Looper (2012)

This film was released in 2012 and starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt.  I have to say it’s one of the best sci-fi/action stories I’ve ever seen.   I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a sci-fi flick this much since Equilibrium (2002).  The main pull for me was the plot itself, because for a sci-fi flick, this one didn’t really have too many mind-blowing visual effects.  The story and the characters drove the motion of the movie, and it swept me along on its urgent and rather emotional race toward the finish.  Excellent, excellent!

The story is set in a rather dystopian world, still quite similar to our own present.  Time travel has not yet been invented.  But thirty years into the future it will be.  Immediately it is outlawed, but criminal organizations in the future still use it to get rid of their enemies by dumping them, bound and with their head in a sack, into the past, where a waiting “looper” will shoot them dead as soon as they get there.  A looper is paid in silver, bars of which are strapped on to the person sent to him for killing.  Eventually though, having a looper running around is too risky, so the bosses from the future would find the looper’s future self, and in a stroke of bitter irony, send him back to the past for his younger version to kill.  In this case, gold bars are given as an incentive, and thus the “loop” is closed.  Our Joe (Gordon-Levitt) is one such looper.  The events of the film begin to escalate when his best friend fails to close his “loop” and ends up getting killed.  Joe believes he himself was entirely at fault for not being able to save his friend.  And then things get really bad when he himself fails to kill his future self.  So then Future Joe (Willis) must now try to set things in motion so that his present self will not have to live a life in which he would eventually watch his beloved wife get murdered.   For that particular offence, Future Joe blames the “Rainmaker,” the evil overlord of the future.  He sets out to kill the Rainmaker in the present so that the child will never grow up to be the evil overlord that he will be.  I’ll stop here to avoid giving away too much of the movie.  Really, it must be seen to be truly appreciated.

The movie touched on a varied number of themes, but I think the central one is that of taking responsibility for one’s actions, facing the consequences, and being honourable and noble enough to accept them.  By the end of the film, Joe finally finds the perfect solution to break the cycle of pain and bloodshed that binds his life with that of the Rainmaker.  He takes the future into his own hands and saves everyone even at the cost of the only thing he has left.  Other themes the flick touched on were loyalty, parenthood, a child’s innocence, revenge, and the redemptive power of love.  It’s a glorious mishmash of all that and more. Fast-paced, thought-provoking, and emotionally intense, I highly recommend this film to one and all.  

Watch the trailer.

The Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov

I experienced these five books through audio.  I listened to them as I was working on my latest cross-stitch project (The Kiss).  I have been dreaming of getting my hands on these books since high school (that was a long time ago) when I began to fall in love with sci-fi and fantasy.  Of course the first name in sci-fi is Isaac Asimov.  In the realm of sci-fi and fantasy (indeed, in all Literature) the man is a GOD.  Unfortunately I never did get a hold of them (so many destitute hours spent scouring second-hand books for a complete set because I couldn’t afford them brand new) and I despaired of ever acquiring the whole series.  Then through the miracle of modern technology, I got myself the audiobooks.  Hallelujah!   In this blog post I will not give you a summary of these books anymore since there are any number of synopses and summaries available elsewhere online (I know how terribly lazy that sounds but what the heck), so allow me to simply share some of my thoughts as I journeyed through this most spectacular and legendary series.

What I admired most about the whole thing was the continuity of the story.  Each ‘segment’ wherein the events of the series unfold was supposed to be centuries and light years apart, and yet it all seemed to make sense that the events were still related to each other and affected one another in profound ways.  It was just a hell of an IMAGINATION that put all of it together in such a plausible, believable set-up.   The cohesiveness astounded me.   The fact that it all melded and made startling sense attested to Asimov’s skill at construction.  And it wasn’t just that.   The characters were alive and human, with human strengths and equally human failings.  You learned lessons from them and they made you think on yourself and your life and how you deal with other people just as human as you.  It made you ponder deeply about the world and why we are here; why we struggle so hard for unnameable unseen things, and why we want to be free to live our lives as both individuals and as a society.  I am awed by how deeply and how clearly Asimov understood human nature and human struggle.  I wonder how long the author took to come up with ways to put all of it together.  But then, he was a genius.  It probably took all of five minutes.

I loved the voice of Larry McKeever.  He gave the story such life and the characters distinct personalities.  As I listened to him narrate and dramatize, I could almost see the story unfold with my own eyes.  Nothing, but nothing beats a great story told by a great story-teller.  Through his voice the series was given thrill, mystery, drama, and even comedy at times.  He pulled you in and didn’t let you go until the last word.   Listening to him was an absolute pleasure. 

Altogether I listened to five books: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation, Foundation’s Edge, and Foundation and Earth.  While I found most every character engaging and interesting, I had a few favorites here and there.  First was Hari Seldon (of course!) – the Godfather of the Foundation, the Big Daddy, the Mover and Shaker.  He came up with the science of psychohistory, which predicted the future by looking at the trends of mass motions.  At the beginning of Foundation, he predicted the inevitable downfall of the Empire and the virtual collapse of human society on a galactic scale.  Thus began the events that enabled Seldon to set up the Foundation in order to save mankind from itself – an effort that will take thousands of years to reach full circle.  Second favorite character was Bayta Darrell (Foundation and Empire).  I love these strong, intelligent women with enough heart to temper their coolness.  She was the one who prevented the Mule (major baddie) from discovering the location of the Second Foundation, thus saving the galaxy from the tyrannical rule of a slightly deranged megalomaniac with some extraordinarily impressive mutant abilities.   Third favorite was Golan Trevize (Foundation’s Edge, Foundation and Earth), who staunchly refused the idea of all the galaxy becoming a “unified mind” or “a unified organism” where all its constituents are constantly aware and connected to each other.  In other words, he didn’t like the idea of eventually wiping out individuality.   Even though “unification” has it’s obvious advantages, he persisted on fighting against the idea, going around the galaxy to find an explanation for this dilemma, and trying to stand up for the individuality that he believed made people “human.”  Did he find the answers he desperately searched for?  Did Hari Seldon manage to save the world?  I leave it to you to discover for yourself, and I wish you as much fun in the journey as I had.  

More information about The Foundation Series.

Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut

I experienced this book through audio.  Ethan Hawke performed it.  In his droll, ironic tones, the story was lent a certain gravity that I might not have perceived on my own if I’d read the book myself.  It is the story of Billy Pilgrim and his experiences as a soldier in the Second World War, mostly centering on the bombing and destruction of Dresden.  But of course that’s not all.  Billy Pilgrim also happens to be a time traveler as well as a victim of kidnapping by aliens from a planet called Tralfamador.  I don’t really know how I should feel about all that, but I am glad that this is not just another morality story about the tragedy and uselessness of war much like so many other typical war stories out there.

Too young, scrawny, and sickly, Billy Pilgrim was glaringly unfit to be a soldier (who IS fit to be one, anyway?).  Trudging through the forests of Germany with a few other soldiers equally as hungry and poorly equipped for war as he, he makes the discovery of his ability for time travel.  He goes through the many stages of his own life, past and future.  His parents, his marriage, his children, his abduction by aliens, his plane crash experience, even his own death – he goes through them all.  He keeps coming back to his soldier days, though, and ironically enough, it is his other life/lives that put the horrors he went through in war into perspective instead of the other way around.  These people that he had met throughout his life – fellow soldiers, war survivors and veterans, optometrists, his family, aliens – they all seemed to pass by him like disjointed episodes as he jumped from one time to another.  Yet they all mattered and did not matter all at once; for as was repeated, everything is as it should have been and always will be. So it goes.

They kept repeating that:  So it goes.  Nothing could have changed anything, not even being abducted by aliens, not even traveling through time.  Does any of it make sense, does anything we do affect history, or destiny?  Maybe not.  Maybe there’s no need to.  We all will face fate one day.  Wars will always be what they are.  Life will always be what it is.  The Tralfamadorians’ advice goes:  dwell on the happy times. 

I liked this book very much.  I liked how anti-melodramatic it is – not one word here romanticized war.  Its alternate title is “The Children’s Crusade”, reiterating that ‘war is fought by babies.’  I liked the way Ethan Hawke read it – languidly and almost lazily with an ironic lilt that could sometimes be alternately witty and sarcastic.  This story gets into you.  The voice of Billy Pilgrim – his honesty, his good nature, his acceptance, his grief – gets to you.  I’m so glad I got to experience it.  Few other of its kind could be as timeless and provocative as this is.  I strongly recommend it.  

Chronicle

Tonight I saw a recent film called “Chronicle” directed by Joshua Trank.  It’s one of those unexpected movies that suddenly become really popular hits even though it didn’t have any overhyped superstar Hollywood celebrity cast members, publicity, and all that paraphernalia.  It was pure story – and I loved it from start to finish.

It centers on Andrew, a high school senior who is faced with such a hard life to cope with – poverty, a mother who’s very ill, an abusive drunk of a father, bullying at school, isolation and loneliness.  The one person he could call a friend is his cousin, Matt. 

One day Matt forces him to go to a party.  Things don’t go well for Andrew there and Steve, their popular classmate, approaches Andrew and urges him to explore something that had been discovered in the woods.  It turns out to be a cavern that leads deep underground, tunneling into the earth.  There Andrew, Steve and Matt encounter something inexplicable – an alien object or creature.  Their contact with this object causes the three of them to develop telekinetic powers.  As they explore and experiment with their newfound abilities, getting stronger and becoming more and more creative with it, the friendship and camaraderie among the three friends grow as well.  Things seem to be looking up for Andrew; he has friends now, and he has power.  But it didn’t make anything easier for him and as his troubles continually plague and overwhelm him, he feels all the more alone and desperate.  Andrew starts to lose control and use his power in a very destructive manner.  He succumbs to his despair and lets all Hell break loose in a seething rampage that leads to the story’s inexorable tragic culmination. 

I love how the film is entitled “Chronicle” because the events unfold from the perspective of a number of different cameras, but mostly Andrew’s own.  You see the story from a third party point of view; you are merely an observer, chronicling the events of the developing drama.  In effect, the camera perspective becomes as much a barrier between you, the audience, and Andrew’s world, as it was between Andrew and the harsh realities of his world.  It allowed him to feel detached, isolated, and safe from all the cruelty and the loneliness.

Beautifully imagined and executed, this film is definitely an amplified reflection of this, our world.  This is what happens when people are pushed too far – they break.  It is a glaring commentary on the truth around us – poverty, domestic abuse, bullying, and isolation.  Once people become sunk in despair, they look for something that they feel empowering and they let loose.  Look around at the shooting rampages in schools, bombs thrown around like so many cigarette stubs, massacres left and right.  This movie made me look hard, and let me think about my actions, the actions of the people around me, and so much more.  I highly recommend this to everyone.  See it, think about it, and maybe it will change everything, including yourself.

See the trailer of CHRONICLE

Rain, Flood, and Songs of Love and Death

For three days and three nights, my town suffered from severe flooding.  Monsoon rains have been unforgiving and merciless.  In our house, flood waters came up to mid-thigh.  Out on the streets the waters came up to higher than a man.  We carried what we could up to the second story of our home, and locked ourselves in with enough food and water that would last for about two, maybe three nights. You can just imagine our fear and worry, the frustration at the unstopping pouring rain.  

Still, this was not as bad as it had been in September 2009, when a typhoon called Ondoy came and submerged practically the whole city and claimed thousands of lives.  Much had been lost then.  I could definitely say that for my family at least, this time around wasn’t as bad as it was before.  We are now on the recovery, cleaning the mud and debris from our homes and our streets; and hoping, like we did before, that such a thing will not happen again.  But nature doesn’t play favorites.  We wait and see. 

During those nights of fear, anxiety, and loss of electricity, I chose to read “Songs of Love and Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love.” I thought it was most appropriate for reading in candlelight.  And I was right; I couldn’t have chosen a better book to read that time.  Edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, the stories in this book were alternately tragic, joyful, sexy, suspenseful, mysterious, and poetic.  It’s a smooth blend of the best that sci-fi, fantasy, and romance have to offer.  I’d like to say that I have a favorite among them, but I definitely enjoyed all of the tales, and I will surely revisit this book in the uncertain future.  This book is absolutely beautiful, and will stay in my mental list of most memorable books.  The premise at the back says:

From zombie-infested woods in a post-apocalyptic America to faerie-haunted rural fields in eighteenth century England, from the kingdoms of high fantasy to the alien world of a galaxy-spanning empire, join star-crossed lovers as they struggle against the forces of magic and fate.

Here are the story titles and their authors:

1. Love Hurts – Jim Butcher

2. The Marrying Maid – Jo Beverly

3. Rooftops – Carrie Vaughn

4. Hurt Me – M.L.N. Hanover

5. Demon Lover – Cecelia Holland

6. The Wayfarer’s Advice – Melinda M. Snodgrass

7. Blue Boots – Robin Hobb

8. The Thing About Cassandra – Neil Gaiman

9. After the Blood – Marjorie M. Liu

10. You, and You Alone – Jacqueline Carey

11. His Wolf – Lisa Tuttle

12. Courting Trouble – Linnea Sinclair

13. The Demon Dancer – Mary Jo Putney

14. Under/Above the Water – Tanith Lee

15. Kaskia – Peter S. Beagle

16. Man in the Mirror – Yasmine Galenorn

17. A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows – Diana Gabaldon

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

I got to listen to this novel on audiobook.  I only recently started getting into audiobooks, and I find the experience much to my liking – depending on whether the reader is good, of course.   

I’ve always had a soft spot for science fiction and fantasy and Orson Scott Card is up there with the best in this genre; “Ender’s Game” won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards as proof.  His novel, “Enchantment”, is one of my best beloved stories of all time.  But back to Ender’s Game; it came out as a novel in 1985, and many other stories that have followed since resonate with the images and ideas first presented herewith – most notably and recently, The Hunger Games Trilogy.

Set in a futuristic world that is facing possible annihilation by a hostile alien race called “Buggers,” Ender’s Game revolves around the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of a boy named Andrew.  When he was young his sister started calling him “Ender” because she couldn’t pronounce “Andrew” correctly.  The name stuck and eventually the boy lived up to the name in all its double meanings. 

Ender had quite a difficult first few years – he was a “third,” technically an unwanted third child in a society that strictly regulates its population, and he was made painfully aware of this by his cruel bully of an elder brother.  Although their parents cared for him well and treated him as kindly as his siblings, the only person he felt close to and had genuine love for was his sister, Valentine.  Now being a third, he was carefully monitored by the government.  An incident of bullying in school where Ender demonstrated extraordinary ruthlessness in order to defend himself became the turning point in his life.  The military stepped in and took Ender away for training as a soldier and possibly a future military commander at “Battle School.”  Almost immediately the military singled Ender out from all the other recruits as a boy with great potential, and throughout his training and study in Battle School he was tested relentlessly in cruel, merciless ways. 

I’ll stop my summary there to avoid giving spoilers.  But the whole point of Ender’s Game for me is the potential of the human spirit for terrible cruelty as well as astounding kindness and courage, all personified in this exceptionally gifted, lonely little boy who carries a great burden he didn’t ask for.   The book also explores the notions of friendship, leadership, respect for authority, and heroism.  While listening to the story such questions came to my mind as, “Must one really need to be ruthless to be a good leader?”  “It’s been said that It’s lonely at the top, but is it necessarily true that it’s difficult for great leaders to have trusted friends?”  “We always paint our heroes in a certain ‘glorious’ light, but never question their own true thoughts about their own heroism – do they think they deserve being called ‘heroes’?”  Ender’s Game was able to address these questions and more.

I felt so much empathy for young Ender.  I couldn’t count how many times I wanted to sink myself into the book and give him a big hug and cheer him up somehow.  But in the end I saw the point of all that he had to go through, and I knew that if the hero of the story had not been a boy like Ender, everything would turn out very differently.  By the ending of the story, even though my heart ached for him, I felt quite proud of the boy, and believed that everything is as it should be. 

I don’t know what it’s like to read the book as text, but I assure you that I enjoyed the audiobook.  The voice actors were awesome – they brought the world of Ender’s Game to glorious life.  In his afterword, Orson Scott Card himself says that listening to the story is probably the best way to experience it.  But whether you choose to read or listen to it, I can definitely say that it’s a thrilling, memorable, thought-provoking, and heart-wrenching story deserving of all its acclaim.  They say a movie is in the works, and whenever they adapt a great book into a movie I always have misgivings and a healthy dose of doubt that they’ll do the story justice.  But I’m willing to give it a try.  One thing’s for sure – I’ll continue listening to the rest of this series and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it all as much as I did this first novel.  Give it a try – I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

Darker Than Black

This is the anime series I've been following lately, and I quite enjoyed it.  The main character is cool and the action sequences are well-executed.  

The story revolves around the mysterious "Hell's Gate" that surrounds an area of Tokyo where a cataclysmic event happened a decade before.  Several factions and government agencies are trying to delve into the mysteries of the "gate."  One of its strange effects was the emergence of  "contractors" - humans who have suddenly developed unique and oftentimes destructive supernatural abilities in exchange for the loss of the human capacity for emotion/compassion.  They are now recruited and employed by the rival factions to retrieve/steal information, commit kidnappings or assassinations, and any other dirty deed that needs be done.  Hei is one of them.  The whole series centers around his relationships with the other characters, his search for his beloved younger sister, and his inner conflicts as he tries to hold on to the humanity he believes to have lost when he became a contractor.  As he works to uncover the "gate's" secrets, he discovers more and more about his own person at the same time.

The pace of the series is good; secrets and twists are revealed a little at a time, enough to entice you to keep watching.  The characters are also engaging and well-rounded.  Their interactions with each other provide human drama elements as well as moments of comic relief.  The contractors are cool and vicious, and the action sequences are fast and gripping.  

Favorite character: Hei and the cat

Favorite scene: Whenever Hei eats like there's no tomorrow.

Favorite episode: The 26th (special/extra episode) 

All-in-all a pretty exciting and interesting sci-fi/action series - worth watching.  

I'd give it a 7/10. Give it a try.

The Prestige - Christopher Priest

I finished the book "The Prestige" by Christopher Priest, and it is simply spectacular!  I'm so terribly fortunate to have been given the chance to read so many great books, and this is definitely one of those.  I've seen the movie and I loved it (awesome director [Christopher Nolan] and fabulous cast [Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine] ), but the novel just gives you an entirely different perspective since YOU get to create the world and the people in your mind.  The revelations simply become all the more astonishing.

The novel transports you to the 19th century, where two talented magicians are locked in a bitter rivalry that consumes both their lives, spanning even to the generations that follow them.  Both equally obsessed with revenge and with outdoing the other, they attack and retaliate all through each other's every success and failure in search of a means to bring about his rival's downfall.  As they guard their magician's secrets jealously, they begin to weary of the endless enmity and resentment.  Yet still they inadvertently and inevitably bring disaster and tragedy on each other, even as they seek to find reconciliation and an end to the bitter feud. 

The story is told in memoirs and journals, in confessions and revelations, all of which culminate in a final horrifying discovery - the terrible outcome of their contest.  The entire book, from start to finish, is an incredible balancing act - full of mystery and illusion - a perfected magical performance all on its own.  Even the look of the book is strange and captivating.  I also love the typeset of the text - it really gave the whole story a period ambiance. The pace is gradual at first, then builds up until you can't let go of the book without knowing what happens next anymore.  Central to the novel is the slow but sure revelation of the true characters of the two magicians. Who is the hero; who is the villain?  One can't say.  Who won in the end?  I don't think anyone did.  They both gained and lost just as much. Who was the better magician?  Impossible to tell.  They both did to perfection what only the great magicians could do - they kept their secrets well.

This is an absolutely brilliant book - it won the World Fantasy Award even though it is only toward the end that one can find elements of science fiction in it.  It is so unlike anything I've ever read before.  Christopher Priest must be a real magician or a true genius.  Otherwise he must be a truly gifted madman to have produced such work as this.  I definitely recommend it to all readers who enjoy deep, thought-provoking, mind-boggling material - and to most everyone else who loves to read good stuff.  

The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester

Some time ago I finished reading “The Stars My Destination” by Alfred Bester.  It was really awesome.  No wonder it’s considered one of the great sci-fi classics, right up there with “The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. Le Guin and “The Sirens of Titan” by Kurt Vonnegut. 

It strongly reminds me of “The Count of Monte Cristo,” and I love how savagely portrayed Gully Foyle was.  The events of the tale come at you like a barrage of explosions – one after another in rapid succession.  I do wish they never changed the title – the original was Tiger! Tiger! after William Blake’s poem – is so much more appropriate and the analogy was indeed carried throughout the story.   Foyle is a relentless predator in his struggle for vindication and he will just drag you through the muck and debris of his wake all through the tale.  It was amazing to feel like a first-hand witness to his savage pursuit – I couldn’t help but want to goad him further, make him fall faster, and see his fire burn everything around him.  And yet I almost felt for him a profound pity.  Somehow at the back of my mind I was hoping for his redemption.  Revenge is a dish best served cold, so they say.  I’m not so sure Gully was able to enjoy that cool dessert.

I like the fact that all the other characters are equally emphatic.  Their interactions with Gully and with each other make the plot and the pacing more dynamic.  Plus, for a science fiction piece, this didn’t sound like one.  A minimum of unpronounceable words and theoretical physics was presented.  It was really more of a story; a well-told tale.  And I especially enjoyed the concrete poetry presented toward the end – awesome.

Having said that, I don’t think every reader would actually enjoy this.  I’d recommend it to someone who doesn’t want anything soft and mushy in between the pages.  This is a hard-line, fast-paced missile of a novel barrelling through space straight into your brain, dragging you along without pause.  Not for the faint-hearted.   I give it 8/10.