Packers And Patriots

Those are the picks for today. Packers over Seahawks 31-28. Patriots over Colts 31-21. I rarely pick correctly but it's fun. What do you like out there today folks?

Robot Ghosts And Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction From Origins To Anime

"If someone were to ask what characteristic lies at the core of science fiction, I believe that many fans would still say it is 'grand narrative' or 'grand vision.' For science fiction to be science fiction, some kind of a vision must be proposed, even if it is a vision of science's failure or of a dark, foreboding future." -Azuma Hiroki, SF as Hamlet: Science Fiction and Philosophy, Robot Ghosts And Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction From Origins To Anime (p.78)-

As I mentioned in the year end retrospective here I had been taking a bit more time for myself in 2014 to read, write and quote unquote "paint." Ha. At least that's how my family sees it. But I remain steadfast in my efforts despite all jocularity surrounding said painting. And, of course, With family commitments (football games, dance, etc.) taking the bulk of my time the blog has indeed suffered. I do feel badly about that, but I certainly haven't given up on it entirely as you know. Still, I have been slacking.

To set the tone for yet another year here at Musings Of A Sci-Fi Fanatic I thought touching upon the very definition of Science Fiction would be a nice way to start things off and offer a nice reset going forward.

I loved this brief observation about science fiction taken from the aforementioned collection of essays, Robot Ghosts And Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction From Origins To Anime (2007), a collection I'm quite enjoying actually even if I don't entirely connect with the theories set forth by some of the writers or agree with their academic arguments entirely.




This post actually started out as one thing and mutated into a brief book review in the lead in to another post. As many who visit here know I do have a thing for these reference books on film, television and anime of the academic variety. This is precisely why it was such a pleasure and an honor to contribute to Back to Frank Black: A Return To Chris Carter's Millennium (2012) and be part of an analytical publication specific to covering what really amounts to an underappreciated American classic in television. I'm biased, but the evidentiary quality of Millennium speaks for itself and the aforementioned book really drives those points home with great care and detail.




I digress. Today, my book of choice has been a work steeped in Japanese science fiction and Anime. Robot Ghosts And Wired Dreams runs a massive historical timeline and thus feels a bit disjointed, but the quality of effort here is truly exceptional. Again, even if I agree to disagree with all of the points made it remains a fascinating collection and I commend and applaud editors Christopher Bolton, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr. and Takayuki Tatsumi for such an ambitious effort.




My favorite essay is When The Machines Stop by Susan J. Napier subtitled Fantasy, Reality and Terminal Identity in Neon Genesis Evangelion And Serial Experiments Lain. This is not only an academic piece but a fascinating offering on both series particularly Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995-1996). Napier, a professor of Japanese studies at Tufts University, penned another of my favorite Anime reference works called Anime From Akira To Howl's Moving Castle: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation (2005). Still, her contribution here is a splendid complement to her earlier, extensive publication on the subject of Anime. Napier genuinely plumbs the depths of the Anime medium and manages to explore the misunderstood medium on a more scholarly level. You have to appreciate that.

Another real highlight in Robot Ghosts And Wired Dreams is The Mecha's Blind Spot: Patlabor 2 And The Phenomenology Of Anime by Christopher Bolton. It is a terrific offering for those in love with labors and all things Mamoru Oshii. Bolton takes us deeper into Oshii's world and mind reflecting on the line between "technological amplification" as Bolton calls it and the potential to succumb to dehumanization from that connection.




Another gem that delves into all things Otaku is Otaku Sexuality by therapist and psychoanalyst Saito Tamaki translated by Bolton. It is a thoroughly exhaustive look at what it is to be Otaku and one that really offers an understanding and even defense of another completely misunderstood fandom. I had no idea how completely frowned upon the term was in Japan itself.

Also, Sharalyn Orbaugh's Sex And The Single Cyborg which includes some interesting perspectives on Neon Genesis Evangelion as well as Ghost In The Shell (1995) makes for an interesting read. Orbaugh teaches at the University of British Columbia in Asian and women's studies. I didn't particularly connect with her perspective on the subject entirely, but given her profession and where she is approaching the material from her argument is certainly understandable.




Last but not least, there's also a rather interesting take in the book on Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), a film I've always loved and admired despite its box office failure, which offers a number of points I certainly hadn't thought about. Some of her general summaries here are terrific. Other more technical ideas are less significant to me or generally uninteresting to me personally, but it is an in-depth piece and perspective by Livia Monnet. The essay is called Invasion Of The Woman Snatchers. Monnet, who teaches at the University of Montreal, does hit on some points about the film that will offer those who missed a lot of what was going on in the feature a little more insight. But her conclusions and perception of the film differ quite markedly from my own. I've always had a quite positive take away from the film and could easily offer counter point to her own (and someday hope to). Monnet's analysis is a decidedly negative view of the film ultimately. I simply couldn't agree as much as I appreciated her thoughtful perspective. I know it's a flawed film with its fair share of imperfections. But there are some harsh assessments here. I couldn't help but wonder how director Hironobu Sakaguchi, who clearly poured his heart and soul into this film, would feel after reading an article like this. I couldn't help but wonder how that director felt after receiving a fairly tough critical response upon the release of his film overall. It must not have been easy. My heart kind of goes out to the man. Still, it's certainly not the writer's job to hold back from honest expression nor should it be. But Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within really took its fair share of direct critical hits upon release. Monnet's offers yet another, but it is indeed a pensive work and at least people are still talking about that generally influential film. A review of that film is forthcoming for another day.




Funny enough I did do a review of the film in a collaborative effort with Francisco Gonzalez and J. D. LaFrance called 15 Of The Apocalypse (2012) for The Film Connoisseur. That creative collaboration was a great deal of fun a few years back. I never carried those reviews over to Musings Of A Sci-Fi Fanatic, but still plan to expound and broaden my looks at those five films one day. Those films were Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome, Reign Of Fire, Damnation Alley and The End Of Evangelion. One day soon I hope to at least offer a more comprehensive look at Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

Turning are attention back to the aforementioned quote above taken from the book, Science Fiction centering on science's failures is always a highlight.

A dark, foreboding future is another classic arena thematically in sci-fi like the settings in those earlier mentioned apocalyptic films.




In making efforts to grapple with the very definition of the genre it is clearly not an easy task, which is probably why science fiction is so much murky, academic fun.

Themes and concepts attributable to science fiction include space and time travel, alternate timelines and histories, parallel universes, outer and inner space tales, dystopian and post-apocalyptic worlds filled with alien invaders, monsters, kaiju, mutants, robots, androids, super humans, mind control, teleportation, wormholes much of which is framed in steam punk, cyber punk, anime sci-fi, military sci-fi, space opera, space western and often packed to the hilt with an abundance of spaceships and weaponry. The very best of these stories utilize these elements as a backdrop or as details to service a story that explores mankind's courage and/or arrogance and most of all the overarching depth of the most fascinating aspect of science fiction - the human condition.



But these endlessly creative ideas are the perfect mechanisms and delivery systems for wonderfully human stories that offer real mirrors to our past, present and future realities in this endlessly fascinating genre. Robot Ghosts And Wired Dreams delivers an interesting mining of the world of science fiction and Anime through a Japanese prism and the book was a good bit of fun which inspired me to write a bit about it. For fans of the subject the book comes recommended.

More on science fiction coming soon.

Images utilized for this post are intended to complement the content mentioned or explored in the publication Robot Ghost And Wired Dreams. Some images speak directly to their themes.

2014: I'm Still Blogging Therefore I Am (Retrospective)

... I'm thinking. And thinking. And generally thinking way too much. And not writing enough. It slows me down unfortunately. But I am way overthinking things of late. I guess it's a personal shortcoming I bear. By the way, Happy New Year. All the best to you all in 2015.

This last year, 2014, has been something of a letdown here at the blog I'm sad to say. I've failed miserably in staying with it and I feel badly about that to some degree. Sincerely, sorry folks. I just have not been moved to write as I once did here. My motivation for it has indeed waned a bit. I can't quite put my finger on it. But I haven't given up. The holidays have put me in a deep malaise to boot - like I needed that.



So as I look back over the course of what was achieved over 2014 this should make for a rather brief retrospective. Still, I am still thinking and blogging and therefore I still very much am.

Looking back at yet another year gone, it's pretty clear I started strong and quickly fell off the turnip truck as the saying goes when spring arrived. I must have started tapping those Spanky fingers about that time.

My grandmother passed away in April of 2013 and for whatever reason I have had my challenges. I sometimes wonder if that has not affected me on a subconscious level. I haven't been entirely right since. But God knows it's certainly no excuse and she loved reading and would want me to write to be sure.

So what things did we achieve here on the blog in 2014, after all, again, I'm Still Blogging Therefore I Am (Retrospective)?




Well, I started the year the way I seem to be finishing it, immersed in Anime funny enough. I had a nice little love affair going with Battle Of The Planets f(1978) or a time here. I still want to get back to that series, if not for the blog - for myself. Sadly, Casey Kasem, the voice of Mark of G-Force on Battle Of The Planets and the voice of American Top 40, passed away in June of 2014. Unbelievably, the man wasn't laid to rest until just this last December. There was indeed a great deal of turmoil and tension between his children and his wife. Finally, now, the man is at rest and in peace in Oslo, Norway of all places. I love the group a-ha and have each and every one of the Norwegian band's recordings as well as lead singer Morten Harket's solo efforts but I'm not sure I'd want to be buried there.



I finally got around to looking at Stargate Atlantis Rising, Part II, here, but more importantly rediscovered the error of my science fiction ways when it came to Stargate Universe (2009-2011), a far superior iteration of the franchise that crashed and burned after just two brilliant seasons.



In fact, I actually got quite a bit covered before crashing and burning myself looking extensively at the first seven episodes of Stargate Universe here. I can't even begin to tell you how strong that show really was as science fiction goes. So much that has come and gone pales in comparison to that series that was cut nearly as short as Firefly (2002).



Turning an eye back to a look at those who passed away that we loved so dearly, let us begin with the man who brought us some of the Christmas greats (Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty The Snowman, The Year Without A Santa Claus). Arthur Rankin, Jr. was a loss that provided such wonderful childhood memories in those Christmas specials as well as some classic kaiju pictures in association with Toho in King Kong Escapes (1968) and don't forget The Last Dinosaur (1977).

Actress Ann B. Davis, who played beloved housekeeper Alice on The Brady Bunch (1969-1974) slipped from our world. Gosh she seemed old when I adored that show in the 1970s.




Another childhood favorite was Gilligan's Island (1964-1967) and Russell Johnson, who played The Professor on that series, joined many of his former cast mates save for the actresses who played Ginger and Mary Ann who are still very much among the living.

The famously adorable Shirley Temple as well as our man Richard Kiel left this earthly place along with Alien creator H.R. Giger.



Little House On The Prairie's Richard Bull, famous as Nels Oleson, and his work on Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea (1964-1968) passed on too. I've been immersed in Little House On The Prairie (1974-1983) Season One in 2014 too on Blu-Ray. The quality of the transfer as well as the series itself is simply outstanding after all these years. It's quite impressive really. I plan on writing a little something about it in 2015 despite its non-science fiction content.

Another American television classic like Little House On The Prairie, that ran just as long, was The Waltons (1972-1981). Ralph Waite, who played John Walton, Sr., passed away. Waite had long been acting including a nice stint in HBO's Carnivale.

Battlestar Galactica's creator, Glen A. Larson, passed as well. Tough year in losses really.



Cliff Bole passed away this year too and was responsible for a good number of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes. Speaking of which, I managed to squeak in a few looks at Star Trek: The Next Generation Season One, now on Blu-Ray here. I reached as far as Heart Of Glory, my personal favorite from Season One. I will say, although I was quiet on the writing front, I did manage to watch up to and including Season Five of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Michael Dorn as Worf proved, much to my surprise, to be one of my very favorite characters on the series. Some of his Worf-centric episodes turned out to be some of the highlights for me in my viewing journey. Those along with some other standouts like The Inner Light would easily make my Top 10, which I hope to bring you in 2015.







On the film front I took a look at science fiction films Code 46 (2003) here, Godzilla (2014) here, Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014) here, Snowpiercer (2013) here and even failed Ronald D. Moore pilot Virtuality (2009) here. And Virtuality was by no means a failure. It's much better than its fate would have you believe.



We took the Tardis back in time for a bit of Tom Baker's Doctor Who here.



Circling back to Anime, we took a look at Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex here and closed out the year with a preview look at Knights Of Sidonia and Attack On Titan here.



Boy them there was some slim pickings this year. But, who knows what 2015 will bring us all? Surely I can hope to be slightly more productive, but I wouldn't hold my breath either and I'll hazard no guesses where the writing will take me. I honestly have no idea.




On a non-blogging note, I really enjoyed Showtime's Homeland Season Three over the holidays and simply cannot understand why folks were so hard on that season. The general word on the street was that Season Three was "crap." Now I've heard that. Personally it was better for me on some level and a little more mature than Season Two and just as thrilling. The Carrie/Brody soap opera thread was getting old and I think how they handled that storyline in Season Three was generally exceptional. Brody appears for one episode in the first eight. Good idea! For me, the writers really made all the right moves save for maybe a few slight stumbles. I even understood and appreciated some of the thinking behind the Dana storyline (just not all of it). But, most of all I really enjoyed the taut nature of this thriller that is all too relative to current events. It's like Argo for television. And I love my favorite character Saul played by the fascinating Mandy Patinkin. The series is expertly adapted from the Israeli series Prisoners Of War (2010-present).






I checked out a number of films including the dramatization of Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan Lone Survivor (2013), the recreation of the story of Captain Phillips (2013) on the Maersk Alabama and the story of events surrounding the Iranian hostage crisis (1979-1981) in Argo (2012). All offered truly moving pictures. All of the aforementioned true stories probably underscore my preference for these films versus the glut of superhero films. Give me a real life hero any day - the antithesis of the superhero. It's a quiet little backlash but I really have difficulty seeing them.



Also, I was doing a bit of painting over the holidays. At least I'll call it that despite my deficiencies. Hopefully I'll have that to share with you this year. Finally, I have continued on a writing project external to the blog that is a long-term goal. Hopefully it will one day see fruition.

As for Musings Of A Sci-Fi Fanatic stay tuned for more science fiction and Anime in 2015. Most of all, may good health be with you.