Unca Harlan's Art Deco Dining Pavilion
HARLAN
Thanks,bruh. I'll keep an eye on for the cross-eyed budgerigar or whatever the hell undulatus (or otherwise) you chose to enlist.
I'll soon enough make good on the White Castle IOU and then we'll be flying.
Rick
Hmmmm....
"... but I'm no-price for their Spielberg/Lucas/anybody but Ellison Wall of Great SF Machers."
Hmm.
Hmmm, I say. Hmmm...
(It seems to me, great unwashed Ty-d-bol-tinted simians, that's there's a cause to be had.)
Mr. Allen. Are you lisnin'?
I'm just sayin'...
(Rick, a thousand abeyances.)
TWO REPLIES AND A SIS-BOOM-BAH !!!!!
RICK KEENEY:
Patience, lad; patience. For five bucks, we sent it via a lame, strobismic parakeet, painfully dragging the box behind him, portage. Our PO is one of the two best in all of the USA (by actual yearly stats), and NEVER loses anything. For a short while, till I caught him, there WAS a guy at the regional sorting complex who was regularly pilfering every third or fourth large envelope of Marvel Comics sent to me, but it was my Sherman Oaks PO staff that helped me pull his covers and lay him by the heels.
So, as I say ... patience. It'll show.
TO THOSE WHO VISITED THE SF MUSEUM & HALL OF FAME
and found me conspicuously missing. Yeah...well...
Long story. Don't get me fulminating on this one. Suffice to say, I'm princely enough for them to ask me to be a "Director" (or whatever the figurehead title is), to drive me nuts with the hustle for my typewriter, one of my early stories, my photos and a "long borrow" on Alfred Bester's Grand Master icon entrusted to me by Alfie via Julie Schwartz ... but I'm no-price for their Spielberg/Lucas/anybody but Ellison Wall of Great SF Machers. I've never even been inside the joint.
Don't get me started on this. I choose to stay calm these days.
Yr. pal, Harlan
For Harlan,if you get it in time & if you haven't already seen it
http://www.sundancechannel.com/docday/?sst&attr=MON_text
But I'm sure there will be repeats....
Some sageful passages as the following from VINTAGE FRANK raised the comparison:
"I mentioned earlier that some extreme elements in Hizbollah (sic) don't want Israel to exist. Most are willing to bend, if Israel stops blocking the peace process, like they have been doing for near 35 years...Also remember that Israel wants to destroy Islam"
YOU be the judge.
I should add, it is a statistical fact that the LOWEST ranks among ranting, imbalanced homeless people haven't the ability to spell "compared".
A Heaven-Sent "Churchism"
ALL: Last week, I stepped on the toes of Salman Rushdie.
(Rick, I promise not to purposely abuse your rules and site in the future, but I just _had_ to use this opportunity to report the above, since the simple fact truly sounds as if it came from ether-region inspired pen of one F. Church).
--DTS (G'Night Webderlanders, G'Night Moon)
Somebody just compaired the leading historian in Israel to a raving homeless man. I think I need to lay my head down.
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-mastersofsciencefictioncast,0,248925.story Check out hthis story.
Adam-Troy and others:
Thanks for the comments on King. Boy did I blow it. Bought Katie a copy of Eyes of the Dragon on the way home from work Friday. Showed her my post and your answers. Thanks again from us both. By the way, for the non-fiction she is reading one of the biographies of Richard Feynman. She liked the movie on him with Matthew Broderick and when I told her I had many books on and by him she wanted to read one. Needless to say makes ol' Dad (who majored in Physics) a wee bit happy.
Stan:
Went on an Alaska cruise last month with the Prairie Home Companion people. Had a great time. Cruise started and ended in Seattle and I was also able to check out the SF museum. I had not even known about it until it was pointed out on a bus tour.
One interesting item that still sticks in my mind is a pair of letters, each listing about 20 authors. One states basically "We the below named believe the US should continue to fight Communism wherever it is found" or words to that effect. The other states that the below named believe the US should not be fighting in Southeast Asia. I don't remember the date or all the names, but I'm pretty sure I saw Asimov and Ellison on the "Get the Hell Out" page.
I also recommend the museum to any who are in town and have a couple hours. In the Seattle Center, by the Space Needle. Next door to what looked like an interesting music museum that I didn't have time to check out.
Good day to all,
Tom Morgan
HARLAN
It's been awhile, still no Hogan package. May want to check your records.
Dig it,
Rick
"Sorry for spoiling the SS surprise..."
Himmler's going to jump out of a cake?
==
"Interesting political news that broke on Friday that has been mentioned, only briefly, on CNN. "
Jack Cafferty was pretty much the only one to mention the news. Nobody else on CNN touched that story. Nobody on MSNBC, Fox, or other tv news outlets touched that story. Of course this weekend, one couldn't find a news outlet that didn't cover Castro's health. Priorties, priorities. Hey, imagine the headlines of Castro fell into a persistent vegetative state.
==
Spielberg has expressed support for Ah-nold's reelection. What a creep.
My sweetie is wiser than me and so when she drags me to a movie she generally turns out to be right in her choices. (Never mind AEON FLUX, can't be right all the time.)
Anyway, thanks to decades of abuse the idea of a "road movie" does not fill me with excitement. (Even Bob Hope was always more amusing than funny to me.)
Anyway, go see LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. There's not a false note or a mistep in it. Poignant, wise, funny as hell.
Those of you who, like me, lament the fact that good science fiction movies (being defined as movies that are really good, and are really SF) are extremely rare, may wish to learn that Geoff Murphy's THE QUIET EARTH from 1985 has been issued in a nice DVD package.
Any ULTRAMAN fans out there? Well they went and issued the first season of the original run on DVD. Of course the argument could be made that 20 episodes is a bit much for what is essentially the same episode week after week, but if you got to be convinced of ULTRAMAN's appeal then this ain't for you. Guess you had to be there.
I was.
Creepy
Just three weeks ago I was quoting that line from ROMANCING THE STONE to describe a small town of Copala in Mexico. Two weeks ago the film ran on cable. One week ago a friend used exactly the same quote to tease another friend. And now it creeps onto the Pavilion.
Is it that the line is so engrained in our culture, or are there mysterious forces at work in an effort to sell a few more dvds???
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Happy to hear that the health of Mr Dennehy is sound and simply a trick of the camera. Like Rob, I'd last seen him in DEATH OF A SALESMAN. (Rob, was the role of his wife played by the astounding Elizabeth Franz as on Broadway? Truly staggering performance.)
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I would like to make it brutally clear that, despite my at-times inopportune relationship to all things telecom, that I have absolutely nothing to do with the insipid ringtone posts. I would like the opportunity to shoot said person -- and I don't mean with my trusty Nikons. IMHO.
Got it, Harlan!
HARLAN: We're square; er, make that cool. And I'm expecting lotsa Emmy nominations -- not to mention a WGA nod -- for the episode you and Josh put together for Masters of SF (including an Emmy nomination for Best Unrecognizable Author/Extra).
Hoping this finds you and The Electric Baby doing well.
--(THE) Dorman T. Shindler (next time you say that on the phone, you _have_ to adopt the accent of Alfonso Arau in "Romancing the Stone," when he greets Michael Douglas and Katherine Turner at the door to his getaway/hacienda in South America).
Nips and astronauts
Not sure when or why Kurosawa came up again, but A-T C doesn't have the title of the dual biography quite right: It's _The Emperor and the Wolf: the lives and films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune_.
I wrote a review on Amazon as soon as it came out, which you can find here, third review down on the page (yes, yes, I know the director's name is missing from the first sentence):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A3UPFTGAWZ3G2R/103-1853008-1173416?ie=UTF8&display=public&page=2
There's a GREAT photo in there of Mifune driving off the set, in his Sanjuro samurai costume, in an MG.
Scott Carpenter mentioned "blewp bleep" from the first book; I remember the column you're talking about. Have to check my notes on that.
Sorry for spoiling the SS surprise, Harlan.....but Shane only seems to pop on this board every once in awhile. Maybe he will have missed Josh's photos and my response.
Either way, I'm sure he will be tickled pink!
-TODD
Adam-Troy Castro:
I read the biography over a long road trip. There's enough detail to get lost in-- it almost serves as a "Who's Who" of Japanese film at the time. It's been a bit since I skimmed Stephen Prince's THE WARRIOR'S CAMERA, but it will probably be next on my list. At the time, I thought Prince focused too much on filmmaking mechanics, but after hearing his commentaries, it made sense.
A new two-disk set of SEVEN SAMURAI is due out September 6. I'm gonna have to get it AGAIN! I think it has more commentaries-- though Michael Jeck's was superb-- and an episode from a series Japanese television ran on Kurosawa called IT IS WONDERFUL TO CREATE. I believe they've cleaned up the transfer as well.
Now, if they'd just get 'round to releasing DRUNKEN ANGEL...
I believe the film about idealism would probably be THE QUIET DUEL, which I've never seen. I don't think it was released in a handy VHS format even back in the day. Home Vision Entertainment released a trio of rarer films on VHS just before DVD became dominant enough to squelch production: SCANDAL, I LIVE IN FEAR and DRUNKEN ANGEL. No QUIET DUEL. Not yet. It took Criterion forever to get Mizoguchi's UGETSU out, so I don't know the odds on an obscure early Kurosawa film.
Various
The Kurosawa / Mifune bio is THE DRAGON AND THE WOLF by Stuart Galbraith IV. He had wanted to write two separate bios but found their lives so intertwined it would have been redundant.
Among the grin-inducing wonders on every page: Mifune didn't want to act and almost rejected his first starring role, accepting it only when the director agreed to buy him a suit. An early Kurosawa film about self-sacrifice and leading a self-effacing life led much of the cast to quit acting in a fit of idealism.
And following the war, Toho studios were occupied by Americans, there to make sure the moviemakers didn't engage in pro-imperial propaganda. They paid only average attention to rising young director Kurosawa, not thinking him anything special.
Years later, the now-venerated Kurosawa visited Hollywood and met one of the Americans who had kept an eye on him. John Ford said hi.
Cool stuff...!
I just posted some lengthy comments, too long to fit here, about the restoration of Jack Ketchum's novel's OFF-SEASON, but some of you may find 'em interesting. If not, please ignore...!
http://webnews.sff.net/read?cmd=read&group=sff.people.adam-troy-castro&artnum=17346
According to IMDB, Sylvester Stallone is 5'10". Since those reports always exaggerate height by an inch or two, the figure Rich listed sounds about right.
Interesting political news that broke on Friday that has been mentioned, only briefly, on CNN. The Democrats on the Judiciary Committee issued a report, written by Rep. Jon Conyers, that details all of the illegal activities of the current Administration.
The report is lengthy (350 pages), but there is a handy 4 page summary that can be accessed.
Here is the link:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/iraqrept2.html
"...realizing that the giant Russian boxer from Rocky 4 was barely my height, which makes Sylvester Stallone.... kinda short."
William Goldman recounts a time when he was hanging by the pool and noticed Sly splashing about. Goldman (who is tall) says he's fascinated by movie stars' height so he went into the pool and stayed in there until Sly got out. Goldman says he got as close to Sly as possible without being too obtrusive just to do the height comparison. Goldman said something like if Sly is more than 5'8" or so he'd be surprised.
Of course, Goldman also says he likes to follow the lead actors around when he's on set just to gauge reaction from passersby. So he sounds kinda crazy. But a helluva writer.
THE DISCARDED
Good to see Josh's photos of THE DISCARDED.
Also good to see both John Hurt & Brian Dennehy together.
Of course, I recently saw Mr Hurt on stage in KRAPP'S LAST TAPE, and Mr Dennehy on stage in DEATH OF A SALESMAN.
Ah, the perils and pitfalls of living in London.....
Rob
SEATTLE VACATION
Just got back from Seattle, Harlan. Visited the SCIENCE FICTION HALL OF FAME & MUSEUM...very impressive...indeed! Only thing missing in the wall of Hall of Famers was of course....YOU! The whole thing was well worth the nearly thirteen bucks for admission. Especially the mimeographed copies of the fanzines written in the 50's and 60's. Ugh! Those damned hills...just as rough and steep as those in San Francisco...har har. Oh well...I liked it and plan to go back there again. The displays, artistic mag art drawings by Emshwiller and Freas and others...yep...it was worth the nearly thirteen bucks.
Harlan wins a lot of awards
I never won an award for anything. But I once got a commendation from the state attorney general's office. It read: "Investigations like this are made possible by people like you."
Webe chillin, Harla -- but the temps in KC, 102, R fuckin HOT!!!!
HARLAN: Haven't gone to pick up mail from the PO, but I'm sure it's there (and I'll drop a note tomorrow when I do).
As for we bein cool, shit, man we wuz cool back when plaid pants wuz stylin. Later, muh may-yuuun! (time fer a shower and sleep -- 12 hours of drivin yesterday, 13 today -- I'm zonked!)
--Dorman
P.S. I thought that "F&SF" story in the Sept issue was going to be "Pet" -- that's what I get for pre-zooomin, huh? Picked up the issue on the way into KC -- can't wait to read it!)
DORMAN;
Check your mail. We cool?
-he
Rowling/King/Irving readings & Stupidly spread Internet rumors
D. LOFTUS: Regarding your not-so-long ago question: "Could someone post a link or two to a story about this King-Irving-Rowling imbroglio? I don't know how to search for these things."
JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW that there ISN'T any imbroglio to speak of. It's just more bullshit spread by morons who run off half-cocked in cyberland, throwing gasoline on fires in various forums.
I returned tonight from a 10 day trip out East. One of the reporters at the press conference of August 1st asked if Irving or King had any advice to give Rowling. Neither of those excellent writers presumed to do such a thing -- either at the press conference, backstage, or at the reading I attended. Any says different is stuffed full of day-old horse manure.
--DTS
P.S. Neither John Irving nor Stephen King -- both of whom put on two of the best author readings I've ever seen the night of August 2nd (and Salman Rushdie was equally impressed) -- NEED to do handstands or PR stunts to attract ticket buyers. Both events were sold out -- and I've no doubt any DVD/CD that comes from both nights (there was talk) will sell like hotcakes
Rob,
"I liked the film a lot. The best of the graphic novel adaptations thus far, I think."
Hey now! Watch that!
As for Brian Dennehy, he seemed to be quite hale and hearty. As Douglas pointed out, he's standing in between some tall fellas (I max out at 6'5" these days, which is bizarre, because up until recently, I was 6'4" and Frakes is pretty tall, himself. )
Keep in mind, too, that the majority of actors seem to be on the, well, let's say it - shorter side. So when you've seen him towering over people in film, it's because those people are what we in the trade call "little people."
I remember meeting Dolph Lundgren on the first film I ever workd on (Masters of the Universe) and realizing that the giant Russian boxer from Rocky 4 was barely my height, which makes Sylvester Stallone.... kinda short.
A family portrait of the Shmools. Thank you. Now I'll have to go to bed with that image in me noggin' fer the rest o'me nights.
Speaking of John Hurt, I finally saw V For Vendetta with Natalie Portman - who reduced me to a salivating, lusting Troglodyte - and Hugo Weaving.
I liked the film a lot. The best of the graphic novel adaptations thus far, I think. I had a hard time watching Big Ben get blasted to Tschaikovsky's 1812 Overture, as its beauty stands for so many other things for me, but I believed some genuine heart went into this more literate film, unlike so many past efforts obviously in it for the big buck. I think H.G. Wells would have liked it.
The NEW type of tyranny to be essayed, however, is Cheney-esque capitalism, and the self-destructiveness of Democracy when uninformed masses are duped into complacency (how else could someone with an IQ of 90 be elected to the Presidency?). I'm not sure yet WHO the Winston Smith is in THIS picture. It's something I'm sorting out right now.
Steve & Rich Worry Too Much
Brian Dennehy looked fine to me, you worry warts. Please keep in mind that he's bookended by Josh and Jonathan Frakes--not exactly puny guys. (Frakes is 6'4" and Josh is ... well, big.) Also, Dennehy is sixty-eight now, so he's bound to have lost a little height. (Not you, though, Harlan.)
I was actually pleased to see Dennehy looking trim; I earlier read he suffered from hypertension.
D.
TODD:
Damn cleverly observant of you ... but ... now you've spoiled the big surprise for Shane. Yes, Todd, that IS the Shellenbarger-manque mutant Discard. Oh well, I suppose it would have surfaced sooner or later.
Yr. pal, Harlan
FAR-10 about
MR LOFTUS: Did you index me? Blewp-bleep.
Mutant Shellenbarger?
Josh/Harlan, in that first photo that Josh shared with us I noticed that the grey-bearded mutant on the right held a resemblence to our local, Valley-Of-The-Sun-Author(when it's Harlan-Escort Shane Shellenberger. Is this, by chance, the Shellenbarger mutant that Harlan had written into the script....did he actually get the makeup folks to sculpt a likeness to the character?
-TODD
The Discarded
Cool photos from Vancouver, but you really need to do something about that goiter, Harlan! Seriously, I've avoided getting my hopes up about this--so many adaptations for TV are disappointing--but now I'm Officially Stoked (tm). The cast is top flight (Brian Dennehy and John Hurt!), the makeup effects look cool, and Harlan is directly involved and giving his all (and Josh Olson is no slouch in the script-writing department, either). The signs look good; let's hope the rest of the production goes well.
Steve Barber said, "Dennehy is looking smaller and thinner than expected. Hopefully health is not becoming an issue for the man once called the 'Gentle Giant."
I, too, was surprised at Dennehy's picture. At the risk of being completely crass and putting my nose into none of my business, I hope he is in good health. My brother-in-law's brother worked with Dennehy on some mini-series a few years ago, and Lucious remarked that Dennehy was the biggest man he'd met, and a complete gentleman. ('Worked with' is probably overstating the case, since I think Lucious was there more to get the coffee and make sure the script pages were numbered correctly.)
Also, I share A-TC's sentiments after reading Alexandrovna's blog. By the way, A-TC, what's the name of that Kurosawa/Mifune book? I vaguely remember hearing something about that some time ago.
Harlan loves this story, so I have to tell it: We arrived in Vancouver, and as we walked to customs, a young girl who was walking alongside us noticed Harlan rubbing his shoulder in pain - he has a bad rotator cuff. “What’s wrong?” She asked.
“He was shot,” I told her. Her eyes widened in surprise. I ran with it:
“Yeah. He saved my life, actually. Guy was trying to shoot me, and Harlan took the bullet for me. That’s friendship.”
She looked at me, unsure if I was telling the truth.
“Yeah,” I said. “He was trying to shoot me in the kneecap.”
the grand dumpster known as TV
I had access to cable television last week -- something I generally avoid due to a lurking certainty that I'd spend six hours/day "waiting for something good to come on."
"Mr Screwhead" -- strange/pleasantly, paired with "The Twilight Zone" to fill a one-hour slot. I figured it'd be just another "weird for the sake of weird" cartoon such as "Adult Swim" likes to spawn. Instead, got a delightfully arcane & well-choreographed comedy with lots of references to history & genre conventions. (Though David H-P could take a few steps back from Niles Crane, as he's a very talented & terribly underutilised actor.)
"So You Want to Be a Superhero?" -- intentional cheese, & ought to be judged on merits similar to, say, "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes." This is, after all, Stan Lee, who though he occasionally falls into foaming fits of trying to turn comics into the ultimate literature, generally accepts the postmodern premise that Fen who cannot occasionally laugh at themselves are kinda creepy. Enjoyable in a G-rated kinda way.
"Eureka" -- good premise, great actors, too much budget for their own good. The only joy I feel is that it's absolutely nothing like my own "the laws of physics are breaking down in our pleasant little city" premise. If I want to see wacky (qua) geniuses, I'll watch "Numbers" or "CSI" or my tapes of "Special Unit 2" or "Seven Days." Thus far, "Eureka" can't seem to figure out if it's "Due South" or "Lost in Space" or "Twin Peaks."
Enthusiastic nod of agreement with what Adam-Troy writes. WHO WANTS... is no better or worse than other reality shows, and has a humor about itself that's appealing. Secondly, the Huffington post is dead on.
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There seems to be a small groundswell of attendance at WorldCon (didn't I once work for them?). On the Boards is a category marked "laconiv". Those of us attending may try to gather for coffee or something at the Con Center. Details to be announced.
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Josh's THE DISCARDED pictures.
Thank you for posting them. Fun to see the personal side.
BTW - Rumor has it the little nipples on the udder hanging from Harlan's neck dispense a variety of flavors for your coffee. The French Vanilla Creme (third nipple from the left) is reputedly an ecstasy-inducing hallucinogen for us caffeinated types.
How cool is that picture of the five of you? Dennehy is looking smaller and thinner than expected. Hopefully health is not becoming an issue for the man once called the "Gentle Giant".
GRAND MASTERS
HARLAN:
I should have mentioned this months ago, but hopefully you already know that Ray Garton was recognized as Grand Master at the World Horror Convention.
Rick
Various
Harlan's comments are of course eagerly awaited, but as far as I'm concerned the Mel Gibson mess is completely nailed down, finished, and placed in its perfect perspective by this article which makes any other comments on the subject redundant. Please check it out.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larisa-alexandrovna/mirror-mirror-the-passi_b_26620.html
Also: Stan Lee's "Who Wants to Be A Superhero?" is not a sad commentary on anything. It's a collection of people happily acting silly on TV. It embraces its own silliness with appropriate low comedy and is far preferable to certain other reality shows that treat its issues like realistic portraits of the human condition (for instance, any of the shows where bickering celebs are locked in a room together, or those where people are alleged to find permanent mates for themselves, on the basis of hideously unnatural staged encounters). Believe me. I'm no fan of the reality genre, even if I have just written a book on one of the few specimens I deem worth defending. But "Superhero" is just contentedly goofy.
Am currently reading a fascinating bio covering the intertwined lives of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune. Wonders on every page.
Nice photos from "The Discarded," Josh. Looks like the shoot went well...I'm looking forward to watching it!
lonegungirl,
The pilot episode of "Who Wants..." is free on iTunes. It's a bunch of adults dressed up in ridiculous costumes playing pretend... of course it's sad and pathetic. The show really reflects poorly on comicbook readers. And Stan... well, he's continuing his trend of embarassing himself rather than just retiring with dignity.
Tom & Kristin--
Thanks for the reassurances. I'll certainly try to make at least the Saturday for HE--Anaheim isn't as far as San Diego at least!
Anyone watching Who Wants to be a Superhero? Is it good, because Stan Lee is involved? Or just sad and pathetic like most reality tv?
No exaggeration here. . . .
Someone recently placed an item for bid on eBay -- minimum opening bid $79.99, Buy It now price of $100 -- with the following in the description:
> An absolute gem of a book for an Ellison fan with a RARE autograph.
> Harlan does not like to sign his books, so get this one while you still can.
How well I know the absolute truth of this! I have only about 55 autographed Ellison items or so; maybe half of them I procured in person, and I had to have seven thugs -- these were BIG guys, mind you -- hold him down while I pressed a gun to his head, in order to get them.
To which I'll add, click here, and see some photos from our little adventure:
http://homepage.mac.com/josholson/PhotoAlbum90.html
I have some lovely vid of Harlan going on about said wardrobe mistress, but they may have to remain private. Or perhaps I'll sell it to the makers of the documentary...
Harlan, sort of already have. When Eureka came up on John Rogers' blog (who wrote the third aired episode and knew the producers beforehand), I repeated the post there, leading to some conversation in the comments. One thing that came out is that apparently the network didn't want overmuch whimsy from the inhabitants in the beginning, in order to set a certain mood, and more whimsy is supposed to be coming.
Still, based on John's comments, I'm pretty sure Eureka won't be the sort of show I'd hoped for. Instead, I'll have to judge it by "mystery in a quirky small town" standards, where quirky = various odd gadgets lying around.
"when I appear" ~ exerpted from a recent Harlan quote.
A good place not to appear is the public beach at the southern end of Lake George, NY. I saw raw sewage coming out of a pipe 10 feet (not yards) from the beach swimming area. Dead fish were floating on the surface. Then I took the boat tour and the loud speaker said "Lake George is America's cleanest lake. Let's keep it that way."
THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN THESPIS
We're back, as vouchsafed by Olson. It was a marvelous, swell expedition; and I only got into one real dust-up: with the woman who was Wardrobe on the production. A story for a little later, likely titled, "The Bitch Must Die!" I stayed up for 40 hours straight before we left, completing all manner of work. Now I'm back, I'm resting up, and soon very soon will I humbly crouch 'neath your balcony, the better to fire you with the passion, action & adventure of this most recent interlude.
Suffice, for the moment, that all went swimmingly, that we took care'a business, and when I next appear -- if the chocolate bear-trap doesn't get fitted in error to the persimmon porcupine's paw till it pinch pinch pinch -- I will enter my thoughts on Mel Gibson, YOUR thoughts on Mel Gibson, and other minutiae.
One quick observation on another topic, however. From your various postings on a day shortly before I left and wasn't paying you no 'tention: Monday 31 July 2006. Two posts, one by Tom Galloway, the other, in contrapuntal ideation with Tom, by way of Mark Spieler. What you guys had to say, at 14:9:49 and 18:30:54 anent EUReKA, are comments so smart, and so smack-on-
the-subjective -- well, you ought to ferret out who the execs on this series are, and bust yer hump getting the thoughts in front of them.
I, personally, have no stake in EUReKA one way or the other, but it is so pluperfectly an example of how the know-nothing genre-ignorant scuttlefish who run the YouKnowWhat Channel see
the venue for the most part (Ron Moore miraculously managed to circumvent the dullards), that your clear-eyed opinions and disappointment might, slimchance, but whatthehell, have a minim of possibility of penetrating the sophomoric arrogance that shrouds their brains from originality.
I urge both of you--or anyone else who gives a shit--unlike me--to get them two posts into the hands of ANYone at the show or the Channel, who might be bright enough to understand that they contain Genuine Wisdom, as well as the acorns of their possible salvation, viewerwise.
As our benificent Governor has said, I'll Be Back. Yr. pal, Harlan
More of the Same, None of the Other
Just when you thought it was safe to endorse any religion:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyid=2006-08-04T123238Z_01_N04241556_RTRUKOC_0_US-MOORE.xml&src=rss&rpc=22
And another for Steve-o:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bai1.htm
Think masturbate vs. masturbait (or even masterbait!). You get the idea.
Best living writer of English prose
Mr. Morales et al.,
The greatest living writer in our English language is Philip Roth. I'd say that Pynchon and Ballard are also up there, along with Joan Didion. Steven King and Harlan are excellent, but in the next rank (think Stan Musials rather than Babe Ruths). Time, however, will most likely tell.
Steve P-O (does NOT stand for 'pissed off') won the match, but it wasn't fair. I had the upper hand until he brought out that little pick axe he is going to use next week while doing archeology work.
Now I truly DO have holes in my head.
Cast Set for 'Masters of Sci Fi' and a note to Steve Bishop
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-mastersofsciencefictioncast,0,248925.story?coll=zap-news-headlines
Steve Bishop: Mark Evanier wrote that piece and many more at http://www.povonline.com/
Umm....
The "kudos" being the missing line "And we're sure you did your typically brilliant acting turn as a mutant."
Kudos and Mr. King
Susan, Harlan and Josh - Welcome back from the frigid North. As you can feel, your order for cooler, more SoCal weather has finally arrived. It seems there was a mix-up at the local Fedex office, creating the 22 day burn in Hell. All has been sorted through and the hateful stuff was shipped East where it belonged. We all wait with baited breath (okay, that's really a Tommyburger, but...) to read the notes from up North.
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King. THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON is a good one for younger adults to cut their literary teeth on. Yes, some chilling and dicey moments, but this IS Stephen King. No blood, no guts, just real down and out fear. MISERY has, among many other things, a nasty little scene involving an ax and two very vulnerable ankles. I might suggest (depending upon how sensitive the reader) that she try DELORES CLAIBORNE and possibly THINNER. They're all going to have their edge, but these tend to be creepy rather than out and out brutal. My dollar and ninety seven cents (or, about a half gallo o' gasoline).
There are random killings going on everywhere, so let's not get our panties in a bunch. Crime has steadily gown down for the last five years; the reason I don't credit Bush is because I am programmed, as a leftist, to knee jerkingly be against everything he stands for. Actually, I'm kidding. Crime always goes up and down, based on certain factors that are fairly complex. Crime will always be higher in poor neighborhoods, but nobody cares about them anywhoo.
The NRA credits right to carry laws, supported by our noble cowboy, who is ascared of horsies, to the point that he has to always ride around his ranch in a golf cart. Crime is also down in places without those laws, so I have no idea what the gun freaks are smoking. I could get them the good shit, but noooooooooooooooo.
I think we are tired of crime, that's my theory. So, it seems, 9/11 may have changed us afterall.
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King should do a novel that centers around the music of Enya. He would scare even the brass stomached.
Fear & Fear
*** Mike *** You're not drinking enough kool-aid my man. Everybody is supposed to be in a constant state of fear about something, and preferrably two or more things, ALL the time. Clearly, you are not doing your part. ;-)
*** Adam *** I gotta say, THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON is one of my favorite King's and I've read all but one of his 60 some titles. But that book is NOT by any measure "gentle." I have a daughter and I've spent ONE day by myself completely lost on foot in some Appalacian wilderness, so I had two things to "project" into the reading of that book. What happens in TOM GORDON is at least as harrowing, page for page and pound for pound as what happens in MISERY.
I remember being at a convention and Harlan had just started it. Someone asked him what he thought of it and he said, "well, I'm not very far in but so far it's just about a little girl lost in the woods" and sort of trailed off there. No pun intended, but HAH! anyways. I have often wondered if Harlan was "soft-selling" it or, if, after THE GREEN MILE he simply was not impressed.
SIDENOTE: Expansion versus padding. One of the things that keeps me reading King, great, bad or indifferent is that he is dicking around with the various lengths that you can tell a story at. Sometimes he goes off the rails into unforgivable padding. The infamous TOMMYKNOCKERS and BAG OF BONES comes to mind. I want to say INSOMNIA as well but that may have been two books unfairly glued together which is a different literary sin. I forgive him the padding in DREAMCATCHER just because he was writing to distract himself from pain, which was probably unreal and, well, he just gets a free walk to base for all the others I did enjoy.
Then there the novellas like RITA HAYWORTH AND THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and THE BODY, where he gets the length-to-story ratio EXACTLY right and these are his critical darlings for good reason.
But, and here we get to my actual point, SOMETIMES King writes a book at the WRONG length for any other writer but the correct length for him. The first time I think he pulled this trick off was with CUJO. It is a VERY simple story that should NOT work at that length but man that sucker worked for me. Not the movie, please - the book.
Then he did it again with GERALD'S GAME and, to my mind, perfectly with THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON. I think other writers could write great versions of these stories as novellas but I don't think there is hardly anybody alive who could write those stories at that length and get the desired effects.
I admit that most times what King needs is a bit of compression but SOMETIMES this trick of unreal expansion impresses the hell out of me.
- Barney
King continued
Robert: Are you kidding? MISERY, for all its other quality attributes, is also hundreds of pages of a guy being tortured. We have to remember why this question is being asked. The girl needs King at his gentlest, not at his most brutal. No, it has to be EYES OF THE DRAGON or THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON.
Frank: King's column is somewhat more substantial than that. The Britney Spears installment can be reduced to its shallowest possible summary, but is less about her than about the media proctoscope in general. As a whole, the column fulfills its mission: it has interesting things to say and says them in an interesting way.
The triumphant return
We're back. In terminology that will surely drive Harlan batshit, the trip fucking rocked, dude!
I'm gonna let our host and hero fill you in on everything first, then I'll come back and fill it in with some photos and such, but suffice to say, there's a real good chance this thing is going to be something very special. And Harlan barely had to beat anyone to death at all.
Let me add something to Todd’s post. Yes, the good news is they got the two serial shooters. The bad news is there is still another murderer out there. But watching and listening to the national news is a little sickening. I am tired of hearing that they got the serial shooters who have kept the city of Phoenix in terror for over a year.
There is no terror. People were concerned, and smart people tried to be a little smarter about when they were walking the streets. Why weren’t we in terror? Maybe because we didn’t know there were serial shooters until a month or two ago. It all started a year ago, but the police didn’t break the news until recently.
However, “citizens of Phoenix in terror for over a year” sounds much better than “citizens of Phoenix concerned for over a month.”
Mike
Todd Cassel
Thanks for the info. Here's a favorite WW2 story: An American prisoner of war in Germany escaped and hiked across the border into Switzerland. He wrote a note to the camp commandant asking to have his suitcase forwarded. A few days later his suitcase arrived.
stuff
*** Steve *** Will do. I'm flying on someone else's business schedule (but 1st class) so it's all very last minute.
*** Brit writers *** Is A.S. Byatt a British author? The thing about Gaiman and Moorcock is they're both American these days. Gaiman is REALLY American in the sense that he's mining strange Wisconsin architecture for novels like American Gods [and how American a title is that?] and waxing poetic on the coldness of Wisconsin winters and the miserable heat/humidity encountered in Texas. That's certainly not very British, eh? Well, bitching about the weather is, but still.
I'm not complaining, mind you. We need their taxable income. I'm just asking when do they stop being British? Is J.P. Donleavy a American writer? I think not.
- Barney
Provenance, PA.
John Greenawalt: "Years ago I got caught going through a red light in Philadelphia. The sergeant writing the ticket said "If you contest this you have a better than 50 50 chance of winning." My explanation? The courts of Philadelphia have such a low opinion of their own police dept. that my word is better than theirs is."
Actually, what the cop was probably telling you was that he is way too busy to show up to court everytime someone contests a traffic ticket. The rules are that if you contest, and if the cop who wrote the ticket does not show for court, you win.
So, don't be too cynical about the Philly police.....he was probably just giving you an honest, helpful hint that he is a busy busy sergeant.
As for the national news that my adopted hometown Phoenix has been making: They got the two scumbags that were labeled as the "serial shooter" or "serial killer" who would shoot random people and horses and dogs. May they rot in hell. Unfortunately, that's only one of our two serials. We still have our Baseline Rapist/Killer out there....but then, he isn't as rampant and I think it's been awhile since anything was tied to him. Maybe he's already dead of a methadone overdose or something.
So two scumbags thought to be one down, one scumbag to go. Of course, that won't be the end to violence in a city like ours (or anyone's), but at least we can finally get ourselves out of the national news.
-TODD
Met up with Coil today at the WizCon. We fought. I won. Harlan loves ME more!
Best British writer who is fewer than 6 years dead: Anthony Powell.
Learn more here: http://www.anthonypowell.org.uk/indexnf.htm
BARNEY:
I'm headed over there at the crack of November. If your October window remains self-defenestratable, leave us try to hook up in Old Blighty if our visits overlap.
For Harlan: TV magazines likely to be enshrined out of reach.
Harlan,
Bad news. I spoke with my counterpart in the Archives department. She confirmed that decisions about what they keep are fairly arbitrary. She also said they would likely keep the "Mecham Papers" that bear the precious television magazines, in which mentions of BURKE'S LAW lurk. Once microfilmed, those issues will return to the Archives department, ensconced like the Ark of the Covenant until they get moved to an even MORE secure, climate-controlled location.
I can't get you the originals. However, I can get you everything BUT the originals. I sent Rick a fairly high resolution scan of the page in question. I didn't get a reply so I don't know if his spam filter nixed it, but I have the file, so I can resend it. I know this digital stuff isn't the same as paper, but I hope something's better than nothing.
I also have a list of episodes including "Who Killed Purity Mather?" from December 6, 1963, "Who Killed Andy Zygmunt?" from March 13, 1964 and "Who Killed 1/2 of Glory Lee?" from May 8, 1964. I'll keep my eyes peel for copy pertaining to them, especially if a photo accompanies them. If you have no interest in the scans, let me know.
If anyone else wants a scan of the beauties of "Who Killed Alex Debbs?" my e-mail address should be attached to this.
***
All those worried for Arizona Webderlanders: Apparently they've caught the two guys responsible for the shootings in the Phoenix area. On the way back from lunch police had blocked off several lanes to handle the news vans parked outside city hall. The shooter appears to have been a sports photographer covering the boxing scene. I'm curious to see how this will unravel.
Steven King is really challenging himself, especially in his Entertainment Weekly column, The Pop Of King. A few weeks ago he did a piece, detailing how sorry he felt for how Britney Spears was being treated by the media. Yea, that King, sure gets into the heart of the matter.
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You better all see The Night Listener, with Harlan's boy, Robin Williams. It looks amazing. Hopefully, RV will look like a sick mirage soon.
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Worldcon
Lonegungirl, Worldcon won't be anything like San Diego in the aspects you mention. Barring something completely unexpected (and which no one from LA has even hinted at happening to date), total attendance should be in the 6-8K range, as opposed to San Diego's ~120K. I'd put the chances of registration shutting down new members at about 10,000-1.
As for the schedule, the prelim schedule went out to program participants this week. They're sending back any corrections/changes they'd like, at which point the final pre-con schedule (there are always a few last minute changes due to unexpected events; these are noted in the daily newsletters) will get posted, probably in the 1-2 week before the con timeframe.
As for who's speaking and who's attending, the program participant list is at http://www.laconiv.org/2006/prog/progbios.htm If the entry for my name doesn't include a mention of Harlan, you're in the wrong place. :-)
Best King for teen: MISERY, which among other things plays every possible riff on the romance novel - from WUTHERING HEIGHTS on.
Best living English writer: Michael Moorcock, much revered by many of the Brits already nominated for this distinction.
King Addendum
ADDENDUM -- WITH SPOILER!!!
SPOILER!
I've thought a couple of additional minutes and decided that DIFFERENT SEASONS is almost certainly not the one; good as it is, for the palate able to stomach its darker moments, both "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" and "Apt Pupil," which also appears in the collection, contain material I would not recommend for a sensitive younger reader. ("Shawshank" is excellent and emotionally rich, but until she's acclimated to King she might not react well to scenes frank in their depiction of what men do to other men in prison. And "Apt Pupil," one of my least favorite King tales, has scenes that will turn her off for life.)
(This is NOT censorship, I say to anybody who dares say so. I would freely give both stories to somebody ready for them. But the question has been raised with respect to this one girl.)
THE DEAD ZONE is good, but for later. Right now, you're probably best off with THE EYES OF THE DRAGON or THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON. The latter is scarier, and hits closer to home, as I said, but you can probably make it easier by providing the gentle word to the wise that nothing of a permanent nature will happen to its young heroine. (Under the circumstances, I think the spoiler justified).
King
Tom:
I admire King quite a bit, consider a third of books masterpieces of their kind, another third effective potboilers, and the final third total wastes of paper and time.
Not all of his stuff is brutal. Some of it is quite subtle.
However, in your relative innocence, you have chosen for your daughter perhaps the worst possible King book for her.
Really.
By an order of magnitude.
CELL can most succinctly (if not entirely accurately) be described as zombie horror; it is, concentrated in its earlier chapters, as relentlessly gory and as stomach-churningly violent as anything he's ever written. It is for fans of his oogie-boogie stuff, not for readers of his material with wider appeal.
Giving this book to a young girl, as her first exposure to King, is like giving one of Donald Westlake's darker crime novels to somebody who expects one of his Dortmunder romps. The same skills are on display, but put to a different use. (Alternatively: showing STRAW DOGS to somebody who only knew Dustin Hoffman from HOOK. Bad idea. Bad, bad idea.)
You want gentler King, which she might respond to? THE GREEN MILE. Or DIFFERENT SEASONS, a collection that includes the non-horrific novellas that spawned the movies "Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand by Me." I'm sure you're familiar with the basic ideas of both. (There's also a horror story in it, but a somewhat gentler one, more spooky than ghastly.)
Or, perhaps best of all, given the audience, EYES OF THE DRAGON, a fairy tale King wrote for his own daughter, who like your own could not abide terrifying stuff but did respond to this Princess-Bride world of a put-upon young hero and his feats of derring-do. (It's actually very reminiscent of Harry Potter, come to think of it.)
If she *can* deal with something that may hit a little too close to home, there's my favorite King novel of the past few years, the last one I can recommend without reservation: THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON, about an (I think) twelve-year-old girl who gets separated from her family during a wilderness hike and who has to survive alone in the woods, while dodging a monster that may or may not exist and which keeps appearing at the corners of her vision. She would identify with this one, but perhaps too much. It has the benefit of being short, less than two hundred pages, but you may want to tell her what's in store before choosing that one.
King books to avoid at all costs, for reasons having nothing to do with quality and everything to do with the sensitivity of this particular reader: PET SEMATARY and GERARD'S GAME. Especially the latter. Stunningly inappropriate for her, until *she* decides to seek them out.
I would say, THE EYES OF THE DRAGON or THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON. With the latter requiring a bit more discretion.
Good Luck.
A-TC
Tom,
I would suggest the collection titled "Different Seasons". It contains 4 pieces, including "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption", turned into a movie of a similar title, and "The Body," which was adapted into the film "Stand by Me."
While there is some violence in the stories contained within this collection, it is fairly minimal, and the stories are some of his best.
Hope this helps,
Mark
King light?
My 16 year old daughter has been told that before school starts she should read a fiction book, a non-fiction book and a Stephen King book, all of her choice.
I have no Stephen King in my library so we stopped at the local shopping center and at Target there was his newest, apparently involving cell phones and, of course, murder.
Well she got about 6 pages in and apparently someone had already been sliced up and "Dad, I can't read this!"
On the one hand is the urge to say "Suck it up, I told you who Stephen King was and what he does". On the other hand I understand, as it is why I am not a fan of horror. Where some stories take your emotions on a merry-go-round I see the job of horror stories as to put them in the car and slam into a brick wall at 60mph. There are stories that "tug at your heart strings" to use an old cliche, and there are those that pick up the stringed instrument and do a John Belushi from Animal House.
Not to say that's a bad thing, it's a huge genre with millions of fans, including our favorite Unca. It just has never been my taste.
So the question, as I know there are big time King fans here, are there books of his that are lighter on the slicing and dicing? Where the nastiest parts are more implied than explicit? Or where they may be absent altogether? What some might call "straight" fiction (to separate it from the "twisted" kind we all like).
Thanks for any input,
Tom Morgan
Shane -
Terrific link. The sad part is that I've been to a bunch of those and hadn't realized some of 'em were gone.
LA still has some pretty cool eateries -- The Original Pantry, Tommy's (best burgers on the left coast), Philippe's (where they invented the French Dip), Pink's (where they perfected the hot dog), Senor Tacos and Wahoo's (for fish tacos), Roscoe's (waffles and fried chicken) -- any of which add immensely to your cholesterol levels, but wow, what a way to go...
Thanks for the short trip through a twenty-year old memory lane.
SB
ROB EWEN HAS GUESSED CORRECTLY!
you have won.....A BRAND SPANKING NEW CONDOLEEZA RICE MAKER!!!
(THE PAVILION GOES WILD)
yOURs,
kICk
If you're in L.A. with your time machine,visit these restaurants
http://www.povonline.com/larestaurants/larestaurants01.htm
Hardily, the scriveners
Finest living British writer?
I would have said John Fowles until he died late last year.
Other possible contenders:
Ian McEwen
A.S. Byatt
Julian Barnes
Martin Amis
Would Naipaul or Rushdie count as British?
*** Rob *** No, and it was "on again, off again" a total of three times so I abandoned the issuing of updates. It was a lot of things. Two jobs - Harlan doesn't think I even have one job, but he is wrong about that - my Mom went in the hospital (she's fine, now) and the last travel window had me getting back the afternoon of the 29th - at which point I would have had to drive from NYC to Allentown to Bucks County for a dinner I had promised I would be at in March. Also, one set of friends in Brixton was leaving the day of my [third] proposed arrival date - so, "too many impossibilities before breakfast" as Frank Miller used to say.
The TENTATIVE next window might be sometime in October. I'm currently living for a pilgrimage to Elmira, NY and some serious Twain geeking about including sitting in the little "writer's house" that was built for him by friends and where much of LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI was composed. It's now sitting on the campus quad up there and is open, or open on request. Strange little Meccas...
Anybody who knows that area well and wants to send me True Gen off-line, please do. But there will be little time for side trips. Two days in the area maximum so no shooting me up into Canada or what have you.
- Barney
Dear Kick
No contest.
'Tis Sir Arthur C. Clarke.
Yours
Rob
P.S. - Barney - did you ever get to the UK?
HEY ROB EWEN
who's the finest still-breathing Brit writer?
c'mon, you can tell us!!
Kick Reeney
Years ago I got caught going through a red light in Philadelphia. The sergeant writing the ticket said "If you contest this you have a better than 50 50 chance of winning." My explanation?
The courts of Philadelphia have such a low opinion of their own police dept. that my word is better than theirs is.
Just got the post card announcing when HE's LAcon appearance is....I think that's 3 days before we (me and my SO who won't come within a mile of an sf convention these days)set out for Burning Man in NV... I never even bought membership, let aloen hotel/etc (i think the main hotels are prob mostly sold out by now altho since it's Disneyland there's tons of lodging nearby, though lots of those tend to fill up with tourists who buy package deals) Lonegungirl, it IS crowded (8000 people? that was in 84 and I don't know what the count was in 96, probably more) but you wouldn't pass up an HE appearnce when it's RIGHT IN TOWN??? Well close enough to commute anyway! I am so jealous and gnashing my teeth at missing this (well lit wasn't till recently I found out it wasn't the same wkend as the Burn, but it's cutting it awfully close unless you can go straight from one to the other like some others I know are doing.)
What was that about King and Rowling? Besides the fact that they've both been sneered at by Harold Bloom?
The Rowling - King - Irving thing was a pretty good idea in that it gives younger readers a few authors to look at when they outgrow Potter. While King and Irving are big names, its not neccessarily true that kids in the Junior High-ish range know who they are. So as they start to mature out of Harry's world, they atleast now know 2 authors who respect Rowling's works and as such would be authors they would enjoy reading. It's great to see authors of "grown-up" books reaching out to kids entering young-adulthood.
LACON:
I was thinking of going but I tried going to the SD Comic Con as a preliminary--what a zoo! It took 3 hours to get down there from LA, the parking was all full, and the ticket line extended so far away you couldn't see the convention center from the end. After standing in the hot sun in about 1000 degree heat for a half hour, they came by and said they had reached capacity and weren't letting anyone in anymore.
Is LACON usually that crowded as well? Plus, it's sort of irking that, without a schedule up, it's hard to know what sort of membership to get. Also, they list a lot of people, but it doesn't seem clear whether they're actually going to talk about something, or just attending...
Nah she ain't gonna kill Harry cause you don't just want people to read the books you want them to reread them!
Now that smarmy little bitch Hermanemone or whatever she is called, off with her head I say, in the slowest way possible.
Potter
I think both King and Irving have sufficient novelistic instincts to know with absolute assurance that Potter isn't going to die. Nor is Rowling likely to kill Hermione Granger. This is the same instinct that allowed canny readers to understand that Dumbledore had to go (either in fact, or illusion) at some point.
I have my own ideas about who has to go, but that's the very last neep I wish to start in here.
The point is, I think they're just expressing their own deep involvement with the series, in a manner that compliments Rowling's achievement.
The Rowling/King thing seems a bit of a tempest in a teacup. If it was a publicity stunt, then well done all. But if it wasn't...
Then it seems to me King and Irving placed her in a bit of an akward spot. If she does kill him off, she will probably be accused of simply being contrary. (Of course, the debate will be moot, as she will have been poked to death with magic wands by enraged Potter fans.) If she doesn't, she might be accused of bowing to pressure.
Of course, I may be vastly overestimating the common memory of humanity.
Personally, what really cheesed me off was that Rowling was named "Greatest Living British Author." Not Terry Pratchett? Not Neil Gaiman? That's a bit...extreme don't you think?
Articles Galore
Terrific article and review of Julie Phillips' "JAMES TIPTREE JR. The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon".
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/books/03masl.html
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David, you can read the Rowling King stuff at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/books/02potter.html
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/books/08/01/people.rowling.reut/index.html?section=cnn_latest
http://www.nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=culture&id=20060803-503434
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Oh, and don't mind me. I'm looking for Kadak.
I totally misunderstood David Loftus’ initial post. He wasn’t “indexing the Glass Teats”; he was "Windexing" them.
Mike
somebody has to do it
Could someone post a link or two to a story about this King-Irving-Rowling imbroglio? I don't know how to search for these things.
A-T C:
I know exactly the sound you've described, but I'm going nuts trying figure out the most accurate way to present it orthographically:
EEE-rr-EEE-rr-EEE-rr.... (?)
or perhaps
screeet . . . screeet . . . screeet . . .
And I have to say that glass teats are not really much fun to polish. They have no GIVE.
>Eric, don't you know a PR stunt when you see one?<
Gosh, I guess I don't. Oh those wacky writers, what will they come up with next?
RICK:
Thanks for the directions.
ALL:
Can't recommend LIFE ON MARS enough! Really, a most excellent teevee programme. And, as with many U.K. series, tantalizingly brief: only eight episodes (though I belive there's a second season coming soon).
Btw, Sam Tyler was named after Rose Tyler from DOCTOR WHO. When the studio rang up the creator to ask for a surname change -- it had been something like Sam Williams, which wasn't too memorable, I s'pose -- he in turn asked his daughter what she thought it should be. She said Tyler, and so it was. He asked her later how she thought it up, and she said it was because of Rose Tyler.
ANYONE GOING TO WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO THIS WEEKEND:
If you'd like to do a brief meet-up, I plan to be hanging about with friends (many of whom are HE fans, too) in the carpeted area that's on the way to the panels rooms on Friday at 5:00 (if I'm lucky enough to get out of the office early) and on Saturday at either 3:00 or 5:00 (depending on whether there's a Peter David signing at 3:00; I'm hoping to get an autograph for a friend). We'll probably be sitting on the floor, so look low.
I'll be the tallish (6'2") gent wearing the red White Sox ballcap. If you see me wandering the aisles, come up and say hey.
Hey, Coil! You showin' up this year? Hope so -- then we can fight over which one of us Harlan loves the most!
Eric, don't you know a PR stunt...
Eric, don't you know a PR stunt when you see one? What King and Irving did was guaranteed to generate far more press than almost anything else they could have thought up. It was very clever, and got the main page of every news website I've been to. Three authors get together and get major press? It was brilliant, Eric. And it got major attention for the Haven Foundation.
I wouldn't be suprised to eventually learn the three of them put the thing together beforehand.
One man's tour of Mexico
You might wonder why a local tour guide would take me through a supermarket. He had a specific reason for doing so. "Look at any of the fruits and vegetables," he said. "They are all second and third class quality. We send all of the first class produce north."
Nice review by of the Tiptree bio by Janet Maslin, New York Times. Harlan is mentioned:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/books/03masl.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
As a fan of you both, I'm naturally interested in what kinds of things you corresponded about (if it's not to nosy to ask).
Mark
parked next to Mr. Carrier's Device for the next few days
Eric
>>Does anyone else think it's just a wee bit presumptuous of Stephen King and John Irving to publically instruct J.K. Rowling on how to write her next book?<<
I would be flattered.
Rick
a quick note in case feathers ruffle...
My quotes on "good" were not sarcasm; they were meant to distinguish them from very successful "not-so-good" novelists like Clancy and Grisham.
Literary lobbying
Does anyone else think it's just a wee bit presumptuous of Stephen King and John Irving to publically instruct J.K. Rowling on how to write her next book?
I'm sure it's very flattering to have these two literary lions, possibly America's best-known "good" novelists, express so much concern over the fate of Harry Potter. And I'm equally sure that these pleas were "all in good fun," as they were made at a charity event in which all three writers were present.
BUT...these comments have gotten a lot of press, which just puts more pressure on Rowlings, who no doubt has about a million fans flooding her postal and e-mail boxes with similar dictates on how to write her books. These she can ignore, but how do you blow off King and Irving, in public? Hell, King compared offing Harry to killing off Sherlock Holmes, an authorial decision widely-accepted as a major blunder.
She made a gracious comment that she was toughening readers up to go read King and Irving's books. Maybe she should have followed up with a wry smile and a "back off, guys."
It's been a quiet day in Webderland, and I don't even want to know what prompted Mr. Castro's thought balloon. (I did laugh, however, which I needed. Today's been kind of "whack-a-mole" here in the corporate world...)
______________________________________
Debbie - I'm still planning on attending WorldCon Saturday, so count me in for the planning of some sort of tag-team event.
Glass Teats
It occurs to me that a real glass teat, when being, uh, polished, wiped clean of streaks, would make the same noise a window does... squeakysqueakysqueakysqueaky...
Just random brain lint, there
Worldcon
(Delurking for a moment) There is a thread in the forums called LACONIV. Any Webderlanders going to Worldcon and interested in getting together, come on over. I've never been to LA (ok, it's actually Anaheim), but I'm looking forward to this. Going back into lurkdom.
debbie
Fred,
That article was weak sauce. There is a big difference between having ill feelings towards the government of Israel and having ill feelings towards the entirety of the Jewish people. And it is true that Israel seems to get a free-pass when it comes to war crimes. (But to be fair, so does the US). Israel - that is the government and the military, not the general Jewish population of the world - targeted and killed UN observers just last week.
And any article that uses the word "shrewish" - funny, she doesn't look shrewish - has to taken with a few tablespoons of salt. The dude should have just made his statement about Sheehan and not slung names.
As for the film, it didn't stress enough that in the mythology, Christ's death was part of God's masterplan; one way or another he was going to be offed. And it didn't stress that he was killed by a few people who happened to be Jewish, not he was killed by the the Jewish people in general and that they will carry that burdon for eternity.
An Award Winner
I would like to suggest that David Loftus’ post wins the award for best statement to be read out of context.
“I am indexing the Glass Teats…”
Maybe on a t-shirt?
Mike
Mel Gibson (again)
There was a post yesterday which claimed that Bill O'Reilly, David Horowitz, and Michael Medved were in support of Mel Gibson and his "anti-Semetic" film "The Passion of the Christ" (I in no way found the film anti-Semetic). The post, while talking about "right wing creeps", failed to mention that Medved and Horowitz are Jewish as well as ex-liberals. In defense of at least Horowitz, here is what he had to say about Mel's recent comments:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23629
Hal Ellison
David (and others)
Violating the once a day rule as well to copy the below:
DID HARLAN WRITE UNDER THE NAME HAL ELLISON?
Harlan himself, via Rick Wyatt, answers the question...
"Hal Ellson was a very well-known crime writer of the 50's and 60's who was involved in rehabilitating kids at Bellevue Hospital in New York.He was a master and student of juvenile delinquency, and his stories appeared in all of the best mystery magazines of the period, including Manhunt, and it was as a matter of fact because of me reading Hal Ellson's books about juvenile delinquency that I became interested in juvenile delinquency and went to New York and joined a kid gang
and wrote my first book, _Web of the City_.
"When I first started writing, people kept saying "Harlan Ellison, is that a pseudonym of Hal Ellson", because he was very well known. Well, as the years went by, and Hal wrote less and less, and his books were bought for some reason and not reprinted as often as they should have been, people began saying "Gee, is Hal Ellson a pseudonym of Harlan Ellison"? No, in fact we are two separate people."
While an editor at Regency Books, Harlan even bought and published one of Hal's books, THE TORMENT OF THE KIDS. Harlan highly recommends Hal's work. Other titles include DUKE, TOMBOY, TELL THEM NOTHING, THE GOLDEN SPIKE, and SUMMER STREET.
Courtesy http://harlanellison.com/text/newsfaq.txt
eBay item: "Duke" by Hal Ellson or Harlan Ellison
After posting earlier today about how I try to religiously to respect the one-post-a-day rule here, I'm boldly breaking it now because something turned up on eBay that looks to me like an error at best, a potential fraud at worst.
Someone is trying to sell a pulp novel titled _Duke_ and advertising the author as "Hal Ellson" (clearly the author's name on the book cover) "or Harlan Ellison." I have never heard of this book as being part of the Canon.
Although the subject matter as described on the cover sounds plausible ("Death, Dope, Sex Betray a Harlem Youth . . . a novel of teen-age gangsters that will both shock and awaken you"), the pub date -- seventh printing! -- is 1951, and Mr. Ellison would have been 17 at the time. So I have doubts that this is his work.
Full description: "Vintage paperback book, DUKE, written by Hal Ellson or Harlan Ellison. The book was published by Popular Library Books (# 219) in 1951. This is a 7th print."
Being occupied with filming in Vancouver, as far as I know, Harlan is probably unavailable for comment this week.
Barney? Tim? Anybody?
I am opening a Glass Teat thread in the SPIDER forum that any of us can use to put comments in. I am just going through the book myself but haven't hit on anything yet to talk about in particular.
David: If you find errors that carry over from edition to edition it makes me wonder, would that be the case with other books as well? I find that odd and somewhat annoying. One would think that Harlan gave them the original manuscripts every time.
I know of Fatman, and have seen a few panels of it, but never a complete story or issue. From the same company that did the "SPLIT"/"XAM" version of "Captain Marvel" as well as other "borrowed" names from DC/Marvel such as Dr. Fate, right?
Eric man, you will never win the hyperbolic Stanley Cup. That thing is in the back of my black van, duct taped and laced with explosives that go off at the touch. We know, you didn't say anything bad, Brian was being sarcastic, now calm down. Put on some soft music, get some slippers, find a very large Lazy Susan and sit on it. Let it revolve around in a bright pink room. Kane will now play his wooden flute. "There will be peaceeeee in the vallleeeeeeeeyyyy!!"
--------
What happened to Chris L? Miss my pookers.
Binding To A Fatman
A challenge to your memories or knowledge of COMICS OF THE ULTRA-RARE:
Does anyone recall FATMAN, THE HUMAN FLYING SAUCER by Otto Binder and C.C.Beck (the same unique team that created and shaped the humorous Shazam! books of the 1940's)?
I believe this title came out in the 60's and ran only for a few issues. I remember, ever so vaguely, stumbling across some back issue when I was incredibly young.
- Accidentally found this thing on Google and it looked like something I'd all but once imagined in a dream; that's how distant a memory it had become. Strange, sometimes, when some things reach so far back into childhood memory (and was never seen since) that you're not even sure it was in da wheal wold.
Rediscovery is one virtue we forget about the Internet when we're arguing its pros and cons. It can revive things we'd thought we'd only dreamt.
Can't wait to see A SCANNER DARKLY. I hope they'll have it in this area soon.
inre: song lyrics. I've always wondered about "Bye Bye Love" from the Cars:
it's an orangy sky
always it's some other guy
it's just a broken lullaby
bye bye love
bye bye love
bye bye love
bye bye love
I've heard that song at least a hundred times, and all I hear is "it's just a fucking lullaby."
inre: Mel Gibson. Yes, he should know better, but apparently doesn't. Perhaps he will grow up one of these days.
A Scanner Darkly
I finally saw A SCANNER DARKLY last night, and . . . god, it was stunning. I had reservations about Richard Linklater's use of Rotoscoping--as a visual technigue, it's always seemed neither fish nor fowl to me--but it lends itself well to Dick's prose, conveying a trippy, slighty ominous vibe that's appropriate for a story of drug addiction gone amok. (The Scramble Suits are especially well-done.) True, there were moments when I wanted to wipe all that digital paint away and see what the actors were doing (I still don't know exactly how Winona Ryder looks these days), but, overall, it enhanced instead of distracting.
The acting, with one exception, was top-notch. Of all the cast, Robert Downey Jr. is getting most of the critical kudos, and he deserves it. I don't know if I ever bought the Greatest Actor of his Generation hype, but his portrayal of James Barris, solipsist and manipulator extrordinaire, is nothing less than masterful. There's a chilling scene where Barris nonchalantly watches a fellow druggie choke to death, and Downey's perfect control of tone makes clear just how much of a sociopath his character is. As for the rest, Woody Harrelson, Rory Cochrane, and Winona Ryder all acquit themselves well, with Ryder especially good as the quintessential Dark-Haired Girl of Dick's novels (albeit with blonde highlights).
As for Keanu Reeves, well, it's not necessarily a put-down when I say he was adequate in the role of Officer Fred/Bob Arctor, narcotics cop, and friend and fellow addict of Barris's. As in the book, Fred goes undercover as Arctor and becomes a hard-core user of Substance-D, a drug which eventually splits the hemispheres in his brain, making him unable to recognize that Fred and Arctor are the same person. (When you learn that Fred is assigned to electronic surveillance of the house Arctor lives in, you get an idea of how tragically fucked-up his situation is.) It's a weighty role, and Reeves mostly does okay, though it's depressing to wonder what another actor (Ed Norton, for example) might've done with it. Reeves' lack of vocal control and facial expressivess sort of work in his favor here, conveying some of Fred/Arctor's brain-damage and confusion, though when he's in scenes with Downey and Harrelson, his limitations as an actor are obvious. Overall, he doesn't drag the film down, though he would've done better in Harrelson's role.
Usually, when Hollywood adapts Dick, they focus on the mind-bending aspects of his work and jettison everything else. Linklater realizes, however, that the reason that Dick's books ARE so trippy is because they're rooted in the mundane. Dull jobs, crappy homes, technology that enervates, the tension in relationships between the sourness of routine and the hope of transcendence . . . A SCANNER DARKLY finally gets that part of Dick right, and it's about time. Dick's humor is captured as well; the audience I was with laughed often and loudly. (The funniest part in the book, Freck's suicide attempt, is translated BEAUTIFULLY.) There's no scimping on the pathos, either, with an ending that's as heart-breaking, yet optimistic, as anything I've seen all year.
Bottom line: it's the best Philip K. Dick adaption yet made. If you have any love for PKD, or you want to escape the doldrums of the summer blockbusters, go see it, with all due haste.
Whoops, talk about a typo changing a comment, "Eric was justifying this, you dolts..." should have read "Eric was NOT justifying this, you dolts...."
-TODD
Holy Sheepshit people, I don't believe a Hollywood moron's anti-semitic remarks have you all up in a tizzy. Who the fuck cares? This coming from a Jew (a very Jewy Jew, mind you, being that I sprung from the loins of a Rabbi): is it so shocking that someone is bigoted just because he is famous? Do you still go to Spike Lee movies.....or listen to Jesse Jackson speeches.....even though they have had their share of anti-semitic remarks?
I do.....not the JJ speeches, but yes I do attend most Spike Lee movies when he's not stumbling around in Nuttyville with shit like He Hate Me. Bamboozled is a find, if anyone can find it.
But I'm getting off the point. A) Mel is anti-semitic. Shock of shocks. Do we have to now debate this ad nauseum because he is famous? Shhh, I'm going to let you in on a little secret....keep it to yourself.....there are a whole bunch of anti-semitic people in the world, and there are a whole bunch of bigoted people in the world who hate other races and religions and facial features. In fact, if you killed everyone in the world who made some form of bigoted remark or had bigoted thoughts in their head, you would probably run out of people to kill by the time you reduced the Earth's population to a coupla thousand (hey, then we save the Environment and Al Gore gets to lead us to safety...huzzah)!
B. Those who are jumping all over Eric Martin's words are bigoted toward Eric Martin. Shit, people, he said nothing wrong. He gave no justification. He made a glancing comment to the fact that Mel's tirade started because he was insulting a Jewish cop. Eric was justifying this, you dolts, he was stating a fact. If the cop was a Siamese Twin, Mel would have probably made some joke about how Siamese Twins own all the banks in the world and run Hollywood.
Yeah, Mel grew up in a home that hated Jews. He was raised by a father that stated that the Jewish population in Poland was reduced because the Jews just decided to leave on their own, and that the Holocaust exists only to raise money for Holocaust Museums (since, hell, those Holocaust museums are raking in more cash that Pirates Of The Carribean II). I guess some of ole daddy rubbed off on the Melster. And he hates Jews. And the world continues to rotate. Must we obsess just because Hollywood Mel hates Jews.....having been educated in the history of my people, I must say that this isn't the first person in the world to express such an opinion.
Now, I must depart. My bank awaits, and I must decide what southern hick to put out of work and take his home.
-TODD
Fondling the Teats
> A, O, WAY TO GO OHIO
Odd. I always heard that one as "A, O, where'd you go, Ohio?"
Couple days ago, Jan asked:
> I'm becoming curious as to what exactly you are doing,
> David-- will the new GLASS TEAT edition feature footnotes
> by you or Harlan? Are you responsible for the new editions,
> or is Harlan? Are both books getting the same treatment?
> Asimov did all his indexing himself, he didn't trust anyone
> with that. I'm glad Harlan has you.
Thanks. I meant to answer right away, but didn't want to violate the one-a-day rule, and then I forgot.
I'm indexing the Glass Teats, something which somebody should have done 36 years ago, with the first edition, or for any of the two subsequent ones. I had the idea and volunteered to do it right here on the Art Deco Dining Pavilion some time ago (a year, maybe?) and Harlan took up my offer. I'm not "responsible" for the new editions, if you mean to ask whether I'm the publisher or work for it (Charnel House); I'm just an outside, hired gun.
But yes, I'll be doing an index for both books. That's no absolute guarantee they'll APPEAR in both books, but Harlan told me the publisher is willing, and he did send me a copy of the galleys.
I've also incidentally noted proofreading and factual errors, while I was plowing through the galleys -- some of which survived through past editions of the book -- which I've passed along to Harlan and Charnel House.
(Oh, I'm gonna regret this.)
Mark, Brian. Eric was noting that Gibson's tirade seemed to be an out-of-the-blue attack upon the Jewish. The fact that the arresting officer is indeed Jewish doesn't excuse Gibson one whit, it simply gives a context in which the non-sequitor now has a reference. I don't read a single inferrence in Eric's post that suggests it's in any way other than Gibson's fault/action.
Berke Breathed, creator and grand poobah of the wonderful 'Bloom County', once coined the term "offensensitivity" to describe the extreme overreaction to a non-existant slight.
Gibson slighted, Eric did not.
________________________________________
Speaking, as we weren't, of Harlan Ellison, is he off at this point making a mutant of himself -- or is that still to come?
Eric,
I see from the newswire that you are correct and the arresting officer was Jewish. I have absolutely no idea what relevance this has on his anti-semitic outburst.
Your implication that Gibson has "J-dar" rather than "gaydar" as an explanation for what caused his tirade is insulting as is your implication that this was caused by his being drunk and stupid.
The only thing the alcohol provided was a lowering of his defenses so that his anti-semitism had a chance to leak out.
At least there is one good outcome from this arrest, ABC cancelled Gibson's Holocaust project. Considering his views, I think he might have chosen to represent the Holocaust as a fantasy, rather than an attempted genocide.
Just minutes ago Gibson apologized. There has been no word from Harlan about whether to accept or reject that apology.
>Next month from Eric's pen: "George Lincoln Rockwell: Statesman or Martyr?"<
You are a really mean, ugly son of a bitch, Siano. And no longer in my universe.
No, Brian, you big goof. All Eric was saying was that the anti-Semitic statements, which seemed to come out of left field for the drunken knucklehead that is Mel Gibson, was that the cop was Jewish, thus explaining the WHY of the particular bigoted statements. If the cop was black, that would be the explanation if Gibson had uttered something about niggars.
Eric's statement implies nothing, nor states anything, about Mel Gibson's tirade being the cop's fault.
Eric Martin writes:
"Turns out the arresting officer was Jewish, which might explain Mel's non sequitorial rave-up. Maybe he's got some "gaydar" for Jewish people that is especially attuned when he's had too much Mezcal."
Gosh, that changes _everything_. It was the _cop's_ fault for _looking Jewish!_ Wasn't he aware that his mere _presence_, coupled with his powerful Semitic features, turns good, decent family men like Mel into raving Jew-haters? How dare he stop a guy who's speeding at 80 miles per hour, find that he's obviously severely inebriated, and _expose_ him to his Jewishness? Why, Eric's right! It's the _cop's_ fault for making Mel Gibson into an anti-Semite!
Next month from Eric's pen: "George Lincoln Rockwell: Statesman or Martyr?"
Rock & Roll epigrams and Harlan
Readers of Harlan know that he is quite fond of the epigram as a little applied frosting on his fiction - and even some of his non-fiction for that matter. I love epigrams and it is in no small part due to reading a steady diet of them with many of my favorite writers since I was, oh, 14 or thereabouts. They were there before then but reading things like Harlan's The Deathbird and his PAINGOD collection probably got me to thinking about them.
Nowadays - because I am insane - when I hear a good quote or read an epigram or hear a certain kind of lyric (and god knows as I age it's getting harder for me to "hear" a lyric, at least the first time through) I think to myself, "oh, that would be a good epigram if I were writing about X or Y or Z" or X,Y & Z are usually either Mark Twain or our patron. Don't worry - I'm getting to it. Lately I've had some rock an roll lyrics in my head and EVERY time I hear them I think of Harlan.
What I thought I would do is just give 2 of them and ask if this has ever happened to you in a Harlan-centric manner. Here are my examples. Awhile back Doug Lane and I were in Painesville and although I never mentioned it to him the soundtrack in the back of my head was THE PRETENDERS and particularly from
MY CITY WAS GONE;
I WENT BACK TO OHIO
BUT MY CITY WAS GONE
THERE WAS NO TRAIN STATION
THERE WAS NO DOWNTOWN
SOUTH HOWARD HAD DISAPPEARED
ALL MY FAVORITE PLACES
MY CITY HAD BEEN PULLED DOWN
REDUCED TO PARKING SPACES
A, O, WAY TO GO OHIO
The other one - and this one has been spinning in the Gulliver for MONTHS is Fiona Apple's EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE;
I certainly haven't been shopping for any new shoes
And I certainly haven't been spreading myself around
I still only travel by foot and by foot it's a slow climb
But I'm good at being uncomfortable so I can't stop changing all the time
I noticed that my opponent is always on the go
And won't go slow so as not to focus and I notice
He'll hitch a ride with any guide as long as they go fast from whence he came
But he's no good at being uncomfortable so he can't stop staying exactly the same
If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it I'm an extraordinary machine
**********************************************************
Particularly the last two lines which I picture Harlan carrying around like a banner in life's parade.
So, if you have a rock & roll lyric in your head that you associate with Harlan, as a distraction from the heat I'll be facing out of doors the next two days, I'd love to see them.
[caveat - both of those lyrics were pulled from arist's sites or record company sites. Neither is complete. The Ohio is one third of the lyric and the Apple is about half. I think we;re in "fair use" territory. If not my sincere apologies and just quote the artist and title and I'll figure it out.]
- Barney
Heatingup, PA.
Turns out the arresting officer was Jewish, which might explain Mel's non sequitorial rave-up. Maybe he's got some "gaydar" for Jewish people that is especially attuned when he's had too much Mezcal.
Mel has just checked himself into rehab. Next stop: Webderland, home for any social misfit who may wander our way...
You cheeky monkeys should stop worrying about Mel Gibson and check out the tv show Slings and Arrows if you haven't already. Season 3 just started here in Canada, and it's hilarious and moving as always. Season 1 has the bonus of co-starring Rachel MacAdams right before she hit it big.
Seriously -- if you like theatre, you'll find a lot of stuff to love, and if you don't like theatre, you'll still find stuff to love. And fans of Kids in the Hall or Due South take note -- Mark McKinney and Paul Gross are the male leads for this show about the New Burbage (ie. Stratford) Festival and its annual travails putting on its schedule of plays. The Season 2 climax, in which Macbeth premiered, was absolutely hilarious.
Cheers, Jon
Eureka
I am finding the same problem with Eureka that others have had. The producers' claim is that the hardware will play second to the characters in the series, but we only see the titles characters none of the "worlds' greates genuises" whose ideas should be all over the townscape since its founding sometimes during the Truman Administration.
Recalling one of Harlan's key essays from the Glass Teat about the 'common man' this series places the not too bright even for a US Marshall but is more then bright enough to solve crimes in a technological wonderland that is a cross between Area 51 and Northern Exposure (A major influence the Producers have admitted to).
I am not sure if they think the viewer is too stupid to be able to identify with a smart person, or that they need to feed into the myth that the "common" (i.e. uneducated, untrusting of technology or anything not wrapped in a bible, a flag or coming in a 6 pack) is the only kind or person who can out think the heavy thinker, and get us out of the problems these "extraordinary men" create.
There is more potential in this series, but for a series that is suppose to use SF trapping to tell entertaining stories about people, technology, and how to deal with the problem of those two foces, it boils down to Andy of Mayberry with rayguns, and dumb downs the idea of math and science, when our culture is already one of consumers of others idea, then a culture whose ideas once made everyone salivate.
EUReKA's not really gelling for me. Part of the problem is that they're focusing on the non-genius characters (the marshall, his daughter and the uber-military trained deputy, the administrator) with the geniuses as background supporting characters and plot devices. Which may be because it's hard to write folk whose intelligence is supposed to be much greater than your own.
Still, they're not coming across as geniuses. Take Susan, who we learned in ep 2 had an MIT graduate degree. You could've replaced that background with "liberal arts/business degree from a mid-level state school" and it wouldn't have made any difference with respect to her actions and character; she just didn't act like someone that smart, or with a science background.
And all too often, it's the non-genius marshal who comes up with the clever idea. Once or twice maybe to show he's no slouch, but the residents should be coming up with most of these.
And finally, the administrator's right; the marshal's not funny, although he thinks he is. But there should be a *lot* more humor flying around from the geniuses. For a good example of how things are really like at the closest real world equivalent to Eureka, namely Caltech/MIT, I strongly recommend the 1980s movie Real Genius. The only two scenes that strike me as off in it are that the school President is too foggy, at least in his first few scenes, and that other students in the dining hall would not react the way they do when a certain thing happens to Mitch there. A fair number would've been actively sympathetic.
To "have" a big gratuity. Sheesh.
Joementum is going down in flames. Leiberman has got to go, and go quick. No more Bush democrats, no more elite sissy boys, drinking the kook aid, reading the funnies--the punchline is a black eye to Uncle Sam. Ned Lamont, you sexy bastard, beat the Joementum, beat the Joementummm!! Wish I could vote in Connecticut.
Biden, yea, I am looking at you, ya creep. Yea, I saw you crawl from the Munsters trapdoor, to click champagne flutes with your Joey. "He has coattails, he has coattails," you may cry out from that sissy beak. We know the real deal, Biden. Internal politics trump the betterment of the country, don't they, ya freak? Tonguekiss the beehive if you want, me and my peeps have the 411. All the war supporters will meet at the Hearbreak fucking hotel. Your dinner check is going to a big gratuity: a kick in the keister. War lovin Democrats have no place in our club, no mo.
Thank you, Frank Church, for reminding us all of an important memory from th Mel Gibson affair-- namely, the appalling willingness of right-wingers, like Bill O'Reilly and David Horowitz and Michael Medved, to _defend_ Mel Gibson. Not only didn't they have a problem with Gibson using the death of Jesus as a means to blame the Jews for iniquity, but they were more than eager to portray concern about anti-Semitism as a sign of liberal hypersensitivity and malignity against a "good family man."
Those right-wing creeps stood alongside of a barking, foaming bigot, a man clearly consumed by deranged hatreds, and tried to pass him off a decent and devout man who was _even better_ than those loudmouth liberals.
If Gibson had fucked chickens, they'd be telling us that the chickens enjoyed it and the eggs were better for it.
Shirley Booth
For anyone that is interested, the first season of "Hazel" will be out on DVD tomorrow 8/1/06. I used to watch this show as a kid, and even then we all knew that Ms. Booth was the best thing about the program (she won TWO Emmy's for the role of Hazel). I can still hear her saying "alright Mr. B"....!
Erp. Make that "fiancee". (Don't want to make this a more controversial show than warranted.)
Recommendation
Okay, so I tuned in to the highly promoted and glitzy show called EUReKA last week (see, I even made a small "e" just like they do in the logo). Cute show, very nice and shiny and quirky. Jury's still out, but it could be good.
But, and this is a big one, you have all GOT to see the new show LIFE ON MARS being telecast on BBC America. The program centers on a 2006 detective who gets into an accident on his way to rescue his fiance. He awakens in 1973.
Watched a rerun of the pilot episode last evening and was stunned with how good it is -- or will be if they continue the same way. DOCTOR WHO meets STARSKY AND HUTCH with a dash of CSI. Mondays at 10pm EST.
Highly recommended.
I like Mel Gibson movies, and I like Tom Cruise movies. I have no idea what they're like as people. And, frankly, I don't care. They're not coming over to my house for dinner, and I don't have to worry about their kids playing with my kids.
But, I like most of their movies.
Religion in the movies.
Quote:
"And Madonna is a true practicioner of the Kaballah."
Ahhh Chuck. It's so easy to get caught up in our cynicism, and to malign the fine folks in Hollywood. And it is true that there are many, many fakes. Madonna. Gibson. People who give all actors a bad name.
But there is one actor, one paragon of religious virtue, one man who stands head and shoulders (figuatively at least) above the rest.
Perhaps the one true believer in all of Hollywood:
Tom Cruise.
Thank you! I'm here all week.
Try the fish.
Mel, Mel, Mel.
I remember once reading that Gibson called himself a devout Catholic.
I thought, "Yeah, right. I'll believe that when the pope makes a movie where he kills fifty people and shows his bare butt."
And Madonna is a true practicioner of the Kaballah.
Insert eyeroll here.
Chuck
The Passion of the Cuervo (or the Cazadores, as the case may be)
Mary wrote: "I understand he's already got another movie in the works with some ancient Mayan dialect to boot.
My only response to that is 'Why?'"
To find yet another language where his actors can say "Goddamned filthy kikes" without anyone knowing, of course! (Sorry, I couldn't resist. You have to admit, though, that schadenfreude rarely gets this good.)
FRANK:
(In regards to Mel Gibson's screw-up) Damn, that was beautifully put. I couldn't have said it better myself. I too would just as soon Mr. Gibson take his final bow and just get the hell outta Dodge, but before he does, he should give every cent he earned off that turkey called the "Passion" and give it to worthwhile causes. I understand he's already got another movie in the works with some ancient Mayan dialect to boot.
My only response to that is "Why?"
Mel's Latest Opus
I have it on good authority that when Mel Gibson was busted for DUI, the officer found a copy of a book in his car. The title: "The Protocols of the Elders of Malibu." Of course I'm just joking, but hey, it would make a good urban myth don't you think?
Harlan, thanks for that data re: Shirley Booth.
I forget sometimes why I appreciate your input on film so much, until you open new windows of information I'd missed in my long examination of the medium. I knew NADA about Shirley Booth, save for the few exposures I had to the show HAZEL on cable back, I think, in the early 90's. I found the show so lame and uninteresting and simple in its humor that I'd mentally collated it with a number of mundane, boring comedies from that era, like MY THREE SONS, THE BRADY BUNCH, FAMILY AFFAIR, and a recent discovery, JULIA; SOME of which, likewise, starred names of earlier prestige, like Fred MacMurray (compare his wooden role in MTS to his incredible stuff in movies like THE CAINE MUTINY and DOUBLE INDEMNITY), Brian Keith, and Sabastion Cabot.
I read no so long ago that Jeffrey Hunter, after having built an impressive filmography that included THE SEARCHERS and KING OF KINGS (not to mention the Star Trek pilot), was actually expressing interest for the lead in THE BRADY BUNCH when the idea for the series was first being pushed. Apprently, steady paychecks from an ongoing tv series often did better for these performers than major movie roles, regardless of how shitty the show may have been. I very often overlook that.
But in my mind, these low-brow shows do a terrible disservice to these talents - at least aesthetically. We all remember Angela Lansbury, for example. Well, for years I had found her presence kinda nauseating because of the "wholesome" image shaped in such items as BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS and MURDER, SHE WROTE (alright maybe YOU all liked that series; I had zero interest myself). But once I saw her in MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, as the most abysmal, psychotic harpy this side of Anne Coulter, I WORSHIPPED her talent. The point is, had I never seen that movie I never would have watched her in anything else or appreciated her ability. For me, she'd have faded into nothing.
And that's where my appreciation for this discussion of Shirley Booth crosses. If you hadn't cited her earlier achievements on Broadway and her role beside Burt Lancaster, her name would have remained completely meaningless to me.
I'll look up that film soon to see what SB could really do.
**Having recently read the "series" bible by Harlan and Ben Bova for THE STARLOST, I rented the 4 first episodes to look at what the show COULD have been, and what few pieces of the great vision remained. It's terrible what they did, but its ideas resonate so powerfully that even the descrecration leaves a viewer with things to think about; the vast Ark and a "primitive" people - isolated for generations in their own biosphere - discovering they are more than what they believed themselves to have been is such a compelling concept, drawing on one of the most powerful questions we, as a species, live with EVERY day - if only subconsciously - that it's hard not to enjoy this show to some extent.
Harlan, of all your undertakings, I wish reinventing this series - keeping all the science intact (no Star Wars shit) for cable were among them. It's an astonishing piece.
***Just saw SECRET WINDOW with Johnny Depp. With some minor reservations (before the final act, mainly) I think it's a du-wiffik flick. Very good film. Perhaps I connected with it so well because I've been watching THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR almost nightly, and this movie, frame for frame, is like something straight out of that series.
When I thought the movie was getting predictable, it managed to throw in a few interesting spins. Who "the Dairy Man" really turns out to be was a beautiful resonating little twist. A nice showcase for Depp.
Who needs Hallowell, when we have our little bit of sunshine, Harlan the human book of pop culture stew. Churn the stew and out pop potatoes that bob up, looking a lot like human heads.
------------
The whole left had a healthy laugh today when the Gibson news came down. Once again, we have been vindicated. Frank Rich and others got their nads deep fried when they brought up the racist elements of the Passion Of The Cringe, but O'Reilly and his lowrent, lowball crew would not put away the Ginzu. Just like his father, Gibson is the hypocrite he pretended not to be. He even swore at a cop. I thought conservatives respected authority? All the Passion lovers have to feel real silly, if not downright stupid to fall for a fraud like our Smelly Mel.
A drunk, a jew hater, a cop basher. My, how the Hollywood elite float.
The Passion fans and supporters of the state of Israel have a lot to explain. Remember, they defended this crap, blaming the left elites for their attacks against humble Christian faith. We were right, they were dead wrong--crazy wrong.
I hope the guy gets sober; then he can just go away.
answers
STEVE--
your advice from Harlan appears in his ANSWER TO TESS on Friday, May 12 2006 18:28:23
Harlan and all-
It would appear that Ms. Shirley Booth passed away 16 October 1992 of natural causes. She was in her nineties. I seem cautious because this answer was found on the Wild Wild Web.
Rick
Mel's usual
According to the police report, Mel had a bottle of Cazadores Tequila in a brown paper bag. For those who might like to booze like a world-famous director, here ya go:
http://www.beerliquors.com/buy/liquors/cazadores.htm
You'd think Gibson would be drinking Gibsons. But maybe he ran out of cocktail onions...
Mad Mel, Hazel & SHE
Gibson belongs to a catholic sect, that refutes Vatican II and all moderen trappings of the 20th and 21st Century that the church has had to deal with willingly or not.
One of those things that Gibson does not accept is that the Jews were not responsible for the death of Christ. He forsquares believes they are responsible for the death of his savior and like a lot of backward thinking folks build on that dislike, until it came spilling out from too much hooch and too little commonsense.
I was not totally convinced that the "Passion of Christ" was deliberately anti-semtic when it came out, but after Mel's spewing that idea may need to be rethought. Its amusing that he has had trouble with his father --- a leader of this sect--- for being inpolitic about his feeling towards groups and then shares close to the same thoughts after falling off the wagon---or the cross.
Although some may not remember the Cartoon or Sitcom "Hazel", or sadly the talented Shirley Boothe, most here will remember Ted Key's other cartoon creation: "Peabody and Sherman" for Jay Ward's "Rocky and Bullwinkle" program. He conceived the idea, and approach but left it to the Ward staff to develop it into what we recall as a most 'improbable history' Kind of like Mel Gibson's view of the world.
By the way KINO CINEMA, does have a DVD of "SHE" out, but it is the Ray Harryhausem approved restoration/colorization that I saw and has tickled my fancy.
KINO is for my money almost as good at preservation as Criterion, especially in the area of silent films, but I am keeping a watch out for the Legend Films release of SHE in November.
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I'm sure someone's already thought of trawling the archives and assembling an "Unca Harlan's Advice" page. But if I'm wrong and no one has, well, then, I'm suggesting it might not be a bad idea-- assuming it doesn't encourage people to treat him like Miss Lonelyhearts.
In the meantime: apparently the East Coast is due to get that insane heat wave that hit California this week. Temperatures well past 100. Just marvelous.
As for Mel Gibson... Normally, I'd say it's sad when someone falls off the wagon in such a spectacular way. But not everyone who does starts barking and foaming with disgusting paranoid rants about Jews. The ones who do are venting the sewage they dare not share with civilized people. So here's hoping he drinks himself to death, in public, and lives up to his _South Park_ portrait as much as possible. Maybe, with luck, his kids'll change their names out of shame.
Could someone please direct me to the spot in the Archives where Harlan gave some extremely practical advice on how to make sure one gets paid what one is worth when being hired for a writing project? It should come in handy for me in my next semi-life as a freelance proofreader. (My next full life will be as an archaeologist -- I'm off on a dig in a week to help further that goal.)
A general time frame and the name of the advice-seeker should be all I need to track the posting down myself.
Many thanks.
Mel Gibson is an anti-Semite? Say it ain't so!
Not really HE-related, but funny as hell to read about: http://www.tmz.com/2006/07/28/gibsons-anti-semitic-tirade-alleged-cover-up/. Apparently, ol' Mel went off on an obscenity-laden rant against the Jews when he was arrested for a DUI early Friday morning; reports that he demanded to be beaten, flogged, and nailed to the roof of a patrol car have yet to be confirmed . . .
Naturally...
As usual and none too surprising, i thought the answer would come from here. Much gratitude and indebtedness.
Harlan & Co~ Safe trip, fun times, good memories. Break a leg.
Thanks Boss,
Paul
Harlan, it looks like Shirley Booth died back in 1992 (and she had a good long life,, being born in 1898). I found her credits at the Internet Broadway Database:
http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=25899
Is there anything Harlan Ellison can't do? The man knows his printing press mittens, is an actor/writer, AND just bitch-slapped us with who Shirley Booth was (she died in '92). All I remember from "Hazel" was when she would say, "Mr. B."
Just remember, we've gotta do the same thing when someone says that THE DISCARDED was a pretty good show, but "I think the writer made some appearance in it or something, what was his name??"
By the way, I think HE would've done a faaaan-tastic reading of the "who's Shelley Winters?" scene from SWIMMING WITH SHARKS.
re; HAZEL
TO LOFTUS, COIL, etPECKSNIFFIANal:
It is for the name SHIRLEY BOOTH that you e.net birdies ought to know "Hazel"--a sitcom based on the (at-the-time) long-running and enormously-popular Saturday Evening Post cartoons of the same name by Ted Key--and for no other reason. Shirley Booth, the GREAT Shirley Booth.
Shirley Booth was one of the preeminent names in the legitimate Broadway Theater, from the Thirties through the Fifties. Huge! Look her up, and marvel at all the famous roles she created in a very long, celebrated career, not the least of which was the lead in the William Inge drama COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA. She was so inimitable in the role, on stage, that after she won the Best Actress Tony, and Daniel Mann was set to direct the film, though Booth was not a "movie" franchise name, there was absolutely NO consideration of any other actress to star opposite Burt Lancaster in the brilliant Ketti Frings screeplay adaptation. She won the Oscar, bam!
It was, thus, to everyone's amazement that less than ten years later, she accepted the lead role in a tv sitcom: HAZEL. She was one of the first of the REALLY BIG, REALLY TALENTED legit thespians to make the jump to the tube. It was presumed by everyone that she did it because her fame had not carried over to (like some of you) a new generation that had never seen her on stage, and didn't remember her film exposure. So she needed the payday, and she did THAT brilliantly, in an otherwise mundane sitcom setting, for something like five years. Don't know if she's passed away, but I would think that likely.
Shirley Booth.
A name you should remember.
Yr. pal, Harlan
I used to watch Hazel. So I went to www.imdb.com and got the following information.
Maid--Hazel Burke---Shirley Booth
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0095804/
Mom--Dorothy Baxter---Whitney Blake---the first thing she worked in that I recognized was My Gun Is Quick
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086756/
Dad--George Baxter---Don DeFore
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0214529/
The show--- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054545/
The show also featured a young Ann Jillian.
Hazel was a maid on the tv show mentioned. She worked for a couple with a young boy I believe. It seems like the mother was a very attractive young lady, but I don't remember the actor or character names of that couple.
"Didn't know you were now excepting advertising."
Rick has always made it CLEAR this site "excepts" advertising.
Doesn't accept any, either.
I'm becoming curious as to what exactly you are doing, David-- will the new GLASS TEAT edition feature footnotes by you or Harlan? Are you responsible for the new editions, or is Harlan? Are both books getting the same treatment? Asimov did all his indexing himself, he didn't trust anyone with that. I'm glad Harlan has you.
Harlan & Susan & Josh, have a good trip (traveling together?) and try not to intimidate Frakes. Is everyone satisfied with the new scenes?
Pecksniffian errata
HARLAN:
Remember I bugged you last week for information on "The Lively Ones"? It's mentioned in The Glass Teat installment #41, Oct. 3, 1969, where, in the course of praising a new show called "Music Scene," you said it "is strongly reminiscent of Barry Shear's well-remembered 'The Lively Ones' of some years ago."
Well, the show is no longer "well-remembered"! You couldn't call it to mind when I talked to you -- this may have been the point at which you once again called me a pecksniff.
I finally tracked it down, I think. At first I got sidetracked by a surf band called "The Lively Ones," aka The Surfmen, who were active in Southern California in the early 1960s (apparently, one of their hits, "Surf Rider" was used by Tarantino for the final sequence of "Pulp Fiction"). But I couldn't find any evidence that they'd hosted a TV show.
At last, I found it: a summer replacement for "Hazel" (who remembers THAT show, and who/what the lead character was?) that lasted only from July 1962 to Sept 1963. Hosted by Vic Damone and two "dates" (at first, Joan Staley and Shirley Yelm, later Glora Neil and Quinn O'Hara), it was described by a press release at the time thus:
"This off-beat musical program features performances of contemporary jazz, comedy, dancing and singing. Viewers are taken out on location to places where the young set of today, 'the lively set,' goes."
The show received Emmy nominations as Outstanding Musical Program and for Outstanding Electronic Camerawork both seasons it aired.
Didn't manage to verify that Barry Shear was involved, but this has to be the show you were talking about.
"Slag Mittens," I like that. Donald Rumsfeld should have worn those when shaking Saddam's paw back in the day.
-------
Just reread, "All The Birds Come Home To Roost." Harlan always kills me with that one. You can just imagine what the Cindy charactor is going to do to Bill. Revenge is a motherfucker, especially when the Twilight Zone works the late shift.
SHE again
Ladies and gents - anybody wishing to acquire the 1925 silent version of SHE can find it at the following location:
http://www.sunrisesilents.com/SBBH_des.html
thanks
Rob
Quote:
"Didn't know you were now excepting advertising. Can we expect to see ads for erectile dysfunction in the near future?"
Spammed, we were. The scourge of the internet spam is. Soon, Jedi Web Master Rick will block the latest incursion from the DARK SIDE.
In the meantime, contemplate you must the virtues of patience and faith in the skill of our Web Master and once again in balance the Pavilion will be.
Until the next political shitstorm stirred up will be.
Your friend I am,
Yoda
Y-o-d-a Yoda, Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo-Yooodaaa....
Thanks Rich: I was there first Mark!
Like anything, Wikepedia can be usefull, I've used it myself on occasion. The article I think was a gentle stab at the "Troo Believers" (I've met a few) who believe Wikipedia renders all previous sources of information obsolete, which is an incredibly dumb thing to believe.
It is fascinating to see what people are willing to write entries about.
HARLAN, will you be doing "An Hour With..." or any panels? I haven't seen a program schedule. By the way, good luck with the acting thing in Canada.
KIM:
Thanks for the invite to the soiree, much appreciated because though--as you point out--Jerry and I are often at loggerheads about politics, he remains a steadfast and dependable friend whom I much adore. You may tell him that, and use that precise word so we can watch him crimson. But as I'm only going to be at LACON one day--that Saturday--and as my dance-card is already chockablock with entries, well, I'll have to give it a pass. But tell him to hoist one swig of ale for my Ellisonself.
Otherwise, thank you. Yr (and Jerry's) pal, Harlan
REPLY TO FAISAL
You d'man. Gracious of you to offer to seek&search.
I need the following prog nos. of 2000 AD:
627
629
630
631
632
634
646
658
664
I am, happily, otherwise cool. Again, thanks; and don't bust too much hump on this, kiddo. Nice if I get'm; but no big deal if I don't. So ... take it slow and low.
Yr. pal, Harlan
Worldcon LaConIV
Putting together an informal luncheon for readers of Jerry Pournelle's blog, and/or acquaintances of Jerry's, said informal gathering to occur at the Worldonc, LACONIV next month in Anaheim, CA, USA. I don't know if you and Jerry socialize (obviously your politics are different, but that is neither here nor there), but I thought I would invite you to join us (as well ans anyone else here attending LaConIV in Anaheim in four weeks). The last time I saw you two in the same room I think Jerry wound up cutting the cord on a boom bos belonging, if memory serves, to Norman Spinrad? Something like that anyway... I'm sure if wronb you will correct me. I live for such moments.
Those interested may contact me at amparion@sbcglobal.net for information.
Kim Smith
PAUL:
I wore them when I worked in a printing company, and again, when I worked in a four-color letterpress lithography plant.
Two kinds.
One, if you were carrying slag buckets from hot type setters, were made of a combination of asbestos and heavy denim, unbleached. Two, if you were working a linotype, graphitype, or metal-impression machine, were lighter and more flexible.
We called 'em "smudge cuffs" or "slag mittens," depending. Once, I remember a small shop somewhere near Pittsburgh when I was on the road and doing pick-up work, the workers called ALL cuffs, gauntlets or oven mitts.
Hope this helps. Memories from a half a century ago.
Yr. pal, Harlan
Word query.
I figure this is a good place for my question. I am working on a story and i've been doing research, but an answer eludes me. Back in the day, when a linotype setter, a 'printer's devil', worked with the machine , they would cover their wrists and arms with a material, I believe it was like a cloth cuff. A rough, tough cloth used for the workers protection from ink stains. My question is, what exactly are those "cuffs" called, if indeed they have an actual name? I haven't found the answer online, i've exhausted my library and now i'm headed to the public one. Any one knows, or can point me to a book or website, would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. a thought occurred to me and i just checked: In the Twilight Zone episode THE PRINTER'S DEVIL written by Charles Beaumont, Burgess Meredith is actually wearing a set in the scene where he finally "reveals" himself as the devil.
Much thanks and appreciation in advance, more forthcoming i'm sure.
Paul
pseudo authority
Frank, it isn't spelled ANY particular way, since it's in a different language and a different "alphabet" altogether, on its home turf.
In the same way, there are multiple Western spellings of Sichuan/Szechwan, Peking/Peiping, and other Chinese names and terms. And over the years we've seen three or more spellings of Libyan president Kaddafy, Qadaffi, Ghaddafi, etc.
None is necessarily more authoritative than another, despite the wishes of academics and historians; or rather, each has had its time of vogue, and the tides roll in and out on them.
Moses held back the waters, while our Harlan holds back the fires of hell. Flesh eating bacteria runs into the woods, when the Harlan alarm sounds. Graffiti goes back into the spraycans and Crips and Bloods fall into each others arms, kissing and sharing hot cocoa. Harlan can cure malaria and make the sores perk up, on every pocked soul.
Harlan, Harlan, Harlan. Pass the cup, let it cool your lips. Sing, damnit!!
----------
I am amazed that we all don't just up and move to Vancouver. There is no place as lovely, or unique. The Chinese make it funky and fun, as well.
-------------
Oh, by the way, it is spelled Hizbollah, not Hezbollah! Fucking Yank media can't get shit straight.
Robert Fisk has been doing sparkling reporting from the war front, since he lives in Lebanon.
"evalutating"?
"Although I have a rep on the site as one of their more vicious reviewers, when covering crap ... "
What, pray tell, constitutes "vicious" under these circumstances? Isn't a reviewer supposed to the label "crap" crap when they're reviewing?
(I'm differentiating between "nasty for nastiness' sake", and a strongly worded review. I've gotten both for my work, dismissing easily the former and evalutating the latter as necessary.)
Not just asking this of Adam-Troy, but anyone who reads, writes or receives reviews with any regularity.
___________________________________________
Oh, and if anyone's interested, Costco has 500-gallon jars of Skippy's ExtraChunky All-Natural Peanut Butter, five for a dollar (two thousand jar minimum).
Harlan,
It was mentioned that you were on the lookout for a couple of issues of 2000AD. One of my semi-regular paperback haunts has quite a lot of them, can you give me issue numbers so I can check what they have in stock?
FAQ
Ad nauseam
RICK,
Didn't know you were now excepting advertising. Can we expect to see ads for erectile dysfunction in the near future?
The Amazing Screw-on Head.
I've always sort of considered myself a fan of the SciFi channel, even though I don't actually watch any of the shows on it. While they don't do anything for me, I've got nothing against the fanboys enjoying endless iterations of Stargate and dragon-related drek; if not there, where? So for me, being a supporter is sort of a matter of principal, albeit one that has been harshly tested as their programming goons gave airtime first to Johnathan Edward's Crossing Over cold-reading travesty and, more recently, professional wrestling. (!!!PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING!!! As the kiddies say, 'wtf?!?')
Now, redemption may be at hand. I need to draw your attention to The Amazing Screw-on Head.
"In this hilarious send-up of Lovecraftian horror and steampunk adventure, President Abraham Lincoln's top spy is a bodyless head known only as Screw-On Head." Ridiculous? Oh yes. Also absolutely, flippin', friggin', !@#$in' _BRILLIANT_; on par with The Tick when it was fresh and new, on par with - and Harlan, this is why I'm posting this - Invader Zim.
It's based on the comic by Mike Mignola and retains his signature visual style, it has David Hyde Pierce (Niles Crane) as the archvillian, it has humor, it has wit and, in this one episode, more of the funniest one-liners than I've heard in ages. It is smart.
You can watch the entire pilot episode online:
http://www.scifi.com/amazingscrewonhead/
Please, set aside 20 minutes and check this out. I really don't think anyone here will be disappointed.
Head's Up To Harlan
You pbly won't care about this as much as the "Partners in Wonder" review, but I just passed some brief comments on "Cordwainer Bird" in my Scifiweekly.com review of the VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA SEASON 1 DVD:
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw13279.html
Although I have a rep on the site as one of their more vicious reviewers, when covering crap, I don't give these particular episodes as contemptuous a review as I expected to; I call them stupid and the characters robotic, but pretty much say that to my current eyes, the black and white episodes are mildly amusing as period objects. My closing observation, cruel as it might be, is that, the next time George Takei and Walter Koenig feel like bitching about the skimpiness of the characterizations they were afforded on the original STAR TREK, they should thank their lucky stars they weren't playing their closest equivalents on this series, the all-purpose crewmen Kowalski and Patterson, who are NEVER given ANYTHING AT ALL interesting to play...!
Anyway. The Cordwainer mention is brief. Offered here only in the interest of being thorough.
DTS, if it's solid w/HE, I'm happy to shoot you a copy of that article from SFA. You should have my email address.
DORMAN:
Call me. From the road, from home, wherever. Soonest.
Harlan
My Ball, New Rules
HARLAN: Regarding that, uh, thing you were gonna send in exchange for the (almost) Crackle sent many moons ago. How's about doing me a favor and sending a copy (photo copy will be fine) of your article ("Toiling In the Dreamtime") in the March 1993 issue of "Science Fiction Age" instead? (And maybe adding another round --or two, whatever you think is fair-- onto my HERC subscription?)
I need another copy of that "SF Age" article and can't track that issue down anywhere (I mean _any_where), so that would be helpful. I'll be on the road, on a trip "out East" by the time you read this, so if the rules I made up for this game don't sit well and you don't wanna play, you can't say you're taking the ball and going home until _after_ August 8th, when I return.
Wish I could've tried out for a role as a mutant -- I wouldn't need make-up! Enjoy inhabiting one of your own stories on film (how weird is that?), and hope you and "the Electric Baby" have safe, and memorable journey to the Great White North.
(Hi Susan)
Best,
Dorman
well given the number of fags in hollywood there's probably something to the accusation that The Passion of the Christ is a stag film for leather gays also tying in with the recent spate of revisionist slasher films where hunky blonde beef-cakes get chain sawed to death, these films are probably exploiting the New York gay bar scene too besides the neurasthenic teenage girls. I mean reeeeally.
REPLY TO HARLAN
Harlan,
At my earliest convenience, I'll inquire as to the fate of the originals. Our Agency consists several divisions. I work for the Law and Research Division. After five years, the newspapers we save-- EVERY blasted last one of 'em printed in the state, to the best of our efforts-- becomes property of the Archives Division.
Newer issues I've worked on have been disposed of. I don't know what they'll do with older ones, or what criteria they use to determine their worth. Having sat through several meetings when the subject has come up, the criteria look maddeningly abitrary to me.
There are some factors to consider: People in the higher echelons of the Agency have lobbied hard for a decent archives building for years. Just when it appeared we'd get it, a few legislators stepped in and wondered if the building could be built closer, on capitol grounds, so the legislators could share the parking, causing a small contretemps. Right now, it looks as if we've got the funds.
This would change Archives' procedure for storing older newspapers. They would have more room, so titles they might discard or recycle may now be kept in anticipation of the new space, especially older ones published by a former Governor. I don't know if the television sections share that aegis, but it would be dishonorable to remove them.
Tomorrow, I'll try to find out if they have any special plans for this particular set of papers after microfilming. I will keep an eye on the fate of those originals. I'll also try to get the first batch over to the Records Management Division, where they are microfilmed, pronto. At the rate I'm collating, I can get about one month done every two days. They can fit about 1.5 months on a reel, so I'll bet they'll just divide it into a month per reel. After that, I'll see what the original papers' fates are.
I am a clerk at about the bottom of the pecking order in terms of rank. However, I'm versatile and they like me, so I'll do my best to lobby for the issues' release. Most certainly, if they slate the papers for destruction/rebirth, I'll save them for you.
Just a small thought: from time to time, we do get duplicates of some sections, such as a television insert. No duplicate exists pertaining to mention of BURKE'S LAW, but should I find one, I can probably earmark it with clean hands and composure.
I'll keep you posted, though not at such an inordinate length,
Chris Seggerman
Pans Labyrinth is just Time-Warner capitalizing on the miserably illiterate film versions of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien, from a corporate leftwing pro-communist perspective, thats the only reason fag critics like it.
KEENEY:
I packed your Hogans myself today. As good as Susan is at doing the wrap/shipping thing, I go back in the craft all the way to Painesville in my youth, where my Dad hired me to do the Christmas wrapping in my Uncle Morrie's jewelry store, Hughes Jewelry, corner of State and Main, except on late Saturday nights when I was selling the Sunday edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. I still got my newsboy's cap.
The foregoing notwithbabblebabbleetcetera, I packed the HELL outta them books, all wit me widdle hands; and off they go tomorrow.
Available for part-time work, Yr. pal, Harlan
CHRIS SEGGERMAN:
Holy jumpin' thrips, pal! I NEEEEED copies of anything like that. Never saw 'em at the time, so if you're going to be trashing the originals because of microfiche transferrence, I BEG YOU to send them to me. The scrapbooks are summat sparse of such entries. I'll recompense you.
Items such as that newspaper, faded or not, are mint gold to my archive, kiddo.
Expectantly, with bated breath,
Yr. pal, Harlan
Harlan
Bodega: Enjoy the eats, my friend.
Incognita: Oh my. Yes indeed. And shame on me for not having told you so sooner. I am honored.
Safe travels.
Zuz
Setting the record straight:
Steve Evil first posted The Onion's "report" on Wikipedia celebrating our country's independence.
And I was one of those that jumped on the "bash Wikipedia" bandwagon when the subject came up awhile ago. Like David, though, I've found that it can be quite useful as a starting point, especially for those obscure cultural things that would take half a day at the library getting a handle on.
Heard on KTLK radio today:
"If you have an intelligent thought, you have to share it; the Stupid People have no problem speaking out."
___________________________________________
Seems like Harlan's friend JMS may need a consoling call from Harlan's other friend Josh. (Excerpt from jmsnews.com, regarding his newfound fame amongst the A-List producers as a result of the sale of "The Changeling" to Ron Howard/Imagine.)
"The really odd thing is that I'm not running around, jumping up and down, celebrating or hooting or hollaring or any of that. It's moved me in the other direction, I've gotten really, really quiet, and careful. It's like all of my antennae are up. Everybody around me is thrilled, and can't figure out why I'm being so reserved. I'm not really sure myself, to be honest. Just a strange sort of wariness, like when I'd move to a new neighborhood as a kid and I'd go quiet while I sussed out the area.
Odd. Nothing bad, it's all to the good, lord knows. Just odd. Very odd."
BURKE'S LAW sightings
Harlan,
I work at the Arizona State Library tending to the huge newspaper collection. Along with sorting, shelving and other clerk's tasks, I collate papers for microfilming. I've been working with more recent papers within the past five years, but periodically, I get something a little bit more vintage.
My current task has me unbinding and slicing Evan Mecham's EVENING AMERICAN, a tabloid-sized paper that began printing in September 1963. They claim to have the first color-covered sunday television guide in Phoenix, so I've been seeing a lot of stuff about BURKE'S LAW.
I was going to ask if you were involved in an episode with Elizabeth Montgomery, but deduction and relative dating have precluded this, for in the insert's October 20 issue, I found a photo of three beauties, captured in magenta-- perhaps a faded red: "WHO KILLED ALEX DEBBS?" The black-inked caption follows: "Was it Suzy Parker, his key club doll, Diana Dors, the sultry folk singer, or was it Arlene Dahl the poor little princess who posed for his magazine. For the answer see ABC-TV's "Burke's Law" Friday, October 25."
They give no writer's credit, but I remember reading your story about this in WATCHING. I believe it's in my power to make a photocopy, but I'm guessing your archives are probably full of far more pristine examples. Is there anything else I should keep my eyes peeled for?
Chris Seggerman
Wicked - pedia
Despite all the hilarity and contempt at the expense of Wikipedia, it was a decent concept, and a goodly portion of it works, as far as it goes.
I was able to look up a lot of by-now obscure events and personages (from the People's Park riot and 10% surtax to Lew Wasserman, Francis Gary Powers [U-2 immediately meant something very different in 1969!], Biz and Bold) from the comfort of my sixth floor, WiFi-connected laptop, while lying with my surgically-invaded knee upraised and indexing _The Glass Teat_ last week -- stuff I used to have to trek to the library and paw through dozens of books to track down (as happened in the winter of 1997-98 when I worked on _Slippage_ and _Edgworks III_).
You might prefer a straight Web browser like Google, but the first sites you're apt to turn up are those run by people with something to sell, or ardent fans, who can have the hard details right but skew the big picture.
Where a project like Wikipedia inevitably will run into trouble is on precise details and subjects of great contention, where various parties will fight over their version of the truth.
But in general, it can be quite useful, for something that's of such quick and easy access.
onions
Mark Walsh that was hilarious.
Susan or Harlan, did ya'll revceive the magic envelope from Minnesota, ya know? okay then.
Rick
Chadwick and Harlan
Speaking of Paul (CONCRETE) Chadwick, I walked by his table in Artist Alley at the SD Comic-Con last week and I noticed a little sign that appeared to answer 5 or 6 most common questions before they were asked. One of them stated that yes, he is still working on the Harlan Ellison comic for DC.
Didn't get to squeeze in to ask whether or not that meant it's all in his hands now, or if some is in Harlan's....so.......Harlan, are you all done with your script and it's now just a matter of the art?
-TODD
HEY, ZUZ!
Thank you. Printed it out, taking it with. One evening up there we'll be having dinner with Paul (CONCRETE) Chadwick and Ken (NIGHT AND THE ENEMY) Steacy, et al ... and I shall float your suggestion at them. It has been some while since I enjoyed a nice besuga al horno.
By the way, as my Official Cartographer, I'm head-cocked-to-one-side whimsically curious if you liked my story "Incognita, Inc." of a couple/three years ago? It was sorta kinda written for you.
Yr. pal, Harlan
Harlan:
Our favorite Vancouver BC restaurant:
La Bodega
1277 Howe Street
(604) 684-8815
Authentic Spanish cuisine. Great, varied tapas menu. Nicely prepared fish. Lots of garlic. Unpretentious atmosphere. Friendly staff.
It's just north of the Granville Bridge (Route 99), one block northwest of Granville between Drake and Davie. We've sometimes eaten there more than once even on short visits to Vancouver.
Buen appetit.
Zuz (former Cascadia resident)
The Onion puts Wikipedia in the right perspective:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/50902
Mark W.
Mongolian Barbecue in Vancouver
Harlan & Susan (& maybe Josh):
Vancouver has a genuine plethora of good restaurants, but if you have a sudden craving for Mongolian food, you can check out Great Wall Mongolia Barbecue at 2897 West Broadway (phone 604-739-4888). The surroundings involve too much vinyl and indoor lighting, but the food is fresh, tasty, and seems authentic to moi. Dinner is priced all-you-can-eat for not much, and the staff is friendly.
All this being said, please keep in mind it's been more than three years since I ate there. (Should I have led with that fact?)
Have a swell trip,
D.
Vancouver? Cooooooool!
I'm finally back online after nearly a week of not daring to turn my laptop on because of the heat!!!!
Saw A SCANNER DARKLY today. Darrk movie, but a surprising number of comic relief moments. Putting APKD's dedication to his lost friends at the end was a nice touch.
Tripped over the handicapped-only seats while arriving during the previews and lost one of the clip-on flowers from my Lands End thongs, never to be seen again...along with (I think) a ten dollar bill. grrrrr...
The local Burningman group had a beach camp on the weekend (clothing-optional beach/camp ground a few miles north of Santa Cruz) ! No internet or even cell phone service there....but my boyfriend is into solar power and ran a portable DVD player off a solar panel, which is how I saw some of the new Dr Who videos. I wish Eccleston (sp?) had stayed for more than one season though. We watched the first ep and the last 2 - VERY cool...I loved the one about the "reality game shows from Hell" and also the finale with the Daleks.(that went crazy and got religion! Well they worship their maker....)
Kristin
shudder....do beware of the fires HE! Have fun though!!
Wikpedia Celebrates 750 years of American Inderdependence!
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/50902
Harlan & Susan:
Have a safe trip, all the best to you both, have fun and call me when you get back. (I'm playing in New Hampshire for three days, back to play in New Bedford and then to NYC for three days. I should be back by the 7th.) Cheers, TR
converted one!
Hey, I got someone new to read Harlan!!!! Glory Glory Glory!
And, he likes him!
Oh, baby! What a joyous week.
I loaned him my bendy copy of Slippage. He's reading it straight through, and last night he got to "Crazy As a Soup Sandwich."
-Acolyte Cramer
Hey Rob,
Harlan lives nearby, and yes we were thinking of him.
"With all the multimillion dollar manses of stars and producers on the line, memories of the Bel Air Fire brought running every fire truck in LA"
Thank God SOMEONE was thinking of THEM!
trip of the Texan tongue
Cindy said:
> I'll be poking my head in from time to time to see what's cookin'.
So to speak. Hopefully nothin', as far as the Sherman Oaks hills are concerned.
Bab 5
HE-
Apparently at San Diego this year, J. Michael Straczynski made an announcement that straight-to-video BABYLON 5 adventures, involving B5 characters in an anthology format, should arrive late next year.
Will there be any Ellisonial involvement in this work?
With copious good wishes,
B
Harlan and Susan, here's hoping the fires are kept under control and you both stay safe.
If someone else has posted this, I apologize, but I wanted to inform you all that the great actor Mako passed away on Friday at the age of 72. He appeared with, and received an Oscar nomination, for his role in The Sand Pebbles with Harlan's friend Steve McQueen but I remember him more for his role as the wizard and narrator in Conan the Barbarian.
Here is a link to the NY Times with more information:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/25/arts/25mako.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
I saw the reports on the fire and swooped in here for an update. I'm glad the inferno has been contained and all is well. I'm also glad y'all are headed north out of the danger zone for a time. Have a safe trip and come back to mesmerize us with your adventures. I'll be poking my head in from time to time to see what's cookin'.
;)
Cindy
With all the multimillion dollar manses of stars and producers on the line...
So there's this hierarchy of response right?
Stars' and producers' houses in danger, red alert red alert!
Wait a minute this guy's not a producer, he's a writer! You got me out of bed to save the house of a writer?!?
But he worked on Babylon 5.
Oh ok I loved that. We'll swing by there on our way to save Bruce Willis.
Of Fires and Temples and the Hollywood Hills
Kids, judge Unca H gently. You don't know from nervous until you've seen homes on fire and smell the smoke yourself. Our local TV stations are not particularly skilled at the "relax folks, everything's fine" vibe when scooping the action from on high. The Hollywood Hills are one of the few areas which HAVEN'T burned in the last few years, and within their canyons they protect multi-billion dollar homes -- so tensions are ... deservedly ... elevated.
Glad to know the fire's contained and the Ellisons are not.
___________________________________________
(Tony, Brian ain't afunnin' you. The only part he neglected was the constant banging around of the buried Aztec undead at night.)
porcelain litany
good gravy, Ellison!!
you had my bowels in such an uproar I think I may have capsized the Tidy Bowl Man's skiff!
shitfire in them hills,
Rick
HARLAN,
For heaven's sake, man...I'm writing from an internet cafe in Cluj, Romania, and I saw your post about the impending firestorm just last evening. I spent the rest of the night in a state of high distress before I was able to see your follow-up just three minutes ago. Gaaaaaaaaah...
Chucho Red - RIP
"Brian Siano: Into the Ruins"
Your description aligns perfectly with my own preconceptions. I sincerely hope you're not a-funnin me.
Then again, it could make for an amusing bit of writing: unearthing the manses of Beverly Hills, sadly entombed during the volcanic activity of 2009. A field guide for undergrads of 2157, when they dare venture out from the domes.
Can't see how concerns about the fire are hysteria, Harlan. After all, every year, the rest of the country gets to hear about those fabulous brush fires. To the rest of us, the L.A. area either shakes or bakes. And Marin County appears to be host to a number of dry-bracken farms.
Side to Eric: Dunno if you've heard about Harlan's house, but it _is_ the repository for valuables. It's a big Aztec Temple uncovered by temblors in the early 1960s; after three teams of archaeologists vanished into its depths, our host colonized the upper floors and called it Home. When the scientists find their way back, they'll find a table set up by the cave entrance in his basement, with ice-cold margaritas, Fritos, and Chocolate Necco Wafers ready and waiting.
RELAX RELAX RELAX
We're okay.
More hysteria on my part than was necessary, turns out.
Fire burned 30 acres, mile and a half below Mulholland, next canyon over east of us -- Benedict -- but never crested the hill. With all the multimillion dollar manses of stars and producers on the line, memories of the Bel Air Fire brought running every fire truck in LA; on the spot jackquickly. We were lucky: the wind had died down almost completely, and kept the fire from crowning or moving uphill too fast for handy containment. They got it knocked down about an hour or so ago. We're fine.
Oh, and I got the actor's name wrong: Curran is being essayed by James DENTON.
I wrote two new scenes today; shooting started yesterday and today the line producer called to say they would run one minute short ... as Josh and I warned them would be the case when they started asking for cuts. Chucho Red now only appears by name. You won't see him, or learn why, if he's black, he's called Chucho Red.
Goodbye for now. Yr. pal, Harlan
To All:
Got the message and talked quickly to Harlan, he's still fine and hoping they'll get this under control.
Harlan & Susan:
I'll be watching the news to see any developments. I have gigs for the next five days, some out of state. Please stay in touch via Alexa's cell (when you can). I'll keep up with the situation from wherever I am. If you end up needing us for any reason, we'll get there. Love Tim, Andrea & Alexa.
You've probably already thought of this, Harlan -- renting a storage facility where you can store/migrate your valuables.
Here's hoping the flames die down. Man, California is taking a beating this year.
I'm Sure You'll Be Alright, But...
Harlan,
What Steve said. I'm a WLA local.
Harlan and Susan
Clearly you have lots of resources and friends in the area, but do not hesitate to call any of us in the LA region for support/help. Duane, myself and others I'm sure would be happy to assist in any way possible.
ATTENTION ATTENTION ATTENTION
For those of you watching the news ...
Yes, the wildfire is near us.
No, we are not in any I M M E D I A T E danger. That is the word for now. Please, let anyone who should know about us be informed NOT NOT NOT to call us to ask if we're all right. Either we will be, or the whole joint will go to ashes. No way of knowing till they get the Benedict Canyon blaze under control which, at the moment, it is not. It's already burned 9000 acres and is running north, uphill to Mulholland, one canyon east of us. About a mile and a half, I'd guess.
I post this to apprise you, not to alarm you; I couldn't think of any other way to keep those of you we love from calling us, panic-stricken.
This message may itself seem hysterical, but that's only because the smell of ashes is in the house, the plume of smoke rises over the hill above us, everything is covered with ash and soot, and it's 118 degrees at point of fire-line, where we watch on CBS as trees explode into flames.
So, yeah, I'm fretful, but we're okay so far, and I wanted you to know--and I've called Tim to ask him to post this, but he's not home--so you wouldn't call us.
When things quiet down, one way or the other, I'll be back in touch.
Harlan
"CURRAN will be played by JAMES CARTER, most recently excellent in a continuing role on "Desperate Housewives." "
Been Googling around for the past 10-15 minutes trying to find out what role James Carter plays on DH, but I'm finding zero results. Can anyone clue me in?
THE LATEST ON "THE DISCARDED"
BENJAMIN WINFIELD:
As most of the cast will be drawn from the wide and diverse pool of Canadian talent--being that the episode is shot in Vancouver--I won't know who is whom, save one:
CURRAN will be played by JAMES CARTER, most recently excellent in a continuing role on "Desperate Housewives."
Beyond that, I am sanguine as to who will play ANNIE (a major major major role, that does not appear in the original story), HARMONY TEAT, RIILA, SMILER, CHUCHO RED and others. Don't forget, kiddies, the written word is not the demanding visual reimagining. Josh and I have corrected all the sophomoric errors I made in the short story, have expanded and added scenes, have unified and enhanced the background (on which the producers have spent more than $40,000 for only ONE (1) SET!!!) and in general have turned a one-trick pony into three rings of the Big Top.
I think we're ALL going to be blown away by this effort. At last, finally; and we go up to Vancouver Sunday, for a Tuesday shoot.
Cross your fingers that I don't blow it.
All best, Yr. pal, Harlan
As recently as 20 years ago it was perfectly legal to install lead pipes. Obviously anyone drinking water from a lead pipe would soon be poisoned.
DTS: I've been on the bandwagon a long while (I'm no Granola but I recycle, compost, use low-wattage halogen blubs, only use the car for trips outside the city and otherwise use transit) and have taken David Suzuki as my person savior (non-Canadians will not get this but take it for granted that it's funny to us). It's just now become so obvious to even yokels who can only see the truth in the spare, sober minutes after rising and downing their first six beer that it is getting a might warmer every summer.
And because no one took me aside and said, 'You must read "Riders of the Purple Wage"' years ago because it's a story that gives and gives and gives and makes you uncomfortable in all the right ways I'm going to make a public service annoucement to all the others who haven't had the pleasure and say: Stop doing whatever it is you think is important and go out and find a copy of "Riders of the Purple Wage" so that you may have the unqualified joy of reading such a wonderful story. It's so good you actually have to give credit to Harlan for buying it. After reading the first couple of pages I thought it was cleverly written but it's basically jazz, that is, public masterbation only for the benefit of author. But after a few more pages the metric ton of jargon and slang piles up in context and you settle eyes deep into a story in which every line rewards the reader. I put it right up there with Jeffrey Ford's "The Empire of Ice Cream" and Ted Chiang's "Tower of Babel" which I push on people with more conviction than a bible salesman.
A comic version of A SCANNER DARKLY has just been published that uses frames from the film as panels. This is the graphic version of the "novelization" tie-in I suppose. I have nothing against a good comic but it's a shame to give people even more of an incentive not to attempt to read Dick's beautiful sad book.
The Cube
Tony, here's what you're looking for:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cube
http://www.eofftv.com/episodes/n/nbc_experiment_in_television/cube_1969_main.htm
Note the producer/director/co-writer. His career took him in a different direction.
Not available on DVD, apparently. A posting on www.aintitcool.com says: "The only places to see Henson's Cube are The Museum of Television & Radio Los Angeles and New York City: www.mtr.org"
I remember the program vividly. Scared the hell out of me. Especially the ending: "strawberry jam."
ZUZ
Hey, Harlan
Any chance of seeing you do the acting thang, live?
Webderland Day, On The Set, August 1st? That would be neato.
-Keith
the things that keep me awake at night
Okay, I am still Googling, but I've hit some dead ends.
-- as I meantioned at Minicon, I read a version of "Repent, Harlequin" in a men's slick, likely late 1975. I'd read the story before, of course, & was killing time. I was surprised to find the story we all know & etc to be bracketed by a tale of very vaguely related premise, with no other credits, & thus far I've only located one other person who recalls it, though he's even worse on details. The framing tale involves a young man whose time is about to literally run out -- the premise being that people get a certain amount of time, & it substitutes for cash, & when it runs out an explosive squib in your head goes off. Just as he's about to get a "loan" from a giddy honeymooning couple, his time runs out. If I could find the provenance of this, I could put those neural paths to better use.
-- NBC "Experiment in Television," a teleplay called "The Cube." Because of the title, harder'n hell to track down, but I did at one time own a book of plays that had the script. Anyone else watch this series?
-- speaking of which, another called "Moby Tick," which forever skewed my attitude toward theatre so that I presently consider Ionesco "mainstream." I've managed to find the script, but the small-studio performance was dazzling, as anything that combines Melville & "To Tell the Truth" had better be.
-- any ideas how I'd go about finding whether tapes of that show even exist in the NBC vaults?
HARLAN or JOSH,
We've already heard who will be filling Bedzyk's and Samswope's deformed shoes, but since shooting on THE DISCARDED is approximately one week away, can you possibly drop any hints as to who will be playing the two OTHER major roles - namely, Harmony Teat and Alan Curran?
Weather, climate and stuff
Susan - HERC packages have arrived safely both at Samanda's and my homes. Thanks.
All - what is going on with the wx? High so far in July down here on South Georgia coast has been 98 degrees (fondly) fahrenheit. With humidity, still stifling, but not unusual for July. However, drought (Level 1 per State) is with us and there are few 4 PM thundershowers, which were once the norm this time of year.
S. Georgia folk complain about the weather as a matter of ritual, like asking about your health. ("How ya' doin?") But elsewhere it appears to be truly extreme.
Just a couple of years ago Georgia came to the end of a 4 to 5 year drought. Now, we are into another. Already. It occurred to me during the previous drought that it may not just be "weather" but the start of a change in climate. (Difference between weather and climate: Climate is what you expect and weather is what you get.)
Keep cool, ya'll.
yrs
wcf
REPLIES
KITTY: Nice meeting you, too. And no, the single active verb for "overreachingly punitive" has not been stated as yet, much to my annoyance.
JOSH: Gee, I'm sorry. I told your mother; but I fear she didn't have the heart to break yours:
You didn't get the job.
Bee-atch.
Yr. pal, (the WORKING actor) Harlan
Fucked-up typing skills
AND make that here, not hear (Okay, so I don't _type_ the Queen's English) -DTS (in self-exile for three days)
A P.S. "oops"
ER, MAKE that "socially-accepted" in my post-script rant (diet coke, ADHAD and slow thinking make for a dangerous mix when typing fast) --DTS
All reet is right
...and the temperature today will read 93 degrees criminally Fahrenheit
to say nothing of the 41% lugubriously humidity
what a world!
Rick
Kell Comes Around, and Other Strange Rants
KELL: Wecome to the Global Warming "party" -- even if you're lat in arriving. And your opinion doesn't have to be based on anecdotal evidence. More an More scientists are stating - unequivocally - that Global Warming is a fact. Actually, they were never uncertain about that; just about whether mankind's pollution contribution was adding to the mix and speeding things up. That, too, is now a certainty where 99% of scientists are concerned. (Lots of great, recent articles can be found in magazines at local libraries; and Tom Brokaw even hosted a Discovery Channel show about Global Warming that was informative even for those in the know. Insofar as anecdotal evidence is concerned, I was confused as far back as the mid to late 80s, when I read how scientists were on the fence, waiting for more data to be evaluated. _I_ was convinced way back then, and I don't know jack about most sciences. But it was common sense: add something to the soup and it's _bound_ to change the flavor and the make-up. So, as far as I was concerend, 100+years (at the time) of industrial pollution was obviously changing our planet's atmosphere and affecting global temperatures. What the hell. Like I always tell the girls (both of whom are smarter than I): bright people -- and brilliant people -- often forget to use common sense.
Sigh. I feel like the Jeff Goldblum character in "Jurrassic Park": I speak the Queen's English, I enunciate clearly. Still, no believes or listens to me. I warned everyone about Bush (even hear on Webderland), how he would turn into The Man Who Wants to Be King. And while I'm at it: no amount of negotiating will change things in the Middle East, that cat & dog fight has been going on since well before any of us were born and it'll be around years after we're gone (as long as humans are around). Also, don't eat chocolate while wearing white clothes and never get involved in a land war in Asia. That'll be five dollars please (burp).
--DTS
P.S. Anyone read about that nutball woman who gave over 200 grand to a psychic and then whined about it on 20/20? Worse, an editor from "Skeptic" rationalized her behavior to some extent by saying, "All of us are potentially gullible." Etc., etc. Of all people who would defend stupidity brought about by belief in supernatural crap! And editor from "Skeptic!" Wish he would've been blunt and said something liek, "This is what comes of willful ignorance, lack of education and the influence of societally accepted supernatural organizations and religions (Christian, Muslim, Hebrew, etc). And he should have pointed out how sad it is that, at the begining of the 21st Century, the mass of men (and women) are still believing in what amounts to the adult equivalent of the Santa Claus myth (i.e. religions involving watchful dieties and promises of happily everafter if you just behave, eat your cornflakes, and believe).
Josh
Yes. I know. I caught that. Too late to edit. I was hoping you wouldn't. Please chalk it up to heat, exhaustion, heat exhaustion, nimroddedness, thickheadedness and various other Sunday Morning afflictions.
I enjoyed 80% of your panel, though would have edited it down to the moderator, Noveck, Nelson and yourself. That would have comprised the meat of the content without the fat of the egos. IMHO. Sadly, the three of you were left of the ... extended commentaries. (No, I don't mind being churlish. I paids my money and wants my panel the way I wants it.)
Harlan: Tell the man he GOT the job.
_______________________________________________
Morning weather report: The entire nation is in flames. California power grid at critical.
Bush denies connection to global warming. News at 11.
(83 at 8:00am in Norwalk, CA.)
That'll teach me to post before reading everything.
Previous post should read Kitty MIHOS.
And as far as I know, Kitty, we still don't have the word. Very frustrating....
Absolutely lovely meeting you.
Weather related matters
Did you know, Putnam, more people are murdered at ninety two degrees Fahrenheit than any other temperature? I read an article once - lower temperatures people are easy-going, over ninety two it's too hot to move but just ninety two, people get irritable.
Sheriff Matt Warren to John Putnam,
It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Steve,
Thanks for saying hi. I was out of there pretty quickly, too. I'd been down there since Thursday morning, and was just burned out on the whole Con, plus I had to get back to LA in time for dinny dins with the Ellisons and their charming pals Neil Gaiman and Kitty, whose last name I did not catch.
The panel was, I thought, kinda dull this year. Also, there were too many of us, so we missed the usual interaction with the crowd, which is always both the low AND the highlight of it all for me. (You truly get both the worst and the best questions).
"Ad nauseum was a phrase that at least one panelist (no names!) brought to mind"
Yes. Well. It would be churlish of me to comment.
But, yeah.
PS: No Brief in A History Of Violence....
PPS: Harlan has yet to tell me I have the job. But we start shooting next week.
first time post here,
just wanted to thank my gracious host & hostess, Harlan & Susan for a Saturday evening full of chopsticks & proper living instruction. the strange wind that blew over the canyon that night was welcomed, as our temperature gauges were feeling broken. My question, to Harlan, Josh, Neil or the ladies: was the missing word ever located? I asked my librarian of a mother, and she is still sorting through her database...ps my Mandarin should be best described as studied rather than spoken... wonderful to meet you all.
sincerely, Kitty
Oh it's no feat to beat the heat. All reet! All reet!
As readers discovered it is quite a feat to beat the heat and like the android in "Fondly Fahrenheit" it's making me feel murderous. I know forming an opinion about a scientific phenomenon based on antecdotal evidence is poor use of the brain but I'm convinced by the last decade of summers that Global Climate Change (formerly global warming) is real. I walk on the shady side of the street, I see umbrellas more commonly deployed as parsols and it just 'seems' hotter in the summer and it has been noticably warmer during the winters and in Canada there's been a stark difference even year to year.
My Dad has certificate issued by the City of Edmonton in 1974 that declares he was a resident at time when the temperature did not rise above -30C for thirty four days straight. I can't remember the last time the temperature even got below -20C without windchill and perversely I'm beginning to miss it.
To Steve Jarrett
Steve,
I read your post only minutes after you made it, but it really affected me, and that’s why I haven’t responded until now. For one thing, I know you (even if only just a little bit), and that made your words come home and kick off their shoes. Even though we’ve only met up at DragonCon, I consider you a friend.
I am sorry for your loss, and I am glad you were able to pull something important from the experience you went through. I have never read anything like what you wrote, and the maturity, and insight and emotion of your post has allowed me to see a new vista of human experience.
I’m happy you’re still here.
-Keith
"The hills are alive with brushfires." Any near you Harlan?
The last few days:
"When the end was seen to be inevitable, the reactions of all of Earth population were polarized. Bizarrely. The majority of the "average" people went mad in proscribed ways: catatonia, libertinism, utter apathy, psychotic behavior, violence, self-pity, hopelessness. But there was a sizable Minority who reconciled themselves to the death of the planet and who resolved to keep the seed of humanity alive. They wre artists and physicians and technicians and philosophers who realized the ony thing left to them was saving a segment of the Earth's population that could viably be sent into space to settle on other worlds.
To this, they began to build the Ark."
By the very tip of last night's lightening bolts, we may, indeed, be seeing the beginnings of this fate.
However, the passage I quoted was not from AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH or a clairvoyant environmentalist or some cynical Rabbi (though that's getting closer)...it is from the series bible written by Harlan and Ben Bova for...
THE STARLOST.
I found the entire series outline...the template for every episode, complete with backstory, character outline, and scientific detail on the construction of the Ark.
It's astounding! I LOVE this thing. Moreover, I recognize conceptual elements from the series BABYLON 5, particularly as this was the FIRST to refer to the series concept as a "novel for television" - with a carefully designed story arc, etc. I had NO idea B5 drew so many of its elements from this outline.
As much as I admire B5 (after the 1st season, which did nothing for me), Starlost was a more intriguing idea; and having learned so much more about it, it angers me and frustrates me even more than these years prior to know end over the stupid fate the series met. What a fuckin' shame; this could have easily been the finest sf series of all time.
If they took another shot at it, and tried reinventing the series, I would want to see the scientific accuracy (inspired by 2001) it originally aspired to rather than the "Star Wars" look B5 rather took on (spacecraft moving around like WWII fighter planes in the vacuum of space, hearing noises out there, etc).
Well, anyway...all I can say is, Ellison and Bova...you guys had one beatiful concept here; I really, REALLY enjoyed reading the whole schema.
Ellison on television
YEEE-HAH!
Just finished typing up the last of my first-time-ever Index (and incidental proofreading notes) for what will be the Charnel House edition of _The Glass Teat_. All the time I put in on the project this past week took my mind off the boredom and occasional pain of recuperating from last Monday's knee surgery at home, having taken off the week from the day job. Plus three phone conversations with Da Man.
For one brief shining moment, I know this book better than anyone else on the planet, better even than its author, and it was a fascinating exercise to read through it twice in quick succession, carefully and closely.
I don't have a copy of the 1984 or '85 Ace edition, but I have the 1970 Ace and 1975 Pyramid, and I was astounded by how many things were incorrectly spelled, or just plain wrong, in those earlier versions, which apparently just kept getting copied over from one edition to the next.
I mean, "Peter Palmer" is the secret identity of Spider-Man?!!! (See Installment 12).
Others: Stepin Fetchit repeatedly misspelled with two "p"s? The host of "Let's Make a Deal" identified as "Monte" Hall? Ellison writes a treatment of _The Name of the Game_ in which the Robert Stack character attempts to prove a "direct casual link" between pornography and violence (1970 Ace had the correct "causal," but Pyramid had it wrong).
This one may not turn out to be perfect but it'll be a damn sight better than any previous, and with an index, you'll be able swiftly to locate the tale Harlan's uncle told him of the worst thing he had ever done, when he was a British commando in World War II . . . or the references to Betty Crocker Bake-Off, Blue Meanies, and Quantrell's Raiders . . . not to mention the Giant Tapioca Pudding That Swallowed Pittsburgh. . . .
When the Canadian is cookin'. . .
Start worrying.
Jeez, it was about 34 degrees Celsius up here in Calgary (which translates to about 93 degrees Farenheit) today. When the Great White North is boiling hot, I think it's time we on the board of trustees gave this 'global warming' thing a thorough looking over. . .
Still and all it was actually a pretty decent weekend up here, all things considered. Some friends and I took a pal having a birthday up to Banff for the day; we took in the hot springs (which are -awesome- by the by, made me feel like a fit lad of 20 again), walked the city, taking in the mountains and enjoying fine food and good company. My one regret is that I fell asleep in the back seat of my friend's car and cricked my neck out of joint or something, because I'm in quite a lot of pain. Ibuprofin do your stuff.
Pop culturally I remain abreast of the current trends; got some Brisco County Jr. in the DVD player which is entertaining me mightily, and I've bought the latest wave of comics from DC. I've even helped start a book club in my brother's chapter of the Star Wars FanForce. Before you reach for the hose to blast the scent of fan from my flesh, may I remind the court that I enjoy the social interaction, and the people there are all geniunely good eggs one and all, with one or two exceptions.
Worldcon eh Harlan? Man, you can never just go to the cons that I actually arrange to go to, can you? You delight in making my life complicated. Yeah, that's right, you walk away like you can't hear what I'm saying. Pfft. Regardless, I may try to track you down when I'm in LA next year, God willing and the creek don't rise. I'm lucky if I know what I'm doing in the next hour and a half, let alone the next year.
Hope this message finds you and Susan well. I'll see you when I see you.
All the best,
Stacy
(sorry -- I hit the wrong button)
....VISA or MASTERCARD logo on it, get rid of it immediately. I wish I would have.
The message in question came from my bank's fraud department. Somehow, some dirtbag had got hold of my account information and used it to spend $2000.00 of my hard earned money at WalMart. Not plastic pretend credit card money, but ACTUAL PAYCHECK MONEY. You know, the money I use to pay my mortgage with....
I called back, got the card cancelled, and at 5:00 am tomorrow morning will begin the long, ardurous process of getting my money back. I have no idea how successful I'll be.
But there is one thing I am sure of: Debit cards with credit card logos are of the devil, and if my god damned credit union doesn't refund every single FUCKING CENT I lost, I will take them to court.
And this is the last time I will ever use a debit card with a credit logo on it. They are the road to financial ruin.
He who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
How I Handled The Heat (And Other Things....)
THING ONE:
I live three miles from the ocean in Santa Monica, and it was 105 degrees at my house. And humid, boy!! I grew up in Phoenix, and I had never been this hot since my salad days in that sweltering burg.
So what did I do?
I drove out to the polo fields at Will Rogers State Park (there actually was polo going on), parked my car, and walked about a half mile to one of the few year round creeks that meander through the Santa Monica Mountains. After walking about a hundred yards down the creek and away from the trail, I found a small pool with a two foot high waterfall. Not much, but when I sat in the pool and allowed the water to cascade down around my shoulders, all thoughts of heat went away. It was 45 minutes of pure heaven.
Then I went home and found my answering machine blinking, which leads me to
THING TWO:
If ANY of you have a bank debit card with either a VISA or MASTERCARD
....and enough about the heat, you wimps! If it's under 110 in July, it's a cool spell out here. We've conquered the desert with A/C, and I ain't ashamed to use it.....and after my daily 2-mile walk in the furnace, it's easy to suck down some ice cold water and hop into a nice cool shower.
105? 106? Ahhhhh, that's sleeping-with-open-windows temps!
-TODD
Profit vs. Non-profit. Corporate takeover of dealer room displays. Massive crowds. Expensive hotels and food.
The wife and I just returned from our second annual week at Comic-Con.....and we loved it.
Say what you may about it, the 4+ days of pop culture orgasm is splendidly run. It takes over the entire city, it moves over 100,000 people throughout, and I continue to be surprised at their hotel shuttle service. It is always timely, it is always friendly......and that alone makes for a wonderful time despite the amazing mass of human and non-humankind moving and flowing and jostling and lining up and I never once heard a complaint or bitch session the way I would at a simple meal at Denny's when TwoTon Tillie does not get her gravy smothered mashed taters quick enough.
I must commend those that run the show, and those that attend. I heard more yelling at the local Ross cheap clothing store last weekend by bitchin' trash whores screaming at innocent cashiers than I heard at this mass of humanity.
Well done. Back next year. -TODD
Heat? Pah!
You buncha wimpy-arsed lightweights. Quit whinging. In Kuwait the highs were 45-55C (~115-130F) every day for around late may through mid september. In late august the winds would change, and we'd get the instant humidity from the seas. UGH. Now *that* was hot!!
(Seriously, my sympathies... It's only 95-105 for most of the summer here in Houston, with humidity 70-95%... wait a minute... you're still a bunch a pansies!!)
Ok, really, I pity the lot of ya, if for no other reason than the heat's tough to take when you aren't used to it. It's got to be one of few times when it's actually hotter in So Cal and elsewhere than it is in Houston.
Stay cool folks...
Peg
Steve:
Aside from being overworked, I'm swell, thanks. I've got my health and a few bucks.
----------------------------------
Velvet:
You know how Vancouverites love to bitch about the weather: "Oh my god, things aren't pleasant!" (I currently live about 1000 km from Vancouver, but I resided there for eighteen years, and I reserve the right to make fun of the inhabitants.)
Where I live, the temperature has reached 90 (32 C) in the last few days, which is unusual, but it ain't LA. Thank you, Jesus.
D.
Heat wave
Harlan,
This is a good time for you and Susan to do a movie crawl at the nearest multiplex that has working A/C, preferably during the afternoon. Also, go to a public library-take some work with you or do some reading-your health is at stake now, deadlines be damned.
Ciao,
Colleen
Checks and Balance (Oh, Waiter! Check Please!)
A few days late, several dollars short, but here's my contribution to the lunacy. Death threats and anti-social sniping will be cheerfully ignored.
Douglas Harrison:
It doesn't sound like you're very cold right now, friend. I, a fully-acclimatized centre-of-the-universe-dweller, snorted Pepsi out my nose at the media-induced frenzy over the "killer heat wave", that hasn't even cracked forty degrees, that is allegedly currently blast-furnace-ing the great Pacific NorthWet. It's been consistently over forty, with a few exceptions, out here in the centre, for entirely too many days this summer.
All and Sundry and Laundry too (Please Skip, for those of you who are conversationally averse to the religious discussions):
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg18825271.700
Yeah, you have to subscribe. Yeah that sucks. But I remembered reading it last year, so here it is. Some scientists claimed, late last year, to have seen a certain part of the brain (think it was in the parietal lobe) light up under MRI when the subjects were forced to make moral choices.
So, it ain't just an old guy with a beard up in the sky that's keeping those Bible-thumping whackjobs from blowing each other up (uhhh wait bad example), and we self-professed nihilistic sociopathic atheists may actually be biologically capable of doing the right thing, after all. Who'da thunk it?
Okay. Tongue OUT of cheek. Is there "something" out there that started it all? Even if there is, our minds are biologically wired to NOT be able to comprehend it. Mathematically speaking, physicists hit a wall (both literally and metaphorically) when they try and run equations for periods prior to the creation of our universe (whichever creation theory you prefer, Bang or Expansion or Whimper or And Some Guy Said Let There be Light).
The math, quite literally, breaks down. (The books of professor Brian Greene are an excellent and highly accessible source for information on this, by the way.) We don't know now, and it's looking a lot like we'll never ever know, unless we reach a level of existence where we can actually see Calabri-Yau shapes (I know that's misspelled, but my copy of The Fabric of the Cosmos is under boxes right now.), and that doesn't look like it's going to happen tomorrow, or without some vast re-wiring of our physiological neurobiology. Which is the long-winded version of why I am agnostic.
Back here on this little dirtball at the end of this particular galaxy, I'm definitely a self-professed atheist...when it comes to organized religion. Show me a single organized religion, just one, that doesn't have some form of violence or fundamentalism, in either its history, or its present-day makeup. Okay, the Quakers, I'll give you that. But one religion out of hundreds of thousands is not a great and shining example of how religion benefits the masses, and promotes peace and tolerance towards all. Exactly the opposite, it seems to me.
Balance, however, is key to everything. I'm with Peter. Don't shove your brand of AND|NOT reasoning down my throat, whether it be Bible-thumping or "secular humanism" (Which, at least in my particular neck of the woods, seems to be a group of people running around going, "Hey! Let's have our own brand of religious ceremonies, WITHOUT GOD!" Your location may vary.), don't proselytize it to me, and we'll get along famously.
Like the bumper sticker says. Freedom OF religion also means freedom FROM religion. If the Middle East is any indication, the world at large would be a lot better off without it. Especially when you take into consideration the fact that the Muslims and the Catholics and the Christians ALL BELIEVE THE SAME THING. They just blow each other up because the brand names and marketing campaigns are different. I'm sorry, that can't be right.
My two bucks' worth. I shall retire to the recesses of the shadows now.
Velvet
Holy mother of God.
(sorry for the second post)
I assume Harlan has air conditioning, but the overloaded Southern California power grid is ready to collapse.
STEVE:
118
it was 94 at midnight
he
ComicCon Report
Attended Comic-Con on a blazingly hot and suprisingly humid Saturday. Yesterday.
Parking, as always, was a nightmare. 1 1/2 hours to drive from LB to SD, another 45 minutes to navigate the Convention Center environs to locate a suitable spot (on the farside of Petco Center for those keeping track). Next year: offsite parking and trolley in.
Lines, even for preregistration were ridiculous (another 30 minutes just to get into the center itself), but once you made it through the glass doors, getting up the escalator and picking up the tag was very fast. Next year: better door volunteers.
Picked our way through some very cool stuff in the TV and film arena. Sadly, nothing about MASTERS OF SF, though that would have been appropos, I think. Met and talked to Cam De Leon (www.happypencil.com), an extraordinary artist I think you all would like intensely. His work echoes H.R. Giger's in a way without being derivative. Harlan, I think you in particular might like his stuff.
Met and had a great time with Stephan Martiniere, also a terrific artist and author of QUANTUM DREAMS.
Met -- and this was one of the true highlights of my year -- Ray Harryhausen at the everypicture.com booth. What a wonderful moment, and he was a very pleasant and gracious gentleman despite what must have been an overwhelming crush of (people) wanting his time without spending any kind of money at the Every Picture booth. (Yes, I bought the book and the signed edition is now a precious member of my library.) (Also met Berke Breathed, originator of the much-missed BLOOM COUNTY strip). Embarrassing shock of the day: I was not aware, and shame on me, that Bradbury is a visual artist...
Also had a great time at the Bakshi booth with Ralph's assistant Jess. My friend (a writer as well as amateur film maker) and Jess agreed to stay in touch -- then we found out she's a photographer as well as painter. New friends, new friends. Which, of course, delayed us until we had to rush upstairs to catch the Graphic Novels to Films panel.
Great panel, excellent comments, though not enough time for Mr. Josh Olson who was sitting at the extreme far end from the moderator. Some of those in between (and Josh knows it's true) could really use a verbal editor in addition to the literary kind. Ad nauseum was a phrase that at least one panelist (no names!) brought to mind. When finally the mod made his way to Josh things picked up nicely (suckup, suckup, suckup).
Josh: Has Harlan actually ever told you you got the job????
(I guess I should include everyone on this: Mr. Olson recounted how he'd been consistantly told he was NOT getting the A BRIEF HISTORY OF VIOLENCE script assignment right up to the day they handed it to him.)
And I will mention that Josh glowingly mentioned Harlan as a specific influence, which was a nice touch.
(Josh, sorry I just said hello and dashed. Would have preferred to stick around for a few more minutes, but like you I had to get back to LA -- by 5pm in my case. Made it with only 15 minutes to spare.)
Hot, muggy, noisy, overwhelming, packed. ComicCon was everything we wanted it to be. Made new friends, new contacts, met a Legend (capital L), and bought some interesting things found nowhere else in the universe.
___________________________________________
Harlan, BTW, is not exaggerating the heat around here. Hollywood was a cool 96 degrees at 12:15am this morning. Along the afternoon drive home from ComicCon I noted temps as high as 108 in Laguna Canyon, 104 in Huntington Beach, and 101 here in Long Beach (fortunatelyt dropping to a cool 93 in my own neighborhood). Cities with "Beach" in the name should be legally barred from a three digit reading, but there you are. Harlan, I don't even WANT to know how hot it got in the Valley yesterday...
I saw "SHE" available on DVD right now on Amazon for $26.99 (the Randolph Scott version). Hmmm...payday's this week, I may be tempted to get myself a subscription to Netflix and add this title to ones I've never seen but should.
I love this website...I learn about new things all the time here.
Harlan vs SHE
Harlan, I recall you talking about SHE and reading about it somewhere in one of your books, so I know how pleased you would be in hearing about it. Harryhausen is getting up a website and will no doubt have news about SHE as it gets closer to release around November 2006. I will be happy to pass on any additional news I find. You will plotz when you see the scene where SHE enters the column of fire!
St. Louis area still has hundreds of thousands with no power since the big storms on Wednesday. We have had tornados that haven't caused this much widespread damage. Thursday the heat index here was 120. Things have cooled off but recovering is pretty slow going. Even with the help from the neighboring states and the National Guard.
Global warming is not just a theory.
Chris
While I wish I could match Harlan's recounting of his inferno-like experiences, all I can say right now is that I'm currently in Romania involved in charity work. I'm writing this from an internet cafe, and my time's already running out.
Interetsing place, from what I've seen so far. Everything's delipatated to varying degrees. Lots of statues.
Lots, and LOTS of statues.
SHE
Hammer's remake of SHE was the first of their films that I ever saw. Ursula Andress's deterioration at the climax horrified me as a young boy. Managed to see the original many years later, on a double bill with the Ronald Colman LOST HORIZON (man, what a day THAT was!).
(Incidentally, the BBC have just finished transmitting a new two-part dramatisation of SHE on their Radio 4 Classic Serial slot - it was excellent. There is also a US audio adaptation available on cassette, with Kathleen Turner as Ayesha. Well worth tracking down.....)
thanks
Rob
That should be "ribald" conversation.
he
Had a terrific evening with Josh and his former writing-partner, a charming young woman named Kay (whom I variously called "Amy" and "Audrey" for reasons beyond ratiocination), with my honey Susan, and my pal Neil Gaiman and yet another lovely woman (who speaks Mandarin, no less), name of Kitty.
We met at the house in preparation for having the febrile cilia in our noses chainsawed by the flame-filled air, bolted for the valley, Josh had zipped back up from Dago and the Comic-Con to meet us, and we moto-vated ourownselfs to Mogo's Mongolian Barbeque (almost forty years a customer, and still going strong)
where we threw groceries down our necks like maddened dingos. Then back to the house for ribals conversation, with a weird Bradburylike chill wind blowing through the scorched canyon. Eerie. Now it's gone, the wind is down, the lightning is no more, and I am ready for kippy-bye.
Hoping you are the same, Yr. pal, Harlan
MARK SPIELER:
SHE is one of my great loves. The scene in which Randolph Scott comes upon the caveman being leapt upon by the saber-tooth, snd both of them frozen in the ice for millennia, is an image that has stayed with me for over sixty years. You MUST, if you love me at all, keep me in the up-to-date loop that will apprise me instantest when this becomes available! I am COUNTING ON YOU!
Yr. pal from the Hamaragger Mtns., Harlan
Harlan on Heat
HARLAN: Damn! Even when yer melting you're twice as good as just about anyone else. Fill that tub with ice and water, then you and Susan climb in! (Worked for me on those hot, AC-free summer nights in South Texas and even, believe it or not, Massachusetts.
--DTS
"SHE"
I will leave others to talk about San Diego Comic-con, crowds, promotions, etc. I found only one topic that I think would prove of interest to the room and Unca Harlan.
"SHE"
Merrian C. Cooper's version of the Haggard novel, with Helen Gahagen as She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed. Probably one of the greatest adventure/fantasy pictures of the era, underseen and definately underappreciated for the great film that it is.
Now another name.
Ray Harryhausen.
"SHE" is one of Harryhausen favorite films and he became involved with a San Diego company called Legend Films in a restoration and colorization of the film.
Yes, my teeth grind together when I see the word colorization. I have yet to see a good black and white movie made into a better color one. Until I saw the trailer for "SHE". The movie was originally designed for technicolor and at the last minute was changed to black and white. Legend with Harryhausen's assitance found as many color guide refrences as possible and with Ray painstaking help created not so much as a coloriazation as a color wash/hand tint look that gives a spectacular look to the footage.
It will be a DVD release in November and will carry a separate disc with the restored film in Black and White for the purists.
"SHE", the book was one of the first 'grown up' books I pulled off my parent's library shelf as a youth. Plus it was a muched watch item of the Glass Teat growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area of the late 1950's and 1960s. Its a great movie and I want to share the news to make sure this treasure doesn't slide between the cracks upon its release.
Harlan! Get some a/c installed!
Might as well greet the inferno burning away our last resources.
Cary,
What in the name of Global Warmin' ASSFRY do pumpkins have to do with science fiction? Outer Limits is pure sf. TZ is predominantly fantasy, where pumpkins do indeed belong; but not in OL.
And when it's this hot I don't like readin' comparisons between OL and TZ, as they are worlds apart in style, substance, approach, genre, and theme.
My brain pan is like a pressure cooker today. The Geek awakens in me when it's this HOT, Cary. Don't be doin' that t'me when it's this hot.
**Incidentally, it's a bit early in the heads up, but - what the hell, as that's where we are...Joe Biden should be our next president; he should have been a long time ago. When he was younger he had a smile a lot like Robert Culps. I like Robert Culp. So, I want Biden as President.
I hope I made sense because I don't even know what I just said.
Brian,
The ego thing you're seeing in some reviews is probably something that was kicked up with the excerpts of the new book regarding Shyamalan-a-ding-dong and his various, um, quirks. It's hard reading those excerpts and some of the reviews of the book without coming away thinking that Night is a tad too fragile.
And, of course, I'm gonna go see LADY. Basically, it's his one last chance to keep me as a fan. I liked SIGNS, but had some issues with it, and my quibbles with it paled in comparison to what I disliked about THE VILLAGE.
However, it's obvious the man knows how to direct a movie, and I think the horror genre is one that suits his particular methods. I would've loved to see what he could do with THE SHINING, but your suggestion of SONG OF KALI seems pretty good, too. But, yeah, he needs a new writer. The one he's got isn't doing too well for him lately.
JUST IN: OBITUARY
It is a cauldron here. Every breath an agony, struggling in a Bessemer Converter Furnace. Here on the mountaintop, in the blast oven, it is 106 molten degrees today, 104 yesterday, nothing below 101 for almost two weeks. The senses are numbed, consciousness a moment to moment memory. No sustained work can be done; we lie abed in the dark, as one with things in sepulchres. Soundless. Impenetrable and implacable. Nothing stirs; no bush, no dust swirl, no treetop. The birds hang like mutton in the branches. Simple men and women go mad around us, we hear the news: the suffocation of crib-death is on them, and they go mad.
Do not tell me there is no such thing as Global Warming, you heinous murderous arrogant cocksucker Bush! Do not tell me that your blind-eyed refusal to give us back to ANYone who can save us is not the village bully hubris of death's sock-puppet.
We are dying down here at the bottom of the cauldron. The grass screams for sweat, the air thickens like bread pudding; and we are helpless to save ourselves with the sallow likes of Gore and Franken and Chomsky, much less the apocalyptic madness of the Coulters, the Rumsfelds, the Cheneys and the mindless prattlers at Fox News, whose sole occupation is to keep us so stupid that we will sizzle and fry and die without the last moment of retribution in which to point blackened accusation.
Harlan
I have never seen any of M. Night Shyamalan's movies. I started to watch _Signs_ on night, and I've heard great things about his first coupla movies, some of which were filmed in my neighborhood. Heard bad things about the later ones. I'll get around to him eventually.
But it's a bit shocking to see so many reviews of _Lady in the Water_ get amazingly personal. The New York Times's review-- not worth linking to-- is a marvelous example: apparently, we're supposed to think about Shyamalan's reputed ego when we watch his films. The general consensus is that he's far too full of himself, not as good as we thought, full of New Agey gibberish, and not deserving of decent budgets or actors.
May be true, but who cares? I'm not working for him. And he does seem to make movies that aren't like anyone else's. If he's trying to avoid the usual superhero cliches in _Unbreakable_, or take an alien-invasion story in an odd direction with _Signs_, or create some new modern fairy-tale in this new one, then great. I'd rather see someone try something strange and _fail_.
What I _have_ seen in his films is a real knack for offbeat scares, which is a nice knack to have. (For example, one scene in _Sigsn_ I really liked. Gibson's kid says a monster was outside the window, so Gibson glances toward the window... and the look on his face is scarier than the shape we're eventually shown. That's a real Val Lewton moment.) And I think such eccentricity prevents a lot of people from enjoying movies.
Maybe Shyamalan has this knack, but he can't create a story. This isn't a deficiency. A lot of great directors have records where their best works are adaptations, but films from their original stories ain't that great.
So here's the question. We have a filmmaker of some talent, but he needs to get better stories than the ones he's creating. Any suggestions for a book or novella that'd suit his sensibilities? My first thought-- and this has nothing to do with Shyamalan's ethnic background-- is Dan Simmons' first novel _Song of Kali_.
Any others?
Now this one really hurts: requiem in pace the co-inventor of the Philadelphia Cheesesteak.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/22/us/22olivieri.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Mark
lowering the Cheez-Whiz to the bottom shelf for the next two weeks.
Thank you to all who expressed condolences on the loss of my father. One of the great overarching themes in Harlan's work through the years has been to remind us that no matter how thorny the path we walk, we are not alone. Hearing from Charles Bryan and Cary Bleasdale and Steve Barber and David Loftus about similar experiences has provided me a much needed reminder that I have plenty of company on this melancholy journey. And by the way, David, you couldn't be more right about the importance of saving a record of your loved one's recollections while their memory is still intact. I made a voice recording of Dad a few years ago, in which I asked him some questions about the family's history. As you might imagine, I am now more grateful than ever to whatever providence confered upon me the wisdom to make that recording. Also, around that same time, my wife and I talked Dad into spending a Saturday with us, taking us on a quick tour of all the places he had lived (he spent his whole life in the Greensboro, NC area except for his time in the army, which took him to Paris by way of Normandy). We took along a video camera. I wish I had done more of that.
Also, thanks for the many kind words about my earlier post. Much appreciated.
Douglas - Good to hear from you. I hope all is well in your world.
Steve J.
For your viewing pleasure.....
Since the discussion has lately centered on "The Outer Limits" I think this may be appropriate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-1aui-wluE
halloween...from the pumpkin's perspective. It has a lovely Twilight Zone/Outer Limits vibe.
Enjoy!
ALEX:
It hasn't boomeranged. Let us wait a tad longer. I have a feeling it'll just pop up one day soonest.
he
the passing of the torch
STEVE JARRETT:
Thanks for relating to us your tender experiences of the past year, so sensitively. Good to have you back, man. Between the summer of 1996 and the summer of 1999, my wife and I went through the contrasting losses of our respective fathers -- mine in a flash (drunk driver), hers on a long, hiccuping decline over a year and a half (liver disease, heart disease, Parkinson's, other stuff) through various facilities. I don't know which is harder.
I spent a good amount of time sitting with her Dad through the rough periods, and eventually -- because he was talking anyway -- started taking a tape recorder and chatting with him more formally about his earlier days. Learned a lot of things my wife and her siblings had never known about him.
I had already done this -- 14 hours' worth -- with my grandmother (my father's mother), about growing up and raising a family in frontier Alaska, and I'm sure I'll do something with that rich mother lode of stories someday.
To the rest of you, if an elder is at all willing, any time is a good time to start saving some of that precious wealth of stories. Like a good wine or personal letters, they becomes ever more valuable with the passage of time. . . .
(I'm almost finished with the painstaking job of indexing _The Glass Teat_, a fascinating process that has made a week of convalescing from knee surgery fly by relatively painlessly and boredom-free. I'll share a few thoughts about it in a few days, either here or in the Forum Board.)
Rob: No commission. Apologies if my last posting read like a commercial. Just passing on my experience, having bought *both* R1 and R2 sets! It's MGM scoring the dosh, not me.
Really REALLY looking forward to seeing Harlan and Josh's mutant offspring.
Ash, are you getting commission for that?
R.I.P. Mike Hammer
did someone already note the passing of Mickey Spillane this past Monday?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060718/ap_en_ot/obit_spillane_18
bummer,
Rick
Broken Lance
Just saw a CD of the western "Broken Lance." Very sensitive story, incredible performance by Spencer Tracy.
Harlan, regarding the package...
...alas, it never came. I've no idea whether it's lost in the system or en route back to you, but I thought I should let you know. I appreciate the thought in any case!
Harlan, I don't know if this quote came up apropos of the discussion, some months back, of how your words and Einstein's compared, but I just came upon it (and can't verify it):
"There is more stupidity in the universe than hydrogen atoms, and it has a longer shelf life." - Frank Zappa
My apologies if this is old news.
Benjamin,
Your DVD fantasy sounds lovely. Hell, I'd buy it.
Seriously.
I know Steve is down here, and if anyone else is - I'm in San Diego, at the Comic Con, having my usual lovely time. I have a small list from Harlan of stuff I need to be on the lookout for, and today's the day I do the floor. But tomorrow, at 1:30 in room 6A, I'll be doing a panel on adapting comics to film (I recently finished adapting the Japanese comic Monster for New Line, and History of Violence was, of course, a graphic novel).
It's my third year doing it, an it's always fun, although I truly don't think adapting comics presents challenges different from any other medium.
Anyway, for anyone down here, don't hesitate to swing by and say hi. Any electronic friend of Harlan's is an electronic friend of mine.
Mr. Jarrett -
We don't know each other, but your post is, as has been pointed out repeatedly and by better wordsmiths than me, poignant and telling. While the loss is devastating, those last few times spent together is the golden lining to the dark cloud. Not so different from my own time with my father-in-law (who once told me, only half-kidding, that I couldn't marry his daughter). Years from now it will be those moments, and not the deep pang of loss, that you will remember.
Well written, and welcome back.
_____________________________________________
Harlan - Want anything from ComicCon?
Anybody else?
I"m leaving for Eastern Europe today and won't have any immediate access to a computer for a good long while, so I'd just like to break Rick's one-post-a-day rule for just a moment, and offer my best wishes and sincerest condolences to Steve Jarrett.
I only wish some of the goodbyes we've had to hand out to others throughout our lives could be as satisfying and complete as the one you gave to your father.
Steve Jarrett
I too would like to thank you for your post and for sharing your heartfelt thoughts. Your words struck a chord deep within. My sincerest condolences go out to you and to yours.
Chalk this one up to the usual Ellisonian geekery, but I simply can’t help speculating about what I think many of us would L-O-V-E to see on the inevitable DVD release of THE DISCARDED adaptation. (This is all dependent on circumstances of course, in addition to how much Harlan would even WANT to indulge our whims.)
The packaging Anchor Bay utilized for the MASTERS OF HORROR releases was so definitive, it’d be lovely to see MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION receive a similar treatment.
Keep in mind this is all pure fanboy conjecture. Goofing around for the sake of goofing around.
- Widescreen Presentation (1.77.1)
- Writer’s Commentary with Harlan Ellison & Josh Olson
- Director’s Commentary with Jonathan Frakes
- The Original Short Story, read aloud by Harlan Ellison
- Behind the Scenes: The Making of THE DISCARDED
- A BOY AND HIS TYPEWRITER: An Interview with Harlan Ellison
- ON-SET: An Interview with Brian Dennehy (presumably playing Bedzyk…)
- DISCARDS ANONYMOUS: Featurette profiling every mutant character, including (if possible) footage of each actor/actresses’ transformation in the makeup chair into a Discard.
- Trailers for THE DISCARDED and other installments of MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION
- Still Gallery
Steve Jarrett
Steve; Let me add mine to the other accolades here. Your post was beautiful and from the deepest part of the heart. If I may be allowed a moment of reminisce...several years ago my grandfather, who had been, for many years, father and grandfather in one, died of a disease similar to ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) Although I was only a little shaver at the time, I remember being allowed to help him. Although watching a man I loved so dearly waste away was agonizing, I have always been glad that I had the opportunity to help him walk, the way he had helped me. My situation was the opposite of yours, my grandfather remained sharp as a tack till he died. I got a chance to be his body, his arms, his legs. And I never could put into words exactly how that felt. But what you said, that’s what it was: "not so much as a Lear-like transfer of power but rather as a partial reclamation of his lost faculties through me."
Beautifully put, Steve. And thanks for helping me finally explain that to myself. Sometimes, we do get to repay those who did the most for us, even in smallest amount.
To Steve Jarrett:
Thank you for your post. It reminded me very much of my experience, now three years past with my father. The circumstances were slightly different -- his physical health failed after a long stretch of chemotherapy, and he was in a wheelchair his last year, but he was still fairly mentally sharp until almost the end -- but I understand very much that feeling of being able to give back to someone who gave me so much, of having a very independent man come to rely on me for so many things.
We, too, had been quite close, and sometimes I miss him terribly, but just as often it seems like he's still with me and always will be.
Just as I'm sure you consider yourself lucky to have had him fo a Dad, I'm sure he felt the same about you. Peace be to you, Steve.
ROB:
What you said. So many memorable episodes, all of them (series 1 or 2 - who cares?) very very watchable. From the days when an hour was 50 minutes. What is it these days - 40? And those titles! The Forms of Things Unknown. Production and Decay of Strange Particles. ZZZZZ.
I guess you already have both DVD sets of OL. But if you don't, if you're considering buying them, and you have a Region 2 / PAL capable player, then you may prefer to order the R2 sets. The R1 discs are double-sided, and packaged in plastic cases with minimal protection between discs. With the R2 sets you get slightly larger cardboard boxes, and single-sided discs, with each disc on a separate plastic mount. The R2 discs have a nice printed label, and you don't have the fingerprint worries you have with double-sided discs.
DIY theremin is my retirement project #1.
Ezra,
"The second season only had one really good episode and that was the DEMON show written by some guy named Ellison."
The two-parter, THE INHERITORS, starring Robert Duvall, Steve Ihnat, James Frawley, and Ivan Dixon, is one of the highest points in writing and acting - of ANY genre, not just sf - in the history of the Holy Tube. Iz a mazzapice. A tour de force supreme.
That one aside, very good episodes include CRY OF SILENCE (excellent), KEEPER OF THE PURPLE TWILIGHT, SOLDIER, and even BEHOLD, ECK!, THE PREMONITION, and THE PROBE. Even the failures are interesting.
The only episode TOO disappointing are WOLF 359 (which fails to take advantage of a great, great premise) and COLD HANDS, WARM HEART.
Still, they're ALL intelligent; and there is really superb writing to be found in MUCH of the second season.
I also love that theramin.
As I said, I love the whole fucking series.
HARLAN
the fin is in the mail along with an IOU for din-din at White Castle
looking forward to the Hogan titles
Rick
'Mickey Spillane's first hour in heaven'
From today's Chicago Tribune, a swell way to honor the man. Written by Julia Keller:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0607200392jul20,1,2226895.story?page=1&cset=true&ctrack=1&coll=chi-opinionfront-hed
I don't normally buy the trinkets and toys that you guys seem to get, but I'd loooooove to have this thing.
http://www.sotatoys.com/prod_marvel.htm
Unfortunately, it's in the "wife kicks husband's ass for being moronic enough to shell out this kinda money when he's got a perfectly good chess set he hasn't used in years" price range.
Oh, well. I still think it looks kinda neat.
STEVE JARRETT: Very nice post, Steve.
RICK: You may want to add visual confirmation to the forums, 'cause bots are starting to overrun the place.
Rick: Got your HERC renewal. Thanks.--Susan
Thanks for the update on Deathbird, Harlan.
Damn!
RICK: I only clicked once, I swear!--DTS
Harlan's Thermonuclear vibrations; Jarrett's post
HARLAN: Kind of a laid-back schedule of late, huh? Writing new stories, introductions and teleplay, copy-editing old books, acting, recording books on tape ("Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes"! Can't wait to hear the rest of the contents of Volume 3).
What!? With such a light schedule you couldn't find a little time to help clean the neighbor's pool and sort out the problems in the Middle East? Slacker! (Better have Susan pour some icewater down your pantaloons, cause all that activity is giving off thermonuclear vibes).
Best to you and Susan,
-DTS (who's thinking of suing Lucas and Co. for stealing my trademark initials)
P.S. STEVE JARRETT: I second Harlan's remarks. That post was a beautifully written, and exceptionally thoughtful as regards human relations and all that comes with them.
Harlan's Thermonuclear vibrations; Jarrett's post
HARLAN: Kind of a laid-back schedule of late, huh? Writing new stories, introductions and teleplay, copy-editing old books, acting, recording books on tape ("Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes"! Can't wait to hear the rest of the contents of Volume 3).
What!? With such a light schedule you couldn't find a little time to help clean the neighbor's pool and sort out the problems in the Middle East? Slacker! (Better have Susan pour some icewater down your pantaloons, cause all that activity is giving off thermonuclear vibes).
Best to you and Susan,
-DTS (who's thinking of suing Lucas and Co. for stealing my trademark initials)
P.S. STEVE JARRETT: I second Harlan's remarks. That post was a beautifully written, and exceptionally thoughtful as regards human relations and all that comes with them.
New-old thread: Great Unpublished Book In Author's Trunk
New here; thanks to HE for the forums.
As per a previous topic, here's proof that the Great, Unpublished Trunk Book does exist (contrary to HE's omniscient opinion):
www.speedyshare.com/922116589.html
This is a PDF file of my SF novel, GO MONSTER. I have two novels published, by Tor and Villard.
DISCLAIMER: I admit to neither modesty nor inaccuracy in claiming this novel is great.
Thanks,
H. C. Turk
P.S.: Still waiting for the LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS.... (This should be a bumper sticker.)
Thanks for the Goons support. I shall always wear it
Glad to see there are others, including Mr. Ellison, that enjoy the Goons.
To clarify what Mr. Siano said, the short film that the Beatles enjoyed was the "Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film" which was nominated for an Oscar. It was made due partially to critics saying that Milligan's humo(u)r was limited to radio. The film is a wonderful collection of sight gags, no plot.
For another dose of great visual Goon humor, there is "The Case of the Mukkinese Battle-Horn", another short. Both films seem to be available here:
http://www.earthstation1.com/Merchant/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=E&Product_Code=GSFTRJSSFTCOTMBDV&Category_Code=SB
I cannot attest to the audio or video quality of this DVD or the vendor.
For those who bought "A Hard Day's Night" issued by Voyager on Video CD (!), the "Running..." film is included and it is the best print I have seen before or since. Amazon has vendors with used copies.
I also got a chance to meet Sir Milligan and Sir Harry Secombe (they were both knighted) at a Goon Show Convention in the 1990s, which was one of their last joint appearances. On the occasion of Milligan's knighthood (didn't make it to THAT event, of course) Milligan said Prince Charles (a big Goon show fan) was one who groveled and insinuated that his parents were not married. That and more is addressed here:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/mar2002/mill-m07.shtml
Mr. Davis is not alone in his admiration for "Puckoon"; what I have read is hilarious and there may also is a Milligan audio book of same.
I would advise anyone to hear some of the shows before buying a book of Goon Show scripts; the scripts are funny read, but MUCH funnier when heard.
Thanks to the multi-talented (print, film, stage and radio!) Milligan, it has inspired me to perform radio theatre as well as write a bit of it as well.
Here is a picture of a flexi-disc of Barclay's Bank someone sent to me. The dialogue gives you a rough idea of Milligan's humor:
http://www.mindspring.com/~hagar/goons.jpg
Vivat Milligna, the well-known typing error,
Brian Phillips
Steve J: My condolences for your loss, but thank you for taking the time to write about your experience. When the time comes for me to do right by my parents I hope I can do as well as you.
I received "On the Road Vol. 2" as a gift recently. An amazing collection of performances. I was glad to read Harlan's news that there will be a Volume 3. Now that I know what Harlan's voice sounds like, I notice that if I wish, I can hear his voice in my head as I read his non-fiction. (My cellmate at the Institute for the Risperdal-Deprived tells me this is perfectly normal.)
Steve:
Goodness! Welcome back. I wondered whether you had lost interest in Webderland and moved on to more inspiring surroundings. Please excuse my failure of imagination.
It was uplifting to hear about your relationship with your dad. Thank you for telling us about it.
My best wishes to you and your wife,
D.
STEVE:
Exquisite.
Infinitely delicate and heartfelt.
Soft condolences.
Harlan
OOOOOOPS!!!!
OOOPS! iiiindeeed
That heading was supposed to read RE: THE ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF "DEATHBIRD STORIES": An Update.
But I screwed up.
Well, what the hell, as long as I'm here . . .
Susan and Josh and I fly to Vancouver on Sunday 30 July for my day of shooting on "The Discarded," Tuesday 1 August 2006.
Erik Nelson, the filmmaker who did GRIZZLY MAN, who has been working on the documentary about, er, uh, well, me ... he's coming up with a crew to cover it for the EllisonDocuLunacy.
Things are moving very fast around here. The contracts for Volume 3 of THE VOICE FROM THE EDGE: PRETTY MAGGIE MONEYEYES went off to Blackstone yesterday. Tomorrow I go into the Skyboat Studio to begin reading the contents for that CD. I wrote the new intro for the Greek edition of DEATHBIRD STORIES and THAT went off. Michael Reed is already assembling the new "on the road" stuff for Volume 3 of the Deep Shag series, most of which (as you've requested) is post-1984 material. It looks as if I WILL--repeat--WILL be going to the Worldcon in Anaheim for one day. Take note, Tim. Susan will bring all of you up to speed on this sooner rather than later, as it is because of her nuhjdzing that I'm committed to doing it at all.
The thought already wearies me.
That's enough for now.
Stay outta the line of fire, Yr. pal, Harlan
I don't have the honor of claiming any of the Webderland regulars as a friend, but I did meet a few of you at Dragon*Con a couple of years ago, and I came away from that experience regarding some of you as friendly acquaintances. One of that number, Keith Cramer, went so far as to inquire about me in one of his posts several months ago, saying something like, "Hey, whatever happened to Steve Jarrett?" I hope that those of you who don't know me at all will forgive my using up a bit of bandwidth here to let Keith and my other friendly acquaintances know what did happen to me.
A little over a year ago, my father's health went into a sharp decline. After several years of living on his own following my mother's death, he was suddenly stripped of his independence. As the only child, I became his caregiver. It wasn't practical to move him in with my wife and myself, owing to space issues, and anyway he was happier in his own home. Following a hospitalization, I had to place him in a nursing home for a couple of months, but then he rallied sufficiently to permit my moving him back home, where I checked on him once or twice a day, seven days a week. That, plus work, left little time for anything else, which accounts for where I've been. I've been reading the board desultorily for the past year, but have had no time for posting apart from one submission to the S.P.I.D.E.R. thread on the other side.
It's been a difficult year, but also one that I will treasure. It took a toll on me, to be sure, but in trade it left me a pearl of great price. That's because one of the impairments Dad suffered was a partial loss of cognitive competence. Nothing as horrendous as Alzheimer's, just a dulling of what had always been a razor-sharp mind. As we witness our parents losing their faculties, the usual result is that we assume responsibility for those tasks for which they are no longer competent. As their bodies fail, we become their legs, their arms, their manual dexterity; we substitute our physical stamina for theirs when theirs is no longer equal to the demands of day to day survival. Even more significantly, we lend them our minds. We become their ratiocination, their common sense, their memory. That's what happened with Dad and me. I am reminded of a quatrain from a song called "The Dutchman," one of the most moving portraits of senile dementia I have ever encountered. The chorus goes like this: "Let us go to the banks of the ocean / Where the walls rise above the Zuiderzee / Long ago, I used to be a young man / And dear Margaret remembers that for me." Think of that! To BE your loved one's memory. It represents a level of intimacy that is difficult to comprehend, and a responsibility that is daunting to contemplate.
My father and I had always been close, but over the past few months we grew closer than ever. I had become, in effect, half of his mind -- the half that kept up with what bills needed to be paid and what doctor appointments needed to be made and kept. It was a relief to me that he accepted this with equanimity and without resentment. I think he saw it (long before I did) as a kind of merging of our minds and spirits rather than as an encroachment on his autonomy. He trusted me utterly and was completely secure in my love and respect for him, so he saw this shift in our relationship not so much as a Lear-like transfer of power but rather as a partial reclamation of his lost faculties through me. For my part, I was more than happy to be used in this way.
Dad died about a month ago. Letting go of him has been hard, but the loss has been made more supportable by the memory of that enforced mind-meld. It provided me with a different way of framing the final chapter in my Dad's life -- less as the prelude to a crushing loss, and more as the opportunity to discover new levels of intimacy and to insure that I will carry within me for the rest of my life not just his DNA, but also his spirit.
Back among you,
Steve J.
RE: THE
ERIC:
It's in the pipeline, kiddo. Kindly do not ask about the idiot production glitches that have driven Bill Schafer and me to the brink of flying out on separate flights physically to throttle a previously-reliable-turned-wonky typesetter. It's happenin'; just be a smidge more waitful. It ought to be worth it.
Yr. weary pal, Harlan
speaking of sublimely funny...
anyone hereabouts read FUP by Jim Dodge?
it's a hoot
Rick
ROB: Suggest you apply a strong dose of ARMAGEDDON DREAMS to the affected area.
Some quick bits before the storm knocks my DSL out
The blog Pynchonoid has extensive details about Thomas Pynchon's new book: http://pynchonoid.blogspot.com/. It sounds like a gas.
Great news about the impending reissue of The Teats. What really caught my eye, however, is the casting of John Hurt in the TV version of "The Discarded." That's a coup, and automatically lifts this from Pretty Cool into An Event (not that it wasn't an event before, mind you). I just saw him in a production of Beckett's KRAPP'S LAST TAPE, and damned if he wasn't stunning. You should be tickled pinkish, Harlan.
Spike Milligan wrote, for my money, one of the most sublimely silly novels of all time, PUCKOON. As important as his work with the Goons was, this book alone would've been enough to secure his fame. Check it out, if you get the chance. (Here's its Amazon page, though it looks like it's out of print: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140023747/sr=8-1/qid=1153349353/ref=sr_1_1/102-6128904-2368139?ie=UTF8)
>Hmmmmmm, sounds like THE GLASS TEAT & THE OTHER GLASS TEAT are in the republicaiton pipeline<
Speaking of reissues, what happened to Deathbird? I remember months ago Harlan saying the revised manuscript was fed-exed to Subterranean Press.
The good folks over there update their site almost weekly, but they haven't had word one to say about the book. Not a line. Seeing that most of their stable are genre-only names, you'd think they'd be trumpeting the impending release of an Ellison all over their site.
????
There is something wrong with your TV set
You're absolutely right, Rob!
No way the second season of the original OUTER LIMITS was "better" than the first one. The second season only had one really good episode and that was the DEMON show written by some guy named Ellison.
THE GUESTS was a good'un. I remember being absolutely freaked when the old manse on the hill mutated into the giant brain. Yeah!
And let's not forget Dominic Frontiere's moody spooky music.
Good golly time to pull out the box set ONE...MORE...TIME...
There is one thing though. I know there is a substantial female type human segment on this here forum. Perhaps some of you ladies can help me make the girlfriend understand this sort of enthusiasm. Any ideas?
Perfect as she is in all other respects my sweetie just doesn't get the "old manse on the hill turning into the giant brain" thing.
There's A Zanti Misfit Itchin' Me Crotch
Since THE GLASS TEAT was brought up, the collection includes one of the few critiques by Harlan I RADICALLY disagreed with.
I won't go psycho here on the issue; I took my Lexapro this morning, so everything is sunshine n'flowers. But when Harlan discarded the first season of the original OUTER LIMITS as "all boogie men and monsters" (in favor, strictly, of the second season), well, we absolutely parted there.
I found the comment surprisingly insular, focusing, perhaps too narrowly on a single aspect of uniquely layered shows. One could as easily dispense with Fritz Lang (particularly the Surreal Mabuse films, which so much of OL resembles).
Just the other night I was re-running THE GUESTS. The segment is not just unusual television, it's unlike most other Outer Limits episodes as well. The irrational, ethereal events that occur in what appears to be a looming mansion in the middle of vast empty hills, and the mind and soul of the main character, Wade Norton, comprises a test that will lead Norton, ultimately, to the responsibility and reason of adulthood, or the stagnate hell of a lifetime of puerile self-deception.
The house - in truth a shapless alien creature of pure intellect - with its eternal netherworld of blind hallways and dead-end choices, is a spatial representation of Wade's inner conflict. The final image of the house dissolving first into a great, outsized brain and then into nothingness closes the episode on an ambiguous note. This creature's lack of definition leaves it as physically featureless as the lower level's inhabitants are psychically malformed, and just as stranded as they are. Yet in spite of the upstairs creature's philosopher-scientist persona (it routinely spouts quasi-Buddhist parables like "Each [guest] has his own door..."), the absence of or unwillingness to find a common philosophical space in which the occupants of both levels can adjoin leaves them all suspicious and fearful, bitterly manipulating one another out of some uncomprehending need. It makes for a very fine line on which Wade has little choice but to tread.
Joe Stefano was getting therapy while producing this show, and he used this material to express symbolically the personal inner conflicts of love, desire and guilt; hence, these shows were surreal, heavily allegorical, and very bizarre.
Another beautiful episode produced by Stefano was "Corpus Earthling", starring Robert Culp. It is one of the most nihilistic, moody, film noir episodes on series television. Low angles by Conrad Hall, and stark shadows, intensify the paranoia of the story, as Culp's Paul Cameron is forced to destroy everything he loves: his wife and his closest friend. He is left amid smoky desolation, with no way to convince anyone he has saved the world from talking rocks. It is a tour de force for Culp and Salome Jens (that hot chick from SECONDS). In "Corpus Earthling," Paul Cameron has done nothing to deserve his fate. He is even a war hero with a metal plate in his head. There is no cosmic justice here; no one to salute his heroism. It is a superb horror story from what could have been a laughable plot (talking rocks conspiring to take over the world) that inexorably leads to its needful, but terrible, conclusion.
This was great stuff, man. No trite moralizing in the narration; frequent departures from the cliches. Ambiguous endings often would often leave the viewer with something to feel and think about.
It could be said of other episodes like THE CHAMELEON (with Robert Duvall), OBIT, A FEASIBILITY STUDY, THE INVISIBLES, NIGHTMARE, and so on.
I'm nuts about the whole fucking series (even the lesser episodes and the failures had something interesting)
Various
First, that HARPER's article is a major classic. Whoa!
Second, I confess concern over what Miller plans with THE SPIRIT. I mean, I know his talent. I agree that, at least as far as the visual component is concerned, it resides somewhere in the same general stadium as Eisner's. Nobody comes second to me in my appreciation for, among other things, his Daredevil, his Elektra, his RONIN, and his BATMAN:YEAR ONE. That said, he has demonstrated that he likes his heroes psychopathic, and I'd rather not see him re-imagine Eisner's creation as a driven nutsoid who hangs out in the cemetery because he's totally divorced from his humanity. I fear he might do to the Spirit what he is currently doing to the caped crusaders in ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN. This is just a frisson of concern at the moment. I can only feel the concern, not yet justify it.
I just found out that Frank Miller will be writing and directing a movie version of Eisner's "The Spirit"
http://www.cbgxtra.com/Default.aspx?tabid=42&view=topic&forumid=17&postid=13524
Susan: Is the current price of HERC membership renewal still $15? Mine had lapsed sometime ago.
HERC business
Hey, Susan,
I recently sent you a post card with my HERC number and my new address. Is that the appropriate way to do such things?
I just don't wanna miss anything...
CURLING UP WITH ELLISON
Decided to get back to reading again...I have picked recent classic Ellison and am going to read SLIPPAGE cover to cover.
HERC Membership
To: Heather Lovatt:
When you moved, you never updated your address. Your last issue was #38 (we're now working on #40). You do have a credit of $5.00. If you wish to renew your membership, just send us your new address and I'll use the credit.
Thanks--Susan
Items of Interest
- I am thrilled to read that once again, Mr. Ellison's "Teats" will be available to the general public.
__________________________________________
- I am told by a friend that Harper's Magazine has been on a real bender in the last few issues regarding freedom of the press and whether the press itself understands the concept. That, and a wonderfully amusing column by Ben Metcalf in their June issue regarding what is, and is not, acceptable in this PC world we've entered.
Best line: "I seek only to gauge what level of discourse is still acceptable in this country by asking, in the hope that I might someday participate in that discourse, whether I am free to posit that it would probably be great fun, and a boon to all mankind, if I were to slaughter the president of the United States with my bare hands."
This gives you a solid indication of his sentiments regarding a free and unfettered press.
http://harpers.org/OnSimpleHumanDecency=1149635660.html#2-anchor
________________________________________
- Lastly, it is my intention (with all due deference to our genial patron's opinion) to attend ComicCon this upcoming weekend. (I just enjoy the effing thing, that's why.)
I'll be there Saturday morning, with a necessary departure around 3-ish to get back to Hollywood in time for a gig. If anyone else is going, please let me know, maybe we can do a shortened Webderland jig on a table or somethin'.
thought you might like to know, the broadcast of the Goons Show from Monday night's BBC7 broadcast is available here until sunday I believe;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listings/index.shtml?Monday
enjoy ...
slogging in the being fields
Defintely what AT-C said.
Totally what Eric said.
And as for Watson, well, that was pretty elementary.
Somewhere back in the Art Deco archives -- maybe a year or so ago? -- Monsieur Ellison announced that Charnel House would be republishing both gazongas, and it occurred to me that, despite a plethora of cultural, literary, and historical references -- some of great personal import, some just passing (I don't REALLY think Harlan ever met Ba'al at a Hollywood party, though he's dropped the name twice so far) -- they had never been indexed. I volunteered. And the rest is Hystery.
(By the way, I'll be reading "Silver Blaze," one of my OTHER favorite Sherlock Holmes adventures, for the August Story Time for Grownups. Too bad almost none of you can be there. . . . )
I'm the slowest one in the class
I never knew or suspected that a "hornbook" was anything other than a word created by Harlan Ellison, until I came across the fact in "A History of Reading" by Alberto Manguel.
The below description is not taken from the book.
Hornbooks were used by Mid-15th century school children. A hornbook was a wooden paddle (approximately the size of a 3x5 card), which had a handle with a hole in it so a leather string could be tied to it. The hornbook was frequently carried around the neck like a large amulet, or attached to the belt. It was called a hornbook because lessons were tacked to it, and covered by a thin piece of transparent horn.
The lessons consisted of the alphabet, grammar, the Lord's Prayer, etc.
Primarily the horns of oxen and sheep were used. The horn was soaked in water for several weeks, which separated the layers of the horn. The top layers were the most transparent. These were then boiled and pressed between hot iron plates to flatten them.
Pretty cool.
-Keith
What A-TC said.
And what Eric said.
And hoping what Watson said is correct.
The Glass Teat/The Other Glass Teat available on ebay
To the person (or persons) who were looking for The Glass Teat/The Other Glass Teat, both were spotted on ebay recently, along with Memos From Purgatory and Approaching Oblivion.
Info below :
Set of FOUR classic novels from Harlan Ellison
Item number: 180008665012
and the url :
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Set-of-FOUR-classic-novels-from-Harlan-Ellison_W0QQitemZ180008665012QQihZ008QQcategoryZ377QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Ever Faithful,
yir humble batman lads'n'lassies . . .
Dougie.
( Yeah, I Know, "Four classic novels..." - ? )
>and pointing out occasional misspellings is a sign of a doryphore<
Yes, and since we all agree this is irritating and time-consuming, let's also make a group pact to please, please stop self-posting corrections to spelling or grammar errors in one's previous posts. We're an adaptive crew, we got the message the first time.
More reason to listen to the Goons
If Harlan's raves aren't enough, then here's some more skinny by which the Goons are hailed properly.
The most creative and influential members of Britain's early 1960's "Satire boom" were all childhood fans of the Goons. Peter Cook, among others, tells of pretending to be sick at school on Sundays, simply because the infirmary was the one place where a radio could be used for the purpose. Nearly everyone in that first and second generation of brilliant British comics-- the _Beyond the Fringe_ crew, the Pythons, the Goodies-- were avowed Goon fans.
The Beatles were terrific Goon fans as well. One of the icebreakers during their demo session at EMI was when they learned that the producer they were meeting-- George Martin-- had also produced the recordings of the Goons and Peter Sellers.
Richard Lester was chosen to direct their first film _A Hard Day's Night_ (still one of the purest distillations of joy ever committed to film) mostly on the basis of a short film he made with Spike Milligan.
If you've ever heard the Beatles's Christmas records, you'd recognize a clear Goons influence. And when a book of Goon Show scripts was published in the mid-1970's, John Lennon wrote the _New York Times_ review.
I'd also like to mention that Spike Milligan's memoirs of his service as a gunner in WWII has the single greatest title, ever: _Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall_.
All hail the Goons.
Ying tong iddle I po.
Secret Ellison-Loftus Project
Hmmmmmm, sounds like THE GLASS TEAT & THE OTHER GLASS TEAT are in the republicaiton pipeline. Cool.
DAVID LOFTUS:
I can uncross my eyes, fingers and toes; and let out my breath.
As for any infelicities you spot ...
You go, girl!
he
FRABJOUS DAY --- O NOBLE GOON--GO--LAY ! ! ! !
BRIAN PHILLIPS:
You strike me where I live, mate!!!!!!!!!!
Not only do I have a loooooooong knowledge of, and adoration for, THE GOON SHOW, back before the Pythons were fertile, but . . .
1) You MUST hear my imitation of Bluebottle, which is only telephonically correct and, he said humbly, strictly hilarious.
2) I often listen to the lp of MILLIGAN UNDER GLASS and drive Susan bonkwhillikers doing my rendition of "Interview in the High Road," not to mention my Quattermass parody of FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH . . . the dreaded affair of "The Scarlet Capsule" ---- dig dig dig, we're digging up the street ... I've found a skull ... this skull is ten thousand years old ... happy birthday to you, happy birth-- ... this is the skull of a woman ... how can you tell? ... the mouth is open ...
3) I met, dined with, and not only KNEW Spike Milligan, years ago in London, but was friends with his mistress, who was my pal and the manager of the Portobello Hotel where I stayed whenever I was in Kensington.
Talk about scoring a bullseye . . . trust me . . . I will be buyingbuyingbuying the BBC cassettes forthwith or (as Harry Secombe used to addend it) fifthwith a pint'a'stout in easy reach.
Thank you thank you thank you for the heads'-up
AND
for them of youse as don't know what we're caroling about, trust me on this, buy 'em and weep with laughter. Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, the Goons. That was the high point of humor in the history of the entire fucking Human Race ...
THE GOON SHOW.
Yr. pal, Harlan
hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work we go
HARLAN:
The galley proof for volume 1 is indeed here. I started work on it this afternoon, after watching "A Bridge Too Far" and "The Philadelphia Experiment" (cheese-y 1984 John Carpenter skiffy with Michael Pare and Nancy Allen).
This is fun! So many names, so many TV shows -- recognized, forgotten, and totally unfamiliar.
Whatever happened to Kam Nelson? Were the names of the guys who wore the Banana Splits suits ever revealed? Has "George of the Jungle" ever been collected on DVD?
I'll have some serious questions for you down the line.
And being me, I can't help making proofreading notes along the way. ("Liechtenstein" is misspelled on page 16, for example.)
laugh du jour
Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager - Episode 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wGR4-SeuJ0
To 'I was just wondering'. You are correct. But, according to Michael Swan's PRACTICAL ENGLISH USAGE, singular or plural nouns may be used with 'their'.
Dear Brad
>>
Isn't "anyone" singular and "their" plural?
IROSF
HARLAN, they are sending you a hardcopy of "Reevaluating Ellison's Infamous Fable" to the HERC address.
Have you ever sat there in the middle of a room poised with pride and decorum, and you could see the close shot of your own face abruptly change, as though someone had just let a really foul vapor fly?
I'd say it was a bit like that listening to Bush yesterday counseling Putin on Democracy:
...that Americans want Russia to develop a free press and free religion “like Iraq.” To laughter and applause, Putin responded: “We certainly would not want to have same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, quite honestly.”
When someone like PUTIN starts scoring off the U.S....
Summer Reading
I picked up the Berkley's three volume paperback edition of "Dangerous Visions" a couple of weeks ago at a used bookstore and after finishing a book on Trafalgar the other night dove right in (they travel a lot better then the tower shield sized single volume DV).
Yes, it's the first time I've read DV (While I've been a long time Ellison reader I've never picked up one his anthologies). So far, great stuff. I'm a page into Riders of the Purple Wage and hope to finish it over lunch. Talk about making the reader work. Wow. I've never read PHF before. I'll have to give him a go.
The struture of the book(s) is fantastic. While I really enjoyed Robert Silverberg's Worlds of Wonder (now titled Science Fiction 101) what really made the book as whole stand out for me was Silverberg's anaylsis that followed each story. I find DV a joy in much the same way except instead of a strict anaylsis Ellison really ups the emotional ante for the reader before the story with an introduction to the author and how the story came to HE and then lets author chime in with a bit after about the stories creation, etc.
I wish more anthologies would include bits like this instead of a paragraph or two of self-written author bios.
Ook-Ook, Aah-Aah
Steve: Thanks! I am looking forward to seeing it myself. (BTW: Our hosts, Harlan and Susan, get a prominent mention in the introduction, as they recorded several pivotal episodes of Race 8 when I was sitting in the dark thanks to a recent hurricane.)
Everybody: Didja see that footage of Bush trying to give a "friendly" backrub to German Chancellor Angela Merkel?
This at the G-8 summit, while it was a session.
Stunningly inappropriate. Forget any pre-existing amiability between the two (which seems nil, as her fixed smile during the previous "pig" press conference seemed to establish that she couldn't believe she had to deal with this jackass)...but, seriously, let's go all the way. Let's posit for the sake of argument that these two adore each other. Let's further posit for the sake of argument that they immediately recognized each other as soulmates and happily indulged in activities involving aromatic oils and plenty of whipped cream whenever they could get away from their respective security forces.
That doesn't mean any woman in a position of influence wants it brought into the workplace.
Do you really think the female leader of a foreign country, any foreign country, wants to be seen being given a backrub by the male leader of another? How do you think that would be taken by her people?
But even that's beside the point.
The point is in the way she recoiled, startled and horrified, while he stared on, oblivious.
You know that her own handlers were echoing her thoughts at the moment: will you LOOK at what this pig is doing?
Hell, it isn't even a man-woman thing. Leonid Brezhnev loved to hug and paw our President Nixon, mostly because he knew Nixon hated to be touched and would be too concerned with diplomacy to make an issue of it. In the body language of monkeys and dogs, it was a ritual mounting. It said, "I am a bigger dog than you, so you have to sit and take it."
I was immediately put in mind on the previous incident where Bush was being interviewed on a tv show, needed to clean his glasses, and surreptitously lifted the jacket hem of a female production staffer, for use as a handkerchief.
This really does connect with everything else I find objectionable about the man, but for the sake of argument we can eliminate EVERY other controversy, EVERY other point of politics.
When it comes to personal space, the guy is stupid.
The guy has no idea what's appropriate or inappropriate.
It honestly doesn't occur to him.
Or worse: it does occur to him, and he's so arrogant he sees it as using other people and does it anyway.
Either way, his own personal needs of the moment override anybody else's.
That, my friends, is WITH putting all putting politics aside.
Bringing politics back into the equation: yeah, I do connect this with everything else he does. I do see that little grope as a small symbol of his manner in larger things, including policy.
The needs and sensitivities of other people are simply not real to him, and never have been.
IF You Haven't Already Read His Books...
HEY ALL: If you guys haven't already read his books, ya gotta check out Kennenth C. Davis. I know this sounds like a dubious recommendation, and when I first heard of DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT GEOGRAPHY, I rolled my eyes and gave it (and his subsequent books on History, etc.,) a pass. Then I read DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE CIVIL WAR for my day job, and was mightily impressed. Davis was one of the few (if not the only) populist historians to put forth the notion (which I believe is correct) that the Civil War actually started in and around Lawrence, KS, with the Border Wars between the JayHawks and the Bushwhackers (not in the Northeast). And after recently reading DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE BIBLE and DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT MYTHOLOGY, I'm convinced that Davis has the sort of ability that I admired in writers like Stephen Gould and Isaac Asimov. I'm not comparing Davis with Asimov on an intellecutal level (I don't know that much about Davis), but they both show remarkable ability to assimiliate miles of information and condense it all down into one managable book. It's a rare and admirable talent which makes for books that really do enlighten and entertain. Check out Davis' books if you want an entertaining, nonfiction read (on a variety of subjects) sometime.
--DTS
Summer Vacation Reading Report
Last week was a solid reading week for me, not the least helped along by an extra day at sea courtesy the lack of a failover device on the Carnival Pride's generators and a hearty assist from hurricane Bud. Oh yes, and I shot some of the locals along the way.
Fortunately, the lion's share of material was writ by some who venture here. And to them:
BUD WEBSTER: (No relation to the storm, I presume) Read "Lordly Loofah" as printed out from Helix SF. LMAO. I will never look at loofah the same way again.
ADAM-TROY - Read the advance excerpt chapters for the "Amazing Race" book. Very much looking forward to the rest -- nicely paced and spot on with your personal commentaries. They just announced the Race 10 contestants...
HARLAN - Finally got to read the missing pages of "Mefisto", courtesy Susan's extraordinary hunting skills and your superb talent. Awestruck doesn't do my reaction justice. This HAS to be made into a film. Not a "movie", a "film". (Feeling a little fanboy here so I'll stop -- but DAMN!, Homes.)
(And, for full disclosure's sake, I also completed Piers Anthony's "Orn", part of Phil Keoghan's "No Opportunity Wasted", and got well into Anthony Bourdain's "The Nasty Bits".)
________________________________________
Loftus. Keep the leg elevated and stop checking email the day you get home from surgery. It can wait. Jeez. Slap in a few vicodine and let daytime TV take its toll.
For those who like absurd humor.
Dear Mr. Ellison,
You may already be aware of this, but...
From what I have read, I gather that you are a big fan of radio theater, as well as wild and absurd humor, if the essay you wrote about "Jingle Jangle Comics" is any indication.
I won't tell you about the Goon Show, because I guess that you know about it, however, I am posting to say that now is a great time to be a fan of this show, because it has been reissued with a vengeance by the BBC. Ted Kendall has been restoring them to their full length from as much source material as he can gather. Not only do they sound better (in other words, in mono, no fake stereo or added reverb) but they are closer to Spike Milligan and others' originals. The "Kendall" Goon Shows are the ones that say "BBC Radio Collection" across the top.
Here is a link to where you can order CD's or cassettes:
http://www.thegoonshow.net/buy_shows.asp
I recommend volume nine for "The Mysterious Punch-Up-The-Conker" and "The Scarlet Capsule" is coming up in November 2006 for a funny take on the Quatermass series. Volume five has "The Call of the West" and "1985", both recommended.
By contrast, volume one has the wonderful "Dreaded Batter-Pudding Hurler", but also features "...Bushey Spon", which gets confusing at the end because of A.E. Matthews, a beloved actor who was notorious in his later years for not only going off-script, but paying no attention to it whatsoever. Milligan didn't even bother writing the last part of the show, due to his
Should anyone wish to know, I don't work for the BBC or Amazon. I just enjoy the Goon Show and radio theater past and present.
Brian Phillips (who thinks that "Mefisto In Onyx" could work quite well on the radio)
Of course, those of us with barely concealed wrath at the "mainstream news media" were not surprised that CNN.com led with "Prez says 'shit'". I think our President is a clueless chimp who's done more to weaken this country and its ideals than Nixon could even think of doing, and I don't give a rat's ass if he says shit or not. That's not even news. I guess nothing else was happening that day.
However, I did read a transcript of the exchange, and you should read it if you get a chance 'cause I swear Mamet wrote it. It's beautiful stuff, strictly from a dialog standpoint.
I think Josh Olson pretty much hit the nail on the proverbial head there. Conscience should never be a case of dangling a carrot in the front of a horse's face.
David:
Glad your surgery went well. I will now visualize you mending, and I will aim my healing brainwaves in your general direction, using this tinfoil hat I borrowed from Frank Church.
Hope MACBETH ended well. Er, well, you know what I mean.
Best,
D.
the wheels of "just us" turn slowly
HARLAN:
Today's late mail brought a notice of a package waiting in the building supervisor's office. (I was in the hospital for surgery most of the afternoon and Carole was there to bring me home, so we were not able to retrieve it.)
Could be our pigeon, so remain calm until I find out for certain tomorrow.
Surgery seems to have gone just fine, by the way.
Jim Davis
I think you're worng.
But I love, that is LOVE your lasagna eating feline.
And the "untie" thing would be more along the lines of dyslexia.
Fiend of Garfield,
Rick
Bad Spellurs of the World, Untie!
The notion that bad spelling automatically equals sloppy writing or thinking is bullshit. Yes, you should always avoid misspellings, no matter if it's a message board post, an email, a grocery list, an invitation to fellatio on a bathroom stall, or whatever; all the same, some folks (myself included) have a fundamental problem with spelling, even with DECADES of practice and constantly looking up the same words over and over. Some of the greatest writers in English--F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, Thomas Jefferson, John Irving and Herman Melville among them--couldn't spell to save their lives, but no one would ever accuse them of being "unintelligent" or "sloppy."
Just my two centavos. (Says Jim, who misspelled five words writing this post.)
REPENT!
HARLAN, I happen to know the guy who runs IROSF. I'll find out about it for you.
BRAD:
Leave Erika alone.
ERIKA;
Ignore him. He's just being petulant; which is unbecoming in an adult.
ANYONE ELSE, including JAMES PALMER:
I went to that site, to read the critical essay on "'Repent, Harlequin!'..." but it requires logging in, giving out a tiny bit of info, etcetera, which I am loath to do. If nyone out there could get in touch with either the critic himself, or whoever runs the site, I will happily pay for a color-printout for my files and the archives. They can post it to me at the HERC address, with a bill, and I'll respond immediately with cash or check, as they prefer.
Thanks, y'all
Yr. pal, Harlan
P.S. Brad! Behave yourself!
The previous was a response to Brad, obviously.
... and pointing out occasional misspellings is a sign of a doryphore, and an unpleasant personality to boot. This is a serious subject, one that has actually been taken up on the "other side" (where the tone of the debate has actually been earnest and somewhat pleasant). Feel free to post a rational argument over on the thread labelled "Atheists Assemble." Feel free to read any responses you might receive. You just might learn something.
A little bribery with your election process, sir?
Todd~ True, but I'm more concerned with the Arizona Voter Reward Act actually getting a toehold.
http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5111163&nav=HMO6HMaY
Now where's the other extreme side that wants to fine $500 every able-bodied human over 18 if they DON'T vote? We know this is illegal as all hell. Talk about doing something right for all the wrong reasons. We really have reached this level. Who needs to decide on moral ambiguity or god's opinion when half the people in the country are (barely) amazed an organization wants to do this, and the other half are taking notes trying to figure out how to get it going in their state?
Forget the atheist debate; if you believe the big guy's there, it's all "preordained" in the Big Book of Heaven anyway, yeah? If you don't, then where's the beef? But this is happening right here, right now. Here's a question for the "who's correct crowd": Those who say, "Anything that gets 'em into the booths is fine by me. Let's give 'em bonus bucks if they actually know what the issues are!" or those who are concerned this will make a complete mockery of the democratic process?
In my humble, the last coupla elections have already made a complete mockery of the democratic process.
Who said it was a democracy to begin with?
..to the Republic for which it stands, baby.
Anybody got change for a $1,000? I know a guy....
_______________________________________________
I just cannot get over the fact that my thoughts of 'MIke Hammer' will forever be colored with Stacy Keach's face and those damn blue shirts.
Harlan, you've met a lot o' folk, did you ever get to hoist a few glasses (of milk, no doubt) with Spillane? Odd picture, that.
Does the giving of joy count for anything? 'Cause I want to see Mickey and my uncle shooting pool in the Pearly Gates Bar and Lounge.
Paul
Erika wrote: "I mispelled two words because I don't type very well when doing so quickly. Whoop-de-shit. It's a shame that your anger over the subject of athiesm led you to attempt a trite little verbal zing at me, which was very weak and is really nothing more than a laughable cheap shot."
You must still be typing quickly, because you have once again misspelled 'atheism' as 'athiesm'. Which you also did in your previous post. Twice. The only laughable thing here is your spelling.
Harlan - I'm sorry if you feel that I was adopting a 'snarky' tone. I certainly wasn't questioning anyone's sanity. I was merely questioning their intelligence. It can't be pointed out often enough that sloppy grammar and sloppy spelling are always symptoms of sloppy thinking.
On a more pleasant subject, I would like to suggest that Dima seek out the novels of J. R. Salamanca, particularly his sublime LILITH.
Check this out
There's an interesting critique of Harlan's "Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktock Man" online at IROSF: http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10294
Oy. Can't believe I'm sticking my foot into this, but first of all, there are countless charitable organizations that are not based in any religion. The question is lunatic. Second, if your morality is based not on actual human decency, but on the fear that some angry sky god will punish you if you mis-behave, you're not moral in the slightest, you're an animal, no different from a dog that's trained not to shit on the rug for fear of being swatted on the nose.
"I mean, how many atheist soup kitchens do you see?"
Hmmm...well, none that I know of, but I'm sure they're out there. Anyway, atheists don't have to run soup kitchens to be of benefit. The contributions of atheists are many and varied, and you'll find them from Anaxagoras to Steven Weinberg.
As for theists, if I flip my truck on the freeway, and I'm dangling upside down, and there's flames coming on, and blood is running into my eyes, and I can't get out of my seat belt, I won't push away the hands of the person who's cutting me free just because they happen to have a cross hanging from their neck. Know what I mean?
How much would it cost?
To get you up here to see this store?
I think you'd like it. It's huge. We HAVE everything. And we SELL everything. And we're growing, day by day (even if we move).
It reminds me of those old curiosity shops writers write about.
Like you.
Just asking. We plan to move. I plan to ask other people. We plan to try other ideas--it's pretty cool, actually, when I read over Barry's diatribes. And we plan to sell coupons instead of our original dutch auction item, cos Ebay pulled that one. The new one is here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Buy-a-coupon-HELP-US-HELP-SAVE-THE-WORLD_W0QQitemZ290007754340QQihZ019QQcategoryZ317QQcmdZViewItem
And the old one...well...they pulled it cos it wasn't...hmm..kosher? Something. (Funny thing though, if you do a keyword search for 'skrounger' on google, you can find a cached version of the original auction and text. Heh.)
Why am I doing this? Because it matters. Go read.
Thanks.
Heather
P.S. Oh yeah. I was gonna mention that you take a look at the photos on Barry's new blog. But as it happens, in the past short while, some customer came into the office and (we think) did a five finger discount on our (not too expensive--bless the power of Ebay) digital camera. I just went over to Barry in his thwack of the office area, to ask him this. I looked at the pile of vintage clothing he's sorting out and said he should post a picture of that. We should post pictures of a FEW parts of this store--it's pretty cool. Heh.
I heartily recommend Shirley Jackson for a horror read, esp. WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE, which takes an original twist on a hoary horror subgenre. And THE BIRD'S NEST provided me with the first -- and so far only -- reading experience when I have ever honest-to-gosh jumped outta my seat in pure shock.
Just in time for Comic-Con International: San Diego, here's a piece from the San Diego Union-Tribune on the con's founder, Shel Dorf. (Thanks to Mark Evanier -- www.povonline.com -- for the link):
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060716/news_1c16dorf.html
ERIKA:
Typos are common; knowing when to use "led" instead of "lead" is rare. Nicely done.
Mickey Spillane, 1918-2006.
DIMA: I'm sure you have more than enough by way of recommendations, but did anybody mention RUSSELL HOBAN? Okay, RUSSELL HOBAN: that's H-O-B-A-N, not to be confused with any writers called H-O-G-A-N.
Despite being written for the younger reader, "The Mouse and his Child" is an excellent (and quite dark) fantasy novel. And if you want something more challenging, try the post-apocalyptic "Riddley Walker". Reprinted recently, with an intro by Will Self. I'm assuming you haven't already discovered these wonders for yourself, of course.
I know this subject has moved on, but I have something in my own defense to say, then I'm done.
To Brad Stevens:
I mispelled two words because I don't type very well when doing so quickly. Whoop-de-shit. It's a shame that your anger over the subject of athiesm led you to attempt a trite little verbal zing at me, which was very weak and is really nothing more than a laughable cheap shot.
So, in summation, I say: nice try, sir.
Wow, didn't know my one little thought experiment could propel so much gabbing amongst the harvested, Harlanbrood. I already knew the answer, but wanted to see what kind of discussion it would start, and I must say, it did start a doozy. Actually, my question is not the least bit original. I cribbed it from basic Christian apologetics text. They use this all the time, in trying to convince wayward travelers that morality can only exist in a godly world. I also think it is a weak argument, since the Christers don't take into account the enlightenment, which fused universal morality with thinking, intelligent discussions about the universe and its many meanings. Then we have the Humanist manifesto, which outlays a very sane way of looking at moral ideas, without any mention of god or gods.
I am in the middle, being your average Universalist; believing in a loving god, but not finding a suitable way to define it, him, whatever. I have been enlightened by both the atheists and the religious. Matters how sane their moral or political stances are.
Yea, I read that Smith book about atheism, many years ago. This was when I was close to becoming a born again Christian--no lie. I actually prayed to god to show me what real truth was, and I get lead to this atheist book. Better that I look at the world through my own eyes.
As time passes we become more decent. None of this is because of the movement of any god. Man just knows more stuff and that leads them to being better informed about moral universals.
Israel needs that Smith book.
----------
Atheists do need to step up more. They let the Christers man the helm of morality. I mean, how many atheist soup kitchens do you see?
George Bush sez, '....shit..."
The Free World now crumbles. United States of America shunned by all nations for poopy-mouth.
Film at eleven.-TODD
KELL BROWN:
Both. It is. I am. He is.
Yr. pal, Harlan
JOHN GREENAWALT:
Is you kiddin', Sabu?!?
We have, uh, you may've heard of 'em, EARTHfuckinQUAKES out here. I have battery-operated radios by the mittful, in every room. Also, powerful flashlights with oft-changed batteries. Also sealed trash cans OUTSIDE the house with food in cans, first aid supplies, candles, etc. And IN the house, 60-70% of all things that can fall and break are either screwed into load-bearing walls or anchored with Quake Wax.
I'll not again go through what happened to us in the Northridge Thruster seismic "event" a dozen years ago (see the intro to SLIPPAGE). Not saying a bigger chasm wouldn't mess us up some, but as the house itself sits five feet above granite--no cut, no fill--I've done as much as any non-paranoid pessimist CAN do.
Chance favors the prepared mind.
But thanks for asking.
Yr. pal, Harlan
Thank you Mr. Ellison and everyone who replied with recommendations for me. I'll be kept very busy pursuing all of these leads!
Steve - yes the move went smoothly, which was no great surprise as I'd been gradually "moving" since January! I'm glad to know you and Cris got back safely from your trip too. Any pictures? Let me know if you're ever passing through the cornfields here, so I can take you out to dinner. (Same offer stands for any other webderlanders who live in or are visiting the area).
Regards,
Dima
Whatever it is that's watching... it isn't human
I saw A SCANNER DARKLY over the weekend.
Absolutely effing fantastic!
Literate, respectful of the source, wonderfully acted, visually stunning, dang if we don't get both the icing and the cake.
If there were a god Robert Downey Jr would get an Oscar for this performance.
NOTE: Those of you leery of the "rotoscoping" take note. It works on every level because it is used to serve the story rather than obscure it.
Personally, I am going to go with the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Similar to Keith's argument, prove to me that he was not responsible for the creation of life on this planet
http://www.venganza.org/
I believe
There's a 2000 lb tentacled creature named Squiddy left by God to guard the gate o' Heaven at the bottom of the Sargasso Sea.
Now prove I'm wrong.
It is not up to atheists to prove there is no god. It is up to the believers to prove there is one. And since proving anything requires adherence to the scientific method, that will never happen unless God him- or her- or it-self presents for scrutiny.
It is easy to understand the average Theist’s or Atheist’s animosity toward those who don't share their viewpoint.
Religion and belief are a matter of faith. If you need it, fine. If you don't, fine. But all too often those with a "belief" hurt other people. I don't recall the last pogrom carried out by Athiests (and to stifle the anti-communists, totalitarianism is not the representation of an Athiest government. The USA is. It is religion free; it says so in the founding documents.)
-Cramer
I know I come late to the God/morality discussion, but I have always appreciated that Nietzsche's atheism came from his pursuit of truth. Ironically, he had been taught to dilligently pursue "truth" by his religious teachers.
By extension, one could see that the pursuit of morality would naturally lead one away from any religion that claims to be the foundation of morality. That is, if you take the quest seriously enough.
Steve Dooner
Eric - Nah, they did that around ten years ago and nothing happened (though a large number of people appeared at local hospitals with mysterious nasal burns).
Dima - Glad to see you back on the Pavilion! Hope the move went smoothly and all is well.
Batteries. Dammit. I knew there was something missing from my emergency radio.
HE Trademark
Harlan,
I was reading Locus on the subway this morning and every time your name is printed (in the article about the Nebuala awards) the trademark (circle R) follows it.
Is C. Brown pulling your leg or have you actually trademarked your name?
Kell
I don't know about the radio, but I'm sure he has plenty of duct tape and plastic sheeting, in case some cranky religionist decides to fuzz-bomb Sherman Oaks with borax powder.
Thanks Mr. Ellison!
Thank you for the explanation of "Boo-DOW". You can't see this, but I am making a flatted fifth sign in your direction.
Brian Phillips
I don't know about Harlan, but I don't have an emergency radio. Instead, I use my Weather Jesus to let me know what's coming, whether it's a hurricane, tornado, or a swarm of locusts. My Weather Jesus has never been wrong, but it often speaks in parables or analogies that I don't get the first time 'round. But the Weather Jesus is very patient with me, and explains things so that I can understand.
I am kinda worried, though. The Weather Jesus has been silent for awhile and I'm not sure why. I mean, I make sure his 'on' button is on, but the eyes don't light up. Oh. Wait. The batteries are dead. Boy, is my face red.
There we go. The Weather Jesus is talking to me again. Ahhh, sunny and calm.
Does Harlan have an emergency radio?
The Department of Homeland Security advises all Americans to have an emergency radio. An emergency radio should work on battery or hand power.
I'm very sorry about my previous post. Once again, an argument that I was TRYING to convey was lost, thanks primarily to my own sophomoric alliteration and inexperience.
I spent all of yesterday massaging my forehead after I had time to think avout all the errors I made in yesterday's post, and I pretty much predicted the responses that would follow.
My belief in an unpleasant, widespread strain of "neo-atheism" still stands. However, I'm not at all denying the fact that old-school atheism (the kind we're familiar with from Harlan and other visitors to the Webderland) advocates clarity of thought and conscience over blind commitment to an invisible man. It's just that I've been more exposed to the former brand much more often, and it's a somewhat dreary experience.(One reason why I've now taken up my "two-forums-per-internet" rule for good.)
the waiting . . . is the hardest part
HARLAN:
Not sure what to tell you, other than Joe called very shortly after you did Monday to assure me that the thing was "in the mail" -- to my home address which you passed along to him, if I remember correctly. I have heard or seen nothing else as of this evening.
Fee? No one's mentioned anything about a specific fee -- whence or how much. But that's the least of my concerns. I just want to see the damn thing and get to work.
Oh, just sayin'
My own list of still-producing writers whose new works I will always drop everything to read...
Donald Westlake. Robert Silverberg. China Mieville. Ed McBain (only one more, alas.) Jeffery Deaver. Christopher Moore. Carl Hiasen. Tim Dorsey. Jack Ketchum. Spider Robinson. Jonathan Katzenbach. F. Paul Wilson.
Dima...The person who could never find "The Glass Teat" was me...and I am now so jealous! Congratulations! I only hope I get as lucky as you! That's a book I really want to add to my collection.
Unfortunately, even if I did find it, I have only lint and a few buttons in my pocket, and my checking account is the same...I would love it if payday were tomorrow. (sigh...)
debt
HARLAN--gotcha; gimme a couple more days,please
-----------------------------------------------
DIMA--Harlan mentiond GRAHAM GREENE. I second that suggestion by saying THE POWER AND THE GLORY is the best book I've read in quite some time; not fantasy, or horror, but nevertheless, affecting and dark.
you may like also:
JONATHAN CARROLL
JAMES MORROW
CRAIG CLEVENGER
WILL CHRISTOPHER BAER
STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES
PAT CADIGAN
CAITLIN R. KIERNAN
PATRICK O'LEARY
CAROL EMSHWILLER
IAN R. MACLEOD
and absolutely positively, the late JACK CADY
Regards,
Rick
CORRECTION: In line 1, that should be "reasoning" -- not "reasong."
I knew you'd know that, but I try to be sedulous in my forensic debating.
he
JOHN PACER:
You're absolutely right, good friend. There IS a reasong mind, a rational intelligence.
Ours.
Principles, just like geometry and morality and ethics and "right" and "wrong" and moral/amoral, socially responsible and sociopathic, "good" and "bad" and possibly even something as seemingly "otherwise created" as the perception of bilateral symmetry are the products of a rational, reasoning mind.
Ours.
Whether individual or gestalt, racial memory or interpretation of the received universe, there IS a great mind at work.
Ours.
It is all our invention. Including the multifarious and periodically metamorphosing concept of God or "gods."
How smart of you to have picked up on that. Now, if we could just convince that harridan Anne Coulter, or the Pimp of God, Jerry Falwell. It seems all so simple, so satisfying, so illustrative of providing calming answers, one wonders why it persists in escaping their ratiocinative abilities.
Mayhap our Guiding Intelligence is a bit bifurcated, a tot schizoid, a smidge traumatized by the Big Bang. Who knows?
God sure as hell doesn't, because WE is GOD. As Pogo might put it.
Yr. pal, Harlan
Dima's Fortune
Steve Rasnic Tem for your abstract/ surreal horror needs.
Good luck.
--------------------
Steve & Co.~ Glad you're back safe.
Paul
My two cents
Dima:
Try Christopher Fowler, an incredible British horrow writer. Check out "Spanky", a unique take on the Faust mythos as well as his short story collections "Demonized" and "Personal Demons" He is currently working on a quaint, weird, and sometimes downwrght scary series of detective novels featuring the odd couple of Bryant and May. Four of the books are out now ("Full dark House" "The Water Room", "Seventy-Seven Clocks", and "Ten Second Staircase").
And you can never, ever go wrong with Jonathan Carroll. Ever.
AR
I think there’s been a slight misunderstanding of Frank’s initial question. I don’t wish to presume to know exactly what Frank meant. However, I think the question is better expressed as, “if you don’t believe in *truth*, then why be moral or ethical?” If you don’t believe in truth, then how can you believe in right and wrong? I’m sure there’re many here who would say they do not believe in a reasoning mind at work in the universe, yet at the same time say that they believe in truth. Or maybe they would say they do not believe in truth. If that is your outlook then you can behave however you wish, but even if you decide to behave in a moral manner, how could you ever criticize someone else for not whether they’re murderers or just have halitosis? How does one know there is truth? Principally through mathematics and specifically through classical, physical, constructive geometry. Geometry as the Greeks and the Renaissance men understood it. Start with Plato’s TIMAEUS. Through geometry one begins to understand that there is a rational intelligence in the universe manifested in universal principles. If that rational intelligence cares about us is a different question. Is Muhammed “it’s” prophet? Dunno. Is Jesus “it” in the flesh? Couldn’t tell ya. Are the Jews “it’s” chosen people? Beats me. I’d guess “no” for all of those. That doesn’t mean there’s no evidence for universal principles. If there’re universal principles, there is a reasoning mind. For it is through reason that such principles are generated and discovered. Saying more would be too long for this board, but I felt the desire to weigh in even though upon rereading it seems that maybe what I’m trying to express may be a completely different discussion from what everyone else was talking about. Oh well.
Another recommendation for Dima.
James Ellroy. Start with _The Big Nowhere_ or _The Black Dahlia_.
I'd second William Kotzwinkle, too.
TO ALL:
I'm noticing a resurgence of that snarky tone some of you ought not affect when you get into tetchy matters such as politics, morality, ethnicity, religion. Misspellings are unfortunate, but do not substantially bolster one's assertion about the sanity level of the misspeller. So knock it off; if you're going to be petty, your croquet ball will be "sent" into the bog.
Yr. pal, Harlan
DIMA:
Here are several authors worth your time:
GRAHAM JOYCE
JOE HILL
PAUL DI FILIPPO
GERALD KERSH
JULIE SMITH
STEVE FRAZEE
EMMA LATHEN
WILLIAM KOTZWINKLE
ELMER KELTON
THOMAS KENEALLY
DON COLDSMITH
BARRY MALZBERG
KATE WILHELM
ED LACY
ALAN SILLITOE
GRAHAM GREENE
ZOE OLDENBOURG
I'm sure others will pop in to add to this eclectic, disparate, multi-genre ragtaggery. Enjoy, as you will.
Yr. pal, Harlan
DAVID LOFTUS:
Amigo, when I spoke to Joe S. about contacting you re U-Know-What, last week, he said it was "off in the mail" within moments or suchlike; yet I insisted (somewhat to his pique, I felt, though he didn't explicate same) he call you as soon as possible, to coordinate with your at-home-after-surgery stint.
I've heard nothing from either of you to reassure me that, in fact, happened. Has your fee been arranged? Please advise.
Yr. pal, Harlan
As to the "question" of Why One Should Be Good if there's no "god" keeping watch, ready to snatch away the improbable Hereafter Card, I am more than content to go with William C. Francis's gentle, sane, and quotidian answer. Hurrah for him!
Harlan
RICK KEENEY:
Your Hogan six-pak is sitting here, waiting for you to send us your mailing address, c/o HERC, PO Box 55548, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413. Time has passed, and no word. I need that five bucks. Get on it, Keeney!
he
COLLEEN:
Aloha. Maybe I need it, maybe not. No way of telling till I see the hidden code in the book. SFBC did so many printings of my books--noted as subsequent editions ONLY by that teeny hidden code--that I have no way of knowing whether I've by chance obtained them all, through the years, or not.
So. If you would send it, I'll give it a peek.
Happy to reimburse you for book, postage, whatever.
Thank you again.
Yr. pal, Harlan
Used finds
During the discussion a few weeks ago about the ease/difficulty of finding Ellison books in used bookstores, I think someone said how she could never find "The Glass Teat". Imagine my pleasure a few days after I read that upon finding that very book in our local university used bookstore! It was even priced higher than usual, because "it's so hard to find". I of course snapped it up, and have spent a very nice week reading it aloud to my husband. We both enjoyed it thoroughly. Just wanted to share that with everyone.
On another note, I recently recieved a gift certificate to Amazon. Since I've gotten so many great recommendations from this forum in the past, I thought I'd ask for some more. I am fond of the horror and fantasy genres mostly, and I'm mostly caught up with my usual authors (Stephen King, James Herbert, Clive Barker, Anne Rice, Terry Pratchett, Dan Simmons, Neil Gaiman, and many more). What new (or old) authors should I venture to try?
Thanks,
Dima
P.S. Hi Steve! I hope you and your wife are well.
Back
My wife and I are returned safely from our weeklong exile from phones and the net. The ship was chased away from Cabo by twin 'canes Bud and Carlotta, and broke down some two hundred miles down the coast from Ensenada (a little event Carnival kept well-hidden from the mainstream press). After at-sea repairs the stretch back to Long Beach was long and exceedingly waterbound given the Captain's reluctance to push the ship past 16 knots (21-23 is average). Four days asea, two ashore. Not quite the average we'd wanted, but it DO force you to sit down and stop.
Cris made a pretty good splash when she was invited to sit in with the ship's jazz band -- the ship's two lead stage show singers heard her from the lobby and came into the jazz bar to listen. We all spent well into the next morning sitting around talking and sharing horror stories...
We DID take a wonderful little shore excursion to a village in the Sierra Madre that brought back the film "Romancing the Stone" in a literal and all-too-comfortable way. One almost expected a nearby door to fly open to the cry "Joan Wilder? THE Joan Wilder?". Those who remained behind in the tourist zones missed something special.
_____________________________________
Saw Josh's pictures of Harlan in the makeup chair. a) I sincerely hope that was a skull cap, and b) tell them to use a bit less shaving cream next time.
_____________________________________
Morality cannot be dictated externally. Either you are or are not, even though morality itself is not an absolute. It has nothing to do with religious beliefs. You cannot be moral in the presence of hubris. (Think about it.)
Good to be home...
(Oh, and ditto Frank's "Roscoe's" recommendation. We got one here in LB and it's every bit as good as Frankie Say.)
Steve Evil wrote: "Go ahead Brad. Prove your manhood. Take another shot at Erika. I dare you."
But why would I want to do that when I can simply deal another "low fucking blow" by pointing out that you have misspelled 'despair' as 'dispair'? I'd love to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume this was nothing more than a typographical error, but I can't help noticing that the 'e' on my keyboard is nowhere near the 'i'. I'm sorry, but you people just can't spell. Why should anyone bother to engage seriously with your ideas when you are incapable of expressing them coherently?
I find the notion that one must justify NOT believing in the existence of something for which there is no proof more than a little bizarre. Must I also justify not believing in the Easter Bunny?
If anyone's interested in some of the best thinking on the subject going on these days, I recommend checking out the website of my friend Brian Fleming at:
http://www.slumdance.com/blogs/brian_flemming/
Last year, Brian made the documentary The God Who Wasn't There, which makes a compelling case that there was no historical basis for the character of Jesus in the Bible. It's a damn fine film, and he's spent the last year criss-crossing the country giving lectures and debating theologians.
While I'm not sure what a "self-appointed atheist" is, Brian is one of the nicest, most decent people I know, and I'd rank him among the highest intellects I've ever encountered. The site will link you to other resources, as well as info on how to purchase his DVD, which is well worth your time.
Fascinating. The Atheist's message board sounds like it's run by a cross section of dissafected youth subcultures, of the punk/goth/black-Metal variety, among whom nihilism and dispair is a kind of contest in one-upmanship, far out of proportion with their middle class-suburban experiences.
Go ahead Brad. Prove your manhood. Take another shot at Erika. I dare you.
-Steve E.
Brad: That was a low fucking blow, and really uncalled for. The fact that you had to break the one post rule to make it really doesn't endear your character.
Atheism: For me, it all boils down to how you define atheism as to whether or not I'll bite. Is it the non-belief in a god or is it the belief that there is no god. There are differences. I've heard people claim that it's the knowledge that there is no god, but if knowledge is justified true belief (ask any epistomologist) then where's the justification? It's when people engage in the "I'm right and you're wrong" method of argumentation that I grow bored with the subject. And let's face it, too many people use that as their shield.
I'm squarely agnostic on the subject. I have no faith in any deity, nor do I deny that one could possibly exist. I admit that there is a lot I do not know, and remain logically consistent in that understanding. That's all I ask of both camps. Remain logically consistent.
And stop with the ad hominems.
---Peter
Whoops
UH, make that "are much more.." and "ever will.." below. Guess that fucks up your spelling comment about Atheists, Brad (perhaps typos are like shit: they just happen now and then.
--DTS (In self-exile for two days because of the double-post)
Benjamin Winfield and the Neo-Atheists
BENJAMIN: Being one who fluctuates between Atheism and (sometimes, but not very often) the urge to be an Agnostic, I think perhaps your mistake is in relying on the internet (especially chatrooms where anyone can "be" anything) and younger, immature minds to communicate thoughtfully (these days, younger usually means anyone younger under 31, although there are exceptions to every rule). As I said, there are exceptions to every rule, and I know there are groups of folks who much more mature than the rest of us in our teens and twenties; those exceptions usually go on to early success (of some sort) in life. Besides, anyone who touts the motto "It's cool to be cruel" is saying more about their personality than any claim to religious or nonreligious beliefs every will (ther've been LOTS of believers -- in one god or another -- thought cruelness was cool).
Finally, I'm one with Alan Coil: the discussion about morality and religon should be taken to another forum. It's getting old. Kinda like the handwringing over fighting (again) in the Middle East, or the idea that peace can ever be achieved in that area. (I'm pretty sure those folks have been duking it out -- with each other, and in ocassional civil wars) since well before Christ was a tickle in his momma's tummy.
Goodnight Moon,
DTS
Erika wrote:
"Thanks especially for the first paragrpah in your post about athiests! I share your sentiments. There are very few athiests that I know or enocunter that don't fit a similar mold."
Sorry to post a second time today, but I just had to say how much I agree with Erika's 'paragrpah'. Most of the 'athiests' I 'enocunter' also fit a similar mold - for one thing, most of them know how to spell correctly.
Benjamin,
Thanks especially for the first paragrpah in your post about athiests! I share your sentiments. There are very few athiests that I know or enocunter that don't fit a similar mold.
Benjamin Winfield wrote: "Look, I'm going to come out and say it: Some of the most profoundly unpleasant people I've met are self-appointed "atheists"."
What is a self-appointed "atheist"? I wasn't aware that one needed some kind of a license to not believe that the universe was created by The Invisible Man.
Frank,
There's a very good book by George H. Smith titled "Atheism: The Case Against God." The last two chapters of that book are "Ethics, Rationality, and Religion," and "The Sins of Christianity." Therein you will find a comparison/contrast of rational and religious ethics, including information on the basis of religious and non-religious moral values, why one system (rationalism) is better than the other, and so on. Well worth your time.
The more people that believe in something, the less likely that it's true.
Look, I'm going to come out and say it: Some of the most profoundly unpleasant people I've met are self-appointed "atheists". I've always found the shallow, insincere punk-nihilism of these people far more loathsome than the average hateful activities of a televangelist. (You've also gotta love how these folks have absolutely no qualms about employing the same methods of bullying, intimidation, and social alienation used by every other major religion.)
The 21st century atheist is a vaguely repulsive mutant hybrid of machoism and egotism, a direct result of interspecies breeding between rattlesnakes and football quarterbacks. If there was any merit to this mindset several years ago, it's been long since eroded away by the smirking clowns who wear black t-shirts that sport the phrase IT'S COOL TO BE CRUEL in bright white letters. (I've participated briefly on an online atheist forum before, and believe me, the slightest sign of any sort of belief that doesn't conform with a universe that hates you and actively seeks your destruction 24/7 warrants vaguely homophobic titles such as "pussy", "faggot", and "cock-sucking altar boy".)
Maybe the old-school atheists possessed better social skills than their booger-brained descendants. I don't know. All I know is that I'm permanently trapped in a philosophical grey area, thanks to the multiple misdeeds of the religious AND "non-religious" type.
what Alan Coil said
please take it away, my peeps. please?
Keith, FLY FISHING
Rick
Steve P.-O, I agree with you completely that "it is a very pathetic world view to think that only the fear of God is what is keeping people from doing the right thing." It potrays humans as unruly children who aren't capable of learning responsible and ethical behavior on their own. To me, that concept sounds like an argument for totalitarianism, or justification for legislating Christian doctrine.
My own beliefs tend to be panthestic. Specificially, I hate any kind of evangelism. The scene in "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" where AM tells the humans how much he hates them...that could be me saying how much I hate being told what to believe. When I read about Tom Cruise lecturing Brooke Shields on antidepressants, I have the same revulsion as when I read about Pat Robertson threatening divine retribution for communities that teach evolution in their public schools.
Keith:
Hang out with old people, man.
No need to thank me.
D.
With apologies to my pal Alan, I'm quite enjoying the current discussion trend hereabouts.
I am an atheist, and I do not need the fear of being caught or punished to steer me in the right direction when it comes to behaving in a way that is respectful (and moral) to others and to myself. It is a very pathetic world view to think that only the fear of God is what is keeping people from doing the right thing. I suppose it's possible, but I have faith that it is not. (Though I was quite saddened when one of my wife's friends was forbidden by her husband from visiting us because I am an atheist.)
Saw in the paper today that tonight's Low in Phoenix is 92! Crazy, man.
On screen, Paul McGann is indeed the lamest Doctor. But thanks to a pal who owns all the McGann Big Finish CD adventures (there's about 20 of them) and has let me borrow them, I've become quite a big fan of his portrayal.
To Bill G.:
Harming oneself falls well within the realm of my morality. It's a basic human right. In fact, I'm doing so as I type (ingesting an alcoholic beverage).
Pubic Service Announcement
Yes, folks, we're going pubic with this:
Next Thursday night, 7/20, at 8pm, Harlan's tv episode on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, MEMO FROM PURGATORY, flashes its corset.
That's for the general Los Angeles area on KDOC channel 56.
It stars James Caan (earliest thing I've ever seen him in was 1969's very good THE RAIN PEOPLE by Coppola); Walter Koenig also appears in the show.
This episode was conceived, written, produced, financed, storyboarded, directed, photographed, scored, edited, and re-mastered by Harlan himself.
I hope SOMEONE here has been catching these shows. Some of them are excellent; many quite weird. I just taped one scripted by Ray Bradbury (from his own story) called 'The Life Work of Juan Diaz'. The premise is so profound and stark that even Hitchcock restrained his usual garrulous humor in the intro. It is accompanied by an incredibly rad motif throughout the show by composer Bernard Hermann.
I didn't know there was another one from Bradbury; originally, I thought it was only 'The Jar' (which I taped about 2 weeks ago).
This series is a real discovery for me.
Keith: no one can give you a real answer other than what's in your own heart, what will truly make you happy and right with the world, but a guess is it needs to be something (or things) that is just for you, but at the same time brings you out of "yourself" and into the larger world. Maybe something you've always wanted to do but haven't pursued for whatever reason, something that you won't get paid for(at least at first) and maybe something you've been afraid to do because you might fail at it(however you'd define "failed"),or seems too large a change to accomplish.
And David,with all due respect, if the vast--and I mean VAST as it's pretty much the central question of all philosophy, politics, religion, and a great deal of fiction--amount of time and energy spent on the subject of morals and ethics in all sorts of endeavours is any indication, the answers aren't so simple.
PLEASE TAKE THE MORALITY/RELIGIOUS CLAPTRAP DISCUSSION TO THE FORUMS.
"A question for the atheists. Want to test your mettle. You know the Christers do make a good point; without GOD in the universe, how do you justify being moral? I mean, if there is no afterlife, no judgement, then why not just eat, drink and pillage? You won't get caught, since there is no force to watch over you in that matter. Why not just justify anything? What is morality anyway? Isn't it just somebody's opinion?"
Because if everybody acted like a complete sociopath, the world would become a living hell. It would be like life in a maximum security prison. You want to be treated and regarded with real respect? Treat others with respect. Want to feel powerful? Build up someone feeling a little downtrodden and powerless.
The Ray Krocs of the world, who revel in a "dog-eat-dog-rat-eat-rat" ethos not only fail as human beings, they don't even make good mammals.
I'm only a lowly agnostic. To paraphrase Solomon Short, I believe God is innocent until proven guilty.
Assuming he exists.
Chuck
Atheistic Justifications?
I suppose it's different for everyone, but it's pretty bottom line to me. You treat people with respect because it's the HUMAN thing to do. And who's to say whose morals are correct? One person may think it's immoral to have sex before marriage, the other person thinks otherwise. Who's wrong in the matter? Who cares? As long as I'm not hurting anyone, or myself, then who needs justification? It seems to me the only time actions (or words) need justification is when they're meant to wound. In which case, there are a helluva lot of religions out there who better come up with something a little more concrete than, "Our god is better than yours."
All right, crawling back into my cave. Later.
waffles &/or God
Anyone else seen _Tapeheads_? A pair of two-minute commercials for Roscoe's, rap/danced by King Cotton, music by Fishbone. A lesson on taking an established commodity & making it a brand.
As for "without GOD in the universe, how do you justify being moral?" -- actually, morality is what you do when nobody's looking, when nobody's gonna check the inventory & link it to you. Last week, I found the ATM unlocked. I slapped the lock shut & completed my transaction, then told the bank the next day.
You do what's right, just because it's right -- not because you're expecting a rewarding, or just trying to avoid having Big Daddy slap you around or lock you in the basement (Hell) or at least not let you go to the birthday party (Heaven).
It's quite possible to be Christian or Muslin or Shinto or whatever, to place all faith in an omnipotent Creator, yet still act as a self-willed & self-responsible being. Many do so manage.
If you need to have Big Daddy, whether to reward you or punish, then you're not moral. You're a whipped dog.
KEITH: Try painting some Abstract Expressionist paintings. You might even make a few thousands dollars...
Mr Winfield
Ben,
Eric was referring to a review posted last week (or the week before, not sure) by a Webderlander, of Superman Returns. The reviewer was not kind in his opinion about the movie. Not having seen the movie yet, I can't weigh in.
To ALL: Anyone have a cure for a mid-life crisis that doesn't involve fast cars, viagra, or the Republican party?
-Keith
Havin' a heatwave...
temps have not reached 100 degrees here in over a decade
now looks like we'll see the century mark numerous times over the next week--not so hot as Todd's Phoenix, but still damned hot and a tad more humid
nothing quite like standing in your garden in 100 degree weather eating sweet peas and raspberries fresh off the stem
yummm
i will now lay in my backyard with cooking oil and popcorn kernels in my navel and attempt to shoot unwary creatures out of the sky.
what would you do?
rick
ERIC,
I don't get it. Why were you LOOKING for things that were "sick or perverse" in the film?
Took my 8-year old son to Superman Returns last night. We thought it was great, and except for the draggy last 15 minutes, agreed that it was better than Batman Begins or any of the Spidey/X-Men flicks. I looked hard, but couldn't see anything sick or perverse about it. Just another comic book movie, more entertaining than most.
Guess there's no accounting for taste, huh?
We are all born atheist and amoral. Anything else such as faith or immorality is learned social behavior. I am working on a theory that atheism (or crisis of faith, at the very least) is what sets humankind apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. I would make the case that animals exhibit perfect faith. The more faith, the more atavistic a given person is, in my not so humble opinion.
same old same old
> You know the Christers do make a good point; without GOD in the universe,
> how do you justify being moral?
It's not a good point, because the answers are simple if one thinks it through from scratch, free of a lot of unexamined assumptions.
> I mean, if there is no afterlife, no judgement, then why not just eat, drink
> and pillage?
Well, aside from improper overuse of natural resources and the waste issues, there's nothing inherently wrong with eating and drinking, so that's a red herring.
> You won't get caught, since there is no force to watch over you in that
> matter.
Getting caught should be the least of one's concerns. This fascination with "pillage" (which I take to be shorthand for inpulsive, selfish actions of a tremendous variety) is vastly overrated by people who obsess about them precisely because they've had it drummed into their heads that it's something you're NOT SUPPOSED TO DO. Anyone who exercises a little observational acumen coupled with reason would realize that not only are most of these activities vastly overrated in themselves, but counterproductive and dangerous.
The minute you say "everything is permitted" (which is as much as to say "might makes right"), you make yourself vulnerable to the next strongest selfish party who comes by. The social contract works to ensure a modicum of safety, security, and access to the basics of survival for the greatest number. "You won't get caught" quickly leads to the world of "Mad Max" and "A Boy and His Dog" -- Hobbes's war of all against all.
> Why not just justify anything? What is morality anyway? Isn't it just
> somebody's opinion?
Just see how far "mere opinon" gets you when you get beyond of the fabled point where freedom ends (you know, where your fist meets the next person's face). In the end, morality is not a system of principles and belief; it's behavior in action . . . what you DO (particularly within the context of relationships with other human beings and creatures around you, not simply that of your relationship to some distant deity and your conception of the cosmos), not what you say. I've heard lots of people offer lovely, sensible, comforting descriptions of morality and the way things should be, then turn around and shaft their neighbor.
I find it harder to justify morality in a God-dominated universe than one without, at least among any of the Gods I've heard other human beings describe.
Mark me down a happy atheist.
"How do atheists justify being moral?"
I'm an atheist. I don't justify it. I just _am_ moral.
Where's the problem?
Paul, making these "serial killer" stories national makes it sound worse than it is. Basically, some rapes and killings over a one year period have been slowly connected to one or two individuals. Typical late-night-in-bad-areas kind of stuff. When you live in a metropolitan area, you get late night shootings and rapes whether they are connected or not.
So, just within the past couple of weeks the public begins to take a bit more notice as more past crimes are connected, and now that Phoenix is holding education sessions for those in the general areas, the news has become national.
But there is no widespread Son of Sam hubbub going on here (and I lived across the river from NYC during the Summer of Sam; I know the difference). There is really nothing more to worry about than what you should worry about: if you are walking alone at 4am in a part of town that is used to hearing gunfire at night, guess what.....you could be in danger.
The areas of Tempe where the "Baseline Rapist/Killer" struck was not around the area where the Nebulas took place. The "second serial shooter" is also hanging around bad areas and thrill shooting where you and I would never be. It's a shame to have to say that shootings and violence in bad areas is a given, but that's certainly in any city in the country/world. Sure, Phoenix is a small city area and everything is near everything, but there's nothing happening here that will ever end up as even a bad teevee movie. When these assholes are caught, it won't stop the fact that someone in these areas will still end up at the wrong side of a gun the next day. Crime does that to ya.
Don't let the national media hype getcha.
-TODD
Philosophy and morality (IMHO)
"A question for the atheists. ... without GOD in the universe, how do you justify being moral? "
Frank, Great question which strikes to the very core of the great question of life, the universe and ... everything. The question of the philosophers.
The thought in your question "why not just justify anything" is the driving force of the personality type known popularly as the sociopath, which can be expressed as "Whatever you can get away with is acceptable." If the only thing keeping someone from taking this approach is the thought that a supernatural being is watching their every move, is that person really any better than a sociopath who just thinks he can't get away with anything because "Bigger Brother is watching."
Morality, in rational people, comes from within. It can be driven by empathy.
So the great question: why are we here? To serve others and to fight entropy and chaos. Humankind has done quite a lot, both good and evil, through working together. (Yes, I know - war - Keith C was right. Avoid news for awhile unless you either enjoy being saddened and angered at the some time.) There is an imperative in most of us on the level of instinct to CREATE and to protect what has been created.
I am not atheist, but some odd amalgam of agnostic Gaian pagan and universalist. Reincarnation is in the mix somewhere as well and perhaps a touch of Centauri faith - I believe in the "Great Maker". But even if I were atheist, it would not change my behavior in any way. Afterlife is not important - live the best life you can now. Life may be its own answer. I'll drink to that. Gimme a pint of Guinness. (Dionysis or his Gaelic equivalent may be part of my pantheon as well.)
One last aside - Frank, thank you for not offering to "test our metal", a grating abuse of the language that is appearing way too often these days.
___
As for M. Night S. - I have not seen "The Village" since I disliked "Signs" so much. And the "gotcha" method of horror film making leaves a lot to be desired. That manipulative gimmick is for dark rides, not movies, and adds little to mood or story-telling.
___
Sir Harlan,
When the times comes - break a leg and remember to not mention the Scottish Play by name.
It is with delight that I anticipate the HE Documentary. As I've said before, you've never failed to challenge, entertain, and instruct when I have seen or heard you. There I go again with the flattery...
yr. obdt svnt.
wcf
Harlan, good to see you adore the simple things in life: IHOP. You should also check out Rosco's Chicken And Waffles, in good ole South Central. Make sure to keep it real, as I know you can.
---------
A question for the atheists. Want to test your mettle. You know the Christers do make a good point; without GOD in the universe, how do you justify being moral? I mean, if there is no afterlife, no judgement, then why not just eat, drink and pillage? You won't get caught, since there is no force to watch over you in that matter. Why not just justify anything? What is morality anyway? Isn't it just somebody's opinion?
Get those darts sharpened. Me, Todd and Cindy will pray for ya hopeless sinners. Gurgle.
Who Was the Doctor?
I dunno. I liked all the others, including Eccleston, but not McGann. Definately not. The jury is still out on Tennant.
-Steve
Harlan, you may be interested in this toy:
It's a 13" Captain Marvel Action Figure! Looks pretty keen:
http://www.dccomics.com/media/products/5989_a_full.jpg
Velvet, merci. A groan's nearly as good as a laugh when the room's cold. (And it's SO OFTEN cold ...)
D.
Some brief notes, if no one minds.
No one seconded the rec' of "Cracker", so I will. Heartily. How good is this crime drama? It puts Homicide: Life on the Streets to shame. (Yes, I liked H:LOTS as much as the next obssessive crime drama fan, thank you.)
Douglas Harrison wrote:
"Please let me know if you find my youth while you're there; that's where I last saw it. I think I lost it downtown, but you may spot it if you travel along West Broadway."
Am I the only one who laughed/groaned at this?
Yeah, probably. Moving on....
Additionally, Baker WAS the Doctor. All others were pale imitations.
Lastly, but far from least-wise, let me endorse the opinions promulgated herein re: Battlestar Gag-lactica: The Next Generation. These people don't even have the decency to smeerp the Earth popculture they're ripping off. I mean, for *expletive of your choice here*'s sake, at least Trek tried not to do it, and at least Trek was still referencing THE SAME CULTURAL HISTORY, on the rare occasion when they did. (I had a problem with the way that history was viewed, four centuries on, when you consider how WE view our own history, four centuries on, but that's my own personal beef with all SF, not just Treknobabble.)
The original Galactica, they got the formula right, in my opinion: The backstory is that they split around the Roman times, and never quite lost the Roman gods, etc. Plus, their smeerpiness was at least a little more believable than the modern-day version, which doesn't even have the decency to smeerp up the stuff the stupid viewer is being slapped upside the head with. And, please, somebody tell me, WTF is it with Baltar? Or Baltus? Or whatever the hell the name of the schizo lab tech is? (No, I don't watch regularly, does it show?)
That's it, over and out.
Velvet
The evil that men do.
AZ Todd & Co~ How is everybody faring with this wingnut running around? Everyone still with us? The news tells me it's a Berkowitz-style state of panic. How long has this been going on? 'They' say there's a link to a Dec. 29th shooting and wounding. I didn't even know this has been going on for a while. I know it's not "Phoenix", but i did get a blast of frisson thinking about walking around Tempe, and our hotel was in Phoenix. In times such as these, i wish for a true Flying Blue Monkey Squad to nab this gutless perp (or two), hang 'em by the heels and let the locals air THEM out for a change.
Hoping all is well, and knowing it will be how it will be, regardless,
Paul
Cary Bleasedale wrote:
"That was also one of my many problems with "War of the Worlds" as Spielberg did it. When he shows the aliens, they are terrifying. But not nearly as viscerally terrifying as the images of what they do: blasting people into ashes, sucking them dry, harvesting people like cattle..."
I was really REALLY hoping to see some Martian/military confrontation, as a demonstration of the Martian's tremendous power, which was described most vividly in the Wells novel: explosions abound! It boggles the mind that a modern director would make his movie LESS violent than the century old book it was based on.
Harlan:
At the Friends of the Library book sale today I found a copy of a book titled "Five Fates", an anthology which has your story "The Region Between". It's an ex-library Doubleday SF edition-do you need this for your archives? Let me know.
Cheers, Colleen
Sean Connery
Come with me, my everlashting love...let me show you how love could be...ash we shit togetha on the hot shansh of a Mediterranean beach...
Open up my heart, my love...shtay by my shide...and we will shit togetha on that beach from early shun-up to shun-down...
'Twill be like shitting on top of th'world for you and I, ash we make wee and merry, shmelling th'sheaside air, and hearing our shounds of passion 'gainst the crash of thosh great wavesh...
And then in the evening we can go shit together in tha Jacuzzi...and the shounds we make togetha THEA will be a time foreva frozen in memory...th'shmell in the air like that of blooming flowersh...
Come shit with me, my love...and forget the rest of the wo'ld.
Harlan drives like he acts; full of bedlam and spice. The guy just cannot settle down. We love him all the more for not slowing down.
Harlan, is your driving music different from your at home music? I notice that when people drive they usually have to have music that moves more with the style of driving they perform.
----------
Signs had another great scare. Mel Gibson is settling down his daughter, who says she saw a monster. Gibson quiets her down, looks up from a quiet thought, and sees a shadow of something on the roof. He jumps, so does the audience. A good scare is when you don't know it is coming. Usually in films, the music tells you about the scare before it happens.
------------
All you horror fans rejoice. Jack Ketchum has rereleased his classic horror novel, Off Season, the one Steven King always raved about. This is the new, uncensored version, which is amazing, especially understanding how fucking sick the original novel was. I have no idea how he can make the book more gory or shocking. Probably the most explicit violence ever in horror. But the writing is dead on and the whole is really creepy. Good to see Ketchum still around.
Harlan's New York City Driving Style
KEITH: The reason you DIDN'T get carsick while riding with Harlan was either A) You were too busy trying to idenitfy objects as they whipped past or B) You were too busy praying to whatever deity you believe in. When I jokingly mentioned to Susan that I was hanging on to the "panic straps" in the backseat of Harlan's now-dead blue Geo (whilst being driven about East or South L.A. -- like you, I was disoriented by the wild twists and turns)...when I joked about it to Susan, she said she deals with it by going to her "special place" until Harlan brings the car in for a landing.
HARLAN: That's right, I'm a pooosay (I used Sean Connery's pronunciation).
--DTS
HARLAN
you may be interested that this exists:
http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-jefftyisfive/
you probably were already aware of it, but just in case.
Regards,
Rick
P.S. Frank, I have reported you to the apostrophe cops.
Harlan doc
Hope the plans for Sundance work out. Please keep us all in the loop as to title and release dates...this will be one flick I stand in line for... which is quite a statement, since the last time was a Val Lawton double feature at one of the local art houses in college...lo these 15 years ago...
Can't wait to check out the shots of our peerless leader in mold... The Discarded is hopefully going to be appointment TV.
A new show with a terrific cast, a documentary on the way... Man, this is looking to be a great time to be an Ellison fan. Only drawback is the inevitable influx of newcomers to the Pavilion, and their overall ratio of Interesting People versus Total Dicks.
But Harlan, looking at those photos... did you shave your head for the makeup session? It could work for you. It gives you this really tough old-guy, long-time-stevedore look.
(I tried shaving my head once, when I was thirty. It was during a heatwave, and I was working for people who were cool with it. I learned several things.
1) I became very polite to people because I didn't want them to think I was a _Nazi_ skinhead.
2) I've got a good head for bald, and if I did start to lose my hair-- not likely, apparently-- I could shave it and be done with it.
3) With sunglasses on, I looked like Uncle Duke after Papa Doc had gotten through with him.
4) Shaving one's head in a heatwave doesn't help me endure the heat.
The downside was that for several months, the hair grew back in a uniform length, making me look kinda dorky... and during this period was when I had my first chance to meet Harlan.)
excitement!
Harlan,
Your excitement is infectious. I am loving this drama (comedy) as it plays out. Now all you need is a good strong narrator for the documentary (Leonard Nimoy, Morgan Freeman) and it'll all come together.
PS - having been driven, once, by you, I can say that Susan's leftright confusion may be fueled by your driving style, which I'm convinced is best described by your word, bugfuck. I had no idea what direction I was facing, nor what direction you were driving (and many times they were different), at any given moment. All I DO know is, I always get motion-sickness sitting in the back seat of cars, and I did NOT get motion-sickness in the back seat of YOUR car. Go figure.
Josh: You must be wearing a 24x7 insane grin. The pics are great, and the Red Carpet movie with Joan Rivers comes off very surrealistically.
Best wishes, you guys. And don't read the newspapers for a few more months.
-Keith
Brian Dennehy as Bedzyk? John Hurt as Samswope?
Wow. This...this is getting impressive. I mean, I was SORT OF expecting slightly younger thespians, but damn...with THESE guys anchoring down the production, you could cast actors hot off the set of BAYWATCH in the other roles and it wouldn't rub off on the episode at all.
(God knows Hurt's already been through one hell of a makeup debacle in THE ELEPHANT MAN. Having a false head attached to his shoulder should be a walk in the park.)
I also love Harlan's trademark "aw, fuggit" expression as his cast is being made.
Harlan's reportage on the events of the day is pretty accurate. As much as I like to believe Susan likes to drive with me for my sparkling company, I know, in my heart of hearts, she's all about the navigator. In her words - "It's wicked cool!"
The only highlight Harlan left out was, for me at least, the lovely Sasha, whose job it was to measure the depth and breadth of our humble host and who refused - no matter how often he offered - to look at his Mickey Mouse boxers. We may have finally met someone who was Harlan-proof.
Beyond that, there's one thing he keeps neglecting to mention, and that is this, and it's huge. And I mean HUGE:
Samswope has been cast.
Making his American TV debut...
John Hurt!
Making me, now, two for two with the Hurt boys.
Lastly, a couple of photos. These are Harlan in the hotseat, but I think they'd make a terrific cover for a re-issue of one of his finest works...
http://homepage.mac.com/josholson/PhotoAlbum89.html
Documentaries
HARLAN: A documentary about yourownself, huh? Cool! Hope it becomes "reality" in September and that Sundance welcomes it. (An Oscar nomination would be doubly cool -- you'll have to get some shiny new shoes for _that_ gig).
Best to you and Susan,
Dorman
MY DAY, BY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
Thursday. Close on 8 pm. Whatta day.
Noon: tagged in with Josh'n'Susan at Erik Nelson's CREATIVE DIFFERENCES documentary studio. He made last year's #1 film according to TIME: GRIZZLY MAN. Also the Leonard Cohen documentary, also on&on&on&on.
It's going on four years that Erik has been working on a documentary about me; and he's shot years&years of film, not the least of which is the Grandmaster gig from Tempe a few months ago. Saw about an hoursworth of the rough material today and s'help me, I was so impressed with myownself, as judiciously edited so my great spatulate foot wasn't in my own gaping pie-hole, for the first time I actually believed it might happen, and might be a project WORTH happening.
We shall see, as time passes. Erik is talking Sundance in September. Who the hell knows.
Then, with one of Erik's film crews in tow, in two cars--Susan loves to watch Josh's remote control Brother Eye satellite tracking OMAC spy-in-the-sky tryptych radar remote unreel the goddam streets, particularly since she's modestly dyslectic and cannot easily differentiate left from right, so the streets of LA (or anywhere else) are as labyrinthine to her as the catacombs beneath the Heights of Laman, she rode with the Goyishe Golem--and with these two Erik Nelson incubi filming me across from the shotgun seat as I navigate traffic, screaming, "Move yer shufflin' ass outta my way, muthufuckuh!"--we go out in 106 degree melt'yo'ass San Fernando Valley blistertemp, and drive into darkest Pacoima, to Todd Masters' FX shop, where I sit under the agglomeration for three hours to get the molds made for my role in "The Discarded."
You'll see photos, as soon as Josh or Susan can get them revivified and slammed up hereabouts.
Whatta day.
Finally got to IHOP for the funnel cake with Suze, however. Yum.
Now I be go lies down. See the cute baby? See the cute baby snooze? See the cute snooze baby drool an' deepsleep?
It is possible I shall return anon.
Yr. pal, Harlan
M. Night Shyamalalalalaloveyou
I was never a big fan of his. He just never had...it. Just never left me with that "Holy Jayzus! That's a MOVIE!" feeling that Hitchcock, Lang, Coppola, Bergman, Kubrick, or Leone all left me with. All of those directors, and many others, made movies that made you think, and feel, and put you in the action. Shyamalan never did that for me.
However, he did write what was for me one of the most terrifying moments in a movie. In "Signs" there is a scene, early on, when the aliens have just landed. There is a news report that some footage from a children's birthday party...jerky camera, screaming kids...and in the middle of it, for just one tenth of one second, you see SOMETHING flash by. And that’s it. That one scene taps into the most basic fears we have, the thing on the edge of the fire, thing unseen, the creature glimpsed from the corner of the eyes. When we just sense an IT there, waiting, without knowing what IT is, we fear. Not in the forebrain, the logical, thinking fear of what is seen but what youfeel in the the brainstem as a visceral, instinctive reaction. His later decision to show the aliens was foolish. Its much the same idea as the glowing briefcase light in Pulp Fiction: what we don't see, we imagine. And our imagination does a better job than any makeup artist ever could.
That was also one of my many problems with "War of the Worlds" as Spielberg did it. When he shows the aliens, they are terrifying. But not nearly as viscerally terrifying as the images of what they do: blasting people into ashes, sucking them dry, harvesting people like cattle...
If he had just let us imagine what kind of creature could do such a thing, the film would have had much more impact. Either that or intergalactic spiders. Brrrrr....spiders.......
I go the other way on M. Night. He earned a get-out-of-jail free card for making Unbreakable. He used it up on The Village and so as far as I'm concerned he's square with me (Signs was zero sum game; forgetable but not deserving of any serious criticism).
The rumour is is that he fought with Disney about making the film he wanted to and even threated to walk with the film to another studio if he could do it his way so this will be a good test of his directorial/authorial skills.
Heck, I invented cutting and pasting. Don't get that confused with cutting and running, that's what gangsta's do if they don't have payment on that loan.
--------
Harlan, Boo-yah may actually work, in modern speak, as well.
Slick got his jazz chops in G. Slide slap and head butts to my posse. We are chillin up in dis ammo dump. Fer shur.
----------
The Lady In The Lake looks real good, as well. M. Night Whatshisface may have a good un' He needs to make up for that skunk the fucking Village. Never thought I'd see the day that one William Hurt could shambleamble so listfully.
MR> PHILLIPS:
"Boo-dow" was an expletive of the early bop era. Its equivalent today would be "da bomb!"
As in: "So we're walkin' up 52nd Street, and we pass the open mouth of Condon's joint and, just like that, boo-DOW! We get smacked up solid by some kid workin' changes on 'Royal Garden Blues'."
Yr. pal, Harlan "Jazzbo" Ellison
Boo Dow
Mr. Phillips: Boo Dow is Wall Street short hand for how well horror fiction is doing on the Stock Market. Thus, when Mr. King calls his broker, his first question is likely to be something like, "Yo, dawg, what's the deal with my Boo Dow?"
(Insert rimshot where appropriate).
Re 'Stephen King's NIGHTMARES AND DREAMSCAPES'.
This series hasn't been shown in the UK yet, but after looking at the IMDB's list of credits, I can't say I'll be going out of my way to watch it when it does arrive. It sounds like another example of what is usually described as a 'writer-driven series' - which usually means that the producers are saving money by hiring the cheapest, most talentless and/or anonymous directors available, the ones who are virtually guaranteed to not muddy the waters by injecting any of their own personality into the work, and then pretending that by rejecting genuine directorial talent they are somehow doing the writers a favor.
If I want Stephen King, I won't watch television - I'll simply pick up one of his books and start reading it. But, quite frankly, I have absolutely no interest in seeing the latest directorial efforts of Mikael Salomon, Mike Robe, Rob Bowman or Mark Haber. I'd rather spend the time watching Malick's THE NEW WORLD or Hou's CAFE LUMIERE again.
Have Coolth Question
I have a question about a word in the story, "Have Coolth", which I read about 20 years ago.
I apologize for the inaccuracy of the quote and the youth of the person asking this.
I seem to recall a word, "Boo-Dow" being used in the story; something about the "Boo-Dow".
What's Boo-Dow? I think I have seen this term in one or two stories.
Brian Phillips
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
The first two-hour episode of STEPHEN KING'S NIGHTMARES AND DREAMSCAPES presented, as if for viewer convenience, a fine display of the show's possible quality arc: from one of the very best hours of fantasy television ever produced, to a steaming cow turd.
The classic was "Battleground," based on a terrific early King story, marvelously adapted by Richard Christian Matheson. The special effects are equal to the conceit, the fight choreography terrific, and the direction visual as all get out, aided by the gimmick of producing the entire thing without a single word of dialogue. The Zuni Warrior doll from TRILOGY OF TERROR does indeed seem to be Matheson's tribute to his father; it wouldn't be his first. In any event, this is a classic hour, as good as the best TWILIGHT ZONEs, as good as the best OUTER LIMITs.
It was, alas, immediately followed what I sincerely hope will hope to be the series nadir, "Crouch End." It was never possible, for a second, to care about these people, or feel invested in the weirdness that happens to them.
Both hours are faithful to King's original stories, which seems a fair indication that this series will be fun when based on good King stories, gamey when based on bad King stories. I therefore expect big things from "Umney's Last Case" and not much from "The Road Virus Heads North." Another upcoming ep, "You Know They've Got A Hell Of A Band" -- which leaves its protagonists in perhaps the nastiest predicament any Stephen King characters ever suffered (and that is saying a lot) -- can go either way.
C'mon...NOBODY'S mentioned this yet?? Ok, so I caught TNT's NIGHTMARES & DREAMSCAPES thingie last night. BATTLEGROUND was good. Probably better than good, and there was a nice shot of that kuh-razy looking doll that terrorized Karen Black back in the day hanging out in William Hurt's apartment. I'm assuming that was Richard Christian Matheson's idea since he wrote the teleplay. Also, no dialog was great.
Which meant that CROUCH END was gonna suck coming on the heels of BATTLEGROUND. And it did. Grating is being generous. I was hoping neither of them would make it back.
I'm not sure what's on the agenda for the other episodes, but if BATTLEGROUND is any indication this just might be pretty good. Of course, if they're like CROUCH END then don't bother watching.
SCANNER DARKLY
Any chance of a screening at World Con?
look out
> Retired state supreme court judge: "Every judge has been offered a bribe."
I'd always hoped I would be on the staff of a paper when a local judge was caught taking a bribe, so I could write:
"His honor is without profit, save in his own county."
My all time favorite quotation
Have you ever been offered a bribe?
Retired state supreme court judge: "Every judge has been offered a bribe."
HARLAN,
If you have worries about the body cast, just relax, and imagine you're Boris Karloff before Bramwell Fletcher breathes life into your motionless shape.
"How Ovid of you to cut and paste something someone else said."
Considering my large size, am I now Ovoid?
How Ovid of you to cut and paste something someone else said.
The wit and wisdom of one Ted Nugent:
"Atlantic City gig is owned by chimps of a Gulf Coast casino chain that banned me for saying nigger onstage celebrating the glowing black soul of my incredible bandmates, yet never ban blacks from saying it all nightlong during comedy & hiphop parole celebrations. so I called God & had Him blow their casino off into the Gulf Of Mexico lastyear. dont fk with Uncle Ted. I jam where & when I wanna. I cannot be stopped. period."
Makes you glad Frank is here to give you goosebumps and grade-a laughs.
The right wing don't scare me, they just make it so easy.
ALEX:
The "sweet item" is in the mail today. If you're happy with it, just let me know hereat. If not, also let me know.
Yr. pal, Harlan
The Blue Monkey Speaks
Harlan, if you think that's a helluva sweet item you have in mind, who am I to doubt it? I trust your taste and thank you in advance. And, yep, the book's already en route.
Barney: A Doc Savage Museum? That's it--you've earned a spot in heaven. Wish I had something to help out, but, alas, the few original Doc pulps in my collection are nothing to dance over. I assume a copy of Phil Farmer's "His Apocolyptic Life" is already in hand.
Harlan & Typewriters
HEY HARLAN: I Keep forgetting to ask: Do you need another travel typewriter? I ran across one in a Half-Price Bookstore that's being used as scenery, and all the keys worked on it. It's one of those models that is enclosed in a travel case, so you just pop it open. It's an older model; in very good shape.
If you're intersted, I'll ask the store manager about the possibility of selling it. (And if you ARE: lemme know your "brand" again -- if my semi-aged brain remembers correctly, this one was a Smith-Corona -- or not).
MARTIN: I'm sure Kiera (and _all_ the women you and I will only ever know through the Silver Screen) is tremendously indebted to you for defending her honor in the name of humorless schmoes everywhere (as Slappy would say, THAT'S comedy!)--DTS
If Leary had any moxie he'd offer the blowjobs himself, rather than insult Keira Knightley. He sounds like an ass to me.
Thanks for the preview of ASD Brian, the movie opens this weekend here in DC and now I'm excited about it.
You're right about past efforts. Ever since I heard about this production I've been thinking of ways they could eff it up. I already imagined a "Lost Weekend" type happy ending.
Now if some hip young smart director (with talent of course, there are already too many hip young smart directors with no talent) will grab the Alfred Bester novels and run with them.
And I'm going to mail copies of the Cordwainer Smith books to Hayao Miyazaki. Wonder what will become of that!
No Need to Be Leery of the Leering and Letcherous Leary
ALL: Denis Leary, that is (misspelled his first name in my last post). Don't know if some (or most) of you already catch the show, but "Rescue Me" starring Denis Leary (who also co-writes and produces the show) is fucking great. I first got into it when I bought the 1st season on DVD. When Tommmy (Leary's character) started talking to Jesus Christ and Magdelene while trying to kick drugs and deal with deaths, I was hooked (he's been talking to apparitions since the firs show; they take the form of dead compatriots or "civilian" victims -- with the exception of Christ and Magdelene in the second season. Sure the situations are sometimes over the top, and most of the firemen are chauvenists; but anyone who ever did time in the regular Army (or in a Police dept or Firehouse) can attest to the truth of that depiction. Hell, the retired Fire Captain who lives next to me (not to mention his equally bone-headed sons) has, over the past 10 years, made Leary's characters look like Rhodes Scholars. And _that's_ just from being an asshole of a neighbor. The shows are _never_ boring; and Leary (who went from blue-cloud rant to a crying jag in a matter of minutes) and the other actors, not to mention the guest stars -- currently Susan Sarandon, Tatum O Neil and Marisa Tomei -- do a bang-up job.
But it's the writing that really cements the deal. You have to be a good writer to make such miserable characters seem so likeable -- and off-handedly noble (even though half their motivation for doing the job is adrenaline).
AlSO: Leary is the interviewee in the August "Playboy" (yeah, I'm one of the yo-yos who read the articles, too; although the eye candy this month is suh-weeeet). Anway, the interview, conducted by contributing editor Stephen Rebellow -- so the following is an excerpt from copyrighted material -- is fuckin heee-larious! After the interviewer asks if Americans should expect future politicians to have "a history," Leary goes into a speil about how -- if he does a good job and balances the budget -- we should expect free blow jobs for the President, administered by Kiera Knightly, who will be told, "Part of your job is to fuck the President or at least blow him; then we'll put you in a big movie." (If it's a woman President, Mel Gibson is required to be um, up, for the task of pleasing her).
Run out to your local newstand and pick up copy.
That's all.
Oh, yeah. Leary got an Emmy nomination this year; next year, we all expect Harlan to be on the ballot --right?
--DTS
A Doc Savage / Lester Dent museum in La Plata, MO.
Over the last few months I've been working in association with Wayne Skiver of Missouri to get donations together for a Doc Savage / Lester Dent museum in La Plata, MO. [down the road from Hannibal, or "Mecca", as I like to think of it] in conjunction with that town's local library. This will be a large one room affair (for now) displaying all things related to Doc Savage and that characters most prolific contributor and home town boy Lester Dent.
At the moment we have a full set of all the Bantam PB's and all of the Marvel, DC, and Millenium comics done since 1973. I am also going to be contributing a few fanzines and books with Doc Savage covers. Others are contributing some painted reproductions of the original Baumhoffer pulp covers. I'm currently tracking down BORIS to see if he has any of his oils of Doc done in the 1980's.
Here is a letter I just posted on Flearun that amplifies this request;
*******************************************************
Wayne,
[Consider this an open letter that may be posted or cross-posted on Flearun, Laplatacon, GoldenPerils, DocCon, Pulprack or wherever you like.]
First off - thanks for the kind words and more than happy to oblige. Can't think of a better place for these books and what's to follow to end up.
I would like others to consider donating things to the museum that they may be hanging on to in a fetish object sense. I'll start with my friend Mark Nevins since I know Mark VERY well.
Mark - those Doc pulps that you have that are too brittle to properly read. You don't have to GIVE them to the museum. You could just LOAN them and go visit them someday. Let them worry about sunlight and proper storage. Wayne has already left me with the feeling that this will be a priority of theirs.
What I said to Mark applies to the rest of you. I suspect there are more than a few pack rats among you. I understand keeping your reading copies where you can get at them. But I'm guessing there a lot of Doc Savage fetish objects where the "having" isn't the same thing as looking at on a daily basis. Particularly fanzine and prozine appearances. If that's the case, let these folks store it for you and maybe a few kids coming up will see what we once saw.
*************************************************************
For any of you who track Yahoo groups - there is more information on those 5 sites I mentioned up there about the Doc museum - which they hope to get open in October of this year.
Wayne Skiver (or, Wayne Judge on-line), who is in charge of donations right now may be contacted at;
shaolin770@yahoo.com
tell him Barney sent you.
Harlan - found the durned check. It's on the shipping table but not quite "in the mail". The wheels of the mill...
Regarding that Doc museum, I know you have a mine mine mine attitude towards these things and I get that. But if you have Bama contact info or you know some Doc geeks I don't - this is a real thing and no longer "blue sky" - just sayin'.
Had some good phone time with TimmyTimTim about an hour ago.
Stop rousting him. I told Tim to tell you if your own mother were alive and she heard YOUR voice coming through the speaker she'd let the machine get it.
Nuthin' but love, baby.
I flee the country on the 23rd. Back around the 30th.
- Barney
http://www.myspace.com/dannelke
http://blog.myspace.com/dannelke
Theo Lippman and Spiro Agnew
Harlan,
In the July 9 edition of the Baltimore Sun, Theo Lippman compared the current Bush/Chaney attacks on the media with Agnew's broadsides from 1969. (The link is below.) The piece motivated me to reread my copies of the "Glass Teat" books. In Lippman's otherwise fine piece, he failed to mention the Nixon Administration's covert attempts to silence dissent in the media and elsewhere.
What similarities do you see between Bush/Iraq and Nixon/Vietnam? Do you suspect that the true goal of NSA's warrantless wiretapping was to monitor people with disagree with the Administration? I can easily imagine Karl Rove following Charles Colson's evil example by compiling an Enemies List. Or do you believe Rove doesn't have to expend the energy, since Fox News and Anne Coulter are constantly hurling accusations of treason at anyone who questions Bush?
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-id.agnew09jul09,0,4032417.story?coll=bal-artslife-tv
I saw _A Scanner Darkly_ last night and, joy of joys, this was the first time that filmmakers really did _right_ by Phil Dick.
No spoilers below.
For some reason, Phil Dick's novels of ordinary people caught in the warp and woof of unreality have been turned into movies starring bigger-than-life action heroes. The stories of alternate realities, the pitfalls of subjective perception, and the mystic behind our minds get turned into action thrillers. _A Scanner Darkly_ might've turned into one of those, with futuristic narco cops using high-tech whizbangs to track down super-advanced drug dealers. Would've gotten some retro-cool production design and some character actors in the supporting roles.
Instead, Richard Linklater got to do it, and his sensibilities are closer to the gentle, observant side of Dick's novels. Has anyone here read his mainstream novels like _Confessions of a Crap Artist_? Dick had a sure and sympathetic eye for the ways in which ordinary people were, well, not ordinary, and even heroic. _Slacker_ was populated by people who were probably reading Dick. And rather than taking a really overtly SF novel like _The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch_ or _Ubik_, Linklater chose _A Scanner Darkly_: a work with almost none of the special effects gewgaws we've come to expect.
The film's made in this fascinating rotoscoping technique Linklater's peopld developed for _Waking Life_. It couldn't be more appropriate, and not just for the spooky "scramble suits" worn by the cops. The shifting globs that form the faces of Robert Downey, Woody Harrelson, Rory Cochrane, Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder serve as the subjective experience of Substance D addiction. And in Linklater's hands, it doesn't mask or detract from the film's fine performances. In some cases (especially Rory Cochrane's tragic doper), it enhances them with concrete hallucinations.
There are wonderful bits throughout. The scramble suit itself is a kaleidoscope of human snippets, and Dick's own face appears on it briefly at the beginning. A brief scene where Reeves is walking down the street, talking on the phone, while police record every moment from multiple angles, shows up Brian DePalma pretty effectively. One of my favorite scenes in the novel appears here intact, even better than in print thanks to the funniest interdimensional alien this side of _Red Dwarf_. There is the marvel of Robert Downey, who captures the solipsistic junkie know-it-all perfectly.
Like I said, people like to turn Dick's stories into action thrillers. And this one might've been turned into one. Or, it might've been turned into an indictment on the War on Drugs. Might've gotten depictions of a police state, complicity of the government in making and selling drugs, their uses for political control... You know, the _usual_. (There's a brief moment in a parking lot that gets this business taken care of quickly and efficiently.) But this was Dick's book about _drugs_, and what they did to him and the people he knew. The movie sticks with that, too, including Dick's own epilogue to close out the story.
Phil Dick died twenty-four years ago, only months before he got a mainstream (non-SF) movel published in hardcover, and only months before _Blade Runner_ came out and made his name known to smart and hip people everywhere. (Well, okay, the smart and hip people who _weren't_ reading him when he was _alive_, like I was.) But as sad and as devastating as this film is, in the end, it was genuinely moving to see that, finally, a filmmaker got Philip K. dick, _right_.
Hurrrrm
Gee, for those several hours, Harlan will, ummm, have no mouth.
....breathing
HARLAN...Just remember to breathe through the straws...and above all...DO NOT PANIC.
Mr. Francis:
We shall, in very short thrust, find out just how calamitous to the American thespic scene has been my focus elsewhere: tomorrow at 2 pm I shall venture Valleywards with pal Josh and Wife Susan, to the Todd Masters FX Studio where, for four hours, I shall lie supine, barely breathing (and THAT through straws) as they slather me with a slurry in aid of manifesting a "life mask" or "body cast" from which they will proceed to the invention of a mutant carapace within which, between 26 July and 6 August instant, I shall turn loose the devil dogs of my theatrical chops. We shall see, Mr. Francis; we shall indeed soon see.
Once more to tread the boards! Yr. pal, Harlan
So You Think You Can Write Surrealism? Hmmm?
Try this:
THE PINK SWARTHY BONOBO IS STEALING MY PURPLE STRAWBERRIES!
Violet monkeys are sliding down the refulgent moon as the cows watch and applaud. The clackclackclack of their hooves irritate the lemon yellow pringle tingles who flingle lit sparklers at the horned bovines who trample the rocking horse people as they flee from what they think are falling stars.
Peter Max shouts, "HUMM-HA-HUMM! HUMM-HA-HUMM!!" as the pringle tingles ruin yet another virtual painting he was slathering on the burbling LCD screen.
"WHAT HO!" he shouts as he dances the fandango and tramples the melting picture.
Tumbling, cartwheeling starfishmen sing out rainbow sprays of color, cooling down the overheated artist as they shout, "HUP-HO! HUP-HO! HUP-HO!" and toss lemon heads at the lemon yellow pringle tingles who trudge away, muttering, "Misp, misp, misp."
Brought to you by the Magic Mushroom Council. Void where prohibited. Some restrictions may apply. Adults prohibited unless accompanied by a child. Some side effects such as a mild rash and extreme flatulence may occur.
Just thought it needed to be said
Wow, a FLYING BLUE MONKEY SQUAD ALERT with thirteen bangs! And I missed it. I wasn't even able to unfurl the wings before a veteran Blue Monkey handled the request. Ya know we luv ya, Harlan.
As for underrated actors, I agree with rich on Kurt Russell and Bruce Willis. Check the range on these guys; they're noir tough guys with great intensity who can also play light comedy. May I remind you (although I've never mentioned it here) of my favorite Christmas (oh, excuuuuse me - winter solstice, Kwanzaa, Chanukah [better get that spelled right or our gentle host will have parts of my body for decorations], sun return, etc. Did I miss any? The Festival of the Retail Survival, perhaps?) movie "Die Hard"? Also check out Bruce's performance in "Death Becomes Her". That's neither John McClane of David Addison there. Mixing comedy and tough guy: Kurt Russell's incredibly fun portrayal of Jack Burton in "Big Touble in Little China". I like this actor as much as John Carpenter does.
One other great actor that comes immediately to mind, although not principally an actor, is our gentle host. I have read that Harlan is active in Jewish Community Theatre in the LA area. I saw him perform in the Atlanta Radio Theatre production of "The Rats in the Walls" at one DragonCon a few years back (also own a cassette). I have listened to many of his readings as well. "Repent, Harlequin, said the Ticktockman" is a brilliant performance - or actually several brilliant performances, as he portrays ALL the characters. As a community theatre actor and director with some local recognition (but small town Georgia, how much can THAT count for?), I recognize a great actor there. The loss to the stage and screen, though, is that HE is THE great short story writer (working in English) of the last century or so, and one of the top personal essayists as well.
OK, enough sucking up to our pal and host. Buy cassettes and CDs. Check it out for yourself.
Wait. That was advertising, even more sucking up.
I'll Shut Up Now.
yr. obdnt srvnt
William C. Francis
ADAM-TROY:
Thanks, but according to Susan, Alex Krislov called and said he had a 2nd printing of MASTERPIECES, and it was on its way to us. Gracias, nonetheless.
ALEX KRISLOV:
Unless you have a specific remuneration or request, I have a helluva sweet item for you. Get back to me on your thoughts or needs, and I'll provide more tantalizing snippets.
Yr. pal, Harlan
Frank/Harlan, Harlan/Frank. It's like The Man Without a Face who uses a mirror to complete himself.
But is the man looking into the mirror, or the mirror looking into the man?
Such questions should end in greatness, not impotent decline.
Todd, the Sermon for today is: Surreal writing and the madness of web rings.
To class, my friend; even though most republicans get the axe handle. Not you, or my Cindy. You two are just too cute for words.
The fifty yard line is a symbol of balance; you either get the touchdown or give up the ball. The tinfoil hat is used as a snide way to deride someone who they cannot understand, like the way my anarchism is downplayed as some kooky theory. To me, that hat is a crown. To others it is merely a funhouse mirror.
Israel's actions so pissed me off that I had to let it loose. I put myself into the game, when I kicked my hat onto the field of play. My stones are on the line, merely because my tax money will pay for this stuff. No more time to just wear this hat and watch from the sidelines. We gotta stop this madness before it kills us all.
Some of the other stuff are mere sketches. Maybe they make sense, maybe they don't. This is a great place, with great people, but it aint the NY Review Of Books. But it is fun to daydream.
Here's some more for ya:
Raisins in the ruts, raisins in the ruts, I went insane looking at the raisins in the ruts.
If a peach pit is thrown at a miser, does that mean that the miser owns all the peaches?
I'm a creature of habit. Too bad there are no twelve step programs for monsters.
Money brings out the best in fucked up people.
I saw eleven donuts next to a cadaver. I wondered why the person didn't offer me a donut, before being selfish, and dying.
I see you through a small window. I want you to see the pattern of my face. I want you to remember that face, as you ride off.
DTS
i can tell ya what inspires F. Church's "prose" and it ain't ether, gumdrop.
LOL
Rick
Masterpieces
Harlan, this may not be what you need, but I have my review copy, an uncorrected proof.
FLYING BLUE MONKEY SQUAD ALERT !!!!!!!!!!!!!
In November 2001, ACE BOOKS published an anthology titled
MASTERPIECES: The Best Science Fiction of the Twentieth Century
edited by Orson Scott Card.
For some inexplicable reason, ACE BOOKS never sent me my several contributors' copies of said volume, and it was not till early this year that I discovered not only the hardcover ... which I'd never seen ... but also learned to my exasperation that ACE BOOKS had reissued it in
Trade Paperback
format. And it had gone through 3-count'm-3 printings already.
We got the hardcover. We got the 1st Trade Paperback printing.
And yesterday, arrived here two copies of the THIRD PRINTING.
(See where I'm going with this?)
WE NEED AS GOOD A COPY AS CAN BE FOUND OF THE
SECOND PRINTING
SECOND PRINTING
SECOND PRINTING
O N L Y !
Pub dates on the three trade pb editions are as follows:
1st: 22 January 2004
2nd: 24 November 2005
3rd: 24 March 2005
We've checked the usual online sources for a copy of THE 2nd TRADE PAPERBACK edition of MASTERPIECES, but have come up empty.
(For those who don't know how to identify a SECOND PRINTING, open the suspected book to the indicia page--for those who have no idea what indicia means--and trust me, there are oodles of such folks, many of whom, unbelievably, are in publishing--it is the page with all the copyright information--the indicia material--usually the next page after the Main Title Page--not the half-title page--and down at the bottom you will find, just below the line stating the book was "printed in the United States of America" or "printed in Canada," a line of small numbers proceeding backwards from 10 to 1. If the last number on the right end is a 1, it means that's a First Edition; if that last number on the right end is a 3, that's a Third Edition...and)
IF THE LAST NUMBER ON THE RIGHT IS A 2+++++++++I NEED THAT VERY EXACT BOOK!!
Not only for my personal archive, but for Tim's bibliography, FINGERPRINTS ON THE SKY which is, still, yet, again, imminent of publication, from my lips to the ear of Whatever's-In-Charge.
I'll make it worth your while, as usual.
This is a pressing need, folks; so, if you can ...
Yr. pal, Harlan
To DTS:
You forgot to add "lol." at the end. lol.
THE FIRST ANNUAL WRITE LIKE FRANK CHURCH CONTEST
ALL: Like Harlan, I often sit back in awe at the ether-inspired material of Mr. Church. And since there are a ton of Write-like-So-and-so Contests out there but none (None I say!!) that celebrate Webderland's resident lyric-poet-semi-homeless-crazed-genius, I take it upon myself to begin THE FIRST ANNUAL WRITE LIKE FRANK CHURCH CONTEST. Let the scribbling begin!
(And here are my entries):
Bush announced his tax cuts have resulted in a lower deficit; voodoo economics from a third-class witch doctor who never really attended school.
They say the emperor has no clothes. I say his tailors (i.e, his administration) are pricks who've managed to fool the pinheads (i.e., those who voted Dubya & Co. into office) time and again because sometime between 1999 and 2004, the National I.Q. was, like Dubya's wife's hemline, drastically lowered.
As of today, the High Alert Terrorism colors will be changed to coffee, umber, fuscia and lime green. Anyone found drinking at Starbucks when the terror alert colors are changed will automatically be disqualified and thrown out of the game.
I say we should make Iraq and Iran band together to form one brand new country: Irate. May as well have one place for all the pissed off people (OKAY: I actually cribbed this last one from a stand-up comedy routine by Dennis Leary -- what the hell, it was funny).
--DTS
Speaking Of Horrific Pontificating.....
Check out this winning entry from the Bulmer-Lytton Fiction Contest For Bad Writing:
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/11/D8IPOGFG0.html
Frank, the 2007 contest awaits!!
Check out Skroungers $2 dutch auction
+++
Hello, Harlan. Hope you are making it. I'm doing well. No, REAL well. My mind is still my own. And you?
Good...
I've been 'working' for this guy, Barry, since the end of January. He's not perfect, but he has a good idea. He 'up-cycles' a lot of stuff that normally goes to landfill. His focus is on artists, creative people, people who skrounge for a living, securing new ideas, new paths, new disturbances. He's FOR profit, with no plan to go the nonprofit route. If he did, well, he'd probably have all kinds of funding at his disposal. He prefers taking the high road.
No matter how far down it takes him.
Buy a piece of his mind, at ebay. It'll cost ya two bucks. Here's the dutch auction link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50341&item=290006138605
Thanks. Coolness to you all.
H
THE WIT & WISDOM OF FRANK CHURCH
TODD:
Same sort of confusion reigned when great street poets like Ovid, Sappho, Horace, Rimbaud, Dante Aligheri, Camillo Querno, Matsunaga Teitoku, t.s. eliot, Don Marquis, Ezra Pound, Randall Jarrell, W.S. Merwin, Langston Hughes and Howlin' Wolf first burst upon the more mundane venues wherein they initially spread their stardust. Can you not ken the emergence of a vitality? A bold sentience! Frank adumbrates with truculence even as he extravagansizes; he soliloquizes; he festers and roils; he strides and paces only to that Different Drummer we all ennoble. We, with mere lip-service, Frank Church with oblations of verbiage at the sacred altar of trope.
Reverence, not whippersnapperdom, Todd! No less is due.
Iambically, Yr. pal, Harlan
File This Under - Sorry, But I Hadda Ask
Is it me, or does anyone else want a sample of whatever hallucinogens Frank chews on while typing his many patented ChurchSpeak?
These from the past couple of weeks:
* Israel is a terrorist state--I kick my tinfoil hat onto the fifty yard line.
* There are pimps in the afterlife, they are called mood swings.
* I wouldn't say ego is my cup o' joe, more like self confidence in a reactionary blender is more like it.
* Those Blue Monkeys fart arpeggios; joy along the rising river, the embalmed shore.
* Nixon will look like a dust bunny in comparison
* Consistency is a dish better served cold.
* Better that we find the kite string, before the storm blows it into the ether.
* Such is a tongue, admiring of the wine of the satanic berry.
To which I must respond, "Wha....huh?"
Sorry, but I hadda ask.
-TODD
If you gotta go, this is the way.
This is an actual obit, written by a local businessman while he was dying, and run in the Sunday (July 9) Richmond Times-Dispatch:
http://www.legacy.com/TimesDispatch/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=18382676
This guy, aside from his politics, is my hero. I hope I have the wherewithal to do this when I go (assuming her father gives me time).
Hey, Harlan, as long as my hero Scott Baio is in the Discarded, all will be fine. Sure miss Joanie Loves Chachi. Classics never die.
Can't wait for that Good Morning America and Today Show interview that I have been waiting my whole life to see. Papa Ellison has been off my telly for many moons. A guy does need his fun.
------------
Once again, it is official: Israel is a terrorist state--I kick my tinfoil hat onto the fifty yard line.
No more babbling, "Israel has a right to defend itself." No other state has that right; except, for ah, the United Snakes of Amerikkka.
Rights go along with responsibility. Into the dock with Bin Laden, Bush, Blair and Olmert.
Thank you Susan
Yes, twas I who inquired after Mefisto. If the library budget snafu ever gets fixed and my checks get straightened out, I'll jump aboard the HERC express post-haste.
As a minor bit of brag, got the contract for my 2nd book today. It's a sequel to Ghosts of the SC Upcountry focusing on the Lower Midlands of SC and their ghostlore.
Attn: Susan Ellison Re: Book Purge
Do you have any Spanish language editions in your inventory?
Book Purge!
Susan, do you guys have any hardcover copies or trade editions of STALKING THE NIGHTMARE ???
Anthopology 101 - Of Purest Ray Serene
The next installment of my SFWA BULLETIN column is done, not without some difficulties - it concerns Ray Bradbury, and what the hell can I say about him that hasn't already been said by a dozen others, far more qualified than I?
Specifically, I covered the two anthologies Mr. Bradbury did for Bantam Books back in the '50s, _Timeless Stories for Today and Tomorow_ and _The Circus of Dr. Lao and Other Improbable Stories_. After speaking briefly to Harlan about it, I decided NOT to bother The Man Himself, but instead, sent my questions to two of the most accomplished Bradburian scholars, Willam F. Nolan and Donn Albright; Albright turned around and took the questions directly to Mr. Bradbury, whom he was visiting anyway.
This was a tough one - I ended up going down the wrong road more than once, and had to back and fill to get back on track. Plus, I will readily admit that I was pretty damned intimidated by the subject. But it's done, and will be turned in shortly. I think, in many ways, it's one of the best I've done, almost as good as the _Final Stage_ piece.
It'll be in the next issue, out in August, I believe. If anyone's interested.
I think it was Tally (I hope) who asked if we had another copy of MEFISTO. At the moment, no. But...I'm working on the next GREAT ELLISON BOOK PURGE! It's been two and a half years since the first one, and we've bought/collected some more items so...it will be like the first one, mostly done via HERC (since mailing costs are high, I'm thinking of doing it via the big Rabbit Hole #40). We might have MEFISTO by then. We will let you know when the date becomes certain.
Thanks--Susan
pseudo-quasi-ersatz heavy lifting
HARLAN:
Got it. Am sitting tight with (sort of) bated breath.
If the package can be gotten to me this week, the timing would be perfect. I'm going in for arthroscopic knee surgery next Monday, the 17th (the minute "Macbeth" closes and in anticipation of August rehearsals for a September production in which I will play a Guatemalan shaman), and am taking off work that week to rest up at home. Was expecting to watch a shitload of videos -- good, bad, and ugly -- to keep from going stir-crazy and sprinting around on my crutches, but this would be a fine activity to include in the mix.
"Harlan HAS no lines, full stop - his face is as smooth as a baby's bottom....."
Yeah, but you should see his ass....
Tony,
Harlan HAS no lines, full stop - his face is as smooth as a baby's bottom.....
thanks
Rob
"NO CHANGES OF ANY KIND have been introduced into the first draft aka final draft Josh and I handed in more than a month ago. In my experience, this is unprecedented."
That is... incredible. Oh, gods, after decades of seeing HE's stunning works get massacred in translation, I'm on tenterhooks. But at least someone's making the effort.
When I saw his appearance in B5, I was unprepared, & enraptured for days after to see that fevered grin (albeit without lines).
"I should also mention that Harlan will be playing a hysterical, feverish Mexican cuckold in the feature film I'm writing and directing."
Oh, man, I HATE typecasting.
Actually, Josh, that sounds frickin' fabulous.
---------------------------
Harlan, good time of year to be in Vancouver. Late August-early September is even better, but you should remain mostly dry.
Please let me know if you find my youth while you're there; that's where I last saw it. I think I lost it downtown, but you may spot it if you travel along West Broadway.
D.
Steve:
Hey, no harm done. My enthusiasm got the better of me.
Great news on The Discarded, Harlan. 2006 has shaped up to be a very good year for you in many ways, I think.
Alejandro
Question For Harlan
Harlan, I always wanted to know what type of books you read or draw inspiration from. Do you read Time,Newsweek or any other publications? Being a writer myself I wanted to know what draws your attention in what you like to read for entertainment or news.
Question For Harlan
Harlan, I always wanted to know what type of books you read or draw inspiration from. Do you read Time,Newsweek or any other publications? Being a writer myself I wanted to know what draws your attention in what you like to read for entertainment or news.
Susan, Harlan - My new (and complete) copy of 'Mefisto' arrived post-haste from far-off Sherman Oaks. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am happy that, at last, I am to finish the center of the story (those pages missing from my current, and now set to rest, incomplete collector's item). I am most appreciative, especially of the kind note. Thank you.
_____________________________________________
My wife and I had the distinct once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing Brian Dennehy in the role of Willy Loman on Broadway a few years back. Extraordinary performance from a brilliant actor. What a coup for THE DISCARDED. And that guy who played a PsiCop in B5 as one of the muties? I can't believe the still-to-be-announced "big star" can top either of these bits.
Everyone back up, I'm think I'm about to go a little fanboy here.
_____________________________________________
Last note -- 'Mefisto' in hand, me, my wife and my trusty Nikons are tomorrow headed down the coast, safely offshore in a cruise ship just a step or two out of cellphone range (darnitall!). Thunderstorms and hundred degree weather be damned, I'm taking a vacation. For the nervous among you, be reassured that the Fora will not go unchecked: a Watcher lurks in my absence.
See y'all in about a week.
I've mentioned my reservations (yeah, yeah, who gives a shit, right, but I'm on record so I'm gonna put this on record, too) concerning The Discarded on the other side, but I'm gonna say I'm pleased as Punch concerning that 60-100% commitment of "someone".
Brian Dennehy is one of THE great underrated actors; this bodes well if true.
He was in a bunch of stuff before RAMBO made him (somewhat) a household name, but if you can sit through that movie again, you can't tell me that it would work as well as it does without Dennehy in THE crucial role of that flick. Well, I guess you can tell me, but I won't believe it.
And since I've got nothing better to do at the moment, off the top of my head, a few more vastly underrated actors:
Kurt Russell
Bruce Willis (don't look at me like that, you know what I'm talking about)
Mekhi Phifer
Joe Mantegna
Anthony Lapaglia
and...
Clint Eastwood (Yeah, that's right, fuckin' Mt. Rushmore himself. Go watch DIRTY HARRY again, or JOSEY WALES. Watch Clint as Josey tells the bounty hunter, "Yeah, I know." This is AFTER the cool quote of "Dyin' ain't much of a way to make a livin'.")
Watching THE DISCARDED will be twice as fun for Webderlanders, as we'll have the time of our lives playing a mutant version of "Where's Waldo?" as we try to spot Harlan among the Discards. (Somehow, the idea of Harlan having a cameo as a mutated misfit strikes me as diabolically beautiful.)
On the other hand, the one problem with Harlan is that he doesn't blend into the background that easily.
Harlan actually got two things wrong in his last post. They are as follows:
1) In his excitement to tell you that "someone" is 60% committed to playing Samswope, he neglected to tell you that the very, very, very great Brian Dennehy is 100% committed to playing Bedzyk.
2) In his enthusiasm to cackle about other casting news, he got something else backwards. Harlan is not playing a part in The Discarded. *I* am. And I will not be using prosthetics of any sort - you can't get more mutated than a six foot four inch goy playing Harlan Ellison.
Lastly, I must inform you that only one of those statements is actually true.
Much as I would have loved to have done a scene with Harlan, it is HIS story, and he belongs in it more than anyone. It gives me enormous pride to have had some small part in breaking the Ellison casting curse. (I should also mention that Harlan will be playing a hysterical, feverish Mexican cuckold in the feature film I'm writing and directing. It's a small part, but pivotal. Sort of.... But I'm serious. He will be. It'll rip your heart out... or cause you to laugh until tears squirt from your nose. Or both.)
UPDATE FOR WEBDERLANDERS ONLY: "THE DISCARDED"
Here's the latest. All good.
I will definitely be playing the brief cameo role I wrote for Josh and me. Not Josh, dammit. But at least, finally, after 44 years of writing myself in Hitchcocklike, and 30 times being bounced in favor of some bit-player or other, I will appear in one of my own scripts. I lament that Josh, who was physically perfect to play opposite me in this brief, but funny, cameo scene, can't be slipped in under the "Canadian Content" rule that allows waivers for only one or two American actors in US shows shot up in Canada, but--to be frank--I am wild with joy!!!!!! so fuck'im. I got mine, Jack! Flaunt it, baby, FLAUNT IT!
Josh, Susan and I will be going up to Vancouver for my day of filming. We shoot from July 26th through August 4th. Don't know yet which day will be mine in front of the cameras, but I'm scheduled to go down to Todd Masters' FX Studio to get fitted for a mutant prosthetic day after tomorrow, Monday. Pix to come. Whatever squamous manifestation is to be mine, it can only be an improvement over the reality.
With Jonathan Frakes directing, the most amazing part of this really sweet process is that NO CHANGES OF ANY KIND have been introduced into the first draft aka final draft Josh and I handed in more than a month ago. In my experience, this is unprecedented. Working for Keith Addis has turned out to be a dream.
ABC has told Keith that when we go on in January, it will be a 10:00 pm time-slot. We don't know which weeknight yet, nor will we, I believe, till the first September drop-outs bite the dust. At that point, three-four weeks into the new season, we will all have a clear idea of what will succeed, and what will be canceled. Till that time, it's all up for grabs.
(10 PM Wednesday, right after LOST, would be fantastic -- a two hour block of "magic realism" and the fantastical. But it is a sure bet that whatever ABC considers its strongest new show will be slotted in at that site in September, and if it shines, well, that's it for 10 Wwednesday. I dread the graveyard 10:00 PM Friday night slot, where our target audience will be out on the town. But, of course, with tivo, well ...)
I can't drop a name, but I'm told "We're 60% promised a commitment" for the part of Samswope by an actor who is PERFECT for it. But we're on the way to a dream cast already.
More as it comes in to our News Headquarters.
Yr. pal, Harlan
DAVID LOFTUS:
Spoke to Joe. He'll call you in the next day or two.
He had some medical.
The gig is imminently on.
Do me proud, son. Call if you need any input.
Yr. pal, Harlan
Anyone catch the new series "Psych" last night? It was pretty funny, and its premise nicely takes digs at so-called psychics. It's about a guy who has Holmesian-level powers of perception and fools people into believing that he uses psychic powers to solve crimes.
FRANK:
I just realized that you may not have realized that my previous comment to you was in jest. Please be assured that it was.
HARLAN:
To paraphrase Mr. Church:
“Harlan, I am not that thick, really I'm not. Really.”
That second post of mine the other day - which appears on the surface to be a clear-cut case of PotCallingTheKettleBlackitis - was actually a reply to a question from you, and thus was posted under the immunity clause spelled out above.
And it wasn't Alejandro's two posts in one day that caught my attention (everyone here is guilty of that on occasion), but his four posts in one 24-hour period. He was allowed four times the fun than the rest of us, and, shamefacedly, I got jealous. That never reflects well, and from hereon out I shall leave any and all policing matters up to the proper authorities.
ALEJANDRO:
Apologies for coming down on you. Wasn't my place. Won't happen again. And, as we both reside in the same burg, lemme buy you lunch or a beer some day in hopes of squaring it with you.
till Skaro becomes a pleasure planet,
yr humble servant,
SJPO
Whoosh...
//De-lurking, to the sound of the Tardis materialising...//
Hello from the UK! What with the talk of Dr. Who over the last few days, just thought I'd pipe up as the series 2 (or 28...) finale has just shown on the ol' glass teat. And what a corker!
It's been a patchy second season for new Who, I think, and Tennant's taken a while to settle in, but tonight's episode was just fabulous. Don't want to spoil it for those that want to come to the whole thing fresh, but it was brilliantly epic and genuinely emotional, with some cracking dialogue between some choice bad guys. It also puts a couple of the weaker S2 episodes into context. Nice little tease for the Christmas episode, too...
Cheers
Jes
Ah, Harlan, you made me blush. I really like you too big guy.
I wouldn't say ego is my cup o' joe, more like self confidence in a reactionary blender is more like it.
U a good guy Mr. E.
------------
The irony of Ann Coulter is one for the Guiness book. I read in a book (books is good, ya'll) that her favorite vacation site is Aspen, for ski trips with her friends. Yea, real middle American tenderoni, that one. Blah.
---------
There are pimps in the afterlife, they are called mood swings.
Actualy, Jan, they DID quote Shakespeare in an episode late last season. Roslin was talking to someone about Baltar, and she says, “Well, I guess he’s extracted his pound of flesh.” So I guess in addition to tobacco, dry erase boards, Russell Hobbs toasters, Peugeots, playing cards, and the missionary position, they also have The Merchant of Venice. So I’m with you on Galactica. You’ve got to more that cut the corners off paper and say “frak” instead of “fuck” to put this over, IMHO.
Having said that, though, I’m still happy that there is something even mildly interesting on, genre-wise. I never got into Stargate, The 4400 started out interesting than slid downhill quickly, and none last season’s Big 3 network shows were very good (and now that they’ve all been cancelled, I guess we’ll never know what the hell was going on with “Surface” or “Invasion”. It doesn’t even pay to get interested in these things an more, given the whims of network programmers.
Mark
who, on the other hand, got an advance copy of the season one DVD box set of Showtime’s “Weeds” and has since been through all ten episodes twice, laughing his fool ass off and dragging his loved ones in to watch. Just screamingly funny! Check it!
Harlan ancedote of the day, from John Bloch, interviewed by Starlog (#207):
"One of Bloch's Sixth Sense memories involves writer Harlan Ellison, who worked as the series' story consultant during its first year. "The producer was Stan Sheptner, a very strange man who wore bright red socks that would reflect in your eye," says Bloch. "He had a peculiar thing about his desk. If you even put a finger on it, you were through. Harlan knew this and when he had his [final] clash with Sheptner, Harlan not only touched his desk, he got up and did a tap dance on it, with Stan sitting there!"
Regarding Galactica, did you guys know that on their official webpage you can download hours of recorded story conferences? It's really interesting to get a sense of how they work.
Personally, I have a few problems with the show, a major one being that the Galactica crew is not from Earth, yet the only thing that seems to differentiate them from us is that they don't quote Shakespeare. Their planet is all architecture. In a way, it's a perfect show for a culturally illiterate audience. If the show would take itself seriously as SF the Galactica crew would be very different from us. I find it hard to watch contemporary Amercian attitudes projected onto outer space characters with all the cultural backgroud deleted.
Also, the basic idea seems to be to do post 9/11 in space-- it surprises me people are so fascinated by the military, battles, and constant crises, yet they need to have it translated to outer space. I'm not surprised they get fewer nominations this year, although they do deserve some recognition for elevating the show above its tired premise.
DAVID:
It'll take me a day or so to run this to ground. But it would've/should've been sent to you weeks(?) or months(?) ago.
Wait on me. I'm on it.
-he
DAVID:
It'll take me a day or so to run this to ground. But it would've/should've been sent to you weeks(?) or months(?) ago.
Wait on me. I'm on it.
-he
New F&SF Blurb
Last month I posted the "Coming Attractions" blurb from Fantasy and Science Fiction in regard to a Harlan project. I received the latest issue in the mail today, and the blurb for next month's issue supplies a bit more info; though I still think Harlan will be a bit perturbed by the wording.
Either way, I'm looking forward to it.
"Our September issue promises to be a good one. The incomparable Harlan Ellison returns - sort of. See, in his long and storied career, Mr. Ellison has only had two story ideas he couldn't finish. So he gave us one of them, and we turned Michael Libling, Tananarive Due , and Michael Kandel loose on it. The results are very entertaining."
Hmmmm.....is this a single story written by all three, or three separate stories? Hoping for the latter; much more intriguing.
-TODD
All on the hush-hush
HARLAN:
Hadn't heard anything about the project. God, I hope the thing didn't get sent to my old address, which hasn't been good for a year.
Unless it was mailed to the P.O. Box, which we haven't checked in a few days.
Here's both:
PO Box 8076
Portland, OR 97207
1030 SW Jefferson, Apt. 637
Portland, OR 97201
Take 'em down, check with the concerned party(ies), and then let Rick know he can take the above off this page.
Oh, yes. If it was mailed to my office, I was out Thursday and today -- gone to the birthday party of a friend downstate. Give me a call if you need to discuss further. (Tomorrow morning's best . . . I'm acting Macduff in an outdoor production of "Macbeth" tonight . . . we've had more than 200 in the audience for each of our last two shows.)
QUERY FOR DAVID LOFTUS
Am I correct in assuming you are at work indexing for Joe on you-know-what?
Let me know.
Yr. pal, Harlan
You gotta be fuckin' _kidding_.
I didn't pay much attention to the Hugos. I kind of expect the fans to vote for faves and in-jokes more than actual drama. I admit, I was happy when _Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_ got what it deserved. But did they really nominate only _one_ episode of _Battlestar Galactica_? Jesus.
I might've posted here or elsewhere about _Doctor Who_. It's fun, it's smart, and it's always nice to have the Doctor around. I like the fact that it's not ponderously _dark_, like so many revivals (even _Galactica_), and I think it shares a spirit with Alan Moore's "America's Best Comics" line: forget the epic-building and series continuity, and just tell fun and engaging adventure stories and fucking _entertain_ us with wit, style, and character.
I've enjoyed _Hustle_ because I like caper stories (and the actress is drop-dead gorgeous), and _Cracker_ was a real high-point for crime drama. Y'got good taste, David.
Best, the as-yet-unjoshed-with Brian Siano
David S - Let me reinforce your enthusiasm for MI5. I am among the ten people who evidently watched it here in the U.S. and found it to be the best program of its type in years (including the almost universally applauded "24" which I've had real trouble getting into).
As to the inexplicable (to you) heartfelt support for the good Doctor on these shores, the answer is quite simple: The Doctor speaks with a British accent.
This alone typically would convey a sense of intelligence to the program if it were not for the triple play of excellent writing, excellent acting, AND the aforementioned accent. On the other hand, the Galacticans all evidently come from the midwestern United States (except for Adama, who was raised in LA), and have a number of really nasty social skills.
The Doctor is not only intelligently British, but has a can-do positivism even in the face of a Dalek invasion. Meanwhile, the midwestern Galacticans can't seem to socialize their way out of the Cylon crosshairs and are constantly depressed about it. Let's face it, who would YOU rather have over to your house for a Friday night party?
In all seriousness, I believe the answer lies somewhere in the collective psyche of the viewers and the nominating committess of various awards. For all the evident quality, Galactica comes with a great deal of baggage, even with what has become significant viewer and critical acclaim. Note that the "Best Series on Television" in many critic's eyes, and at least two major national publications, garnered not a single acting, writing or "Best Drama" nomination from the Emmy Awards.
In addition, Galactica's stories and characters reflect our own insecurities which, frankly, we see enough of in the daily news. The show, while extraordinary in many ways, seems ordinary at the same time. And while Galactica has greater viewership and probably superior writing/production values, Doctor Who has a cache of "hipness" (for desperate want of a much better word) which probably appealed to the nominating committee.
The Doctor is a lighter and more easily enjoyable program, while still maintaining a high degree of literacy. Galactica, we can all agree, is pretty humorless most of the time (I'd say all, but have been caught up short by using absolutes before). The Doctor is also a different, very unique program in many ways -- without much in the way of a precedent other than itself. Galactica, for all its quality, owes a great deal stylistically to programs that have come before ("Space: Above and Beyond", "Bay City Blues", "Babylon 5", "NYPD Blue", "Farscape", and, yes, even the dreaded "Trek" connection).
There's no disputing both programs are well done and continue the trend towards intelligent and challenging SF television. When you consider the original "BG", "Buck Rogers", "Logan's Run" and other pre-"Next Generation" SF we've come a long way.
The new Galactica and the new Doctor set a high standard, but the Doctor is -- and will continue to be -- an original.
My tuppence, f'r what it's worth.
Miscellaneous plaudits for British TV...
For Alejandro Riera, who wrote: "Who [referring to Davison], by the way, I heard had a brilliant run last year in a brand new detective show in England which has yet to make it to these shores. The title escapes me, though."
That would be "The Last Detective", and it's outstanding! I think many science fiction and fantasy fans would identify with the undeserving underdog status forced upon Davison's character, and the way he succeeds despite the total lack of support and appreciation he receives from his fellow officers. A brilliant blend of humor and melancholy and dead-on honest human nature. The first season is available on DVD and I highly recommend it. Look it up on Amazon, and check out the reviews.
All this talk about the latest "Dr. Who", I dunno, I watch it when it's on and I'm otherwise not up to doing anything constructive, I enjoy it for the most part, but I'm perplexed as to why people are so fanatical over it. It's entertaining, and that's rare enough praise at times, but for me that seems to be all there is to it. Good clean fun, sometimes clever, a pleasing little science fantasy distraction, but hardly the sort of creative and emotional challenge of "Battlestar Galactica". I was looking over the ballot for this year's Hugo awards, and there was one, just ONE, episode of "Battlestar Galactica" nominated in the short media category. The other four slots were all episodes of "Dr. Who"! Look, I'm not saying the show is bad. It's not. It's fun and consistent and true to its creative roots. But for gut-punching in-your-face story-driving power, it doesn't hold a candle to "Battlestar Galactica". Absolutely the best and most emotionally relevant science fiction on television since "Babylon 5". The entire season deserved a nomination! But instead the Worldcon members are mostly foaming over every little nuance of the this latest reincarnation of the Doctor. What a shame.
On the other hand, since "The Last Detective" came up, I'd like to recommend a number of other superb British programs, each of which beats the tar out of anything being made in the USA these days...
The one import you can see in America right now is "Hustle", now in its third season, which they've been showing on AMC. You think "Dr. Who" is fun? You have no idea! Only rarely predictible, "Hustle" is about a group of con artists who pull a different sting in each episode, but it's hardly that simple. The show is played light and fast and funny and stylish, and the characters (including one played by the marvelous scene-stealing Robert Vaughn) have the most incredible chemistry. In the best episodes, the viewers get as "conned" by the sting as the people getting stung.
For the more serious at heart, you've got to check out "MI5" (also known in the UK as "Spooks"). Very gritty, very sad at times, often scary, and emotionally powerful. One of the best "spy" shows ever conceived for television. A couple episodes of the first season were shown on American cable some time ago, but a scene where an agent gets her face shoved into a deep fryer (I'm not kidding!) was so intense that USA viewers chased the show off the air here. That was also the single most controversial episode of television in the UK for 2002, but the British viewers seem a lot more savvy and understanding of the dark side in the real world, and the show is now in its fifth (maybe sixth?) successful season. Available on DVD. For those turned off by such violence, please understand, that was a VERY isolated incident, and nothing even remotely so gruesome was shown in later episodes. It was merely the series creator's way to communicate his unflinching commitment to honestly portraying the hatred and cruelty in the world of terrorism and subterfuge, it certainly got everybody's attention, and the show has never looked back.
You wanna see great acting? I can show you great acting! Go find the three season DVD set of "Cracker". Robbie Coltrane's character, an alcoholic gambling super-compulsive yet super-brilliant psychological profiler helping the police, will leave you emotionally seared! If that's not enough, the rest of the cast (including a younger pre-Dr. Who Eccelston) is superb, and the stories will absolutely knock the air out of you.
You want funny? Do you want to have a good laugh at the expense of the Roman Catholic Church? Go find the three seaon DVD set of "Father Ted". Nothing is sacred! I recommended this set to a lady friend of mine who went through twelve years of Catholic school education. She later told me she laughed so hard watching it one night, she wet her pants! (I do want to point out, a reasonable working knowledge of the ways of the Church may be necessary...another friend of mine, a practicing Lutheran, said he "didn't get it", but my experiences with Lutherans in general is that they don't seem to get much of anything!)
Have fun!
ON THE BLACKNESS OF POTS'N'KETTLES
STEVE P.-O.:
Only because Alejandro is a pal who's done me many solids, was I curiously moved to check out if, in fact, he had overposted--he being a guy who goes weeks/months living a real life and not hanging batlike here day after day--and I discovered that both you and he had TWO posts each on Thursday, and both of you had one today. You both link. But it is clearly not intrusive or contumely or cause for any chiding. Yet, in fairness, if one is to be that high-collar bluenose stricter-than-thou, check the baked-on ebon patina of your own pot before you tsk-tsk his kettle. Now, all of you cons ... back to work!
Warden, Yr. pal, Harlan
MEMO TO FRANK CHURCH:
Never doubted it for a second.
You've been around here long enough to know I only josh with friends and/or those I smile upon.
If I tweak your big toe from time to time, Frank, it's only because I perceive in you an ego even more gargantuan than mine own and, without bidding, the necessity ere once't a while, to let a hectare of air out of the balloon. Never doubt...
Yr. pal, Harlan
ALEJANDRO RIERA --
You gotta read the rules, man! We have a few, but only one that is so vital it's mentioned twice (see above), and you've gone and broken it multiple times already! I'm sure I'd enjoy discussing DOCTOR WHO with you all day, but in this particular place it's one post per 24-hour period.
BOB McKINLAY --
The cuts weren't that bad. I don't think there were 10 minutes TOTAL cut from the entire 13-week series. Anyway, that's why god made DVDs.
FRANK CHURCH --
All the best villains believe they're the hero ...
Various
John Greenawalt: the movie sounds like it draws inspiration from the real-life murder of Mary Phagan, which resulted in the lynching of an innocent Jewish man named Leo Frank. It's a famous case. Jack Lemmon appeared in a tv movie (unseen by me) based on the incident.
Harlan, I am a nice guy, I really am. Really.
Harlan flies through Patrick Skys
There was a version of that song on Sky's old album "Songs That Made America Famous." It included another delightful verse about the baby:
He lived but 24 hours
And he cost a hundred dollars!
Was a lousy baby anyway.
And I seem to recall a children's version in which it's a baby spider.
How long has that ditty been around?
2 comment hooks get comments
Baby eating has a long literary tradition that includes
A MODEST PROPOSAL
FOR PREVENTING THE CHILDREN OF POOR PEOPLE IN IRELAND FROM
BEING A BURDEN TO THEIR PARENTS OR COUNTRY, AND FOR MAKING THEM BENEFICIAL TO THE PUBLIC
By Jonathan Swift, 1729
(One URL for this piece: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~jlynch/Courses/95c/Texts/modest.html)
I was beginning to wonder about the incoherence of posts from Frank Church and was speculating it was just my mentis becoming compost as I push towards the sixth decade of my life. (My right knee frequently advises me that it is over 59 years old and my brain argues that it can’t be, since it still tries to think young.)
As for Doctor Who (season 27) – I loved it from the start. “Glad to meet you, Rose. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!)
Eccleston was superb as the Doctor. I’ll be sorry to see him regenerate when I get access to season 28.
wcf
“Are you my mommy?”
Dr Who Videos
long-time lurker and first time poster, can someone explain how an imaginatively scripted, tightly plotted, well acted and stunningly produced show like the new Dr. Who - can be cut by ten minutes to fit some 'schedule'?!?
as a long time Dr. Who fan thoroughly enjoying it's return, I'm delighted to discover unca' Harlan is also a long time devotee - but despair at the thought of the show being chopped up/cut/mucked around with. What's all that about then?
Favourite episode of series 27:- 'the empty child' two-parter, wonderfully chilling. Took me back to hiding behind the sofa as a kid scared witless in the Patrick Troughton era...
Harlan, would love to hear more of your thoughts on Dr. Who (would love to hear of you writing for the Time Lord actually but I'm prepared to be disappointed).
Our yearly pilgrimage to Burlington Mass is upon us as Dooner and I make our trek north to hobnob with Barry N. Malzberg, Paul Di Filippo and Scott Edelman at Readercon.
Come back to Readercon Harlan Ellison, Harlan Ellison!
Mark W.
"We ate him", that's priceless. Why is idea of eating babies always so funny?
The new detective show that's coming next season is based on Jim Butchers's Dresden Files. I haven't read any of the books myself but friends who have refer to it as fun pap with a wizard detective as the main character.
Dr. Who DVDs
Kristin:
Never fear. As Steve pointed out, the Dr. WHO DVDs out in the States now are the same complete uncut episodes as broadcast in Great Britain. I saw some of the earlier episodes before they were shown in this country and purchased the DVD set thru Amazon Canada and made the comparison. Also have the Complete Shooting Scripts. Nothing cut. All there in its glory, Slytheen farts and all.
AR
Harlan,
Does a movie named "They Won't Forget" mean anything to you? Based on a real incident: Look up the grisly facts yourself.
DVD regions
Kris (& anyone else), you can check your DVD player's manual to see if it's the "all regions" type that's become increasingly common in the past few years. (You can Google the term FFI.) Earlier machines, though, might "burn in" so that they're only able to play the region that you first put in -- I learned this from a friend who's stuck with an older player that he can only use for his Hong Kong Shaw Brothers collection. And I know there's at least one VCR that handles both standard tape formats, if you've got older stuff.
Dr Who Videos
Kell...NOOOOOOOO!!! Say it ain't so! This is an outrage! What they showed on cable may have been cut for more commercials but there is no reason to do that with the DVD!! Where do I complain? This is even worth international phone calls! UK videos will not play on American TV sets although Canadian ones will. (region coding thing) If this is true ALL US VIEWERS should complain WE ARE BEING RIPPED OFF!!!! I want to call their US video distributor and scream at them!!! NOT FAIR!!!!!
Kristin
Cool Rick K. Did I say I just looove the teddy bear you gave me? I named him "Footsie" he looks played footsie with!
And I call myself a Who fan?
(Slapping head) Davison, Davison, silly me Davison...
Who, by the way, I heard had a brilliant run last year in a brand new detective show in England which has yet to make it to these shores. The title escapes me, though.
(And while we are speaking of good old Peter: Raise your hands those who caught him as Campion a decade and a half ago. Wasn't he terrific?).
Speaking of Who-related matters: did anybody catch Bonnie Langford (the lovely and under-rated Mel in the final season of the Colin Baker era) in a recent Miss Marple episode in Mystery? Lovely woman, still looks like a million.
"Frank Church...his choke'n'puke sac, his redolent nappies, his bile sphincter and the smoldering clinkers shaken down out of his "humor" oast"
"We ate him."
I AM LIKE SO TOTALLY TURNED ON!!!
WINNER OF THE GREAT HOGAN BOOK PURGE
dig it
i finally won something.
we'll work out the dinner details later, if that is okay.
either a gift certificate or i can take you for sliders the next time i'm in town, Unca Harlan. we can head toward those crenelated ovens together.
Love,
Rick Mengele
I have to admit, it's strange how the shrill, grating voices of the Daleks haven't dated that badly since 1963. Come to think of it, the inhuman screeches of those squat metal monsters has become even more grotesque since the B&W days. The scene from the episode DALEK, where the Christopher Eccleston incarnation of the Doctor encounters the last surviving Dalek inside a darkened cell, was one of the coolest and creepiest moments of television I've seen in a long time.
Is Your Father Human?
Science fiction, for example ursula leguin often has sexual malleabilty as a plot cliche, leftwing academics believe biological dicta are really cultural/social conventions, so i'm sure there's no connection to the penis haters of heavens gate, snip snip...
For those of you who give a damn, Frank Church's nanny ran howling into the streets just before the 4th of July holiday, and Susan and I were stuck babysitting him for five long, smelly, creepy, and incommodious days. Stifle all mention of the nights!
Changing his choke'n'puke sac, his redolent nappies, his bile sphincter and the smoldering clinkers shaken down out of his "humor" oast, was a full-time job. It was a nasty holiday.
I made up this song:
"Last night our baby died.
"He died attempting suicide.
"We think he died to spite us.
"Of spinal meningitis.
"He was a nasty old baby, anyhow,
"and...
"We ate him."
Yr. pal, Harlan
Dr. Who, yea, that was a good band. I especially liked Teenage Wasteland, a vanguard of lude rendered pre-punk.
I especially liked their great album, "Doctor Who, where's your scalpel man, can't you see, Keith just swallowed the damned China cymbal." Yea, loved it.
Mark - Alibris.com claims to have copies available...
(Sorry for the second post, but, well, it seems to be the fashion today.)
Apologies
My apologies for the double post, but I just called Dreamhaven and they did not have any copies. Lacking any other immediate options, I will probably just order it through Amazon, but will wait to see if there are any other suggestions.
Thanks for the help,
Mark
"Cat's in the bag; bag's in the river."
Odets, from Ernest Lehman's book? Your film references constantly keep me on my toes, and I love it!
Season/Series 1
HARLAN:
I call it Season 1 'cause it's so much easier to hook new viewers by telling them it's a new show than by saying: "Hey! You've missed 27 thrillion episodes of this puppy already!"
Plus, the format and style is so vastly different from the first 26 seasons, it's easy to think of it as S1 and not S27.
And it's worked pretty well, so far, as I've hooked two friends new to the show, and one is even asking to borrow some of my classic series DVDs.
KELL:
Don't fret about the DVDs. Just 'cause SCI FI had to cut some scenes to fit it into a 60-minute slot does not mean that those are the versions on the discs. They are all completely uncut, whether it's an R2 or an R1 release. (And none of them were 52 minutes long. The longest one was, iirc, just over 46 minutes.)
ALEJANDRO:
Yeah, I love the Hartnell and Troughtons too. Troughton was my No. 2 Doctor (after Tom Baker), till Eccleston came around.
And it's Davison, not Davidson.
finding Harlan
Outside of pointless searching at used bookshops and flea markets, try hitting your local inter-library loan librarian. I have managed to track down most of the Grand Master's goodies I don't already own. They're also great for other oddities...like all the Nero Wolfe novels in chronological order or pulp paperbacks from the 60s. Having ISBNs is a huge help for those of us who prefer all editions (US & UK) and ordering originals via ILL gives us access to those. Plus, I think librarians and those of who work with 'em need some props once and a while.
Susan- Any more copies of Mefisto available? THAT one I can't track down...
Hey DTS, caught your blurb on the back cover of McCullough's "1776".
A note on Dr. Who
For those purchasing the Dr. Who DVD set of season 27 and inevitably season 28 (Only one episode to go) make sure you get the UK editions. The American version has been cut down to an American television hour of 42 minutes while the UK versions are quite a bit longer at 50-52 minutes per episode.
I was so sorry to see Eccelston go. I hadn't been a watcher before season 27 (Can't really explain why) but from the first episode I was sucked in and a large part of it had to do with him.
It's taken me nearly a whole season to like the new Doctor, Mr. Tennent, but I think that has less to do with him and more of a fondness for one's first Doctor.
Enjoy season 28 for all those who still have it to look forward to and look for the spinoff 'TorchWood' featuring Capt. Jack in the fall which you'll probably get the following spring.
I am with you on Season 27, Harlan. Hell, it even got my wife to watch Doctor Who...although she insists she watched only because Eccleston was in it. Yeah, right, and why does she come running to the living room every time I put on the DVD player one of the old Baker or Davidson episodes? I love their voices, she claims. Fooey. A closet Dr. Who fan she is I tell ya.
Loved Eccleston, loved the writing and cannot wait to see what Tennant does with the role.
I have also been watching a lot of the Hartnell-Troughton era and I have to say, those shows sometimes impress me more than some of the Baker ones. The writing and acting is so pitch perfect..and what I love, love, love is that sense of wonder and adventure and the "boy isn't this new and interesting" sensation you get out of each episode.
Long live the good Doctor.
Alejandro
MARK GOLDBERG:
Mark, just call Gregg Ketter (or Elizabeth) at DreamHaven, and reserve a copy of MIND FIELDS. Ask them to include it in what they bring to the convention and, as Tony Curtis said to Burt Lancaster in SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, "cats's in the bag, bag's in the river."
Harlan
STEVE P.O.:
Why in the world WOULDN'T you call it "Season 27" when it's the twenty-seventh season of DR. WHO???????
IIIIIII call it season 27.
Perhaps because, unlike (er, uh, ahem, kaff-kaff) johnny-come-latelies born subsequent to the 1960s, IIIIIIII know the world did not commence at the moment of MYMYMYMY birth, but actually was hard at work beore IIIIIII got here.
As for the season shown here in the US, that terminated recently, my feelings are as usual with ALL ALL ALL ALL 27 seasons of this wonderful silly show.
I loved it.
Cheesy when necessary (and, as with the 10 Downing Street 2-hour episode, cheesy when NOT necessary), wildly imaginative, goodhearted, funny, strange, amusing, captivating, wonderfully watchable, and a weirdly updated continuation of what I thought was cool as a younger Harlan. Always adored Dr. Who more than Star Trek and suchlike, and continue to do so.
I do wish the actress who plays Rose, though, wouldn't mumble her words so severely. With the great chipmunk cheeks of hers, she often murbles like a cow masticating its cud.
Yours for Season 28, Yr. pal, Harlan
Susan, thank you for letting me know, I will look for Mind Fields elsewhere, then.
I will be attending ConVergence starting tomorrow here in the Minneapolis area and if anyone is interested in going to a very fun Con with a great dealers room (including stuff from the incomparable Dreamhaven Books), tons of amazing parties and just an all around good time, I will be at the Con all weekend. Hopefully, some of you in the area (Rick Keeney and Brent, I am looking at you two) will be able to attend. Send me an email if you are interested in meeting up.
No Spoilers Please!
Some of us here have seen much more of the current season of DOCTOR WHO than others, so please-I-beg-of-you-please don't give anything away -- esp. re: "the fate of Rose"!
Thanks!
And I would very much love to hear HE's thoughts on Season 1. (I refuse to call it Season 27.)
Speaking of Dr. Who
Now that Susan brings the subject up
Season finale in Great Britain this weekend: Daleks vs Cybermen! The fate of Rose and the Earth hangs by a thread!
Oh when oh when are these brand new episodes coming to Regio 1 DVD?
By the by, the offical Dr. Who website has been running daily trailers all week. Check them out at www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho.
Giddy with joy
Alejandro
Susan
Yes, ma'am, to all of the below. I'd be more than slightly obliged, and THANK YOU for remembering!!! Lemme know the damages and I'll get a check right out. Very much appreciated.
Steve B.: Found a copy of MEFISTO (Trade Hardcover--First). Do you still want it, and if so, do you want it signed to you?
Thanks--Susan
Movies
I have no intention of weaning (or "weening") myself off movies, since I still enjoy 'em, but I note here, as I often do, that the movies actually WORTH watching are often not those that open in a thousand multiplexes, over holiday weekends. Movies =/= Hollywood, not always.
Dear Rob: Thanks for the Dr. Who fix. Much appreciated.
Mark: We don't have MIND FIELDS. Try your bookstore, or Morpheus directly.
With kind regards: Susan
As someone who has weened himself off movies, I just gotta chime in here to point out that no movie can "suck up" your time and money. You willingly throw both at it. As long as you continue to do so Hollywood will continue to excrete it's product. One hundred million spent by folks attending Superman primarily to see how bad it would be only insures that the next one will be an order of magnitude worse. That's Hollywood physics.
AND THE WINNER OF THE GREAT HOGAN BOOK PURGE IS
...
RICK KEENEY!!!!!!
$5 and dinner at a White Castle!!!!!
Congratulations from all of us down here in the ashes at Treblinka, Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Sobibor, Dachau, and points north.
Just let us know through HERC where to ship your prize books and we'll forward them through the B'nai B'rith.
Yr. pal, Harlan
Harlan: does that mean...?
Hey HARLAN: Does your note below mean you finished the collaboration with Connie Willis? If so, cool! And what's the title of it? If not, if there is no such beast, oops. And nevermind. (Think I remember reading something in a convention book from 2000, where she was ribbing you about a collaboration -- I could be mistaken). And if there is a collaboration in progress, not to worry: I've a personal hotline to the Clockmaster's office (The Great and Powerful Awes), and word is that you've been alloted more than enough time -- and then some!
--DTS
IN SUMMATION:
FinderDoug aka DougFinder: Thank you for the package. I'd forgotten even discussing it with you, and was midway harpooned twixt ghast and bemuse when the giant crate arrived. I know I must've said, "Sure, why not?" at some vague, vermillion-fog-
beshrouded moment, but I cannot recall same. When I unshipped the cargo, I had a moment's frisson in which I questioned my sanity. But--as I said--thank you. I guess.
Rob Ewen: Thank you for the package. Garrett P. Serviss, my my my; haven't cut trail with THAT name in more than half a century.
Adam-Troy: Many thanks for the kind words anent PARTNERS IN WONDER. You know, apart from pals like Hensley and Slesar, with whom I worked many times, each of the others was selected to be as disparate from me as possible. I had the idea for the book in my mind, of course, when I went out to meld with Chip and Ben and Van and Roger. My great sad at the moment is that I haven't been able to find the time to do the same book with all women: Connie, Suzy, Anne McCaffrey, others. Nor have I completed the two collaborations I started, one with Joe Haldeman, the other with Neil Gaiman. All I ask is a little more time, O Invisible Clockmaster!
Yr. pal, Harlan
Haven't seen the film yet
If Superman is now Pooperman can we cheer for Lex Luthor instead? He sure steals the *trailer* (and Kevin Spacey is getting all the interviews, cause he's the name star I guess)..of course if a trailer is that good you know the movie is bad, because they put ALL the best bits in a trailer.
Kristin
A side note to the current discussion
Eric
I don’t think Wendy Carlos is the right example for this debate. It’s a different kettle of art. Carlos’ work had more to do with stretching the limits of what the synthesizer could do, at the same time adding interesting interpretations to the classical music. (I just watched Clockwork Orange again a few weeks ago and the synthesizer work is part of what makes it work.) And, this work helped transition some of us classical music/orchestra/symphony/violinist geeks (what we transitioned into I’m not quite sure), as well as introducing many to classical music.
Mike
Roger and Keith~ Been gone some days here, and i thought i sent a missive to you, Roger, on your loss, then looked again and realized i had never sent it. Ashamed apologies and please accept my heartfelt commiseration, both to you and also to you, Keith. Courage.
Paul
Damn, where did they get this computer from, ancient Greece?
Ok, Superman, pooperman, let's get something straight, the guy is too damned clean cut, too milk drinkingly good and decent that you want to puke on that red cape (vomit green goes good with red, or so Mr. Blackwell told me). His is the facial beauty of a store bought set of fresh choppers; sure, you no longer gum your oatmeal, but you scare small babies with those monsterous, Donny and Marie sharks teeth. Yea, those blue eyes are dreamy, but so is going two days with no sleep. Superman is a scam, let the good people of metropolis know. Pound the ivories and brandish the battlement, this guy has to go.
He is like Mickey Mouse now, just a corporate symbol that once stood for something.
Don't worry, Bob Morales, we still like Captain America. At least he gets laid.
------
Eric, be nice.
>Eric, swell way to add substance to the discussion, by pissing on the validity of what the poster is passionate about, while saying nada about the topic at hand. <
I wouldn't equate my remarks to "pissing," and anyone who has been here long enough knows my sentiments about comic-book movies, my dear scold.
As far as the topic at hand, what can one say when people are using words like outrage and perverse to discuss an adaptation of one visual art form into another? What does anyone honestly expect from such a commercial process, other then disappointment?
I'm sure the Boston Pops could do a serviceable job presenting the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album, given a good orchestrator, but why bother? It's like listening to those old Wendy Carlos albums of the symphonic classics on a Moog synthesizer. Ditto watching Kevin Spacey or Liam Neeson riff on comic villians.
I would think that a forum populated by people who have a greater-than-average respect for the written word would see these shameless productions for just what they are...cash-ins on established properties that need to promotion, or modification, or revisitation, or interpretation by movie studios. Eye candy. Time-killers. Flicks to take your kids to, so the wife can go shopping.
So for me, the operative question is not whether or not Brandon Roush is skewed to the gay demographic, but rather what kind of unanswered need foments this Board's obsession with "the movie version?" Isn't the original form enough? And if it isn't, why not? Don't we all have something better to do, than run out to see Spider-Man 3?
Nada enough for ya?
Superman gave Lois a Super-kiss that took her memory of his secret identity away.
I am not making this up.
Books & Superman
In the 3rd grade someone told me I was dyslexic, but I believe it less and less the older I get. It doesn't change the fact I had a real hard time learning to read and an even harder time turning off the TV to do it. I see most of my books as trophies, the rest are just waiting to be.
As for Superman Returns, I found myself alternating between delight and outrage. Pretty much every scene that involved human aviation made me want to puke. But as much as I hated the entire "plane" scene, I was one of the people cheering at its conclusion. The use of Marlon Brando's voice was superb with only a couple exceptions.
The ultimate failing that I see in the movie is Lois Lane. First of all, I don't think Kate Bosworth looks like a Lois Lane should...but we can chalk that up to personal taste. Second, doesn't she already know that Superman is Clark Kent? I remember a scene in which Clark stuck his hand in a fire and took off his glasses and Lois made the connection in a previous movie. It's been a looooong time since I saw the original movies so maybe I imagined the whole thing. But finally (and this is the thing that drives me insane) in 5 years of being a parent, Lois hasn't learned that it may not be a good idea to take a child along while breaking into someone's house.
Even though it's insulting at times I think the movie is worth the price of admission...if for no other reason than to form your own opinion about it. At times, in a shot here or there, I think it can even be considered a tribute to Christopher Reeve. For me though, it was just enough to remember how much the man was as much a figure in my youth as the character. That's all I really wanted in the first place.
>>>It takes lines that everybody knows and distorts them to abandon all meaning - or to make them into self-referential jokes.
I'm with you on that one, Barney. "...and all that stuff" was a crappy, weasel-headed spin on a truly classic credo.
Eric, swell way to add substance to the discussion, by pissing on the validity of what the poster is passionate about, while saying nada about the topic at hand. I believe we discourage such behavior here; I certainly do.
Superman
I rather liked Superman Returns. As much for its director's attempt recapture the feeling (and sometimes look) of the 1978 version with Chris Reeve that gave the 11 yr old Me goosebumps. It's not Citizen Kane (to borrow an too oft used phrase) but it's not the death of narative cinema either (near the end there's some back and forth rescuing that needed to be cut). The new Superman (Brandon Routh) is competent and quite likeable and the girls I went with confirm he's extensively easy on the eyes (And why shouldn't a being from an technologically advanced society be with the debate over genetic engineering many centuries in the past decided - Hell, I imagine most Kryptonians looked like Super-models). Kevin Spacey, a personal favourite ever since The Usual Suspects, positively chews up the scenery and Parker Posey, who I normally can't stand, got some of the biggest laughs out of the crowd I saw it with.
The biggest shortcoming for me was the poor usage of the orignal score. At some of the key heroic moments where I expected to hear the theme I got opera instead and it didn't grab me as hard as it should have. For me it was worth the price of admission if only for the director's ten seconds of sentimentality in recreating (repurposed) the Action Comics #1 cover.
Mark - Thank you for the response. (BTW - You're gonna love Mind Fields.)
____________________________________________
Keith - Here's to keeping those priorities straight. Unfortunately life tends to teach those lessons the hardest way possible.
____________________________________________
Good little article in this week's Time and on Time Online on the subject of who might be considered the novelist "voice" of this generation (and it isn't all that complimentary):
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1209947,00.html
For previous generations it gives kudos to Fitzgerald, Salinger, Hemingway, Kerouac, Vonnegut and McInerney. I applaud all of those choices, save McInerney who while talented, doesn't hold up the other examples given.
While I enjoyed "Bright Lights, Big City"'s second person prose as much as anyone, I think the book (and the author) may be slightly over-rated considering the cultural significance of the work -- there are many others I'd toss into the pot with Salinger, et al, before I got to McInerney. (This is, after all, the representative for MY generation). Brett Easton Ellis, for one, Tama Janowitz for another.
But -- and I'm just sayin' -- McInerney?
To reward myself for not committing demon-icide during my mother-in-law's recent visit, I have decided to finally purchase "Mind Fields". Susan, do you have any copies available?
Steve Barber, my reasons for collecting have evolved over the years. At first, it was for myself and to hold onto those works that I treasure. Now, especially as my children get older, I realize that I want to preserve my library for them, to expose them to works that will enrich their lives
#4: Friends
Thanks for your kind comments. On the plus side, intimate death re-aligns my priorities and helps me to focus on the important things in life. It makes me wonder how I could have gotten off my path to begin with.
I'd add "Friends" to the list of the Three Most Important Things In Life, making it the Four Most Important Things In Life.
-Keith
TZ
Rob,
Had to wait a day to say thanks. I knew of Soldier and Demon but was not sure of what was TZ and what was Outer Limits. Must have missed that portion of grade school (or the nuns cut it out). Makes me wonder why HE didn't hook up with this series but I can almost hear the TSK and the rolling of eyes, "Jeez, he doesn't know that story either?"
Steve,
I did mean the original TZ, because that was the source for this SciFi marathon, which I still have on, hours after I should have been in bed tonight. But thanks for jumping in with that information.
Helped Connie put on a showing of Rocky Horror down at the Community Center tonight. Borrowed a projector from the fire department and painted a white square on one of the handball backboards. Only about 20 people, some who had never seen it before and a good time was had by all. A friend had put out signs advertising it with the caveat "no young children" and it seemed to work. Thinking of movies for future showings. Kind of reminds me of the scene in Doc Hollywood where the locals are watching an old silent western. Yeah, Rocky Horror was just like that, yeah, that's the ticket....
Superman Sucks Shit!!!
This excercise in stupidity is nothing more than a black hole that sucked up my time and money!!! First, the plot for this "movie" was nothing more than a hatchet job of the '78 version (Lawdy Mis Crawdy, watching Kevin Spacey doing his Gene Hackman bit was embrassing to watch!!!) Secondly, this whole "gay" bit was a marketing ploy-what, does Superman wearing eyeliner mean that he takes it in his Super-pooper??? DUMB!!!!!!!! And the plot (or lack thereof...,) Bleedin' Christ on the cross, the way it waddles and toddles and shifts to and fro... AAAARRRGGGGHH!!!!!!!!! And the whole hospital bit replete with the wittle boy who woves Superman who done come to see Superman on his deathbed, PPPLLLUUUHHEEZZEZEE!!!! And the whole "modern" Lois bit- what a crock of shit!!! This whole strong, empowered Oprah bullshit is the wrong-headed rationalization screed that passes for true feminist thought. The one character I felt any emotion for was the poor bastard that married Lois; the hard working, loving father/husband who has to suffer the indignities of being hitched to a miserable twat who'll dump him for the guy that "dissed" her! How charming!!! What a fucking rip-off! My money would've been better spent on a dogshit, if, for no other reason, I'd know from the get-go I was buying shit!
Various
Ratso Rizzo: I suspect you're a troll, but in case you're not, my comments regarding the spate of speculation about Superman's supposed gayness are not an attack on anyone here, but, like THOSE comments, a reference to lots and lots of discussion to that effect in the mass media. It has become a popular talking point. And yes, it is stupid and facile. But I accuse nobody here of taking that position themselves. I only provide my take.
As per my double usage of the word meme, who the hell says it is automatically wrong to use the same word twice in the same paragraph? That's a writing rule with little relevance to those who know how to write.
Harlan: my review of Partners in Wonder is up, on www.scifiweekly.com. I wince only at the misspelling of Henry Slesar, a typo initiated by the thirty-year-old edition I read. I shall correct.
Keith,
You are the sort who makes a good friend. Loss such as you describe is sad beyond the telling. I get it now but I don't-- life really isn't fair...but I don't know why. I'll never understand why such brutal, bone jarring, shattering events happen to the best people while others who are devoid of compassion or honor skate through unscathed.
I am glad you chose to let your friends path illuminate your own. I'm glad you went to the doctor and relieved that you are in good health.
I liked the story. Ants seldom get good press.
Be safe,
Cindy
Not one word about Superman
Keith -
Deepest condolences on your loss. This from someone of 59 glorious years.
Better (if not good) news:
samanda b jeude, wife of Donald Cook and cocreator and driving force for Electrical Eggs when it was needed, winner of Big Heart award, suffered a minor stroke in mid-June. My wife and I just spent part of the Independence Day weekend with her. The unbad news is that her recovery is coming along quite nicely. Speech slurring almost gone except when fatigue overcomes her, as it does much too easily.
I have gotten to that point in life where I dread the email with a name in the subject line as much as earlier generations dreaded the black-bordered envelope. The loss of Jim Baen is sad and disturbing. I am hoping that sam will be with us a while longer, as one of the sources of light in my life.
The contrast of her recovery makes the sadness associated with loss that much more disturbing.
yr obdnt srvnt
wcf
(I know my abbreviation of "Your Obediant Servant" keeps changing. I did that on purpose. Yeah, that's the ticket.)
It is a strong concensus in the scientific community that ANY superhero wearing speedos - as does this new "Superman" - or looks as effeminate as that SMALLVILLE guy - came from a planet of flowers and sunshine. Lois isn't too important anymore. 'Less SHE'S gay now too.
I "see" Superman the way Brian does. I was Googling the books going back decades and, interestingly, the way he was drawn for many years looks very much the way George Reeves looked in the Noirish first season of the 50's tv show.
I taped those episodes, and one of the things I learned from them is that the only way Superman could look "vulnerable" is the jeapardy and mystery other characters in the show were drawn into. When you see Lois or Olsen or Perry White lost in a dark, dangerous world and Superman/Kent can't find them, or must solve a mystery, the situation creates a complex crisis - a state of helplessness - for Kent.
Dramatically, this is the best way to handle the Superman universe. And it's the reason the entire cast in the original show - unlike these movies - really has something to do to make their characters interesting and distinct.
Nobody here said Superman was gay. Someone said Bryan Singer was, and he admittedly is, and someone else said Kevin Spacey was, who unadmittedly is. Someone else called the actor a nancy boy, which is not the same as gay, and the reference was to the actor, not to the character of Superman.
For misreading everyone's posts, and especially for using the word "meme" twice in your own post, you don't get a cookie.
The "Gay Superman" meme
The "Gay Superman" meme is a prime example of the kind of stupid thing that, once said by one person, spreads like wildfire through the medium of empty-headed people who can only parrot stupid things they've heard other people say. One of the reasons I'm happy to no longer be employed by others is that I used to go crazy in the lunchroom, hearing people spout third-generation distortions of dumbass crap that was stupid to start with and grew stupider with their multiple repetitions of same: i.e., the Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a true story, Richard Gere was hospitalized for shoving gerbils up his ass, Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11, and Al Gore claims to have personally invented the internet. The "Superman is Gay" meme is like all the others in that, even if you present arguments against it, as definitive as those already presented here, the dumbfucks just nod, having absorbed nothing, and repeat their previous assertions. It's essentially entered the public consciousness because one guy was stupid enough to say such a thing, and nobody around him possessed sufficient critical faculties to say, "What are you, fuckin' high?"
BTW: I just saw the film and pronounce it effective comic-booky fun, not at all my favorite kind of film, but certainly not the atrocity it's been painted here. It was a workable, and sometimes stirring, take on the iconic characters. Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth did not impress me as the leads, however. I kept thinking how much better the whole thing would have worked, had this been a parallel universe where it had been filmed, more or less as written, twenty years ago with Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder.
book discussion
I just chanced upon the discussion of what to keep and what to get rid of. I just organized my own library this past weekend and I'm up against the same question. Take HE for example - I have lots of his work in both old paperbacks and some hardbacks. I don't know why I keep both, but I do. What should I do? I don't honestly know which ones are worth more and even more than that, I don't care. I wouldn't sell them for that reason anyway.
Thanks
To all you colonial yokels out there, happy Independence Day.
God Save the King,
-Steve E. D.
Barney, I have to ask...."It trades in 9-11 imagery." Where was the 9-11 imagery in Superman Returns? Please don't tell me it was because there were skyscrapers caught in a slight tremor whose glass shattered as would be expected, or people falling from buildings? If that is what you are referring to.....let's not join the cacophony of folks shouting, "Too soon, too soon." What's a Superman movie without someone taking a tumble from a skyscraper, or some massive threat to Metropolis itself?
I enjoyed this movie much more than I've enjoyed Smallville for the season or so of scattered episodes I've seen. Why is everyone so goddamn hot over Smallville? It's a teen soap opera with silly coincidences, villains of the week and a mythology doesn't do the icon justice.
Superman Returns was better than Batman Begins (another movie that received far more worship than it deserved.....not that it was bad). Supes Rets has it's problems: The fun I expected from a scenery chewing Spacey was just not up to the snuff of my hopes, there was far too much darkness and grey in the shots(a Superman movie needs color...bright, flashy color!), there was constant reference to Lois' Pulitzer Prize winning essay on the world not needing Superman yet not a single line from that essay to show that it was something other than the petulance of an abandoned girlfriend, as the spouse sez "Perry doesn't shout at all....whassup with that?", and, of course, though not overly drenched in maple syrup, the kid's story is just a bit too...uh....Hollywood.
I enjoyed it though. I wasn't bored, as I was at times in Batman Begins as he trained, and trained, and trained, and listened to meaningless lines of wisdom, and, oh, trained.
In closing: what the hell is with all this Superman is gay bullshit? Holy Sheepshit, Batman, where does that come from? Because Bryan Singer is gay? Because Kevin Spacey is supposedly gay? Because Superman wears skimpy red undies? C'mon, people, where is this bigotry coming from? The guy has a hard-on for the hot reporter.....he gave up his powers in Superman II to lay a bit of super-rail, and then he returns to Earth after 5 years and the first thing he does is start mooning over Lois' desk as if he was ready to accidently spray his super-seed the moment she popped in the room. How is Superman gay? His entire story revolves around his attempts to hide the salami of steel into the hot little minx.
Sure, Batman has the leathery Catwoman, but Supes beats him in preparation: the underwear is already out!
-TODD
Keith, just wanted to let you know how sorry I am that you lost your friend. Hell of a blow, especially so early in one's life.
I also wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe Independence Day.
Let's be careful out there.
Chuck
Keith, Collections and Superman
First: Keith, my condolences. Your friend died far too young. Though I didn't know the family, I feel especially bad for the daughter. 13 is no age to lose a parent.
On books, if I only had a thousand or so, I don't think it would worry me at all. But I have over a thousand on the living room shelves--the "showy" part of the collection. Another 1500 in my office--research materials, favorites and the like. Several thousand more in the attic, and another thousand in the basement. This is just the hardcovers. I'm not counting paperbacks, comics and magazines.
Mind you, I give away thousands of books each year. I'm on all the publishers' reviewer lists, and if I didn't do that, the house would have collapsed years ago.
Yes, Harlan has more. Hell, Harlan has more than some public libraries. But he's also got his stuff organized and cataloged, or so I gather from mutual friends. I've never been so well organized. I have a list of the valuable stuff for the wife and kids to use as a guide if something happens to me. Otherwise, it's just, well, piles of books, mounds of books, acres of books.
I like Adam-Troy's suggestions. Harder to implement when the books appear, unbidden, at the door each morning, but still a good guide.
On "Superman Returns," I have to agree with Barney. And more--Superman isn't just dull in the new film. He's _lame._ This is a guy who, in the first "Superman," turned back time on the entire earth to save his lost love. This is a man who, in the second "Superman" film, gave up godhood to be with the object of his passion. And in this piece of dreck, this is a man who doesn't even fight, not even fleetingly, to get his lover back! There was much talk about whether Bryan Singer had turned the character gay. Not a bit of it. Superman isn't gay in the new film. He's a goddamn castrato.
"Truth, Justice and All That Stuff..."
I haven't seen the movie yet, and someone on this board may or may not have touched on this earlier, but I find it interesting that, due to the current political climate, the screenwriters chose to change Superman's mission from protecting "Truth, Justice and the American Way" to protecting "Truth, Justice, and all that stuff".
Yes, the former phrase may seem dated or cliched at this point, but so is the suit and the haircut.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/columns/film_reporter_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002764635
>Horrible and sick and perverse<
It's a comic-book movie, dude. Sounds like the funny books are once again being taken a WEE bit too seriously. Or flicks in general, for that matter.
Keith, I'm very sorry about your pal. Hope things will get better for you.
*** Steve ***
I stand by my initial assessment. Horrible and sick and perverse. Offensive and stupid from beginning to end. Gives theft and grave robbing a bad name. It trades in 9-11 imagery and Christian symbolism for cash. It uses children for cheap thrills and refuses to consider psychological consequences. It takes icons that EVERYBODY knows and turns them inside out for the sake of "updating" and "grounding" these characters. It willfully and cheerfully ignores the most basic notions of character motivation and logic. It takes lines that everybody knows and distorts them to abandon all meaning - or to make them into self-referential jokes. It steals from both the living and the dead.
It pimps a legend. Sorry you enjoyed it.
And Odysseus told his WIFE that he was leaving.
--------------------------------------------------------
*** Keith *** Sorry to hear about your friend. Yeah, I here you. Perservere.
- Barney
Keith - My very, very deepest condolences.
_________________________________________
David's note caused me pause. On the subject of books, I have what may amount to an open question, especially for the professional authors amongst us.
Why do we collect books? I have well over a thousand hardbacks, and have recently donated just as many (plus an equal number of paperbacks) to a Women's Shelter. My father, a former publisher, has six or seven times that number.
And Harlan, I know you put THAT number to simpering shame.
So: Why do we do it? Why do we collect libraries of books above and beyond those we comfortably can read over the remainder of our lives? What is the root cause of our desire to build shelves and fill them with volumes we have read and likely never will again, but it pains us to have to pass them along?
"What", he asked the men dressed in white lab coats who were each holding a large butterfly net, "is my motivation?"
___________________________________
I have only just now discovered, after placing our large, treasonously Liberal, red, white and blue, waving-in-the-breeze American flag outside the door, that I am out, completely out, of coffee.
Book Review: Beyond Armageddon, edited by Walter M. Miller Jr. an
Book Review: Beyond Armageddon, edited by Walter M. Miller Jr. and Martin Greenberg
July 03, 2006
Tim Gebhart
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/07/03/180713.php
. . .Yet only one of the collection's stories received one of SF's most notable awards. Harlan Ellison's "A Boy and His Dog," a story selected to explore a theme predicated on ancient myths of the underworld, won the Nebula for best novellete in 1970. . . .
"the only people I know who want to see it live off in the fucking burbs"
Nice.
Keith:
I'm sad for you, my friend.
Better days.
D.
"And what it does to the franchise and to the "property" for the sake of a few cheap thrills is morally bankrupt and sick and perverse."
Seem to recall lots of people saying almost the exact same thing about THE DA VINCI CODE.
Really, though, it's pretty spiffy film. (SUPERMAN, not DA VINCI.)
I thoroughly enjoyed every last minute of it, and may even have to see it again, even before the DVD release. It hit all the right notes, had some splendid performances, and brings the iconic man into the real world by what may be a "cheap thrill" for you, but which I found made him more true as an Earth-bred man and worthy of my admiration.
And, yeah, some swell fight scenes, too!
If I'm misattributing your view on what exactly is morally bankrupt, sick, and perverse about the film, please correct me. And either way, please do amplify your view (with appropriate spoiler warnings attached).
Superman movie (a spoiler or two)
Of course 'Superman Returns' tries to be an 'all grown up' film, as the 1978 film tries to be with it's Mario Puzo written mythology in it's first half. "Return' continues with that theme as the Man of Steel leaves Earth on a five year journey to what's left of his homeworld. After finding nothing more than a 'graveyard' to a lost civilization he returns, still searching. Ultimately, he finds the answer to his quest, to no longer feel alone, was near him all along. He is like Odysseus, who had to go on the journey outward to learn that all his answers were always in arms reach of where he was before he left. This alone, makes it worth a watch.
I haven't seen the Superman movie yet-- the only people I know who want to see it live off in the fucking burbs. But I've heard them out, read their blogs, tried to understand why they liked or hated the movie.
I like Superman, but I've noticed a small problem I know I'm going to have with the movie. When I read Superman comics, or watched Superman on TV, he was always older than I was. George Reeves was a grown man. Christopher Reeve was younger, sure, but he was an _adult_. To me, Superman is always more of a _man_ than I am, and at the age of 43, I find I'd still like to think of Superman as being older than I am. Not _aged_, of course, but the sense that the guy's not only more powerful but wiser and more experienced than I am. (Contrariwise, I'm cool with a young Spider-man, because Spider-man isn't _supposed_ to be a patriarchal figure;