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Robert E. Howard's Conan

Many of my friends can attest to the numerous times i have extolled the grandeur of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy world. A world so rich in detail that if it's origins weren't known it could easily be mistaken for real myth - if you'll excuse the apparent contradiction. I'm a big user of the 5 level scale of magnitude and Tolkien's work qualifies as a 5 in terms of scope of imagination. It's an elite group who's few members include the likes of Frank Herbert and his Dune works, which again, i have many times expressed my deep awe of these two authors and the magnitude of their creations.

But, as the first line of this post was put there to keep me on task, this is about Howard's Conan. So often i forget about this entry my mental catalog of creative fiction, and i don't know why is should be so - it's an absolutely magnificent work. As intellectually underestimated as it's eponymous character perhaps.  This probably stems from the several factors from it's inception in pulp media to it's introduction to the larger public as a movie starring a less than fluent Arnold Schwarzenegger (through no fault of his). If one of Tolkien's main undercurrents is the question of progress, then one of Howard's would be an even earlier question of civilization. Take for example the secondary sub-title 'the barbarian' (i believe the original sub-title was 'the Cimmarian') it is already suggesting that the main character is less-than-civilized, yet it is the myriad of background and supporting characters that are ill-mannered, corrupt, backwards, or down right evil - the very antithesis of what civilized is supposed to be.

Using the for mentioned scale Conan easily ranks a 4 in my book. The depth and range of the world of Hyboria is... well i guess the word would be fantastic. Howard's own description from his first book is, i think, one of the great passages in all of fantasy fiction:
"Know, O prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars..."
It goes on to give the briefest, but none the less colorful, descriptions of many of the places in the world of Hyboria, that the reader will come to know and love. The passage also fixes the world in time, between the even more legendary 'Atlantis' and the earliest of 'modern' history - the Aryans, or early indo-europeans. So simple, yet like many things simple - utterly brilliant. It sets the whole mythos right on the edge of the what we know to be true and what we know to be untrue making it the easiest thing in the world not just to suspend your disbelief, but to throw it to the wind.

Perhaps another pseudo-device used is the one character. There is no group like the fellowship of the ring, or Dorthy and her various companions of L. Frank Baum's Oz, or the children of the Narnia. It is just Conan and the world itself, again this makes it so simple, actually it is the only choice, to focus on the character and his setting. Further there are no elves, no centaurs, no talking chickens to subconsciously accept as real. There are demons and 'gods' specifically and magic in general, but it is portrayed in a manner that extends readily from what the human subconscious already feels about such things, namely that it is mysterious, esoteric and extraordinary (despite the regularity with which Conan encounters such things :) ) and as such requires no additional justification or explanation beyond the initial acceptance. Finally, on the singularity of the character, i do so love it when something i enjoy is an 'arch-type', and with out actually doing the research i believe Conan is just that. If you see a 'barbarian' it is either of the Viking variety or the Conan variety and even then the line can be a little hazy (a testament the the readiness with which Conan's 'fiction' is placed on par with history's 'fact'). Can any other fantasy fiction boast this?

I don't know why i chose to come out of my blogging hibernation with this particular post, I guess i just didn't want to keep on forgetting about Howard's contribution, and perhaps even contribute in some minute way to the unveiling of his too unappreciated works, which i sincerely hope gets more attention in the future. I would certainly love to see a new movie, or even better trilogy, about Conan depicting him in truer form, because i think he is quite simply one of the most entertaining characters in the whole of fantasy fiction, and there is definitely enough to work from. (my vote for director would be Wolfgang Peterson - comments specifically welcome on this one :) ) In closing, if you liked Lord of the Rings  and are looking for more good classic fantasy fiction i obviously recommend Conan, and if you are already familiar with any of the works, be it pulp mags, books, comics, animation, or movies I earnestly beg you to place your comments now for discussion.

P.S. Anybody remember the cartoon Thundarr the Barbarian? Hehehe, that is Grade-A nostalgia there.

Anime for Beginners

Best Science Fiction Anime

1. Cowboy Bebob (espesially the series)
2. Ghost in the Shell
3. Battle Angle Alita
4. Patlabor
5. Macross Plus

Best Fantasy Anime

1. Ninja Scroll
2. Record of Lodoss War (series)
3. Read Or Die (espesially the movie)
4. Samurai X (aka Ruroni Kenshin) - warning loooong series
5. Vampire Hunter D

Best Anime Movies

1. Spirited Away
2. Princess Mononoke
3. Grave of the Fireflies
4. Nuasica of the Valley of the Wind
5. Metropolis

Anime that is recommended but i haven't seen yet

1. Perfect Blue
2. Neon Genisis: Eveangelion
3. Escaflowne
4. Samurai Champloo
5. FLCL (pronounced 'fooly cooly') - supposed to be weird

Best Overall

1. Cowboy Bebob, the series (watch it, love it, best animation ever created since DaVinci dropped the Mona Lisa)
2. Ghost in the Shell
3. Princess Mononoke (i prefer Nausica, but i think this is better for the beginner)

10 most random songs list

In due compliance with very metal's meme I have listed the first ten songs from my entire music library when placed on shuffle, I took the liberty of excluding the duplicates of artists already listed.

1. "Quincy Punk Episode" - Spoon - Series of Sneaks
2. "Men in Black" - Will Smith - Greatest Hits
3. "Lovefool" - The Cardigans - single
4. "Gasoline" - Audioslave - Audioslave
5. "Lay It Down" - Aerosmith
6. "Battle Flag" - Lo Fidelity Allstars - How to Operate on a Blown Mind
7. "Cowgirl" - Underworld - ???
8. "Westbound Sign" - Greenday - insomniac
9. "Shake Your Rump" - Beastie Boys - The Sounds of Science
10. "Question" - Old 97's - Satellite Rides
11. "Belleville Rendevouz" - ??? - Soundtrack (this was just so random i had to include it)

If you are reading this and you have not already tagged by very metal - you are now tagged. Open your music player, list all your songs, shuffle them, take the first ten - no matter what they are. If you have a blog, send me a trackback ping for the, uh scientific tracking of memes.

P.S. Man i am so glad that my Aqua's "Barbie Girl" didn't show up. :)

Too good to be true???

This looks intriging.

Pros - it's a gigantic omni-media multi-tier interactive puzzle - with a monitary reward.

Cons - It's a collectable card game.

I got a FEVAH...

...and the only perscription is more cowbell.

I think there is a small cowbell revolution going on.

The video is here. And here is a midi version of the song that's just so damn funny, but it's got a great cowbell sound.

As promised to a tamborine queen, here is a reprint of my list of songs with more cowbell:

We're an Americna Band - Grand Funk Railroad
Honky Tonk Woman - Rolling Stones
Hey Ladies - Beastie Boys
Funkytown - Lipps, Inc.
Ain't Seen Nothing Yet - Bachman Turner Overdrive
Boogie Fever - The Sylvers (it's a double fever for a cowbell boogie)
Down on the Corner - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Gotta Give It Up - Marvin Gaye
Once in a Lifetime - Talking Heads

More coming soon. I make no claims as to the quality of the songs just the cowbell.

'I'm tellin' ya fellas, your gonna want that cowbell on the track.'

Update:

Forget flying cars or holographic TVs - the future has arrived.

Steamed Fiction

Just saw Steamboy, directed by Katsuhiro Ôtomo, of Akira fame. While i don't remember much about Akira itself, as i was to really tired and/or stoned, i do remember not really liking it that much. I did like Steamboy though, very much, as well as Metropolis, which he helped screenplay.

I love science fiction that takes place in the past, and i especially like science fiction that takes place at or around the turn of the century. HG Wells' Time Machine, William Gibson/Bruce Sterling's The Difference Engine,  even Alan Moore's A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and others. It's a small niche genre i know, but it does have a name, Steampunk. Isn't that a great name, summoning up all kinds of questions and immediately supplying answers in the form of images. It sprang form the cyberpunk genre, and was just as dystopian, but has since matured to include more than just that view, the name however was writ.

Steamboy may not be the best example of steampunk, but it is a typical one. Perhaps a good baseline for the genre, as it doesn't fly too far off in any one direction, but relies on just the basics - What if steam power were advanced enough at the turn of the century so as to duplicate more modern technologies. This does leave the writers room to express their point that technology should be used for advancement of peace and knowledge not warmongering and greed, and should make the point better than using a modern or futuristic setting. In the movie itself they did tend to overdo it though, instead of relying on the setting to help their point they just go ahead and tell you exactly that about every fifteen minutes or so and they just keep saying it more emphatically each time as the movie builds and builds, in can i say, typical Ôtomo style.

Addendum: I just love the time period, it was a time of such great discovery that the disbelief in the added fictional elements is a little easier to suspend and therefor enjoy. Similar sub-genre involving historical science fiction would be the 'atomic age' anything, like The Iron Giant; and 'clockwork fiction which would take place during the Renaissance and things like DaVinci or as far back as Galileo's works. And if anybody knows of a story involving science fiction during the time of the Greeks please let me know, that is a time period a close second in my heart.

Comic Book Movies

I have a thing for science fiction movies, and have been going through a comic book movie phase for a while now. I wanted to get a pulse on what others think of the sub-genre as a whole.  Are they good or bad movies in general, are they a respectable outlet for artistic expression, or a laughable attempt at milking the movie-goer out of more money.

Just to be clear, I am talking about the modern non-animated action/adventure superhero variety, like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, etc. And just to be completely clear here is a list that I tried to make as comprehensive as I could, if i missed one let me know.

Superman - 1978
Superman 2 - 1980
Flash Gordon - 1980
Swamp Thing - 1982
Superman 3 - 1983
Supergirl - 1984
Superman 4 - 1987
Return of the Swamp Thing - 1989
Punisher - 1989
Batman - 1989
Darkman - 1990
Rocketeer, The - 1991
Captain America - 1991
Batman Returns - 1992
Shadow, The - 1994
Crow, The - 1994
Darkman 2 - 1994
Judge Dredd - 1995
Batman Forever - 1995
Crow 2, The - 1996
Black Mask - 1996
Barb Wire - 1996
Darkman 3 - 1996
Phantom, The - 1996
Steel - 1997
Spawn - 1997
Batman & Robin - 1997
Blade - 1998
Crow 3, The - 2000
X-Men - 2000
Spider-Man - 2002
Blade 2 - 2002
Black Mack 2 - 2002
Bulletproof Monk - 2003
Hulk - 2003
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - 2003
X-Men 2 - 2003
Daredevil - 2003
Blade 3 - 2004
Spider-Man 2 - 2004
Catwoman - 2004
Punisher, The - 2004
Hellboy - 2004
Sin City - 2005
Fantastic Four - 2005
Elektra - 2005
Crow 4, The - 2005
Constantine - 2005
Batman Begins - 2005

I propose that the genre be looked at as having three periods roughly a decade long. The first, or early, period lasting from 1979 to 1989  and dominated, almost solely, by the Superman movies. The second, or mid, period going from 1989 to 1997 (the 90s) and overshadowed by the Batman movies, with a respectable showing by 'oldie's' (Rocketeer, Shadow, Phantom) and the 'new bloods' (Capt. Amer., Punisher, Darkman). Nothing to effects heavy yet. The third, or modern, period, I believe started with Blade in 1998, and is the beginning of the SUPERhero movies, ones which can utilize CG graphics to effectively reproduce the extraordinary powers of the characters that is so much the bread and butter of comic books, especially for the young audience. This being exemplified by the Marvel heroes (X-Men, Spider-Man,Fantastic Four, ET. AL.) but also making appearances are more stylistic movies, based on lesser-known comics, such as League of Ex. Gent. and Sin City.

So, let me know people, what do you think of CBMs in general, your thoughts on each of the periods, what the next stage might hold, what are some of your favorite CBMs, whatever?

Shades of Peter Parker

I just saw the animated Spider-Man TV show. Not the old one but a new and definitely improved version. It was CG and used 3-D modeling, but what was really great about this show was the stylistic appearance,a much more graphic approach as opposed to "the realer the better". Now I like "the realer the better" animation a lot - a la Final Fantasy, The Spirit Within, but I definitely don't like just that method, variety is the spice of life and all.

The method they used involved a new type of "shader" that gave the highly realistic models a very comic book look, which I think is a kind of best of both worlds scenario - the the control that 3D animating offers as far as shape, movement, voice, etc. combined with the artistic nuances of an imaginative mind. It gave the show a unique look and feel.