COUNTERCLCK # 33 Artwork: Wolf von Witting. ”Play for Pegasus” Background: Alien world 1981, acrylic painting, Violinist aquarelle, mar1993, acrylic Pegasus on wooden tile 2015, photoshop-assembly Aug2018. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TABLE F CONTENT INTRODUCTIN.............................page 02 Hero, War Hero, Super Hero, Heroine by Wolf von Witting.....................page 03 Comments on SweCon............page 06 by Thomas Recktenwald & Wolf von Witting EuroCon 2018 Amiens report.........page 10 Hello there! I'm back! by Jörg Ritter & Martin Stricker I never saw myself as a rolling stone even though I changed location 6-7 times before I turned 15. SCI FI SHORT PIECES.............page 27 So, it happened that I lived in Stockholm for 32 David Weingart for TAFF!!! years after that. It wasn't all the same. Life at Film reviews school was different from life at college. And life at FuturiCon, EuroCon 2020, in Rijeka...31 college, again, was different from military service. Even 25 years at the railroad were not the same Honey, Where's My Pants? for long. A few years as freshling and train The smoking fresh chapter of a TAFF-report conductor, a few years as train traffic controller by John Purcell...............................page 32 (dispatcher), administrator, instructor and later also railroad bridge warden. Many different tasks LoCol..........................................page 39 and many different experiences. All in the same THE FINAL WRD....................page 42 place. Until it grew weary. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - After 11 years in Italy, I feel I have exhausted all CounterClock attempts to accomodate the short variations there are to experience in a small attention span of the next generation. Pretend to village. It was already growing weary a year ago. read and just look at the pictures... This has led me to consider another relocation. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - YOU HAVE NO POWER The main two candidates on my list have been 1. Zagreb, Croatia and The power you claim, you'd like me to fear 2. Timisoara, Romania You can level a mountain in hunt for a deer I feel it is necessary to move somewhere, where Will you be content after killing your prey we already have a strong sf-fan-community. Or forever hungry, til the end of your day Sorry, but Italy is a lost cause. After 11 years here, Iota TC has not grown one iota. I choose not to bow, I choose not to kneel And snigger at lackeys who conk at your heel Now, through Darius Hupov, on Eurosmof, I find The treasures I find are all left behind out that Timisoara is bidding for a EuroCon 2021. Cos value, like power are fiction of mind. (See last page of this issue) And I would expect my next relocation to take place some time late in A stone tablet, once carved with a name 2019, or early in 2020. Yes, a EuroCon bid may Eroded by sun, by wind and by rain slightly tilt my preference in favour of Romania. No living memory, lurking around Also because my Swedish pension for sure will be Of someone resting deep in the ground sufficient for living there. Most certainly better than And as the sun finally sets on this day, it will be in Italy. Here, the vultures are ready to I pray tomorrow will come and it may drop down on me as soon as I have a cent too I can open the shutters, let in the light much in income. [Editorial rant continues page 42] But making the sun rise is not in my might - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - When you're older, you want to learn from other [Wolf in mid August 2018] people. Ray Bradbury 2 COUNTERCLCK # 33 Hero WORLD WAR II – Dogfights 1. A person who is admired for their courage, Now, here's a topic where reality makes up the outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. most boring reading possible. Allow me to ‘a war hero’ mention this once only, and then never to speak of it again. 1.1 The chief male character in a book, play, or film, The top 3 flying aces of WWII: Erich Hartmann who is typically identified with good qualities, and (19 Apr 1922 – 20 Sep 1993) 352 aerial victories, with whom the reader is expected to sympathize. Gerhard Barkhorn (20 Mar 1919 – 8 Jan 1983) 1.2 (in mythology and folklore) a person of 301 a.v. and Günther Rall (10 Mar 1918 – 4 Oct superhuman qualities and often semi-divine origin, in 2009) 275 a.v. particular one whose exploits were the subject of No good any of them, since they all survived not ancient Greek myths. only the war itself, but 2 of them even survived the Etymology Berlin Wall. The reading gets more depressing, if we continue. late 14c., "man of superhuman strength or physical The best fighter pilot of WWII who wasn't German, courage," from Old French heroe (14c., Modern comes way down the list, placed 121 – and he French héros), from Latin heros (plural heroes) "hero, was from Finland, Ilmari Juutilainen, 94 aerial demi-god, illustrious man," from Greek heros (plural victories (again on the wrong side of the war). heroes) "demi-god," a variant singular of which was The list (wikipedia) continues with Nazi's until we heroe. This is of uncertain origin; perhaps originally spot a Japanese, 152nd placed, Tetsuzo Iwamoto. "defender, protector" and from PIE root *ser- (1) "to 169th – another Finn, Hans Wind. protect." 184th a Japanese, Shigeo Fukumoto Meaning "man who exhibits great bravery" in any 193th Shoichi Sogita, Japan course of action is from 1660s in English. Sense of 203rd a Romanian, Constantin Cantacuzino (still "chief male character in a play, story, etc." first not on the winning side of the war) recorded 1690s. Hero-worship is from 1713 in But at 230th place, we find Ivan Kozhedub with 66 reference to ancient cults and mysteries; of living men a.v. and 259th Alexandr Pokryshkin 59 aerial by 1830s. In Homer, of the Greeks before Troy, then a victories. There are 2 more Russians and one comprehensive term used of warriors generally, also of more Finn mixed among the 300 best aerial all free men in the Heroic Age. In classical mythology fighters of WWII. - I guess this is a good from at least the time of Hesiod (8c. B.C.E.) "man born explanation as any, why dying appears to be a from a god and a mortal," especially one who had safer way of becoming a war hero. And of course, done service to mankind; with the exception of you have to be on the winning side. So much for Heracles limited to local deities and patrons of cities. Germans not being able to shoot straight. War hero But one the bright side, they did create a lot of in modern times, a dead man who gave his life in war heroes in the winning countries. Not that a the service of his country (a country is a political war hero ever was given much more credit than unit, a war hero is i.e. a political hero). perhaps, at best, having his name engraved on The war hero rarely volunteered for service and some memorial site in their home town. Few rise did not intend to achieve this honorary title. to immortal glory, like Aleksander Nevsky. Since the war hero is dead, his courage can not The every day hero doesn't fare much better. be disputed or tested. And dying is an important There was this guy in France, who saved a boy part in becoming a modern time hero. falling from a balcony. Mamoudou Gassama, aka Who hasn't heard of Manfred von Richthofen, the as the spiderman of Paris. He now has his own flying ace of World War I? But then, the story had wikipedia-entry in English, Spanish and Arabic. an happy end and he was shot down by a beagle Curiously enough, not in French. But perhaps the riding on a doghouse the dog feigned to be a French have less of an inferiority complex and are Sopwith Camel biplane. in less need of heroes. Constant claiming; ”of being the best”, really induces more of the That's the story most of us are familiar with. The opposite effect on any intelligent observer. honour of killing the Red Baron didn't go to anyone, since he was likely to have been shot Who needs heroes? And what kind of heroes are from the ground, while in pursuit of a Canadian in really needed? Do we need super-heroes? Or is it a Sopwith Camel. not the pinnacle of puerile fantasy? 3 COUNTERCLCK # 33 The Modern Heroine A strong female character. Behaves frequently as stupidly as her male counterpart. Not that I would begrudge a woman's right (or ability) to kick some ass. Few have done it convincingly since Ripley in Aliens. Where do all these fake testosterone- driven women come from? Bad screenwriters? Peter Parker (Marvel) and Barry Allen (DC). I juvenile literature, being super-stupid appears to come with the territory of being super-powerful. What always irritated me about Superman, was his incessant forgetfulness of his own abilities and their practical application. The bottom of the barrel was jettisoned when he (and the Flash) was given the ability to time travel, using speed. Never once, was this ability used merely to go back in time, think over the problem calmly over a pint of beer, and then return to solve the issue in super speed, before the problem could arise. Wonder woman has Greek mythology confused. Forget Newton's and Einstein's laws of physics. She also has WWI and WWII scenographically Superheores do not experience any time dilation.
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