Dale Kennedy

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I kept waiting for something to happen. Maybe the tour group has an accident and Benji saves the day? Maybe Benji’s erratic behavior precipitates a crisis? But, nope. Nothing ever happens and the movie ends right where it begins with Benji sitting in JFK airport. Absent a plot it never tells a story. It is just a pointless series of low-key events, several of which were implausible and therefore silly. Sending marijuana through the international post would almost certainly result in arrest. The rooftops of tall buildings are always securely locked to prevent suicides. Stealing a ride on a European train is not easy and can end in arrest. I upgraded from 1 to 2 stars because of the quality of the acting.

I first read Dune as a teenager in the 60s soon after it was published. I thought at that time that it was a masterpiece. I just finished re-reading for the first time since then to see how it has held up. In some respects it has weathered the decades well, in others, not so much. Herbert wisely wrote it as soft science fiction with devices to justify the antiquated technology. For example, tremendous advances in defensive technologies had forced a reversion to low-tech swords and knives. This gives the novel a timeless quality. It’s visionary theme of ecology and restoration of a desert environment makes it more topical than ever in the era of climate change and desertification. However, in the critical aspect of social justice it feels like something from another era. Thousands of years from now, white males dominate the universe. Women are pawns who have formed a secret society to influence men. The villain is a homosexual, the only one in the book. These are very serious flaws, which for many modern readers will render it worthless. However, these are not overt, but simply implicit assumptions that many people shared in the early 1960’s when he was writing it, and are not directly relevant to the themes of the book. There is no overt racism, and some positive characters are not white. For example, the admirable Fremen appear to be similar to Bedouins. There is no overt sexism. Several of the principal characters are very strong women. There is no overt homophobia, though no positive examples of gay characters are depicted. So, it seems to me that the flaws are not fatal, and the book retains some, but not all, of the qualities that I enjoyed more than 50 years ago. I hope the new film version will update it.

Near-future SF rarely ages well, and this novel is no exception. It begins in 2026 with the first mission of 100 colonists to Mars. We are so laughably far from that now, only five years away. In the novel, space exploration is still dominated by white people in the US and Russia, China not even a minor player, much less India, UAE, etc. Likewise, the problems on Earth are projections from 1992, real problems of pollution and corporatism, but not climate change, pandemics, anti-scientific know-nothings, etc. There is still much of interest, especially as Mars is much in the news now, but not as grippingly plausible as it was in 1992.

Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind

He is a great artist, so a documentary is a good idea and well worth watching. It had interviews with lots of elderly musicians that were not adequately identified, so the context was missing. I am of that same generation and followed the music, and even so I often didn’t have a clue who they were. Younger viewers would be mystified. It seemed too long, but maybe wouldn’t have been if twenty minutes of adulation was replaced with brief backgrounds on the interviewees.

Horrific Brutality Online to the Max. Do you watch TV in hopes of seeing mutilated infants and graphically brutal murders? If so, then you’ll find this entertaining. Or perhaps, like me, you think that gratuitous violence in so-called entertainment panders to the absolute worst in human nature. We have become desensitized to the most appalling images imaginable. Mass murders and police brutality are now commonplace. Coincidence?

The teenage boy in me enjoyed it very much. However, the Dad in me kept worrying about little details. Doesn't the Infant have diapers that need changing? Does the bathroom in the Razor have a changing station? Does the helmet filter out the smell of baby poop? Isn't that stiff green garment kind of uncomfortable? Do little green babies have childhood diseases like greeneola? I actually think some details like this would help round out the character of the infant and the relationship between Din and the Infant.

It is a utopian novel about climate change. We need this hopeful and positive view of the future. There is much here to interest readers concerned about climate change. Unfortunately, as a novel it is surprisingly weak given that it is about a compelling topic and from such an accomplished author. It frequently gets lost in the weeds of exposition. The characters are just ciphers. They don’t move the plot forward because there is no plot to speak of.