SW Reads: Norse Mythology (Neil Gaiman)

The past few years, I've been digging a bit into Norse myths and whatnot, somewhat spawned by what I saw in the Ring Cycle operas and my absolute certainty that Marvel's Thor is probably not accurate.

Let me be clear before someone with a PhD in Norse mythology shows up in the comments to correct me:  I am just scraping the surface, looking into this on my own, and moving slowly/ piecemeal.  Feel free to leave helpful information in the comments, but trust I'm no expert.* 

If you read any Sandman, you've known since the 90's that Neil Gaiman has some particular ideas about myth, and some pretty solid knowledge pulled from traditional sources.  

Recently, I finished the Prose Edda, which I probably should have written up, but I didn't.  It's a transcription by a 13th century monk of what were the oral traditions of the Scandavian and Germanic folklores, touching cultures stretching from Germany to Iceland.  Previously, I'd read Beowulf and Saga of the Volsungs.  I'll be making my way to the Poetic Edda, but...  that feels so much more challenging.  Me and poetry have a difficult relationship.  There's plenty more I need to dig into in the way of Germanic epics and legends, but it's going to be slow going.

Mars Read: The Chessmen of Mars (1922)

One thing I know about Edgar Rice Burroughs - he is very certain women get kidnapped every 20 minutes.  

We're here in the Fifth of the Barsoom novels.  The Chessmen of Mars (1922) takes place a few years after Thuvia, Maid of Mars.  For the first time in a few books, John Carter returns to Earth - but now appearing ageless and in his Martian harness and weaponry.  He sits to share a story with ERB, this time about his daughter, Tara of Helium.

This book feels better constructed than Thuvia, which had a sort of improvisational quality to it, like ERB was just stitching ideas together.  The Chessmen of Mars reads less like combined installments reprinted into a single volume.  Instead, the book seems to have better considered foreshadowing, laying foundations for later actions, etc... in a way that shows growth in ERB's writing.  

This book essentially breaks into a few sections.  There's some business in Helium at the beginning where we first meet John Carter's daughter, Tara, who seems to be described as astoundingly beautiful - just not as beautiful as Dejah Thoris (I appreciate ERB's own loyalty to Dejah Thoris).  She's got the fire of her parents, but is never described to have inherited her father's great strength the way her brother, Carthoris, did. 

When the story opens, she's understood to be betrothed to a young man of Helium - but the two aren't clicking.  At a party, she meets Gahan of Gathol, who she sees in the finery of his people, and decides he's a showy fancy-lad.  

Mars Read: Thuvia, Maid of Mars (1916)

kitty..?

So, I'm back on my Mars thing.  

I'm picking up here with the 4th book in the John Carter of Mars cycle, Thuvia, Maid of Mars.  

I also just found out that there are not 9 books, there's 11.  That's okay.  I can do this.

One does not come to these books for complex characters and deep introspection.  We are here to kick ass on Mars.  We're going to wear BDSM gear and use swords and, when someone crosses our path, we are either going to fight to the death or swear a blood oath of eternal friendship.  And, on Barsoom, all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.  Or would be, if they didn't hatch from an egg in their teens.*

It had been a while since I last read a Barsoom novel (the good people of what we call Mars call their planet Barsoom).  And I'm always kinda sorta embarrassed to read them.  They're the nutrional equivalent of slamming a 2-Liter of Coke while gnawing on Lik-M-Aid and Pixie Sticks.  

But, boy howdy, once you've finished that first bottle and have a face smeared in Lik-M-Aid, you're going to reach for the Pixie Sticks and pop open another bottle  (ie:  I am immediately going into the next book).

Dashiell Hammett at 130

Today, according to the internet and the granddaughter of the author, is the 130th Birthday of American writer, Samuel Dashiell Hammett.  

Hammett is probably best remembered as the author of The Thin Man and The Maltese Falcon, and - - among crime and mystery fiction fans - put down the foundations for what became the modern idea of a pulp/ noir detective.  Hammett's creations, Sam Spade (Maltese Falcon) and The Continental Op (short stories, Red Harvest, etc...), would be refined into Lew Archer by Ross McDonald and Philip Marlowe by Chandler.  The winding, complex stories would become standard issue for detective fiction, and Hammett's international impact can be felt in places as unlikely as Kurosawa and Leone movies.  

In many ways, we're still chasing Hammett.  

The leg up Hammett had, aside from an astoundingly punchy and economical prose, was his background as a Pinkerton Detective* and his first hand experience.  As well as his time swapping stories with his fellow private eyes.  

Hammett himself was as interesting a cat as they come.  He left his family, was an ardent leftist and anti-fascist, served in WWI and again in his late 40's in WWII in Alaska - despite a lifetime of health issues, and spent most of his middle-age and to his death as the lover of renowned playwright Lillian Hellman.    He served time for his political convictions,  and didn't publish any new original fiction for the last 25 of his life.

I've read all of Hammett's novels and a lot of his short fiction.  My bookshelf at home is kind of a mess of Hammett and Chandler, somewhat to the neglect of other writers.

I'm maybe a little quick to point to Hammett as the source of everything that came after, but that's okay.  I'll be that guy.  In my personal pantheon, he's about as important as it gets.  And I still very much reading my first Hammett, purchased in a used book store - a 1980's hardback collection of his books, starting with Red Harvest.  And it was one of those instances of feeling like you're both entering a whole new world and, also, this is what you've been looking for all along.  

Anyway - pick up some Hammett some time.  And if not that, put on The Thin Man or Maltese Falcon this week, and have a cocktail for Dash.  

*yes, I know the Pinkerton's legacy is complex to say the least

180th Anniversary of "A Christmas Carol"

Turns out today, Dec. 19th, 2023, is the 180th anniversary of the publication of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, arguably one of the most important works of English-language fiction.  Thanks to writer Neil Gaiman who pointed this out on social media, and who is currently doing his bit where he dresses up and reads the book, cover to cover, to a live audience.  

I'd love to see someone film that sometime.  The only audio book I've ever listened to was performed by Patrick Stewart, and, pals, I cannot recommend it enough.  I also recommend the film version he did.  

And that's really the thing.  Most of us come to A Christmas Carol through a movie or TV special, cartoon adaptation, puppet show or what-have-you.  And that's actually great.  I know mine was the Disney version with Scrooge McDuck and Mickey in key roles.  But I also grew up in the wake of the George C. Scott version.  And hit Scrooged at a key point in my teen-hood where it really landed, and not just because Karen Allen.*

I think I finally read the book in 8th or 9th grade.  What I really remember is that I was supposed to read bits at a time, and I did not.  It's short - Neil Gaiman can read it all in one shot, and Patrick Stewart's Audible version is like an hour and forty-five minutes - a fraction of your average Marvel film.

And, you know what?  The book is great.  I re-read it every decade or so. 

I don't need to explain it to you, which is a nice time-saver in writing about the thing.  You know there's a first ghost who warns about the other three.  You know there's some light time-travel and walking around as a phantom.  There's love lost and bitter childhood memories.  And there's social commentary aplenty, which has remained relevant year-over-year for the past 180 years.

In many ways, recognizing the echoes of the pre-reformed Ebenezer Scrooge's dialog is a shockingly easy way to spot a terrible human.  And yet, no matter how many times people see the movies or read passages or see plays, and, or. etc...  here we are.  

And so, the book remains endlessly relevant.

Movies may change things up - cosmetic bits like changing the look of a ghost.  Or minimizing or eliminating bits.  And the book's core remains intact.  Because it's a fantasy that those with no motivation to change their ways will somehow, through the hand of God where their own conscience failed them, be moved by humanity to be human, and not just an engine for generating wealth.  At the end of the day, how you'll be thought of in this life will be multiplied the moment you pass.  

Here's to another 180 years more.

*but also not not because of Karen Allen

  

SW Reads! Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock

Author:  Dr. Christina Lane

Year Released:  2020

Format:  Audio Book and Book

A while back I learned of Dr. Christina Lane's book, Phantom Lady:  Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock, which ticked a lot of boxes.  Lane's subject matter covered an area with which I had some familiarity - 1940's and 50's Hollywood (I don't claim an encyclopedic knowledge, natch).  The focus of her exploration was a person I didn't know anything about, but whose work I actually knew.

A biography of British-born film writer and producer Joan Harrison, it turned out that I had seen - and very much enjoyed - films produced by Harrison, not least of which was the eponymous Phantom Lady.  As one would guess, Hollywood was not overrun by women in positions of management or executive decision making in the 1940's and 1950's, and so I was curious enough, but then Lane was also featured on TCM's Noir Alley series as a guest, discussing Harrison in conjunction with some of her films.  I was sold.

PODCAST: "Foundation" Sci-Fi TV discussion w/ JuanD and Ryan

Watched:  09 and 10/2021

Format:  Television Apple+

Viewing: First

Decade: 2020's

Director:  various

For more ways to listen

Juan and Ryan ponder what has come before to consider what is happening now and what will happen next as they take on the famously unfilmable series of books from one of the greats of American sci-fi. Join us as we run the numbers on a show that's epic in scale, and maybe dropping a space elevator on the fans of the books.

The Signal Watch PodCast · 168: "Foundation" television series 2021 - a Sci-Fi PodCast w/ JuanD and Ryan

Music:

Foundation Main Theme - Bear McCreary

Sci-Fi Playlist

The Signal Watch PodCast · Science Fiction Nerdery!

Muad'Dib Watch: Dune (2021)

Watched:  10/24/2021

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Denis Villeneuve

Well, whatever opinion I have will be wrong, by everyone who watched this movie.  And, especially, if you read the book.

I've only read Dune once, years ago, at the recommendation of RHPT and StevenH (and probably Lauren, if Steven was pitching it).  That said, I thought it was a singular reading experience.  My inability to return to the book has much more to do with life being short and me doing other things rather than my lack of love for what I read.

I think people who read and grok Dune are changed a little after, maybe in tiny ways, but a bit.  I cannot imagine approaching a Dune movie without having read the book - I know watching Lynch's version without having read the book led to me giving up 20 minutes in.  But after reading it, I was like "oh, yeah, this is maybe not the best way to do this, but ok."  Similarly, before reading the book, I could only follow the SyFy Channel TV mini-series version of Dune so far before I was like "y'all are on your own".

So - I have no idea what those who didn't read the book took away from the movie currently in theaters and running on HBOmax.  

Halloween Read: Carmilla (1872) - Audiobook

Finished:  10/03/2019
Author:  Joseph Sheridan LeFanu
Reader:  Tracey Childes
Format:  Audiobook
Decade:  1870's
Recording:  2009

Growing up, I'd read that the book that had pre-dated Dracula and which likely inspired Stoker was Varney the Vampire (or: The Feast of Blood), a mid-19th Century penny dreadful that I've still not got around to reading.  I think I'd heard of Carmilla 1872) by J.S. LeFanu in passing, but it wasn't until I was reading up on the Hammer horror film The Vampire Lovers (based loosely on the book) that I did the Googling necessary to spark real interest in Carmilla -at least enough to get me to intend to read the book. 

As I am no longer working from home and once again enjoy a commute, I went ahead and got the audiobook of Carmilla for what will be one of my Halloween reads.

A Picture Tour of Locations from "Anatomy of a Murder" - my vacation pics from the U.P. - Part 1

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the release of Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder.  If you've never seen it, it's a terrific film and holds up far better than you'd expect considering the changing mores, attitudes, laws and and more since 1959.  In some ways, it's covering territory we seem to cover over and over as a society and may be more relevant now than ever.  A legal drama, it should be a bit out of my wheelhouse, but instead it's been one of my favorite films since college.

Starring Jimmy Stewart, it has a terrific cast of well-known and lesser known actors.  Eve Arden, a very young George C. Scott, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzarra, Arthur O'Connell, and Kathryn Grant (a University of Texas alumnus and, at the time, just married to Bing Crosby).  And, a bit bizarre for the time and place, Duke Ellington.

The movie, however, was based on a novel written by Robert Traver.  Traver was the pen name for attorney John Voelker, who lived in Ishpeming, Michigan and served as the city prosecutor, ran for other public office and was generally highly involved in public life in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Signal Watch Reads: "The Long Goodbye" (1953) and "Playback" (1958)

At long last, I read both The Long Goodbye (1953) and Playback (1958), the last of Raymond Chandler's novels centered upon detective Philip Marlowe.

You'll note a lengthy dry spell between books here, and there's a precipitous drop-off between the two in depth and strength.  It's curious as The Long Goodbye feels less like a detective novel and more like an author wrestling with himself, working through the point in his life where he'd enjoyed success and some fame and found neither amounted to much as he was still living with himself as an alcoholic, a writer of genre fiction, and now a widower.*

PODCAST: Noir Watch: "The Long Goodbye" (1973) - w/ SimonUK and Ryan

Watched:  02/01/2019
Format:  Kino Lorber BluRay
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1970's

Simon and Ryan delve into Film Noir via Neo-Noir, Altman-directed entry "The Long Goodbye" (1973), an oddball of a film with a lot to offer. We explore the role of Philip Marlowe in the world of fiction, some of the mechanics of noir, and whether or not any of this actually works as a movie.




Music:

The Long Goodbye - Music by John Williams/ Lyrics by Johnny Mercer/ performed by Jack Sheldon

Links:

For more about The Signal Watch PodCast
The Signal Watch Patreon

RiffTrax-Watch: Ready Player One (2018)

Watched:  12/25/2018
Format:  Rifftrax
Viewing: First
Decade:  2010's

I am not a gamer.  The only console I own is one of those 2600 emulator boxes and it hasn't been out of the closet in a year.  I get that people spend a lot of time on video games, and that I have no stones to throw about people wasting their time and money on non-real-things.  I write on a blog that needlessly analyzes movies and occasionally comics and talks a lot about comic-based movies.  Take all of the below with the necessary grain of salt.

Signal Watch Reads: All the Answers (Kupperman, 2018)

I started reading All the Answers (2018) a couple of weeks ago, got ten pages in and realized that I wouldn't have time to read it cover to cover in one sitting, the way one generally wants to watch a film, and so I put away the book and picked it up again when I had uninterrupted time.

Written, researched, drawn and lived by Michael Kupperman, a cartoonist and artist I've followed for well over ten years at this point, the book is more than a minor pivot from a particular brand of humor comic that I would fail to capture here if I tried (and what is explaining a joke, anyway?) - this is also a biographical and autobiographical graphic novel.  I believe Snake n' Bacon strips were my entree into Kupperman's work, followed by Tales Designed to Thrizzle - something that should be a staple in any comics-studies course.  And, of course, Mark Twain's Autobiography, 1910-2010.

Comics Culture Read: Marvel Comics - The Untold Story (2013)

Author:  Sean Howe
Release:  October, 2013

The manager at my Local Comic Shoppe, Brandon, suggested Marvel Comics: The Untold Story (2013) while we were discussing some minutia around the history of Marvel Comics. 

My knowledge of Marvel history is one mostly gathered patchwork from various interviews, articles, word-of-mouth stories, etc... so I knew some broad strokes, particularly around the infamous Kirby/ Lee creator debates and the Ditko/Lee broo-haha, but after Lee left Marvel, it's all bits and pieces gleaned from Bullpen Bulletins, credits on comics while certain things were happening, and trying to piece together what the hell, exactly, was going on at Marvel at any given time.

Signal Watch Reads: I'll Be Gone In The Dark (2018 - Audiobook)

I'd intended to read Michelle McNamara's true-crime book, I'll Be Gone In The Dark (2018), this year at some point, but was propelled to listen to the audiobook when, in late April, the subject of the book was apprehended in California.

Before the book is run-over, borrowed-from, and absorbed by osmosis as documentaries and news stories rushed into production - and likely a feature film or three - I wanted to hear what McNamara had to say and where she was in her crowd-sourced, DIY investigation into the Golden State Killer, a serial rapist and murderer who was active in multiple California communities in the late 70's and into the early 80's, before simply vanishing.

Signal Watch Reads: Pietr the Latvian (Inspector Maigret #1 - 1931)

After completing the two Maigret mystery movies, I decided to check out some actual Inspector Maigret novels.  Not as big of a deal here in the states, but in Europe, they appear to be quite popular.  I found a set on deep discount and after waiting for a month for them to make their way from a shop in the UK to my doorstep (amazing world we live in, what one mouse click sets in motion), I got to crack the set for my plane ride to San Jose.

After reading Hammett and Chandler, it seemed fair to see what was going on with mystery books across the ocean.

Georges Simenon was a Belgian writing in French about a Parisian detective circa 1930 when this book appeared.  I am unclear when the translation occurred or how much was changed in meaning - I would expect that after 80 years, everyone is satisfied with what's on the page.  It seems reasonable to trust Penguin to do right by these books.

Coen Watch: Miller's Crossing (1990)

Watched:  02/03/2018
Format:  Google Play Streaming
Viewing:  Unknown, but somewhere over 25th
Decade:  1990's

First Amazon Order

Seems this is a thing we're all doing, so here goes.

I very much remember placing this order (or these orders).  Half of my friends were totally excited about this new Amazon thing, and half of them were convinced Amazon would just take my credit card and drain me of money.  Both were right, as it turns out.

200th Anniversary of the First Publication of Frankenstein

Today marks the 200th Anniversary of the first publication of Frankenstein (or, The Modern Prometheus).  It's a book many of us were assigned to read.  As with any book, your mileage will vary.  Absolutely, that seems to depend upon interpretations and baggage brought to the book.

It is true that I am a fan of the Frankenstein films from Universal that appeared in 1932 and onward, but I'd read Shelley's book twice before seeing the first movie circa 1997. My Freshman year of high school I *absolutely* grokked the "wretch's" perspective and Victor's craziness, and of course the romantic torment that befalls them all.