Ted Rabinowitz's Blog, page 25

Why I Love New York, Baby!

First of all, I can see the Central Park fireworks from my living-room. So that's excellent. But there's more:

Every now and then, I'm reminded that in addition to being a crowded, pushy, still-dangerous mass of 1% "takers" and violent assholes, NYC is also the official Center of the Frikkin' Universe©. Like today:

There's a brewery down in Delaware that is actually (this is so cool) recreating ancient booze with the help of an honest-to-goodness biochemical archeologist. Now I saw that one of those brews is Kvasir, which is a rough approximation of what the Vikings drank when they wanted to get hammered and declaim poetry (and which occupies a place in Norse mythology not unlike that of soma in Hindu scripture). So I thought "I could like that...but not if I have to order the stuff through the mail or spend an hour and a half on the train to get to Bay Ridge or Red Hook for it." So I look it up on the website's locater function...and it's being sold at the Duane Reade three blocks from my apartment.

Center of the Frikkin' Universe©, baby.

Crunchy Dragon!

Few people realize that inducing fear and symbolizing Greed and Satan - or selling t-shirts at Loscon, for that matter - are NOT a dragon's main purposes in Life. No, it's something else. Something far more important.

CRUNCHY DRAGON
Dragon flying on the video,Crunchy dragon. Crunchy dragon.
Got a big house and a stereo,Crunchy dragon. Crunchy dragon.
Got long, long legs, big chest too.Drumsticks, wishbone, white meat, stew.Can up and freeze what I can't use.Crunchy dragon. Crunchy dragon.

A-K-4-7 the dragon. YUMMM.

The Left Evolves, the Right Declines, Average US Intelligence Holds Steady

According to the latest Pew Research poll, acceptance* of the Theory of Evolution in the US has remained steady overall for the last four years. However, it has declined among Republicans, from 54% to 43%.

Now, a 60% acceptance rate for a fact of nature is nothing to brag about - it shows that epic levels of denialism and scientific illiteracy abound in our country. That being said, I am encouraged by one thing: If the overall level holds steady, but denialism increased among the GOP, that means that the rest of us are getting smarter. Finally.


*I say "acceptance," not "belief," because belief implies that evolution is an article of faith. It isn't. Instead, it is by far the best explanation for a staggeringly, definitively enormous collection of natural evidence. One "believes" in evolution in pretty much the same way one would "believe" in gravity.

Jesus and Satan Build Statues in Oklahoma

For anyone who believes in religious freedom and the separation of Church and State - I do! I do!  - this is a glorious way to fight the battle. (The Oklahoma legislature allowed a Ten Commandments statue - which is explicitly religious - to be erected on government grounds. And Satanists have argued that they deserve time for their religion too, so they've petitioned to place a Satanic display right next to it.)

I would say this is at least as effective - and a LOT faster - than suing for the removal of religious icons from public grounds.

Swords for Higher Education!

In the US, all you get for your PhD is a tassel and a parchment. But in Finland, you get a HAT...and a SWORD.

Totes doing my doctorate in Helsinki.

Why It Pays to Pay People to Watch TV Shows Like "Almost Human"

Last post, I panned Almost Human for a couple of reasons - mostly because it uses expired story lines and doesn't consider the implications of the technology it's pushing (in this case, androids and new drugs).

But Rob Bricken over at io9.com, who is paid to watch this stuff, was much more thorough, and much more outraged, in his dissection of AH. I recommend his post.

Almost Human...And Now I've Changed My Mind

Just saw my second episode of Almost Human, and I was able to spot the episode's Big Bad as soon as he showed up. Of course it's always hard to do a "mystery villain" in a single episode on a series, because the odds are that any new character who shows up with a lot of power and respectability will be the bad guy.

That said, the twist-that-was-too-obvious-to-be-a-twist highlights a major failing of the show: The two episodes that I've seen both featured recycled cop/action story lines we've seen dozens of times before. It's as though the showrunners think that all they need to make these stories fresh again is to sprinkle a little sci-fi on them.

This episode, for instance, features a new street drug, "the benz," that looks a bit like anti-freeze. Its properties? It's hard to make and super-addictive. Nothing else. The robots? They're just like people, except that they're stronger and you can order them around and treat them like crap. Hell, even the visuals are recycled - check out the umbrellas with the glowing central tubes, straight out of Bladerunner.

It's not too late for the show - if it shows us how society has changed thanks to new technologies. (What have "synthetics" done to prostitution and human trafficking? What about fraud? Identity theft? New forms of surveillance?) But as long as the future is treated as just the present, but with shinier toys, Almost Human will disappoint.

One of My Short Stories Just Came Out

It's called The Saturday Dance, and it appears in the November 2013 issue of Lore magazine.

Buy it today, you little F/SF monsters!

Play the Critic Game!

As some of you have guessed by now, one of my favorite posts is "Why Is That So Good?" I take a favorite scene - usually in a book, but occasionally from a movie, play, what have you - and try to understand exactly why it sticks in my mind.

But here's the good news - I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DO THIS. In fact, I invite you all to try it yourselves. Here's how:


Sit down and close your eyes. (This is optional, but it can help.)Think of your favorite scene - the one whose lines you keep repeating; the one you can hear or see in your mind.Ask yourself, seriously - "Why is that so good?" Is it something in the scene itself? Maybe it's contextual - the scene is the culmination of an arc in the story, or a running gag. ("Looks like I picked the wrong week to give up sniffing glue!")Maybe it's about character. Remember Lawrence of Arabia, with Anthony Quinn shouting "But I am poor, because I am a river to my people!"Maybe it's entirely about the writing. ("But look around you. Death and Light are everywhere, and they begin, end, strive, attend, into and upon the dream of the Nameless that is the world, burning words within Samsara, perhaps to create a thing of beauty...")Maybe it's a twist, or a red herring.Maybe it's planting and payoff.Maybe - most likely - it's none of these but something entirely different.Whatever it is, YOU get to decide. Think about it. Figure it out. And then drop me a line and let me know!

Almost Human

Just saw my first episode. "Did I like it?" you ask. Well-

Yeah.

Of course, I firmly believe that Isaac Asimov should be acknowledged in the credits as the author of Caves of Steel, but since it is impossible to copyright a "mere idea," I'll move on from that. I will say that although Karl Urban is getting the leading man buzz and the fan-girl swoonage, the real star to me seems to be Michael Ealy, who plays the android Dorian.

Aside from that - the story wasn't remarkable, but the show was tightly put together, and there weren't too many glaring gaps of logic and characterization >cough<Defiance>cough<. Also, they have the terrific Lili Taylor as the captain, and I could watch her read the phone book (which is a little more dramatic than what they've given her in this episode).

So - not mind-blowing, but worth following for a while to see where it goes.