Last Week's Jam Tracks IV

Here's the tracks from last week's jam tracks from the local pub. 

The first track we played was Sunshine of Your Love (a staple of ours-me and martin my drummer friend), but this time it was performed with Jim, the house drummer at the open jam and an unknown bassist to me. The bass player is very good, as is Jim, which makes the guitar playing and singing very easy to do. I'm pretty proud of the solo I did here on Sunshine, a mix of straight up blues rock Hendrix-esque licks with a bit of shred. I like how when we ended the song I played the riff to Day Tripper retardando haha. That cowbell though! 

The next tune we played was Steve Vai's Bad Horsie. I still haven't gotten the hang of playing this so off the cuff and never practicing it with the musicians I play it with but I tried it again. Here it sounded pretty good with Jim's drumming and Bassist X's bass sound. I went for a super fast shred solo here. I really dig that melody and that metal riff. Steve Vai is a pretty big influence.

This week my drummer friend Martin couldn't make it so I played with the ace drummer Jim and this mysterious Bassist X dude with long hair and glasses, it turned out pretty well. My guitar sounded really great here, it sounds really in tune!  

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/sunshine-of-your-love-cool-bass-and-drums
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/bad-horsie

Last Week's Jam Tracks III

Here are the live tracks from last week's open jam at Petie's Place, this bar I frequent a lot.

The first tune we played was Black Sabbath's Paranoid, pretty easy song right? Well, I did kind of mess up the song last week because I forgot to come in w/ some verses and instead just went into a guitar solo, then found my place back within the song. That's how you cover up a mistake folks, go into impromptu guitar solo mode! I'm still working on bringing more emotion into the singing.

Next, we played Sunshine of Your Love by the Cream. This has been like our swansong so to speak. Sometimes hearing my voice makes me cringe hard but when I hear the guitar playing I think again (lols). My vocals are definitely getting better but its still hard to get past that speaking voice to singing voice transition. Ken, the percussionist playing tambourine (and records everything for me, thank you) is really on point with his rhythm here. With him and my friend Martin on drums its like playing with two drummers. Martin takes care of fills and colour and Ken takes care of timing with precision.

The last tune we played was an improvised version of Steve Vai's Bad Horsie. I have a habit of doing impromptu versions of guitar instrumentals by shredders (check out this version of Buckethead's Soothsayer here). The melody from Bad Horsie is pretty strong here, a bluesy funky sort of melody that runs into some metal riffing. The way we did it this time I stopped playing and motioned Martin to do a drum solo. As you can hear it sounded pretty damn good. My friend Martin is really coming into his own as a rock and roll drummer. At the end I did some tapping and held a note for what seemed like eons while Martin played some crazy rolls. That's pretty cool.

Here are all the tracks, enjoy!

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/paranoid-forget-the-verse-ha
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/sunshine-of-your-love-latest-version
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/steve-vai-bad-horsie-impromtu-jam-version

Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus

Hello everybody! Here I'd like to discuss Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, which I literally just finished reading just now. The book was inspired by Mary Shelly and her friends friends who used to tell each other ghost stories around the campfire, they all decided they should all write their own ghost story and whoever wrote the best one, that one would get published. This is the only one that got done and published folks. Its quite good and inspired movie(s), cartoons, video games, and much more. The first unedited version was written and published in 1819, making this the oldest science fiction I've ever read, wow!

This book can be a little difficult to get into at first. Everybody knows the story of Frankenstein and the book only differs from the movie in some slight ways. For example, the monster here is eloquent and quite poetic, however, that is just the writing, times, and style of the book. The writing is quite formal, which is expected of the time in which it was written. For instead of thinking of the monster as eloquent, its more evident that the monster is a product of the times (1819) and that he is still quite evil despite his mastery of persuasion and making the reader feel sympathy for the state of this pathetic wretch.

The main difference from the book and the 1930s movie we've all seen is that Victor Frankenstein (the creator, mad scientist) gets a full biography and history where we learn near the end that the woman he is to marry is a childhood friend that his family took in, almost like a sister, which to me was a little incestuous but otherwise not that different from the movie. In addition, his monster torments and kills members of his family in the book, whereas in the movie the monster accidentally kills a villager's daughter. Also, the ending of the book is quite different from the movie, but I do like that after all is said and done our monster runs away like a thief into the night. It was quite a fitting ending for what could be construed as science fiction horror.

Today we look at this kind of thing and call it horror but back at its inception this type of writing would be considered science fiction. Mary Shelly's writing here is quite stylized; formal, educated, high art of a certain style. Its definitely a product of its time and I could see some people having trouble getting used to the literary style. I've found that I really enjoy these old types of science fiction writings, especially by women, they have a certain voice that men don't have. I suspect I'll learn more about this as I read more and more science fiction by female authors. I just ordered Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, which is a sort of feminist cyberpunk sort of thing. I'm looking forward to reading that next.

However, Frankenstein is a hellova novel. I liked it so much that I'll probably want to read it again in the future, probably some months or years down the line. There's a sensation of eerie evil doings alongside justice in this book and it seems to do it in a literary personable voice rather than just being sinister just because. It's great, and if you like the movie then you should definitely check out the book.

"Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery."

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a drama movie written, directed, and produced by Martin Mcdonagh. The film follows a mother who puts up three billboards outside her town after the police fail to find out who raped and killed her daughter. Its been seven months and no arrest. These billboards say "RAPED WHILE DYING", "AND STILL NO ARRESTS?", and "HOW COME, CHIEF WILLOUGHBY?" Needless to say this polarizes the community.

Actress Frances McDormand plays such a fantastic grieving mother and we feel so much sympathy for her despite her doing some terrible and illegal things like setting the police building on fire and insulting the dignity of a midget (Peter Dinklage) that wanted to take her out to dinner and be there for her in a trying time.

The movie mostly revolves around a white town (in Missouri) that is pretty damn racist, where most of the cops are country hicks, real redneck types. The movie is about the characters and emotional seriousness that isn't seen too often in Hollywood blockbusters. This one is a little sad. In the end we don't know what emotions to have, other than the ones we initially had at the beginning of the film when she first puts up the bill boards.

The movie did very well at the box office. At the 75th Golden Globe Awards, the film won the awards for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Actress – Drama (McDormand), Best Supporting Actor (Rockwell), and Best Screenplay-wow! So the masses (regular johns) really loved this movie. I can see why, its quite effective at what it does, intrigue and inquiry, we want to keep learning more and more until the end where we get a non-ending. 

The film ends with a stupid cop and McDormand (playing Mildred, the grieving mother) going to the state of Idaho to find this guy who is supposedly a rapist, and even though the police commissioner told him that his dna didn't match the murdered girl's killer, they still want to go to his place and kill him. But they're not quite sure if they want to go on with the murder, so they agree that they will decide on the way there. That's how the movie ends, essentially a non-ending to which my friend said, "They're just going to end it like that." "Guess so." Its a pretty good ending for what I consider to be a non-linear movie.

The movie doesn't have any particular linear direction where it hits a climax and then things fizzle out, and then climax again, nothing really like that. Instead, a ton of different things happen throughout the film and all of it works in an effective way, everything has a lasting effect in the movie, its very well done. This movie is a more effective movie than The Shape of Water, which I also saw today. I would say this is the better movie but that I liked The Shape of Water better because fundamentally this movie is so serious and goes into the realm of losing a child in such a violent, brutal way, that in many respects I just can't understand that. I can, but only up to a point. The movie is quite transgressive, but again, in a effective way. You should definitely see it if you haven't yet.

Mildred Hayes: So how's it all going in the nigger- torturing business, Dixon?
Dixon: It's 'Persons of color'-torturing business, these days, if you want to know. And I didn't torture nobody.

The Shape of Water

The Shape of Water is a fantasy (and somewhat science fiction) drama film directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by del Toro and Vanessa Taylor (of tv and movie fame, she wrote for seasons 2 and 3 of Game of Thrones). The film follows a mute custodian woman working in a security government facility, where she befriends and falls in love with an amphibian creature. Think creature from the black lagoon except this creature is way too cute and human-like. 

Anyways, the plot is simple enough. The woman frees our amphibian dude from the lab where she falls in love with him, and they even have sex! She has a great ass by the way and the film has a bit of sexual sensuousness. There's a couple scenes where we see her masturbating, always in the tub full of water. But I digress. 

It must be said with utmost authority that actress Sally Hawkins (who plays Elisa the lead female role) makes this movie, the monster doesn't add much. Her acting is so lovely, so pure, and in the scene where she was singing I got caught up in her poetic elegance. Back to the story. 

So she frees him (the monster) and the bad guys from the facility eventually find out she has him. The bad guy shoots our amphibian and our girl, and they both die. However, the amphibian heals himself, surprise! He has a healing factor! What is this Logan? After he heals his bullet wound in a second he slashes our bad guy across the face, killing him instantly. If he was this god-like and powerful why was he chained up and beaten so easily earlier in the film? After that he takes Elisa (our girl) and jumps into the river (they were at a harbor where he was to be transported elsewhere but plans got sent to hell), where a sort of magikal realism occurs.

At this point we can choose to believe that a) Elisa gets killed and that the monster turns her scars into gills, thus turning her into a sort of reverse mermaid or b) the monster grabs Elisa and jumps into the river, and what we see is an illusion scene of love, fantasy, and romance, showing that Elisa's love for the monster has transcended human nature, that she has become like him, thus the gills. Either way its quite an interpretative ending, albeit a lazy one. 

Another complaint is that the monster was too damn cute and puppy-like. A true monster by definition has to be ugly, perhaps even disturbed in some ways, think Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. This monster was not a 'true' monster, in fact, other than him eating the head off a cat and killing the bad guy, he was hardly monster-like. Instead, del Toro relies on a cutesy Disney sort of love affair, effective enough for Best Director and Best Score at the 75th Golden Globes but it doesn't satisfy me in any realistic way. The film tries to allow Elisa to transcend human nature with this love story but it doesn't get the nitty gritty down right. The devil's always in the details. 

However, I can see why this movie is such a success. I can see why women and girls especially like it a lot, it is very much a romantic type of thing. This is the kind of movie you would bring a date to, or your girl friend, perhaps even your wife if she's open to different kinds of movies. Its quite good and I enjoyed it very much but the monster isn't really a true monster, he's a sort of cute puppy dog, which I can see why the girls would like the film and the creature. 

Giles: [interpreting Elisa] When he looks at me, the way he looks at me... He does not know, what I lack... Or - how - I am incomplete. He sees me, for what I - am, as I am. He's happy - to see me. Every time. Every day. Now, I can either save him... or let him die.

Metropolis (novel)

Hey! What's up everybody? Its been quiet on this page the last couple days because I've been pretty tired and I took a night off from my work (reading) so I was behind with my readings. Now I'm all caught up, as I've already finished another novel, this time Metropolis written by German female intellectual Thea von Harbou. Metropolis is also the name for the movie that was made and inspired by this book. The book came first, and the movie thereafter.

The story of the book follows closely the movie so rather than rehash what I already wrote about you can get the gist of the plot from my movie synopsis, which can be read here. There's actually not much information on this book on the Wikipedia page for it but it should be known that the end of this book concludes with Freder's father realizing that his dead wife will be with him till the ends of the Earth (she died and left a letter for him). Lets focus on the literary style and high art that is this novel.

The novel is a short two hundred and fifteen pages but the writing style can be hard to wrap your head around. This is high German art language and Thea von Harbou was quite the intellectual, you can tell by the English translation of her writing. Don't get me wrong, its not dense by any means but there's a sense that you have to really understand everything you're reading because its so highly stylized. One sentence that describes a simple thing could turn into a whole page affair but she does it in a way that you want to read more about that one thing, without making it boring or trivial. Its quite something, I don't think I've ever read anything quite like this, its a powerful novel.

The film omits references that the book made to the occult. There's tons of references and images to the occult here but because I'm not familiar with that realm I didn't see it as particularly offensive or foul by any means. I learned about some evil things I suppose but its nothing that's going to make me wet the bed at night (lol). Besides, the pentagram beside the machine-woman is pretty evil enough for 1927.

In addition, the film omits moral motivation for certain actions by the main characters. Yes, the book differs quite a bit from the movie's characters, which are more black and white. In the book the characters are much more detailed, much like real people. We don't necessarily see things as good or evil, there's all these gray areas that are quite apparent.

This book is great! I would recommend the book to any science fiction readers, women that want to get into science fiction, and people who like really old books. I liked it so much I might read it again much sooner than expected, I could see myself reading it again in a few months or so, just to see if it still has that same poetic fire and intensity from the first read through. Definitely check this book out.

HEAD and HANDS need a mediator. THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN HEAD AND HANDS MUST BE THE HEART!

Kindred

Kindred is a time travel slave narrative written by Octavia Butler, an important black female science fiction writer from California. In Kindred a black woman (named Dana) in 1976 is transported to early 19th century Maryland (pre-Civil War), where she meets her ancestors, Rufus (white slave owner) and Alice (a black free woman forced back into slavery later in life).

The book is a first person account from Dana's point of view. She has a lot of trouble adjusting to becoming a slave, and the descriptions of events that happen to her and other slaves is horrifying. Butler has described the work as 'a grim kind of fantasy'. The novel takes into account power, gender, race issues, and speculates on future egalitarianism. Although this is science fiction because of its powerful portrayal of slave life this book is often a required reading for high school classes exploring African American literature.

Now I'd like to go into more detail about some of the topics that come to light from this book.

First, the story is from a woman's point a view, and a black woman at that. You could say its a sort of feminism but the idea of the strong black female protagonist isn't portrayed enough in science fiction novels, its a breath of fresh air. In the book Dana tries to change Rufus, her white slave owning relative by appealing to reason, and trying to allow him to see the evil in the ways of his time period. A man couldn't do that nearly as well or as clever as a woman.  

Race used as a social construckt. This book explores race thoroughly. The fact that she time travels back to the past shows a race paradigm that goes from the present (1970s) to the past (pre-Civil War) and goes into the present (today). 

"The lesson of Dana’s trips to the past, then, is that "we cannot escape or repress our racist history but instead must confront it and thereby reduce its power to pull us back, unthinkingly, to earlier modes of consciousness and interaction."  (wiki)    

Lastly, we have the meaning of the novel's title, Kindred. Kindred means a couple of things; it refers to the genealogical link between Dana and her ancestors but it also refers to the Universal link between all Americans regardless of ethnic background. Kinship of blacks and whites must be acknowledged if America is to become a better place for all.

Kindred is Butler's bestseller and its easy to see why. It oozes literary style (what a voice), emotional impact and drama, and keeps you on the edge of your seat for the two hundred and sixty page ride. As my first Octavia Butler book I was not disappointed, I look forward to reading more of her work soon. I'd also be interested in reading this again at a later date.

“‘Don’t argue with white folks,’ [Luke] had said. ‘Don’t tell them ‘no.’ Don’t let them see you mad. Just say ‘yes, sir.’ Then go ’head and do what you want to do. Might have to take a whippin’ for it later on, but if you want it bad enough, the whippin’ won’t matter much.”

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction novel written by Douglas Adams in 1979. You can see the book influenced science fiction in a popular cultural aspect, just take a look at Dr. Who and this book is that. The idea of the actual book in the novel, entitled The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a book with so much information compiled into it that it could be city, this idea is in a book I'm currently reading, Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age Or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. In this book an electronic book is given to a girl of a lower social class, a book compiled by men in government. That idea is much more serious than this book however. But Hitchhiker's is good fun. 

The plot follows a cast of characters (one human with a bunch of aliens) following the destruction of the planet Earth. This alien who was living on Earth for fifteen years and got stranded and this human are the only Earthlings that lived through it and now they've gone out into the Galaxy as sort of space dandy ronin, thus hilarity and shenanigans ensue.

It must be mentioned that Douglas Adams also wrote for Monty Python and it is evident here. There's lots of off the wall wacky descriptions of things (often with made up words), hilarious comedy dialogue, all the while being descriptive in a quasi literary way. 

I thought the ending was kind of funny. So basically because the Earth man had been on the Earth right before it was destroyed, somehow he knew the meaning to life (or something like that), and these mice (who were the secret overlords of the Earth, although they allowed themselves to be tested on by humans) needed his brain to access it and give this Universal Truth to the entire Universe, which needed to be said by this millions of years old Computer. They needed to remove his brain. Got that?

Its just funny that ultimately they found themselves in a sort of popular science fiction cyberpunk moment, which was a change of pace from the rest of the book, which is mostly descriptions of things and evolution of plot. There's a part where our gang of misfits meet two liberal cops who say they're just regular guys, liberals who embrace their girl friends in the fact that they feel bad when they shoot or kill people, and that they like to write poetry but haven't had anything published. It was an over the top moment like most of this book, but this part in particular had a Zen feeling, we can humanize our enemies, even within the contexts of this fun space adventure. That's probably the best thing I can say about it. Its not quite like the science fiction I mostly read, which is all serious works about class and society but it was a fun alternative for something to read in between my usual readings. Right now I'm reading through Octavia Butler's Kindred and I gotta say it is phenomenal, I'll be writing about that novel next. 

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."

Last Week's Jam Tracks II

Here's last week's jam tracks from Peties Places' open jam that I go to every week. Peties is this really cool bar that I've been jamming at for a while, one drink minimum, a pool table, and free popcorn, wow! Its a cool place and this is where I've met the drummer I'm working with right now, my friend Martin.

The first song we started off the set with (three song set) was Black Sabbath's Paranoid. This one we started off like a bat out of hell and it sounded great. I was pretty happy with the performance as it was the first time we've ever played the song live. I think I did a great job on the solo sounding like Tony Iommi, that pentatonic box shape man! 

Next, we played Smoke on the Water, which we've done in the past but not nearly as well as this rendition. My vocals were a little spotty in certain sections but overall I would say I pulled it off. I really enjoy the hand percussion on this piece, I think I notice Ken's sound a lot more in this particular recording. I liked what I was doing with the vocals on the chorus, giving it that more British pronunciation. This song is a long time coming with Martin, it took him a while to get the drumming down, he does a good job. The improvised guitar solo has some sections where it sounds like things Blackmore would play, but is also unique.

Lastly, we ended with Spirits of the Dead, which has been a 'cult classic hit' for our 'band' (just me and Martin). I've been enjoying posting many versions of the same song because I really like the song a lot. I wrote and recorded it on the first day of October and I was heavily inspired by black metal when I was recording it. Think about coarse singing into a microphone on the first morning of October, bad ass.

You can find the tracks below.
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/spirits-of-the-dead-most-recent-version
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/smoke-on-the-water
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/paranoid

Check out my Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17
And my other Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763

Long live rock and roll.

The Beats

The Beats: A Very Short Introduction by David Sterritt is a cute one hundred and twenty six page book about the Beatnik writers and poets from the 1950s. The lives and works of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S.Burroughs are covered with great detail in addition to Neal Cassady, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, John Clellon Holmes, Gary Snyder, and Kenneth Rexroth. I must also mention LeRoi Jones, Anne Waldeman, and DiPrima too, as they are mentioned near the end.

My dad found the short book at the library and thought it would give me a better perspective on the true Hipsters (not the Arcade Fire fans), the Beatniks, as I formed an interest and I've been reading Kerouac's On the Road, which I found out is one of the most important works to come out of this movement.

I learned that the Beats mostly came from middle class and sometimes even bourgeois background, which gave them the comfortable life, which enabled them to becomes Beats in the first place. You can't become an artist and dissident of society if you are struggling to survive or pay rent. They were mostly white males who explored with sexuality, drugs, and religion. Ginsberg and Burroughs were gay in a time where being gay could get you beaten up or possibly killed. The Beats were avid readers of Oriental religious text, and were heavily inspired by Buddhism. Interestingly enough I had a book on Zen Buddhism that I read everyday for a while until I could understand the hermeneutics  of it. I can leave the gay sex and drugs (especially hard drugs) behind though (lol).

Another important influence on the Beats was jazz music, particularly bebop. Ginsberg had a name for Kerouac's improvisational writing style where he would write and write without stopping, creating the sensation of a saxophone player blowing on the bandstand. I like that very much. I'm beginning to see jazz's influence on literature a lot more now after reading this book whereas before when I was just reading about the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, a book by George Lewis) and biographies (Kansas City Lightning by Stanley Crouch), I couldn't see that correlation. But now I see that jazz has an even longer extended reach than I previously thought, interesting indeed.

I especially liked the ending of the book where Sterritt makes a bold universal claim; nearly all the movements that sprang up in recent times owe something in part to the Beats. He makes references to the Tea Party Movement, Occupy Movement, Cyberpunk (of which I am definitely apart of) Movement, and more. In a lot of ways I can see that he's right. In order for various movements to be started people have to reject society in a certain way, to create their own form of society through art, in this case through artistic literary works. It's quite wonderful.

All these writers will be legends in the future. The world won't forget them. It seems as society has become more conservative (the Reagan years and now in the Trump years) the ideas of the Beats have never sounded so universal. Sterritt says that there are Beats (in a different sense) in other countries but especially China, where there are people who are different kinds of Beats that might come to important and historical light in the upcoming years. All interesting things to think about.

Its quite a good book and if you want to learn about these great writers, their works, and the Beatniks in general this would be a great place to start. Very informative, engaging, and most importantly fun to read.

Lastly, learning all this stuff about the Beats makes me realize that most of the young people today who believe that are true outsiders are actually quite conservative conformists. The idea of young people today believing that they are 'different', 'cool', outside of the norms of society is quite wrong. Most of them will never truly be outsiders because they will never have to deal with status inconsistency. These writers did. That's the difference.

Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/jack_kerouac_119789

Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion. -Kerouac 

Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/jack_kerouac_119789

You Are Not A Gadget

You Are Not A Gadget (a manifesto) is a book written in 2010 by vr (virtual reality) specialist, computer programmer (that works at Microsoft), and musician Jaron Lanier. I've actually written about one of his other books before and that can be found here. In the book Lanier states that the developments of web 2.0 is elevating the collective hive mind at the expense of the individual. He uses Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, and Linux as examples. On Wikipedia we have a sort of mob rules from anonymous editors with a weakness in non-scientific content. He also criticizes the open software crowd by saying that they can't create something truly unique, new, or innovative.

In addition, he states that the open source approach has made it difficult to create a middle class of financed content, instead we have "lords of the clouds', people who by luck or virtue make it to be one of the masters of the universe within the cloud.

Lastly, and most importantly be brings up MIDI electronic notes for music. Here he makes a lot of criticisms about the new music standard and the life of musicians in modern times, how hard it is for them to make a living. He has much to say on the topic, after all he is a musician too. He was quite dark on the topic. In fact, he believes we're going through an artistic dark ages. He's probably right.

Anyways, the book is quite the manifesto. He has many ideas but all of these ideas are only useful if you look at them from every angle as a whole. The book makes me envision and wonder about the future more than ever. In some ways we're already living in the future but this book makes me aware of the fact that human evolution still has a long way to go, especially with our mammoth machines, computers, the collective hive mind, and the internet.

It was a fast and short read, only two-hundred pages. I recommend this book to internet users, computer techies, futurists, and science fiction readers. The book is pure electronic philosophy, and its engaging, fun, and intellectually stimulating.

“Funding a civilization through advertising is like trying to get nutrition by connecting a tube from one’s anus to one’s mouth.”  

The Demolished Man

The Demolished Man is a science fiction novel written by Alfred Bester in 1953. The book was the first winner of the prestigious science fiction honor, the Hugo Award. This book is cyberpunk's version of Crime and Punishment.

The story is set in the 24th century in a universe of telepaths (Espers, called peepers in the book), although telepathic effectiveness depends on how great of a telepathic the person is. For example there are level 1 telepaths (the best), level 2 (pretty good), and level 3 (not of much use but still employed).

Here's a basic synopsis of the book.

A man named Ben Reich (owner of Monarch Utilities and Resources) is a rich megacorporation owner and he finds that his megacorporation is in jeopardy (danger of bankruptcy) because of his rival the D'Courtney Cartel, headed by the older Craye D'Courtney. He has nightmares about a "Man With No Face", which always leaves him scared for his life, and throughout the book even screaming and running.

Reich contacts D'Courtney about a merger between the companies and Reich misreads D'Courney's response as a refusal. So Reich creates a plan to murder him so his company will be alright, and so he will be able to take over the D'Courtney Cartel. Because of the peepers its hard to commit murder and murder hasn't been committed for seventy-nine years. If caught Reich will have to serve "Demolition" for his crime, which is later described as a sort of violent mental and neurological re-education. 

In order to carry out the murder Reich builds a mental block using a song he hears.

Eight, sir; seven, sir;
Six, sir; five, sir;
Four, sir; three, sir;
Two, sir; one!
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tension, apprehension,
And dissension have begun. 

Believe it or not this jingle actually prevents most of the Espers from hearing and seeing his murderous intent. I could get more detailed with the plot but I think I will go with my edited short-hand version for the sake of being easier on the eyes (lol).

So basically Reich ends up killing D'Courtney, and he hires two strong Espers to work for him while he is being investigated by the police and their own league of peepers. D'Courtney's daughter catches Reich at the scene of the crime (where he shot D'Courtney through the mouth, blowing through his skull) and she runs away. She gets found later by the police who have her undergo some sort of mental rebirth, not Demolition but still mentally jarring. 

At the same time Powell, the main cop doing the murder investigation is finding out tons of information but he needs everything to be right if he's to prosecute, as this could make or break his career. Not only that, but the murder could be a break in the universe, for he couldn't take information from peepers about the crime because that would be against the Esper Guild Oath, which he had to respeckt at all costs. Even though he had or could get information about the murder from peepers it was against Esper regulations to use it in court. So there's that. Ethics in the future just like today.

So we have Reich and Powell fighting and going through the ropes, the criminal and the cop after him. Eventually Reich comes face to face with the Man With No Face, which turns out to be part himself and part D'Courtney, who is revealed to be his father. Surprise! The bad guy is your father! Star Wars anyone?

Anyways, Powell "asks the help of every Esper in attempting to arrest Reich, channeling their collective mental energy through Powell in the dangerous telepathic procedure called the "Mass Cathexis Measure". He justifies this by claiming that Reich is an embryonic megalomaniac who will remake society in his own twisted image if not stopped." (wiki)

Reich is revealed to be the son of D'Courtney, the result of an affair between his mother and D'Courtney, making Barbara (D'Courtney's daughter) his half-sister. Barabara is revealed to be a peeper so its possible that Reich's hatred for D'Courtney was inspired by a telepathic connection, which is also a sort of Freudian complex.

"Once arrested and convicted, Reich is sentenced to the dreaded Demolition— the stripping away of his memories and the upper layers of his personality, emptying his mind for re-education. This 24th-century society uses psychological demolition because it recognizes the social value of strong personalities able to successfully defy the law, seeking the salvaging of positive traits while ridding the person of the evil consciousness of the criminal." (wiki) 

The idea of re-education for criminals is a good one. I like that idea very much, in fact if America re-educated all the criminals we would live in a better society. It doesn't have to be as drastic as this book, it could simply be re-education through labor like how the Chinese do it.

The book shows us that although the world may change in the future with its technological advances, human nature will always remain the same. People will still be evil, murder will still take place in the future. Here we have a story that isn't utopia, nor is it post-apocalyptic, its almost like how real life actually was in Alfred Bester's time-the 50's.

The idea of the peepers is totally science fiction. In addition the idea that the bad guy is your father is also a popular trope in science fiction (Star Wars). The idea of Demolition (re-education of criminal minds) is also another popular idea from many contexts. I remember when I played the video game Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic I, in the end you find out that you were an evil murderer ruler of the Galaxies, and that the Jedi re-programmed your mind and swayed you to do right to all the wrongs you had committed. The book reminded me of that game.

This is a pretty important book in science fiction I would say. I was inspired by Bester's other novel, The Stars My Destination (which you can read about here), and I have to say I was not disappointed by this book either. The literary style has finesse and gravitas. In fact, the prose has such momentum that once I started reading it I could hardly put it down until I finished it. I felt exactly the same way as when I was reading Tiger! Tiger! (The Stars My Destination). Here is great writing and he finished the book in less than three-hundred pages. It's terrific. I've learned a lot about the old school style science fiction of the 1950's and I'm ready to read more.

Definitely check out this novel if you like science fiction.

“If a man's got talent and guts to buck society, he's obviously above average. You want to hold on to him. You straighten him out and turn him into a plus value. Why throw him away? Do that enough and all you've got left are the sheep.”

Liliom

Liliom is an expressionist fantasy French film directed by Fritz Lang in 1934. Its based off a Hungarian play by Ferenc Molnár, which is where the movie's name comes from. The film stars Charles Boyer as Liliom, a carousal worker who gets fired from his job after defending a woman named Julie (Madeleine Ozeray), all because his boss was jealous of her and the attention he was giving her.

Julies becomes smitten with Liliom and they begin living together. The problem is that Julie works and takes care of Liliom but he doesn't work, he just takes and is a lazy bastard. Eventually Liliom learns he's about to become a father. So he takes part in a robbery, but it turns out the rich man they tried to rob had a gun! Rather than let himself be arrested he ends up stabbing himself, and his soul is transported to heaven. He sees all these babies with angel wings, and angels playing harps and stuff, space itself (fantasy elements). A heavenly commissioner tells him he's stuck in purgatory unless he goes back to Earth to do one good deed. That's the basic synopsis for the film.

"Liliom was one of the two first French productions by producer Erich Pommer for Fox-Europa and director Fritz Lang's only French film. On the film's release it was protested by the French Catholic clergy and was generally not well received by French film critics or playwright Ferenc Molnár. Despite the reception, the 1934 Liliom was one of Lang's favorites out of all his films." (wiki) 

I can see why the film was berated by French Catholic clergy for sure. The depiction of heaven is quite silly and laughable, however it is a product of its time and quite expressionistic, thus a bit unrealistic. More on the plot.

Once Liliom is in purgatory the commissioner asks him why he beat Julie (he was a woman beater folks), Liliom says he doesn't know. Then the commissioner plays a video of him talking to and then slapping Julie. Then he plays the same video, this time showcasing Liliom's thoughts out loud. He realizes he hit Julie a lot because he hated himself for his cruelty and selfishness (he finished the coffee in that video and didn't offer any to Julie until it was all gone, then proceeded to yell at her).

Sixteen years pass in purgatory and Liliom goes down to Earth to meet his daughter. He catches up with her and tells her that he knew her father, and that he was a violent brute. He had a gift for her too, a star that he stole on the way down to Earth from the heavens. His daughter Louise gets upset and throws the star in the gutter. The scale of good and evil gets tipped more towards the evil. This scale has the pyramid and all-seeing eye at the top of it, and the devil begins to inscribe Liliom's name on his tablet. Liliom slaps his daughter's hand out of frustration before he gets lifted back to the heavens.

Lousie goes to her mother and tells her Liliom's slap felt like a kiss. She then asks her if its possible to be beaten but for it not to hurt at all. Her mother says yes and and the two of them embrace with tears in their eyes. The scales of justice then tips towards the heavenly side and Liliom's name is slowly removed from the devil's tablet. Ending screen, FIN.

The film mostly got negative reception. But that didn't stop Fritz Lang from loving the movie. "Despite the film's reception, Liliom was one of Lang's favourite directorial efforts. In 1974, Lang stated that "Liliom, I always liked very much... Today, I almost like Liliom best of all". 

I actually liked the movie. It's the second Fritz Lang movie I've seen and I think he did a job directing it. I would say most of all I like the acting style in the movie the most. It had a sincere quality, the qualities of the characters seemed so believable and realistic, these characters could be people in real life with real life problems and lack of solutions.

The fantasy element of it was fun. In this film we find that for people who don't necessarily belong in heaven, there's justice waiting for them, and that's what we find in this film. I liked the special effect of the star that he tried to give to his daughter. And then there was the entire heavenly images and the scale with the devil, which was his friend that wanted to rob this rich man, except that he was in black face, or just covered in black paint wearing no shirt and shrubbery as his pantaloons. Kind of makes you wonder if they were trying to portray the evil side as African, which may or may not be the case.

All that being said, I don't think this is a necessary film to watch or know about, after all, its quite esoteric and expressionistic with its ideas. But I do think that its a good movie and quite an entertaining two hours of cinema. I would recommend this film to film students, directors, and film connoisseurs who haven't seen much of Fritz Lang's work. I highly recommend you see Metropolis from 1924 if you haven't seen it.

Liliom Zadowski: Even in Heaven, there's only justice - nothing but justice!

From the Earth to the Moon

From the Earth to the Moon (French: De la terre à la lune) is a science fiction novel written by French writer Jules Verne in 1865, the oldest science fiction I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Its quite archaic with its primitive (but at the time quite spot on) scientific facts about ballistics, science, and astronomy. 

The book tells the story of a Gun Club creating a spaceship (the Colombiad Space gun) that blasts off to the moon at the end. The Gun Club's President, his armor making rival, and French poet are the ones who get launched out in the nether of space. Everything in between is mostly scientific facts and happenings going on the United States and around the world based off the Gun Club's actions.  

Although one could say that all the hard 'facts' or science in this book is pretty unrealistic and probably goes off to the realm of surrealism it must also be noted that it is quite close to reality given the science of the day (1865). To my understanding of science and physics I look at the facts of this book and see it for its imaginative creativity, and I also see it for its literal realism, for the facts are quite close to reality according to online sources. I'd like to call it a sort of magickal realism if you will. From there you can go into the idea of metaphysics but the book is perhaps too science driven to go to that extreme. However, you can't talk about man leaving his place of origin and exploring other planets without entering into that realm.

"The story is also notable in that Verne attempted to do some rough calculations as to the requirements for the cannon and, considering the comparative lack of any data on the subject at the time, some of his figures are surprisingly close to reality. However, his scenario turned out to be impractical for safe manned space travel since a much longer muzzle would have been required to reach escape velocity while limiting acceleration to survivable limits for the passengers." (wiki)

Another thing to note is that the story takes place some time after the Civil War, and the Gun Club is based in Baltimore, lead by Union scientists, who were formerly soldiers. Some even had their limbs blown off in battle. There's descriptions of men in the club with hooks and such. 

This book is a part of a series and its sequel is called Around the Moon, which describes everything once they actually land on the moon. This first book is the preparations and the launching-FIRE! So I have my work cut out for me, I still have another novel to read. Thankfully, this book was only one hundred and fifty-three pages so its quite a short read. 

One more thing to note is that this book had quite an influence on popular culture-cinema and literature. This book inspired the movie A Trip to the Moon, the first science fiction film ever (which is how I learned about this) and H.G. Wells made a reference to it in his 1901 novel The First Men in the Moon. 

Its quite a fast and enjoyable read. I thought that I would find the archaic writing and old school science facts to be boring, quite dull, but instead I found it to be imaginative and exciting. After reading Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination this was a good follow-up, ancient science fiction from the aftermath of the civil war, the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, Around the Moon, which I will promptly order from my local library at some point in the near future.  

If you like old school text and science fiction this will be something you will want to check out.
  
“How many things have been denied one day, only to become realities the next!” 

Last open jam set of 2017

Here's the last open jam set I played of 2017 at Petie's Place, on Reseda and Oxnard Street. I'm pretty happy with the recordings, mostly because my vocals are a lot better than they've ever been. I've really come a long way with my singing starting last year. I'm really glad I started singing rock and roll. It's a lot smarter and easier, as I don't have to rely on other people to do vocals.

We started off with Sunshine of Your Love with this dude named Allan (a typical blues rocker long hair w/ a Strat). He did a great job jamming with me for the first time ever, I especially liked his leads on Spirits of the Dead, the second song we played. I really liked my solo on Sunshine, I was going for my Hendrix style there.

On Spirits of the Dead Allen's leads really give the piece a new dynamic melody. And then there's me doing black metal style coarse/scream style vocals. Pretty funny! A lot of people say to me that they don't expect that when they see me play. It's cool to have one death metal song, and this is my only one as of now. We played the song a lot faster than we usually do but again Allen's leads really pave the way for a great tune, especially when I repeat the chugging bridge riff and he takes some bluesy leads over it. Spirits of the Dead!

And the last tune we have for you is Blues Improvisation no.1. This tune was just a blues Allen and I called in A. I stuck to dominant and ninth chords in the key of A. I might have switched it to minor ninths near the ending too. Added a little bit of the power chord blues shuffle in there too for contrast. I think my blues solo really hits the heart strong. When I do a blues solo I always try to go for the Hendrixy emotion.

Allen's blues solo on this tune was quite something, as you can hear. He hits a lot of the common cliches but it always sounds good. He's a great player and I'm glad to have jammed with him on the last open jam of 2017. I'm going to do even better to sing better and become a better performer in 2018!

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/sunshine-of-your-love-2
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/spirits-of-the-dead-2
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/blues-improvisation-no1

The Stars My Destination (Tiger! Tiger!)

The Stars My Destination (also known as Tiger! Tiger) is a science fiction novel written by Alfred Bester in 1957. Bester is known for science fiction stories as well as having written for Superman and Green Lantern (he created the Green Latern oath). Its a story that takes place in the 25th century and revolves around Gully Foyle, a teleporter driven mad by revenge.

"Originally serialized in Galaxy magazine in four parts beginning with the October 1956 issue, it first appeared in book form in the United Kingdom as Tiger! Tiger! – after William Blake's poem "The Tyger", the first verse of which is printed as the first page of the novel – and the book remains widely known under that title in markets where this edition was circulated. A working title for the novel was Hell's My Destination^, and it was also associated with the name The Burning Spear." (wiki) 

Lets go over the plot. So the book starts off explaining this universe that Bester has created. Its the far future, people can teleport through their minds but not through space, and people have inhabited other planets and moons. Gully Foyle (an uneducated, unskilled, unambitious man), a monster (for many reasons, which will be explained) of a spaceman is trapped, stranded on a spaceship (the Nomad) for six months, subsisting on rations but pretty much starving and left to die.

All of a sudden he sees another spaceship (the Vorga). He sends out a distress signal and he knows the ship sees it. The ship passes him by and leaves him to die. His rage consumes him. He vows to kill whoever was on that ship, whoever gave the order to leave him there. This becomes his reason to live.

He eventually fixes the ship but gets captured by a cargo cult in the Asteroid belt. They tattoo an ugly mask of a tiger on his face, using needles etched into his face. Foyle eventually makes it back to Terra (Earth) where he makes an attempt to blow up Vorga using explosives. He fails and is captured by Presteign, a rich leader in government. Unknown to Foyle, the Nomad was carring PyrE, a substance that can make the difference between winning or losing in a war with the Outer Satellites.

Foyle goes to a juante proof (teleporting is called juanting) prison and here he meets Jisbella McQueen, and she teaches him to think clearly, and she also tells him that he needs to find out who gave the order to leave him to die, not just kill the people who were aboard the ship (Foyle's not too bright).

Together they escape the prison. Jisbella gets Foyle's tattoos removed but not completely. When Foyle gets emotional the tattoo appears. They return to the Nomad, where they take the PyrE (which is a weapon controlled by thought) and also a fortune in platinum.

Later Foyle returns as a man named "Geoffrey Fourmyle" (Foyle's alias was implanted in his subconscious mind during Dagenham's interrogation, Dagenham is a government worker), a rich dandy who is sort of silly to the other rich people. Through yoga he's learned to control his emotions and keep his tattoo from showing. He meets up with Robin Wednesbury, a one-way telepath, whom he raped earlier in the novel. He persuades her to help him charm his way through high society. The rape in the book brings to mind a problem that has existed for a long time. The rape isn't explicit but it is implied to the utmost degree. It was quite troubling and makes you sort of hate Foyle, but in the end you don't have to like Foyle or any of the characters to enjoy the story for what it is, a grand space opera, true cyberpunk. But I digress.

Foyle ends up tracking down the guys who were on the Vorga when it passed his ship but all of them were implanted with a death-reflex and die when questioned. Every time, Foyle is haunted by the image of "The Burning Man", an image of himself on fire but the fire turns out to be real and sometimes his clothes are actually burning.

At a high society party Foyle becomes smitten with Presteign's daughter Olivia. During a nuclear attack by the Outer Satellites Foyle goes to save Olivia and she says that if he is to have her he has to be as cruel and ruthless as she is. Robin is traumatized by the attack and wants out of this whole operation, so she gives Foyle information (on Vorga, on his whole mission) in exchange for her freedom and leaving this whole thing behind. Foyle takes the information then doesn't allow her to leave. Robin responds by going to Central Intelligence and betraying him.

Foyle learns that the captain of the Vorga joined a cult on Mars and had all her sensory nerves disabled, making her immune to traditional torture so Foyle kidnaps a telepath (a little kid) who interrogates the captain. From this he learns that Vorga didn't pick him up because instead it was picking up refugees, taking their belongings, and tossing them out into space. He also learns that this was all controlled by Olivia Presteign. Commandos come to arrest Foyle on Mars but Olivia ends up saving him, because she sees in him someone who can match her "hatred and need to destroy". 

Foyle becomes stricken with grief and wants to turn himself in for all the evil he's done in the universe. He gets captured by Presteign's lawyer Regis Sheffield, who turns out to be a spy for the Outer Satellites (Terra's enemy). 

"Sheffield tells Foyle that when the Nomad was attacked, Foyle was taken off the ship, transported 600,000 miles away, and set adrift in a spacesuit to be a decoy to attract ships to be ambushed. Instead, Foyle space-jaunted—a previously unknown possibility—back to the Nomad. Now, the Outer Satellites not only want PyrE, they want Foyle as well, to learn the secret of space-jaunting." (wiki)

Presteign reveals that PyrE is activated by telepaths and tells Robin to trigger it to bring out Foyle. Destruction is caused around the world but mainly at St. Patrick's Cathedral (where Sheffield brought Foyle) and it traps Foyle, leaving him unconscious.

"Suffering from synesthesia brought on by the explosion affecting his neurological implants, Foyle jauntes through space and time as The Burning Man. Finally he lands in the future, where Robin telepathically tells him how to escape from the collapsing cathedral." (wiki) 

Back in the present Foyle is pressured to hand over the PyrE and teach the world how to space-juante. He asks a robot what he should do and decides for himself. He juantes throughout Terra and throws a little bit of PyrE out to people, telling them if they want to learn how to space-jaunte they should follow him. "Either destroy yourselves or follow me into space".

Foyle realizes the key to space-jaunting is faith. He juantes from star-to-star finding places for colonization, but only reachable if he shares the secret of space-jaunting. The book ends with him back at the cargo cult, where the cultists await the holy man's revelation.

Wow, what a story! Now I'd like to go over the space opera & cyberpunk elements of this great piece of art and end with my thoughts on the work.

This book was very influential on the cyberpunk movement that would come later in the 1980's, particularly with William Gibson's Neuromancer. The ideas of the megacorporations, cybernetic enhancement (Foyle gets modded in the story, making him a killing machine), juanting (teleporting), telepathy (but limited), poetry (its partially inspired by a poem), and speculative science are all quite related to the space opera genre.

The literary style is quite stylized. In fact, once I started reading the book I couldn't put it down. The writing itself isn't complicated or highly detailed but it has a sort of "I must read more" prose. I read it at work on all my breaks. I wanted to find out more and more until I finished it, its that good. Here's a writer who is stylized, makes the reading exciting, and writes a great story in only two-hundred and thirty pages. This is quite a difference from what I usually read, third wave science fiction writers (I'm right now reading through Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, Or a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer). This book is more interesting than that, more exciting, not necessarily more detailed, but better in the long run because of that. I learned a lot about writing from this book. You don't have to write a thousand pages to get your point across, because instead you can do it in two-hundred.

All that being said, this would be a great novel to come back to in a couple months or years. Twenty or thirty years from now I could read it and either get something new out of its ideas or revel in its literary and cyberpunk style. Either way, its still a fascinating book.