The Fractal Hall Journal

Secret Invasion: Fuck me, is it still going on? Haven’t they invaded by now? Isn’t this better characterised as Secret Occupation? Secret War Of Attrition?

Doctor Who at the Hugo Awards: Meant to write about this at the time, but forgot to, and now I can’t recall if I had anything interesting or longish to say about it, so I’ll keep it brief. Firstly, after watching all the Battlestar episodes to date, Moffat’s Who episodes beating Ron Moore’s show for three years running is a spectacular achievement, because Battlestar is some of the best television writing full stop, never mind in SF. The Pegasus episodes in particular, because that stuff is very, very good. And very, very harrowing. However, the Razor TV movie didn’t hold together quite as well as other episodes in Series 3 (regardless of apparent fan reaction to that series), so wasn’t that much of a challenge to Blink.

Secondly, the real challenge to Moffat’s episode was actually Paul Cornell’s Human Nature/Family Of Blood two-parter, and it really should’ve won. I mean, Blink was funny and brilliant, but Cornell’s just pips it, thanks in no small part to David Tennant and Jessica Hynes (Daisy in Spaced, of course), who were extraordinary.

And speaking of the Hugos, it must have been a poor year for film if Stardust was really the best long-form genre flick from ‘07. It was good, but Sunday afternoon family film good, not award-winning good. Other recent winners include Pan’s Labyrinth, Serenity and The Lord of the Rings (all of them), and it’s nowhere near as good as them. Hell, it isn’t even in the same league as recent nominees, like The Prestige and Spirited Away.

And to think Transformers wasn’t even nominated. Scandalous.

Knight Rider: And you can bet this show is never getting nominated either. I love that Mustang, but to be brutally honest the pilot was shit and the series looks worse. The thing is, this:

A big part of season one is going to be why Kitt is here with this group, why is he learning, and why is an artificial intelligence in this car. There is a bigger mythology to it and what I wanted to do was bring some from the original and update it. It’s been 25 years since Knight Industries was seen so what’s happened to them and where have they gone? [from an io9 spoiler post]

Sounds like a good idea in the right hands. But oh dear Lord are these hands the wrongest hands imaginable.

An observation of possible interest to the kind of nerd that even other nerds like to pick on: I’ve finally finished the big chunk of work I mentioned the other day, and it’s the first completed thing written entirely on my Linux-infused laptop.

Those who’ve been hanging round the Hall for a while may recall a few months ago I attempted to salvage my utterly out-of-date yet faithful and broadly functional old warhorse, a Thinkpad that got me through University. I didn’t really want to get rid of it and have to shovel out money for a new one, because it was only really going to be used as a word processor, and I wanted to see if Linux really was getting more user friendly.

The main problem with the plan was that the hardware’s a little too old to run Ubuntu, which I’ve been told is the dead simple Linux. Fluxbuntu and Xubuntu both ran on it, but the former wouldn’t recognise a USB memory stick and I didn’t really want to have to fudge around that much to get it working. Xubuntu ran really slowly at first, but I managed to set up some swap space on the hard disk that largely took care of the problem. It doesn’t really load any faster than XP did (old system, though, so not surprising) but it certainly hibernates and shuts down quickly, and there’s no sudden slow-downs or apparently random accessing of the hard drive, which is practically worth the bother on its own.

The USB stick works fine, which is the most important thing because printing duties will have to be done by transferring the files over to the Windows PC. I can’t be bothered faffing around with getting an internet or network connection on the laptop, and I think I’m better off without the distraction. Besides, I think the AbiWord writing package is just about all the creaky old system can handle.

To be honest, I wouldn’t call the Linux packages that will run on this relatively old system user friendly at all. I’ve just about got enough knowledge to do the minimum of what I need to do, but that’s it. Unless the more modern Linux packages are more user-friendly by a good distance (like, light-years distance) then I can’t see Linux ever being a realistic choice for most. But you never know, they might be.

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Today’s Arthurian Snark, from Wikipedia (I know, I know):

“…[H]e was a peerless warrior who functioned as the monster-hunting protector of Britain from all internal and external threats. Some of these are human threats, such as the Saxons he fights in the Historia Brittonum, but the majority are supernatural, including giant cat-monsters, destructive divine boars, dragons, dogheads, giants and witches.”

So, would you like a film about this Arthur, or the guy from the castle once again going off hunting for a carpenter’s drinking recepticle while his cock of a best mate knobs his wife? I bring this up because BBC Wales are currently filming a new series which is essentially the Adventures of Teen Arthur and Teen Merlin, i.e. SmallCamelotVille. The Welsh: We Do It To Ourselves, We Really Do.

Speaking of superhero films (and in doing so now, this post becomes the 100th entry into the Journal’s “Comics” category. Huzzah!), as we have been doing a lot recently, one I’ve not mentioned here is next year’s Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam, in danger of not featuring on anyone’s radar. Captain Marvel is a bit of a difficult one to translate to the screen, I would imagine. On the other hand, I actually thing that the title sounds kind of right, has the correct weight of playfulness and bluster. I think it might absolutely work as an 80s kid’s adventure type film, like a mix of The Goonies and Big. What absolutely isn’t going to work is a Hollywood horror remake of Hitchcock’s The Birds. Just when you think the film industry can’t possibly get any stupider.

Battlestar spoilers ahead.

Just watched the third series episode with the strike on the fuel refinery ship. I was skeptical at first, because, you know, Americans talking about labour relations doesn’t usually bode well. Baltar, the closest the series has at the moment to Amoral Irredeemable Baddie, gets cast as the Marx figure, writing influential revolutionary pamphlets from jail, which struck me as a little less than even-handed.

However, the episode really did win me over, stressing the appalling conditions the workers had to operate in, and how intrenched the class system is becoming in the exiled fleet. I was expecting a full-on condemnation of industrial action, which was somewhat prejudicial of me, because the writers did a brilliant job of balancing up the different sides of the debate.

The heart of dilemma, of course, is the strike eventually being led by Chief Tyrol. He had to act, but he’s military personnel. More than that, he’s military personnel during events that could lead to the total annihilation of the human race. The fuel workers have to work in terrible conditions, but it isn’t for the benefit of, for example, the bank accounts of the upper class, but the survival of humanity. Yet, as the show makes clear, it’s only the working class who get the shitty jobs.

For a while, I thought they were going to do something to really screw up Admiral Adama, but the resolution was just perfect. Adama had to make it clear to the Chief that he couldn’t tolerate orders being construed as optional, while at the same time agreeing to meet the worker’s demands. Sure, he comes across as an overbearing authoritarian, but that’s in keeping with his history and his current role, and besides, the best thing about the series is how every single character has deeply disturbing flaws as well as virtues.

I notice some online chatter about how the latter half of the third season wasn’t taken very well by the fans, because in an attempt to draw in more viewers they slowed down on the overarching stories in favour of done-in-one standalones. Now, I don’t get the problem. I’ve really enjoyed the standalones, and I think they’ve been necessary for a number of reasons.

The series has been a non-stop rollercoaster since the original mini-series. There’s so much going on I think it benefitted from a little breathing room. It certainly hasn’t been any less intense, dealing with themes of religious persecution, racism, social class, murder, betrayal, and a fuck-ton more. Also, because of the unrelenting pace up until now, it’s been essential to understand who the characters are through a series of episodes that have dealt with cast members who’s characters aren’t always explored, or who’s screen time gets split up into the odd scene here and there between the action sequences. Helo, Starbuck, Apollo and Tyrol in particular have all been served well by this.

Also, actor James Callis putting on what sounded like a stereotypical Yorkshire farmer accent to represent Baltar’s unsophisticated origins was a bit of a surprise. They should shove the cast of Heartbeat on one of the ships to represent diversity, as if one of the Twelve Colonies were Planet The North. Of course, as the Ninth Doctor once said, lots of planets have a North.

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Holy crap do I want to own an Alien/Predator chessboard. I have no idea where this sudden need for overpriced AVP tat is coming from, but boy is it intense.

I also notice io9 reporting an American live-action remake of Akira. Oh no oh no oh no. Is not going to work. Whinge whinge whinge.

In nicer news, getting through the latter half of Series 3 of Battlestar Galactica. It’s been awesome to see Dean Stockwell, Al Calavicci from Quantum Leap, turn up again, this time as a bad guy. Reminds me of how creepy he was as Devil-Al in that QL episode with Stephen King in it. Damn, I loved that show, and damn the show’s final episode was shitty. I really hope Galactica doesn’t screw the pooch when it comes to an end, because the rest of it’s been so very good.

With all the other superhero films doing so well, it’s going to be interesting to see how the X-Men franchise pans out in the next couple of years. It’s really the series that proved the viability of a new approach to rubber-trouser characters, in terms of faithfulness to the themes and stories of the original material, and a way of taking the best bits of what went before. Sure, Blade is technically the first of the successful comic book adaptations, but that really is in spite of the original rather than because. And I like the Tomb Of Dracula stuff.

If I were being pessimistic, I’d say I don’t have a whole lot of hope with the Magneto prequel. First of all, you’re not likely to find a young actor as good as Ian McKellan to take over the role, and someone of the calibre of, say, Hayden Christensen isn’t going to be able to handle what will inevitably be a pretty dark film. It was never going to be all bright pink flower-bunnies, but after The Dark Knight you can bet the message Hollywood will be taking from the public reaction is nightmarish, unrelenting grim is what’s required. There’s too much scope to mishandle this one.

Wolverine, on the other hand, had got Hugh Jackman going for it. The stupidest thing about X-Men 3 was the way Cyclops was killed off for essentially being a boring goody-goody leader type, only to be immediately replaced by a neutered Logan in the exact same role. A prequel means angry loner Logan, hopefully with a dollop of the sinister slaughter from X-Men 2. Also, Deadpool, and who doesn’t want to see a cinematic Deadpool? I just hope they use some of Grant Morrison’s take on the Weapon X programme; after all, there was a split-second shot of a “Weapon Plus” vial in The Incredible Hulk. Also, I don’t notice any stinkers on director Gavin Hood’s IMDB page, in the way that Brett Ratner’s previous convictions correctly indicated a screw-up.

Negatives? Well, Morrison aside I’ve never liked the Weapon X stuff. Gambit’s in it. The last X-Men film was poor and allegedly plagued with studio meddling, so is that going to play out this time too?

Wolverine’s a funny old character. First time I saw him was in Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends when I was but a lad. He used his claws to make an impromptu kebab. So I kind of missed out on the edgy killer persona that so captivated a generation. Then he turned up in a few places- a Hulk comic, Spider-Man, a few other things- and he was, frankly, a bit of a dickhead. I must have missed out on the nuance of his mysterious loner thing, but then he was a short-arse in yellow lycra with a daft haircut who was being a twat to Peter Parker. I couldn’t really see the attraction, and to make it worse he turned up in every fucking issue of every fucking comic during the 90s.

I wouldn’t say I ever really warmed to the character, but he certainly bugged me less as time went on. And thanks to Jackman’s performance in the first film, I finally understood where the character was coming from. It was properly surprising, really, but I ended up rooting for him, in particular during the aforementioned rampage in the mansion in the second film. Funny how things change, but that really goes to show how good Jackman did at grounding the character, leaving me more optimistic than not for the solo film.

Still prefer Cyclops, though.

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I notice Marvel’s got a Saxon poncing round with Excalibur in this week’s comics.

</Interminable Weekly Arthurian Snark>

In other news, modern design as applied to the humble drinks flask has brought the field of liquid containment immesurably further than it stood all those years ago when I had a plastic thing with a picture of M.A.S.K. on it. Speaking of which, stuff GI JOE, I want a motion picture event based around that 80s franchise, with Adam Baldwin as Matt Trakker, Hollywood’s All-Purpose Asian Guy John Cho as Bruce Sato and a darker, edgier T-BOB. Because I just can’t get enough of transforming vehicles.

And Spectrum’s got such sooh-per vih-hision. Muh muh muh muh, MASK.

My God, I think I may have found my life’s purpose; the pursuit of a faithful film adaptation of this lost gem, with Boulder Hill and everything.

But back to the flask. The heat retention ability of the Thermos® is nothing short of revolutionary, and it doesn’t leak. It’s what living in the 21st Century is all about, folks.

Anyway, I ended up bashing the smaller model and decide to upgrade. Only the 1L version is a hell of a lot bigger in real life than it looks in the box. Seriously, you could refuel a Boeing with the fucker. Plus, it means I’m getting through a litre of coffee a day. I’m not a hundred percent certain why I bring this whole flask thing up, except maybe to explain why posting is likely to get a little odd, then sporadic, then stop entirely when the palapatations assplode my heart.

While we’re waiting, let’s get our geek on.

• I’ve had a lot of good things to say about The Dark Knight, so here’s a bad thing. Comic book movies- well, movies period- aren’t really any good with their portrayal of women. The Dark Knight isn’t particularly exploitative, I don’t think, beyond Bruce Wayne’s dating habits as a cover for the Bat missions. The problem is how women are essentially an irrelevance in the film. Wayne’s mother is nothing more than an afterthought (hell, even Thomas Wayne got screen time in the first one), and Rachel Dawes is the definition of a pointless character. Or rather, a character who’s only point is to die and motivate the male characters. She’s subordinate to every man in the film, and only drives the plot by dying. They shove her right into the refridgerator, then nuke it, Spielberg-style. I know the problem’s caused mainly by faithfulness to almost 70 years worth of man-centric storytelling, but that’s just not a good enough excuse anymore.

• Battlestar Galactica, on the other hand, does far better gender-wise. A little shaky when it comes to race, maybe, but points for having a Latino lead character. Veeeeery heteronormative, though. I’ve finally started to catch up, finishing Series Two and starting on Series Three. Bloody hell, this is grim stuff. And incredibly close to the bone, what with its use of insurgents, bombings and prisoner torture. I’ll probably have more to say after I’ve watched a bit more.

• I’m just finishing the sixth Rebus novel, Mortal Causes. It looks like Ian Rankin’s comics writing debut will be happening at the new Vertigo Crime imprint rather than as a Hellblazer story, which may be for the best. After all, while I’ve got no idea whether the man can do horror fiction or not, he can write the shit out of crime stuff. I’ll probably do a round-up of the Rebus series once I’ve finished with them. As Rankin himself says in the foreword, Mortal Causes is certainly the first of the “grown-up” novels, in that there’s less of an emphasis on a good-gosh-whodunnit twist than on the lives and motives of the police officers and the criminals. Pretty grim, too.

• Incredibly, it’s been over two months since I picked up any comics, and over a month since I got the first JMS Thor hardcover (have I written about that yet? Can’t remember. Anyway, very good, very epic, fantastic art and bound to be cocked up once it stops being a self-contained series and starts getting all crossovery). I still need to plug a few single issue gaps, like the last issue of Casanova and the last couple of All-Star Supermen, but apart from that I think I’m pretty much dedicated to the waiting-for-the-trade thing. Thank you, Comics Companies, for being so crap over the past year with one thing or another and making the decision so easy.

• This post has turned all too negative. Let’s go look at pictures of M.A.S.K. toys instead.

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