Helliconia Spring by Brian Aldiss (1982)

I recently read Helliconia Spring, part of the Helliconia Trilogy by Brian Aldiss. While the book did not win any of the major awards, it was in the running for the Nebula.

The story takes place mostly on the planet Helliconia, which orbits a rather weak sun, Batalix, which provides little heat and light. Batalix in turn orbits Freyr, a much larger and hotter sun. The orbit of Batalix around Freyr (a "Great Year") takes about 2500 Earth years, and at some points Batalix and Helliconia are closer to Freyr than others. Consequently, the climate of the planet undergoes stark change from centuries of extreme cold to centuries of extreme heat.

The planet is populated by both humans and some wampa-like creatures called phagors, along with several species of subhumans and both plants and animals of remarkable biologies necessitated by the harshly varying conditions of the planet. Aldiss went so far in exploring his premise that he even considered the microbiology of the planet.

Helliconia Spring begins in extreme cold, following a character who moves from a nomadic and extremely difficult solitary lifestyle, to living in an underground society, to finally joining an established surface settlement and becoming their leader. He is the most interesting character in the book, his experiences making him a uniquely capable person.

Sadly, the book drops him about a third of the way through and picks up several generations later. But at least it picks up on another interesting character. The settlement soon experiences the onset of the spring of the Great Year, the ensuing changes in their environment and the creatures inhabiting it, and new challenges brought on by these developments. This arc of the book has many, many characters, but Aldiss somehow manages to present each of them as unique, and I don't ever recall being confused about who was whom. Most of these characters are by necessity flat characters, but enough of them are developed well so as to make them seem human.

I do have two complaints about the book, but very minor ones. First, Aldiss included some history of Earth and a space station orbiting and observing the planet, but the people of Earth and the space station do not affect the events of the story. I am, however, already in the middle of the second book, Helliconia Summer, and am beginning to see that they do affect events later in the series--so this fault is forgiven completely. Second, I found two contradictions in the book. Earlier in the book, a creature called a "stungebag" is characterized as "proverbially difficult to kill," as in, they have a saying something like, "It was tougher than killing a stungebag." Later in the book, they are characterized as easy to kill. The other contradiction is that earlier in the book a phagor would only use his horns as a weapon on another phagor and never a human, but that turns out to be untrue as well. However, the contradictions did not affect the story other than being a minor annoyance.

The Verdict: The characters are compelling, the setting is scientifically plausible (as far as I can tell) and very interesting, and the plot is complex, being driven by independent forces of both people and climate. Despite the very minor problems, I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to a great actor, who is more of a badass than Chuck Norris and whose birthday is more worthy of celebration than St. Patrick's day, a man so awesome I named my dog after him.

Spelling Bee

Fourteen years ago today, I won the Pierce County spelling bee, held at Zion Lutheran Church and School in Plainview, Nebraska. Look at that little nerd there. Isn't he cute? I'm referring, of course, to the nerdy little bee on the top of the trophy, not me . . . . Anyway, I think my name is probably still on a plaque at my old school.

Ganesh

The Top 50 Albums of the Last Decade: Recap

Now that I've concluded my list of The Top 50 Metal Albums of the 2000's, I thought I'd provide a bit of a summary. It really was a great decade for metal, seeing the increasing cross-genre mutations as well as the development of new genres.

I suppose many of you are wondering why I didn't call it the top 30 metal albums of the last decade. The explanation that I want you to add your picks is only part of the story. I also thought people would search for a top 50 list a lot more than a top 30 list. I suppose I could have called it the top 100 metal albums of the decade, or the 75 best metal albums of the 2000s, or the top 40 metal albums of the last 10 years. And now people Googling any of those will find this, eventually.

For those who like to keep score, here are the points based on band home country:

Denmark: 3
Finland: 1
France: 2
Germany: 2
Norway: 1
Sweden: 7
U.S.A.: 14

For me, it's not surprising that Sweden, Denmark, and the U.S. are so well-represented on the list. You would expect most of it to come from Scandinavia and the U.S. What is surprising is that France made the list at all--let alone twice. If you would have predicted two great metal bands to come out of France ten years ago, I would have laughed at you. I'm also a bit surprised Finland and Norway didn't have stronger showings. I'm not sure whether that means the U.S. is overrepresented, or if Sweden is, or if both are, but it is puzzling.

Here is the score by record label:

Century Media: 2
Elektra: 1
Epic: 1
Firebox: 1
InsideOut: 1
Ipecac: 1
Listenable: 1
Metal Blade: 4
Metal Mind: 1
Music for Nations: 1
Nuclear Blast: 5
Rebel Monster: 1
Relapse: 5
Roadrunner: 2
Season of Mist: 1
Warner Bros.: 2

It's definitely no surprise that Nuclear Blast and Relapse dominate, being the two finest independent metal labels around. Metal Blade would have been my guess for third-best showing as well. I'm also unsurprised by the fact there was a moderate showing by the major labels, since they tend to pick up some of the greats. So, truly, no surprises whatsoever when you look at it by record label.

And, here is the score by primary genre (which is often open to interpretation):

Black metal: 1
Death metal: 8
Doom metal: 2
Groove metal: 1
Pure heavy metal: 3
Metalcore: 1
Nu-metal: 2
Post-metal: 1
Progressive metal: 5
Sludge metal: 2
Symphonic metal: 1
Thrash metal: 3

Death metal clearly dominates. I would expect this, because it's such a rich genre with many subgenres. If you want to break it down further, 2 are melodic death and 4 are technical death, the latter of which may be a bit over-represented. What is notably absent from the list is power metal, which is not one of my favorites (although I do like some of it), and this is why I invite you to add your picks in the comments to each post. I definitely think black metal is underrepresented as well, and after I realized this I started picking up a lot more of it--so the next time I come up with a list, it should be much better represented.

Check out the whole list and add your favorites here.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (2007)

I recently watched Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, a film which is most definitely for fans of the T.V. series and not for anyone else.

It is an amusing movie, with one of the nonsensical plots the series is known for, centering around a futuristic exercise machine threatens the city and the world. Prophesies are provided by the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future, who plots with the Plutonians against the Aqua Teens. Carl, Dr. Weird, Steve, MC Pee Pants, and the Mooninites also feature prominently in the movie, and you also get a glimpse into the origin of the Aqua Teens, which of course makes no sense at all.

Aside from the humor, the movie also features a little bit of good music, notably an appearance by the amazing Mastodon (also as food, like the Aqua Teens), who perform "Cut you Up With a Linoleum Knife." The Wikipedia article describes it this way:

The movie begins with a song by an animated quartet consisting of a bag of popcorn, a hot dog, a chocolate Popsicle and a cup of soda encouraging viewers, in a parody of the 1953 short film Let's All Go to the Lobby, to buy food from the concession stand, only to be interrupted by heavy metal band Mastodon—with Troy Sanders animated as a gum drop, Bill Kelliher as a pretzel, Brent Hinds as a box of Ice Caps, and Brann Dailor as a box of nachos—who warn the audience that bad movie etiquette will result in severe bodily harm or death.

In all, I have to give it only 2 out of 5 stars, and the reason is this kind of humor works well only in 15 minute increments, not over the course of nearly an hour and a half.

Froot Dragons

The Top 50 Albums of the Last Decade: 2009

Once again, the ground rules: each band can only be on the list once. Each year is allotted five albums, i.e., 5 for 2000, 5 for 2001, and so on. I do not attempt to rank them from 1 to 50, or even 1 to 5 within a year, because they are all excellent. Ranking them would be a pointless endeavor.

Also, instead of filling out all 50 slots, I actually have only picked 3 for each year, because, as I learned with my last top X list, I don't know everything about metal (though I do know a lot more than I did then). I probably am unaware of at least two other great metal albums in each of these years, and I want to encourage you to add the rest by commenting.

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for, the top list for 2009.

Artillery: When Death Comes

Danish thrash metal veterans Artillery showed nothing but pure genius on this, their first new album in ten years. Allmusic's Phil Freeman has this to say:

On this disc, the band's core -- the guitar-playing Stytzer brothers, Michael and Morten -- remain, but longtime vocalist Flemming Rönsdorf has been replaced by Søren Nico Adamsen, a change that had some of the band's longtime fans worried. Fortunately, he's a terrific addition to the group, a mid-range singer (neither a growler nor a Rob Halford-esque shrieker) who may remind some of former Anthrax vocalist Joey Belladonna, especially when the group's thrash riffing becomes particularly '80s-esque. Which it does quite a bit. Artillery is not a band that's changed with the times -- they're still doing exactly what they did at the beginning of their career. . . . One of the best things about When Death Comes, though, is the powerful production and mixing; every instrument is clear and thunderous, especially Peter Thorslund's bass. This is a quality disc recommended to any metalhead, not just thrash diehards.

I think he puts it pretty well. Top tracks include the title track, "10,000 Devils," and "The End."

Eryn Non Dae: Hydra Lernaia

These guys are so completely unknown, as I write this, that they don't even have a Wikipedia article, so you may have to check their web site to learn more. The music is difficult to categorize: It's sort of a progressive post-deathcore, evoking comparisons to the likes of Meshuggah, Neurosis, and Eryn Non Dae's countrymen Gojira. It's an extremely bass-heavy, brutal, and experimental album, both original and excellent. Metal Blade found something extremely special with this group. This is what the label's web site has to say about the album:

As per its mythological definition - the mythical nine-headed serpent, slain by Hercules, that grew two heads in place of each one that was cut off, unless the wound was cauterized - Hydra Lernaia explores nine human feelings as many-sided problems that present new difficulties each time one aspect of them seems to be solved or overcome. Each song is a feeling; each feeling is an incurable disease that tortures the heart of man.

My favorite tracks include "Existence Asleep" and "Pure."

Baroness: Blue Record

As I mentioned in the introduction to this series, the 2000's saw the rise of sludge metal, due in no small part to the success of Mastodon. And after Mastodon, fellow progressive sludge metal band Baroness is the band on everyone's short list. At times they sound like Black Sabbath, at other times Thin Lizzy, and still at others Mastodon, but always with their own unique take and in a coherent style. Coherence throughout the album is something that's often thrown by the wayside in the days of single-song downloads, but these guys haven't forgotten how to make a true album. The numerous interludes help the whole thing flow together, often incorporating elements from the prior song which are then followed up in the next, until finally the last track (a reworking of the first track) brings the whole thing to a thoughtful and fully-explored ending. While some groups get a lot of hype without deserving it, Baroness has earned the hype. See especially "Swollen and Halo," a psychedelic metal triumph.

That just about does it for the list--except, as I noted, I've only picked 30 out of the top 50 metal albums for the decade. Be sure to add your picks for the remaining two in the comments to each decade. You can see the whole list by clicking here. I will follow up next Friday with a recap.

No. 2220

Star Trek and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

In recent weeks, I've watched both G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Star Trek. Both of them are 2009 sci-fi/action films, and both are revivals/updates of successful franchises. And my thoughts on both of them are very similar, so I'll review them together.

Both films do an excellent job of updating the franchises to present them to a wider audience. And they've avoided the worst pitfalls of the absolutely terrible Transformers (a 1 star movie), i.e., neither one of these films puts a lot of goofy crap into it, and neither one stars Shia LaBeouf. The action in these movies is interesting, and the characters are at least somewhat believable.

However, they both suffer from one major pitfall: They both do too much to court long-time fans of the franchises. I understand this is good business. But they simply cram way too much of their respective mythologies into too short a time frame. Why couldn't they take a cue from the re-started Batman franchise, and let the movie itself come before the expectations of fans? In that franchise, they are allowing the mythology to gradually re-develop, the way it developed in the first place. The technique was successful there, among new and existing fans, so there's no reason it couldn't have worked on these two movies.

Now, on to the movies individually. I've been a fan of the G.I. Joe franchise since a very young age. The movie was a little less believable, and I didn't much care for the main characters Duke and Ripcord, although I liked the other characters. I wish they would have kept all of the love triangle crap out of it, too. But it was still entertaining, and since I'm a fan of the franchise, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and a 3 out of 5 star rating.

As for Star Trek, I'm not really a big fan of the franchise, although most of the movies have been pretty good (as opposed to the T.V. series). The Kirk character was a little over-the-top, but I suppose that could be ascribed to his youth. I was very impressed with the way they "rebooted" the franchise, discarding continuity problems without discarding continuity itself. It is definitely a better movie than Rise, so I give it 4 out of 5 stars.