Aucbvax.1736
fa.sf-lovers
utzoo!duke!decvax!ucbvax!JPM@MIT-ML
Sun Jun 14 16:18:35 1981
SF-LOVERS Digest V3 #150
SF-LOVERS AM Digest Sunday, 14 Jun 1981 Volume 3 : Issue 150
Today's Topics:
SF Fandom - Westercon,
SF Books - Fantasticats, SF Movies - Clash of the Titans,
SF Music - Theme from "Dark Shadows",
SF Topics - Children's stories (Boy's Life stories) &
Children's TV (Galactic Patrol) & Science in Science Fiction
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 13 June 1981 02:18 edt
From: Schauble.Multics at MIT-Multics
Subject: Sacramento Westercon
I am considering taking the Amtrack costal train from LA to
Sacramento, since this may be the last year that it exists
(considering the Amtrack budget cuts). I would appreciate comments
from anyone who has ever taken this train.
My problem is that the train stops in Davis, not in Sacramento. Is
there perhaps someone on this list that can tell me how to finish the
trip? Perhaps some Sacramento resident or someone who will be at the
con who will offer a ride?
Anyone from LA interested in riding up in a group?? The train leaves
LA at 10:30 Thursday morning and arrives in Davis at 10:45 PM.
And, although this is much too early by tradition, any interest in an
SF-Lovers party at the con??
Any answers or other expressions of interest should be sent directly
to me.
Thanks,
Paul
------------------------------
From: DAA@MIT-ML
Date: 06/12/81 22:17:18
If proof is needed about cats in SF, in Ringworld Engineers, Louis
thinks to himself that "The kzinti males look like fat orange cats
walking on their hind legs. . . almost."
------------------------------
Date: 11 Jun 1981 1007-PDT
From: Mark Crispin <ADMIN.MRC AT SU-SCORE>
Subject: Cats...
Enough on cats already! Or at least include some SF books for
those of us who HATE cats. Unfortunately, the two books I can think
of ("The I Hate Cats Book" and "101 Things to Do With A Dead Cat")
aren't SF.
-- Mark --
------------------------------
Date: 10 Jun 1981 0613-PDT
Sender: GEOFF at SRI-CSL
Subject: Something for the "Dead Cat Panel"?
From: the tty of Geoffrey S. Goodfellow
I wonder if this guy was the artist who did the highly controversy
"How To Kill a Cat" at the San Francisco WESTERCON 2 years ago that
inspired the "Dead Cat Panel" at the following WESTERCON in Los
Angeles the year following?
101 Uses For A Dead Cat
By TIMOTHY HARPER
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - There may be more than one way to skin a cat, but
only one man is willing to risk the wrath of 23 million cat lovers
with 101 suggestions for what to do with the hide.
That man is Simon Bond, a 33-year-old Englishman who professes to
love cats even though they make him sneeze.
His best-selling book, entitled ''101 Uses for a Dead Cat,'' is a
dementedly whimsical collection of cartoons purporting to show how
cats can be useful even after they've exhausted their nine lives.
Some call it disgusting, obscene, sadistic, horrible and sick.
Others call it very funny. And everybody calls it very, very
successful.
Already, 200,000 copies of the $2.95 book published by Clarkson N.
Potter Inc. of New York are in print, pushing it well past the ''cat
books'' it spoofs.
It's even more popular than the recent publishing phenomenon ''The
Official Preppie Handbook,''e throw rugs, like bearskins, before the
hearth.
''Monstrous and obscene,'' Roy Youngdale of Los Altos, Calif.,
said in one of dozens of outraged letters received by the publisher
from cat fanciers. ''An open call to sadism.''
Bond, who said he got the idea for the 95-page book during a
conversation with friends in Britain's zany Monty Python comedy
troupe, has sketched rigor mortis cats with tails sharpened so they
can be thrown at dartboards.
''Weirdness,'' wrote Nancy Orr of Tampa, Fla.
One of Bond's kitty carcasses has been hollowed into a bowling
ball bag; several others are mounted above prison fences with their
tiny ears holding barbed wire in place.
''The death of a cat is not a funny circumstance,'' Ann
Green-Cloutier of Warren, R.I., wrote.
A cat's foreleg serves as a tone arm on a phonograph and a carcass
draped over a teapot as a cozy. One flattened kitty, grasped by the
tail, serves as a tennis racket. Another squished feline, without
tail, is a perfect Frisbee.
One writer, W. Michael Long, suggested another book: ''101 Uses
for a Dead Simon Bond.''
The book also depicts four cats as dining table legs, while a cat
on its hindquarters with forelegs extended is a functional wine rack.
Two tails are portrayed as windshield wipers and little paws are
transformed into rubber stamps.
''Horrible,'' wrote Laurie Zane. ''This man must be a sad and
despicable human being.''
Actually, Bond is a rather impish fellow whose asthma and
allergies led him to move to Phoenix, Ariz., several years ago.
His cartoons have been published in magazines like Esquire and the
New Yorker, but Bond swore in an interview that he had never earned
more than $10,000 in a single year - until now.
He said ''101 Uses'' was put together for fun, not money.
''I couldn't have done the book if I thought it was terrible,'' he
protested. ''I'm the first to start sneezing when a cat comes round,
but I'm also the first to start petting it.''
Nancy White Kahan, the publicist promoting ''101 Uses,'' says more
than 200,000 copies of the book have been printed, and booksellers are
ordering in quantities surpassing the previous record fast-seller,
''The Official Preppie Handbook.''
This week ''101 Uses'' hit No. 7 on the New York Times list of
trade book bestsellers and No. 1 on the Walden and Dalton bestseller
lists, ahead of other books in the cat category like ''The Official I
Hate Cats Book,'' the ''Catcalender'' and ''Garfield Gains Weight.''
Despite the letters, Ms. Kahan says booksellers report most of the
buyers are cat fanciers.
''A few people have just lost their sense of humor and their
perspective over it,'' she said.
Psychologist Joyce Brothers agrees. While Bond's catty humor may
be slightly sick, she said, it is nonetheless a harmless sort of
comedy that produces laughter and relieves tension.
''It's a put-on,'' she said. ''If you get upset at this, you have
too much emotional involvement in your pet.''
There have been favorable letters, too. One arrived on the
stationery of the Bahrain Dead Cat Society, purportedly from the State
of Bahrain on the Arabian Gulf. The group's motto is ''Felix Morte,''
and its cable address is FLATCAT.
The society said it was ''eagerly'' ordering five copies to share
with its affiliates. And who are they?
Well, the letter listed them as the North American Dead Dog
Society, the Kenyan Institute for Crushed Aardvarks, the Fiji Squashed
Squid Squad and the North Scunthorpe Hedgehog Hit Men.
------------------------------
From: RP@MIT-ML
Date: 06/13/81 07:59:25
Subject: Clash of the Titans
CLash Of the Titans or CLOT is a bore from the start (unless you are
under 10). I thought the effects were awful. I was reminded of the
King Kong effort a few years ago because the monsters move in jerks
(so do the actors come to think of it). The acting is outrageous as
well. In one unforgettable scene Zeus makes himself seen to Perseus as
an image on a shield and Sir Larry sounded like he was being
detoxified. Save your bucks for a second round of Raiders!!
------------------------------
Date: 11 Jun 1981 1311-PDT
Sender: GEOFF at SRI-CSL
Subject: Record of music for greatest serial ever to be on TV.
From: the tty of Geoffrey S. Goodfellow
I was over at someones house the other night and they had a record of
"DARK SHADOWS" (with pictures of Barnibus and Quentin on the front),
by the Robert Orchestra. Philips, PHS 600-314 - Stereo circa '69.
Anyone have any leads on how i might obtain a copy of this gem?
How many others used to be glued to the TV set at 4PM daily when it
was playing? I really think it was the best serial ever to be on TV.
P.S. To possible bay-area Dark Shadows lovers, I'm thinking of
writing a letter to James Gabbert (of TV-20, where he has revived
OUTER LIMITS and other greats) to see if I can get him to dig up the
series and rerun it, like Ch44 did for a while when Mary Hartman, Mary
Hartman was on).
------------------------------
Date: 11 June 1981 1210-EDT (Thursday)
From: David.Smith at CMU-10A (C410DS30)
Subject: Names
The Boys' Life article about the solar sailing regatta was called The
Sunjammers.
That's D-u-r-w-a-r-d Kirby.
------------------------------
Date: 11 Jun 1981 0907-PDT
From: Tom Wadlow <TAW SU-AI AT>
Subject: Boy Scouts in Space
Heinlein wrote quite a few ``juvenile'' novels for Boy's Life way back
when. Among them was ``Farmer in the Sky'' which had a bunch of kids
forming a scout troop on board a very large spacecraft (not a
generation ship, though) on its way to Ganymede.
As for the Scouts with the time machine, I remeber the stories, but
not the author (though it definitely wasn't Heinlein). I distinctly
remember that my junior high school library had a hardback collection
of them, as well. Boy's Life also carried some reasonably well-drawn
and interesting comic strips with a science-fiction flavor. I recall
one about a guy who kept wandering through time by going into a cave,
and another about some folks who wandered about in a flying saucer.
As my collection (if it still exists) is about 1700 miles away, I
can't provide facts, just vague recollections.
------------------------------
Date: 11 Jun 1981 10:54:19 EDT (Thursday)
From: Drew M. Powles <DPOWLES AT BBN-RSM>
Subject: Young at dec and Aquaboy
Sorry to nitpick: but it's Aqualad, not Aquaboy.
------------------------------
Date: 1981-6-11-11:06:24.79
Sender: YOUNG at DEC-MARLBORO
From: NIGEL CONLIFFE at VAXWRK at ORION at METOO
Subject: Marionette TV shows
In answer to Tony Mione's question, I too remember a show called
something like Planet Patrol; I think that it was called "Galactic
Patrol"????
The spaceships were called "Galaspheres", and were vertical tubes
(containing some sort of drive mechanism), surrounded by a circular
tube which contained the living quarters, control room, "computer",
etc.
The drive seemed strange -- a glowing semicircular beam of light
connecting the top and bottom of the central tube, but rotating
(faster at increased speeds) outside the area of the living quarters.
The only other two things that I remember about the show were that the
robots involved look incredibly fragile and unstable, and that, back
on good old mother earth, people used to travel in cars inside
transparent tubes.
Does this ring any more bells???
Nigel
------------------------------
Date: 12 Jun 1981 1221-PDT
From: ICL.REDFORD at SU-SCORE
Subject: re: lack of s in sf
H. G. Wells feared and disliked science? What a curious statement.
True, the technological Morlocks in "The Time Machine" are
cave-dwelling cannibals, but the Eloi are not therefore heros; they
are portrayed as passive cattle. The hero is the vigorous Victorian
and his wonderful time machine. It's also true that in "The War of
the Worlds" the technological Martians are brought low by the smallest
of creatures, but does that demonstrate a rejection of technology or a
proper humility about its limits? One of the first things you learn
in the engineering game is that overlooked details can cause
catastrophic failures, and the second thing you learn is that you
always overlook something.
Nor do I remember where Wells says that science should be kept in
the hands of the elite. There's a scientific elite in "Things To
Come", but I don't think it kept its knowledge secret.
In general Wells was not blind to the dangers of science, but that
is not a sign of fear, it is one of understanding. It is one of the
reasons why, unlike the likes of Gernsback, you can still read him
without wincing.
------------------------------
Date: 06/12/81 1058-EDT
From: KG Heinemann (SORCEROR at LL)
Sender: SORCEROR at LL
Subject: The Force; Science vs. Mysticism is SF ?
An illustration of the connection between "The Force" of the SW
universe and the Western tradition of scholarly occultism may be found
on p. 27 of Robert Anton Wilson's recent novel, MASKS OF THE
ILLUMINATI. "The Force" is the last entry on a list of names which
have been given to "the Vril force that could mutate humanity into
superhumanity".
The major motivation for this message, however, is not simply to
submit a small bit of relevant information from a work of literature,
but to express my dismay at some of the premises which appear to be
implicit in E.jeffc's criticism of SW and CEoTK.
Denying a place in SF to the tradition of scholarly mysticism is
to take a very narrow view the genre's values and the human concerns
that it may address. Modern science relies on an epistemological
framework which has never been thoroughly justified. Faith in
induction and belief in the reality of abstract theoretical concepts
may be manifestations of wishful thinking, just as much as the longing
to wield magic and psionic abilities, or the desire to become an
entity of the higher planes. Science originates from the desire to
understand and control the world we live in, while these mystic
beliefs arise from the desire to transcend existential isolation, the
possible futility of life when confronted with the fact of death, and
the ennui which can result. Who's to say that one of these sets of
needs is more valid than the other, or that one falls more properly
under the scope of SF? This genre's ability to use scientific
knowledge and speculation to address "religious" issues is one of its
most appealing aspects, for me. I too have been trained as a
scientist, and I too deplore the frequency with which distorted or
invented "science" are used to explain the existence of fantastic
"objects", the occurrence of exotic, voluptuous physical scenery and
events, or an author's laziness in dealing with the details and all
the implications of a made-up premise. However, condemning works,
simply because they allude to ideas from the body of scholarship on
the occult, seems to contradict and deny one of the major aims and
functions of SF.
As a final thought, ponder how one would reconcile a total ban on
the use of mystical thinking, in SF, with Clarke's notion that "A
sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."?
EOF (End Of Flame).
Sincerely,
Karl G. Heinemann
------------------------------
End of SF-LOVERS Digest
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