Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? A book review.

Blade Runner:The Book

By Preston Sinclair

 "Does she know?" 

                Rick Deckard





     This is the life or death question Deckard asks  The Rosen Association in Phillip K. Dick's sci-fi existential hard boiled detective novel 'Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep'.  It makes great summer beach reading.
     Sometimes, androids say and do inappropriate things. This is what makes it so difficult to tell them from humans. Their lack of empathy could lead to comical misunderstandings, or tragic situations just as it does in real life today.

     Deckard learns the hard way that humans have empathy for certain other humans, and some animals, but not for everything. It's only his morose sense of humor that carries him through the longest day of his life. The fact that he is able to develop empathy for one android, Rachael, while she is unable to empathize with him only proves that he is human.
     Dick seems to have prefigured Skype when he introduced Vidphone. Today, communication is taken for granted due to the "smartphone". There in lies the anomaly. How can two distinct police precincts exist without one knowing about the other, with the old Hall Of Justice on Mission, and the new one on Lombard?  The only answer can be that real news has been replaced by the "fake news" spewed out by Buster Friendly in this age of propaganda.
    As a result of this vacuum of information Mercerism has been allowed to flourish as a new religion. Yet it turns out to be only another failed philosophy to placate the masses. It's exposed as a fraud, a mere distraction using smoke and mirrors. Finally, Deckard confronts Mercer via the empathy box and all Mercer can say is, "Don't you see? There is no salvation?"
     All of this occurs in a universe where animals are bought and sold as if they were automobiles. Prices are haggled over and deals are made. This makes what happens to Deckard's goat all the more disturbing, just imagine someone or something pushing your car off the roof of a building.
     'Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep' takes the exploration of existentialism to the next level. The androids, including Roy Baty their ring leader, lack a certain understanding of what is right or wrong yet they are driven by their own free will. As a result, mankind has produced the perfect psychopath in the Nexus-6.
     Ridley Scott's 1982 film adaptation "Blade Runner' captures the film noire atmosphere of the story and dialogue perfectly. Scott has his finger on the pulse of all things smokey, sexy, and rainy.

   

Saint Odd: A book review

Simply Odd

By Preston Sinclair

"You are destined to be together forever"

     Reading an Odd Thomas novel is like being in a really cool video game. Odd Thomas is the 'everyman', the avatar, if you will.  You feel like you are chasing something and being chased at the same time and that's a really scary thing.
     I didn't want 'Saint Odd' to end. At the same time I was desperate to find out what happened. I was so conflicted. This Dean Koontz novel bills itself as the stunning conclusion to the Odd Thomas series, but is it really?  I hope not. 
     I love Oddie. He's painfully earnest and that's a rare thing these days. He confronts the depths of hell with wink and nod that let's the reader know everything's going to be okay. Or maybe it won't. He doesn't know for sure. 
     My paperback edition of 'Saint Odd' included a bonus of the original short story called 'You Are Destined To Be Together Forever'. It's what one might call a prequel and it sets the stage for all of the Odd Thomas novels to follow.  I love short stories, and this one is brilliant.
     On the surface, the card which Odd Thomas and Stormy received from The Gypsy Mummy proclaims that "You are destined to be together forever." This sounds prophetic. Yet it begs the question, is our destiny also our fate? There's a certain vagueness about the card's inscription to which Odd Thomas pinned all his hopes and fears.  The card never said, 'You will be together forever.' It didn't even imply that he and Stormy should be together forever.  Many factors can intervene to change one's destiny.
     The terrorist attack at the mall in Pico Mundo changed Odd Thomas's destiny forever. Therefore it becomes an existential question, "What is forever?" Is it only this life we are living, or does it include the next realm? 
     As always with Odd Thomas this is a chase story. He's in a race against time. At times one wonders when this boy has time to eat drink or go to the bathroom during his race with evil.  I don't pretend to have the answer.  The malevolent 'evil doers' take the form of carnies and bungling idiots who are just out to wreak havoc. It's not clear that any of them know what they are doing.  The force behind all of this mayhem is never really revealed.  In order to fully understand 'Saint Odd' you need to read 'Deeply Odd' which sets the stage and introduces the characters. The idea of evil existing in another dimension, a realm parallel to ours gains traction as Oddie vacillates between a dream state and reality.
    Anyone who has experienced night terrors knows what it's like to read an Odd Thomas novel. That feeling that someone, or something is sitting beside your bed watching you sleep, mewling and drooling over you until you wake up kicking and screaming and falling out of bed.  Odd Thomas called them 'bodachs'.
    Odd Thomas experienced a horrific loss when Stormy was killed. She was his life. He hoped to have a family with her and that was taken away by a terrorist gun. Everything that ensues is Odd Thomas' journey with grief.  Our culture likes to set a time limit on the grieving period. It could be one minute, or it could be forever. That's for each of us to decide. Tell Odd Thomas to 'get over it' at your own risk.

References:

Amazon

Dean Koontz

Goodreads 
 

Book Review: 'Tis by Frank McCourt and other Irish stuff

'Tis Good To Be Irish

By

Preston Sinclair

"I had the formal feeling, but no pain"  Frank McCourt

'Tis by Frank McCourt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

'Tis is the second memoir by author Frank McCourt. The poignant painful relationship between his mother, his father and himself is the thread that holds his story together and ties it to Angela's Ashes. I enjoyed the parts about Frank McCourt's career as a teacher and wonder if his unorthodox teaching methods would go over in today's common core classrooms, but his insights are invaluable and humorous. As his story continues the anecdotes become sketchier and I wonder if it's because of the hazy gauzy affects of alcohol on the memory, or if there were parts that he just didn't want to share. The character of his wife Alberta became very one dimensional and distant. There's a change in his life when his daughter Maggie is born; however, Maggie never has a chance to become fleshed out for the reader and she fades away quickly. She's introduced too near the end.
I'm looking forward to reading Teacher Man.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

A blurb about dinner with friends at an Irish pub.

     Let me just say that as a man of Irish descent, I would be remiss if I didn't relate this story about dinner with friends at an Irish pub.   We met at Coleman's Corner Restaurant in Watertown, New York.   I share my birthday with an old friend from high school and we get together every year to celebrate with mutual friends.  I ordered Bangers And Mash for the first time. It was incredible!  The four sausages were served to perfection (I could only eat two, and asked for a doggy bag). They were so rich and sweet. The mashed potatoes were light and fluffy and I covered them in butter and a gravy that was thin and savory.  It was definitely Irish comfort food. There was an item on the menu called the Irishman's Breakfast which consisted of three pints of beer and a side of chips. I considered it, but then thought better of it. A good time was had by all.

Please check out my review of Angela's Ashes Och, "Tis Such a Sad Story 

References:

RootsIreland: Genealogy

Wikipedia: Article about 'Tis

IrelandXO: Community

IrishCentral:  Article about Frank McCourt's Limerick Ireland

DailyNews:  Photo gallery of Frank McCourt.

Follow Preston's board 'Tis on Pinterest.

The Revenant

Le Revenant

By Preston Sinclair

(c) Twentieth Century Fox

'God giveth. God taketh away.'

             John Fitzgerald

     I really didn't know what to expect when a friend sent me a private message on Facebook inviting me to see The Revenant. In hindsight, I'm glad that I didn't. It made the viewing experience all that much more thrilling and engaging.
    The Revenant is a cathartic film, not for the feint of heart. During the opening scene an American fur trapping party is attacked by Indian marauders who are seeking retribution for the abduction of the chief's daughter Powaqa (Melaw Nakenk'o).  I never knew that arrows could inflict so much damage to the human body. I mean, these arrows are thick and they mean business. I flinched every time one found it's mark. This film is violent and gory in ways I'd never imagined.
  

(c) Twentieth Century Fox

Glass, who is off elk hunting, returns to camp during the melee in order to save his son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck).  During the battle John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) deftly plucks Glass's son from the freezing waters and certain death.  Hardy earns a well deserved Oscar nod for Best Supporting actor for his portrayal of the dastardly Fitzgerald.  Hardy's voice mutates from velvety to gravely at a moments notice.  His slow mid western drawl draws you in and compels you to believe whatever lie he is telling.  I could listen to Tom Hardy talk all day.  Anyone who has seen the movie 'Locke' knows what I'm talking about.
  The survivors of the attack clamber aboard a boat and escape down the river.  The Revenant is relentless in its depiction of one harrowing escape after another. Glass is caught hunting alone by a pissed off Momma bear protecting her cubs.  He survives the brutal attack by pretending to be dead.  In a spiritual sense, death is a character in The Revenant embodied by Glass's beloved wife, who was murdered in a previous battle. She appears throughout the film to guide him on his journey. Following the gruesome bear attack Glass is left for dead by his buddies.

(c) Twentieth Century Fox

     Leonardo DiCaprio transforms himself for this role. He may have grunted and clawed his way through every scene to that elusive Oscar. He finally gives up his pretty guy image we all know from 'The Great Gatsby' and 'The Wolf Of Wall Street'.
    The Revenant incorporates themes we've all read in any good American Literature class, man versus man, man versus nature, man versus himself. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu brilliantly weaves all of the threads together like a Navajo blanket. The scenic beauty of the wilderness is breathtaking while a certain sense of spirituality melds the film together.
     Roughly translated from French, the word revenant means one who has returned as if from the dead. While leaving the theater which was full to capacity there was complete silence, as if we were all in a funeral procession.  We all felt like zombies, drained and exhausted but glad that we were there.  What I'm saying is, you might need a drink after seeing The Revenant.

 Resource Links:

Official Twentieth Century Fox site

IMDB.com

Rotton Tomatoes