Aucbvax.1478
fa.sf-lovers
utzoo!duke!mhtsa!ucbvax!JPM@MIT-AI
Mon Jun 1 18:47:30 1981
SF-LOVERS Digest V3 #137
SF-LOVERS AM Digest Monday, 1 Jun 1981 Volume 3 : Issue 137
Today's Topics:
Administrivia - Science Fiction Convention Calendar for FTPing,
SF Books - Cyber-SF & Book Prices,
SF Movies - Clash of the Titans, SF Topics - Space Command &
Physics Today (Anti-Sugar) & Children's TV (Roger Ramjet)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 05/31/81 00:00:00
From: The Moderator <JPM@MIT-AI>
Subject: Science Fiction Convention Calendar
Due to the ever increasing size of our Science Fiction Convention
Calendar, direct distribution through the digests will no longer
be possible. However, updated copies of the calendar will be made
available via the FTP mechanism for those of you interested in this
material.
Everyone interested in reading this material should obtain the file
from the site which is most convenient for them. If you cannot do so,
please send mail to SF-LOVERS-REQUEST and we will be happy to make
sure that you get a copy.
Please obtain your copies in the near future however, since the files
will be deleted in one week. A copy of the material will also be
available upon request from the SF LOVERS archives. Thanks go to Rich
Zellich, who has taken over the task of compiling the calendar in the
wake of Richard Brodie's departure, and Alyson L. Abramowitz, Roger
Duffey, Richard Lamson, Doug Philips, Bob Weissman, Don Woods, and
Paul Young for providing space for the materials on their systems.
Site Filename
MIT-AI AI:DUFFEY;SFLVRS CONS
CMUA TEMP:CONS.TXT[X440DP0Z]
PARC-MAXC [MAXC]<WEISSMAN>SFL.CON-CAL
SU-AI CONS.SFL[T,DON]
MIT-Multics >udd>sm>rsl>sf-lovers>cons.text
DEC VAX/PDP-11 KIRK::DB1:[Abramowit.SF]cons.txt
DEC TOPS-20 KL2137::FTN20:<SF>CONS.TXT
[Note, you can TYPE or FTP the file from SAIL without an account.]
------------------------------
Date: 27 May 1981 1014-PDT
From: Wmartin at OFFICE-3 (Will Martin)
Subject: Animal robot
There was a robot dog in Woody Allen's movie, "Sleeper" (if I'm
remembering this correctly). I think it was called "Rags". Does this
count? (If there was ever a novelization of that movie, it could
qualify as printed SF.)
Will Martin
------------------------------
Date: 27 May 1981 at 0147-CDT
From: hjjh at UTEXAS-11
Subject: A revised version of that robot animal message...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ CYBER-SF-- robots ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
To make a general answer to some queries...
We are only concerned with BOOKS, tho that includes single-author
collections like THE REST OF THE ROBOTS as well as novels such as
CAVES OF STEEL. So if, for instance, Asimov has a robot dog in TRotR
or in I, ROBOT, it's eligible. But otherwise cy-devices from short
stories are not within the scope of the study.
The books to be covered should have had their initial appearance in
the last 50 years, roughly 1930 to the present.
Cy-devices from other media, like Dr Who's K-9, are included if they
appear in a novelization.
Tho not ignored, juveniles and kiddie books are not being hunted down
and will generally receive only minimal attention in the write-up.
Fantasy is not excluded, but the robot probably needs to be a clock-
work device, not just a magically animated statue. So TicToc of Oz is
okay but as Pettit at PARC-MAX advised, the Tin Woodman is dubious.
As for some specific nominees missing from the following update of the
robot-animal list, the Godwhale will be in the CYBORG category rather
than the ROBOT one currently under discussion. The critters in Wells'
THE PARASAURIANS, if I recall rightly, were biological constructs, not
robotic ones like those in Disneyland. If there are some such in
fictitional amusement parks (and I, too, feel there must be), we've
not found them yet.
The list has grown some more as messages and some SF-L's trickle in,
yet still remains overwhelmingly canine and avian:
Anderson: A CIRCUS OF HELLS
Asimov: LUCKY STARR AND THE MOONS OF JUPITER [dog]
Asimov: {unidentified source} [dog(s)]
Bradbury: FARENHEIT 451 [Mechanical Hound]
Bunch: MODERAN
Dick: DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?
__________: DR WHO <K-9>
Goulart: AFTER THINGS FELL APART [dogs]
Goulart: CALLING DR. PATCHWORK
Goulart: HAIL HIBBLER
Goulart: WHIFF OF MADNESS: A [guard dogs: horse: birds]
Harrison, M.J.: THE PASTEL CITY [birds]
Heath: THE MIND BROTHERS [nightingale]
Heath: ASSASSINS FROM TOMORROW [hound-like tracking device]
High: INVADER ON MY BACK [birds: dogs]
High: THE MAD METROPOLIS [insects]
High: NO TRUCE WITH TERRA
High: THE PRODIGAL SUN [ducks, insects]
Knight: THE WORLD AND THORINN [bird]
Larson: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Leiber: THE SILVER EGGHEADS [auto-dog]
Norton: {unidentified Witch World novel(s)} [birds]
Saberhagen: {unidentified Berserker novel} [wolf]
Schmitz: THE WITCHES OF KARRES <THE SPIDER SHEEM>
Sheckley: JOURNEY BEYOND TOMORROW <THE BEAST>
Stasheff: THE WARLOCK IN SPITE OF HIMSELF <FESS>
(Wells R.: THE PARASAURIANS [dinosaur]) ?
Zelazny: THE CHANGELING [birds+]
Zelazny: LORD OF LIGHT [beetles: Mechobra]
Any more data?
------------------------------
Date: 26 May 81 15:20-PDT
From: mclure at Sri-Unix
Subject: paperback
Thanks to the people who responded to my query about paperback book
prices.
The replies varied greatly, some people predicting the disappearance
of books altogether, to be replaced by electronic tablets and plug-in
libraries. Perhaps.
But assuming this doesn't happen, and there are no major upsets in the
paperback publishing industry, we arrive at the figure of $20 - $22
for an "average" book in 2001.
Gee, libraries are looking better all the time...
------------------------------
Date: 21 May 1981 16:29:02-EDT
From: cjh at CCA-UNIX (Chip Hitchcock)
Subject: CLASH OF THE TITANS
Has everyone else who saw the sneak preview punted mentioning it
here? (SP was a week ago at MIT.) Brief review: I wasn't highly
disappointed at most of it, because I'm not all that impressed with
Harryhausen's recent work, but I was disgusted by the fact that the
people who did this film seemed to have no sense of self-criticism at
all. I'm not much at spotting matte lines, but when the background to
a stop-motion model is obviously way out of focus that's irritating,
as are his incredibly feeble attempts to mimic the movements of living
things (there are repeated cuts between a real seagull and a
stop-motion one and the contrast shows up the process work), the fact
that quality actors were acting down to the level of the unknowns
playing the mortals, the awful script, and the massive ripoff of STAR
WARS (Burgess Meredith instead of Alec Guinness, and a
pseudo-mechanical owl (i.e., stop-motion movement instead of
clockwork, so far as I could see) in place of R2D2). I just barely
didn't resent the time I took to see this, or the hour wait to be sure
of getting a seat, but I'm glad I didn't pay to get in.
------------------------------
Date: 21 May 1981 1206-PDT (Thursday)
From: Mike at UCLA-SECURITY (Michael Urban)
Subject: Animal/Magical Robot
In the forthcoming hi-budget Harryhausen epic "Clash of the
Titans", the hero is provided with a not-too-convincing mechanical
robot by the gods. Since it is magical, however, everyone but the
viewer fails to notice that it's mechanical. Expect merchandising.
Mike
------------------------------
Date: 25 May 1981 10:55:10-PDT
From: CSVAX.upstill at Berkeley
Subject: sf-lovers--Harryhausen tribute in Berkeley
Ray Harryhausen came to town last Saturday night, attracting a
good-size crowd and thumping like crazy for Clash of the Titans. He
brought along with him a trip down memory lane for dimensional
animation enthusiasts-- clips from half a dozen Harryhausen
spectaculars. Most enlightening to see the dramatically better
realism in the later films, especially CotT.
I've seen the previews too, and they do look pretty cheesy, but to
judge from the clips shown here, we'll be seeing some fine work next
month. For a scene of Perseus taming Pegasus, he alternates
medium-long shots of his model with closeups of a real horse; very
dangerous, see the Tauntauns in TESB. But he pulls it off admirably,
with movements on the model that are astonishingly graceful and
realistic (in Q&A later, he mentioned using a real horse for a
'guide': has he ever admitted the like before?).
Another clip showed Perseus confronting Medusa in her den, a
dungeon gloomily and spookily lit only by flickering torches--with the
lighting on the model in perfect synch! Jaded eyes popped. His
Medusa is truly memorable, genuinely creepy and effective, and in
general, he has come great strides in optically integrating the models
with the live actors.
I regret to warn you that this film is not above having its own
R2D2--a mechanical owl that clunks down to guide Perseus. However,
since the sound effects are mostly cuckoo-clock noises, it may be that
the thing is around mainly for satirical purposes.
On the whole, I came away with a sharply enhanced desire to see the
film. Moreover, I think this one will break him through into the
mainstream.
--Steve
------------------------------
Date: Sunday, 31 May 1981 16:10-PDT
Subject: ATTENTION ALL SPACE CADETS!!!! PREPARE YOUR ROCKETS!
From: mike at RAND-UNIX
>From Aviation Week, May 25, 1981
Page 40:
Serious consideration within the Defense Dept. and Congress of
establishment of a new branch of the armed services for space
warfare, probably Space Command. The reasoning is that the
Air Force and Navy are seeking to avoid developing space
weaponry for defense and that any effort in this area takes
away from total obligational authority for other planned
strategic weapon systems. ...
The article, "Beam Weapons Technology Expanding" goes on to mention,
several times, about white house concern that the Pentagon branches
are hindering development of space technology, as it is not in their
traditional mission areas. (Most famous example, the Navy's effort to
delay and destroy air power, Billy Mitchell, et alia). The
implication is that a special service will support and not hinder
development of a new form of defense.
If a Space Command, perhaps also a Space Academy?
Michael Wahrman
------------------------------
Date: 26 May 1981 1657-PDT
From: OR.TOVEY at SU-SCORE
Subject: mirror sugar wonderland; Red Moon, Black Mountain
There is a discussion of mirror proteins in The Annotated
Alice (in through the looking glass Alice would have been able to eat
but get no sustenance). I think Martin Gardner is the annotater.
Joy Chant's Red Moon and Black Mountain was originally
published in the U.S. in 1971 as part of Ballantine's fantasy series
(Lin Carter, editor.) Unfortunately someone took mine out on an
extended loan, so I got the hardback children's market edition (1975
or 76) to replace it. A very good fantasy book.
good reading,
--cat
------------------------------
Date: 26 May 1981 23:22:21-PDT
From: decvax!duke!unc!smb at Berkeley
Subject: Stereo-isomers
Getting a little tired of all the speculation with few facts behind
it, I decided to ask a biochemist friend and an immunologist friend
about dextro-sugar. Neither was willing to make any firm statements,
but both agreed it sounded a bit fishy -- they'd be far more likely to
believe it of amino acids than sugars.
On a science-fictional note, in Zelazny's "Doorways in the Sand", he
points out that reversal can take place in more than way. I can't
quite visualize an example, but I suspect that there are some
symmetries that would require more than one reversal. Comment,
anyone?
------------------------------
Date: 22 May 1981 1008-PDT
From: LEWIS at SRI-AI (Bil Lewis)
Dolata at SUMEX-AIM mentioned something which implied the
existence of reverse "whisk(e)y". Was this a reference to somebody's
idea in a story, or is it that the stuff actually exists?
-Bil
------------------------------
Date: 26 May 1981 1545-EDT
From: MD at MIT-XX
Subject: Roger Ramjet
If there is a demand for it, I can get information on Roger
Ramjet cartoons. We've been showing them for years at LSC films
(semi-legitimately). One of our members worked for a television
station and rescued a couple dozen episodes from the trash bin (in the
50's and 60's local TV stations were sent much of their material on
16mm film; warehousing was expensive, so eventually it was thrown
away).
Mike
------------------------------
End of SF-LOVERS Digest
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