Oh, To Be a Blobel!

Last night I was reading a few more short stories by Philip K. Dick. The first one was called "The Days of Perky Pat" and is set in the Los Angeles of the future after Earth has been devestated by nuclear war and the few survivors (or "flukers" as they call themselves)live in protective bunkers living off packages of food and equipment dropped off by "careboys" on Mars. The survivors spend pretty much their entire time playing an elaborate game using a Barbie-type doll called Perky Pat which serves to help the time pass and indulge in an idealised vision of their old lives.
The second story was called "Oh, To Be a Blobel!" which is set eleven years after a war between Earth and an alien race known as the Blobels (which are basically like giant amoebas) and tells the story of a one-time Earth spy who during the war was surgically disguised as a Blobel and now, although he has apparently regained his human form, he keeps reverting to the Blobel form at least once a day, and whenever he is under stress.
The third story was "We Can Remember It For You, Wholesale", which told the story of Douglas Quail a small, meek clerk whose one main ambition in life is to visit Mars. He decides to visit a company called Rekal Incorporated, which specialises in implanting false memories, and buys himself a package which will make him believe he has visited Mars as a secret agent. However when the technicians implant the fake memories they are shocked when they uncover a set of previously erased memories and learn that Quail's dreams about Mars were not just dreams. This story was loosely adapted as the 1990 film Total Recall, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was originally planned to be adapted by David Cronenberg in the 1980s who wrote a script that was very closely based on the story but the producers told him: "This is wrong, you're making the Philip K. Dick version". To which Cronenberg replied: "Well, isn't that what we're supposed to be doing?" And the producers said: "Oh, no. We want to make Raiders of the Lost Ark go to Mars!" I really thought it was a pity they changed the twist ending to the story.

Today I went out and got a Father's Day card for my Dad and the book The Sigma Protocol by Robert Ludlum as a Father's Day present. For myself I got Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk and "Yipee Ki-Yay, Moviegoer!" Writings on Bruce Willis, Badass Cinema and Other Important Topics by Vern. Vern is an on-line film critic who writes for the famous Ain't It Cool News.com website and the book is a selection of reviews and essays about movies and so on. I also got season two of Blake's 7 on DVD so that should be really good.