THE MT VOID
09/23/22 -- Vol. 41, No. 13, Whole Number 2242

Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:

Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
CYPHER (2002) (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
This Week's Reading (diverse authors) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

On 26 September 1983, Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov probably
averted nuclear war. Shortly after the Soviet military had shot
down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, the Soviet nuclear early-warning
system reported that a missile had been launched from the United
States. As Wikipedia describes it, "Petrov judged the reports to
be a false alarm, and his decision to disobey orders, against
Soviet military protocol, is credited with having prevented an
erroneous retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States and its
NATO allies that could have resulted in a large-scale nuclear war."

So on Monday, raise a glass to Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov.

[See also Vasily Aleksandrovich Arkhipov and the Cuban Missile
Crisis.]

[-ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: CYPHER (2002) (film review by Mark R. Leeper)

[In honor of CYPHER's 20th anniversary on October 1, here is a
revision of Mark's 2002 review of that film.]

Vincenzo Natali's follow-up to the 1996 CUBE is in nearly all ways
a science fiction outing superior to his previous film. Brian
King's screenplay make this a fast paced science fiction adventure
very much of the style of Philip K. Dick. Jeremy Northam is a total
nebbish who gets to lead a double (and then triple) life in the
shady world of industrial espionage. He is hired to go to business
presentations that are so dull they put the participants to sleep.
Then he finds out what is *really* going on. Also starring is Lucy
Liu in a role that might have been better without a martial artist.
This is a surprisingly deft film with a pace that just keeps
building as the film progresses.

Many science fiction films of the last few years are based on the
writings of Philip K. Dick. Somehow his paranoid view of the
nature of reality, and how it can be completely different than it
is perceived is an idea that appeals to filmgoers. CYPHER is not a
film that is based on any Dick story, but Brian King's script
captures Dick paranoid atmosphere perhaps better than any other
film ever has. Morgan Sullivan (played by Jeremy Northam) is a
nerdish sort dominated by his overbearing wife. But the job he is
taking is anything but nerdish. DigiCorp and Sunways are among the
two most powerful corporations in the world. They are vicious
rivals. DigiCorp has hired him to spy on Sunways. His job is to
not be very noticeable. He is to attend conferences under the
false name Jack Thursby and during the conference to turn on a
recorder disguised as a pen. Sullivan is fascinated by his new
world of codes and skullduggery and allows himself to be pulled
into the strange labyrinth of industrial espionage and the cold war
of the two giant corporations. Almost immediately the boring
conferences get more interesting when he starts seeing an Asian
woman (Lucy Liu) who may also be playing the same game.

Though films with a similar plot have been made, I found this one
genuinely exciting, and to me it has the feel of a science fiction
novel. While some of the ideas now familiar, standard paranoiac
fantasies, I think the execution is great, creating genuine
excitement. This is a lot for a seven-million-dollar production to
do. The film has little homages to films like NORTH BY NORTHWEST,
SECONDS, and THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE.

There are some interesting visual tricks. The film begins almost
black and white as Sullivan is unsure of himself in the shadowy
world of industrial espionage. As his character develops and
becomes more sure of himself the colors fill in more and more
vivid. Sullivan's very world has changed. Jeremy Northam
traverses the path from nerdish to superman with impressive grace.
Only Lucy Liu seems a little out of place in a role that really did
not need her martial arts skills, but could have used an actress
that fitted in better with the story. Director Vincenzo Natali
(CUBE, NOTHING, and SPLICE) has a sure hand and could be a major
talent.

This film is actually much better than Natali's higher profile
films CUBE and SPLICE. I rate it a +3 on the -4 to +4 scale or
9/10.

Film Credits: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0284978/>

What others are saying: <http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cypher/>

CYPHER plays occasionally on cable and it available from NetFlix.

[-mrl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

When I started reading science fiction in high school and college,
I read the classic authors of the time: Asimov. Clarke, Heinlein,
and later Hal Clement and Robert Silverberg, and (in a retro
moment) Olaf Stapledon. Time passed, and my "go-to" authors became
authors such Kim Stanley Robinson and Connie Willis. (Along the
way Jorge Luis Borges became a permanent fixture.)

Then I went through a phase of focusing on less well-known authors:
Jeffrey E. Barlough and Christopher Priest for novels, and Bao Shu,
Ted Chiang, Rhys Hughes, and Ken Liu for short fiction. (Okay, Ted
Chiang is not exactly obscure, nor is Ken Liu.)

And now? My "go-to" authors of today are Becky Chambers, Sylvia
Garcia-Moreno, and Martha Wells.

So my current reading that I would recommend (without long or even
short reviews) includes Ted Chiang's "Op-Ed from the Future--It's
2059 and the Rich Kids Are Still Winning"
(<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/27/opinion/ted-chiang-future-
genetic-engineering.html>), Ken Liu's "Timekeeper's Symphony"
(<https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/liu_09_22/>), Becky Chambers's
RECORD OF A SPACEBORN FEW, and Sylvia Garcia-Moreno's THE DAUGHTER
OF DOCTOR MOREAU. [-ecl]

===================================================================

Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net

Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit
family in another city.
--George Burns

In article <bc16f9de-2cf9-4091-b297-f006b2161711n@googlegroups.com>,
eleeper@optonline.net <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
>THE MT VOID
>09/23/22 -- Vol. 41, No. 13, Whole Number 2242
>And now? My "go-to" authors of today are Becky Chambers, Sylvia
>Garcia-Moreno, and Martha Wells.

(Hal Heydt)
I've read Chambers and was--frankly--not impressed. In one of
her books she badly broke any willing suspension of disbelief.

She has a habitable satellite of a gas giant planet. No problem
there. She has the rotation of the satellite phase-locked to the
planet. Again, not a problem. She also has the satelite
rotation phase-locked to the local sun. *Big* problem.

The satellite is clearly reasonably close to the gas giant, but
the only way to have the satellite rotation phase-locked to
*both* planet and sun would be for it to be at either the L4 or
L5 points. That is 60 degrees away from the gas giant in the
orbit. That would be radically incosistent with other
descriptions.

On 9/25/22 9:09 AM, eleeper@optonline.net wrote:

> TOPIC: Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
>
> On 26 September 1983, Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov probably
> averted nuclear war. Shortly after the Soviet military had shot
> down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, the Soviet nuclear early-warning
> system reported that a missile had been launched from the United
> States. As Wikipedia describes it, "Petrov judged the reports to
> be a false alarm, and his decision to disobey orders, against
> Soviet military protocol, is credited with having prevented an
> erroneous retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States and its
> NATO allies that could have resulted in a large-scale nuclear war."
>
> So on Monday, raise a glass to Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov.

http://www.mcgath.com/songs/StanislavPetrov.pdf

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

On 9/25/2022 8:09 AM, eleeper@optonline.net wrote:
> CYPHER plays occasionally on cable and it available from NetFlix.

This must be an un-revised part of the 2002 review. It's not currently
on Netflix that I can find.

In article <tgtfv5$3rmgd$1@dont-email.me>, morrisj@epsilon3.comcon (Jay E.
Morris) wrote:

>
> This must be an un-revised part of the 2002 review. It's not
> currently on Netflix that I can find.

But it does appear to be on Amazon Prime, at least in the UK.

On Tue, 27 Sep 2022 12:14 +0100 (BST), prd@pauldormer.cix.co.uk (Paul
Dormer) wrote:

>In article <tgtfv5$3rmgd$1@dont-email.me>, morrisj@epsilon3.comcon (Jay E.
>Morris) wrote:
>
>>
>> This must be an un-revised part of the 2002 review. It's not
>> currently on Netflix that I can find.
>
>But it does appear to be on Amazon Prime, at least in the UK.

It available on Amazon Prime here (L.A.), too, for $2.99, rent.
--

Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

Tim Merrigan

--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
www.avg.com

On 9/27/2022 6:14 AM, Paul Dormer wrote:
> In article <tgtfv5$3rmgd$1@dont-email.me>, morrisj@epsilon3.comcon (Jay E.
> Morris) wrote:
>
>>
>> This must be an un-revised part of the 2002 review. It's not
>> currently on Netflix that I can find.
>
> But it does appear to be on Amazon Prime, at least in the UK.

There is one on Prime US but it is dated 2005, Everything is identical
to the IMDB listing so I"m assuming Prime did a typo.

In article <p3n6jh9asolu28do9pkm6kn6hjt5bhvjac@4ax.com>, tppm@ca.rr.com
(Tim Merrigan) wrote:

>
> It available on Amazon Prime here (L.A.), too, for $2.99, rent.

Only 99p to rent, here, and �4.99 to buy.

In article <tgvn54$4tc2$1@dont-email.me>, morrisj@epsilon3.comcon (Jay E.
Morris) wrote:

>
> There is one on Prime US but it is dated 2005, Everything is
> identical to the IMDB listing so I"m assuming Prime did a typo.

Yeah, that was my thought.