Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Evelyn C. Leeper" Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom Subject: MT VOID, 08/09/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 6, Whole Number 2340 Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2024 12:35:55 -0400 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 313 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2024 18:35:57 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="a462d9968b6d68d9345e1a11744d5be9"; logging-data="2924678"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19TOCOkEjfcQYZbHny6qAIV" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:WCg1VCKYoV0ZDNElMuaxAI6qF3E= Content-Language: en-US Bytes: 15650 THE MT VOID 08/09/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 6, Whole Number 2340 Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net Sending Address: evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com All material is the opinion of the author and is copyrighted by the author unless otherwise noted. All comments sent or posted will be assumed authorized for inclusion unless otherwise noted. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send mail to eleeper@optonline.net The latest issue is at . An index with links to the issues of the MT VOID since 1986 is at . Topics: Mini Reviews, Part 3 (ONE LIFE, NO ABRAS NUNCA ESA PUERTA (NEVER OPEN THAT DOOR), MANHATTAN) (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper) Tubi (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper) This Week's Reading (MOBY-DICK) (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper) =================================================================== TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 3 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper) This is the third batch of mini-reviews: ONE LIFE (2023): This is the dramatized version of Sir Nicholas Winton's story about how he (along with others) saved over six hundred children in a Kindertransport from Czechoslovakia. (The original Kindertransport was for Germany and Austria only.) A large amount of the film is devoted to Winton's life forty years after the war, which means of course, less time available for the actual effort during the war. The story was told in a documentary, NICKY'S FAMILY, made in 2011, and I would recommend skipping ONE LIFE and seeing NICKY'S FAMILY instead. NICKY'S FAMILY is available on Hoopla, Kanopy, and other free streaming services. (Mark's review of NICKY'S FAMILY is available at .) [-ecl] Released theatrically 15 March 2024. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), or 7/10. Film Credits: What others are saying: NO ABRAS NUNCA ESA PUERTA (NEVER OPEN THAT DOOR) (1952): NO ABRAS NUNCA ESA PUERTA is an Argentinian film noir based on two Cornell Woolrich stories. In the first, based on "Somebody on the Phone", Raul discovers his sister Luisa is being blackmailed by someone and has taken all his money and his mother's diamond ring. He confronts her, and ... well, bad things ensue. In the second, based on "The Hummingbird Comes Home", a blind mother is awaiting her son's return, only to discover he is a thief and a murderer. Again, bad things ensue. Without giving anything away, I will say that the film WAIT UNTIL DARK may have been inspired by either this film, or the original Woolrich story. [-ecl] Released in Argentina 23 May 1952 (Argentina); in the US 30 January 2014. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4), or 8/10. Film Credits: MANHATTAN (1979): I'm starting to get more older movies from Swap-a-DVD, and they are often movies I decided I want on DVD to replace the VHS copies. So the latest was MANHATTAN. The artwork is striking, and nostalgic--the title is formed by buildings of the Manhattan skyline, with the Twin Towers forming the "H". Diane Keaton talking about art reminded me of her character in REDS. And there is also a young Meryl Streep in only her sixth movie. But of course, Mariel Hemingway is even younger: she plays a seventeen-year-old and she was in fact actually seventeen. (This was her third film.) Woody Allen's character is dating her, and it is made clear that they are having sex. (Allen was forty-three at the time; presumably so was his character.) Allen's character also says he is against extra-marital affairs--"People should mate for life"--but has two ex-wives. All in all, perhaps even creepier now than it was then. [-ecl] Released theatrically 25 April 1979. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), or 7/10. Film Credits: What others are saying: =================================================================== TOPIC: Tubi (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper) The problem with Tubi is the ads. I mean, ads per se are very 1960s, but not ads for razors for pubic air, or treatments for vaginal odor. We didn't see those in the 1960s. One ad (from CSL Plasma) says you can make up to $700 a month by "donating" plasma. No, if you're being paid it's not donating, and if you're donating you're not being paid. [-ecl] =================================================================== TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper) Okay, I'll admit it--it's getting harder to fill this column each week, especially since of late I've been binging Somerset Maugham short stories, which I already reviewed, at least partially (in the 01/15/21 issue of the MT VOID). So I am reduced to including comments on MOBY-DICK excerpted from my "Annotations and Commentary on Moby-Dick". I will spare you the annotations of the "Etomology" and "Extracts" sections, and just give you those from Chapter 1: CHAPTER 1: Loomings "Call me Ishmael." Much has been written about this, so I'll merely point out that Ishmael was an outsider. The full story can be found in Genesis, particularly Genesis 16:1–16 and 17:20–21. But though he is often described as an exile, this is not completely accurate. It is true that his mother Hagar was exiled by Sarai (a.k.a. Sarah), but that was when she was pregnant with Ishmael, and she returned before the birth. Later, God says, "And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation." [Genesis 17:20] But God emphasizes that His covenant is with Isaac. So Ishmael is more like a disinherited older son passed over for a favored younger one. Of course, he also got to miss out on almost being sacrificed, so this was an advantage. The "spleen" was originally thought to be the origin of bad temper. Charles Baudelaire originated the use of "spleen" to mean boredom, sadness, and depression with life. "The Dark Night of the Soul" ("La oscura del alma") was a poem by 16th century mystic San Juan de la Cruz, but the term in English is usually associated with F. Scott Fitzgerald's line, "In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning." Douglas Adams wrote a novel titled THE LONG DARK TEA-TIME OF THE SOUL. Since Melville pre-dated Fitzgerald, he presumably have patterned his "damp, drizzly November in my soul" after the original, or references to it. "Hypos" in "whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me" is an abbreviation for hypochondria, as meaning a morbid depression of spirits rather than a physical illness. The Cato mentioned is Cato Marcus Porcius (95 B.C.E.–46 B.C.E.), considered the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy. After being defeated in his attempts to defend Sicily and to preserve Rome from the tyranny of Julius Caesar, Cato committed suicide by stabbing himself. He is not to be confused with Cato the Elder (also named Cato Marcus Porcius, 234 B.C.E.–149 B.C.E.) or Cato Publius Valerius, the poet, who lived about the same time as Cato the Stoic. A mole is a solid structure serving as a pier, breakwater, or causeway. Some names and places were straightforward: "Manhatto" seems to be Ishmael's poetic version of Manhattan. In Manhattan, he mentions Corlears Hook, Coenties Slip, and Whitehall. The first two are now under landfills, Corlears Hook near FDR Drive and Cherry Street, and Coenties Slip near Pearl and South Streets. Whitehall is still there, at the southern end of Broadway. Corlears Hook was known for prostitutes before and during Melville's time, hence (according to many) the term "hookers". ========== REMAINDER OF ARTICLE TRUNCATED ==========