Unca Harlan's Art Deco Dining Pavilion

Archive - 05/59/2007 to 08/08/2007

Unca Harlan's Art Deco Dining Pavilion

ABC---ratings

Did anyone here ACTUALLY expect ABC to promote the show in any meaningful way? Come on. Nitwork Television doing anything other than filling the time slot and wishing? Let's get real.

Ratings higher on Star Trek in the 60s? Of course they were. Has nothing to do with quality and everything to do with:

There were only 3 networks back then---many areas had only 1 or 2 channels available, not 50-60 or even over 100---some cities had 1 independent channel that only showed odd stuff and that frequently went off the air early in the evening---PBS was just starting or was just about to start (you do the research, I haven't time)---and finally, American's were still in love with the promise of television and watched it religiously. So of course Trek scored higher than Masters of Science Fiction did.

{{Side note: I am so soured on television that I recently had my cable service disconnected. I can get 2 local channels, and those not very clearly.}}

REPLY TO TODD CASSEL

Hey, kiddo ... thanks for the heads-up. Called Keith Addis, producer of MASTERS..., and sent him your post. HE called the honcho at ABC-TV who could do something about this; and he sent HIM your growl. That's ALL we here in the trenches can do.

Hope it works out for you.

We both know that NOBODY here at Webderland would download a skim for you, so you'll just have to wait for the spiffy extras-abounding DVD package, sooner rather than later.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

Concerning the internet...
Maybe I should have forgone the story, it probably didn't do me any favors...

I didn't mean online gaming or 'net surfing or any ONE or even couple of things people do on the internet. I just meant the attitude, the mindset. The old, y'know, "meeting" people over long distances except you're not really meeting them because they acting in ways they never would 'in the flesh'. Or the flip side, where maybe people show what they're really like because if they did it beyond pushing buttons on a mouse and keyboard, they'd get thumped.

I suppose it sounds better to characterize it as shagin did, though.

And as for the obvious self-absurdity of the idiots... well, maybe. But since it only takes one of them to cancel out my vote, rough me up or say, declare war, I figure it's wise for me to take some time out now and then and consider even what the idiots are doing.

The New York Times ran a headline like "RECORDS MAY PUT NEW SPIN ON HITLER"?

Boy, I'd hate to be Ian Kershaw right now. Completes a detailed, thoroiughly-researched two volume biography of Hitler, regarded as definitive... and now he'll have to _rewrite_ it all because Hitler had a couple of Mahler records. Bet _his_ face is red.

To Rob: what's so effeminate about "charm?" Look who have it. Our host. George Clooney. Cary Grant. Errol Flynn. Clark Gable. Me. What's effeminate about that?

The Batman. I got nothing to add. Damn near every variation on the character's been done. Back in high school, I had an odd idea about a reporter who decides to check into Batman's secret identity, and finds it out in an _instant_: finds old WPA maps of the caves right under Wayne Manor, for example. Guy makes a good case that having the local millionaire be able to exert his own notions of the law, backed up with high-tech weaponry and cloaked in secrecy, is not healthy for Gotham or democracy. In those days, that would never have flown in a comic book. Now... ehh. Old idea. Probably been done by now.

Various
Harlan wrote a horror story called "Keyboard," which may be as close as he'll ever get to a true internet expose.

I didn't think of asking Scott, my editor at Scifiweekly, to plug my book beside my review. Ah, missed opportunity.

Josh Olson fans, and the man himself, may wanna check out this entry of Entertainment Weekly's Best Twenty Lists -- it's a compilation of twenty of their favorite movie finales ever, which along with such obscure titles as SOME LIKE IT HOT, THE THIRD MAN, and GODFATHER PART 2, mentions a certain scene where a traumatized family meets around a silent dinner table.

...

Aaaarggghhh. For some reason I'm having difficulty pasting the link; rest assured that you can access it via Ew.Com or through the Entertainment Page at the Huffington Post.

A sad prediction
How much ya wanna bet that the already lousy MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION ratings get even worse over the next three installments?

It's actually saddening to think that back in the pre-cable days, the worst episode of STAR TREK or any of the Irwin Allen atrocities got ratings twenty times higher than MASTERS did.

Yet another apology
I think I'll just create a word pad doccument, and keep it on hand for the constant apologies I seem to be making. Just edit it accordingly.

Barney, so sorry for the missunderstanding!

travel tip
anyone visiting philly who's tired of the 10,000 sendak prints and original poe and joyce documents at the rosenbach or the impressionist glories of the barnes may want to e-mail gary lassin at Garystooge@aol.com and make an appontment to visit his*****three*****story*** 3 stooges museum. oh,and happy birthday to Stan Freberg.

The Day's Priorities
I've always been uncomfortable around effeminate words like "charm" - particularly for a violently visceral and cerebral show like OUTER LIMITS; from chest-exploding squibs to cold corpses popping up every now and then, this was a macho show; a studly show; a GUY'S show!

...hence, the Expressionistic and cinematic POWER of the Outer Limits.

Masters of Science Fiction
Just to expand on previous post, "A Clean Escape" drew an estimated 2.73 million viewers Saturday night, according to the Nielsen ratings in the LA Times. I guess the critics all got screeners, but there didn't seem to be very much other promotion, on air or off. The shappy treatment by ABC really is deplorable. Jerks.

A Clean Escape
I must admit, I wasn't all that impressed by the first installment of MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION. I found the story and its visual presentation as flat as the acting was overwrought (by two actors whose work I usually admire). For me, it didn't possess any of the expressionistic charm of the original OUTER LIMITS or the often near-cinematic quality of the first season of the revamped TWILIGHT ZONE. It just didn't do it for me, I'm sorry to say. Which is not to say I'm not looking forward to the remaining episodes...

Masters of Science Fiction performed very poorly against the competition, undoubtedly earning an "I told you so" in the hallowed halls of ABC. I guess putting the show at 10pm on Saturdays with virtually zero network promotion did the job they wanted it to. Self-fulfilling prophecy and all that...
_________________________________________

Ditto what Harlan posted regarding Erik's appearance (again, the right word?) on KPFK. Fascinating and fun conversation with the show's host -- though my favorite lines all came from the announcer's set-up to the interview, describing Mr. Nelson as having "been around the block" -- and noting his DWST work with the "incendiary author, Harlan Ellison".

Burn, baby, burn.

(But yeah, the highlights were the discussion of Erik's work with Werner Herzog)

_________________________________________

PenultiLastly, it would seem that not only does Mr Hitler paint roses from a canvas in Hell, but also had an ear for Jewish music...

"RECORDS MAY PUT NEW SPIN ON HITLER
Michael Schwirtz, New York Times

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Outward hatred for Jews and Russians may have belied a secret passion for some of their greatest musical works, if a recently discovered cache of records proves to be the remains of Adolf Hitler's private music collection.

"The nearly 100 records, now worn and scratched, were stored in the attic of a former Soviet intelligence agent, who left a note saying he took them from Hitler's Chancellery after the fall of Berlin in 1945.

"Among the records are recordings of works by Tchaikovsky, Borodin and Rachmaninov, and prominent Russian and Jewish musicians, notably Bronislaw Huberman, a Polish Jewish violinist, an article in this week's Der Spiegel magazine said."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/08/MNCGREUK71.DTL
__________________________________________

Lastly...

Bruce Wayne? Batman?

&%$#!

Never saw THAT coming.

(And have you ever noticed you never see Hal Jordan and Green lantern in the same room at the same time? Clark Kent oughta investigate this stuff.)

self-evident subtleties

A-T C:

Nice piece. I loved the tag note. But why didn't they flog your book?

KOS:

Jesus, who got up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday? The flimsiness of your logic makes me suspect you posted before your first coffee.

I don't think it's obvious to anyone that a great story can be made out of a crazy guy chasing a whale, or a buncha guys squabbling over an illusory real estate deal. Hubris and avarice are indeed obvious character faults, but how to dramatize them is another kettle of fish. Art is, well, artistic, and a challenge.

The person who asked about video games was requesting a public statement, an essay, on a matter that is indeed -- instantly, self-evidently -- obvious. Mr. Ellison has spoken out for years about his uninterest in the Internet, the dangers of too much television (whether one writes for it or watches), and various time-wasting, trendy activities of youth.

Why should he repeat himself, especially on such an obvious issue? Now, one trick of a great essay is to take something that looks obvious, and make something different of it; but trust me, I suspect that either little of eyebrow-raising import could be made of this incident, or that Mr. Ellison would not be interested in making the effort.

Dammit, I knew there was a reason I never saw Bruce and the Bat together. Now if you could just tell me who the Joker really is.....

I understand about not answering openly but I am glad that you have had a chance to work on such a project. I look forward to hearing more about it in the coming months

Mark

Arizona Will Not SeeThe Discarded
All you denizens of AZ: alas, we will not be seeing The Discarded on Masters of Science Fiction unless a DVD release is planned.

Forget your TV Guides....take a look at the Arizona Cardinals pre-season schedule. This Saturday night (episode 2 of MSF) they are playing and it is broadcast by channel 15 (ABC). Scan through your DVR teevee guide if you have one and note that there is no plan to move MSF to another time or night.

Now check out their pre-season schedule for 8/25, the night of The Discarded. Same thing.....Cardinals on channel 15.

That's all she wrote. ABC dumped the series on the the wasteland of Saturday night television, and then our local affiliate has dumped half of the series for meaningless practice games.

Sigh.

-TODD

Comedy, humor and the loading docks
BARNEY: What always amazes me is that humor as obviously over-the-top -- or even whimsy (whim-for-chist'ssake-zee) -- is so often missed! I think there was a kinda-famous writer-guy who pointed out that getting whacked was easy but getting others to understand the joke was a pisser (somethin' like dat).
-DTS

The Internet reduxded
*** Lori ***

I could say something like my last post needed to be grokked in its entirety - or that you missed a certain sardonic tone in the second half - but humor needing explanation is humor failed.

Off to the loading docks for me.

- Barney Dannelke

Hoffer, PA.

Mark,

"Saw an article that mentioned you might be working on an anime series filling in the gaps between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. If so, that would be very cool. Can you comment on this?"

The problem with the internet is I feel like I COULD answer this openly, but within a day, it'd be all over the net. (Not cos of my involvement, just the nature of the project.) I'll say this - the article is fairly accurate. Your characterization is not quite. It isn't a series, and it doesn't fill in gaps between the two films.

I'll also say this - it was a tremendous kick, and a huge honor to be a part of it. Batman is one of my all time favorite characters, and getting to write him - especially in something this cool - was a fantastic opportunity, and I'm tremendously proud of the work I did on it.

I'll give you one big spoiler, though, because I love you and everyone else who posts here.


You ready?



Batman....



Take a deep breath.




Sit down.







is Bruce Wayne.

New List, Awesomely?
Keith:

You got off easy. Y'gotta remember, this is how "Jeffty is Five" got started, after all.

Now, if Unca Hollin comes up with a new story based around your misfortune, won't that make you feel all better?

Hee.

Tad

A question for Barney
"...I find it to be an electronic ivory tower of high-mindedness and an intellectual refuge in these troubled and confusing times.

Barney

Please explain this statement, in light of the fact that the two most venerated things on the internet, Wikkipeaia and YouTube, have little to no editorial viewpoint, or editing for that matter.

The internet is a grand thing for overviews, and learning the basics of a subject, but I'll always turn to books and people who can prove to me that they know more than I for my deep knowledge.

Lori

ME, REPORTING IN
Erik was most charming and edifying on KPFK today. Not so much about me or DREAMS (though that comment was jes' fine, jes' fine), but his comments on Werner's work with him. Erik is now officially A Treasure.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

Interzone 210
Hi Sue

Interzone 210 is out now, do you want me to send you a copy?

Love Steve

The Internet
I don't know what you mean about things on the internet being odd or bizarre. I find it to be an electronic ivory tower of high-mindedness and an intellectual refuge in these troubled and confusing times.

And now here is seven minutes of Japanese bikini rodeo pie-fighting which I came upon while reading a sports blog editorial that was implying that Paris Hilton would have sex with a vending machine. With NBC announcing 30,000 hours of Olympic coverage I suppose these could both very well BE sports.

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2809150

This message and video is also on the way to the stars. Just sayin'.

- Barney

Saddlehorn, PA.

Ewe Ess Aay
"I suspect Mr. Ellison feels he has much better things to do with his time than devote the hours necessary to research a piece that would point out to other folks the self-evident absurdity of game players and 'net surfers. Almost anyone could do that."

Interesting.

Seems just about every great novel, play, film what-have-you of narrative storytelling art starts with something "obvious". SO "just about anybody" could research and write, ooh, say "Mody Dick" or "Glengarry Glenross" (sp?)? Hubris and avarice both being such obvious character faults, ones that sea captains and salesmen are so clearly prone to.

I mean, why would ANY artist want to waste their time on such "obvious" matters.

Maybe because men seldom need teaching, but often need reminding?

One trick of art is to take the "obvious", reveal it as marvelous and new, and walk away from the work with a shrug as the crowds wonder "how did he do that?".

You're full of wild blueberry stuffed muffins, or whatever the saying was.

Tasty, though.

KOS

mosf
i thought it was well done but i question its positioning as the first episode. to be honest it reminded me of the preachier serling twilight zones with the payoff obvious about five miles down the turnpike. why they didn't open with Harlan's episode escapes me- you would have had more of the accepted idea of what a sf episode would consist of, with Harlan's and josh's names attatched to it, with hurt and dennehy and with a tenuous star trek connection. (and is ray winstone in it? that would include an indy 4 connection- all of which would help to market it) (of course they're dumping the series so all of the above is moot.) looking forward to the 25th. jz

To all you foodies: Anthony Bordain, who is an exotic eats expert, has a show on the Travel Channel about his travels to find the perfect food. He looks at the exotic and the normal. Love to watch a guy who just loves to try any kind of food or culture. American's need to get out more--explore uncharted realms.

He went to NY, ate a Sheeps head, said it was wonderful, had Russian food, his favorite French food, bone Marrow. Frog chowder in Chinatown, mountain oysters middle eastern style in Queens. It all actually looked wonderful. It's really about how you cook it, not what it is.

--------

I've eaten wild game and snake, about as exotic as I get.

Josh,

Saw an article that mentioned you might be working on an anime series filling in the gaps between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. If so, that would be very cool. Can you comment on this?

Here is the article:

http://www.syfyportal.com/news424002.html

Mark

Response to Todd
Todd: As it happens, I was assigned to review the book by Scifiweekly.Com; I discuss it at length in my review, one of the top ones in the book section. Check it out there, or I'd be repeating myself. Essentially, I thought it was downright apocalyptic, I was stunned by some of the deaths, and I do not know how they will make the movie without going for an R. (The book seems designed to piss off those guardians of taste, some of whom haven't even read the books themselves (Judi's cousin and my parents included), who find it scandalous that the entire series wasn't as gentle and bloodless as an episode of CARE BEARS).

I enjoyed "A Clean Escape," on MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION, but I was a little taken aback at the way the episode took pains to assure viewers that humanity would survive (NOT the setup of the powerful John Kessel story that spawned it); the change was not fatal, but I'm curious as to whether this was a decision made at the teleplay level, or whether it was mandated by a timid ABC.

DWST
I loved DWST so much I want to go out to California again, but it is not in my cards this time. I'm in Philly today and next week I'll probably be in Boston for 10 days, and I don't have the stamina to hit California in between. I just added my 206th pound, and it ain't muscle.

I will be at the Cleveland gig, though, if all goes well (I'm not going unless I get my weight under 200).

As for DWST...yes, it is a must for anyone who knows or is a fan of Harlan's. BUT...nothing quite compares to sitting at the opposite end of the table from him, and having him yell down at you, "So, Keith, tell us about your life!"

I mean, that's so unfair.

And me, being the naive guy that everyone knows I am, took the bait and said the first interesting thing that came to my mind, "Well, I went to a Nudist Colony once."

Harlan said, "What?" Everyone else stopped talking.

I repeated myself, louder.

Harlan asked, "You had a Venusian Colostomy?"

I said, "No, I said I went to a NUDIST COLONY."

He said, "A Nubian Colony?"

I then shouted, "NO, I WENT TO A NUDIST COLONY!"

Every patron at Mogo's heard me.

Good times.

-Keith

Mr. Butler wrote:

"but just odd people and the internet generally and how BIZARRE it can get. I mean, this was a new one on me."

Eh, no more odd than holding a black powder shoot memorial for a member of a rendevous club that died, or holding a memorial blood drive for a favorite writer at a science fiction convention, or getting together with friends for a round or three of golf as a memorial to a fellow friend and player who passed. It's remembering the person, and in this case perhaps even the character, and celebrating the color and joy they brought to people's lives. If the group did have a memorial in a PvP area, or on a PvP server, doesn't surprise me they were attacked.

***

The move is finished!!! *falls to the ground floor, kissing the tile*

S.

bytes and bites

Brandon Butler asked:

:: Anyway, my question is if, his hostility to the
:: absurdities of the internet well known, Mr. Ellison's
:: ever written any stories about this sort of behavior.
:: Not, you know, online funerals necessarily, but just
:: odd people and the internet generally and how BIZARRE
:: it can get. I mean, this was a new one on me.

I suspect Mr. Ellison feels he has much better things to do with his time than devote the hours necessary to research a piece that would point out to other folks the self-evident absurdity of game players and 'net surfers. Almost anyone could do that.

His last word on the subject of video gaming was likely "Rolling Dat Ole Debbil Electronic Stone," written more than two decades ago and published in _Sleepless Nights in the Procrustean Bed_.

KPFK
Regarding Erik's appearance this afternoon on KPFK, if you aren't available to listen to the program live (as is the case with me), apparently the programs eventually get archived here for later listening:

http://64.27.15.184/parchive/index.php?sort=nameaz

If I'm not mistaken, the show you should search for is EXPERIENCE TALKS...

Harry Potter and the End of the Hype
So, Adam-Troy, being a loyal reader of your Unauthorized Harry Potter, I need that summary comment: what are your thought on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?

-TODD

Live Streaming Radio, Pre-recorded DirecTV and a Local News loss

ERIK and INTERESTED WEBDERLANDERS

KPFK has an online LIVE audio feed which makes your appearance (do you call it that on radio?) on this afternoon's show available to Webderlanders everywhere.

http://www.kpfk.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=260&Itemid=82&lang=en

2PM PST, 5PM EST

________________________________________________

SUSAN - What Brian sez below sounds good to me. We don't use TiVo (I'm such a luddite, I know), so haven't a clue how to block the second, third and fourth recording of HANNA MONTA... er, JUDGE JUDY.
________________________________________________

Still trying to figure out a way to join y'all on Thursday, but Cris heads back into the studio starting Monday and there is a LOT going on. I can heartily recommend that anyone who has NOT seen DWST needs to get their butts into the theater for this showing -- seeing the movie makes you FAR more interesting at dinner parties; reinforces your reputation among THE intelligentsia of America; ANSWERS the question as to the meaning of Life, The Universe and Everything without mentioning the number 42; INTRODUCES the question of what Susan Ellison was doing dancing around naked outside her house; cures WARTS; will make you laugh, cry AND giggle maniacly to yourself -- simultaneously -- and is a bitchin' keen way to spend a few rewarding hours of your LIFE.

GO!!!

_______________________________________


Lastly, and this will likely make no difference to anyone outside LA, but we lost another major Los Angeles news icon last night. Hal Fishman, KTLA Anchor for nearly 32 years, passed away after being diagnosed with cancer only a week ago.

http://ktla.trb.com/

Online Funeral?
Question for Mr. Ellison, but if I'll be permitted, a little background:

So at work on lunch I will at times cruise the headlines and certain forums (such as the present one) looking to see what's new.

Going past MSNBC I notice something mentioned called MyDeathSpace.com in one headline and, interested, I clicked to see what the editorial was about. Skip on ahead if you've read this already, by the way.

Frankly, reading it, I still don't know anything about MyDeathSpace.com as I've already forgotten what all that was about. What DID draw my attention was this story about the online game "World of Warcraft". One of the players died in real life. People that had interacted with this person online decided they would have a memorial for them within the game. I don't know if the memorial was for the person or the online character, though.

Anyway, the upshot is that they conducted this memorial, with thier online characters in something called a 'war-zone'. I guess there's areas in this game where you can fight and places where you can't. As the article said, you may already sense where this is going... the online mourners were attacked and "killed" by another group of players while in the middle of their memorial/funeral. Apparently these guys showed up out of nowhere and outright slaughtered 'em.

Anyway, my question is if, his hostility to the absurdities of the internet well known, Mr. Ellison's ever written any stories about this sort of behavior. Not, you know, online funerals necessarily, but just odd people and the internet generally and how BIZARRE it can get. I mean, this was a new one on me.

Provocative art
ALL: If you folks haven't seen the story about this guy Phil Hansen -- who creates portraits using things as varied as Starbucks cups and graphite as well as his own blood and hundreds of bandaids and photocopies of the bible, ya gotta checkout the sites below (stumbled across it all when the news page popped up, before checking email). He's doing what a lot of artists only hope to do: provoking thought through the audacity of his methods.
-DTS

http://potw.news.yahoo.com/s/potw/23115/strokes-of-genius

http://philinthecircle.com/

To Susan, re DVR
Okay, I don't know if yours is a TiVo or not, but the problem may not be your settings. On a TiVo, if you set up a Season Pass (the way it records a series), and First Run Only, you've done it correctly.

But for your DVR to _know_ that a show is first-run or a rerun, the show has to be tagged that way by the broadcaster. Some networks do this well, others don't. So you may have your DVR set perfectly correctly, and still wind up with a TiVo full of the same stuff over and over. Simply because the TiVo has no way of knowing that the shows are reruns.

So here are two solutions. The first is to _not_ use the Season Pass, and have it Record by Time or Channel, in which you tell the machine to record a channel at a specific time-- say, every Monday night at 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. That should work pretty well, unless the broadcasters change the timeslot of your show.

The other is to go into your Season Pass, use the option to View Upcoming Programs. This will display a list of upcoming episodes, which you can select and deselect for recording. It's a bit cumbersome, but it'll work.

Hope that helps, best, Brian Siano


1.

Modesty Forbids....
...but I allow...for all you Angelenos out there, I am going to be on KPFK,90.7 FM, tomorrow, Tuesday, at 2PM, LIVE, discussing, among other things, GRIZZLY MAN and the grizzly "Dreams With Sharp Teeth", and no doubt, the subject of working with Our Host will come up.

This program seems to be the public radio answer to AARP, and I am somewhat depressed to now be the Voice Of Experience, but, anything to sell tickets to Thursday's screening.

But -- the REAL reason to tune in is that they have a pre-recorded segment with the great Richard Matheson in the very SAME show, so, I am but an opening act.

Anyway, check it out if you want to hear first hand new ways of inserting feet in mouth.

Here is where you can go for more information:

http://www.pacifica.org/program-guide/op,program-page/station_id,2/program_id,240/day,Tuesday/

Best,
Erik

United States
Re: Interzone 210 June 2007

This issue has been on sale in Barnes and Noble for approximately six to eight weeks already. I would recommend that if you are seeking one off the shelf, you zip out and buy it now, because 211 is published and shipped.

Mike

Note to Harlan & Tim: The release of the German edition of HOT BLOOD 1 has now been moved to November (no date).

The media, as usual, is overplaying the bridge disaster. They go from reporting to exploiting, usually in one fell swoop. Idealistic American's sadly fall for it, believing the media actually cares. If you notice they never offer to donate their profits from the story to the victims funds.

-----------

Here's one for the laugh department: on Hannity's America last night, Sean Insanity did a piece about the myth of global warming, but later did another piece outlining the facts around demon possessions and exorcisms. Logic is lost on the right, but they do make me laugh.

-------------

Masters of science fiction
I did enjoy the premiere episode.
But I know why ABC dropped the show like hot magma.
There are no young beautiful people doing trendy things that will sell product.
In my mind this is a good thing.
We got a show that was basicly two people talking.
But it was well written, acted and directed.
Just what I want from entertainment, plus a swipe at the current administration. I'll enjoy these gems, and get the DVD when it comes out to see the two unaired episodes.
I can count the network TV shows I watch on one hand, it's truly a "vast wasteland".

Interzone
Mrs. Ellison - looks like it was 11 May, according to the following (sorry for long link):
http://scifi.uk.com/2007/04/23/interzone-210-contents-harlan-ellison-theodore-sturgeon/
(Also sorry for posting twice in one day, will vanish for 48 hours as penance...)
Best regards,
Jes

The police on Sunday reduced the cordon around the bridge and are now allowing foot traffic on the Stone Arch Bridge that crosses the Mississippi very close to the crash site.

Some co-workers and I went onto the Stone Arch over lunch today and were able to get as close as possible. I was going to make a smart-ass remark about Bush's visit but, after seeing that devastation and how many cars are still in the river, somehow I don't have the heart.

As for the Masters of Science Fiction inaugural episode, I would agree that it compares favorably to the 80s version of the Twilight Zone. I was not as enamored with Sam Waterston's performance at first, only because I was uncertain about the character's motivation. When more of his story was revealed, I realized that it was a virtuoso performance from Mr. Law and Order. I am very much looking forward to subsequent episodes

I have two quick questions.

This first one may be for the Brits. Does anyone know the pub. date (onsale date) of INTERZONE #210 (June 2007)?

Second. A Direct TV question. I set my DVR to record a series. Even if I set it for First Run only, it will tape ALL the first runs for that week. Any thoughts on how I can get it to tape a first run for one particular hour and date?

Thank you.

See you on Thursday.

Susan

scattered thoughts:

Note that _Death Ray_ is looking for a Staff Writer, should anyone feel inclined to audition.

The Thing That Squats, GW Bush, had to go to Minneapolis, because the Governor is dancing fast to avoid overmuch consideration of how he's dragged his feet on road-&-bridge repairs, with years of state Repugnican collusion, so that all them rich people could be bribed into not moving to, say, South Dakota. Those of us with a cynical turn think that such savings could generously be described as "penny wise, pound foolish," & perhaps that this is yet another indicator that the GOP is incapable of doing even the minimum required of a proper featherbedder.

The "Hello Kitty" icon has been on what could fairly be described as EVERYTHING. Like a pastel battery-powered vibrator. Look it up.
Maybe their hope is that the preteens will demand that Tex-Mex Strat of Mum & Da because it's got a cartoon on it, rather than for its superior tone. Marketing usually doesn't depend on rationality.
A book: _Hello Kitty: The Remarkable Story of Sanrio and the Billion Dollar Feline Phenomenon_

Missed #1 of _MoSF_ due to sinus attack, dammit -- knew I shoulda set the VCR before that "short nap."

point of odor


"Hello Kitty, invented by Sanrio Co. in 1974, has been popular for years with children and young women. The celebrity cat adorns everything from diamond-studded jewelry, Fender guitars and digital cameras to lunch boxes, T-shirts and stationery."


One thing I'm not clear on: How many children and young women go around slinging Fender guitars. . . . ?

Headlines. Film at 11.

I woke up this morning with one of those frustrating Everlasting Gobstoppers of a headache, and the damned thing followed me to work. Then, in booting the computer I am advised that corporate is conducting yet another pointless download to fix what was wrong with the last pointless download -- and my laptop needs to reboot a number of times (but the official notices won't tell me how many -- it's kind of like roulette without the possibility of winning). And lastly, coffee was through a convenient drive through, necessitated because I was running a bit late. I've got fast food swill in my mug.

So why am I smiling?

"BAD THAI COPS TO ENDURE KITTY SHAME"

"BANGKOK, Thailand - Thai police officers who break rules will be forced to wear hot pink armbands featuring "Hello Kitty," the Japanese icon of cute, as a mark of shame, a senior officer said Monday."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070806/ap_on_fe_st/odd_hello_kitty_cops

Ya gotta love it.

_______________________________________

Mark - I understand the local press and population are slightly annoyed with Mr. Bush's photo op next to the Mississippi. I guess he blamed the Democrats for not funding the repairs while the Republicans were running Congress.

Any truth to the rumor Barbara Bush is insisting that "it's really working out" for the victims of THIS disaster?
_______________________________________

Lastly but not leastly. Okay. Leastly. My second take on MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION.

The episode run Saturday night was a good one. The acting was terrific, and the script and execution were very good as well. The production values reflect a lower budget, but they did a good job of masking most of the restrictions. It reminded me, in both tone and tenor, of the reboots of the Twilight Zone and Outer Limits in the 1980s and '90s respectively. This is a good thing.

Sadly, because only six programs were produced, and only four are set to run, each single episode is receiving greater scrutiny than would any one of a 22 ep season. In a full series run, the best epsidoes would be lauded and the lesser stories would be forgotten. And, having a network exec publicly trash the show prior to the premiere only adds to the furor.

It will never happen, but someone at ABC needs to lose their job over the way this was handled.

IMHO. Of course.

Message for Just John
I cowtow to your comment about Harlan Ellison's picture.

A.E. Van Vogt
In today's Washington Post (AP article) there is a story concerning Kevin J. Anderson's completion of A.E. Van Vogt's unfinished sequel to "Slans". Included of course are authoritative quotes from some guy who occasionally posts on this board.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/05/AR2007080501345.html

Masters of Science Fiction
Re the picture of Harlan at the bottom of the page: "udderly" horrifying...

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/2303923.html

"Aren't the reviews and clips for "The Discarded" coming out a little early? I'm not reading or watching anything! You can put the links up here for J&H, but how about we don't discuss them.

If you've made up you mind about seeing something, you don't read the reviews and you certainly don't watch the clips."

Well, sorr-EE, Calamity Jane.

Again, Death Ray
Mr. Ellison,
Wonderful, speak to you then. I'm very excited to hear what you've got planned!
And as for Death Ray, well (trying not to sound like a shill), Barney's helpfully already posted the link to the website, but we're a new UK SF mag - currently working on issue 5 - from a new publishing company set up by Matt Bielby, who launched SFX, Total Film and a number of other UK mags. We try to focus a bit more on the literary side of things than our rivals; for instance, from issue 2 onwards we've run a large (normally 8-page) regular interview with big, important authors - Michael Moorcock in issue 2, Neil Gaiman in issue 3, Terry Brooks in issue 4, Ursula K. Le Guin in issue 5, and hopefully our gracious host in issue 6. Critical reception so far has been encouraging (we get a lot of positive correspondence from US readers, oddly enough) and sales are strong, and it's a joy to work for. If any Webderlanders have seen it, I'd be very interested in some honest criticism on it...
Anyway, advertorial over! Hope all is well with everyone.
Best regards
Jes

Death Ray...
Thanks for posting the Death Ray link, Barney. Did you look at some of the blog stuff on the website? Note the one about how THE PRESTIGE was good both as book and film. I really enjoyed the film...but was the novel written by THAT Christopher Priest? If it is, that explains a lot ...about why his subject matter is "professional feuds."

Grr...nothing Jes or any of us can do about the sucky (for Americans) exchange rate. I think it is over two dollars to the pound. Back when I first got to buying imported Dr Who stuff in the 80s a pound was about $1.40.

Wow, a *new* magazine that's still on paper! The Internet is killing newspapers and magazines because advertisers want the youth market and the youth market is online - the younger the readership, the more they want E-zines and the less paper ones. Publications like Teen People have become Internet-only. Not that I give a darn about trashy teenybopper celebrity-dirt, (better not to waste trees on it!) but I prefer holding a publication in my hands and fear I may live to see non-virtual periodicals (and maybe even paper books) vanish. Do give me recycled/sustainably grown/post consumer paper though.

Masters of Science Fiction

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/2303923.html

The review itself is not that great (more of a press release) but scroll down the page of the above link to see a great picture of our host.

Jeez Harlan I sure hope you've had that thing lanced by now, if not I have the number of a competent dermatologist he'll clear that right up for you.

Wishing you a Zit Free Future

Jarod Hitchcock

Harlan and Beaumont
The fake news is now the real news.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070805/ap_on_en_tv/tv_stewart_candidates
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harlan, I saw a trailer sort of thing for a Charles Beaumont documentary that shows yourself, and others, as featured interviews.

I love Beaumont's work. Did you guys ever work together? THAT would have been a Partner in Wonder.

George Carlin?!


"We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little...and pray too seldom."???

I've no desire to embarrass Lori - as she already got the picture - but I must say I was RELIEVED to find that wasn't George Carlin.

Because when I first read it, I felt ALMOST disillusioned. This is Carlin, whose voice I've practically revered since I can remember? Sure as hell didn't sound like him. But I resolved to myself that - well - this is one of his "off" days, and perhaps an afternoon in Sunday school threw his gyros.

It was the "we pray too seldom"; I KNEW it couldn't be HIM! Carlin has always been a pragmatic thinker, scrutinizing human nature - weighing it by its history - not the blind faiths that, for eons, led to so MUCH of that history.

We don't PRAY enough? If ya ask me, there's way TOO much praying and not enough "DOIN'", if ya know what I mean.

THIS is a sample of the ironic edge George would never lose:

"I'm a positive person, thinking forward, positive, optimistic for myself and the people I know. But it doesn't take much of a brain to look around the world and say, "this is dumb." It's a freak show that's going to end. Thank goodness for the rest of the universe. Maybe it'll end before we get out and infect Mars and these places with our grotesque DNA."

I guess I decided to comment on this, because just the other day I got into a near shouting-match with a very religious dude, in the very place you DON'T want to get into this sort of thing: at work.

He insisted that he prays daily; and that he worships a loving God. But then he admitted that he's a Republican because he utterly opposes a welfare system. "What about those who, in fact, CAN'T help themselves for a time - whether it's due to poverty, illness, unemployment, a lack of education, or just, outright, the lack of an IQ?"

He didn't have any definitive answer, except that they always have the churches to turn to, that God will look after them, and that they need to learn how to be self-reliant, a trait, he felt, builds them into better human beings. It was as black-and-white as a response could be.

But to this day, he will NOT vote for anything but a Republican because - regardless of the realities, he "doesn't believe in a welfare system". (Never mind that, as with all things, the "kinks" could be worked out in an effort to MAKE a system that works, rather than just flat out dispose of it)

In other words, he worships a God that gives, yet he doesn't believe in taking it upon himself the gift of giving to those who can't help themselves. When religionists argue this, I always wonder how they imagine Jesus - whom they often CLAIM to believe in - would react to the policy.

This is among the hypocrisies I've always despised the most. Lip service to the ends that are convenient, but indifference to the roles that defines us as a civilization.

So, I walked away knowing that the office was not the place for me to lose my temper.

That's why - when I first read that "quote" by Carlin, I was momentarily dismayed.

I was SO relieved by the follow-up, and not at all surprised by the facts.

Death Ray magazine
http://www.blackfishpublishing.com/component/option,com_emmags/section,issues/task,show/issue_id,5/Itemid,66/

DEATH RAY TERTIUS

JES:

Thursday, 10am my time is fine.

I'll elucidate for you, the m.o. for an unusual -- but promising -- approach to the interview. This will be grand, I think.

Talk to you on Thursday. And in the meantime, Jes, why don't you post here to apprise my friends of the loveliness of DEATH RAY, a terrific magazine I have just discovered (through you) and which I heartily endorse. They may want to order some copies.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

Aren't the reviews and clips for "The Discarded" coming out a little early? I'm not reading or watching anything! You can put the links up here for J&H, but how about we don't discuss them.

If you've made up you mind about seeing something, you don't read the reviews and you certainly don't watch the clips.

MIKE: Agreed, for the most part. (I don't think that not learning about the names of the camps is an attempt to seperate history from horror. You don't forget things on purpose. People in your audience either know a a certain amount about the Holocaust or they don't. The names don't bring you closer, I don't think.)

I guess my problem is the idea that the Holocaust is a sort of random element of business and leadership (of all things) presentations somewhere, coupled with a "Who Wants to Be A Millionare" type "name the river/capitol/planet" type question. If you would take charge and put aside some time to educate your audience in a respnsible manner, that would be terriffic, but if you're just throwing out camp names to put people in categories, to cause embarrassment and guilt (productive though it may be in singular cases), that's hardly seems justification enough. It's tasteless. That's the way I see it anyway.

I appreciate what you're trying to accomplish (business leaders should not neglect their education) but there are plenty of subjects to bring up that can have the additional advantage of being more conductive to a pleasant atmosphere in your seminars.

If I understood you correctly, that is.

Jan

Jan

I’ve been thinking a bit about your response. First, you are correct that, if there is a failing here, it is with the educational system. To some extent, that is the point I am trying to get across to these individuals. Education didn’t end when they walked away from the ivy-covered halls. I’m trying to reinforce that there is a lot to learn out there, and instill in them the desire to keep searching. I am a manager of internal auditing, and I’ve always felt that there are three things needed to be a good auditor: the ability to synthesize information (that one is probably not a surprise), creativity (that one probably does surprise most people), and inquisitiveness. The constant desire to find out “why” results in constant exploring. Again, in my presentations I am trying to point out how knowledge, learning, and inquisitiveness are the keys to anyone’s success, and I am searching for the ones who want to learn more.

But part two. I am still personally bothered that the names of the camps do not resonate. True, individuals can have an understanding of the holocaust without knowing the camp names, but that is one step toward separating the history from the horror – a step towards depersonalizing what has occurred. As an example, I can talk about the US Civil War and that will cause certain responses in the listener. However, if I use words like Antietam or Andersonville, much more violent/memorable images regarding the horrors of that war should come to mind. The listener with the knowledge of those names will have a more personalized reaction – impact on people rather than just a historical event. And, relating this to the prior point, if I use those names and the listener is unaware of them, they should realize that they may be missing an important fact, and have the desire to find out more.

Mike

Death Ray redux
Dear Mr. Ellison,
Fantastic, thanks very much. I'll drop Mr. Wyatt a line forthwith about your contact details and give you a call on, shall we say, Thursday, around 10am your time? Hope that's OK. If not, I'm entirely flexible.
Many thanks again!
Best,
Jes

Dum-Dum
HE, got your goodies at the Louisville Dum-Dum. Great T's. In colour this year. Several buttons, a bag...both with the same logo and Hescox illo as the T. Carson in a helmet brandishing sword and ray gun.

The event keeps getting greyer. It's scary when I'm one of the younger ones. I guess in this age of CGI & whizzy computer games, Tarz and John Carter seem a bit quaint to the younger blood. Had a lot of laughs with pal Denny Miller though.

DTS,

I did indeed read "JEFFTY IS FIVE", but I always felt that story was more a case of society vs. misfit than old vs. new. However, on second reading, I can see what you're talking about.

------------------------------------


Speaking of THE DISCARDED, two clips from the episode are available online:

http://www.mastersofscifi.com/site/masters_of_science_fiction/episodes/the_discarded.html

There's too little here to make any fair judgement yet, but I like what I see so far. Harmony Teat looks great (and I mean everything ABOUT her looks great...the actress, the makeup, etc.) and I do like John Hurt's performance in the second clip, where he's talking to Curran. There's some great pathos to the line "The gift that keeps on giving...like another head!!" That's the kind of twitchy black humour people tend to display after being forced into incredibly unpleasant circumstances.

I'll be sure to catch this upon broadcast.

Note to Benjamin W.
Benjamin W: He already DID write that story. Read "Jeffty is Five" (If I missed the straight-faced humor, nevermind).
--DTS

Old Versus New
I assume the LA times reviewer was a younger person. I wonder if he/she reads sf (novels/stories, not just movies). Magazines like F&SF and Analog do still exist, you know. What stories would the Times writer have preferred adaptations of? You could send an email and ask! Well, maybe they're only into movies - but if someone was only reading newer SF, I'd be impressed that they read at all!

A lot of the hostility between old and new is *mutual* - face it, most of us here are over a certain age, and this whole board is dedicated to a man who still uses a manual typewriter. In our fast-changing world generations can never see eye to eye.

I think a lot of old stuff is good, but is it a crime to think there is genuinely new fiction, film or other art that is good too?

Young and silly at 42 1/2,

Kristin
P.S. Science fiction is a genre with futuristic tropes; science fiction writers (those who write exclusively sf and don't mind being *called* sf writers) tend to be people with a future oriented worldview. Some very old sf stories remain enjoyable,(which is why they are called classics) while others date badly.

The LA times nailed it.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-master4aug04,1,5448872.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

LA Times Review of MoSF


Just watched the Eastern feed of Masters of SF.

The LA Times reviewer is so full of crap -- either that or he's a complete idiot who wouldn't know an allegory from an alligator.

A review from VARIETY concerning Masters of Science Fiction:

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934314.html?categoryid=32&cs=1&p=0

I quite liked this bit:

"Whatever the business considerations, the best of these hours deserve better than being so unceremoniously shot into space. In that respect, the Ellison story proves strangely prophetic -- reflecting a network that didn't know what to do with an unconventional outcast that didn't fit neatly into a predetermined mold."

I agree with David Webb's comments. Maybe Harlan should write a tale about the world's inexplicably mounting hostility towards all things "old", huh?

Bob,

I so agree with you on Sunshine. Good ideas that could have been better executed. I was even more disappointed by 28 Weeks Later but that had to do with the casting.

For the filmmakers to get two spoilt middle class kids as the leads had me supporting the infected to get them. What is it with filmmakers? Have they never heard of getting someone from the estates? It would have made more sense and probably worked better.

A Couple of "Fors"
For Mark Spieller: Were you aware of the Ellison-Herrmann connection? Herrman scored "Knife in the Darkness," Harlan's episode of the CBS Western CIMARRON STRIP, having to do with Jack the Ripper out west. Parts of the score can be found on a very obscure CD, MUSIC FROM CBS WESTERNS, which you can probably find if you search the Net.

For Dennis Coleman: Harlan's first AVENGERS comic is part one of a story that concludes in that month's issue of THE INCREDIBLE HULK. You should be able to find the exact issue number on the Net. Harlan's second AVENGERS comic uses a plot that he originally submitted to Julius Schwartz for DC's HAWKMAN a few years earlier. Mr. Schwartz had to reject it, very reluctantly, becauuse he thought that it was way too adult for 1964 mainstream comics and would never get past the Comics Code. For all three of the comics mentioned - the two AVENGERS and the HULK - Mr. Ellison did the plots while Marvel's Roy Thomas did the actual scripts.

the other two MASTERS OF SF episodes filmed:
Robert Sheckley's "Watchbird" and Walter Mosley's "Little Brother" are the two episodes ABC hasn't scheduled. Dunno when the DVDs will be out (sooner rather than later, most likely), nor what other broadcasting services elsewhere might have scheduled...

http://community.tvguide.com/blog/TV-Show-Blog/Masters-Science-Fiction/800054129

Any ideas as to whether or not they're going to be making any more episodes of Masters of Science Fiction after these six, or is this going to be more of a one shot, miniseries kind of deal. I know none of them have aired yet, but I find myself wanting more already.

Masters of Science Fiction
The Los Angeles Times today gave the series a luke warm review, calling the stories so "last century" and pointing out the ages
of the authors (Heinlein b. 1907, Fast b. 1914, Kessel b. 1950 and Ellison b. 1934).
Sheesh, what would they have said about an H.G. Wells story?
They do say the Ellison adaptation has an "old school avant-garde charm".
BTW I plan to watch all of them.

Avenger comics by Harlan
Currently on Ebay are Avengers Comics #88 and #101, which they say are written by Harlan. Somehow I missed this part of your work. Any stories about it?

http://www.mastersofscifi.com/site/masters_of_science_fiction/episodes/

Composers
I, like many of you, have been a soundtrack fan for most of my life. My first soundtrack purchased was from a People's Drug Store in Vienna, Virginia. John Williams' THE TOWERING INFERNO.

Who would I chose to score my own film. Hmmm. What is the film about? Is it a comedy? Musical? Horror? Drama? (Big or little?)

The debate about who was and was not the best film composer of all time -- or who I would use for my own film -- has many possibilities for a defensible response. Given the lack of a specific genre requires someone of a wide range of capabilities. No "one note wonder" here. My choice?

Jerry Goldsmith.

Mr. Goldsmith turned out some terrific and very experimental work, even in some truly horrible films. Unlike Williams' easily identified symphonic style, Goldsmith changed from film to film, an at-times unmelodic chameleon, writing his scores strictly dependent upon the style of the film being scored. To me, that is the answer.

Just a short listen to his various styles demonstrates this nicely -- from the atonal electronics of PLANET OF THE APES, to the fully realized symphonic majesty of the STAR TREK films he scored, to the beauty and humor of MULAN, and the otherworldly claustrophobia of ALIEN. (And let's not forget his intimate "little" scores for, among others, the original series of THE TWILIGHT ZONE.)

So, my choice of all time would likely be Goldsmith.

But. There are two current composers I'm really fond of in the event our resuscitation efforts fail: Hans Zimmer (PIRATES 2 AND 3, of course, BATMAN RETURNS and THE THIN RED LINE) and Michael Giacchino (LOST, RATATOUILLE, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3, and *ahem* THE MUPPETS' WIZARD OF OZ -- now THAT is flexibility!).

It depends on the film being made, but both of these composers are currently at the top of their game and'd be my first and second choices, respective-like. (If Mr Gldsmith remains unavailable, that is.)

SOLARIS
Anybody interested in radio drama may like to know that the BBC are currently airing an adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's SOLARIS.

The first part can be listened to via the Beeb website until Sunday afternoon, with the final part available from the same source for seven days thereon:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/classic_serial.shtml

Cheers
Rob E.

Masters of Science Fiction Question
Six episodes completed, but just four scheduled to air. What are the two stories that have been filmed but are not scheduled? I couldn't find any mention of them in any of the articles I've read.

Rob, I think you've got the right answer for the wrong question. I've been rereading an excerpt from _Bigger Than Life_, the bio of Lester Dent. In a couple of short pages, Dent detailed a formula plot for the 6,000-word pulp story that he all but guaranteed would sell.

On a writing site, we were discussing how formulaic most commercial romance novels, & how there's millions of rabid readers who don't want the formula "improved."

Just as some romance & pulp writing has justly been recognised for its literary merits, there are film scores that are incredible works of music.

But the fact is that the great majority was meant to be used in a specific context, then discarded. The score is as vital to the film as the sets, the props, the costumes... yet how many people preserve a reproduction & examine it regularly with a critical eye?

I had a friend who did backstage & tech work at the Guthrie Theater. Maybe you'd be surprised at how many of those costumes (especially for mobscenes) are downright laugh-provoking when seen close-up under the harsh light of day. I learned how to make really coll-looking "Roman armor" using sheets of pressed felt & hot-glue guns for the decorative squiggles: from twenty feet & under harsh gels, it's impressive as all hell... & it's thrown away at the end of the production because it gathers dust, the glue breaks down, & where the heck else would you possibly use it anyway?

John Williams is vastly overrated as a composer, as is Andrew Lloyd Webber. I'm surprised how often both steal from themselves, & somewhat less surprised that I seem to be the only listener to notice. I'm more inclined to forgive Williams because most of his work is meant to provide atmosphere or maybe forward movement.

(Yet I am a fanatic for pop composer / performers Richard Thompson & Bill Nelson, who rarely seem to even hint at something from earlier in the career. The latter has filled something like 60 CDs, & more often than not the impression is that one mind could not have created the adjacent tracks, they're so different.)

Movie Music
Although I do have a number of favorite film composers, Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith, Max Steiner, if I had to pick one it would be Bernard Herrmann. The favorite composer of Orson Welles (for whom Herrmann did all the musice for The Mercury Theater of Air radio shows before they did Citizen Kane, etc) AND Alfred Hitchcock for that 10 year run of great films peaking with the shrieking violins of PSYCHO. Herrmann also did Westerns, Adventures, Fantasy (The Ray Harryhausen films), The Twilight Zone and did a large number of "library scores" for various CBS-TV westerns, dramas, and action programs

His last score a jazz one for "Taxi Driver" shows that he took his art and talent as serious as ever and ever ready to try something different from his usualy style of outre orchestrations.

What a shame that he is not around when there are so many Science Fiction and Fantasy programs and films that could benefit from his touch.

Japan
Hello! great idea of color of this siyte!

Stanley Wiater - He compiled a book of quotes from 50 contributors ranging from Clive Barker to Gahan Wilson (sans our host) discussing all kinds of topics. Dark Thoughts on Writing was published in 1997 and is recommended, if you can find it as it's OOP.

Response to Rob
Dear Rob,

I won't knock your taste in music; your opinion is your own, but I do offer the following:

In defense of Tiomkin, age may have been an issue, but do not forget what system he worked under. One can only imagine how many times he might have come up with something of note, only to have someone who swears s/he knows "what sells" , even though they don't have a dint of musical training, or even a good ear.

After years of playing it safe, giving them what they want, can you imagine what kind of artist submitted his work to "Wild, Wild West"? Some can rail against the system, some cannot or didn't want to. Also, truth be told, I would have a tough time thinking of appropriate music for a Western with futuristic and fantastic plots.

Also, even though I was two at the time, I gather from what I have read that a big-time Hollywood film composer would probably not sweat too hard over something for television, especially a Western, which TV of the 50's and 60's had, in abundance. There was even a Western, featuring children called "The Buckskin Kid" that featured adult voices dubbed in, ala "The Creeping Terror", which means, not even synched up properly, like, "The Corbomite Manuever". Given the time and budget, he may not have been working under the best of conditions.

In defense of Rob, however, you can hear what Tiomkin came up with here: http://www.dimitritiomkin.com/audio_clips.cfm , it is the second to last clip.

Also, people such as Tiomkin, Louis Levy, Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold were among the first composers for film, so what seems dull now may be dull to you because so many lesser and greater have used the tools that these people helped create.

Having said all of that and since he does manage to squeak by your "before the '80's" timeframe, I would go with Tom Scott as the person I would not have hired to score a film. I have this theory that the powers that be at the time had this theory that Tom Scott invented Jazz and having done so was rewarded with seemingly all of the jazzy soundtrack work that Dave Grusin didn't get. Perhaps if I had not been inundated with his work, I would have had a different feeling about this, but I felt that many better Jazz composers were being rooked by the folks that kept hiring Scott.

Quincy Jones actually backed away from soundtrack composing, because he was feeling constricted by the amount of work. If you listen to "The Slender Thread"'s main title (3rd part) and "The Pawnbroker"'s "Harlem River Drive" you will hear VERY similar music.

I am a great fan of soundtracks and I appreciate the question, Rob. My late Mom is also smiling at you as well, because she REALLY dug soundtracks and movies and passed that on to me.

Brian

P.S.
Here is an account of what Rob was referring to:
http://www.filmmusicsociety.org/news_events/features/2004/083004.html?IsArchive=083004

P.P.S. One of the worst surprises is the soundtrack album to "Zulu". Barry's music is barely on it and it is replaced by dreadful faux-African pop music. No background music, no chanting. Harrrumph!

JES:

Any time, Monday thru Friday, between 9am and 5pm, LA time.

You can get my phone number from Rick.

He can also provide you with my address and fax number.

Have a recorder online when we talk. It can even be a conference call, if you want to bring any other editors into the loop.

Waiting to hear from you, at your convenience. Yr. Pal, Harlan

If you were one of the world's most renowned filmmakers - anytime in the era when movies were really movies (let's figure that prior to the 80's - and there IS a good reason), WHICH film composer would you refuse to consider, REGARDLESS of is Oscar status?

The name I've picked for myself is Dimitri Tiomkin.

Yeah, I know: the man won 4 Oscars; some of his high points include the original Lost Horizon, High Noon, Shadow Of A Doubt (which remains one of my favorite films), Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Duel In The Sun, etc.

I've seen many movies scored by him, some I hold in the highest regard.

But...BUT...the more listen to him the more I come to feel is one of the most "by-the-numbers", formulaic, and predictable composers in movie history.

He was great at giving you exactly what you would expect the movie to have. And every one of the oooooodles of westerns he scored all sound like yer old-fashioned ho-downs, with ballads of the American frontiersman. Or he would give you a frenetic sound against the loop of kind of a corny theme, as he did for 36 Hours, practically ruining, for ME, some brilliant and complex scenes.

That had been my "feeling" for some time. So, I wasn't surprised to read recently some Wild Wild West history for the tv series, when he was commissioned to write the theme. The producers tried to explain to him that this was a new kind of show. A bizarre show, cutting edge fantasy fusing the Western with James Bond and Jules Verne.

Twice, TWICE he came up with some corny ballad evoking the Old Frontier. First he did the Ballad of Jim West, likening the character to some kind of Davey Crockett figure. The producers handed back to him, and tried to explain the more esoteric dimensions to the show. So, he hands them a second ballad that sounded more like Wagon Train.

When a guy is wedged so far in the past, and hasn't the creative latitude to experiment and work outside the box, I really don't regard him as so remarkable a talent. It took the talent of composer Richard Markowitz - who'd done The Rebel - to fuse elements of Jazz and a "neo-Western" to come up with a sound that emphasized the trippiness of the series.

Even if you could say, "well it was past his time", if you listen to the many Westerns he scored in the 50's, every score he did was as typical as the Western itself; and if it was an ABOVE average Western, it was his score that made it FEEL more typical.

If I were a filmmaker, I'd always be looking for composers with far greater latitude, making the sound part of a film's timelessness.

I never would have hired Tiomkin.

sunshine
Bob Homeyer --

Agree totally on the introduction of that character; but I still liked the very, very end. But they didn't need that person.

Incidentally, for anyone in the L.A. area, the American Cinematheque starts its Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction Film Festival this weekend. Fun stuff like THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS, MAD LOVE, I BURY THE LIVING.
Also rarities like Joseph Losey's THESE ARE THE DAMNED, Curtis Harrington's GAMES, Ken Russell's THE DEVILS and such.

Stanley Wiater and a Harlan Ellison Interview on YouTube
Stanley Wiater has posted an interview from his television show, "Dark Dreamers" on YouTube. While this is one of the rare times that I have seen someone that is involved with the actual project post something like this, I also know Mr. Ellison's disdain for YouTube and didn't know whether this was posted with his knowledge or permission.

Sunshine
Dennis: I saw "Sunshine" the weekend it came out, and I had a similar take on it. Other than some workmanlike performances and some screenplay short cuts (e.g. the Cillian Murphy character and his antagonist seem to come to blows a priori), the first hour and ten minutes were quite good, and reminded me structurally of "Red Planet" -- a series of unfolding crises, roughly every 10-15 minutes of screen time, that must be identified and solved, that create a war of attrition of sorts against the crew and the overall mission. I was also thrilled to see a decent science fiction film without a "II" or "III" in the title and with a significant budget that shows on screen. The third act though, was dreadful in my opinion, due largely to the introduction of the additional character, who I felt was unnecessary. Additionally, some of the visual homages to "2001" are a little too obvious.

I have recommended this film to others however, based on the first two acts alone.

Actually
Harlan, Irascible?

Harlan's TOTALLY Rascible.

I've seen him make a Racs of himself many times.

Dep't of "For What It's Worth"

*ahem*

Rick. You really outta fix that...

Dep't of
I've never found our host to be irascible. Ever.

Virtually every time he's grown annoyed -- in my very limited personal experience -- there has been a provocation.

(And, note, he has personally called me a "lying motherfucker" to my face. With a great deal of love and affection, but still...)

Just sayin'.
____________________________________________

CRAMER - Rest assured Crystal will be well cared for after your demise. While, yes, I (as they say on the 'net) "L'd" "MAO" with your final line, I realize you may indeed be an endangered species as a result. Please let her know we care and will give her the appropriate lifestyle as beholden a fallen icon once you're gone.

And Mark has first dibs.

trade reviews of MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION
Both Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter gave good reviews to MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION today, with Variety singling out THE DISCARDED as the best of the bunch. Both reviewers somewhat attack ABC for dumping the series in mid-Summer on the dead (TV) zone of Saturdays. Variety calls Harlan "the ever-mercurial Harlan Ellison" and reports that he and Josh adapted his short story, saying "it showcases the kind of rich, detailed material that packs a surprising amount of character development into an hour."
The Hollywood Reporter critic says "the ingenious, irascible Ellison adapted his own material". I think when they grammar-check their reviews, if Harlan's name appears, then the adjective "irascible" must automatically be inserted before it.
The Reporter critic also lambasts ABC for putting on series like "The Bachelor" and "Wife Swap", but relegating this show to Siberia.

So is "ever-mercurial" better than "irascible"?

Incidentally, in regards to reviews and science fiction, have any of you gone to see 'SUNSHINE', the new science fiction one by Danny Boyle and Alex Garland? Most reviewers pooh-poohed it, claiming it is too derivative. Both Roeper and his guest critic went thumbs down; and the other two critics on the other syndicated review show (can't remember their names but it's a man and a woman and the guy admitted "I don't like science fiction" to which I growled: "then what good are ya?") also smacked it down.

Well I had an interesting reaction. As I watched it, my heart started to beat rapidly as I started to realize: "this is a serious character-driven science fiction work about a crew in a spaceship that is actually about something and actually has some interesting ideas in it!" I hadn't seen anything like this in I-can't-say how many years. And, yes, it doesn't all work. And yes, there are tiny elements of 2001, ALIEN, SOLARIS and (unfortunately) the execrable EVENT HORIZON in it. But at least it tries. And it tries to do it without Jedis or magic wands, just with science and fairly realistic characters. And I felt like a thirst I didn't know I had was being quenched -- cause they used to make movies like this a lot. But since this is an adult film that might cause you to think a bit, well it's got to be sidelined and denigrated.
Anyway, you might want to see it. It's not brilliant, but it tries hard -- even though there's some copping out before the end. Still highly worthwhile. Boyle has made some great films (TRAINSPOTTING) and some not-so-great (ever try to sit through A LIFE LESS ORDINARY???) but he's always doing something new.

Susn -used what i was sent to buy the oracle and the nail. enjoyed Harlan's intro immensely. best to you both, now and always. will know more cardiac wise after august 20. looking forward to MOSF.

Harlan:

Thanks for the reply. I'll keep my creative suggestions to myself from now on unless I'm asked! I definitely will be watching "Masters of S.F." this Sat. and hope it wins the ratings for it's time slot. If anyone wants to use the dreadful "Realms of Phantasm" as an example of the ULTIMATE bad name for a SF anthology series be my guess!

Hey Keith...

Now **THAT** is what I call a VACATION!!

Anyone can park a keester on a cruise ship, his or her(*) itinerary all planned out in advance, with no time to truly immerse oneself in the... PLACENESS of the place one is spending hard earned money to travel to.

**

(*)By the way, any progress yet on constructing a decent genderless pronoun? Just wondering....

Dear Harlan,

Please let me offer belated condolence on the loss of Tom Snyder. I only got the news last night that Mr. Snyder passed away. The world is poorer for it.

Daily assaults on our integrity perpetrated by ghouls like Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, O'Reilly and Coulter seem all the more monstrous with people like Snyder gone.

It was from you that I learned the phrase, "God be between you and harm in all the dark places you walk." I think it whenever a great person leaves us.

God rest you, Mr. Snyder.

'Two formerly straight men, ladies and gentlemen.'
Neil Gaiman and Jonathan Ross shared an intimate moment at the Eisners last week in San Diego, and I caught it on video.

(The quote above is from Neil, as found in CBG's coverage here:
http://www.cbgxtra.com/default.aspx?tabid=42&view=topic&forumid=25&postid=31867 )

Here's the video -- and there's more Eisners funnystuff if you click on the "more from this user" link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIDTTKdxbT0

SJPO

It doesn't matter how dumb we think Bush is, there are really smart people who conspired to put him into the anointed pulpit. Tony Blair and now Gordon Brown follow Bush around like grape feeders. The world is warped; best to admit right now that most of us here are certified aliens. Below the floating clouds there are a sorry lot, left to fend for life in a world of bad popular culture and dreck values. All one can do is hope. The aliens have to take over, that's all.

----------

Costa Rica is an odd place; one of the few central American outposts untouched by American imperial terror. Great beaches and suntanned hotties must still the death eye.

------------

I will say this without malice: without the democracy of the internet the left movements would be stone toast. Solidarity is a wonderful thing.

We areee the worrrrllld.

Sorry for breaking the law...
But I am a published author and Lori's Question was general. I find deadlines have a great focusing effect on me, whether the publisher has set one or if it's self-imposed. Silly things like no caffenine until this section is typed by 9PM or whatever up to no money unless the copyedit is finished. But I am not freelance and others' milage may vary.

Apology and a few questions
Mr Forrest and ATC

Sorry about my missattrubition. I never figured my father or friends to be ones to spread missinformation. But I stand by the context in which it was posted. Way too many good people had died that week, and we need to let those we love know it before it's too late.

Now for the questions: Other than not typing on a computer, which is something I just cannot give up, how do you guys discipline yourselves to acutally sit down and write?

Also, I have a seriously nasty self critic, and haven't quite figured out how to quiet the little bastard. I'll show something I've written to a friend, and he'll like it and I put it away. Next morning I take it out, read it to get back into the story and that little voice just savages it, and most the time I end up getting rid of it.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. I have great research for a seriously neat book sitting on my hard drive, but just can't seem to put it together for anything!

Peace and Chocolate
Lori

Yahho has a dandy piece about the show as well:
"Masters of Science Fiction" too artistic for ABC
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/television_masters_dc;_ylt=Alg3T9XImq8WWD4dD3M24rQDW7oF

"The Ellison contribution -- boasting the acting talents of a couple of greats named John Hurt and Brian Dennehy -- closes out a provocative, rich, lavishly produced, sharply performed quartet that ABC has seen fit to disdainfully conceal rather than proudly celebrate. But let them trim so much as a minute from the end of "Dancing With the Stars" and we'd never hear the end of it as the audience rose up in spastic rage."

Masters of SF on Fresh Air
The TV critic on Fresh Air reviewed "Masters..." glowingly, and praised "The Discarded" as the best of the episodes. He also slammed ABC for burying the series on Sat. night in August. The piece is on-line at: http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13

Warm greetings to Harlan & Susan! (Just because.)

MIKE: Just because people don't know where the all camps were located doesn't mean they don't know about the Holocaust, they just haven't spent a great deal of time on it. I wouldn't necessarily blame them - it's not the most pleasant of subjects, and to really have some understanding about it requires a certain amount dedicated study. I would expect that the minimum of knowledge about the Holocaust that is considered obligatory in the U.S. is to be imparted by public schools, so any testing of the kind you do tells you more about the educational system than about the people you make judgements about. (My opinion.)

We all have considerable knowledge gaps, the important thing is that we understand a few basic facts about human nature and the way history unfolds. In my opinion people simply take too many positive things for granted, while they accept too many negative things, partly because they are used to them, partly because they don't know anything else. (Which is where people like Harlan come in.) :-)

A Query for Josh
Are you involved in the Batman Anime project currently mentioned on Majorspoilers.com? If so, why have you not flogged it here? If you aren't..never mind... as per the late Gilda Radner. Keith, I've not had the pleasure of meeting you or Crystal, but I feel sure true love will conquer...tho' I've heard that Harlan does not subscribe to Marquis of Queensbury...

Not even two Larry's can save you.
Harlan,

Bring your two friends, see if I care.

Mark,

I'm not dead yet. If you want a crack at Crystal, you better bring better Seconds than Harlan. I suggest two Darryl's.

:)

-Keith

Just spoke with Rick Keeney and he is OK, he was not caught in the crash.

Keith Cramer, hasta la vista, it was good knowing you buddy.
Can I date Crystal once you are gone?

Worse and worser
We’ve all previously discussed the amount of knowledge most people have about arguably important events. In particular, almost everyone here has heard Harlan discuss the blank looks one will receive when using the words “Buchenwald” or “Dachau”. I get the opportunity every once in a while to give presentations on leadership/management/other business BS topics. I now try to incorporate this discussion any way I can; first asking them if they know Buchenwald, then Dachau, then Auschwitz. (I throw in the latter so more can feel better about themselves. Auschwitz seems more recognizable.) Just last week I had the opportunity to again run this test by a group of about 30 employees.

I now group their responses into one of three categories. The first are the ones that, like many of us, see how few hands go up, and our blood runs backwards. The second are those who just stare blankly, trying to figure out why Lindsay Lohan would care. (Sorry, got a little snarky there.) The third, though, is the important group. The people in the third group are really parts of the first – in other words, they may know about the camps, or they may not. But they separate themselves because they see the broader point. They are not focusing on what people (or they) don’t know. Instead, they recognize there is a gap and want to take personal responsibility to make themselves better. After the meeting last week, one participant and I discussed this for a while. She began to understand that, while gaining knowledge about the business, our profession, etc. was important for her, she needed to broaden her understanding outside our business. Her and I are now working together to give her ideas on where she can learn. Small successes….

During these session I am reminded of two quotes (possibly stolen from t-shirts). The first makes me laugh and cry at the same time. “Make something idiot-proof, and they’ll build a better idiot.” But the second helps me out (a little). “The idiots may outnumber us, but they ARE idiots.” However, it’s those people in group three, the ones who understand the ultimate point, who also understand a quote I use to end the discussions. “If I’m not stupid, I have no right being ignorant.”

Mike

Death Ray
Dear Mr. Ellison,
That's terrific news! Thank you so much. And thanks also for the kind words – the office reverberated to the shoop-thud of jaw-to-floor contact when I alerted the team to your post this morning! (I guess issue one got lost in the mail, annoyingly. Will send another one anon. Although issues 2-4 are a vast improvement.)
So, two things: 1) When would it be OK to call and discuss your (excitingly, intriguingly mysterious) idea? I don't want to bother you at anything other than a convenient moment. And 2) (exposing greenhorn foolishness) Where can I get your number? Shall I send a mail to Mr. Rick Wyatt about it?
Thanks again,
Yr. humble servant,
Jes

Panty-Waists
There is a nice "plug" for the upcoming Aero screening of "DREAMS" on "Ain't It Cool News", who remain wonderfully supportive of the film, and of Harlan.

Embedded there-in, my favorite "Talkback" comment EVER defends Harlan from a sub-literate detractor. I think even Harlan could not top this for sheer creative invective:

"Watch yer mouths, you prissy little punks...
...There's chunks of panty-waists like you in this guy's stool. This guy was going toe-to-toe with uber-ghouls like Spiro Agnew when your daddy was building his first bong in shop class..."

Now, That's Entertainment!!!
Erik

CHRIS THURLOW: Let me put it this way: it's worser than worse now. Much. Much much!

KEITH CRAMER: Behind the Tuilleries. Noon. Sabers. Yo momma.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

Question for HE
I was just reading the fantastic introduction to Strange Wine (Revealed at Last! What Killed the Dinosaurs! And You Don't Look so Terrific Yourself) and you mentioned certain population percentages of book-buyers, illiteracy and boob-tube addiction...frightening stuff. Now, do you think things have improved since you wrote that (literacy rates, television quality, etc.) or gotten worse? I was just wondering what your continued thoughts on the matter are considering how much time has passed since then.

Thanks,
Chris

P.S.
A little over seven years ago, I found myself scrutinizing the amount of time I spent in front of the tube and promptly ripped the cable from the back of the set. I realized that my time would be better spent with friends or family, painting, reading...ANYTHING! And anything is what I have doing ever since.

an anecdote
On January 16th, 2005, my girlfriend Crystal and I went to Costa Rica. You may know that Costa Rica is Spanish for Rich Coast, but what most people do not know is this: most of the country is mountainous, covered with tropical forests and cloud forests, volcanoes and valleys, and there is as much wildlife in a square kilometer as there are humans on the planet. More than 90% of the country is Roman Catholic, and they offer medical coverage to everyone. They do not have a military.

I had wanted to go for years. I travel a lot for business, and every once in a while I’d find a stranger in an airport, or on a plane, who said he’d been there. Even met an older gentleman once who said he married a Costa Rican woman. In my ignorance at the time, I pictured a Mexican woman with many piercings and tattoos, with plates in her lips. Costa Rica was a vast, sleeping, wild country, full of mystery and myth and darkness.

When Crystal said she wanted to go, I immediately said yes, and only became the least bit nervous when thinking about large insects and their proboscii and stingers.

Crystal left for Costa Rica 2 days before me. She had taken off work a few days earlier than I could. Our plan was to meet in the center of the country and go on a series of eco-adventures, including climbing an extinct volcano in a rain forest, white water rafting, and spelunking. Customs was a bitch, but soon I was in a cab and on my way from San Jose to La Fortuna, the town at the foot of the Arenal volcano in the center of the country. The driver knew about two thousand words of English, and I knew about two hundred words in Spanish, so we defaulted to English in our conversation for the four hours we were on the road.

It’s customary when you stop at a local eating establishment in Costa Rica with your driver to buy him food and drink. The first place we stopped was a road-side shack, without electricity, and we got some ades and orts from the family who lived there, and continued on right away. By the time we stopped again 2 hours later, we were about twenty miles from La Fortuna. The restaurant had electricity, though I’m not sure where it came from. It was about 4pm, and the sun was still high in the sky. It had been a beautiful drive, with the newly paved road snaking back and forth among the dense jungle, and plunging infrequently through villages which seemed to be there and then gone in a blink. The restaurant was at the outskirts of one such village, in the mountains.

With the sun filtering through tinted windows, we sat at the bar and had soup and sodas. It was here that I heard the first story of the bleeding slabs, and I was, as you might imagine, quite intrigued. In the pastures leading up to the jungle on the South side of Cerro Chato (the extinct volcano next to Mt. Arenal), there is a large granite slab which was exposed a few years before by a landslide. (Deforestation for farming is probably the largest threat to the rainforests of Costa Rica). Because of mist and the weather (and the almost pathological lack of desire for maps and markings among the culture), it is notoriously hard to find, and some myths have built up about the place. The locals in La Fortuna say the stone slabs display the secret to your life, written in God’s own blood.

Obviously, this is a vast exaggeration, or so I thought. I get the Skeptical Inquirer. I’m not one of PT Barnum’s fools.

Anyway, I put it out of my mind, and we went on our merry way to the Arenal Country Inn, a small luxury place about a 10 minute walk down the road from La Fortuna. Crystal arrived an hour or so later, and we did what re-united lovers do: we walked to town to grab dinner. Over dinner Crystal divulged that she had already made our first reservation with a local tour company, for a hike up Cerro Chato the next morning. The name sparked recognition in me, and I told her about what I’d heard at the restaurant on the way to La Fortuna. She laughed. I laughed.

The next day we were up at 7:30am, breakfasted, and ready at the front desk for our tour guide to pick us up. It turned out that it was only going to be us and the guide on our hike. We drove up to a farm at the base of the mountain and got out. Our driver left the three of us there and told us he’d see us later. Our guide was a stoner-looking guy named Ande who was a native Costa Rican, and he carried a 2 foot long machete. On the hike through the pasture he pointed out and identified leaf-cutter ants, a beautiful fern-like plant which folds up when you brush it with your finger, and various trees, birds, and insects. It was like being in the 4th grade on a nature hike again.

It was a killer, 8 hour hike up the side of a mountain, and back down again. Crystal had neglected to tell me the hike was described in the literature as an “extreme hike.” I had blisters on top of blisters. And then, to make it all suck even worse, it started to rain near the top of the mountain.

The way back was treacherous and slippery. On the way back down, the rain was getting worse, and the mountain seemed covered in a thick grey cloak. Lightening flashed here and there, and the thunder was offset by the booms from the erupting Arenal Volcano next to us.

Toward the end of the jungle, my feet all torn to hell, I fell into a gully and washed down about 8 feet into a shallow mud pool. I looked up and scrabbled for some kind of purchase, and the water was hitting my face, and I saw the stone slab. I briefly glimpsed that which nobody had a map to. On the grey granite face, for a second, I could see twenty or thirty lines of bloody red words, and then I slipped and it was gone. I went tumbling down into the pasture another hundred feet, sliding down through mud, grass, and cow shit, and eventually coming to rest against a large tree.

We couldn’t go back. The weather was terrible, and I had no idea where I had exited the jungle line. I only remember the last line written on the slab, and it was this: Copyright c 2007 by The Kilimanjaro Corporation. All rights reserved, including electronic transmission & retrieval.

A SHOUT OUT TO JES BICKHAM IN THE U.K.

Got the magazines today. Yoicks!

Never got #1 -- or you'd've heard me squeak before this.

Do I like it???

(Quote) What's there NOT to adore about a magazine titled DEATH RAY?!?(Unquote)

Of course I'll do a big interview with you. In fact ...

Call me. I think I have an idea of how we can do a piece that would be (he said, with charming modesty)(compelling self-effacement)(uncommon forelock-tugging) absolutely dead brill, as the late Neil Gaiman used to say to the late Tony Blair, as the late Eleanor Roosevelt listened attentively, sitting as she was, next to the late Jes Bickham. That is to say, it is an idea that is only IMPERIAL in its subterfugenous multiplicity.

You may quote me.

And please thank your mother for the chicken soup.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

Begging The Pardon of Susan Ellison, RE: RABBIT HOLE Newsletter

Mrs Ellison,

Your gracious Husband has advised me that there is a Newsletter I can subscribe too, Allowing me to stay in the know on all things Ellison, the above mentioned RABBIT HOLE.

How does one go about subscribing to said publication, Any & All help would be greatly appreciated, keeping in mind "I come from the land down under"

Kind Regards

Jarod Hitchcock

P.S, Harlan – Many Thanks for your swift & courteous reply

Russia
Hello! great idea of color of this siyte!

REPLY TO BRIAN SIANO

Hmmm.

Hard one, actually.

The sort of "what-if" I have never what-if'd.

Frequently, even back in the day, I would write a story from a strong viewpoint diametrically opposed to mine own. For instance, "Asleep: With Still Hand" and "Strange Wine" and "Knox" and "Battle Without Banners" -- or stories in which I questioned my own beliefs and/or actions, such as "Silent in Gehenna" or "Anywhere But Here, With Anyone But You" or a dozen+ others I won't use to add supercargo to what is, essentially, an empty airplane.

What I wrote then, was where I was at ... then.

Would I rewrite any of them today, knowing what more I know? Hell, Brian, I cannot answer better than the above.

Sometimes, to confound my detractors, I really DON'T have an answer.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

REPLY TO DENNIS

You are, of certainty, free to voice a small, harmless negative vote anent the series title MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION.

BUT ... and there is absolutely NO NO NO acid in this reply ...

You can lay the "blame," if any such is due, on the great gray brains at the ABC television network. There WERE other titles proposed, some of which were actually in pre-prod use, every last one of which was far superior to a)the one they went with, or b)your awful suggestion.

The problem with being a voice out in the pasture, out of the loop, and encouraged to voice your every tinkling thought or surmise or bit of contumely, is that in reality, you don't know why, when, how, what-if, who, but what if, and so on. You just figger you're smarter than all of us who worked on the show, all of us dumb and smart, young and old, percipient or blind-hog, professional or newbie. And you speak out ...

Which is O and K, kiddo. But let me tell you the bottom line:
if you want a title that is 100% accurate, MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION is dead-on. Heinlein, Howard Fast, John Kessel, Robert Sheckley, Ellison -- true statement: "masters of science fiction." The addition of Stephen Hawking ain't too dusty, neither.

There WERE other titles proposed--including FAR DESTINIES and
DREAMS OF TOMORROW and on and on, lists and lists and lists. But ABC kept clinging to, falling back on, insisting it be called -- and here's where the last battle line was drawn by the Producer, the fine Keith Addis -- MASTERS OF SCI-FI.

THAT IS WHAT IT COULD HAVE BEEN had not all of us threatened ABC with walkout! So, you're entitled to your woolgathering and your assurances that YOU could've done better, blahblahblah, you out in the pasture there, and before I get rude with you, I'll just say that I hope as deeply and as sincerely and as passionately as I can, that you watch the shows, all four of them that survived the ABC guillotine, and that you love them a lot, and that next time you are gulled by this medium, the internet, into believing that your idle supposition is as good as on-the-ground intel, that you are shamed to realize that you and George W. Bush think alike.

Yr. Pal, Harlan
----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright c 2007 by The Kilimanjaro Corporation. All rights reserved, including electronic transmission & retrieval.
----------------------------------------------------------------

*Thanks, Don Hilliard. The reference, I think, was pretty helpful. I suspect the Aria by Schubert was the piece I was after. I'll have to look for it to confirm it, of course. But on THAT program list, it's the only possibility. I HOPE I can find a recording of ANDERSON'S rendition.

**Brian, not to take this TOO seriously, but I wish you wouldn't couple Spielberg and Ellison in the same musing, as the former is SUCH a sell-out. Having said that, in CE, Dreyfuss doesn't abandon his family so much as the reverse: he was trying to get them to understand his issue; but they blew him off and alienated him. By the time he was on the brink of suicide (the shower scene was cut out of the original version), they drove off and left him to himself. It was his wife who let him down and abandoned his trust. So, your thesis (or the one represented on that show you were watching) misrepresents the issue. I only make that seem important because, as a metaphor, this happens a LOT in relationships. And, like a painful bee sting, it can linger in the victim for a long time.

Beyond that, I'd say your question to Harlan was an interesting one.

***I was watching on dvd the original OUTER LIMITS' THE INVISIBLES, which explored the motif of moral rot proliferating in the wake of power unchecked; as the episode involves politicians and big businesses alike, I couldn't help but see its mirror in Cheney and the Bush Crime Syndicate. Amusing, vexing, and alarming all at the same time.

If there WAS a god ...
http://www.glassgiant.com/hollywood_sign/hollywood_sign.php?t=1186091975&l1=HARLAN+ELLISON&

Masters of Science Fiction
Here is a link to Variety's review of the four wek run of ABC's Masters of Science Fiction: They seemed to like one episode out of four to be broadcast as a stand-out.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934314.html?categoryid=32&cs=1

A question for Harlan and a moment of levity
There's this TV special Richard Schickel recently did about Steven Spielberg. While discussing _Close Encounters_, Spielberg says that he probably wouldn't do that movie these days. At the time, the idea of Roy Neary abandoning his family and leaping off into space was pretty appealing to Spielberg; but now that he's a husband and father himself, Spielberg has very different feelings about the film. That's understandable: he's older, his priorities are different, and I'd say he's a bit wiser in life, too.

Now Harlan, a lot of your work has a pretty strong moral and ethical content to it. But you've been writing for nearly sixty years, and people do grow, change, and reconsider. And while I understand that the stories you write are reflections of how you felt _at the time_ ... are there any stories you've written that you'd approach differently today, if they occurred to you bright'n'fresh right now? Is there a story with a moral point that you have second or third thoughts about?

(I know, the question could be a loaded one. I'm not implying that the stories were _mistakes_, or _ought_ to be changed, and I'm not about to gallivant around with "Aha! He admits that he was _wrong_ about --- back in 1965!" )



And to take the edge off of that question, here's a moment of levity. Today at work, they asked me to take some photos of a piece of lab equipment. This way, a techie could check the photos while fabricating a new part for us.

I took the photos, went back to my desk, and burned the photos to a CDROM. I brought it back, and the techie was impressed. "That's great. Brian. Tell me, do you do weddings or funerals?"

And barely thinking about it, I said, "Nahh. I can't behave myself. At weddings, I always hit on the bride. And at funerals I always hit on the corpse."

I have lots of family in Twin Cities so was worried, until I found out all is well with the brood. Good to see you with us Mark. Minny is going to be a traffic logjam for a long time to come.

Without tragedy where would we be? Sheesh.

-----------

Newbies, come from the ether, we will not hurt you. I even lick on the first date.

----------

Cindy, you invented treacle, but damned if I can't avoid sailing a raft on it. I think your optimism keeps the rest of us from grabbing the sawed off.

REPLY TO JAROD HITCHCOCK

Dear Mr. Hitchcock:

Thank you for the good words.

To answer Question 1: there is considerable work both in the soon-chute, and in-a-moment imminent. One week from now, Tachyon Publishers will reissue SHATTERDAY in a nifty new trade paperback edition. Soon thereafter PS Publishing in the U.K. will reissue a largely annotated (by me) edition of an early book of my stories, ELLISON WONDERLAND. Later this year, or early next (lack of ETA specificity only because these are complex projects that expand, seemingly, on a daily basis) Overlook Connection will publish Tim Richmond's terrific, huuuge
bibliography of my work, under the title FINGERPRINTS ON THE SKY; Joe Stefko's Charnel House will do a gorgeous limited edition, boxed, signed, numbered, that collects--for the first time in one volume--both my books of television criticism, THE GLASS TEAT and THE OTHER GLASS TEAT; IDW Publishers will publish a collection of my musings and chatter from this very site, under the title YR. PAL, HARLAN. Dark Horse has just released the second collected volume of HARLAN ELLISON'S DREAM CORRIDOR and M Press has recently released my favorite edition of my rock novel, SPIDER KISS. There is also the documentary film of my life, DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH, and all the other books of mine you haven't read. Half a dozen of which are currently available in print and through e.reads online, and others of which--rarer and mostly out of print--can be purchased for a reasonable price in mint condition, and even signed, through the Harlan Ellison Recording Collection (HERC) at PO Box 55548 / Sherman Oaks, California 91413 USA. And this is an excellent place to get most of your queries answered, either in friend&webmaster Rick Wyatt's scrupulous dated site archive, or on-the-moment by the fastidious and always genteel community of Webderlanders.

To keep up, something even I have a hard time doing, I would suggest you get the RABBIT HOLE, the frequent HERC newsletter deftly crafted by my wife, Susan. It's quite inexpensive, usually has special bargain deals on new titles espoused by the publishers, and regularly lists what has just been published ("Abiding with Sturgeon: Mistral in the Bijou," in the magazine INTERZONE) or what is imminent ("For Every Action..." in THE SHADOW #10).

To answer Question 2: the opulent and breath-stopping painting by Jacek Yerka hangs in Susan's and my bedroom. An art-light, when turned on, makes the work glow like iridium. It is one of my great lifetime treasures; and meeting Jacek was an evening not to be forgotten.

On sum, welcome to the dog pound; I think you'll find this a good place to hang out. These are swell folks.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

Point of note: All evidence of any contretemps with Mr. Ellison were removed from the TCJ.com website a few days ago.
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Mark G - Glad to know you're safe and sound. Next time pick a shorter movie, yes???
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Lori - I appreciate the sentiment with which you posted the email. Those messages have taken in many a good hearted soul.

(I'm reminded of the "Magical Music Machine" that "was built with used tractor parts". The video is, to me, a very obvious computer construction -- but it has taken in quite a number of my very savvy friends.)

It's a shame nobody could come up with a more interesting title for the series than the rather pedantic sounding "Masters Of Science Fiction". It took me less than 10 minutes to think of "Realms of Phantasm" as an alternate title, although that might suck too.

Carlin: "I did NOT write that piece of shit!"
Carlin's website includes an embittered rant about some of the viral e-mail essays attributed to him. It's not, in any case, that he disagrees with some of the sentiments expressed. It's that he finds the essays insipid and the writing third-rate; he's better than that. You could get pretty much the same effect by finding one of the more tiresome and cliche-ridden "Bush sucks" rants out there, and distributing it far and wide with an attribution to, let's say, Arianna Huffington.

Lori,

Not to be a persnickety cuss, but what you posted wasn't really written by George Carlin. It's one of those Internet messages which evolves in the sending and is often attributed to various authors. In this case, Carlin, an unknown survivor of the Columbine shooting, and some fellow named Jeff Dickson have been credited with writing it.

The true author is Bob Morehead, former pastor of the Overlake Christian Church in Seattle, Washington. Weirdly enough, he resigned from his post in the late nineties after being accused of sexually assaulting seventeen members of his congregation. Now THAT's paradoxical!

The above information is courtesy of Snopes.com, one of my most favored websites. Just type "George Carlin" in the Search box and you'll find the article.

Longish but well worth it
I got the following in an email from my father this morning. I thought that with all the death going on recently, it may be a nice read. Our estemed host is the only guy who Ranks above Mr. Carlin on my list of people I'd most like to be like.




What a difference a sad event in someone's life makes. GEORGE CARLIN (His wife recently died...)

Isn't it amazing that George Carlin - comedian of the 70's and 80's - could write something so very eloquent...and so very appropriate.

A wonderful Message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller building s but shorter tempers, wider freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much , and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to yo