Well there are now four versions of Lord of the Rings. The original book of course. Followed by the Cartoon movie that most of us have forgotten. Then the classic three movies of recent years via New Zealand – both versions of it. And the latest version being the Stage Play.
The first question is how do you condense the narrative of the LOTR into two and a half hours? Stretched out with numerous songs? The first movie managed this by just telling half the story and then running out of money re completion. The second movies did extended versions over three movies running to something like nine hours in total or more. The stage version was more direct and simply removed and simplified the narrative.
So the plot. Well in essence the same as all other versions of the story. Creature called Hobbit has task of destroying magic and evil ring which was created by the evil wizard. Has to go on long journey with several companions and has lots of adventures along the way. Other heroes fight many battles to drag the attention of the evil Wizard away from looking for the Hobbit and the ring. Hobbit called Frodo with friend Sam, gets to volcano where ring and another poor Hobbit end up in the lava. Ring destroyed so is the evil wizard along with the power of all the other magic rings.
This very simplistic description of the plot could do for any of the versions. You could make it a little more filling by talking about Gondor and Rowan. Except in the stage play you could not. Both these human countries become one and we have no horsemen or Rowan and Gondor is not even given a name. Several characters in the human lands are merged and many others such as Borimer’s brother simply cease to exist. If you are going to see this play looking for the Books or the Movie – forget it as this is a completely different version of the story.
The first half nb the escape to Kazakhdoomn and the death of Gandalf are pretty much the same. Shortened yes and condensed, but still all the important elements are there. But the second half of the story is very much condensed and considerably reedited.
If however you are looking for a self contained story in the two and a half hour time frame then this works. Purists be dammed, the play is self contained and enjoyable. One evenings entertainment is what you get. And as I said it works. The reediting is crafted to make complete sense. The characters that are there are not altered. The King that in my mind was always a metaphor for the once and future king is still there. Strider still has a character crisis in deciding whether to be a ranger or a king. His thousand year old lover still abandons immortality for him. His father in law Elrond still manages to abandon Middle Earth and sail of into the sunset.
Gandalf the Grey and White still dies. Still takes on the Balrog, still leads us through Kazakhdoom and leads man to freedom without revealing who he really is in terms of mythology – sorry to deep for this review.
The Hobbits are all there in their full glory. Including the bloody songs.
And here we do have a problem. The music – did I mention that this was actually a musical is utter crap. I am sure that as individual songs they might work for the Edinburgh Fringe. But as a major £25 Million pound stage play they are utter rubbish. On my way in I asked if there was a recording of the Musical and was told no. Thank god there wasn’t so I did not buy it. This is very much a case of let the buyer beware and I will never ever again consider buying a CD prior to hearing the musical.
However two good things can be said about the music. One that there is not a lot of it. This is not a Musical like Le Miz or Phantom of the Opera where every word is put to music. This is the old style Musical with words, plot and the occasional song. The Music which is there is completely in Character. The songs are either there as Character Pieces such as for the Hobbits, or the big “I am the King” pieces. Or they are plot devices for the battles. The battle scenes are more like set piece opera items and they work.
This is a musical for the kids. The start time is 7.30 but at 7.15 the hobbits come on stage and start routines for the kids. Like wise during the second half when things are getting a little well heavy plot wise the baddies come out along the seats to scare the kiddies. And in both occasions it works.
The other special part is of course the special effects. I don’t know where they spent £25 Million on it as in all honesty I have seen much better at other Musicals. But what is there is very good and works. From an early disappearing Bilbo from his birthday party putting on the magic ring to the great and evil Sheba the spider.
So will it last? Off course it will. The audience were clapping before the first scene was over. With the instant audience that something like this has there is no way it can fail. Add to that is the simple fact that it is enjoyable. While it is not ever going to produce a number one it the music works within the context of the production just don’t ever buy the CD. The kids loved it. I liked it and would certainly take Anna and my daughter to see it the next time we are all in London. But I would say to any series Book or Movie fans think before going to see it as you may feel a little disappointed plot wise. But for anyone else yes go and see it.
I did have one problem that had nothing to do with the play. The theatre Stalls where I had what I thought would be about the best seat in the house were terrible. I got a giant sitting in front of me – must have been about six foot two, and I could not see the stage. Said stage was to low. Then a gentleman on the left of me decided to lean into me for the second half. Body space be dammed he seamed to think. So for purely personal reasons I would recommend moving the production to a better theatre.
Enjoy if you go to see it.
Mark
15th July 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Mark Has a Character Named After Him in a Star Trek Novel
I would not exactly say that as an individual I am a superstar. But at the same time I have been on the front pages of most of the countries national papers. I have had a number of heavy weight business papers write about my activities at various times in the past. I have even written a few business articles myself and had them published in some of Scotland’s business magazines.
Google me and you will get several hundred entries. I am the Chairman of a rapidly growing company whose name is well known in it’s industry.
So am I a living legend, no. Am I famous – go look at the web site and decide yourself.
But I have had a character in a best selling novel named after me and before most of the above had ever happed into the bargain. Oh and did I mention my well known and read blogs? Okay I admit I am scraping the barrel a little here.
Off course they got my surname wrong in the book. But I have a signed copy from the author who posted it to me prior to the publication date into the bargain! And what are you asking does any of this have to do with either the future or Science Fiction? You may well ask!
Well I have to tell you a deep dark secret. I am as well as being a Doctor Who fan also a Star Trek Fan.
The book in question is “Dark Mirror” by Diane Duane, published by Simon & Schuster in 1993. Back in those days I was a very young eighteen. So lets get the boring bit about the book over first and then get back to the interesting bit of talking about me later.
The original series of Star Trek had one episode which I think is on every fans favourite list called “Mirror, Mirror”. The Captain, Dr McCoy, Uhura and Scotty all manage to get themselves transported into a Parallel Universe. By the way folks I am assuming at least a passing knowledge of the Star Trek Universe. While their alter counter points arrive at the same time in our Universe.
Everything is the same except that there is no United Federation only an evil Human Empire. And all the Counter Universe characters are mad, evil and homicidal maniacs. To cut a long story short our heroes can pretend to be uncivilised while their counterparts in our Universe cant. The other thing of interest is the much shall we say lighter dress mode of the female characters. This was of course original series trek and Kirk needs his female eye candy.
Now some years later after a run of successful films and a shuttle named Enterprise, Paramount the company that owned Star Trek had re launched it as The Next Generation. I think that most people are probably more familiar with this version than with the original series as it is now called.
At this time there was no sequel to the new series to the Mirror episode. There would be later in the next series of Star Trek called Deep Space Nine, and the last series called Enterprise. Or rather a two part prequel.
Star Trek has a very long tradition of books set in the Star Trek Universe. Unlike other SF franchises such as Doctor Who, Star Wars or Babylon 5 which treat the books set there as part of the true story in other words in the Star Wars Universe when Chewbacca dies in a book he is actually dead in the Star Wars Universe, here the books are fun but otherwise ignores. This even goes as far as the books ignoring each other as well. But I digress.
So this book in particular is a sequel to the Mirror episode but set in the time of the Next Generation.
And the character named after me is of course called Mark Stewart. Not Mark Kennedy-Stewart, just Mark Stewart. Which did cause some of my friends to doubt that the character was actually named after me until they saw the signed book by the author.
Now traditionally I should outline the plot of the book. But in all honesty it has been over twenty years since I read the dammed book and I can’t really actually remember what happens. Except the important bit – I die! I mean, I die or rather I am dead. So no sequel rights then not that I was ever paid anything for the use of my name.
But thanks to the internet:
“A gripping Star Trek: The Next Generation tale hearkening back to the original TV series episode, "Mirror, Mirror." That was the one in which Captain Kirk encountered his brutal alter ego in a parallel universe, a place where only the alternative Spock showed any humanity. Here, the alternative Enterprise draws Captain Picard's vessel into its alternative space, bent on capturing it and staffing it with a look-alike crew--all to spearhead an invasion of the Federation. Deanna Troi, Geordi La Forge, and Captain Picard outwit the scheme by transporting aboard the other Enterprise and turning its technology against the would-be conquerors. Here's where Duane's novel turns clever, with Picard assuming his doppelg„nger's role and discovering--among other things--just how malicious and threatening a Betazed can be and how bitter the alternative Dr. Crusher can be in the role of the "captain's woman." There's also a particularly nasty alternative Riker and a noble alternative Worf. The true Picard maneuvers his ship back into Federation space, but the alien follows; there's some manipulation of hyperstrings (with the help of a spacegoing dolphin) to send the bad Enterprise back where it belongs. Another capable entry in this series that always seems to be better than one would expect. John Mort --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.”
However there is at least one good bit in all of this. There are two of me in this story. The me from this Universe and the me from the evil Universe. Now just think how good this would be in real life if I could have another of me?
So as I said above there have now many years later been many episodes following up on the original Mirror episode in the various series in the TV series. There has even been a series of books written about the characters and events represented in all of these episodes. And they were quite enjoyable – no I am not going into all of the plots etc. But of course the events in my book were ignored!
So we have got that nasty book review over and done with. Now back to the important subject me!
What great deed did I do to inspire Diane to write about me? Ms Duane was attending a Star Trek Convention. She has written other books set in this large universe you know. I was there as a fan. There was a charity auction and I bit the most, for the right to appear in the book and dutifully paid my money over to the charity. So you see there is a nice side to me after all!
Mark
June 23rd 2007
Links:
http://www.dianeduane.com/ The Author
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror,_Mirror_(Star_Trek) The Mirror Episode where it all started.
Amazon Reviews
Star Trek
Google me and you will get several hundred entries. I am the Chairman of a rapidly growing company whose name is well known in it’s industry.
So am I a living legend, no. Am I famous – go look at the web site and decide yourself.
But I have had a character in a best selling novel named after me and before most of the above had ever happed into the bargain. Oh and did I mention my well known and read blogs? Okay I admit I am scraping the barrel a little here.
Off course they got my surname wrong in the book. But I have a signed copy from the author who posted it to me prior to the publication date into the bargain! And what are you asking does any of this have to do with either the future or Science Fiction? You may well ask!
Well I have to tell you a deep dark secret. I am as well as being a Doctor Who fan also a Star Trek Fan.
The book in question is “Dark Mirror” by Diane Duane, published by Simon & Schuster in 1993. Back in those days I was a very young eighteen. So lets get the boring bit about the book over first and then get back to the interesting bit of talking about me later.
The original series of Star Trek had one episode which I think is on every fans favourite list called “Mirror, Mirror”. The Captain, Dr McCoy, Uhura and Scotty all manage to get themselves transported into a Parallel Universe. By the way folks I am assuming at least a passing knowledge of the Star Trek Universe. While their alter counter points arrive at the same time in our Universe.
Everything is the same except that there is no United Federation only an evil Human Empire. And all the Counter Universe characters are mad, evil and homicidal maniacs. To cut a long story short our heroes can pretend to be uncivilised while their counterparts in our Universe cant. The other thing of interest is the much shall we say lighter dress mode of the female characters. This was of course original series trek and Kirk needs his female eye candy.
Now some years later after a run of successful films and a shuttle named Enterprise, Paramount the company that owned Star Trek had re launched it as The Next Generation. I think that most people are probably more familiar with this version than with the original series as it is now called.
At this time there was no sequel to the new series to the Mirror episode. There would be later in the next series of Star Trek called Deep Space Nine, and the last series called Enterprise. Or rather a two part prequel.
Star Trek has a very long tradition of books set in the Star Trek Universe. Unlike other SF franchises such as Doctor Who, Star Wars or Babylon 5 which treat the books set there as part of the true story in other words in the Star Wars Universe when Chewbacca dies in a book he is actually dead in the Star Wars Universe, here the books are fun but otherwise ignores. This even goes as far as the books ignoring each other as well. But I digress.
So this book in particular is a sequel to the Mirror episode but set in the time of the Next Generation.
And the character named after me is of course called Mark Stewart. Not Mark Kennedy-Stewart, just Mark Stewart. Which did cause some of my friends to doubt that the character was actually named after me until they saw the signed book by the author.
Now traditionally I should outline the plot of the book. But in all honesty it has been over twenty years since I read the dammed book and I can’t really actually remember what happens. Except the important bit – I die! I mean, I die or rather I am dead. So no sequel rights then not that I was ever paid anything for the use of my name.
But thanks to the internet:
“A gripping Star Trek: The Next Generation tale hearkening back to the original TV series episode, "Mirror, Mirror." That was the one in which Captain Kirk encountered his brutal alter ego in a parallel universe, a place where only the alternative Spock showed any humanity. Here, the alternative Enterprise draws Captain Picard's vessel into its alternative space, bent on capturing it and staffing it with a look-alike crew--all to spearhead an invasion of the Federation. Deanna Troi, Geordi La Forge, and Captain Picard outwit the scheme by transporting aboard the other Enterprise and turning its technology against the would-be conquerors. Here's where Duane's novel turns clever, with Picard assuming his doppelg„nger's role and discovering--among other things--just how malicious and threatening a Betazed can be and how bitter the alternative Dr. Crusher can be in the role of the "captain's woman." There's also a particularly nasty alternative Riker and a noble alternative Worf. The true Picard maneuvers his ship back into Federation space, but the alien follows; there's some manipulation of hyperstrings (with the help of a spacegoing dolphin) to send the bad Enterprise back where it belongs. Another capable entry in this series that always seems to be better than one would expect. John Mort --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.”
However there is at least one good bit in all of this. There are two of me in this story. The me from this Universe and the me from the evil Universe. Now just think how good this would be in real life if I could have another of me?
So as I said above there have now many years later been many episodes following up on the original Mirror episode in the various series in the TV series. There has even been a series of books written about the characters and events represented in all of these episodes. And they were quite enjoyable – no I am not going into all of the plots etc. But of course the events in my book were ignored!
So we have got that nasty book review over and done with. Now back to the important subject me!
What great deed did I do to inspire Diane to write about me? Ms Duane was attending a Star Trek Convention. She has written other books set in this large universe you know. I was there as a fan. There was a charity auction and I bit the most, for the right to appear in the book and dutifully paid my money over to the charity. So you see there is a nice side to me after all!
Mark
June 23rd 2007
Links:
http://www.dianeduane.com/ The Author
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror,_Mirror_(Star_Trek) The Mirror Episode where it all started.
Amazon Reviews
Star Trek
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Planet of the Rats
I thought I would just stop and write about some thoughts I had recently linking a few bits and pieces together. Enjoy the ramble through my thought process.
There have been many attempts over he years to write science fiction stories about dangerous packs of rats. In literature probably the most famous is James Herberts “The Rats” with two sequels. On TV we have the British series called Doomwatch which had an episode called “Tomorrow the Rat “. However recent evidence has emerged that there is a new breed of Super Rat in the UK and it looks like it has some of the characteristics from these books.
The BBC recently ran an article in their magazine “Focus”. It is a very interesting magazine on the subject of science. The Rat has apparently grown in size to about double what they were. They have changed their diet to similar food that we humans eat nb they are eating more of our waste. They also breed faster that the old species. Various people are interviewed such as biologists and Rat Catchers. It is not a scientific paper but a light and frightening read.
Various points are made like resistance to poisons increasing. That as humans we live approximately 1.5 meters from one of these creatures.
The Rat is actually in an evolutionary sense a dangerous creature. Mildly intelligent, sociable carrying many diseases and very flexible in what it can eat. If you loo back far enough we had ancestors that probably looked more like mice than Rats and look at us now?
Evolution continues. There are two theories of evolution if you don’t treat Creationism as a real theory (the six days Genesis version). The first is the original Darwin theory whereby species change slowly over time. Changes give rise to different species which are more suited to the environment and you get the survival of the species. Then there is the second of global change to the environment wiping out the majority of the species, and rapid changes in the survivors. The classic example being the time when the Dinosaurs disappeared. Whatever. The Rats are evolving and we also have potential changes to the environment.
What would happen if something happened to the human species to make us not quite as strong as we are now. Look at Global Warming. Look at the conflict that we seem to be storing up with Islam, not to mention the wars that could brew up between China and the USA over say Oil? What about a Pandemic of some super Bug? Never mind the occasional Tsunami…
A combination of events over a couple of decades along with an economic crash could crush the Human race. In the very short term food supplies become problematic, fuel becomes rare, water is not where it is needed. Weather patterns make many areas uninhabitable. Disease and aging populations finish natures blows.
Lets imagine a future from now in 50-100 years. We have halved the population, the climate is less than suitable for holidays and the economy of the world has crushed us. Oil is running out, seriously running out. The population level starts to go into serious decline over the years.
This new super rat starts to become more aggressive. As humans decline the food supplies that the Rat gets from us also declines. Armed with teeth packs of rats start to actively hunt other animals. In the Countryside everything from Rabbits to Foxes are fair game. In the cities Cats and Dogs are in serious decline. Attacks against humans are very rare, but parents do not let their children out at night at all.
The creatures continue to grow larger. They outnumber us by at east ten to one. They roam the streets openly. Not attacking us, but we do not attack them either. We live almost in synergy. They do not contribute anything to this, we feed them from our waste and where we do not protect our food supplies. But the balance of power is clearly n the favour of the Rat. It has been so long since a Rat catcher was ever seen – killing them was a waste of time and they usually fought back when attacked.
Lets move another hundred years forward. People now ware protective clothes when travelling which they really do not like to do. The Human population has continued to decline. Things like cars are a remote memory. We use bicycles and horse and carriage now. We still have technology of course and wind power and solar power are fantastic. Our waste is now openly given to the Rat populations. When the Rats are well fed they don’t attack the humans except for the staring child or weak adult. With limited food supplies it has not become uncommon for a human to be sacrificed. Dead bodies are also left out for the Rat packs.
The Rats have continued to evolve. They are now one meter long. Bigger than most cats and dogs, not that anyone can really remember ever having pets. They are not intelligent as such, but their packs are organised. They have clear leaders. They can grunt basic indications of what they want. They move about openly and freely. Any human that attacks a Rat is dealt with and eaten. This is about the only thing that causes an attack, unless a human is waiting in the feeding area.
Humans don’t keep livestock in the countryside anymore. Such animals are hunted and are now long gone. Humans eat food grown in the ground. This of course means that our diets are not as wholesome as they were, which just adds to our decline. As individuals we don’t live as long as we once did – an old human is one at sixty now. We are very much smaller than we were. One and a half meters on average. And of course there are a lot less than of us around. Now the world population is about two hundred million.
While we are not prisoners in our own homes we do not go out very often except to work. The vast majority of us work in agriculture. When we get home at night we do not go out, it is basically not very safe out and about. The Rats don’t like feral humans walking about, they prefer us to stay in at night.
As time goes by the Rats get more assertive. They don’t develop a language but they are clearly intelligent. As time goes by our technology drifts into memory. We do everything locally for ourselves from making our own clothes to growing our own food. Life gets more basic. We continue to become slightly smaller and die younger. The main reason for death is that we have become part of the diet for the Rats.
No one really remembers when the balance totally slips into the Rats favour. When we really stopped living independent lives. Males get eaten when they are teenagers after they have been used for a few years to bread. Of course for some reason we now give birth to a lot more females than males. No reason why except it makes us a species much more attractive to the Rats. It just seamed to evolve that way. Females almost never ever get eaten as long as they are of child bearing age. About half of our females get eaten as young girls and about half are allowed to live to adulthood. We all continue to work in the fields growing the food. Off course about two thirds of what we grow gets eaten by the Rats. Clothes are just simple rags wrapped around ourselves. No new tools ever get made we just make do with what we have and can repair.
The Rats moved into our buildings many years ago. We all live under one roof now. They allow us to build more homes and we still talk of the good old days. The Rats don’t talk or at least we are not aware of them talking. But through pointing and grunting they make their wishes clear. Food has a certain sound to the grunt. Move is pointing.
Humans are still the more intelligent of the two species. But intelligence means recognising the easiest way to live. Okay part of the easy way means that some of us get eaten but the majority of us live relatively okay lives. Off course things like school and education are just long distant memories
Sounds like total fiction and it is of course. But then this planet was once inhabited by huge reptiles…
There was once a book called “Monkey Planet” by Pierre Boulle. AKA the film “Planet of the Apes”. Very different stories apart from the basic premise. The book had a very important message in it. I read the English translation of the French Text. The plot has a human spaceman landing on a planet with a society of intelligent Apes with the technology of the humans in the early part of the twentieth century. He starts of in the Zoo but soon learns their language and turns into a media start. The humans are of course the dumb animals. But during the story we get talked to by ancient humans from the past through race memories, who talk us through the time when the Human race on this planet equal in all ways to us, take Apes as pets. They evolve language and speech while the humans just give up in terms of drive. Slowly over the years the Apes simply take over and the humans find themselves in the cages and getting hunted. The Book of course carries the message that if as a species we loose that killing emotional edge then we will have the tables turned on us. I always thought that the book was referring to Nazi Germany where people almost lined up to go to the concentration camps. But we digress.
The message is very real.
So possible disaster ahead re the world eco system where we rule just now. Small dangerous rodent evolving very fast and living very close to us. Add a decline for humanity, raise the rats a little to take evolutionary advantage…
Links
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/james-herbert/rats.htm The Rats by James Herbert
http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Doomwatch/Tomorrowrat.htm Doomwatch episode about Rats
http://www.focusmag.co.uk/ Focus Magazine
http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/popfr/boullep1.htm Monkey Planet
There have been many attempts over he years to write science fiction stories about dangerous packs of rats. In literature probably the most famous is James Herberts “The Rats” with two sequels. On TV we have the British series called Doomwatch which had an episode called “Tomorrow the Rat “. However recent evidence has emerged that there is a new breed of Super Rat in the UK and it looks like it has some of the characteristics from these books.
The BBC recently ran an article in their magazine “Focus”. It is a very interesting magazine on the subject of science. The Rat has apparently grown in size to about double what they were. They have changed their diet to similar food that we humans eat nb they are eating more of our waste. They also breed faster that the old species. Various people are interviewed such as biologists and Rat Catchers. It is not a scientific paper but a light and frightening read.
Various points are made like resistance to poisons increasing. That as humans we live approximately 1.5 meters from one of these creatures.
The Rat is actually in an evolutionary sense a dangerous creature. Mildly intelligent, sociable carrying many diseases and very flexible in what it can eat. If you loo back far enough we had ancestors that probably looked more like mice than Rats and look at us now?
Evolution continues. There are two theories of evolution if you don’t treat Creationism as a real theory (the six days Genesis version). The first is the original Darwin theory whereby species change slowly over time. Changes give rise to different species which are more suited to the environment and you get the survival of the species. Then there is the second of global change to the environment wiping out the majority of the species, and rapid changes in the survivors. The classic example being the time when the Dinosaurs disappeared. Whatever. The Rats are evolving and we also have potential changes to the environment.
What would happen if something happened to the human species to make us not quite as strong as we are now. Look at Global Warming. Look at the conflict that we seem to be storing up with Islam, not to mention the wars that could brew up between China and the USA over say Oil? What about a Pandemic of some super Bug? Never mind the occasional Tsunami…
A combination of events over a couple of decades along with an economic crash could crush the Human race. In the very short term food supplies become problematic, fuel becomes rare, water is not where it is needed. Weather patterns make many areas uninhabitable. Disease and aging populations finish natures blows.
Lets imagine a future from now in 50-100 years. We have halved the population, the climate is less than suitable for holidays and the economy of the world has crushed us. Oil is running out, seriously running out. The population level starts to go into serious decline over the years.
This new super rat starts to become more aggressive. As humans decline the food supplies that the Rat gets from us also declines. Armed with teeth packs of rats start to actively hunt other animals. In the Countryside everything from Rabbits to Foxes are fair game. In the cities Cats and Dogs are in serious decline. Attacks against humans are very rare, but parents do not let their children out at night at all.
The creatures continue to grow larger. They outnumber us by at east ten to one. They roam the streets openly. Not attacking us, but we do not attack them either. We live almost in synergy. They do not contribute anything to this, we feed them from our waste and where we do not protect our food supplies. But the balance of power is clearly n the favour of the Rat. It has been so long since a Rat catcher was ever seen – killing them was a waste of time and they usually fought back when attacked.
Lets move another hundred years forward. People now ware protective clothes when travelling which they really do not like to do. The Human population has continued to decline. Things like cars are a remote memory. We use bicycles and horse and carriage now. We still have technology of course and wind power and solar power are fantastic. Our waste is now openly given to the Rat populations. When the Rats are well fed they don’t attack the humans except for the staring child or weak adult. With limited food supplies it has not become uncommon for a human to be sacrificed. Dead bodies are also left out for the Rat packs.
The Rats have continued to evolve. They are now one meter long. Bigger than most cats and dogs, not that anyone can really remember ever having pets. They are not intelligent as such, but their packs are organised. They have clear leaders. They can grunt basic indications of what they want. They move about openly and freely. Any human that attacks a Rat is dealt with and eaten. This is about the only thing that causes an attack, unless a human is waiting in the feeding area.
Humans don’t keep livestock in the countryside anymore. Such animals are hunted and are now long gone. Humans eat food grown in the ground. This of course means that our diets are not as wholesome as they were, which just adds to our decline. As individuals we don’t live as long as we once did – an old human is one at sixty now. We are very much smaller than we were. One and a half meters on average. And of course there are a lot less than of us around. Now the world population is about two hundred million.
While we are not prisoners in our own homes we do not go out very often except to work. The vast majority of us work in agriculture. When we get home at night we do not go out, it is basically not very safe out and about. The Rats don’t like feral humans walking about, they prefer us to stay in at night.
As time goes by the Rats get more assertive. They don’t develop a language but they are clearly intelligent. As time goes by our technology drifts into memory. We do everything locally for ourselves from making our own clothes to growing our own food. Life gets more basic. We continue to become slightly smaller and die younger. The main reason for death is that we have become part of the diet for the Rats.
No one really remembers when the balance totally slips into the Rats favour. When we really stopped living independent lives. Males get eaten when they are teenagers after they have been used for a few years to bread. Of course for some reason we now give birth to a lot more females than males. No reason why except it makes us a species much more attractive to the Rats. It just seamed to evolve that way. Females almost never ever get eaten as long as they are of child bearing age. About half of our females get eaten as young girls and about half are allowed to live to adulthood. We all continue to work in the fields growing the food. Off course about two thirds of what we grow gets eaten by the Rats. Clothes are just simple rags wrapped around ourselves. No new tools ever get made we just make do with what we have and can repair.
The Rats moved into our buildings many years ago. We all live under one roof now. They allow us to build more homes and we still talk of the good old days. The Rats don’t talk or at least we are not aware of them talking. But through pointing and grunting they make their wishes clear. Food has a certain sound to the grunt. Move is pointing.
Humans are still the more intelligent of the two species. But intelligence means recognising the easiest way to live. Okay part of the easy way means that some of us get eaten but the majority of us live relatively okay lives. Off course things like school and education are just long distant memories
Sounds like total fiction and it is of course. But then this planet was once inhabited by huge reptiles…
There was once a book called “Monkey Planet” by Pierre Boulle. AKA the film “Planet of the Apes”. Very different stories apart from the basic premise. The book had a very important message in it. I read the English translation of the French Text. The plot has a human spaceman landing on a planet with a society of intelligent Apes with the technology of the humans in the early part of the twentieth century. He starts of in the Zoo but soon learns their language and turns into a media start. The humans are of course the dumb animals. But during the story we get talked to by ancient humans from the past through race memories, who talk us through the time when the Human race on this planet equal in all ways to us, take Apes as pets. They evolve language and speech while the humans just give up in terms of drive. Slowly over the years the Apes simply take over and the humans find themselves in the cages and getting hunted. The Book of course carries the message that if as a species we loose that killing emotional edge then we will have the tables turned on us. I always thought that the book was referring to Nazi Germany where people almost lined up to go to the concentration camps. But we digress.
The message is very real.
So possible disaster ahead re the world eco system where we rule just now. Small dangerous rodent evolving very fast and living very close to us. Add a decline for humanity, raise the rats a little to take evolutionary advantage…
Links
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/james-herbert/rats.htm The Rats by James Herbert
http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Doomwatch/Tomorrowrat.htm Doomwatch episode about Rats
http://www.focusmag.co.uk/ Focus Magazine
http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/popfr/boullep1.htm Monkey Planet
Friday, December 22, 2006
Dune
There is a new show showing in the US just know called “Studio 60”. This is not about that show – but it is worth looking out for when it comes over. It is about a live TV show made and called … Anyway in episode 5 they have a guest musician called Sting. I am sure that he needs no introduction. On the show he is playing classical music from his new album which is currently at the top of the UK Classic music chart. And no this article is not about Sting. However I saw an interview with him on Hard Talk last week again promoting his album which I have been listening to and would recommend it as well. However Sting leads us into the subject, as he stared in a Movie based on a book.
Every so often in life if you are lucky and if you are literate, you read one of those books. It may change your life, or you may ignore it. But the text of the book conveys something to you that is at the very least uplifting, or frightening. It is like a mirror to the sole…
One of those books that had this effect on me is a Science Fiction novel called “Dune” by a now deceased novelist called Frank Herbet. If you have read Dune then I am sure that you have your own conclusions, but follow what I have to say as you may have missed some of the finer points. If you have not read it then I hope that by the end of this article you will want to read it. I read it after seeing the above mentioned movie of which I will return to later.
If I were doing a school essay for my English exam then I would start with the plot review. I do not want to pad this review out, but you have to understand what the book is about – don’t you? Essentially it is the story of a fifteen year old boy, who is a Duke of a family that are part of a political system based on the Middle Ages of Europe feudal system. However this is set around the year 10,000 in the far and distant future. The Galaxy has been colonised and each planet is home to a ruling family. All space travel, life extension and basic pleasure is linked to a drug simply called Spice which is found on only one planet called Arakis, or as it is a complete Desert – Dune. The boy rapidly grows into a man when his father is killed by their rival family. He looses all the family lands and has to redefine himself. It turns out that he is a long term multi generational genetic experiment by one of three political groups that rule the Galaxy called the Beni Gessarit. All female who use the Spice to give themselves superhuman mental powers that only females have. The character called Paul is a Man having been bread to have similar powers. He develops these powers and turns against the females who would rule him. He then goes onto to found a religion based on himself and over turns the Galactic government in the form of an Emperor and makes himself the emperor. By the way this is a very, very summarized plot description. The badies are another family of which Sting plays one of.
What makes the book so good – well anything from this list. Well developed Characters who interact and change. Plot – see above. Extremely good writing style. Let me say this about the writing style. Two characters could meet, and the movement of an eyebrow could be enough to change the entire direction of the plot and thus galactic politics. The Characters are some of the most well developed in the entire literary world and are comparable to anything that Shakespeare ever did on the stage.
However what I want to talk about are some of the other concepts that the book covers. I should also point out that we are talking about an entire industry here. The original author wrote five sequels before he passed away. Then his son along with another writer started to write prequels. Six. And now they have worked on the final book which was started by the author but never written fully – half of which has been published. There has been the movie in three different edited versions. And two TV shows based on the first three books which are by far the better choice if choosing between big and small screen. For more info on all of this go to the official web site at http://www.dunenovels.com/
So what concepts – there are so many it is almost difficult to say where to start. Each could be the subject of a Post in their own right.
The Internet comes first to mind. This is not really in the first book except as very ancient background. The Human race was enslaved by artificial intelligences which are referred to as Robots at first but the later prequels expands this with hindsight. As a reaction to this the human race turns away completely from computers and forces the development of the mind. Our modern society is so dependant on computers that we would be rather stuck if we missed them. I listened to an interview of a police officer this morning who is investigating a serial killer who has just killed five prostitute in the UK. He was involved in an investigation several decades ago into the countries last major investigation into a serial killer. During that investigation the actual culprit was investigated nine different times by the police each officer not realising that the man had been investigated. The reason given being the lack of IT processing power and dependence on manual systems. This could not happen now he said because of the computing power.
In this book after the humans have rebelled and done away with the thinking machines they have to be able to run a galactic power without computers. They develop the human mind to the point that there are humans with more computational power than machines. There are humans with almost telepathic powers. It just makes me wonder that with the developing and embryonic genetic engineering industry if perhaps the book was not more prophetic that it even thought?
The second concept is off course money and it’s relationship between just about everything else that matters: Family, Government, Religion and Power in all forms.
Family and money? What can be learned from an SF novel about this? The essence is that the Family own the business and only one member of the family runs the business. The financial power of the business makes whoever this person is the head of the family. Or is it being the head of the family that puts him n charge of the business? Circular trap here be warned. You get the point however. Look at large families lets say the Disney Family and their control or lack of over the company that old Walt funded. Diluted shareholdings through the years have led to a situation where there is now not even a board member with the name of Disney. So in this universe the family keep all the shareholdings in the name of the head of the family. Who also in the book has complete political power.,
The Government. In the Dune Universe the Government s a dictatorship. This gives rise to basic forms of political competition, Bribery, assassination, war and invasion. You get the picture. In our world there are not many opportunities to wage private wars even if you would want to. But at the same time it was only last week that Toney Blair was interviewed by the police. What for accepting political donations and giving out membership of the House of Lords. Maybe not direct bribery – but looks interesting doesn’t it…
Religion is probably the most interesting. You don’t get many chances to found one. However there was once an individual who did. His name was Jesus. Did he exist – I think we can say that historically there was a political preacher called Jesus. Was he the sun of god – that is a matter of faith. Did he found Christianity almost certainly, but there is evidence of others living his teachings prior to his teaching them… But we are living today in a country dominated by his religion! Did he have any money and what about his family – I leave that to the Devinci Code.
The third concept is the role of the sexes in society. In the books the world is male dominated. However there are various political organisations which are female run. Is there such a concept in our world today? I don’t know about political force, but society is changing and the future is female. Look at University and School exams. Look at employment nb numbers of new jobs? Read any paper and it is full of stories dealing with the rising and aggressive female.
Last but not least – the Books are enjoyable. I when reading them can’t put them down. I don’t really think much is needed to be said beyond this.
Mark.
A Few Links to get started with:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087182/ First Movie
http://www.dunenovels.com/ The Books
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0142032/ TV Series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(novel) Wikipedia
http://www.scifidimensions.com/May02/dunevsdune.htm Which Movie?
Every so often in life if you are lucky and if you are literate, you read one of those books. It may change your life, or you may ignore it. But the text of the book conveys something to you that is at the very least uplifting, or frightening. It is like a mirror to the sole…
One of those books that had this effect on me is a Science Fiction novel called “Dune” by a now deceased novelist called Frank Herbet. If you have read Dune then I am sure that you have your own conclusions, but follow what I have to say as you may have missed some of the finer points. If you have not read it then I hope that by the end of this article you will want to read it. I read it after seeing the above mentioned movie of which I will return to later.
If I were doing a school essay for my English exam then I would start with the plot review. I do not want to pad this review out, but you have to understand what the book is about – don’t you? Essentially it is the story of a fifteen year old boy, who is a Duke of a family that are part of a political system based on the Middle Ages of Europe feudal system. However this is set around the year 10,000 in the far and distant future. The Galaxy has been colonised and each planet is home to a ruling family. All space travel, life extension and basic pleasure is linked to a drug simply called Spice which is found on only one planet called Arakis, or as it is a complete Desert – Dune. The boy rapidly grows into a man when his father is killed by their rival family. He looses all the family lands and has to redefine himself. It turns out that he is a long term multi generational genetic experiment by one of three political groups that rule the Galaxy called the Beni Gessarit. All female who use the Spice to give themselves superhuman mental powers that only females have. The character called Paul is a Man having been bread to have similar powers. He develops these powers and turns against the females who would rule him. He then goes onto to found a religion based on himself and over turns the Galactic government in the form of an Emperor and makes himself the emperor. By the way this is a very, very summarized plot description. The badies are another family of which Sting plays one of.
What makes the book so good – well anything from this list. Well developed Characters who interact and change. Plot – see above. Extremely good writing style. Let me say this about the writing style. Two characters could meet, and the movement of an eyebrow could be enough to change the entire direction of the plot and thus galactic politics. The Characters are some of the most well developed in the entire literary world and are comparable to anything that Shakespeare ever did on the stage.
However what I want to talk about are some of the other concepts that the book covers. I should also point out that we are talking about an entire industry here. The original author wrote five sequels before he passed away. Then his son along with another writer started to write prequels. Six. And now they have worked on the final book which was started by the author but never written fully – half of which has been published. There has been the movie in three different edited versions. And two TV shows based on the first three books which are by far the better choice if choosing between big and small screen. For more info on all of this go to the official web site at http://www.dunenovels.com/
So what concepts – there are so many it is almost difficult to say where to start. Each could be the subject of a Post in their own right.
The Internet comes first to mind. This is not really in the first book except as very ancient background. The Human race was enslaved by artificial intelligences which are referred to as Robots at first but the later prequels expands this with hindsight. As a reaction to this the human race turns away completely from computers and forces the development of the mind. Our modern society is so dependant on computers that we would be rather stuck if we missed them. I listened to an interview of a police officer this morning who is investigating a serial killer who has just killed five prostitute in the UK. He was involved in an investigation several decades ago into the countries last major investigation into a serial killer. During that investigation the actual culprit was investigated nine different times by the police each officer not realising that the man had been investigated. The reason given being the lack of IT processing power and dependence on manual systems. This could not happen now he said because of the computing power.
In this book after the humans have rebelled and done away with the thinking machines they have to be able to run a galactic power without computers. They develop the human mind to the point that there are humans with more computational power than machines. There are humans with almost telepathic powers. It just makes me wonder that with the developing and embryonic genetic engineering industry if perhaps the book was not more prophetic that it even thought?
The second concept is off course money and it’s relationship between just about everything else that matters: Family, Government, Religion and Power in all forms.
Family and money? What can be learned from an SF novel about this? The essence is that the Family own the business and only one member of the family runs the business. The financial power of the business makes whoever this person is the head of the family. Or is it being the head of the family that puts him n charge of the business? Circular trap here be warned. You get the point however. Look at large families lets say the Disney Family and their control or lack of over the company that old Walt funded. Diluted shareholdings through the years have led to a situation where there is now not even a board member with the name of Disney. So in this universe the family keep all the shareholdings in the name of the head of the family. Who also in the book has complete political power.,
The Government. In the Dune Universe the Government s a dictatorship. This gives rise to basic forms of political competition, Bribery, assassination, war and invasion. You get the picture. In our world there are not many opportunities to wage private wars even if you would want to. But at the same time it was only last week that Toney Blair was interviewed by the police. What for accepting political donations and giving out membership of the House of Lords. Maybe not direct bribery – but looks interesting doesn’t it…
Religion is probably the most interesting. You don’t get many chances to found one. However there was once an individual who did. His name was Jesus. Did he exist – I think we can say that historically there was a political preacher called Jesus. Was he the sun of god – that is a matter of faith. Did he found Christianity almost certainly, but there is evidence of others living his teachings prior to his teaching them… But we are living today in a country dominated by his religion! Did he have any money and what about his family – I leave that to the Devinci Code.
The third concept is the role of the sexes in society. In the books the world is male dominated. However there are various political organisations which are female run. Is there such a concept in our world today? I don’t know about political force, but society is changing and the future is female. Look at University and School exams. Look at employment nb numbers of new jobs? Read any paper and it is full of stories dealing with the rising and aggressive female.
Last but not least – the Books are enjoyable. I when reading them can’t put them down. I don’t really think much is needed to be said beyond this.
Mark.
A Few Links to get started with:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087182/ First Movie
http://www.dunenovels.com/ The Books
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0142032/ TV Series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(novel) Wikipedia
http://www.scifidimensions.com/May02/dunevsdune.htm Which Movie?
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Hello and Introduction
Thanks for having a look at this blog. It is new but in fact it is also the continuation of a blog that was started in April 2006. Let me explain…
With my wife Anna I started a company called Caduceus Investments Ltd in 2002. Said company is an investment company investing in residential property. Unlike most Landlords we decided to manage our own property under the banner www.tworent.com and yes that is also a web site of available property. We started very, very small. And have grown at a rate of 370% per annum since then. We now number our properties in the hundreds and are planning to soon do so in the thousands.
By 2006 many of our tenants were loosing contact with us. We now have four offices and staff. So we started this blog aiming to provide communication with the tenants and prospective tenants.
It turned out as everything that we do to be a little bit more complicated. During the summer a job advert got us a little bit of bad publicity. We ended up in a lot of national newspapers and a search on Google to this day brings up about 700 listings for me. We used the blog to reply to the papers who also started to reply to what we said. We were running an on going conversation with one paper over a month. We also got mentioned by the BBC.
Add to this the type of thought process that I have. I live and breav business. Which I also like writing about. I have very strong political views on many social issues and as a Landlord make a lot of comments on what I see. And some of the things I have seen… So the blog began to develop readers who really were not interested in when the grass was going to be cut in Argyll Street. And the people living in Argyll street were really not that interested in what I had to say about immigration into Dublin.
So this is an attempt to bring some sort of order to the blog and make it relevant to the people reading it. There are now four blogs!
The original blog www.twotalk.net has moved to www.diary.twotalk.net . It has also changed in a few ways. The non relevant sections for tenants and prospective tenants have all been removed. All the other people involved in working in the company are also now making posts to it. So it has become as the new name suggests a diary of what is going on in the company. Over Christmas we are writing too all of our tenants and asking them so make their opinions known on the site, so we hope that it will start to take a more relevant life of it’s own.
Incidentally the www.twotalk.net web address will now tale you to a web site which lists all of the blogs, and any other multi media endeavours – more on that later.
So the second blog is called www.business.twotalk.net which as the name suggests is about business. Here you will find articles about the property investment business, opinions of what we think is going on. Along with book reviews of books that Mark reads and how relevant help if any they have given. A lot of people who provide services to the Investment company have made comments about how they would like to post too the blog – so we are inviting any of you to submit business articles here if you wish. A few people involved directly in the company will also be posting here.
The third blog reflects the fact that we are a property rental company as you can see from the name www.property.twotalk.net . This is going to be aimed at the prospective tenants of www.tworent.com . There will be features on property that we have available for rent, articles on what we do as a company for tenants etc. News about properties coming to and off the market and new areas that we are moving into.
The final blog is a reflection of the personality and interests of the chief writer to these blogs Business and Science Fiction. Basically it will look at two areas, where Business is portrayed in SF media and how. Or alternatively where SF portrays some aspect that is really a reflection of what is actually happening in the real world. Mark has a lot of personal friends who are into SF so hopefully you might see some other people writing here as well.
So are we becoming a media company as opposed to a rental and investment business? Who knows. We met a tenant last week who was impressed with what we were trying to do and found it refreshing even just to meet the Landlords and never mind ones that ran a blog. There is lots of hype about how it is possible to run a magazine these days through a blog site with none of the costs. So maybe we will become a multi million pound online business. Other businesses have transformed themselves into other forms of business. A living breathing company such as ours has to evolve.
So now that you have read all about the four blogs, who are Mark and Anna you are asking?
Mark and Anna Kennedy-Stewart are the dynamic and lovely couple who own and run this company. Yes it is Mark who is writing this. So let me tell you about myself first. I am Scottish, born in 1965. I am a Chartered Accountant and hold a degree in Business Organisation. I have founded two very successful businesses, one was called EVision which was in the Accounting software business before being taken over recently by another company. The current company and by far the most successful was founded with my wife Anna. I am a gadget geek and well into Science Fiction. The book and DVD collection is huge. Most of my close friends are either through SF or business. I have done a lot of travelling in the USA and Kazakhstan.
This probably explains why we have an office in Kazakhstan. Also how my wife comes from there – where I met her well over a decade ago.
Anna is the love of my life. And my partner in the company. Her background is in Marketing and she worked for the Kazakhstan national TV company before she came to the UK. While I have a holistic approach she is very focused on detail. Russian and multi lingual, that’s my wife.
Together we have a teenage daughter who works for the company most summers and is also taking after dad and studying Accounts.
I am the company Chairman and she is the Managing Director. You will find her posts in the Diary blog.
So I hope that this gives you some food for thought about what this is all about. And please either post a comment after a post or send an article for publishing to article@tworent.com
Mark.
With my wife Anna I started a company called Caduceus Investments Ltd in 2002. Said company is an investment company investing in residential property. Unlike most Landlords we decided to manage our own property under the banner www.tworent.com and yes that is also a web site of available property. We started very, very small. And have grown at a rate of 370% per annum since then. We now number our properties in the hundreds and are planning to soon do so in the thousands.
By 2006 many of our tenants were loosing contact with us. We now have four offices and staff. So we started this blog aiming to provide communication with the tenants and prospective tenants.
It turned out as everything that we do to be a little bit more complicated. During the summer a job advert got us a little bit of bad publicity. We ended up in a lot of national newspapers and a search on Google to this day brings up about 700 listings for me. We used the blog to reply to the papers who also started to reply to what we said. We were running an on going conversation with one paper over a month. We also got mentioned by the BBC.
Add to this the type of thought process that I have. I live and breav business. Which I also like writing about. I have very strong political views on many social issues and as a Landlord make a lot of comments on what I see. And some of the things I have seen… So the blog began to develop readers who really were not interested in when the grass was going to be cut in Argyll Street. And the people living in Argyll street were really not that interested in what I had to say about immigration into Dublin.
So this is an attempt to bring some sort of order to the blog and make it relevant to the people reading it. There are now four blogs!
The original blog www.twotalk.net has moved to www.diary.twotalk.net . It has also changed in a few ways. The non relevant sections for tenants and prospective tenants have all been removed. All the other people involved in working in the company are also now making posts to it. So it has become as the new name suggests a diary of what is going on in the company. Over Christmas we are writing too all of our tenants and asking them so make their opinions known on the site, so we hope that it will start to take a more relevant life of it’s own.
Incidentally the www.twotalk.net web address will now tale you to a web site which lists all of the blogs, and any other multi media endeavours – more on that later.
So the second blog is called www.business.twotalk.net which as the name suggests is about business. Here you will find articles about the property investment business, opinions of what we think is going on. Along with book reviews of books that Mark reads and how relevant help if any they have given. A lot of people who provide services to the Investment company have made comments about how they would like to post too the blog – so we are inviting any of you to submit business articles here if you wish. A few people involved directly in the company will also be posting here.
The third blog reflects the fact that we are a property rental company as you can see from the name www.property.twotalk.net . This is going to be aimed at the prospective tenants of www.tworent.com . There will be features on property that we have available for rent, articles on what we do as a company for tenants etc. News about properties coming to and off the market and new areas that we are moving into.
The final blog is a reflection of the personality and interests of the chief writer to these blogs Business and Science Fiction. Basically it will look at two areas, where Business is portrayed in SF media and how. Or alternatively where SF portrays some aspect that is really a reflection of what is actually happening in the real world. Mark has a lot of personal friends who are into SF so hopefully you might see some other people writing here as well.
So are we becoming a media company as opposed to a rental and investment business? Who knows. We met a tenant last week who was impressed with what we were trying to do and found it refreshing even just to meet the Landlords and never mind ones that ran a blog. There is lots of hype about how it is possible to run a magazine these days through a blog site with none of the costs. So maybe we will become a multi million pound online business. Other businesses have transformed themselves into other forms of business. A living breathing company such as ours has to evolve.
So now that you have read all about the four blogs, who are Mark and Anna you are asking?
Mark and Anna Kennedy-Stewart are the dynamic and lovely couple who own and run this company. Yes it is Mark who is writing this. So let me tell you about myself first. I am Scottish, born in 1965. I am a Chartered Accountant and hold a degree in Business Organisation. I have founded two very successful businesses, one was called EVision which was in the Accounting software business before being taken over recently by another company. The current company and by far the most successful was founded with my wife Anna. I am a gadget geek and well into Science Fiction. The book and DVD collection is huge. Most of my close friends are either through SF or business. I have done a lot of travelling in the USA and Kazakhstan.
This probably explains why we have an office in Kazakhstan. Also how my wife comes from there – where I met her well over a decade ago.
Anna is the love of my life. And my partner in the company. Her background is in Marketing and she worked for the Kazakhstan national TV company before she came to the UK. While I have a holistic approach she is very focused on detail. Russian and multi lingual, that’s my wife.
Together we have a teenage daughter who works for the company most summers and is also taking after dad and studying Accounts.
I am the company Chairman and she is the Managing Director. You will find her posts in the Diary blog.
So I hope that this gives you some food for thought about what this is all about. And please either post a comment after a post or send an article for publishing to article@tworent.com
Mark.
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