03 April 2017

Notes - two parts / High Castle / Korea



       Early afternoon. You saw Dr. - this morning and you are set up for a colonoscopy on April eighteenth. You were due for your last one next year so to be on the safe side he moved it up to this month. You had leftover meatloaf and cottage cheese for lunch. Linda and Carol are both reading. - Amorella

       1330 hours. I would just as soon get this procedure done early than wait around another year. The actual colonoscopy is nothing; it's the prep procedures the day or so before. The doctor said I will have graduated from the 'program' after this one. Seventy-five year old males are exempt from further such procedures. I need to clean up  chapter 17 from the desktop and move on to 18. It is rather pleasant not dealing with Merlyn is this project.

       Your real concern here is that you have been stagnant for that last several years but the blog shows you have not. You have been learning as well as accepting consequences.

       1342 hours. You bring back a long lost specific memory when, decades ago, I wished to remain invisible for the rest of my life. I forgot that wish.

       It was a demand from heartansoulanmind, boy. - Amorella

       1345 hours. This was in my inner turmoil of 1988, I believe, or 1987. I do not regret the wish and the psychology and reasoning behind it. And the way not to be seen is by putting my heartansoulanmind in plain view of the two dimensional world rather than three.

       This is indeed your view. Post. - Amorella

       1351 hours. I am in two parts as are most Homo-sapiens.

       This is your spiritual and material reality. - Amorella


       1416 hours. The Chapter Seventeen near final draft is put away in file.

       You have moved upstairs and are sitting in the black leathered bedroom recliner with the heating pad on low. Stop for now.

       2018 hours. Tomorrow afternoon we head to Kim and Paul's and stay overnight so Linda can catch her plane to Tampa in the morning. Tonight we watched the first episode of the first season of "The Man in the High Castle" so Linda could get a better idea of how the series is. She says she is going to watch it once she is home and back into her routine. By re-watching the first episode I have a greater appreciation as to how well this show is put together and on how 'on target' the actresses and actors are as well as the focus of the entire production.

       You are a bit envious of those involved with High Castle, as well as with the author. You first read and enjoyed the book sometime in the sixties. Below is from Wikipedia.

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The Man in the High Castle (1962) is an alternative history novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. Set in 1962, fifteen years after an alternative ending to World War II, the novel concerns intrigues between the victorious Axis Powers—primarily, Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany—as they rule over the former United States, as well as daily life under the resulting totalitarian rule. The Man in the High Castle won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1963. The book would later receive a 2015 TV adaptation also under the name, The Man in the High Castle.
Reported inspirations include Ward Moore's alternative Civil War history, Bring the Jubilee (1953), various classic World War II histories, and the I Ching (referred to in the novel). The novel features a "novel within the novel" comprising an alternate history within this alternate history wherein the Allies defeat the Axis (though in a manner distinct from the actual historical outcome). [Stop. More at Wikipedia. - Amorella]
Edited to the television production of the article:
Television [Production]
After a number of attempts to adapt the book to the screen, Amazon's film production unit began in October 2014 filming the pilot episode of The Man in the High Castle in Roslyn, Washington, for a new television drama to air on the Amazon Prime  web video streaming service. The pilot episode was released by Amazon Studios on January 15, 2015, and was Amazon's "most watched pilot ever" according to Amazon Studios' vice president, Roy Price. On February 18, 2015, Amazon green-lit the series. The show became available for streaming on November 20, 2015.
The television series diverges from the novel in many significant respects. Both the Pacific States of America and the Eastern American puppet state appear to be mere provinces of the Japanese and German empires without any apparent autonomous (even quisling) government institutions whatsoever. The Rocky Mountain States become an anarchic  Neutral Zone. World War II appears to have ended following the destruction of Washington, D.C. with an A-bomb, rather than a land invasion as in the book. As for Hitler himself, while elderly, he is apparently mostly hale in his Season 1 finale appearance, though other characters elsewhere in the season do reference his supposed physical infirmity. In the novel, the Italian Empire is a minor power which controls North Africa and the Middle East; in the series, however, it is shown through maps that these territories are part of the Nazi Empire, suggesting that either the Italian Empire was annexed after the war or is self-governing within the Reich.
Characters from the book that do appear are in most cases far more fleshed out with deeper and sometimes rather different backstories than their novel originals. For instance Wegener is a standartenfuhrer in the SS rather than a naval captain (and oddly there are no German military or naval – as opposed to SS – personnel depicted anywhere in the first season). Rather than being a member of an organized internal resistance (and despite his relatively low rank) Wegener is a close personal confidante of Hitler himself and his disillusionment with the regime appears to be largely personal. Juliana and Frank are unmarried but living together rather than divorced and separated. Frank has a sister, nephew and niece, although they are killed early in the series, and this propels him into a more active role in relation to the resistance. Juliana also has a sister whose murder by the Kempeitai early in the season instigates her search for the mysterious Man in the High Castle, as well as her having a mother and stepfather who are significant supporting characters. Joe Cinnadella is renamed Joe Blake and as he becomes closer to Juliana appears to have growing doubts about his role as a Nazi agent. Robert Childan is however a more minor character (at least in Season 1) than the original, while Ed McCarthy has a rather more prominent and active role.
There are several major additional characters introduced by the television series and numerous narrative details and the plotline differ radically from the source novel. For example, the planned Nazi pre-emptive nuclear strike  on Japan, "Operation Dandelion," is apparently being prevented only by Hitler's personal refusal to authorise it, leading Heydrich and the faction demanding pre-emptive war to plot the Führer's assassination. In addition, Hawthorne Abendsen does not appear in the first season of the television version and The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is a series of newsreel  films depicting multiple alternate realities rather than a novel (although this idea may actually be borrowed from Dick's later novel Valis which features a mysterious film depicting yet another dystopian alternate history of the USA). As of the Season 1 finale, these films are being tracked down by SS agents like Blake for dispatch to Hitler himself for an as-yet-unknown purpose.
In season two we see a map on John Smith's wall of the world. From this map we can see that Japan controls the entirety of the Pacific Ocean and most of the Asian continent, including China, India and half of Russia. Japan is also shown to control Australia, New Zealand, western Canada, Alaska and, all pacific states in the USA. We also see that that the Japanese Empire controls the Yucatan Peninsula and South American countries like Chile. In contrast, Nazi Germany is shown as controlling all of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The German Empire also controls all of the United States and Canada up to the Rockies in the west and South American countries like Brazil. Germany also controls the western Russian countries such as the Ukraine. There are also buffer zones between the empires. Neither empire seems to have invaded Mexico and this neutral zone continues up through the Rockies and through Canada. A similar neutral zone is seen dividing Russia in half.
Season two also shows two very different lifestyles in the Japanese controlled Pacific states and the German controlled east. The Germans have colonized the eastern states and are assimilating its inhabitants into Nazi beliefs. The Japanese Empire is occupying the pacific states versus colonizing them. There is enforced segregation between Japanese and Americans citizens. It is implied that Native Americans were exterminated by the Germans.
Selected and edited from Wikipedia
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       2112 hours. "The Man in the High Castle" is the best alternate history (science fiction film) I have seen. The counterpoint is our reality today under Trump which is as an alternate reality for real.

       Your main concern, after watching tonight's evening news, is North Korea. Would they attack South Korea and American bases in Japan at the same time? How would China and Russia respond? How would we respond if we were China or Russia? You beg not to think so much on this because nuclear weapons are smaller and their use would muddy the water more than a full-fledged nuclear world war. Do you disagree with my assessment of your heartansoulanmind on this topic? - Amorella

       2123 hours. You pretty much sum it up, you are certainly more concise than I am, Amorella.

       Post. - Amorella 
   


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