Unca Harlan's Art Deco Dining Pavilion
search function
Could one of you smart, long-time Webderlanders point me towards the search function on this board? I have a feeling that it's head-smackingly obvious but I cannot find a place where I can enter a key word or name and get a list of posts containing same. Is there such a thing round here?
I ask because Quint, over at Ain't-It-Cool reviewed The Goodbye Girl (very positively) and mentioned near they end that he had heard that Richard Dreyfuss' performance was inspired by HE but he personally had his doubts, and seeing as that very topic came up recently round here I figured I'd point him toward the relevant post that Harlan put up...
Except that I can't remember quite when it was and I can't figure out how to search this board.
So, if any of you can point me towards it (not you, Rick, you just heal), I'd be, as they used to say in the westerns, much obliged.
MM
WORSHIP ME, FOR I AM A POD
...cast!
Since I have very little to speak in terms of published work (liner notes for two CDs) and since I enjoy the company of the people here, I would like to announce that I did a dramatic reading of a poem, "I, Odysseus" by Tom Drake that has been posted here:
http://redanvilproductions.podhoster.com/
This probably will not work for those who have dial-up connections. At very least, you will hear what I sound like. I hope you enjoy it. So we don't clog up the board, if you would like to write to me about it, my gmail address is ototwab.
Brian Phillips
Most spooky movie of all time
"Race with the Devil"
Quote from the movie - "Any trouble you make for us you'll get back ten fold!"
Welcome back Cindy! Busted computers are a pain in the ass, aren't they?
Speaking of color-coded terror alerts, I've run across a system that makes a lot more sense. Along with colors, the codes use Japanese monster icons. Megalon, Monster Zero, Mothra, Gamera and Godzilla. The advice that accompanies each alert is, "Be Terrified but carry on with your day."
Here's the link: http://www.poe-news.com/features.php?feat=32197
Remember, it is unAmerican not to be terrified.
Chuck
Some days require second posts...
CINDY - Welcome back, and remember to keep yourself and your family safe.
***
And to the assholes that pointed and laughed at my youngest son and I as we trudged up the hill in the sudden, blinding snow (our own car far down the hill behind us, parked as out of the way as I could manage), remember there is a special place for you in Hell for people like you...right next to child molesters and people who talk in theaters.
And to the fellow who stopped and gave us a ride, I once again offer up one thousand and one blessings. In good weather, it wouldn't have been a long walk. In snow, coaxing along a child who didn't understand why things were so different, it was longer than I ever care to make again.
Remembering the big picture,
Sandra
Ahhhh at last!
I tumbled down the rabbit hole into internet purgatory so long ago. No service-- only a dismal screen that indicated my machine could no longer connect. The kind folks in Verizon's internet help department couldn't make it work--due to my ineptitude. Finally my travelin' son Beau, a computer science/mathmatics major at Texas State University wandered home and found the time to work his mojo on my derelict equipment. So here I am!
:)
Hello, my friends.
Rick! I am so sorry about your pain! I've had a bad back since 1983-- if you can get your hands on BC powders--they're amazing. That and hot baths. Fill the tub all the way so the water (just as hot as you can stand it) goes clear up to the back of your head-- you'll have to be lying down for this. My father's a doctor he told me it helps by relaxing all the muscles that pull and tug on your sore back.
Same goes for the rest of y'all who suffer similarly.
:)
OHHHHHH-- the new Sheriff has been sworn in and is now at the helm. 911 is once again an option in case of emergency. The ousted lout is no longer in control of this County but he is not out of the legal woods. I continue to pray that God will-- ummm, take care of him.
;)
FACEBOOK
ANDREW F.:
Thanks, but absolutely no thanks.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
Rick/Kevin
I feel your pain. About 30 years ago, I went into a field full of horses to collect mine and was kicked in the back. A week later, having learned my lesson about NOT turning my back on that particular horse, I faced her as I got my horse and she kicked me in the crotch. The result was that she snapped the support on my 3rd lower lumbar and shoved it out of line about 1/4 an inch. My orthopedic surgeon told me that I could no longer ride, and that if things didn't improve he would fuse my back. I said fuck that and exercised A LOT to strengthen my back muscles.
I have been very fortunate in that I have not had to get my back fused, and (my daughter being completely obsessed)have even started riding again, but there are days when I can't move and cannot find a comfortable position in which to lie. Large amounts of Advil help, as do a heating pad and a really good Sauvignon Blanc.
Rick, good luck with the oxycontin. Nasty stuff.
report back on mail
Susan - RH #46 arrived whilst I was away, not sure when.
To my nephew Harlan - *hee* Best piece of mail in the bag. (FYI - my other nephews used to call me Mean Aunt Peggy. ;-) )
more about Facebook
I was looking for a Harlan "topic" in Facebook, which are not the same as groups. Perhaps it's not worth doing, but I remain a willing volunteer to create and moderate if Harlan says launch. As for the two people who created profiles, well, they are the kind that make me shake my head. I'll investigate.
AF
Barber, not even falling down. You are responding to my diamond hard critique.
-----------
Faisal, you know what's going down. We need your input cappy. These white folk are scary.
-------------
Al Jazeera is quite democratic and I love the internet. Runz.
KOS - Glad to have you back. Please drop me a line if there is anything I can do. This is not an empty offer.
***
RICK - Lots of water, even more water, and more water on top of that. Better to take the time to walk away from the painkillers than hang on and wonder what happened with your life.
***
There are three boys upstairs (12, 13, and 39) shooting Nerf guns at LEGO creations and giggling madly with every direct hit. This is what rainy Sunday afternoons were meant for.
Sandra
For whatever it's worth, the Library of Congress has just added "The Terminator," among other films, to its National Film Registry of American films deemed to be "'culturally, historically or aesthetically' significant, to be preserved for all time." And ... the LOC's citation of the film specifically notes that its script was "clearly influenced by the works of sci-fi legend Harlan Ellison."
Nice that they knew enough to credit our host. Less than nice that they didn't know enough not to put his name within shouting distance of the hideous term "sci-fi."
http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2008/08-237.html
Or even SEPARATE, rather than "seperate."
-he
KIRBY' S SON
Kev, I presume you've seen a doctor, preferably a specialist...at least for prognosis? As both Susan and Rick can attest, this is bad juju, kiddo; and not to be fucked with, or allowed to go unattended. But, shit, kid, I know you know that. Just didn't want you to think time and space seperate us more than they actually do. Selah.
Yr. longtime pal, Harlan
MICHAEL ZUZEL:
Yes, Zuz, if it isn't too much of an imposition, would you please advise FaceBook that these are bothersome. Minuscully, it's true; but if you can do it without agita, I'd appreciate it.
Many thanks, Yr. Pal, Harlan
FAISAL:
For pitysakes, keep your head down. I have grown inordinately fond of you Out There and, with many of those I love dying daily, well...let me not get maudlin. Just sup well at the bountiful groaning board of Caution.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
The Spinal Fusion
Rick,
Right after you mentioned your solution to a compressed disk, a similar spasming-lower-back thing started happening to me. It's become a true challenge in pain to get up from my cot, or even roll around. Is this happening to anybody else here?
I've had the sciatica/compressed disc thing before, about 20 years ago, but it mostly cleared up after a few months of upside-down exercises, physical therapy and such. No operation required.
But now it seems I'm a near invalid again; now in the coxyx(?) department.
DEAR "JERI'S DAUGHTER":
Well, you're doing somewhat better, but we're still dealing with semi-anonymity, as I don't know which Jeri is the progenitor of said daughter.
Thus substituting one-degree-less of pseudonymity.
Here's the point, kiddo: I like to look into peoples' eyes when I'm having a conversation. Time-bedizened protocol for establishing trust 'tween strangers. Otherwise, I tend to believe--for good or ill--rightly or wrongly--fairly or unjustly--that the intellect across from me is hiding something I may need to know, in order to have a productive chat.
When you've gotten past all this slippery silliness--unless you are undercover for the NSA or somesuch and actually constrained by law from revealing your true identity--I will attempt to do you the courtesy of sharing my meager pelf of wisdom re theft vs. hommage.
So stop trying to talk to me as if through a Judas-hole; and we'll see if you can be accomodated.
Harlan Ellison
Book Soup
For those who live in the L.A. area: shocking news -- the venerable Book Soup bookstore is being sold! Here's something from the Deadline Hollywood Daily Column (www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com):
In 1975, Glenn Goldman opened the Sunset Strip's famed Book Soup. On Friday, he put it up for sale. On Saturday, he died. In a prepared statement, Book Soup general manager Tyson Cornell said, "The store remains an extremely viable business, and the entire staff wants to carry on the legacy of Book Soup." Please, Hollywood, make sure this showbiz treasure stays open and financially sound
Let's hope someone who loves books buys it.
***************************************************************
On the good news side: Al Franken is ahead by 225 votes now in Minnesota.
More on Facebook
Harlan:
Not sure what's up with your dual doppelgangers on FB. One lists his home as Oman (talk about a change of scenery) but posted no photo; the other lists no hometown but includes the Stathis Orphanos portrait from "Watching." Neither of them lists any "friends," which usually means they're either new or inactive pages.
The way FB works, there's no way to get more details about these two accounts or who might have created them. If you'd like, I would be happy to report them as "abuse" to FB's managers on your behalf.
Incidentally, I missed one other legitimate HE-related group on FB, "Dangerous Visions," which includes among its members Barney and other Pavilion regulars.
Z
Erp
Make that:
*...in our psyches)"and Guantanamo Bay -- Bush/Cheney convinced us do things that in her proper frame of mind, America would never have done."
and
"Rainbow Jeri's Daughter" not "Rainbow Jeri"
Terrorists and the Art of Zen
Not that it matters, but I agree with Dorman's assessment that the terrorists won. And largely as a result of the Bush Administration's response to the 9/11 attacks. Instead of doing the responsible thing, which would have been react, respond forcefully, and deal effectively with the attacker, we were lead on a long circuitous path of Orange/Red/Blue/Yellow (hey, a Rainbow!) alerts that only served to reinforce that we were in daily danger. In other words, terrorized.
If the goal of a "terrorist" is to frighten people into changing their lifestyle and being afraid, Al-Quaida won whether they perceive it that way or not. By panicking Congress and the people of the United States into many of the changes made by Bush -- allowing, as a people, warrantless wire taps; the "Patriot" act; use of the term "Homeland" (a term that closely echoes the Soviet's "Motherland" and the Nazi "Fatherland" in our collective psyches).
The terrorists won because our government was complicit in the terror.
Somebody pick Frank up off the floor. (He keeps doing that.)
__________________________________
Rainbow Jeri. (Though who Jeri is remains to be seen, I guess. I'm sure she's a nice person.)
I'll take a shot.
An homage is a reverential reference by deliberate action. It is done with the intent and reality of paying a compliment to someone else's work. If I take a photograph of some aspect of Yosemite National Park and deliberately set it up as an echo of a photo Ansel Adams took, or a painting by Albert Bierstadt, making it clear in the work that this was a tribute -- that is an homage.
If, on the other hand, I took a story written by Harlan Ellison, changed the words and structure around and tried to sell it as my own, that's ripping him off (and committing plagiarism at the same time).
Acknowledging the source is the key, IMHO. Had James Cameron stated up front that Harlan's works formed the basis of the idea for the Terminator films, and that certain scenes were an homage to Harlan's work -- that would be far more acceptable than deny, deny, deny and insisting that the work was his own. THAT is ripping Harlan off.
And this applies to general art. I'm working on a photographic composition right now that is an homage to Andy Warhol's four-image portraits. It will be clear in the finished shot that it's an homage, not just a rip off. But I certainly hope the finished piece not only stands as an homage but also has its own artistic merit. But I'd be a fool to try to pass the piece off as solely my own composition.
Harlan is correct that he's the best person to respond to your query. I respect the fact you came back with a half-compromise. You should recognize that your initial post DID have the ring of an anonymous poser trying to incite a fight -- and that is looked at very dimly 'round here.
Hope my amateur answer sufficed in the meantime.
old news
This is probably old news but in David Thomson's HAVE YOU SEEN ? and its piece on Terminator it mentions Harlan (although, in a poorly copy edited book the reference is to DEMON WITH A GLASS...HEAD.) And, it occurred to me while watching THEM! on New Year's night that that film should have done what STAR WARS did in 1977. It was Warner Brothers' highest grosser of 1954. BEAST/20,000 made oodles in 1952 ; most of dear George Pal's films did very well. Hollywood used gimmicks like 3d and cinerama in order to draw people out and kept overlooking a Kong sized gorilla in the room. The audience was telling them what it wanted to see and they wasted the advantage they did have-the Hollywood technicians. Now, whether the rise of the SF film 23 years earlier would have been a good or bad thing who can say ? Me, I see a world where maybe Ted Sturgeon is being paid real money and Alfred Bester is making more money in fiction than on Holiday and Willis O'Brien isn't slaving away in Mexico as being a net plus. Just a thought...
Percocet/Oxycontin withdrawal sucks
jesus h. christ
that is all thank you
"Jeri's daughter" - that's a little better, sounds like a person. I think that's what Harlan was getting at. I think you may have taken it a bit personal, but there is no reason to - he was explaining, not accusing. What he said about the internet was an explanation. You yourself would have difficulty talking seriously to someone you have to call Zen-something-or-other.
"I was just wondering if there's a borderline between what constitutes an homage and what qualifies as stealing someone else's "thing"."
There are definitions for both things, and in my view the distinction is clear. There isn't really a borderline. It has to do with intentions and how they are carried out. There are no borderline intentions. You brought up Tarantino. There are people who do lots of homages, as he sometimes does from scene to scene, and anybody who knows a few of those films knows what he's doing. He's an artist and a scholar, like many writers, including Harlan. Very few people understand all they are doing in terms of homages but it's not their fault.
You also asked if we are permitted to use other artist's techniques. Obviously every artists HAS to learn from those who came before him or even from artists in other professions. For example, writers frequently learn from painters and vice versa. I don't think that's much of a discussion topic either.
HARLAN & RICK: On the seldom-read rules page it says, "Anonymity is allowed on this board", if it's not used as a shield, which it wasn't. I understand the problem but we're no closer to any permanent solution than before. Let's make it a rule that people have to use part of their real name. In the past we already discussed how using the full name may be a privacy problem for some. By the way, I still see "Clipping Service" from time to time - I assume Harlan knows who it is but the same rules should apply to everyone. Let's not forget that visitors see handles like that, and DTS and KOS (we know who they are) when they come here and assume they can use any handle they want.
DTS - Don't worry about it dude. Do the terrorists view it as a victory? In my studies, not in any way. Destroying Israel, taking over the Holy Lands and in some cases, recapturing Spain (!?!) would be a victory for the higher ups in these circles.
I know some people who were buddies with Bin Laden just before the end of the Afghan war and would meet regularly until 9/11. One of them observed that OBL and AQ are now more in love with their tactics than any realistic end goals. Look at what OBL demands and compare it to what leftie groups like the Red Army Faction or the Japanese Red Army were after in the 70's. I look at their demands now and just ask myself: "You got to be kidding me". Some of these demands are issues that do need to be seriously dealt with (i.e. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine for one). Others are just ridiculous (i.e. the imposition of Shariah law despite no idea of an infrastructure and the discouragement of any debate on this issue to discuss the pro's and cons... something the RAF also did when it came to discussions concerning how a Marxist state could work in the real world).
Though it doesn't make the front page in the world papers, tensions have been escalating between Pakistan and India given the denial from Pakistan that none of the gunmen were from its territory. Suddenly local Jihadist groups posted messages on forums saying that if India decides to invade, the Jihadists will fight for the survival of Pakistan and will give the invaders 100 years of hell, etc. etc. etc. You can imagine them masturbating to images of an upcoming massacre. I doubt Pak-India will go to war, it's just OTT sabre rattling but your typical extremist here is more than happy to go and fight without giving any thought that he would be fighting for a very US friendly Pak Govt. Long term considerations are something else or make their demands so impossible to realize that the only option is to keep on recruiting the gullible to kill the innocents.
FAQ
WHO'D OF THUNK IT?
Dear Mr. Ellison,
I appreciate you taking time out of your busy life to communicate with me.
You stated that you've chosen not to answer my question because you have some issues with various negative behaviors and practices that people go in for on the internet and specifically with me (or anyone) using a pseudonym in your personal electronic venue. This is, as you stated, your site, so you get to have things your way here. I can't fairly argue about that since I'm inclined to be equally demanding of visitors who are interested in connecting with me on my own site. I have no problem with the use of pseudonyms, but no one gets to act the part of the bully or troll there. Including me.
Anyway, I was completely unaware of your objection to the use of e-names here. I just noticed that this is a place where many intelligent creative professional people communicate regularly.
I love the high level of interaction that goes on, and I hoped some of the regular posters might be willing to share their thoughts on the question I have. Of course, certainly, you would be someone who could contribute very knowledgeably to such a discussion, and of course I'd greatly value your input on the subject, but I wasn't actually expecting *you* to respond. I mean you're YOU. That's why I addressed my post merely to "Dear Webderlandians", I was not getting above myself.
I don't think my reasons for using a pseudonym were covered in your list of suspected motives for people doing so. I'd be glad to tell you my name and give you any other personal information you wanted from me in a private message if it would help unstop the seal on the font of your valued knowledge.
Regardless, if I ever again attempt to communicate with others here I promise not to go in for "Spiteful postings, endless needing to explain every intended nuance, time-waste, cultural generation-gap amnesia causing repetition of matters everyone should know, adolescent arrogance, slovenly diction/grammar/punctuation, basic lack of originality..." and etcetera.
Thank you again for taking the time to respond to me. It meant a lot, even I didn't get the answer I was seeking.
KOS my good man, I hope this spells the end of your financial travails. I know what it's like to go through that wringer and it doesn't tickle. Hang in there, old bean.
Chuck
After a rather unexpected four week diversion from the internet to reality, mixed with an mild but nevertheless aggravating case of "La Grippe", one eviction notice (narrowly averted by use of certain resources that appeared out from the blue), two losses of phone service and a retreat into a blue funkdom of the first order, and further travails which concluded with the formal severing of all connection between myself and my former ISP, I am dropping in to report:
The Books Got Here A Few Days Ago.
I will have more on that in a few days, once the swelling in the buboes goes down.
-IF- it goes down?
KOS
What if Rainbow Zwn is the dudes real name? Y'know. like River Phoeniz, Moon Unit Zappa and Sine-Aid O'Connor? Just sayin'...
MICHAEL ZUZEL
Yo, Zuz--!
Just out of curiosity, what's the story with the two ameboids who logged in on (FaceBook, right?) as HARLAN ELLISON? Was the photo used by one of them a photo of me? I is confused. Please straighten me out. I cannot keep up with the antics offered as entertainment from one monkey to other monkies.
Thanks. Harlan
TO THE PERSON AKAing AS "RAINBOW ZEN"
I have a feeling you haven't absorbed the very very few rules of comportment and transparency I've asked visitors to abide by on this one site. This is not the internet. I do not like the internet for the most part; and I resent the way its denizens keep trying to push everyone--myself most notable to me...my site, you see--deeper into its cultural behavior. Spiteful postings, endless needing to explain every intended nuance, time-waste, cultural generation-gap amnesia causing repetition of matters everyone should know, adolescent arrogance, slovenly diction/grammar/punctuation, basic lack of originality, and the idiot use of "handles" instead of one's real name...somehow in expectation that one can have one's posts traced to your detriment. Here, we trust each other. Whenever someone dupes us, or ATTEMPTS to dupe us--for heaven knows what purpose or profit--the rope is very short, and it is pulled taut quickly.
Which is to say, "Rainbow Zen," it is semi-difficult to deal seriously with questions, serious or otherwise, raised by someone making him/herself small behind a, well, frankly, silly pseudonym. I can assure you, you won't be hearing anything from me, likely one of the best persons to reply to your query.
, as long as you need to subscribe to the assorted fraudulence and mendacity of the internet.
This, here, is NOT the internet. How could it be? I don't like the internet.
Harlan Ellison
FAISAL's reply
FAISAL: Thanks for the reply...and the disturbing story. Hope things like that don't happen as often as they do in the U.S., but...as Pogo once pointed out...I'm afraid that "we have met the enemy, and he is us." (Or to put it more succinctly: the terrorists won, since we westerners -- Americans in particular, but others as well -- live in a climate of fear, and continue to allow others to stoke the fires thereof).
Best of luck in all your future travels,
DTS
HERC Renewal
Hi Folks; it's good to be back!
My membership to HERC expired anon and I just didn't want to post here without it being renewed. It's sort of the price of admission for me.
So, SUSAN: My renewal for HERC shall be on its way; funds secured. In addition, is the hardcover of Shatterday still available for ordering at $20.00? Or The Voice From the Edge Cassettes Volume Two? (and if so, at what price?). I'll take any recommendations gladly as well. Thankee.
Facebook
Actually, there are no fewer than four HE-related groups on FB:
"The Harlan Ellison Facebook Fanclub"
"Harlan Ellison deserves more attention"
"Pour la réalisation du scénario de I robot écrit par Harlan Ellison"
and "A Boy and his Dog was the best movie EVER!"
In addition, two individuals have registered as "Harlan Ellison" ... one of them with HE's photo.
Zuz
Edd Cartier, illustrator of THE SHADOW and science fiction
If anyone here is interested in reading more about Edd Cartier, one of Harlan's favorite artists, you can view my press release and a sampling of Edd Cartier's wondrous illustrations at ...
http://shadowsanctum.com/blog.html
The favorite illustrator of John W.Campbell (and a major influence on the art of Frank Kelly Freas), Edd Cartier passed away Christmas Day at the age of 94. During the Golden Age of Pulp Fiction, Cartier created more than 800 ilustrations for THE SHADOW MAGAZINE, another 200 for UNKNOWN and nearly 300 illos for ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION.
A
I wrote a long appreciation of Westlake over at my blog, http://briansiano.livejournal.com/596826.html. Hope y'all like it.
And I have some _good_ news for readers. This August, _Inherent Vice_, a mystery by _Thomas Pynchon_, is due out. That's right. Pynchon wrote a novel within _two years_ of the last one, _Against the Day_. (Which I still gotta finish.)
It's nice to keep hope alive.
HE on Facebook
Dear Harlan,
I recently noticed the absence of HE (or the Kilimanjaro Corp or S.P.I.D.E.R. or the Flying Blue Monkeys or Jackanapes from Painesville) as a topic page on Facebook. Please scold if this has been previously discussed, though I searched the Pavilion and could not find mention. I'm almost sure that you are uninterested in visiting or maintaining a profile on a social networking website, but -- in my quest to remind every living thing of your and your stories' existence -- I would like to volunteer to create a topic "page" (not profile) about Harlan Ellison.
People have created topic pages for everything large and small within this site, like organizations, restaurants, films, music, and the guy who threw shoes at Bush. Anyone can create a topic page, so I was puzzled at the absence of an HE page. And I thought it prudent to ask the man himself before doing so.
These topic pages usually include a photo and a simple description. Visitors can simply become a fan, or discuss your works. For instance, here is a page about some random guy http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alfred-Bester/48702635518 . Whomever creates the topic page can moderate its content, as a kind of Rick Wyatt. (I could easily delete any witless attempts to post malicious lies or copyrighted material.)
If anyone in the Pavilion has further thoughts on Facebook topics, please chime in. (Facebook overall gives me caution, though I've found it helpful to promote myself as a struggling writer, and a communication tool.) Perhaps the HE page could be subtle or subversive, maybe about some guy called Cordwainer Bird.
All best,
Andrew
Pogue,
I, too, think its a witty fusion of "Alas and alack," and the words, "Lack-a-day" and "Lack-a-daisical," but it is a bit of a groaner pun when taken in itself. Ad part of the song, it is superb.
Sorry about the double-post. I will not post again for several days.
Steve Dooner
Ira's rhyme
Mr. Dooner, I think your quoted Gershwin rhyme actually shows a great deal of puckish wit.
And we all know the old joke, don't we: George Gershwin wrote lots of wonderful songs with his lovely wife, Ira.
On Doggerel, Rhyme and Catchy Titles
Pogue,
I'm just a little shocked to think that a member of Monty Python would use a doggerel rhyme to create a catchy title! Shocked, I say!
And though you are correct to cite Ira Gershwin, as an example of the best a lyricist can be. He was not above filling out a line with a casual rhyme. Take this lyric (which was obviously written just for a laugh) in the absolutely fabulous and classic standard, "But Not For Me":
"I was a fool to fall and get that way;
Heigh-ho! Alas! And also, lack-a-day!"
I know the "ennui" in the song's mood allows for this kind of lazy lyric, but I'm also pretty sure that it took no great effort on Ira's part to write such a line.
Steve Dooner
Defining The Borders
William Sherman, Thank you for those legal definitions. Of course, if one wanted to get into it, one might want to have "illicit approbation" and "misrepresentation" very clearly defined. If all it takes to be cinematographically "licit" is to call a movie an homage to someone...
If you stole that someone's original story ideas, only changing the names and/or genders and/or occupations of the characters, setting them in a different-from-the-original time and place...if that's all you did, that is still stealing. It's got to be.
There's got to be more to it all. From a legal standpoint.
I was thinking of something else entirely. A totally different medium.
Mr Tarantino is largely a self-taught artist. He acknowledges some of his sources of inspiration. But he brings a whole, *whole* lot of his own to everything he creates, making all his movies his, regardless of where he gets his inspirations. I only mentioned him because he's famous for doing homages. And there have been some who have criticized him for this.
If I love someone else's work, so much so that it compels me to create something of my own, with me putting my own unique, and original spin on things, if I use entirely different colors, textures, materials and forms, but if I try to imitate their use of contrasts, symmetry and balance... because THAT was what I loved about the other artist''s stuff. and I'm trying to understand/learn about how to use balance and symmetry anyway...
???
I was just wondering if there's a borderline between what constitutes an homage and what qualifies as stealing someone else's "thing". And if there is, where it is. See?
Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to answer me.
"Rainbow Zen"
P.S. I do not yet know quite how to use this Notepad thingie. That is why my margins are all over the place. I hope looking at that mess doesn't make anyone seasick.
Matt Smith?
What is with the BBC and its youth fetish? At least he ain't pretty. I'll wait 'till he takes the screen before passing judgment, but I was so hoping for an old man. . .
Song lyrics were never meant to be high end poetry, so you can torque the rules governing rhymes. As long as the rythem of the rymed word makes some sense or more importantly, that the song makes some sense or is at least clever.
I Wanna Hold Your Hand is banal in concept, but the finished product can still be a masterpiece.
This is why I rarely admire most rap, because when someone talks lyrics, those lyrics should say more. With singing you want to hear the voice--the complexity of the voice, but with rapping you want to hear the words--they should make some kind of sense. It doesn't have to be some deep statement, but it should at least be clever. Eminem proves that theory.
-----------
There is one element to the Palestinian question that I have yet to comment on. The Palestinians tend to be dark skinned, Israelis white jews. White racism plays a lot in this crime. The Palestinians are black South Africans fighting the Jim Crow cracker of Apartheid. Even Jimmy Carter understands that.
It is too bad because european Jews know what racism does. We all want to hate the other, and blame them for our own faults.
Doctor Matt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhmWRjo7gKI
I like this guy. He appears to be a vulnerable, unassuming "aw shucks" kind of bloke, which is a welcome contrast to Tennant's quick wit and acid tongue. He also looks like the protagonist of a David Lynch movie, and that's always awesome in my book.
Here's hoping the Smith/Moffat combo is dynamite.
The Doctor
Matt Smith is superlative in a very brief flashback sequence trimmed from the movie In Bruges (easily my favorite films of last year). He plays a younger version of Ralph Fiennes' character and has that same burning intensity that is vital to playing the Doctor well.
He was also quite charming (at first) as the shag who wouldn't go home in the sixth episode of the Billie Piper vehicle The Secret Diary of a Call Girl.
The combination of Smith on screen and Moffat at the computer is something I look forward to with great anticipation.
Is it me...?
...or does the casting of the new Doctor Who resembles a bizarre imitation of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"? As the Doctor grows older in Time Lord years, the BBC keeps casting younger actors...
Response to DTS
There have been a few occasions where the seating plan I had confirmed and the one's that was made available to me on the flight had changed considerably. Air France did this to a flight on Cuba and since then, I suffered it on nearly every airline that I flew on in the US during last month. I always ask (and get) an aisle seat, usually located at the very back of the plane. I then found myself getting window seats, usually next to elderly senior citizens who don't feel keen on moving.
But there was one occasion on 11th Sept. 2006 on a late night flight back from Varna to London. I had overseen the editing of several short films at the Balchik Short Film Festival and the flight was a late one. Also with me was DoP Lol Crawley and his missus. I got my back seat, Lol sat in the middle and quickly fell asleep.
I had a copy of Kathleen Taylor's Brainwashing and was reading when I noticed the guy in the next seat was looking very closely at me. I tried some banter, suspecting that he was nervous. He asked what I was doing in Bulgaria, I informed him and then after a few minutes he left his seat and went to the Stewardess cabin. A sotto whisper elevated to loud screaming as he told them that I was nothing more than a suicide bomber ready to celebrate the fifth anniversary of 9/11. He then came back to the seat, put his head in his girlfriend's lap (she had the window seat) and started whining. His girlfriend, very stunningly attractive, also had the look of ignorant hate in her eyes.
The Stewardess came over and I calmly explained who I was and that I was sponsored by the British Council and if she wanted to see or check anything, I could provide phone numbers and documents. I also requested another seat as the asshole was making me nervous and I didn't fancy getting a plastic knife embedded in my aorta. This was turned down.
The plane took off and the paranoid lunatic swapped seats so his girlfriend sat next to me. In case I did blow up, at least her body would shield him from the blast. I decided to chat her up to which she responded that she didn't speak to Moors.
Which goes to show that Bill Hicks was right when he observed that chicks dig jerks.
FAQ
Here's a link to the BBC page
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/misc/news/index_new_doctor.shtml
He certainly looks interesting has the kind of face that looks older than is.
Also congratulations to Terry Pratchett on his Knighthood
A relatively unknown actor, Matt Smith, has been cast as the "youngest Doctor" to date. He's 26, and main claim to fame is having appeared with Billie Piper in two series previously.
Haven't seen anything he's been in, so have to greet this news with a wait and see attitude.
I will say I'm desperately disappointed Joanna Lumley didn't get the nod. THAT would've been fun.
*sigh*
In defense of "invented-word" rhyming.
Dr. Seuss
Mike
Tomorrow afternoon....
...the mystery as to who will play the next Doctor will be unveiled during a special broadcast of Dr. Who Confidential.
You wouldn't catch Ira Gershwin doing it...
Mr. Gershwin once wrote a ditty called I LIKE TO RHYME. But one rhyme he'd never make would be MAGORIUM/EMPORIUM. I must confess my prejudice against the title of that movie alone has kept me from having any desire to see it (though I might not have any interest even if it had a different title). I just have bad reaction when someone has to make up a name just to rhyme it with an unusual word. It couldn't have just been Mr. Smith's Emporium? It had to be revoltingly cute and rhyme?
Reply to Steve B.-
Just a note..._Meet the Robinsons_ was very, very far along when Disney Feature Animation was placed under the control of Catmull and Lasseter. There was a brief production hiatus for Lasseter and Catmull to review the movie and give notes, but not much of the story was changed. The film was wayyyy too far along for any changes to be made to the look.
You may want to give a little leniency,too, since MTR had a short production schedule compared to a film like _Bolt_ or the typical Pixar feature. Internally, it was described as 'the film shot out of a cannon'. The R&D for look wasn't even finished when production quota started. Kind of like sprinting forward but there's no ground there until right before your foot hits.
--
Ryan
FILE UNDER...
ALL: File this one under: Had they been caucasian...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/02/AR2009010201695.html
AND HERE'S my question: Do things like this happen as often on airlines from other, supposedly, civilized nations? Can Webderlanders in England, Europe, Australia, Japan, etc., etc., say if they have read or heard about such incidents with the airlines in their own countries? Or is it just in the "Land of the brave, home of the free..."?
Anyone? Bueller?
-DTS
The Former is Not the Latter; Self-Editor Malfunction
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
(Pardon the double post--thought I'd save Mr. E. a stroke.)
Line 3 should begin, of course, "The former is simply ......"
Off to a bad start this year.
William Sherman
Plagarism vs. Homage, and Book Sent to Mr. E.
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
As one, self-flatteringly, rigorously trained undergrad to whom much in the way of warnings against plagarism has been taught, I'll take a swing at "Rainbow Zen's" query:
The latter is simply an illicit appropriation and misrepresentation of properly registered intellectual property by one of another for some material gain--a univeristy degree, money, etc. For example, were I researching a paper on special relativity, and palmed ideas of Einstein's as my own without citing him directly, that's plagarism.
An homage is simply a conscious mimicry of another's intellectual property, while paying due respect to that other--academic citation via footnotes, merely mentioning the person's name, or paid royalties in respect of copyrights. For my hypothetical paper above, a footnote for Einstein's original 1905 paper would suffice. As Mr. Cameron discovered from our dear host, his movie "The Terminator" was NOT an homage to his story "The Soldier", from "The Outer Limits", because he knew he was lifting Mr. E.'s idea almost vertatim, but did not respect Mr. E.'s copyright for the story. (One of Michael Ansara's better roles, I might add.) Mr. E. appropriately sued, won, and earned a paid credit from Cameron.
As for Tarantino, his "Kill Bill" franchise, are homages to the "Dollars Trilogy" of Sergio Leone, which movies themselves are homages to movies of one of my cinematic gods: Kurosawa. (See "Yojimbo" and "The Seven Samuri".) These do NOT represent plagarism because Tarantino did not utilize samuri in medieval Japan, as Leone did not. He put a novel, creative spin on the idea: Uma Thurman, in Bruce Lee's yellow sweat pants, singly avenging her groom's murder with a samuri sword. Enough difference exists for there to be little plagarism. Had he set his stories in either medieval Japan or in the American Southwest/Mexico of the 1860's, there would be room for doubt; yet, he did not, so an homage it is.
Mr. E.: sent "Men of Mathematics" by E.T. Bell today. Postage: $8.25.
Regards.
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
The electric heat is out, so I have a fire in the fireplace and the kids' lips are no longer blue. The electrician will be by later this afternoon. Eh, it could be worse. It could be Montana cold rather than Washington cold.
I'm listening to ON THE ROAD WITH ELLISON, VOL. 2. My youngest comes rushing out of the room every time I laugh out loud. He's going to be plum tuckered out by the end of the CD.
shagin
JIM THOMAS - I am showing you registered on Dec 22. I will see if Rick, once he comes down off his morphine high, can pull your password. My guess is that somehow this was either mis-typed or otherwise not what you expected (have you tried caps/non-caps, etc?).
Stay tuned.
_______________________________________
It's great to see a goodly number of new registrants in the Forae. I feel a little like the witch-woman at the end of POLTERGEIST when I say "All are welcome, all are welcome..."
(Just watch out for that light. It's Frank with a flashlight, the kidder.)
_______________________________________
We went on a bit of a Netflix binge yesterday, watching MEET THE ROBINSONS, MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM, and MICHAEL CLAYTON.
MEET THE ROBINSONS had some moments, but pales in comparison to some of the other Disney Pixar fare out there. (It was Disney-made, but after Lasseter and company joined the company.) Still, some fun stuff in there.
MAGORIUM isn't nearly so awful as was indicated by some of the reviews it got. Visually striking, it could have been better directed and edited.
MICHAEL CLAYTON is a terrific picture. Taughtly written, keeps you guessing as to where it's going (no spoon feeding here), and some outstanding performances.
_______________________________________
SUSAN - I've checked the HERC page and a couple RABBIT HOLEs and can't find reference to ALL THE LIES THAT ARE MY LIFE. Does HERC have a copy of the complete edition lying around someplace that one could put a reservation upon???
forum registration issue
I did all the registration stuff for the forum, but my registration appears to be caught in Limbo. When I try to log on, I'm told that I have an invalid username and/or password. If I try to register again, I'm told that the username/e-mail address are already in use, so I know I'm in there somewhere.
Could the admin take a look, pretty please? My username is jthomas666.
Thanks,
Yes, I had to work on New Years, while you mooks had your heads in bubbly and burbly, I worked. Sure, my lady nearly raped me when I got home, but that's beside the point. I was tired and could only give her like twenty orgasms. Hey, this is all blue collar guys do well. We can fuck like bunnies.
Too much information, you say? Stuff it. hehe.
--------------
Slaymaker, Angus stuffed with cheese and salami? Talk about overkill. I bet you gave hubby plenty of breath mints.
Slaymakers Haymakers, Video Parlour, how about that?
Netflix is pretty bad. They are like the nazis. Yea, a bit much, but that kind of efficiency is a bit like making the trains run on time. Can't a motherfucker wait three days for a fucking video?
---------------
Barber, Cris wants her tongue back.
--------------
Westlake! aww, Westlake.
RIP.
The Borderlands
Dear Webderlandians,
Hello.
Can someone here define/examine the border between plagiarism and homage for me? Maybe? Please? Because I am presently wondering where plagiarism ends and homage begins.
I mean, just for example, Quentin Tarantino is a self taught artist who has, throughout his film-making career. offered what he calls cinematic homages. But he has also been consistently accused of making movies that are highly derivative of some one or another.
In response to my inquiry I imagine an urge might come upon some here to surround the Quentin Tarantino issue fore and aft, but I'm not actually asking about him specifically. I was just using him as a case in point.
I'm just saying...
I wish you all a joyful New Year. Bye for now.
Rainbow Zen
Westlake
Dammit! Only just heard. Poor dude, great writer. Another voice who'll be missed.
FAQ
Levine
If you haven't read it yet, add Westlake's Levine collection to your list (and don't skip the insightful introduction by the author). Lovely, introspective stories. The penultimate one took years to make it to print but I think it may be his most affecting tale.
Okay
Westlake's gone
But he did leave behind some great work behind
Far, far too many writers never get into print and just live out their otherwise unremarkable lives and they too, pass on,
leaving the world empty of the reward of reading a little of
all of their own works
It's January here in Ohio and the temperature seems to have dropped a few degrees
Westlake
Aw, come ON. Wasn't 2008 shitty enough? Did it have to get in this last, terrible blow?
Just a few nights ago I was sitting around with some friends watching an episode of "Leverage," the new caper show on TNT. I remarked on the fact that the show's master thief is named Parker, and noted that this *had* to be the show's way of tipping its hat to Richard Stark. My friends--uncultured baboons all, apparently--had never heard of him, and I spent the next half hour enthusing over the glories of Westlake, Stark, Dortmunder, and particularly that supreme creation, Parker. I got myself so worked up that I shuffled a couple of my favorites ("The Man With The Getaway Face" and "Drowned Hopes") into my reading pile. I'll be reading them in a much different mood, now.
This is a really, really sucky way to be starting a year.
Donald Westlake, RIP
Damn.
As a kid, my two older brothers and I literally wore a copy of The Hot Rock out from re-reading. I hadn't thought about the book in years, decades even, but I was out in Fresno several years ago, and rummaging through a used book store I came across it and several other Dortmunder novels, and stayed up half the night reading them.
Mr. Westlake, you will be missed.
RIP Westlake?
You're joking, right? C'mon...where's the punchline...
...damn...
Every word of his that I had not read, and every smile of his that he will never know, will be sorely missed.
Sandra
oh fuck no
First my favorite essayist, David Foster Wallace, and now my favorite novelist. Harlan, you better watch your six.
This is too much. See you guys in a while.
HEY! Best Graphic Story Hugo Nominations Needed...Like RIGHT NOW!
Happy New Year to All Weberlanders!
If you will cast your mass-mind memory back to early August 2008, you will recall that Steve Barber and I successfully lobbied for and won a chance to establish a Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story.
An overwhelming majority at the Business Meeting at Denvention III voted to establish the award. A second ratifying vote at this year's Worldcon in Montreal is needed to make the award an annual feature on a trial basis (until 2012, it's along story and if you're really interested, you can google the details.)
(BTW, Anticipation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention, will be held in Montréal, Québec, Canada, from 6 to 10 August 2009. Guests of Honor include Neil Gaiman, Élisabeth Vonarburg, Ralph Bakshi, Taral Wayne, Tom Doherty, David Hartwell, and Julie Czerneda. You're all invited. Really.)
The Chair of Anticipation, Rene Walling, and his convention committee voted to use their special provision under the World Science Fiction Society constitution, to try out the Best Graphic Story Hugo on for size.
Very soon now, nomination ballots will be in the mail to all the members of Denvention III and current members of Anticipation.
The text of the amendment reads as follows:
Any science fiction or fantasy story told in graphic form appearing for the first time in the previous calendar year.
This means that any graphic novel that tells a complete story OR any outstanding individual story published in 2008, is eligible.
(And yes friends, that includes stories from our host's latest edition of Dream Corridor!)
I could use your help; I am writing an editorial for Comics Journal about this and since I am not a regular reader of comics, I am sorely in need recommendations to research and cite.
I'm on a one weeks deadline so please, either email me at my email address above or discuss them here. I'd appreciate ANY help I can get on this...Thank You; Now hit those keyboards!
Cordially,
Chris M. Barkley
ps: and another shout out to Steve Barber and the others here who helped Steve and I with the preliminary draft of the amendment; we couldn't have made it this far without you guys!
R.I.P. Dammit
John Dortmunder, Andy Kelp, Tiny, May, Murch, and Murch's Mom. I hope that when you get to Heaven you find that perfect score and get to keep the money this time.
THE DEATH OF DONALD WESTLAKE
I had not heard. Read Palko's post.
Oh god, no.
The best writer in America has gone.
I will not be able to deal with this; not for a very long time.
Harlan
SHOUT OUT RIGHTBACK ATCHA ---- RINGGENBERG
Steve: Good to hear a squeak from you, old chum.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
tony rabig
thanks,mine is still sealed and circulation not visible.best new years wishes.
NYT obit
Donald E. Westlake, Mystery Writer, Is Dead at 75
By JENNIFER 8. LEE
Donald E. Westlake, a prolific, award-winning mystery novelist who pounded out more than 100 books and five screenplays on manual typewriters during his half-century career, died Wednesday night. He was 75.
Mr. Westlake collapsed, apparently from a heart attack, as he headed out to New Year’s Eve dinner while on vacation in San Tancho, Mexico, said his wife, Abigail Westlake.
Mr. Westlake, considered one of the most successful and versatile mystery writers in the United States, has earned three Edgar Awards, an Academy Award nomination for screenplay writing, and the elite title of Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America in 1993.
Since his first novel, “The Mercenaries,” was published by Random House in 1960, Mr. Westlake has written under his own name and several pseudonyms, including Richard Stark, Tucker Coe, Samuel Holt and Edwin West. Despite the diversity of names, one shared feature was that almost all his books were set in New York City, where he was born.
He used many names in part to combat skepticism over his rapid rate of writing books, which at some points reached four a year.
“In the beginning, people didn’t want to publish more than one book a year by the same author,” said Susan Richman, his publicist at Grand Central Publishing, his current publisher. In the later half of his career, Mr. Westlake had narrowed himself to his own name and Richard Stark, author of a dark series about a one-name criminal named Parker.
The full panoply of all his books was a spectacle to behold, his friends said. “We were in his library, this beautiful library surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of titles, and I realize that every single book was written by Donald Westlake, English language and foreign language editions,” said Laurence Kirschbaum, his agent.
Mr. Westlake’s cinematic style of storytelling, along with his carefully crafted plots and crisp dialogue, translated well to the screen. More than 15 of his books were made into movies, some multiple times. In addition, he himself wrote a number of screenplays, including “The Grifters,” which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1991.
Donald Edwin Westlake was born to Lillian and Albert Westlake on July 12, 1933, in Brooklyn, but raised in Yonkers and Albany. He attended a number of colleges in New York State, but did not graduate from any of them. He married his current wife, Abigail, in 1979, and the couple made their home in Gallatin, N.Y. He was previously married to Nedra Henderson and Sandra Kalb. He is survived by his wife; his four sons by his previous marriage, Sean Westlake, Steven Westlake, Paul Westlake, Tod Westlake; two step-daughters, Adrienne Adams and Katherine Adams; a step-son, Patrick Adams; his sister, Virginia; and four grandchildren.
He was writing all the way till he passed away. His next novel, “Get Real,” is scheduled to be released in April 2009.
Westlake's gone?
I read that and actually yelped in shock. I love Westlake, Stark, and all the other names. And this year, he helped me alleviate a friend's severe depression via copious loanings of the Dortmunder books.
I'm tearing up. I'm going to miss waiting for the next one.
Goodbye, Mr. Westlake
If you haven't heard, Donald Westlake passed away last night.
I'll probably get in trouble for saying this here but for years I've said that my two favorite writers were Westlake and Lawrence Block. Both men did everything a genre writer is supposed to do and they did them brilliantly, but they also did all of the things that genre writers are supposed to be incapable of.
Westlake in particular had extraordinary range and impact, from his comic novels to his tough Stark books to screenplays like the Stepfather and the Grifters. He even made occasionally forays into fantasy and science fiction with novels like Humans and short stories like the infamous “Nackles.”
Like Eisner, Westlake liked to put real and very ordinary people in situations normally reserved for heroes, villains and other stock characters. Maybe that was why characters like Abe Levine got under your skin.
This might be jumping ahead a little bit, but I can't wait until 2010 arrives. My mouth is so tired of saying "two-thousand-one, two-thousand-four, two-thousand-seven". Twenty-ten, twenty-fourteen, and twenty-seventeen just roll off the tongue much more easily.
In the meantime, Happy 2009!
Forgive the second post, but with all the Youtube fooferahh of a couple days ago, I thought the New Year merited a note that Harlan's PAY THE WRITER clip has hit the 208,037 views mark.
208,037.
A Memorable Dinner Redux
Last night my hubby Sputnik (it's a nickname) and I went to Trattoria la Festa in Stowe for dinner and had one of the best meals we've ever had. On a prix-fixe menu we had a fabulous antipasti, and a good Caesar's. Sputnik had a Black Angus sirloin stuffed with mozzerella and salami and dressed with a mushroom sauce. I had filet mignon of pork stuffed with spinach and gorgonzola and dressed with an herbal cream sauce that was excellent. Dessert was a dolce yule log. Alec Baldwin waited on us (actually he's a friend named James, but he looks so much like Alec that he gets stopped constantly). The ambience was perfect, the wine delicious, and we were home when the ball dropped. It was great.
If ever you come to Stowe you must do two things: stop in at Stowe Video and say hi (and rent a movie!), and eat at Trattoria. It's worth it.
Death to Netflix! Death to Blockbuster! Happy New Year!
The times, they are a'changin'.
(Or maybe it's just me.)
I'm feeling old this morning. Only a slight hangover. From drinking too much wine. Red and sparkling. Dinner last night consisted of bleu cheese biscuits, baked sour cream and onion melba rounds, and hummus on taandori bread.
We stayed at home and had some friends over.
Played dominoes all night.
Ten minutes to midnight we watched Dick Clark deal with a should-be-shot-at-dawn Ryan Seacrest, a horrible Jonas Brothers performance, and something named 'Kelly Pickler'. Drank two glasses of decent sparkling wine. Kissed the missus. (Several times.)
Went back to dominoes.
To bed at 2:40, auto-clocked awake at 5, struggled to sleep until 8.
I'm feeling old.
Next year, TIMES SQUARE. For real!!! Who's with us????
Sir Terry
I was delighted to see that Pratchett was knighted. The Lovely Wife and I spent a pleasant New Year's Eve re-watching the adaptation of his delightful HOGFATHER.
Sandra,
I said, we'd *try* to behave. You know us.
A friend and I welcomed 2009 in downtown Denver, first attending the Bovine Metropolis Theater, an improv group similar in concept to Groundlings in LA. Very funny group of people. I will pass on an unusual pairing of words that propelled one of the improvs: Quantum Zombie. Make of that what you will, all creative types.
Afterward, we watched, oohed and aahed as the fireworks were set off directly overhead on the 16th street mall. A good time was had by all.
Goodbye 2008 and good riddance! Don't let the screen door hit ya where nature split ya!
Here's to a better 2009!
Chuck
Ahem. That's SIR Terry Pratchett, if you please.
For both of you that frequent this place who had missed this news, I bring it to your attention.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7804693.stm
"We now take you to the Meridian Room in the Park Plaza in New York City, where Ramón Raquello and his orchestra are playing a tune that never loses favor . . . Stardust."
Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News
At twenty seconds before midnight, Professor Farrell of the Mount Jennings Observatory, Chicago, Illinois, reports observing several explosions of incandescent gas, occurring at regular intervals on the planet Mars. The spectroscope indicates the gas to be hydrogen
Professor Pierson of the Observatory at Princeton, New Jersey, confirms Farrell's observation, and describes the phenomenon as, quote, "like a jet of blue flame spelling out the words..."
'HAAAAAAAAAAAPY FUCKIN' NEW YEARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!'
Two twenty-eight AM on the east coast - still not entirely sleepy, catching up on a little telly with my honey, her cold toes, and the roommate's Silky Terrier, Samantha (who is the only one of the three of us with enough sense to go to bed). We had a nice start to a new year: a fine three-course meal in Falls Church at 2941 Restaurant (a fabulous venison preparation), and a jazz concert at the Kennedy Center (the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, conducted by Slide Hampton and hey, there's Jimmy Heath AND the New York Voices to boot!) with the requisite balloon drop and live music and dancing in the foyer afterwards.
No resolutions. Guidelines. Better, stronger, faster.
Happy 2009. Here's hoping it's a good one for all concerned.
Harlan, Susan - ESPECIALLY you two. Smoochles.
Happy New Year!
Have a good one, everybody!
We now take you to the Meridian Room in the Park Plaza in New York City, where Ramón Raquello and his orchestra are playing a tune that never loses favor . . . Stardust.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
As the Romans might have said, "Felix Annus Novus". To those uninclined to celebrate, Happy Thursday, again.
Ave atque vale.
Regards from, compared to Minnesota, a warm (9 degrees F) "other coast".
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
Great to have you back Rick. Morphine is good, morphine is king.
And to all the Webderlanders around the globe, may 2009 bring you the strength, the courage and the love you need to face any and all challenges the New Year may throw your way. The economy may suck, the world may be going to hell in a handbasket, but we can all rely on our good friends and family and peers for succor.
Feeling California
DTS-that tagline about had me spurting scotch; the good shit.
Happy New Year ya'll, from the epitome of a cold motherfucker.
Rick
reading Pangborn
Jeff R. said:
"At that point, I must confess, I gave up. Just walked away. Sometimes, that's all you CAN do!"
Well, you could have squashed a grapefruit in her face.
All the lies
Alan,
Back of my copy says Underwood-Miller did 620 copies. 220 were signed (20 presentation copies not offered for sale, and 200 numbered & sold as a collector's edition). Which would leave 400 sold as regular trade copies.
If I'm reading this wrong, I'll bet there are about a zillion people here on the board who'll let us know.
A belated Merry Christmas and a barely on time Happy New Year to all Webderland inmates.
--tr
all the lies that are my life
anyone know how many issues of HE special hardbound trade novella was circulated in usa?
Rod's reply (that sounds like the title of a porno)
ROD: Regarding the "Dreams" DVD: Amazon solved such problems long ago. In fact, given the still outrageous price of books and DVDs here in OZ, I'd be surprised if most Aussie's _didn't_ buy more such items from Amazon (and I still can't believe the publishing industry is throwing out the baby with the bathwater by claiming higher book costs subsidize culture here in OZ -- they'd make _far_ more money by charging less for the books, and making it easier for Aussies -- who, from my experience, read more than Americans -- to afford more books. As for what the film & TV industry is doing to itself -- via the cost of DVDs and via their own boneheadedness in the way they operate --the less said about that idiocy, the better).
Having admitted all of that, I'm still finding Melbourne a far nicer -- far saner -- place to live than most cities and locales in the U.S.
Cheers,
DTS
that should read "even more" - hehe
RH46 received earlier today.
See, told ya, May 26!!
Thanks for the look at the rejection leters and the essay which makes me look forward a little more to Harlan's memoirs. Sounds incredible somehow that there was a time when Harlan was "at best only spuriously literate".
I guess that in May those of us who don't reside in L.A. will be jealous again (more than usual, I mean). Should be an interesting month for Harlan, Susan, and us.
Also interested in Josh's selections in April.
A good new year to you all.
Watchmen
This site has a longer look at WATCHMEN, with an interview with director Zack Snyder (not addressing the Fox lawsuit, of course):
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/
Israel, Hamas and the net
Frank, Semi-writer and all the others who've contributed to this topic. I've followed this subject for a long time and I've got a bit of advice which I hope you pay heed too at this time.
Let it lie.
While I'm personally horrified by actions of both sides, I have found in the past that debate of this topic on the net can escalate/descend to over simplifications, name calling, repeating matters of history that probably don't matter to the current participants of the conflict. Believe me, you go up to someone involved in the mess and start going on about UN Mandates, the death of Count Folke Bernodette, Ottoman Land codes, Balfour Declaration, etc. etc.etc. they will not give a flying fuck.
You're not going to convince the other side of the rightness of your position. Better to expand your energy by doing something far more worthwhile like writing to your representative either supporting or attacking whose doing what to who and why you feel its important. Go to protest/support meetings. Sign petitions. Do something in the real world because these kind of debates on the net doesn't really make a difference. Just agree to disagree on this issue and move on. It's not worth losing net friends over.
Brian - Heaven's Gate is a great film. It was murdered and unfairly so. Yes I've read Steven Bach's account of the making of the movie, oh I think it's pretty fair whose fault or faults it was. Yes it was a financial disaster but I would not dismiss it as an artistic one. When I finally saw the film, I thought it was a terrific piece of work, though one that really needed to be seen on the big screen. It worked for me and a lot more than Bertolucci's even more self-indulgent five hour version of 1900. Give the film a chance, you may even like it more than the last film I recommended to you... which if I remember was Zardoz.
FAQ
From My Strange Family
Years ago,my very right wing bone stupid cousin told mehow much she loves THE OSCAR. "Uh, you know, the main writer on that film says it's terrible and has publicly apologized for being involved with it," I told her.
"Oh," she stuttered, "he says that deliberately so people willl watch it. He wants people to watch it, that's why he says
that!"
At that point, I must confess, I gave up. Just walked away. Sometimes, that's all you CAN do!
Bad Movies 'n' Stuff
I( started to watch _The Oscar_ a few months ago, when Bill Maher had programmed it onto TCM. Maher has a jones for the modish, Vegas and Rat Pack and old-school-lounge culture, even at its goofiest, and _The Oscar_ comes out of that era. So I tried to watch it in the same spirit.
I really couldn't. I switched off after maybe twenty minutes or so. If I watched it with a roomful of witty, knowing people-- a lineup of Bill Maher, Michael J. Nelson, Patton Oswalt, Trace Beaulieu and Mary Jo Pehl'd be _ducky_-- I could get in the swing of things and have a good time with it. I guess it marks me as a humorless thud, but I couldn't see it as anything but a prime example of vintage Hollywood lameness, like _Valley of the Dolls_, or the original _Ocean's Eleven_, or _The Carpetbaggers_. Sorry you got sucked into that mess, Harlan.
As I'm writing this, I'm watching _Heaven's Gate_ for the first time, on the off-chance that it might not be as bad as reported. I'm twenty minutes into it, and so far it's been a shitload of pointless graduation revels at Harvard, a sudden shift to Wyoming "twenty years later," a frontier murder, and endless shots of immigrants trudging along a dusty plateau, shot through the bluntest of sky filters and and dyed with gallons of English Breakfast Tea. Every dollar's up on the screen, every crinoline, every artfully-sculpted pillar of smoke, every wooden wagon and gilded storefront, every museum-grade steam engine brought into the shot at the right moment... and now, half an hour in, nothing's really registered as an actual story. All that money given to Michael Cimino, when it could've been used by Sergio Leone.
Mark, Semi-Writer, do you guys read Pravda for your facts?
I want you all to have a peaceful new year but this cannot stand. The facts about the "ceasefire" from Znet:
"Like any occupied people, the Palestinians have the right to resist, whether they choose to exercise it or not. But there is no right of defence for an illegal occupation - there is an obligation to withdraw comprehensively. During the last seven years, 14 Israelis have been killed by mostly homemade rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, while more than 5,000 Palestinians were killed by Israel with some of the most advanced US-supplied armaments in the world. And while no rockets are fired from the West Bank, 45 Palestinians have died there at Israel's hands this year alone. The issue is of course not just the vast disparity in weapons and power, but that one side is the occupier, the other the occupied.
Hamas is likewise blamed for last month's breakdown of the six-month tahdi'a, or lull. But, in a weary reprise of past ceasefires, it was in fact sunk by Israel's assassination of six Hamas fighters in Gaza on 5 November and its refusal to lift its siege of the embattled territory as expected under an Egyptian-brokered deal. The truth is that Israel and its western sponsors have set their face against an accommodation with the Palestinians' democratic choice and have instead thrown their political weight, cash and arms behind a sustained attempt to overthrow it."
The continued occupation is an act of war and the Palestinians have a right to defend themselves. It is wrong for them to fire the rockets, but the rockets are weak, homemade and have killed few people. Israel uses overwhelming force to kill mostly innocent people. The violence is a way to juke the coming elections. This has nothing to do with self defense, especially since Israel has the ability to nuke the middle east. This is like healing a cut by cutting off an arm.
Russia says Hamas wants to have a cease fire. Will Israel agree? Hopefully they will. With history as a guide, this will not be the last time they use Shock and Awe against an occupied people.
I don't like what Hamas is doing, but the overwhelming violence in on one side. Just as molested children become molesters, victims of violence become violent. Me acting outraged about every act of violence around the world makes no sense. Nobody else does such a thing, and when they do, we call them ninnys.
I have control over my country--they can get Israel to stop their slaughter. The best way to stop the Qassam rockets.
This is chess, not checkers.
Chuck M. wrote: "In the meantime, we'll try to behave over here."
Since when? Um...oh...Rick could still check in...
Um...Behaving. Yup. That's what we're doing! Sure thing!
***
We're planning a Chinese New Year's party to ring in the new year. Screw 2008! 2007 hasn't passed yet (I refer you my posts of hubby's rolling the car just a few days into 2008). I refuse to go down without a fight, though, and there will always be a reason to face the future.
***
To Lurkers With Introductions: Welcome aboard! We bite, so check to see if your HMO covers rabies shots.
***
Enjoy the evening doing something with someone you love. Find a reason to face the future, and I'll see everyone in 2009.
Sandra
The Late, Unlamented 2008
So.
Here it is. The end of a year that deserves a good swift kick in the ass when it heads out the door this evening at 12:59:59 plus two seconds. (Leap second and all that.)
May 2009 bring each and every one of you a more financially secure situation; fewer conflicts with idiot neighbors; dependable (and gainful) employment; improved (or retained) health for yourself and your loved ones; good travels; more books, less TV; artistic success; recognition for same by your respected peers; and at least 24 individual moments of pure and utter joy.
Barring that, Rick will have to share his painkillers with the lot of us.
Resolutions:
1 – Lose weight so I don’t quite so readily resemble “Fan Boy” from Freakazoid.
2 – Excuse Frank for his excesses.
3 – Learn a foreign language. (I’m thinking English)
4 – Resist the temptation to win every argument with a baseball bat.
5 – Be the good spouse waiting in the wings.
6 – Learn what the big words mean BEFORE Harlan asks, not after.
7 – Actually do more than three entries in my blog.
8 – Return out of town guests to their homes in reasonable condition, with no visible scars or bruises.
9 – Reduce my dependence upon hyphens, commas and other grammatical excesses.
10 – Be as gentle as possible with NeoCon buddy Jim. He’s in a delicate place right now.
Happy New Year Harlan, Susan and the rest of the Webderland Mosh Pit.
I have netflix and out of curiousity I typed in
Dreams With Sharp Teeth and lo and behold it's scheduled to be released on DVD and available thru netflix- May 2009
I had been hoping that I could see it in a theater (here it would show in a small art house theater called Cedar Lee)but perhaps it HAD it's run here and I missed it for some reason.
Either way it's just a short 5 months to go. DVD is just as good considering. As long as I can watch it finally.
I continue to hope that these large multi-screen theaters would get smart and start reserving (at least) one of their 20 screens for smaller films such as this one.I mean, once the latest Adam Sandler comedy (or big effects driven blockbuster) has it's three weeks, the four theaters it's showing in just keep playing it to empty seats as the audience has moved on to the next "hit" (as some of you may know-- with the first few weeks of any film, the first few weeks boxoffice monies FROM
that film goes TO the studio and then and only then does the theater owner start making money (one reason why popcorn costs 5 bucks)
Now, the way I see it----If the theater owners would arrange to reserve ONE of those "four" showing the bigger film for a small weekend film festival (or even, a little bitty small film with a really limited audience such as Dreams With Sharp Teeth) I would think that over time, an audience would become interested in the "smaller interest fare" and an over time, an audience would build and the theater owners could come to count on the monies generated from that ONE reserved theater that has little film festivals (and this idea can go beyond the usual Trek stuff-- we're talking 70's and 80's retro horror film festivals
as well as today's market of Indie films.
Each city (including Cleveland) has a core film loving audience that would love this type of thing to look forward to even a few times a month. I would think that the monies brought in by this kind of project might bring in a little more money than anything that did it's standard 5 week tour and just played to empty seats for the rest of it's 5 week (contracted) run
If ALL theater owners gathered together and tried to make some sort of arrangement for this kind of entertainment in their neighborhoods, maybe we could stall the inevitable downfall of the movie going experience before the whole thing collapses to a point where you press a button on the remote and have the latest blockbuster beamed straight to your basement entertainment room with that big 82 inch plasma screen your so proud of.
sigh......
Anyway-- I hope you all (as well as Harlan and Susan) have a good New Year
DWST/Susan/Rick/introduction
The Amazon listing for DWST promises over 80 minutes of bonus material (at least some of which I think is already on the film's website), including "Six Bonus Harlan Ellison Readings," "Pizza with Harland (sic) and Neil Gaiman," "'An Evening With Sharp Teeth': The Film's Premiere," and the trailer.
Susan: Rabbit Hole #46 and the rest of the package arrived here in New Jersey today. Thank you so much! A wonderful bundle of reading and listening with which to start the new year.
Rick: I was in the hospital myself this week, for something not remotely as serious or painful as your problem, but it was enough for me to know that you're undoubtedly going stir-crazy if you're still there. Just know that you have the best wishes of everyone here for a speedy recovery and the admiration and respect of everyone for the work you do here.
That - and reading these other recent introductions - reminds me that I have not really introduced myself since I began posting here a few months ago. I am a journalist, as I think I've mentioned before, a columnist for a major financial-news wire service. (Don't worry, we're off-the-record here: In the highly unlikely event that I'm interested in quoting anything said here, I'll ask for permission first.) Married, two wonderful sons. Aficionado of film noir, comics, baseball, American history. (Currently reading THE DEFINING MOMENT by Jonathan Alter, about FDR's First Hundred Days, which a certain president-elect is reported to be reading as well.)
Been an Ellison reader and fan for more than 30 years - if memory serves, the first Ellison story I read, in its initial magazine appearance, was "Adrift Off the Islets of Langerhans." Which I hated. What did I know? I was maybe 14 years old, and soon learned better. His work has warped my brain in all the best ways, and a new Ellison story or essay always goes to the top of my to-be-read pile.
Rick, glad you are feeling better and I hope you will be able to return to your normal level of activity pain-free soon.
Chris Noble and Jim Thomas, welcome and, if you would like a bit more lively debates (and the ability to post more than once per day) join us over on the forums.
Frankie, bubbela, you know I love you (in a purely platonic way) but seriously, shut the fuck up about Israel being the aggressor and the Palestinians being the victims. Israel has committed horrible acts in the past (bulldozing houses with people inside, allowing the slaughter of Lebanese Christians, etc.), and this ramming of a boat is indefensible, but where is your outrage for all of the rockets fired on Israeli civilians?
Neither side is clean in this mess. Both have blood on their hands, but the Israelis did not strike first in this particular conflagration, this was instigated by Hamas. What I find interesting in this latest conflict is that Israel is really almost an ancillary player in this. Some believe Hamas fired the rockets as a way to build up support among the Palestinians to counteract Fatah's (the former terrorist arm of the PLO) growing influence. It is odd that very little press has been devoted to intra-Palestinian conflict which may have served to prolong the conflict with Israel.
In any event, I wish all of you a very Happy New Year,
Mark
Rickster:
As I've said before, take it easy on that spine. And don't climb any ladders for a while, 'kay?
In the meantime, we'll try to behave over here.
Chuck
Reply to DTS + Censorshit
DTS said:
'DVDS: Can't wait for the release of "Dreams With Sharp Teeth," since I left Amurrrica before it was released and haven't had the chance to see it. Looks like it will be just in time for the Inimitable One's birthday.'
I just checked the Aussie censor's classification database*. DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH has not been submitted by a distributor for classification yet, unless it has a different title, or I fucked up the search somehow.
In other news, I've spotted the DVD release of MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION, which has 'The Discarded' episode on it, in local DVD emporiums.
I spotted DROOD over at the Subterranean Press webshite yesterday, but the premise didn't grab me, and I think it's already sold out. Pre-ordered Jack McDevitt's first short story collection CRYPTIC instead.
90 mins left of 2008 down under. So that's 4,500,000,001 orbits for planet Earth. It doesn't look a day over 3,000,000,000 if you ask me.
* http://www.classification.gov.au/
P.S. The classifiation 'RC' (refused classification) is governmentese for B*A*N*N*E*D. Compare that with the US: you can release any title commercially unrated. Doing so in Australia is illegal. But that is old news. Mandatory internet filtering is now being trialed, despite protests, sheer lack of common sense, technical problems, etc. Please pass the bandaids...
Spines...and forthcoming DVDs and books
RICK: A terminator spine -- extremely cool. You can now walk around saying, "I'm lhooking fur Seeaaahrah Cohnuhr," and not worry about anyone laughing at you. After repopping my disc twice (and maybe a third time, I've finally broken down and decided to go see the Doc on Friday), I've decided to go easier on my back in the future (ANY type of jogging/running on a regular basis for exercise is out -- only bikes and pools for this codger). And if they offer me a metal spine, I'll take it, cause although I've gotten used to living with the pain, the last couple of days have been worse than usual (thank the Wizard that a drug called Codapayne is legal here in the land of Oz).
DVDS: Can't wait for the release of "Dreams With Sharp Teeth," since I left Amurrrica before it was released and haven't had the chance to see it. Looks like it will be just in time for the Inimitable One's birthday.
Speaking of Inimitable...
HARLAN: Have you read DROOD yet? Everytime I read a scene involving Dickens, I think of you (because of the magnetic personality parts, and the descriptions of worldclass readings, too). If you've read it, and care to share your thoughts, please do. I'm half-expecting Simmons to dedicate it to both Dickens and you...mostly because of the similarities in your lives (pointed out by someone in one of your past newsletters) and because of the vibrancy of Charles Dickens the man (equal to your own) but also because of the importance of your respective ouevres to the literary canon.
Even though I still don't pay much attention to dates, ages and holidays,
Happy New Year to you and Susan.
-DTS
Hello, old friend
Dear Harlan
I'm watching The Oscar and thinking of you, one of my very favorite writers in any genre. I know you know that movie is junk, but it is tremendously entertaining, like a Russ Meyer flick. Hope that you are well and that 2009 treats you right. Drop me a line sometime if you have the time to let me interview you for Heavy Metal. Any time, at your convenience, of course.
With respect and affection,
Steve Ringgenberg
"I about when into a diabetic coma"
Rick, I'm breaking the Holy Rule to tell you, genuinely from my heart, that I hope you make a FULL recovery and you live an incredibly healthy life!
My best wishes to Rick W.
On another note, someone at TCM has a sense of...humor? At 11:45 The Oscar is on followed by Heaven's Gate. What a night!
quick response to Chris Noble
Chris-
Theoretically, such a walled in community would flood naturally with rain.
suffice to say if the whole region dropped off the planet, it would be no great loss to me.
Hail Satan,
-Jordan
T.F.U.S. says hello
Thanks for all the kind (and clever) comments. It was so nice to check in here today and see them all. You really are all a wonderful bunch, especially consider I could have been kinder to you at times. I'm reminded of what was said to Dexter Morgan's sister: "You got one tool in your toolbox, and that's a hammer."
I will consider (CONSIDER, mind you), as she did, finding a few other tools for the T.F.U.S. Utility Belt.
Glad to see all the Rabbit Holes arriving - can't wait to get back to Atlanta and see mine (among other things).
I overdid it a bit today but I am at least as ambulatory and intelligent as a Romero zombie. Not, mind you, the zombies in DEAD SET, the effing brilliant mini-series I'm watching as I lay here recovering from a little too aggressive rehab tonight. If you haven't heard of it yet, you will.
Last Note: I called Harlan and Susan shortly before posting and I do have to add that they were both so sweet I about when into a diabetic coma. I'd like to take a break from my usual sardonics to thank them both and let them know how healing it was to know I was in their thoughts. And Josh, you are in charge of making sure Harlan chooses the "heart healthy" entrees when you two go carousing - no matter how he pleads. This is important.
Here comes Nurse Ratchet to change my dressing...toodles!
Rabbit Hole #46 has landed in Vermont. Yay!
Susan-
Thank you very much. I promise to use this ugly lump on my shoulders from now on. But only for good.
----------------------
I should probably introduce myself, as it seems like a polite thing to do. I'm thirty-seven, divorced, three offspring. I mostly lurk, as I prefer to let the grown-ups talk. Occasionally I'll pipe up, but I promise to try to only do it about something I know about. Keep in mind I said "try".
I first read Mr. Ellison when I was about 14. It was an introduction to the American editions of Target's "Doctor Who" novelizations (I think it was Pinnacle Books), wherein Mr. Ellison... yelled at me. You know, Darth Vader sucks eggs (I was a big Star Wars Fan), Mr. Spock was a weenie (big Star Trek fan, too), Doctor Who was where it was at (I agreed on that last point). I took offense as only a fourteen-year-old can: by buying as many of his books as I could find. My being more than a little messed up in the noggin is down to his influence. And Michael Moorcock's.
That's all.
------------------------
I will try to be grammatically correct. But, I , abuse, commas, so I'll need to watch that.
--------------------------
Jordan Owen-
As live and let live as I generally am, I sometimes find sympathy with Mr. Ellison's statement that the region should be walled in. This usually happens when a rape victim is stoned to death, or a kid is sent to jail for converting to Christianity, or a prepubescent girl can't get a divorce, or there's a riot about a FUCKING CARTOON. Filling it with water... that's over the line. Frustration is one thing, but what you're saying seems more than that. Perhaps this wasn't intended. If so, I apologize.
----------------------
Finally: "FUCK YOU SPINE" is now a phrase I will use in casual conversation as often as I can.
I think this hasn't been posted/announced? DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH will be on Region 1 DVD May 26, 2009. It is finally listed at Amazon and several other places.
http://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Sharp-Teeth-Harlan-Ellison/dp/B001NKWLBW
List price is $26.95 (but who pays list price on DVD's).
SUSAN - And by dealing I'm certain you mean enjoying yourselves and the beauty of your lives. Works for me!
Sandra
Shagin--
It arrive today. We will deal with you later.
The Ellisons
Zack--Got your card. Many thanks. What's the $10.00 for?
All best--Susan
Chris Noble: No problem with your membership. Just gave you a pro rata membership--on the way to you.
All best--Susan
Egged?
"Israel has a history of ignoring UN mandates." So do the Palestinians! You want to talk about basic reading, then look at a map from 1948 and compare it to now--the amount of land that the U.N. set aside to create Israel isn't even 1/4 of what it was originally. Palestinians have been defying the U.N. and hammering away at U.N.-sanctioned land for 60 years--and not by peaceful means.
Which means... that if we go back to the U.N.'s original designation of what Israel IS and where its borders lay, then the "illegal" fence WASN'T illegal. It was Israel reclaiming U.N.-established territory.
But again, neither side is RIGHT in this conflict. Neither side can claim to be the "victims" or the "slaves." EACH has done their part to aggravate the situation and now Israel, the stronger military force, is using their muscle. I don't agree with them denying aid to regular Palestinians, but look at it from their point of view for a second--it's done out of FEAR. Fear that weapons are going to be smuggled to Hamas amongst food and blankets and so on. It's the same fear which has led Israel to bomb the tunnels; the tunnels were a lifeline, a good supply line for the people, but the transportation of ammunition and weapons corrupted their purpose.
From this point, there are only two alternatives. Either those two people have to fight it out to the end without outside interference, or the U.N. has to step in and re-establish whose land is whose... and in that case, you can bet that things will eventually be right back where everything started, as each side re-claims "their" spot of land over time.
Because if any other countries get involved in the fighting, we're in for one hell of a world mess.
----------------------------------------------
Damn it, I hate the New Year's crap. I've basically got open invitations to just "show up" to two different venues, but one place involves being around a crowd whose average age is 70, and the other involves being with damaged people (read: comedians).
Usually, I'd take off and drive up San Francisco and the Palace of Fine Arts, where they put on a comedy show every year, but finances being what they are (non-existent), that's not an option.
There was a rabbit with a satchel full of bounce notes waiting on my front stoop when I finally made it home last night. The poor thing looked so cold I let it inside and gave it a cup of hot cocoa.
Thank you, Susan, for your hard work. And thank you, Harlan, for once again reminding me I am not alone.
***
ROGER - I'm sorry for your loss, but I hope your aunt's passing clears away the veil of confusion and she can rest in peace.
***
RICK - Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow....Please take care of yourself during your recovery. We want you in one piece, new spine and all.
***
Hindsight being what it is, I would not have have gone to Disney World. The high points were much like the frantic gasps of air as your strength gives out and your head slips under the water for the last time. I will focus on those moments and refuse to allow the others to rule my life.
HARLAN - The Young Jackanapes did us both proud. He stood up to my brother after a particularly ugly incident. When I took YJ aside in the hopes of smoothing things out before the fact, he looked me square in the eye and said forcefully, even as the tears threatened to spill over, "No, Mom. You let me handle this. I'm tired of him pushing me around. If Uncle Paul doesn't like it, too bad."
That's a big step for a kid who can't unravel most social situations. I silently cheered as he said it, and cried bitterly when it was all said and done.
shagin
National Film Registry (The Terminator)
Harlan,
If you haven't seen it already you may want to read the official press release for the National Film Registry's selection of "The Terminator."
http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2008/08-237.html
It's also repeated in Variety.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117997810.html?categoryId=13&cs=1
My first time to post here. I know you don't like the term sci-fi, but it's still pretty cool to have the Library of Congress refer to you as a legend.
Best wishes,
Richard
Rabbit Hole #46 A-OK
I pick up my mail once a week so don't know if this will help you, Susan. As far as I know, my Rabbit Hole newsletters have all arrived in a timely manner. (My mail can afford to live in Beverly Hills but I can't). Just received Rabbit Hole #46 and have now read all those rejection letters. The letters seem warm and mostly encouraging but must have been painful at the time. Harlan Ellison's rejection letters--what a concept! Thanks for revealing them, Harlan.
ALL
I've posted here a few times without bothering to properly introduce myself, so please allow me to rectify that transgression.
I'm a technical communications specialist living in Birmingham AL. I'm married, w/ one adopted daughter and two foster sons whom we hope to adopt soon if DHR can get its collective thumb out of its ass.
I'm 45, though I tend to think of myself as being younger. The delusion finally died during my last haircut, as I spent most of the time going, "Holy Christ, where the fuck did all that gray hair come from?!?"
I have a side gig writing reviews for DVDverdict.com--it doesn't pay anything other than the free DVDs, but the money I save on newly released DVDs almost covers the money I spend on older DVDs. And I got a massive ego-boost when Harlan praised my trashing of The Starlost.
I got interested in Harlan's writing through the good graces of David Gerrold--I had read his two books on Star Trek, and his descriptions of Harlan were so captivating that I started hunting down his work. Harlan pours so much raw passion into his work that I just get swept up in the vortex.
RICK
Hope you're doing better. I've had two surgeries for a ruptured disc, so I know all too well the pain you endured prior to your surgery. One time I was in the Delta ticket line at LAX on my way home when the damn thing decided to go ballistic--all the blood must have drained from my face, because one of the Delta workers came over to check on me; she took me to the front of the line so I could get my ticket and sit down. Both my surgeries were just "clean out the crap" surgeries, so recovery was much simpler, but if that disc goes again I'll have to have a fusion.
That's enough for today; I'd best get back to work.
Isreal, Hamas, etc.
Mr. Ellison:
Your borderline psychotic (but oh so true) rants have an orgasmic rush surpassed by none. Reading them makes me feel like I've just made love to a high powered assault rifle and been left grinning.
That said, it may just be the Satanist in me talking, but I am so GOD DAMN SICK of hearing about the middle east and all their shenanigans that I'm with you- build a twenty five foot (or better yet MILE) high wall around the whole place. Then fill it with water.
We all know if they didn't have so much oil nobody on this side of the pond would give a flying fuck if the whole region were wiped off the face of the planet.
Is it too much to ask that my government focus on things that are useful to me like health care, creating jobs, and learning to adequately harness solar power?
Hail Satan,
-Jordan
Rick, I always thought of you as the hard-assed sort!
We greet the return of thine steel whip!
After all, even bargain basement deals in S&M are hard to come by in this economy!
Wyatt duck? (from a Marxman)
Rick:
Have you considered chess?
Rick's back! Rick's back! Rick's back! (Really, his back!)
Overheard in a small bar over Christmas vacation:
Captain Renault: "What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?"
Rick: "My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters."
Captain Renault: "The waters? What waters? We're in the desert."
Rick: "I was misinformed."
Good to see you up and around again, Sir Rick. Place was relatively quiet in your absence.
(Relatively.)
When do the doctors expect you to return to the frisbee field???
(And technically, are you now "enhanced" and have some sort of cyborgian advantage?)
Rick,
OW.
Seriously. Ow.
Glad you're with us, man.
Meeeeester Reeeeeek!
As soon as you are well, we're going to St. John's for snorkelling and SCUBA. You need some low-impact interests.
Was this an Extreme Frisbie accident, or did something else kick your spine in?
-Keith
Rick, Jesus man, you went through some Mount Olympus style hell. Sorry to hear that. But good to know that you finally get me. Ah, fill the rest of these mooks in. I am better than morphine, babee.
Don't get hooked on them pills. We don't want one of them Vietnam vets stumbling through zombie flats. Actually, hemp would have eased your pain better than pills. Wink.
Good to see the hell getting behind thee. Much love my Rickster.
Does that spine get Satellite Radio?
-----------
Semi-Writer, do some basic reading. Israel egged Hamas into broaching the cease fire, which doesn't exist, since an illegal occupation makes the Palestinians slaves. Slaves are always allowed to rebel against the slavemaster, no matter the rules. The illegal fence is over on Palestinian land--an act of war. The cease fire don't mean squat. Israel has a history of ignoring UN mandates.
Then today, an Israeli vessel rams an aid vessel, sending goods to the Gaza area. One of the passengers is Cynthia McKinney, the ex-Presidential candidate of the Green Party.
Israel is the aggressor. Palestinians are the victims of terror. No contest.
Fini.
------------
Nancy Pelosi can kiss my ass.
-----------
We love you master Rick!
Congrats, Rick, on being in less pain. Hope you get back to your home soon.
Welcome Back Rick!
Really glad to have you back, Rick. It's good to see you on the mend. Our thoughts out to you.
~~~~~~~
What happened in the interim? Let's see. Ummum... well, we had an election. The black guy won. No recount, it's all good.
The fat guy in the red suit and the flying wildebeasts was NOT a hallucination.
Harlan had a problem with Rabbit Ticks in his FreakaHoles.
The kids in the sandbox are fighting, again.
We re-calibrated the Atomizer 3000 to fire Stupid-Eeze Missiles at anyone who throws books in the trash.
We lost Eartha, Bettie and Harold.
The advance warning about the sequel 'Blade Runner 2: All American Replicant' made Adam-Troy's blood sugar go north for the winter. We talked him down, though.
James Bond was having a memorable dinner with W.D. Griffith.
Frank made everybody mad and Rob ate him all up.
Shucks, that's about it.
Welcome back, man.
Welcome back Rick
Hey Rick, welcome back to the board. I didn't even realise you were suffering as I don't recall it ever being mentioned here or on Facebook. But glad to know you're on the mend and hope it goes well.
Harlan - I'm going to restrain myself commenting on the latest Israel/Hamas situation. I'm not informed on the region as I would be in the past (I'm supposed to be visiting Afghanistan in the next couple of days. More on that later).
It's a gentle nudge to observe that Al Jazeera is nothing like Fox. Wanna see something like Fox? Try some of the South Asian channels which broadcast rubbish like Loose Change or politely whine about Jews controlling the media, etc. etc. Al Jazeera tries to keep it even handed. Heck, my typical extremist now views AJ as part of the mass murdering media thats "ignoring" the "truth" of the current situation.
I'm gonna go and get myself in more trouble.
Chat later.
FAQ
Sir Rick's triumphant return
Welcome back, sir. Fortunately, the trolls seem to have had better places to be, and any small fires were quickly dealt with by the imposing presence of our fine host.
And "Titanium Fuck You Spine" is climbing up the Death Metal charts as we speak with their eponymous first album...
Rick
Just wanted to say that I'm grateful for this place you have built and am glad you are on the mend. I didn't fully grasp the seriousness of your situation.
Heal well!
MM
Viva Rick's Back
Rick,
I'm so glad you're over the worst and on the mend. May you feel much better soon.
D.
RIP Ann Savage
Ann Savage was one of the toughest of film noir dames in that great no-budget classic DETOUR.
What I Did On My Winter Vacation by Ricky Wyatt, Age 42
On Thursday, March 18th, I endured a hellish 9 hour ride from Atlanta to Little Rock, Arkanasas, with my stepfather at the helm of my honda civic hybrid and me lying in the reclined passenger seat feeling the vibrations of the road run up and down my spine and turn my sciatic nerve into a river of lava that Vulcan himself would not dare approach.
By tne Eve of Xmas Eve, my crippling sciatic pain had reached the point that I could not longer so much as take a simple piss without an agony that would put the eyeless Oedipus to shame. In the words of my neurosurgeon, I could not walk 10 yards without collapsing. I spent my nights with an array of pillows and props, trying to find a position that quieted my body enough for the hydrocodone and valium and ambien to kick in.
Then.
On Dec 24th at 730AM I had a spinal fusion performed on my L5 (lumbar) and S1 (sacrum) vertebrae. It started with a 6 inch incision in my lower back and the retraction of the muscles blocking access to the spinal column, which they then breached.
They put 2 titanium screws in each vertebra and attached them with titanium rods. They then decompressed and freed my right sciatic nerve which was actually being crushed by the L5 bone and ligaments, cleaned out the area around it, and removed some bone around the area.
These two fine neurosurgeons then applied bone morphogenic protein (bmp) between the two vertebrae to fuse them and roughed up the bone of the vertebrae in the area to force it to "heal" itself and complete the fusion. They then closed up and sealed the incision with a superglue-like substance. The operation took 3 and a half hours.
I woke up around 4 pm.
The surgeons said the operation went very well. All I could tell was that (a) I could not leave the bed even if I wanted to, (b) I had a lovely morphine drip running through my system, and (c) I had a lovely handle with a lovely green button, and when I hit that button I got MORE MORPHINE.
This seemed a good way to spend the rest of my life.
Unfortunately, my family, my doctor, and my physical therapist disagreed. So I began to work at the business of moving and eating and of actually peeing instead of letting a gigantic rubber tube twanged up my johnson do the job.
I got out of the hospital early - on the afternoon of Saturday the 27th. I returned to my childhood home to recover.
Since then I have been taking a LOT of pills and rehabbing. I have already walked far further and with less pain than the month before the operation. I do not know what the timetable is for my return to work or even when they will let me return to Atlanta but I should find out early next week.
I hope everyone had a good holidays. I just popped in to say hello and to thank whatever dark gods kept some furor or some fundamental stupidity from erupting here while I was absent.
You fuckers are in my thoughts, and I do thank you - but if you think this is the time to run rampant I remind you that I have a TITANIUM FUCK YOU SPINE now and I am not afraid to use it.
But seriously, thank you for being here and being who you are. I've been watching, and I've been moved and amused.
And I believe with just one more oxycontin, I will finally understand Frank Church. Really. It's like being able to work the Hellraiser cube while making one of those magic eye pictures work at the same time.
my god
it's full of stars
-TRANSMISSION ENDS-
Israel / Hamas
I personally don't "blame" either Israel or the Palestinians for the situation they are in; they have been butting heads for decades and there is plenty of evidence that BOTH parties have used cruel, horrific tactics against one another. Each has done what they felt they had to do for their survival and their rights. But nobody is innocent. There is no "right" side in this battle. No heroes, no villans. Just two different groups of people with issues.
The important thing for NOW - for THIS era, for THIS generation - is that the current cease-fire was an attempt to start anew. It was an effort to put aside all those conflicts of the past aside, and to carve out some sort of co-existence for today.
Hamas broke the cease-fire first as it kept up its push against Israel, rejecting the possibilities of peace and negotiations in favor of fighting. Is Israel "overreacting" by such heavy bombing now, killing over 300 people? Or are they finally just sick of being shot at and blown up in the streets? And who could blame them?
I'm not a bible-quoter but the "you reap what you sow" bit comes to mind. The sad thing is that the Israeli war against the Hamas militants is taking out innocent Palestinians at the same time. The Palestinians as a whole most likely didn't ask for nor deserve what is happening to them, but the actions of Hamas have brought the fire down on everyone's head.
RABBIT HOLE # 46 has arrived to Lawrenceville, GA.
Rabbit Hole reaches Cleveland
Film at 11.
Off to make spaghetti sauce. Ciao.
Thank you Adam-Troy. Bullseye.
____________________________________
HARLAN, SUSAN - The 'avocados' are in the mail.
____________________________________
I do not side with Israel automatically. They have done some seriously nasty things in the name of "self defense". But I have a policy that those who are attacked have the right of striking back.
Regardless of what was done previously, Hamas broke a functioning cease-fire. It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly, expecting different results each time. Fire on Israel, Israel fires back.
Insanity.
Jan wrote: "Generally speaking, there is a fourth choice: Communication, negotiation, diplomacy."
Jan,
Thank you. For reasons large and small that drop of sanity made my day.
Best regards - Barney
R.I.P. Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard passed away this morning. Now playing: Hub-Tones.
Various
Frank: Your metaphor implies the "fat kid" to be a misunderstood victim being picked on for no reason.
Now assume that the big bully is sitting in a bar, and the little psychopathic fat kid he once shoved off his bar stool many years ago now keeps trying to stab him with a whiskey bottle.
There's no doubt about it. The big bully started the fight. But the big bully has said, "I won't bother you if you sit on your side of the bar." He has said this many times. He has even offered to buy the fat kid a placatory drink.
But the fat kid holds a grudge and tries to reclaim his old seat. The big bully pushes him down. The fat kid gets up with a knife. The big bully breaks his nose. The fat kid pulls out a gun, and the big bully breaks his jaw. The fat kid gets up again, and smashes the bully over the head with a chair. The bully throws him out the plate glass window, and the fat kid comes running in through the front door again with a hand grenade. The bully gets some fingers blown off in the ensuing explosion, but knocks the fat kid on his ass, backing down before actually, you know, annihilating him. The fat kid tracks down the big bully's kids and beats them up instead. The big bully punches him again. And so on.
And throughout this the big bully has repeatedly said, "This does not have to keep happening if you stop trying to kill me." And all the reasonable patrons of the bar have said, "You know, we don't like that big bully any more than you do, but he's won, he's here to stay, and will not bother you if you just sit over here with the rest of us. We'll even buy you drinks to calm you down, and pay for your brass knuckles so you feel a little safer." And the fat kid has repeatedly said that no solution will satisfy him except for the big bully being beaten to death. And he resents the other patrons of the bar so much for not helping him beat up the big bully that he jumps up and down and cheers when the other fat kids in the neigborhood show their solidarity by mugging the ones who wander out into the alley.
And many of the other patrons have had their families dragged in and hurt, but are so solicitous of the fat kid's feelings that they continue to treat him like the only injured party.
And the "cops" have been called multiple times and have on each occasion looked at the bully's superior musculature and the fat kid's quivering lard and said, "Stop picking on this little tub of suet, you big bully," and therefore proven that they can be of no possible assistance to the somewhat more muscular guy who grew tired of the fight long ago but cannot stop fighting because the fat kid keeps getting up with a new broken bottle and a fresh psychopathic gleam in his eye.
Being a fat kid in this metaphor doesn't necessarily mean you're the put-upon party. It can also mean that you're the ego monster so wrapped up in your own victimhood and so empty of identity other than your own victimhood that the fight is more important than the goal, even when you keep getting your head handed to you. If you witnessed this in real life, you would eventually say, "This is pitiful to watch, but that fat kid is clearly not fit for civilized society." And you'd be right.
*
When Judi and I got married one of the gifts was a five-DVD set of Alec Guinness comedies. We have seen four of them, THE LADYKILLERS, THE LAVENDER HILL MOB, KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, and THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT. It took us years to get around to finishing off the set, but last night we did, catching up with the rarest of these films, THE CAPTAIN'S PARADISE, which was repressed in the United States due to unbelievable period prudity.
The concept: Guinness is the Captain of a passenger ship making regular short hops between Gibraltar and Tangier. As a result of his lifelong quest for the perfect way to live, he has hit upon the brainstorm of having a wife in both places. The British wife at Gibraltar is all cozy domesticity, darned socks, home-cooked meals, stuffiness and 10 PM Bedtime. His spanish wife at Tangier is all hoochie-coochie and wild dancing til dawn. In between, on the ship, he only associates with men and enjoys intellectual conversation.
This is of course sexist as hell, but it's the Captain's sexism, not the film's. The welcome surprise is that the inevitable complication does not come from the two wives meeting each other and comparing notes -- though that comes close to happening when his british wife flies to Tangier to surprise him, and he has to employ a ruse to avoid disaster. No, the welcome twist is that both wives start to chafe under the tightly-proscribed roles the not-so-good Captain has arranged for them.
American censors dictated a reshoot of one scene, which now makes a point of establishing (far too late) that the spanish lady has never been married to him. So the censors, in their ham-handed idiocy, thought it preferable that this reprehensible man cheated on one wife with a mistress than cheated on two wives with each other. The compromise counts as a flaw, but it's not a fatal one. I ultimately enjoyed THE CAPTAIN'S PARADISE and recommend it, especially for those who still think Alec Guinness was only an avuncular presence in a
certain trilogy of films he profited from but deeply despised.
Harlan, we all have choices, I was just saying that states have bigger choices, since states are not moral agents. I will gladly pick nunber two on your list.
Israel fired back, I believe, to affect the coming election, to make sure Likud didn't get elected. Olmert wants to look tough, so he bombs a few women and babies to get his dick hard.
For Israel to survive they have to go along with mandated internationl law and talks with Hamas are what is needed. They are the bully beating on the fat kid. The bully has more responsibility than the fat kid. The fat kid has every right to use violence as a response, even though he shouldn't. But this is the real world--sadly.
I just want the violence to end. If that makes me a bad man, so be it.
-------------
Roger, you're only 37 pounds! Hey, man, you better go eat something. No, I agree, monkey suits are bad.
Ruminatinz
*James Thurber used his friend Robert Benchley as the basis for Walter Mitty.
Never knew that.
**Viewed "something" made by Frank Miller this last weekend.
I'm only saying this: Even though he was never an Alan Moore, Miller did some great stuff to revitalize comics.
Miller's movie venture is a bleaker pot. Since the ultra-abysmal Robocop 2 back in the 1980's, it's had ample time now to prove itself.
Regrettably, I'm ready to say film is not Miller's medium.
At least not until he understands homage to "style" alone is not enough to make a movie a MOVIE! Violence - caricatured, monotone, and without context - is fuckin' BORING! Noir is great, but only when it carries a great story. He hasn't learned that yet, it seems.
Fritz Lang's THE BIG HEAT is coming up on Turner next month. Miller should revisit THAT one for inspiration, to help recalibrate his approach.
Because my own fervor for animation and graphic novels aside, I'm rapidly losing interest in Miller.
Doesn't mean I'm giving up on him. But, for NOW...AH!
MOVE past the hollow HOMAGE, man!
Oops, correct link in English:
http://cgi.ebay.com/100s-of-E-Books-lrf-for-sony-reader_W0QQitemZ330296951041QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK
(This says 4 copies - was 5 in Europe, though.)
Harlan: Just letting you know: This eBay item of "100's of E-Books" (SF) sold out (5 copies) while I was checking stuff - looks illegal, and he obviously tries to have this detectable on eBay for brief periods only.
http://cgi.ebay.de/100s-of-E-Books-lrf-for-sony-reader_W0QQitemZ330296951041QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK
(Surely not the only such offer - don't look at me as if I'm naive.)
(No RH today.)
Generally speaking, there is a fourth choice: Communication, negotiation, diplomacy.
A note for Susan:
The check is, at long last, in the mail. Sorry for the delay.
Again, many thanks for creating the Rabbit Hole in the first place.
Chuck
Last post, sweartogod.
... order form?
Oh, jesus. The hyperlink in big glowing letters that says "Order Form"? That order form?
No, I didn't see that, either.
I'm going to go look for the rest of my brain...
It was an easily explained mistake. The info about the recording collection, HERC, has the price at eight dollars in the instructions, but when you print off the order form it is listed as fifteen dollars for six issues as the subscription price.
Harlan and Susan:
On December 19, I decided I should be a member of HERC. I wrote a check to join. This check... was for eight dollars.
I have no idea where I got the idea that membership in HERC was eight dollars. It isn't, I can *see* that it isn't.
It *was* late at night. I'll blame that. Sure, why not?
How 'bout I write a check for the additional? Or did you want me to just write a check for the full amount? Or did you want me to drive off a cliff? You call it!
Rabbit Hole received here in Des Moines yesterday.I received a return of a very old present this Christmas. In the late 50's as children my brother Russell and I were given a game to play with called Stadium Checkers. It is a round plastic game with rotating levels you move to get 5 marbles to the goal in the center. There are eight levels and four sets of five marbles with instructions inside the lid of the boxIt is in very good shape, my mother found it in one of our plastice storage tubs.
I'll be out of town the next couple of days. My aunt Aneta, my father's sister, died Friday after struggling for years with alzeimers. My cousin Sharon called to ask if I would be a pallbearer, so headed out tomorrow about noon. I had to try on suits in the closet since I only recall wearing one once since I started this diet and actually had several choices. I'm down 37 pounds now, with hopefully much more to go.
FRANK CHURCH, SIR:
I reiterate the bottom-line, piracy of my work online and/or replying in kind to being shot at endlessly. Only three choices:
1) Sit quietly and take it.
2) Seek legal redress like a civilized person.
3) Pick up an AK-37 and raise the black flag of slaughter, and kill everything in sight.
All your rodomontade and obfuscation cannot un-triangulate the only choices available. To all of them. To all of us.
Harlan Ellison
Just Wondering
Israel does not have clean hands.
I am wondering, however, about the difference between a country that goes too far and where many people argue for moderation, and one where the death of the perceived enemy under any circumstances is the only accepted goal. There was once a conference in Jerusalem between Israeli peace activists, and Palestinian leaders; a couple of the Israeli peace activists became hawks in the process, because as one said to the other side, in absolute frustration, "You won't even accept as a hypothetical the premise that I have the right to live!"
I worked for two years with a Palestinian woman who was a sweet and warm human being as long as we did not mention Israel. When we did, her ONLY position was that Israel had to be driven off the land, to the very last citizen. I asked her a similar question, "Do you at least say that blowing up a school bus filled with children is an evil act?" No, she told me. She could not say that. Not even hypothetically. Because the children were Zionists and Israel had no right to exist.
The rockets fired into Israel were not about protecting Gaza. They were about making increasingly large parts of Israel unsafe to walk around in. They were de facto land grabs. And if Israel had said, fine, we'll just move all our cities further away from the border, creating a no-man's land in between...then the rockets would have been recalibrated or repositioned to fire further.
Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that Israel figured out a way to, let's say, bulldoze sand into the Mediterranean and create a new land mass as large as its prior borders, and moved the entire population into that region without taking so much as a single holy relic. Let us assume that they said to the populations sweltering in Gaza and the West Bank, "Fine, we wash our hands of the whole thing, you can HAVE Israel, we're moving to New Israel." The one question I ask you, Frank, the one I want you to consider and answer, is: do you honestly believe that Hamas would not continue to fire rockets and fund terrorism in the new created landscape? Can you tell me with absolute certainty that they would not say, angrily, "But you have now stolen our beachfront access?"
I think the answer to that is obvious.
Comparing the bombing of people to suing bloggers is a bit odd but I will accept that Harlan is angry, as he has a right to be, and went a bit overboard in moral nuance.
With that said, let me admit that I forgot a simple equation to the story here. I mentioned Israel, incorrectly, when I should have said the United States and Israel, since we fund their weapons, which is the ultimate point. I am an United States citizen, I have power over what my country does, but I have zero power to what Hamas does. The arab people have to deal with hamas, not a white guy from Cincinnati. I have power with my vote and certain political power to protest what my country does. In that I can only do what is feasable. The basic truth is that I care about what my country does first, because I have a say in what it does, plus my taxes pay for the bombs. Soviet Dissidents never cared about what America did in East Timor or elsewhere, but did care what the Soviet state did, because it was their country and they had a stake in what it did or didn't do. This is why I have a one sided view on this matter. I can affect change on my side.
There is also the fact that Hamas defends innocent Palestinians from the aggression of Israel. Does Hamas do terrorist crimes? Yes. Do those crimes compare to Israeli/American crimes? Not even close. There is always a moral difference between defense and aggression disguised as defense, which is a standard method of the US/Israeli bond. Israel, by egging on the arab world, only adds to their destruction, which does nothing to defend the poor Israelis who die from those rocket attacks. The back and forth comparison is not the same as well, especially when the US holds the gun.
The major Superpower fighting a ragtag group of arab killers is no contest. We should not only talk with Hamas, but understand why they are popular with normal Palestinians, who see them as defenders of their humanity. Crimes are crimes, but who holds the bigger gun is important as well. This is why I always thought comparing Hussein to Hitler was so insane. No contest.
Didn't want you angry at me. But I believe what I believe, with I hope is decent informational sourcing.
I'm rushing through this posting because the library is about to close. Ignore the typos.
Hides in the doghouse.
Stowe Video...
...may not be the catchiest, cleverest name, but it does lend itself nicely to ad slogans and jingles: "So yo! What's yo' video sto'? Stowe Video!"
Late night cable awaits!
MM
Edmund Burke, Your Office Is Calling
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
As Mr. Burke observed, allegedly, two centuries ago, "Evil triumphs when good Men do nothing." Had the West united in the early 1930's and threatened war when the Third Reich committed violation after violation of the Versailles Treaty, nothing would have tempted Hitler to perform his "Anschluss" with Austria, his seizure of the Sudetenland, his attack on Poland, and, finally, I believe, the Holocaust--thus preventing the creation of the State of Israel. Having just watched "Exodus" for the first time in years, I was reminded, historically, of how much the Jews of Europe who fled that "charnel house" in order to settle in Palestine had lost any faith in the "Great Powers" to act with their interests at heart. The actual emigres realized that they were on their own, to create, and to survive as a nation that for the last sixty years has existed metaphorically with a knife at its throat; yet, despite this, the State of Israel has never, to my knowledge, failed to pursue maybe not peaceful, but non-bellicose, co-existence with any sovereign nation, or "liberation movement", that wishes to perform dialogue. Hamas--an organization whose very existence rests on a declared intention to destroy the State of Israel--in twenty-five years has never once made a peaceful overture to Israel: only belligerent gestures, even after Israel abandoned the Gaza Strip to whichever democratically-elected party wished to govern. The State of Israel, as I see it, merely practices the sole discernible function--to me--of any government: self-survival.
Besides, who are we Amerians to complain? Sixty years into our history, our government pursued policies I would not brag about today: provoked wars (Mexico), threatened wars (Great Britain, for the third time), seizure of Native American lands, slavery, anti-Catholicism, and lack of female suffrage. Native Americans leave a hellhole of a reservation, wipe them out; Mexico and Spain abolish slavery, attack both Mexico and Florida in order that escaped slaves may not travel there. As Bismark, one of the least studied statesmen in the U.S. said, "Nations have no allies, only interests." It was he who promulgated the notion of "Blut und Stahl (Blood and Steel)". In short, nation-building is bloody work, as is "nation-maintaining". Why the U.S. has maintained a hellish arsenal of weaponry since 1945. Don't attack us, we don't attack you. Same lesson the State of Israel has practiced since 1948. For us, no more Pearl Harbors--still doesn't excuse our failures on September 11, 2001, or "Iraqi Freedom"--for Israel, "Never Again".
As to Mr. Ellison's defense of his copyrighted work, I say: no prisoners. As Lenny Bruce once uttered, "Deprivation leads to desperation leads to violence."
(Did I really compose that much?)
Regards from 65-degree New England.
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
Frank: the name Stowe Video was not my idea. I wanted to call the store "Vidiots" or "Cinematherapy" or somesuch clever moniker, but my husband insisted.
doctor
Ben-upon further review,yeah,you're probably right. Steve Moffat (the 21st century's answer to Nigel Kneale as far as I'm concerned ) is in an interesting position,pretty much damned if he does and damnned if he doesn't. He has said that he'd like his doctor to be old and funny looking and I take that to mean that he's avoiding another matinee idol ish doctor. If I was forced to bet a large sum of money I'd lean toward James Nesbit. I'd think that your natural tendency is to go with people you've worked with before. Here's two other names that just popped in-how about Richard Coyle or Simon Callow ?
Frank, I am hysterically funny. Really. I just dole it out in small amounts over a long period of time. Like saliva.
Speaking of humor: In perusing Yutoob to see the reputed Tick/Freakzoid clip in question, I decided to see if my favorite (bar none) Animaniacs moment was somehow, magically, uploaded.
It was: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlXjIg4fH74
_________________________________________________
The Tick actually came up at a party last night. I was at a friend's house with the very erudite (and no longer just) Long Beach "Writers' Bloc", when my friend Stephen Perry (the poet, not the gennulman who comes about the Pavilion)(nor the singer guy) mentioned that he once sent a Tick t-shirt to a magazine editor he'd heard was suffering from Lime Disease.
He, in turn, received a scathing reply from the editor, severing all relations with my friend and concluding, after two very abusive pages, with "And I'm wearing said t-shirt this very moment".
Magazine Editors 1, Poets 0
I just thought the timing was unusual. Not very often The Tick comes up as a topic, let alone in two separate places amongst two sets of talented literary types.
____________________________________________
For Christmas this year, Cris gave me a massive three volume set of THE COMPLETE CALVIN AND HOBBES. Weighs a ton, but ooh whatta treat!
CORRECTION:
"They're" on untenable ground...
not
"their" on untenable ground.
he
REPLY TO FRANK CHURCH
Oh my yes indeedy, what Israel is doing to Hamas. Disgraceful. Brutal. Evil. Unconscionable. Barbaric.
Were it not for the past six weeks--since the expiration of the "no fire" truce--during which Hamas has bombarded Israel without cessation.
If what Israel is doing, Frank (and I'm no big Israel supporter, despite being somewhat of a Jew), then it is also disgraceful, brutal, evil, unconscionable and barbaric when I am forced to sue those who steal my work and put it on the Internet for whatever cobble-up reasons that obsess them. Whuh? How the hell do you equate this, asks Frank?
Well, sir, here's the bottom-line, unarguable, cast-in-bronze , eternal equation. Pay close attention, it's simple:
1) SOMEONE IS DOING YOU ILL -- (blanket rocket killing your children every day for six weeks) or (stealing your annuity for their own pleasure or profit)
2) YOU HAVE ONLY
only
only
only
ONLY THREE (3) CHOICES BY WHICH YOU CAN RESPOND
A) You can sit there, hoping everyone will think you're a "nice guy," (even though those who despise you wouldn't think you're a "nice guy" if you magically engendered World Peace)(al-Jazeera is about as impartial as Fox News) and get blown to smithereens) or (let a hundred purposely-ignorant-of-copyright slackers post everything and anything, thus insuring your poverty as the sun sets) and systematically get the shit blown out of you, all to make sure Frank Church doesn't go tsk-tsk, bad Israelis, fighting back.
B) You can go to the law for surcease, succoring, mitigation, or estoppal. (In this case, the World Court, the United Nations, or God) or (threaten to sue, and if they do what they ALWAYS do--ignore you, respond not at all, dismiss you--send you on a merry chase of your own tail with interlocked directorates, phony shell companies, legal firms, subsidiaries, and officious, arrogant hack lawyers--counter-sue--drive you to court--and if they see their on untenable ground, rush to "settle" with you, because only a litigious Bad Guy would forego the money and sue just to be vindictive...thereby giving al-Jazeera or David Langford or anyone of the million other "enemies" you've accrued by DARING to sue Star Trek or some little blog pisher, all the megaphone they need to reiterate that Ellison is antagonistic, vindictive, egregiously greedy, ruthless, brutal, unconscionable, et al). And you'll be waiting till thebirth of a two-headed chimera before the courts, the UN, or GawdAlmighty grinds off its ass so slowly you'll be too old and infirm to enjoy whatever victory you can prise out of the apparat.
C) Fight back. I sue. The Israelis bomb the shit out of Hamas.
Since I think (as I've said repeatedly) we ought to put up a twenty-five mile high wall around the entire Middle East--Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, the entire whole fuckin' shebang--a wall with one small door in it, which we open once every fifty years, look in, see if they're still fighting and killing and acting like assholes not worthy of walking this Good Earth, we slam the door, and leave them all in there till they act like decent human beings.
Or:
Fuck'm all! Let'm keep killing and killing each other without let or conscience,and asking for reprisals, and getting the vengeance, thereby generating MORE "payback," and having nincompoops like Frank Church bleating how the evil, brutal Israelis are "killing civilians."
Well, who the hell do you think Hamas is, Frank???!!!!???
It's fuckin' civilians, with shoulder-firing cannons, just like the Israelis and all the rest of those religious religious kill-for-the-love-of-Kali (or whomever, this week) morons.
And leave Obama out of it, Frank. That's a non sequitur.
Harlan Ellison
REPLY TO BARNEY DANNELKE
Okay. Bone withdrawn.
Harlan
Paul Michael Barkan, I take it you are not a cat lover.
Damn, I'm funny. Unlike Barber, who makes his cream of wheat curdle.
Cris, on the other hand--she is the mint julip to his Md/2020.
I love him dearly. Can't you tell.
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Stowe Video? Sara, I won't ask you to run my pr firm. hehe.
Vermont must have loads of snow by now. A good reason to snuggle up to a dvd.
-------------
Harlan, forgive Rob, his mother mistook him for a watermelon and tried to take out the seeds.
-----------
Disgraceful what Israel is doing. Obama will not condemn them. Damn him.
Just read the latest "Rabbit hole".
Who but HE would have the stones to publish their rejection letters?
Great reading, priceless artifacts!
Oh, and I forgot to add the Civic Minded Five's battle cry:
"LET'S MAKE A DIFFERENCE!"
The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight!
The self-absorbed Die Fledermaus!
Chairface Chippendale!
The all-night diner on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams!
Priceless episodes like:
The Tick V. Prehistory
The Tick vs. The Tick (featuring The Comet, a dance club for Superheroes that discriminates against and excludes sidekicks; the latter must sit in a shack behind the club and wait till their partners are ready to leave)
The Tick v. the Uncommon Cold
The Tick v. Proto-Clown
The Tick v. Arthur's Bank Account
Armless But Not Harmless
Coach Fussell's Lament
The Tick v. Education
Absolutely one of my favorite animated ventures of ALL time!
I got ALL the episodes, and I ROYALLY lamented the cancellation of Ben Edlund's creation!
JOHN,
No offense, but having the Doctor regenerate into Donna's clone would probably shake the series up a little too much. Besides being INCREDIBLY weird.
And Kevin Spacey's American. Yankee actors simply cannot be considered. A female Doctor? Okay. A black Doctor? Sure. But an American Doctor? You'd be better off summoning Cthulhu from the watery depths, mate.
Here's some "minor news"
There's a well-done "Copyright Website" that, under "internet cases", now has an article on Ellison v. AOL (2004)
http://www.benedict.com/digital/internet/Ellison/Ellison.aspx
Famous FoE James Moran has published a noteworthy "2008 End of Year Thingy"
http://jamesmoran.blogspot.com/2008/12/2008-end-of-year-thingy.html
To be released in the Czech Rep. on Jan. 15th: "Extrémní science fiction", a well-announced anthology. (Should I get a copy? Could send it with other books, but perhaps you want to wait for free ones.) Publisher: http://www.iapetus.cz/ (third book down on left)
I hope to get RH on Monday.
11th doctor
Two suggestions: Catherine Tate (already half Time Lord ) and (provided he can fit it into his Old Vic schedule) Kevin Spacey. And Susan...Rabbit Hole arrived. JZ
Note to Susan Ellison regarding Hytone
Thanks for the response about the Hytone 1% strength, which I did indeed plan to purchase at the time that I posted, however, when I just (as in yesterday) tried to order it, the source that I mentioned, MedExpress, no longer carries it. Further searches on the web and in my local stores have turned up nothing.
However, as was mentioned earlier, I do indeed see the 2.5% strength here:
http://www.drugstore.com/qxn00066999701_333181_sespider/hytone/hytone.htm
The price for three tubes is much higher than the Hytone 1%. One tube is forty-two dollars, which may be more than you wish to spend. The 1% was quite a lot less.
Please advise me on how I should proceed and I apologize for the length of time between your response and mine; I have been on the road for much of this month.
RH arrival
Susan,
Today, at 2pm. Great work, as usual!
-Keith
Rabbit Hole 46 has emerged in the land of White Castle.
Hi Susan,
RH46 has arrived on Long Island today. Thank you for the Deep Shag ordering info for HARLAN ELLISON'S WATCHING, though they no longer carry it. Not to worry, I just received it as gift from my lovely and vigilant better half.
Harlan, your essay was heartfelt and worth the wait.
________________________________________
Steve Barber,
Thanks for the welcome.
"Glad you felt compelled to add yourself to the choir. If you've been lurking, I'll avoid all the warnings and caveats regarding Frank."
Nonetheless, they would have been fun to read. I sing baritone, BTW.
Cheers, PMB
Greetings from the land of McMansions
Checking in, Frank. Or as Harlan has been known, on occasion, to say: "I'm here! I'm here!"
Rabbit Hole may have arrived in Vermont but, unfortunately, I am not there to read it.
Harlan, kudos and congratulations. You fight the good fight.
Aside: my daughter Jessie, my husband and I own a video store in Stowe (called, oddly enough, Stowe Video). Jessie is a Twilight fan, books and movie, and has been visiting the fandom sites, where she regularly runs across links to websites with the movie running. While she will occasionally try to explain why it's a bad idea to pirate a movie, she's also aware that most people don't care - they just want to watch the movie for free. So she sends the website addresses to the FBI.
My entire family is getting together tonight for the first time in a while. I am looking forward to great stories. If there are any worth repeating, I will pass them on.
El Mono Azul de Illinois reporting
Susan:
The new Agujero del Conejo has been received.
Cambio y fuera,
AR
Rabbit Hole
Issue 46 has arrived safe and sound in Ohio. I'm glad
I mailed in my renewal last week as this is my last
issue.
PROTECTING MY COPYRIGHTS
AN INTERIM BULLETIN:
We have been randomly asked, over the past few months, as to what currently is the dispensation of the more than several matters of active- or potential-litigation pursuant to misuses of Ellison material on the web, and in several other venues.
Ten days ago we received, at last, our portion of the bankruptcy settlement from "The Divine Matter." (DIVINE, of course, was the internet colossus that spellt itself backwards--ENIVID.) We (meaning The Kilimanjaro Corporation, myself, all you brilliant members of the Flying Blue Monkey Armada, Susan, the bloodthirsty barristers) were instrumental in bringing down this arrogant and unrepentant behemoth, and I thank all of you for your part in helping to engender Zorrolike J*U*S*T*C*E. It was a nice-sized cheque.
In more picayune pursuits, we have struck honorarium deals with seven (7) individuals who thought--or DIDN'T thought--they were cool by putting my annuities online for their own pleasure or profit. That's seven (7) in the last six months.
The total encroachments look like this:
SETTLED: 260+
STILL UNSETTLED: 3
Onward, ever onward. Spread the news.
Harlan Ellison
PROTECTING MY COPYRIGHTS
AN INTERIM BULLETIN:
We have been randomly asked, over the past few months, as to what currently is the dispensation of the more than several matters of active- or potential-litigation pursuant to misuses of Ellison material on the web, and in several other venues.
Ten days ago we received, at last, our portion of the bankruptcy settlement from "The Divine Matter." (DIVINE, of course, was the internet colossus that spellt itself backwards--ENIVID.) We (meaning The Kilimanjaro Corporation, myself, all you brilliant members of the Flying Blue Monkey Armada, Susan, the bloodthirsty barristers) were instrumental in bringing down this arrogant and unrepentant behemoth, and I thank all of you for your part in helping to engender Zorrolike J*U*S*T*C*E. It was a nice-sized cheque.
In more picayune pursuits, we have struck honorarium deals with seven (7) individuals who thought--or DIDN'T thought--they were cool by putting my annuities online for their own pleasure or profit. That's seven (7) in the last six months.
The total encroachments look like this:
SETTLED: 260+
STILL UNSETTLED: 3
Onward, ever onward. Spread the news.
Harlan Ellison
PAPAL DISPENSATION FOR JOSH OLSON
He is not a doofus. It was, indeed, I who steered him wrong re:
"Freakazoid," not "The Tick." I think I knew I was incorrect when I did the steering, but that was more than a few years ago and, well, I apologize to Josh, who worries himself to a frazzle that total strangers he's never met will think him less cunning than he truly is.
Sinking to one knee, as if in a snirp,
Harlan
POGUE:
Pursuant to more rejections than Carter has Little Liver Pills, I did a substantial rewrite on what HAD been originally titled as "The Rarest Rarie," and it was, indeed, published--as "If This Be Utopia..."--and little more was heard of this nincompoop caprice, though I think it WAS collected in one of my short story olios ... UNTIL ... and this is the swell part ...
When I was picking stories to be transmogrified into graphic versions for HARLAN ELLISON'S DREAM CORRIDOR, some errant whim made me pick the rarie story, and to commission the great comic cartoonist Phil Foglio to limn it...and...oh boy...it turned out majorly FUCKIN' WONDERFUL!
If you haven't seen it, it's in one of the two collected volumes, but I believe Susan even has the original single comic Dream Corridor in which it debuted.
I still laugh out loud every time I look at the comic version, which is monumentally better than the narrative version. I do, in fact, believe that story was born to be a comic book creature.
Nice to hear from you.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
Harlan, I was reading the latest ish of the Rabbit Hole that hit my mailbox yesterday and perusing the rejection letters. You actually wrote a story based on the old shaggy dog joke, The Rarie? Being a lover of puns, I remember the first time I heard this joke. My father told it during Sunday dinner one afternoon. He was a great joke-teller (usually dirty ones) and he adroitly milked this yarn with all the requisite colour and flamboyance it deserved before arriving at the punchline. It was long a favourite of mine and remained in my own repetoire for years. I had no idea it was that well-known.
Do you know the one about the guy who lost everything because he loved the world's greatest apple strudel?
Freakazoid it is. I can only say in my defense that the source of the information regarding Ellison's appearance on the greatest superhero cartoon show EVER was, in fact, ELLISON.
I've informed him that confusing The Tick with Freakazoid is about on par with me discussing how much fun I had writing The Discarded with L. Ron Hubbard.
2009 movies
Thought this poll was interesting:
Fandango's MOST ANTICIPATED BLOCKBUSTERS FOR 2009
According to Men:
1. Star Trek 23%
2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 17%
3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 14%
4. X-Men Origins: Wolverine 9%
5. Terminator Salvation 7%
6. Watchmen 7%
7. Angels & Demons 5%
8. Public Enemies 3%
9. G.I. Joe 3%
10. New Moon 3%
According to Women:
1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 25%
2. New Moon 15%
3. Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen 11%
4. Angels & Demons 9%
5. X-Men Origins: Wolverine 7%
6. Star Trek 6%
7. Public Enemies 5%
8. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian 4%
9. The Lovely Bones 3%
10. Where the Wild Things Are 2%
The oft times horrific sterility of an environment dedicated to efficiency rather than diversity, where employees are "cast members" and the maintenance workers wear white gloves to do their dirty deeds in the presence of guests, received a serious blow last night as hubby and I stayed out far too late and giggled like school kids as we rode rides all by our lonesome.
***
Today is laundry day in Dsney World. Isn't that...magical.
shagin
Freakazoid to be sure, just saw it on the TubeofYou.
"Curse your tiny paper hat!"
"The lethally lactic milkman."
Oh my.
--------------
Mike Jacka, welcome to the darkside.
----------
Sara, please come back.
HERC
While I'm sure Susan will shine considerably more light on the subject, I'm compelled to point out that HERC is anything BUT an online membership. There is an actual, for-real paper-based semi-regular newsletter (the oft-mentioned "Rabbit Hole"). There is virtually nothing more online about HERC membership than an occasional mention here on the Pavilion, and it's a point of reference (and discounts!) when ordering Harlan Ellison appurtenances directly from The Source.
Yours in watershed revelations, even at 5-freaking-twenty in the morning.
___________________________________________
Gonna be editing my website this weekend, removing a number of shots and putting up some other work. (The FoE gallery is on indefinite display, however.)
Last chance to see several of the other galleries. Just sayin'.
Michael Mayhew:
Just to be clear, I don't represent the HERC in any capacity and simply quoted information from elsewhere on this site, specifically http://harlanellison.com/herc.htm. I apologize for the sloppiness.
Regards,
D.
HERC
While HE is the reason for a good portion of my literary voice and HERC is something that I'd like to get involved in, I unfortunately don't do very well when it comes to having any kind of online memberships. I had an Audible account for a while but kept forgetting that I had it, so I repeatedly paid for a subscription that I never listened to AND ended up with a backlog of program listings. And I don't even want to think about the money lost to Netflix, thanks.
ADD what? Look at the pretty colors. Time to take a nap.
Oh, and I just got new brake pads (the pads were free, but the labor and the rotors took a big wet bite out of a certain portion of my lower anatomy). Couldn't afford the brake flush but, hey, you live with these things.
Here's the Location of the HERC Order Form
http://harlanellison.com/ordrrecd.htm
David Loftus Is My Evil Twin
Please disregard the botched post immediately below.
Michael, here's the information you covet, from elsewhere on the site:
Ordering Recordings
IMPORTANT NOTE: You must be a member of the Harlan Ellison Recording Collection to order recordings! If this is your first order, you can join the HERC by simply ording the HERC Membership item. Membership in the HERC is fifteen dollars, gives you a Membership Number to order recordings with and entitles you to six issues of THE RABBIT HOLE (the HERC Newsletter) as well as frequent "special deals" on HE merchandise. You can re-up your membership by using the same item on the order form.
Please make checks/money order (US FUNDS ONLY) payable to:
The Harlan Ellison Recording Collection
Send to: The Harlan Ellison Recording Collection
P.O. Box 55548
Sherman Oaks, CA 91413-0548
Please use the order form when possible. You can print this form from within most web browsers using their internal print commands. If you have ANY trouble with this form or it doesn't look right, please send e-mail to webmaster@harlanellison.com and I will do my best to correct the problem. Postage and Tax information can be found on the order form.
The HERC Order Form. Please use it!
David Loftus Is My Evil Twin
Ordering Recordings
IMPORTANT NOTE: You must be a member of the Harlan Ellison Recording Collection to order recordings! If this is your first order, you can join the HERC by simply ording the HERC Membership item. Membership in the HERC is fifteen dollars, gives you a Membership Number to order recordings with and entitles you to six issues of THE RABBIT HOLE (the HERC Newsletter) as well as frequent "special deals" on HE merchandise. You can re-up your membership by using the same item on the order form.
Please make checks/money order (US FUNDS ONLY) payable to:
The Harlan Ellison Recording Collection
Send to: The Harlan Ellison Recording Collection
P.O. Box 55548
Sherman Oaks, CA 91413-0548
Please use the order form when possible. You can print this form from within most web browsers using their internal print commands. If you have ANY trouble with this form or it doesn't look right, please send e-mail to webmaster@harlanellison.com and I will do my best to correct the problem. Postage and Tax information can be found on the order form.
The HERC Order Form. Please use it!
Rabbit Hole subscription
For you, Michael, $150 a month!
One-time only offer.
A brief comment on Doctor Who
In one of his video reviews, Charlie Brooker said that _Doctor Who_ manages to "somehow bypass the cynical nasty gnarled bits of my brain and plugs straight into my gurgling overgrown child." A sentiment with which I'm in complete agreement. I can't bear to watch any of the Star Wars things without thinking of the crummy dialogue, Star Trek's bored me years ago, and most of the SF on TV these days feels too much like fan-wanking.
But somehow, Doctor Who remains immune. Every episode's a treat, and even when it swings _maddeningly_ between comedy and pathos, I just let it ride and laugh and cry with everyone else. And after watching the new Christmas episode, I think I've figured out why.
It occurred to me that our recent habit of making superheroes more morally compromised says something about this. We can take Batman, and turn him into something almost as psychotic as any of his opponents, and he's still the Batman. We can take Superman, and portray him as a Boy Scoutish tool of the State, and see him merely as a compromised Superman. Take Jim Kirk, make him an anti-Klingon warhorse and irresponsible spreader of cosmic herpes, and he'd still be Jim Kirk. In other words, you can make them less noble and they'd still be themselves, more or less.
But, if you tried to portray a Doctor Who without a core of nobility... well, he'd be a brooding, unreliable guy with a magic blue box and a shitload of angst. Even when he's in a morally compromised situation, even when he's had to make a decision that may ruin the Universe for someone... well, you just can't imagine the Doctor _not_ trying his humane best. And he doesn't have to be psychologically messed-up to be interesting, either. Without his nobility, he just wouldn't be the Doctor.
So maybe that's why we can't bring the cynic-filters in on the old guy.
Knucklehead Question
SUSAN (or anyone really)--
All this talk of The Rabbit Hole reminds me that I, too, would like to subscribe. I've found the address and all, but I cannot find the price, which is maddening because I know I've seen it, more then once, but, well, I'm a knucklehead...
If it turns out that this information is actually kinda hidden (which would make me feel better), then perhaps it ought to be bigger and bolder so as to sell more stuff.
If it already is very big and very bold, well, er, see above.
Struggling, but sincere,
MM
A Correction...
Hi.
Sorry for the dual post, but I wanted to correct some mistakes in my last post.
Most of my post was taken from memory, and my memory let me down in some of the details, as I discovered when I checked the episode on line.
First Freakazoid doesn't run into the comic book convenntion, he and Fanboy fall through a skylight and land in it.
Second, Freakazoid offeres Fanboy three things to get rid of Fanboy. The first is the script of the new BATMAN movie. Fanboy says he plucked it off the Internet that morning.
The second is an autographed picture of Stan Lee.
"Who's that?" Fanboy asks.
"I have no idea," Freakazoid says.
Then he offers Fanboy "Your very own Harlan Ellison," and, as I described earlier, physically lifts Harlan up and puts him in front of Fanboy. When Fanboy rejects this offer, Harlan runs off.
So the dialog existed as I remembered, but it was about Stan Lee, not Harlan.
And the physical humor of the Harlan Ellison bit was exactly as I described.
Bob
Josh,
I've got to agree with Adam-Troy and Tony Isabella on this one. I've seen every episode of the animated THE TICK and I don't recall Harlan ever appearing in any of them.
However, the 4th episode of the first season of the Kids WB series FREAKAZOID! -- "And Fanboy is His Name" -- fits your description precisely.
In this episode, Fanboy -- voiced by Sephen (Flounder) Furst -- wants to become Freakazoid's sidekick. Freakazoid tries several things to get rid of the pest. Eventually, Freakazoid tries to hide in a comic-book convention. Fanboy follows.
At one point, Freakazoid tries to get rid of Fanboy by offering him, "Your very own Harlan Ellison." Freakazoid actually picks up Harlan, who is browsing a back issue box, and offers him to Fanboy.
Fanboy responds to the gesture by asking, "Who's that?"
Freakazoid puts Harlan down and says, "I have no idea," while Harlan runs off.
Later in the episode, Freakazoid sees Mark Hamill, who is a special guest of the convention. Freakazoid says that Fanboy should forget about him and go after Hamill. "Why settle for sidekick, when Jedi Knighthood awaits?"
Fanboy gets starry-eyed and runs after Hamill. Fanboys tells Hamill to "Join me and we shall rule the universe as Fanboy and son." Hamill flees crying, "No!" in exactly the same way he did in RETURN OF THE JEDI.
This simply, HAS to be the episode you're remembering. It fits the description of having both Harlan and Mark Hamill in the installment. And, as I said, I've seen every episode of the animated THE TICK and don't remember Harlan ever appearing on that show.
Bob Ingersoll
Susan,
Rabbit Hole has appeared in Phoenix, AZ.
And to all,
This has never happened to me before. I have agreed with Frank Church in print. What 12 steps do I turn to?
Mike
-
Josh, is it possible that you're conflating this series with an episode of a show called FREAKAZOID?
Josh...
Are you sure you're not thinking of FREAKAZOID?
A plea
A few days ago, I turned my girlfriend, the lovely Vanessa, onto the rapturous joys of the animated Tick series. Needless to say, she absolutely flipped over it. So imagine her joy when I informed her that her beloved unca Harlan had made an appearance on an episode of the show. Problem is, Unca Harlan can't remember the name of the episode, and I never saw all of them, so I don't remember it either.
So the question is as follows: Can anyone here tell me the title of the Tick episode in which the Tick and Arthur come across Harlan and Mark Hamill at a comic convention?
That was messy. Sowwy. Spank me someone.
Gwynnie, you sassy tart you. In a land of murdering Santa Clauses you keep that spirit going.
Hope all was well toots.
------------
Harlan, oh no, Harlan, nooooooooooo...Joe Arpaio is an evil, evil man, and admiring him is close to admiring Caligula. The guy has a whole host of corruption charges, taking money from shady people, people killed in custody by his other thugs with badges, having very bad ideas about immigration--the guy is basically a racist.
The chain gang thing cannot be tolerated in a democratic country. This treatment comes right from the Jim Crow...North!
They do harm reduction in Europe, seems to work. You treat prisoners well and they don't want to hurt society when they get out. Obviously I am not talking about violent offenders. Arpaio's tent cities have kept even men who didn't have any charges yet.
No, Arpaio is pure scum. His own cops even hate him. He is slick with his pr stunts that keep getting him elected. You know how the gullible public is. Arizona is a shithole.
I say this in love.
-------------
Barber, watch those barbs. You might make me cry. I'm as sensitive as a tissue angel. Piddles on the silvery moon.
-------------
Speaking of Robert Ford, this Elton song fits that movie well:
http://www.imeem.com/people/_lW-6SC/music/PSa-uECB/elton_john_i_feel_like_a_bullet_in_the_gun_of_robert_ford/
I want to recommend highly THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD, starring Brad Pitt.
Just saw it for the first time. Beautiful and poetic elegy about people trapped by the inevitable, and I can't recall a movie that detailed the period more accurately.
You have to be in a contemplative mood to really benefit from the viewing. It gets into the internal world of these men; so, action is sparse, yet unnerving.
Some of the film's elements evoke both Altman and Kubrick.
R.I.P. Edd Cartier
Edward Daniel Cartier passed away yesterday, Christmas Day.
Edd was one of the all-time greatest pulp illustrators, legendary for his whimsical work on John W. Campbell's UNKNOWN and ASTOUNDING STORIES and 800 illustrations for THE SHADOW MAGAZINE. He also illustrated DOC SAVAGE, and drew stories for Street & Smith's RED DRAGON and SUPER-MAGICIAN COMICS.
The favorite artist of ASTOUNDING editor John W. Campbell and writer L. Ron Hubbard, Cartier illustrated the beloved Hoka tales by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson, and stories by John D. MacDonald, Isaac Asimov, Henry Kuttner, L. Sprague de Camp, Clifford D. Simak, Walter B. Gibson, Lester Dent and many others.
With his passing, we lose not just a wonderful, charming, talented man, but also one of our last personal connections to the Golden Age of Pulp Fiction.
The Dangers of drinking too much caffeine late at night...
A Jolly old elf named Kris Kringle
Got his jingle bell stuck in the Pringles
He said,"These damn greasy chips..
Give my fingers the slips,
But they make my extremities tingle!"
Merry Christmas to the Christians, Protestants, and Catholics on this site.
Peace, Love, Happiness, Joy, Freedom, Friendship and Fun to all atheists, agnostics, Buddists, Jews, Hindus, Moslems, free-thinkers and good reasoners and generally everyone and anyone I may have forgotten in the above.
And for those who are imbibing something a little stronger than eggnog this holiday -- or mixing something a little stronger than cheap stuff in the eggnog:
Glenfiddich -- it comes in a bottle
It's distilled in the glens and the hollows
This single malt scotch
Tastes like my crotch,
But Lad, you can spit and not swallow. ;)
And, for after the eggnog...
She gave him a standing ovation
When she saw his erect elevation
She smiled really wide
Slapped him backside
And said, "Baby, let's start a new Nation!"
And to all -- a Good Night! ;-)
A-TC's story.
What's really amusing is that I've seen Mr. Dye in more than enough films to actually picture that happening to him.
Adam-Troy, you bring a giggle to my soul. Thank you. And merry whatever.
A True Story For Christmas
This is a true story.
Dale Dye, the occasional actor and military consultant who has worked on films as diverse as PLATOON, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, FULL METAL JACKET, and so on, was on the set one day when an actor he knew slightly told him that his dog had just had puppies, and that he wanted Dale to have one.
Dale had never been a dog lover, though, so he demurred.
"Come on," the actor said. "You should see these puppies. They're amazing. Spend a little time with one and you'll fall in love."
Dale still demurred.
"Tell you what. I'll bring one over and you can take care of it for one night. Agree to that and I'll shut up. I'm willing to bet that after one night with one of these puppies, you'll love it so much that you won't be willing to give it back."
Dale agreed, just to shut the actor up.
Well, six weeks pass, and the puppies are ready for adoption, and Dale is sitting at home kicking himself for ever agreeing to such a darnfool thing, but knowing that he's given his vow and that to break it would dishonor him as a one-time military officer. He really doesn't want the dog, but he wants to prove that he's a man of his word. He's also half-sure that the actor isn't really going to show up.
But then there's a knock on the door.
Dale goes to answer it, and sees the actor standing there with a puppy in one hand and a dog carrier in the other.
Just because he's feeling a little defensive about the whole thing, Dale assumes that the actor brought the dog carrier to bring the animal home, in case Dale refused to take it for the night.
So he asks, "Are you expecting me to balk?"
And the actor says, "No, Mr. Dye. I'm expecting you to Bond..."
Harold Pinter
RIP
10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008
FAQ
RIP, Catwoman
Eartha Kitt, January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008
Poignant that the singer of "Santa Baby" died today.
PMB
Happy Holidays
Here's to another year almost over and one almost beginning
May you have all the love and happiness you need, and a little lefotover to share with others.
Lori
Holiday Gifts
Gifts I received that I'm very thankful for...
MODERAN by David R. Bunch
VAMPYR on DVD
and the CD Collection AMERICAN PRIMITIVE VOL II --Pre-War Revenants (1897-1939) -- nothing primitive about it, just great music
***************************************************
looks like Fox got their injunction against THE WATCHMEN movie so we'll see what happens
I wrote a heartfelt post yesterday about spending Christmas at Disney World with the family, and how "magical" is now a @%@$!! swear word as far as I'm concerned, much like Harlan's "N" word...
...and the fuggin' hotel internet connection timed out on me and the entire thing was lost. Bah!
Despite all that, may you find a reason to celebrate the good in life and recognize that you matter as a human being. Keep the spirit of Happy Thursday in your heart all year long. Or, as my brother said this morning: "I do too keep the Christmas spirit all year, but sometimes I'm Jewish."
shagin
Good morning!
Happy Thursday (good idea!) to everyone here in my favorite on-line community.
Just ground up and made some Dunkin' Donuts coffee in my electric 1951 Dormeyer coffee percolator. It's a mild brew, but tasty.
Getting ready to go to my sister's apartment and spend some time with her, my neice and nephew, and my mom. Crystal spent the night with her father and stepmother and half brother and sister last night, because they wanted her to go to church with them. I don't do church.
I hope everyone is having a great morning, and that it continues through the rest of the day. Even Rob, whom I will begin to call Verbal.
-Keith
Best wishes of the season, folks
I hope everyone has a lovely and peaceful holiday.
Carole and I are dressing up and packing for a snowy trek to Temple Beth Israel for a long day of serving Christmas dinners to several hundred low-income folks -- an annual event we've participated in for about half a dozen Christmas Days. (Carole organizes the thing -- 140 volunteers from Meals On Wheels drivers to bathroom monitors; I just do heavy lifting and odd jobs.)
RIP Harold Pinter.
It's o-dark thirty. What the "*" am I doing up at my usual workday time when it's a holiday?
As a kid, this was the hour of torment. Mom and Dad told us we could not -- after spending the entire night listening for the rustle of packaging, the clang of some piece of bicycle hardware being clamped onto another, or some other dead giveaway of what awaited us in the morning -- wake them prior to 6am. We learned to tell time at an early age. (Non-digital clocks. Very pre-Cambrian, I know.)
But the torture was not over when we burst into their room "It's six, it's six! Can we go downstairs now???". We knew the answer, and the answer was "not yet".
Second rule of Christmas morning: Mom and Dad had to have their coffee in hand and drinkable before the kids came down to see what Santa had brought. (This was somewhat dealt with in later years when my older sister figured out that if we had the water already boiling, it shortened the wait by five minutes or so. Of course, the dilemma was the kitchen being downstairs. With the presents. But she swore not to look, so Mom let her turn on the stove to boil the kettle.)(The stove was an electric, which, of course, takes much longer to heat water to boiling than does a gas.)
Then, and only then, would Mom and Dad go into the living room, light the fire (gas, thankfully!), turn on the tree lights and let us come down.
The hour of torment, even if only fifteen minutes in duration.
So, here I am forty years later sitting at a computer at 6:30 a.m. remembering those days and thinking "it's gonna be at least two hours before Cris gets up. I wonder if I can maybe unwrap just a couple of things and then tape 'em back".
Maybe not.
_____________________________________________
Harlan. Susan. The essay is wonderful and poignant. No spoilers.
_____________________________________________
Semi-writer wrote: "'ROUND YOUNG VIRGIN!'"
Um.
That's "Round YON Virgin", but perhaps Ethel's mind was not on Christmas at that particular moment.
Or perhaps I should have consumed more caffeine before logging in.
Then again, it's taking FOREVER for the water to boil.
RH46
Susan,
RH46 reached my corner of Orange County early on 12-24.
Thank you for the kind words and for taking care of the request.
A good day to all here.
Joy to the Board
Happy winter celebrations to those who partake in them, and serendipity to all.
D.
(Reads better.)
Joy to the Board
Happy winter celebrations to all who partake in them, and serendipity to all.
D.
Just wanted to wish everyone a Frueliche Festivus! May you rejoice in the company you keep and win the traditional throw-down wrestling match.
Piping Down and Signing Off,
Chuck
catching up
hi, guys and girls. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. May the joy and stillness of this season abide in your hearts.
I just got done baking Christmas cookies with the tots, and must soon wrap presents. Just thought I would take a minute to catch up.
One of my best and most memorable dinners was when I was fourteen. My aunt Dolores, who was also my godmother, took me to a French restaurant down the street from our house. It was one of my first grown up meals. I had Beef Wellington, (I ate meat at the time,) with rice and raisins in wine sauce. We had chocalate mousse for desrt. Everything was delicious and elegant and the owner and wait staff were very warm and cordial. It was my first real grownup, dressup event; I felt so mature and sophiticated, darlings. It's one of my favorite memories.
I wanted to respond to the woman who said she is uncomfortable around blacks, because no matter how she acts, she fears she will seem prejudiced. I forgot her name, ( I am getting toooooo old), but for many years when I was young, I felt exactly the same way. I grew up in a time and place where discrimnation and name calling, as well as outright acts of hatred, were common. For years, I thought I had to make up for that by being overly nice and attentive to blacks.
It was after I had my accident in 85 when I was 25 that I finally understood. I got to know some blacks very well as my doctors, nurses,therapists, and fellow patients. And I realized that that old commercial states the truth - " How do you treat a person with a disability, (or a black person, Hindu person, man woman)? Like a person" And that is really all that is necessary. Do unto others. Simple but what a better world if we all did that even 75% of the time.
As for the censorship question. There are very few works I would censor out of the gate, without reading. As stated, I grew up in a very discriminatory environment. My family shared in this prejudice. Some still do. What was my way out of it?
Reading. I read early. I read everything. And noone censored me. I learned to reason. Realized there was no intellectual basis for hatred or discrimnation. That the progress of the human race depended on understanding and cooperation between all races, creeds, sexes, etc.
I truly believe education and literacy are the best and most effective solution to our problems. I read Huck Finn the first time when I was 11. I read Uncle Tom's Cabin earlier, and Mein Kampf, and Anne Frank and so many things at a young age. And was able make appropriate judgments given all I learned and read
Which was the most effective antidote to the hatreds and ignorance I grew up with.
Good night, all, and rest ye merry.
Dennis: "do we appreciate the artist and try to forget the bigot?"
Neither.
Difference between Kazan's own actions toward former friends and what the screen presents an audience. When I have to see the justification for a black man being tossed on a guy's porch in "the name of justice", I draw the line. (Kazan's movies don't show me the traitorous personal acts of their director; Polanski similarly comes to mind as well. BOAN, on the other hand, is in itself a movie that believes what it's saying. BOAN is an accurate depiction of how the white majority perceived things in that time)
We can appreciate the overall contribution of Griffith without necessarily venerating EVERYTHING he did with a blind eye.
Other than being a historical document of its time, both as technical achievement and a reminder of what was once a greater mindset in this country, I don't give a fuck about BOAN.
Would you really make the same argument if Leni Riefenstahl had done Nazi propaganda movies showing acts of the Holocaust in a noble light? I doubt it.
Listen: I can call the Conceptualist, Jeff Koons, an artist and still loathe the stuff he puts out; I can call the PostModernist, Paul McCarthy an artist, and still really fucking loathe his work. Yet, I'll still look at what they're doing.
By contrast, this asshole who called himself an artist - Guillermo Habacuc (I think I got that right) - killed a dog so he could photograph it and put it on exhibition. You think I'm going to separate this guy from his act? Not a chance. THAT'S where I draw the line.
If you want to seriously pursue your own query where Griffith's concerned, turn to INTOLERANCE. BOAN remains a record of a deluded population, during an era that saw up to 3,000 blacks murdered with no effort to indict the perpetrators. It was an era when a black man could be murdered just for LOOKING at a white woman. BOAN is a time capsule.
Bah... oh, you know the rest.
So it's raining here in Los Angeles and there's nothing at all warm, friendly or cheery about my current living conditions... and you know the sad thing? I'm fine with it! It's a sick and twisted mind that finds the particular state of poor living that I'm in as acceptable, but it hands-down beats the hell out of going back to the Home State and suffering through the tortures of being arond those related to me. Here in the little cocoon world, I've got cable, the internet and a bed to curl up in. It's all good.
And should the 'net or cable go out, there are always the four Richard Jeni DVDs in the desk drawer for backup entertainment. RJ: "That's why I only play happy music, like the 'Ethel Merman Christmas Ballad CD.' Nobody can sing a tender, fireside ballad like Ethel... 'SILENT NIIIIIIGHT! SIIIIILENT NIIIIIIGHT! 'ROUND YOUNG VIRGIN!' Rock me, you Merman wench, I'm fallin' asleep by the fire. You tender balladeeress..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9DkxI0tU7Q
The only down side right now is that someone ran into my freakin' truck sometime this morning between midnight and 8 a.m. Big ol' dent in the side. Bastids. It's like the universe knows this stuff will never get fixed and just wants to tally up the road wear to amuse others.
Birth o' dat Nation
Rob:
I know it's no excuse but that film class on BOAN was pre-VHS days back in the misty dark ages of the 70's. There were few film programs outside of NYU and USC (and I wasn't at either one). It was a History and Film class, showing how films reflected history at the time they were made. And if my fuzzy memory serves, I think the discussion was afterward, and the teacher (who really knew History more than Film) kind of blamed the book on which it was based. (Griffith was going through a kind of resurgence then.)
And, yeah, I think there should have definitely been a discussion beforehand.
But once again, whaddya do? I mean, I can't quite appreciate Kazan's films without remembering how he ratted out pals back during HUAC and McCarthy days. I guess things like that shouldn't matter, but they do to me.
So do we say Griffith sucks? or do we appreciate the artist and try to forget the bigot?
*********************************************************
William Sherman:
Thanks for the Happy Thursday.
I'll simply say Happy Holiday, because I hope all of you have the day off and will do something worthwhile... or just nothing at all, which is also highly worthwhile.
To Everyone Re: The Holidays
What Barber said. He said it ever so much better than I could.
Tomorrow I leave the Winter Wonderland and head to the Philly suburbs to see my family. I will log back in when I get a chance, so until then, fellow Ellisonites (and, of course, himself)(and herself - Hi Susan!), stay loose and enjoy the days.
S
REPLY TO MIKE JACKA
Sheriff Joe warning noted. So Shellenbarger sends me this weird book about WEIRD ARIZONA, and I read the entry on this lawman, and I commend his idea of putting these arrogant and shameless scofflaws, et al, on chain gangs, and making them live in tent cities and...
...I confess, with a wicked smile...
...that I had, perhaps only an hour earlier, said to Susan that my sense of true justice would be served by putting these banking thieves with their Bentleys and BMWs, as well as Bernard Madoff, Cheney, the auto CEOs, and assorted other motherfuckers who do the crime and then giggle at "doing the time," because they know they'll be out in six months and living high in Barbados...
...on a chain gang, makin' little ones outta big ones, till they coughed up every goddam cent they'd pilfered and hid, before their sentences could be mitigated by even an hour...
...and here you come saying Joe the Sheriff is "an evil man." Well, it may be so, and I log in no demur, but I don't live in Arizona, a state FILLED WITH reprehensible Bush-loving dotards, so I take heed to your gardyloo, while confessing THAT PART of the evil Sheriff Joe's legend appeals like crazy to me. If he's a bad guy, well, he'll get his in the end...or not. As we used to say in Chinatown, "It's Arizona, Jake." Apparently, he keeps being re-elected, and by a large margin of votes each time. Forget it, Mike: it's Arizona.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!
Merry Christmas
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
To the Catholics and Christians in the Pavilion: Merry Christmas.
To agnostics, anarchists, animists, atheists, my bulldog Gus, Deists, Druids, Festuvians, iconists, iconoclasts, infidels, Mr. Harlan Ellison, Marxist-Communists, non-believers, neurotics, psychotics, rationalists, (o.k., Satanists), Mrs. Susan Ellison, Zoroastrians, and various bookies of mine over the years: Happy Thursday.
Regards, and peace to all (because we need it),
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
Down the Rabbit Hole
Sighted and consumed this Christmas Eve, 2008.
Further, the deponent sayeth naught.
Support Your Local Sheriff (Not)
Harlan,
Don’t know how serious you are about keeping an eye on the Sheriff Joe bandwagon with thoughts of jumping on – but do not do so. This is a seriously evil man. Latest stats show that the crime rate in the areas for which he is responsible have risen at a higher rate than other parts of the state (and cities), law suits against the sheriff’s office (and the losing of same) have drastically increased, his focus on rounding up illegal aliens in constitutionally questionable stops has distracted everyone from the real crime issues, he is a grandstander that is more impressed with his clippings than the actual completion of his duties. I believe he seriously thinks he is above the law. (“Well, when the sheriff does it that means it is not illegal.”) And, with this posting, I wonder if I will now be on his enemies list (only half in jest).
I am as appalled as any by the ethical collapses we seem to see daily. But Sheriff Joe is no more the solution than Joe the Plumber. The persona that goes out to the world does not match the scary reality we have had to endure for too, too, too many years. Yes, to some in this very state he is a hero. But there are also people who rate “W” as having done a good job.
This warning brought to you by The People Who Get to Read About Joe Every Day.
Mike
Robert Ross - For many years my parents celebrated their anniversary at the Inn at Little Washington. It is, by all reports, fabulous.
______________________________
Paul Michael - Welcome! Glad you felt compelled to add yourself to the choir. If you've been lurking, I'll avoid all the warnings and caveats regarding Frank.
______________________________
Happy Whatever Holiday you choose to celebrate/not celebrate as you see fit! May you enjoy the love of family/spend quality time alone, receive the gifts you always prayed for/give generously to the poor, and share a wondrous meal/start that new diet with the ones you love/lust after/like/barely tolerate/hate with the passion of a thousand angry bees but "he's Uncle Henry so what you gonna do?".
(God. Lawyers get everywhere don't they.)
Or, as my dogs prefer to see it, Happy Marrow Bone Day!
In Case It Needs Over-stating....
HARLAN: My kiddo _always_ has to point out that I over-explain things and often run a subject into the ground, all in the name of avoiding miscommunication. Not one to break a streak, just wanted to sign off for the holiday weekend by saying...in case it needs over-stating, alla my posts regarding your anecdote about Goys and Jews and free comic books were made in a most passion state of whimsy. I thought your story was funny. So you can remove the cold compress from at least _one_ side of your neck.
I remain,
Politically Incorrect in The Yarralands,
Dorman
Harlan's dis
HARLAN: Yo, Esse! Don't be Disin' me, vato (even if you do it with passion, gringo).
Back from an absolutely fun day of walking, dining, and falling into the Yarra river near Warburton, Victoria, I sign off (for real this time) with love and best wishes for a relaxing, enjoyable and whimsical holiday for you and Susan...and anyone who drops by the Temple o' Mars this weekend.
-Dorman
infomite
I thank you for the Margaret St. Clair information. I did not know Idris was Margaret. I know Harlan has sung Margaret's praises for decades. She rocked, so to speak.
Did you know that Margaret is a town in St. Clair County , Alabama? She is.
Happy Holidays, and may you get blessings all over yourselves,
Rick
reading Ramsey Campbell
Harlan
good soul here, I will pass on your note to KIM, I'm sure he will be back online very soon, till then let me wish you and Susan a very Merry Christmas, take care and enjoy.
and too everyone else here I would also like to say, thanks, keep writing and be happy.
Gary
Dinner to remember
A back injury kept me from being able to sit up at the computer this week until now--my excuse for being awkwardly late with this post.
But, late, I hope not too late, in the conversation, I will relate my own "favorite dinner" story:
It wasn't the food that made it memorable. It was the people and the situation.
In the winter of 1972, I traveled from Portland, Oregon, where I was living at the time, to Vancouver, B.C. to visit some friends, Barry and Kathy. They had moved there several months before and told me to drop in and visit them any time. They had no phone and I'd made the trip on impulse after hearing from mutual friends in Portland that they had just had a baby boy.
I located their address and was stunned and appalled to realize they were living in a very poor area, in a basement, that they had come on such hard times that their gas and electricity had been turned off. They had an old wood stove in the basement and had been using it for heat and cooking. They were being evicted from their apartment for non-payment of rent and this was their last night before being thrown out on the streets.
They were delighted to see me. They insisted that I stay for dinner--even though they were running out of food. They refused to accept any assistance from me. I was poor myself at the time but could have come up with something for them but they insisted they would manage and that all they needed from me was my company. Fortunately, they did have formula for their infant so at least their baby wasn't facing an immediate foodless future. But they were. Homeless and foodless.
They had sold all of their furniture. They spread a table cloth on the floor. They cooked up one small pot of rice, another one of steamed celery and onion and served up the last bottle of wine in jelly glasses. We ate on aluminum pie tins since they had sold their dishes. They lit their one last candle and placed it in an empty tin can at the center of the table.
What got me about all of this was their happy upbeat spirit and the ceremony with which they presented and served everything. They conveyed to me how happy they were to be able to host one more dinner with a friend, have one last good time in their home before they had to face the next phase of their lives.
It was snowing outside. They cooked everything very simply but very well. They put the wine bottle out in the snow to chill a bit and poured it at just the right temperature. They told jokes and stories that kept me laughing all evening and they expressed gratitude at having me for a friend.
When I told them how amazed I was at their joyful, brave little dinner, they pointed out that being unhappy that night would not change anything for the better. Their bad luck had taken them way past the point of worry or fear. What would come would come. Meanwhile, we had a dinner party to appreciate and enjoy. They served their last few soda crackers for desert.
This still stands out in my memory as one of the happiest, all around best dinner parties I've ever attended. It ended late that night as they once again protested the loan I offered them. They told me that they wanted to remember this night as a time and place where only friendship and laughter were exchanged. They insisted that I leave just before midnight as their eviction began then and they did not want the party to end on a sad note. They urged me not to worry about them. And somehow, perhaps because of their wonderful spirit, I found that I did not do so as I left them. I hugged the baby, who had been just as charming and as good a companion that evening as they had, kissed them both and went back to Portland.
That is the story of my most memorable and cherished dinner party. Perhaps it will be of some comfort for you to know that Barry and Kathy's fortunes did turn around very soon after, although they did live in their van on the streets for several weeks. Eventually, and by the time the weather turned warm, they had begun a very successful business. By the time of the next snowfall, they were living in a lovely apartment in Victoria.
But that dinner in that candlelit basement with fine, witty companions, a chortling baby and lots of laughter along with the saltine crackers...it just doesn't get any better than that.
Harlan...as long as that's DISPASSIONATELY unconnected.
Or, in the celebrated words of Daisy Dolittle: "vier bra ka aswirl huarache bhakta ctenidia"
JUST ONE MORE...
In re: KIM OWEN SMITH aka KOS.
Would the good soul who popped in here a couple of days ago, to pass on the message that KOS could handle a new shipment of saleable volumes, kindly pass on to Kim that such a box is in the book rate post as we speak. THANK YOU.
THANKYOU TO SHANE SHELLENBARGER
Dear Shane:
Before my tiny head explodes from dealing with these guys, let me tug my forelock for not getting back to you sooner with a large thankyou for the WEIRD ARIZONA book you sent. Just what I needed: a book. Don't have one of them things hereabouts.
Nonetheless, I have in fact mulched on through the oddities therein, and I must say I am a great admirer of Sheriff Joe, or whatever his name is, the one who throws poltroons onto the chain gangs. He may seem inhuman and bonkers to some, but in the lee of Bernard Madoff, banking CEOs who have given themselves big bonuses from the bloodsucked bailout money, the woman who abandoned her newborn in a Wal-Mart toilet, Cheney and Dubya and Paulsen and Gonzales et al...well, Sheriff Joe (or whatever his name is) has become my hero, and his brand of wonky sanity a beacon in a mad mad mad mad mad world.
So, chum pal buddy, thank you for the nice gift. Don't send me no more books.
Warmly, Harlan
I feel like Yukon Cornelius.
Rushed home. Checked the mail.
Nothin'.
EXPATIATION IN EXCELSIS:
UH...ER...
ROB
and
DORMAN T.: I have read thoroughly, and taken serious note of, your separate, unconnected postings.
As both of you have responded passionately to uh, well, That To Which You Have Responded, um, Passionately...I can only reply with a brief nod of utterly DISpassionate, uhm, uh...reply; and an acknowledgment that I have read thoroughly, and taken serious note of, your separate, unconnected postings. To which I reply with, uh whatchimacallit, Responcitity.
Strenuously, but with need for a cold compress on the back of my neck, Harlan Ellison
Politically Incorrect terminology -- and holiday wishes
HARLAN: Good for yew, my brutha from anotha muthaaaaaaa! Bitch (I'm talkin boy-bitch) say you Jewin 'em down, then a brotha jus' gots to fuckin go postal and drop a Goy bomb on his ass! I'm down (up and all aroun) wit dat shit. Las' time I wuz at da local butcher, muthafuckin' chink bitch call me Honey.
You git whut I'm sayin'? Bitch call me HON-ey!
She thought she was being purty darned clever, but you an' I know jes whut that little fillie was up to. 'Cause she could tell from my small nose and beady little eyes that I was of Germanic background. You see whut she was'a doin', right pard?
Honey...get it...Hun-eee.
I beat the livin crap outta her slant-eyed, off-kilter cooze ass an' sent her packin past the 42nd parallel (or some such spot in the Asian-Pacific Rim -- and don't EVEN get me started on the various conotations of that last word).
I have no idea what moved me to type this post. But I'm glad it's out of my system now. Whimsy...it's a mysterious thing, indeed. Now I'm off to Warburton -- or, whoobuddtin, as the locals call it -- to enjoy the mountain air, partake of some good food, and take a ride or two via shanksmare.
Happy Holidays to all my bruthas and sistahs in the U.S. of fuckin A!
Cheers,
DTS
And, amidst all this talk about race, cinema and the Old South comes news of the passing of Robert Mulligan, director of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.
And, Jan, I think your statement was stupid.
I happen to know some Jewish people who'd LOVE to curb certain liberties of speech in public when it's anti-Semitic.
Yes, indeed; there ARE people who will talk about freedom of speech, only to draw a line when it treads on their personal interests.
Many examples of such in the gay community too.
Yep. That's a common reality.
Hopefully, you're following me!
I better start hauling out the newsprint to cut out some dunce caps!
'Jim Crow-ism was a detestable plague emanating solely from "The South.'
Harlan,
WHAT in the name of Al Jolson's FIRST BORN gave you the notion you needed to tell me about THAT???????????????
First off, I indicated in my post that my friend grew UP in the Jim Crow South. That means the SOUTH. Not the North. Not the West. Da's da SOUTH. DAT's where he grewed up! DURING the Jim Crow era. Why then would I refer to any OTHER region? I had no REASON to refer to the neighborly hoods of Chicago, Philly, New York, Los Angeles, or any other DUMP!
You got me goin' here because the point you made - "PC kneejerkism", perhaps? - has nothing to do with what I went on about.
I thought you were up on all our posting history, but I suppose not. Otherwise, you'd remember I did lengthy screeds here in the past about Duluth and Chicago, as well as ethnic factionalism throughout all regions of the country.
I'm UP on that history, OK??? Of COURSE I know that shit!
You're right about the "Crowe" spelling, of course. But now I don't even feel like giving you THAT!
Jeezus, we spend years together cracking safes, running the numbers, and leaking stock prices, and STILL he can accuse you of being THAT naive!!
As Karloff's monster would put it:
"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!"!!!"
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
Jim Thomas:
Thank you for the background on this toon, especially Duke Ellington's involvement. It turns out that several people have posted "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs" on YouTube, to my surprise, so you can all go and enjoy it. Very interesting . . . reminds me of the brilliant "The Three Little Bops" (also WB, but not one of the Censored Eleven).
_______________________________________
It occurs to me that this is my very first post after several months of lurking, so perhaps a quick intro would be in order:
First exposure to Harlan's work: "Demon with a Glass Hand" (at age six I was pretty clueless what was going on but nonetheless intrigued).
First Harlan Ellison book: SHATTERDAY
What I do: I write music.
Furthermore, what I admire most about Harlan's work is how his choice of words and the flow and rhythm of those words play out for me as fine music. I am moved as I am by the greatest of composers.
Thank you Harlan, and happy holidays to all.
Paul Michael
Rob: "I sometimes wrestle with the double standard: in Germany, it is illegal to say "hail Hitler" ... I admire the gesture ... Yet, it's a freedom of speech issue."
You know I respect you and all but...
That's a silly attitude. You wrestle with that? You can absolutely say what you want without greeting anyone using those words. The German equivalent of freedom of speech is freedom of OPINION, there is no complete free speech.
Besides, you got the expression wrong, which would translate as "May Hitler prosper!" (including the exclamation mark).
This has been a free public announcement brought to you by etc.
OH, AND COINCIDENTALLY, ROB:
Your wish was granted earlier this year:
The US Postal Service issued a set of gorgeous commemmorative stamps (which I, as a philatelist, welcomed with the joyous shout "Hallelujah!" as emblazoned on one of them) featuring six or eight (can't remember which unless I go look in my album) of the most popular Black Cinema masterpieces. They were 41 cent stamps, and are readily available from the USPS.
Harlan
ROB:
Jim Crow has no "e" on the end. Crow...as in black bird.
And dissuade yourself from the widespread misconception that Jim Crow-ism was a detestable plague emanating solely from "The South." Have you never visited Chicago? How do you think The South Side, "back o' the yards," got to be the largest black ghetto north of the Mason-Dixon line?
The South was vile, and we had to go to war to lance that murderous racist pustule in the Dixie nature, but upNorth was well within the parameters of prejudice, however nuanced and misperceived. Again, before any of us can claim innocence, we must come to the table with clean hands.
Harlan
BARNEY:
I refuse to believe that recent events in your life have so totally dulled your legendary sense of high wit and good humor that you reallyreallyreallyreally didn't get that my dropping-in mention of The Tet Offensive amongst seasonal good wishes was, um, er...
A bit of jackanaperie.
Bewitched, bothered & bemildred, Harlan
Re: Baby w/ the Bathwater Racism
There's a group of Warner Brothers cartoons known as the "Censored Eleven"--cartoons that WB has no intention of ever, ever allowing to see the light of day because of their racial content.
Chief among these is Bob Clampett's "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs"--obviously a black take on Snow White.
Here's the thing--Clampett made the film at the suggestion of no less than Duke Ellington. Clampett and his team went to black jazz clubs for weeks to get a feel for the lifestyle and the music. Many of the characters were voiced by black (including Dorothy Dandridge's sister and mother. The short is generally considered one of the best cartoons ever made, yet it is only seen via bootleg copies at festivals and conventions.
It's a classic example of how fear and a twitchy censorship finger can result in art being suppressed, particularly given that some racially charged cartoons are included in the Loony Tunes Golden Collections.
Thank God no one got twitchy over Porgy and Bess.
P.S.
I'm an idiot. I forgot to give you the punchline after the punchline.
Ten minutes later, as I sat signing, a kid came up and said, "That guy over there, the one you yelled at...he's gone."
I have no idea what transpired after I walked away, but ten minutes later the guy had packed up his shit and was gone."
SARA SLAYMAKER:
Pursuant to your expatiation re the lady who trumpeted her virtue at not having "jewed you down," I offer this m.o. that ALWAYS works wonders for me:
I'll tell it thus:
I was at a comics/media convention in Novi, Michigan, suburb of Detroit, a number of years back. With Susan. Huge venue. A great empty space five times the size of an aircraft hangar; the size of the LA Convention Center; a size only slightly smaller inside than the Chicago Convention Center where they hold Political Nominating Get-Togethers. Big, is what I'm saying here; a big, echoing, sound-carries-for-ten-blocks gigantitorium wall-to-wall with ex-tv actors signing their photos for ten bucks each, with small comic book publishers hawking their wares, with grunge bands blaring their CDs for sale, with a cacophany so oppressive and mind-numbing it would make the carillons of Hell resound like Donny & Marie.
And after sitting there in just such an agora, trying to SELL my books (which most of the slavering children and a few of the goofier adults thought they ought to get for nothing because wasn't I sitting there downwind from actors who were only charging ten bucks for a PHOTO???) I felt the need to micturate, excused myself, and hied me hence to the pissatorium.
On my way back, I passed the site of a small independant comic book artist whose now-defunct magazine had been something I'd collected; and I saw the one issue I was missing. It was perhaps five or six years' gone, and selling (if anyone wanted one) for about 35 cents, according to The Overstreet Guide.
So I paused to speak to the dude sitting there all alone, sketching idly, who was obviously the comic artist himself, and I introduced myself, and I said I'd like to buy issue #whateveritwas. And he said, and this is approximate, but accurate: "That'll be fifteen dollars." To which I exclaimed, not merely a bit taken aback, "You're not serious, are you?"
To which HE said--and this IS telephonically accurate--"Are you trying to Jew me down?"
To which, without losing a heartbeat, I replied...
LOUD
VERY LOUD
VERY VERY LOUD
SO FUCKING LOUD
IT OVERRODE all THE DIN AND CLANGOR
in that gimungous cavern
I MEAN LLLLLLLOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUDDDDDD...
"AM I TRYING TO JEEEEEEEW YOU DOWN....JEEEEEEEEW YOU DOWN...JEEEEEEEEEEEEEW.....
"NO, MISTER (his name here...loud...very loud) OF SUCH&SUCH COMICS...I'M NOT HERE TO JEEEEEEEW YOOOOOO DOWN, WHY ARE YOUUUUU TRYING TO
"GOY ME UPPPPPPPP????"
There ensued an appreciable drop in ALL the noise not only in OUR crowded area, but rippling outward like the inner circles of Dante's Inferno. And EVERYONE looked at this dude, and he actually paled, and thrust the comic at me and blathered, "Here, take it, for free, just take it and go away!"
And I said, again VERY VERY VERY loud, so they could hear me in Detroit, "As one poor Jeeeeeeew, I thank you for your Gentile charity," and I walked away with the fairly useless blue ribbon of that encounter.
Sara, I offer this phrase to you: "Don't goy me down," or "Don't try to goy me up." Either one, that should emerge from your face, phone ringing or not, the instant the loathesome jingo "Jew me down" emerges from the face of ANYone, and the more crowded the locale, the better. Malls, supermarkets, ballgames, town hall meetings, Church socials...
But, I'm sure you get it.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
Glad everyone liked my question. I mentioned yesterday about the meal in Paris, but actually the most memorable meal I've had was probably at a little pizza place named Arturo's in the Village. On Houston, corner of Sullivan (or Thompson, I forget). Jammed to the gills; very loud; New York waitress; an old wooden booth in the front bar; jazz band jamming in the corner -- lots of people sitting in; and the best coal oven pizza in the city. Just me and the missus, but referred by the owner of Cexton Records and made a friend of the bar when we mentioned his name.
(There was also the spontaneous rhum party at the Sunset Grill in Grand Case, Saint Martin, but since I used the word "memorable" and don't remember a whole lot beyond the fifth round, it doesn't count...)
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The beauty of this debate on racism is the honesty, folks. While we don't necessarily agree with each other on all points, it's refreshing to have thoughts presented so openly. Like Michael Rappaport, we live in a very diverse neighborhood, and really nobody seems to care. There are the occasional "tsk, tsks" about people behaving a certain way, but it usually is reflected more in what idiots they are than their ethnic or cultural backgrounds.
But just two short years ago three white women were beaten nearly to death by twelve or so black teens. And a decade and a half parts of the city burned during the overflow from the LA riots.
Progress is being made, but we can't take it for granted that we're done just because I drink my coffee black, like my President.
Rob - I like GONE WITH THE WIND, but respect your take. It is also of note that Walt Disney openly commented that James Baskett -- Uncle Remus -- was "the best actor to be discovered in years". Unfortunately, like Butterfly McQueen, he was not allowed to participate in the Atlanta premiere of SONG OF THE SOUTH.
But, as Ms. McQueen is quoted as saying: "Now I am happy I did Gone With the Wind. I wasn't when I was 28, but it's part of black history. You have no idea how hard it is for black actors, but things change, things blossom in time."
__________________________________________
I am anxiously a-watching the mailbox.
(So far, not a twitch from the thing, but it's early yet.)
Of Amos & Andy, other stereotypes
Y'know, I watched a few episodes of Amos and Andy once. I did not wince. If there was room for Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton, foolish white people who were very specific types, then there was room for Amos and Andy, who were (if I recall correctly) a similar duo after a twist of the contrast knob.
AMOS AND ANDY did not make me wince as much as I do when I see certain contemporary black comedians play broad stereotypes that are somehow supposed to be more acceptable because black people originate them. Chris Tucker's usual screen persona, for instance, strikes me as far more in-your-face offensive -- and for more grating -- than anything Amos and Andy ever did. That high-pitched, whiny voice, the exaggerated reactions, the wilful ignorance, the entitled rudeness, the impatience for anything but instant gratification; the someimes specifically-stated thesis that he acts that way because that black, and not because he's one individual idiot -- well, were I black, I'd want to burn down the theatre. And it's contemporary, which is to say it has no excuse.
I can speak from a little relative experience here. I happen to be a major fan of silent movie comedies. I am gratified to note that offensive racial stereotypes are pretty thin on the ground in Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin films, at least in the features. (Keaton did use blackface in one of the shorts, that I know of.) But Harold Lloyd? You will find Fetchit types appearing (always gratuitously) as late as his brilliant and underrated final film, THE SIN OF HAROLD DIDDLEBOCK (1947, otherwise known as MAD WEDNESDAY). It's always something you have to gloss over, and I always wondered whether this was something I could do because I wasn't involved, and whether I'd feel differently if I ever saw him attack Jews that way.
Well, here's where we come to Lloyd's most famous (but certainly not best*) film, SAFETY LAST. That's the one that produced the iconic image of Lloyd dangling from the minute hand of a giant clock, high over the city streets. You likely know that image even if you don't know the film (or even Lloyd by name). The movie's a classic of physical comedy, with Lloyd's character a publicity seeker playing human fly on the outside of a department store building, and nearly getting killed a million times from the mishaps that befall him on the way to the top. Really. Hilarious, thrilling, heart-in-the-throat stuff. You need to see it if you haven't.
But earlier in the film his character visits a jeweler to buy an engagement ring, and the jeweler is...excuse me...a stereotypical kike, complete with big nose and slavering money-lust, the kind of character who rubs his hands greedily when he sees a large sum in cash. There is absolutely no question that it is the proprietor's Jewishness being commented upon: he wears a yarmulke and prayer shawl, and his store is festooned with Hebrew lettering. The movie doesn't need the scene. It makes no narrative point not duplicated in the scenes around it. It's just there, a wart on a slapstick masterpiece. Am I bothered? Well, yes. Do I reject Harold Lloyd, or this film, utterly as a result? Absolutely not. I understand that the people who made this film were products of their time, that they didn't know any better, and that even if the scene falls woefully flat now it is also part of the entire artifact's historical texture. Watch for another five minutes and the moment is forgotten.
* That would be THE KID BROTHER. Pure Heaven.
Grub
Just want to pop in, before the topic becomes too dated: Most memorable meal would have to be at The Inn At Little Washington, some years ago. I was on a road trip with family members, and we had reserved one of the two rooms available over the gift shop, which is kitty corner (or catty corner) from the main Inn. During the meal the front desk concierge came to our table and told us that the reservation for the other room had just been canceled at the last minute, and they were giving it to us, no extra charge. I can't recall specifics of the meal (which may lead one to say, hey, if you can't remember what you ate, what's the big deal?) but every meal at the Inn was excellent, as was the service.
"Perhaps this is why media depictions of race from the past have revisited now and then".
I meant, "..this is why past media depictions of race should be revisited now and then"
Dennis C.,
You mean there was NO discussion at all as to the subject or content of BOAN?
What the hell kind of a lame class IS that?
Well...anyway. NOW ya know!
I rented BOAN about 5 years ago to examine it on my own. I looked it at on every level, including that of technical achievements.
But ONE viewing was enough for me. I started walkin' around in public with a spinning ass n'a bounce t'the knees. The GOOD news is there were more white folk ready to beat my face in than there were blacks.
One should not burn such shit into oblivion, but it SHOULD be viewed in historical context. Otherwise, blind ignorance is perpetuated.
Same has to be said for Nazi propaganda films, like Triumph of the Will and Olympiad. Those too get shown in film classes. I sometimes wrestle with the double standard: in Germany, it is illegal to say "hail Hitler", as are Nazi symbols. Needless to say, I admire the gesture, given a nation owing up to its own horrific history. Yet, it's a freedom of speech issue. It's always a test when we face the personal lines we're tempted to draw.
Having said that, I'll go self-righteous on you for a second and point out that you SHOULD have had some information about Birth of a Nation on your OWN time. It's not like this was some arcane mystery from ancient scrolls. Cable has been flooded with documentaries about it. SO many that in the last few years I came in on several entirely by accident. I make the point, because we've diminishing excuses for relying on others to furnish the facts. With today's technology, research on our own time is less demanding than finding a restroom. To put it another way...basically, you should have known about this BEFORE the course; just enough, anyway, to have the expectations.
(When I ran over to pick up the movie on dvd, I remember the attitude I was jumping in with: a smile on my face knowing - from years of reading about Birth of a Nation - that this thing was going to be pretty warped. I was very curious to see just HOW warped it would get. I went on to view it with MORBID curiosity. Filled with my countless and audible, periodic outbreaks of laughter and "ohhhhh, my GOD!!!", it was rather enjoyable. As long as I knew this was the only time I was going to bother with this damn thing. The more important thing is that after viewing the movie I did a LOT of research on the history surrounding it; this included President Wilson's response to it. Wilson, at some time in his youth, was in the KKK. That's right: we had a President who'd once been a Klan member. Had it not been for viewing Griffith's flick, I would not have come to understand how "acceptable" it once was to be in the Klan. This country once had a MASSIVE contingent)
**Racist content as defined by the period I'm finding to be increasingly variable, and from all quarters:
I've an older African American friend who'd grown up in that generation of the Jim Crowe South. He told me about the Amos n'Andy tv series, and how lame, from HIS pov, the NAACP was being about the show when it was bumped off the air.
I used to assume - since I've never seen a single out-take from the show - that Amos n'Andy was DEEP in the stereotypes; in other words, I figured ALL the black characters were shown as lazy happy types. That's how I IMAGINED it.
Apparently, not so. The main character aside, many blacks in the show were depicted as middle class professionals. There were black doctors, lawyers, specialists, etc.
My friend here therefore felt these roles presented positive black role models - in an era when few were seen on the tube.
Thus, it's HIS contention that the show was treated and remembered unfairly.
Perhaps this is why media depictions of race from the past have revisited now and then.
(On the OTHER side of the coin, I wish they'd bring to better public awareness the independent efforts made by blacks historically. The movies from the 1930s, for example. While White Hollywood was depicting its blacks as native savages and happy farm hands, the black community was doing movies with entirely black casts. Likewise, far MORE should be brought to everyone's attention on the Harlem Renaissance; painters, writers, poets, etc., all of whom had been breaking personal ground in the arts from 1919 to 1933. It's fine that we're reminding ourselves of the racist shit out there. But we're not offering enough applause for the artistic achievements due so many from an unjustifiably forgotten era)
***Just for the record, I HATE 'Gone With The Wind'. I read tons about Butterfly McQueen - the kind of independent-thinking and educated person she was, and the way she'd been treated in those years (for example, she was not invited to the movie's premier opening in, of course, Georgia). But more directly, the movie often nauseates me. That's the bottom line.
Seasons greetings
While I was most amused by Harlan's holiday well-wishes posting I think it should be pointed out that Harlan ***MIGHT*** be conflating or confusing the Tet Offensive which ran from January 30th to September 23rd 1968 with the Christmas Bombings of North Vietnam - over 4,000 sorties including over 700 by very imprecise high flying B-52's between December 18th and 30th, 1972.
Since people in the media are floating all kinds of mildly complimentary opinions about Nixon from signing the EPA into existence to going to China, in the wake of the FROST/NIXON media event I felt it was important once again to remind folks born after his reign what a terrorist and malign thug he truly was.
Merry Christmas folks - Barney Dannelke
To Jordan Owen:
I am delighted to point out that the verses you quote ("For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter") apply not only to Christmas trees, but to _crucifixes_ as well. This makes me smile.
Sara Slaymaker
Sara, I am a Jew who happens to be married to a black woman, and I live in a genuinely multiracial community (latest census data says my town is 62% white, 28% black). This is going to sound like a terrible cliche - and I'm sure the black readers of the Pavilion can speak to this matter with much more authority than I - but in terms of "how white people should behave around black people," the best advice I can give is: just be yourself. Whatever kind of person you really are, it'll show through - just as it did with that woman in your shop.
Susan
If you have a moment, would you please see that i am up to date as to be receiving this Rabbit Hole edition? I know, i should know myself, but right now, i don't know whether to scratch my watch or wind my @$$.
For all you do, we appreciate you. For your diligence and self-sacrifice, was raise a glass, salute, and keep you both in our thoughts. Thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christmas at you, everyone. Play nice.
Did Harlan just call me a ho?
You humble me, my leige. If you want me to kill Rob I will. Freebie.
Merry goat--blood drinking day to all. Suck a teet, avoid the street.
Much love for my favorite warm blooded grafted devils.
Me and Daryl have the upraised black fist. Honkies step back.
--------------
The funny thing about O'Reilly is that Fox news has been giving out holiday cards and have been having holiday parties for years. Bill stays clamped. I cannot wait to see the day he gets carted off to the white padded room.
He will be eating bugs and carnal sins.
----------
Cindy, Barber, Dylag, Gwynnie, Douglas, you all are my favorites. Smootchers.
Stay frosty.
Racism
I just read that President-Elect Obama will be sworn in on the same bible used by Abraham Lincoln. I am in tears.
Racism is easy to identify, to act against, to target and say "bad!" Prejudice is a more difficult, slippery slope. Prejudice requires a more intense self-examination to root out and abolish.
I live in one of the whitest states in the country, which has always surprised me because it's also home to some of the most liberal, socialist and high-minded people in the country. We were the first state to declare for Obama. And yet, the only blacks who live in Stowe (with one or two notable exceptions) are the Jamaican ladies who come up every winter to work in the resorts. Granted, Stowe has a permanent population smaller than Wasilla, but still...
I am a blond, blue-eyed WASP. I am passionately anti-racist and a passionate believer in equal rights. I try very hard to take people at face value, on a one-on-one basis. And yet...I am generally uncomfortable around black people. And it's not that I'm prejudiced, it's that I'm so afraid of being judged as prejudiced that I freeze up. If I'm too nice, I'm prejudiced. If I'm not nice enough, I'm prejudiced. If I think someone's an asshole, if their skin is any darker than mine (and everyone's skin is darker), I'm prejudiced. I feel like I can't win for losing.
I will cop to being a bit of an elitist. I KNOW I'm a better person than that idiot woman who came into my shop the other day (I work in a resale shop), bought a bench, and then said, "aren't you glad I didn't jew you down on the price?". As I stared at her coldly, trying to form some devastating riposte along the lines of "you know, I'm Jewish", the phone rang and she walked away. Ah well. NEXT time...
Holidays
Should the day Nixon died be a national holiday? If that sounds a little too severe, how about the day he resigned? Or, maybe... both?
Racism... (and best meals -- not at the same time)
I do wish someone had warned me a little about BIRTH OF A NATION instead of just showing it in film class -- still traumatized by the 'heroic' KKK coming in to save the day from those evil low-breeds!
But what do you do about a genuine artist who's a bigot?
I studied Griffith after that and really love some of his shorts -- elegant, beautiful. But he's a racist. Whaddya do?
And what about Leni Riefenstahl? I don't buy her past 'I didn't know anything, I was an innocent little girl who didn't know what those nasty Hitler and Goebbels men were up to...'
And I can't watch TRIUMPH OF THE WILL without wanting to shred the screen with my blood-caked fingernails.
But I think her OLYMPIA is one of the greatest films ever made -- some of the finest images ever committed to celluloid. And that troubles me.
Don't have an answer, just bringing it up.
*******************************************************
Best meal ever: a little restaurant in Groningen, Holland called Mueller. The owner-chef, who knew no English, went out of his way to personally serve the two know-nothing Americans who'd popped in out of the blue. Marvelous meal on all counts.
But best conversation: saved up for years to finally go on that Safari trip to Africa. The irascible camp manager, whose wilting glare sent his minions hiding behind any available bushes and trees, had joined us at a 'boma' (group meal by a fire at night). Somehow he found out I knew about comics... and we were up all night discussing Doc Strange and the X-Men and the Dark Knight and Chris Claremont and all sorts of other superheroic characters. He was STARVED for anyone who knew anything about that particular cultural area. He wouldn't let us leave.
And we became friends for (so far) life. Don't know if I'll ever be able to afford to go there again, but I email him all the time about comics and movies based on comics (I won't tell him about the bad reviews for THE SPIRIT... and he's been thirsting for WOLVERINE since I told him it was in development.)
Small world.
***************************************************
My fave part of Christmas is the pagan Christmas Tree. I worship it.
Oh, and I guess I like those gifts, too.
A note to Susan:
Thanks for the gentle reminder. I'm sorry for being so dialtory, but my finances have been taking it in the nuts for the past month. I should be able to get myself up to date in a week or so.
And thanks for creating the Rabbit Hole in the first place. I hope you know how much we all appreceate it.
Chuck
Pagan Xmas
Mr. Ellison-
Your withering critique of Bill Oh-Really is, as always, horrendously accurate. In your list of holiday greetings you left out the pagan traditions on which Christmas is based. So on that note:
In nominou de nostri Satanis, Bon Saturnalia!
And on the subject of Christmas, I wanted to share this little nugget from chapter 10 of the book of Jeremiah:
1 Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel. 2 This is what the LORD says:
"Do not learn the ways of the nations
or be terrified by signs in the sky,
though the nations are terrified by them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless;
they cut a tree out of the forest,
and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
4 They adorn it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so it will not totter.
Christmas trees are blasphemous, apparently.
Hail Satan,
-Jordan
HO HO HO, TO ONE & ALL, BUT ESPECIALLY TO FRANK CHURCH:
Have a plentious and cheerious holiday, no matter which one (or more) you subscribe to:
CHANNUKAH
CHRISTMAS
KWAANZA
WHITSUNTIDE
THE TET OFFENSIVE
FESTIVUS, et al
and
for that yawping dunghill, Bill O'Riley, bloviating churl and detestable garlickeater...prey to the endless caprice anent the wholly mythical "War on Christmas" that exists solely in his dementia-festooned imagination, which makes him (as the word was used in Samuel Johnson's era to mean "someone mentally unbalanced") an "enthusiast"--with a "'" over the "u"--from the Greek root--this sober offering from a righteous Jewish Atheist:
Susan and I are preparing a pilot for our forthcoming (2009) Xmas tv special, GETTIN' JIGGY WIT JEEEZUZ! Bite THAT, Billy-Boy.
Again, Ho Ho Ho to all of you!
Yr. Pal, Harlan
I've never really had a memorable dinner upon which to comment, but I and my friends once did give up our seats for Harlan, Susan, and posse. It was at the pizza joint across from the venue where Dreams With Sharp Teeth was shown in Cleveland a couple years ago.
HARLAN & SUSAN: It took a bit of doing, but haunt the HERC mailbox. Happy Holidays!
***
I'm posting from a hotel in Renton. Tomorrow we catch an early flight for Orlando and six nights at Disney World. We as in: myself; hubby; Young Jackanapes (now 13, and don't you forget it, Mom); Youngest; mother-in-law; brother; niece. We want to give the kids good memories of this Christmas.
As for myself, I am wounded by I am not slain. It hurts, though...
shagin
To One And All:
Rabbit Hole #46 (with the original Ellison essay) was mailed today. Will someone in each time zone let me know when it arrives. Many thanks.
Tom Morgan: Your request was my pleasure. The package to Chris is on the way. You're a good guy.
Lost Herc Member: John Krocker--last in Austin, TX.
Best wishes to you all--
Susan
"Always fucking excuses for racism. ... Blah, blah blah. The cartoons and comics with the racist themes were trash and should be forgotten."
I will forget them, nobody else has to. I will not censor them. If I ever do I hope someone strangles me.
I also am worried about the force of right wing talk radio, amping up the Obama hate. I really don't want to see another black leader killed.
Compare my stance on racism in art to Harlan's stance on knife-kill films.
We will not ban them or suggest they be banned, but we will be able to go after offensive art or culture, because it is actually dangerous.
I also love South Park. No pc me.
Harlan, didn't want to ire you so close to the holidays. Better that it die now. Peace be unto the board.
Saquilla Cactus Church
TONY ISABELLA: You asked 2 questions. Here are two answers: yes, and yes.
MEMORABLE DINNER: Sometime in the Fall of 1960. New York City. Le Chateaubriand. Maurice Chevalier and me.
FRANK CHURCH: Yes, you did. Here is exactly what you said, on Sunday 21 December 08, at 10:16:49:
QUOTE: "Always fucking excuses for racism. ... Blah, blah blah. The cartoons and comics with the racist themes were trash and should be forgotten." UNQUOTE.
How is this NOT "baby with the bathwater" PC censorship?
One final word to one and all, including Frank Church and my beloved Carol Cooper: I KNEW Will Eisner, and it would break his heart even to hear someone WHO IS BEING UNACCEPTABLY JUDGMENTAL accuse him of racism. Will Eisner was a true man, a great and good man, a man of courage and kindness and humility, a model on which The Perfect Decent Human could be forged. And as for Sambo, the dear Little Black Sambo, his Aesoplike story is no more racist than A CHRISTMAS CAROL. I was even around to see the early-PC day when every Sambo's restaurant (and they were GREAT restaurants) altered their signs so Sambo wore a turban and was clearly from the Indian subcontinent...where they have tigers.
As for "white people" thinking it's amusing to give "black people" funny names, I recall NO white people who EVER gave "black people" names as stupid and hardly amusing as "black people" give their children, unless (racist that I am) you find naming kids NyQuillia or JerHighness wildly hilarious. And kindly donot ramble down Paralogia Lane by tossing at me, as ameliorative, as distraction, those asshole WHITE celebs who call their kids Bronx Mowgli DooWhaDitty Simpson or RocketMissile BangBanana or Pilot Inspektor Lee.
Semiliterate boobazoids of MANY colors seem to have run amuck, namewise--think how cozy a life will be had by the two sons of the knave who called his older Aryan Nation and his younger Adolf Hitler--but eschewing grand Afrocentric names such as Muhammed Ali or Kareem Abdul Jabbar to imprint your kid with a name that sounds like an over-the-counter psoriasis medication sorta places facedown on the playing surface most any "fuckin' whitey makin' funna blackfolks' names."
If you ask me. It's sorta like coming into court having never heard of the concept of "clean hands."
Harlan
Shane,
Funny timing. I just hung on my wall a beautifully framed VHS of that very movie, with a brass plate on it that reads, "Last feature ever released on VHS."
Got it framed, by the way, at Laurie's Flash Framers on Ventura, the best framer in LA, and thanks to our esteemed host for turning me on to her.
Did you know "A History of Violence" was the last major Hollywood
film released on VHS? It was, according to the L.A. Times article found at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-et-vhs-tapes22-2008dec22,0,4649589.story
Dinner
Steve B:
Back about 20 years ago I lived on the west side of LA, and discovered a tiny neighborhood restaurant called the Palms Bistro. There were three things on the menu: chicken with vegetables and cream sauce, filet mignon with vegetables and cream sauce, and fish with vegetables and cream sauce. Place was run by a little tiny Filipino lady named Marie Boden. About half the time you could only get two of the items on the menu because for whatever reason she didn't feel like making all of them. Other times she'd get a hankering to make something else and she'd just tell you what the special was.
Best food in the whole world. Any of it. All of it.
There were only four tables. They were almost always all filled with local folks who knew what was tasty. In the back, behind the kitchen, there was a little extra room, not remotely authorized by the city or in any way up to code, where there was another couple tables and a couch and a beat up old piano.
The mood of the place was like visiting a beloved, slightly dotty old aunt, whose entire focus was food and conversation. Marie would scurry about in flip fops, pouring tasty but undoubtedly cheap wine from carafes, then hustle back to cook the food, then pull up a chair at one table or another for a visit. My goodness what a wonderful restaurant!
I remember a friend went salmon fishing in Alaska and came back with an ice chest full of fresh fish. He took it to Marie and said "do something wonderful with this" and then about ten friends squeezed into the little back room for the best fish I've ever eaten.
I remember showing up late one night when the restaurant was mostly empty, and Marie sitting down at my table, pouring us both a glass of wine, and telling me the story of the her first love, back home in the Philippines, when she was a very young girl.
All this is preface to my answer to your question about a one memorable meal. Around the time I was frequenting the Palms Bistro, I was dating a young lady and we were very much in love. Complicating matters was the fact that my young lady had gotten a job in the Bay Area and was about to leave town. Our possible future together was suddenly in doubt.
I wanted to do something special before she left town, so I called Marie to make reservations for a goodbye dinner. More trouble, she was booked full that night. But Marie took pity on my plight and told me that there was a storefront next to hers that she'd ben leasing to a florist who had gone bust and cleared out. If we wanted, she could set up a table in there.
And so it was that my lady love and I had an entire, somewhat ramshackle former florist shop to ourselves, lit only by the candle on our table, watching the early evening sunlight fade away to deep darkness, saying our goodbyes and pledging our undying love despite all obstacles.
Marie had wheeled her piano into the space, and she played for a while, something simple and sweet. We even got up and slow danced a couple of numbers.
It was the most romantic meal I've ever had.
I'd love to say that it cemented the relationship, and that this was the woman I married, but eventually we broke up. Not really anybody's fault, we just weren't quite right for each other. We were good at being friends, but not so good at being partners. And somewhere in all that there is a useful lesson about the difference between lasting love and romance. The woman I married was not the woman I had the doomed romantic dinner with, but boy are we a swell team.
My one regret is that, because Marie had played such a part in the romance with this previous lady, I was too mortified to go back and tell her that we'd broken up. By the time I went back to see her, the restaurant had closed.
MM
Memorable Dinners
The most memorable dinners I've had were when my extended family got together. I have had some interesting people in my family: my grandfather was a statesman and professor at Princeton; my grandmother was witty and acerbic and loved telling stories; my Uncle Sid is an authority on Russian Literature; and my brother has managed to live a fascinating life. When we all got together (which wasn't nearly often enough), we would sit at the dinner table for hours after we'd finish eating, drinking wine and telling stories. My grandfather would talk about Princeton and the people he knew there, Einstein and Oppenheimer and others; my mom would tell the story of taking Secretary Marshall sailing; my brother would talk about when his pet 6 foot alligator ate the neighbor's dog. I've been meaning for years to pull all those stories together into a book. It will happen one of these days!
Rainy Days and Mon-da-days
Sadly, even though I've been to a variety of countries (Spain, Italy and Sicily, Crete, Israel, United Arab Emirates), I can't recall one spectacular restaurant visit. There have been memorable ones, certainly, like when I ordered a Pina Colada and was greeted by some soupy yellowish drink (no ice, just a combination of alcohols) that tasted horrible. Or when I discovered calamari for the first time in Crete--but it was boiled, gray and squishy, with all its legs and suckers attached, and no breaded coating like you'll find in the States. I do recall that Italy had the best food overall, though the UAE (this was back in 1993) did try its best to offer a worldwide menu and appeal to all its British and American visitors in every way possible, even being extraordinarily polite to those lesser creatures of the Arab world, the women.
I've got to go for an hour-long drive in the rain now for a neurological exam. Yay. Last week, I was out in West L.A. to get my dislocated ankle looked at. They let me limp out of there when the "intern read" of the x-ray revealed no problems, only to call back Monday morning and wake me up (they weren't the ONLY ones to do so that day... AHEM!) to tell me the "physician's read" detected a "tiny fracture." But did Ortho call back last week to schedule me an appointment? Hell, no, that would indicate the medical profession had some proficiency to it! Whatever. I bought myself a cane at a thrift store for $6 and I am limping on.
(insert whistling from "Bridge On the River Kwai" here)
Holidays. Gawd. They're making me very testy. Everyone is asking, "What are you going to do for..." Screw your fancy home decorating and your plans for holiday parties and get-togethers and trips to The Grove and presents and all that. 'm gonna SLEEP, if you don't mind.
Hydrox
Can I get away with a second post on my birthday?
My Sainted Wife Barb gave me a package of Hydrox cookies today. I don't know if they are as good as I remember them being when I was a kid, but they're still REAL good.
Harlan, did you ever find these? If so, were they as good as you remember them being?
Tony
Memorable Dinners
Mr. Barber,
I was a bit unclear as to your question, whether it was the best meal of one's life, or the one with the most memorable dinner companions.
If it was the first, then the best meal I have ever had was in a restaurant in Florence, Italy called Il Latini. The 4 course meal was served family style and included unlimited house wine. My three companions and I were the first people to arrive that night we stood in line a full 90 minutes before opening) so the owner gave us a free bottle of champagne. Memories of the food served (I do remember a veal served in lemon and butter that was more tender than I believed possible) are rather dream like, both because of the excellent quality of the meal as well as the 4 liters of wine we drank (in addition to the champagne). In retrospect, the limoncello after the meal was not a good idea, as it made the trip to Rome the next day slightly shall we say, uncomfortable
While I have had a chance to meet some celebrities, I have never shared a meal with any of them, so I would probably choose for a memorable meal with dinner companion the dinner I had at Fuddrucker's during MiniCon with Keith Cramer, Doug Lane, Kristin Ruhle, Rob Ewen, Rick Keeney, Jody Wurl and many others, including the blind singer that Harlan bonded with so much he called him "his brother from another mother". (Anyone remember his name?) Not sure there was ever any more than 5 seconds of silence during the entire meal, with all of the conversations flowing around the tables.
Outta here tomorrow to go to visit my family, Happy Holidays to everyone,
Mark
Dinners...
Steve B. - The one that always sticks out in my mind is a supper I had with the nuclear physicist, Edward Teller, about 25 years ago. After the main meal, he poured cold water into his coffee cup, about 1/3 cup, and proceeded to empty about 10 bags of sugar in it, one after the other. I kept waiting for him to stop after each one. He stirred the gooey contents and began eating it with a teaspoon. I suppose this was his "energy drink" in the pre-Red Bull days.
TONY:
Nice review!
BRIAN & DOC...:
Although I can only speak for myself in this, I have no particular problem with the mere existance of almost anything--whether I like and support the thing or not. Diversity makes the world go 'round. What I do have a problem with, sociologically speaking, is when only one type of "thing" is allowed to exist, or when a broad swath of the public is made to think that only one type of thing exists, existed, or even *should* exist. This is why I wanted to bring the Ormes book to broader (dare I say "mainstream") attention. Because without CONTEXTUAL examples from the time periods under discussion or dispute, people who don't know better will have legitimate reason to continue to believe that the cultural artifacts they are familiar with are the only cultural artifacts that then existed (or that then could exist).
Does anyone really believe that black actors and actresses (or "white" or Jewish ones) would have routinely corked-up to do blackface routines on stage had there not been pressure (most of it not positive pressure) for them to do so? Just because some people liked or enjoyed blackface comedy was no justification for all actors attempting to portray blacks on stage at a certain time in America's theatrical history to feel pressure (economic or social) to do so in the same artificial, messy, and rather ridiculous way. If I'm against anything in terms of media representation, I'm against the PRESSURE someone might feel to conform to a single standard, and the reluctance of a few contemporary pundits or historians to admit that there were any viable (or coexistant) alternatives.
For the record, remember I never accused Eisner of anything. People who knew him far better than I,who worked for or with him, and admired or were inspired by him, decided to explore these issues on film in a documentary about Eisner's life for posterity. And I admmire them--and the film--all the more for that.
@%$&, the Sequel
Please insert the following correction in the previous post. Thank you.
"Hopefully this will embarrass him hideously when he finds out I've posted it here."
Complete thoughts. Complete thoughts. Complete thoughts.
Monday Monday, so good to me
It's wet, rainy, gray and blech here in the City of Angels.
We finished shopping, donating to the local economy, Saturday with a last-minute rush to Costco. My Uncle's partner's best friend ("What's that to me?" "Nothing!") is gonna love the eighty pound box of chocolates...
We even hung our traditional outside ornaments from the rafters, and got the most important stuff on the tree.
And watched two different versions of A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Patrick Stewart and George C. Scott, respectively).
Merry Effing Xmas I'm tired.
____________________________________________
Webderlander James Moran, who made the journey from London to LALALand solely to meet his favorite writer, made note of the trip in his most recent blog. Homefully this will embarrass him hideously when he finds out.
(No copyright was injured in the reprinting of this paragraph.)
"I've already talked about meeting Harlan in detail on the blog, so you know the story. But it bears repeating how much of a big deal this was for me. Meeting one of your writing heroes, who then turns out to be wonderfully kind, funny and encouraging, is a fantastic experience. It also came at just the right time. I was overworked, tired, completely worn down (see next section), and he gave me the boost of energy and enthusiasm I needed. I had also just had a really bad haircut, and he was kind enough not to mention it. That, folks, is the true measure of a man."
(God. I may have succeeded in embarrassing TWO people with this. Woohoo!)
__________________________________________
Question for everyone, but Harlan in particular:
You've had some truly memorable dinners in your life, with a variety of spectacular dinner guests.
Does one stand out more than all others as being truly special?
Cris and I pinpointed our first evening in Paris, at Le Rotonde in Montparnasse as best among many good memories.
Harlan? Anyone? Beuhler?
racism and other stuff
I've been holding off on commenting here. Not that I haven't been thinking about it. How Joel Chandler Harris, a man who held views on blacks that weren't exactly enlightened, was also one of black culture's best preservationists. How many of the people who made movies now considered "racist" were actually very appreciative of black culture, but could come to grips with it only within the limitations of their own culture. How Even some of the best examples of the past, like John Hammond's "From Spirituals to Swing" concerts, Orson Welles's staging of __MacBeth_, could very easily be denounced as examples of racial condescension by some. How this tension of appreciation, and our own cultural boundaries, carries to this day.
Which makes me question whether our own standards of racism and not-racism make any sense, either. I mean, take kids who love gangsta culture. You can give it all kind of attributes-- macho, desire for vibrant culture, sense of danger, adventure-- but it carries as many racist assumptions as Stepin Fetchit.
I think we're in a bind here. On the one hand, we want to be as open-minded, culturally diverse, and appreciative as we can. We work against our own personal limitations, which we're only half-aware of, and we work against all the barriers our culture throws at us. But there's also all that ideology-- all the cultural loading and barriers and assumptions that we're not aware of because, well, it's the stuff that's seeped into our bones.
So when I look at stuff in the culture that's considered racist by our modern lights, I try to remember that, sometimes, it was made by people who _liked_ black culture, but could work with it only within their limits. As we do.
Not always. It's nearly impossible to look at _Birth of a Nation_ and have much sympathy for D.W. Griffith. But stuff like _Song of the South_ and _The Green Pastures_ has a strange mix of condescension and affection. And when you learn that the guys who made _Snow White and de Sebben Dwarfs_ loved hot jazz and got a lot of local black musicians to work on the cartoon... well, it kind of makes one question our _modern_ notions of appreciating other cultures, and if there isn't a lot of condescension and semi-racism there as well.
I mean, actual _hate_ is pretty evil, and easy to see, and over racist beliefs in the superiority and inferiority of groups of humans is pretty clear-cut. But hunting around in the culture for signs and signifiers, merely to assert our own superiority over the past or the "others" in our present... that sometimes feels like a moralist's failure of empathy than anything else.
Content of character and the classroom
As a denizen of the California educational system (norther california division, I was always intrigued by the passive things that were offered to us. In the back of the classroom there were always copies of "Catcher in the Rye", "The Bell Jar", "I never promised you a rose garden" and "ask alice". The school library was filled with Mark Twain, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H Rider Haggard and any number of writers that would be banned. For films, especially in Jr. High and High School there was ALWAYS "Birth of a Nation" and "Night and Fog" Content AND Context were things that teacher then wanted to pass on to us. It was important for us to see thing not only as it was, but the time that shaped it. Now, of course everyone is so scared to teach content, context has been thrown out with it.
During my forays in collection old radio shows, I aquired a number of Amos and Andy programs. Minstrel comedy, was done in black face as the social convention of the time looked askance as white people doing such things. In fact both actors did their show in 'blackface' before their radio audience. Al Jolson, "blacked up" for his minstrel/jazz performances till such time that form of music became acceptable. "Othello" has been a part where dark cosmetics were looked up as part and parcel. This does not excuse some of those things we now know as wrong. It merely puts them in a frame that explains them. Amos n Andy, by the way was one of the longest running programs on the air, even mutating into a Kraft Music Hall-type programs during its 1950s incarnation and its TV version with an all black cast was very sucessful and removed as the nation became more sensitive to this vestige of a bygone form of entertainment.
It is important to keep all these things, as lessons, as ways of show where we have moved forward or slipped back. Destroying them, banning them, merely is a way of denial, and showing lack of courage is acceptance. The Uncle Remus stories tell morals, as do all fables. Amos and Andy is a time capsule, like all mass entertainment. Books and Films that may carry racist and seemingly racist content tells you as much about the artist as it does about the audience it was created for.
Now please excuse me why I watch my copy of "The Ducktators".
Happy holidays.
Frank,
It's a little more complex than that. Noted collections of African American literature alway retain Joel Chandler Harris' "Br'er Rabbit stories" because everyone agrees that those stories are part of consistent oral tradition from Africa. The mythic totems in those stories are universal, and Harris' transmission, tinged by racism and replete with all the trappings of minstrelsy, is still valuable.
The old minstrelsy routines also are also part of the foundation of clasic works like John Berryman's Dream Songs, where Mr. Bones becomes an iconic figure of death.
Similarly, there are entire chapters of Huckleberry Finn that are, indeed, nothing but "minstrely." They become more meaningful in the greater context of the work, of course, and the book is certainly an outcry against slavery, racism and the whole United States of Lyncherdom, but Twain was also a comedian and Jim is certainly the butt of a few broad and embarrassing jokes, much as Don Quixote was the horse's ass, on occasion, in Cervantes' novel.
We no longer read Erasmus of Rotterdam, we no longer praise folly, and we live in a serious age when everything is reduced to either robotoic seriousness or cruel quips and attacks. There is something valuable in Jolson, at the great African entertainers who used cork, at old race records that would make polite, white society cringe--a thousand things that are unexpected can be found in our racist past. We simply need to look at who we are. "Zip-a--dee-doo--dah," was a song I sang innocently in my childhood. It's from a racist movie called Song of the South, which has terribly uncomfortable scenes of a little boy bossing around black adults who show him deference, but the song was better than the film, as was Bill "Bo Jangles" Robinson's dancing in Shirley Temple films. I am too afraid at times that we live in a completely sanitized culture that does not acknowledge the rather racist white actors who played "Amos and Andy" on radio, or the black actors who played them on film.
Steve Dooner
Now we are reading my mind. Which may scare small children.
I don't want to "burn" or censor any thing, I try to avoid obviously racist speech, unless it has some redeeming value or makes a provacative argument. Me laughing at the racists at that white racist site, well, that's for my own pleasure.
Just glad we live in a world that no longer has Amos and Andy and bug-eyed minstrels. David Lee Roth doesn't count.
--------------
Carol Chomsky RIP
Plug I Must
I reviewed the Jackie Ormes book here:
http://www.cbgxtra.com/default.aspx?tabid=42&view=topic&forumid=28&postid=48882
There's nothing quite like the thrill of discovering a terrific new-to-me cartoonist.
Tony Isabella
RIAA to stop lawsuits
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122966038836021137.html
The article from the local paper mentioned that the cost was greater than the judgements.
Re: Racism in THE SPIRIT
Dear Friends - Some of you need to read, savor, really LOOK AT some things before you start chucking them out with the garbage (Frank, I'm looking at you...).
On the subject of Eisner's "racism", I concede that, as a particular example, the character of Ebony White was indeed presented in a "minstrelsy" stereotypical style. But all of that was superficial twaddle. I draw a distinction between how Ebony was presented and how he was portrayed - because in his portrayal, one finds that he was a loyal, capable, reliable assistant to the hero, helping The Spirit out of many tight spots. To my knowledge, none of the good guys ever made much if any reference to his race. In fact, over the course of the comic, Eisner made a point of developing Ebony's character above his appearance and dialog. How many comics, back in the day, book or strip, even HAD Black characters, let alone assigned on as the hero's trusted, respected friend and side-kick? If I may borrow from Dr King, we should judge Ebony White not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character - because, in the end, that character virtually mocks the stereotype. And if you're still sniffing at Eisner and smelling racism, I direct you to another Black character among the the SPIRIT milieu: Detective Grey, a very capable Black man, with NONE of the minstrel show trappings. A lot of people, over the years, have done a lot of shouting of "Uncle Tom!" about Eisner's Black character - which I don't get. Uncle Tom (of "...Cabin" fame) was a noble, kind, loving, decent man, who allowed himself to be beaten to death, rather than rat out a pair of slaves who escaped - he didn't even try to escape himself!
And regarding Sambo's, evidently there was a chain of them - we had one in Oklahoma City, in my youth. Their pancakes were unbeatable. They had a series of drawings high on the wall depicting the adventures of Little Black Sambo - when I was very small, my mother would tell me the story while we waited for our food. I don't recall ever thinking of it in racist terms - the kid just happened to be Black, which my mom never made an issue of in the tale. Which, in all the firey hoo-ha about racism, suggests that we need fewer censors and more responsible parents.
And before any further barbs are cast at DW Griffith, let's take a moment to consider that his film took its subject matter from a novel, THE CLANSMAN, by Thomas Dixon. I confess, I haven't read this, but I HAVE been in several history classes in my time, and I know that in the post-war South, the behavior of most of the occupying forces of the Conquering Heroes was hardly more laudable and gracious than that as perceived of their former enemies.
When it's all said and done - Miller's SPIRIT movie is still going to suck.
USA
Optical prescriptions change over time, and those who view works of art high and low through the lenses of today commit the logical error that David Hackett Fischer calls “Presentism.” Anyone who has read “Fahrenheit 451” or a history of Cambodia's Year Zero has to know that this leads us over a cliff.
Twain
Many years ago, when I was but a wee college student, I happened to be sitting behind another student when the Professor in an American literature class said that Mark Twain's HUCKLEBERRY FINN accurately depicted the racist attitudes of its time, while presenting a character who ultimately rejected them.
I saw this student write in his notes, "MARK TWAIN: RACIST!", underling the adjective three times, and adding an exclamation point.
In truth, Twain was nothing of the kind. Read his essays, his political arguments, even his other fiction, and you'll see that he rejected racism as thoroughly as any writer of his generation ever did, at times expressing contempt for the white race for the way it treated other cultures.
"Bad" books
The first time I ran into this issue was when a friend of mine was getting her Ph.D. at Duke about 15-20 years ago. I mentioned to her reading Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". She said that her professors (bigshots one and all) had told her that she was NOT to read that terrible, racist, imperialist, nasty little book. I was stunned by this, as my friend, who had never read the thing, went on at great length about just how terrible, horrible, no good, and very bad it was.
I have watched "Birth of a Nation" and find it reprehensible, and "Gone with the Wind" is objectionable because it's trashy and vulgar as much as its views of race relations are retarded. I can say those things because I saw the offending items. The unspoken fear (as Robert Hughes and Katha Pollit have so ably demonstrated) is that "we" right-thinking people have to prevent young folks from seeing this stuff because their reservoir of allusions is so empty, their minds so literal, and their experience so circumscribed, that they may swallow the pro-KKK message of Griffith's film whole. PC types fear, with a smidgen of reason, that kids read so little that if they get "The Turner Diaries" in their skull, it will act as a template for their ideas and perhaps even actions. But as Hughes and Pollit contend, the only answer to this is for kids to see more films, read more books, and develop a little judgment.
Control of the Past in Order to Control the Future
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
Have just entered this interchange between Mr. Church and our dear host about P.C. and expunging the historial record of various bits of "racist" literature. Allow me my two cents worth.
My parents sent me, a mere lad of sixteen, to Continential Europe and the U.K. for a "Grand Tour" of six weeks. While in Bavaria, in probably the coldest June I can remember, my group, comprised mostly of college students, visited Dachau. Saw everything the Allies and, later, the State of Israel wanted to remain standing: the guard towers, barbed wire, concrete slabs where stood the barracks, the crematoria, etc. That visit, combined with my grandfathers' memories of fighting in Europe during WW II, convinced me that anti-Semitism, or any sort of bigotry and closed-mindedness, was simply wrong. To contradict Mr. Church, by NOT expunging Dachau, or even "Mein Kampf", for that matter, which I have read, along with "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", we have allowed ourselves these last sixty-three years to learn about a time when bigotry ruled. Had the same feeling when I visited Ireland ten years ago, and saw many graves of those who didn't escape "The Hunger". Made me question the verities of "free trade". Words like "paddy", "mick", and, my favorite Victorian slur against the Irish, "white Negro", don't offend me, but remind me of the extremes to which such attitudes drive people.
So, when I read "that word" in "Tom Sawyer", or "Huckleberry Finn", I realize that I ought to dampen my own usage of ANY slur against ANY group. Without reading Twain, or visiting Dachau, or reading histories about nineteenth-century American treatment of Native Americans, I'm not sure what sort of person I'd be today. I've seen "Birth of a Nation", and "Gone with the Wind", and I've read Howard, and Ellison--check out Mr. E.'s story from "Slippage", "Nackles". Makes me treat people as just people, which, according to genetics, is all we are. Race is merely an artificial construct.
I'm not saying show "Birth of a Nation" in the local movie megaplexes, but don't burn all the prints, either. Censorship originating from anti-racism is a form, to me, of racism itself: a painting of people as being so un-intelligent that they can't make up their own minds. The censors, therefore, feel that they themselves must make up those minds for them, and must make them not learn from the past in order to control their future behavior. My major complaint with P.C. Stalin and Goebbels would approve.
I'm young enough to remember the "Sturm und Drang" created when Monty Python's "Life of Brian" was banned in Boston, but not in Cambridge or in parts north of the city. The cinemas in the latter cities made major bank, from people fleeing Boston. Did the movie insult Christianity or Catholicism? No, it poked fun at religious conformity, the very thing on display during protests against the movie. Made me more open-minded about religion, not less.
Well, back to the shovelling. (Twenty-three inches of snow, so far.)
Regards from, but not banned in, the "other coast",
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
Sambo's Restaurant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo's
Sambo's Restaurant was much like Denny's, and when I was a kid and we went there every Sunday for breakfast. Not once did it ever occur to my child's mind that the story of "Little Black Sambo" was any different than that of the restaurant's "Little Sambo" where, by the mid-'70s and for the purposes with the goal of the restaurant's success, the story was streamlined and the Sambo's mascot was NOT African (http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/8/9/7/5/3/5/webimg/207992373_tp.jpg).
Of course it was reflective of the time it was written in, calling the parents "Mumbo" and "Jumbo" but, as has already been said here, you make that clear to a kid and then the "racist" portions fall by the wayside in favor of the story itself. The gist of the story, to my child's mind, always concerned the character's bad misfortune to lose items of his wardrobe to bully tigers, only to be fortunate and get them all back while watching his enemies defeat themselves. Non-violent, endure what life subjects you to and you will succeed, almost King-like message to live by.
Sambo
I remember Little Black Sambo very clearly and fondly. My parents read it to me often, and I don't remember any confusion or concerned discussion about it. What I enjoyed most and still remember vividly was the tigers and their transformation into butter. Sambo was just an ingenious kid, like me.
There's a restaurant in Lincoln City, on the north central coast of Oregon that has the appropriate pictures of the characters and you can tell it USED to be called "Little Black Sambo's," but the sign has obviously been altered and it says something else now. "Little Sambo's," maybe.
"I am talking about Little Black Sambo, overt stuff."
Haven't read LITTLE BLACK SAMBO myself, but Robin Wood offers the following defence of it (in an article on race in Hollywood cinema that appeared in CINEACTION):
"A few decades ago I used to read LITTLE BLACK SAMBO to my children: it was one of the books they requested most frequently. We thought the names the author gave his characters pretty silly (no one is really called Black Jumbo and Black Mumbo), but I explained that the book was written a long time ago when pink people thought it was amusing to give brown people funny names, a concept which a reasonably intelligent three-year-old has no difficulty in assimilating. I was delighted with the ease with which my kids were able to identify with the problems, sorrows and triumphs of an intelligent, resilient and resourceful hero who happened to be 'black'. There was no question of condescension or distance: as I reread the familiar story, they were Little Black Sambo. The book of course is no longer obtainable".
Octavia Butler cannot be read too often or enjoyed too much. She practiced her craft with dedication, intelligence, and love.
shagin
I never said to ban it, I simply said that we should never soft soap racism, even in art. Mark Twain was describing the times, but not saying they were good--a strong difference.
I am obviously talking about overt racism, not provacative discussion of racism. I am a fan of both Spike Lee and Public Enemy, who have both gotten in trouble for comments.
I love Little Rascals, which have racial stereotypes. But, to see black kids and white kids as friends was a good first step.
I am talking about Little Black Sambo, overt stuff. Imagine how many people were hanged from the stereotypes parlayed.
I am radically pro-first amendment, but also believe in consumer freedom. If it offends turn it off.
I am not pc, really I am not. Love me, love meeeee!
----------
Public Enemy told it best:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6MlwT1lBk0
We've already lost SONG OF THE SOUTH, one of my favorite films as a kid. And, as Harlan points out, you doom TOM SAWYER and HUCKLEBERRY FINN as well.
We don't forgive the sin by blanking out the past -- you view the past through modern eyes thereby seeing the progress that both has been and still needs to be made.
(For those who don't read the Forae, I'll repeat a recent endorsement of Octavia Butler's fine novel KINDRED.)
FRANK CHURCH ADDENDUM:
Do you REALLY think such a despicable, PC attitude has even a poisonous drop of volume when it would first of all banish and forget Mark Twain, GONE WITH THE WIND, most of Robert E. Howard and even early writings by Harlan Ellison?
As we progress, we learn, Frank.
FRANK CHURCH:
Uh-uh, not cool. That last one goes over the line.
Harlan
Frank,
Should racist films like THE BIRTH OF A NATION also be forgotten, despite being important historically?
-Sonny
Sara, please no straying. We scare too many women away from the forums. I can't explain it. The girls just can't hang with all this masculine fire.
Which cheek do you want to slap first?
--------------
Always fucking excuses for racism: "oh, it was the age where that kind of thing was accepted"--blah, blah blah. The cartoons and comics with the racist themes were trash and should be forgotten. The makers of it should do alms and ask our forgiveness. Break a branch off the tree and whip that white fanny. Listen to Strange Fruit in a dark room with candles and bring kleenex.
We need to wash our hands of it.
fini.
Eisner & The Spirit....
A very smart and wide-ranging documentary on the life and work of Wil Eisner screened at this year's New York Comic Con, and helped me to more fully appreciate his intelligence and his various contributions to the comics medium.
However.
If I remember correctly, among the many talking heads in the doc who were tapped to explain and/or excuse the often goofy, even "coonish" black stereotypes that Eisner drew as sidekicks during his Spirit run were Jules Feiffer and Kyle Baker. Perhaps even Nat Hentoff. as well as Miller, etc. ....iirc.
They mostly felt (excepting Feiffer, who took a harder view) that Eisner believed American newspaper audiences in the '30s, '40s and 50s would not have understood or accepted more realistically and attractively drawn black characters that did not speak in mistrel-show dialect. They further claimed that Eisner would not have seen or had access to other ways of drawing black characters during the decades when The Spirit became popular.
This last assumption is not true.
A marvelous, new, fully illustrated career biography of the political black cartoonist Jackie Ormes proves that from 1937 until 1956, nationally distributed black-owned newspapers in America ran four different strips created at different times by Ormes that reached up to 300,000 readers weekly.
Ormes--a prominant member of Chicago's black entrepreneurial class, the same milieu which produced Lorraine Hansberry--drew predominantly female, attractive, modern (and proto-feminist!) black characters to comment wittily on racial, economic, and gender politics in the USA. And earned herself an FBI file in the '50s for her trouble. People who are fans of *The Spirit* owe it to themselves to become familiar with Ormes's work. The book is from University of Michigan Press, written by Nancy Goldstein. The title is: "Jackie Ormes: The First Black American Female Cartoonist."
DOONER'S NEW HARLAN-MADE LABEL
DOONER: That had to hurt. Semiliterate _fanboy_: at least I'm one rung above you on the IQ ladder...at semiliterate paramecium.
Cheers from paradise (aka, Melbourne),
DTS
Harlan,
I've been reading your stuff since I was 12 (that's 41 years, darlin'. I can't fuckin' believe it either), and have read most of what you've recommended over the years - Hugo, Borges and Bester to name a few - and so far it's about 90% to the good. So yes, I'd say our reading tastes are simpatico. I'm enjoying Not Wanted on this Voyage immensely and look forward to reading the others. I also recently read The Bestiary by Nicholas Christopher, which I found interesting, and the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik which I loved (I understand Peter Jackson has bought the rights to the series - would love to watch those movies!).
Did you ever read any of the Edgar Box (aka Gore Vidal) books? When I was 16 my friends and I found a copy of Death Likes it Hot in my father's library and had a wonderful time entertaining each other with dramatic readings. It was fabulous. Who knew pulp mysteries could be so much fun?
Keeney/infomite,
Margaret St. Clair wrote a book I adored when I was a kid, called The Dolphins of Altair. I haven't read in in about 20 years, but as I remember, it's worth tracking down.
lovely day, all - we're expecting another snow storm, so I'll be hunkered down with cocoa and a movie this evening. See you tomorrow.
The Spirit
I came across a couple of of "The Spirit" posters a few months back but couldn't even sell 'em on eBay for pennies, a realm where people will buy anything from toenail clippings to old Army jets. I found that to be an interesting early indication of the hype... or lack thereof... concerning the film.
I've never been big on comic books, myself. I once owned the "Boy and His Dog" comic books and had the entire collection of "Quantum Leap" comic books, but that was the extent of my interest for that particular medium.
And I KNEW that I hung out here for a reason! Harlan's presence and passion for writing has inspired me to create an original short story for the first time in a little under a year. The only disappointing factors are that it's not very long, and I don't know that it's very good, either. Ah, well. It's something. And it just goes to show you what hanging out with the right crowd will do for you.
The Short Story in Question
Rick Keeney,
I believe you are looking for:
"An Egg a Month from All Over", by Idris Seabright (pseudonym of Margaret St. Clair)
Appeared as follows::
* 1952. The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1952 (1952, Anthony Boucher, J. Francis McComas, $0.35, 130 pages, Magazine)
* 1954. Human? (1954, Judith Merril Lion, Paperback, Anthology)
* 1954. Human? (1954, Judith Merril Lion, Catalog ID: #205, $0.25, 190 pages, Paperback, Anthology)
* 1963. Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales (1963, Isaac Asimov, Groff Conklin Collier Books, Catalog ID: #LCC# 6221646, $0.95, 285 pages, Paperback, Anthology)
* 1966. The Vintage Anthology of Science Fantasy (1966, Christopher Cerf Vintage, ISBN-10: 034070326X, $1.95, 310 pages, Paperback, Anthology)
* 1974. Change the Sky (1974, Margaret St. Clair Ace, Catalog ID: #10258, 300 pages, Paperback, Collection)
* 1974. Change the Sky and Other Stories (1974, Margaret St. Clair, Collection)
* 1974. Change the Sky and Other Stories (1974, Margaret St. Clair Ace, Catalog ID: #10258, 300 pages, Paperback, Collection)
* 1985. The Best of Margaret St. Clair (1985, Margaret St. Clair, Martin H. Greenberg Academy Chicago Publishers, ISBN-10: 0897331648, $4.95, viii+271 pages, Collection)
* 1997. Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales (1997, Isaac Asimov, Groff Conklin Simon & Schuster/Scribner, ISBN-10: 0684842963, $7.95, 287 pages, Paperback, Anthology)
Hope that helps,
informationally, the mite
Various
Dr Despicable: You are not alone. Based on advance word, THE SPIRIT is well on its way toward becoming one of the most reviled movies of the millennium. I am sorry about that, too, since I venerate Eisner and have enjoyed (some of) Miller's comic-book work immensely. But this thing seems to give off a stench.
*
In this news item, a lawyer has been jailed for passing his shackled client "a piece of candy" in court.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20081219/odd-lawyer-arrested/
Mentioned here because what's the charge? Malomarpractice?
-24 windchill with 5" of new snow, if you were wondering
Please help me out folks. I'm looking for a short story title. It's a classic. I thought it was "An Egg a Day From All Over." Damned if I can find it. What the hell is the title of this story? I can't even remember the name of the lady who wrote it...
Help?
Love,
Virgil Oddum
Listening to Son House. "Death Letter" floats my chilly boat.
DOC wrote: " by which I mean "ass-gravy with barbed chunks"."
PUCKER FACTOR! ....ouch...ouch...ouch...
shagin
What with all the current chit-chat about movies and comic books and heroes, super and not-so-super, and movies about comic books super/not-so-super heroes, I thought I'd ask:
Is it wrong of me not to really enjoy much of Frank Miller's work, as a writer/artist/director? Yeah, yeah, new attitude, new directions, et cetera and like that - innovator, yadda-yadda. I haven't read the "Sin City" series, but I did see and enjoy the movie. The trouble with that is, there were several directorial hands in that one, and only one whose work consistently appeals to me.
And now we have these trailers for the forthcoming movie of "The Spirit", and it looks just awful, by which I mean "ass-gravy with barbed chunks". An affront to all that Eisner was doing. And I happen to glance at my shoulder and found this chip growing there.
So is it me? Or, to quote Alexander Woollcott, who pinched the line from Tallulah Bankhead, is there "less there than meets the eye?" I'm not trying to start any fights, so if you dig Miller, please put an ice pack on any sore spots; and I confess that my comics background is woefully under-informed. And it is not impossible that this is mostly because I hate what I see of what he's done to a favorite of mine. But I just don't get Miller.
Timothy Findley
Wow, I'm delighted to see Timothy Findley not only mentioned on the Pavvy, but specifically singled out for praise by Harlan. I don't think I've ever seen him refer to Findley before, and I've been a big fan of _Not Wanted on the Voyage_ for many many years. _Butterfly Plague_ is pretty good, but I'd also recommend his coast o' Maine murder mystery novel, _The Telling of Lies_, and his memoir, _Inside Memory: pages from a writer's workbook_. _Famous Last Words_ is one of the great book titles, but it's a strange book.
I wasn't that enamored of _The Piano Man's Daughter_ and haven't gotten 'round to a couple of the other late novels, _Headhunter_ and _Pilgrim_. But I will, eventually. _Not Wanted on the Voyage_ is one of my very favorite "unknown" novels.
DOONER, YOU SEMILITERATE FANBOY:
It's J-E-F-F-T-Y
not "Jefty."
P.S.: I haven't read an issue of ANY of the 51,000 dopey Batman titles with which DC has swamped the groaning universe, lo these last eight or so years since they thought it was cute to have his back broken and then send him out to work again. So don't ask me about Batman again till DC has completed the current medical programme of lobotomizing its semiliterate fanboy editorial staff. Kapeesh?
MOVIES
WOLVERINE trailer...well, not an X-Men devotee to start with...tailer didn't entice me.
As I said before,JOHNNY DEPP would be up to replacing LEDGER's indelible performance as THE JOKER...
SEVEN POUNDS...as the major star in the world, Will Smith must be testing his box office appeal by appearing in a movie with zero entertainment value. A leaden lump in the execution of what might have looked like an intriguing idea on paper. Give me BAD BOYS III or MEN IN BLACK III next before such ill-advised experiments as 7#
PS to Sara...hey, my syntax sucks at 3am! MY fault, not yours!!
Holiday Greetings
Well guys, I am asshole deep to a nine foot Sasquatch in that white stuff we here in the Pacific Northwest call.....SNOW. Looks like a White Christmas after all. Anyway to Harlan, Susan and all on this site, including you Frank Church....Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Hey Jefty!
Are you reading the latest Grant Morrison story in Batman comics? I know its not as good as The Demolished Man, but do you think Bruce is really dead? Will Dick become Batman? Is Dr. Hurt really Thomas Wayne?
I also just read that Doc Savage story you told me to read. Do you really think people can be turned into hideous giants?
Steve
Steve Dooner
SARA SLAYMAKER:
Unless I'm comparing apples and oranges (i.e., your reading taste and mine)you will find the Findley not just a hoot, but a sheer delight.
If you do, I would suggest, of similar excellence, THE BUTTERFLY PLAGUE and THE LAST OF THE CRAZY PEOPLE.
Harlan
Wolverine
Anyone see the new WOLVERINE trailer playing in theaters now? Any thoughts?
(I'm conflicted over it, so I'd like to hear what others say. Though Liev Schreiber seems a good choice as Sabretooth... Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool??? Dunno)
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Looks like California Attorney General Jerry Brown is going to try to overturn Prop. 8 -- good luck. The forces of evil are arrayed against him.
Um, yeah. In 1968.
*sigh*
Why Democracy Will Never Work in the United States...
NYT Poll
GENERAL OPINION
72%...agreed Richard Nixon was a man of “high integrity”
Yikes...but even worse...
51%....agreed Richard Nixon had a “warm personality.” (?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?)
To update Mr. Lincoln...you can fool 51% of the people all the time...and that’s enough.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/12/20/opinion/20081220opchart_ready.html
Books
Sorry, please disregard that Mailinator thing. All it's getting from here is spam mail, no legit mail. Whatever.
You're right, Rob, I was a little thrown by your syntax ("I know there are many factors, including region and terrain (Europe had climates in more east-west longitudes; Americas, more north-south); another was the use of horses, long before the Spanish brought them over."). I will parse a little more thoroughly in the future before saying anything.
I sympathize, Steve - I'm up every morning before 6:30 to feed horses and clean stalls, and on those rare occasions that I get to sleep in, I can't. I have to say, though, that it was nice being up early this morning. It's been snowing here and we have about 8"; it was very quiet, except for the horses munching hay, and the sun was just rising, painting the sky. All in all, a great way to get centered and prepared to face the day and deal with the the ski yahoos.
Harlan
Kim, a.k.a KOS is incommunicado because of sunspots, magnetic flux or internet problems so as his official Igor I have been told to let you know that he would be more then happy to receive any books from you to be sold on the internet.
I’m sure he will be back with us soon, but till then he and I would like to wish you and Susan a very happy Holiday.
Waiting in my dungeon…….Gary
F$#@ My Internal "Car" Alarm
(I have no business being up at 6am on a Saturday, but my internal clock doesn't have an effing snooze button. Neeeed cooofffeee...)
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Rob, I must've misread your post as well, so missed the horse stuff.
There's a completely logical explanation for the technological disparity: Ancient Astronauts. They gave the Aztecs and Mayans everything they needed.
Okay, seriously, you're right on a lot of counts, but I think it's actually much simpler than you're suggesting.
The northern latitudes had to contend with much harsher weather patterns than did the ancient central and South American cultures (particularly during the Little Ice Age, which began in roughly the 1200s, making Europe and Northern Asia challenging places to live). When crops grow relatively easily, and your enemies have roughly the same sharp objects that you do, and the priests can easily have someone offed for not paying proper -- oh, wait, that would be the Spanish Inquisition, sorry.
Postulate #1: Adversity inherently causes creativity.
The Americas lacked some of the natural resources for simple development. China invented gunpowder and exported the concept to Europe, while Europe became more advanced in metalurgy because of the need for things that could contain heat during cold winters.
Postulate #2: Resources plus Adversity cause Technology
Horses were used primarily for two things: transport and agriculture. The native American cultures may have been impacted more by the lack of trade -- as was made possible by horse as well as ship. Lacking the horse, Native Americans did not have the means to discover new technologies, and given the lack of truly hostile weather conditions they did not need the development of metalurgical skills as the Europeans and Asians did.
Postulate #3: Technology, applied correctly, speeds the development of other technologies.
In other words, European and Asian cultures had greater resources and motivation to develop the more advanced technologies faster. I don't agree that Pizarro would have gotten his ass fully kicked -- but even if he had, the likely overwhelming military response from European powers would ultimately have been just as deadly to the South American empires.
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I drove past the Croatan National Forest during my recent trip to North Carolina. I considered visiting but ended up spending the day on Emerald Isle with my sister and her kids. Looked like a beautiful place, however.
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Roger - Thank you for the aside. Yes, much agreed. Now, if only we can get the Transfer on board (pun intended).
The weather may have been brutak, but were the borogoves as mimsy as ever???
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HARLAN, SUSAN - Thank you again. Most sincerely appreciated.
Semi-Writer, I sent you two emails about the book list several days ago (to the Mailinator address), and I haven't heard back from you. Did you receive them? Please contact me at the email address above. Thanks.
Sara Slaymaker,
"While horses were native to North America at one time, they died out. There were no horses for aboriginal Americans to utilize. The Spanish brought them over"
Well...yeah...wasn't a body here who thought or d'clared otherwise. I made the point myself in my OWN post. I mention this because it strikes me that you missed it in your reading.
The horses being here till some 10,000 years earlier made sense because of the land bridges.
But the relevance in THIS argument is that the application of horses in the Old World lent to the technological leaps there.
'Nobody Important':
"Europe was an Iron Age culture, Pre-Columbia was still only Bronze Age. (The effects of gunpowder can't be dismissed, either)"
Like Sara's, your parenthetical suggests you missed stuff in my post.
Everything in your response misses my core question: WHY the discontinuity in the evolution of technology between the two continents? Your speculations about Pizarro aside, there is no QUESTION about who held the technological cards.
Since, historically, the Bronze Age preceded the Iron Age, and the latter ended around something like 1,000BC, your reply offers little about the REASONS for the disparities.
The Americas had been populated by natives for around 12,000 years. The Earth was made up of worlds unaware of each other's existence. Yet, while Greeks were evolving in culture and written language (yet another factor aiding later in technology! Oh, yeah! How could we leave THAT one out?) during their Hellenic period, I haven't the information yet about the course of ancient peoples on THIS continent.
The basic question, then, is "WHY?" WHY, for example, didn't any native here observe and consider the explosive reaction when certain basic chemicals interact with another? In Asia, it was around 200BC when they "accidentally" discovered the basis of the firecracker when they observed bamboo rods explode in a flame. How come no such dynamic in discovery took place in tribal societies? Indians had proved themselves remarkably adaptable in many ways; yet, the potential in higher mechanics elude them. For THOUSANDS of years!
Now, however, I have TWO guesses that might explain the main reasons: motives in war (I mean its domino effect in wealth, power, and the spread of empires via the seas); AND...WRITTEN language. No tool, perhaps even the wheel, held more power. I mean, the systemization of linguistics lent directly to abstraction and theory, in turn opening doors to higher studies. This mechanism developed in Hellenic Greece, Asia, and ancient Persia; helluva catalyst.
Didn't quite work out that way in tribal societies.
Anyway, I think it's fascinating.
I DID see a segment of the PBS documentary, 'Guns, Germs, and Steel'; but only that one. The first of the three, about the Spaniards and the Mayans. Learned a great deal from it; it answered many questions I had THEN, but not the one I'm addressing here. But I'll take a look at Jared Diamond's book as well. I know it offers a LOT.
The key is in the catalysts of higher technology, and - like, y'know? - there may be only a few basic ones essential to the ascendancy to power.
I'll find out.
...and to think all this insomniac obsessing was inspired by Harlan's 'Croatoan'. If this gets on anyone's nerves...blame HARLAN!
Questions about the Icarus myth
Hello all-
I'm working on a project that references the Greek myth of Icarus and I thought this might be a good place to go for clarification on something.
In the Icarus myth, his father Daedalus is commissioned to build a "labyrinth" to house the minotaur. This brought up a question in my mind: the term "labyrinth" is often used interchangeably with "maze" even though the words describe fundamentally different constructs in that a maze is a puzzle meant to confound the player while a labyrinth is a direct, if convoluted, path to a center chamber or point. So... what did Daedalus build? I want to think it was of the maze variety since it was designed to contain the minotaur and those Minos chose to exile but a "traditional" labyrinth could serve the same purpose provided it was intricate enough.
Would love any insight anyone might have.
Obsessing over the details,
-Jordan
ps- I just can't see Eddie Murphy as Riddler, but that's just me. As abysmal as Batman Forever was, I think Jim Carrey delivered the definitive performance of the Riddler. But, Heath Ledger did raise the bar... I suppose if it needs to be an African American then Mos Def, Jamie Foxx, or Don Cheadle would probably be best.
Frank, you've corrupted my very e-mail.
Shame on you.
Words and memory.
Roger, I empathize with that. I've gotten that "thing right in front of me" deal since childhood and it's maddening. For myself, it's a mild dysnomia. I can come up with correct, arcane words at the drop of a hat. Coulrophobia, paroxytonic, virgule, dereistic. No problem.
But sometimes, give me a normal word, an object right in front of me, and I'm tabula rasa.
"That thing... you know... oh, for shit's sake! It's a ....big.... a box.... you put food in it... A REFRIGERATOR!!"
Ridiculus. I sound like Homer Simpson.
The group I saw was the Manhattan Transfer. I think i need to go to bed.
That would be brutal, I have no idea what brutak is
Frank the weather was brutak last night. The concert hall was about 2/3rds full and many even in the first four rows simply let discretion be the better part of valour and stayed home. The drive home was even worse, but I got behind some snow plows on the way home and just drove slow and paid attention.
The show was excellant. 90 per cent on the program was Christmas/Holiday songs and the band was accompanied by 25 members of the Des Moines, which included a freiend of mine on sax and flute. This was the first time I had seen the Holiday program it was really terrific. Now if I could see a show with Cris opening for them at the Holiday Bowl-sp?, that would really be cool.
I looked back at my email from yesterday, what a mess. I have to be honest, I sometimes have difficulty writing notes that are cogent. I had a minor stroke about 7 years ago that sometimes make my brain and the rest of my body not work in unison.I normally spell check before I post but I ran out of time this time.I'll give you a couple of examples. I'm sitting here typing, just pounding away.and when I look up what I have typed is not what was I thinking while i was typing, but it was typed correctly and makes sense, but it was absolutely not what I was trying to say. Example 2:I was standing in front of the concession stand buying two diet Cokes and I'm looking at a display f candy o see if there was anything sugar free. I looking at a package which I absolutely recognise, but the word will not come to me. I'm standing there blank for a moment and finally realize the word I want is jelly beans. I hate that when it happens, sometimes it is an answer on Jeopardy that I aboslutely know, but it just will not come to me. Very frustrating. At any rate after that long explanation, if my emails sometimes sound a bit off, I just have trouble expressing myself sometimes exactly as I desire. I'll try to be better and a bit more clear.
While horses were native to North America at one time, they died out. There were no horses for aboriginal Americans to utilize. The Spanish brought them over when they came,some escaped, some were stolen, and native Americans, most notably the Nez Perce, took to them like ducks to - well, you know.
I enjoyed Duma Key, but have a serious problem with Steven King for putting me off Ranch Dressing for good - he likened it to "slightly sweetened snot". Thanks, Steve. Thanks a lot.
Just finished reading "Your Heart Belongs to Me" by Dean Koontz. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I just started "Not Wanted on the Voyage" by Timothy Findley, an interesting take on Noah's Ark. I'll let you know.
Rob,
I've thought about the things that are filling the sleepless hours of your nights as well--technology, differing civilizations, etc. In response, here are three book recommendations:
Roanoake, by Lee Miller
1491, by Charles Mann
Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond
They might be of some help. The last one cleared up a question I've had for a long time--why Zebras haven't been domesticated. Apparently they're too ornery.
Dan
REPLY TO ROBERT MORALES
Writing today; but just popped in to respond to your props for Eddie Murphy as a possible Riddler.
Yes, he might do; but I think everyone agrees that the next time the Riddler appears in a Batman movie it should be an Afro-American. I agree.
Harlan
Tracking Santa
A number of Wbederlanders have younger children, so I felt obligated to pass along the following company press release:
"Verizon Business is once again teaming with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to provide toll-free calling to the NORAD Tracks Santa hotline so children can track Santa Claus’ Christmas Eve journey around the world.
"Beginning at 4 a.m. Mountain time on Dec. 24 through 3 a.m. Mountain time on Dec. 25, children across the U.S. and Canada can call 1-877-HI-NORAD to find out Santa’s exact location on Christmas Eve. (Callers residing in the local Colorado Springs calling area can reach the hotline by dialing 719-556-5211.)
"More than 1,000 volunteers, military personnel from Colorado Springs, their families and friends, and NORAD Tracks Santa corporate sponsor team members will be continuously manning the NORAD Santa tracking hotline to ensure children know the whereabouts of Santa on Christmas Eve."
And if you prefer to do this stuff electronically, you can always use http://www.noradsanta.org.
(There is no truth to the rumor we go to Defcon 2 when Santa crosses into US airspace...though Dick Cheney has reportedly been sighted outside the Naval Observatory with his shotgun and a bottle of Jack Daniels.)
Roger, you are such a good son. Watch driving in that snow.
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Brian, we should not think like that. Best to hope god has mercy on Wyrick or he will never have mercy on us.
The Holidays are about cheer. Have I turned over a new leaf? Life is short so maybe.
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How about Croatoan as a film? Nolan could direct it. George Clooney could play the man, the woman could be played by a black woman--a racially tinged bit of danger.
The only difference between Harlan's story and the actual movie would be a few musical numbers. Dancing fetus's. Woot.
Merry Christmas Harlan. Lovebug.
Eddie Murphy
is only as good as the material he chooses. He was recently great in BOWFINGER and DREAMGIRLS; he's made a number of indefensible, crappy films (as have Jim Carrey and Robin Williams and, yes, Johnny Depp); and he does a lot of family fare I don't have to see because I don't have kids, but my friend and occasional collaborator, artist Kyle "I have FOUR kids" Baker vouches for them, MEET DAVE included - and Kyle knows funny. So given a good script, Murphy COULD be a fine and genuinely interesting Riddler. The talent is there.
Rob's Theory
You'd lose the bet, Rob.
The three largest Pre-Columbian empires were all driven by conquest and in two cases, religious bloodlust. They were as motivated by wealth and power as any European culture. If the Inca hadn't just emerged from a bloody civil war of succession, they would have kicked Pizarro's butt, despite his overwhelming technological advantages. And that, is the difference. Europe was an Iron Age culture, Pre-Columbia was still only Bronze Age. (The effects of gunpowder can't be dismissed, either)
Adam-Troy:
Woo-hoo and mazel tov on your blood sugar levels. I hope things continue to improve.
Chuck
On Stupid Internet Rumors and Various Other Things
That rumor about Eddie Murphy as the Riddler in the new Batman movie has been raised before and slapped down before. Christopher Nolan has not even said he's doing another Batman movie. He hasn't written a script. He hasn't signed any new cast members. He hasn't decided to do a silly-ass move like cast Eddie Murphy as the Riddler. This is a tabloid wacking off. No connection to reality. None. It's Internet crap.
(And, editorializing, I'm less than enthused by rumors about who's going to play what supervillains in what superhero sequel -- even if following up a series I've deeply enjoyed so far -- than about the news of movies based on novels I loved; I am hoping for goodness from the adaptation of THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, but it was supposed to be out in November, and its delay does not bode well.)
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Harlan: Blood sugar 96 this A.M. Woot.
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I take off my virtual hat in memory of Mark Felt, who once upon a time did the right thing and helped to lance one of the foulest boils ever to afflict itself on the sphincter of the Republic.
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Currently reading: DUMA KEY by Stephen King. I had been avoiding King books of late, since he'd done a few in a row that had either angered or failed to impress me. The last one I loved was THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON, and even that came after several in a row that struck me as bloated and inferior. I had no intention of reading LISEY'S STORY, and still won't. But I'd heard good things about DUMA KEY, and must report that I'm impressed at the midway point. The protagonist is a man horrifically injured in an accident who must then nurse himself back to health, and King puts all of his own terrible personal experience onto the page. We will see if the book holds up in the second half, but so far: yay.
Rob,
Excuse the double post but my last comment was addressed to Rob
You may have already read both of these books but if not try 1491 by Charles C. Mann which is a good synopsis of American history and culture prior to European colonization along with explanations as to the how and why of the success of that colonization. That book, in combination with Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond which I am about half-way through provides that author's answers to your questions regarding differences in cultural development. Undoubtably, there are other authors with other theories but these two authors make, what are to me, very convincing and satisfying arguments and they are also entertaining to read.
Some Planned Readin' For The Holiday
Per "Croatoan", the lost colony of Roanoke, I'm fascinated by the lost history of the tribal empires of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Specifically, WHY technology evolved in Europe and Asia as they did prior to the 15th century, SO differently from that of America and Africa.
Why did Native Americans remain closer to the hunter-gatherer hierarchies while the power of the wheel and gunpowder found its way throughout Europe? Even the Mayans and the Aztecs - who applied astounding mathematical principles to architecture and agriculture - missed out on the mills, clocks, gears, and ships to explore; native Indians never harnessed the laws of motion as had the Europeans.
I've never really had a chance yet to research the reasons for this. WHY the two civilizations evolved so differently, and why Europe reached the level of technology as they did. Why did white Europeans venture the oceans while native societies, tied to agri- and aqua- culture, remained where they were? I know there are many factors, including region and terrain (Europe had climates in more east-west longitudes; Americas, more north-south); another was the use of horses, long before the Spanish brought them over.
My GUESS, however, is that the more important answer lies in war. More specifically, the MOTIVES for war. Tribal peoples, for example, went to war - I think - mainly to protect a territory they relied on for their survival (yet, among many of the hundreds of tribes throughout America, societal hierarchies were DEFINED by war; warfare was often a lifestyle); Contrastly, in Europe, CONQUEST was, for millenniums, core incentive for war. "WHAT can we plunder from that land faraway"? And with such an incentive would come steady gain in wealth; from wealth sprung invention, often to help gain yet MORE wealth. I would be willing to bet this was a key. The paradigms were different. Early societies identified themselves through their own means of survival, serving the foundation and course for those civilizations.
I think it's fascinating. When I have a chance, I'm turning to anthropologists and archaeologists to explore the disparity.
Looking at the outcome for Native Americans and the African nations - not to mention the Oceanic tribes, as the Polynesians - it was, as we know, to their peril that one side of the globe would develop as it did.
This topic, incidentally, was inspired, tangentially, by Harlan's "Croatoan". I always make sure EVERYONE's credit appears on the screen!
(BTW, this is the shit you get when I can't sleep! I was tossing and turning in the sack for over an hour!)
next Batman
Rumors today that the next BATMAN movie directed by Christopher Nolan will have Eddie Murphy as The Riddler and Shia La Beouf as Robin.
I think that's BS because Christian Bale once said he'd leave the series if they brought in Robin. Sounds more like something Joel Schumacher would have done during his time at the helm.
Eddie Murphy as the Riddler? How could that be a good idea?
It's a London tab reporting it -- so I doubt it.
Other reports have cast both Rachel Weisz and Angelina Jolie as Catwoman, Johnny Depp also as the Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the Penguin in the sequel to the box office smash. The Depp and Hoffman rumor began with none other than series star Michael Caine, who plays Bruce Wayne’s butler, Alfred, but Hoffman himself denied it to MTV News.
But I'd certainly rather see Depp do it.
Passings, good and bad.
Hadn't heard about Majel till I read the comment here. Sorry to see her go.
As for the other one...well, Weyrich was always rather high up on my list of people that, you know, if you actually HAD the time displacement thingabob and the programmable T-800 Arniebot, who would you at least be tempted to try and remove from history entirely? (Won't bore any of you with the names of any of the others, but I'm sure you could all substitute your own anyway.)
Care to dance on a grave?
Today, Paul Weyrich passed away. Weyrich founded the Heritage Foundation, co-founded the Moral Majority, advocated Christian Dominionism, and... well, isn't that enough?
I _was_ hoping we'd find his body in a squalid men's room somewhere, his flaccid mandibles wrapped around the phallus of an asphyxiated Pat Robertson. As he'd had his legs amputated following a spinal injury, it would have been fun to think of him as a funhouse-mirror version of Larry Flynt. But we can't have everything, can we?
It's going to be nice to watch these gargoyles drop by the roadside.
TERRIFIC documentary
Hey ALL: Just watched a TERRIFIC documentary on DVD, filmed by the BBC over five years: it's called "Earth." Narrated by Patrick Stewart (who keeps his inner Picard in check), it is filled with absolutely gobsmacking images, one after another. It's not just the vistas (breathaking shots of waterfalls, etc., using a cineflex and a rig in an air balloon, put together by a french guy, which is called a "cinebull"), but things like polar bears emerging from hibernation and what can only be described as the ballet-like grace of a great white shark breaching the ocean by four feet as it feeds on a seal (I know that sounds cruel, but when I saw the filmed image -- edits were made so no gore is seen in any of the very few scenes like that -- I was astonished that I ever thought of these sharks as mindless killing machines.
In any case: dynamite film, and well worth picking up at the local store (the directors are Alastair Fothergill and Mark Lin field, in case more info is needed -- and the disc I got came with a making of documentary that showed the amazing things the crew went through in five years of filming, plus some interesting outtakes, like scenes of the mother polar bear nursing her young, a rare sight). The images really are worthy of the overused superlative, breathtaking. And the circular narrative cooked up by the directors and Leslie Megahey is top-notch as well.
-DTS
No offense taken Ezra, we all have our own beliefs and cannot be afraid to express that. The first memories I have are of the church i attended as a child and the long path I've traveled since then. My faith crumbled during a very difficult period in my life when my parents seperated and then divorced after nearly 25 years of marraige with my father's failure as both a husband and father, with the death of my only sibling, my brother's when hit in a car accident by a drunken driver,a brother with whom I had finally come to terms with after spending nearly all our time together in conflict with both my parents working and being the older was responsible and he was a character, and my father's marraige to one of my mother's sisters, a wedding i would not have attended because my brother aboslutely would not have been there, but one in which I ended up being the best man because my cousins requested that I do so. This was all in one year and I went down the tubes because I lost touch with my God, and blamed Him for all these things happening. It was just life happening and in this case it happened to me. That I even survived this period that I was raging at God is a miracle, given some of my actions. But survive I did and was asked back to church by a young friend of mine that had just started attending. i knew from the moment i walked in the dood that is where I was supposed to be and have been there ever since and thank the Lord I survived my insanity.
Thanks Frank for the kind words. Harlan thanks for backing me up. You and I have met many times in many places and I credit your stories for helping me retain my sanity in the worst period of my life.
I'm off to see the Manhattan Transfer tonight, I'm taking my mother with me for her Christmas present.
Happy holidays to all.
Jeremy Piven's Mercury Poisoning
Please understand that I do not post this here in order to mock the physical ailment being suffered by Mr. Piven. Seems that "a test revealed that Jeremy had the highest level of mercury that {his doctor) has ever seen, which amounts to six times a healthy amount of mercury, in his system." Which is pretty shocking, to be honest.
I'm also not a big Hollywood news fanatic who adores keeping on top of "the latest" and wishes to infest the rest of the world with what I consider "fascinating updates."
But I do so love a good line... and David Mamet certainly delivered it.
"Mr. Mamet told Variety that Mr. Piven, the “Entourage” star, had left the show (Speed-the-Plow on Broadway) because he had been feeling ill recently due to a high mercury count. 'I talked to Jeremy on the phone, and he told me that he discovered that he had a very high level of mercury,” Mr. Mamet said, according to Variety. “So my understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer.'"
(Oh, yea. I'm also an anti-sushi person, too, and heartlessly mock vegans. Now pass me over that Whopper with cheese, will ya?)
Noted
Majel Barrett Roddenberry, RIP.
" a democracy live up the name."
God--see Harlan, you make me too nervous. hehe.
I'm quite sure Roger took no offense, since he understands that differing beliefs are what a democracy live up the name. The simple fact that he reads an atheist author attests to that. Harlan would be seen as an apostate back in the day. Roger loves him any ole way.
Roger is a nice guy with sincere beliefs. But we must always remember that fanatics of any stripe can lead a country to fascism. I have no doubt Roger is on our side in that front.
Snow in Vegas means god has a sense of humour.
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Rick Warren cannot be allowed to invocate Barack's inauguration. He is a homophobe and an abortion bigot. We must stop this. We must.
To Mr Ellison
Admonition graciously accepted. Freedom of speech does not mean putting aside good manners.
Roger
I am not afraid of giving offense but my intention was not to simply offend you because you and I disagree about these matters. I won't bore you with biography but a good portion of my life has been spent struggling with these issues. I don't want you to think that I am one who stands on the outside sniping at those on the inside.
It's too important for that.
I take your religious beliefs as seriously as you do. I am not able to reconcile them with my own experience. Many can. I'm sure you're aware of Francis Collins, the architech of the Human Genome Project, who is able to reconcile his science with his deeply held religious beliefs.
I wish I had the talent to be able to communicate to you the world I see. I suppose if I have any faith it's that human beings can comprehend their world and use that knowledge to shape it, to make a home for us all.
Alan--I like the way you think. Oh, if only I could make the world see through your eyes.
With kindness--Susan
IHNMAIMS
Thanks for the reply Tom
I am very interested in buying the IHNMAIMS paperback. I will look into the game guide at another date. I do have a paypal account of my own. How much would I be paying for shipping to UK?
Chris
Superheroes
I don't want to give any of you ideas, but apparently there are honest-to-gosh people who dress in costumes and say they're superheroes and go out and fight crime.
An article on them is in the newest Rolling Stone (Brad Pitt on the cover) called THE LEGEND OF MASTER LEGEND. They go by names like Master Legend, the Green Scorpion, the Eye, Citizen Prime and even The Black Panther (how does Marvel feel about that?). There's even a World Superhero Registry, a Heroes Network and a Worldwide Heroes Organization. And they dress in rubbery outfits and go out to do good.
I'm kind of amazed. And scared.
Jordon Owen--
The Electric Baby is Harlan's wife Susan. She also has/has had other nicknames/titles depending of the latest tale/incident into which she has been thrown by Harlan, or which she has undertaken on her own volition. She is also known to some as the Bestower of Good Karma to Unworthy Supplicants, which is but one of her stately obligations as Queen of Harlan's Universe.
IHNMAIMS
Chris,
I cannot answer whether the electronic book is abridged but I can offer other advice. If you go to the Resources/Store section of this website you can order the paperback book. You can also order the clue book for the game, which includes 9 pages of new material written by Harlan on the background of the characters. The clue book also includes an interview with Harlan. So if it is more background to this world you are looking for it is a good purchase.
If you have any difficulty ordering and paying in US funds I can also help with that. If you or someone you know and trust has a Paypal account I can handle the financial exchange part. Let me know if you are interested.
Harlan,
I ask no questions, just wish you luck. A combination of jerk neighbors and jerk Code Enforcement have cost Connie to the tune of 5 figures. I know you will do what it takes. On second thought I wish you justice. Luck shouldn't be needed when you are right, but it too often is.
A good day to all here, including the locals enduring the deluge. In 3 days we triple last years rainfall. Remember what I said about the weather getting more dynamic?
IHNM
Hi
I'm not entirely sure if I'm in the right place, but here goes.
This morning, after a long search for the book I Have No Mouth, I finally gave in and read the eBook version. This is probably one of the most interesting stories I have ever read! I just wanted to ask if the eBook is abridged in any way, and if you have any plans at all of writing a longer, more in-depth look into the world of AM? I am currently playing the game hoping to get a greater perspective on the story and I have ordered God of Pain and Angry Candy.
Very unlikely optimism, I know.
Chris
(Pssst)(Jordan.)
(You see that beautiful redhead at Harlan's side? 'Lectrifying, ain't she?)
PS
Patton Oswalt ROCKS!
The Electric Baby
Mr. Ellison,
I noticed you referred to "The Electric Baby" again in a previous post. I seem to remember that enigmatic figure being on the dedication page for Deathbird Stories and was wondering who that person might be and how they came about the nickname. If its not someone you wish to identify, I understand, but my cat-killing curiosity was stimulated...
-Jordan
SHAGIN:
Geezus, toots, I am really losing it. I got so thread-drifty in my post, I clean forgot to give you the name of the restaurant. Mother'o'mercy, I hate when my brain deliquesces.
The restaurant is called
JAR.
Not THE Jar, just J...A...R. How's THAT for fuckin' poncey?
Harlan
FRANK:
Er, a "keep" is not a "donjon."
And, for you, and everyone else...don't ask about court today.
Susan went down there. Nibbling. Minnows. The road goes ever on.
Gee, Harlan, Life is tough.
Well, yeah, sure it is. But if it weren't, EVERYBODY would be doing it.
Dear Bob Shanahan:
Geezus, kiddo, I once got kicked off a rattler in Hays, Kansas when I was a road bum. Yard bull dragged me out of a crate-car by the hair and threw me down a gravel embankment.
Ah, yes, dear old Hays, Kansas.
Welcome to my 'hood.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
REPLY TO TONY SOLOMUN
To the first question: yes.
To the second question: yes.
And when you've read the other 72 books I've written, you can then appropriately begin to nag me for "new" work. Because, Tony, baby sweetie chickie honey, as Dickens said, "Any book you have not read is a NEW book."
Cheerily, cobber, good onya, Harlan
EZRA REDUX:
It posted before I added:
You haven't done anything wrong, or horrifically contentious. I just thought a gentle, soft note should be sounded. Okay?
Harlan
EZRA:
A gentle, soft word in your ear. Please:
Go ever so politely, VERY gently, VERY softly, when speaking to my VERY old friend Roger Gjovig...or for that matter, on the same subject, to my DEAR friend, Cindy...
Their faiths, their religions.
I would take it as a personal favor if you would not cramble their beliefs. I know all of this lies at the epicenter of freedom of speech, entitlement to opinion, et al; and I'm not trying to tuck up your heart of grace; but -- well -- it makes me a little twitchy that a statement of faith becomes the prod for -- well -- mildly snarky retorts.
SANDRA O.:
I'm pretty sure you're talking about the INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE boite whereat The Electric Baby and I were the guests of the brilliant raconteur and comedian, Patton Oswalt, and his extraordinary spouse, Michele.
Tangentially, after the non-event of yesterday--kindly do not ask, for I am being sedulously nibbled to death by minnows--Susan and I said awfuckit to my gloomy dieting, and we used a gracious gift certificate at IL TIRAMISU that we had received from the noble HERC member, Mr. Dan Forbes. It was absolutely the finest vitello parmigiana I have ever scarfed, and Susan had an osso bucco that vanished from her plate as if she were an Oreck. So, if you need any future restaurant recommends, we have a plethora, as well as a myriad.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
Sober Pinball Players Make The Best Lovers
You think that'd look good on a t-shirt? Thanks to hearing the word "pinball" a little while ago, my mind is spinning in fond memories of "The Who," "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Creature From The Black Lagoon" and other pinball machines that I'm fond of. In the Navy, I used to start every single damned evening off with "Guns 'n Roses," a machine whose opening theme music was "Welcome To The Jungle." Loved "Creature" so much that I bought the awesome computer version.
Anyway, it's impossible to express my thanks to Mr. Ellison and the astonishing, fascinating, richly-textured life that he continues to share with all of us on a daily basis. Harlan, man, you just don't KNOW...!
Talk about kicking the habit
Swapping coffin nails for culture: Repurposed cigarette vending machines that now dispense art...
http://www.artomat.org/home.html
Steve Barber,
Please do not make me laugh like that when I am at work. They will realize I am not working.
Very, very funny.
Mike
Keeney, I owe you an apology. A very Happy Belated Birthday to you, good sir, next time we meet up at Dreamhaven I will make sure I get you a comic (but only if you have been good)
Harlan, best of luck on the lawsuit, I hope you are able to keep your perfect record intact.
Embarrassing story time: the drive home last night was absolutely miserable, took me damn near two hours to get home. It was my night to make dinner and my girlfriend was not home when I arrived, so I started getting everything ready. She calls and says she is in worse traffic than I was and will be home even later. We were going to be having various items for dinner including fried polenta. So I think to myself, “Hey self, this is a chance to experiment, really put together a nice meal and give my lady a treat for when she gets home.” Because I am a brain damaged moron, I forgot that I had already placed a pan of olive oil on the stove to heat up while I hunted through the pantry and tried to concoct other components to the meal
I made a discovery last night: when oil burns, it can produce a ton of smoke in a hurry. Thankfully, no fire resulted but the entire main floor of her place was filled with smoke. Others have mentioned how cold it is in Minnesota but, to confirm, the temperature at the time when all the doors were open was -2. Not exactly the relaxing night I envisioned. My girlfriend arrived home to find the doors open and smoke coming out of her home. Luckily, I am involved with a wonderful, understanding woman who did not verbally eviscerate me for this well-intentioned error but I felt like a schmuck (and a cold schmuck at that, ‘cause it was a while before the house warmed up again)
Wishing warm thoughts to you all, even Frankie,
Mark
I was looking at litigious in the dictionary and saw Harlan's picture there. hehe.
Go get em my leige.
The Keep is a dungeon. That's where Harlan keeps book critics.
-------------
I'd avoid the forum for a few days folks. Lots of juvenile behavior there. Romper room with the smell of love canal.
----------
Kudos to Israel for letting the prisoners go. Some of it is pr, but it is a good start. The settlements now have to go and the fanatics on both sides clammed up.
Israel should renounce violence and sign the peace treaty already. A two state solution before the world descends unto chaos.
We just want peace.
I hope it went well yesterday at the city. Though once the Keep is complete, it might accidently have a few loose tiles fall in a roughly neighborly direction...
__________________________________________
(Sandra, I’m only one of many voices in here.)(Boo!)
__________________________________________
Heard this morning in a certain Los Angeles courtroom:
“HARLAN Ellison? HARLAN Ellison!? I thought you said RALPH! Oh, lord, we are SO screwed.”
“Mr. Ellison is lying. We know he gets his story ideas from a service in Schenectady.”
“It’s not the Guardian, it’s a chocolate donut.”
“Then why does it say ‘I am the Guardian of Forever’ if I press this button?”
“Bad rewrite?”
“That’s a mighty big model of the Seaview Mr. Ellison. May I ask what you intend to do with it?”
“Package delivery for Paramount. Book rate.”
“Mr. Ellison, would you please get off the lawyer’s chest and let him up?”
“Oh. THAT clause in the contract. Um. Yeah…”
“Mr Carmichael, will you instruct your client to put his shoe back on? Rachel, would you get the other one? I think it’s somewhere behind the witness.”
And lastly,
“Well, if nobody ELSE on the internet gives a crap about copyright laws, why should WE???”
Good luck in legal battles
Harlan, best of luck with the neighborhood churl and the litigation. I'd love to see you and David both get your due. It would be a ray of hope in a weary world.
Dear Mr. Ellison, Just a simple thing that I should have done
decades ago. Thank you for all the words arranged in wonderful
orders. You made a difference in my life and my outlook on same.
I was and am one of the multitudes of wannabes but never could
bes. Even so, my lack of all things necessary to any art, this
does not preclude by capacity for appreciation of those who can
and do and who pursue excellence with a life long passion.
Thank you, Bob Shanahan
Hippo birdies two ewes?
Boy, you have a weird way of celebrating your birthday.
But, I can still hope it was a good one!
S.
48
happy birthday for me
happy birthday for me
happy birthday, dear me
oh, dear me
me and Arthur C. Clarke
i still read comics, and play with toys
and lovin' it,
Rick
Dear Shagin - It was what it was, and welcome all the more. I think we both needed it. I'll put together a proper reply as soon as I can focus - for some reason, I've become a bit flighty lately; can't concentrate for sour apples.
Hug to You & Yours,
Doc
Hello from a new reader
Hello Harlan,
I'm a relatively new reader of yours,
though I've known of your name and work for quite some time,
I read Spider Kiss recently,which I quite enjoyed,
very well written,
I also happen to be very good mates with Ryall,
the EIC/Publisher of IDW for 10 years now.
I want to ask,will you still be releasing your book with IDW called,
Yr Pal,Harlan ?
and do you have any other new books,short stories and or essays being released soon ?
I would be over the moon if I can hear from you.
take care mate,
all the best,
Tony Solomun
Greetings from Frostbite Falls, Colo.
ROBERT ROSS:
Yes, it's fargin' cold here in the Rectangular State. It finally migrated up to the double digits, which were the highs. Buses and any diesel-powered vehicles refused to start all over the metro area. The air quality sucks big time here, and my head is throbbing.
Keep warm!
Chuck
THE BATTLE FOR JAMES BOND
.
ADAM-TROY CASTRO:
The entire story behind THUNDERBALL, its remake NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN and the bitter legal action between Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory is all told in a book called THE BATTLE FOR BOND: THE GENESIS OF CINEMA'S GREATEST HERO by British author Robert Sellers.
BATTLE is a badly written book, but it contains tons of information not found anywhere else…as evidenced by the fact that it has just been pulled due to a brand new lawsuit by the Fleming estate.
Again, it's obvious that wordsmithing is not Mr. Sellers' strong suit, but the book is a fascinating cautionary tale for all creative types who wish to understand how important rights issues are.
Phuk
"Stavro." And the maddening thing is, I *knew* that, and have *always* known that, and these goddamned incessant brain farts of mine are beginning to piss me off. Dammit.
The Iron Duke Would Be Proud
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
May I humbly remind our dear host of Wellington's observation about "The Little Corsican's" defeat at Waterloo: "He came at us in the same old way, and we defeated him in the same old way." Victory is assured. Glad I'm just a hack mathematician and landlord.
Were Napoleon a studio exec, a quote by, ironically, Napoleon, would suffice: "Let Ellison sleep; for when he awakes, the entertainment world will tremble."
Carry on the Good Fight, sir.
Regards, safely, from the "other coast".
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
HARLAN & SUSAN: Keep fighting the good fight, and may you always come out on top!
HARLAN: Some months ago you posted about a dinner at one of LA's finer restaurants (I believe it was LA) where the food was exquisite and served a la carte. You and the lovely Mrs. Ellison were the guests of friends. Would you please post the name of the restaurant? I would like to look it up.
***
STEVE B.: Get out of my head, I'm dressing.
***
DOC: Yeah, that surprised me, too, but once the floodgates were opened there was no holding back. If it was an overshare, I do most humbly apologize.
shagin
Attn: Roger Gjovig
Since you believe in God you must believe he gave you a brain for some reason. Nowhere in the Bible does it say to passively accept without question. Moses argued with God. David argued with God. Job, Isaiah, etc etc etc.
"Be wise" it says. "Test the Spirits."
The evidence is overwhelming that life on earth evolved over millions of years. Denying this evidence is not an act of faith but an act of blindness.
Attn: HARLAN ELLISON
You have fought the good fight for decades. Good luck to you, sir.
May your enemies tremble when they speak your name.
"The Keep?"
Harlan and Susan... if I resubscribe to the Rabbit Hole to get this essay, any chance a future issue'll include a description of this "keep?"
Dunno if you recall, but a few years ago, I asked for la Word Perfect for the people in my neighborhood pushing for Historic District designation. Harlan provided "pecksniff," which was _amazingly_ perfect, as a statue of Chas. Dickens is a major fixture in our nabe. The HD didn't succeed (though it lurks in the minds of the locals), but the experience taught me a lot about meddlesome neighbors.
Row houses don't lend themselves to Keeps, but I'm always appreciative of architectural follies.
If I remember my college anthropology courses correctly, the current operating paradigm is that homo sapiens sapiens first came on the scene in Sub-Saharan Africa. On the other hand _civilization_ first arose in the Fertile Crescent. There's a big difference there.
-----
Whatever you think of Bush's legacy, the shoe throwing is no laughing matter. The failure of security is abhorrent and that shoe could have easily been a distraction for a sniper. One hopes the Secret Service gets their act together before the real nutcases come out of the woodwork after Obama is sworn in.
Good luck
Here's hoping you are victorious both at city hall, and in court.
It's time for a little justice in this world.
Bust 'em up.
"Those who cannot remember the past..."
You'd think Paramount would remember the trouble you can give them from the "Brillo" case. Well, you beat them before and you'll beat them again.
Pretzelcoatyl missed but...
After eight years of The Embarrassment Administration, wouldn't it have been appropriate for George to 'win' The Lottery in Iraq. I'm guessing there are no Egyptians named Mulligan with pairs of cleats.
Richard Halasz
LARGE-ISH EVENTS IN OUR SMALL LIVES
Today, around 3:00, Susan and I will be going down to the Dept. of Building & Safety where, at last--gawd willin' and th' crick don't rise--I will write a check that will allow us to complete the work on The Keep, a project ground to a halt by the meanspirited act of a neighborhood churl. Last February 23rd we were halted, and The Keep has sat up there, naked, unfinished, a daily reminder that other than living in, say, a country ruled by Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, or George W. Bush, the worst venue horror that can befall you is...
Living next door to an miserable person and spouse.
--------------------------------
Second "May You Live In Interesting Times" event. Tomorrow, at about 8:30 AM, Susan and one of my attorneys, John Carmichael (he of the successful AOL lawsuit, & others), will go before a judge of the California Superior Court for a preliminary conference hearing on my litigation against Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster, Sony, Paramount, STAR TREK, and about a dozen editors and apparatchiks thereto owing allegiance, in the first large step to making the gigantor ST franchise pay me what they owe me for using the elements of my CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER story and teleplay. In the offing, if they choose to continue to be arrogant and non-responsive, is a Federal Suit that will make it possible for ALL past Star Trek writers--such as, notably, David Gerrold--to seek substantial reparations for 40 years' worth of pillage and greed by Paramount, et al.
Watch this space. I'm old, but not yet senile or frightened.
Harlan
It is very cold and snowing here today, we are predicted to be getting 3 to 5 inches. I'll have to get out and shovel the sidewalks later today.Woo hoo!
In my long distant youth, I was so interested in ancient history I desired to be an archeologist. I studied a great deal about Egypt and the middle East and about the Aztecs, Incas and Mayas in our part of the world. In college I took courses in both Archeology and Anthropology in the desire to be a scientist. I couldn't figure out how to make a living doing that in Iowa. I do remember learning about the Leakeys finding human remains in Africa. On the other hand as a Christian I have the "fertile crescent" given to me as man's birthplace in the Bible. I do not believe you can pick and choose what you want to believe from the Bible. It is the Word of God in it's entirety, who am I to say this part is right or this is wrong, or I only want to believe this is the truth. At any rate I do believe in the Bible in full as it is written, not just bits and pieces, and try to live my life every day the best I can.
To all the Webderlanders out there I wish you a Happy Holiday season and I wish good health and happiness for each of you and your families. Harlan and Susan best wishes as always to you and continued success with the diet.
I, Robot....
Seeing as how the Will Smith "I, Robot" was very loosely based on Asimov's -- I truly believe he's rolling around in his grave because of it -- story...do you still hope they will turn your script into a movie?!
ADAM-TROY:
It's Stavro, not "Stavros."
he
Robert Ross--18 here in southeast Michigan last night. I am on medication for high blood pressure, so it FELT like 18 below zero. I had no symptoms of high blood pressure, but I sure have a symptom of being on the meds.
FinderDoug--That 1996 Phantom movie was fine enough, but suffered from coming after the Indiana Jones movies.
Am looking forward with anticipation and yet trepidation to RH 46. Something which can be described as "one of the most touching and painful essays he's ever written" from the man who has given us an entire SPECTRUM of "touching and painful essays" (and stories, and memories) is gonna be...interesting (for want of a much better descriptive word that likely hasn't even been coined yet).
_____________________________________________
Are any locals planning to attend the Gallifrey One con in Feb? I may be attending and Webderlander James Moran is one of the invited guests.
Email me at the above address if you're going and want to grab a cup of coffee (or send a PM over on the Forum side).
_____________________________________________
I've only had a shoe thrown at me once. (If you don't count the time Harlan beat me senseless with his loafer whilst screaming "stupid, stupid, stupid". Technically the shoe never left his hand.)
It was on the 5 freeway. Another car cut me off. I honked. He then played chicken with me -- him in a large Caddy, me in a Honda CRXsi. When it became clear my ability to maneuver far outweighed his own, the passenger side window was lowered and a shoe tossed out. It flew across three lanes of traffic but missed my car completely, bouncing off the side of an innocent pickup truck in the next lane. The Caddy beat a hasty retreat.
We were both so shocked at the absurd childishness of it all, Cris and I just had to laugh. (But she still waggles her finger at me for honking in the first place.)
____________________________________________
ROBERT ROSS: We can identify with your weather. It was in the mid-40s when I went out to my car this morning. Nearly had to put on a jacket. Bone chilling.
____________________________________________
DORMAN: No, none of Josh's improperly-spelled pseudo-siblings -- twins or otherwise -- were present. Roughly guessing, the twins would have qualified as great grandchildren for the majority of party-goers. "Old Money", so to speak.
____________________________________________
DEPARTMENT OF "SAY WHUH...?":
Members of the Wilkes-Barre Fire Department reported a male suspect was in front of the fire station on North Washington Street and was having an altercation with an inflatable penguin just before 2 a.m. Saturday, police said.
BEST WRITER IN THE WORLD
Susan,
Can hardly wait for Rabbit Hole (#46) to darken my mailbox and to cozy-up with Unca Harlan’s new essay and two fingers of scotch.
Folks, if any of you haven’t already, do yourself a solid and become a HERC member. The Rabbit Hole is one damn fine publication and more than worth the price of membership.
Adam-Troy Castro
The Fleming collaborator was I think, Kevin McCrory. If you know the story at all, it's impossible not to think of it while watching Quantum of Solace, as Quantum is so obviously SPECTRE.
Re the shoe-throwing: A Muslim friend of mine commented that it would have been awesome if the the guy had pulled out a third shoe to throw.
Random comments:
I managed to start a fire in the house last night. Was in the middle of cooking dinner, and *thought* I had turned up the eye the veggies were on. In reality, I had turned on an eye on the other side of the stove, and due to a cleaning blitz, there was some crap on top of it.
On the plus side, the fire extinguisher worked fine. On the negative side, one of the casualties was a Winnie the Pooh brush my daughter's social worker gave her as an adoption present.
to balance that downer a bit...
I'm a graduate of the University of Alabama, so I feel an obligation to brag on something that probably didn't get much attention outside of the state. A prominent booster wanted to make a donation. Of course, when that happens, said booster usually gets something named after him/her/it. The problem: The booster's name is James M. Fail. Not something you generally want to use as a name. With one exception.
Henceforth, the vistor's locker room at Bryant-Denny stadium wil be know as The Fail Room.
Roger, I'm a universalist Christian, but do not believe in Adam and Eve. I believe the Bible is mostly allegory, except for the words of Christ--even Jefferson believed that. Adam and Eve are taken from other religions, much older ones. David and King Solomon probably never existed as well--Moses too. Egypt kept strict histories, there is no proof of any of these people in the ancient record, except for the Torah.
One of the big reasons that I am so fumed about the Israel situation. David Horowitz even suggested that the Palestinians can go back to Jordon.
Visit a Unitarian church sometime, you may like it.
Kiss.
----------------
Wondering what would happen if you threw a shoe at Bush here?
-10
It was ten below when I left for work this morning.
If you're reading this from a warmer clime, please go (@%!?*&) yourself.
Various, Again
Rick Keeney: the story of how the rights to THUNDERBALL in particular fell out of the hands of the Brocolli family empire is actually quite fascinating, and was covered at length in an article I read some time back.
It all had to do with Ian Fleming being a dick to an uncredited collaborator. I don't recall the details of his behavior, but he was arrogant and abusive, treating the guy as a hired hand. They worked together on a Bond screenplay, sometime before DR. NO. Evidence shows that the guy really did most of the work.
An early-sixties lawsuit ensued, proving that the fellow came up with most of the Bond iconography (including Q and SPECTRE) that later made it into the novels and the movies, and he was in danger of owning a huge piece of the franchise until, in failing health, he settled for the rights to THUNDERBALL alone The subsequent film was a one-off; the Brocolli family no longer has rights to that novel, and has since lost the rights to SPECTRE and to the perennial Bond villain, Ernst Stavros Blofeld, which is why they and he disappeared from the film franchise after DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. (Yes, I know the films later managed a cameo where he was dropped down a smokestack, but they were careful as hell to never call him by name.)
The guys who now owned the rights to THUNDERBALL were also careful as hell when it came to making NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN. They wondered if it really necessary to make the exact same movie, and noted that the novel makes fleeting reference to three other Bond adventures that take place off-screen and could, arguably, be said to be part of the THUNDERBALL universe. They discussed starting a rival franchise from those stories. But either they were given a stern warning or they decided that discretion was the better part of valor, because they decided that a strict by-the-book remake of THUNDERBALL was all they could get away with, without having to defend their actions in court.
But they kept trying, knowing the size of the cash cow they had, which is why subsequent incarnations of their partnership have tried to get backing for at least three further reincarnations of THUNDERBALL since then, at least twice taking advantage of the familiarity factor by casting actors who like Connery had played Bond before. (I believe they tried with Roger Moore, for instance.) With CASINO ROYALE the biggest hit in the franchise's history and QUANTUM OF SOLACE not doing badly, I would not be surprised under the circumstances if that third version of THUNDERBALL arrived, all Bourned up.
I do, however, think we have seen the last of Ernst Stavros Blofeld, at least in his previous wardrobe. Mike Myers has ruined the field for bald scarred guys in Nehru jackets.
*
And no, that wasn't the Bond rant.
*
Harlan: 94 reading last night, 122 this AM. Woo-hoo. Also, wondering: have you watched the Showtime series, DEXTER?
*
The shoe that got thrown at President Bush lends an entirely new meaning to the word, "Clodhopper."
*
Two weeks left to get EMISSARIES for free at the Harper/Collins site. This is not venality. It's free, free, free!
Word from down under yesterday about a new PHANTOM film in the works. Bruce Sherlock returns as Executive Producer and believes more budget is the answer (while avoiding blaming anyone specifically for that $17m domestic gross on the 1996 take):
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/16/2447142.htm
While writer and proposed director Tim Boyle tips his hand on the story to the AP:
http://www.fandango.com/sequeltothephantomtobefilmedinaustralia/news/2626
Because if you don't want a remake, try a present-day re-imagining.
Books-es-es for The Best Writer in the World...
Harlan, your books are separated out. Give me a call, or have your assistant call, any time on Tuesday. Hopefully, my little cell-bastid will cooperate. "Technology is the key to the future." Pffftt.
I can pass along an address where the books can be picked up at that point. And as far as $$ goes, look at them first and then judge accordingly. No hurry on my end. Hey, if we can't trust YOUR judgment on books, where does that leave the world?
So this means that means that anyone else willing to cover postage can have the rest of the books; just leave a comment on the blog site where the list is. I've got it marked for comment moderation, so your address info won't just be thrown up on the 'net--only I'll see it.
the Origin of Man
Roger asks: "Why would it even make a subject of conversation where the origin of man was...?"
Because it's really, really interesting! I am not a scientist but I am absolutely fascinated by physical anthropology and paleontology. What could be more interesting then unfolding the intricate origami of our origins? I love reading about what folks in the field are uncovering, and what the latest thinking is about human evolution.
And while a great deal more has been proven then you might think (the scientific definition of "theory" is very different then the way the word is used by most people), the uncertainty of our understanding, the give and take of competing ideas is exactly what makes science so very much fun.
By the by, to my knowledge, most of the most ancient human ancestral remains were dug up in central east Africa, in places like Kenya and southern Ethiopia, well south of the Fertile Crescent.
Delighting in Science,
MM
KOS KOS KOS KOS YO! KOS!!!!!!!!
You lurkin' out there? Posted a query re: can you handle another shipment of books from me? Last Friday.
Come back, Road Warrior, 10-4.
Harlan
SEMI-WRITER:
Thanks.
Here's what I'd like to have:
Howard Fast: THE PASSION OF SACCO & VANZETTI
Anthony Boucher: THE QUALITY OF MURDER
August Derleth, editor: THE SLEEPING AND THE DEAD
August Derleth, editor: FAR BOUNDARIES
Dorothy Parker: AFTER SUCH PLEASURES
Dorothy Parker: THE LADIES OF THE CORRIDOR
Shirley Jackson: THE SUNDIAL
Shirley Jackson: LIFE AMONG THE SAVAGES
Shirley Jackson: WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE
Isak Dinesen: ANECDOTES OF DESTINY
Horace McCoy: THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY?
Horace McCoy: KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE
Shirley Jackson: THE LOTTERY
Just tell me how much, and where to send my assistant in LA to pick them up and put the cash into your hand. Or check, if you prefer, but I should think cash would be better.
If you'd rather I call and you'll give me the cost and site, just pop back in here tomorrow.
I is excited to see these wonderful findings!
Thank you again for the opportunity to chink a few holes in my lovely library.
Harlan
one man's trivia
Robert Ross
I was not privy to the bit of trivia you shared re: the remake of THUNDERBALL. And you're right; that kind of crap occupies more brain-space than it deserves. That's what makes it trivia, innit?
I am much more enamored of the written word, so my knowledge of film and television is more than limited. Love the Ian Fleming novels, and mostly disappointed by the Bond films. Mostly.
Always good to hear from you, Mr. Ross.
Roger Ghovig--good to hear from you again as well. And I admire your courage in posting that last message. Allow me to comment that all aspects of man's origin are of dramatic spiritual importance to Christians because these are directly related to the authority of Christ. Also, I would substitute "Fertile Crescent" for "Garden of Eden." I spoke withj my daughter in Des Moines this evening, Roger. And I assure you I am just as cold as you are. Layer up, my friend.
Warm Regards,
Rick
I have always thought man's origin was in the area between the
Tigrus and Euphrates Rivers known as the Garden of Eden and I know archeologists have found human remains in numerous places. Why would it even make a subject of conversation where the origin of man was, it is not like it can be proved one way or the other?That is assumimg carbon 14 dating in placing a date of origin is even accurate, or if God's time for creation was not measurable on the human scale of measuring time and it just tool however long he choose to do so.
Robert Ross,
"How many people know that NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN was a remake of THUNDERBALL?"
That was always broadly known because it was declared in the original marketing. Not very important, but it's scarcely "trivia".
Just to crowds who know nada about film. Nothing wrong wit' dat, 'ceptin' yer in the wrong niche to expect such a crowd.
Now, what I'm finding more interesting is years in transition for movies between silent and sound. I used to think once 1928 came along, ALL releases had full sound. Not so. There were still silent releases in 1929, but with far greater technical levels never seen previously in silents - including the dialog cards, which now often had animation incorporated.
Here's another piece of "interesting" trivia: F.W. Murnau was brought to Hollywood in 1927. He'd have become an American director had he not been killed after his fourth movie here. Would have been a helluva career to watch!
So, you see, THAT'S the standard if you want to hang around here without getting embarrassed.
Shit - that felt good! Been a tough day, and I needed to let it out on SOMEONE.
SUSAN:
What great news! For this I must subscribe to the Rabbit Hole!
ALL INTERESTED "MUTTS" AND "MONGRELS":
Those of you who might need or desire another literary take on the whole race (a/k/a "identity politics") question, might like to read the short story "White Rat" by Gayl Jones, herself a black American of Cape Verdian extraction (much like jazz legend Horace Silver.) The story is the first person tale of a black man in the south...who happens to look white, and tells readers as his tale begins that he knows his daddy migrated down to "the city" from some hillbilly mountains somewhere, claiming to be black, and thus "condemning" all his kids to identify as black in the segregated deep south. Brilliant.
Harlan:
Sir Harlan: The package has already gone on its merry way, but I am at your disposal, and happy to help out. I'm at home all day Tuesday, just call and let me know what you need, and it'll be in the post as soon as possible.
Your loyal British subject,
James Moran
BEST WRITER IN THE WORLD
Five minutes ago, Harlan finished one of the most touching and painful essays he's ever written. So good, I cried and got all puffy. This original essay was written only for the upcoming Rabbit Hole (#46). So proud!!!
--Susan
URL. http://huggdbunny.blogspot.com/
And I'm sorry, I meant "about the list" not "at the list."
Last post of the day. I promise.
SEMI:
If you give me the whachamacallit to connect me to the list, I can try to bring it actually, er, UP. And can then compare what you've got with what I've already got. Is that possible?
I apologize for being so limited in my e.smarts.
Harlan
ADAM-TROY:
Yeah, I well know that ornament. It's an exhibit in my current lawsuit against Sony, Paramount, Simon & Schuster, Pocket Books, et al.
It's a nice ornament; and it actaully uses the spoken words from my teleplay, which makes it a VERY strong element in my case.
Thanks, though.
Harlan (whose blood sugar this morning was 140)
Communications
Sorry for two posts in one day but Harlan is worth an explanation.
There are two things that hate me in this world: my body and technology.
I've got some kind of minor fracture rather than a dislocation of the ankle, so it's MY apologies that are in order... for having a defective body that 1) took me away from my residence yesterday, 2) required me to take Vicodin this morning (I hate pills), and 3) didn't allow me to limp to another room fast enough for your call. Also I live in a 1920s building, all steel and concrete, and reception is tricky.
Incidentally, anyone that wants to email me at the list can do so at the Mailinator address (again, spam concerns so I don't want my actual email out here).
DORMAN:
I think you mean "throws off," not "through off," you semiliterate paramecium.
he
JAMES MORAN:
Damn! Got your post. Been meaning to call for two weeks now, with a request for a small favor that you might've been easy to put in said package. Got derailed, turned from my true purposes, so
DAM!
If the package hasn't yet left your paws--unlikely, if I read your post correctly--let me know here, and I'll give you a ring.
If it's gone, well, mayhap when you come over and we see you in a few months.
Either way, love to you and Jodie from Susan and me.
Damn...and
STEVE: DAMN...no sign of the Olsen twins either, I suppose...
LOFTUS: The proper term is: Heinz 57 -- a club to which me and my main man, Irving, proudly belong.
-DTS
RECOMMENDED READING
FOOL'S GOLD: WHY THE INTERNET IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR A LIBRARY by Mark Y. Herring (McFarland, 2007).
For those of us who always thought that the whole concept of the Internet was just too good to be true...
One more comment on Race and Obama
A few weeks ago, a bunch of kooks tried to file a lawsuit with the the Supreme Court over Obama's citizenship. One was a black minster by the name of James Manning who, after denouncing Obama as a "long-legged mack daddy," introduced a new criteris for blackness. Nope, not the one-drop measure. Nope, no comparisons to shopping bags. Now it's whether a _black womb_ has produced a President or not.
Hey, I can't claim to have some gold standard to decide whether someone's white or black... but I know _craaazy_ when I see it.
THE WATER SAMPLE FOR THE WELL AT MY MOM'S HOUSE PASSED!!!!!!
Oh, um....*ahem*...
Sorry, sorry....um...Harlan...Rick...
The water sample, um, for the well at my mom's house passed. This means we'll, ah, be able to finalize the sale, y'know, take care of everything.
Maybe I won't have to ask Santa for a nervous breakdown for Christmas.
If you need me, I'll, um, I'll be over in the corner doing a happy, um, happy dance.
Sorry...didn't mean to interrupt.
shagin
mix 'n' mate
Speaking as a proud Merkin of mixed-race heritage (Nips and Vikings, primarily), I wish to say that I am SHOCKED and INSULTED that the President-elect would refer to a person like me as a "mutt."
I've always preferred "mongrel."
Obama
Adam,
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Best.
FAQ
Adam-Troy Castro
Re: Obama--The whole racial thing is just confusing me, frankly. I liked that he identified himself (perhaps disingenuously) as a mutt. But given that he was identified as Black long before he was elected, it seems ridiculous to change the rules at this point.
Besides, I've been told that Clinton was the first Black President. ;)
James Bond rant: This could be interesting. Quantum of Solace has been a pretty polarizing movie, it seems.
DORMAN: Neither Britney nor her panties were seen at the Vintage Club event. But I didn't look under any tables.
_________________________________________
Cobbler Comments #1: Interesting to note that in the space of two years we've gone from the Vice President shooting ducks, to the President ducking shoes.
_________________________________________
We're in the midst of perhaps the soggiest day in LA since I led the Webderlanders Grand Tour of 2007. Misery has no expression greater than a dog who needs to squat in the cold downpour. Unless you consider the dog's owner as they contend with the goopy mess that comes back in through the dog door and decides to shake before you can firmly throw the towel around them.
_________________________________________
Cobbler Comments #2: If Phyllis Schlafly is correctly called a Presidential Gadfly, is Muntadar al-Zeidi now a Presidential Shoefly?
_________________________________________
It's Monday. The coffee is warm, the ginger bread fresh (from this little bakery in the bowels of Macy's Plaza, downtown LA), and the office relatively quiet.
News at 11.
_________________________________________
Cobbler Comments #3: Al-Zeidi was misquoted. He works for CONTROL. What he said was "It's for you" before tossing his phone at the President.
I'll be here all week. Tip your waitress.
Hoarding is a real condition. This video is one of many:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bes1R-ejT_c
-------------
We are so intermixed who's to know what is what and which is which. Purity is the old ritual, mutts now run the planet. We even have one as President. Amen.
Is there a more dreary discussion than RACE?
The Human Genome Project effectively put the kibosh on any biological concept of race. Alas we are left with the CULTURAL concept of race which will be a long time dying.
Obama is a "mix" of the same thing as every other human being who has ever lived, the genetic material of his mother and his father.
From a biological perspective electing the first "black" President is like electing the first President with red hair. From a cultural perspective the election of the first "black" President assumes great significance of course since after the HGP the concept of race is ONLY meaningful in a cultural context.
The question that needs to be asked is whether a concept that has no meaning in a biological context should have any meaning in a cultural one. It seems to me that the HGP has given us a wonderful opportunity as HUMAN BEINGS to walk away from this nonsense.
Not a mis-spelling but the wrong word: I saw a transcript of a deposition once where an attorney objected to a question by saying something like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, counsel, we're not getting into that now."
But the transcript had been written as: "Woe, woe, woe, counsel, we're not getting into that now."
Remakes: How many people know that NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN was a remake of THUNDERBALL? How many care? Just more trivia taking up space in my brain.
Bookstuff
Michael: Not an issue, so don't worry. You expressed more of an early staking-out of territory, that's all. In the event that HE doesn't want all (or any) of them--it's too early to tell, and perhaps the 150-plus books aren't interesting enough to him--then of course the people here in the Pavilion are next in line to pick and choose, and I will make the list available to all.
David: Thank you for reassuring me that my predilection for book salvaging is a healthy thing, at least in the eyes of other readers.
I'm definitely not a hoarder (in fact, due to my current financial limitations, I've stripped myself down to a minimum amount of "stuff" over the past year). Apparently I don't have the physical ability to move things (or myself, for that matter) without injury any more, much less exercise the financial option of paying for someone else to move them, so the less attachment that I have to material goods, the better. The majority of "my" things are, in fact, perfectly-working items (vacuum, floor fan, etc.) and furniture that others discarded. I'm not a dumpster diver... more like a drive-by salvager, which earns me between $100-$300 a month. And, yes, it's amazing how wasteful people can be. Oh, the trash-night stories I could tell...
Rest assured, friends, the books are now safe and neatly stacked in and on top of a cabinet, safe and warm and out of the steady rain that began yesterday.
Various
Edward Brock:
What's going on with claims that Obama "isn't really black" is a crazy, desperate form of denial.
Coming from those among black and bi-racial people, who may find him insufficiently of their type, it's one thing -- albeit no less wrong -- but I find the same claim much more interesting, and contemptible, coming from whites.
I have heard this from a number of folks who were against Obama during the election, including one close relative by marriage who wanted me to know that Obama "never" acknowledged the white half of his heritage (not even in the bestselling book he wrote about it), and that he just dishonestly identified himself as black to get elected (like that has historically been the sure-fire way to make getting elected President in this country.)
The only possible reason for such a person to make a big deal about this now is to deny him the accomplishment of becoming the first Black President -- and indeed, this is the point I have heard most desperately stressed. That he's NOT the first Black President. He's "lying."
(Yes, the relative in question actually believes this.)
Obama is more black, by ancestry, than a large number of people in the United States who identify themselves as black. People as black as him were slaves. People as black as him were lynched. People as black as him were denied opportunities in this country; people as black as him were forced to live through Jim Crow; people as black as him had to sit on the back of the bus. He is black enough to have had a black father. He is black enough to have black relatives in Africa. He is black enough to self-identify as black. He is black enough that were he not a famous figure, nobody seeing him for the first time would have any issues about calling him black. There is no possible reason for any white person to say Obama's "not really black" except desperate, frightened denial, grotesque on the face of it given that his otherness (such as it is) was played for such fear during his campaign. It's the same kind of people who feared that he was a "secret Muslim" or who claimed that his agenda was to "make white people slaves" who are now saying he "lied" about being black, everywhere except in his bestselling book about being raised by his white Grand-parents.
Anybody who says this stupid thing, including that relative, is an asshole. And a frightened one.
*
James Bond rant still coming. For what it's worth.
A Quick Visit to the Pavilion
Mr. Ellison et al.:
Mr. Rapoport: spot on. Did refer to "The Ungovernable City" by Vincent Cannato. Should be required reading for all urban dwellers and city officials in these "interesting times".
Mr. Messer: thanks for that wonderful story. My nine-year-old dachshund "Sammy" passed away on Dec. 6, and your anecdote provoked catharsis in me. "Sam" showed more humanity and courage than most American elected officials today. Indeed, most humans today.
Are we all African-Americans? No, we are "homo sapiens sapiens", all with different sets of genetic materials and, as a result, talents. We scattered, and we changed. Just like Darwin's finches on the Galapagos.
Off to the meat grinder.
Regards.
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
Kurosawa
Just wanted to say to anyone exploring Kurosawa's works: when you're done with the famous classics (SEVEN SAMURAI, YOJIMBO, RASHOMON, RAN, KAGEMUSHA, HIDDEN FORTRESS, etc. -- all deserve the 'classic' moniker), please check out a few of his lesser-known films, such as...
IKIRU -- you'll probably weep at this one. Incredible.
THE BAD SLEEP WELL -- more Shakespeare by way of Akira.
and the usually ignored RHAPSODY IN AUGUST, a late work that starts slowly but builds in intensity and will overwhelm you.
Makes me want to go and have a Kurosawa festival over the holidays.
My mistake. I know we are not ALL African-"American", but we are all of African descent. Correct me if I'm wrong, but did we not evolve from an original African source?
Um ...
Edward Brock, the short answer is "No, we are NOT all African-American." (For one thing, not all humans wind up American.)
Genealogy as a mooring of identity is not unreasonable for people whose ancestors were intentionally scattered to the winds. Recently I heard a story about a Brit who'd had his bloodline genetically traced to a small village in, I think, South Africa. He traveled there, but got lost and went to a town he knew to be near his destination and asked for directions, explaining his visit. A town elder was called for and told his story - the elder immediately corrected the Brit, insisting he stemmed from a completely different village. The guy protested, waving his sheet of lab results, but he eventually followed the elder's advice: The old guy was right; he knew the moment he set eyes upon the Brit, from the shape of his head and the way he walked.
* * *
REMAKES
The best film ABOUT remakes is Michel Gondry's BE KIND, REWIND - a sweet, daffy and inventive tribute to our collective movie memories, and the best fastasy on screen this year.
Mike Valerio: I think they'll still tend to be called "newspapers" when they go online-only (though I suspect the day when that happens in toto is still some time off, notwithstanding the industry's current troubles). That's because, by and large, the same institutions that publish the best and most prominent newspapers now will be the ones behind the best and most trusted news websites. Yes, there are welcome and promising news websites that started online, but even the best of them don't (yet) have the infrastructure to cover the news from top to bottom, or the breadth of scope that would even lead them to attempt such a feat, that a top-quality newspaper does.
Steve Jarrett and Michael Mayhew: Thank you for your fascinating posts. Most intellectual stimulation I've had in a day of dealing with my two boisterous kids.
William Sherman: There's more than one book called "The Ungovernable City," but I suspect the one you're referring to is "The Ungovernable City: John Lindsay and His Struggle to Save New York," by Vincent J. Cannato.
From the Dept. of Things I'd Never Thought I'd See: The august New York Times not only ran a full obituary for Bettie Page, but also, in Saturday's paper, a full and respectful analysis of her career, labeled "An Appraisal," by one of their chief film critics. Accompanied, yet, by a huge photo of Bettie in lingerie, gloves and heels that takes up most of the top half of the front of the Arts section. The article doesn't posit anything that will be surprising or new to anyone familiar with Bettie, but I'm amazed that it appeared at all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/movies/13page.html?ref=arts
Plus, the Times' website has an online slide show of Bettie photos:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/12/12/arts/extra/1212-PAGE_index.html
Finally, I have to apologize for my faux pas here yesterday. When I suggested that Semi-Writer might want to post the list of some of those discarded-book finds in case anyone on the Pavilion was interested, I had completely forgotten that our esteemed host had already and properly put in first claim to those books. Everyone in the Pavilion has been kind enough not to point out this obvious evidence of advancing senescence on my part, but I'm sorry anyway.
I'd still like to know what kind of nitwit throws away tons of perfectly good and potentially valuable books...
books? in the trash?
I'm a bit late in responding to this, but the other day Semi-Writer wrote:
:: Now I'm not sure where the problem lies: with the neighborhood residents
:: who are throwing out perfectly-good hardcover/dustjacket books, or with
:: me for stopping to retrieve as many of them from the curbside as I can.
Clearly none of us would think you're crazy for retrieving them. I know I've said this here before, but I don't even write in books because I don't really consider them "mine"; I'm merely the current caretaker, and fully expect most if not all of them to continue to live on and please other people after I'm gone because of the good care I've taken of them.
But I wanted to comment here about tossing out and retrieving in general. Not just books, period -- even fairly rare and valuable ones such as you apparently ran across, Semi -- but ANYTHING that still possesses some use and utility. It is astounding, the things Americans throw out -- very much a symptom of our culture's presumption and wastefulness.
From streets and dumpsters in Oregon, Boston, and Germany since I was a kid, I've scrounged everything from treasured pieces of clothing to a writing desk and a "Sheriff of Anaconca Montana" shoulder patch. Found an awful lot of men's magazines in the trash over the years, too. In late 1987, as a cub reporter and columnist at a small town daily in southern Oregon, I wrote an op-ed piece about my "career" as a scrounge, which brought a number of accomplished fellow "ragpickers" -- a male nurse and Vietnam vet, an officer with the city police -- out of the woodwork and furnished material for a follow-up column. (Maybe I should put those on my Web site.)
Today Carole and I live on the sixth floor of a new apartment building that has a recycling room and trash chute on every floor, and it regularly astounds me that, not only are other folks on our floor unable to follow the simplest instructions (e.g., don't put cardboard or styrofoam in the paper recycling bin), but they throw out so many perfectly valid things. I found a potted tree, somewhat the worse for wear but still clearly alive, in there; I rescued it and it is big and green and beautiful in our digs now. Several months ago we were discussing the purchase of a bathroom scales, which we have not owned for a number of years, and dang if a high tech digital one in apparently perfect working order didn't turn up in the recycling room.
It's a sick, thoughtless, wasteful country we live in.
Obama's
According to the AP (by way of The Huffington Post), Obama's heritage is being called into question. Many are asking if he is African-American, bi-racial, mixed-race, etc. (or a mutt as Obama himself as said).
The Huffington Post piece can be found here... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/14/ap-many-insisting-that-ob_n_150846.html
Since all human beings originally came out of Africa (assuming my limited knowledge of science is correct), aren't we all African-American?
Am I the only one who finds this constant emphasis on one's heritage/lineage/legacy annoying and irrelevant? Why do people care so much about where other people came from, or who their ancestors were, or what their great-great-great grandfather did? Is there something wrong with trying to do the best with your life in the present (thus affecting your future), instead of bowing down to a past you were not involved in?
Please enlighten me!
Dorman, that was worth the extra post. Thanks for the laugh!
Speaking of our canine friends, I saw a story out of Santiago, Chile. This is a heart-tugger, not a joke. A dog was hit by a car trying to cross a highway. Another dog braved fast-moving traffic to pull the injured dog out of harm's way. Unfortunately, the first dog did not survive. The second dog was not injured.
Doggies is good peoples.
Chuck
Funny story
(sorry for the double-post Rick, but since the schoolmarm is home sick, thought I wouldn't get into too much trouble -- especially if I promise to go sit in the corner for two days)
Hey ALL. Thought you'd enjoy this story -- reportedly sent by one guy to another, here in OZ (even if it isn't a true story, I can still see our venerable host doing something like this -- and "Big W" is the equivlent of K-mart):
_The Meaty Bites Diet_
I've got 2 dogs. I bought a large bag of Meaty Bites at Big W and was standing in line at the check-out.
A woman behind me asked if I had a dog.
On impulse, I told her that no, I was starting The Meaty Bites Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because I'd ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 25 kgs before I woke in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IV's in both arms.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Meaty Bites and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry & that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again.
I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story, particularly a guy who was behind her.
Horrified, she asked if I'd ended up in the hospital in that condition because I had been poisoned by the food. I told her no, it was because I'd been sitting in the middle of the road licking my dick and a car hit me.
I thought one guy was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard as he staggered out the door.
Stupid b*tch...why else would I buy dog food??
-End-
Here's hoping you left the pavillion with a smile on your face...meaty bites diet or no.
Cheers,
DTS
Completely unrelated Antonioni name dropping
Mark Peploe was/is my script mentor. I choose him cause I loved The Passenger and The Last Emperor. He also dared to adapt The Sheltering Sky which was just mad but... then he re-wrote Rudy Wurlitzer's script for Little Buddha who also re-wrote one of my scripts which Alex Cox would like to make and then last Monday I was at a graduate screening at the London Film School and was introduced to Harley Cokeliss and I screamed like a fanboy and asked if he was the same dude who directed Battle at Billy's Pond and Dream Demon and completely forgot that Rudy had also done uncredited re-writes on the Burt Reynold's actioner, Malone and then...
Some weird random six degree thing but last month in New York, I got a last minute rental bedroom in a flat in Manhattan owned by a couple (I discovered Craigslist). One day I get chatting to the husband, he's Italian and I asked how he managed to end up in the US. Tells me he used to work in movies, said I probably don't know any of the filmmakers he worked with, Antonioni, Bertolucci, Visconti... and I just go, you know Mark? He goes yeah, lost touch with him years ago. Used to take care of his daughter and stuff. Then tells me loads on great Antonioni stories of working on Zabriskie Point and stuff before he went to Peru, India, Afghanistan, travelled world, etc.
I gave him Mark's details. Two old friends re-connect after twenty years.
I don't believe in fate or karma. This was just unsettling series of coincidences.
FAQ
Various
James Bond rant still coming; blood sugar 126 at dinner; thanks to those of you who sent concerned e-mails. Your thoughts warmed my day.
*
Harlan, forgive me if this is old news, but I am aware that the powers-that-be have transgressed before, and prefer redundancy to silence. Are you aware of the City on the Edge of Forever Christmas tree ornament? Check this page. Second imbedded screen. Kirk and Spock framed by the Guardian of Forever. The ornament provides audio of the Guardian explaining its purpose.
http://gizmodo.com/5108163/best-xmas-tree-ever-has-all-sci+fi-decorations-you-can-imagine?autoplay=true?skyline=true&s=i
Well, I Should Have Known ............
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
Indeed. How presumptive of me. Should have guessed that Mr. E. would have seen Kurosawa many times over. I, on the other hand, being trapped both in my generation and in the suburban wilderness north of Boston, must scramble whenever possible to view anything on the large screen, as intended, of the top tier of directors of world cinema: Kurosawa, Visconti, Antonioni, Lean, Lang, Truffaut, and, I would even inject, Cassavetes. Either Cambridge or bust, around here. (Guess I'll have to look into the complete Janus Films DVD collection I read about last year.) Hence my excitement. Will, on the other hand, look into the Ed McBain 87th Precinct novels. Fascinating.
Oh, Mr. Ellison, forgot to mention: my mother's cousin, a retired Army Sergeant Major now living in El Paso, TX, has been emptying his garage of books picked up at the various flea markets in his area over the past thirty years--especially some from the library at Fort Bliss. He has sent me six boxes of titles, in hard and soft, from the 30's through the 60's, for sale on a consignment basis. If I may, once I have completed my inventory, I'll send you a list to see if any titles might interest you. Be my pleasure. Already have about 500 titles that I haven't read yet, so glad to share.
Thanks again for the license not to dwell on Kurosawa.
Regards, etc., etc.
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
Papers, books, stunts gone awry and...Britney's Beaver
MIKE V: It's a good bet that most of them _aren't_ newspapers now, before they morph into online news sources. (Newsloads? Newslinks? NewsPages? NewsVues?)
SEMI: Thanks for the link to photo of one of the books you found: it's a thing of beauty (they sure knew how to make 'em way back when). Wish _I_ had been lucky enough to stumble across the treasure trove you found, Indy...I mean, Semi. I love me some books.
FRANK: In addition to being in the forthcoming film "Knowing" (alongside my daughter, Anyanka -- that's her screen name -- and some slow-talking dude named Nic -- watch for it Mar 20th), I was actually at the shoot of "Commando." I _saw_ Arnie (as we in the biz call him) accidentally throw that pipe clean through the stunt man. It was a freak accident that was immediately recorded in the memoir entitled L.A.: CITY OF FREAKS, ANGELS AND ACTOR-TYPES by Mortimer J. Snerd, Producer. The steam was just a special effect added later (the guy who did that advised me that the temperature of a still-warm body would through off the trajectory of the water particles, causing the steam gyser to deviate and possibly shoot into Arnie's eyes by mistake -- thus the CGI). But the pipe throwing part actually happened....I kid you not.
BARBER: All I wanna know is: was Britney there, and if so, was she wearing undies?
Cheers,
DTS
REPLY TO HARLAN ELLISON
.
Message received and understood. Let your kyron-flag fly!
On the topic of the evolution of language...allow me to offer this up for group debate:
Once all newspapers follow the Christian Science Monitor and stop delivering their news on paper (in favor of delivering only by the Internet)...will they still be called "newspapers"?
Harlan:
Sir,
A package is currently winging its way towards your magnificent temple. It contains the items I mentioned a while ago: three books, and two magazines. It is also sealed up with so much Sellotape, it will probably take several weeks to open. I have no idea when it will arrive, but our stamps have a picture of the Queen on, which means it has to stop every hour to be saluted while one hundred guardsmen on horseback circle around it. So it may take some time.
Pip pip, guvnor!
James Moran
uMICHAEL MAYHEW:
Same goes for yours, as Jarrett's. I knew none of this. I am in your idiomatic debt.
Thank you.
Harlan
STEVE JARRETT:
Magnificent post! It is THIS quality of knowledge and bonhomie that reifies, for me, the web in toto, and this occasionally ever-so-trying venue in particular.
Wish I'd seen it before I entered MY post. Yours is better.
Harlan
WILLIAM SHERMAN:
To save you future posting on this single matter only:
If Kurosawa made it, I've seen it. Many times. From first to last, high and low. And even read the Ed McBain (Evan Hunter) 87th Precinct novel on which it was based, when it was originally published. Long have I been a worshipper at the Olympian throne of Kurosawa. If he made it, I've seen it.
But thank you for your Good Offices.
Harlan
REPLY TO MIKE VALERIO
MIKE
Yeah, you are, of course, absolutely correct. Yet...
The hitch in the gitalong is strictly a personal one for me; and no dissembling. I first learned of chyrons years ago and, like the use of the word "measure" in a screenplay, rather than "stock" or "stock footage," and "Arri" or "Arriflex" for "hand-held camera" or "Steadicam," I am in love with certain words and their sounds, and so...while giving you your due and acknowledgment...I continue to use MY yeah INCORRECT spelling and the nomenclature, onaccounta it pleases me to do so. But: no offense intended, none taken. I let go of some stuff most reluctantly. Kyron is one of them. Pity me.
Harlan
Writers Guild Nominations
Over at ComicMix, Bob Greenberger posts, "Genre vets Marc Guggenheim (ELI STONE), Drew Goddard, Brian K. Vaughan (LOST), Marti Noxon, Zack Whedon, and Danny Strong (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) have been nominated by their peers. The Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of America, East announced their nominees for outstanding achievement in television, radio, news, promotional writing, and graphic animation during the 2008 season to be honored at the upcoming 2009 Writers Guild Awards on February 7, 2009, in Los Angeles and New York."
The list of television nominees is here: http://www.comicmix.com/news/2008/12/13/writers-guild-nominates-best-writing/
Honestly, I'm actually more excited by another ComicMix story (geek that I am)--John Carter of Mars toys!
URL: http://www.comicmix.com/news/2008/12/11/triad-toys-signs-john-carter-of-mars/
Day my Brain Stood Still
Still reeling from the astoundingly awful remake of 'THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL' -- lacks all credibility from frame one (a very fake studio set with very fake snow that's supposed to be the Himalayas with a mountain-climbing Keanu... huh?) and careens into some of the most amazingly bad dialogue, bad effects, bad everything that I've ever seen.
Saw it with a friend who reviews films for a living and he said it's the worst thing he's ever seen (obviously he's never seen THE TERROR OF TINY TOWN, the all-midget Western).
But my award for Worst of the film is the acting of the kid, Jaden Smith, who got the job because of his Dad and Mom (Will and Jada)... you have not seen such hammy histrionics since the silent era.
So don't pay good money to see it, wait for cable and see if you agree with me.
The only good thing was when we were leaving, a younger couple was saying 'how the old one was so much better' -- so THEY ADMIT THERE IS AN OLD ONE! AND IT'S BETTER!
************************************************************
Regarding misspellings, the one I've run into recently in several publications is 'distain' for 'disdain'. Maybe they're from Brooklyn and they're saying to their dry cleaners 'Dis Stain has got to come out' -- but I think they're just dumb and their spell-check doesn't get it because there is a verb 'distain' that means to 'disgrace' (but they're definitely using it as a noun). They don't know the word 'disdain' -- disgraceful!
***************************************************************
And regarding the auto industry bail-out bill, I'd like to post this paragraph from electoral-vote.com (and, as a follow-up, ask: why would any worker NOT want to be part of a union? If I were not a union member, I would be worked 20 hours a day for no benefits with no job security... I know this because I did non-union work before I joined the union... so why would any worker be against it ever????) :
Car Bailout Pits North vs. South
A striking pattern has emerged in the fight over bailing out the big three automobile companies. Senators from the north are for it and senators from the south are against it. Why? It turns out there are assembly plants in both the North and the South. The ones in the North are owned by American companies and are highly unionized; the ones in the South are owned by foreign (mostly Japanese) companies) and are not unionized. Hourly pay in northern and southern ones is comparable but benefits are much better in the North. Southern senators who oppose the bailout don't really object to the government interfering with private industry and don't really even mind a government-appointed car czar running the companies. The sticking point is that they want to break the unions and force union members to take cuts in pay and benefits to bring them down to the level that the workers in the South get. In this way, workers will see that unionization has no value and won't be inclined to join unions in the South, which will greatly please the foreign auto companies and keep them firmly attached to the South. So what may look at first like a noble principle (keep the government's nose out of the private sector), is really a parochial interest (keep unions out of plants in their states so foreign companies will continue to invest there). Some observers say that in the deep South, there is no much difference between union and Union Army
Adam Castro, haha, actually, Commando is a personal favorite in shlock cinema. The entire movie is filled with crazy flubs.
Aanold breaks into a gun store, knowing full well that the alarm will alert the cops within minutes. Not only does he take his time, but the lucious Rae Chong is able to get away, with a cadillac full of goods. The shot of her trying to use a hand held rocket launcher is classic corn.
The macho antics in the movie are eye rolling.
There's also the scene where Aanold throws a pipe at the bad guy, and the force of it not only goes into the guy, but it goes into the steam pipe, throwing steam from his body. The force of such a shot would take the power of Superman. No way in hell could one man attempt that. The pipe would bounce off the bad guy's body--especially since the actor had a chainmail vest on.
What saves the movie is the camp and lucious Rae, one of my childhood fantasies.
-----------
Barber, see, I was right, you liberals will sell out for a buck every time. haha.
PM me. I want to know what famous names were at that gig.
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Down the Chyron Rabbit Hole
The current generic term for the sort of textual graphic identifiers (the name of a person being interviewed, for example, or of the volcano being shown, etc), which used to be called Chyrons, is "lower third." (meaning words that you see in the lower third of the screen). Plural is lower thirds -- as in, "The cut's almost ready but we gotta double-check the deliverables and do the lower thirds."
(If it's full screen text it's called a "title," whether or not it was generated electronically)
(unless it moves a lot -- in which case, even if it is a title, it's called a "graphic")
The term for those little network-identifying logos that sit in the lower right hand corner of a show for the entire broadcast is "bug." As in "Yeah, they'll sell us the shot as stock footage but their lawyers say we gotta leave in the bug."
The term for those animated, dancing, leap-up-from-the-bottom of the screen, attention-pulling, narrative-crushing advertisements for the next show after the one you are watching is "rape." Or at least it ought to be.
MM
MM
Throes, not Throws
(But it does make for an interesting image, doesn't it. Death throws. There's a story in there somewhere...)
Egads I'm exhausted
Cris played a gig in Indian Wells (ten or so miles past Palm Springs) last night.
It was the annual Christmas party at the Vintage Club, an entirely way-too-above-my-paygrade crowd, identified by the manager as "some of the richest people in the world". He pointed out some names. Um, yeah, they were.
Ever been in a room and been hit with the urge to grab the mic and yell "What the %$#@ are you people THINKING!?!?!?"
Fortunately, common sense and a rather large paycheck kept me quiet.
As Mr. Ellison says, "I can be bought, but at the highest possible price".
___________________________________
If Sir Rick has not yet responded, SEMI, Sandra is right. Shoot whatever it is to the above email address and I'll see that Unca H gets the list.
___________________________________
ATC - Thank you for the inadvertent warning. I've been skating the edge at 120-125 for a few years now, and am on a blood sugar med. Glad the Doc (hopefully) caught it before you suffered an unexpected attack of something...
THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 has the hallmarks of an unnecessary remake -- even though that's already been done. As has been mentioned, remake the "almosts" and the "missed its", but leave the good ones alone.
(What's next? A remake of BLADE RUNNER: THE DIRECTOR'S FINAL FINAL FINAL CUT (WE PROMISE)?
(Okay, I'll admit it, that one DOES get better with each iteration.)
___________________________________
The English language does change. It roils and undulates like some misshapen sea serpent in the throws of death.
But there are still rules.
My favorite malaprop that became a word is "flustrated".
Any Breaker Morant fans?
If so, you may enjoy the new film, Australia. It was nice seeing Bryan Brown and Jack Thompson in the same film and they both did a wonderful job with their parts.
Isn't it Chyronic?
Funny thing about language. Some words, when superseded by technological change, or social change, or paradigm shifts, go quietly out to pasture and are never again encountered in common usage. But others somehow are able to stay on long past their expiration date without going stale.
For example, when 78 rpm records, which had an inherently short playing time, were employed to disseminate longer stretches of music it was common practice to bind multiple discs into an album. When the long-playing vinyl record replaced the 78 album, however, the result was still commonly referred to as an "album," even though it consisted of only a single disc. And now that the vinyl LP has been superseded by the CD, many people still refer to the CDs as "albums" -- a usage that is now two technological generations removed from its origin.
Similarly, in the motion picture industry, the process of re-recording dialogue in postproduction originally involved making a workprint of the scene in question, then splicing the head of the scene to the tail to create an endless film loop. This loop could then be projected over and over while the actors performed the dialogue repeatedly until both the lip synch and the performance were deemed to be acceptable. The process was therefore referred to as "looping." Nowadays, of course, no one uses a film loop, and the official term for the process is ADR -- Automatic Dialogue Replacement. And yet, many people in the industry still refer to ADR as "looping." I often wonder how many people call it "looping" without even knowing why.
And so it is with "Chyron." It's perfectly true that actual Chyron equipment is a thing of the past. And yet the term is not. Like "looping," it seems to have bridged the generational gap to be picked up even by people who are too young ever to have actually used a Chyron.
What is happening here, it seems to me, is that certain words and phrases, for whatever reason, are able to sidestep obsolescence by making the leap from simple denotative language to figurative language, thereby achieving a kind of lexical afterlife. "Album," "looping," and "Chyron" have, in effect, been promoted from simple word status to the status of metonymy. "Album" no longer denotes a set of discrete discs bound together, but rather figuratively indicates the digital files that are "bound" together to make up the contents of a compact disc. And "Chyron," while it no longer has a concrete referent, lives on as a simple, effective, and broadly understood trope in the film and video industry.
Steve J.
Attn: Semi-Writer
Rick recently posted he's out with back problems. He may or may not check his email. I suggest you send your list to the estimable Steve Barber (should be able to find his email address on the Pavilion) who will be able to get it to Harlan.
Cheers
Peg
Pre-caffeinated, Eye-opening Thoughts
Dear Mr. Ellison, et al.:
On seeing "High and Low", by Kurosawa, I must re-act: wow. A true genius of world cinema, at the peak of his creative powers for Toho Studios in the early 1960's. Please see if and where possible, size of screen notwithstanding. Excellent "police procedural" film.
Staying within that genre, I'm not old enough to have seen "Taking of Pelham, 1-2-3" in theatres, but have seen the movie a few times on the "Glass Teat". Wonderful movie. Matthau's best acting since "Fail-Safe", in my opinion. Robert Shaw's leader of the kidnapper's truly chilled me; also, Martin Balsam's frustrated ex-trolley driver convinced me. Truly a movie that evoked a time and place accurately--NYC in the early 1970's, the "ungovernable years" I witnessed during my childhood. There's a history to read: "The Ungovernable City", whose author I can't recall at the moment.
Steve at "soon to be sold off" Wrigley Field: I knew the quote came from a German Romantic; I guessed Goethe. Why I inserted the parenthetical remark. Thanks.
Frank Church: many thanks for the kind sentiment. Coincidentally, my mother has been on me for years at least to attempt a work. I quote: "you've been reading that science fiction (expletive deleted) for all these years. Maybe you should write some." Guess I've been too distracted by life. Will ponder.
Jan: point taken. I simply cringe at the sight of books, of any sort, in the recycling bins or, worse, dumpsters; especially, as "Semi-Writer" has noted, when the volumes appear to carry both monetary and cultural worth. I just think the former owner surrenders culture without at least a struggle to pass the information on. On this point, eBay does play the role of "deus ex machina".
Mr. Castro: I empathize. Blood sugar holding in pre-diabetice stage (100-120 mg/dl). Eating spinach leaves for breakfast. Haven't eaten an egg in weeks. I look at my old Class A uniform and "laugh, clown, laugh".
Mr. Brock: yep, the Grim Reaper gathered in a fine harvest this year. (My great loss was Arthur C. Clarke). Brutus's observation in "Julius Caesar" comforts me somehow: "Death will come when it will." Ended one of my favorite "Twilight Zone (TOS)" episodes: "The Passerby".
Hunter S. Thompson said it best for me: "Buy the ticket, take the ride." Sadly, the ride does end.
Regards from Fear and Loathing in Massachusetts,
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
Books
Harlan, sorry for the delay. I sent an email to your webmaster so as not to clutter up this space, or to lay anything that resembles your "business" out there in public (I shudder at the repercussions of such a venial sin--and yes, you still scare me a little).
You are more than welcome to have what I found! I've only listed a few through eBay, but since they have no bids yet, I can still take them off the auction block if they are of interest to you. I'm only reluctant to give up four other books, so along with boxes and a dolly, you may have to have your crew bring a crowbar to free the remainder from my grasp.
Here is one book that is listed now--just look under the username to see the other items.:
Follies & Grottoes (1953): http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=330293734402&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=014
We have lost so many respected and admired individuals this year that I find myself tempted to forget 2008 completely.
I'll miss these wonderful folks...
George Carlin
Dave Stevens
Bo Diddley
Stan Winston
Richard Wright (of Pink Floyd)
Paul Newman
Studs Terkel
and now, Bettie Page.
The world is now a little dumber, quieter and less beautiful.
KYRON on QUANTUM
.
HARLAN--
Because you're a stickler for spelling and accuracy, I feel compelled to point out that your reference to a "kyron" should have been spelled as "chyron", as in the Chyron Corporation. In 1966, that company began manufacturing dot matrix character generators for race track and airport displays before quickly adapting the technology for TV news and sports broadcasts (which, up to that point, had been using art cards or slides to get words and numbers on the screen).
Spelling aside, it is highly unlikely that the FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION graphic on your Academy DVDs was applied by Chyron or any other hardware-based character generator system, which are mostly reserved for live TV. More likely, the FYC graphic was created using the kind of software-based titlers (like LiveType or TitleDeko) that are frequently used with non-linear editing systems (Avid, Final Cut Pro, etc).
There was a time in TV when all on-screen graphics were generically referred to as "chyrons", but we're about a decade past that.
SEMI-WRITER:
Still waiting to find out if you're interested in getting rid of any of those Found Books before you offer tham to e.bay.
My library is extensive, but you may've turned over something I'd like to have.
When you have a moment. If you please.
Harlan Ellison
MOVIES
QUANTUM OF SOLACE was truly bad, but I'm glad to hear screeners are being distributed...I can watch the action sequences at 1/16th speed and maybe figure out what was going on.
GRAN TORINO is a marvelous movie. If it's Clint Eastwood's last, it's a great note to go out on. John Wayne would never have dared to end the movie as Clint does.
Addendum
Keeney: Huh? I read the Godey novel multiple times, before seeing the movie. It was as faithful as you can expect: streamlined for length, but that's a given. All the major plot points were hit.
Various
THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 was already remade once, as a tv-movie, and it was as lame as expected; there's no way to recapture that film's evocation of 70's-grunge Manhattan, or that final closeup of Walter Matthau (which may have beem the best moment of his movie career, even if it wasn't actually the best movie; no other actor could have communicated as much as he did, with that look).
*
Y'know potboiler movies have gone downhill when you catch bits of the original THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE on TV and realize that it had characters, drama, tension, and even a healthy religious subtext. I'm not making false claims here. It wasn't a great movie, just an effective one at doing what it tried to do. And it wasn't considered much more than a potboiler in its day. The remake couldn't even be bothered to introduce, let alone characterize, its players.
*
Not quite up to discussing the stupidest action movie moment of all time, a moment that actually exceeds for sheer imbecility Arnold Shwarzenegger plummeting hundreds of feet from a passenger plane, into a swamp, without injury, in COMMANDO; or a bad guy attempting to escape Sam Elliott by boarding a roller coaster, in SHAKEDOWN, only to be killed when the heroic cop tears out the brakes and forces the coaster to crash, an act for which his superior praises him with, "Good Work," ignoring the self-evident facts that the thug couldn't have escaped the coaster in motion and that there was no danger of him escaping since roller coasters always return to their starting point for reloading. (And actually, that movie had several moments just as mindbogglingly stupid.) No, the one I rant about, because it's stupider than THOSE, the one that has been a burr under my skin for years now, took place in a James Bond movie and is stupid for reasons that go way beyond the rubber physics of James Bond movies. Stay tuned.
*
They're still slamming the Clintons, almost twenty years later, for a failed land deal where they did nothing wrong except lose their own money. Eighty million dollars of taxpaper money was spent trying to pin something on them, without success, unless you count a sleazy little personal matter which was none of the country's business? But the current chimp? The people tallying up his crimes have "Bush Derangement Syndrome." Go figure that.
*
Deep praise: THE QUEEN OF BEDLAM, by Robert McCammon.
*
This has been, as mentioned, a difficult pancreatic week, that has contributed to me doing some stupid things of late, at home and on-line. Monday I went to the doctor for a totally routine checkup and they found out that my sugar level was 488. That day I started insulin. Yeah, I have joined the ranks of the diabetic. My numbers are much lower at the end of the week -- I just got a much more acceptable 134 -- but I am still feeling the pinch of the necessary adjustments.
Keeney,
Not.
the taking of Pelham
There is no remake that can do it'"right' or 'better'."
How 'bout someone makes a version that follows the plot of the John Godey novel it was based upon?
Rick
Lame Remake Watch
Adding to the dumb-ass remakes list ahead - which, I've come to guess, will ultimately be ALL movie classics - they are now doing TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3.
OK, we're not talking about Manchurian Candidate or Casablanca.
But the 70's Walter Matthau version hits it out of the park on 2 counts: the hilarious hard-assed humor spearing every gritty, foul-mouthed New York stereotype (yet, so ACCURATELY!), and David Shire's incredibly cool, quaking jazz score.
Hey, the idiot politician that is the Mayor embodies every asshole we deal with today ("You know what will happen if I go down dere. What ALWAYS happens. I'll get BOOED."); this feature alone makes the movie a one-and-only.
There is no remake that can do it "right" or "better".
Stay tuned for next week's Lame Remake Watch!
W.S.: So someone is discarding a few old books - doesn't mean everybody's doing it.
The TIMES has published its best-books-of-the-year list, and the first one is a book of stories by Steven Millhauser, "a master fabulist in the tradition of Poe and Nabokov". Perhaps when Harlan's next one comes out, the world will be ready?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/books/review/10Best-t.html?_r=1
Requiem for a Harlequin: Two Perspectives on Time, and a Celebration of Kairos, in Three Stories by Harlan Ellison (by Michael Spence)
http://sciphijournal.com/etext/SPJ_5_RequiemForAHarlequin.html
Strictly for Harlan's records, "Mona at Her Windows" was read at KFAI Radio in August - https://www.kfai.org/node/13850
Harlan, you're mentioned in passing in a non-fiction book called "Weil sie wissen, was sie tun" by Wolfram Knorr which is about the American pop culture and entertainment industry and why so much good stuff comes from America.
http://www.amazon.de/Weil-sie-wissen-amerikanischen-Unterhaltungsindustrie/dp/3907625382
William Sherman, you are a very gifted writer. Now go off and do that great American novel. You have it in you, trust me.
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Arianna Huffington is damn sexy but she is getting on my nerves with her idea about the greatness of blogging. What makes a good blog, in her mind, is to think of the first thing that comes to mind, because blogs are not essays or anything like that. What has me itching is the fact that that ideal of what makes something a blog also adds to the slovenly ideas that we see online. Sure there is good stuff, but lots of real dreck.
Arianna also has to talk about the fact that blogs may singnal the death of newspapers and actual magazines. Book reading is already dead.
Sure I'd drink her bath water, but that's beside the point.
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"How beautiful do the words have to be before they conquer every heart?"
Prince.
Smartass Wordplay, Inc.
Chuck M~ Since you've got the schematics, I need a horse of a different color. Please send contract for complete date and labor costs, thank you. ;)
Semi-Writer~ The problem lies wherever there are gullible ears who don't want to hear the truth. The problem doth LAY, however, solely in the realm of the Stygian Blind who toss the treasure away.
I share the 'freebook' jones. We at work have an elderly gentleman who used to stop by our store semi-monthly on his way to drop off books at the Goodwill and Salvation army. He'd give a couple of us first pick. Nothing extravagant, but I did learn about Jeff Noon, Don Winslow, and Brian A. Hopkins (a brilliant fantasist, in my opinion), I snagged a ferocious novel THE BROOKLYN BOOK OF THE DEAD by Michael Stephens, and a knock-off Timescape paperback, Van Vogt's THE WAR AGAINST THE RULL of which i had never heard.
Free stuff is cool.
I won't discuss the guy i knew who burned his paperbacks for firewood kindling when he was short on wood. Coulda used newspaper or at least lighter fluid, but didn't. Let's just say... i was acquitted.
My true friends are the ones who don't wince at the box upon box, crate upon crate, of books that are ready to go on moving day. They smile, nod, wearily. They understand.
Apparently possessed by the ghost of David Loftus (with 1/10 of his skill),
P.
correction for Mr Sherman
I believe you meant this:
"Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings." - Heinrich Heine
Goethe said something about burning bridges.
By Hook or By Book
Dear Mr. Ellison et al:
Just a quick observation for the day. Just as, I think (help!), Goethe said that "when books burn, people soon burn afterwards," so do we have the phenomenon of the discarding of books as the prelude to the discarding of people.
In this spirit, Barbara Tuchman would later write: "Books are the carriers of civilization." I suppose that should we discard books, we discard civilization. That would leave only the Internet and a few "bitter-end" newspapers to promulgate values, ideas, entertainment,....and culture. Let's hope the electricity lasts.
As Mr. Bradbury might have written had Guy Montag been a "book disposer" instead of a fireman, "first we dispose of the books; then, we dispose of the pulp resulting from the books; then, we dispose of those who disposed of the books." Melville on Mondays, Tolstoy on Tuesdays, Whitman on Wednesdays,.......but Ellison everyday!! Then, I would wake up in a cold sweat, clutching my current reading project, checking my snoring bulldog, and, contented, return to sleep, dreaming of electric sheep.
Hold onto the books, friends. To the bitter end.
Off to Kurosawa.
Regards from the Athens of America,
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
I shake my head in disbelief when I hear about someone tossing away books like that. With the exception of obviously-not-useful-to-anyone-else stuff (outdated travel guides, completed crossword-puzzle books, books damaged beyond reading), I don't think I've ever thrown away a book in my life. You GIVE AWAY (or sell) what you don't want. Apparently the people discarding books in Semi-Writer's neighborhood either have no friends who read or can't find their way to the nearest library that accepts donations.
Semi-Writer, congratulations on your finds. Good luck selling them on eBay - but if you were to put up a list of some of them here, I suspect you'd find some eager buyers among the denizens of the Pavilion...
Books, books and... you get the picture.
Now I'm not sure where the problem lies: with the neighborhood residents who are throwing out perfectly-good hardcover/dustjacket books, or with me for stopping to retrieve as many of them from the curbside as I can.
This collection has books from the 1950s and up. Dorothy Parker. Meyer Levin. Various other authors, and some true crime as well. Hell, I haven't had a chance to look through them yet. I just grabbed 'em, as is my habit when the two words "free books" come to mind.
(It's REALLY time to get a life, ain't it?)
day-earth-still
I always go into a movie wanting to love it .DAY started and was,for about 5 minutes , Not Stupid and I dared to hope. Foolish me. Does any one write a script anymore where point B in the plot is arrived at through A because it makes sense and not because it HAS to get there ? Aren't charecters supposed to have discernable human motivations and not simply do whatever the fuck the scriptwriter wants them to do because it would be really, really cool ? I'll learn one day, I swear...
For Your Consideration
Actually, I thought Harlan was referring to a sequel to that straight-to-DVD release, "SECURITY DEVICE ENCLOSED."
Will Be In Mail By Monday/Tuesday
Dear Mr. Ellison:
Done. Will be in mail by early next week. Glad to be of assistance.
Most cordially,
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
So I Brain Farted
Blame a stressful pancreatic week.
re: Cockring of Solace
I had a feeling the new "Bond" film would fall short of the mark. The stunning remake of Casino Royale was a once in a life-time fluke and now they're back to the kind of Saturday morning fluff that was killing the franchise. I'll take everyone's word and skip it.
Being an avid video gamer (I actually discovered HE by way of the IHNMAIMS game), I think its only a matter of time before the action movies are replaced completely by action games. (And given a couple more thousand years, we'll all be wired into the Matrix anyway.)
-Jordan
Speaking of QUANTUM OF SOLACE and the bad buzz coming off this film, I've been reading a book titled, FIASCO: HOLLYWOOD'S ICONIC FLOPS. It includes CLEOPATRA, ISHTAR, POPEYE, SHOWGIRLS, LAST ACTION HERO, BATTLEFIELD EARTH, ad infinitum.
One constant that showed in all these out-of-control productions was the lack of a finshed script before the movie went into pre-production. That, and heaping helpings of steaming hubris.
If you don't have the blueprint, the horse will probably finish as a giraffe.
Chuck
KOS:
Can you handle another deck of books to sell?
Harlan
LARS KLORES
Oh, shit, Lars! Damndamn dammity damn!
Yes, of course, I got them. And splendiferous they are.
And shamefaced am I. I owe you! There was a note enclosed with an amount, and it's in a stack of unattended paperwork on my desk.
No excuse for such dilatory behavior. Tomorrow, on my oath.
Harlan
WILLIAM SHERMAN:
Grand offer, and I thank you. Yes, please. Remuneration for postage, of course. Send it care of HERC.
Harlan
ADAM-TROY:
Truly, I am not nearly as stupid as you seem to think.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION is the kyron burnt onto "screener" DVDs sent out by the studios for "consideration" for awards. It appears as a large caption four or six times during the course of a film; and those of us In The Industry who get them would understand that my use of the phrase ironically should not be ignorantly misread by smartasses with too much time on their hands.
Of course, you shithead! Of COURSE I was talking about QUANTUM OF SOLACE.
Shaking his head in disfuckingbelief, I remain
Smarter than the average bear.
HE hits it on the head
On both points, Bettie Page and James Bond.
Bettie had beauty, grace, and an incredible presence.
The Bond film has none.
It's only worse because I really liked Casino Royale, and expected more of the same. It really is a mess, please don't waste a moment of your life, or a penny of your money on it.
Rick:
I hope your back shows startling improvement forthwith. As if wangling a functional board weren't a big enough pain ...
Mend well.
D.
HARLAN-
So you and Susan weren't held rapt by the sharp screenwriting that seemed to culminate with, "Gosh, Billy, those hydrogen cells sure seem unstable"?
Lazy, lazy writing.
What annoyed me most, I think, was that there were so many opportunities to improve it with minimal effort. Truly a waste.
We ended up re-watching _Casino Royale_ a day or two after watching _Solace_ and were shocked by the stark contrast between the two.
Oh, well, here's hoping for a good showing next time out.
--
Ryan
Magic Book
Hi Harlan,
A couple of weeks ago I sent you a copy of the magic book containing the card trick you inspired, along with a magazine reprinting same. Did you receive them? Just checking.
--L
Steve's coins sounded lonely as they jingled in the can, so I threw in my share to keep them company.
***
Rick: Sendin' ya a fresh batch of warm fuzzies for a speedy recovery!
shagin
Of Inhuman Bond-age
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
Thank you so much for the warnings about "Quantum of Solace". It refreshes me to realize that I am NOT the only sentient human being tired of the franchise. This goes beyond chewing the same cud more than once; this demonstrates chewing, swallowing, and regugitating the same cud over, and over, and over again, like an infinite loop in a computer program, until the cud exits through an ear. As a math/physics person, however, I am somewhat bemused to see the word "quantum" mentioned so prominently in any part of our popular culture. Perhaps a random civilian or two may check the word out on Wikipedia or, (some higher power) forbid, refer to a book to explore the word. Some good may come of it.
Saving my $10 in sucker's bet money, I intend, therefore, to attend a free showing tomorrow morning at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA, of Kurosawa's "High and Low". First of his canon without samurai that I shall have seen, outside of parts of "Tora, Tora, Tora".
To Mr. E. directly: I have an extra copy of E.T. Bell's "Men of Mathematics" in my gift pile. Would you like it?
Regards from the "other coast".
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
THERE, NOT THEIR. GRRRR.
Bettie Page put out a sly danger in her photos, but you knew their was humanity in her image. She also gave off a sly wink to a very repressed age. She was the ultimate irony of the 50s. So many of the harpies and cupcakes of this age just don't have her verve or her charm.
I expect some wonderful essays about her to come from Camille Paglia or John Waters. I bet they were both fans, as was I.
She was a mystery and very sexy.
Big hugs to Harlan for his loss.
3rd Post, I'll Shut Up Now
Yeah, I can see now that he meant the joke. I should have seen. But I'm brain-farting, this week. Ah well.
Kill me for a second post, but...
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION is the label on a film being submitted -- for consideration -- to members of the Academy.
(Or some other voting bloc, like the WGA, for some other film awards...)
ADAM-TROY,
Something tells me Harlan's choice of title for QUANTUM OF SOLACE is a joke. I don't quite get it yet, but it would probably make more sense if I actually watched the movie.
...which I won't.
Addendum
Not today, because I've already posted and I don't have time, but remind me to offer my oft-repeated rant about One Of The Stupidest Moments I Have Ever Seen In An Action Movie. Without ever going to the trouble to make a list on paper, I have mentally compiled the ones that irritate me most mightily, simply by going to movies to see them; and I must report that a James Bond movie is guilty of one of the five worst. (Even accounting for comic-book physics. Seriously. It's lunatic time.)
RICK - How much can I get if I don't shave an entire goatee for a month???
I just tossed a coupla coins in the tin.
__________________________________________
My sole knowledge of Ms Page was as the son of a Navy man. Let's just say that she had many, many fans in that particular service, and I would see her picture frequently when on board a ship. Fuel for a young boy's imagination, however demurely I might have pretended not to have seen anything. Anything at all.
__________________________________________
Word is that David Tennant is ALSO headed for back surgery. The BBC is reporting that he had to unexpectedly exit a London production of Hamlet.
__________________________________________
New pics up on my website, under the MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE and MONTHLY galleries. Some time in the next few weeks I plan to get in there and clean a few things out.
__________________________________________
SUSAN - Amidst the "Covina" incident, I'd posted that I'd like a copy of Mind Fields. Can you confirm if you've got stock available???
Not to be obnoxious about it
I think you're talking about QUANTUM OF SOLACE. (FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION is a funny Christopher Guest movie about Academy Award fever.)
The James Bond movies are a bad habit I picked up in childhood. I always saw them in the theatres, even after they stopped being fun, even when there were sometimes a number in a row with nothing to recommend them. I hated about half the Roger Moore films, despised the Timothy Dalton films, and tolerated the Pierce Brosnans, only to be blown away by CASINO ROYALE. I have not been able to bestir myself to see QUANTUM OF SOLACE, which has terrible buzz. You, sir, have just capped my decision. (Why spend money on Bond when there are so many promising films out there worth seeing? I don't even have to list them...)
Staches for Cancer
Okay, guys. I have been disabled (as in it's a Faulknerian odyssey for me to make it to the bathroom to have a piss) by a lower back / sciatic nerve issue for a month now and ailing for 6 weeks. Getting slightly better but I may have to have spinal surgery in the next few weeks. Thank you for playing nice and continuing to do so as I can't even sit up straight to work on the computer.
If anyone wants to do a good deed for the day, throw in 5 or 10 bucks to Mustaches for Kids,
http://atlantamustache.com
- a bunch of us have been growing 'staches for the last 5 weeks. Just click the donate link at the top and mention my name (Rick Wyatt) in the comment field. Today is the last day!
I should know next week sometime if I need surgery or not. Sorry I haven't called, Harlan - it's been kind of hairy.
She surpassed even Marilyn Monroe, I think, for sheer allure and sensuality. Marilyn managed to parlay her looks and talent into a film career, while Bettie was turned down by Fox for her "too thick Southern accent". But her photographs, with Irving Klaw, with Bunny Yeager, showed the world just how sensuality could be conveyed through a hot body---but always with that "girl next door" grin. Not even Marilyn could do that. If you will forgive my opinion, Marilyn was not a great actress, whereas Bettie was an outstanding model, whose influence lasted far longer than her short career.
Bettie had those wide, childlike eyes, with one ever-so-slightly drooping, and that amazing, beaming, smile. Even in the bondage flix and pix, I had the feeling that she was having fun. According to everything I’ve read about her, she was a consummate professional as a model, inventing her own poses, and willing to pose for hours.
Bettie will always be a modeling babysitter to me--my older neighbor friend, who just happened to like taking her clothes off and posing with cheetahs. There seemed to be NO photos where she didn't look FABULOUS!!!!
As Bunny Yaeger put it, "You just couldn't catch Betty (sic) looking bad. I shot over 1,000 photos of her and I think that she only blinked and closed her eyes in one photo. She was always ready for the camera." (Betty Page Confidential, Page 42.)
Bettie, may you be tantalizing and scandalizing the angels even as I type; you will always be an inspiration to me. Like the Cheshire Cat’s, your smile will linger long after you have Disapparated from this dimension.
TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT QUICKLY TO ESCAPE TEARS
Susan and I were sent a studio "screener" of the latest James Bond offaling (not offering) FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION. So we watched it last evening.
Ohmylawd.
This is one of the most genuinely unredeemably ghastly and awful movies I have seen in a lifetime of attending hundreds of thousands of motion pictures. Not even stark curiosity should impell you to see it.
As we used to say about certain writers, "back in NYC, back inna day," this film stinks on ice.
Ice stinks on this film.
If you moronically choose to fail to harken to my gardyloo, kindly do not come back here to discuss this ten million dollar running-sore of cinema.
Harlan
News of Bettie's passing...and so soon after the loss of Dave Stevens...most of you will know the important, now tragic, connection...well, it hit me very hard. She once said to me, in jesting seriousness, "I'll bet you've touched my breasts more times than any other man in the world."
She was, of course, probably incorrect, because she was making reference to my having had to examine closely many thousands of contact sheet and transparency images of Her Grand Self in the nude, when I was selecting photos for Rogue Magazine when I worked for Hamling in Evanston after I got out of the Army.
Wrong, of course, because there were hundreds of men's magazine editors, not just those at Rogue and Playboy, but hundreds at Titter, Gent, Dude, Erotic Adventures, Penthouse, Gallery, and on and on and on, who were privileged, nobly and honorably privileged to be permitted to view Sweet Bettie using loupe and red grease pencil for circling selections.
Some, of note, pass...and I smile with true meanspiritedness at the scent of cleaner air throughout the universe. The loss of one so small, yet so wonderful, who brought so much joy into a drab world, puts me in a cage of muted sorrow, or as our good friend and sage aphorist Rick Keeney has said, "Death is a fence that won't take whitewash."
Harlan
Chuck wrote: "I believe the membership consists of his family and...well, his family. This self-promoting pustule of a "man" will go on and on, tarnishing the image of Christianity, even though he represents a minority that even anti-gay Christians despise."
Yeah, I do. I simply have no tolerance for it. I can't really say if it is unfortunate or not, but I agree with one blogger's opinion that it would be better to take down all of the symbols rather than feed the @%!$!! that's bubbling in the stewpot.
My brother and I can't agree if we would rather see a large holiday tree decorated with symbols and memorabilia of Washington state, or one decorated with representations of all the world's faiths.
The closest I come to Christianity is having Christian friends. I'm a blatant practitioner of respect and tolerance. Pisses people right the hell off, y'know?
***
Mark: Awww...you little yaoi horndog, you. How sweet.
***
Gwyn: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
***
I received an email yesterday from the counsellor at Young Jackanapes school thanking me for coming over to help with the "could have been much worse" crisis of yesterday.
Um...thanking me for helping? I'm his mother. That's part of having a child. I'm not perfect, I'm not even in the same state as perfect, but...he's thanking me for being there?
That's a scary thought...
shagin
A bit about pits
Pitbulls are not a breed, but a type of dog, which includes several specific breeds like American Staffordshire Terrier, the original English Staffie, Bull Terrier, and more recent versions variously called American Pitbull Terriers and such. This makes classifying them difficult, especially for lawmakers defining banning laws. They are complex dogs with a sense of humor, endless affection and determination. Like any breed, they have tendencies, but individual dogs have temperament, which can make all the difference in behavior. Check out my companion, Grendel at http://www.owlsoup.com/dog, where there can be found some adorable photos and additional informative links.
In other news: I'm working on twelve new stories for a calendar gift, and re-reading (for at least the 10th time) HE's and Yerka's Mind Fields, Borges Ficciones, and Calvino's Invisible Cities.
Gwennie
Happy Birthday you cute little thingyou!
I finally got your number off my Face book page, and will call you later on today!
BTW, seeing as how it's way bad form to kick someone's ass the week of their BD, I'll pospone the fight for a week. Besides, it's gonna take at least that long for me to make enough raspberry Jello to make it worth our efforts.
'Tis the Season...
The Christmas holiday, like many other things in my life, is something that will always remain a comfortable memory from my "pre-tween" days (aren't these modern labels just so darned cute and nifty?). I'll always treasure those insulated childhood years filled with decorated pine trees and hip-deep snow and Rankin/Bass specials, when the world really did seem like a Charlie Brown cartoon and all the happiness in the world could be contained in a red plastic snow block maker. And miracles really HAPPENED, damn it; after all, that's why we have saints. Then I got older and saw how things really are--the financial struggles, the emotional conflicts, the religious differences, the setbacks, the disappointments--and now I view the holidays as little more than a worldwide puppet show. "Let's hold up that peace and love illusion, now. Oops, a litte higher on your end, if you please. All right, we're lookin' good! Now, come on, it's time for punch. Yay!"
To go back to the topic of the recycle bin for a second... yes, sadly, I did dive in and rescue almost all of the books. But doesn't this fall into the "get a life" category when this kind of activity is the highlight of your day? On the more cheerful side of dumpster diving, the same people who so callously dismissed "old" books also threw out a collection of 1920s playbills from Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles/Pasadena and England. I've only listed two on eBay so far, but they have made me just over $55.
So... okay, fine. Christmas miracles can still happen. You got me there.
Goodnight sweet princess.
Harlan knew her. I did not. But I blow her a goodnight kiss. Memory will serve as epitaph.
Goodbye, Bettie.
Damn.
Just... damn.
RIP Bettie Page
Page, who was also known as Betty, attracted national attention with
magazine photographs of her sensuous figure in bikinis and see-
through lingerie that were quickly tacked up on walls in military
barracks, garages and elsewhere, where they remained for years.
Her photos included a centerfold in the January 1955 issue of then-
fledgling Playboy magazine, as well as controversial sadomasochistic
poses.
Thank you for those wonderful images, I may have nightmares tonight imagining Doug and Harlan together with Cramer being the result of their union.
On a far different note, Rick Keeney and I are meeting up at Dreamhaven in south Minneapolis on Saturday around 1 PM, anyone who is around and would like to join us would be welcome
FRANK's post about Pit Bulls
FRANK: Like so many others, I used to think they were bad juju -- something in the breeding, perhaps. There are dogs that can be a bit twitchy -- dobermans, German shepards, etc. -- and need an owner who brooks no B.S. and lets the dog know who is the subserviant in its particular pack (which is how they view families). In any case, after a particular dog was dropped off on my porch one day -- and when no one knew for sure if it was a pit or a crossbreed (a staffie/boxer, say) -- I did some research on the breed. And found: 1) There isn't a definitive lineage (pits are a mixture of several differen breeds, which is why some are larger and wider than others) and 2) Even more so than most breeds, their main motivator is to please the human who owns them. Which is why people succeed in turning them into such monsters sometimes.
Speaking from experience, here: I've owned at least 10 dogs during my lifetime (when two of them had litters, that number was, temporarily, 22). Of all the dogs I've ever owned, the one that was mistaken for a pit (by a few dog pound types, and others we ran into) turned out to be the sweetest, gentlest "soul" of them all. Worst thing he would do to another dog (or a person who liked to play rough) was bump and tackle, like staffies do, or pinch (using his teeth on loose skin as if nibbling corn on the cob). He wouldn't bite (even when another dog took off the tip of his ear) or growl (serioulsly -- there are play growls), or bear his teeth or attack or whine and holler like a crazed mongrel. He enjoyed falling asleep on his back -- on the couch -- sharing my bed (whether I wanted him to or not, since he figured I was his mother), nibbling on human food, riding in the front seat so he could watch the crazy humans, and chasing possums and cats. He also learned to yawn/groan -- Chewbacca-like -- in such a manner that it sounded as if he was saying, "mama." And he was sensitive as hell (if upbraided, he would mope -- when I once laughed at a pratfall of his, he managed to affect an embarrassed look and then ran back and nibbled the back of my arm until I squealed like a pig, while still laughing and rolling about helplessly on the floor). He had a short dark hair that looked as sleek as a seal's, and felt like a plush toy. And _every_ time we ran into a dog-loving lady, said lady would refer to him as...gorgeous (made _me_ jealous, I can tell ya). I could tell from his behavior that he wouldn't even try to defend himself -- seriously defend himself -- against an agressive dog, so I was always ready with walking stick when we went out on excursions.
Coolest dog, ever. Right up there with Rin tin-tin, Lassie, Blood and...Ahbhu (really).
-DTS
HARLAN –
Every year about this time I re-read your essay, “No Offense Intended, but Fuck Xmas!” It’s one of my favorites. It’s not that I agree with everything you wrote, or even most of it, but it forces me to separate the holiday wheat from the chaff – to pick the two or three things that matter to me about Christmas and stay sane.
But this year, when I read about the “Black Friday” incident at a Long Island Wal-Mart, in which a crowd of several thousand frenzied Christmas shoppers broke through a glass door as they swarmed inside, in the process smothering to death a store employee, my first thought was maybe Ellison’s right. Completely right. If it’s come to this (and the endless rerun of the Shocking Video of the aftermath, as members of this same mob joke about the man’s weight while the paramedics try to revive him), then maybe we should just toss the whole sorrow show in a dumpster.
I was going to end this by saying that I am now turning to the east and saying “God forgive me, I’ve had the same thoughts,” but frankly that’s a lot more glib then I’m feeling right now. No doubt the feeling will pass -- but maybe that's a tragedy, too.
MM
Coffee with SF Webderlanders this week
HEY!!!
It's my birthday today! Whoopie! I am now officially over the hill, a geezer, a codger, a curmudgeonly grouch who can tell all the kids to, "GET OFF MY LAWN GODDAMN IT!!!!"
SOO, I WOULD LIKE TO.. oops sorry, blame the shouting on my encroaching deafness...invite the SF Webderlanders, ESPECIALLY the DIVINE MS. Lori, whom I foolishly challenged to a jello wrestling competition over on the forums, to coffee and biscuits.
Paeans will be sung to sneaking senescence, coffee and tea will flow, highly caloric carbs will be consumed, a good time will be had by all!
Besides, I have to celebrate the 1. new tattoo 2. new piercings and 3. portrait by Merkley??? that mark my passage into an (cue flutes and bass) Age of Aquarius.
"LET THE SUN SHINE...LET THE SUN SHINE IN...THE SUN... SHINE IN..."
Peace, Love, Joy, Kindness, Freedom, Friendship, & Fun!
Gwyneth
A Truly Unique Quandary
When I first invoked the infamous "truly unique" here years ago, Harlan nailed ME for it too. But being the incorrigible, spiteful brat that I am, I deliberately repeated it in my posts about 100 times. I never used it again since, ANYWHERE.
Interestingly, though, it's SUCH a COMMON faux pas. I often hear professionals in journalism use it, for example. I heard Charlie Rose use it. I heard Thom Hartmann use it. I've heard MANY otherwise literate people use it.
Look, can't we just make it the "marijuana" issue of grammar, and "legalize" its application? You're outnumbered, so we might as WELL!
(PS - in case you find an error in this post as well, I typed fast, and had NO time to edit! Now my ass is covered!)
Sandra,
You probably already know the so-called Westboro "Church" is simply Fred Phelps' tax shelter. I believe the membership consists of his family and...well, his family. This self-promoting pustule of a "man" will go on and on, tarnishing the image of Christianity, even though he represents a minority that even anti-gay Christians despise.
The world will never be rid of people like that. Fortunately, there are also people like you and the other patrons of the Pavilion. Keep the faith.
Chuck
My day started well...hot cocoa and Victor Borge will do that to a person.
I made it through a tween crisis with Young Jackanapes that could have been much worse.
And then my brother turns my attention to a debacle of bigh on biblical proportions in Olympia.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=18181
How I missed this, I don't know. I'll bastardize a quote and admit that "Igorance is bliss", and then take another breath and focus on reason and common courtesy.
Come to Washington state. We have mountains. We have the San Juan Islands. We have plenty of knee jerk hate, and to spare.
Cindy, Brian, and the rest of the Webderlanders who hold to a Christian faith -- Thank you for not giving in to the convenience of hate.
shagin
The English Language, When Properly Written
Dear Mr. Ellison, et al.:
May I inject into this Mobius curve of an ongoing narrative a brief observation about writing in what, I believe, Marlowe coined the "muvver tunge"? (In homage to Elizabeth I).
As our dear host has noted many times here in the Pavilion, rules do exist in English; the challenge has lain in the fact that, unlike the Romance languages of Europe--Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, etc.--English-speaking countries have NEVER established Royal Academies or Directorates to fix rules of usage, vocabulary, or to ban words stolen from other languages, etc. How else to explain Australian English?
Rules, like common law, survive by custom. The responsibilities for remembering rules, etc., lay on the users and Strunk & White, never governments. As all my grade school English teachers--Sisters of St. Francis-- and prep school instructors--Brothers of St. Francis Xavier--stressed to me, upon threat of the most Holy Office of the Language Inquisition, or a yardstick, or the dreaded red pen, clarity of expression in writing denotes clarity of thought in the ideas being denoted.
As Brother John Mahoney, C.F.X., now teaching in Burundi, told me: "To write well, William, read excellent writing." Probably why I still bother with some guy named, uh, Ellison.
Regards from the reading capital of the U.S.,
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
Chastened
I'm gonna go curl up with a copy of THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE for a couple of months. Bye.
"desperately"
@%$#!
This explains the tears when I asked Keith "Who's your Daddy?".
_______________________________________
While I try, deperately at times, to be literate in my messages and accurate with my use of the language, Harlan's commentary below is the sort of thing that drove me to photography.
1000 words a pop, and nobody can correct your grammar.
_______________________________________
Also worthy of note: HARLAN WRITES BETTER IN HIS SLEEP THAN THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE WORLD'S AUTHORS DO WHILE AWAKE.
And ain't that a bitch?
(DTS, ATC and assorted other three letter acronyms who come here often excepted of course. Not accepted. Excepted.)
_______________________________________
Firming up plans for the momentous return of Lord James Moran and the Lady Jodie Kearns to our fair shores. They are attending the grand ball known as Gallifrey One here in Los Angeles this February.
More to come. News at 11.
Hey, Ellison, it's SEVERAL not everal.
I know, shut up Frank.
-------------
How about that story of the pitbull who took three bullets for his family. The fucker lived--a miracle? Maybe not all pits are evil.
Repeal Prop 8!
For I have 2 daddies.
Hmm. We have a terrible "Keith has two fathers" moment.