie and G. K. Chesterton)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: Middletown (NJ) Public Library Science Fiction Discussion
Group

The only local meetings left are in Middletown, and they are
in-person. The best way to get the latest information is to be on
the mailing list for it.

Jan 4, 2024 ARRIVAL (2016) & "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang
(1998)
<https://tinyurl.com/Chiang-StoryOfLife>
Feb 1, 2024 METROPOLIS (1927) & novel "Metropolis" by Thea
Von Harbou (1925)
<https://tinyurl.com/Metropolis-Harbou>

===================================================================

TOPIC: Mark's Picks for Turner Classic Movies in January (comments
by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)

The first "Godzilla" movie was called simply "Gojira". (When it
was released in the United States, it added a bunch of Raymond Burr
and was renamed "Godzilla, King of the Monsters".) It would
probably be impossible to find any film series with as many twists
of style or intended audience as even just the original "Godzilla"
series(*). The style included a film that was deadly serious, and
then descended into buffoonery, though towards the end improving
somewhat.

TCM is showing eight of the original series on January 1; here is
the schedule (with the various alternate titles these films
appeared as):

6:00 AM Godzilla (1954) (Godzilla, King of the Monsters
[US edit])
8:00 AM Godzilla Raids Again (1955) (Gigantis the Fire Monster
[US edit])
9:30 AM Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) (Godzilla vs. the Thing)
11:15 AM Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
1:00 PM Monster Zero (1965) (Godzilla vs. Monster Zero)
2:45 PM Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
4:30 PM Son of Godzilla (1967)
6:15 PM Destroy All Monsters (1969)

(*) There have been six sub-series; the first four Japanese, all
Toho Pictures, and the last two American:
- Showa era (1954-1975)
- Heisei era (1984-1995)
- Millrennium era (1999-2004)
- Reiwa era (2016- )
- TriStar Pictures (1998-2000)
- Legendary Pictures (2014- )

[-mrl/ecl]

And some comments on some other films:

THE VANISHING (1988): Turner is showing the original classic Dutch
film about a man's search for his wife, who disappeared from a
roadside stop. (The American 1993 remake is an abomination, even
though it is the same director for both.)

INSOMNIA (1997): This is the original Nordic noir film with Stellan
Skasgard. In this case the American remake (directed by
Christopher Nolan) may be just as good, but you should definitely
watch the original.

THE POWER OF FILM (2023): The first four parts of a six-part
original documentary on film.

And there are also four Marx Brothers films.

[-ecl]

Other films of interest include:

MONDAY, January 1
6:00 AM Godzilla (1954)
8:00 AM Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
9:30 AM Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
11:15 AM Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
1:00 PM Monster Zero (1965)
2:45 PM Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
4:30 PM Son of Godzilla (1967)
6:15 PM Destroy All Monsters (1969)
8:00 PM Monkey Business (1931)
9:30 PM Horse Feathers (1932)
10:45 PM A Night at the Opera (1935)

TUESDAY, January 2
12:30 AM A Day at the Races (1937)
2:30 AM Room Service (1938)
4:00 AM At the Circus (1939)
6:00 AM Children of the Damned (1964)
7:45 AM The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964)
9:30 AM 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)

THURSDAY, January 4
3:00 PM The Body Disappears (1941)
8:00 PM The Power of Film: Episode 1 (2023)
11:15 PM The Power of Film: Episode 1 (2023)

FRIDAY, January 5
4:00 AM The Great Dictator (1940)

MONDAY, January 8
2:00 AM The Vanishing (1988)
4:00 AM Insomnia (1997)
11:00 PM Film: The Living Record of Our Memory (2021)

TUESDAY, January 9
1:15 AM America America (1963)

THURSDAY, January 11
10:15 AM The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
6:00 PM The Time Machine (1960)
8:00 PM The Power of Film: Episode 2 (2023)
11:15 PM The Power of Film: Episode 2 (2023)

FRIDAY, January 12
12:15 AM Network (1976)

SATURDAY, January 13
12:00 AM The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)

TUESDAY, January 16
8:00 AM Kismet (1955)

THURSDAY, January 18
7:15 AM The China Syndrome (1979)
8:00 PM The Power of Film: Episode 3 (2023)
11:15 PM The Power of Film: Episode 3 (2023)

FRIDAY, January 19
2:00 AM A Night at the Opera (1935)
4:00 AM Modern Times (1936)
6:00 AM Jalopy (1953)

MONDAY, January 22
7:30 AM At the Circus (1939)
9:00 AM House of Wax (1953)
1:00 PM The Face of Fu Manchu (1965)
4:45 PM The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
6:45 PM Man Alive (1946)

TUESDAY, January 23
6:00 AM The Eyes of Orson Welles (2018)
6:00 PM The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)

THURSDAY, January 25
8:00 PM The Power of Film: Episode 4 (2023)
11:15 PM The Power of Film: Episode 4 (2023)

FRIDAY, January 26
12:15 AM Psycho (1960)
2:30 AM King Kong (1933)

WEDNESDAY, January 31
1:00 PM Tarzan, The Ape Man (1981)
3:00 PM Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
5:00 PM Mighty Joe Young (1949)
6:45 PM The Gorilla (1939)

===================================================================

TOPIC: TRANSLATION STATE by Ann Leckie (copyright 2023, Orbit, 12
hours and 3 minutes, ASIN: B0BJ4DTXSB, narrated by Adjoa Andoh)
(audio book review by Joe Karpierz)

I was taken a bit by surprise when I discovered that it's been four
years since Ann Leckie's last novel, THE RAVEN TOWER (which I did
not read), six years since her last Imperial Radch novel
PROVENANCE, and *ten* years since her debut novel, ANCILLARY
JUSTICE, which you may remember won all sorts of awards, including
the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel in 2014. TRANSLATION
STATE, Leckie's latest novel, marks a return to the Imperial Radch
universe, but stands neatly to the side of the original "Ancillary"
trilogy.

The story follows three characters: Enae, who lived under the thumb
of an elderly relative, and who was cast out of the house when the
relative died, although not without a purpose; Reet, a mysterious
orphan found as an infant on a spacecraft, adopted by a loving
family who makes a habit of taking in orphans; and Qven, whose
story we follow from her very beginnings as a very young Presger
Translator. As is the way of stories with characters that are
wholly different from each other, the lives of the three characters
eventually intertwine within the confines of this engaging novel.

Enae is offered a diplomatic position in which she is assigned the
task of finding a Presger Translator who went missing 200 years
prior to the event of the novel. It is meant to be a nothing
posting, as the person who took over the estate where she lived
just wants her out of the way. It's meant to be easy, with not
many tasks or responsibilities. No one expects her to find the
missing Translator, whose trail has gone cold in the last 200
years. What we learn about Enae is that she has a great amount of
ambition and a feeling of duty. She wants to earn the money she is
getting paid, and thus no one has expected that her determination
to find the lost Translator will bear fruit.

Enae makes some educated assumptions about where the missing
Translator may have traveled to all those years ago, and ends up on
the same planet as Reet. Reet has never really felt that he's fit
in anywhere or with anyone. Reet is a bit strange, having urges to
eat people. He is approached by a group that believes that he is
the descendant of the rulers of a political faction to which they
belong. He's never had a job that would allow him to amount to
anything, but through this group he gets a job escorting visiting
dignitaries, which results in him meeting Enae. Enae is curious
about his background, which leads her to believe he may be a
descendant of the missing Translator (this really isn't much of a
spoiler, because that fact only leads to the main storyline, and is
not the main storyline itself).

We learn about Qven, and thus the Presger Translators, as we follow
her life from that of a very young child to the adult stages of her
life. And what we learn is not very pleasant, to say the least.
The young Translators are pretty much left on their own, and only
as they slowly grow up do they change from creatures that eat their
own kind--yes, you read that correctly--to adults who "match", to
become one person with two bodies. Qven doesn't want to match, and
circumstances land her in hot water when she is blamed for the
attempt upon her of a forced match. Qven was meant for big things,
but now those plans are ruined because of the attack.

I haven't even begun to discuss the rest of the story that follows
from her. As with the previous Imperial Radch books, there is much
political intrigue and infighting. Reet and Qven end up as pawns
in a game that is much bigger than they could imagine.

TRANSLATION STATE is a story of gender, identity, friendship, and
bonding. It is also one of belonging and identity. Leckie has
woven a very complex tale and, I think, may have outdone herself in
the process. I feel that TRANSLATION STATE is probably the second
best Imperial Radch book, overshadowed only by ANCILLARY JUSTICE.
This book can and does stand alone, with very little mention of
Ancillaries or anything else from the original trilogy. It's been,
as I said, six years since PROVENANCE, and the time was well spent.

I still struggle with commenting on the narrator of a book, and
this time is no different. Adjoa Andoh narrated PROVENANCE, a fact
I didn't remember while listening to TRANSLATION STATE. I don't
know if it's good or bad that I didn't remember her. Good, because
I don't remember getting thrown out of the story by her in
PROVENANCE, or bad because she didn't stand out in any way. More
likely it's the fact that PROVENANCE is six years in the past and I
can't remember what I did last week. [-jak]

===================================================================

TOPIC: Will Science Fiction Conventions Ever Be the Same? (comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)

1) There is the breaking of inertia. If you go every year to a
certain convention, and suddenly miss it for three years, there is
no longer than inner drive to maintain your "streak".

2) In the 20th century, Worldcons were almost always in ths United
States, which meant a stable base of attendees. As non-IS
Worldcons became more common, it became less likely to see all the
same people. If most of the friends you want to connect with won't
be in Wakanda for the Worldcon, that's one less reason for you to
go.

3) Travel was in a sweet spot for quite a while (we paid under
$1000 each to fly to Japan in 1996, under $600 each in 1998 to fly
to Turkey, and under $1800 each for the flight to Australia plus
three flights within Australia in 1999). Now flights are way more
expensive (even taking into account inflation), and they are also
way more hellish. So people are being priced out of distant
conventions, and given the increases in hotels and food, even from
nearby conventions.

4) Virtual access is good for virtual attendees, but doesn't
contribute to physical atmosphere of the convention. Virtual
attendees don't solve the problem of wandering half-empty halls and
con suites.

5) All the old con-goers are getting, well, old. And I'm not
convinced that the younger fans need conventions are as a way to
find "their people" the way previous generations did. Zoom and
Facetime have changed things a lot. [-ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: "Happy Birthday to You" (letters of comment by Kip Williams
and Gary McGath)

In response to Evelyn's comments on "Happy Birthday to You" in the
12/22/23 issue of the MT VOID, Kip Williams writes:

You can sing "Happy Birthday To You" in public without paying
royalties, and they even seem to have determined that the sisters
who kept that gate (even after death) were claiming something that
wasn't even really theirs. People found the song they stole it from
("Good Morning To All"). [-kw]

Gary McGath also wrote:

The copyright on "Happy Birthday" has been dead since 2015, though
it withstood more blows that should have been fatal than Rasputin.

<https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/happy-birthday-
officially-public-domain-180956740/>

[-gmg]

Evelyn responds:

At the time I wrote the review (2009) the song was supposed covered
by copyright in the United States. Subsequent to that, the courts
have ruled it is (and was) in the public domain. [-ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: BLIND WILLOW SLEEPING WOMAN (letter of comment by Gary
McGath)

In response to Evelyn's review of BLIND WILLOW SLEEPING WOMAN in
the 12/22/23 issue of the MT VOID, Kip Williams writes:

[Evelyn writes,] "... there is a giant frog that talks and sings".

Sounds very familiar, other than the frog being giant. [-gmg]

===================================================================

TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

I've been doing a lot of re-reading lately. While enjoyable, it
doesn't lend itself to a lot of new observations. Agatha
Christie's "Hercule Poirot" short stories, because they are short
stories, don't have a lot of complex plotting to comment on. This
might actually be a good thing--it prevents a lot of the multiple
coincidences that often pepper her other works. For example, A
MURDER IS ANNOUNCED has *two* instances of people key to the plot
just happening to show up--independently--in the village, and
someone else accidentally overhearing a key conversation. And
several novels have characters suspected in a murder who turn out
to be drug smugglers or antiquities thieves or atomic spies who
have nothing to do with the murder.

I also re-read THE INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN by G. K. Chesterton,
containing such classic stories as "The Hammer of God" and "The Eye
of Apollo". Chesterton seems to have imbued his Father Brown with
an incredible ability to cause criminals to repent and confess
their crimes. Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple always solved the
crimes, but relied on making sure that the police had the evidence
necessary to arrest and convict the criminal. Yes, sometimes the
criminal confessed (in MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA, quite unbelievably),
but often these were confessions tricked out of them (in CARDS ON
THE TABLE, by producing a fake eyewitness). Father Brown appeals
to their higher natures. Christie's murderers often had no higher
nature. [-ecl]

===================================================================

Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net

Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit
family in another city.
--George Burns