Monthly Archives: February 2014

Harman at Rice

14 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by in Lovecraftian arts, Odd scratchings, Scholarly works

≈ Leave a comment

Popping up on the blog-dar today: Graham Harman was at Rice University yesterday…

“Harman’s [Lovecraft tinged] philosophy [the OOO variety of the new Speculative Realism] does not distinguish categorically between humans and nonhuman or life and matter. Drawing on Heidegger, Harman extends phenomenology’s account of the relation between human beings and the world to objects and the relations among objects.”

No video. But here’s a Dec 2013 talk by Harman I found, so decide what it all means for yourself…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK-5XOwraQo&w=560&h=315]

 

I mostly fail to see the usefulness or point of modern academic philosophy, possibly because I’m not trained in it but also because its hair-splitting concerns seem so utterly arcane. But for my own amusement I’ve just attempted at a quick translation of the above-linked Wikipedia page section. At first glance Harman’s core ideas seem to me rather like a standard semiotics framework, shunted sideways into the language and categories of contemporary philosophy. Here’s what I can make out, in as plain an English as I can manage…

* Real physical objects are made up of complex combinations of objects, sub-objects, materials, and forces.

* Real physical objects exist amid complex landscapes of other real objects and physical forces.

* Amid such ramifying complexity, most humans find it useful to imbue a real physical object with a shorthand mental caricature of it.

* We use these shorthand mental caricatures to engage with real physical objects, just as much as we use our eyes / fingers / ears.

* These shorthand mental caricatures about objects exist and operate within culture and language, where they tend to interbreed and mutate over time.

So, let’s try that on a real world instance: a suspension bridge across water can be both a real physical object and a cultural form. The bridge is imagined and designed, and as such it is undoubtedly a cultural form. Yet once constructed, the bridge is also undoubtedly a real physical object. Yet the real bridge rapidly becomes a shorthand mental caricature, part of a more complex symbolic landscape of nation, city, travel, speed, ambition, work and commerce, structural elegance, the alluring sublimity of weather and light at play over a large human structure, etc. But this complex web of symbolic meaning is not enough to keep the bridge aloft: since we only wish to actually cross the bridge if it can be shown to rest on immutable and objectively-real laws of physics and geometry. In this sense the bridge also rests in part on the accumulated historical labour of many human minds, those special men who in the past discovered the countless correct object-combinations needed to build such a bridge. The bridge also replicates itself physically into the future, as designers and engineers are inspired by it to create new structures elsewhere. Poets and artists may likewise develop the bridge’s symbolic meanings, long after it has been dismantled or has fallen into the river and decayed to rust, weakened by the implacable web of objects and forces — weather, wind, waves, tide, rain, human use and neglect/repair, accident, barnacle attack — in which the bridge was placed.

I’ve not looked in any depth at the new Lovecraft-inspired philosophy before, but (judging by Wikipedia and a video, and some vague memories of a couple of book reviews) one of the most interesting things the OOO variety of speculative realism appears to ask is: what happens when real objects autonomously interact and recombine? Especially when objects are able to autonomously develop interactions that lie beyond human symbolic meanings (perhaps initially via some kind of embedded generative/emergent semantic artificial intelligence, I’m guessing?) Thus OOO seems relevant to autonomous generative emergence in nature (the wheeling flight of many flocking birds, complex weather systems, population dynamics over time, and even weirdly unknowable deep earth-crust ecologies), and also to autonomous emergence in new human technologies (AI singularities, unstoppable grey nano-slime, online bot ecologies, etc). Most of which emerge relatively independent of us, and appears to care little or nothing for us.

Hence Lovecraft, presumably: unspeakable knowledge about unknowable realities; the cosmic indifference exhibited by nature and time, in terms of the fate of man; the arcane trajectories of unfeeling inhuman conspiracies; and the frailty of the human mind when faced with knowledge that such things can exist without reference to us.

Babylon 5, the viewing and skipping order

10 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by in Odd scratchings

≈ 8 Comments

Robert M. Price again recommended the series Babylon 5 on The Lovecraft Geek podcast, and he mused on the idea that its key plot themes could be seen as rather Lovecraftian. So that’s enough to encourage me to have another try at viewing this famous SF series. There are five seasons and five movies, so I may be away for some time… 🙂

I have tried Babylon 5 before. About two years ago I made the mistake of going into the first season “straight”. I slogged through about 11 or 12 episodes, before giving up. That’s apparently about as far as most people get, unable to face another twelve weary episodes of the same. The problem is mainly in the slabs of excruciating “problem-of-the-week” self-contained episodes, which I remember as being made worse by creaky dialogue and some even creakier early-90s political tub-thumping. Viewing the main story arc in season one is, regrettably, vital for later understanding and enjoyment. But the series becomes much better in season two, and by three and four it is generally acclaimed as some of the best TV SF ever screened.

But I never made it that far. I also made the newbie mistake of watching the pilot movie, followed by the very first episode. Different actors play the same characters in these two, and this proved a really jarring way to ease into a long series. That’s why I list (below) the pilot movie The Gathering as “optional”.

The chronological viewing order that follows is the result of an hour or so of research and comparing viewing-order lists, and also skip lists, and it doesn’t contain spoilers. (Update: I also tweaked it slightly, after I had finished watching it all).

BABYLON 5: LIST OF THE COMPLETE VIEWING ORDER

* “SKIP” = “…but read the plot on the episode’s Wikipedia page” — taking great care not to look at the “Arc significance” section which is often filled with massive spoilers which reach across seasons.
*   outicon = “viewed out of broadcast sequence”.

Pilot:

outicon OPTIONAL 1×00: The Gathering, The pilot movie. Note it also had a TNT 1998 special edition, with 14 mins extra and better pacing. Perhaps best watched between 1×08 and 1×13.

Season 1:

1×01: Midnight on the Firing Line
SKIP 1×02: Soul Hunter (tries to set up a key character, but has her act out of character)
1×03: Born to the Purple (sets up a key character)
SKIP 1×04: Infection
1×05: The Parliament of Dreams (bad, but establishes key character bonds)
1×06: Mind War
SKIP 1×07: The War Prayer
1×08: And the Sky Full of Stars
SKIP 1×09: Deathwalker
SKIP 1×10: Believers
SKIP 1×11: Survivors
OPTIONAL 1×12: By Any Means Necessary
1×13: Signs and Portents
SKIP 1×14: TKO
SKIP 1×15: Grail
SKIP 1×16: Eyes
1×18: A Voice in the Wilderness (1)
1×19: A Voice in the Wilderness (2)
1×20: Babylon Squared
SKIP 1×21: The Quality of Mercy
outicon 1×17: Legacies (not vital, but sets up the season finale)
1×22: Chrysalis

To consolidate your understanding of the Babylon 5 universe, the Season One DVD set has a “Universe of Babylon 5” overview extras set (spoiler free, once the first season has been viewed), with video profiles of key characters, technological innovations, and political and historical details introduced so far. Plus a brief tour of the space station itself, and its levels. If you really feel you have to skip the whole of season one for some reason (maybe you saw it a while back), then Tuning In To SciFi has an excellent five-minute video summary of the season.

The first few episodes of Season 2 get rather creaky, as the series re-orients itself. But stick with it…

Season 2:

2×01: Points of Departure
2×02: Revelations
2×03: The Geometry of Shadows
SKIP 2×04: A Distant Star
2×05: The Long Dark
2×06: Spider in the Web
SKIP 2×07: Soul Mates
2×08: A Race Through Dark Places
2×09: The Coming of Shadows
SKIP 2×10: GROPOS
2×11: All Alone in the Night
SKIP 2×12: Acts of Sacrifice
2×13: Hunter, Prey
SKIP 2×14: There All the Honor Lies
SKIP 2×15: And Now for a Word
2×17: Knives
outicon 2×16: In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum
2×18: Confessions and Lamentations
2×19: Divided Loyalties
2×20: The Long Twilight Struggle
2×21: Comes the Inquisitor
2×22: The Fall of Night

Season 3:

3×01: Matters of Honor
3×02: Convictions
3×03: A Day in the Strife
3×04: Passing Through Gethsemane
3×05: Voices of Authority
3×06: Dust to Dust
3×07: Exogenesis
3×08: Messages from Earth (1 of 3)
3×09: Point of No Return (2 of 3)
3×10: Severed Dreams (3 of 3)
3×11: Ceremonies of Light and Dark
outicon 3×13: A Late Delivery from Avalon
3×12: Sic Transit Vir
3×14: Ship of Tears
3×15: Interludes and Examinations
outicon 3×18: Walkabout
3×16: War Without End (1)
3×17: War Without End (2)
3×19: Grey 17 Is Missing
3×20: And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place
3×21: Shadow Dancing
3×22: Z’ha’dum

Season 4:

4×01: The Hour of the Wolf
4×02: What Ever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?
4×03: The Summoning
4×04: Falling Towards Apotheosis
4×05: The Long Night
4×06: Into the Fire
4×07: Epiphanies
4×08: The Illusion of Truth

Movie: Thirdspace

4×09: Atonement
4×10: Racing Mars
4×11: Lines of Communication
4×12: Conflicts of Interest
4×13: Rumors, Bargains and Lies
4×14: Moments of Transition
4×15: No Surrender, No Retreat
4×16: Exercise of Vital Powers
4×17: The Face of the Enemy
4×18: Intersections in Real Time
4×19: Between the Darkness and the Light
4×20: Endgame
4×21: Rising Star
outicon !!! NOT THE FINAL 4×22 (it should be viewed later)

Season 5:

5×01: No Compromises
5×02: The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari
5×03: The Paragon of Animals
5×04: A View from the Gallery
5×05: Learning Curve
5×06: Strange Relations
5×07: Secrets of the Soul
5×09: In the Kingdom of the Blind
5×10: A Tragedy of Telepaths
5×11: Phoenix Rising
5×12: The Ragged Edge
outicon 5×08: Day of the Dead
5×13: The Corps Is Mother, the Corps Is Father
5×14: Meditations on the Abyss
5×15: Darkness Ascending
5×16: And All My Dreams Torn Asunder
5×17: Movements of Fire and Shadow (1 of 2)
5×18: The Fall of … (2 of 2)
5×19: The Wheel of Fire
5×20: Objects in Motion
5×21: Objects at Rest
outicon !!! NOT the FINAL 5×22 (it should be viewed later)

Movie: River of Souls

Movie: The Legend of the Rangers (a rather poor movie)

Movie: A Call to Arms (sets up the Crusade series that follows)

Crusade spin-off series: (optional, all   outicon are out of broadcast sequence)
Crusade 1×09: Racing the Night
Crusade 1×11: The Needs of Earth
Crusade 1×10: The Memory of War
Crusade 1×02: The Long Road
Crusade 1×12: Visitors from Down the Street
Crusade 1×03: The Well of Forever
Crusade 1×13: Each Night I Dream of Home
Crusade 1×05: Patterns of the Soul
Crusade 1×04: The Path of Sorrows
Crusade 1×06: Ruling from the Tomb
Crusade 1×07: The Rules of the Game
Crusade 1×01: War Zone
Crusade 1×08: Appearances and Other Deceits

[Unfilmed final episodes for Crusade]

[The Memory of Shadows, a failed, shelved theatrical feature film — read up on the plot idea online]

6×01: The Lost Tales: Voices in the Dark (a special one-shot DVD)

Novo Babylonia: a fan audio series (optional). A free and unauthorised audio-only B5 series. Amateur cast. Only a few episodes left, at Feb 2014, to complete the series. Fits into the overall story arc after 6×01: The Lost Tales. Download.

Movie: In the Beginning

outicon 5×22: Sleeping in Light

outicon 4×22: The Deconstruction of Falling Stars

There are also a number of fill-in-the-gaps authorized novels, short stories written by the Babylon 5 showrunner, and an 11-issue run of DC comic books, that all help fill out the story if you’re still anxious for more. The Correctness blog seems to have done a ton of work making a good short timeline that shows exactly where the novels fit into the overall arc chronology (warning: has spoilers!!).

There are also print encyclopedias in paperback: The Babylon File: The Definitive, Unauthorised Guide (as Vol. 1 and Vol. 2). There is also the “100% canon” Babylon 5 Encyclopedia: Complete Set (2019). What the relationship may be between The Babylon File and Babylon 5 Encyclopedia, I don’t know. Possibly the latter was a repackaging and re-titling of the former? But having either may be especially useful for those writing fan fiction set in the B5 universe.

“Jerusalem’s Lot”

09 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by in Lovecraftian arts, Podcasts etc.

≈ Leave a comment

Following the recent Robert M. Price podcast, and its musings on the most Lovecraftian of Stephen King’s stories, I listened to the free 90-minute professional audio reading of “Jerusalem’s Lot”. It, and some King I tried in the past, doesn’t make me inclined to plough through the rest of King. It seems to confirm various sentiments I’ve heard to the effect that most of his work is turgid, ersatz, simple, without any real style, hugely over-padded and generally fit only for the more uncritical end of the post-1970s modern horror readership. But I was pleased to find it at least tries to be a neat remix of a number of Lovecraft stories, while sustaining a Lovecraftian feel, tone, and setting throughout. Five marks out of ten for trying, at least.

jerulot

What it fails to port over from Lovecraft: his close attention to period architectural details; his skill with the dialect of remote rustic types; the deft interweaving of his own autobiographical detail; the use of his deep chorographic topophilia to bring veracity and psychological depth to descriptions of the New England landscape. King’s addition of small touches of ‘the cosmic’ also feel forced and are just tacked on as afterthoughts. If this is really the most cogently Lovecraftian story he can muster, then the rest must be mediocre at best.

More Open Lovecraft

08 Saturday Feb 2014

Posted by in Scholarly works

≈ Leave a comment

* Conny Lippert (2013), “Lovecraft’s Grimoires: intertextuality and The Necronomicon“, Working With English: Medieval and Modern Language, Literature and Drama, No. 8, 2012-13, pp. 41-50. (Part of a Gothic Histories special edition).

* John Schmidt (2013), “Narrative (as) Madness and the End of the Talking Cure: H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls””, Pyxis: Wesleyan Journal of Humanities, Spring 2013.

Move Under Ground, Lovecraftian novel for free

08 Saturday Feb 2014

Posted by in Lovecraftian arts, New books

≈ 1 Comment

A Lovecraftian novel Move Under Ground (2009) has been released for free in PDF and HTML. It’s also on Amazon as a hardcover or a trade paperback or for the Kindle ereader. No audio book, sadly. Reviews were rather positive, although its 60,000 words and 210 pages were damned as “short”, by the sort of annoying reviewer who thinks a key measure of the worth of a modern novel is its thickness in inches.

mug_front

Move Under Ground is reportedly a successful pastiche of Kerouac’s trademark gyrating stream-of-consciousness style, melded with Lovecraft’s approach to extended riffs on the monstrous-in-landscape. The famous Beat writer Jack Kerouac tells the story (spoilers) of the rising of R’lyeh off the coast of California, and of the road trip Jack takes as he flees from California to Manhattan to tackle the murderous Cthulhu cult. Cassady, Ginsburg, and Burroughs all have bit parts, it seems. I’ve had a 10% free sample sent to my Kindle.

More Open Lovecraft

07 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by in Lovecraftian arts, Scholarly works

≈ Leave a comment

* Nicholas Mazzuca (2009), The Dreamer Deepe: A Two-Act Play in the Lovecraft Horror Mythos (Stage play submitted in place of a formal Masters disseration, Clemson University)

* Kurt Fawver (2013) The Terror of Possibility: A Re-evaluation and Reconception of the Sublime Aesthetic (PhD thesis, University of South Florida. Appears to touch on Lovecraft from time to time, throughout)

* Ryan P. Kennedy (2012), Evolution of Effect: The Numinous in Gothic and Post-Gothic Ghost Experience Literature. (Undergraduate dissertation, a short section discusses the theme in H.P. Lovecraft’s short stories)

* Xavier Gamboa (2012), Baroque Worlds of the 21st Century (PhD thesis, “an analysis of the unfolding twenty-first century neobaroque phenomenon”. Not on Lovecraft per se, but seems to have been inspired by Patric MacCormack’s 2007 essay “Baroque Intensity: Lovecraft, Le Fanu, and the Fold” and other writing on the neobaroque)

More Open Lovecraft

06 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by in Scholarly works

≈ Leave a comment

* Alberto Acedo-Bravo and Jose Andres Quintela-Vila (2014), “Las presuposiciones pragmaticas en la obra de H.P. Lovecraft “El llamado de Cthulhu””, Santiago journal, No. 113, 2014. (In Spanish. Examines the “pragmatic presuppositions” that underpin the truth claims made in “The Call of Cthulhu”).

* Kevin Taylor (2013), Advanced 3D Production with Narrative (Masters disseration, details an ambitious attempt to create a new intellectual property “in the vein of Lovecraft’s Cthuhlu mythos”, via employing theoretical/psychology approaches alongside proven fantasy world-building methods. Abstract only, PDF available but embargoed until Nov 2015).

* Olmo Pedro Castrillo Cano (2013), “Memoria explicativa del trabajo de fin de master: “La sombra sobre Innsmouth”” (Masters disseration in Spanish, discusses “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”).

Lovecraftian Ashton Smith stories in audio

05 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by in Lovecraftian arts, Podcasts etc.

≈ Leave a comment

New audio discussion and partial readings of pulpy Clark Ashton Smith stories, now on The Double Shadow podcast, with more promised…

“Hunters from Beyond” (Strange Tales, October 1932). Smith is said to have admitted this story was inspired by “Pickman’s Model”, see: An H.P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia p.247. Story full-text.

“Seedling of Mars” (Wonder Stories Quarterly, Fall 1931 as “The Planet-Entity”, illustrated by Frank R. Paul). Story full-text.

E.M. Johnston had a credit because Smith was basing his tale on a short prize-winning synopsis submitted by Johnston.

“Seedlings of Mars” seems to be set to be followed in the coming weeks by the other Mars stories, in sequence: “The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis” (commonly said to be Smith’s most Lovecraftian story); “Dweller in the Gulf (in the Martian Depths)” (said to be rather Lovecraftian in terms of copious amounts of slime and decay); and “Vulthoom”.