Here’s a thought for those writing SF novels about time travel: The hackneyed plot is always one of those ethically dubious stories about someone deciding to get into the time machine and kill Hitler, or Pol Pot, or Mao, or whoever. They do so because they are supposedly moral relativists and believe that killing one psychopath is better than letting that psychopath lead a society into the mass murder sanctioned by governments led by psychopaths like Pol Pot, Mao, and Hitler. The moral absolutist, however — say, the traditional Catholic — would argue that killing Hitler, Mao, or Pol Pot …
Month: August 2010
ER Horror… and Why I Think “Just Bear It” is so Toxic
Miss Jiwaku needed to go to the ER the other night — no worries, she turned out surprisingly okay — but we saw people in pain, and the worst pain we saw was, indeed, emotional. There was a family in which the son had some kind of respiratory problem. He’d just had minor surgery and was recovering. His mom and younger brother had brought him in, and I can only guess that the father had been out with his buddies, drinking, because he seemed to show up all of a sudden and start shouting at people. Yes, shouting: it was …
German Beers at Costco?
Those interested in fruit-beer blends might want to drop by Costco (at least, the Costco by Yeongdeungpo Office Station) and check out the deal on imported German “beers”). I quite like the Red Sonja (Hefeweizen with blood orange) and the Radler (Lemonade + pilsner) they have available there. More info here.
Chew on This…
A teacher is a man who must talk for an hour. — Ezra Pound, in (I think it was) Guide to Kulchur. And he is, gender-exclusivity aside — plenty of women must talk for an hour too — quite right in this observation. The teacher must talk whether talking educates, or does not educate. The teacher is employed as one who “teaches” and there are all kinds of expectations that may make teaching a rather different endeavour from educating. Not that one should take Pound at his word all the time; he was a nut. But he also claims somewhere in …
Inception and PKD
After reviewing the book about PKD in my last post, I realized I’d said nothing about the film Inception, which I saw a few weeks ago. I’m going to come out and say what I think about the film, and what it means for cinematic SF, but save the spoilers (and much of my explanation) for the extended part of this post, so that those who wish can avoid the spoilers. (Note, if you’re reading on the RSS feed you might not have a cut. I’ll warn you.) So, what is Inception? It’s one of the most Phildickian films I’ve …