I too remain a stout fan of SECONDS and BRAZIL, with a BIG leaning to the former!
I find, however, that I need to be in the right mood for SECONDS. For myself, it's emotionally intense; images of the old Arthur Hamilton watching his "life" pass by, and the hollowness he feels when he's with his wife, seem to draw tears every time I watch this movie. I HAVE to be in the mood. It's quite incredible.
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ALTERED STATES
I used to talk about this one all the time. I think I used to overrate it, simply because it's more intelligent than most of the shit out there, but I still like it a lot. Its cast is perfect for the film, the score is REALLY good, and the premise is fun. And I DO like Ken Russel's visual trademarks. As much as like Arthur Penn, who was originally to direct, handing it to Russel I really feel helped serve the subject matter; the tension between science and religious iconography makes the movie uniquely unsettling.
Oh, yeah: and it has lots of hyped-up "pre-Mamet" profanity spackling the dialog.
"...zis guy's a fooking gorilla!"
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Here is a bit of minutia that I'm sure NO one here will find very interesting, which, alone, gives me good reason to bring it up:
MIDNIGHT COWBOY features some old b&w sci-fi space flick playing in a theater in which Jon Voight gets "distended" by a gay Bob Balaban (who plays the colleague in the later Altered States). The movie they're watching finds the requisite juxtaposing between its rockets and Voight's orgasm.
Well, I always wondered where Schlesinger dug up that cheapo flick. I could never figure out if he created it specifically for MC, or if it was from a studio's storage room. I recognized the actor in the footage. I tracked him through the movie database, and found a 1950's sci fi show called MEN INTO SPACE. I think it was one of those episodes the director used for Voight's late night movie of midnight madness.
I know: this revelation changed your life. Well, it changed mine, too!
Well in regard to SF movies, how about
Charly.
The movie was adapted by Stirling Silliphant from the novel Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.
Lets see how Will Smith wrecks this one (reports are he may be make a new version of Flowers for Algernon).
Hey Phil (Latalee?) -- Haven't you heard? You don't have to lick the backs of stamps anymore -- they're self-adhesive! Which sounds vaguely perverse, but that's another matter. I believe somebody has to cash in his or her proverbial chips before getting a U.S. stamp dedicated to them, so let's enjoy Harlan in the flesh before stamping him out (you're not the only one who makes bad puns, Phil).
But I do hope the government is wise enough to issue a sheet of Ellison stamps using the covers of all those wonderful Pyramid paperbacks I eagerly collected back when I was discovering Harlan's multifaceted oeuvre. This year marks -- yikes -- the 40th anniversary of my discovery of Unca Harlan's published works -- I first read "Corpse" and "Basilisk" in F&SF, then moved on to the second edition of the I HAVE NO MOUTH AN I MUST SCREAM anthology, then deeper into the heart of darkness and light to the 11 or 12 volume run of the Dillon-covered paperbacks, each one lovingly numbered and with a different dashing photo of Harlan on the back. They're still the heart of my Ellison collection, no matter how many fancier volumes of his I add to it.
Speaking of anniversaries, today is former ASIMOV'S editor Shawna McCarthy's birthday. Happy birthday, Shawna!
Zalman King
And you might want to check out King's performance in one of the two pilot films for David Janssen's series Harry O. King played the villain in the Howard Rodman-scripted TV movie "Smile, Jenny, You're Dead," and he was chilling in it.
Just heard the sad news that Zalman King has passed away. He was in two H.E.-scripted televison works (the "Memo from Purgatory" episode of THE ALFRED HICTCHCOCK HOUR and an episode of THE YOUNG LAWYERS), and was, I believe, a friend of Harlan's.
The most excellent Joe Wehrle, Jr.
Thanks Joe! Your are a font of knowledge. The quest has begun! (I feel so Quixotic. Where's Dulcinea when you need her.)
–S
Harlan on a stamp
While I would delight at the idea of seeing Harlan Ellison on a stamp, is this honour not reserved for those folks who have shuffled off this mortal coil?
And on a lighter note, do you think Unca Harlan wants the back of his head licked by the tongues of the great unwashed?
The artists for such a hypothetical piece of stampwork would naturally have to be the Dillons, as they are inextricably linked with HE's work.
But remember what they say, folks: philately gets you nowhere.
- Phil
(Exits rapidly stage left, pelted by rotten fruit.)
One Stamp is Not Enough
ROBERT-
I would like to see a sheet of stamps. All of the images of Harlan Ellison from those Leo and Diane Dillon Covers.
Kind of makes you want to write a letter, huh? Or purchase some nice stationary.
jimmy
HE: Your comment that you wrote the part of Billy in the "Paladin" screenplay specifically for Glynn Turman, and a previous note that you wrote Gaspar for Jack Gilford, raises the question: Did you have an alternate set of actors in mind were the black and white roles to be reversed?
James Levy: McKellen and Loncraine's RICHARD III has a science-fictional feel to it, I think, only for two reasons. First, the conscious use of Empire and Nazi imagery gives the inevitable feel that one is watching an alternate history; second, the technical surrealism of transplanting various British landmarks to different locales and purposes puts the story firmly into an alternate universe. Beyond that, Shakespeare is Shakespeare. (I do occasionally wonder if anyone has ever, or will ever, mount THE TEMPEST with straight text but with the imagery of FORBIDDEN PLANET, even including Robby as Caliban.)
Bob Homeyer: You put your finger directly on the best and the worst of JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN: it's technically brilliant and beautifully filmed, but it's so driven by its plot and its look that it's ultimately pointless...though it almost makes up for that with the enigmatic final scene. (I have to admit that pop-culture contamination has taken its toll: watching it as an adult, I couldn't help snickering when the movie's one "name" star, Herbert Lom, gets killed before the opening credits a' la every episode of POLICE SQUAD!)
Someday there will be a Harlan Ellison stamp -- and instead of it being a mere "Forever" stamp," it will of course be a "City on the Edge of Forever" stamp. Any suggestions as to who should draw or paint it? Perhaps an artist yet unborn.....
There's an Edgar Rice Burroughs stamp coming out in August of this year. See it here:
http://www.beyondtheperf.com/stamp-releases/edgar-rice-burroughs
How about a Lovecraft stamp? As if Grandpa didn't make good use of the postal service...
THE NEW 52
Evening. I'm just nuts over what DC is doing with the new line. I think it's some of the best writing and art I've come across in some time. I mean BATMAN and The Court of Owls!!! Red Hood and The Outlaws!! Swamp Thing and Animal Man!! HOLEEEE SHIT!! I just had to drop a note in hopes of somebody, anybody, being as knocked out as I am and as big a dork who wants to say, "Yeah, Chris, it fucking rocks."
Harlan, you're the best. The four new books gave me a soaring feeling, like a flight of angels in my chest. Thanks for all the great stories. They've shown me what imagination really is and what it can do.
World Book NIght
We all know that the hard copy book reader is becoming an endangered species. And I'm sure someone out there has wondered what they can do to change this.
Well my friends I have a way. Sign up for World Book Night. It's a good way to get out and do something for your community! They have a list of books for you to choose from, and all you have to do is promise to give away the twenty copies they give you.
Now if this sounds good to you, check out the following website and sign up:
http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/
Journey to the Far Side of the Sun
Not at the top of my list, but this 1969 film starring Roy Thinnes has one of the best individual moments in any science fiction/speculative film in my opinion. Two versions of the lead character are briefly having the same conversation on two different Earths -- and are merged into the same scene. Brief but brilliant.
Thomas Frank tells us how the right wing keeps winning:
http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/153973/why_we_got_ayn_rand_instead_of_fdr%3A_thomas_frank_on_how_tea_party_%27populism%27_derailed_a_new_new_deal/
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I wipe my ass on the groundhog. I'd skin the bastard and make his hide a toilet cozy. I'd make sliders with his greasy flesh. I'd put his eyeballs into Newt's soup.
It's fucking 60 degrees today on febuary 2--in Cincinnati!!
Who listens to a varmint who can't even tend to his stank. We will have a shorter winter. You have the Frank Church science gold star.
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Speaking of which, the film Groundhog Day is great science fiction.
Jimmy- My deep appreciation for your Groundhog Day wishes!
Steve Barr- If you are really looking for another quest, do you have DRAGONS AND NIGHTMARES, four short novels by Robert Bloch, Mirage Press 1968, edition of 1000 copies? (mine says it's no. 00431) Illustrated by Dave Prosser. I went on a road trip to see Dave Prosser many years ago, in the company of a fanzine editor whom I now believe was not totally sane. But Dave was great. I eventually lost touch with him, tried to reconnect when I got online, only to find he was gone, like so many of the people who were active at that time.
Steve Jones- I once heard Harlan tell a very funny story about John W. Campbell, concerning whether a writer should preach to his audience. There's a reference to it in his intro to Life Hutch, in FROM THE LAND OF FEAR, if he doesn't feel like telling it again after so many years. But if we're lucky, maybe he'll tell us a different story about John.
True Science Fiction
SECONDS? Well I suppose if you're willing to settle for good writing, good acting and fine production values, then such a movie might be satisfying. But some of us, well, we need a little bit more than that.
We need a theremin on the soundtrack (or at least an organ with the tremelo stop yanked out full tilt boogie).
We need to see Morris Ankrum have his brains sucked out by the Alien Death Ray.
We need to hear Whit Bissell explain why the robot is made of an alloy NOT OF THIS EARTH.
We need to hear Richard Carlson rhapsodize about the wonders and terrors of outer space and hear Faith Domergue scream and fall down and twist her ankle while the rubber ant/crab/mu-TANT shuffles relentlessly on.
Taste and quality are fine for some people but there are a few who demand a little more...
Altered States
That was an interesting flick. I’ve read about the production, and apparently Ken Russell and the writer Paddy Chayefsky were at war during the filming. You should Google it!
Tim
Science Fiction/Speculative Fiction Movies
Some greats mentioned through this thread on Science Fiction/Speculative Fiction flicks. There is one movie I haven't seen anyone mention (perhaps I simply missed it): ALTERED STATES.
I consider this science fiction/speculative fiction. Anyone else agree or disagree? Harlan mentions Ken Russell and his flicks within the Watching column, which lead me to it.
Best to You and Yours,
Joe
Well hello Harlan and I hope you are safe and well. I first read you as a young man in the mid 60s and, strangely, two of your works out of the hundreds I have read and re-read have stuck in my mind. Strange Wine, and its take on the hoary old saying "the grass is greener on the other side" (but it is much more than that!)and a story, the title of which I can't for the life of me recall, which has in part a reference to a frozen Heer soldier on the outskirts of Stalingrad (amongst many, many more allusions). In any case, I just wanted to greet you without pretence and tell you I am glad you are still alive and I have the opportunity thanks to the internet to say, and mean, hello to you. Oh yes, another thing, did you ever in your career meet with John W Campbell Jr? He happens to be very special to me (I have a letter from him to my father when Astounding was metamorphosing into Analog)and I would so like to hear that, apart from him undoubtedly seeing you as a reactionary, you and he were friends.
I'm honored to find that I'm on the same page as Harlan when it comes to admiring the eerie brilliance of SECONDS. And I'm humbled to admit I forgot Terry Gilliam's amazing BRAZIL. But Unca Harlan, what's so bad about playing with oneself? If there's one thing as good as someone who "plays well with others," it's someone who plays well with him- or herself.
Frank -- I'll have to take a pass on visiting the Forum for the time being. I've learned through long and painful experience that the only fruitful political conversations are with people who disagree with you on strategy and tactics but agree on fundamental principles. So I'll keep walking by. "The dogs bark, and the caravan passes on."
Primer
Has anyone seen the movie "Primer" ?
A micro budget time travel story which convey a feeling of actual lab work. The movie becomes a complex labyrinth but his oddness is actually enjoyable.
One of my favorite in the last 10 years (along with Children of men).
Happy Birthday Steve Barber
Steve Barber's birthday? Well bust my buttons. Hope it was a great one. (thank you to Volde-Mark Goldberg)
And now that it is February 2nd, I would also like to wish a very happy Groundhog's Day to Joe Wehrle.
You know, it seems like it's always a party here at the Pavillion.
Bravo.
jimmy
Tết + 9
My signed/limited/boxed edition (#674) containing both THE HARLAN ELLISON HORNBOOK and HARLAN ELLISON"S MOVIE arrived this week, and I am loving it.
I want to start collecting Ellison books in earnest again. In my desire to help make sure Harlan and Susan Ellison have a roof over their heads plus three square meals a day, I have decided to join HERC and order what I can first through The Kilimanjaro Corporation from now on. There are a couple of items I want to purchase and will mail off the forms and checks tomorrow.
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I saw the reference to Arlene Martel and DEMON WITH A GLASS HAND earlier.I thought she was wonderful in it. I get the chills every time during that scene where she is kneeling down next to Robert Culp's body and starts praying, "I’m so frightened…Dear Mary…Please help me. I’m so frightened. Please save me, please."
This activates the computer hand, which solemnly intones back, "You. Can. Save. Your. Self."
Whoa! It is such a stirring moment for me because it reflects Harlan Ellison's atheism with his strong humanism. What an empowering moment!
There is a lovely Bach aria called "Liebster Gott, erbarme dich"(from his Cantata BWV 179, addressing hypocrisy) which this scene reminds me of. The singer is beseeching God to help her ("Hilf mir, Jesu, Gottes Lamm"). I have played excerpts of this aria during this scene, and I think the two work quite well togther (even though the aria is Lutheran, whereas Consuelo is Catholic).
Of all the modern (read: "historically informed") recordings I have heard of this beautiful aria, I don't think any have surpassed the one sung live by Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena here. What phrasing! What expression!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iNdh3oUZ2g
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With all this talk of sf films, it's worth going back to HARLAN ELLISON'S WATCHING and reading what he thought of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (I thought he was a little rough on that film) and BRAZIL, etc.
I was 9 years old when TAX DRIVER first premiered, and I remember sneaking (there was zero chance my mother was going to take me to an R-rated movie) into the theatre to watch it. Back in the September/October issue of Film Comment, Paul Schrader wrote the now-famous/infamous extended essay called "Canon Fodder," his attempt at formulating a film canon. He lists and explains the 7 criteria with which he chose the 60 films for his canon, and decided that his list should be elitist. It is worth reading. Schrader is erudite and eloquent as always, even if you may disagree with his choices. Below is a link the complete (and long) essay.
http://paulschrader.org/articles/pdf/2006-FilmComment_Schrader.pdf
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Not that anybody *cares*, but...
LIfe is good. Been vegan over two months now. It is true that I must do a lot more cooking at home than ever before, but I have adjusted with the help of a bunch of vegan cookbooks I purchased. Love making my protein shakes of almond milk, protein powder, and fruit first thing every morning. I feel great.
Excited about hiking up to the summit of Mt. Whitney again in the fall. It's funny; what I feared the most--altitude sickness--about hiking it the first time last September, never materialized...although I did see plenty of hikers get sick. It was surreal seeing a couple of them vomiting on the trail at about 13,000 ft. A few could not complete the ascent, and one turned back with only 2.5 miles left to the summit. It is my dream within the next couple of years to backpack through the John Muir Trail from Yosemite Valley to Mt. Whitney. 220 miles or so, and I would give myself three to complete it. Lots of planning and training to do till then.
Am thankful for everyday I am granted. Still so happy and grateful that I got to meet Harlan Ellison again....
REPLY TO MARK GOLDBERG
No, I changed it myownself. Sorry, Doctor Knowitall.
"Dogfight on 101" (which is the Hollywood/Ventura Freeway near my home) was its original magazine title. But as time progressed, I got more of an ironic kick from thinking of it as "Along the Scenic Route," so when I included it in my hardcover collection, I amused myself aesthetically by changing it; and so it remains; for all time.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
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