Jonathan Woodward's Journal

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I just got an anonymous email with the content, "Happy thanksgiving to both of you, hon". Thank you, whoever!

Books: Legion, Justice League, Wonder Woman

Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds by Johns, Pérez, Koblish

DC Comic's Legion of Super-Heroes are a group of superteens maintaining peace in the United Planets of the 31st century. Their publishing history has been complicated, with two complete reboots, and a more recent reboot that is a branch timeline off the original version. In this volume, the evil Superboy of Earth-Prime comes to the future, allies with the local villains, and sets out to conquer the universe. The Legion fights back by recruiting two other versions of itself from across the mutliverse.

Though this book has little to do with the overall Final Crisis story, it is tightly woven into many other parts of DC continuity, including the Green Lantern Corps and the current story of Superman's origins. It also goes out of its way to undo two recent editorial missteps. If you're a fan of the Legion, highly recommended. If you're a more casual comics fan, this book would be diving into the deep end.

Justice League of America: When Worlds Collide by McDuffie, Benes, Morales

Back in the 90s, DC Comics started up an imprint, Milestone Comics, devoted to creating and celebrating more minority heroes, including its flagship character, Icon, who is basically, "What if infant Kal-El had been found by pre-Civil War slaves?" The Milestone characters mostly vanished when the imprint folded after a few years, but in this volume McDuffie brings them back and integrates them into the DC Multiverse. Of special note is the fact that, due to assorted heroes quitting the League, in the second half of this book the Justice League is three-fifths black (and one-fifth Japanese). Plus, they're teamed up with two black Milestone heroes. And (apart from Vixen making a fairly snarky "Driving Miss Daisy" comment about John Stewart's admiration for Hal Jordan), there's no comment about this from any of the characters. Recommended.

Wonder Woman: Rise of the Olympian by Simone, Lopresti, Chang

Wonder Woman is notoriously hard to write, but Simone is doing an admirable job, mixing Wondy's government job with her mythical roots and the inherent contradictions of her mission (which Batman once described as "Force peace"). Recommended.

Mine Is The Drill That Will Pierce The Heavens!
Gurren Lagann is a very, um, masculine show . . .

(What with the titular mecha sprouting giant drills from every joint . . . )

Compatibility Torment
Anyone know if Planescape Torment will run on Windows XP or 7?

She Loves Me For My Brain
At one point in last night's Big Bang Theory, Sheldon records a "Sheldon's Log" with a stardate of 63xxx. (I don't recall the last three digits.) I thought about it for a second, then turned to

buxom_bey and said, "Y'know if he's counting stardates from the beginning of Next Generation, which started with 41000 in 1987, and added 1000 per year, then that number's about right."

She then gave me that specific smile which combines "I love you," "You're a huge geek," and "Maybe we shouldn't watch this show so much."

She Should Totally Team Up With Dispensor
Holy hannah, they actually made an Amanda Waller action figure.

It's a new mold, too!

(I'm not an action figure savant, but I honestly can't think of any other overweight black female action figures . . . )

Books: 18th Century, WW1, Golden Age of Hollywood, Early 70s

Life of Johnson by James Boswell

I tried, I did. I read the first hundred pages, then skipped forward and read some more, and concluded that, pioneering biography or not, this Just Isn't My Thing.

Fighting the Flying Circus by Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker

This is the story of America's Ace of Aces during WW1, the first air war. Though it mostly consists of very similar air battles, it has enough fascinating little anecdotes to reward the reader. It's also interesting to try to visualize air warfare in the days before GPS, radar, and radio, where genuinely all the info the pilot had was what he could gather by sight. Recommended.

Bogart: In Search of my Father by Stephen H. Bogart

When I was in high school, I participated in Emerson College's summer youth theatre program. One year, I was in a quasi-film noir play called "Silver Scream" directed by Stephen Bogart. This is his book about coming to terms with being Humphrey Bogart's son. Apparently, up until just a few years before I met him, Stephen resented the way the public couldn't treat him as anything other than Bogie's son. Combine that with having lost his father at age five, and, well . . . Apparently when he told his fianceee that family was really important to him, she responded, "How can you say that, when you haven't seen any of your father's movies?"
So, he set out to learn about his father, and piece all that together with his memories. This book is the result. It's engrossing, particularly in its portrayal of Bogie as someone whose focus on being a "man's man" almost crippled him, leaving him with no idea of how to love his son, or (indeed) how to have fun without drinking heavily. (

minkrose, it reminds me a lot of your paper on the problems with enforced masculinity.) Recommended.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

As the author's forenote points out, this book isn't much about Zen, nor about motorcycles, though they're both in there. It is about two things. The first is the Philosophy of Quality. That part I liked and found useful. Delving into the interface between observer and observed, and what actually goes on when the observer chooses what to perceive, is fascinating.
The second thing this book is about is Pirsig's relationship with his son which, frankly, comes across as kind of screwed up and passive-agressive. But, regardless, I can more than recommend the book on its philosophical merits alone.

Proof Once Again That Jon Thinks Too Hard About Things
Consider the following sentences:

I don't believe in monogamy.
I don't believe in Santa Claus.
I don't believe in abstinence.
I don't believe in raisins.
I don't believe in socialism.
I don't believe in God.
I don't believe in giving to charities.
I don't believe in a strict interpretation of the Bill of Rights.

How are these interpreted?

I don't believe in X, and am therefore a nutbar, because X has objective existence.
I don't believe in X, and if you do, you're wrong.
I don't believe in X by choice, but other people may make different choices.

2012
I decided to keep track of how long it took for the science in 2012 to get unbelievable. It took about five minutes. They introduced neutrinos correctly, then said, "But now they're having a pronounced physical effect on the Earth." Chiwetel responded, "That's impossible." His friend responded, "They're acting more like microwaves." Things went bad between "impossible" and "microwaves" . . .

Recommended for spectacle only.

Doubleyou Tee Eff?
So, exactly how many kinks (unsavory or not) does Strike Witches pander to? I was up to six before I stopped counting . . .

(It takes a minute to get fully into WTF territory. Wait for the ears-n-tail.)

Why Not To Date Webcartoonists
Is it just me, or are Jennie Breeden's "What Not to Say on a First Date" comics reading more and more like "These are Jennie's Particular Hangups"? ~~(In particular, letting someone know you're poly is exactly the sort of thing that should be communicated on a first date, if not before . . . )~~

Edit: I stand by the original point . . .

Random Fantasy Casting Thought
Humphrey Bogart as Rorschach.

His accent and sense of irony would be a problem, but otherwise . . .

Magazines
So, I'm trying to give up on buying magazines.

Nearly as expensive as a paperback.
Designed to be disposable.
Will fill up storage space fast if bought regularly.
Often half advertising by volume.
Content is usually also available free online.

I may change my mind once I have a kid — having Scientific American and National Geographic around the house was important in my upbringing. But we'll see.

Thoughts?

The Big Broadcast & Metafictionality
Last Saturday I saw "The Big Broadcast of October 30, 1938", a radio drama in three acts, the first being a recreation of a traditional radio variety show, the last two being a new interpretation of The War of the Worlds, subtitled "The Fall of Boston". While it was not, to my knowledge, actually broadcast over the radio, it was staged in the manner of classic radio dramas, with the actors in costumes but performing in front of mikes, and with the foley (sound effects) crew on stage.

I had a great deal of fun watching it, though at 3.5 hours, it was a bit long. The interpretation of WotW was excellent, and, having read the book, seen both of the major movies, and listened to the original Orson Welles broadcast, I admire how the classic structure of WotW was adapted here. And, special bonus points for having a theremin set up in one of the balconies, played live, for the Martian sound effects.

The first act — the non-WotW, radio variety show act — raises some fun questions of metafictionality. It was presented as Frank Cyrano and the Byfar Radio Performers, broadcasting from the sixth floor of the Putnam Department Store, Boston, in 1938. Comic banter, musical interludes, shilling for Byfar Coffee Syrup, etc.

What makes this interesting is that this blurs reality and fiction. The performers are effectively playing to two audiences; the audience in 1938, and the audience in 2009. And, it is difficult to casually distinguish between these two layers. A perfect performance to the 1938 audience is identical to a perfect performance to the 2009 audience. (It is in the "errors" that one can separate them, as we will see later.)

Where this becomes particularly tricky is when Frank Cyrano, the leading man of the show, goes to a restaurant for a bowl of chowder. In 2009, this is, of course, acted out — he stands at the same microphone, while the foley crew simulate the sounds of the restaurant. However, we the 2009 audience have no way of knowing if the 1938 audience is seeing the same thing we are, or if Cyrano actually went to a restaurant. To the 2009 audience, those two things look the same! Since we can't distinguish them on sight, we have to deduce the restaurant's 1938 unreality. One way of doing so is through the champagne gag.

Before the restaurant scene, while Cyrano is still on stage (in both 1938 and 2009), there's a bit where he's supposed to act out drinking champagne. Unfortunately, the foley man doesn't have the balloon ready (to "pop the cork"), so Cyrano ad libs about saving it for later. It's hypothetically possible that this was a real gaffe — real in 2009 as well as in 1938 — but by the way the foley man was mugging it's clear this was rehearsed. (Otherwise, it would have been possible that the champagne bottle was fake in 2009 but real in 1938.)

Later, when Cyrano gets to the restaurant, the foley man catches his attention and shows that he can do the champagne gag now, so Cyrano ad libs a reason to drink champagne with the restaurant staff. Pop, fizz, glug, clink. Since we know (from the rehearsed nature of the foley man not being ready before) that the champagne bottle is not real in 1938, we know that it's not real when he "gets to the restaurant" either, and therefore we know that the restaurant is unreal in both 2009 and 1938.

(It's also fairly obvious that no one hosting a radio broadcast in 1938 would stop in the middle for chowder, taking his broadcast crew with him to the restaurant, but basing the deductions on the champagne is more fun.)

Thus, in the first act, we are exposed to three levels of reality. In the first, in 2009, some folks (including many I know personally) are putting on a radio drama. In the second, in 1938, some professional radio performers are putting on a radio drama. In the third, in 1938, Cyrano goes to a restaurant and has a bowl of chowder.

Unfortunately, during my watching of the show, the knowledge that there were at least three layers of reality led to some confusion. At the end of the first act, the Byfar Performers interrupt their broadcast to pass on reports of a Martian invasion, and end up listening to their radio, in the studio.

Given that Orson Welles' WotW broadcast fooled some people in 1938 into thinking Martians were really invading, at this point I got puzzled. Were the Byfar Performers actually in danger from Martians, had they been tricked by a radio drama, or were they only pretending to be spooked by news reports? A little later, we see some mobsters listening to their radio talk about Martians. What level of fictionality are they on? How can I tell a radio drama in 1938 from a different radio drama in 1938? Do Martians drink of bubbly champagne?

At the end of the WotW story, a couple of the Byfar Performers show up to celebrate the defeat of the Martians, but (as the restaurant from earlier shows) even this does not conclusively collapse reality. Did Cyrano survive a Martian invasion, or did he and the Byfar Performers pretend to be shocked by news of an invasion, as their radio station switched from the variety hour to a staged WotW broadcast, and he is now making a guest appearance, playing himself, in this other radio drama?

And who was that guy in the cape, anyway?

xkcd Star Wars Errors
Today's Star Wars chart has two errors that I've noticed. First, Vader meets Boba Fett before he meets Lando, not after. Second, at the end of Empire, Chewie and Lando fly off together in the Falcon, leaving Luke, Leia, and the droids behind. This is not depicted.

. . . That's Mister Geek to you.

Books: Iron Man, PS238, Incandescence, Transition, Morgue

Iron Man: World's Most Wanted by Fraction, Larroca

In the wake of the Secret Invasion, Tony Stark is discredited, and Norman Osborn (the former Green Goblin) is now in charge of the Avengers and SHIELD. Osborn forces Stark to hand over his keys, escorts him out of the building, and immediately tries to access the Superhuman Registration database. However, Tony, not being an idiot, erased every copy but the one in his nanite-enhanced brain.

Problem is, he needs to erase that one, too. The rest of the book is Tony on the run from the US Government, as he voluntarily gives himself brain damage, and is forced to rely on ever-simpler and more-primitive armor as he loses the ability to handle more advanced suits. Recommended. (Plus, bonus points for providing a usable way to use GMail as a dropsite for covert communications.)

PS238: Daughters, Sons, and Shrink-Ray Guns by Aaron Williams

The continuing adventures of the superhuman elementary school students of PS238. This volume has two major plots, one about the school's rival with Praetorian Academy, the nefarious private school across town, and the second a time-traveling crossover with Nodwick. Really good writing, recommended.

Incandescence by Greg Egan

As Egan novels go, this one is kind of light. It presents two plots, one about some far-future descendents of humanity looking for a lost civilization in the galactic core, the other about a preindustrial insectile race deducing the laws of gravity, orbital mechanics, and eventually relativity without advanced scientific instruments or even the ability to observe the outside world. The latter plot has a lot of lectures in it, many of them hard to follow, but is still entertaining.

When you have a book with two plots, the question is always when are they going to dovetail, and how? The default is that the characters from each plot simply meet, but the popular alternatives are to have the reader discover that one plotline or the other is taking place in the distant past. The end of this book requires you to piece together some hints, but is actually pretty satisfying. Recommended.

Transition by Iain M. Banks

Wow, Banks dropped the ball on this one. In the wake of 9/11, it appears Banks wanted to say some things about terrorism, torture, and how people in power tend to be untrustworthy. He wrapped up a few lectures on that topic in this thinly plotted novel about alternate Earths and the organization that nudges them in the desired direction. The nominal lead character never really does anything, the deus ex machina is not in any way foreshadowed, and there are a lot of pointless and/or unpleasant sex and/or torture scenes. Truly not recommended.

The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross

Sequel to The Atrocity Archives, this is another novel in the geek culture/spy novel/Cthulhu mythos/Dilbert office politics picogenre. The cover is remarkably apt: Our nebbish hero is dressed up like James Bond, and then thrown in over his head. Both literally and metaphorically. Gotta love a novel where the equivalent of Q Branch fits the hero out with a cummerbund that conceals a keyboard, and USB drives in his bowtie. Highly recommended.

I Need a Swarm of Nanobots to Clear My Sinuses
I don't think I've mentioned it here, but I've had a generally unpleasant cold for about a week now. (No, it's not teh hamthrax.) Last night's manifestation was Sinus Wackiness and insomnia.

(So, I kept my brain occupied analyzing metatextuality in The Big Broadcast of October 30, 1938, of which more anon.)

Inquiry About Your Cats and Their Names
Poll #1478903 Inquiry About Cat Names
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 73

I own a cat named . . .

View Answers

Amber
1 (1.4%)

Ember
1 (1.4%)

Umber
0 (0.0%)

Slumber
0 (0.0%)

September, November, or December
0 (0.0%)

Other -mber name
1 (1.4%)

Other name entirely
54 (74.0%)

I don't own a cat.
21 (28.8%)