"Banksy: Genius or Vandal?" - "secret" location in Culver City

 "Banksy: Genius or Vandal?"  - "secret" location in Culver City

"You know its got nothing to do with me right?" the artist wrote. "I don't charge people to see my art unless there's a fairground wheel." -- Banksy about this exhibit.

While an unauthorized exhibition of the enigmatic British artist Banksy and hotly criticized by fans and Banksy himself, it's also a great way to learn more about the artist in a curated fashion. The organizers maintain that the show "democratizes the artist's body of work," providing access, and back story, to otherwise ephemeral Banksy works. People are really interested in his stance more than just his art. So this immersive traveling exhibit is more than just fun and Instagrammable, but also an educational experience.

I've chosen a few photos to share out of the more than 100 works featured in the exhibit — some re-creations of Banksy's public "wall" art and some "authenticated" pieces primarily from private European collectors (That includes limited-edition screen prints as well as sculptures, installations, videos, and photos. There's also an immersive, virtual reality tour of the artist's studio.)

"Summer Frost" by Blake Crouch, 2019

 "Summer Frost" by Blake Crouch, 2019

Summer Frost is a novella about the development of artificial intelligence by Blake Crouch, author of the WAYWARD PINES trilogy.

In Crouch's classic style, he wastes no time getting to the action. Summer Frost takes place in a near-future San Francisco. It blends video gaming, artificial intelligence, nanotechnologies, and other tech that is under development.

The story has an "Ex Machina" (with a hint of "Her") feel to it. The plot explores a software developer's interaction with an emerging self-aware artificial intelligence called Max, for who they are responsible for. As one would expect, the AI starts out rudimentary and expands in a series of natural progressions, eventually taking on a human-like form.

The handling of some of the gender-related issues felt a bit clunky;. However, it's a highly timely topic. There's more discussion of what Max is and is not from a gender point of view than seemed really relevant to the plot and Max's nature as an AI. 

I enjoyed how Crouch also introduces the thought experiment Roko's basilisk and Pascal's wager into Summer Frost, which lends itself well to the plot.

I rate this novella 2.25 out of 5 stars.

"The Hanover Block" by Gregor Xane, 2014

"The Hanover Block" by Gregor Xane, 2014

The Hanover Block by Gregor Xane is a novella released in November 2014. I only recently discovered it through a random booktuber's post that was one (1) year old. What made me decide to read it? That's easy, that weird thing on the front cover. Describing what the heck that thing is on the front cover will ruin the story. It's best for you to start the book knowing nothing about it. There is definitely a bizarro genius mindset at work here. I gravitate mostly to science fiction, and there's enough of it here, and this was funny in a seriously warped kind of way.

Marion is an office worker, he catches the bus to and from work, and we live his life, meet his friends, his neighbors. Smoke a joint with him, have a couple of beers, you know the score; while almost unnoticed, his neighborhood is changing in a stealthy, shady fashion from one day to the next. People start behaving strangely; dodgy constructions appear in people's back gardens, from sheds to climbing domes.

It's not until halfway in that we learn about that thing on the front cover and normality leaves on the last train out of fucksville. We're left with what can only be described as a bizarro mindshagging with thoughts, interspersed with laughter along the way. It's buckets of mental fun, and I  enjoyed it; just don't let that cover picture put you off.

If you're wondering, Bizarro Fiction is a genre that often uses absurdism, satire, and grotesque elements to create subversive, weird, and entertaining fiction. That describes the Hanover Block perfectly, so approach with an open mind.

And if you need some **SPOILERS** to convince you to pick up the book, the basic premise is those weird fleshy things appear in backyards. Men who encounter them are compelled to stick their penises in them and do nasty things.

I give it a 4.5 out of 5.

#BizarroFiction

"Station Eleven" by Emily St John Mandel, 2014

"Station Eleven" by Emily St John Mandel, 2014

This book has been on my shelf for a few years now after I picked it up from Barnes and Noble. I had no notion of what it's about, other than it is science fiction, a winner of various awards, and its callbacks to Star Trek: Voyager. Upon seeing commercials and learning of its adaptation to a television series, I decided now is the time to read the book before the tv series is released.

The story is less science and more fiction. "Station Eleven" is as much a mystery as it is a post-apocalyptic tale, and the author is pretty good at giving enough clues that thicken the plot to keep me reading. The stories of all the characters are told beautifully intertwined and in multiple timelines centering around Arthur Leander. The book opens at the onset of an outbreak of a virulent flu. In a matter of weeks, it will quickly decimate the world's population. In its wake is a place that is disconnected, desperate and dangerous, with small communities of people trying to make their way in this brave new world.

One of the things I struggled with reading this is wrapping my head around what was happening and when because it's set over so many timelines and tricky to track. Because so many past events influence future events, having a good idea of the chronological sequence is really important. The easiest way to trace the chronological order of events is by following the critical characters over time- make some notes or diagrams.

Where the book falters, I think, is in its imagination of disaster. Having accepted the science that says a flu pandemic is highly probable in our future, Mandel chooses a worst possible situation, a plague that results in the immediate and total collapse of civilization. But the survivors do not think, act or speak like people struck by such a cataclysm. For the most part, they do not behave very differently from people living in ordinary, civilized times. Hunger, thirst, and exhaustion are alluded to, but there is no penetrating sense of the day-to-day struggle of vulnerable human beings lacking the basic amenities of life.

On another level, Station Eleven is not so much about an apocalypse as about memory and loss, nostalgia and yearning; the effort of art to deepen our fleeting impressions of the world and bolster our solitude. Mandel evokes the weary feeling of life slipping away, for Arthur as an individual and then writ large upon the entire world. In Year Twenty, Kirsten, who was eight when the flu hit, is interviewed about her memories, and says that the new reality is hardest to bear for those old enough to remember how the world was before. "The more you remember, the more you've lost," she explains – a sentiment that could apply to any of us, here and now.

I give this book a 3 out of 5 stars.

Chapterhouse Dune, by Frank Herbert, 1985

Chapterhouse Dune, Frank Herbert, 1985 

Chapterhouse Dune, the sixth and final book in Frank Herbert's legendary dune series, is a direct sequel to the previous book, Heretics of Dune. It was nice to be familiar with most of the characters from the beginning, as most of them carried over from the previous book.

While I didn't completely love this book, some significant aspects set it apart from the rest of the series. It was strange to read a Dune book without Arrakis (Rakis); it solidified the Honored Matres as a dangerous force to be reckoned with. With the Honored Matres blowing up the entire Dune planet, the Bene Gesserit is on the defensive, probably for the first time in ages since the God-Emperor suppression of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood.

I was fascinated with Darwi Odrade (Atreides), the penultimate Bene Gesserit Mother Superior, before the merger of the Sisterhood with the Honored Matres under her chosen successor Murbella. Murbella, I would say, would be a central focus in the book; perhaps a pivotal role is a better descriptor. Murbella was a promising young Honored Matre who was captured by the Bene Gesserit and trained in the ways of the Sisterhood. She later became both the Mother Superior and the Great Honored Matre, uniting the bitter enemies.

Sheeana Brugh, as a character, was less interesting for me in this book.  Though she was in charge of turning Chapterhouse into another version of Dune by raising sandworms, there wasn't much else in the way of growth for her.

Miles Teg was a highly regarded Mentat Bene Gesserit military commander who held the rank of Supreme Bashar and who was a distant descendant of Leto Atreides I. In this book, he seemed to have some superhuman abilities, unlike prescience. After merging the Honored Matres and the Bene Gesserit into the New Sisterhood by Murbella, Teg left to join the scattering led by Sheeana. 

Duncan Idaho (10148 AG - 10191 AG) was a swordmaster in the service of House Atreides and one of Duke Leto's right-hand men. Miles Teg, the Bene Gesserit Bashar, was commissioned to restore the memories of Duncan Idaho and managed to do so. However, when Murbella, a captured Honored Matre, tried to bond with Duncan, the Tleilaxu plan came into play, and all of the memories of the previous Duncan Idaho gholas were released. 

Scytale (10160 AG - 10205 AG) was a Face Dancer and later a Tleilaxu Master. He played a prominent role in major historical events that spanned more than five thousand years, starting during the rule of Emperor Paul Atreides. He was later captured by the Bene Gesserit and imprisoned aboard a huge planet-bound no-ship on the Bene Gesserit Chapterhouse. However, when Sheeana, the Sisterhood's Miles Teg ghola, and a Duncan Idaho ghola escaped on the ship, he became a willing passenger in their flight into uncharted space. 

Though the plot was interesting, I still had a hard time connecting to some of these characters and couldn't get attached as I did with characters from the first three (3) books. I appreciate that Herbert didn't tell the same story repeatedly with each successive book, and I understand the time jumps necessity to show humanity's progress. Probably one of the weirdest things about this book is the introduction of the Jewish religion. I'm not sure what message Herbet was trying to send, but perhaps he was laying the groundwork for the next book.

Battles were mostly referenced or skipped over in the previous books, but Chapterhouse focuses on that aspect more.  The full-out war waging between the Bene Gesserit and the Honored Matres is probably one of the most substantial parts of the book, along with twists and turns that didn't disappoint.

One of the things I enjoyed was how the story became more unpredictable as the story progressed. Plans laid out by Odrade would fall apart, the introduction of a powerfully omnipotent duo Marty and Daniel, Miles Teg in a child's body, Murbella's ascension, and others.  By the same token, that unpredictability led to the book ending almost like a cliffhanger. Several story threads were introduced that were left unresolved and felt like a set-up for the next book. Unfortunately, Herbert passed away before he could write/complete the next book in the series. 

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https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Chapterhouse:_Dune

Chapterhouse: Dune, written by Frank Herbert, is the sixth and final novel in the original Dune series. It is also known variously as Chapterhouse Dune, Chapter House Dune and Chapter House: Dune.

The Bene Gesserit still find themselves questioning the Golden Path of humanity set by the God Emperor. Now they must survive the Honored Matres, whose reckless conquest of the Old Empire threatens the Bene Gesserit's survival. The Sisters must reassess their timeless methods: does ultimate survival go beyond calculated manipulation? Is there greater purpose to life than consolidating power?

Plot Summary

The Bene Gesserit find themselves the target of the Honored Matres, whose conquest of the Old Empire is almost complete. The Matres are seeking to assimilate the technology and superhuman skills of the Bene Gesserit, and exterminate the Sisterhood itself. Now in command of the Bene Gesserit, Mother Superior Darwi Odrade continues to develop her drastic, secret plan to overcome the Honored Matres. The Bene Gesserit are also terraforming the planet Chapterhouse to accommodate the all-important sandworms, whose native planet Dune had been destroyed by the Matres. Sheeana, in charge of the project, expects sandworms to appear soon. The Honored Matres have also destroyed the entire Bene Tleilax civilization, with Tleilaxu Master Scytale the only one of his kind left alive. In Bene Gesserit captivity, Scytale possesses the Tleilaxu secret of ghola production, which he has reluctantly traded for the Sisterhood's protection. The first ghola produced is that of their recently deceased military genius, Miles Teg. The Bene Gesserit have two other prisoners on Chapterhouse: the latest Duncan Idaho ghola, and former Honored Matre Murbella, whom they have accepted as a novice despite their suspicion that she intends to escape back to the Honored Matres.

Lampadas, a center for Bene Gesserit education, has been destroyed by the Honored Matres. The planet's Chancellor, Reverend Mother Lucilla, manages to escape carrying the shared-minds of millions of Reverend Mothers. Lucilla is forced to land on Gammu where she seeks refuge with an underground group of Jews. The Rabbi gives Lucilla sanctuary, but to save his people from the Matres he must deliver her to them. Before doing so, he reveals Rebecca, a "wild" Reverend Mother who has gained her Other Memory without Bene Gesserit training. Lucilla shares minds with Rebecca, who promises to take the memories of Lampadas safely back to the Sisterhood. Lucilla is then "betrayed", and taken before the Great Honored Matre Dama, who tries to persuade her to join the Honored Matres, preserving her life in exchange for Bene Gesserit secrets. The Honored Matres are particularly interested in learning to voluntarily modify their body chemistry, a skill that atrophied among the Bene Gesserit who went out into the Scattering and evolved into the Honored Matres. From this, Lucilla deduces that the greater enemy that the Matres are fleeing from is making extensive use of biological warfare. Lucilla refuses to share this knowledge with the Matres, and Dama ultimately kills her.

Back on Chapterhouse, Odrade confronts Duncan and forces him to admit that he is a Mentat, proving that he retains the memories of his many ghola lives. Meanwhile, Murbella collapses under the pressure of Bene Gesserit training, and realizes that she wants to be Bene Gesserit. Odrade believes that the Sisterhood made a mistake in fearing emotion, and that in order to evolve, they must learn to accept emotions. Murbella survives the spice agony and becomes a Reverend Mother. Odrade confronts Sheeana, discovering that Duncan and Sheeana have been allies for some time. Sheeana does not reveal that they have been considering the option of reawakening Teg's memory through imprinting, nor does Odrade discover that Sheeana has the keys to Duncan's no-ship prison. Teg is awakened by Sheeana using imprinting techniques. Odrade appoints him again as Bashar of the military forces of the Sisterhood for the assault on the Honored Matres. Odrade announces to the Bene Gesserit that Teg will lead an attack against the Honored Matres. She also makes clear her intention to share her memories with Murbella and Sheeana, making them candidates to succeed her as Mother Superior if she dies. Odrade meets with the Great Honored Matre while the Bene Gesserit forces under Teg attack Gammu with tremendous force. Teg uses his secret ability to see no-ships to secure control of the system, and victory for the Bene Gesserit seems inevitable. In the midst of this battle, Rebecca and the Jews take refuge with the Bene Gesserit fleet.

Dama's chief advisor Logno assassinates Dama with poison and assumes control of the Honored Matres. Too late, Odrade and Teg realize they have fallen into a trap, and the Honored Matres use a mysterious weapon to turn defeat into victory, and capture Odrade. Murbella saves as much of the Bene Gesserit force as she can and they withdraw to Chapterhouse. Odrade, however, had planned for the possible failure of the Bene Gesserit attack and left Murbella instructions for a last desperate gamble. Murbella pilots a small craft down to the surface, announcing herself as an Honored Matre who, in the confusion, has managed to escape the Bene Gesserit with all their secrets. She arrives on the planet and is taken to the Great Honored Matre. Unable to control her anger, Logno attacks but is killed by Murbella. Awed by her physical prowess, the remaining Honored Matres are forced to accept her as their new leader. Odrade is also killed in the melee and Murbella shares with Odrade to absorb her newest memories, as they had already shared prior to the battle. Murbella's ascension to leadership is not accepted as victory by all the Bene Gesserit. Some flee Chapterhouse, notably Sheeana, who has a vision of her own, and arranges to have some of the new worms that have emerged in the Chapterhouse desert brought aboard the no-ship. Sheeana is joined by Duncan. The two escape in the giant no-ship, with Scytale, Teg and the Jews. Murbella recognizes their plan at the last minute, but is powerless to stop them.

Concluding the Dune saga

Chapterhouse: Dune ends on a cliffhanger with unanswered questions about the escaped ship, the merging of the Honored Matres and Bene Gesserit, the role of Scytale, the development of Idaho and Miles Teg, what chased the Honored Matres, the role of the Jews, and the identity of the god-like characters in the book's final chapter.

Frank Herbert had planned to write a seventh and final Dune novel, but his death in 1986 meant that the series has since remained unfinished until his son Brain Herbert found his notes and outline for the Dune 7. With Kevin j. Anderson they wrote the sequels of dune.

Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert, 1984

Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert, 1984

This is the fifth book in Frank Herbert's original six-book Dune series. This book took me the longest to finish, about a year of putting the book down and picking back up several times, partly because God Emperor of Dune was an exhausting experience and partly because there were no more characters from the original trilogy to latch onto after Leto died.

Aside from Duncan Idaho, this book has an entirely new set of characters. There is also an enormous time jump. So after a slow start, I began to understand the significance of the time jump and grew to like many new faces. As I got further into the book, I realized the Frank Herbert greatly expands the Dune universe by shedding more light on the Bene Gesserit and Bene Tleilaxu lore.

Planets and other figures and things have different names in this book, which makes sense given the time jump and seems realistic that after thousands of years, Arrakhis and Geide Prime would drastically change.

The sisterhood takes center stage in this book which seems inevitable with the God-Emperor out of the picture. At the end of the last novel, the death of the God-Emperor spawned a great scattering, where people from all over the universe voyage out into the unknown. And in this book, they return. And among the returning peoples are the Honored Matres, the main foil for the Bene Gesserit.

Along with the Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres, we learn more about the Bene Tleilaxu through the character Waff and the Duncan Idaho Ghola. Shianna, who can control the sandworms, groomed by O'Drade, was predicted by Leto II and serves as a nice tie-back to the previous novels. 

I was a little hesitant going into this book. I thought a lot of the elements in the previous books wouldn't be present, but not only did the lore get expanded, but a lot of the long-dead characters play a pivotal role in the story.  And repercussions of their actions are still felt after thousands of years.

Despite the overwhelming number of new characters and a slow start, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book and how quickly the new characters won me over once I got into the meat of the story.

I rate the book 4 out of 5.

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https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Heretics_of_Dune

Heretics of Dune, written by Frank Herbert, is the fifth novel in the original Dune series. 1,500 years have passed since Leto II's reign ended; humanity is set firmly on the Golden Path. By crushing the aspirations of humans for 3,500 years, Leto caused The Scattering, an explosion of humanity into the unknown universe upon his death.

Now, some of those who went out into the universe are coming back into the realms of the Old Imperium, bent on conquest. Only the Bene Gesserit perceive the Golden Path, and are faced with a choice: keep to their traditional role of hidden manipulators, quietly easing tensions and guiding human progress while struggling for their own survival; or embrace the Golden Path and push humanity onward into a new future where humans are free from the threat of extinction.

Plot Summary

Much has changed in the millennium and a half since the death of the God Emperor. Sandworms have reappeared on Arrakis (now called Rakis), each containing a fragment of the God Emperor's consciousness, and have renewed the flow of the all-important spice melange to the galaxy. With Leto's death, a very complex economic system built on spice collapsed, resulting in trillions of people leaving known space in a great Scattering. A new civilization has risen, with three dominant powers: the Ixians, whose no-ships are capable of piloting between the stars and are invisible to outside detection; the Bene Tleilax, who have learned to manufacture spice in their axlotl tanks and have created a new breed of Face Dancers; and the Bene Gesserit, a matriarchal order of subtle political manipulators who possess superhuman abilities. However, people from the Scattering are returning with their own peculiar powers. The most powerful of these forces are the Honored Matres, a violent society of women bred and trained for combat and the sexual control of men.

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On Rakis, a girl called Sheeana has been discovered who can control the giant worms. The Bene Gesserit intends to use a Tleilaxu-provided Duncan Idaho ghola to gain control of this sandrider, and the religious forces of humanity who they know will ultimately worship her. The Tleilaxu have altered the ghola to bring its physical reflexes up to modern standards. The Bene Gesserit leader, Mother Superior Taraza, brings Miles Teg to guard the new Idaho. Taraza also sends Reverend Mother Darwi Odrade to take command of the Bene Gesserit keep on Rakis. Odrade is a loose cannon; she does not obey normal Bene Gesserit prohibitions about love, and is also Teg's biological daughter. Bene Gesserit Imprinter Lucilla is also sent by Taraza to bind Idaho's loyalty to the Sisterhood with her sexual talents. However, Lucilla must deal with Reverend Mother Schwangyu, head of the ghola project but also the leader of a faction within the Bene Gesserit who feel the gholas are a danger.

Above the planet Gammu (formerly known as Giedi Prime), Taraza is captured and held hostage by the Honored Matres aboard an Ixian no-ship. The Honored Matres insist Taraza invite Teg to the ship, hoping to gain control of the ghola project. Teg manages to turn the tables on the Matres, and rescues the Mother Superior and her party. An attack is then made on Sheeana on Rakis, which is prevented by the intervention of the Bene Gesserit. Odrade starts training Sheeana as a Bene Gesserit. At about the same time an attempt is made on the life of Idaho, but Teg is able to defeat it. Teg flees with Duncan and Lucilla into the countryside. In an ancient Harkonnen no-globe, Teg proceeds to awaken Idaho's original memories, but does so before Lucilla can imprint Duncan and thus tie him to the Sisterhood. In the meantime, Taraza has sent her trusted general Burzmali to search for Teg and his party, who finally establishes contact with Teg, his former mentor. During the operation, however, Teg and his companions are ambushed. Teg is captured while Lucilla and Duncan escape. Teg is tortured by a T-Probe, but under pressure discovers new abilities: drastically increased physical capabilities and an uncertain type of prescience, which he uses to easily escape. At the same time, Idaho is ambushed and taken hostage.

Taraza arranges a meeting with the Tleilaxu Master Waff, who is soon forced to tell her what he knows about the Honored Matres. When pressed on the issue of Idaho, he also admits that the Bene Tleilax have conditioned their own agenda into him. As the meeting draws to a close, Taraza accidentally divines that Waff is a Zensunni, giving the Bene Gesserit a lever to understand their ancient competitor. She and Odrade meet Waff again on Rakis. He tries to assassinate Taraza but Odrade convinces him that the Sisterhood shares the religious beliefs of the Bene Tleilax. Taraza offers full alliance with them against the onslaught of forces out of the Scattering. This agreement causes consternation among the Bene Gesserit, but Odrade realizes that Taraza's plan is to destroy Rakis. By destroying the planet, the Bene Gesserit would be dependent on the Tleilaxu for the spice, ensuring an alliance.

Lucilla arrives at a Bene Gesserit safe house to discover it has been taken over by a young Honored Matre named Murbella, who has partially subdued Idaho. After being defeated in a quick bout of personal combat, Murbella assumes that Lucilla is the Great Honored Matre, and allows Lucilla and Burzmali to watch through the window of a locked room while she completes the sexual enslavement of the ghola. However, hidden Tleilaxu conditioning kicks in, and Duncan responds with an equal technique, one that overwhelms Murbella; the experience restores in him the entire memories from all of the hundreds of previous Idaho gholas. Stunned and exhausted, Murbella dimly realizes that the man is the ghola they had been warned to search for, and unlocks the door to the room to gain Lucilla's assistance in killing him. But Lucilla says, "We will kill no one. This ghola goes to Rakis."

The Honored Matres attack Rakis, killing Taraza. Odrade becomes temporary leader of the Bene Gesserit before escaping with Sheeana into the desert on a worm. Teg also goes to a supposed safe house, only to discover the Honored Matres. He unleashes himself upon the complex, and finds that his prescient powers allow him to 'see' shielded no-ships; he captures one and locates Duncan and Lucilla. They are taken to Rakis with him and the now-hostage Murbella. When they arrive, Teg intercepts Odrade and Sheeana and their giant worm, having seen Taraza's master plan with his new vision. He loads them all up in his no-ship, finally leading his troops out on a last suicidal defense of Rakis, designed to attract the rage of the Honored Matres. The Honored Matres attack Rakis, destroying the planet and the sandworms — except for the one the Bene Gesserit escape with. They intend to drown the worm in a mixture of water and spice, turning it into sandtrout which will turn the secret Bene Gesserit planet Chapterhouse into another Dune, but with the collective consciousness of the God Emperor diluted into just one sandworm, freeing humanity from the shadow of his prescience forever.