Thursday, July 22, 2010

Thoughts On ... Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke

With the arrival of a multitude of alien ships over the major cities of the world mankind has finally discovered that he is not the only sentient being in the universe. At first their mysterious plans seem positive – the abolition of war, poverty, starvation – but so to has mankind lost its creative edge and a few have come to question whether their intentions truly are as benevolent as they appear?

With Childhood's End Arthur C. Clarke has provided us with one of his most interesting tales. Easily as important a text for the genre as 2001: A Space Odyssey or Rendezvous With Rama Childhood's End is, at its heart, an apocalyptic story but one with an oddly pleasant feel. Infused with Clarke's usual blend of science and gripping prose Childhood's End is a superb read that will keep you turning pages right to the end.

Spanning nearly one hundred and fifty years Childhood's End tells the entire story of mankind's interactions with the Overlords from their earliest clandestine operations to the moment they leave the Earth behind forever. Throughout their time on Earth the Overlords are nothing but gracious to the native population but there is the always the feeling that they're hiding something, a secret that holds great importance to the future of mankind. In its revelation Clarke gives us a unique indication of what we have the potential to become.

Every once an a while I stumble across something that I find myself throwing all my attention into for a short burst of time before ultimately forgetting about it or becoming bored. One thing that has withstood the test of my changeable interests (for the time being anyway) has been the absolutely wonderful SF Masterworks series by Gollancz.

As of today I have acquired no fewer than fifty-one of the seventy three volumes of the main section of the old collection as well as a copy of Childhood’s End in the new (2010) bindings. With enthusiasm I created a goodreads.com reading group to delve into the excellent stories contained within the series and have, to date, read twelve of the old series as well as Cat’s Cradle which is to be added to the newer series soon.

On top of all that I stumbled upon an excellent related blog here on blogger in which the participants are aiming to read all the SF Masterworks as well as their Fantasy counterparts in under a year. A truly epic challenge. Find it at http://sffmasterworks.blogspot.com/

Friday, July 2, 2010

Thoughts On ... Grass by Sherri S. Tepper

Tackling any one of the topics of religion, faith and politics is a risky business when writing any fictional work. Each of them offers something for people to stand by, to cling to when they feel challenged by others and ultimately to provide a solid base upon which to construct their own belief. In Grass Sherri S. Tepper bravely utilises these themes to weave an amazing story set years in the future when man has spread his reach out into the stars.

With unflinching honesty, Tepper creates a most amazing world, a world of Grass where medieval estates hold an assumed superiority over the 'common' inhabitants of the planet. However, there is something bigger happening on Grass, bigger than the “Little Beings” than inhabit it realise. It is only with the arrival of outsiders, sent to unearth a cure for a universe wide plague, that the realities of what is happening on the isolated planet come to light.

Using the beliefs of Christianity as a guide, Grass explores what it really means to be human – questioning why we follow our chosen beliefs and confronting our arrogant beliefs that we are the central race in the universe.

Superbly written and frighteningly real, Grass is one of the best novels I've read in a good while.

When a sporting event takes the notice of the entire world it is inevitable that at some point in its duration it will throw up some point of contention – the FIFA World Cup is no different. Already we have had disallowed goals and missed offsides resulting in the elimination of teams from the tournament. Okay, you may argue that Germany were good for their 4-1 win and that Argentina outplayed Chile so the ends justify the means; but what of poor old Ghana?

The last African team left in the tournament they pushed South America's Uruguay all the way in today's quarter finals only to be undone 4-2 in a dreadful penalty shootout. The big point of contention in the match came, however, in the 120th minute when Uruguay's Suarez handled the ball on the goal line leading to his sending off and the awarding of a penalty to Ghana which they missed.

Now, this all happened in the very last minute of the match. No real disadvantage was forced on Uruguay as they would not be forced to play any more actual football with a depleted squad while Ghana were given a less than 100% chance of capitalising from the decision. Ultimately Uruguay gained more of an advantage from the handball than Ghana did. Instead of what would have been a 100% allowed goal, knocking the South American's out of the tournament they were given a 25% chance of remaining (research has estimated that the probability of a player scoring a penalty is about 75%.) See this .pdf for more information

One might argue, however, that, had the events taken place in the first minute and not the last that Uruguay would have been justly penalised for Suarez's transgressions but we must ask ourselves would he have felt the need to handle the ball to prevent the goal (after all Uruguay did come from behind to force extra-time in the first place.) At what point does handball stop being an infringement and become a blatant act of cheating that affords the guilty player's team a distinct advantage?

Thursday, July 1, 2010

It's been some time since I felt myself tearing up at a movie, so long in fact that I can't actually remember what the movie was. Today however, I found myself fighting off the waterworks while watching the otherwise superb Marley & Me. What's more, I had to get up off the chair and find something else to occupy myself to stop myself from completely breaking down (I doubt I've cleaned the kitchen with such vigour before.)

In spite of my distractions I still found myself welling up and was unfortunate (if that is the right word) to glance at the TV just in time to see Marley close his eyes for the final time. Perhaps I should have added a spoiler warning there but seriously, there's very little other than the death of Marley that was going to make me cry at the movie.

It's a trend that I've noticed in regards to the movies that have made me cry. The death of Skip in My Dog Skip was another, very similar to the Marley & Me story while 101 Dalmatians (live action version) and another movie that I can't remember, or never knew, the name of brought tears for imagined reasons – I was young and had a thing about animals not getting the recognition they deserved for their actions.

All in all it makes me wonder how I'm going to cope when my own beloved hound passes away. He's getting on in years (11 last February) and his legs don't hold up like they used to. I'm really starting to regret all the time I could have spent with him but instead wasted it on frivolous activities. I guess it's time I stopped writing now, there's a ball in the garden and a faithful friend who'd be willing for a game of fetch.

Steg. Out.