Vertiginous Monkeys

It's hot. The air conditioner died in a dramatic fireworks display just in time for the Fourth of July- and there is no possibility of getting it replaced for a few days. What do you do? Sink down on the sofa and watch some movies. Eat loads of Italian Ice. Yeah, that sounds good.

I found myself in this situation last week, and was fortunate to have some excellent films around to watch. But if you combine slow, hot vacation days with some Hitchcock and Terry Gilliam, things can start to get a little strange.

Last Friday I watched Vertigo. I am now actually afraid of bleached blondes.

Saturday afternoon I slipped Twelve Monkeys into the DVD player. Twelve Monkeys is a fairly intense time travel story- the kind that makes you squirm in your seat. Near the climax of the film, desperate time traveller James Cole and his psychiatrist Kathryn Railly try to escape pursuit by hiding out in a movie theater. There, James puts on his cheesy mustache and hairy wig. Kathryn disguises herself by bleaching her hair blond in the bathroom. As the transformation takes place, scenes from Vertigo are playing on the big screen. It was enough to give me the creeps in an already creepy film.

Have you ever noticed the time travel movie convention that everyone thinks the time traveller is mentally ill? Of course, mental illness is central to Vertigo, as well. Maybe I should limit my spec fiction viewing to reruns of Mork and Mindy. That ought to be safe, argh, argh.

By the way- if the name Terry Gilliam has been nagging you, the director of Twelve Monkeys is better known for his stint as animator and actor with Monty Python.

Speech Sounds

I was just reading the July issue of Asimov's when I came across the "In Memoriam" for Octavia Butler. The memoriam noted that Butler wrote few short stories. Of those she published, Asimov's had only printed two: "Speech Sounds" and "Bloodchild." These two stories "brought her three of her four major science fiction awards."

As it so happens, I'd just read "Speech Sounds." Sure enough, it won her the 1984 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.

"Speech Sounds" was a terrific story to read- not in the least because the science behind the science fiction was linguistcs- one of my favorite fields! The pandemic in this story leaves survivors unable to read, write, or speak. But things don't really start to get creepy until we learn that certain individuals, more resistant, stronger, luckier than the other survivors, have managed to retain limited portions of their linguistic abilities. These rare individuals who can still read, or, as in protagonist Rye's case, still speak coherent sentences, form a hated segment of an angry population who no longer have the ability to let off steam verbally. Their anger has to be acted out in a very physical way.