Unincorporated Man, by Dani & Eytan Kollin

I picked this book up from the library because of the title and thickness. I thought it would be an interesting read. I didn't expect it to be deep and compelling, but as I continued reading, the story had me hooked.

300 years in the future, death and taxes have been modified into an afterthought. Revival techniques and age therapy have provided means to prolong man's lifetime to well over 170 years, provided that the brain is intact. Incorporation is the way of life in this modern world. From birth, the government has a 5% stake in the individual's future earnings, the parents a 20% stake. By law, the individual itself has to keep a 25% minimum stake in themselves. The other 50% is IPO'ed to investors who own you as a potential cash cow. It is explained by one citizen as incentive born of self-interest - 'Why would you lash out at a sibling if you have a stake in gaining from their future? You wouldn't want to risk physical or emotional trauma to affect your chance to make money...'

Into this well oiled system, insert a single, free man. Justin Cord, a 21st century billionaire, the first man to create an entirely workerless factory in Tennessee, was dying of cancer. He used his fortune to design and build a cryogenic suspension unit for the purposes of being revived in a world where such an illness could be cured. Nearly 300 years later, he is discovered by a GCI prospector named Omad, just an ordinary joe looking to make a buck on the side who stumbles upon Justin's cavernous tomb.

GCI, the largest corporation on the planet, takes over its employee's find. Neela Harper, a revivalist stationed in Boulder, Colorado, sees this find as her one big chance to break free from the small town stage. No one survived the GC (Great Collapse) of the 21st century, which decimated the world's population. If it wasn't for the wisdom and guidance of Tim Damsah, a young Alaskan politician, the world might have fallen victim to the effects of the horrifying VR Plague.

Neela fights Hektor Sambianco, the GCI representative for the constitutional right of immediate revival. Hektor refuses, sneering that GCI will revive the Man when it has a guarantee of profit from the matter. After all, a pre-GC man had the potential to be quite valuable as a curiosity. The Chairman, reclusive head of GCI and the most powerful man in the world, had a responsibility to the stockholders of his company to milk this find for what all it was worth.

Hektor demands the outrageous sum of 10 million for an immediate revival. Neela balks - the highest revival ever contracted before was in the 400,000 range, this was ridiculous. Yet, by the end of the day, an anonymous donor covers the tab: Justin Cord becomes the Uniincorporated Man, the only person in the solar system (which has since been colonized through terraforming), to not be owned by anyone else.

While the Incorporated World's members dream of someday achieving the magical number of a 51% majority stake in themselves, this man receives it on a silver platter.

Neela is assigned to integrating Justin Cord into the wonders of the modern world. But it soon becomes clear that the modern world also needs time to adjust to the existence of Justin Cord. The man is ingenious, observant, and eloquent - and is absolutely disgusted by the concept of "incorporation." The idea of humans owning each other is repulsive to a man who spent his life earning his freedom from rags to riches. The more Hektor Sambianco and GCI try to force Cord into becoming part of their stock trading world, the harder and more determined Cord fights against the perceived bonds.

Justin quickly becomes a celebrity not only because of his unique status of freedom, but also for being a living legend - the story of his life and mysterious disappearance intrigued the world for 300 years. To have the actual article preserved and intelligent makes him the most followed man on the planet. But when a radical political party names Cord their poster boy and begins a reign of terror in his spirit, Cord finds how quickly public opinion can change. He did not wish any of this to happen, but refuses to acquiesce to the demands that he become part of the system.

How hard would you fight to retain your concept of independence? Is it worth the loss of your friends, fortune, and reputation? Is it right for one man's ideals to overrule the the greater society's stability and interest?

"This world we are living in, sir, is a dictatorship - a dictatorship of the content. It is a creeping, smothering form of dictatorship that works so well and makes everyone so happy... on the surface." - pg.448


I really enjoyed this book, it was rather thought provoking and insightful in the realm of humanity and the concept of self interest. The drawbacks to the book is the chapter concerning the universal week of debauchery that is named Mardi Gras. That and the use of the f-bomb 300 years past the present are two concepts that would have been better buried in the Great Collapse.

I am not much for sci-fi, but this is humanity accelerated and given new toys rather than the cliche idea of hypothetical contact with extraterrestrial races.

Super 8, a J.J. Abrams film

I thought this would be like Cloverfield - big build up to a mysterious disaster and series of events. Cloverfield was a tribute to horror films and revitalized the hand-held camera angle of filming things. While I loved Abrams's reboot of the Star Trek series and its intricacies, I think he could have done better with this project. It felt like a stunt to give summer viewers a trip. Pan's Labyrinth was a brilliant stroke because it was a war movie and a fantasy, could be viewed both ways. I am still deciding whether I will like this movie and its genre split of drama and sci-fi.

The film centers around the viewpoint of Joe Lamb, the town deputy's son, and his friend, Charles's desire to enter a film contest with a zombie themed entry. The time is 1979 and the camera of choice is a super 8, the training wheels that honed many of today's filmmakers. One night, while filming at a train station, a white pick-up truck drives deliberately on the tracks and derails the train. Cary, another of Charles' gang of moviemakers and the resident pyromaniac, is overjoyed by all the chaos and explosions. The rest of the group attempts to collect themselves after witnessing first hand such a disaster. They discover the truck in a bad state and find that the driver is the honors biology teacher at their middle school. He tells them to run, backing up his words with a handgun before he collapses from weakness onto the steering wheel. Within minutes, Air force personnel are combing the tracks, collecting and boxing up crates of curious white plastic cubes that were strewn from the wreckage.

Joe's dad grows suspicious as the Air force men remain tight lipped about their mission. People start disappearing, household pets are discovered in neighboring counties, power supplies fade in and out. The nexus to all the mystery of the movie, is that whatever escaped that train is now dissecting the town and its people, causing ordinary citizens to live in wordless terror, while evading the military's attempts to corral its rampage.

Throughout all this chaos, Charles rallies his ragtag group and channels the town's hysteria into the backdrop and scenery of his movie. Joe begins to fall for Alice, the newly recruited actress for the movie. Alice and Joe's fathers had a falling out and the two parties had never toed the line of silence. Charles's movie provided an opportunity to break the familiar boundaries and know one another. But after Alice herself disappears, it is up to Joe's dad to decipher why the Air Force isn't cooperating while Joe investigates why their teacher was on the tracks, hoping it will help to rescue his new-found friend.

The movie within the movie plays while the credits roll. It is almost a homage to Abrams' own roots as a filmmaker, watching the youth fumble around with angles and "special effects." With the visionary view of a child, the experience time brings, and an insane budget, courtesy of Spielberg, things like Super 8 can be made.

Abrams has made hits
Three hundred is baseball's good
Only fate that you miss...

Varanger: Judging a book by its cover 1.1

When I began to volunteer at the library at which I now work, this cover was in the "New Books" section. The earth-toned colors and curiously titled tome arrested my attention. It has been two and a half years since that day, and I have just now finished it.

The book concerns the two mercenary cousins, Raef and Conn, and the trouble that they find when contracted to the whims of other men. The narrative follows three masters, each more distant than the last.

Raef was the son of a slave woman, and is gifted with unexplained senses - He 'feels' his surroundings and has an intuition for impending danger. He uses his skills sometimes to predict the game of dice to his advantage, and at other times merely to keep track of Conn's whereabouts.

Conn needs the oversight - He is a hot-blooded warrior, conflict roils in his wake. He is single minded and fancies power and women, preferably both.

The story unfolds in Roman Empire Europe, in a small town to which the Varanger lord, Thorfinn retires with his crew. He keeps Conn and Raef as his security in the town. Thorfinn is a reasonable man, he teaches Conn how to play chess, and how that mindset transfers to life. The town leader, Dobrynya, is a canny and crafty old man, uncle to the ruler of the Rus', Volodymyr. The Sclava and Varanger are two different tribes, the Rus' is the movement to unite the seafaying Varangers with the land master Sclava to create a nation. Dobrynya has a town enforcer, Pavo, who keeps the peace with a greased palm and a sadistic whip.

Conn and Pavo are soon made rivals, neither one wanting to relent that the other is the better fighter. Pavo cheats in hand-to-hand, having the aforementioned whip, as well as a kind of brass knuckles hidden in the back of his belt and the infamous knife in his boot. Conn and Raef winter in the town, but as conflicts and scuffles continue between Conn and Pavo, Dobrynya proposes to hire the cousins for a raiding party to the south.

Raef and Conn travel by boat while the Sclava keep pace by land. Even the pace becomes a competition between the two tribes - Who will reach the designated campsite first? Conn and Raef's crew is composed of wanderers, vikings, and icelanders, these thirteen qualify as Varangers to the scoffing Sclava war band. But as the journey continues, these men become a tight-knit group of blood brothers, united under the banner of Conn's determination and Raef's navigation.

They finally reach Kiev, the hometown of the Dobrynya's nephew, Volodymyr, head of the Sclava and Varanger by the bloodlines of the leaders' union. Volodymyr is confident and idealistic in his dream of one nation. He seeks out other gods to fulfill this vision into a reality, making his personal Faithful Guard uneasy - they love their master, but they are servants of Thor and the Norse deities, other religions are strange and untrustworthy.

The Dobrynya plays his hand - as Conn and Raef are under his command, he joins his nephew in a campaign to take the Greek trading stronghold of Chersonese. During the planning, Raef and a Muslim dignitary discuss the roles of God and man. Raef is a simple humanist, believing that man can and should reach his full potential without the medium of a deity. He frustrates the Arab, who sees Allah as the only way, graceful and merciful in allowing infidels to convert to him by their own free will. Raef challenges the Arab that if the Muslims believe in not enslaving other Muslims, and that Baghdad is built on the backs of slaves, then his stated wish that all become Muslim is incompatible with the ugly reality of the world.

The Arab leaves to return to Baghdad, his baggage full of notes taken upon the Sclava and their ways, in order to understand them and convert more effectively when Allah's will descends upon the North. However, he took with him the knowledge that Volodymyr plans to lay siege to Chersonese, a stop upon his journey home. Raef and Conn see danger in this, Dobrynya has faith that the dignitary was a friend.

The climax of the book is the campaign against Chersonese and the fallout from the decisions that are made by those who place power upon the wills of others. How dear a word is kept by those who pledge loyalty, and how little value is given to the owner of the promise. Life does not promise ribbons and bows as the last words are spoken, and neither does this book follow the unspoken dictates of literature.

Will this continue
As a sustainable thread
How to tie it up?

X-men First Class - Another Universe away.

I must confess to start. I am a devoted Marvel fan, especially since Brian Michael Bendis and Ed Hickman started their careers at the superhero icon. It seems trivial to review issues and storylines in a blog, unless specifically designed for that purpose. I will endeavor not to cross that line, as it takes a retcon to be "in" on what the significance of the current events are.

Movies, however, I can and will review. First class starts with Erik Lenshurr, the future villain Magneto, as a child in a Nazi concentration camp. He unlocks his mastery of metal through the rage in watching his mother die before his eyes. Meanwhile, in New York, a young Charles Xavier is awoken in the night by the sounds of a break-in. When reaching the kitchen, he meets Raven Darkholme, a mutant with the ability to shape-shift. Charles invites her to stay as a friend, she need not steal her food. Years pass, Erik vows revenge on those who tortured and shamed him, Charles attends college and publishes a thesis statement on Mutation and its Effects upon Human Race's history. Xavier is confident and arrogant in his ability to read the minds of others. Raven likes him, but he views her in the abstract box of a companion - one who shares his odd genetic line, although she looks like a freak in her original form of blue skin and yellow eyes.

Sebastian Shaw, head of the gentleman's group The Hellfire Club, is also a mutant, but he has bigger plans than just fitting into society. He assembles a core of Emma Frost (a telepath with diamond skin), Azareal (a teleporter), and Riptide (Air manipulator). They manipulate the political conflict between Russia and America, wanting to bring about a nuclear war that would kill humans and strengthen mutant strains. Xavier and Lenshurr meet while attempting to stop Shaw, and agree to form a counter group to better achieve that end goal. They find Alex Summers (Havok, an energy wielder), Hank McCoy (Beast, brilliant and has hands for feet), Armando Munoz (Darwin, ability to adapt his physiology to survive), Angel Salvatore (Angel, she has proportional dragonfly wings [Digression - in the written Marvel Universe, her name is Tempest and she is nowhere near this timeline.]).

The strain in the movie grows between optimistic Xavier and embittered Magneto. One wants to preserve both humans and mutants, the other wants it to be all or nothing. Shaw is a great opponent for the films, as he absorbs all physical damage as energy and can channel it back to the sender. (The harder you fight him, the better he becomes). The setting of the movie around the Cold War is an interesting stroke, and the effects are impressive. I must say that my favorite part of the movie was Hugh Jackman's cameo appearance. As a Caveat to sensible viewers, Hellfire Club and the meeting of Angel both feature risque apparel in an otherwise periodly modest environment. Overall, a good standalone movie, yards above X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but Xavier's character came across as lucky and arrogant. He doesn't have to train throughout the movie, and yet his finale comes through in spades. I liked the acting of Erik, Raven, and Hank - they were relatable and had appropriate levels of sympathy for the decisions they make during the course of the film.

Monsters or heroes?
Are Villains born or just formed?
Be the better man...

Mysterious Stranger - Exercise in Innocence and Instinct

Mysterious Stranger, By Mark Twain.

It happened one night that I was made witness to a profoundly distressing and unsettling short film of this title. The hour was late and gathered in a friend’s house, we left off our pastime of friendly local area network competition to engage in another favorite amusement – video sharing. The host of the party pulled up the video linked below and the author of its origin intrigued me. I rather like Mark Twain, for he is an American icon as Winston Churchill is in English lore, both are famed for his cleverness, wit, and a timely word.

When I returned homeward the following day, I retrieved the video on Youtube and reviewed it, wondering if it was as startling the second time. You judge for yourselves, but use discretion – the masked spirit’s voice alone sends chills down my spine.

This is a long introduction to the actual book, which caught my eye at my local library, wondering, “How far is this off the mark?” Truth is, that most of the dialogue from the Claymation is faithful to the book, but the delivery is more subtly disturbing. The literary framework is 1590 in a small village, with two vicars. The first clergy member is Adolf, a man who met the devil and threw his glass of wine at the fiend, and Peter, a kindly old priest who is the only one not to fear the power of the local astrologer. This stargazer is a sly and devious sort, and holds the village in awe of his abilities to predict war and famine. (Twain makes it a point to say that this is not very impressive, for one or the other is always going on in the world.) When the three boys walk in the woods, they meet the mysterious stranger. The stranger tells them offhandedly that it is an angel, named Satan. Lucifer is his uncle. The stranger claims, and he is distractedly amused by humanity, the same way humans are amused by cat videos online – cute, but utterly foolish and not ultimately worth your full attention.

The stranger, who asks to be called Phillip Traum in other company, takes a fancy to the trio and gives them whatever they wish, all while decrying humanity and its “Moral Sense” which allows us to knowingly commit vile actions and take pleasure in their execution. The boys feel ashamed and compelled to defend their race, to the thought reading spirit’s patient amusement and derision. Satan compares himself and humanity like a red spider and an elephant. The spider’s life is a day, the elephant’s is a century. Does the elephant notice the spider’s wants, needs, aspirations, and wishes? If it deigned to take an active interest in the spider’s life, it might misstep and squash the creature, but if the elephant put its mind to the task, it could do the spider a small good turn in a disinterested and humoring attitude and the spider could be that much better off. Satan says it is rather like that multiplied to an exponential amount and intellectual distance.

Throughout the book, the trio desire Traum’s company, for in his presence, life becomes that much more interesting and exciting. This is similar to a darkened Perelandra by C.S. Lewis from the lady’s perspective and minus Ransom’s influence. It is innocence vs. enticement and temptation. Temptation need not be blatantly obvious as evil, it is the little steps along the way that lead from a faulty foundation of logic to a horrifying conclusion. Consequences come quietly and solemnly, rationalizations are softly and sweetly deployed, and the end is profoundly disorienting and philosophically unsettling.

“Life itself is only a vision, a dream… Nothing exists; all is a dream. God – man – the world – the sun, the moon, the wilderness of stars – a dream, all a dream; they have no existence. Nothing exists save empty space – and you! And you are not you – you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but a thought. I myself have no existence; I am but a dream – Your dream, creature of you imagination. In a moment you will have realized this, then you will banish me from your visions and I shall dissolve into nothingness out of which you made me…” - Satan to the protagonist.

As a figure in a fictional world, it is true that Phillip, Peter, the astrologist, the three boys, are all figments of imagination and Satan’s presence doubly so. But taken to our dimension of reality, such thoughts are problematic. There is a Liar’s paradox of sorts in this. Satan is the father of lies, but quoted scripture when it suited his needs. Whatever he touches, even in this book by Twain, crumbles and is perverted. This angel is no saint, this creature is not human, this being’s morals are warped and twisted to feel perfectly logical and kind. If the only kindness to life is madness and death I would defy even those options and make a new path.

As with Puddleglum in C.S. Lewis’s the Silver Chair "Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things -- trees and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones . . . That's why I'm going to stand by the play world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there is no Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live like a Narnian even if there is no Narnia." Our faith is not blind, we see the signs of a greater hand involved in the creation of the world, a greater meaning behind the miracle of life, motion, and reason, a greater hope and purpose for which we may live and die for with sense of accomplishment and pride. I will not believe a fiction, though I will search its’ depths to find hope in the human heart and mind. As the eyes are the windows to the soul, so is a book a gateway to an author’s mindscape. We may discover things that others brush over in the tour, or even uncover nuggets of wisdom and cautionary examples of which the writer never considered that he or she knew. But we are ever to learn, even when the surface is murky, we must ever learn discernment and cut to the truth of the matter.

This caused me to think,

“What if there was no safety?”

Surprised by joy = Net

There is hope and life

Fictions and lies hold fragments

Twisted beyond truth.