Remix the underground

Boing Boing has been posting links for the last week or two about remixes of station names on local underground systems. The first couple to be done, like the London Underground and Toronto were pulled from their sites after their local transport authorities objected on grounds of violation of copyright, thus forever banishing the stereotype image we all had of the little jobsworthy twat who runs such services and couldn't be more anally retentive if he had his butt cheeks held together with an industrial vice... Anyway, in true Boing Boing fashion they have been posting ever more versions from round the world (most transport authorities not being as bothered as London who you'd think would be too busy trying to think on ways of keeping their mayor out of trouble) including (hurrah) Glasgow!

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The SF Future and moral dilemmas

Yvonne over on Nemeton had a thought-provoking post on a recent scientific endeavour which is working on changing science fiction into actual science: teleportation. As she points out they realised something SF writers and readers have known for a long time - with a teleport or transporter you don’t actually break the person down into energy and beam them to another location, what you actually do is create a copy of them at the receiving station. So in essence you have a clone, which may not seem like a big deal to the person involved if, say, the other version of them was created at a receiving station on another world and they will never come in contact with them. But what if that copy beams to another location and another copy is made? And if you want to stick with the idea of only one person what do you do with the original? If that original is destroyed would it be murder? This may sound like an esoteric moral argument but consider that the same problems arise if you are talking about a copy of a person created by cloning technology, which is a science we are progressing on rather faster.

It did get me thinking about other moral dilemmas that come about through new technology in science fiction. For example, Richard Morgan’s powerful debut Altered Carbon (and its sequels) has a technology called memory stacks, whereby people have the essence of their memory and personality backed-up, meaning that in the event of death you can be transferred into a new body. Richard also spins further on this having a disparity between the rich and poor, with rich people not only having a stack but one which backs-up via satellite every few hours in case someone blows their head off and destroys their stack (true death) and also keep a bank of specially cloned bodies in a secure location ready to be downloaded into, almost like putting on a new Armani suit.

Richard has organised religions almost extinct in this future because they hold that you cannot copy the soul, so a stack if a diabolical invention and believers should shun it. So they die off after a normal lifespan and that’s it for them, while most other folk may also wonder at this point to but decide on a more pragmatic approach, e.g. they would rather have the chance to keep on living, so have a stack and try to get re-sleeved. The main character, Kovacs, is also sent to other worlds by needle cast, which basically transmits your stack to another world to be downloaded into a new sleeve there (it is illegal to have another copy in another sleeve at the same time), muddying the waters even more as to how original is that person? Are they still them? Or are they just a digital copy? What if your brain is implanted into a totally different, alien body as in Paul Chadwick’s Concrete? Is it live or is it Memorex as they used to say…

Which brings you to AI - assuming you could create true Artificial Intelligence, would you treat it as ‘alive’? That is to say, would you accord it the same respect, rights and privileges of any human being? Or would you treat it as merely a clever box of tricks? Leaving aside how the AI may think about all of this for a moment, how humans would react to AI and treat it would probably say more about human’s morality than anything else. Would you deny it rights and therefore essentially treat an intelligent being as a device to be used - essentially a slave? Sounds silly? Well, it’s not been unknown for people, even in the last couple of centuries, to argue that it was alright so enslave a group, say Africans, because they didn’t count as fully human therefore there was no moral ambiguity for even a good God-fearing Christian in holding slaves. This is an area that has been covered by a lot of SF - Star Trek the Next Generation did it well several times and Asimov’s I, Robot is an obvious key text - and while we may be a long way from having to face such a moral problem for real it is still a fascinating intellectual exercise - to say nothing of how it relates to how humans perceive other humans, let alone artificial beings. And we haven’t even touched on aliens yet of course!

Of course you can combine AI tech with copies of human minds by having human’s downloaded into a computer, which is quite common in SF dealing with the Singularity (where IT gets to a level where AI comes to pass, everything accelerates at an incredible rate and you end up with a post-human civilisation - see Charlie Stross' Accelerando for example). If a person decides to have their memory and consciousness uploaded into a computer then would it still count as being them? We’re always saying how it is what’s inside that counts, would we stick by that maxim? Or would we just use a mind-in-a-box as a particularly clever computer to serve our needs? Ken MacLeod had a tale a few years ago where one character uses the uploaded mind of another person almost as her PDA - against the wishes of the mind, who would very much like to get out of this servitude and be uploaded into a new body again, please.

It’s all fiction - for the moment - but it does get the old brain thinking, doesn’t it? Assuming of course that we are all real, we are all conscious and we do all ‘think’ and aren't just subroutines of some vast digital intelligence…

Wahey!

Tense, oh so tense! Scotland just in the lead over ancient rivals England, who we have so rarely beaten. 20 minutes to go, still just in the lead, everything to play for: England determined, playing some bloody great rugby, the Scots mixing it up, unafraid, throwing in some bloody brilliant tackles. Ten minutes to go: England fighting to get a try and tip the scales, the boy from Caledonia mounting a fantastic defence... 2 minutes to go and we're still just in the lead... Fingernails dug into the beer can at this stage, it could all go so wrong in second... And it's all over with Scotland standing at 18 points, England at 12, Princess Anne giving the Calcutta Cup to the victorious captin of her faovurite team. I could hear the huge roar of "Scotland!" from the Murrayfield crowd in my flat as I was glued to the screen.

The Six Nations was great for Scottish fans in the 90s then we had years of being pathetic, so heartbreaking after the glories of the 90s. Now we've thrashed two of the teams who started the Six Nations as pretty much the two strongest teams in most pundit's view (France being the other). Even this morning some papers, especially down south seemed to think all the English team had to do was bother to turn up. I look forward to reading what they say tomorrow. And even nicer the Scottish players clapped the English players, as they left the field because it was a fabulous, tight, tense game of fantastic, world-class rugby between two terrific teams and great to watch. Excuse my excitement but its been a while since we played so well and it was one of those terrific games where both sides are playing well and it is so close you're on the edge of your seat. And victory over England is always sweet to Scots, even today in the 21st century - not that we have any big beef or dislike really, but its still fun to beat the Auld Enemy from time to time (especially since it doesn't happen that often!).

Belle and Sebastian - the comic!



Thursdays are New Comic Days, when the week's new releases go on sale. In among the new graphic novel arrivals was an unusual book from Image called Put The Book Back on the Shelf, which is an anthology by a variety of comics writers and artists, with the common theme being that each story is based around the songs of Glasgow Indy darlings Belle and Sebastian! Just in time to read alongside the new album. I've seen bands in comics before - KISS and Alice Cooper have had their own comics - but its unsual to see an indy band getting this treatment. Very cool, just please god don't let anyone do one with that shagwit whiner James Blunt...

99.9% need not apply

The Royal Marines are running recruitment ads in cinemas and TV again, which stress how tough the course is (and it certainly is) and that "99.9% need not apply". While not bashing the Royal Marines, who make most countries special forces look like traffic wardens, it does make me wonder why air such an ad via the biggest mass media available? If you are aiming at .01% of the population but are paying for national advertising isn't that possibly the worst use of mass media?

Life imitating art

Watching Channel 4 News this evening with a special report on New Orleans I was reminded of a scene from Warren Ellis' stonkingly good Transemetropolitan series. The first cruise liner had docked in the still-ravaged city with the mostly British passengers of the opinion that the Big Easy could use some tourist money. Part of their visit included a bus tour of the most damaged districts, so we had wealthy cruise passengers in a luxury coach passing through devastated areas with their expensive cameras up against the windows.

And I was reminded of a scene in Transemetropolitan where a region torn apart by a civil conflict finds that wealthy tourists from safe homes start taking breaks in the former war zone, taking in some disaster chic (but not having to live with it of course). Darrick Robertson, the artist, treated the reader to an image of former revolutionaries and terrorists in their paramilitary uniforms, now all with friendly name tags and big smiles acting as tour guides, while poverty stricken kids make souveniers for the tourists from gun shell casings.

Its a bit of a catch-22 situation I suppose - touring such areas seems insulting and tawdry, a horrid disaster voyeurism almost. And yet, like the areas devastated by the Asian tsunami, these areas used to be tourist hot spots and they do need to start attracting folk back; hard to know how to feel about it really. But I still recommend Transemetropolitan though; if John Pilger and Hunter S Thomson has an atomic mutant baby it would look a lot like Spider Jerusalem, Transmet's underground journalist.

Animated anniversary

The Hollywood Animation Archive Project blog drew my attention to a centenary I didn't even know about: 100 years of film cartoons. I know that trick photography, such as that used by Melies was being used very early on in film (as with his Voyage Dans La Lune) and that the great early artist and cartoonist Winsor McCay (who became so famous in the 20s he was being paid like a Hollywood star) turned his skills to animation with Gertie the Dinosaur in 1914 (possibly the first movie dinosaur, opinion isn't 100% on it), but I hadn't heard of this anniversary, which is no doubt one of the reasons they are holding this celebration.

In April 1906 J Stuart Blackton made a very simple experimental film, drawing outline characters on a blackboard which then come to life. Remarkably this century old film is still in existence and, through the magic of a new medium, the web, is now available for all of us to enjoy courtesy of the archivists and librarians at the Library of Congress, with the blog having a link to the film itself. I found it still highly enjoyable with the outlines drawings reminding me of a more basic version of the excellent animations for the TV version of the Hitchhiker's Guide some seventy-plus decades later.

I'm not sure how 'official' this centenary is; I imagine the first movie cartoon is a bit like when movie folks tried to agree on when exactly the centenary of the movie was a few years back, but regardless it is a good thing to celebrate. Think on all those cartoons you've enjoyed over the years since, the blog says, and it is right. Think on all the cartoons which have made you laugh, from Bug Bunny outsmarting Yosemite Sam or Elmer Fudd through to the Incredibles. Think on the great animated films which have wowed you as an adult and a child, from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? to Spirited Away. And think how many live action films have been influenced by cartoons, both visually and for gags and musical timing.

And of course there is more than the actual film, there is the context to where those films live in your memory. For me I will always associate watching Tom and Jerry or Bugs Bunny with being a young boy and sitting there with my dad, both of us rolling around on the floor with laughter (Bugs is still a role model for me) -now you know where a lot of it comes from! For Disney's Alice in Wonderland it is sitting inbetween my mum and dad in a darkened cinema watching magic unfold before my young eyes, happy and safe with my folks beside me. Every time I watch one of these today - and as a Seventh Day Cartoonist I watch animation a lot - I have those warm memories riding alongside the enjoyment of the actual film.

The Streets of Dublin

I don't normally repeat too much from my work side of blogging at FPI on the Woolamaloo unless it is for something very good and interesting, like a good new book. But I think this fine Indy graphic novel from Gerry Hunt and Bren B looks terrific, with a very Will Eisner-esque flavour to Bren's art. My mate Pádraig has been saying great things about them and their book The Streets of Dublin; I'm really pleased to say that we've organised a signing session for them at the Dublin branch of Forbidden Planet International on March 16th - the book is doing well in Dublin and should be getting distributed across the UK later in March, so here's hoping this helps raise the profile of their work. I also just wanted an excuse to put up the poster Bren sent me today with his cool artwork on it - you can read more about it over on the FPI blog.

In print

I had an email from some friends who approached me last winter when I was unemployed; they were compiling a book on politics and Europe and identity. They had a number of people signed up already, including, understandably, politicians, but they wanted to present a diverse range of people and opinions. They had heard of the Woolamaloo through the events going on last January and they liked my writing style so they asked if I'd care to try submitting a short piece on spec. I did, they liked it and it is going in. I heard from them this afternoon that the book should be coming out in April and that the final list of contributing writers includes Tony Benn, Ralph Steadman, my favourite living Scots poet Edwin Morgan and a number of others, including me! Groovy! I'll pass on more details as soon as I hear them.

Conflicted by denial

David Irving (I refuse to give him the honorific of 'historian') has been jailed by an Austrian court for Holocaust denial, a crime in both Austria and Germany. I'm more than a little conflicted, I have to confess - I loathe this odious little apologist for Nazis and genocide (the shame being that apparently once upon a time he was a pretty good and knowledgeable historian) but although I despise people who persist in this fantasy of Holocaust denial it also troubles me that it is a crime punishable by jail (although obviously this is an offence with more troubling resonance for citizens in Austria and Germany than for most other nations, excepting Isreal).

It is pretty hard, if not impossible, to believe solidly in the freedom of expression if that freedom is not afforded to those who we not only disagree with but actively despise. And those of us in the bookselling trade have special reason to dislike this man, over and above his despicable lies on the Holocaust: when booksellers (including some of my colleagues in my former employer years back) refused to stock his books he launched court actions against them. Not the shops, the individual booksellers in those shops. Fortunately the company put up lawyers and he was laughed out of court. He continued to shuffle sadly around the country preaching to right wing fantasists and attempting to sell copies of his books from the back of his car and being abusive to bookstaff who said they had little interest in stocking it. Perhaps that is in itself a mild form of censorship, but booksellers should be able to decide that there are certain books they do not want to sell without fear of litigation from bullies.

Then he attacked Deborah Lipstadt (he has a history of using the courts to bully people) and found that she and her publisher Penguin were prepared to go the whole nine yards in a British court with him. He lost the libel case and was officially labelled a Holocaust Denier by a British judge, meaning we could all now apply this to him without him suing us. I ordered in a pile of Deborah's book and we sold a ton of it - Irving was bankrupted and as such unable to run a new book company. His right wing chums stepped in to help by reprinting his tat on his behalf. Sad enough, but they also employed dishonest advertising, including taking pictures of Hitler and his senior staff used on one of the covers and arranging a picture so it looked as if they were standing around a table in a bookstore of my former employer, making it look as if they were behind his book, which they most certainly were not - nor were they happy to have their logo co-opted in this way. Gives you more of an idea of the sort of person you are dealing with, doesn't it?

But I don't like the notion of making the expression of a distasteful idea against the law; it is in essence what Tony Blair is trying to ram through Parliament right now with his 'glorification of terror' clause, which is vague and could mean almost anything, potentially threatening books, newspaper articles, books, TV, film and stand-up comedians with a possible legal attack. And it is pointless - it is not needed to tackle people such as Hamza who was recently convicted without such legislation or the creeps who marched in London after the Danish cartoons with placards which called for the beheading of those who mocked Islam or for Europe to be punished by terrorist attacks; these are all crimes under existing legislation. Even someone like me who believes in freedom of expression draws the line at people who call for harm to another and this is already dealt with under law - Blair's new addition would create such a vague potential threat it would restrict free speech on important issues for no gain in security.

Farrah Mendlesohn, a well respected critic and writer in the SF community is so irritated that she is putting her own time and money into a new anthology of stories which would all fall foul of this new law if it goes through. And that's what we do in a free society - we do not say we are free to speak as long as we don't offend anyone or say something most people know to be false; no we engage in debate, write articles and books and demonstrate to those people and to society at large how wrong they are and why they are wrong. Details of Farrah's project can be found here on Notes From Coode Street.

Still, it was hard not to smirk when Irving got sent down today; he reversed his previous claims that the Holocaust was a myth in order to weasel out of his charges. He knew when he travelled to Austria that he had an outstanding warrent for this offence from years previously, so it seems obvious he assumed either he would not be charged or he would be charged but not jailed, thus reaping the publicity and esteem he craves but which his ridiculous books have made impossible from most historical readers or academics. He told Channel 4 News earlier that he had booked a first class ticket home on a plane for this evening, so cocky was the little sod. So it is rewarding to see such a weasely and smug little git falling on his own face - and because of his own arrogance. But again I'm not happy about the restriction by law on anyone's freedom of expression, even little creeps like him. Freedom of expression, like freedom of all types, is a double-edged sword, but one which must be applied equally to all or it is no freedom at all.

Goodnight and Good Luck

Mel and I had a good meal and movie night, which was especially welcome after a very disappointing French film during the week, Hidden. With Daniel Auteil and my beloved Juliette Binoche we thought it was a sure-fire thing, but it turned out to be dreadfully dull and impenetrable, so we left thinking what the hell was that about? And then we thought, we don't really care...

But last night's movie was a very different beast, Goodnight and Good Luck. The subject matter of the McCarthy witch-hunts may not be to everyone's taste (although the cinema was packed for it last night) but as well as addressing an important part of 20th century history this has as much resonance for a contemporary audience as for those with a taste for history. It is too director George Clooney's credit that he gives his own character in the movie a background role, allowing David Strathain's portrayal of Ed Murrow to dominate the screen. Although the implications of events in the 1950s have obvious parallels to contemporary events, especially in America, (you're with us or against us, anyone who criticises or questions is a traitor, the erosion of civil liberties 'for the common good') the film sticks mostly to those events and allows the audience to draw its own parallels rather than preach to them.

Of course, the right wing talk radio hosts will still hate it and no doubt it will confirm their fears of a biased liberal media. But since they are all insane and frequently lie, who cares what they think. Besides, this story actually can be seen as a criticism of that very contemporary 'liberal' media and the Fourth Estate's often gutless, spineless kow-towing to the current US administration and their innefectual inability to hold the government to account for their actions (which is, after all, one of the primary roles of a free press in a democratic society).

I first came across the principal character, Ed Murrow, way back when I was studying history at school because he was a friend and colleague of the journalist and history writer William L Shirer (who reported on the advance of the Nazis from within the Third Reich before American joined the war), who was required reading (and a writer I would seek out in later on because his life was so fascinating). Murrow, of course, famously reported the Blitz to a rapt American audience, almost certainly influencing people there that the fight against the Nazis had to be joined. Ed was reputed to actual take a mike up onto the roof of buildings and broadcast as the Luftwaffe rained bombs on London - no wonder a man who faced that wasn't cowed by McCarthy.

The film is also aesthetically beautiful, shot in a gorgeous, luminous black and white, an artistic decision but also a comment on the way people like McCarthy see the world; the viewer however can see the numerous shades of gray between those extremes on this luscious, silver screen. Strathairn's portrayal of Murrow is excellent, while the use of TV-style extreme close-ups enhances the sense of intrigue and paranoia. Its a gorgeously crafted and very powerful movie and as with many films (or books or shows) which deal in historical events it has huge relevance to the modern world. A shame I suspect it won't be viewed in the White House of Downing Street any time soon; I think perhaps Tony Blair and Jack 'forget my youthful ideals, I'm a bitter old politcal hack now' Straw might find it sits uncomfortably with their plans for detention without trial and ID cards.

More Cartoons

I found these on Cracked, with their spoofs of well-known cartoons responding to the whole Danish-Muslim cartoon fiasco. I especially liked the third one here, kind of sums up the way fundamentalists (as opposed to most Muslims) feel about, well anyone who doesn't do exactly what they are told to think.


Elsewhere I came across an Israeli comics collective, Dimona, who choose to respond to Iran's oh-so mature cartoon counter-attack where they are running a competition to create the best Holocaust cartoon. Quite why is a bit of a mystery since Israel had bugger all to do with the cartoons from European newspapers, but why let that get in the way of a good two minute Hate, eh? If I were cynical I might think that the hordes just like to get upset about anything and have a go at, well, anything really. Does make it difficult to establish a dialogue with those countries though, since they don't have much of an agenda to engage on diplomatically, they just like stirring their folks up to hate something - you might even think they were trying to distract their rampaging mobs from looking to closely at the way their repressive governments run their countries...

Anyway, the cool folks at Dimona decided they wouldn't take this lying down and are of the opinion they can do better cartoons than a bunch of shagwit bigots in Tehran (which they can). So they are organising a contest to see which Jewish cartoonist can do the best anti-Semitic cartoon! Thus taking a hate-filled response and countering it with creativity and good humour and, incidentally making the Iranians look like even sillier buggers than they already are and turning the whole thing into a joke. Well done, Dimona!

Apologies if anyone gets this posting twice, I posted it on Saturday and it went up fine, then on Sunday it had simply vanished from the blog and even from the blogger admin screen, so I am having to repost it.

One Year On

Today marks my first full year at Forbidden Planet International. Wow, hard to believe. Got a rhythm going for the regular stuff now and plenty of new angles to explore as well, so it is still fresh and enjoyable, a good balance.

Edinburgh at sunset



Edinburgh's Royal Mile from the Tron Kirk, looking westwards up the spine of the ridge towards the Castle, the sun having just descended below the horizon this very evening. Saint Giles Cathedral on the left hand side, where the opening shots of the Civil War took the form of stools thrown at clergy who dared to use the standard prayer book King Charles commanded to be used, while John Knox's house is minutes in the other direction. Mary King's Close is only yards from here, a whole street beneath the 18th and 19th century buildings, sealed over after the plague. Only yards from here again were scaffolds for the condemned where the infamous cannibal Sawney Bean was put to death. Once upon a time a centre of book publishing and a meeting place of the pre Union Scottish parliament were within minutes of this spot.

During August this stretch is closed to traffic and it is full of market and craft stalls, jugglers, mimes, singers, dancers and all manner of Fringe performers doing their best to attract audiences as they queue to buy tickets in the Fringe offices. Five minutes from here is Greyfriar's Kirk where the National Covenant was signed and years later a small dog called Bobby would continue his devotion to his master, sitting by the grave year after year. Turn right from here and you cross North Bridge, spanning a valley to what we still call the New Town, although it is two and a half centuries old. I like living in a city where something older than America is still described as 'new'; it gives you an idea of the way we see time here.

A few minutes on the left would bring you to the Old College building, home of the Playfair Library, one of the finest neo-classical interiors in the city and a powerhouse of the European Enlightenment. Standing here at different times in history and you could have spotted Sir Walter Scott, Arthur Conan Doyle, David Hume, J M Barrie or Robert Louis Stevenson walking past while several cafes within minutes of this spot gave shelter to a cash-strapped single mum working on a little book about a boy called Harry Potter. A few minutes up the way and you pass Ramsay Gardens, home of the poet and publisher Allan Ramsay, creator of the very first lending library in Britain. James Court is closer, where Boswell once had his home and entertained Dr Johnson, with the great philosopher David Hume's home nearby too.

Just past the Cathedral is Deacon Brodie's, a pub named after an Edinburgh worthy who led a double life and helped inspire the tale of Jekyll and Hyde. Descend the Mile and you will pass the new Parliament and come to the gates of the Palace of Holyrood, finding a large royal park and the rearing rock of an extinct volcano casting its shadow across the city, only minutes from where this picture was taken in the centre of the city, one of the places which inspired James Hutton as he helped shape the new science of geology. Its one of the things I love about living here - a few minutes walk, even a bus journey to work in the morning and you pass through centuries of history, science, art and culture, if you take the time to stop now and then and let yourself see it. And it goes without saying that there are dozens of quite excellent pubs within minutes of here. I like that part of living in Edinburgh very much too.

The International Flag Conspiracy

A number of people, watching 'outraged' Muslims burning Danish flags this last week (I use outraged advisedly since they were so outraged by Denmark they attacked EU buildings and American airbases, so a cynical person may think they just felt like having a good old riot about anything that came along) have asked the obvious question of where the hell did all these Danish flags appear from in Beirut, Tehran, Damascus and the fine desert oasis of Camelcrack?

The intrepid Woolamaloo team have been investigating and unearthed some startling conclusions. We think it is a conspiracy by the shadowy conglomerates behind the international flag industry. It runs from the local scale, such as the Beirut Flag, Petroluem and Matches wholesale company to the huge corporations who manufacture the world's flags. Demand in the Middle East for the Stars and Stripes has exceeded all possible supplies since George W Bush's re-election. However, the secretive international flag merchants have warehouses full of the national flags of many nations who have rarely, if ever, offended a Muslim (admittedly a list which is getting smaller every day almost, since it now looks almost as if talking about Islam being offended about something is actually offensive too...).

The flag conglomerates, working though political lobbyists, PR agents and media connections, in conjunction with their local Middle Eastern wholesalers, analyse their unsold flag reserve stock and compare it against countries unpopular in Muslim regions, before using their contacts to create a scenario which will soon embroil the country with the largest number of unsold flags to become the new target for the latest two minue hate. Sales of US and British flags have reached saturation point, plus they can't keep up with demand, so now they can offload vast amounts of unsold Danish flags and grow new markets at the same time. Some major reference publishers and globe-makers who are controlled by the international flag conglomerate are also in on this, as fundamentalists worldwide require access to information on the flags of the world so they can order the correct flag to go with their matches and petrol.

Like all large conspiracies this may seem fantastical at first, but considering the world is in a ferment over a cartoon and George Bush suddenly can reveal about a dangerous terrorist attack thwarted by intelligence several years ago magically a couple of days after he came under attack for the illegal wiretaps on American citizens (which he totally denied previously, stating such taps could only happen with judicial oversight) and suddenly it becomes easier to believe.

Meantime it is a shame that Muslims are boycotting Danish goods and also forbidden from eating pork, as otherwise they could cook some great bacon sarnies over the burning flags and wash it down with some cool, refreshing Danish lager, make it a proper barbie, perhaps relax them a little. How few of these poor fundamentalists know that they are not being manipulated by angry Imans, Bin Liner, Areshole Hamza or the scripture of the Koran but by the secret cabal of international flag manufacturers?

Animated

Hurrah - Wallace and Gromit sweeps the board at the Annies awards! Details and link posted over on the FPI blog. And since we're on the animation subject I found this site via Boing Boing. It is home to some fabulous computer animations from Ron Fedkiw at Stanford. The water animations are especially astonishing.


Award-Winning Books

Well, award short-listed at any rate (although several of the authors listed here are award winners for previous works). The Arthur C Clarke and the BSFA (British Science Fiction Association) awards shortlists both came out recently. They are the pre-eminent literary awards for SF published in the UK, but most of the regular booktrade and media tend to ignore them, although they spend plenty of time on just about every other book award. Well, more fool them - they are missing on good sales and their customers on good books. My online colleagues and I just finished putting together some display pages on the FPI site to promote the nominees, so if you are looking for something good to pick up, have a look - again there are more details and links over here on the FPI blog ("here's a blog I posted earlier"!).

2005 - movies

Before recent events overtook my life for a while I was thinking about going through some of my ‘best of the year’ type of thing for 2005, so belatedly here are a few selections.

Cinema

The Edinburgh International Film Festival was, as usual, one of my standout movie events of the year. It was also the first week off I had taken in my new job (which I will need to stop referring to as ‘new’ since next week will mark my first full year at FPI) and I used my Cineworld pass to get plenty of special prices deals for the Film Fest.

Absolutely bowled over with the screening of MirrorMask, which just oozed charm, imagination and style on a budget, unbelievably of around £2 million, but then again it did come from one of my favourite collaborative teams of Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman. The Film Fest screening had Dave himself there to talk after the movie which was a huge bonus. Still think Sony are idiots for not giving it a proper release (eventually limited in the US and some form of limited UK release to come). The DVD comes out soon in the US and I was tempted to order it as an import, but a warning on Amazon states that some Sony DVDs have software on them to inhibit playing on a multi-region machine, so perhaps I’ll wait.

Looking back at my August entry the other movie which most impressed me at the Film Festival was a little British fantasy gem from half a century ago, part of the Powell retrospective, A Matter of Life and Death with an impossibly young David Niven as the Lancaster pilot. I’ve watched this most unusual movie of the war, love, life and the afterlife on TV before but never on the big screen. In a quite beautiful moment a surprise guest was brought forward before the screening, Mr Jack Cardiff, the man who had actually lensed the film half a century ago and had worked on more of the most gorgeous films, British or otherwise, of that period, including The Red Shoes -a quite magical moment before a magical film.

I still swear that Jack became younger as he talked about these films; perhaps the luminous beauty and spirit of them rejuvenated him or perhaps it was the fact that he was standing in front of a sell-out audience at the biggest arts festival in the world and these folks had all come to see a movie he had shot 50 years before. In a related story, Moira Shearer, the actress and ballerina who played the main role in the Red Shoes passed away only last week at the age of 80. She was utterly enchanting in that movie and if you ever get a chance to see it on the big screen, grab it.

It seems unlikely that a film of marionettes would be one of my favourite movie experiences of 2005, but Strings entangled me in a web of breathtaking artistry, beauty and enchantment. Years to make and taking an army of puppeteers, it was one of the most unusual and utterly ravishing films I’ve seen in a long time and one I really need to get myself on DVD at some point. My ramblings about it are back here in May’s archive.


Actually 2005 was a good year for more traditional forms of animation, from the puppetry of Strings to the wonder of Miyazaki with Howl’s Moving Castle and of course our own Aardman Animation with a feature length Wallace and Gromit movie, both of which go straight into my favourite films of 2005 (can Miyazaki do any wrong?).

The Rage In Placid Lake was a very quirky, cool, weird little Indy movie from Australia, a nice take on the old adage of kids usually growing up to be the opposite of their parents (the part where his hippy parents are shocked at their son taking on an ordinary office job is terrific). And I almost forgot about Pierre Jeunet’s A Very Long Engagement, which, along with Audrey Tautou’s magnificent smile, cheered me up last January when I was unemployed and feeling less than on top of the world.

I’m sure I’m missing something out there that I meant to put in, but that’s always the way with these sorts of things, isn’t it? Rather than go into them here I’ve tried to put some links into what I wrote at the time about them. I’ll need to think on some of my best book picks from last year for a future article. Feel free to add your own personal favourite films from last year (at which point I‘ll probably realise some of the movies I missed out).

Insulting cultures

One of my friends, talking about the whole cartoon-Islam thing pointed out that Muslim nations are saying it is an insult to Islam and Islamic culture, yet those same groups are regualrly seen burning flags, especially American ones, which Americans would count as highly insulting to their culture, yet they don't make apologies for that. Double standards perhaps? Certainly with all this flag burning in the Middle East I have to suspect that they must be contributing to global warming, which is damned irresponsible of them. I also have to conclude that there must be a fortune to make in flag sales in the Middle East, because they fairly go through them...

Hoegbotton Book Sale

Most excellent author Jeff VanderMeer is struggling with a problem I know well, a truly delightful torture: having too many books. He's expecting a lot more now he's one of the judges on this year's Wolrd Fantasy awards and so is organising a sale - check out his blog on VanderWorld for details. In more Jeff related news I have been raving on about his new novel of Ambergris, Shriek: an Afterword. Rather than repeat a lot of what I've been saying, here's what I wrote on the FPI blogs last week about Shriek, which has only just come out in the UK (US readers get it later this month).

I have been eagerly waiting for Shriek for months and was totally taken with it; it is like sinking into a dream, full of metaphor and vibrant imagery, sometimes amusing, sometimes disturbing. Its my first Bloody Good Book recommendation for 2006 in fact; Jeff's previous book, a collection called City of Saints and Madmen is also highly recommended for anyone who wants a fascinating, well-written fantasy (it went down very well with folk in our Book Group). And for those of you who don't normally delve into fantasy, I still recommend Shriek - it is a very 'literary' (for want of a better term) novel of changing cities and relationships, quite beautiful and with haunting imagery, drawing on Bill Burroughs, Kafka, Borges, Poe and others.

On the new FPI website the individual sections generate their own bestseller lists on a regular basis, but I have been really pleased to see Shriek up there as our top seller with City of Saints usually coming second in the SF&F novels section - obviously the word is spreading, so you may want to read some Jeff VanderMeer now and get ahead of the masses.

Munster

Sad news this weekend which I almost missed on a news full of burning embassies - Al Lewis, forever beloved to cult TV fans for playing the eldery vampire Grandpa in the Munsters show, passed away at the age of 95. I loved the Munsters and the Addams Family shows; I think it was this delightful mix of comedy with horror iconography, along with the campness of some of the later Vincent Price horrors re-screened on TV in the 70s and 80s lead me to the delightfully funny yet macabre cartoons of Edward Gorey. Today when I read Richard Moore's excellent Gothic comedy-romance Boneyard, or Roman Dirge's Lenore or any number of other similar titles I think about those shows and how they influenced - and still influence - my reading habits and how much enjoyment I've had from them all over the years.

Cartoon fun

Does anyone remember when cartoons were fun? Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny, the Simpsons, Steve Bell, R. Crumb… Cartoons, from the single frame topical cartoon in a newspaper to the comic strip through to animated cartoons on TV, film or the web. They entertain us, they make us laugh, the give us another way of exploring life, emotions and problems. They also have a proud history of being in the vanguard of satire. I consider satire to be one of the essential components to a free society; the ability to lampoon individuals in power, governments, associations and institutions is vital. In the West the satirical cartoons predates the establishment of full democracy in most European nations - witness the cartoon in Punch. It is an important part of our free and democratic society and a vital part of our culture.


The thing about satirical cartoons is that they are guaranteed to offend someone, be they a blustering, self-important politician, a greedy corporation or a spluttering, bigoted bishop. Most of us will find them funny and admire how the artist can create a jibe at some sacred cow with a few deft strokes of ink. The offended party may not like it but rarely burns down the embassies of other nations, threaten to hold EU citizens at gunpoint or march through London with placards calling for the cartoonists to be beheaded and for free speech to go to hell. The irony that these shag wits could only hold an impromptu demonstration in a civilised country with freedom of speech is obviously lost on them, as is the fact that they are given a tolerance and freedom of worship which most Muslim nations do not grant to other faiths visiting their lands (and forget about freedom of expression there - hey they don't even want you to have it in your country!).

The whole thing reminds me of the ridiculous posturing by certain Christian figures and their attacks on Monty Python’s Life of Brian when it first came out, decrying it as sick, offensive and blasphemous. Well, for a start, in a free society no institution should be above discussion or satire and that includes religion. If you feel your religion is threatened by a movie or a cartoon image then you obviously have a pretty weak faith; if you have true faith you’d shrug it off because you knew better than these capering clowns. If you are offended by cartoons, movies or books then don’t read or watch them! But do not tell the rest of us what we are allowed to say, draw or read. If you can’t live by those rules then you are in the wrong place and should perhaps consider living in a repressive nation governed by bigoted old men who like to pretend they are holy and govern by religious edicts and not law. See how far you get with a protest not sanctioned by the government then.

And if you are offended by these cartoons, well that’s a shame, but the rest of the world doesn’t feel constrained by the rules of your religion and you have to realise that. It has taken centuries for European nations to separate church from the law-making and governance of countries and we ain’t about to turn the clock back for anyone - we extend a welcome to all races and creeds but expect some respect for our ways in return. I am sick and tired of our politicians apologising to Muslim nations and mealy-mouthed platitudes about all cultures being equal etc. Not because I am racist - I can’t stand the BNP creeps and their friends who were in the news this week and who will make much hay from this nonsense, I'm afraid - but because it has for too long been a one-way street - the Muslim nations, most of which are repressive, non-democratic societies with appalling human rights records and their religious leaders do not grant us tolerance in return. Why not? This is our culture, being practised in our own continent. Don’t like it? Well, sorry, that’s a shame - grow a sense of humour why don’t you? The cartoons may not have been the most sensitive of things to publish but the reaction to them infuriates me - we’re insulting another culture. Well, what about our culture?

So if you are Muslim and upset, well sorry, but if you are going to get so upset over a bloody cartoon then presumably you will get upset over just about anything. Odd we don’t get buildings burned down when God or Buddha or various Hindu deities appear in the Simpsons. Portraying the Prophet may be offensive to Muslims, but to the rest of us it isn’t and we have no obligation to play by the rules of another person’s religion. And, as I say, if it offends you, then don’t look at it - no-one is made to read these things. Then again, I suspect most folk burning flags and embassies haven’t even seen the pictures, anymore than most of them read the Satanic Verses before burning it and issuing death threats on Salman Rushdie; Islam‘s response to criticism is less than mature. For a religion of peace it seems very easy to anger and very quick to move to violent means of censorship.

I have no respect for any religion but I do respect the rights of all citizens to practise their faith. However I expect rights to freedom of speech and expression to be respected in return and for them not to attempt to impose restrictions on me to comply with their faith. That also goes for Muslim governments who seem to think our governments in Europe should so something about this - news flash, guys, we are democracies. The governments, for once, are not responsible for this crisis and they have no right to censor the media. Unlike most Muslim nations of course, where editors can be imprisoned right away… Why Jack Straw thinks he has to apologise when the British media are largely uninvolved is beyond me - and anyway, surely he has more to apologise for to Muslims regarding backing an illegal war rather than a cartoon in Danish or French newspapers?

Learn democracy, learn to allow multi-faith, multi-race societies to flourish openly and freely in your nations, get real law based on proper legislation and not the world of some elderly cleric, get equal rights for women, freedom of speech and debate and a decent human rights record, then you can come back and talk to us about our ‘corrupt’ infidel culture. I see plenty of things in newspapers I not only dislike but actively loathe, but I don’t expect them to be censored and I certainly don’t want to see their offices burned down or confuse a newspaper article with governmental agencies (except in certain repressive regimes). It’s called freedom - learn to deal with it. Can’t accept ridicule or satire? Gee, you’re gonna have a tough time handling the slings and arrows of life. As I said before, if you are really devout then this will not bother you, you will know better than unbelievers and it will wash right over you - it’s not like you did anything blasphemous after all, so why the fuss? And for those whose faith is so weak this threatens them, well, that's your problem and, anyway, what makes you think you have special exemption from jokes or satire? Other religious figures and institutes get it all the time without this happening.

I don’t know, all this fuss over a simple cartoon… And as Yvonne points out, a Muslim boycott on Danish exports may not amount to much since their principal exports are beer and Danish bacon, neither of which Muslims are allowed to consume. And while we are on the subject of one culture offending another, I am personally offended by the reaction to this situation. I am a very devout Seventh Day Cartoonist; I worship at the Cartoonist alter almost every day and believe in the Holy Trinity - Tom, Jerry and Bugs Bunny. I believe in the literal truth of the Complete Crumb Comics. I believe Matt Groening and Fred Quimby were sent down from Cartoon Heaven to be the Great Animator’s disciples on Earth and show us the way to a better, more tolerant and relaxed society by using satire, humour and cartoons. As such I resent the way some Muslims have attacked the Cartoonists. Where are my rights? These unbelievers deserve our wrath - fortunately we Cartoonists don’t believe in burning down buildings, books or threatening the safety of individuals, but we shall be writing to Steve Bell and Ralph Steadman about this. Eat our ink, unbelievers!

Oh and for those who have been following all of this but not been able to see the actual cartoons, you can find them on this site. I personally found only one or two that funny - the one with a line of deceased suicide bombers, still smoking, arriving at heaven to be told they had run out of virgins is a belter - but here they are and you can have a look and make up your own mind. And here's a link to the excellent Steve Bell, who managed to put his take on the whole thing without drawing the Prophet.