Tag: 1984

Doing it old school, or ‘Yeah! Science (fiction)!’

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 16 Comments
A script from the Before-Time, possibly written by Dr. Eleven. Or that “Mad Blog” fella.

I always liked science fiction. Science, not so much.

Science always seemed rigid and impersonal. But science fiction, or speculative fiction, if you prefer — especially of the apocalyptic variety — spoke to the gloomy bog-trotter in my DNA.

So I studied the fiction instead of the science, with predictable results. When it came time for me to go to college, there was only one in the state that would accept me with my miserable GPA. However, the institution excused me from freshman comp because I was a fool for words, as long as there were no equations to solve.

SF seems best to me when the future isn’t pretty, but people manage to muddle through somehow. “A Clockwork Orange.” “Alas, Babylon.” Or “Station Eleven.”

We watched the “Station Eleven” TV series on Max, recently watched it again, and afterward I finally got around to reading the book, which as usual is considerably different. Author Emily St. John Mandel was gracious about the changes, though, saying she thought the series “deepened the story in a lot of really interesting ways.”

I doubt that I’m adding any significant depth with this latest episode of Radio Free Dogpatch, but the notions contained therein have been taking up space in my head for a while now and the Voices would like them to leave. They’re your problem now.

• Technical notes: RFD favors the Ethos mic from Earthworks Audio; Audio-Technica ATH-M50X headphones; Zoom H5 Handy Recorder; Apple’s GarageBand, and Auphonic for a wash and brushup. NASA noises, starship flyby, countryside ambience and appreciative audience come from Zapsplat. “Wernher von Braun” is the work of the inimitable Tom Lehrer. The Celtic tune is from Freesound. And the outro clip is from The Firesign Theatre’s “I Think We’re All Bozos On This Bus,” which remains all too relevant. All other evil racket is courtesy of Your Humble Narrator.

Thanks to Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke for “2001,” Gene Roddenberry for “Star Trek,” Emily St. John Mandel for “Station Eleven,” Pat Frank for “Alas, Babylon,” Stephen King for “The Stand,” and The Firesign Theatre for … well, for everything.

Sentinels

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 12 Comments

Cannon to right of them; cannon to left of them.
Cannon to right of them; cannon to left of them.

Jaysis. I keep hoping things will settle down in my little world so I can pay attention to the larger one and it keeps not happening.

We did enjoy a respite yesterday afternoon. I got out for a two-hour ride with a neighbor who is on the road to recovery after an injury, and afterward I aired out the cats for a bit. Then it was back to business.

I took a quick swivel at the news and it all looks worse than Kellyanne Goebbels after a couple-three meth julips. A follower on Twitter described the antics at the Orange House as “a shitshow,” and I agreed, noting that while I had expected to see some splattered on the walls, I had not planned on it being up to the knees heading into Week 2 of the Bannon administration.

Meanwhile, here’s some light reading for you:

• Kevin Drum at MoJo says the immigration order “is a pinprick, just something to test the waters” for a full-on war on Islam. “Think of it as market research,” he adds. “More will be coming.”

• The architects of the New World Ordure are set to start pushing their Supreme Court nominee. If you’re expecting the second coming of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., prepare to be disappointed.

• What’s old is new again: Everybody, from Henry Giroux to Michiko Kakutani, is revisiting “1984” for reasons that should be all too obvious.

And now it’s back to work. Phone your senators and representatives and urge them to oppose every little notion these dollar-store despots dredge from the shallow depths of their tiny minds. Do it now. Later looks very unpleasant from where I’m sitting.