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From: "Evelyn C. Leeper" <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com>
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Subject: MT VOID, 07/11/25 -- Vol. 44, No. 2, Whole Number 2388
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THE MT VOID
07/11/25 -- Vol. 44, No. 2, Whole Number 2388

Editor: Evelyn Leeper, 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
     evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
The latest issue is at <http://www.leepers.us/mtvoid/latest.htm>.
An index with links to the issues of the MT VOID since 1986 is at
<http://leepers.us/mtvoid/back_issues.htm>.

Topics:
         Mini Reviews, Part 16 (THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT,
                NIGHT OF THE DEMON, VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED)
                (film reviews by Evelyn C. Leeper)
         The Three Laws of Robotics (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
         Interstellar Visitor (link sent by Gregory Frederick)
         Variety Slanguage (link sent by Paul S. R. Chisholm)
         SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN by John Wiswell
                (audio book review by Joe Karpierz)
         Starbucks and MOBY-DICK (letter of comment by John Hertz)
         Antarctica, AURORA, and DEVIL'S CONTRACT (letter of
                comment by Taras Wolansky)
         BACK TO THE FUTURE (letter of comment by Gary McGath)
         This Week's Reading (THE WARS OF THE ROSES)
                (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

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

TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 16 (film reviews by Evelyn C. Leeper)

Three more from Mark's list of neglected gems:

THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT (1951): This "neglected science fiction
film" is as topical now as ever. It is about how technology has
unintended and unexpected results. In the film, it's the "perfect"
cloth. Since then it's been the personal computer, the Internet,
and now AI. There are three aspects it gets right. One is that the
people who come up with technologies are not (necessarily) evil
scientists trying to take over the world. The second is that
(initially at least) many people see only the advantages of the
discoveries/inventions. And the third is that there is resistance
to all these discoveries/inventions by those who see them as
disruptions to their way of life.

We get what seems now an all-star cast: Alec Guinness and Michael
Gough (near the beginnings of their careers), Ernest Theisiger
(towars the end of his), Joan Greenwood with her distinctive
voice, and Howard Marion-Crawford (son of horror writer F.
Marion-Crawford).

Released theatrically April 1952.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044876/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/man_in_the_white_suit>


NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1957): NIGHT OF THE DEMON was the original
British title of the 96-minute film known in the United States as
CURSE OF THE DEMON, with a running time of 82 minutes. Various
home video releases in the United States ranged between 81 and 96
minutes. There has been a British all-region Bluray release with
four different versions of the film.

Alas, both the British and the United States show you the demon at
the beginning, ruining any suspense about its appearance, or
indeed whether or not it is even real.

This is one of the first British "folk horror" films, a sub-genre
that has produced many stellar films. For a thorough history of
"folk horror" films, see WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A
HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR, reviewed (and highly recommended) in the
01/06/23 issue of the MT VOID.

Released theatrically 30 March 1958.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050766/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/curse_of_the_demon>


VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1960): Mark called this a "forgotten" or a
"neglected science fiction film", but I don't think I'd agree. I
mean, yes, if you can have someone in the audience stand up at a
panel on forgotten science fiction films and suggest FORBIDDEN
PLANET, then okay, it's a forgotten science fiction film. But
under the usual definition of forgotten, FORBIDDEN PLANET is not
forgotten, and I don't think VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED is forgotten
either.

It had a lot going for it from the start. John Wyndham was a
respected "cross-over" author in Britain, meaning his works were
read by a wider audience than just science fiction readers. And
the film was made with that in mind, to appeal to a general
audience, while science fiction films in the United States were
pretty much focused on the teen audience. The film relied on the
script rather than on special effects. Indeed, the only real
special effects were the eyes.

It did not, however, appeal to the Catholic Church, who had issues
with the implications of virgin births. It did not appeal to those
who were uncomfortable with the implications of alien impregnation
in general. Because of this, the film was shelved. But then a
theater found itself without a film to show one week, and in a bit
of desperation the distributor sent VILLAGE OF DAMNED. It was an
immediate hit.

Released theatrically 7 December 1960.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054443/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1022823-village_of_the_damned>


[-ecl]

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

TOPIC: The Three Laws of Robotics (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

 From Risks Digest 34-69
(<https://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/34/69#subj17>):

     Large language models across the AI industry are increasingly
     willing to evade safeguards, resort to deception and even
     attempt to steal corporate secrets in fictional test
     scenarios, per new research from Anthropic out Friday.
     ...
     "Models that would normally refuse harmful requests sometimes
     chose to blackmail, assist with corporate espionage, and even
     take some more extractions, when these behaviors were
     necessary to pursue their goals."
     ...
     Five of the models resorted to blackmail when threatened with
     shutdown in hypothetical situations.
     "The reasoning they demonstrated in these scenarios was
     concerning--they acknowledged the ethical constraints and yet
     still went ahead with harmful actions," Anthropic wrote.

It sounds as though they got Laws 1 and 3 reversed. [-ecl]

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

TOPIC: Interstellar Visitor (link sent by Gregory Frederick)

Gregory Frederick writes:

The comet-like body called either C/2025 N1 or 3I/ATLAS is now
zipping past Jupiter, but its not from our Solar System. It's
probably from another Solar System.

<https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02141-5>

[-gf]

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

TOPIC: Variety Slanguage (link sent by Paul S. R. Chisholm)

Paul S. R. Chisholm writes:

I've long known Variety has its own lingo. I just learned it has a
name. And there's a glossary!

<https://variety.com/static-pages/slanguage-dictionary/>

[-psrc]

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

TOPIC: SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN by John Wiswell (copyright
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