Minireview: Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Brave New World is another entry in the long list of “classics” that I hadn’t previously read. It was both surprisingly good and surprisingly modern… for a book written in 1931, that is. In fact, it contains so many modern concepts and social dilemmas that it must have been way ahead of its time when it was originally written. Sure, there are lots of retro touches here and there – the people revere Ford (of Model-T fame) as a near-deity hero, and there are (naturally enough) no traces of computers yet in what is supposed to be a far-future society. The social engineering methods used do not include genetic engineering, since DNA was still an unknown mystery when the book was written. In addition, the language used is of course a bit old-fashioned in places. But those are details. What is amazing is how relevant this book still is… or maybe this book is more relevant today than it ever was. Partly this is due to the compulsory comparison to another classic “dystopia” book, 1984.
As Neil Postman writes:
“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. … In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us.”
Orwell’s 1984 is the more familiar book to most people, since it presents a direct, oppressive “jackboot stamping on the face of humanity” dystopia, in Stalinist totalitarism style. There are direct historical reference points for that, and many exist even today: North Korea, and many others. Thankfully, that’s a future that most of the planet seems to have avoided. At least for now.
Brave New World is more subtle. It’s written more as a parody of certain visions of utopia, and manages to show that the difference between “utopia” and “dystopia” can be in the eye of the beholder. At first glance, the future shown in the book is near-utopia. Everyone is happy, free sex (with everyone) is near-compulsory for everyone wanting to seem polite, massive amounts of entertainment and sports are easily available everywhere, and people eat drugs on a continual basis to fight off any possible hints of unhappiness. A bright and shiny future….
…except that it has been bought at the expense of individualism and (to a large extent) freedom. History has been rewritten, books are nowhere to be found (and nobody misses them), people are grown via test tubes to conform to social castes (“workers” are grown and conditioned to be truly happy only while doing certain jobs), and nonconformity is heavily frowned upon. Entertainment is everywhere, truth and facts about “serious” things are more elusive.
Looking at the world today, Brave New World is perhaps now more than ever a warning of possible trends. It shows a future where people are happy slaves to conformity and easy contentment. Where entertainment overrules most “real” issues, and where people have exchanged most personal freedoms for snug, drug-supported safety.
It’s a satire, but it’s scary in places because it hits a bit too close to home.
I don’t wonder at all that this book has been heavily banned in various parts of the world, even fairly recently (in some less enlightened U.S. schools, for instance).
Minireview: War On [Insert Noun Here] (Paranoia)
[War On [Insert Noun Here]](amazon:1905850603) is a short campaign for Paranoia, parodying the U.S. “War On Terror/Drugs/Whatever”. In fact, the book is dedicated to George W. Bush, for “advancing the cause of paranoia worldwide”.
The basic plot goes like this: there is a glitch, and the Computer decides that it’s under attack. Since it’s not quite sure who or what is actually attacking, it quickly forms a brand-new entity (Department of Complex Operational Defense) to combat this brand-new deadly threat. Guess who gets to head this department? That’s right, the PCs! Unlike most Paranoia adventures, this one sees the PCs actually get promoted… way above their abilities or means. No, this is not a good thing for the PCs, but this is Paranoia. “Good things for the PCs” is not on the menu.
It’s a pretty amusing scenario, and firmly in the “Classic Paranoia” playstyle. There are lots of bad puns, parodies of real-life events, and unlikely events & antagonists (giant mutant flesh-eating slugs, anyone?). I liked the fact that it does something a bit nonstandard (promoting the PCs) and turns that event into a nightmare, in true Paranoia fashion.There are also some fun jabs made at corporate life and marketing, in general.
On the minus side, as (unfortunately) so usual for a Mongoose book, the proofreading is a bit lacking. Typos here and there, and more seriously there is at least one pre-gen PC writeup completely missing. The Paranoia forums have a fix, however, so don’t let that put you off buying the book – it is pretty good, despite minor faults.
Minireview: Dark Reflections - Spectres (Wraith)
Dark Reflections: Spectres is a sourcebook on Spectres for the old World of Darkness “Wraith” game. It’s on the now-defunct “Black Dog” label, which was White Wolf’s publishing venture into more “mature” material.
Spectres in Wraith (and Orpheus) are very nasty critters and as close to real “evil” as these games really get. The hollowed-out shells of people (and things) who have (often willingly) given themselves up to Oblivion, they inhabit the Labyrinth and wreak havoc in the Shadowlands in general. They are pure antagonists, in almost all cases, being cruel, vicious, nihilistic and sadistic in equal degrees.
…but not necessarily in all cases. This book gives you some insight into their “culture” (if you can call it that), and provides rules for creating Spectre player characters. As the book notes, this would probably be a short, self-destructive campaign, but it might be interesting. Hard to pull off successfully, in any case.
Most GMs (me included) would use this to flesh out Spectre NPCs, of course. “Evil” beings who are cartoon evil aren’t half as convincing as ones who have a motivation and at least some sort of back story. There are some neat ideas here, though not all that much really new – and the rules crunch is for the old WoD ruleset, which might not be all that useful nowadays. I might use some stuff from here if I even get around to running Orpheus, even though that game has a lot of self-contained material on these sorts of critters and doesn’t really need this.
Supernatural considered kick-ass
“You’re sorry you started Armageddon?”
Ok, I still have a metric crapton of tv episodes sitting on my server, waiting for me to grab enough time to watch them. I’ve watched some of them, some are still in the pipeline. Some observations follow.
Supernatural continues to kick ass. Seriously. Sure, the first season was a bit hit and miss, and based on a “monster of the week” idea… but the writers soon realized that they had something a lot cooler in their hands and started working on a bigger plot, using the (somewhat unexpected) talents of the lead actors. Last season (the 4th) was… pretty awesome, not to mince words. This new 5th season looks to be just as good.
Last season they had angels. And not some wimpy “play harps on clouds” versions. No, the “smite it from orbit with extreme prejudice” kind. The kind that’s not interested in justice, or anything “good” (necessarily). This season, they have… well, something worse. Much worse.
From a “sort of fun” show, this has risen to be one of my current favorites (from what’s currently active). Muchos recommended. Supernatural is the best “World of Darkness” version on TV, without being “WoD” in any licensed sense.
Apart from that, my “worth watching” list now includes Stargate Universe. I’ve always liked the Stargate series… it’s good entertainment, and does not take itself too seriously. This new series seems to be better than “Stargate Atlantis”, at least. The characters are interesting, and the setup is pretty cool… if not totally original. It’s a mishmash of Star Trek Voyager and Stargate… but unlike Voyager, the script is (at least so far) not written by drunk baboons and the acting is at least decent. The three-part series pilot was pretty cool, waiting to see where this one goes.
Suprisingly, Fringe has taken off and become quite fascinating. I almost gave up on it… sure, it had some nice moments, but it was just so corny and filled with pseudo-science and technobabble. The background “metaplot” was pretty cool, though, what little of it we saw. This second season, they seem to have dumped most of the crap and concentrated on the big plot. And it works. At best, it reaches the level of X-Files (before it turned into crap). Not sure where this one will go, but I’ll be watching. For now, at least.
A side “hooray” must also be given to Burn Notice. It (also) seems to have found its stride, and is damn funny and entertaining. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, which always helps.
Other that that, nothing has impressed much so far. On the other hand, I have lots of stuff still on the waiting list: Dexter seasons 3 and 4, Californication seasons 2 and 3, True Blood season 2. I expect most of those (at least) to rock.
Minireview: Dead Beat, by Jim Butcher
…and on to the next Dresden Files book, Dead Beat. It’s a bit heftier than most books in the series so far, clocking in at around 450 pages… partly due to a story with lots of supporting characters. The world of these books is getting quite big and complicated, and keeping track of who’s who can be tricky at times.
This book has Harry employed… no, “forced” into hunting down “The Word of Kemmler”, otherwise bad things will happen to a friend. Of course, Harry hasn’t a clue as to what the “Word” even is, let alone where it is. Well, as chance would have it there is a gaggle of very nasty necromancers in town all looking for the very same “Word”, and Harry finds himself drawing fire from all sides. Situation normal, in other words.
Due to previous events, the story contains a lot of Harry being introspective and wondering about the direction he’s going in. Sure, he has gained power, but he has also allied with dark beings and done things that are in the “gray” zone, if not completely black. He has discovered that not everything about his past and people he has trusted has actually been what he has been lead to believe. Also, his newfound relationship with Thomas the vampire is making him seriously rethink parts of his worldview. All this is fine and good, but it does cause some jarring switches in pacing here and there. Also, supporting characters come and go with little warning.
Nevertheless, it’s a good read (hell, all books in this series are) and contains some very nice twists, some of which took me by surprise. The “metaplot” is in full swing here. You do not want to start with this book; you’d just become hopelessly confused.
Minireview: Blood Rites, by Jim Butcher
I’ve really liked the Dresden Files series so far – it’s lightweight entertainment, but it’s damn good lightweight entertainment. Also, with each book the world becomes a bit more complex, and there are starting to be quite a few longer-term “metaplot” issues hanging around. I like that.
Blood Rites is the 6th book in the series, and it’s also one of the best so far. It has Harry getting involved in the porn industry – but not in the on-screen sense, “huge staff” jokes aside. A porn director hires him to trace down the cause of a series of nasty & weird accidents that have been targeting women close to him. It looks like a (very nasty) curse, but who would want to sic something like that on a relatively unknown porn producer? One who seems like a decent guy, to boot. Sure, he has a few ex-wives who bear him grudges, and sure, some other parties in the sex industry would like to see him gone… but a major curse? That’s not something you can just whip up based on something you read on the Internet.
Well, of course things are far from simple, and (no surprise) soon various parties are gunning for Harry Dresden. I’m not sure I want to say any more here for fear of spoiling some plot elements… but it’s good stuff. Harry Dresden going undercover as a porn movie assistant is also good for some laughs.
Minireview: Saturn's Children, by Charles Stross
I seem to be reading a lot of Heinlein-inspired books all the sudden. Not intentionally, mind you, Charles Stross is a kick-ass writer and I generally try to get my hands on all his books, Saturn’s Children is just his latest that I’ve managed to grab. It’s also clearly influenced by Heinlein’s Friday (and by his earlier “juveline” books).
The story is more than a bit confusing (and that’s perhaps its greatest fault). The hero(ine) is a sexbot named Freya; in this future, humanity has just… vanished and all the inhabitants of the solar system are “robots” of one sort or the other. What exactly happened to the humans is never quite made clear. Maybe they commited mass suicide, maybe they went off somewhere, maybe they are all lurking in some hidden fortress. In any case, humanity is long gone and the stuff of legends and rumors – and robots made for (human) sexual pleasure are also effectively made obsolete. So she does what she can to get by, running odd jobs and trying to dodge the vicious robot aristocracy that generally runs things.
Freya is one of a multitude of copies of a certain base template and keeps in touch with her “sisters” now and then. Suddenly, she lands in hot water with a local aristocrat, gets a call for help from one of her sisters, and is also offered a job. Things escalate, and soon she’s running for her life across the solar system, dodging killer robot ninja dwarves and stopping now and then for some steamy robot sex. Yes, really.
It’s a fun romp, and as usual for Stross contains a lot of in-jokes. However, the story is all over the place, and with all the implanted memories going around, can be pretty confusing to follow at times. The pacing is also a bit uneven.
Worth a read, especially if you like early Heinlein; this is a worthy homage to that style. For Stross it’s perhaps a bit under-par, but that’s comparing to a very high standard.
Card with an identity problem
Got a call from Luottokunta (the company managing most/all Finnish credit cards), asking me if I was in Finland at the moment. I said yes, and that I had been here for 3+ weeks now. Turns out that someone has been using “my Visa” in the States during the weekend, buying all sorts of weird stuff from K-Mart, Stop&Shop (whatever that is), and even a burger from McDonalds(!). Since it obviously wasn’t me (hell, we didn’t even visit McDonalds once during our trip), I told them to close the card at once.
Should not be a problem financially, I can easily prove that I was on the other side of the globe at the time. But it is a big hassle. I have to change my card info to various places (Eve Online, EMusic, etc), and to begin with I have to wait a week or so till I get a new card. Since that thing also contains my debit card, I’ll have to resort to the old-fashioned visit to the bank in order to get cash in the meantime. And of course I have to write a letter to Luottokunta once I get this month’s bill, itemizing which charges aren’t mine. Sigh.
Oh well, at least Luottokunta monitors card use in a competent fashion. Apparently the fact that the same card had been used on opposite sides of the globe at more or less the same time raised some red flags.
So… apparently someone managed to copy my card at some point when it was out of my grasp (restaurant, most likely). Or there was an illegal card reader installed at some gas station pump, or some such. It happens, but it’s always annoying.
