Couch Potato - A Short Story

Rainy season started a month or so ago. Although there were hardly any storms, the rain was heavy and relentless. It rained for more than three-quarters of the day, every day. Laid off the same time when the rainy season began, Jobs never left his home. It had since become his whole world.

"I can't tend to my garden. I can't go out for a walk. And I can't afford to fix the leak in the living room," he complained daily to no one in particular. "All I can do now is to empty the pail before it gets full."

He was referring to the red plastic pail he placed to collect water from the leak. He sat for hours staring unseeingly at water drip into the pail. The moment when his boss told him that he was being replaced by a fresh graduate was the only thing playing in his mind. Since then, Jobs had lost his confidence and was sure no one was going to employ a man in his fifties so he did not bother to look for work.

Drip, drip, drip. The monotonous, unwanted sound gradually became a pleasant and comforting rhythm.

During the time Jobs spent waiting on the pail, he had inadvertently turned his living hall into his bedroom. In the nights he slept on his couch. The weight he had gained made sure he sunk deep into the old couch. He had his lunch and dinner - he skipped breakfast - delivered to his doorstep and then gobbled the meals sitting on the couch. Thankfully, after a couple of weeks of unemployment, he turned to his working table (which he had conveniently ignored) and noticed his laptop lying there.

"Useless old thing can't even hold a charge," he cursed when he went over to turn it on.

He dragged his coffee table to the front of the couch and placed his laptop there before plugging in. He felt luck was finally on his side. The power cable was just the right length running on the floor from across the room. There was not a centimetre more nor a centimetre less. When it eventually booted up, he launched his favourite streaming app and binge-watched soap operas.

Even though there was neither day nor night anymore, Jobs found excitement again in his life as he watched one episode after another. It was amazing how the soap operas never seemed to end and yet able to maintain the thrill, the conspiracy, the politics and one affair after another.

Eventually, the leak and the pail became an afterthought. On the day he finally forgotten to empty the pail, water overflowed and shorted his laptop charger which was lying on the floor. There was a loud explosion. His laptop was still showing the soap opera. The detective was about to reveal who the murderer was before the built-in battery ran out of juice.

"What in the world?!" He exclaimed.

Frustration and panic crept in. His life was about to change for the worse. He was going to have to revert back to his days of watching the pail fill up. No more soap operas. He put his face in his palms and wept until his whole body shook. Half an hour later, he stood up, wiped his tears and snog, and walked out the door.

It was time to brave the rain to get the day's newspapers and look for a new job.

- End -

Review: Lost in Space (Netflix Series)

Starring: Toby Stephens, Molly Parker, Maxwell Jenkins, Taylor Russell, Mina Sundwall, Ignacio Serricchio and Parker Posey
Director: Various
Maturity Rating: 7+
Studio: Legendary Television, Synthesis Entertainment, Netflix (distributor)
Release: 2018 - 2021 (announced third and final season)
Runtime: 2 (seasons) x 10 episodes, 50+ minutes each


Estranged father. Unscrupulous impersonator. Smuggler. Those are among the personas of the characters featured in this space-faring adventure. Veered off course from their path to Alpha Centauri to start anew. All trapped in the same planet together with a mysterious but powerful and possibly dangerous robot. All lost in space. If you like what you have read so far, proceed.

A remake of the 60s TV series and a movie last decade, Lost in Space is science fiction about colonists leaving behind a devastated Earth (and dark secrets) to start new lives in Alpha Centauri, light-years away. The series centres on the Robinsons, a family of five - John, the father who is a former Navy SEAL; Maureen, a brilliant engineer mother; Judy, an adopted daughter who is a doctor with high principles; Penny, a daughter with developing teenage issues; and a son, Will, with some confidence issue.

On the way to their new home, something happened to their ship, The Resolute, and the colonists ended up stranded on a mysterious planet. It will take the whole season to unravel what happened onboard The Resolute (and all the backgrounds of the lead characters) so be patient. The series is riddled in mysteries - something to expect when everyone is lost in a part of space that nobody knows about. Besides that, the Robinson family is living proof that Murphy's law exists. Everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Along the way, Will saves and befriends an alien robot that will eventually be referred to as... “Robot” who will popularise the phrase "Danger, Will Robinson."

With sci-fi series, one can expect computer-generated graphics and Lost in Space do not disappoint. CGI aliens, robots, spaceships, and the works can be found here. In fact, some of the visuals are on par with the big-budget movies out there.

Review continues after the trailer of season 2:

The entire series regulars are given opportunities to shine and character development is well mapped out with a convincing cast. The weakest link of the family, Penny, a happy go lucky, middle child that rarely has the survival skills that her family has, has moments that make her parents proud. Even Robot that plays a pivotal role has some memorable moments.

Lost in Space is nice, clean fun with all the right ingredients minus the violence. Heck, even some Star Trek episodes are too violent in comparison. However, I am always against serials that leave the audience hanging and Lost in Space is no exception. In fact, the series is guilty of that on many occasions, sometimes from episode to episode and worse of all at the end of seasons. Well, nothing is perfect.

Balanced with the right thrills and twists when things are not what they seem, every episode has just the amount of content to keep you in your seat. I would not say at the edge of your seat but it keeps you glued to the screen for more. All that plus a strong family theme and there is good in even the worst person, Lost in Space is an all-rounder. Highly recommended.


Note: Netflix had recently announced the third and final season will air sometime in 2021.

Rise of Anthologies

Do The Twilight Zone, Amazing Stories and Alfred Hitchcock Presents ring any bells? These are some of the anthologies that I can remember watching on television. While compilations of short stories are not uncommon in literature, these collections are rather rare when it comes to television compared to the billions of series out there. I wouldn’t have thought any more of them had it not been for Netflix. I’ve spent half of my recent Netflix moments watching Black Mirror. Just a week ago, I’ve discovered another anthology of (mostly) animated shorts called Love, Death + Robots.

Both Black Mirror and Love, Death + Robots tell stories that are just as unique and artistic as the older anthologies. However, as society becomes more open in this Information Age, the contents are much more mature. The stories can be controversial and taboo in more conservative countries. Even the following trailer for Love, Death + Robots comes with a mature content warning!

For better or worse, new unrelated stories and new actors come with each episode. Sometimes they are great, sometimes mediocre and sometimes downright terrible. Every person’s mileage varies because it comes down to personal preferences but I'm sure everyone will welcome a breath of fresh air from long-running serials that will leave you suffocating with a cliffhanger at the end of a season.

I’ve completed the first series (3 episodes) and the first episode of the fifth series (also 3 episodes) of Black Mirror (you can find the list of the episodes on Wikipedia. The anthology uses mature themes to emphasise the consequences of (misusing) technology. Hence, the title Black Mirror which actually means the blank TV/monitor screen when it’s turned off.

For example, the first episode tells the tale of humanity’s focus on television. The British Prime Minister was to perform sexual intercourse on a pig on live television in exchange for the release of a kidnapped princess. She was already released before the PM was due to start broadcasting but nobody noticed because they were all glued to the television.

Meanwhile, other worthwhile anthologies that are currently on TV are The Twilight Zone reboot which is on CBS All Access and Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories is on Apple TV+ streaming service. Enjoy!

Watching Fireflies - A Fantasy Short Story

In an unprecedented worldwide pandemic, most of us are now staying at home, some already for a few weeks while others have just started. It is not a holiday with our bosses reminding us to keep working albeit from home. It is easy to put off our duties when the environment is as comfortable as home. This gave me an idea to write a fantasy short story about procrastination and here it is. Enjoy.

Alternative covers that I’ve worked on can be found in IonBuck’s Blog.


Watching Fireflies

Elfie dreaded going to the magic school but today was a good day for him indeed. The class was canceled for the rest of the week after his professor had fallen ill due to mysterious circumstances (but that is another story for another time). The kids were joyful to have so many days off but alas, not without some thick stacks of theoretical and practical magic homework. The work should not take more than an hour a day if spread out evenly for the whole week.

“Why isn’t there any magic that can finish my homework for me?” he muttered under his breath when the work was handed over to him.

On the way home, Elfie resolved that he will finish all his homework so that he could spend the rest of his free days to do what he pleased.

“I’m going to complete my work in two days and have five days of freedom!” he said aloud in his excited state. “YES!”

He hurried home, made himself some sandwiches and brought them together with a glass of water to his room. He was trying to be efficient so that he can just stuff the sandwiches into his mouth and gulp them down while he was hard at work. He locked himself in the room and tossed his work on the desk.

“Let’s get started.”

Elfie sat down and opened his first assignment, a thick leather-bound book of history to study. That will require a lot of brain muscles.

All right, I will just take a bite before I start so that I have all the energy that I need, Elfie thought and took one bite of his sandwich.

The lettuce was fresh and crunchy. He raised the sandwich to admire the ingredients squashed between the bread. As he stared at the lettuce and tomato slices, he started to think about planting his own crops tomorrow morning.

Day two. Gardening is good exercise before continuing with my homework. Yes, I’ll do just that.

Elfie realised that it was getting dark, way earlier than usual. Looking out at the skies he saw dark storm clouds loomed above. He took out a box from under his bed and attached it to a series of glass tubes fastened to the parameter walls of the room. A few gentle knocks on the box later, the fireflies inside stirred and began to fly into the tubes. As if a switch was flipped, one of the fireflies began to produce a luminescent glow in its lower abdomen, followed by another, and another.

Gradually, Elfie’s room was bathed in glimmering incandescent light. Probably for the hundredth time, he was mesmerised by the tiny moving globes of light in the tubes.

It’s hard to resist looking at these miracles of nature, he thought. It is disrespectful not to admire the fireflies for awhile. It will just be for a few minutes, then I will get right back to work.

The glowing insects floated effortlessly. The effect was hypnotic. Elfie was fascinated by the chaotic but slow movements of the insects. He reached out and unscrewed one of the tubes so that the fireflies floated unrestricted into the room.

"Magical, simply magical," Elfie whispered in awe.

With great difficulty, he tore his eyes from the scene and flipped through his collection of water spells. Bubbles. Enhance the bonds between the water molecules so that they form perfect spherical shapes. Elfie focused his thoughts and let the magic flow through him into the glass of water.

At first, tiny bubbles floated up and glint in the light. Elfie focused more and the bubbles grew in size but popped just after leaving the glass. He stood up, closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, and channeled all his strength to make a bubble the size of an orange. It floated up and swallowed up some of the fireflies that flew out of the tube. The bubble glimmered as the fireflies bounced off the sphere. It looked like a mini planetary system with glowing stars floating around.

One day, I’m going to make a bubble big enough to engulf all these fireflies, he thought before passing out from exhaustion. Without the flow of energy, the bubble burst and the fireflies floated freely again.

*****

“Elfie, it’s dinner time!” his mother called out.

Elfie sat up and blinked. He was in a daze so he fell back on his bed and admired the fireflies floating all over the room. As the fog cleared he remembered that he had just wasted a day procrastinating, again.

“But there is always tomorrow,” he rolled off his bed and left his room for dinner.

- End -

Review: The Sixth Extinction

As far as historians are concerned, there were five major events throughout the existence of Earth where almost all the inhabitants go extinct. In this Pulitzer Prize-winning book, journalist Elizabeth Kolbert explores a possible upcoming sixth extinction event. While the first five were suspected to be caused by forces of nature, humans could very well be the main contributor of the sixth, whether it is intentional or not.

The author scours the world to gather facts of previous extinctions, studied tiny ammonites to huge mastodons, from less intelligent beings to our closest sentient ancestors. She researches the many periods of history and all these points to the fact where humans were present, extinction increased in exponential numbers.

Extinctions were due to many factors. For example, in the first chapter, the sudden disappearance of the golden frogs was due to fungus infection. In the beginning, it could have been limited to a single location but eventually, golden frogs began dying across the world. While the fungus is airborne, only humans through our antics of travel and logistics could have brought the fungus far and away enough to widen and hasten the propagation of the fungus.

Another example, we often hear and read about the obvious carbon dioxide generation through emissions. What we seldom hear is that oceans absorb the excess carbon dioxide and as a result, the acidic level increased. The more carbon dioxide in the air, the more were absorbed. Underwater species that do not thrive well with higher acidity will perish.

For the most part, the texts are quite layman and easily understood, thus positioning this book as suitable for most people. Most kids that find picture books or a good mystery novel interesting will find it boring but the book will fascinate curious teenagers and older.


Editor's note:
With a big brain and an overgrown pride, we might have overestimated ourselves thinking we will cause the next extinction. Similarly, we have underestimated the smallest possible microorganisms. The current COVID-19 outbreak does suggest that we are just as fragile as the extinct and endangered species mentioned in the book. The next extinction, maybe ours, could be caused by something much more minute such as a virus but I think (probably influenced by this book's first chapter) another possibility is something like a fungus where it is even more difficult to contain and destroy.

Review: Children of the Whales

Starring: Tony Azzolino, Brian Beacock, Johnny Yong Bosch (English)
Director: Various
Maturity Rating: 16+ (Netflix: Violence, nudity)
Studio: J. C. Staff, Bandai Visual
Release: 2017
Runtime: 12 episodes, 20+ minutes each

This is a twelve-episode Japanese anime set in a unique dystopian world where islands float as ships in seas of sand instead of water. The story centres on one such island called the Mud Whale. It is not clear what happened or what caused this and if it is set in the Earth we know or a totally unique universe by itself.

The inhabitants of Mud Whale consist of two castes - one with (Star Wars) Force-like abilities called Thymia and one without. Those able to wield Thymia are called the Marked which will become evident almost immediately because of strange markings that appear on their bodies when they call upon these magical powers. Unfortunately, they have short lifespans. Why? You will have to watch the series to find out. With obvious reasons, the Mud Whale is governed by the Unmarked, the caste without Thymia.

To survive, the people of Mud Whale count on rain, farming, and harvest other islands that they encounter throughout their journey. As strange as the world itself, they have never come across any other islands with people in it. As the story unravels, they will eventually find an island with its first inhabitant. While roaming the island, protagonist Chakuro encounters a girl whom by the label of her clothes she is named Lykos. She appears to be the sole survivor of some battle. She is weak and, as a result, she passes out and is brought to the Mud Whale.

Strange things begin happening and it is revealed later that Lykos’ people label the inhabitants of Mud Whale as criminals and are all out to terminate them. The rest of the story is all about the challenges faced by the Mud Whale and how they try to resolve the conflicts. Each episode is slightly more than twenty minutes. Although short, I did not find it boring. In fact, more often than not, I had to resist from binge-watching the series... and believe it or not, this is my first ever Japanese anime series.

There is not much world-building here but new characters are introduced every now and then. The pace of the story is sometimes uneven and towards the end, it seems a bit hushed - especially the last two episodes. Suddenly, new characters in a new location appear but without much introduction and information.

When I started the series, I expected it will have a clear cut ending (twelve episodes is a good length for a beginner). Although there is a major resolution, the series ended in some sort of an open-ended way. After some sleuthing through the web, it seems the manga which the series is based on still has ways to go. So we can anticipate a second season although, and sadly, as of now, there is no news of one in the near future. For fans of this anime, we will just have to wait.