WWI era photos

Here are non-colorized, color photographs from the WWI era (1900s-1920s)--the same era of the Peter Jackson-restored-footage movie, They Shall Not Grow Old, mentioned below. There's something more human about the photos than you might otherwise expect from a movie:

1. a button forgotten to be buttoned, 
2. clean but not pressed clothes, 
3. clean and pressed clothes, 
4. clothes once pressed but now starting to wrinkle where they've been bunches up, 
5. pants ragged from wear, 
6. pants over-patched. 

I was expecting a lot of grime but there is very little except for one worker toward the bottom of the set. For instance, this street vendor would be lower class, so she'd be portrayed as dingy, probably to earn our sympathies, but these people appear to take better care of their appearance than we might.

Peter Jackson's They Shall Not Grow Old

I've been a Peter Jackson fan since Heavenly Creatures (which is far underrated), not to  mention his work on bringing Tolkien's oeuvre to life, so I was curious about his new documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old, which I watched a few weeks ago. The title comes from the 1914 poem, "For the Fallen," by the Great War poet, Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943). The fourth stanza reads:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

The movie displays a kind of genius for rendering that time period, imbuing it with reality. They used not only actual archival footage throughout but also voices from those who fought, sharing their experiences. There is embellishment where the filmmakers made the silent footage come to life once they reach the war front. It is like the famous shift in The Wizard of Oz (1939) from black and white to color. The war becomes more visceral.

The perspectives of that era are rather shocking--their initial zeal to fight and the ambivalent reception of soldiers marching home afterwards. You can see how this lead to the subsequent anti-war attitudes later.

My complaint is that there is no break. The voices are non-stop. Given no breathers, the film becomes a marathon. Silence in a movie is like white space in a poem: It gives the person time to soak in what's been said. Plus it allows emphasis. I thought of simple solutions like title cards or voice-overs, explaining the war. But really silencing the voices could itself be the only markers needed.

I do recommend the movie, but it may be more effective at home where you can introduce your own silences.

ETA: Here are some color, non-colorized photos of the same era. They might surprise you. At least they did me.

Star Trek: Season 1, Episode 20. "Court Martial"

 Summary:

The Enterprise has been through an ion storm and is in for repairs at Starbase 11. Kirk signs off on a form that stated how Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Finney had been killed, jettisoned in a pod after red alert. His daughter Jaime appears to accuse Kirk of murder. However, Spock's data shows the pod was jettisoned before the red alert, so Kirk is to be court martialed for perjury and negligence.

Analysis with spoilers:

Finney and Kirk didn't get along since Kirk had relieved Finney from watch on the United Starship Republic 1371. After Kirk reprimanded Finney and logged the error for leaving open a circuit atomic matter piles that should have been closed, which could have blown up the ship in five minutes.

Fast forward to the disaster when Finney had his turn at the pod. A weather scan (in space?) showed an ion storm. Kirk issued a yellow alert until ship stresses made Kirk hit red-alert status, and Finney had seconds to respond but failed. However, the computer logged Kirk as ordering the jettison of Finney's pod during the yellow alert.

Since the computer transcript disagrees with Kirk's story, Commodore Stone wants to sweep it under the rug, having Kirk be on a permanent ground assignment, but Kirk insists on a court martial.

Kirk gets doe-eyed for his friend and old lover Areel, a lawyer in the judge's advocate. She advocates Kirk not going to court for the same reasons as Stone offered. Areel turns out to be his prosecutor.

Kirk's defender, Samuel T. Cogley, meanwhile, has moved into Kirk's quarters along with a bunch of books because he doesn't like "homogenized, pasteurized, synthesized" computers, which is good for Kirk since he disagrees with his computer's record.

During the trial, Spock defends his captain, saying that the computer was wrong but does not say why. Dr. McCoy is examined where he is asked that if Finney hates -Kirk, then Kirk may reciprocate that hate.

Spock wins five games in a row against the computer, and he expects that if computers don't make errors, and if he does not either, the best they can get is a draw. Therefore, something is wrong with the machine, and Cogley demands that it be examined. Someone has adjusted the computer and, therefore, the memory of the computer.

This is a rather large leap in logic for Spock since one part of a computer could be changed without affecting another, but this would be the early days of the computer. On the other hand, it's possible that in the future computers are designed to malfunction if they are tampered--a blessing and a curse.

Cogley, quoted below, makes a speech that might have worked well on audiences in his day, but fewer might agree with it today, considering AI.

The only people who could tamper with a computer would be Kirk, Spock, and the records clerk, Finney. Cogley suggests Finney isn't dead but hiding on the ship. So they suggest all crew leave the ship and then listen for unknown heartbeats, as they eliminate the remaining heartbeats with a microphone. Somewhere there's still a heartbeat on B deck.

They seal it and Kirk starts searching. It's unclear why they sent just one man when the ship is losing its orbit. How could one man find another in such a large space in a finite time?

Still, he finds Finney in engineering, but Finney gets the drop, aiming a phaser at Kirk. Finney hates that he was never made captain and blames everyone for that mistake and will make the Enterprise crash from orbit because of it.

Classic Kirk brawl with a torn shirt.

Kirk fixes damages, and the ship returns to orbit.  Unsurprisingly, Cogley takes on Finney's case as it is another man vs. machine case.

Quotes:

1. Commodore Stone: "It's in the transcript. And computer transcripts don't lie"
2. Samuel T. Cogley: "I speak of rights. A machine has none. A man must. My client has the right to face his accuser, and if you do not grant him that right, you have brought us down to the level of the machine. Indeed, you have elevated that machine above us. I ask that my motion be granted. More than that, gentlemen, in the name of humanity, fading in the shadow of the machine, I demand it."

Notes:

1. In the last episode, there was no one to reprogram the computer. In this one, crew members appear capable of that (Finney reprograms the computer and keep records although maybe these two are closely related, but he also knows exactly how to damage a ship to cause it to lose orbit) and engineering repair (Kirk can repair and captain a ship). 
2. Spock's serial number is S179-276SP
3. Spock's commendations: Vulcanian Scientific Legion of Honor, awards of valor, twice decorated by Starfleet Command
4. Personnel officer is an Ensign
5. McCoy gets no serial number (or for some reason, his is not listed in court).
6. McCoy's commendations: Legion of Honor, awards of valor, decorated by Starfleet Surgeons
7. Kirk's serial number is SC937-0176 CEC.
8. Kirk's commendations: Palm Leaf of Axanar Peace Mission, Grankite Order of Tactics, Class of Excellence, Prantares Ribbon of Commendation, Classes first and second, Awards of Valor, -Medal of Honor, Silver Palm with Cluster, Starfleet citation for Conspicuous Gallantry, Karagite Order of Heroism
9. While Kirk has a lot of these, the second to last could actually go either way--positive or negative--depending on the definitions one uses. However, their behavior within the episode suggestions these are all positive awards.

Jeremy Zimmerman/Dawn Vogel Anthology: I Didn't Break the Lamp

Here's another fundraiser for a new anthology (with an ensuing call for submissions) about imaginary friends.

Last I looked, they were over 2/3s to their goal, but the Kickstarter is winding down.

Everything Dawn Vogel and Jeremy Zimmerman have done so far -- five anthologies and an online magazine that has running for seven years has a fun edge and a playful sensibility that lights up their journal, not to mention their fine cover art and illustrations.

Give them a look.

Star Trek: Season 1, Episode 19. "Tomorrow Is Yesterday"

 Summary:

A spaceship appears over Omaha, Nebraska in current day U.S. (1960s). The ship is the Enterprise.

Near Starbase 9, a black star's gravity had pulled their ship in, but when they broke away at max warp speed, they ended up here without warp capabilities. The U.S. scrambles a jet to investigate. The Enterprise hear the pilot commanded to force the ship down until other jets arrive, forcing Enterprise to use a tractor beam even though it would break up the plane, so Kirk beams the pilot aboard to spare his life.

Analysis with spoilers:

When the Enterprise goes back in time and they discover when they are, there is a hilarious, poignant, and meta joke quote (see the exchange below) about the Enterprise crew being in the late 1960s, which they are in and out of this story. These lines do for the actors what they should do on the audience: remind them that they are both in the future and in their own present, help them to stand outside their own time period and its preoccupations.

The American pilot, Captain John Christopher [a nod to Christopher Columbus? more likely to the British SF, Nebula-nominated, Guardian-prize children's writer, John Christopher, the pen name for Christopher Samuel Youd] is beamed aboard. Kirk speaks to Christopher with his face almost all in shadow except his eyes, perhaps mirroring Christopher's knowledge of Kirk and the Enterprise. There will be another scene below where Kirk speaks in shadow, but not as much.

Christopher is surprised to see a woman on the ship (cue: sexy music). At the time, women served in the military as air traffic controllers, clerks, intelligence officers, nurses, and physicians.

The pilot states he didn't believe in little green men and immediately meets pointy eared Spock who also states he doesn't believe in them (cue: humorous music).

Captain Kirk tells the pilot that the spaceship is from the future. Spock joins in to say the pilot has learned too much and cannot be returned to Earth or the pilot might alter the future. (If that's the case, Kirk should have kept his mouth shut--with Spock's aid. Or better, beam the guy off his own plane and back down to his own planet. But then there wouldn't be a story.)

The pilot argues that removing him from Earth would change the future. Spock shakes his head. Christopher is too unimportant or has made an "irrelevant contribution"--a blunt if unkind summation of one's life. Scotty reports that they too cannot go home, having nowhere to go (no Federation yet).

The pilot attempts to escape and force himself to be beamed to Earth. Captain Kirk stops this with a punch that knocks the pilot out.

Spock learns that Captain Christopher will have a son, Shaun Geoffrey who fly out to Saturn, so Christopher must be returned to Earth. The Earth captain says he doesn't have a son. (cue: humorous music) "Yet," they admonish the pilot. Sly grins.

Two more problems: There are records of Captain Christopher's flight proving the Enterprise's existence. Also, the Enterprise still lack a way to get back to their own time. Maybe, Spock suggests, they could reverse the process that got them there. (Surely, considering how useful this option always is, this should be at the top of every list.)

So Kirk and Sulu beam down to retrieve Earth's records of their existence. However, they are caught by a security guard. They hand over their equipment, presumably triggering an emergency signal that causes the guard to be beamed aboard the Enterprise, complicating time paradoxes further. Meanwhile, Kirk and Sulu search for and grab recorded evidence, but they've triggered an alarm bringing three more guards in. To give Sulu time to finish up, Kirk has his typical brawl (with some laughably bad leaps at Kirk) before he's apprehended. Sulu has disappeared.

Only Captain Christopher knows where to beam to get Kirk from Security. This doesn't make sense if the Enterprise can sense life and its own equipment. Nonetheless, Spock bows to Christopher's demands though he admits he trusts Christopher only so far.

The away team subdues the security guards holding Kirk, but Christopher uses the commotion to nab a security guard's gun and demand to be left on Earth to be with his family. Now Kirk speaks to Christopher in partial shadow (just the top of the head this time), so Christopher understands Kirk less than he thinks he does--not recognizing that Spock would circle around to pinch him unconscious and not seeing that Kirk and Spock's plan is better for all humanity although they don't reveal their plan until later. Perhaps they could have prevented this if they'd told their plan to begin with so Christopher might have been less anxious about getting back.

Now the Enterprise will slingshot around the sun which will send the Enterprise far enough into the past that they can beam the Earthlings they have on board and it will be as if they never knew they'd been off the planet.

Problem #1: How do they go backward in time for a little bit and then start going forward? What triggers this change?

Problem #2: If it's so easy to time travel at this technology level, why isn't happening more often?

Problem #3: If all they needed to do was travel back in time and beam Christopher back in his old cockpit, why didn't they do that instead of going down to the base? If they were trying to correct alternate universes, that doesn't seem to align with their thinking they can transport Christopher back.

Problem #4: Why won't Christopher and the security guard remember what they've experienced if everyone else on the Enterprise does?

Problem #5: If they replace Christopher and the guard, where do the replaced bodies go? What happened to the Enterprise that was there? Did their travel in time erase the crew's past? If so, why is Kirk so relieved to be home?

This episode is fun if you don't peek at the man behind the curtain.

Quotes:

1. Kirk: "Manned moon shot? That was in the late 1960s."
   Spock: "Apparently, Captain, so are we."
2. Captain Christopher: "Too bad, Captain. Maybe I can't go home, but neither can you. You're as much a prisoner in time as I am."

Notes:

1. The Enterprise computer has been given a sexy female computer voice. The ship has no programmer on board to repair it.
2. An overly convoluted time paradox Gordian knot, which could have been solved by cutting through the knot.
3. The Federation's fleet has a total of twelve ships like the Enterprise.

Baby, That's Cold (analysis of subtext)

Apparently, a Cleaveland radio station made international news for deciding not to play "Baby, It's Cold Outside," citing the #MeToo movement. If it triggers bad memories, then change the station, but is it a rape song?

Historical questions to ask:  Would the 1940s era radio knowingly play a rape song? Would the FCC have allowed it?

Read the ending before debating. They both agree about the outcome. Both sing together, "Baby, it's cold." If they agree, the implied statement is that the wooed will stay. He has accepted her argument.

The song is a standard that switches things up. In the above video, the genders are flipped, changing who is wooing whom. However, this wouldn't alter whether the song is about rape.

Think of the song as a negotiation, as a sales pitch. It isn't necessarily a sexual pitch although that seems likely, especially given that the temperature won't get warmer until the morning. But a night of all kissing or touching might be all that is on the agenda.

Let's analyze the lyrics:

"I really can't stay... 

I simply must go

"Really" and "simply" suggests that the speaker is contemplating staying but is telling himself and the wooer he should go. "Simply" is doubly intriguing as it suggests it should be easy for him to choose to go, but it isn't.

Both admit they've had a good time up to this point:

This evening has been

(Been hoping that you'd drop in) 

So very nice
(I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice)

You've really been grand...

Note the touch. They apparently are in a touching relationship. He accepts her invitation, which is how she is able to pronounce the hands cold.

He refers to this touch later, where "warm" is both literal and figurative ("nice" indicates he likes her physical and personal warmth):

Your welcome has been... 

So nice and warm

In fact, their touch progresses to the lips. Note the change in her dialogue, she must have confirmed her suspicions with a kiss (it could be a non-consensual kiss; however, there are no complaints about the kiss, and he does end up staying):

(Gosh your lips look delicious)... 

(ooh your lips are delicious)

He doesn't say that he has to do something, or be somewhere, or doesn't want to be with the wooer, only that his family and others might have a problem with his sticking around, not to mention the gossip of neighbors. In other words, it isn't he who has a problem being there but others (or at least he says so):

My mother will start worry... 

My father will be pacing the floor... 

The neighbors might think...

My sister will be suspicious... 

My brother will be there at the door... 

My maiden aunt's mind is vicious... 

There's bound to be talk tomorrow... 

At least there will be plenty implied

Now there are a few problematic lines:

The answer is no

This seems to be definitive, but he's been showing doubt all along. There's also the next set of lines:

But maybe just a half a drink more
(Put some records on while I pour) 

Say what's in this drink

Now that last line sounds like the date-rape drug; however, what would be implied in the 1940s would be alcohol, something to lower his inhibitions. He did ask for the drink. His asking for more says they have already been drinking. Had they not been drinking alcohol before? Was he wanting alcohol? Was he wanting his inhibitions lowered, wanting to be convinced? Was there more alcohol than he expected? The song doesn't say or imply.

However, he does admit that he wants to stick around a little longer, making excuses to stay. Here he is again, making excuses to stick around:

But maybe just a cigarette more

He is hopelessly attracted to her:

I wish I knew how... 

To break this spell

She asks for permission:

(Mind if I move in closer)

He admits that he's going to stay and come up with some excuse to tell the family and gossipers:

At least I'm gonna say that I tried

To make this song about rape ignores a lot of subtext. There is one line that's problematic, but the others put it into a different context. The ending says it all.

ETA: Here is another, earlier article that I just read that says similar things with less analysis but more historical context.

Henry James on the Novel

This link shows Henry James' compressed view of the novel, in a letter to Deerfield Summer School.

James spends some time discouraging what he thinks the director's predilection of the novel might be and presents an overview of James's own perspective:

1. do something from your point of view
2. an ounce of example is worth a ton of generalities
3. do something with the great art and the great form 
4. do something with life
5. see the actual or imaginative... and... paint it.

He expands on point of view:

1. any point of view is interesting that is a direct impression of life
2. You each have an impression coloured by your individual conditions
3. Make that into a picture... framed by your own person wisdom, your glimpse of the American world
4. The field is vast for freedom, for study, for observation, for truth.

On life, he writes:

1. Consider life directly and closely
2. [don't] be put off with mean and puerile falsities
3. be conscientious about it. 
4. It is infinitely large, various and comprehensive.
5. Every sort of mind will find what it [the mind?] look for in it [presumably life].
6. Whereby, the novel becomes truly multifarious and illustrative.

On liberty, he writes:

1. give [liberty?] its head and let it range.
2. nothing but freedom can refresh [the English novel] and restore its self respect.