Movement: The Moving Episode (Ep 4)

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Altered Carbon on Netflix

FINALLY A NEW SCIENCE FICTION SHOW WORTH WATCHING

Yes I know this came from a book series. And I know it's a little derivative, paying homage to Blade Runner and other Noir detective fiction. And I know it exists in a well-established genre of cyberpunk. But can't we just rejoice in the fact that Netflix pulled off something no one's done in a long time: an original sci-fi concept  pushing all the right buttons while simultaneously pushing some boundaries.

I've maintained that a good TV show is essentially beautiful people in dangerous situations wrapped up in an episodic arch that connects to a larger whole (season). Altered Carbon does this in spades. Beautiful people? Check! We've even fit some nudity in there. Violent situations? Check! We spent so much money on gore effects some of our CGI cars look a bit wonky. Story arch? CHECK! We get well-encapsulated stories that build on one another until they come to a tightly satisfying ending even your English professor would be stoked about.

There's even a scene in which a beautiful woman kills fifty naked clones of another sexy woman as they come alive attack her. It's creepy, sexy, violent, and creative.

Altered Carbon sells us a universe with as little exposition as possible and trusts its audience to go along for the ride and figure it out as we go. There are a couple clunky lines in there, but who cares? We're having fun piecing it all together. And even when the show introduces a good soldier vs. bad soldier scenario, we at least have some motives in play. And that's hugely refreshing. The terrorists might be the good guys, or they might not be; you decide! 

I still don't know why the Star Wars Empire is going around blowing up planets? Tax collection?

NO CHOSEN ONE!!! NO PROPHECY!!! They could have gone down that road for expediency, but instead they put characters and events in motion creating a protagonist worth following around. I'm so sick of Harry Potters and Luke Skywalkers and Alices and Neos ad nauseam. It's cheap story-telling, and we'll have none of it here. Instead we get women of agency and men who aren't idiots and men playing women and even a black man playing an Asian woman playing a black man. That's Shakespearean!

Music. The music is fantastic in this thing. Two stand-outs were the More Human Than Human cover by Sune Rose Wagner and A Nyughatatlan's God's Gonna Cut You Down cover. There's a Nine Inch Nails song in there for measure, too. Check out this track list!

The plot moves dexterously through some big blink-and-you'll-miss-them points but still addresses some major themes. Obligation is a big one: Familial, friend, class, state loyalties are questioned and investigated. We get to ask what mortality is, what power is, and even what God is.

In the end we get to ask my favorite sci-fi question: What is it to be human?

OK! But is there anything you hated?

Yes. I hated this stupid tattoo Takeshi and Reileen had. This tired old symbol, Ouroboros, is the most boring, lamest symbol they drag out on TV. It's a dragon biting its own tail in the shape of an infinity loop, and it's featured heavily in the opening credits sequence. I rolled my eyes every time I saw it. It reminded me of Hemlock Grove, and this is leaps and bounds better than that early Netflix attempt. It's unneeded and loud.

The ending was a little rushed, but it was satisfying and didn't leave a ton of question marks like most science fiction does. Altered Carbon also plays by the rules of its own universe. There are some Chekhov's guns in there that seem a little elastic, but that's OK; they all pan out.

Over all, it's a wonderful new show. Aren't you tired of Disney trotting out more Marvel shit to see what sticks? Aren't you just a little bit bored by Star Wars by now? Doesn't the Pacific Rim sequel look ridiculous and stupid? This breath of fresh air is worth every moment spent watching it. 

Rolling Stones Sympathy for the Devil Cover

HERE'S WHERE I RUIN THAT ROLLING STONES SONG EVERYONE LIKES

I've always thought this was a sad song. The narrator describes himself as a man of wealth and taste. Then he gets to murdering Jesus, the Czar and his ministers, little Anastasia, everyone the Nazi's killed, countless armies via kings and queens, the Kennedy's, the poets on their way to Bombay, and then he threatens the listeners if they don't show him some courtesy and sympathy or aren't polite enough.

And my favorite part of this song is that Lucifer, in the middle of the song repeats his assertion that he's a man of wealth and taste. Sure, that works with the mechanics of a song—lots of songwriters do this to tether themselves to the beginning, or they liked the line so much they stuck it in as a hook, or they were just stuck and it got them out of a hole they'd dug. But what's great here is how much we know about this narrator. Satan comes with a lot of baggage. We already think we know all there is to know. So when he repeats himself, it's as if he's trying to convince himself after the litany of crimes we know  are evil.

But the next verse, he compares cops to criminals and saints to sinners, saying he's just one side of a coin. So, might as well call him by the name Lucifer, his pre-fall name, meaning bringer of light or morning star. Mick and Keith are really outdoing themselves here. They've obviously read some Milton and had some decent education. "I'm in need of some restraint" is his explanation as to why one should use Lucifer instead of the myriad monikers associated with this character. Knowing his name controls him to some degree, but it's also his slave name. That's the name we gave him as an angel before he rebelled.

Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell

—Macbeth 4:3

That's one of my favorite quotes from Shakespeare, and I think the Stones are riffing it a little. Here Shakes uses his knowledge of the devil's name but doesn't say it. He acknowledges that the brightest angel named for bringing light is the one who fell from heaven. And even "though all things foul will bear the brows of grace... grace must still look so."

Lucifer has to think of himself the way he does because it helps him cope with his duty to use humans to accomplish horrible deeds. And why does he need sympathy? Because he never had a choice in the matter. God preordained all of it. The Lucifer had to fall in order to be the catalyst in the Fall of Man in order for God to give his only begotten son to humanity to sacrifice for their sin.

I remember arguing with Christians about John Milton's Paradise Lost in community college. You can't help but side with the devil. He's a tool of God for the salvation of man. His sacrifice is as important as Christ's, but he resents it. He understands his place and hates God and Man for it. What's more relate-able than that? What's more Christian than that story? Christ is worshiped for his selfless sacrifice. Doesn't Lucifer deserve at least a little sympathy for his reluctant sacrifice?

Lyric Genius has a good page about this song »

Pale Fire Brewing Company

A while back, I was in Chicago. I was leaving Goose Island in a black Über SUV and talking with Tim Brady about the name of his new brewery in Harrisonburg. I'd written a paper on Nabokov's Pale Fire at Berkeley, and I simply loved the multi-layered, reference-rich name he'd chosen.

Tim is no slouch when it comes to brewing, but he's going to be working with Jamie Long from Flying Dog on this new venture. Or should I say Flying Dog via Starr Hill via the Siebel Institute? He's a pro, Jamie.

There are too many things I love about this project. They're part of an urban renovation effort at the Ice House in Harrisonburg, they're already collaborating with one of my favorite breweries, and their name is pilfered from a Shakespeare play. And also, you know, beer.

And there are a lot of questions. What will be their flagship? I hope it's not another IPA, but a killer pale ale? Who will distribute? Tim used to sell at Specialty Beverage, and I used to work at Virginia Eagle, and Blue Ridge is dying for more locals. What kind of awesomeness will their tasting room present the scene? I mean, Three Bros has a GREAT tasting room. Theirs has to live up to that for sure!

I wish them luck!
Here's another article about them ➥

The following is just for Shakespeare nerds:

Shakespeare used the term "pale fire" in Timon of Athens: "The moon is an errant thief, she snatches her pale fire from the sun." Nabokov definitely references Timon in his novel. But he also brings up Hamlet. Everyone loves Hamlet, though. Anyway, in Hamlet there's this "The glow-worm shows the matin to be near And ’gins to pale his ineffectual fire." My paper in college was kind of about this. Kind of.

I don't think it was wasted on Nabokov, and I love that Shakespeare uses "Pale" in one as a verb and as a noun in the other. In a nutshell, I think that Nabokov and Timon and Shakespeare are saying that as you steal or borrow or represent or snatch a thing, that thing pales. That's particularly interesting because Shakespeare was definitely a thief when it came to stories, characters, and even whole lines.
Hamlet at one points tell Polonious  "You cannot, sir, take from me anything that I more willingly part withal—except my life, except my life, except my life"
The sun willingly parts with its fire, but she who snatches it only has something far paler, thing which is not the thing itself. It reminds me of Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra lamenting that she will one day be aped by a boy on a stage and that no representation of their life will ever be a decent depiction of the passion of their lives. And then there's the "humble cockpit" in Henry V.
OK. I'm stopping now. I do miss talking Shakespeare with people who care about things like that. 

preliminary QR hacks

These are experiments in QR Codes. At the moment they bring you to a dummy page that I'd like to make a reality eventually.
I think they can be an incredible new way to engage audiences. I see nothing but potential in this technology.
Imagine a world in which you can engage the companies you like on your own terms. A lot of people are afraid of privacy, but I think that this gets around that issue nicely. You actually invite more content by scanning the code. Thus, you only get the advertisement that you really want.

But speaking of privacy, wouldn't it be great to only be advertised things you might really want? I feel like the filter on my brain doesn't need to be as active if advertisers already know to not bother with pitching stuff to me I won't ever want or need. The question "what can they do with all that information they have about us?" always comes up when talking about the future of media, but I have to counter it with, "what would they want to do with it?" The only thing that makes sense is to sell us stuff. . . which is exactly what businesses have always been doing. Now they can more accurately target us. Targeting is a good thing. It keeps you from having to deal with Viagra and Lipitor commercials when you're 15 and from dealing with World of Warcraft ads when you're 72.

Anyway, aren't QR codes cool?

Roy H. Williams and His Memos

Roy H. Williams is one of my favorite people. He looks at the marketing world in a way that simplifies and articulates his views in a way that compel one to consider his observations throughout the week––if not into perpetuity. I look forward to his MondayMorningMemos every week. It's my favorite things about Mondays.

This week, Roy lamented the world's loss of a genius, J.D. Salinger. Salinger touched every American in some way. He compared the loss to the birth of the iPad, which also will touch every American in some way, I suppose. . . as much as any gadget can.

I wish that the American Shakespeare Center would get a donation that is earmarked for the marketing department so that I could go to Roy's Wizard of Ads Academy. I think it would benefit the company and even all of Staunton. Anyway, I wrote this email to Roy today. I thought I would share it.

Dear Roy,

This missive is depressing. I expected you to at least give us something to learn from the death of Salinger and the birth of something dubious.

I've come to expect a lot more on Mondays.

Also, I almost never watch videos through my iPhone. I look up facts, research different things, find guitar chords so that I can entertain friends with music, and I take pictures of events I attend to entice others in VL to join me in RL (sometimes I use it as a telephone). People have been predicting the nadir of culture with every technological advancement since pencil hit paper, and I don't suspect that this pharmakon will be any more poisonous than those that have preceded it. Some will be addicted to the machine, but some will employ the machine to free up intellectual capital for better uses. The only thing that sucks about the iPad (other than its unfortunate moniker) is that it seems like an Apple misfire. It seems like they misread their audience, which seems like a really good topic for your memo. Everything I read online is how lame and off-the-mark the Pad is. Perhaps Steve Jobs should subscribe to your newsletter.

Anyway, thanks for the weekly thoughts. I work in a nonprofit arts organization and will probably never have enough money to come see you, but we in the marketing department find your memos an indispensable part of what we do. A true resource.

Thanks again.

Yours,

Jack

Perhaps I should have posted this to my Shakespeare blog. I will post it there, too.