I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus

I really don’t know what to say. I was confused the entire time what was happening, but when I closed my eyes I could finally sort of picture what was happening in the ‘plot’. A hacker and Clown go to a theme park and the hacker tries to hack into the rides? I don’t even know, haha. I think this was just so the creators could include references to pop culture while mentioning the future and predicting how silly the idea of the future has become. I mean they are traveling through a theme park, so that shows what they think the future will be like (and I agree with them, I feel like I’m in a theme park even decades later). I like the fact that the president was apparently an animatronic. I feel like that is also an accurate representation considering all of the stuff he says. I believe the title is incredibly fitting not just for the adventure itself, but for describing the world during this insane period of time. It could also be argued that the creators thought the ideas people at the time had for the future were ludicrous, and thus used those ideas to create a silly, satire including Holograms, clowns, hackers, and animatronics. Maybe the humor is lost on me, but I didn’t think it was my cup of tea. Although I respect and can realize that for it’s time, it would have been hilarious to experience.

The Distance Of The Moon

I had to do a semester long project based off one of Italo Calvino’s works, Invisible Cities, so I was excited to read another one of his pieces. He did not let me down at all. I love how he describes his worlds. They are incredibly rich with content but at the same time, they are so whimsical and obscure that it’s almost hard to picture them. In this story, we have our protagonist who is also our narrator describing his adventures when the moon used to be close enough to Earth that humans were able to climb onto it and collect it’s ‘milk’. The imagery is fantastic, Calvino describes how the moon still has its own gravitational pull that will pull in the ocean and it’s creatures and suspend them in the air. I cannot even imagine going on a boat to see the moon and also experiencing floating octopuses and fish being pulled toward it. Our narrator also includes his tragic endeavor in love, when a married woman who’s attracted his eye eventually realizes her own love for the narrator’s deaf cousin will never be returned because he is truly in love with the moon. This causes her to ‘become’ the moon when she finds herself stuck on its surface and as the satellite eventually drifts away from our planet, she does nothing to pull herself back to her home planet. It’s a very beautiful story (although tragic for our protagonist). I definitely think that this story was written with the intention of creating literature. I wouldn’t think of this so much as a genre piece, but it could be put into some category if you looked at it hard enough. I think Sci-Fi is appropriate, but I one hundred percent do not think Italo Calvino wrote this while thinking “I’m going to write a sci-fi, romance piece. Yes. That is specifically what I am going to write.” I don’t think it’s a necessary distinction, but I do think it’s something to keep in mind when reading any piece of literature. It’s kind of like when people don’t understand a movie; if they would’ve known the director’s intentions behind creating it, maybe the movie would’ve made a little more sense. I’ll be honest, I did not understand what writing literature for the sake of creating literature meant when I initially read it. But then when I rad this story, I understood it. I change my mind, I do think it’s an important distinction. Especially if you’re an artist (that includes writing) you should be able to create just for the sake of it without having to worry about what you’ll make or what category it will fit under, just get in there and get your hands dirty. Isn’t that what the spirit of creativity is all about? I loved this short story, just for that. I wasn’t thinking about genre at all while reading it, I was just engaged and having a good time being immersed into the work.

Blood Child

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?
It was a lot to take in. I did not expect for there to be so much description of how they impregnate people? When we were talking in groups I found out that it’s implied by the cover art that our main character is a child, which is pretty disturbing, but honestly I’m desensitized to a lot of things.

2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss what elements of the story with which you were able to connect?
I mean there was not a lot to make connections with, besides maybe how the aliens are parasites but it’s an agreement between them and the Terrans, so.


3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you choose; what changes would you make?
I think this would be an awesome story as a comic! I think it’s descriptions are worth having illustrations, maybe it’s because I own comics that are similarly sci-fi horror that are beautifully rendered. I think I would stay to the text as much as I could just because I think it’s worth living the gross scenes in all their glory.


4. Are there elements of this work that you would consider afro-futurist?
Not really since they really don’t mention anything about race as far as I’m concerned. I guess it’s implied, but I didn’t really understand that without it being explained to me.

I Live with You

I enjoyed this story quite a lot! I kept thinking about Jordan Peele’s Us while reading it. I really love how the author breaks up her sentences (maybe because I write similarly) it definitely made the story seem a lot more dramatic when it’s written that way. I also enjoyed how she wrote it like we were reading a log of the narrator’s internal dialogue, it’s unique and really hooked me in. The entire time I was trying to figure out what exactly the narrator was, was she a doppelganger? Or maybe she was just some girl who looked like the protagonist and made a little life out of stalking and living off Nora. I was also trying to find the connection that maybe this was all a metaphor for self-doubt and how people tend to self-destruct until they are truly alone. I do not really understand which one it is supposed to be, but I assume that is the point- so that readers can get whatever they want from it. I was imagining there to be a woman living with Nora that looked just like her, but Nora and others genuinely did not notice she was there. I was left with a lot of questions- Why did she try to seduce an older man? Just to fill the void of loneliness because Nora didn’t think she could even try for anyone remotely out of her league? Why didn’t Nora take care of the doppelganger a long time ago? Did she even really exist outside of Nora’s mind or did Nora do all the sneaky things the narrator talked about? I think this story reflected more of the majoritarian culture more than anything. Our protagonist is a loner who does not live outside her means in the least bit. Willard is an older man who has a physical disability and tries his best to live his life humble. Or maybe that is the minority? I guess it can be seen from both perspectives that their lives are either sad or the same as everyone else’s, but I really hope the rest of society is doing a little better than Nora is. I think, in a way, we are all striving to reach an unachievable goal that’s set for us. It may not be the ‘American Dream’, but it sure is a lot of pressure considering more than half the population is ‘just getting by’ on the wages they are given. So, I do think it could be perceived both ways. With the rise of social media culture and influences, it is almost like we are expected to just work hard and earn a million dollars, when in reality, we are all kind of like Nora. Just living humbly but buying into trends to keep some semblance of being progressive with the times.

Fragments of a Hologram Rose

I thought other sci-fi was hard to read and understand, but this has to take the cake for me. In this story, we are looking through the lens of a man who has just gotten through a breakup with his girlfriend. His name is Parker. We’re obviously farther into the future due to the describing of electronics around him. This lonely soul is trying his best to cope with the trauma by using these tape recordings that captured his ex-girlfriend’s sensations during certain periods of her life. Sounds like a very unhealthy way to cope to me. Of course, our protagonist has given up the chance for stability working at a Japanese company in order to relive his life through these tapes instead. The future of the US seemingly is filled with war and has become a depressing wasteland of a reality, which gives Parker more of a reason to want to succumb to escapism. I think this is a very interesting way of addressing escapism and reality in the future. The thought of having tapes to record how you feel during certain situations of your life is enticing, but just like some episodes of Black Mirror, I feel like they could end up doing more harm than good. Since Parker has given up all of the aspirations he’s been working towards to help him cope with this breakup, I don’t think this would become a fairly positive thing. Rekindling memories of an old relationship is one thing, but continuously living through it like it’s a drug is a completely different. I don’t think this idea in itself is made to be abused like that, but the fact that the first time we’re introduced to this kind of reimagining of the sense is us seeing it through a poor man who’s just gotten dumped kind of says something about how it will be used. At least in my opinion. I think recordings like this could be dangerous to the mental health of those using them especially if it’s used in succession like how Parker was using it. It could, on the other hand help those who need have conditions that mess with memories, like Alzheimer’s patients or those with amnesia or dementia. This story was also very hard to read (at least to me), since there were so many descriptions of electronics that I could not even fathom what they looked like or were used for. I do know that that is the territory that comes with the Cyber Punk genre. Despite it being mildly difficult to navigate what was happening in the story, there was enough scene exposition that I could at least picture what was happening, which I think was the point. If that’s true, the author succeeded brilliantly. Overall, an interesting take on a melancholy story of a man longing for the times of the past where he had the girl. The technologic touch was pretty compelling to read.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

I have heard about this story a while back, not for the short piece of literature but for the point and click adventure game that was based on it. I remember the bare bones of the game, but upon reading the piece it was based on, I remembered more about the characters that the story left out although I read that the game is like another universe version of the characters). I remember it being about the torment of a small group of individuals and how they torment became too much for them to handle. In I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, we are taken through just a handful of things these 5 people have to endure for the rest of eternity because during WWIII, a super computer that gained sentience was built to torture humans and eventually wiped the human race. We do not know why the 5 people were specifically chosen to be the ones the machine AM chose to make “immortal”, but we do know it wants revenge similarly to how Frankenstein’s monster did. The machine has become sentient, but it is not able to do anything other than exist. Which isn’t much of an existence at all, and thusly wants its revenge on the human race. This story brings up how each character perceives and interacts with AM’s torture methods differently, but all of them lose their humanity from it in some way. Each characters morals have been altered by AM to support the opposite of what they originally stood for, Benny being altered the most physically; once a handsome gay scientist and is now a simian-looking heterosexual animal who’s only redeeming (?) quality is the fact that he was given a large penis. Other characters have been altered in similarly mental ways: Ellen who was once “pure” although not a virgin, has become a slave to her lust, Nimdok being mysteriously but visibly traumatized, Gorrister once a pacifist and idealist is now apathetic and nihilistic, and Ted our main character who believes he has not gone through any trauma from AM but is obviously paranoid the others despise him. It’s interesting how each character has had something destroyed within them, due to a machine that was created by the species it’s now keeping captive. As soon as Ted narrates Gorrister’s story of how AM came to be, they bring up how we needed bigger weapons to fight WWIII, and the Allied Master computer is what they created. There was one created by each major power, and they all became sentient and melded into AM. I think this is an interesting take on political commentary. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a WWIII and it was about the cyber race instead of nuclear weapons. I think war is a byproduct of greed and that nothing good comes from it. I think that people are capable of horrors we are not even aware of yet, but I do think that there will always be some kind of empathy. Ted especially feels this when he decides to sacrifice himself for everyone else to get a way out. I think there will always be two ends of the spectrum within humanity.

The Martian

I am not the biggest sci-fi person. Although I do like it a bit more than fantasy. But the difference.... is science. Which I'm not the best at understanding. With fantasy, there are not as many mathematical/chemistry elements that I will look at and read 4 times over and blink with my empty eyes at. So reading some of this book was a little hard for me. Especially since I have the attention span of a puppy. My mom adores Star Trek and even has the emblem tattooed on her ankle, so it's not a completely foreign subject (and with the campy-ness of the original series my brain doesn't process much of the science aspect at all).

The Martian is about a team from NASA traveling to mars and encounter a a strong sandstorm that knocks unconscious one of their members that they assume is now dead and try to leave the planet as fast as they can, while they leave the body of their friend behind. The man wakes up alone on Mars and then has to cultivate potatoes using his own poop to survive until NASA comes to rescue him.

The suspense in this book is palpable. It has a way of keeping me on my toes that I've never experienced from the genre since Close Encounters. I really felt bad for Watney, although he seemed to figure out everything pretty naturally. I reckon that's probably what their training (aka gibberish to me) is for. He's relatively calm to the situations happening, which if he were otherwise he probably wouldn't have ended up back on Earth. I also have a lot of respect for this character due to the way he quickly reacted to everything that was thrown at him. The story is pretty dramatic, though, which is most likely why it is considered an Opera. If only he broke out into song regularly, it would've nailed the genre on the head. All jokes asides, this was a very compelling read. I couldn't imagine having to go through the betrayal of your own crew, saving your own poop for growing potatoes, repairing lost rovers, losing all your air, and still somehow ending up home could do to your brain. That's a ton of stress. The poor lady who felt guilty for leaving him behind has to deal with that too, now. I think she did what she had to do in order to save the rest of her crew, I don't think she's fully to blame. Overall, the Martian was very interesting. I will probably go watch the movie now, I heard it was really good.