Tag Archives: Neal Stephenson

Howlin’ at the Moon

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Movie night!

I’m sneakin’ out tonight with my lunatic pup (Chloe) to gaze at the promised micro blue moon. We may howl. We may discuss the opening chapter of Neil Stephenson’s fascinating book; SEVENEVES. It’s my favorite of Stephenson’s novels, but Chloe quibbles with the last third of the piece. She has a fair point.

Then, we shall scurry to the library to watch the 1964 version/vision of H. G. Wells’ FIRST MEN IN THE MOON.

The personnel involved are the main reason to watch this film (Chloe suspects my shallowly buried hope of being chosen the next 75-year-old astronaut might also be a motivating factor).

Nathan Juran is the director. Mr. Juran is an Oscar winner for…Art Direction…for the HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, a beautiful film, but nothing like his directing career. He directed some of my favorite guilty pleasures; THE DEADLY MANTIS (1957) – big bugs…never misses, 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957), and ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT WOMAN (1958) – 50-foot Alison Hayes…never misses.

Nigel Kneale is our screenwriter. Mr. Kneale wrote screenplays for serious stuff; THE ENTERTAINER (1960) and LOOK BACK IN ANGER (1959), disturbing British sci-fi; THE STONE TAPE (1972) and FIVE MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1967), and a truly terrifying ghost story; THE WOMAN IN BLACK (1989), not the Radcliffe remake.

Valentine Dyall, the narrator was memorable in HORROR HOTEL (1960), a fine, foggy scare as Jethrow Keane, a hitchhiker to whom you do not want to give a ride. He was also in THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE (1963) as one half of the unhelpful caretaker couple; “No one from town will come after dark…in the night…in the dark.”

Our old friend Miles Malleson is also in this film. His is an amazing career; HORROR OF DRACULA (1958), THR HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1959), and THE BRIDES OF DRACULA (1960) for Hammer, and about a hundred more.

We may howl indeed.

Boar Hunting on the Brazos

Books, , , , , , , ,

That’s how I spent my afternoon.

Neal Stephenson’s book, TERMINATION SHOCK, arrived today and we’re off to a flying start. Well, maybe not a completely successful flying start. In the first few pages, the private plane’s pilot, who also happens to be the Dutch queen, lands smack on the back of a herd of very large wild boars. This, as you would guess, proves to be a poor flight plan for both the boars and the Boer.

I now find myself looking over the shoulder of a Comanche Ahab on a vengeful prowl for Moby Pig in a drone-equipped pick-up truck. I’ve already learned what a “dually” is. I kinda want one.

Gimme another few pages and I may become your go-to for information you’ve been craving about the introduction and subsequent loss of control of European wild boars in Waco. Talk about your invasive species! If one must choose between pythons, Japanese beetles, kudzu, and Bradford pear trees…wouldja take wild boars? I’ll let ya know.

About the turn of the millennium, my delightfully bright friend Ave Lawyer mentioned how much she enjoyed a book she had recently read by a writer named Neal Stephenson; CRYPTONOMICON. I read it and was hooked. Ave moved on to twenty more authors as she inevitably does. I was happily stuck and for 20 years I have devoured each of Mr. Stephenson’s books ravenously, and basked in wonder and sometimes befuddlement.

Along the way I have learned so much…

  • I’ve learned techniques for permanently disabling underwater open sewer pipes in Boston Harbor.
  • The orbital dynamics of efficiently hooking up with a captured comet spun me for a loop, but I cheerfully went along for the ride.
  • I have followed the path of Schrodinger’s cat, and thus have a more nuanced understanding of why those witches of Salem may been scorched.
  • The history of cables and cabling I’ve mastered…just as the world goes wireless.
  • I have many interesting facts about coinage history, currency (current and crypto), and gold (Solomonic and Fort Knoxian). I know much about money…without having much.
  • I now know the practical intricacies of insect worship in India and fully understand why it has not caught on.
  • I now feel positively conversational with Norse deities in a way that Wagner never conceived.
  • The history of urban coffee vending is no longer mystery to me…and, I suppose, I also now realize that it once was.
  • I have confirmed that Jack of “Jack and the Beanstalk” and Appalachian Jack Tale fame is someone I would be proud to meet one day…and simultaneously, be afraid on that day to stand too near.

Wow.

I’m sure I’m a better person for all this education.

Next page, please.