Irish Snaps

WAR OF THE WORLDS; written by H.G. Wells, 1898

Book Review

H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds is one of the most influential science fiction novels of all time and one of the great pieces of literature in the history of writing. Made into two Hollywood movies, several made for TV shows and a popular musical, trying their very best to dilute Wells’s vision, the original novel still holds up as an eerie, atmospheric, spine tingling sci-fi chiller.

At the beginning, shooting stars are seen firing across the night sky of London and the next day a strange cylinder is found in the area of Horsell Common and curious locals attempt to find out what it is and where it came from. Armed with the white flags of surrender, they are quickly fired at by a powerful heat ray that evaporates them into dust.

This reaction from the aliens immediately tells the reader that these invaders are not friendly ET types but ruthless predators who view us as merely a nuisance in their mission to take over the earth. At the time of the novel this was almost unheard of in science fiction stories. The aliens were normally portrayed as inquisitive beings who were more interested in studying human nature than destroying it. Wells blasts this notion out of the water at the start of War of the Worlds. These intruders are here for the destruction of the human race, not to study us.

The tale is told to us by a narrator who has, so far, managed to avoid being made into human toast. We follow him on his trail of escape and hear about the many harrowing sights he witnesses. The aliens of the story are tentacled, oily skinned beings and are viewed by the narrator as they begin to build weapons of mass destruction in their attempt to wipe out the population of our planet.

Hiding out in rundown buildings that the Martians have not levelled to the ground, the narrator spies on alien activity in the area. He also meets two men in these hideouts but finds it hard to relate to both of them even though they are in the same situation. They seem deranged by the whole invasion scenario but are happy to just stay where they are. Our narrator wants to move on and help in the fight against the aliens. In a creepy scene dripping with a sense of foreboding and dread, he has to silence one of the men from fear of detection by the aliens.

Joining the exodus from London, the narrator mulls over what the future could possibly hold for him and the rest of humanity. Humans could be made into alien slaves to help build more Martian machines or just be completely eradicated to make way for a new species. To take one’s own life by walking into a Martian death ray seems a viable option at this stage. However, an unforeseen occurrence somewhat changes the overall scheme of things and we are left to ponder what might have been.

War of the Worlds could be seen as a metaphor for the English invasions of Africa and Asia where the indigenous population were swept aside in the pursuit of riches. This might have been Wells’s intention but the novel works best by showing just how vulnerable we humans really can be. The intruders view us like we view ants; something to just stand on and crush or to be completely ignored as a non-threat in the first place. Even though we are the dominant force on our planet at the moment, Wells seems to be warning us that there could be something bigger, stronger and more efficient than us in the universe. Being a former biology teacher, Wells was all too aware of human vulnerabilities and he takes many pot-shots at our pompous notions of being the most powerful species in the universe.

This novel is a must read for science fiction fans and classic literature aficionados. Cloaked in a heavy, claustrophobic and ominous atmosphere of death and decay, the novel throws the reader into the catastrophe of the invasion and doesn’t let us breathe until the end. The writing style flows with immense skill and every sentence seems important. Characters are made to feel useless under the Martians’ microscope and the reader feels the same.

Forget the movie and musical adaptations of War of the Worlds and read the original story instead. If there is one science fiction novel that could be given an award for the most influence on the genre, it would surely be this one.

System of a Download

There used to be a time when the music industry had music fans where they wanted them.
Forced to pay extortionate prices for CD’s the customer didn’t really have any other option to get to hear their favourite bands when a new release came about.

A few years back people in Ireland and around the world started to get in on the act of copying CD’s for each other. Come on, you must remember the first time somebody copied an album for you and you felt a slight twinge of guilt about it. Even though this was technically illegal a lot more people were becoming copy cats. Anybody with a computer and CD burning equipment could easily do this. If somebody else did this for you and not yourself the twinge of guilt was barely noticeable at all.

During the late 80’s and early 90’s the music industry was well aware that this was going on around the globe. Their profits were being nibbled at and they felt the bites alright but nothing substantial enough to warrant medical help. Non-infected mosquito bites perhaps.

Moving swiftly forward to the present time, the music industry is now having zombie-sized bite chunks being taken from their balance sheets. This is mainly due to internet websites where the general public can download their favourite albums (new or old) for free. That’s right, for free. Zero. Zilch.

There are a countless number of these sites on the web and more and more are appearing all the time. This is proving to be a real pain in the neck for the music industry. Here is a statistic that must keep industry moguls waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. Worldwide, for every legal download of a music file it is believed there are twenty illegal downloads. That is a ratio that is scaring the life out of the music companies.

People can download these music files using P2P programs. That’s port to port for any newcomers to this. Once a person has a program like this they can go onto any of the plethora of illegal sites scattered over the internet and start downloading until the cows come home. Or even continue after they come home.

The only thing hindering people getting what they want from the web seems to be the download limit their service provider……..well, provides. The P2P programs are available to download for free too by the way and it seems the general public are only too willing to milk these internet udders dry.

The Irish are generally quite slow in keeping up with technology compared with the rest of Europe and most places elsewhere by the look of it. Sodastreams and tape decks are just making their way out of fashion here now. Even though we are a tardy nation when it comes to computer technology and the like, there seems to be enough people using computers and the internet for illegal downloads to now make the music industry sit up and take notice.

Unhappy with the situation in Ireland, the music companies are beginning their fight back against illegal downloads. Maybe some feet in boots out there have started shaking but you should be ok for the time being anyway. The record companies have decided to target internet providers instead of individuals.

In what will be a landmark case, five record companies are taking Eircom to court over allowing downloads to take place on their broadband service. According to Willie Kavanagh, managing director of EMI records in Ireland, "with the greatest of respect”, to Eircom, it was "well aware" its service facilities were being used to download music in an illegal manner "on a grand scale". He has a point I suppose but a bit rich coming from a company who once made tracks from the English band King Crimson available to download on licensed EMI websites, without the band’s permission. Eircom lawyers are already getting prepared for the virtual-themed face-off, claiming the company was under no obligation to monitor what people were downloading. Let’s get ready to rumble etc.

Obviously Eircom have been targeted first because they are Ireland’s biggest internet provider but other internet suppliers will be very curious as to the outcome of this one. An endless stream of court cases might begin to appear on the horizon in Ireland if Eircom loses.

Music is not the only form of illegal downloading that takes place here and you have to wonder are there movie and computer game companies anxiously waiting for the Eircom verdict. Their products are being sought for free over the net as well. This might get very interesting. Maybe RTE can get the rights to film these trials or we could all watch them over the internet. Using legal live streaming of course.