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October
, 2001
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Sights, sounds and words each month to feed your imagination. Editor's Voice (new this month) After the terrible events last month in the United States, I decided that this month's newsletter would be a little different. I've added my Editor's Voice and an article that I hope you'll like. About me: I am American and I live in Paris, France. I've never been one to trumpet patriotism and the self-labeled "American Pride" that seems to so irritate our world neighbors. Indeed, since my teenage years, I've often rebelled against mainstream culture: I listened to Bauhaus and Siouxie while everyone else thought Madonna was cool, I dressed almost exclusively in black, and have watched nearly every scary movie that came out. When X-Files made its debut - I was completely hooked. On September 11th of this year, it became clear that no ghost story in the world could be as frightening as what we saw happening in New York City. Quite frankly, I'm not in the mood to see movies with extraterrestrials blowing up the White House. I'll pass on the burning skyscrapers and bombs on airplanes as well. Not even John Travolta as the hero could get me to see a movie about terrorists last month - what was the name of that movie, Swordfish?. As for monsters, we discovered a very big monster (and how many more behind him?) right here among us. He didn't land in a spaceship, rise from a grave on a foggy night or come out of the ocean to invade the New York sewer system. He was just a madman who knew how to manipulate other madmen to kill thousands of innocent people on a bright, sunny morning. Sara
News... and more
Article Is
Fantasy Still In Style? With reality hitting so hard last month, what will be the role of fantastic or surreal art and literature? We're already seeing the effects on regular fiction as movie releases are postponed and certain songs are temporarily pulled from the airwave because of the sensitive content they contain. Americans, it seems, are searching for answers and hope in the dark hours, some seeking in the rational and others in the irrational. There have fake Nostradomus quatrains circulating the Internet (obvious fakes, dated from the century after his death), tricked photos of the attack on the World Trade Center, etc. While essentially disappointing where real answers are concerned, the creativity and energy put into all this is enormous. Fantasy, science fiction, paranormal activity, X-Files, surrealism... these are mirror image of reality; reality's obscure twin. He is twisted, distorted and often speaks in metaphors. Nonetheless, he gives voice to our subconscious, sometimes to our hopes, and often to our fears. Fears of attacks, invasions and a general war waged against the Western world is not a new idea; we can find literally thousands of representations of this idea in fiction films and literature, particularly science-fiction, of the last hundred years or so. The recent "Planet of the Apes" is one example. The film shows our world completely changed and taken over by war-like monkeys. The "bad guys" have won and they have weapons, armies and brains. Metaphorically, the bad guy apes could represent any real-life enemy, although at this time, it's not too much of a stretch to substitute holy-warring Islamic Fundamentalists for the monkeys, and Osama Bin Laden (our current real-life bad guy) for their leader. Real fears for real people, expressed with visions of a polarized world. Although war films are not in style at the moment, It won't surprise me to see more superhero movies in the future that address this theme, once we have adjusted to the world "after" the biggest terror attacks in history. Big fears require big heroes. Real-life heroes have taken on superhero status these days, pushing aside the Marvel Comics type hero- just ask any American kid what costume they want to wear for Halloween! But for those seeking a little escapist story telling, all it takes is a little imagination to pit a fictional hero with superpowers against the world's most recent real-life menace. I think I can still imagine a few fantastic scenarios... Godzilla Vs Osama? Although Godzilla started out as a giant lizard in Japan, created by a nuclear blast and was once determined to destroy the earth, he stopped bashing buildings and began mashing other monsters in 1965 in the movie Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster. Godzilla became the protector of humans and the earth with such notable releases as Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster (1971), Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), and Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), etc. And now if we could just recruit our favorite 300 foot superhero reptile to trample terrorists... For more about Godzilla, check out Godzilla.com ------ Happy Halloween Everything you ever wanted to know is here For the Audiophiles... New technology may make it impossible to rip Cds... and give Microsoft more business. Read the article at ZDNet
Mythological Being of the month...
Just for Fun... A
computer card
trick that reads your mind -I have no idea how it works! They
are, however, SELLING the secret.
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