Unca Harlan's Art Deco Dining Pavilion
As the only inheritance in my family is a bad back (which goes GREAT with running the cemetery for a few generations), & having just dug out of a 40+ hour snowstorm, I add my empathies.
The Internet's interesting for its random-access element. I stumbled across this:
http://www.cardullos.com/preserves_bar_le_duc.htm
Forty bucks a jar, because "no machine has ever been able to perform this delicate task which is entirely done by women: each berry in turn is taken between thumb and fingers. Its skin is then slightly perforated with the beveled tip of a goose quill, and the seeds are deftly removed without damaging the pulp. It takes three hours of tedious work to prepare two pounds of fruit!"
HARLAN--
I was going to go on about dealing with back pain, but you'll get there soon enough; just do what the doctor tells you--particularly when it comes to rehab--and get back when you can.
crap, pressed enter too quick.
I also meant to say "JACKA! Dammit, I knew I should'a tapped you on the shoulder!"
"It's reigning men"
(No, wait, that's wrong too...)
I can only plead ign'nce my liege. This is the internet, literacy is optional.
('Sides, Olson is a writer and shoulda caught it. I only take pitchers.)
(I got a beautiful blue one you had in the kitchen last time I was up there. Jodie got the red pitcher under the table.)
___________________________________
I rarely put these two items together, but I had a "good time" helping Cris "clean out the garage" today.
I found a box which contained all of my old short stories written while in my friend Stephen Perry's creative writing class (no, not the Stephen Perry who comes here, nor the one who used to front Journey). Under the pile of stories, were a fairly large pile of rejection notices, and based upon what has been written here recently, I'm proud that well over half the notices came back with personal notes and encouragements. (From some fairly large markets, such as F&SF, Story Magazine, and even Playboy.)
Photography is my love, but it's nice to know I could turn a phrase back in the day.
__________________________________
BTW - I did not take any pictures at the BOY screening for a couple of reasons, but I've gotten a couple inquiries asking if I was going to post something.
Rob and Jason can confirm I was Nikon-ready, but what decided me against my usual role as annoying paparazzi were the relative darkness of the theater -- it would have been extremely difficult to take any effective shots without use of a flash, which I felt would be disruptive and intrusive (and Harlan's growl at one such photographer confirmed my opinion) -- and once we had gotten out onto the street, it just seemed inappropriate.
Sorry kids. Next time.
________________________________
I watched CLOVERFIELD this morning (Netflix rocks). Fascinating use of the handheld camera, and overall presentational concept. I think it was better than many of the detractors claimed, but not as good as some of its most ardent fans might think.
Yeah, I'm a year out of date.
Next week, my review of TITANIC.
Back pain
Harlan:
I've had my back go out like yours did -- major props for you doing what you did and going to the screening... and actually speaking. I would have been flat on my back weeping like a baby, soaking in the tub.
Ice is very important -- ice your back several times a day. It's also good to then put heat on it -- a heating pad, or a hot bath (though I find getting in the tub more painful than anything else when my back is out).
If you're not better by Monday or Tuesday, you should go see a specialist. You might need to get X-rayed to see if you've slipped a disc or something.
And I know many pooh-pooh chiropractors, but I've gotten a lot of relief from them over the years -- they can't cure you but they sure know how to relieve the pressure (the good ones, anyway).
Good luck and heal quickly.
Steve Jarrett:
Yes.
Harlan, when you return, and you've a chance to catch up here...
So that you know we're on the same page, this is what I emailed Steve about your condition after the Beverly screening:
"Between the back pain, the crowds, and lights hitting him in the eyes for an hour, it was just too much for him. When I walked out with him for that moment, rubbing his back, I told him to get some rest, but belayed the, "Don't ya RU-MEMBER, me PA?" Didn't want to press the point, especially since he hadn't seen me since 2000 (and I had shorter hair then)...It's actually really funny though, because this shit happens between us all the time. This more like a ROUTINE."
So, I had it down right away. I just wish I'd been able to assist Steve in getting you to the car.
Take it easy, take no more "pratfalls", and we can confaberlate later on. I wanted to talk to you about that Connecticut business.
AND DUANE
Didn't recognize you, either. Sorry.
Harlan
OH, BY THE WAY, STEVE and JOSH:
It's "rein me in," NOT "reign me in"; and even if it were, royally speaking, you still couldn't. Olson, as Super Chicken said to Fred, "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it."
Yr. Pal, Harlan
TO ROB:
This by way of small apology for short-shrifting my recognition of you Thursday night. Sorry.
I did not recognize you. Not at all. No offense intended, just better than pretending I did.
I was in greater physical pain than even I can remember from back when I was a kid on the road, though that's likely just the softenening melting edge of memory. But I have NEVER -- blessedly, blessedly -- ever thrown out or badly hurt my back till Thursday. It wasn't old age or unsteadiness, it was a "perfect storm" of tiny, unconnected, unpredictable elements that melded to lift me straight up horizontally at a 90 degree angle ... above the 2x4 plank I was walking down ... and I went straight up ... and then came straight down, five feet, five inches, from a five foot, five inch height. Flat on my back.
Rob, with everyone dancing around me at the Theater later that night, unable to breathe most of that 1 1/2 hours of stand-up raconteurage, and autograph-seekers (nice as they are) demonstrating the usual insensitivity when they have live flesh before them and a thing with pages in their hands; and they become the elite of the Walking Dead: they stare and mumble, they do not hear a word you say, and their Common Humanity seems to be switched off. I like meeting people, especially readers, but I despise autograph lines, and always have.
And one guy I didn't know kept shoving in, saying something, falling back into the crowd, then coming back again and again, and when he asked me "don't you know me?" I have no idea what I said. But the truth, Rob, is that I hadn't the faintest idea who that guy was, till Steve Barber enlightened me, as he helped me hobble to my car in such pain that I started crying when I got into the car and couldn't make it to reach over and open the other door for Susan. I'll cop to a modicum of whimpering littlegirlstyle, but geezusgawd this has been going on for three days now, and I haven't been out of bed for two of them. I don't take drugs, CAN'T take drugs, but Susan is giving me anti-inflammatories, whatever the hell they are, and I'm as loopy as a lariat.
But it has been weihing on my sense of courtesy that I snubbed and blew you off. I claim circumstance, but I apologize.
P.S., Gang: don't expect to see me around for a few day. It's been a bear. Wednesday: the scary first anxiety attack of my life...off to bed under Dr. John's instruction, constricted and in pain, with nitro tablets dissolving under my tongue. Thursday: the unexpected airflight and the pain-with-every-step theatrics. Wednesday: Susan discovered that a rip&scrape on my left shin, happily hidden for a week by Band-Aid, had festered and become seriously green and purple and oozing and infected.
You now have TMFI, but at least you'll know I'm not snubbing any of you...or Rob.
Hasta luego, muchachos'n'muchachas.
We need to start an intervention for Harlan. Take the crackle from his cold, living hand.
Crackle addiction can be cured. Damn you Dorman.
Ah, got any Kangaroo spam?
-----------
Josh, you should have said, "at least I have an Oscar nomination."
Runz.
The BEST "Watchman"....
....cash in effort YET.
http://tinyurl.com/chkxz7
The ONE derivative that even Alan Moore would approve.
Crackleheads, etc.
DTS -
My comment was not named at the crackle stuff. Mr. Ellison ASKED you to pick some up for him. Hope it was good shit. :-)
Rather the constant, (you pick): capitalisim (sucks,is great), Israel (sucks, is great), Rush Limbaugh (sucks, is great), Jon Stewrt (sucks, is great) that have been burning up the electrons ad nauseum.
The purpose of this site is to give well-deserved ego stroking to THE GREATEST WRITER IN THE UNIVERSE...Universe...universe....
To that end, I return to "The Other Glass Teat". Just wondered what a 21st version would be called? "The Glass Teat and the Plastic Udders?" (for the ipod headphones).
Anyway, rant over.
Apologies, Mr. Ellison. I hope your back heals quickly.
A couple of Elephants walk into a blog...or Message to Michael
To Michael: Thank you for the link to the Daily Show. I saw the shows in question, in part through reruns and also, I indirectly pointed to them, because of my earlier post about the "Daddy, What's a Republican?" blog.
I am grateful to online reruns; it saves me having to use the VCR; I...have no Tivo. Don't look at me! I'm a freak!
Brian Phillips
A photo of Josh and Harlan at the New Beverly at (I’m Not A Monster blog
www.imnotamonster.com/2009/03/my-american-eye-4/
I hope your back is better, Harlan.
Fantastic stories
HARLAN: Noticed an announcement that Warren Lapine purchased "Realms of Fantasy" (which recently folded) and that he wont be launching "Fantastic Stories" next year. Will Lapine's version of "Realms" be running your new story (or is that matter still up in the air)? Just curious.
Hope your aching back is on the mend (the phsyiotherapists over here have helped greatly with my disc problem).
Cheers,
DTS
Just back to Phoenix after driving to LA and the New Beverly screening. Yes, Steve, that was another Webderlander yelling out the various answers to the elephant joke. Me. (And when will I ever learn to not step on someone’s joke, just because I happen to know the answer. As Chris Farley would say, “IDIOT! That’s so stupid!”)
When I saw the movie times (7:30 and 9:30) I thought, “How will they keep Harlan to just half an hour?” The answer, “They won’t!” Everyone else has done better than I can at even beginning to share the evening. But, Josh, as one of those who had to leave without seeing the second film, I apologize. Never having seen the film, I was looking forward to it (primarily because of the recommendations here). But I still needed to drive to Anaheim. (And, did I mention I’d just driven from Phoenix?)
But one other thing I learned is that there is a great little theater showing an eclectic collection of movies. I travel to LA occasionally for work (our offices are only about 15 minutes from the theater) and the New Beverly is now on my list to check what’s showing when I’m in town. (Visiting right after dinner at Pink’s)
The white-haired guy on the aisle.
Mike
I'm an idiot
Harlan, you made me smile from ear to ear with your last post to me. I'm pretty okay, but I'll take a scone and a cup o' any day. And some Vivaldi would help.
Thanks too to Alan and Brian for the kind words.
This is a short post as a headache hit 10 minutes ago. But I wanted to say thanks, Harlan, for your kindness and great grace.
And headache or no headache, I must say, Rush Limbaugh is a piece of garbage, always has been. I'd take time to say that with bamboo under the fingernails, (splinters, anyway, )and fire licking my heels. It needs to be said.
That's all for now, kids. Going to rest the old brain. Harlan, hope your back is better soon.
Diane
If it hurts and you're not enjoying it, it's probably because you did something wrong.
Take care of yourself, Harlan. Back pain is never fun.
Take care of yourself as well, Susan. Coping with the pain of a loved one is no walk in the park, either.
Sandra
Sorry
There seems some confusion here.
i am not Gary Cameron (or was it Coleman, wait, no that is the strange short actor of color from the eighties), I think that is the name of the person carrying on the argument about Carville and Limbaugh?
While I have my existential moments, and my pain pills do take me out of my mind, I am hoping that I have not yet developed a full blown multiple personality.
Besides, I dropped the whole Limberger idea days ago. My fingers still sting from the knucle rapping Sister Castro and Father Olson gave me.
I did read up on Joe Pyne (sp?). He sort of invented this whole thing that has made Limbaugh rich. Fascinating charcter, though repulsive.
Boop
PS If it is Okee Dokee I will just go by my own name from now on, which please d not laugh, is Garland. I was born in December and my mother had a sense of humor, you know how that goes?
Garland D. Hall
Sometimes back pain is caused by a rib moving out of place.
Harlan,
OUCH! Even minor back spasms hurt like a motherfucker. I hope this clears up as soon as possible. And whatever you did to screw up you back -- well, stop doing it. Or lift with you legs or something useless like that.
Chuck
BTW, Harlan won't have to answer my L.Q. Jones question. I already know what Mr. Jones' response was, despite acknowledging the purpose of the movie's closing line. ("True, it parts from the story, but the college crowd likes the line and I want it to make money").
Josh,
From "That" Rob (I'll put that on my business card!):
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! A.E. Housman!
Yeah, thanks.
1 Way Out
As I recall from the treatment given me for back spasms 20 yrs ago, one important cure involves a gravity machine. This therapy involves getting hung by the heels, week after week, until upside-down chinups become easier than lifting a box of books. All the inverted stuff supposedly builds up certain muscles which surround the spinal discs, thus ensuring that none of them actually pop the next time you pick up a book pile the wrong way!
Steve,
"In other words, Josh couldn't get a word in edgewise. As much as Harlan might object to the species mentioned here, trying to reign him in is something akin to herding cats. Josh made a noble effort but finally jumped up, sat on the proscenium and began munching Harlan's popcorn."
For the record - playing Harlan's straight man is always fun, but usually pretty thankless. Do not believe for a minute that I somehow showed up last night with a list of organized questions and a structured gameplan. The joy of these evenings is winding up the little monkey and letting him run wild.
Hey Harlan,
Sorry for "staring" last night. It's been a rough couple of months, and I was just digging the conversation.
And yes, I spoke to my mother this morning, and she told me I was finally old enough to know the truth....
Great to see Steve again, great to meet Rob! Hope to see more of you all next month.
Last night was a wonderful evening for all concerned (with the possible exception of Josh as he tried -- desperately and futily -- to maintain control over our dear leader.
(First,allow me to clarify. Rob did indeed dance naked around my table at dinner. The waiter was not amused, and I told Rob repeatedly that while I refer to my self as a Bohemian Hedonist, it did not include public nudity and/or anything resembling food. But he was in a good mood, so we let him go until it became clear he was in danger of catching cold.)
In attendance (from Webderland) were Jason and Cynthia Davis, Rob, Duane, and apparently Semi-writer and Dennis C (and, as I suspect, the person sitting on the row about halfway back -- just in front of us -- who knew about the elephant joke's multiple answers as covered here in the last week...). (And, o course, Josh; Harlan; the ever-wonderful Susan; Josh's beautiful lady Vanessa; and her sister.)
Josh handily intro'd the movie, which was followed by a serious flashback series of "Coming Soon" trailers and "Feature Presentation" titles. I easily could have been a ten year old again, hunkered down at the neighborhood theater.
The film was a lot of fun -- many of us had previously seen it, but it was nice to view with a more pristine print.
Despite an agonzing back injury -- and we won't discuss the circumstances which would find Harlan on the roof of his house,other than to tsk, tsk, tsk him about it -- the esteemed Mr. Ellison (which he promptly corrected to "Harlan") was in solid form.
In other words, Josh couldn't get a word in edgewise. As much as Harlan might object to the species mentioned here, trying to reign him in is something akin to herding cats. Josh made a noble effort but finally jumped up, sat on the proscenium and began munching Harlan's popcorn.
There is no real way to recreate a Harlan stand up...er, "lecture", so I won't even try. The audience laughed at most of the proper spots, and when we didn't Harlan castigated the lot of us for not getting the joke. Highlights had to include his discovery of two members of the audience caught napping (*gasp*); the recounting of how LQ Jones got the director's slot; and someof the backstory of how the film came to be shot in the first place.
Lowlights: The frequent gasps of pain as Harlan's back spasmed out. And the fanboy in the lobby who was ignoring Harlan's repeated (and pained) entreaties to just sign a couple of things, not the five in the guy's hands. There were no seats or other resting spots, so standing and signing was a challenge which went largely ignored by this one guy.
I got home an hour and a half later than expected -- and this could not POSSIBLY be the result of someone running way overtime and giving the audience more than a good return on our measly $7 investment.
A HUGE thanks go to Josh for "sponsoring" the evening, which was easily one of the most fun this year for all of us (save Harlan's back).
Good to see everyone, and hopefully next month's Ellison Series will go as well.
(DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH and THE DISCARDED are being shown on the 23rd. "Dibs -- I get shotgun!")
Semi,
Let me just clarify one thing for the sake of accuracy - Harlan was late for dinner. Neither of us were late for the movie. One usually does these Q&As after the film, not before.
Also, much as I appreciate your desire for the night to last forever, there was no way we were going to simply drop the screening afterwards. A lot of folks - including the poor bastard who was sleeping next to my girlfriend, who Harlan and I made great sport of - had come a good distance to see The Day The Earth Caught Fire. It's a grand film, and there's only one print of it in existence. Thanks to Joe Dante, we had it last night, and I was happily surprised to see how many folks stayed to watch it.
Rob,
Oh, THAT Rob.
It was Houseman.
Various
Yes, Jon Stewart deserves credit. Not only did he catch Cramer in hellacious hypocrisy with his segments, but he also gave a tough, reasoned, and difficult interview, the kind of thing the mainstream press has forgotten how to do.
*
And one more thing on TV that redeems the teat.
I am deeply enjoying my latest DVD acquisition, season one of Breaking Bad.
There were only seven episodes in this season, but it's the most remarkable and most eccentric crime drama since DEXTER. Concept: Walt (Brian Cranston) is a brilliant high school chemistry teacher with a son disabled by cerebral palsy and a credit card debt so high that he works nights at the local car wash.
Walt seems to have given up on life, but things change when he is told that he is dying of lung cancer; he decides to go into the crystal meth business, and make as much cash as he can, for his family's benefit, until the illness claims him.
This is, of course, a very bad idea, that immediately puts the mild-mannered Walt up against some very bad people. But Walt has a talent for criminality that surprises and appalls him...and it's not long -- hell, not even one entire episode -- before he has blood on his hands.
BREAKING BAD is dark, funny, eccentric, and gory as hell, a sun-baked New Mexico noir that has at its heart the dilemma of a decent man who has made a very bad decision and has by so doing put himself on a fast track to damnation. Season Two has just started, with Walt even more fucked than he was before. It has
one hell of a kick.
And one thing that's especially good about it: it doesn't absolve Walt by giving him no other choice. He is provided one hell of a generous alternative to this awful thing he's doing, early on. He takes the bad road ANYWAY, we are allowed to see it, and we are still given reason to root for him even as we believe him misguided and damned.
The Best TV has improved quite a bit since the days when every protagonist had to be a paragon. (The worst TV has, alas, gotten worse: recall HURL.)
*
New author website (not replacing, but in addition to, my old one). Some of the essays should be familiar to folks here.
http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/33210/index.aspx
*
SUSAN: as discussed, package on the way from Morpheus. I have sent a separate letter with details of the requested personalizations. Thanks again!
more Jon Stewart goodness
Brian and Brian, and anyone else who's interested: If you haven't already seen Jon Stewart's original, hilarious rant against CNBC that led to the Stewart-Cramer "feud," and culminated in last night's interview, you really owe it to yourself. It's the most incisive piece of media criticism that will also make you spit milk out of your nose with laughter.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=220252&title=CNBC-Gives-Financial-Advice
Siano and the rest: I have been telling you guys about the capitalist system for years, now Jon Stewart wakes you up--fine, but I have been saying--year after year--that this system rewards the few and destroys the rest. This is what they do--they scheme and twist the markets for short term profits, not thinking about the bad side at the edge of the crash site. These people are mind criminals at beast, sociopaths at least.
I almost felt sorry for Cramer--he's not the problem, this is just a game and he is one of the players. When you start believing the game is all there is, you start thinking piss is a fine spring shower.
This entire system is corrupt and must be abolished.
-------------
Josh, Joe Scarborough just talked about the "poor lighting director" who got yelled at by Christian Bale.
Call his radio show sometime--tell him off.
Gary (or Boop, or whatever you are calling yourself today),
I am generally reluctant to get into pissing contests. It is demeaning for me and would doubtless be embarrassing for you. However, in the interest of fairness, I really cannot let your assertions go unchallenged. Carville was asked specifically about Pres. Bush's political vulnerability. His response was targeted towards that and he stated:
"I don’t care if people like him or not, just so they don’t vote for him and his party. That is all I care about. I hope he doesn’t succeed, but I am a partisan democrat."
Compare that with Rush's statements (and I did try to find some relevant information in the link you posted but could only read parts of the Rush website before I had to tie my hands down to keep them from clawing my eyes out; in addition to being a pompous, drug addicted ass, the guy is a terrible writer) that he wanted the President to fail. This is not a question of disagreeing with certain policies or stating that they are not founded on sound economic principle, this is hoping that millions of Americans suffer for crass political purposes.
As for the poll you quoted, once again you conflate a political agenda with a personal one. Others have stated more eloquently than I the fallacy of this assumption so I am left with two possible outcomes: either you do not have the intellectual capacity to distinguish the difference or willful ignorance. In either circumstance, I cannot see any productive dialogue occurring between us.
One final note, your claim that you posted that comment for Josh alone rings hollow. Why not send it to him directly? He is an Oscar-nominated writer, he is not that difficult to find. No, you posted it here hoping for a response and you got one, albeit not from Josh. Happy now?
Mark
crackle
DTS,
I was assuming that crackle was an alternate name for cracklins, basically fried pork fat with a little bit of skin still attached. From Wikipedia: "Cracklins are generally considered to be part of Cajun cuisine, but can also be found in Soul food. Cracklins are not frequently served as part of a regular meal unless they are served in cracklin bread, which is cornbread in which cracklins have been placed in the batter prior to its being baked or fried. Rather, they are a snack item which would typically be served at times other than regular mealtimes, and are regarded as more of a delicacy or treat."
I see, though, that the crackle to which you refer is a somewhat different iteration on the basic theme. I can't quite decide if it sounds tastey, scary or both.
I am so jealous of all of you
who went to see A Boy and His Dog (and the Harlan and Josh Show) at the Beverly. I'll content myself with the DVD of same I got for Christmas.
Harlan- I have a copy of A Scream in the Dark edited by Marc Gerald. It's the Barnes and Noble edition from 2007 and according to the cover, it includes one of your stories fro mthe "juvie" days. If you are interested, I'll be happy to shoot it to you. As a fellow sufferer with back pain, follow the Doc's advice and feel better.
A Boy and His Dog Screening
I also made it to the New Bev screening and greatly enjoyed the Harlan & Josh (but mostly Harlan) show.
Harlan, I hope your back is getting better. If you need a good chiro, I have a great one in Pasadena (associated with Burke Williams Spa, so you get to use the jacuzzi and stuff after you see him -- and he takes all insurance). Though with all that pain, you need more than a chiro.
I was the guy who asked about why you let L.Q. make the film if you had multiple offers --when you feel better, could you please finish the story? I'd love to hear how any other studio meetings went and how L.Q. convinced you... and if you ever visited the set while it was being filmed.
Josh... I don't know how to put this... but the verbal abuse you take -- is it a turn-on or something? Is that why you keep allowing it to go on?
Just asking is all...
Faux News
Mr. Cameron, you have to remember the results of this supposed "poll" did not see the light of day until last week. Yes, there was a poll, but no this was not a question. This has been refuted a few times already. This is not much different than the zealots who find something scribed by Nostradamus and find a link to a past event. That's a problem with predicting the future-you have to predict the future, not the past or make it fit you little mold which is what Fox has done or completely made this up (which is not entirely new for them either). You need to step away from the TV once in a while to see what's happening and following the screech of the hyenas in the blogosphere ain't it either.
At The Beverly:
Harlan, I hope by the streaking ribbons of a crazed flower maiden that your back mends fast. You took it like a foot soldier, but those stabs of pain you were having were unnerving!
I sat with Steve Barber at the sceening, and was going to chat with you afterward, briefly, about the trip back to Connecticut, but you were too overwhelmed. That was ME massaging your back on the way out the door, incidentally, AND the twit "easedropping", as you put it, when we were swarming around you like Messerschmitts outside the theater.
'Been a long time since we last chatted. That was at your house - where you, I, Susan and Lynn horded a pizza. Now, just because that was 9 centuries ago, surely I'm not so forgettable.
Well...ok, maybe I AM.
In any case, I said hello to Susan after the session, and asked her to pass it on to you, and if you return in April I will most likely "eavesdrop" again!
Meanwhile, puh-leeze get your back healed, and don't fall again!
At least I had the pleasure of entertaining Steve before the show. He's a great guy. I got to dance for him in the buff while he was eating his dinner at the restaurant there.
I met Duane, and we compared notes on our triumphs in the unemployment line.
Josh was just too damn tall to notice me. I felt like a roach scurrying around the Jolly Green Giant as I was trying to greet him.
(Harlan, Josh tells me he's most eager to script your 'Blood's A Rover' adaptation in Japan. He even says he'll PAY you to let him do it!)
And, finally, a question about 'A Boy and his Dog' which I SHOULD have blurted out there at the theater: Whenever you explain that whole issue about the last line you make a helluva lot of sense; it's total logic in the context of the story and what it was all about.
When you TRIED to explain this to L.Q. Jones, what, roughly, was his response? I mean how did he defend it, if he understood the point of the story as well as I assume he did?
In closing, your injury aside, it was a damn nice evening over there.
Get well, dude, and I hope to talk with you again.
(BTW, was Yeats the "Irish poet" you were trying to recall at the Q&A?)
Failings, nothing more than failings...
Mark:
"Here is a link to an article that has the EXACT transcript of Carville's speech on the morning of 9/11 right before the towers fell:
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/revealed-what-james-carville-really-said-on-911-about-wanting-bush-to-fail/
So the moral of this story is, don't believe everything you watch on Fox cause Carville said nothing about wanting the President to fail."
Mark, are you calling James Carville a liar? This blogger's site and the Fox story both agree that he said: "I (certainly) hope he doesn’t succeed" and Carville doesn't deny saying this or retracting it as "inoperative" shortly after hearing about the 9/11 attacks. The online Mirriam-Webster dictionary defines "fail" as "to be unsuccessful". So, your statement that "Carville said nothing about wanting the President to fail" is thus clearly "inoperative" too.
The blogger you cited believes that: "It’s clear from that context that Carville was talking about his own desire for the President to fail politically..." but in truth that isn't at all clear, and thus is nothing more than one blogger's opinion.
So, is what Limbaugh said any better or worse than what Carville said? Interestingly enough, when you look at Rush Limbaugh's side of the story posted at his website, his explanation differs substantially from the versions quoted elsewhere hereabouts:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_031209/content/The_Founders_Wanted_Presidents_to_Fail_If_They_Deserved_To_Fail.guest.html
BTW, it would appear that Carville wasn't the only person who wanted Dubya to fail, or, if you prefer, not to succeed:
"Would you say you want President Bush to succeed or not?" asked an August 2006 Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll. The result? Ninety percent of Republicans wanted Bush to succeed, versus 7 percent who did not. Among independents, 63 percent wanted the President to succeed, compared with 34 percent who did not. What about Democrats? Forty percent wanted him to succeed, but 51 percent did not."
"Your move, tough guy"
Mark, put your hogleg back in its holster before somebody gets hurt. My post was addressed to Josh and I was actually politely knocking on the Webderland door to see if he wanted to come out and play.
Jon Stewart Is Feste in (March) Twelfth Night!
I agree with Brian Siano, ultra-cool first name aside. The thing that many people don't realize, particularly unsuspecting guests, that even though the show is first and foremost, comedy, Stewart, while not necessarily the second coming of Ed Murrow, can be a very insightful interviewer. He has impressed me by being informed and prepared. This is a great improvement over the Craig Kilborn years, which took an almost sadistic glee in finding average folks and holding them up to public ridicule. Stewart and staff are to be credited for changing the show for the better.
It's a weird time in America when you can find news commentary of higher quality than some of the news channels on a comedy channel.
Paddy Chayefsky's "Network" looks less maniacal year after year.
Brian Phillips
From her corner in the failing section of the speed reading class
Um, er, that was Elias that wanted to get back to talking about Harlan, not DTS.
And it takes me two times to notice that, even after it has been brought to my attention.
Sans cracklin' and pride,
Sandra
(where's my dunce cap?)
A Boy and His Dog on Beverly Boulevard
Just returning from the cinema, and basking in the amazement of having Harlan Ellison walk by me down the aisle. At one point, he stood two feet away from my nose... and I still have my nose attached!
I don't want to deprive Harlan of the full story about how he came late to the film, but I will say that once that man has decided to do something, he will follow through with it. And having a high pain threshold helps in that determination.
Quick rundown: the theater showed a pretty damned clean film print of "A Boy and His Dog," followed by Josh and Harlan doing a "Q&A" up front, though it was more of a Harlan Storyfest (for which I TRULY wish the venue would've suspended the second movie in favor of Harlan's stories, and he looked ready to go on longer as well). Harlan showed up just after the film ended wearing a black t-shirt, black pajama bottoms and slippers (again, part of his tale). There was a videocamera in the front row, so the moment will be saved somewhere for posterity. Photos were taken, too; at one point, Harlan gave the photographer (wearing a black "Academy Awards" jacket) the ol' hairy eyeball and a sharp quip, as the guy crept up to the front row/aisle in an effort to be unobtrusive.
Ah, but just to have heard the words "Mesopotamian mind" in person... worth the $7 admission!
DTS: You want we should talk about da Man? Awright. I give ya da Man.
SPIDERKISS: I read the last half two nights ago. I was way, way too young when I read it the first time.
STALKING THE NIGHTMARE: Working my way through what is perhaps my favorite Ellison collection if only because it was the first one I bought with my own hard earned babysitting money. And watching those kids...yeah, I earned every dollar.
JEFFTY IS FIVE: YJ asked if he could read it. I passed the book to him. This should be interesting.
***
A RELATED NOTE ABOUT REJECTION NOTICES: I'm waiting to hear back from Clarion. If I get in, great. If not, I won't stop writing. The writing is what really matters. A guy on the Clarion forums is grousing that he has to wait, he hates waiting, he wants to know now, he's done everything people tell him to do and he still hasn't been published. This sucks, he hates it, no one understands how hard it is, he has 27 rejection notices...
*blink*
27? Come again?
I think back to the notices Harlan shared with us in the Rabbit Hole.
27? Get off the cross, ya ninny, somebody needs the wood.
shagin
(no Harlan Ellison, but improving one rejection notice at a time)
Jim Cramer on the Daily Show
The media's been pushing this as a feud, which is fun, but watching Jim Cramer on the Daily show is... well, painful. The guy has utterly folded. He comes on as conciliatory, whining about how he "tried," even saying that CNBC's deserved the hammering Stewart's been giving them... and Stewart's having none of it. He runs videotape segments that show him urging people to manipulate stocks, and to buy stocks when the market's tanking. He even accuses Cramer of being a snake-oil salesman without mincing his words.
Then Stewart lets him have both barrels. After running a tape where Cramer's epxlaining how to short Apple stock, he says:
"I understand you want to make finance entertaining... but it's not a fucking game. When I watch that. I can't tell you how angry that makes me. Because it says to me is that you all know. You all know what's going on. You can draw a straight line from those shenanigans to the stuff that was being pulled at Bear and AIG and all this derivative market stuff that is this weird Wall street side bet."
Cramer replies, "But John, don't you want guys like me who have been in it to show the shenanigans? What else can I do?"
And then Stewart: "I want desperately for that. But ...that's not what we're getting. You knew what the banks were doing, and you were touting it for months and months. The entire network was. And to pretend that this was some sort of crazy once-in-a-lifetime tsunami that nobody could have seen coming is disingenuous at best, and criminal at worst."
I have a new hero.
Elias -- and others -- regarding crackle posts
ELIAS: Sorry for the distraction, but trust me (and Harlan's own words below) when I say, I Have Some Crackle And I Must Scream (about it...to Msr. Ellison). If I didn't, I'd be a dead man.
ALL OTHERS (Who posted about it): Shame on you and your reading comprehension skills. My first (or second) post even _states_ that my connection will be in KC, MO. Crackle ain't Australian It's Midwestern by way of Madame LC, the voodoo priestess with the mostess (juju).
-DTS (who wont post again for a spell -- gawd, I could do this schtick all day -- unless HE's reply requires it)
The Man and His Work
Can we PUH-LEEEEZE get back to the purpose of this happy piece of apple pie in a shit sandwich universe?
HARLAN: Wanted to be 100 percent certain
Hey HARLAN: If Rick (or Josh, or any other nearby buddies with email) has the chance, can you ask them to send confirmation of your street address to the following email?
dshindler1@oputgmail.com
I'm 100 percent certain of the number and the street and city, etc -- just wasn't sure if your zip had changed. And I didn't want to put out any info you don't want floating free in cyberspace in the internet by asking you about it on the board.
Crackle is coming, my friend.
Very soon. Have Susan put a cool compress to your head in the meantime, and...
Ready?
Begin salivating!
Cheers,
DTS
P.S. For those who asked but don't know what Crackle is: it's a strange amalgam of smoked meats, knuckle bones and hooves(cured for at least 3.5 years) that have all been burned to a crisp...before a small black woman bearing chacma bones stomps on the batch with her bare feet and rolls dem bones over dat der meat in order to make sure no duppies be hidin inside. Then some really good KC BBQ is slathered over the whole, crunchy, messt, whereupon it is promptly boxed up and mailed off to the one who be "jonesin' faaar it dis partikulaar waake." I'm tellin' ya true!
BOY/DOG
Saw A Boy And His Dog at its rough-cut premiere at a 70's Worldcon and own the DVD, and have already met Harlan Ellison on more than one occasion, so I'll be skipping the film tonight.
But as an actor I particularly appreciate L.Q. Jones's direction notes to Jason Robards (and I paraphrase): (from the DVD)
"Now, Jason, that was a particularly brilliant piece of characterization you've shown me, and if I ever do a movie where we need that character, you'd get the part. But for THIS movie...."
My kind of director!
crackle
Man, what are they putting in the KC rice crispies that you'd ship their treats cross country, risking staleness and possible thievery at the hands of hungry postal inspectors?
And why is KC the epicenter of the Australian version of rice crispy treats?
Curiouser and curiouser,
MM
Oh my, I forgot to wish Josh and Harlan good luck with the screening and an enjoyable evening!! (Also to Steve and whoever else can make it there. I predict a crowd.)
Robin Williams
TV shows are reporting that Robin Williams will have his surgery tomorrow. Who knows how accurate that is? But we wish him the best.
My 82-year-old Dad just had a triple bypass and an aortic valve replacement last Thursday -- he was out of the hospital by Tuesday. So I figure Robin should be just fine.
Harlan and Josh Olson apperaing
Legendary writer Harlan Ellison is scheduled to join screenwriter Josh Olson at the New Beverly Cinema on March 12 for an in person discussion of A BOY AND HIS DOG, the 1975 cult favorite directed by L.Q.
Jones that is based on a Harlan Ellison short story!!
The film screens as part of a film series presented by guest curator Olson, Oscar-nominated screenwriter of A History of Violence.
The film will be presented in a new print made in 2008 at 7:30 and screens on a double bill with a rare 35mm print of Val Guest's sci-fi drama THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE (1961) at 9:35
New Beverly Cinema
7165 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
$7 general
$6 students w/ID
$4 seniors/children
cash only
Wait -- it's a Rice Krispies treat, but it's called just "Crackle?" So what are Snap and Pop -- chopped liver?
Steve J.
LA City Beat recommends you go to the movies tonight!
www.lacitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/good_to_the_last_bite/8060/
EXAMINER seconds and mentions Q&A with Ellison
www.examiner.com/x-4240-LA-Alternative-Film-Examiner
The New Beverly Cinema page, on the other hand, says that Harlan will discuss the film with Josh. They don't indicate whether this will take place on stage or in private.
The "T.B.A." second part of Harlan's April 26-28 double bill will be Frankenheimer's THE TRAIN!!! (Oh, I though you didn't know.)
F&SF April-May 2009 has a story by Jack Skillingstead: "The Avenger of Love" is dedicated to Harlan Ellison, and as well as being full of Ellisonian touches such as the inclusion of comic memorabilia from the 1940s, crackles with righteous anger."
http://scififantasyfiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/fsf_aprilmay_2009_reviewed
A columnist in D.C. is "reading “Strange Wine” and is duly impressed at Harlan Ellison’s scary intellect and skill."
www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2009/mar/11/no-headline---trish_312/
Ken Steacy: Comic artist celebrates modern myths and icons
“It is changing, but you still only really see superheroes in comic shops.”
www.martlet.ca/article/18466-comic-artist-celebrates-modern-myths
2 things
Anyone wishing to see one of the better reasoned reviews of WATCHMEN should check out the OTHER reviewers on the Locus website-my pal, Howard Waldrop and Larry Person.(Howard is recovering nicely,thank you for asking). Also, checked out the nominations for the Saturn Awards. Do those people see the movies they're nominating ? They do know that VALKYRIE and CHANGELING are historical dramas, not fantasies, don't they ? Huh?
Clarification
Crackle: an Australian version of the tasty American Rice Krispy Treat with added coconut bits and raisins.
Or is it? Boo-wee-ooo!
I think you guys are poking the bee hive.
Hides behind Mark.
Gary (or Boop or whoever you are)
Normally I do not respond to right wing trolls but when you make it so easy to refute sometimes I just cannot resist. Here is a link to an article that has the EXACT transcript of Carville's speech on the morning of 9/11 right before the towers fell:
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/revealed-what-james-carville-really-said-on-911-about-wanting-bush-to-fail/
So the moral of this story is, don't believe everything you watch on Fox cause Carville said nothing about wanting the President to fail. C'mon, make it a little more difficult for me next time, howsabout you bring up the allegation by the South Carolina Governor that Obama was going to turn the US into Zimbabwe (and no, of course there was no racial aspect to that comparison)
I have said this before, but I have nothing against Republicans; what I cannot stand is adherence to a dogma that restricts the rights of anyone who does not look like them, believe in the same deity that they worship, or who fall in love with people of the same gender.
Your move, tough guy
Mark
Hoping for the Best
I can only report, again, my attitude when Bush invaded Iraq. Every single atom in my body insisted that this was not just a bad thing to do, but a **disastrous** thing to do; a move that would bankrupt us both financially and morally. And yet I thought, also, "I hope for the good of the country that he's right and I'm wrong."
I felt no savage sense of triumph when the war dragged on for years. Just sadness and anger. And when the economy went south, something certain elements of the blogosphere are already painting as having happened entirely under Obama's watch (because nobody has a memory that goes back more than two months), I didn't jump up and down and say, "Woo-Hoo! Bush looks bad now! Woo-hoo!" I'm in this soup as much as anybody else is, and this terrifies me.
You can hope POLICIES fail to get enacted. That's different. But when is it okay to hope the incumbent "fails"? If you're against him, during elections.
Gary -
John nails it -- and again someone is failing to differentiate between wanting policies to fail and wanting the President himself to fail. One is a disagreement over methodologies, the other is a flagrant wish for the country as a whole to fail.
And I might recommend that the next time you mention winning the Iraq War as an admirable policy from the Bush Administration, that you remember that it was Bush's less than admirable getting us INTO the war under false pretense (read: "Lying") that put us into the situation there now. Had he been honest with the American people we might have close to a billion dollars more in the treasury, and the people of Afghanistan might have a working government.
There is a concerted effort under way to show Bush as something less than he was, which was an utter failure as President, a betrayer of American values, and attempted murderer of the US Constitution.
(It's all in his administration's own memos, see for yourself: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/02/secret-bush-memos-release_n_171221.html )
Oh, wait...the revisionists are saying we're taking that out of context. I guess reading them ourselves, we simplistic Americans might just misunderstand...)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Too much angst for this early in the morning. I think I'll take in a movie tonight.
Gary, the difference is this: one could hope Bush failed as President with a clear conscience when "fail" was defined as Bush and his cabinet not achieving certain policy goals -- like dismantling Social Security, or de-balling the EPA. Once that idiot decided to invade Iraq, his failure to achieve anything there would mean a devastating loss of life on all sides, as well as a permanent scarring of this country's psyche. So one hoped, as much as one felt sick and angry at the yahoo mentality that brought us to that point, that Bush's cavalier belief that we'd be in and out of Iraq like a milk run would in fact be realized. We knew it wouldn't, because he was such a jackass, but we hoped against hope that he was right, because the alternative was so awful. Now, that's how your modern lefty reconciles opposition to Bush and his war with hoping he does not fail.
Limbaugh is such a sickening scumbag because in order for his greedy fatass wishes to be gratified, millions of people (including this out-of-work graphic artist genius) will suffer badly if Obama's policies fail. Perhaps it will turn out that Obama is as big a jackass as Bush (though I doubt it), but as in the case of Bush the alternative to failure is disaster -- which is what Rush is counting on. Carville may be a douche, but what he was saying back then is nowhere near the same thing, and anyway he did recant his statement. Don't hold your breath waiting for Rush to do likewise.
Here's something more for Boop to ponder (and I am not picking on you, Boop, you seem like a good guy): Limbaugh was not stating an honest, reasoned opinion with which one can have an honest, reasoned disagreement. He was declaring a most vicious set of desires, slavering and drooling over the suffering of his countrypeople just so his rotten, discredited ideology can one day again prevail.
Josh said: "Boop - Your memory fails you. For eight years, we critics of Bush have excoriated him as a thug and a criminal, and have stated, flat out, that his policies WOULD fail. I'd be amazed if you could find one fringe-dweller, let alone a mainstream leftist of similar profile to Limbaugh - who ever wished publicly or privately that Bush would fail."
Hello Josh:
Does James Carville qualify? Oh, wait, he now says he changed his mind after realizing the country was at war. Hmmmm. Does that mean he only wished Bush would fail until he realized how that would make him (Carville) look after 9/11, or is it that Carville no longer wished Bush would fail now that the stakes had been raised? Either way, don't you find it ironic that Carville was one of the architects of this plan to smear Limbaugh as treasonous for saying the same thing?
Since winning the war in Iraq was clearly one of George Bush's policies, doesn't that mean that anybody who hoped his policies would not fail ipso facto supported (albeit reluctantly) winning the war in Iraq, even if he thought the war was wrong? It must be confusing to be a mainstream leftist these days.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/11/carville-lashes-limbaugh/
Thanks
I consede my question was sophomoric, and was intended to provoke a discussion, though it appears it was seen more as a troll, though I hope I did not attend it as a troll. Anyway, I am never sure of my motives anymore. Didn't Harlan write once that the Internet is making us all become stupid, since it lets us jump in without thinking things through first?
I believe I got the fairest and most honest answers my dopey question could have hoped for.
Steve Barber did make a really good reply, and I feel bad (badly?) I did not single him out for praise. Then again, Steve, do you want praise from a dope?
Thanks for the honesty Josh, and the list Harlan, though I don't know most of the names. Time to do some reading, I guess.
You guys are really smart, and good writers, so sometimes I just get the urge to jump in, and I should really take a deep breath and think hard, and think harder again, and then think three times before I ask something dopey or write something stupid or ask a dumb question (except they always told me in school there were no dumb questions, usually right after I asked one and everybody laughed like the time in fifth grade when I wrote "S.A." at the top of the paper when the teacher said to write an "essay" but how was I supposed to know, right?). Life should have a "green room" where you can work on your act before you go out there on stage. Like when you mispronounce a word and someone corrects you in front of your wife and says proudly that they knew how to pronounce that word in grade school, and they make you feel like a real dumbass, but then again maybe they are just trying to be helpful you know?
Good thing I like humble pie.
Rob, you're right, I am actually Rush Limbaugh. Not.
I am fat though.
I am going on a diet tomorrow.
Since I am actually a senior, I ought to be less sophomoric. A little tiny joke.
One time I got in an argument with this barber who was cutting my hair, because he was listening to Limbaugh on the radio set in the barber shop. Then I thought, wait, this guy is holding sharp scissors and has a straight razor on the counter, and I am all tied down with this white thing around me, what if I really piss him off and he goes Sweeney Todd on me, so then I just shut up. Does this mean I am a coward, or that I am smarter than I thought I might be/
Back to lurking. Love reading you guys.
PS If anyone cares, Bosko was little cartoon character on TV in the fifties when I was in high school, and I would watch him with Popeye cartoons, I think it was all Max Fleischer who was so funny I never forgot him, he was better than Mickey Mouse but not as good as Bugs Bunny. I have not seen one in fifty years. I need to take another pain pill. I took one three hours ago, but it is not working now. I like this place, but you guys know that, so bye. Thanks.
Dope Boop
Cussler lawsuit
I followed this lawsuit last year with some interest as several articles about it appeared in the business section of the L.A. Times (and I expect are archived somewhere on line). It was an odd lawsuit and unlike the part of it just reported, each side actually won their suit! The producers won because Cussler's publisher couldn't provide full documentation of their 100 million copy sales claim because even though Cussler has been writing books for 35 years, his publisher didn't have true sales documentation going back more than 15 years (accounting for only 30 million books sold). But Cussler did win his breach of contract suit and was actually awarded more money that the producers were awarded, which seemed to me to make Cussler the real winner because even if what the producers won was subtracted from his judgment, they'd still owe HIM money.
Siano: you've done a nice job of encapsulating my own feelings on Paglia.
As for the Cussler case, I've been keeping half an eye on this, & I hope he sues his lawyer blind, AAAAAAAND gets the suit overturned, AAAAAND sues the production company subterranean for intentionally damaging his reputation in order to cover their collective butt.
All his lawyer woulda had to do was introduce this:
http://www.bookscan.com/controller.php?page=109
Nielsen BookScan has rapidly taken over as THE credible source for book sales info.
The production company didn't check with BookScan?
Then tough titmice! They didn't perform due diligence, something that any smallest business is responsible for.
Any business not bright enough to perform such simple primary research is a business that shouldn't live long enough to hurt others. Ditto for their investors.
The Cussler Situation
The Cussler situation is a case of an idiot lawsuit rewarded by an idiot jury, and it is bad news for any novelist whose work might be adapted into film.
In quick summary, the idiots who produced that bloated adaptation (out of a typically bad Cussler novel, but still), had read Cussler's claim to have sold X number of books in his career. They read this as Cussler claiming to sell that number of copies of EVERY BOOK HE WROTE. This is a little like equating Stephen King's lifetime book sales, which may top a billion over the last three decades -- I dunno, but it's possible -- with the claim that, for instance, THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON sold that many copies alone, or believing that everybody who bought any Stephen King book would always buy every Stephen King book and would always go to any movie based on Stephen King work.
Now, this is their counter-suit, after Cussler sued them for other reasons; they claimed that Cussler's sales were only a fraction of what he claimed them to be, a charge that had more to do with their own retarded interpretation (even if genuine) than with anything the bestselling Cussler posited. And they blaming him for the failure of the movie SAHARA and sued him for their losses.
The idiot jury, blinking at the shiny yellow object in the sky while poring over the instructions for breathing in and out, said, "Duhhhhh" and found for the producers.
If this is allowed to stand, the very LAST THING any writer can allow Hollywood to do from this moment on, is make a movie based on any of his works. It won't be worth it. Sure, you might be paid a million (if that, and almost always not that) for the rights, plus a percentage of the gross (which is to say nothing, since no film ever shows a gross profit). But if the movie bombs? Be prepared for this judgment to provide the precedent that says you owe the studio forty million dollars for your temerity in writing the original book, from which they took the title and some plot points before changing everything to make it stupider.
Next Stop, Famine
I'm starting to think that the start of this Third Millenium must include that rare occurance, a U.S. famine.
Look at this --
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE52A1YR20090311
If one considers that the chances of famine in a military dictatorship are close to 100%...then how unlikely is it here, in Pentagonland?
Politics? Nevah touch da stuff...
I don't get into the whole political aspect of human society--never cared to learn more than the basics about government and its inner workings, and then only for class credit requirements--so I'm skipping out on the majority of the current conversations and basking in my self-imposed ignorance.
But I will say that it's incredible how people are so eager to step up and tell somebody what-for, with little provocation or excuse, in any given area of human existence. Regardless of how much they do or don't know about a given subject.
(Still stinging from an iReport that I did on CNN.com, and amazed at how incredibly daft people can be after seeing a mere 1:47 of someone's life.)
Writer (Clive Cussler) has to pay Hollywood.... Uh, what?
From Entertainment Weekly:
"Best-selling author Clive Cussler was ordered by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to pay $13.9 million in legal fees to the production company that adapted his novel Sahara into one of 2005’s biggest flops. In 2004, Cussler had sued Crusader Entertainment, claiming breach of contract after the company neglected to give him final approval on the film's script. The Matthew McConaughey starrer, which cost $160 million to make, earned just $119 million worldwide. Crusader countersued Cussler, charging that the prolific author had inflated reports of his books' sales when originally negotiating the contract. A jury in 2007 agreed with Crusader. Cussler's lawyer, Bert Fields, said he would appeal the judge's ruling."
I haven't followed this in detail, so I hope someone else has & can provide some insight/opinion.
Thanks
Harlan-just received a nice hardcover edition of MINUTE MOVIES , from Amazon, for $15.00. Couldn't track it down before but found it in minutes once I knew it was hyperion press ,which fact you were kind enough to give me. Thamks again, John.
To John E.
Thanks for the heads-up on the Paglia takedown. I've always disliked her. I mean, I've known people who were her students, and they spoke highly of her, and I thought she had some spirit and the potential to grow into something very impressive.
But she never shook loose everything I disliked about her. The self-absorption was a big factor: she kept insisting, over and over and over, that she represented some gritty reality among the eunuchs of academia. But she can present herself this way only _within_ academia-- among journalists, novelists, screenwriters and other working writers, she's nowhere near the margins or fringes. (She's a radical in the same sense that Newt Gingrich is a Washington otusider.)
This is a person who thinks it's radical or contrary to assert that Rush Limbaugh is a comedian; problem is, that's a standard defense from dittohads over the last twenty years. It's not radical, contrary, or even factually accurate. But Paglia tells herself she's speaking truth to whiny liberals, and rolls along.
Her serious work, _Sexual Personae_, had one strength: her obvious enthusiasm. But her overall thesis wasn't anything more than the usual binary Dionysian/Apollonian contrast. But once she stepped outside of academia, and applied herself to addressing the real world? Whoo, boy; praising the Spur Posse was one of her low points.
At root, Paglia's _sole_ trope is a kind of gender-twisted Ayn rand stance, where masculine he-men kick ass and take names and deserve our admiration solely on that basis, while anyone who might take a considered step or cultivate subtlety is a debased girly-man or shrill feminist. Her insistence that she has a "male brain" is an insult to men; men I admire are smarter than she is.
rice crispy treats
A brilliant and hilarious take on this Limbaugh crap can be found at the website of New York writer Roy Edroso, who is pretty damn brilliant and hilarious himself. Roy critiques Camille Paglia's latest piece of rubbish at Salon, wherein she compares Rush favorably to Lenny Bruce (the latter of whom she once claimed was trying to offend liberals rather than conservatives with his bad language).
http://alicublog.blogspot.com/2009_03_08_archive.html#7273850541560664649
An example of why Roy is so great: "(Paglia's prose) reads like yammerings that a cranked-up MFA candidate might read into a digital recorder for her overdue thesis as she speed-walks around the quad." Oh baby!
Harlan is on, Harlan is hot, Harlan has two for two. To quote the sage, Flavor Flav, "yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!
You get da dap, Son. Here's ya hood pass. Jus' kick the rats homie. They scrappy, but fallable. You on code x G!!
--------------
Dorman, you think I smell! Checks his pits, checks his righteous sack. Yo, homie, we about to scrap. Gonna grab my gatt and have plenty with yo punk ass. Pull yo's; broker dat deal, so I can hear my cap's peel.
MC Frankie Goybox in da housee! Clinics on Gaza and curb feelin da ladies in da mensroom, homie.
Bumpin dem sounds, wastin more rounds. Dorman da crackle broker bout to get smackled and spackled.
U in my sites, the meathook on standby.
Peace. I'm out.
Thanks Steve and a possible clarification
I have not yet submitted the Route 666/Wild Hunt novella to ANY publisher or journal. My "current" publisher has done the forthcoming and two previous books of SC ghost lore. I am curious if I should submit the novella to the current publisher under the "similar material" clause that will hopefully soon be a dead letter OR not if that will affect my rights to submit it to a more suitable outlet in the future. The publisher will most likely decline the novella since it is not local history focused.
RICK- I'm sorry for babbling on so. I'll return to the shadows unless Unca Harlan requires more info. Folks, in order to spare me a starring role in a necktie party, offer further guidance on email.
"The People"
Elias --
If I am not mistaken, the William Shatner movie you refer to was based on Zenna Henderson's series of short stories about "The People." Well worth reading, and available in a collection by NESFA press, I believe. It's sad more people don't remember her work.
(The movie, from my dim recollections, is okay, but really doesn't compare to the source material.)
Derek
*sigh*
Well, seeing as my post regarding Limbaugh's comments was reduced to "perhaps one or two others" by Boop, and the obvious evidence that the argument itself will keep sliding from one losing point to another I am withdrawing from the frenzy.
(At least Boop admits his assertion regarding the board was wrong, which is appreciated.)
___________________________________
TALLY - The publishing company my father ran had one particular author sign a "standard" agreement. Up to that point, the books published by Dad's company had been texts and fairly straightforward editions. This was their first book of fiction, and they innocently had a clause giving them the rights to any and all characters in the work. The author, also his first book, happily signed.
After the wild success of the book, the author signed a contract with a new publisher for a sequel -- only to have that company tell him, after reviewing the contract, that he didn't own his main character. Much litigation and hard feelings later, he did.
Listen to Harlan. Do as he says. If they balk ask them why, and then tell them why not. Straightjackets are not fashionable in spring this year.
Thank you Unca Harlan
I have stricken the offending verbiage and now the ball is back in their court on that clause. Should I submit the novella to the "current" publisher and wait for the likely rejection on the grounds of "we don't DO that" OR will that lead me to be unable to submit it to other publishers or outlets?
I know you're very busy with the work and life, but the wider world of publishing, especially fiction, is alien terrain to me. I appreciate the guidance from you and the others here in the Pavilion.
As not to interfere with our regularly scheduled crackle debate, I'll look for my answer on email...unless Harlan decides to speak again on this.
Boop,
"My point was to ask: IF criticism of Rush Limbaugh FOR saying that, BY a person who HAD called for GWB to fail in general (not on some specific policy issues) as President, would that behavior be rightly termed "hypocritical"?"
Your point was either dishonest, or profoundly stupid. No one asks that question innocently, save a complete shit-for-brains, as the answer is cold, simple, and obvious. It is an attempt to stir up shit in a fairly dreary manner, and this scolding is hardly unpredictable, hardly interesting, and hardly honest.
The furor over Limbaugh's comment couldn't have been clearer. That useless toad's offense was to place party over human lives and over country, and that's repulsive no matter who does it. Few - if any - of the people who expressed outrage over his comments are confused about this. The only people who have trouble grasping the issue - which is much, much larger than transient political figures like Obama or Bush - are the people who support Limbaugh. So your question was loaded as hell, and carried in it a profound insult to every single person it was addressed to, because it assumes - like your latest post - that we're all too fucking stupid to understand what you're doing.
Boring.
Okay, I'll bite.
What the heck is crackle?
MM
Er, um...
FRANK: I swear to Irving that the "F" was there (in the note just below) when I hit enter.
-DTS
Reply to My Ungrateful Son, Harlan (with a note to Frank)
RANK: _NEVER_ underestimate the power of a true Jonesin.
HARLAN: (Imagine someone doing their best Sidney Poitier). Pardon me? Were you addressing _me?_"
Never forget, Mon Ami:
"They call me, _MR. TIBBS_!" (Or, just, Your Most Humble Royalness).
Since my daugther came up with the idea, and since _she_ is the one who will be winging her way from OZ to Kansas (city), AND (!!!) since she is twice the adult that you and I are (not saying much, I know), you can be sure it will happen. (Additionally, I will warn her that if the Crackle don't materialize in the foyer of the Lost Temple, you will be sending Flying Blue Monkeys to follow her back to Oz and swipe her personally signed editions of MINDFIELDS, A PRAYER TO OWEN MEANY, THE DARK TOWER, WICKED, and HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE -- that'll put the fear of Irving in her*).
Let me know if you and Susan are planning to be out of the manse (for more than a day) between Mar 14th and April 2nd. If not, I'll tell the kid she's free to send as soon as she swings by LCs and picks up a few pounds worth o' crackle. (And I'll have her send me a smoke signal via email or whatever, then let you know right here on the board that the stuff is enroute).
Did I say I would get you more crackle or did I say I would get you more crackle. Vhat are you talkin mit de "falls about" you meshugganah ol' kvetcher? That I (I!!) should raise a son like...waitaminute. God, I was really feeling like a Jewish mom for a minute (a baleboste one, to boot).
(Like you, Harlan, I often can step in shit -- or off the beaten path -- and still come up smelling like Roses. It's a gift).
Okay, then.
Crackle you want, crackle ya got.
Mazel Tov,
Dorman (AKA, Yer Mama)
*Explanatory note: Around here, we spell dog backwards whenever sitting down for a bit of nosh -- so we ALWAYS make an offering to the dog -- Irving.
TALLY;
YOU STRIKE THE CLAUSE ENTIRELY, AND
TELL THEM IT IS IN NO WAY ACCEPTABLE;
THAT INDENTURED SERVITUDE HAS LONG BEEN
UNRELENTIKNGLY UNACCEPTABLE.
DO NOT DISCUSS IT; JUST TELL THEM NO.
PERIOD. DO NOT BE BULLIED.
AND DO NOT GO FOR THE BULLSHIT ABOUT HOW
"OUR ATTORNIES INSIST ON THIS, IT'S
STANDARD TERMS ALL OVER THESE DAYS."
A CONTRACT IS AN OFFER. YOUR JOB IS
NOT JUST TO SIGN LIKE AN AUSCHWITZ
WALK-IN; IT IS TO NEGOTIATE WHAT YOU
WANT TO WIND UP WITH, NOT WHAT THEY
ARE WILLING TO TOSS YOUR WAY. THE
CONTRACT IS THEIR OFFER. DO NOT
JUST ACCEPT IT. NEGOTIATE EVERY TERM.
GET A BETTER DEAL AND MORE MONEY.
ALWAYS
Yr. Pal, Harlan
REPLY TO BOOP
Ever have they been with us; the outlandish, mesmereized by the sound of their own msdness and need for sttention, demanding we treat their utterances as polished msrble.
Torquemada
Cotton Mather
Those who prosecuted John Peter Zenger
Those who imprisoned Dreyfus
Goebbels
Senator Bilbo
Huey Long
Father Coughlin
Geo. Lincoln Rockwell
Anita Bryant
Chicago's Mayor Daley
John V. Kaltenborn
Walter Winchell
Fulton Oursler
Joe Pyne
Morton Downey, Jr.
Jerry Falwell
Ann Coulter
Pat Robertson
Limburger is a stinking cheese; Limbaugh is a stinking limburger. Both attract rats.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
DORMAN
Do I want a heaping some-lotsa-full of KC crackle such as we shared oncewhen? Absolutely. But don't dick me around, dude.
If I'm gonna get some, I'm in your debt. If it casually falls about, I will becdome more than slightly fractious with you, boy.
So far, Yr. Pal, Harlan
DORMAN
Do I want a heaping some-lotsa-full of KC crackle such as we shared oncewhen? Absolutely. But don't dick me around, dude.
If I'm gonna get some, I'm in your debt. If it casually falls about, I will becdome more than slightly fractious with you, boy.
So far, Yr. Pal, Harlan
I'm digging for the actual footnote, but I'm sleepy...
Anyway, an NBC/WSJ poll from a few days ago apparently found that 8% of polled adults are convinced that Barack Obama caused the recession in which this country finds itself.
A multi-trillion-dollar loss in 50 days flat -- apparently Obama has godlike powers (being the reincarnation of Teflon Bill, y'know).
I'm not revolted by most Rightists for being *-wrong-*.
I'm revolted because they allow that 8% to lead their thoughts & actions
A Pair of Glass Teats
I just finished reading "The Glass Teat" (yes, I know books are underlined, not in quotes) and have moved on to "The Other Glass Teat" which contained Mr. Ellison's review of "The Love War" which I remember watching lo those many moons ago as a lad of 8 in Texas. I should say I remember watching something that was called "The Love War" because the details have escaped me. (Fourtunatley, according to Mr. Ellison).
Anyway, the review helped get the bats and cobwebs out of my head and I remembered a couple of other TV movies from that golden age:
"The People" - can't remember much except William Shatner as the head of some aliens that dressed and acted like the Waltons.
"The Last Child" - Ed Asner tries to help a couple hide their child. (This was made at the time when "Zero Population Growth" was a big phrase). According to imdb it was made by Aaron Spelling so it is probably crap.
The sad thing is, as bad as these movies were, they are head and shoulders above the junk movies being plopped out by the Sci-Fi Channel every weekend. (And even BSG jumped the shark in the third season, IMHO. I watched the first half of season 4 and was so infuriated by Sci-Fi's blatant attempt to make a buck by delaying the season AND the lousy cliffhanger that I have refused to watch the last episodes).
I guess the lesson here is - not only are the "Teats" required reading, but TV has actually gotten worse these last 40 years.
Sad.
Harvey Korman, Where Are You?
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
To quote the late Harvey Korman's character of Hedley Lamarr in "Blazing Saddles": "Gentlemen, please, relax your sphincters."
"Meeting's adjourned."
Regards while whipping this out,
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
I mean "anecdotal"!
Boop: "He claimed that my "argument" was identical to"
No, that's your cognitive defiency at work. I never used the word "identical". I said it REMINDED me - in an anacdotal context - of that KIND of reasoning. Since you need clarification so badly, the analogy comes to mind because your contention is at reckless expense of many people losing so much, DUE to your blind ideology and the right-wing policies your "tribe" imposed on the country.
I didn't misunderstand you at ALL.
And I THINK I know who you ARE. Regardless, your comments are fuckin' stupid.
Now I'll stay off the air.
Interesting mix
Without checking again, for actual numbers, I see I have garnered about five responses, ranging from reasoned argument/refutation from such as Mr. Castro and John, to frenzied ideologically framed personal attacks from Rob, as well as perhaps one or two others.
Rob particularly misunderstood my point. He claimed that my "argument" was identical to one of "they killed some of our civilians, let's kill some of theirs" allegedly uttered by some cretins after 9/11. No, it is not.
My "argument" was not that Rush Limbaugh was right to wish failure for President Obama, nor was it that Rush Limbaugh had a right to say that because someone else said the same about GWB (and more on that in a moment, please watch for it).
Let me be clear: I WAS NOT MAKING A TIT FOR TAT ARGUMENT!
My point was to ask: IF criticism of Rush Limbaugh FOR saying that, BY a person who HAD called for GWB to fail in general (not on some specific policy issues) as President, would that behavior be rightly termed "hypocritical"?
IF that were the case, it WOULD be hypocrisy. Please note the "IF" in that statement. I am about to address that specifically.
I also noticed at least one person did use the argument that Bush was intent on fucking things up (i.e. "Bush was Doing Evil") while Obama is merely trying to clean up the mess Bush made (i.e. Obama is Doing Good).
So if a person in good faith believed the exact opposite was the case, they would attack your position with the same argument.
Of course, then you would loudly claim they are fools and idiots. That leads to their firing nack similar attacks upon you. Off it goes, back and forth. Heat, not light. That's no way to run a country, now, is it?
Now, about someone HERE having posted their wish, a la Rush Limnaugh, for a general failure of GWB as President.
I was wrong.
See that? It is all by itself up there, naked and shivering, so you will not miss it.
I WAS WRONG!
Am I clear?
I was wrong.
What I tell you three times is true.
In framing my question, I flatly stated that someone here HAD written of their wish for Bush to fail. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Am I clear here? I was framing an argument, and wrote something I could not verify. I -thought- I recalled such comments posted here, but my memory is not that good. I could sift through the haystack of the archives, but I will take your collective word upon that. I have to be honest, I must be consistent. You each and severally have my apology for that rash statement.
I also agree that, as far as I know, no one of Rush Limbaugh's authority (?)/level of visibility ever publicly wished, as far as I recall, for GWB's general failure as President.
I soured my argument by rashly claiming some here had engaged in words that Josh Olson rightly pointed out would be (if I recall correctly) offensive and disgusting.
I apologize for that, but also maintain that my original question was and is a valid one.
I am amused by the two or three replies that lump me with the right wing and Republicans. Again, you do not know my politics. They are irrelevant to my question about personal ethics.
That will likely not stop those who wish to assign me to whatever group they currently find most loathsome.
Seen from the outside, as I believe I am politically well outside of the norm, the way the right and left often act as if they believed the other to consist exclusively of fools and morons (with those actual words often used) is both amusing and demoralizing. Oh, and boring. Is that the best you have, schoolyard namecalling?
I have friends at all points of the political spectrum. Intelligence, wit and wisdom seem distributed within that group of friends without regard to politics.
Boop
Nothing about Limbaugh, Coulter, Obama, self-immolation, or auto-icepick-acupuncture.
Just a note to say that Fictionwise and EReader offered the latest EReads Ellison title yesterday.
LOVE AIN'T NOTHING BUT SEX MISSPELLED is now available as an ebook.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled lunacy....
And bests to all,
--tr
MISC
Rush Limberger makes (I won't lie and say EARNS)$50,000,000.00 a year; and still he gripes about a slight increase (per centage-wise)in taxes on the super-rich intended to help his less-well-off countrymen, and complains about the Democrats playing class politics. But remember when Reagan whined about the "Welfare Queens"? Well, the Republicans screwed the country good with their mentally retarded president (Bush). Now Obama has to walk behind the GOP elephant parade with the giant shovel and try to clean up the mess.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN---my favorite movie in the last seven or eight years, and the book is even bleaker.
Enquiring Minds And All That...
Harlan, do you know what happens to an eyeball when it's punctured? And are the internal fluids kosher? Do they need salt?
shagin
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and their kind are the political equivalent of the carnival geek. They "entertain" their audiences with acts of depraved debasement, the equivalent of biting the heads off chickens and rolling in their own filth. This is their bread and butter.
And if history tells us anything, it's this: They'll fail in their efforts now, but they will do it again. They'll go at it again, after the crisis is over, using the same tried and true tactics to get revenge on those who remove them from power.
If they want to see the one who toppled them from power, they simply need to look in the mirror.
The Democrats will need to keep their guard up, even after this is over, or it's Tail Gunner Joe all over again.
On a lighter note, in reference to people's favorite films, etc., I'd like to make a recommendation: MONARCH OF THE MOON. It was made by Dark Horse Indie Films and it's an affectionate take-off on the serials of the 1930's and 40's. I'd say especially the ones produced by Republic Studios, such as Commando Cody, etc. It was done as an actual six-part serial, and with real affection for these cheap but reliable saturday matinee shows.
It has The Yellow Jacket, a rocket-pack equipped hero who has the ability to communicate with Yellow Jackets, it has Thrills! Spills! Japbots! And, Yellow Jacket's arch-nemesis, the alluring and deadly Dragonfly!
One of my favorite lines comes when Yellow Jacket finally confronts the titular Monarch.
YJ: Who do you work for, Space Nazi?
MoM: I work for the resurgence of the most perfect species the world has ever known!
YJ: You work for the *Swiss*?
I don't usually buy a disk sight unseen, but I did this one and loved it.
Chuck
PS, Why take seriously someone who speaks from behind a mask? What, no real names? Buck-buck-buckaw.
Along the Same Vein as Zach's Insane Post
Harlan, have you ever accidentally stuck an icepick in your ear? Were you close enough to the wall for the blood-spurt to make an interesting spray-pattern? If you've by some chance done it more than once, did you notice a qualitative difference between the piercing sensation of using a room-temperature icepick and the ice cream headache aftereffect you get from using one that's been chilled beforehand?
Still No Country for Old Men
A library copy of that award-winning movie, No Country for Old Men, made it through my pc's dvd player sunday night, with only four or five restarts (due to the usual odd surface nicks and scrapes) before making to the ending. Wow, what a film! I'm guessing that the screenplay follows the book pretty closely. How often does a big movie, like that one, end on a philosophical summation by a late-entering, almost secondary character, after the presumed villain is shown making a getaway?
Still, the whole thing makes for a fairly accurate depiction of immigration issues. In a "sanctuary" city like this one, it's common to meet characters depicted in No Country for Old Men, typically, on a day-to-day basis. Only here, the resigned "authority figure" will give the "psychopath" the glad hand, even while both openly stalk you through the feebleminded crowd.
Harlan Ellison,
Did you ever set yourself on fire? Either by accident or on purpose? Just wondering....
Your fiend,
Zack
Hammer
Several of you have mentioned that you're fans of Hammer Films. A great book just came out called HAMMER FILMS: A LIFE IN PICTURES by Wayne Kinsey -- marvelous, rare photos behind-the-scenes of almost all their films, including rarities (and faves of mine) like Joseph Losey's THESE ARE THE DAMNED and the psychological thrillers PARANOAIC and MANIAC. It's pricey -- and only 2500 were printed. But it's good.
**************************************************
Gonna have to miss the New Bev screening -- working nights that particular date. Argh. But I'll make it for DWST, I swear...
Dorman, how dare you accuse Harlan of being a cracklehead.
I liked your story about your Kansas City "connection" and how she had Harlan's fix and how, if he played his cards right, Harlan could get some crackle shipped to him--I'm sure with coffee grounds with it--so that he could get his crackle and get that crackle monkey off his back.
I don't know Harlan personally, but I do know that he can hold his crackle.
Shameful. Harlan has self control. He can control his crackle urge. Susan just slaps his hand.
---------------
I refuse to watch Watchman because of Gaza...
Jus' kiddin.
I went to the "Watchman" movie yesterday simply because of the discussion here on the board. I was not acquainted with any info about it other than what I've been reading here. I've seen a lot of super hero movies un the past and this certainlly fits that mold. It was somewhat entertaining for the most part but at nearly three hours was a long sit. Lucky I had not had much to drink before the movie, I hate running out to the restroom in the middle of the show. I do not believe,like sone of you, that it is one I would see again, it was too violent for me, at least compared to my usual choice of movies. It had a very unusual slection of songs on the soundtrack, most good, but 99 Luftballoons was a very odd choice. At any rate, I did see it, now on to the nest one.
Ray, how does the system of checks and balances Madison describes advocate the failure of our current, or any, administration? I also wonder if anyone calling for the Obama administration's failure has thought ahead to what that failure to "fix" our problems might mean.
I further wonder if the headline writer read the article.
a quandary seeking guidance
I have a bit of a dilemna. My publisher's revised contract says that they have right of first refusal for ANY of my writings for 2 years from signing and for any in a similar vein as long as the 3rd book is in print. I signed in October 2008. As some of you know, I have written a novella combining the Wild Hunt myth with the reputed hauntings on old US 666 in New Mexico. The publisher specializes in local history collections and a touch of ghost lore. They have published fiction, mainly reprints of local authors, but it's not their focus. Since my other books are all SC ghost lore, I assume this would cover the novella (or novel if it is expanded out). The word count is close to what I've already published.
Should I send in the manuscript?
Concerning Rush: Some old-guard Republicans wanted FDR to fail in the 30s, but only so we could try out socialism or some flavor of dictatorship. Of course, they wanted TR to fail too.
"TOR Books has a page on their site called "The Ten Most Influential Science Fiction & Fantasy Anthologies/Anthology Series." Guess what's number 1?"
STAR TREK: Strange New Worlds VII?
(Oh, I am *so* dead.)
________________________________________
I'm planning to go to the New Beverly Thursday night for a flick or two. Jason Davis and his loverly bride may join me. If you -- you, you in the corner: KOS, Morgan, Tanja, Duane, Rob??? (Anybody, anybody?) -- are planning to go, ya wanna grab a hot dog beforehand???
(Send me an email, please don't clutter up the Pav.)
Should be fun. (The movie show and commentaries, not the 'dog.)
TOR Books has a page on their site called "The Ten Most Influential Science Fiction & Fantasy Anthologies/Anthology Series." Guess what's number 1?
http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=17022
Just saw this article about floating cities on CNN and it reminded me somewhat of Alan Dean Foster's Cachalot:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/09/floating.cities.seasteading/index.html
Why The Founding Fathers Would Want Obama's Plans to Fail
For your consideration.
http://www.dcexaminer.com/politics/Why-The-Founding-Fathers-Would-Want-Obamas-Plans-to-Fail-40992107.html
Another response to Mr. Boop.
Mr. Boop. I’m a political junkie. Keep close track of all things political, vote in every election (even the ones for local 'dog catcher' type races). As many here know, I’m black, and feel it is my duty and responsibility to vote, not only to honor and respect those who - in living memory mind you - sacrificed homes, livelihoods and in some cases LIVES in order to fight for my right to vote.
Stating the case for your political views are necessary in a free society, I believe. I respect the opinions of those who disagree with my views.
While I’m sure you mean well, you’re incorrect. I know that you can find some anonymous posting on an obscure blog or comments section of a website from someone who 'hoped' President Bush failed. As many have mentioned here, no one, but NO ONE of Rush Limbaugh’s 'stature' said, recorded, wrote such drivel.
Rush’s comments are a continuation of the failed Republican view that if one demonizes their opponent enough, something is going to stick. Obama’s a socialist? Wasn’t born in this country? Shouldn’t be president because his father wasn’t a citizen? He’s never had a job, was a community organizer? Yesterday, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), stated FOR ATTRIBUTION, 'We will lose on legislation. But we will win the message war every day, and every week, until November 2010. Our goal is to bring down approval numbers for (Speaker Nancy) Pelosi and for House Democrats. That will take repetition. This is a marathon, not a sprint.' Creative solution to our current crises, no?
Read history, and hear the echoes. Helen Douglas was 'pink right down to her underwear' (Nixon’s first win for congress, implying that she was a commie). Whisper campaigns, planting the seed, say something a thousand times, and uninformed people take it for fact. That’s no way to run a company, much less a country.
No one in their right mind should say that they want an American president to fail. Well, unless you’re talking Nixonian taking out the Constitutional safeguards (Saturday Night Massacre, 'If the president does it, that means it is not illegal').
During the FAILED (I didn’t want him to fail, he did that all by his widdle self) presidency of George W. Bush, I was pulling for us to succeed. I didn’t think we would, I agreed with many who said that if you cut taxes during wars of indeterminate length, disagreed with Cheney who said that 'Reagan proved deficits don’t matter', disagreed with their policies on education, Civil Rights, Gay Rights, Voting Rights, climate change specifically (we have to call it climate change now, because the deniers point to the sky during every snowstorm and chortle 'Global Warming, huh?') and the environment generally, appointment of judges and justices, and on and on, but still I wanted us to succeed. Why? Fair question.
Unlike some who hold knee-jerk political opinions, I realize that we’re all in this together. Who benefits from an economy in free-fall, double-digit unemployment in California, uncertainty in the workplace - virtually all workplaces - and a 401K that’s turned into a 200.5J? No freaking body benefits. We need to pull the oars together, or drift aimlessly for the foreseeable future. Rush Limbaugh wants us to fail because he wants political power for the party he supports? Definition of idiocy, in my book.
Sane fiscal policy, support for education, support for science policy supported by peer- reviewed research rather than mistranslations of millennia-old texts? I’m for it. Unabashedly, with joy in my heart, FOR IT.
Mr. Boop, what are you for?
Women writers and truncated careers
BRIAN: You are quite right. Katha is pretty sharp, and her essays are frequently a delight to read.
Best response to Boop so far is JohnE.
Boop says in his post that he isn't necessarily on the right. And that his politics don't matter in this discussion. I shan't judge that. But I do challenge him to find where people here hoped for Bush to fail.
Rush isn't the only right winger who wants Obama to fail, and those who get it understand exactly what Rush really means: Obama must fail so the country can fall into utter destruction and ruin, which is when the Republicans will swoop in on the wreckage, declare a whole new set of rules and set up a permanent greed and religion-based meritocracy. Not to mention, the American people must be punished severely for choosing a black Socialist to be their President. By God will they be sorry.
This is all they have, this is the result of selling decades of populist bullshit that no one's buying anymore. So of course Rush and his ilk need Obama to fail. It's their only chance.
Yeah, Boop...
Your "memory" is extremely self-serving, as is so typical of you brain-dead right-wingers: as Josh and Steve point out, that ink blot of an IQ you trogledytes put into the White House was being excoriated for his criminal actions, and the path to the country's destruction that is now so clear (for instance, cutting FEMA funds after having been warned 3 years earlier by scientists about the levees in New Orleans; cutting funds from the VA, while hypocritically urging to "support our soldiers"; sending American soldiers to a pointless death in Iraq; and the massive deregulation that led the economy to where it is now!) . If anyone here declared, "I HOPE he fails!", YOU find it in the archives and post it here.
Having said THAT, the aim of your argument in itself reminds me of the dopey logic SOME American civilians were blurting out in the name of retribution shortly after 9/11: "since they killed OUR civilians we should just go and kill THEIRS!" And THAT was said in front of news cameras. Anyone stupid enough not to know why that's a problem, is a TOTAL waste of DNA.
Likewise, you can't perceive the difference between Bush's breaches and transgressions (which make Nixon look like St. Peter!) and the goals of the new administration, which chooses REALITY to blind IDEALISM as its criteria.
Your little group with your little tribal minds are marginalized (a feat YOU guys achieved by your OWN hands, not that you take any accountability, of course)...yet, not enough for MY taste.
That's just speaking for ME, mind you, no one ELSE here! And ya know WHAT? I DON'T want you to go home empty-handed. I want you to feel you've proven something to yourself. So, I'LL say, FOR the record, "I hope YOU bozos FAIL! I hope you fail on EVERY level in the campaign of lies you're supporting in efforts to bring down an administration that's trying to help as many as it CAN, in the wake of the fuckin' MESS you goddamn morons have caused".
Limbaugh and worse
I've posted my take on Limbaugh before (March 1st, actually), so I can't add much at this stage. But it occurred to me that this connects to the right-wing's current insistence that the New Deal either didn't do anything to help the Depression, or that it actually hurt America's recovery.
Not only do they want Obama to fail, but they won't even allow us to know that a Democrat has _succeeded_.
But to resurrect another topic, here's a page devoted to the people who've died in the custody of Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2007-12-20/news/dead-end
Dan Simmons tells that Harlan story again.
I'd be very much surprised if all the regulars here didn't know this story already but in the interest of completeness here is a link to this morning's interview of Dan Simmons for the GoodReads website where he credits Harlan again;
http://www.goodreads.com/interviews
/show/29.Dan_Simmons?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Mar_newsletter
if that doesn't work try this;
http://tinyurl.com/b2s4do
And while I'm here allow me to pimp Goodreads as one of my more favorite internet portals and double plus pimp Simmons new fab doorstop, DROOD* which will afford me lots of opportunities to bait a certain local prof who is a major Wilkie Collins booster. Things are going to get UGLY at my local coffee shop once he gets this under his belt.
I find fun where I can these days. ;-)
- Barney
*and anybody who does not LOVE the premise for his next novel BLACK HILLS might be, I humbly submit, lacking a pulse.
To BOOP
BOOP: Just saw your message (and answers by others): Don't know about anyone else, but as one who was VERY vocal about his disdain for Bush BEFORE he was elected, and BEFORE he got most of Congress to vote for the Iraq War (I even argued with guys like Brian Siano about the fallacy of the intelligence the administration was touting, going so far as to say horrible things like the only thing Bush really wanted was to be King George)...as one who said things like that, I can tell you that the ONLY thing I wanted Bush to fail at was selling the war in Iraq...and actually getting elected (in 2004).
Other than that, I _never_ wanted to see him fail -- merely slapped in irons and prosecuted for war crimes...alongside Dick "Darth Vader" Cheney.
--DTS
Semi-urgent question for HARLAN
HARLAN: The semi-urgency comes from my needing to relay your answer, within the next two days, to my soon-to-be Kansas City connection. She will be headed there on friday morning (it's just after midnight, the wee hours of Wednesday, our time, as I type).
Here's the question: Do you want some crackle from KC?
If so, just answer with a resounding, yes. In which case, it will be sent to you, expeditiously, sometime between March 14th and March 31st (March 13th and April 1st are reserved for non-stop air travel). While we're waiting for your answer, and when she wakes on the morrow, I'll ask if my Soon-To-Be-Mainest-Girl-In-KC can email me after she gets the crackle wrapped up and sent via two or three day airmail (we wont use the most expensive, overnight, mail this time) -- not sure what the communications situation will be.
You actually met my mysterious KC Crackle Connection: you know, back in 2000, at the Horror Convention in Denver. Just so you know: SHE volunteered to send it to you when she gets there. Using her own dough (although I plan to reimburse her -- and everything). Nice kid -- despite the feral nature of one of her parents.
And if you feel the need to make recompense, since I'm gonna make sure she gets the money back, maybe we can work out a deal on my lapsed HERC subscription -- I need to catch up on missed issues! And, perhaps, depending on the cost, throw in a book goodie for the kid -- she's been reading STALKING THE NIGHTMARE of late -- another good Ellison read never hurt anyone.
That's all the news fit to type. Let me know if you'd like to take advantage of her generous offer.
Cheers (and a howdy to Susan),
Dorman
I remember once, long ago, in years gone by
Harlan wrote:
"...relinquish this mere and meager site for the purpose to which it was dedicated, ie, TALKING ABOUT HOW WONDERFUL I AM, I'd be most grateful."
In my own pedantic fashion, I remind us all that this noble purpose is indeed our Sacred Duty.
And yes, Harlan, you truly ARE that wonderful, as well as talented, unafflicted with hard stool issues and gifted with breath which has that faintly tangy citrus scent one gets when one is as wonderful as one is when that one is: Wonderful You!
Honest.
(Now do I get the lollipop? I want the lollipop! You promised me a lollipop...)
KOS
To Boop
Boop,
You are repeating one of the greatest lies ever told by your side of the political spectrum, that the left vocally hoped for Bush to fail.
Bullshit.
I remember despising Bush for other reasons until that moment, but on 9/11 and afterward I said that he was our President and that we had to stand behind him. Many of my friends on the left said the same thing, even if we did not feel him capable of meeting the challenge. This was reflected by his approval ratings: or do you really think that the natural impulse of Americans, and not just the partisans, is to reward the guy in office during a major attack with a hearty "good job"? No, that was a determined, "We're all in this together! Now, do the right thing!"
Many of us did not think he would do the right thing, but he was the only game in town, and we stood behind him, because we had to, because the lives of all Americans depended on it.
Even when he invaded Iraq, on pretenses that many of us paying attention at the time knew to be phony but that his partisans now say "fooled us all," those of us in opposition did not phrase our opposition as hopes that he would fail. Nobody ever said, in any U.S. newspaper or on any U.S. political show, "I hope this invasion is an unmitigated disaster and that the loss of life is catastrophic!" Anybody who actually said that would have been quite rightly excoriated as anti-American. What we said is that the invasion was a mistake and what we continued to say, throughout the torture scandals and throughout every outrage that followed, is that what he was doing was criminal and bad for the country. I constantly heard the formulation, "I hope I'm wrong, but..."
Nobody ever said, "I hope Bush fucks up the lives of Americans REAL BAD! That'll serve the Republicans right!"
What they said was, "This is wrong, this is misguided, this is criminal, he IS fucking up the lives of Americans."
This went out to the very last moment his Administration spent in office. And it's a very clear distinction.
Had Limbaugh said, "Obama's policies will be a disaster for America," nobody would have batted an eyelash. You are allowed to say that in America. In fact, if that's your position, it is YOUR DUTY to say that in America -- a point the Republicans habitually missed when they called Bush's opponents traitors and worse.
But Limbaugh said, "I hope he fails," at a moment of national catastrophe, proving once again that for him and people like him it was less about the country and more about holding on to power.
This leaves the question of why you would think Bush's opponents hoped he would fail in matters vital to the country, when nobody of importance ever said such a bloody stupid thing. I'm sure it's in part because your side spent so much time painting the other side as cowardly french appeasers. And it may be because people who advance that argument have the intellectual discrimination of two-year-olds and argue like finger-painters, throwing packed diapers at the wall until something sticks. And it may be that, like most villains by disposition, you project your own faults onto those who oppose you. But frankly? The biggest factor? You say it because you're a bunch of big fat liars with the ethics of weasels.
So far, the New Beverly nights have been grand. Wednesday night is the Ed Wood/Problem Child double feature, and I just found out that Martin Landau will be coming along to join writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. And then, of course, Thursday is that Ellison guy.
Boop - Your memory fails you. For eight years, we critics of Bush have excoriated him as a thug and a criminal, and have stated, flat out, that his policies WOULD fail. I'd be amazed if you could find one fringe-dweller, let alone a mainstream leftist of similar profile to Limbaugh - who ever wished publicly or privately that Bush would fail.
It's a radical, enormous difference, and it's outrageous to me that people can't grasp that. Saying "The President is awful, and his plan stinks" is reasonable criticism. Saying "I hope he fails" is tantamount to treason. There isn't one critic of Bush here who wanted Bush to fail, or who takes delight in the monumental failure that was his administration. This one's so obvious, it makes my teeth hurt, and Limbaugh has spent the last few weeks hiding behind the inability of so many Americans to grasp a simple, obvious and moral argument.
When the president fails, sadly, he takes us with him. I never heard anyone on the left take glee in the devastation that miserable cocksucker set loose on us all. I never heard anyone chortle over the dead in Iraq, or New Orleans, or the WTC. The assertion that critics of Bush engaged in the same loathsome, America-hating, sociopathic rhetoric that Limbaugh is guilty of is an outrageous and offensive assertion.
Mr. Boop -
First, allow me to agree that accusing Limbaugh of being a fat liar is an offensive epithet. "Fat" should not be used as an insult (I am, myself, "fat" and would regard my weight as something that is a fault, but certainly not offensive or worthy of disdain -- there are flaws in all of us kids).
On the other hand, your memory is better than mine. I do not remember anyone wishing Bush would fail -- though there were a number of assertions that he WOULD fail. Big difference.
But, if those comments were made then I disagree with them. Where Limbaugh -- who is an ignorant fool obsessed with his own hubris -- crossed the line is suggesting Limbaugh's political agenda is best served by the failure of the only people who are currently empowered to mitigate the damage caused by the Bush Administration. (Yes, plenty of others are at fault, but they don't work for the people now do they. I can't hold the CEO of Goldman Sachs responsible because he works for his shareholders. (Well, worked.) I can't hold the people who fell for sub-prime mortgages responsible because they outnumber me. I can't hold the realtors, mortgage brokers, loan officers or bankers responsible because they wrote their own epitaphs (after cashing the checks of course).
But I CAN hold the politicians in check. They failed us -- and in the case of Bush and company, it was through either deliberate action -- worthy of charges of treason...or unbelievable incompetence. Given that Cheney, Rumsfeld and others are on record endorsing this form of government long before 2001 I can't held but think it might have been premeditated.
But, you're right. If anyone here suggested they *wished* Bush failed while in office -- which he evidently did, and miserably, then they wisher was wrong.
But again, there's a difference between thinking a person will fail and wishing that they do. As has been suggested, tongue in cheek elsewhere but seriously in my case, such a wish ought to rain disdain down around the ears of the speaker -- particularly one that is supposed to be shaping public opinion. It's unethical, irresponsible and self-aggrandizing.
And anyone who listens to a fool is themselves a fool.
IMHO.
_____________________________________
On a wholly different note, Cris and I just got home from a wonderful evening with her bass player and his wife at temple celebrating something called purim. (They felt we would enjoy ourselves, despite the fact neither of us is Jewish.)
I have always regarded Judaism as a reasonably solemn and quiet religion.
Tonight revolved around the ritual Reading of the Megilla.
As interpreted musically by the Beatles.
Featuring Elvis as "The King". And the audience booing a certain oily mobster named "Haman".
With a cast of villagers in '60s garb.
Singing songs like "Rabbi Pupik's Only Pu-rim Band", "Esther Day", "Hey Jews" and "Back in the Month of Adar".
I may need to reassess that "solemn" thing...
Just wondered
If it is wrongo for Rush Limbaugh to hope the President fails, was it wrong to wish that GWB would fail, as I believe one or two of you here wished, way back in the early years of this century?
I await reasoned argument, though it seems a prima facie case of hypocrisy to wish it for one president, and then lambast another for wishing it upon another president.
Is this a case of "Sauce for the goose and gander", etc?
Save your personal attacks. I do not listen to Limbaugh, and hold no brief for him, his words or his politics. Likewise, I had no special love for GWB or his policies.You don't know my politics (though they might surprise you, they are irrelevant to this matter). Why do I ask, or even care? Perhaps I enjoy watching ethical "gymnastics".
One argument that will not work: "Well, GWB was Evil and BHO is trying to Do Good."
I leave it to you to spot the ethical booby trap in that sort of thinking.
So far it's mostly been that Rush Limbaugh is a Fat Liar. The first is self evident and utterly beside the point (like the equally chubby Michael Moore, perhaps he just likes to eat?), the second is an alleged moral fault that has nothing to do with his expressed wish for presidential failure and the ire it has aroused. That wish is not a lie or a truth, it is an opinion on an outcome. There is no truth or falsehood to such statements. If I were to loudly hope that the Cubs win the World Series this year (PLEASE!!!) you might well call me a Fool or Hopeless Case, but you would get some serious "non sequitur" looks if you cried "Liar!"
Mr. Boop
HERC mailing
Susan,
Mini-flyer received today in Orange County. As a non-spoiler I will say it is a reminder of Josh's movie hosting that I assume just went out to locals. Don't need anyone crying "Where's mine? First I got ripped for 32 pages of the last RH and now this?"
A good day to all here and good luck to Josh on the event.
Since I can't come to L.A. I watched Thunderbold & Lightfoot here. Don't know about the status of the movie among critics and audiences, but it was great, so thanks for the hint, Harlan. Reminded me of a lot of good things, including Eastwood the actor, and the 70s. The American 70s were completely different from the German or European 70s, whereas now we all seem to be going through the same things, wearing the same things, eating the same etc.
I wonder what people will think about our current decade fourty years from now, which movies will bring them back, and if anyone would want to revisit our time.
Oops erratum etc.
Yes, yes, I know: the speech in "Patton" was not Milius but Coppola and Edmund North.
I like to think Coppola was channeling Milius there. Not to mention I conflated the fact that Milius DID write the opening scene of "Dirty harry" that mimiced the "Patton" opening.
I am out of here for a week or more.
KOS
What I meant to say was
As you scrol down, just skip the next (previous? time in the pavilion is screwy) posting below htis. Somehowit got sent before I proofed and correctedit.
-sigh-
Is there any informal gathering of the horde at Pinks and/or the Beverly for the screenings up and coming? I have been tghtening my bowstrings and making arrows, not to mention my horse is fattened and champing at the bit after al the spring grass he's chomped down.
I await word from the Great Khan,
As for "WATCHMEN" (why consistently ALL CAPS?): I watched the openig credits that a link to was posted here a day or two back.
I had never even heard of Watchmen before the movie was announced. I neer got into graphic novels. My conection to that end of the literary spectrum is restricted mostly to what I hear from youse bums.
l
That title sequence blew me away. It captured the look of what America was like before Kennedy and The Beatles gave it a sex change. No nostalgia here, I am talking about The Look.
I was gonna write "sea change" but that typo actually works better. We did get a sex change, in at least two senses.
The WATCHMEN title sequence also did things with graphics I have been waiting Waiting WAITING for SOMEone to Get A Fucking Clue and do, as in that shot of the bomber flying past the camera in said title sequence.
I am gong to see WATCHMEN as soon as I can. I have some hope of a goof time.
Frank,Frank, FRANK! How did your Eagle Eye ever miss that John Milius is KUH-razee!? He may have some SOME right of center views, but he is no conservative. He is a populistic war loving nutjob. LOL, one heck of a writer though.
I mean, Frank, you did not know Milius wrote the spech which opens "Patton"? That he wrote and directed the first Conan film, with that "Ueber-Milius dialogue couplet:
Mongol General: Wrong! Conan! What is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
That he wrote "The Wind And The Lion" with it's Teddy Roosevelt machtpolitik message?
And forget "Charlie don't surf!": Milius made the "Ur-Surf"" croaker of a wheezingly ponderous "epic" sutf-schlager manque festooned with the fauz mysterious meaning title "Big Wednesday", which, I am given to understand, had so much verite' the ushers wore wetsuits, the better with which to wade into the front rows apres showings the better to shovel sand and crabs from the first three rows?
Milius is a poster boy for crackpotdom of fhe right, sort of the Bizarro Oliver Stone, an image seen in a cracked mirror darkly.
Talent knows no politics. Bertolt Brecht proved that for the left, ditto for john Boy and the "right".
KOS
EDWARD,
I won't argue with your take on WATCHMEN, but please, please, please - in the name of all that's good and decent - don't ever use the phrase "it wasn't perfect (what film is)". It's almost as dangerous as the equally ominous term, "what could possibly go wrong?"
BATMAN & ROBIN "wasn't perfect". CATWOMAN "wasn't perfect". And sweet merciful God knows 300 "wasn't perfect". It's too unreliable and vague for anyone to trust. I could easily say that THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE "wasn't perfect", but it wouldn't give you a damn clue to the actual quality of the movie, would it?
--------------------------------------
On the subject of horror-comedies, I'd like to take the opportunity to deflate a long-revered "monument" in the subgenre, AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON.
Now, I happen to own the film myself. There's plenty of gold to be found, including a classic man-to-monster scene that probably got thousands of viewers into transformation fetishes. But the tone of the movie, despite what others have claimed, is unstable as hell. It's like John Landis kept switching between those smiley-comedy and frowny-tragedy theater masks without warning the audience when he's about to do so. "Now I'm funny. Now I'm serious. Now I'm funny. Now I'm serious."
I'd say one of the few movies that ever 100% successfully fused comedy and horror into an organic whole was EVIL DEAD 2. The tone remains consistent throughout the entire picture, thanks in part to Bruce Campbell's deranged performance. (One of his parents HAS to be a toon.)
I sing the body multiplex
Is there any informal gathering of the horde at Pinks and/or the Beverly for the screenings up and coming? I have been tghtening my bowstrings and making arrows, not to mention my hors is well fttend and champing at the bit after al the spring grass he's chomped down.
I await the word from the Great Khan,
As for "WATCHMEN" (whyconsistently ALL CAPS?): I watched the openig credits that a link to was posted here a day or two back.
I had never even heard of Wathcmen before the movie was announced. I neer got into graphic novels. My conectin to tat end of the literary spectrum is restricted mostly to what I hear from youse bums.
Thattitle sequence blew me away. It captures the ook of what AMerica was like before Kennedy and TheBeatles led a sex change. No nostalgia here, I am talking aboutThe Look.
It also did thigns with gaphics I hae been aiting for them to sttart doing, as in that shotof the aipane approaching the camera in said title sequence.
am gong to see WATCHMEN as soon as I can. I have some hope of a goof time.
zFRANK!
Frank,Frankm FRANK! How did oyu mis John Milius being KUH0razy? He may have some SOME right of venter views, but he is no conservative. He is a populisticwar loving nutjob. LOL, one heck of a writer though.
I mean,m FRrank, you didn ot know hwrote that spech tat opens "PAtton? That he wrote and directed the first Conan film, with that uever-Milius dialogue couplet:
Mongol General: Wrong! Conan! What is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
"That he wrote "The WInf And The Lion" with it's Teddy Roosevelt machtpolitik message? -snip-
And forget "Charlie don't surf!": Milius made the "Ur-Surf"" croaker of a wheezigly ponderous "epic" sutf-schlager manque festooned with the fauz mysterious meaning title "Big Wednesday"m which I am told had so much verite' the ushers wore wetsuits, they they had to shvel sand and crabs from the first three rows nightly?
Milius is a poster boy for crackpotdom of fhe right, sort of the Bizarro Oliver Stone, an image seen in a cracked mirror darkly.
Watchmen
I saw Watchmen yesterday (for the second time) & still love it. Like many of the fans of the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons comic, I was worried that it would be a disaster, but was pleasantly surprised at how well Zack Snyder & gang kept the heart & soul of the series. It wasn't perfect (what film is), but I sat mesmerized in a way I haven't for some time. I'll not speak of any specifics, so as not to spoil it for those who have yet to see it, but I hope you give it a chance. One of the best "fantasy" films I've seen in quite a while.
Of course, I went in following several rules I always adhere to when seeing a film based on a literary work:
1) Remember that the source material will remain enjoyable, even if the film sucks (a bad film does not diminish the quality of the original creation, unless you let it).
2) Remember that it is impossible to cram all the elements of any book/comic into a 2-3 hour film.
3) Remember to view the film on its own merits (which takes the source material as inspiration, not gospel).
4) Remember that certain changes must be made when transferring any material to the big screen (far too many hands get involved).
5) Remember that it's just a movie (even if it disappoints) & life will go on.
A&C Meet Frankenstein is still one of my favorites. It was the second and last time Lugosi ever played Dracula on screen and made better use of the Monster than the previous two or three Frankenstein movies did. They ususally consisted of the Monster in a coma until the end when the resident mad scientist hooks up the jumper cables, starts up the monster who then knocks over a rack of chemicals which then spontaneously combust, resulting in the firey climactic ending.
Abbot and Costello showed much more respect for the material than their studio did. And it was their funniest film.
Of audience comments and Bo Derek:
A friend of mine saw Bolero when it came out and there was a sex scene where Bo was simulating extasy as best she could, then suddenly went still. Someone in the audience shouted, "She's dead!" Brought the house down.
Which reminds me of a comment made by Clint Eastwood at that year's Golden Globe awards: "John and Bo Derek couldn't be here tonight. They're at the hospital awaiting the birth of John's next wife."
Damn, Clint! Mee-yow!
Chuck
HARLAN: Letter received, and all is well. Hope you enjoyed the book.
I had a chance to see Watchmen last week and enjoyed it tremendously. While I would not go quite so far as my friend Mr. Cramer and call it the best movie of the past 30 years (hard to say what that would be my initial vote would be for Schindler's List but Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Muppet Show would deserve consideration also; yes I realize how weird I am), I would certainly recommend the film highly. There is a ton of violence in it though, some of it quite graphic and brutal, so be aware of that before seeing the movie
For those of you who would like to discuss Watchmen in greater depth, or at least would like to make more than one comment per day, there is a thread over in the Pop Culture section of the Forums where we are talking about the film. Neither Frnk nor Rob has posted there yet, so everything is very civil and reasoned (I keeeed, I keeeed, he says knowing the flames will be coming)
Mark
Frank - My favorite John Milius quote appeared in the British newspaper THE GUARDIAN after Miramax fired him from TEXAS RANGERS: "They don't have any sense of responsibility. They'd make a film about anything if they thought it would make some money for them. I think they should give Harvey Weinstein to the Taliban. I'd like to see him on the other side. I'd like to hunt him down in a cave."
WATCHMEN
I thought it was maybe 85% a great movie, and a lot of the 15% that didn't work was the stuff that was simply untranslatable from page to screen. So much about it could have gone so wrong that I'm grateful it's as good as it is. The Moore/Gibbons characters and themes make it in pretty much intact; the telescoping and editing needed to make the story fit in a 2:40 movie are intelligently done for the most part; the performances by Jackie Earle Haley and Billy Crudup are terrific; and the design of the Watchmen's world is marvelous, right down to the creepy movements of Rorschach's mask. (That's not a spoiler, is it?)
I'm looking forward to seeing it a second time, this time in IMAX. Roger Ebert, who gave the movie a four-star review, did exactly that, and wrote on his blog that it was "an awesome experience":
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/03/were_all_puppets_laurie_im_jus.html
So I found a taker for the PARTNERS book, a relative of one of the featured collaborators who has been trying to get ahold of a copy for some time (and no, it isn't Harlan's cousin Manny). Yay serendipity.
It's gonna be hard to part with this edition though, if only because of the front cover blurb: "If you mix Ellison with wild talents like Zelazny, Sturgeon, Bova, Van Vogt, Davidson, Laumer Hensley, Delany, Sheckley, Silverberg, Rostler, Bloch, Slesar and Budrys... dyn-O-mite!" (So where's Jimmy "J.J" Walker, then?)
Oh the 70s... how we miss you.
Horror comedy
Laurie ... I don't think anybody has mentioned LA CABINA - a short Spanish movie from the early '70s that seems to pop up on late night TV about once a decade. If you've seen it, you will certainly not have forgotten it. If you haven't seen it, I will not tell you anything other that it concerns a man and a telephone box.
Watchmen
I know I was the biggest proponent of WATCHMEN from way back when but.... I didn't love it. Found it kind of ponderous and pretentious... and I did find myself frequently going "why do I care about these people again?"
I did love Jackie Earl Haley as Rorschach and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Comedian. But overall, it just didn't do it for me.
Sorry to disagree.
Part of it may have to do with the family that came late, sat in our row (in the back), started crinkling all sorts of papers and decided to have various conversations with each other during the film. Which prompted me to get up and get in the face of Daddy (who brought two kids under ten to this very violent R-rated film) and say "You're going to be QUIET for the rest of this movie, right?" Not smart, I know. But I just LOSE IT when morons treat movie theaters like their living rooms. My wife is certain I will be knifed or gunned down one of these days in a theater parking lot. Could happen.
Women writers and truncated careers
Katha Pollitt has a genuinely wonderful piece in _Slate_ about Elaine Showalter's _A Jury of her Peers_.
"Many women writers have complained that fiction by women is undervalued because we undervalue the domestic and the personal as opposed to big manly subjects like war and whaling. It's an important point, but I think there's something deeper going on. In fact, there are men who write about intimate life and women who take on big public subjects. More different than the books themselves is the gendered framing of how we read them. Nobody says Henry James is a less ambitious writer because he wrote The Portrait of a Lady and not The Portrait of a Sea Captain. If The Corrections had been written by Janet Franzen, would it have been seen not as a bid for the Great American Novel trophy, but as a very good domestic novel with some futuristic flourishes that didn't quite come off? If the most prolific serious American writer was John Carroll Oates, would critics be so disturbed by the violence in his fiction? Perhaps we emphasize different elements in similar books and only notice the evidence that confirms our gender biases—and give men more benefits of more doubts, too. Gertrude Stein is a difficult and frustrating writer, but so is the Ezra Pound of The Cantos and the James Joyce of Finnegans Wake, and nobody serious calls them (as Showalter does Stein) basically frauds."
http://www.slate.com/id/2213111/
WATCHMEN
We went to see it this weekend, and thought it was BRILLIANT. As so often, when viewing a movie based on a book or comic we love, we hoped that it would either be A) wonderful or B) a complete and utter disaster - no half measures. We were pleased beyond measure - particularly, I thought Rorschach was done to absolute perfection. The only down side for me was the guy who brought his kid, who could not have been 10 years old. Sorry, but that was no film for a kid. No matter how mature for his age, he might be, it was not a kid's movie. Which reminded me of my sister's outrage when she saw SIN CITY and some idiot couple had brought their 5 YEAR OLD to see it. Jeez, people, I'm not sure I'M old enough for that movie. "but it was based on a COMIC BOOK" I can almost hear them whine. Yes, but maybe the TITLE might have clued you that this wasn't a frickin' Disney pic? And just cuz it's a cartoon don't mean it's fer the kiddies - FRITZ THE CAT, anyone?
Very bummed that our local theater didn't run CORALINE - I've been dying to see it. Also FEAR(S) OF THE DARK, which it doesn't look like even made it to South Dakota at all. Anyone seen it?
Also, just read Joe Hill's 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS and Owen King's WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. Both very good, very different styles. And, while I'm at it, I highly recommend Joe Hill's LOCKE & KEY - good stuff, people.
Plus, I ordered me some Adam-Troy Castro today - can't wait.
lynn in south dakota
Here's Caroline Munro in 2008:
http://www.collectormania.com/imagegallery/C10images/CarolineMunro2.jpg
Except for her hands she is still quite lovely. Yum.
--------------
John Milius, the great screenwriter, is a fucking nut. Didn't know the guy was a Genghis Khan style right winger, but boy is the guy proud of it. Watch Red Dawn and you kind of get a gist of where this guy comes from. At least he hates Rush. From CNN:
""For example, here's Milius on stopping murderous drug traffickers in Mexico: "We need to go down there, kill them all, flatten the place with bulldozers so when you wake up in the morning, there's nothing there," he said in a phone interview. "I do believe if you have a military, you use it.""
Ah, ok.
on Rush:
"I was watching Rush Limbaugh the other night, and I was horrified. I would have Rush Limbaugh drawn and quartered. He was sticking up for these Wall Street pigs. There should be public show trials, mass denunciations and executions."
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
For people with there heads in the sand, Milius wrote Apocalypse Now and the famous line in the first Dirty Harry movie. Probably accounts for Milius being a big gun nut. He is a surfer, this is why he wrote "charlie don't surf" in AN.
At the end of the interview he whines about how conservatives are punished in Hollywood. Aww, punish me like that.
surprised
I am, by the lack of kudos here for the Watchmen movie.
No spoilers. Saw it Friday. I did not enjoy Daredevil, Fantastic Four (1 or 2), Spiderman 3, Superman 3 or 4, Hellboy 1 or 2, The Punisher, Dick Tracy, The Shadow, Batman & Robin, Blade 2 and 3, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, or Ghostrider. I do not give my heart to just any movie.
But I loved the Watchmen. LOOOOOOOVED it! Go see it! Finally, a mature treatment of the superhero genre, and of its audience. IN FACT, this may very well be the best movie (not just superhero movie) of the last 30 years. I will see it a few more times.
Don't drink any water before the show. You will not want to miss any of it.
And to alan from Largo, FL: the whole somethingawful.com thing came out few years ago (2005 maybe?), and made most of us laugh our asses off. It is a comical pastiche about Harlan, and if you read it that way, you will be greatly amused.
-Keith
Sad news for Neil
Guys:
Just wanted to pass this along. Neil Gaiman's dad died yesterday. According to Neil's latest posting on his blog, he and his family are headed for the UK tomorrow for the funeral.
Harlan, didn't know if you had heard about this. Hate to be the bearer of such sad news.
AR
Official WATCHMEN opening titles video
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/03/08/want-to-watch-the-best-part-of-the-watc
hmen-without-going-to-see-it/
Some people may still be on the fence about seeing the film. This is the opening titles which runs 6 minutes and also establishes the world you're about to enter.
186 Elephants walk into a voting booth...
I heartily invite all of you to look at http://daddywhatsarepublican.blogspot.com/ and you will see a whole load of elephants making fools of themselves.
Brian Phillips
More Munro
It's Ms. Munro & Harryhausen that keep bringing me back to GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD; it's sure not John Phillip Law's acting. Bit of Pogue six degrees: Martin Shaw, who played Henry Baskerville in my HOUND OF..., also had a supporting role in the film. A lovely man who back in the nineties gave a terrific performance onstage as Lord Goring in Sir Peter Hall's production of Oscar Wilde's IDEAL HUSBAND. Marty play Goring as Wilde.
had a strange e-mail of recent.
somethingawful.com these bastards are creeps and nasty on HE.They have column of nastiness called Let's annoy Harlan,total assholes.
Among the Tchi
Quick plug: the first half of my novelette, "Among the Tchi," which could have been subtitled "The Writer's Dilemma," is now available for free on the ANALOG site.
http://www.analogsf.com/0905/tchi.shtml
FOUND: While perusing the shelves of a nifty little used bookstore hereabouts, I came across an original paperback copy of PARTNERS IN WONDER. It's a smidge musty but is otherwise in solid shape, and sports a great photo of a shaggy-haired young Harlan on the back. Plus, it's apparently got some stuff called "stories" inside that I hear are pretty good. If anyone would like this book let me know here or via e-mail, it's cheap and I can pick it up and ship it out this week.
CAROLINE MUNRO per Pogue Mention
Charles Edward:
Susan and I met Caroline Munro about ten or fifteen years ago. At an odd little U.K. sf/media convention sited at an even odder seaside town named Great Yarmouth. (And if the name sounds more than passingly Lovecraftian, it ain't coincidence; the denizens of that village, in its dolorous aluminumWinter season, cold and drainy, grey and vaguely discomfitting, almost all looked as if they'd been inbreed-fucking their sibs for hundreds of years; and sucking down nothing but welks for twice that long.)
But, I drift.
Ms. Munro was just as traffic-stoppingly beautiful; but very charming to boot. Very civil, very charming. She was in the company of a husband, who didn't impress me much. He seemed too smoothyguts to be alongside such a classy lady, but it was to smile, Suze and I agreed, to have our best faux-impression of someone buttressed by the real person's reality.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
Upper class british twit? And that's you playing a fictional charactor, is it? hehe.
All in acid tongued love, David babe.
-----------
What's wrong with Shaun of the Dead?
From a fuck who watched Eagle Eye. Sheesh.
-------------
I am going to start something that I wanted to do a while back. Every week I will have a Liferoach of the week. This will be a person who is so vile, that they go beyond merely being annoying--you know, like Barber. hehe.
Liferoach of the week is: Rush Limbaugh. This is so obvious that there is no need to say any more.
When you are rich and have to find women online, that's pretty pathetic.
Second place goes to the rotten Dennis Miller, who says that Michael Moore is secretly self loathing because he is fat. Maybe he just likes to eat.
Makes sense.
Q: How do you hide an elephant?
A: Paint its toenails red and put it in a cherry tree.
___________________________________
My website is gonna pass 9000 hits some time today. Woohoo!
___________________________________
My wife and I watched EAGLE EYE last night. Exhausting movie, it really runs along at a very brisk pace. Somewhat derivative, but fun nonetheless.
(But -- and sincere apologies of this little bitch counts as a spoiler, it really isn't -- would someone PLEASE tell Hollywood writers that aircraft CANNOT fly in tunnels???? Whenever this "gee whiz" scene appears in a film it yanks me right out of the story and puts a damper on the rest of the film.) (Just sayin'.)
___________________________________
Oh c'mon folks: SHAUN OF THE DEAD!
Fergoshsakes.
plays, films, and color commentary - continued
I always do this: plan a fine Internet posting in my head, get started, then hit "send" before I've covered everything.
My last post to the board hit the third item in the Subject header, because it was most pertinent to the ongoing thread, and then I sent it off to the board without getting to the other things I meant to discuss.
Wanted to share a story about putting oneself on the spot on stage. Currently I'm starring in a community theater production of Noel Coward's "Private Lives," in the role of Elyot Chase, which was originated by the playwright in 1930, opposite a 27-year-old supporting actor named Laurence Olivier. In the first act, my character and his ex-wife run into each other on their second honeymoons. They ditch their new spouses and run off together to Paris; the entire second act (of three) takes place at her Paris apartment with just the two of them.
I've been wearing my own wedding ring in the first act, which I'm supposed to take off before Act Two. Friday night we were seated on the sofa onstage near the top of Act Two when I noticed I still had it on. I swiftly hid my ring hand under my thigh, and tried to think how to get rid of it as the scene progressed. Managed to slip it off while getting myself a glass of brandy and left it on the drinks cart, in full view of the audience but partially hidden behind another glass, as the scene progressed. I knew I had to make several more trips to the cart over the course of the scene, and I'd have to find another solution because during a fight that climaxes the scene, I shove Amanda into the cart, and it topples, sending everything on it flying. (By then, we've made certain to remove the brandy glasses and decanter elsewhere.)
So my ring sat on the drinks cart for many minutes until I could make another visit, pick it up with my brandy glass and make my way to a chair, where I buried it in the cushions. Of course, my director in the audience saw the whole thing, because she knew it wasn't supposed to be there, but I have to wonder whether any of the regular audience members happened to follow the dance of the unwanted ring during that show! In retrospect, I realize I should have just incorporated it into the scene, made a show of discovering it and said, "Well, I shan't be needing this any more!" and taken it off in full view, instead of trying to be sneaky and risking losing track of my lines from divided attention, but I'll know to do that next time (if it happens again).
For my next project, I'll go from uppa-clahss British twit to Midwestern fishing junkie. Some folks are trying to start up an old-fashioned live radio theater company, and we're going to perform original scripts before a live audience that is simultaneously broadcast on a local radio station, and taped for rebroadcast, podcast, and potential syndication. It'll be a sitcom format, with twelve 25-minutes episodes of "Lucky Jim's Fishing Show," about a guy who's just lost his long-running local TV program and is starting afresh on the radio. His wife is a nag, he has a partner who acts like a Native American but may not really be one, a pompous station owner, and a young, ambitious female producer who tries to hold this collection of clowns together. Lots of peripheral characters, and all about cheap laughs. Should be a hoot.
Because someone out there probably was wondering
Why can't an elephant ride a tricycle?
Because he doesn't have a little finger to ring the bell.
"The kid cracks me up."
Mike
Sara S.~ I've played that game with friends and acquaintances for years, seeing who can one up the other with punchlines to jokes that don't exist. The more weird and abstract the better. Definitely a you-had-to-be-there kinda thing. So much fun on a long drive when you're sleep deprived.
My favorite kids elephant joke is:
Q: What do you do if you get eaten by an elephant?
A: Run around and around and around until you're all pooped out.
Return Of The Living Dead is one of those movies that gauges a persons friendability for me. It came out in my mid-teens, and it holds a certain place in my heart, connected to that time, events and people then. I saw it with my dearest high school friend, Greg (who by the by, had phenomenal make-up artist skills for a teen). We read FANGORIA and submerged ourselves into Every Movie Horror one summer, getting six a day and watching them all day and night at each other's houses, living off pop-tarts and pizza and cookie-dough (when it was an unfinished product- BEFORE it was a "flavor"). We howled over the dialogue, cheered the good guys and zombies alike, fell in lust over 'scream-queen' Linnea Quigley and generally learned it verbatim.
I only LOVE that movie, and to this day, when something sparks a memory back to it, when something in my limbic system insists on my saying a line out loud- "Watch you mouth boy, if you like this job!" "LIKE this job!?!?!" or shrug, "It hurts to be dead."- and someone comes back with the next line, it feels like I've met a kindred spirit. I've made friends with a few people over the years because of a goofy throwaway line like that.
Also, the soundtrack is where I first heard Roky Erickson, no small discovery on my part.
Much the same goes for Re-Animator. I'll still watch anything with Jeffry Combs in it.
All that from a silly horror movie.
Ahh, vices.
Various recently discussed films, from gonzo to painfully slow
We have a local weekly thing here called Atomic Age Cinema that shows midnight movies, mostly horrible-to-laughable but occasionally some not so bad ones.
Think Mystery Science Theater with a roomful of drunk people and you're pretty much there; unfortunately I haven't been able to catch a show since switching to overnights at work, and I just found out the other day that the video store that hosts it is shutting down, but they'll probably just move it upstairs to the comedy club once that happens.
Interesting bit of info as regards Star Trek - The Motionless Picture: amidst all the hype surrounding the upcoming Trek relaunch, I saw an article a couple months back in which J.J. Abrams (an admitted Trek newbie) cites as one of his all-time favorite Star Trek moments that endless fx wank tour around the Enterprise in ST-TMP. Yes, that'd be the very same sequence that put half the theater audience into a coma and which the drinking-game crowd now watches on the video to spot the shots where Robert Wise is clearly offscreen telling Shatner in which direction he should be looking out the viewport...that's JJA' paradigm for what a great Trek movie is supposed to be.
You can really see that this one's gonna soar, can't you? (Or just make a whole lot of rumps sore, whichever.)
I just got a cheap used DVD of the (mostly) wonderful Bubba Ho-Tep the other day and screened it again last night. With all due respect to Ron Perlman, dear lord what are they even THINKING about trying to do another one without Bruce Campbell?
Golden Voyage of Sinbad: recently watched a 10-year-old tape of an old TNT broadcast I have of this hosted by Joe Bob Briggs. Tom Baker's great in it of course, and I readily ditto the general hubba hubba sentiments as regards Ms. Munro...but it wasn't until just after that last viewing that I found out my all-time favorite actor is also uncredited as the Oracle in the film (hint: he stars in my favorite Spielberg movie and my favorite Bond film, as well as having once been classed by HE himself as one of the only two actors who could ever write worth a damn).
Mr. Loftus: yes, it's The Mysterians. I own a copy of that on disc as well (along with Matango/Attack of the Mushroom People).
This sort of thing is like discovering the Dead Sea Scrolls, but the other night, to my astonishment, I learned for the first time that Chaplin added a soundtrack to his 1925 classic THE GOLD RUSH, in order to re-release it in 1943.
I've seen it a number of times, but NEVER with a soundtrack.
And it REALLY didn't work, as far as I'm concerned. It WOULD have had narrative been limited to the opening, and perhaps the final fade-out, but Chaplin narrates just about every scene in the movie. For scenes that are obviously designed for mime, it's an unnecessary distraction. We're even told what's happening AS we're seeing it happen! Just fucks it up.
I'm surprised Chaplin was willing to go that far.
I'll stick to the original silent version.
Golden Voyage of Sinbad
What red-blooded male didn't feel attracted to Caroline Munro (nothing strange about it)? She still makes me all "tingly" whenever I catch The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.
Not exactly a movie moment
I was in college when "The Return of the Jedi" came out, so I was waiting in the line in the parking lot with a bunch of my friends. The previous showing ended, and the people came filing out. We were getting a little apprehensive (were they going to start discussing spoilers in front of us?) when a car drove by. The window rolled down, and someone yelled out:
"SPOCK DIES!"
We all cracked up. And enjoyed the hell out of the movie, rassafrassin Ewoks and all.
Still makes me grin to think of it. Hee.
First
Although I grew up watching many dusk-till-dawn marathons at the drive-in in our hometown (my mother would buy my candy, popcorn & soda--then place put me in front of the car to watch the films, as she entertained her current boyfriend), the first time I was sent to the movies alone was in 1974.
The film--THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD. I was mesmerized watching Ray Harryhausen's brilliant stop-motion creatures & never finished the snacks I held because I was so caught up in the wonder & magic of a six-armed Kali, the one-eyed centaur, the griffin & the homunculus. I also found myself feeling strangely attracted to Caroline Munro (to this day I get all tingly when I see women in belly-dancing costumes). I begged to see it again the next day, but was not allowed, of course. "Once is enough", was her reasoning.
Harryhausen's creatures, Godzilla & the classic Hammer and Universal Monsters are still a part of my life, as I find myself occasionally popping in one of many "monster" DVDs or browsing through my old issues of Famous Monsters.
Ah, yes, people acting out in movie theaters.
Funny Movie Comments
A friend of mine who’s an aficionado of bad films went to see Bo Derek’s abysmal soft-core film “Bolero,” co-starring (inexplicably) George Kennedy.
There’s apparently a scene where a randy George Kennedy is putting the moves on a woman in a kitchen, who’s about to bake a loaf of bread, and is busily kneading dough. Kennedy comes up behind her, starts to caress her while murmuring entreaties, while the woman basically ignores him and continues to knead. As the level of ridiculousness increased to intolerable levels, my friend couldn’t help it – he yelled out, “Don’t do it – he just wants you for your dough!”
It brought the house down.
My all-time favorite: two other friends of mine went to see “The Final Conflict” (the 3rd “Omen” film) back in the 1980s. As the movie started, two other guys sat down in front of my friends, and occasionally, quietly, made comments to each other during the course of the film – not obtrusive, but somewhat audible.
As the film progresses, Damien Thorn, the Antichrist, is referring constantly to looking for his enemy, “the Nazarene,” and destroying him. Halfway through the film, he summons his minions to his mansion, exhorts them again to look for “the Nazarene,” then dismisses them. He then turns to a desk, opens a drawer and starts rummaging around.
At that point, one of the two guys looked at his friend and asked quietly, “what do you think he’s looking for?”
His friend responded, completely deadpan, “I dunno… maybe some sort of… Nazarene Detector.”
My two friends looked at one another, and then completely fell apart with laughter; their enjoyment of the film as a supernatural thriller was essentially destroyed for the rest of the showing.
To this day, we refer to the moment when our suspension of disbelief in a film or TV show simply collapses under the weight of idiotic contrivance as “the Nazarene Detector Moment.” (It’s akin to identifying the exact point when something “jumps the shark.”)
DAVID LOFTUS: I went to one of those Orson Welles Theater 24-hour science fiction marathons back in the 1980s, and saw the premiere of “1984” there. For all I know, you might’ve been at the exact same showing. Anyway, I’m pretty sure the film you’re referring to is the 1957 film “The Mysterians,” which is actually a somewhat cool Japanese monster movie (the robot sequence was added late in production.)
Favorite horror-comedies: I’ll toss in my support for Tremors, Return of the Living Dead (which has utterly hilarious dialog), and Shaun of the Dead. Although not a “horror-comedy” per se, the original Night Stalker TV movie with Darren McGavin has a perfect mixture of humor and horror, I think.
DAVID LOFTUS--I'm pretty sure the movie you're referring to is _X From Outer Space_. Quite frankly, I find the fact that I was able to identify the movie from your description deeply disturbing.
FRANK CHURCH--Return of the Living Dead--They're Back From the Dead and Ready to Party!!
MARK Goldberg--Yes, you're thinking of the correct scene from Exorcist 3. Hell, you can watch it on YouTube and it *still* creeps you out.
MOVIE MEMORIES--A bunch of guys from my dorm went to a campus screening of Star Trek:TMP and pretty much heckled everything throughout the movie. At the end, when Decker finishes the sequence, McCoy calls out "Decker, you don't know what that's going to do to you," and Decker replies "Yes, I do, doctor!", I immediately yelled out "I'm gonna get laid!" The audience completely lost it.
Not long after that, a friend and I, somewhat inebriated, went to a campus screening of the Adam West Batman movie. We literally fell into the aisle laughing when Batman intoned the famous line "There are some days when you just can't get rid of a bomb." Whenever Bruce was on screen with Miss Kitka (Catwoman in "disguise") we started doing the inner dialog of the two characters, using the most bizarre double entendres we could possibly come up with. Fortunately, everyone else in the audience was most understanding, because we were probably being obnoxious as hell.
HE's Watching, Part 2
Hey HARLAN: Since the paperback reissue of HARLAN ELLISON'S WATCHING didn't include all of the swell columns that came after the hardcover was published (and a one or two that appeared in other magazines), you should consider putting out a HARLAN ELLISON'S WATCHING, PART II (hell, if the movie-makers can make sequels, why not the movie critics?), especially since your GLASS TEAT BOOK and HARLAN ELLISON'S WATCHING seemed to be so often used in classrooms: along with the columns you could include the _excellent_ script of "Phoenix Without Ashes" -- or any of dozens of other unproduced works, like "Bug Jack Barron" -- as well as the "portable scriptwriter's class" (my words), "With the Eyes of a Demon: Seeing the Fantastic as a Video Image" (I was lucky enough to find old hardcovers of THE CRAFT OF SCIENCE FICTION and FASTER THAN LIGHT back in KC). Hell, even transcripts from "Sci-Fi Buzz" would nicely fill out such a sequel! (Of course, to not seem as crass as the guys who put out Rocky 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 -- or Halloween 1-24 -- you could call it, HARLAN ELLISON'S STILL WATCHING).
Your's in hare-brained, off-the cuff ideas,
DTS
If listening?
Any releases ahead for the HE's own publishing company?
The world premiere of EXODUS
About two and a half hours into this approximately three hour and forty-five minute opus, many people in the celebrity packed audience were getting quite noticeably restless. That's why Mort Sahl stood up and yelled over at director Otto Preminger, "Otto, let my people go!"
It brought the house down.
Hi all,
Early movie memory? Zardoz. Late night, bad reception, bizarre adventure.
Horror comedy? Rawhead Rex. Not meant to be a comedy, but it's great commentary waiting to happen.
Another good horror comedy is "Fido"-a boy and his zombie in a 1950s neighborhood setting. Makes a nice double feature with "Shaun of the Dead".
Yet another movie anecdote: Saw "Cujo" several years ago with some friends. At the end of the movie, when the mother is handing her son over to her husband, a woman sitting behind us said: "Oh she did good man. She still got her heels on!"
"Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein" immediately takes me back to WGN Channel 9 Chicago weekend matinees as a kid. A&C, Charlie Chan, Sherlock Holmes, The Bowrie Boys. No matter what was going on during a weekend, the world stopped and we had to watch at least one movie. To this day I watch A&C Meet F if I run acrossed it on TV.
Boy, the power of those memories.
***
STEVE: So, you know where you're going, but do you know what you're doing with the handbasket?
***
I dearly love dead baby jokes, which aren't to everyone's taste. I don't see why not. I always add an extra scoop of dead baby to my dead baby floats.
***
My favorite elephant joke? The running gag that ends with the truth about the black stuff between an elephant's toes.
***
The YJ pod person has disappeared leaving YJ the teen behind. Ah well, it was good while it lasted.
For Sarah, Cindy, and all the other parents out there, could you please send me the recipes you would have used to cook and eat your children when you had the chance?
***
SUSAN: How big is the HERC post office box? I'll be sending YJ with the renewal check. He's very flexible. And would be a great help around the house and office. Honest! Oh, and he could share toys and ideas with Harlan. (That last was his suggestion when I mentioned his heading your way to live with you. Then I got to the part of stuffing him in a padded envelope for the trip. He wasn't quite as thrilled about that.)
shagin
Horror Comedy
Others have mentioned Reanimator as favorite horror-comedy. I've tried to watch it but it has too much gore for my taste.
Army of Darkness or Bubba Ho-tep are more my style.
One of my all time favorite Horror-Comedies? Tremors.
Nobody mentioned Return of the Living Dead, a very funny zombie comedy. It takes all the b-movie cliques and runs with them with a meat hook.
Actually, the "I want brains" guy is funny and really scary.
Clu Gallagher, nuf said.
--------------
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein has everything--Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., Frankenstein, the wildly sexy Lenore Aubert. What else does one need?
Lenore, ahhh.
Catching up
So I've spent the last 2 hours (between trading quips with my daughter courtesy of AIM) reading up on the posts.
Harlan & Susan: RH47 arrived, wet and shivering, but intact and all pages accounted for.
Are you sorry yet?
BUTTER! The elephant's footprints were in the butter. Thangyouverymuch.
A rif on that subject - my daughter Jesse and I have honed joke telling down to its essentials and send each other into hysterics by telling just the punchlines. It works like this: I'll look at her and say, "right where you left him." She'll look back at me and say, "he only took tips!" After a few moments we're both laughing so hard we're on the floor (You probably have to be there - but I'm telling you, it's funny!).
Jesse is a funny child. Recently she sent this: Capsing (v): to write in all capitals (see also: annoying little shit)
And this: "This girl posted a thing on yahoo asking how the itunes movie rentals work, and how you return the movie, and I posted back and said that when you pay for your movie, the disk pops out of the CD drive on your computer. Then when you're done with it you put it back in the CD drive and close it and it goes back to itunes. And she replied. She said, 'oh.....really? okay cool thanks!'"
I'll stop being a fatuous parent now.
Does anyone remember a little gem called "Humanoids of the Deep"? Funniest worst movie I've ever seen.
plays, films, and color commentary
Looks like we could put together a pretty tidy little joke book of just stories about ad-libbed audience commentary on various movies!
One I'll never forget happened during a 24-hour science fiction movie marathon at the late, lamented Orson Welles movie house in Cambridge, Mass. By the wee hours of the morning, the audience gets pretty punch-drunk, as you can imagine, and as a courtesy the programmers of the marathon would typically schedule pretty cheesy features you wouldn't particularly missed if you dozed off. (I took an alarm clock to the screening with me, just in case, along with a pillow and lots of munchies.)
Anyway, I don't remember the name of the Japanese sf disaster from probably the early 1960s (it was in color) that washed over us 'round about 3 ayem, but it featured a giant, metallic robot slowly crunching across the countryside that more than faintly resembled an upright, bipedal chicken.
At a crucial point in the plot, the scientists and farmers called an emergency meeting, and one of the former says, "There's evidently some sort of alien intelligence behind all this."
Someone in the audience yelled, "Frank Perdue!"
Thanks Doc!
(I'm planning to pick up the new Andrea Cort book this weekend.)
____________________________
I just watched the new trailer for STAR TREK online.
%$#@ me.
If the finished product is even *half* as good as the trailers this ought to be one hell of a roller coaster ride.
____________________________
Okay. I may have screwed up royally, but I've revamped the look of my website again.
www.barbergallery.net
I still have a fair amount of content to change, but this will give you an idea of where I'm going...
Never bought a lot of joke books, but when I was 12 or 13 and just starting to buy paperbacks, I ran across a little nifty called "The Best of Sick Jokes." Full of delightful things like Little Willie rhymes, Sheldon jokes ("No, Sheldon, you can't play the piano -- I've told you and told you, your hooks will scratch the keys." - etc.) and other ghastlinesses. For eons, I inflicted those jokes on anyone unfortunate enough to get within a hundred yards. It's a miracle I wasn't killed by the rest of my family. Years passed. Married, working for a living, supposedly an adult, there I was one Sunday morning digging through boxes of second-hand paperbacks at a mondo flea-market looking for old Cornell Woolrich titles and there's a copy of "The Best of Sick Jokes." I grabbed it immediately and later that day passed it to my younger brother, age 12 or 13 at the time, who inflicted those same jokes on the family all over again.
I almost felt guilty.
Almost.
Earliest movie memory -- seeing Sid Melton getting nailed by a Triceratops at the end of "The Lost Continent" (Cesar Romero, a pre-Ward Hugh Beaumont, John Hoyt, and Chick Chandler).
Horror comedies? Don't know if anyone would actually classify them as horror films, but I found the four "Tremors" movies great good fun, particularly the first one. Funny and at the same time as close to the '50s monster movies I grew up on as anything in decades. And "Return of the Living Dead" with Clu Gulager has its moments too.
Bests to all,
--tr
Elephants, jokes, and being a little too naive
I know I have documentary evidence that the elephant’s footprints are in the Jell-O. After an exhaustive and futile search within my “library”, I will climb into the attic. Don’t worry, I won’t bother anyone with my discovery, it will just make me feel better. (And one quick aside. My favorite elephant joke… “Why can’t an elephant ride a tricycle?” Answer to be provided in adherence to the once-a-day posting rule.)
But our recent sidetrack into elephant jokes got me reminiscing. As a pre-teen, I collected every joke book I could find, reading and re-reading until I had them all memorized. As I reminisced, I also recalled just how naïve I really was. We’ll skip the hearing of my first dirty joke where the teller asked me, “Do you know what a whore house is?” and I responded in the affirmative thinking the word was “horror” and never had a chance of understanding the joke anyway; but you can imagine how twisted it sounded with the wrong adjective. But I specifically remember reading a song parody that I thought was hilarious because it was such a non sequitur. “Thanks for the memory. Last night when I got home, you were not alone. You said he was a nudist who came in to use the phone.” Only years later did I “get it.” Similarly, driving home from a vacation, I sat in the backseat and sang a song that I enjoyed because it was so nonsensical. “How dry I am. How wet I’ll be, if I don’t find, the bathroom key.” My Dad managed to keep the car straight on the highway as he hid his laughter. My Mom says, “Mike!” in shocked amazement. And I, for the first time, finally “got” the joke – just a microsecond too late. (I won’t admit how old I was.)
I would like to think I quickly outgrew it. However….
At 22 I had been playing in a band for three years – five nights a week, college bars, biker bars, cowboy bars, etc. Hard to believe naiveté could survive. I walked into the rest room during one of our breaks and saw written on the walls, “Save a tree. Eat a beaver.” I still vividly remember thinking something to the effect of, “What a non sequitur. That’s really funny. You know, they’re right. If you did eat those animals more trees would be saved.” It was a number of years before someone let me in on the joke.
Did I mention I was naïve?
(And there is officially no hope for me. It was only five years ago I figured out what Jackson Browne’s song “Rosie” was about.)
Mike
Harlan's SAVE THE TIGER story
...can be found in his essay "The 3 Most Important Things in Life," which is in his collection STALKING THE NIGHTMARE. And yes, it's a great story. (The same essay also includes his classic "how to make a Disney porn movie" story.)
My movie theatre moments
The most hilarious, welcome activist audiences I ever had were at various bad cop and horror movies, CREEPSHOW 2 being one of the few I can name. I mean, EVERY line of dialogue for that one, and not a clunker from the peanut gallery. I've always wished I could gather that group together again.
My own personal best ad lib of all time -- and it's out of a very narrow field, since I don't make a habit of catcalling -- came during a college campus showing of an old '50s horror move, THE MASK (not the Jim Carrey film). In an early scene, the psychologist hero has a meeting with an old colleague who tells him that he has discovered an ancient mask with strange properties, and explains that it can allow the wearer direct contact with the subconscious.
A pregnant pause greeted this information.
I had never seen the film before. But I knew, with absolute certainty, what the next line of dialogue had to be, and I found myself shouting, "Hmmm! Tell me More!"
On cue, the hero on screen sat down at his desk, rubbed his chin, and said, "Hmmmm. Tell me More."
Laughter and applause filled the auditorium.
My friend Susan Solan once let out a tremendous sneeze during a packed showing of STAR TREK: GENERATIONS, just before Malcolm McDowell, busily doing something on screen, suddenly whirled and flashed a disgusted look at the camera. The timing was perfect -- it looked like he was saying, "Will you excuse me? I'm trying to ACT here." The movie never recovered.
For the record, the very first film of any variety that I remember seeing is ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN. As you can see, it marked me for life, for which I am generally grateful.
STEVE BARBER: Look in your inbox...
Movie Moment
OK, I'll tell a movie theater moment, but it may be a case of 'you hadda be there'.
1979 in New Jersey, one of the first showings of ALIEN. Nothing had even happened yet, it was just the creepy music and the titles -- a voice from the back of the theater says "I ain't never going into outer space!" Couldn't agree more.
Harlan tells a pretty good story about a screening in New York of SAVE THE TIGER, if maybe he can be prompted to tell it again...
****************************************************
Also love A&C MEET FRANKENSTEIN -- think I saw it even before I saw James Whale's original. Now I love 'em all, but I think I've gotta go for BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN as best. And it's kind of funny.. in a black humor way...
Monkey Boy
"Laugh while you can, Monkey Boy," is from Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. I liked John Lithgow in small doses, before TV. (And I didn't even use IMDB or the Google.)
Movie Theater Moments
Robert Ross - you reminded me of a movie theater momen that I witnessed while in Norfolk, Virginia at the movie theater across the street from the naval base. That particular evening, everyone packed the theater to see "Forrest Gump." Sold-out show. Not an empty seat to be found. Popcorn munchers everywhere.
So there's the moment where Forrest graduates and an Army recruiter comes up and hands him a pamphlet, saying, "Have you given any thought to your future?" Well, someone in our audience--with impeccable timing, I might add--took that opportunity to shout out that line of lines:
"RUN, FORREST! RUN!"
Classic.
Frank, I am totally in agreement with you on Eva Cassidy, the first time I heard her version of "Over the Rainbow" I literally stopped what I was doing and saked, "Who is that?" Been a fan ever since. Gotta ask you a question, though, "What is up with hate on Wynton" I happen to like the works of all of the Marsalis family members.
Jim Thomas, I am total agreement with you on that scene, if it is the one I am thinking of in Exorcist 3. That figure in white walking across the hall absolutely terrified me. The movie was good, but the novel was far superior
Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein was, when I was ten, the single greatest motion picture ever created in the history of the entire world. It was on my mind when I made my goofy little horror/comedy Infested (which I dedicated to my grandmother Vernetta, who loved horror films, and had turned me onto A&C Meet F), and it was a horrible, sad thing several years back when its writer, one Robert Lees, was murdered in his home two blocks from where I lived. I'd seen this elderly gentleman around the neighborhood, and did not know until he died that he had not only written that movie, but he was also a hero during the Hollywood blacklist era. There's a sad but well learned lesson there about taking the time to get to know your neighbors.
Not really a horror comedy but...
Matinee-script by Charles Haas, directed by Joe Dante, and starring John Goodman as a William Castle type producer showing his film in Miami during the Cuban Missle Crisis. Ditto on Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
A premonition of MST
Re Robert Ross's comment about making comedy out of a horror movie. In high school, I went to a 27-hour horror film festival at Rutgers U. Somewhere around 4 a.m., the film was David Cronenberg's _Rabid_, and the only people in the audience were my two buddies and about seven very scary-looking black guys from the surrounding neighborhood of Camden, New Jersey.
Some point during the movie, one of them shouted, "She gonna' turn into a rah-bid."
And something made me say, "Yeah, she gon' eat carrots and fuck wit' Elmer Fudd."
My buddies drew in sharp, horrified breath. The neighborhood guys laughed. "We gon' to rah-bid hunting," said one of them.
And for the rest of the movie, we made jokes about rabbits, fur, carrots, traps, Daffy Duck, and even "you're dethpicable."
Apologies to David Cronenberg.
Horror Comedies
My take on horror comedies, from back when I was writing a weekly newspaper column:
http://tinyurl.com/b3p5wm
Steve J.
kid stuff
The stories I remember most from growing up were movie plots.
I grew up in a small town north of San Diego. We only had two movie theaters, and for some reason my family didn't go even to those all that often. Even films on TV I often missed because mom enforced a strict bed time. In those days before VHS, DVD, and streaming video, that made it awfully hard to see movies.
But I had a fascination with movies, especially genre films, and I had friends whose parents would take them out of town to see just about anything, even the R rated stuff. I have such strong memories of riding on the bus and having a friend tell me the complete plot of Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, Willard or The Exorcist.
So my first experience to most movies was a sort of radio version, narrated by another kid and with the pictures entirely in my head. At the time I felt deprived, but I think the experience built up some very strong mental muscles. Certainly the real Willard, when I finally saw it, was nowhere near as creepy as the one I pictured for myself.
Also: "footprints in gefilte fish" made me glad I wasn't drinking anything at the computer.
MM
Alan Moore should count his blessings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w
you got horror in my comedy ...
I remember when I was very young staying up to watch a late movie with my father: THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS. When one character says "Oy, have you got the wrong vampire ..." I didn't "get" it. My dad had to explain it to me.
And there was something very funny that happened in a movie theater at least a couple of decades ago. I went to see some scary movie that featured some kind of flesh eating zombies in it. I can't remember what the movie was called, but what I do remember is a scene where several young people are in a car, and it's dark out, and they're just figuring out that something bad is happening out there, and one of them says "I'm gonnna go check it out," and everyone else tells him, "no, no, stay in the car," and the guy won't listen, so he opens the car door and steps out into the night ...
And just then someone in the audience said, very loudly, "the snack bar is now open!"
Okay, you had to be there, I know, but the audience just erupted with laughter.
Footprints
And I always heard it in the sixties as "By the footprints in the strawberry shortcake!"
I think as one moves west the footprints are left in increasingly non-ethnic foods. By this theory, they would in Brooklyn leave footprints in gefilte fish.
I remember that "A dead one of these!" riddle from high school in Huntington Beach, California during the sixties.
Another from that time and place, one I never understood.
You point up, and say "Look up!"
You point down, "Look down!
Then you wave your finger around in the air randomly, "Watch out for low flying alligators!"
I think it was inspired by a scene in Godard's "Weekend".
That's my theory.
When I was six, I saw an ad in the TV Guide for a movie that would play one weekday after school. It was a horror comedy, a genre I was unaware of until that moment. I had recently scared myself silly watching the original "Dracula" and a classic Karloff/Lugosi Universal horror "The Invisible Ray". The idea that you could play with those concepts and have fun fascinated me. I waited for what seemed endless days for that movie to be aired. Counting the minutes.
I rushed home on the day in question, and warmed up the old black and white TVm cranked it over to KTLA Channel 5, and I still remember how enraptured I was by the ninety minutes of "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein".
I still am.
My other favorite horror comedy is a guilty pleasure: "Reanimator", with third place going to "The Frighteners".
The scene with a naked Barbara Crampton and that disembodied head to this day never fails to get me.
Did anyone else ever hear/share scary stories, among their very own version of "Our Gang" as children? I particularly remember the one in which a little boy would be sent by his mother to buy some liver at the butchers, would spend the money instead on candy and comic books, then stop by the graveyard on the way home, with a spoon (it was always a spoon, weirdly consistent) cut the liver from a fresh corpse, and mom would serve it for dinner.
Then, late that night, alone in his bedroom, the little boy hears a voice whisper, "I want my liver..."
pulls the blanker tighter about his shoulders.
"I'm crawling out of the coffin"
He clutches the sheets and squirms deeper under them.
"I'm walking out of the graveyard."
He pulls the bedclothes up to his chin, shaking now.
"I'm walking up your street."
He pulls them over his head.
"I'm walking up your sidewalk."
The little boy moans and whines.
"I'm walking down your hall.
Cold sweat pours down his face.
Then the storyteller would grab you as they screamed, "I'm HERE!"
I heard it a hundred times, and never failed to scream.
Which was the best part of it all.
Ah, good times.
KOS
Elephants and Refrigerators
I always heard the footprints were in the jello. But, growing up in Phoenix, we didn't see a lot of cream cheese.
Mike
"(The questions about EMISSARIES FROM THE DEAD and Andrea Cort were taken to e-mail.)"
AHHHHHH, dammit!
(Doc, could you forward me that email. I wanted to know the answers...)
___________________________________
DIANE - I, too, am an ABBA-holic. (We saw Mamma Mia! twice on stage, once in London and once here in LALAland.)
And to strongly ditto Frank, Eva Cassidy is astounding. And a very tragic history made better only because her music lives on.
___________________________________
JAN - Do they expect to be able to recover many of the texts/records from the rubble???
I first became aware of Brad Dourif due to Deadwood. Looking through his list of credits, I see he was in many movie and teevee series that I have watched at one time or another including...
Babylon 5
where he played Brother Edward in the episode
Passing Through Gethsemane.
Strange how you see an actor for decades, yet never notice him or her.
A Diamond in the Rough
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
Last night, combing through the swag from Boskone 46, I discovered that a free book that I had picked up, "Starry Messenger: The Best of Galileo (1979)", Charles C. Ryan, ed. Contains our dear host's story 'Django', which I have just now completed (and which, I confess, I had never read before.) Wonderful story. Never knew of the existence of "Galileo Magazine of Science & Fiction." Interesting.
Mr. Castro: I'll be visiting Miami next week with my father to attend the second round games of the so-called World Baseball Classic at Dolphin Stadium. Any art/cultural exhibits of note around St. Patrick's Day? Haven't been to the area for years.
Now beginning Aldiss's "Where the Lines Converge".
Regards,
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
Greeley's books are horrible, but the man himself is wonderful. Really takes on the fundo hoards in the Christian sects.
---------------
Harlan, why wouldn't there be footprints in the chocolate pudding? Mmm, pudding.
----------
Diane, as long as you strive to be enlightened, to look for unique art and culture and have a need for it in your life, all should be well.
Actually, most rock critics rave about ABBA.
There's good rap and bad rap. Dirtballs like Wynton Marsalis need to focus on being more original than worrying about some mook spitting science.
I know Wynton, you wanna be Dizzy Gillespie. You aint.
-----------
KOS, when you can, look for the book, Clash of Fundamentalisms, by Tariq Ali. It talks about the war between the two rival faiths and how they interfere with striving for a sane, secular world.
-----------
Never apologize for the Carpenters. Karen had one of the great voices in all of music. Sonic Youth even like them.
Eva Cassidy is another one to look for. That girl sure did sing her butt off. Cancer took her. Damned cancer.
-------------
Eminem has a new album coming out. Yea, I said it, Eminem is great! The boy has flow--spits science like an elegy on crack.
Horror/Comedy
Hey Laurie
If you like Horror/Comedy you might check out a fun little movie called “the monster squad” it was done back in 1987 and was directed by Fred Dekker, one reviewer put it this way.
“Dracula is alive. In fact, he plans to rule the world and that is why he seeks the help of other legendary monsters. However, a bunch of kids regarded by their peers as losers uncover the devious plan and prepare for a counter strike.”
I’ve always liked the movie and maybe you will too.
Gary
Silly Riddles
(The questions about EMISSARIES FROM THE DEAD and Andrea Cort were taken to e-mail.)
On the subject of silly riddles, Judi recently stunned not just me but the whole gang with a riddle she learned in childhood that she assumed everybody knew; it turned out that nobody did.
(Extend hand palm up, fingers curled up slightly)
YOU: "What's this?"
YOUR VICTIM: "I don't know."
(Turn hand palm down, wiggle the fingers)
YOU: "A dead one of these."
Anyone else object to Alex Crowe becoming Harlan's official photographer?
What happened to the Olson/Ellison chat show?
The E-Reads collection of Harlan's backlist is becoming more complete: http://www.ereads.com/author.asp?authorid=71
But what is the point of giving away all the introductions for free? Including Blood/Thoughts and Mortal Dreads and considerable material by other writers. Blood/Thoughts is 11,400 words long. I almost can't imagine you approved this as it gives a whole new meaning to the word "sample".
They could offer the lists of contents and extracts from the fiction.
There will be a new Special Collectible Hardcover Edition of “Screamplays”
http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2009/03/screamplays-edited-by-richard-chizmar.html
SF Site digs out Farmer interview. "Its first and only publication appeared in Tangent #2, May, 1975."
http://www.sfsite.com/03a/pjf291.htm
The Village Voice about Farmer:
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2009/03/philip_jose_far.php
Moonstone Brings Green Hornet and Kato To Prose Anthology Series (with Harlan as contributor) - "late 2009"
http://www.comicsbulletin.com/news/123583586097339.htm
Thrilling Wonder Stories is releasing a lot of old time radio now. Today: ESCAPE "Conquerers' Isle" by Nelson Bond (CBS 1949).
http://www.thrillingwonderstories.com/
Harlan, you have this Polish one, right? (Ptak śmierci, 2003)
http://www.petlaczasu.pl/ptak/b00021503
John Passarella ("Whither") listed his influences: John D. MacDonald, Harlan Ellison, Stephen King.
Cologne is still stunned by the collapse of the archives. There seems to have been an undiscovered water vein under ground that was disrupted by subway construction. The documents were up to a thousand years old. At least they have microfilm backups of the old items, and the photo collection survived in the basement. Still, it could be the greatest loss of cultural-historical material since WWII. They've put a roof over the rubble now.
PAUL--Your inability to remember Exorcist 2 is almost certainly due to traumatic amnesia; I will always remember E3 not for Brad Dourif, but for that one.freaking.scene that is one of the best BOO moments in horror cinema.
Dourif brings to mind (for me) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and the X-Files episode, "Beyond the Sea".
Re Robin Williams--In the fall of 79 I was in the hospital with massive back spasms from an infected disc. Some friends from school had come up the hospital to visit one evening, and it just so happened that the premiere of Mork and Mindy was on that night. They almost ended up on oxygen, they were laughing so hard; as for me, I was so high on tylenol 3 and valium that EVERYTHING was funny. Positive thoughts heading his way.
DIANE--I, too suffer the shame of listening to ABBA every now and then. I'll go one better--sometimes, when I really need to zone out and focus on work, I listen to the Carpenters. All I can say is that I grew up during disco, and that can screw up anyone's musical development. Thank God I found Miles Davis.
Oh, and --Brain surgery? Holy Christ.
LAURIE--Oh, I love a good horror comedy. The trick is that it has to be scary and funny--too many just go for the funny. The Price/Karloff/Lorre version of The Raven is a classic. In a more modern vein, there's Shaun of the Dead and, of course, Re-Animator. Peter Jackson's The Frighteners has its moments, but Michael J. Fox can't quite manage the emotional depth his part needs.
If I had a quarter of the energy Robin Williams has, I'd spontaneously combust.
Here's to Robin, and may his surgery pass without a hitch.
Me: "Hey, Ian, this is from Harlan."
YJ: "What?"
(tell him the joke)
(he looks perplexed)
YJ: "Because your refrigertor has been completely destroyed?"
(tell him the answer)
YJ: "I like my answer better, but tell Harlan his wasn't bad. You should tell him that if he practices he might get good at it."
(I, on the other hand, had never heard it before and giggled with the best of them.)
Rimshotly yours,
shagin
This Is Where I Draw The Line
NOW they have commercials showing beautiful women (in the inevitable bikini!) with "hard stool" issues.
I hope to hell that doesn't "spill" into other markets!
A close-up of Limbaugh or "Viagra Bob" gritting his teeth like the Hulk would be more effective.
Anyway, I've one more "installment" coming up about my trip back east. Takes some time to get the energy for this one because it's the part that holds the MOST emotion for me.
A good horror comedy
I just found out that one of my favorite horror comedies just came out on DVD: Transylvania Twist, Concorde Pictures, a Corman classic. What a treat. I'm going to replace my old video immediately. I love this flick because it's funny, wacky, a good spoof of every horror movie ever made...and, I admit, because it was written by R.J. Robertson, the beloved man in my life for a decade. Our relationship ended back in 1994 due to R.J's demise from smoking two packs a day of Marlboro Lights. Jim Wynorski, the director, was R.J.'s close friend. (Harlan, I know you know Jim Wynorski because of your dedication in the Troublemakers story collection though I'm not sure if you had ever met R.J. Robertson). R.J. wrote himself a small part in the flick so he could collect some residuals; he plays Hans Full, the innkeeper in the Transylvanian town. He wasn't much of an actor but he manages to sustain the wackiness for his minute on screen. There is also a momentary cameo by Forest Ackerman.
Has anyone here seen this flick? Worth viewing if you are in the mood for something completely over the top ridiculous. It even includes a cameo appearance by, as the credits say, "the late Boris Karloff." This was actually from another old Corman film, The Terror.
Anyone here partial to horror comedies? Any you'd recommend? In some strange way, horror and comedy are a natural, if slightly perverse, combination. I don't pretend to understand this.
Laugh while you can, Monkey Boy
Couldn't pass up the opportunity to share this. This is probably the funniest thing I've seen in a decade. From The Onion: http://tinyurl.com/bvt2kn
(Bonus points awarded to those who grok the subject line of my post)
ANSWER TO THE RIDDLE
Shagin:
Usually you can tell by the footprints in the cream cheese.
INGERSOLL
I will pass along your conundrum to the Editrix. But since all three of us--you, me, her--KNOW the Rabbit Hole address is good, and that your brain-dead Taco Bell counter-server reject in the South Euclid PO is barely coherent and functionable, I urge you to make a complaint to your local PostMaster. I betcha a buck or so that the lazy bastard who sent it back the first time has not suddenly grown a cerebral cortex. Betcha.
Harlan
BARTELS
brain surgery?????? Brainfuckingsurgery?????? BRAIN OMIGAWD suh-er-juh-ree????? Holy Swan of Tuanela!!!!BrainSurgery!!!!!
Here, sit down, put your feet up, take it easy, sorry we made you cry, Kahlil Gibran is good, always was, always will be, can I get you a cup of tea, a scone, ohmigawd buh-buh-buh-RAIN surgery??????here put this lap-robe over your swollen ankles.
Susan!! Susan Mrs. Honey, would you cue the Motet Quartet for a little Vivaldi? And whatever you do, do NOT comment on Andrew Greeley's novels, especially if we're quoting one of his former publishers who, in company with one of Father Greeley's former editors, swore openly at our table, at a large Mystery Writers of America dinner, that he would have carnal knowledge of a rabid worm before he would do another Greeley book. So do NOT, for the love of gawd, do NOT make mention of Greeley, ain't it bad enough that you walloped in the eggs a woman who had just had ferchrissakes
BRAIN
SURGERY??????!!!!!?????
Can I refill your cup, hmmmmmm?
Abjectly cheezus!brain!surgery Yr. Footstool, Harlan
HERC Renewal
Susan,
Back in December, I sent in a check for my HERC renewal to the HERC PO box. For some reason, the Post Office sent the letter back to me with a handwritten note that there was no such address. I took out the check and addressed a second envelop to the HERC PO box. This would have been some time in January.
So far, said letter has not been returned to me by the Post Office.
However, as of this morning, the check I wrote hasn't been cashed, either.
I did, on the other hand, receive the most recent RABBIT HOLE, even though my subscription expired with the previous issue.
So I just wanted to ask, have you received my HERC renewal check? Or should I send another check to you?
Bob
ODELL
Pass along to YJ my thank you for the kind thought, and advise him his kind thought was passed along to Robin.
Then, as a thankyou redux, ask him if he knows the answer to this one:
How do you know when an elephant has been rummaging around in your icebox?
(Yeah, it's one from grade school, but it may have slipped past his notice, having been minted only about 65 years ago. Charlie Sheen reprised it a couple of years ago on "Two and a Half Men." and I'll provide the answer in a minute or two so, if he's reading over your shoulder, it'll show up only after he's taken a swipe at it.)
Harlan
JAMES C. HESS
Uh. Sorry I snapped your arm off. Tough day. Both Susan and Sharon were out; and I was trying to do my work; and you were the fifth of six, well, "less than urgent" phone calls in a ten-minute span, said calls only serving to distract me and unfurling my black flag. I was abrupt and brusque with you. On a day as grinding as today, you may take this for an apology.
Respectfully, Harlan Ellison
Robin Williams
Having met Mr. Williams on occasion professionally (sort of along the lines of "would you like fries with that, Mr. Williams?"), I have to say that no one has ever made me -- or the whole room -- laugh more uncontrollably.
I wish him the best for his upcoming surgery.
My Dad is actually undergoing aortic valve replacement today -- so far, so good (and he's 82).
Thank you, dear sir.
Mr. Ellison,
Thank you for indulging me. Though not accused of it, I am self-aware enough to realize that I am too literal a thinker sometime, which allowed the reality of your introduction to fly far over my head.
May my introduction to this community have brought a smile to your faces and a tickle to your bellies, and know that, at the very least, the egg trickling down my face seems to be opening up my pores a bit allowing the crisp Maine air to invigorate my skin. Thank you.
FRAK!
HARLAN: *Vegas* Jillette's birfday. Please edit appropriately.
(Bless Ms. Kearns and her responsiveness.)
%$#@!
A-TC: I just finished EMISSARIES FROM THE DEAD, and wanted to congratulate you. What an amazing accomplishment! With a protagonist (and let's face it, a general cast of characters) that I found it very difficult to like (some initially, others throughout), I still couldn't put the dratted thing down. That's quite a party trick in itself, but even had I wanted to dandle them on my knee, hug and kiss them one and all, it's still a hell of a story. And I ended up wanting to hear more about Andrea Cort. Bravo, sir! Oh - and I do love the Porrinyards! I have only two questions:
1.) What is the appropriate pronoun for the Porrinyards? Neither "he" nor "she" seems appropriate; "it" certainly won't do; and "they" won't get it either, since the Porrinyards identify as a single person. I'd ask the Porrinyards about preference, but... wait a minute, I am...
2.) Equally frivolous, if less whimsical, how does one pronounce "Lastogne"? I finally settled on "LAST'un" - was I close?
Fellow Webderlanders, I entreat you, each and every one, to fly out to your local bookseller and purchase a copy (or two; especially if you're the Porrinyards) of this splendid novel!
So - when will we see the next one, THE THIRD CLAW OF GOD?
Birthday Bonanza!!!
HARLAN - Not only is today Moe-ran's feliz cumpleanos, it's also Jes Bickham's and "Mr. Vegas" Teller's.
(*Something* obviously happens every year. Nine months prior to March 5.)
(If we can find a way to bottle it we'll make a fortune.)
Diane
Glad to see you are still here. Did you see Mamma Mia? Fun movie for ABBA lovers, though not a great movie.
Dear Harlan and KOS,
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. I am sorry, so sorry. It's just I know I used to be haughty and arrogant myself about my "intelligence", so-called. I, in the past, have been unkind to family and friends about their taste in books, music, and literature. Particularly about my nephew's taste in rap; and now I'm crazy about rap. I think that's what I was responding to. That's my hangup though; nothing to do with you two.
I do like the Prophet. I adore Omar Khayyam. I am so enjoying Dostoevsky. I think I know how to spell his name.
Finally, to Harlan and KOS and everyone. You made me feel special and much better re me than I deserve. Harlan, you have done more for me than I could tell you, including saving my life when I had the cholesteral blockage. I went to the ER because you talked about the pressure you felt when you had your Heart Attack. I owe you. You are a peach. KOS, you have great and literate posts.
I know it's not much of an excuse, but the monthlys at 49 are worse than ever. Elements of menopause and etc. (No, kids, I'm not really 16.) Plus I had brain surgery a month ago. Does that still count?
Shagin, David, KOS, Steve, Cindy, et.al. and specially Mr. and Mrs. E.,
I am privileged to be able to be here. I love you guys. Forgive the rantings of a crazy old lady. More guilty secrets - I love Father Greeley's novels. I love ABBA. Yes, ABBA. There you go.
The Dancing,(and very apologetic) Queen Diane
And Then He Goes And Makes Me Proud...
Hubby and I saw Mr. Williams when he performed in Seattle last year. A frenetic, gorgeous show that proved I could go without breathing for extended periods.
I read the various posts about Robin Williams' condition, the Young Jackanapes reading over my shoulder. I commented, more to myself, that I hoped Mr. Williams took care of himself and recovered quickly. YJ asked why I said that, and we spent a few minutes talking about wishing people well out of concern and courtesy, and that Harlan and Mr. Williams were friends. He nodded and went off to play Guitar Hero.
And, to my delight and surprise, he comes up a few moments ago, walks over and asks me to bring up the Webderland site.
Me: "Sure. Why?"
YJ: "Harlan may be Robin Williams' friend, but you always say that it's a good thing to wish people the best because you'd want someone to think good things for you."
Me: "Yeah. What's up?"
YJ: "I want him to know that I'm thinking good thoughts for him."
Me: "Who? Robin Williams or Harlan?"
YJ: "Both. Robin Williams is sick and needs to get better, and Harlan because it's a real friend that stays a friend when someone is sick. I'm his friend and that's what friends are for."
And then he went back down to play Guitar Hero.
When I least expect it, he shows me that he does listen.
So, good thoughts passed along from the Odells, in general, and the Young Jackanapes in particular, verbatim.
Sandra
Robin Williams
For those concerned about Robin Williams' condition, he has posted a brief item on his website, indicating that he is postponing his tour. Here is the posting:
ROBIN WILLIAMS TO POSTPONE REMAINDER OF “WEAPONS OF SELF-DESTRUCTION” TOUR
March 5th, 2009
MARCH 5, 2009 NEW YORK, NY – Robin Williams is postponing the remainder of his critically acclaimed one-man show, “Weapons of Self-Destruction,” to undergo surgery for an aortic valve replacement. The tour is expected to resume in the fall. Previously purchased tickets will be honored once the new dates are scheduled or ticketholders can contact their place of purchase for refunds.
“I’m so touched by everyone’s support and well wishes,” said Williams. “This tour has been amazing fun and I can’t wait to get back out on the road after a little tune-up.”
Williams has been on the sold-out 80-city “Weapons of Self-Destruction” comedy tour since September 2008.
# # #
So, think good thoughts about Mr. Williams. And I can hardly wait until the fall to see him on stage again.
JCM
Harlan:
Harlan - if you know anyone from the Darjeeling Birthday Felicitation and Bidet Company, could you please pass on my thanks to them for their marvellous birthday message? I know you know everyone, and thought you might have a contact there...
Having a lovely day, thanks to Jodie's home-made blueberry muffins, dinner, toys, and generous quantities of booze. She has also just acted out a Goon Show scene, on instructions from a mysterious benefactor. Ain't life grand?
By the way: "I have no idea if Mister Moe-Ran actually knew who was calling" - who else would call up and shriek Milliganese-Indian at me?? Ya mook!
Brodart
Michael Mayhew, my wife will curse your name even as I thank you for yesterday's advice.
Mere moments ago, I caught sight of a volume on my shelf that did not throw back the light with that characteristic Brodart sheen -- this must be remedied!
Kevin Kirby, b.1960
Re: Unknown baby pictures of a 1970 Kirby entity.
Sir, upon your request, I shall deny that these pictures are indeed of myself. Therefore, your message was thereupon forthwith forwarded, before WonderCon, to the subject of these portraits. I must assume that any lack of response by that former infant implies consent in the matter of their public display. (tee hee)
The second version of Laugh-In.
To add to Mr. Castro's comments, I also remember viewing the second "Laugh-In".
I can summarize it this way. When I worked at Tower Records, my friend Renee summarized Capitol Records this way: "It was the sixties. Something was in the air and Capitol knew it. It was palpable, it was like electricity passing through you and they KNEW that 1964 was going to be the year...for Al Martino!"
Having said that, for those who sat through that version of "Laugh-In" and lived, they knew that they had a major star in the cast. They gave him a lot of airtime and there was the feeling that, at times, it was his show, with the other folks that were hired. Because the creative forces of Laugh-In and NBC knew that 1977 was the year...for Lenny Schultz.
Yep, that was the guy I remember them focusing on. They would have a celebrity, like Sinatra full-faced in the camera saying, "Go crazy, Lenny!" and he would make odd noises, screw up his face and beat himself with a rubber chicken. Williams, they cordoned off into a country bumpkin character who would gosh-n-golly over the guest star and his exit line was the same week to week, "Sell mah clothes, ah'm goin' t'Heaven!"
THIS knowledge keeps my being able to recall my congressman's name pushed a bit too far back in my mind.
Prayers and well-wishes to Robin Williams and anyone else on the Pavilion that needs it.
Brian Phillips
Nanu-tech medicine
Harlan: thanks. Of course, mine is the concern of an admirer for more than thirty years, yours is the concern of a close friend, and I do recognize the difference. As it happens, I should tell you this: while the name of the hospital he's in is quite properly being kept out of the papers, I do happen to know it, and you happen to be 100% right. He could not possibly be in better hands. A-TC
ADAM-TROY:
Re: Robin's condition. He and I spoke last evening. You know we're friends, and I try not to prattle on about my friends' personal lives. (Except Olson, of course, as I am the one who usually stands bail for him when Dan or Kay or Vanessa are out of town, which gives me some perks.)
Robin and I chatted for about twenty minutes. He is in good hands. More, I choose not to pass along.
Harlan
CHRIS BECKETT
Your generous tone buys you this response.
Neither Susan nor I make such mistakes. Inadvertently.
The "solutions" you venture to the apparent enigma ... well, none of them is correct. So, as a loyal and long-time observer of my works, there must be yet another--correct--solution that will satisfy your query. Keep at it, Beckett; you'll get it.
Ah, me.
Harlan
Zappa and More
If Dennis C, enjoyed the Zappa Plays Zappa concert....and I have seen them three times and regard the band one of the best I have seen, then he should check out the ZPZ Concert DVD and CDs. Compiled from two concerts from their first tour, it shows the band running through some of Frank's best stuff. Great sound, well shot, and edited, with great extras.
During the holiday season they did a week of concerts at the Roxy, which I hope leads to a new release of material in the coming year. If seeing the bad, whets your tastebuds for more FZ, then check out the archival/documentary releases of "Freak Out" and "We're only in it for the money". Tasty stuff indeed.
www.oldies.com by the way features some great deals on SHE, The Apple (A josh olson guilty pleasure) and a movie called "A Boy and a Dog" based on a novella by our Esteem Host. Oldies is a great place to haunt for movies, music and books on film, tv and genre concerns. By the way www.trailersfromhell.com offers Josh in the flesh, sharing his love of films that might fall just below the AFI's standards. Check the list and I am sure you will find at least a handful of trailers from favorite films.
Enjoy.
RH 47 Arrived!
I'm happy to report that Rabbit Hole 47 arrived safely here in the great white northern expanse of Canada yesterday.
Thanks for another delightful ray of sunshine!
~A
A-TC,
I think a strong contender for the distinction you mentioned would have to be Tim Holt. What an odd career: THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, a couple of small parts for John Ford...and a blue million low budget oaters stamped out with cookie cutters.
Steve J.
Burke's Law
Harlan, don't know if you get MYSTERY SCENE magazine or not, but they have a two page article on BURKE'S LAW in it by one, Michael Mallory. Oddly enough, for a magazine devoted to mystery writing and writers, none of the writers of the series are mentioned in the article. Go figger.
Actually, nobody knows what happened to Robin Williams, so we shouldn't speculate based on media reports. They say he had a shortness of breath, but he is going back to doing comedy soon after. I'd say it was just the rigors of the road.
Much peace and light to the Williams clan.
----------------
Looks like Chavez is going to nationalize Cargill, a big agribusiness company, home based in Minnesota. Looks like Cargill wanted to duck price controls on rice, to make an extra profit. They need cheap rice there, for obvious reasons, so I say kudos to Chavez.
At least he is walking the socialist talk.
Ezra...Wink.
Chris Beckett
Welcome. It's always nice to have new voices here.
About RABBIT HOLE #47: Harlan was kidding.
Really, I'm not kidding when I say ... Harlan was kidding.
It was always intended to be, and always will be, 4 pages, 2 sheets of paper.
Again, welcome.
Various
I wanted to say that Brad Dourif has been in more sheer crap than any other actor who has also been in one or two absolutely great movies (WISE BLOOD, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST); But then I thought, gee, how about Gene Hackman and Michael Caine, who tried so hard to achieve that statistic with sheer quantity? Or F. Murray Abraham? Or (sorry) Robert de Niro? We need more nominations.
*
JUST AFTER SUNSET reminded me why I liked Stephen King in the first place.
*
Am deeply concerned about Robin Williams, who was supposed to be performing two shows in my neck in the woods, but who fell ill during a visit to the zoo a short distance from my home, and is now in the hospital for a "heart-related ailment." I report it here because it is major local news and may not have received the same coverage elsewhere.
It seems like just yesterday to me, that I was watching a short-lived remake of LAUGH-IN in the nineteen-seventies, and a strange jumpy fella putting on a cornball hick accent convulsed cameo guest Frank Sinatra by exulting, "Mr. Sinatra, ah'm so excited to meet you ah could drop a log!" It was, of course, an improvisation -- far funnier in performance than the typed line would lead you to believe -- and Sinatra laughed so hard he couldn't breathe, out-takes showing him repeating the line over and over in stunned amazement. I thought of that strange jumpy fella, "This guy's gonna be a major star."
A few months later, when the comic firebrand in question turned up on HAPPY DAYS, playing this new character, Mork from Ork; I recognized him at once as the same guy who'd flattened Sinatra, and remarked to my sister (who was weeping with uncontrollable laughter), in about as many words, "This guy is about to become one of the biggest stars of all time."
(It wasn't the first time I'd said that about somebody, but let's face it; everybody who saw Williams back then thought the same thing. And I've thought that about others for whom that fame never materialized. Decades ago I thought it of a new comedian called Bob Nelson, who had much of Robin's antic energy and who made several HBO specials I treasured; but after not hearing of him for a long time I caught up with him at a comedy club a few years ago, and he was still doing the same routines, some of which had lost substantial spark after years of repetition. He was still funny as hell, but it was a sad night. I'd hoped for him to become a household name, like Williams, but it just didn't happen.)
In any event, this is sounding too much like a eulogy. I don't want it to be, and have no particular reason to believe a eulogy apppropriate. It's just that the news of Robin Williams's illness sent me down nostalgia road. Here's hoping he makes a full recovery and is still making people drop logs when he's ninety.
I can't remember Exorcist 2 at all, but 3 was memorable (for me) due to Brad Dourif. A great character actor. Piter, Billy Babbit, that damned Doc Cochran, even those bleeaaccch CHUCKY movies, two seconds of Wormtongue, a hilarious exterminator in Graveyard Shift and a wonderful little piece of schlock called Grim Prairie Tales.
Rush will never debate Obama. Rush has never debated a soul, ever. That's why he wanted the radio finger-on-the-cutoff-button format. He knows he's at a loss when facts are thrown in his face.
Jim T.~ Lovely picture. Makes me all pine-hearted for the North again.
Jan, I second Mark.
Horton Foote has passed, indeed. Cue up Atticus and Scout, and take a stroll down memory lane. Not that it's a representation of my childhood, but rather one of the movies they showed us in school, which dredges up all kinds of emotional meaning from the amygdala.
Rabbit Hole 47
Mr. Ellison,
This is my first post, so a short preamble. I have been a fan since "Mefisto" thanks to the brilliant cover and introduction from your friend Frank Miller. That set me upon a grand quest to seek out your work and it has always brought pleasure to me when I sit down to read your work. Thank you for sharing what resides in your fevered imagination with the rest of us. It is much appreciated.
I have also been a regular - with one slight hiccup - member of HERC since around that same time and the delivery of a new Rabbit Hole is always a good thing. I am posting here to inquire about the most recent edition. On the front is a note from you espousing the contents to be found within (an excerpt from a new story and photos of your parents recently discovered) but my copy only had 4 pages rather than the number cited in this introductory note. I am just curious as to what might have happened in production of #47 or if this was just an anomaly with my own copy.
I hope this does not come across as some lurker "calling you out." I'm just wondering if something more is coming or if maybe in putting together the issue, something fell through the cracks. Either way, thank you again for your contribution to fiction, creators' rights, and all else, and I look forward to increasing my time here in the future.
chris beckett
Note to Mr. Savage
If you look for "Scott Walker Interview", on YouTube, you will see recent interview footage of Walker. For those who wish to see him at his earliest, look for a film called "Beach Ball", which features the Walker Brothers singing, "Doin' the Jerk".
Brian Phillips
P.S. My friend Mark Palko just told me that Horton Foote has passed.
Not to worry about Friday the 13th, Unca Harlan...
...it falls on a Wednesday this month.
Rick
Brodart
Jason-
If you start jonesing for the polymer real bad, the good folks at Brodart will sell directly to you a giant roll of their magic plastic. They have a store on the web, and they also take orders over the phone, so you can start mainlining right away.
Not that I've ever done that myself... no sir... all my books just happened to be wrapped in Brodart sleeves when I bought them. Yeah, that's how it went.
MM
HEY, KIRBY !!!!!!!!
Whassamatter, kid, you don't reply to a post entered here, by me, to you, BEFORE Wondercon? Too old to reply to Olde Friendes now?
Ellison
Christmas in March!
It got here today and I tore into it with a fervor not seen since I was 8 years old.
A package containing: Twenty-five (!!!!) Ellison works.
Plus the cat got a clean bill of health today at the vet.
My apologies to Mr. Ellison. I brought up two things you hate. Three if you count people trying to be cute.
But, HOT DAMN!
Brodart
Speaking of Brodart's marvelous product, is it just me,or is it a polymerized form of heroin? Ever since I discovered a Burbank bookshop that sells the bloody things, I've been compelled to return time and again to buy these shiny little bastards to sheath my dust jackets. I can't stop...
Clearly, I'm not alone in this compulsion as Harlan was contemplating a Brodart alternative for his Bernie Wrightson Frankenstein (it has no dust jacket, but still the desire to wrap in plastic remained) when last I saw him.
Bogarting the Brodarting
Yo, HARLAN!
If'n Charlie don't take ya up on the offer, I'd be pleased as punch to have you Brodart my books (that's Brodart, not Bogart). I'm pretty sure I can bribe Susan into rewrapping them and putting the postage back on the boxes (Mint-flavored TimTams!), all paid for ahead of time, of course. And since I had to pare down before moving to Melbourne, the collection is now well under three thousand, so no sweat. I can start mailing the boxes (100 books at a time) to you beginning next week. With your skill and speed, we could get this finished well before your birthday.
Cheekiness still intact (despite, the, um, cracks in the veneer), I remain,
Yr. pal from Down Under,
DTS
Zappa
Duane:
I've seen Dweezil and the band twice -- truly incredible. Keeping Dad's spirit alive. (And I ran into some Zappafans in their late 20's at another event recently, so it's good to see that he's still being appreciated.)
For any others interested, future dates are posted at
www.zappaplayszappa.com
Better last-minute than late.
If you're in the Orange County area and within a stone throw of thje Costa Mesa Hilton (South Coast Plaza), Cris is appearing at another 24-hr notice gig tonight in the hotel's bar/lounge.
7-11pm. If you're a Webderlander, say hi and I'll buy your first round (within reason). I'll be the guy looking a) like a proud husband, or b) like a harried roadie.
_________________________________________________
I keep cringing whenever I use the auto-fill feature on the URL box here at work. I went to the "Harlan Ellison Bugfuck" page -- which now appears whenever I begin typing in "harlanellison.com". (Alphabetically it comes before just about every other link here on Webderland.)
That will teach me to surf at the office.
Today's Big News!
Fred Flintstone challenges Bertrand Russell!
Limbaugh - euphamistically called an "entertainer" - has excreted a challenge to President Obama to debate him.
James Bama
Anthony from Texas,
Kane wrote the book in question. Interestingly enough, James Bama also gets a mention in King's book Duma Key. I read that part on monday night; and yesterday the name "Wireman" showed up on the bottom of a wall-patching circular box...at a guesthouse where I was visiting somebody named Pam (Pam is another character in Duma Key). Some of these coincidences appear to be getting more specific.
Three Hours of Zappa Goodness
I was going to attend a screening of the movie Josh recommended, but a random post on another messageboard alerted me to something far more urgent: Dweezil Zappa performing with a group of musicians (including the incomparable vocalist Ray White) as Zappa Plays Zappa.
This was no self congratulatory pat-on-the-back, half assed performance. It was an absolute three hour mind blowing progressive-jazz-blues-metal performance, and every musician was was a wizard.
If you're a fan of Frank's music, here's an example of how deep the musical rabbit hole went: They performed Billy The Mountain in its entirety.
I am SO glad I ran across the posting, even though it was 5:00 PM when I found it. I live in Brentwood, and it was a mad dash two hour drive down through rush hour traffic to the House of Blues in frakking Anaheim, for crying out loud, and I was able to secure a ticket.
The band is hitting Northern California next (Santa Cruz, Sacramento, Redding), so if you're up there, get over to zappaplayszappa.com and check out tickets and show times. These are the only US appearances for this tour, as they are off to Japan, Australia and Europe later in the spring.
Ah, providence!
Foist Away!
Harlan, sure, a Brodart would be awesome! Also, I wouldn't mind if you wanted to pen a remark within the book that you graced its pages. Boy, you ARE good, my pop is John, an erstwhile esquire. THANKS.
CHAS. SAMAHA, ESQ.
Your loan arrived in pristine condition. Many thanks.
I will return it within a day or two of (and no significance here) Friday the 13th.
And: unless you specifically ask me NOT to do this, I would show a minim of extra gratitude for your Good Offices by putting a spiffy Brodart dust-jacket-preserving plastic wrapper on the item. It is in such mint condition, the book that is, that I would be happy to enhance its mintyfreshness. Unless I'm unilaterally foisting.
I don't like to foist.
So foistedness and/or foistnicity shall not, will not, must not be, well, uh...how shall I say this...?...foisted on you.
Bewilderedly, as always, Yr. Grateful Pal, Harlan
P.S. Just a random thot what occurs to me a'sudden: is it one of the canons of The Lawyering Business that all Esq.s must be named either Charles or John? Fragmented minds want to know.
Jim Thomas, I saw Watchmen last night and posted my review over in the Forums. Do not compare this film to LoEG, this film is the only one that even Alan Moore might agree they got right. This is a truly great film and should be in consideration for the best adaptation from a graphic novel ever to make it to the screen
Jan, I heard about the library collapse and thought of you. Hopefully everyone over there is OK and that there was no permanent damage either to the library or to the collections housed within
Shoes keep dropping here at work. Last week ten more people were laid off, this week, they canceled the company matching for our 401K. Just as well, really, as it's still losing value.
I'm relatively safe, as there's no one else in the company with my skill set, but still.
--------------------------------
We actually had some snow down here in Alabama this past Sunday. It was perfect--enough snow (~2 inches) for the kids to have lots of fun, and around 4pm, the sun came out and it was all melted within an hour. Much better than Pennsylvania, where you still have mounds of black snow along the roadside in late April.
If anyone's interested, here's a pic of the kids playing in the back yard:
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa152/jthomas666/100_1784.jpg
-------------------------
FRANK CHURCH -- The whole Steele/Limbaugh thing is just a PR nightmare for the GOP. If Steele had held his ground, he might have established enough cred that he could get something done, but he's joke from here on out. And now, Limbaugh will be even more insufferable--if that's even possible.
-------------------------
I find myself curiously apathetic about the Watchmen movie--probably lingering flashbacks from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen combined with a glut of commercials referring to Zach Snyder as "the visionary director of '300'".
Josh, you should write Robert Christgau a nasty letter. He savages Walker, giving his last album a 'bomb' review, which is the worst review he gives. His voice is for selective tastes, but his manic poetry is something.
-----------
Michael Steele should be horse whipped. Fucking bastard crawls to Rush, begging him for forgiveness: "Me do betta nes' time massa Rush, me be good, fo sho."
The guy was refreshing at one time, now he is just a fucking Tom; straight, no chaser.
---------------
KOS, there you go. Learning stuff is fun. I like you too, even though you can be long winded.
Just watch them nutty websites.
kiss kiss
Google and copyright fun- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/books/04google.html?th&emc=th
~~~~~
But they've got
Highhh hopes
They've got
Highhh-e-iiii hopes......
Hey Harlan: I briefly quoted you for a recent Farmer obit. Are you and Susan archiving such things? Should I print out the page (it was published in the web only version of the paper) and mail it to you?
xxo
Carol
Alan, what I was really thinking was this:
Isn't it true that for every celebrity pushing into the writing field, some more talented writers are probably pushed out on the other side? Unless publishers use celebrities to finance less commercial books and comics.
Bad news here in Cologne: The city archive has collapsed yesterday. It was one of the most important historical and cultural archives in Europe. (It also housed Heinrich Böll and Jacques Offenbach collections.)
A quick note
I promise!
Franky: No offense meant, as June once said to her husband (Leave It To Beaver), "Ward, I think you were a little hard on the Beaver last night!" All to say I really do respect your opinions, even when they're wrong (knew that was coming, right?)
Okay, some are right. I have to give you that! I am not gonna tell you which ones though, bwa hah hah!
I actually read some of Said's "Orientalism" and found it interesting, though I don't buy into the whole thesis.
A-TC, I got the Analog and I am now going to read the rest of the story! I note that you made the cover. Now that is cool.
I wrote "FOD" yesterday afternoon. Sixteen-hundred words, rewritten and polished, and all in three hours and twenty minutes. The First Reader here, she likes it, but then she likes all my writing.
Honest.
You're a good'un Frank, even if we knock heads now and then. It's a blast.
KOS
BOB HOMEYER:
No.
But I DID write a "Flint" movie for James Coburn: FLINTLOCK. You will find the complete screenplay in THE ESSENTIAL ELLISON: The 50 Year Retrospective.
Harlan
DOC SAVAGE ART BOOK
K. M. Kirby noted: While at the Wonder Con yesterday, I noticed a great looking book about the artist from those Doc Savage paperbacks. For some reason, these covers were so good as to help me convince my teenaged self, back when I was reading the series, that the stories were all true.
Which Book was it, the just-released SAVAGE ART OF BOB LARKIN or JAMES BAMA, AMERICAN REALIST? If it was Brian Kane's book on Bama's art, it featured a foreword by Harlan.
Kindling discussion
Hey all. I've been away for a while in an (often futile) attempt to limit my time online. But, I miss you nuts, and the often hilarious words of our good host, so I popped back on to talk a gander, and noticed some comments about the Kindle and Kindle 2.
I have a Nintendo DS, an anniversary gift from my delightful darling wife. I recently purchased an "M3" card, which allows you to talk more control over the functions of the DS, "hacking" the device, one might say. Many use this function to pirate games, which is not my intent. (i DO have a gameboy emulator on mine, but games that are part of my actual library of old carts, or ones that its impossible to find nowadays. ) But what I mostly have been using the function for is an ebook. holding the unit sideways, i have two screens on a device about teh size of a paperback, a little smaller. the screens are about a quarter of a page each, but page turning is with a push of my thumb on the spine, and rather quick. I find it very engoyable, backlit for dark environments, and for a total of about 150 dollars, DS and card, with the option to do a LOT more things.
Holy crap I listen to some pretty esoteric music but I had never heard of Scott Walker (way to go music industry). I just spent 20 minutes or so on YouTube and now I see where several much more famous music "stars" of the last few decades lifted their approach.
He's got a new CD coming out in June on 4AD (that should tell those who know 4AD quite a bit) and anybody who turns Brian Eno into a fanboy is worth a listen I would say.
Thanks Josh!
I thought I'd de-lurk and just post a few words on Scott Walker (as the lush 'Scott 2' plays in the background) in case anyone was interested in a few albums or songs to look out for.
Scott first found fame in The Walker Brothers (not really brothers), an American band who made it big in the UK in the mid-60s. They released some fine singles like The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More, but things got really exciting when Scott went solo.
The essential recordings are the albums he released between 1967-69: SCOTT, SCOTT 2, SCOTT 3 and - no surprises here - SCOTT 4. (We're very lucky here in the UK - we can buy the remastered CDs of each of these for a mere £3 each in the Fopp chain of shops!)
The highlights of these, apart from the voice itself (which would probably have sounded great simply gargling mouthwash, let alone singing such great songs), were Scott's own accomplished compositions, such as Plastic Palace People, Big Louise and Montague Terrace (In Blue), and his masterful covers of material by Jacques Brel: My Death, If You Go Away (these two spinechillers are Scott Walker essentials), Next, Amsterdam, Jacky and several others.
For some, Scott 4 is the best of the quartet, containing exclusively Scott's own compositions, including three of his best: The Seventh Seal, The Old Man's Back Again, and the beautiful Angels of Ashes. But this album didn't sell at all well. Scott himself said of the album "Scott 4 tried to link lyrics by Sartre, Camus and Yevtushenko to Bartok modal lines, but nobody noticed" and he was probably right about that.
There's a very good compilation album of those first four solo albums called 'Boy Child,' focusing on Scott's own compositions - but really you also have to hear him do Brel.
Scott became quite a recluse thereafter. And as he hid away from the business, he became seen more and more as an enigma.
Over the next few years, he bowed to pressure from shortsighted record company executives, and probably figured that people didn't really want to hear his own stuff, and mainly focused on releasing albums of cover versions, including some country and western songs. Many consider these fairly disposable, though for some, Scott singing *anything* was worth having.
For a while he reformed The Walker Brothers with some nice results, including a fine cover of 'No Regrets.' Their 1978 album 'Nite Flights' took things to the next stage. It contains four tracks by Scott, seemingly influenced by David Bowie's experimental pop work with Brian Eno on Bowie's album "Heroes" - and, of these, 'The Electrician' is a standout and quite extraordinary.
After this album there was no more compromising for the again-solo Scott and his releases became less frequent, increasingly experimental and, to some, increasingly impenetrable. They are Climate of Hunter (1984), Tilt (1995), and The Drift (2006) and liking the classic early stuff doesn't necessarily mean you'll like them. They move away from conventional song structures and Scott moves away from conventional singing, certainly away from the style that made him famous. They'll alienate some, but others will love them, or at least find them intriguing.
For anyone interested, I'd suggest starting off with Scott 1-4, the Boy Child compilation, or the 'Scott Walker - Sings Jacques Brel' compilation and going from there.
I just saw 30 Century Man at the Nuart last night. I'm still taking it all in, still shaken and awed. I spoke to our esteemed host today, and his ignorance on the subject of Scott Walker dwarfed even my own, and I didn't want to do a half-assed job, so I'm calling on any of the Webderlanders who have enough familiarity to speak with authority to explain to Harlan - and the rest of us - who and what Scott Walker is and was. But please - no half assed Wikipidia rehash. I want to hear from someone who's already there, if you know what I mean.
I will say this - aside from being blown away by what I saw and heard, I'm not sure anyone can possibly live up to the definition of the word "artist" to the extent that Walker has. He makes Van Gogh look like a craven market chaser.
If this movie is playing in your hometown, and you want to see a portrait of a unique visionary artist, you won't see a better movie this year.
I am a rat!
Just for the record...
When I see my copyrighted work posted online without permission of the copyright holder, even if I'm not the present copyright holder, I report the infraction to the copyright holder.
DC Comics may be utter assholes when it comes to screwing me over and not reprinting my Black Lightning work, but, at least there's some remote chance of my getting paid for same.
I get nothing from online thieves posting my work.
So, screw them painfully in the smelly basements of the parents who failed to teach them right from wrong.
Thanks and have a wonderful day.
Uncle Harlan, KOS did it; he put gum in my hair and laxative in my chocolate milk.
I asked Barber to nuke that forum. Everybody has their pet issues; I will leave it at that.
-----------------
Lani Guinier said something pretty great in defense of affirmative action. She mentioned how someone may get a 15 on their SAT, while someone else get's a higher score, but what if the person who scored 15 answered the correct questions that the higher scorer got wrong? It's deeper than mere test scores.
There's also the fact that SAT tests are culturally biased. What if a test says, "name this person: -------- Washington." White kids will say George of course, but what if the black kid says Harold? Would he get the question wrong?
Quatermass
Ezra- actually Quatermass and the Pit in its 6 part, 3 hour BBC version may possibly be the best SF script ever written.It's staggering to think that it ran 50 years ago; shut down pubs and had Parliament reschedule for its final 2 episodes. And in case no one's ever seen it I won't go into the conclusions but does anyone think one of our networks would run a miniseries that ends the same way ? There was a miniseries after Pit called simply Quatermass in the four part,four hour series and The Quatermass Conclusion in the 2 hour movie version.Nigel Kneale was working on a prequel ,Quatermass And The Third Reich, when he died. We don't know if he finished it.
(Josh - If you saw this in Hollywood, I assume you were able to borrow a coke mirror off another audience member to check on Harlan's health.)
Years ago one of my wife's cousins passed away back in Grand Prairie, Texas. His family was around him and he went peacefully. So peacefully that one of his grandchildren tried to reassure everyone by blurting out "He ain't dead, his eyes is open!"
_____________________________________
F***in' A! This is No Cussing Week in &%$#ing L.A. County. G*dD*mn what a &%#$ing great idea! No Sh*t! A G*dD*mn, mother&*%$#@ of a b*tch*n' idea. J*s*s Chr*st what a %$#@ing great idea. Only a &^%$ing dumb@$$ would %$#@* about this &%$#*-%$# &%$# %$&& of a %$#@ &*%$# idea.
(Never see this kind of thing in f***in' New York, lemme tellya.)
_____________________________________
ALAN COIL - I think you and JohnE are on the same page. Reread his post.
_____________________________________
SHATNER. I am loath to admit it, but I kind of like his interview show on Bio (Shatner's Raw Nerve). I approached it hoping for a train wreck -- and don't get me wrong, there are definite train-wrecky moments -- but he asks questions you don't normally see on Oprah (not that I have ever watched Oprah). I keep hoping he someday gets the cajones to invite Unca Harlan on the show. THEN we'd see fireworks...
_____________________________________
Big presentation this afternoon. I'm in a suit and everything. No comments from the peanut gallery. And no pictures, please.
Thanks for all the advice
Sadly, I'm too pressed for time to go back and name everyone individually, but thanks for all the advice concerning my first guest appearance at a con. Debbie, thanks for coming by to see me at the SC Book Festival Saturday. Hope the snow didn't wreak too much havoc on your weekend and that the book was enjoyable.
Sitting Still In Your Seat
Many years ago -- I could figure out how many by the release date of the terrible movie in question, but fuck it -- I viewed a current movie in a theatre where one entire row of seats had been unbolted from the floor, except at one end, while the others remained bolted to each other at the armrests.
The row, freed to seek its natural curve, seemed to have only tenuous connection to gravity and, when not weighed down by the butts of the audience, bobbed above the sticky floor at about knee-level. During the film audience members took turns sitting in the middle seat while other audience members grabbed hold of one seat at the loose end and violently cracked the whip, making the entire row go whoopsy-daisy in waves.
It was the only time I have ever literally had that overused critical phrase, "like a roller-coaster ride," in a movie theatre.
John E
First, you're about 3 days late.
Next, you have misrepresented the entire situation.
Next, Scans Daily is already back up and running under a different name.
Next, the entire thing happened because Scans Daily violated copyright. You'll find no sympathy for that here.
And for your information, Peter David and Harlan Ellison are good personal friends.
Lastly, as this is going to be a long, crapfest of an argument, I'd suggest we take it over to the forum under Pop Culture.
God forbid a man shifts in his seat during a two hour movie.
On the other hand, I looked over at Harlan once, and saw him sitting there, perfectly still, a half full coffee cup in his hand. An hour later, looked over, same position. Like THAT'S not disturbing.
It dawned on me that he might be dead, and I'd have to make the call to Neil:
"Hey, Neil. Josh Olson. Good news, bad news. Good news is, Harlan was really digging Coraline...."
Double post, sorry: David's summary of the whole sorry situation is here:
http://www.peterdavid.net/index.php/2009/02/28/scans-daily/
Scans_Daily is Dead
And Peter David pulled the trigger.
Scans_Daily was a comic community based on Live Journal which posted scans of comics on a daily basis (hence its name). The scans ranged from one or more panels with comments to postings of entire issues of comics without any apparent regard for, say, copyright issues. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details of what happened (I believe it was yesterday), but apparently Peter David was responding on an LJ account to some Live Journalist's review of one of his comics, a review in which said LJ-er advised David to "DIAF" -- Internetspeak for "die in a fire". Said advisement to self-immolate is apparently a common communication among online netspeakers, but since Peter David lives in some alien land called The Real World, he took some exception to this. Now, somewhere amongst all the hoo-hah he noticed there was a Scans_Daily link to an entire issue of the comic in question, so he reported said scan to Marvel, who apparently asked Live Journal to shut down Scans_Daily for good, and LJ immediately complied. (That would explain all the shrieks of outrage you heard when you turned on your computer this morning.)
Where the situation stands now (and I am reporting this after a quick skim of several comics blogs, so excuse any inaccuracies on the finer points) is that the LJ comics community is outraged and has declared Peter David a rat and a stoolie and Nerdlic Enemy Number One. Among the cries of the righteous: that sites like Scans_Daily do the comics companies' marketing jobs for them, that fans who make creators' work available for free to others are actually doing the creators' a huge favor by "exposing" their work, and that Scans_Daily was shut down because it was run by women. I wouldn't go near that last point with a ten foot pole, but the other rationales are nothing new, are they? One becomes weary hearing and reading them over and over again, often (in my case) from intelligent, articulate people who should know better. They're never going to get it and they're never going to go away.
Jan--
Although I appreciate that you might have enthusiasm for a Shatner comic book, believe it when it is in your hands. Aside that Shatner probably won't be writing the book (he's used a ghostwriter before), Bluewater is a suspect company. I wouldn't buy nor read one of their comics if I was offered money to do so.
Cool things to look forward to
IGN: So what's next for you?
SHATNER: I've got four comic books coming out. Four lines. A remake of Star Trek and three others that'll be out through Blue Water. They're all sci-fi. One's more horror than sci-fi.
Ellison Converts -- Today a friend, tomorrow the world!
A friend of mine recently checked out a selection of Harlan Ellison stories read by His Masterful Self from the local library. Whether she did so out of a genuine interest or self defense because I mention HE with every other breath.
She regularly listens to audiobooks (Her thoughts on the Kindle issue? "Why do I want to buy a special machine to listen to a book when I already have a CD player?") and went on and on about how much she enjoyed listening to Harlan read his own work. She was amazed at the "detail and life he brought to the bag lady in 'Soft Monkey'. Have you read that one yet?"
I stated that I had, adding that the life he brought to the character was because he granted her the status of a human being and not merely a collection of labels.
My friend thought long and hard about that for the rest of the evening. I lent her "Paladin of the Lost Hour". Boy is she in for a treat.
shagin
Atheists in Foxholes
Great article in the newest issue of THE HUMANIST magazine about atheists and freethinkers in the military who are discriminated against. It's not online yet, but you can keep checking www.Americanhumanist.org. There are indeed atheists in foxholes and they feel marginalized.
But what I really wanted to quote were two stories from it that are incidental to that discrimination.
Many members of MAAF -- The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers -- don't care for the chaplains, who are always pushing Christianity on the soldiers. But there's one particular chaplain who went a bit further. In Iraq, one 6-year-old girl was being operated on after being critically wounded by an IED. She didn't make it and the medical team was mourning her death. But the chaplain said "Well, it doesn't matter. She's going to hell anyway."
Do we want those kinds of people out there representing the U.S. in the front lines?
The other story is by a freethinking soldier whose friend died in an explosion. The soldier came back to the U.S. for his friend's funeral and was outraged by those at the funeral who said "God has a plan" and "everything happens for a reason."
Nothing enrages me more than those two phrases. (I always want to ask what the plan was for those poor people who had to jump off the World Trade Center rather than being burnt alive..) But my rage can't compare to his.
Check out the article if you get the chance.
Coraline in 3-D
I've seen a thread elsewhere that some viewers of the 3-D Coraline experienced a fuzzy presentation and that it was a total headache-inducer. I must have been lucky because I thought it was quite sharp and simply gorgeous in 3-D. The film was terrific and I'm anxious to get the book. Another quick movie note: the Swedish horror film "Let the Right One In" comes out on video next week. It's well worth a look. The forthcoming American remake will likely be inferior (look at "Rec," Cracker, The Office, and The Singing Detective, to name just a few). Richard.
Query
Has HE ever been asked to write a James Bond film?
4 more titles today at Fictionwise.com
And today we have four more of our host's titles available in legit ebook editions. They are:
Over the Edge, Partners in Wonder, Stalking the Nightmare, and Sleepless Nights in the Procrustean Bed.
Bests to all,
--tr
Fully aware I may incur the wrath of the more-enlightened I plod ahead, regardless, asking: How many pages should Issue #47 of HERC actually have? My copy has but four.
UH ... ER ...mmmmmmm
That would be "one...OFF-KEY...note..."
mmmm.
-he
ghod luv ya, barber; you're just peaches !
1) Saw CORALINE yesterday with Josh. Quite wonderful. The film, not Olson, who twitches, shifts, leg-crosses, bumps, readjusts, slumps, sits up, moves back and forth...
Yes, he's one of THOSE.
2) Called James Moran at approximately midnight London UK time.
"Hello," thick Khyber Pass accent, "is this Mr. Jay-muz Moe-Ran
of the Yeww-Kay?" Sleepily: "Yes."
"Ahhh! So goood, yes.
"Mister Moe-Ran, this is the Darjeeling Birthday Felicitation and Bidet Company, and we are cawllling to wish you such a happy birthday..." and the sub-continental voice then breaks into a stunted and one-off-note version of the traditional air which, somehow, in the middle range, breaks into the voice of the late Spike Milligan's BlueBottle, shrieking hideously and sort-of banshee pop-bottle ultrasonic wailing.
I have no idea if Mister Moe-Ran actually knew who was calling, because the Noble Jodie actually answered the phone, then handed it to him. She assured me I had not awakened her, and I pray that was so. I did not ask Mister Moe-Ran if I had unhorsed HIM from his nightmare. I sure as hell hope so, otherwise why bother disturbing friends if you cannot really bust their chops?
Senseless in Gaza (no, not THAT one, the other one, the Huxley one), I remain, resolutely, Yr. Pal, Harlan
"Israel" "Is Not!"
(A new thread in the Forum Shoppes.)
http://harlanellison.com/heboard/forum/viewtopic.php?p=48032#48032
A COMMAND FROM ON HIGH
KOS and FRANK CHURCH:
You both have long-since worn us all into boredom with the Israel-Hamas crap. Unless I'm wrong--because I almost never ever go to them--there is an alternate thread wherein you lads can blow up your balloons of hot air AND prick them into flatulent dispersion. Take this stuff over there. And if such a thread does NOT exist already, create one!
This is not a "request."
Harlan, saving Rick Wyatt the tsuriss.
Somewhere, Somebody Actually Believes This Crap
Somewhere, Somebody Actually Believes This Crap. A rant written in a white heat, inspired by one of the more absurd moments in the history of Fox News.
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/20554
Right
My apologies for not taking a big drink of STFU.
I will swig it down right AFTER the following:
Yes, Frank, that site is basically an agenda driven site, it considers Israel to be worth defending and doesn't hide it. But the facts in my original post are checkable elsewhere, and I notice you never addressed those facts, did you? You engaged in an ad hominem on me, then essayed an attempt at a "fruit of a poisoned tree" "refutation" re: the website having an agenda.
Again: my point is that there were problems in the Palestinian territories between Jewish immigrants and Palestinian natives long before the United States played in those "Troubled Waters" or the UN existed. That the violence between those communities stems from the territorial nature of humans, from xenophobia.
The "Neolithic Ethic":
"We are The People. We are the Only People. This is Our Land. If you come into Our Land, we will kill you, If we want your land, we will come into it and kill you. We are The People."
That was how it was in the New Stone Age, and much of the human race is still there emotionally. Did I write "much"? How about "all of us"? We can rise above it, but if we deny that dirty little truth, then we can never take the steps in the "light" of that knowledge that will allow us to act more decently.
That, "pally", is my point.
That this does not seem to fit with your view of human nature seems to be "the rub". That you would engage in such pettifogging tactics rather than address the easily checked facts I referred to, is unfortunate. Further deponent sayeth not.
You could find many other sources for those facts. Pierre van Paasens 1939 book "Days of our Years", is still available from used book sources. There is even a website with a quote from his passage in that book on his visit to Hebron in the wake of the 1929 riots. I found it in one minute of searching with Yahoo.
You asked for a source, I gave you one out of many. You don't like that particular source, but what about the facts? Your silence on them is deafening.
I am done with this discussion. Do your own homework. I know you think of yourself as a fair and open minded seeker of truth. Go for it. I weary of leading this particular "horse" to "water"
Turning off the internest (sic) for a few days, to write a new story titled "FOD". I will be sending it to Gordon van Gelder at F&SF. If it sells, I will let you all know. I have great hopes. I dreamed the story this morning, soup to nuts. Only a thousand words. Killer last line. Fingers crossed.
Where's that glass of STFU?
KOS
The Very Real World of Doc Savage
While at the Wonder Con yesterday, I noticed a great looking book about the artist from those Doc Savage paperbacks. For some reason, these covers were so good as to help me convince my teenaged self, back when I was reading the series, that the stories were all true.
Why is that? It's not so much that I considered these books to be based in fact; rather, that the events portrayed were somehow real in and of themselves.
In any case, after an overnight boil, the video camera I brought to WonderCon resulted in the following bit of unreal compilation:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JhFLWBhuzXo&client=mv-google&gl=US&hl=en&fmt=18
MARK GOLDBERG:
Yes, the HORNBOOK is still available from HERC in mint 1st edition hardcover. You should have our booklist in the next-to-most-recent Rabbit Hole, price and etc.
Susan
AN ASIDE TO JAN IN THE EU
re: Earl Kemp
Earl Kemp is a thief.
Once, long ago, he was a highly-regarded sf fan and (in liaison with a very nice man named Ed Wood--no, not the movie-maker, the OTHER Ed Wood) genre publisher: Advent. Later in his life, like me and Algis Budrys before him, he worked for William Hamling, and wound up accompanying Hamling to prison. In the period between taking over Budrys's editorial tiller of the two paperback lines I singlehandedly created--Nightstand Books and Regency Books--when I came out here to LA--and his being convicted for partnering Hamling in acts the duplicitous FBI and the Government considered "crimes" (which I did not consider such), Earl Kemp became a thief. When he solicited my "recollections" as material for his fanzine (to which you refer), I told him rather sharply to piss off, until he returned to me the Dillon art and the covers I'd commissioned for Regency, that he had stolen from Hamling's storage bin, shed, loft, office, wherever.
Earl Kemp is a thief.
Sincerely, Harlan Ellison
JohnE nails it for me as well. To many of these folks (note I don not say "all) it's about ideology and pandering. Rush is the moral and ethical equivalent of Lewis Prothero, the talk show host in the film version of V FOR VENDETTA -- only less ethical and less moral.
Rush is, as JohnE notes, not tied to the Republican Party except as a matter of convenience. Ideologically they are closer to him than are Dems. Rush, and others of the NeoCon vein, do not care what reality is, nor do they care what the impact on the rest of society is. They are driven by the desire to create their world according to their own values and needs.
He is an ugly person, and one I am embarrassed to acknowledge as a fellow citizen. But, we are a nation of the First Amendment, as under attack as that primary value has been in the last decade.
I find him revolting, I find him insulting. He is America at our worst, and unrepentently so. He feigns commonality when elitism is his game. He is blatantly self-aware of the cynical hypocrisy he spews, and astoundingly does it with the angriest of angry jingoism. What he claims as common sense is condescending rhetoric of the most usary and vile variety.
But inasmuch as he would deprive me of my right to free speech in less than a heartbeat, I cannot condone depriving him of his.
REPLY TO "JORDAN OWEN"
I choose not to answer your posting, nor the "enigma" you posit.
I'll tell you why.
I don't trust you.
I have pause that you are who you Post As; that you mean well; that your visits here are as daisy-fresh as indicated by the careful wordings and assurances. You are welcome here, as are almost all, but--bottom-line--I don't trust you, kiddo.
Respectfully, Harlan Ellison
Susan, a question for you: do you still have the Harlan Ellison Hornbook (hardcover) available through HERC?
To reinforce what JohnE said, Rush is not loyal to his own party, he demands obedience only to his myopic, jingoistic, misogynistic, ethno-centric world view. Rush has stated publicly that Republicans are not supposed to criticize Bobby Jindal's rebuttal to President Obama's speech. He has supported Michael Steele's assertion that Republicans who supported the President's plan (Senators Snowe, Collins and Spector) be "cut off at the knees"; essentially not receive any funding from the RNC and would face strong primary challenges from more traditional Republicans.
No my friends, Rush and his ilk represent nothing but naked antagonism and macho false bravado made flesh. Theirs, however, is a dying breed. Every single demographic by age, gender and ethnicity skews heavily towards the Democrats. There is now greater than a 10% gap between those who self identify as Democrats and those who call themselves Republicans and that variance grows larger on a nearly daily basis. They are facing a political Ragnarok and that is why some of their more moderate members (not that they are moderates by any conventional sense but at least compared to their peers) such as Gov. Schwarzenegger and Gov. Crist, as well as some members of Congress have considered switching to an independent party affiliation.
In the 1980s, Reagan made it fashionable in the mainstream to be a Republican for better or worse. That pendulum has swung back again and I think the Dems are poised to dominate the political landscape for the next generation
You guys are totally misreading Bush Limbo. He's a carny from way back who believes in Republicanism the same way Benny Hinn believes in god.
Speaking of DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE, it contains a nice turn from the late great Leo McKern...
Purists will no doubt take umbrage but my personal favorite Quatermass is the last one, Quatermass and the Pit.
Frank, how come every time somebody says or writes anything you perceive as "pro-Israel" (or "pro-American" for that matter) it's baseless propaganda, but your sources are always ABSOLUTE OBJECTIVE UNQUESTIONABLE TRUTH?
And I'll need some evidence before I accept anybody's word about American war crimes. (Actually I'll need evidence before I accept anybody's word about dang near anything...)
Hey Adam-Troy Castro! There's a guy using your name with a story in the latest ANALOG! Man these identify thieves will stop at nothing will they?
BWAHAHAHA...
Good story.
Josh Olson wrote: "Rush Limbaugh places his party above his country." Well, he's not even that honorable. What Rush and his ilk put above country is their unshakable fealty to their ideology -- a brutish, bullying, deeply stupid ideology which helps them believe they matter where others don't, that their place is on the backs of lesser beings, that God himself created the universe just so they personally could inhabit it. Their flag-waving and founding father fetishism are nothing more than means to an end. These fuckers are already talking about insurrection and revolution and wanting the President to fail, and they couldn't give a flying fuck for American ideals. During the Bush years we heard them openly express their utter contempt and loathing for the U.S. Constitution and for American traditions like justice and freedom. God knows what the hell their ultimate vision for a perfect Conservative Union might be, but it sure as hell ain't the United States of America.
Day/Fire
Josh-thanks for bringing up Day/Fire. I remember seeing it at a saturday double feature when I was 12 and all I wanted of a SF movie was that it was Not Awful and was amazed by how good it was. I've always been a sucker for that 50's Brit docudrama approach to SF movies-Day, The first 2 Quatermass films, X the Unknown, the Giant Behemoth and others. (they asked Nigel Kneale,blessed be his name,to borrow Quatermass for X and he said, "Leave your hands off my character." Oh,and Joseph Losey was to be the original director).I remember it as being pretty sexy to show to 11 and 12 year olds. And it was amazing what they managed to do with effects budgets that were almost literally $9.95. You can imagine the remake. No concentrating on just three people and that ending would never work. Oh, and Harlan, I too love Bill and Ted,especially. Playing Twister with Death...who wouldn't ? John
Oops!
Of course, that should be: "While my collection of FS&Fs _is_ stashed up in the attic..."
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Harlan, I believe Brian is correct. I also recall your qualified praise of this series. While my collection of FS&Fs are stashed up in the attic, I did find this comment in an archived Webderland bulletin board:
Infoman (sliverscreen)
- Sunday December 28 1997 04:42:15
... Arkadin: when I recommend "Titanic" to everyone who visits the site, I do so using the same meter that Harlan Ellison (in "Harlan Ellison's Watching," installment 47, Jan. 1992, Fantasy & Science Fiction) did when he wholeheartedly recommended the last few "Nightmare on Elmstreet" (sic) films and both "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" and "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey" (nee, "Bill and Ted Go to Hell").
KOS, ya boob, that site is pro-Israel propaganda. One outside "source" has books for sale by Nuttenyahoo and Joan Peters, who wrote a book that was lambasted by British historians.
Nice quote from one source:
"There are others who are to blame. For many years, it has been obvious to us that anti-Israel propaganda and Israel bashing around the world are little more than disguised anti-Semitism. No one on earth really cares about the so-called "Palestinians," least of all other Arabs. People pretend to care about the "Palestinians" because this helps them de-legitimize a real nation... the Nation of Israel."
Yea, that sure sounds balanced. You're better off with Wikipedia. Try Edward Said.
-----------
I like the first Friday the 13th. It was somewhat scary and had a neato surprise ending. No way to know who the killer was. Nice cameo by a old school actress. She still regrets doing it.
As long as nobody thinks Grindhouse was a slasher film. We might have to fight then.
To be fair, Casino has more violence then most slasher films. Remember the guy's head in a vise? Ick.
----------------
Dahr Jamail has a great book out about Iraq. He spent his own money and traveled there to get the truth out about what was really going on. Basically the crimes we committed there were terrorism of the highest order: Shooting children for fun, gutting pregnant women, turning off electricity to punish Fallujah, bombing Al Jazeera, raping young girls, free fire lunacy. We created the terrorism that took over the country.
We all know who the evil doers were.
---------------
Josh, where's The Apple?
---------------
On the radio
I may not have many--OK, any--of his political positions, but I can't help but have a soft spot in my heart for him, if only because of my dad. He's retired now, but he spent 30+ years as a trucker, working brutal hours at tough work for a company that treated him terribly. On many days the radio in his cab was his only comfort and his only contact with humanity, and Paul Harvey was absolutely his favorite thing on the radio.
There have been many days when my dad and I didn't seem to have much to talk about, but we could always talk a little baseball and we could always talk about the latest things we'd heard from Paul Harvey.
And it also should be said that while Harvey was conservative, he was never mean-spirited or petty about it, at least not that I ever heard. I'm dead certain he never wished for the failure of a president just because he was from a different party, or mocked someone for having a disease, or claimed that feminism was invented so ugly women could speak in public, etc etc etc. Let's not let the fact that Harvey and Limbaugh are both being discussed at the moment lead us into lumping them together.
Bottom line: I'll miss hearing Harvey. I can't imagine ever missing Limbaugh (or Hannity, or Coulter, or Liddy, or any of the other current crop of GOP hitmen who have done real damage to our country by turning politics into a zero-sum game).
On a different topic, no Rabbit Hole as yet in Indiana, but I have hopes for today's mail. Incidentally, I've been thinking about ordering some back issues, and I can't help but wonder about the unavailable #1 and #5. Are there none in the files that new copies could be run from?
I enjoy the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET movies in that "guilty pleasure" sort of way, fully aware what I'm watching is nonsense, but godDAMN they're fun as hell. It's like the very best kind of junk food.
Yes, it's a shame the character of Freddy Krueger degenerated into a bad comedian after the first two movies, but Robert Englund has to be the most loveably hammy actor in the horror genre since Vincent Price, and he makes even the worst of the series watchable. He has a lot more personality than most of the horror icons of today, which tend to be pale-faced Japanese ladies with a chip on their shoulders.
FOR DOUG ODELL
.
I salute any broadcaster who can maintain an audience for seven decades, but I can't agree that Paul Harvey was "a great commentator" who helped further the causes of "history and learning".
Harvey was an entertainer who never let the truth get in the way of his folksy format. His "news" stories were frequently built on top of urban legends, tall tales, Biblical admonishments and other outright whoppers masquerading as the truth.
And, make no mistake, Paul Harvey's truth was a conservative truth. He was a defender of the odious Senator Joe McCarthy and a cheerleader for the Vietnam War (until the American people turned against it, at which point, he ran in the other direction). During the 1960s and 70s, when the Civil Rights and Women's Movements were making strides in making this country a better place for all its citizens, Harvey was a frequent and cranky critic. He railed against "permissiveness" on college campus and the Free Speech movement among youth in general. He was the prude at the party that was the Sexual Revolution and--while I have no facts to back this up--I'm guessing that he probably wasn't much of a fan of progressive writers like Harlan Ellison.
Also, Paul Harvey wasn't much open to hearing a contrary opinion, as evidenced by his choices of the guest hosts that he'd have sit in for him (Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Tony Snow).
Paul Harvey may have had a unique voice, but that voice did not speak for everyone.
Seven decades is a long run. Maybe too long.
And that is the rest of the story.
Frank,
On the subject of Limbaugh, I say ditto. I think back to all the things I've said or felt about that repulsive waste of flesh Geo. W. Bush, and the words "I hope he fails" never crossed my mind. Was convinced he WOULD fail, no question. Limbaugh's comment, when he first made it, struck me as the textbook definition of traitorous. Honestly, I look forward to the fat fuck's slow and painful death. One can only hope that when it comes, it is accompanied by a moment of crystal clarity in which he grasps how very much he truly deserves what's happening to him just before he goes.
It has finally been proven by his own words, in terms even a child can grasp - Rush Limbaugh places his party above his country.
Pogue,
Huston was right. The thing that makes Day so grand is not its plot. It is the specifics of its writing and performances. I have no doubt that you - or another good writer - could craft a fine film using the same premise... but what would be the point? For whatever part you may have played in dribbling that one away... good work, sir.
Dennis,
The Cinematheque screening was my introduction to the film as well (or re-introduction, technically, since I'd seen it as a wee child, and not remembered much about it). The print the Cinematheque showed was lent to them by Joe Dante, who's loaning the same print to the New Beverly. I know Joe through a terrific website he runs - http://www.trailersfromhell.com/ I shot a commentary for Day a while back that should be up soon.
Jordan,
Context is everything. What matters is not that the films and stories in question are violent, but what the context of that violence is.
Harlan,
Wrong again.
The Day The Earth Caught Fire
Josh, shortly after The Fly came out, I had a meeting with Randall Kleiser who wanted me to write a re-make of The Day The Earth Caught Fire. I remember a screening of it being arranged for me and very much enjoying the film. I can't remember why the idea of the re-make dribbled away...probably other more interesting projects for me, but it could have been that I believe in the old John Huston adage: "Why do they always re-make our good films; why don't they re-make our bad ones?"
Oddly enough, the first films of mine that ever got made, a couple of Sherlock Holmes movies, Ed Judd...one of the stars of The Day The Earth Caught Fire...played the butler Barrymore in my version of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES.
re:Maggie
No worries- hope you husbands condition turns out for the better.
since he asked
Carping? Querulous? Fussy?
Whatever.
Frank (the rest of youse can skip this, unless you really like historical minutiae):
I'm not trying to change your mind. I know you read a lot, and have a (more or less) open mind.
I approach the Mid East and Israel as subjects with trepidation.
I am not sure why you alluded to anti-semitism in your query, as I purposefully made no reference to anti-semitism. I referred to the endless and seemingly boundless human ability to indulge in xenophobia, and that it is my informed opinion (two cents worth) that much of the Middle East mess is rooted in that all too human predilection for xenophobia. We are all prone to it.
See below, on the Grand Mufti I referred to, Haj Muhammed Amin al-Husseini, and his role in the 1929 Palestine riots, with details on what happened in Hebron.
The source:
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_riots_1929.php
A quote:
"From 1922 through 1928 the relationship between Jews and Arabs in Palestine was relatively peaceful. However, in late 1928 a new phase of violence began with minor disputes between Jews and Arabs about the right of Jews to pray at the Western Wall (Kotel) in Jerusalem. These arguments led to an outbreak of Arab violence in August 1929 when Haj Amin al-Husseini, Mufti of Jerusalem, fomented Arab hatred by accusing the Jews of endangering the mosques and other sites holy to Islam. Observers heard Husseini issue the call: Itback al-Yahud "Slaughter the Jews!"
On August 22, 1929 the leaders of the Yishuv met with the British Deputy High Commissioner to alert him of their fears of a large Arab riot. The British officials assured them that the government was in control of the situation. The following day the Riots of 1929 erupted throughout the Palestine Mandate, lasting for seven days.
On Friday, August 23, Arab mobs attacked Jews in Jerusalem, Motza, Hebron, Safed, Jaffa, and other parts of the country. The Old City of Jerusalem was hit particularly hard. By the next day, the Haganah was able to mount a defense and further attacks in Jerusalem were repulsed. But, the violence in Jerusalem generated rumors throughout the country, many carrying fabricated accounts of Jewish attempts to defile Muslim holy places, all to inflame the Arab residents. Villages were plundered and destroyed by Arab mobs. While attacks on Jews in Tel Aviv and Haifa were thwarted by Jewish defenses, there were Jewish deaths in Hebron, where 67 Jewish men and women were slaughtered and Safed, where 18 Jews were killed, as well as scattered other losses totaling 133 Jewish deaths, with more than 300 wounded.
The Arab violence in Hebron was one of the worst atrocities in the modern history of Israel. On the afternoon of Friday, August 23, 1929 Jerusalem Arabs came to Hebron with false reports of Jews murdering Arabs during the rioting there, even saying thousands of Arabs had been killed. Despite the fact that Jews and Arabs in Hebron had been on good terms, a mass of frenzied Arab rioters formed and proceeded to the Hebron Yeshiva where a lone student was murdered. The next day, the Jewish Sabbath, the killing continued as an Arab mob of hundreds surrounded homes where Jews sought refuge, broke in and murdered scores of Jews in a bloody rampage.
The dead Jews that day included Eliezer Dan Slonim, a man highly esteemed by the Arabs. He was the director of the local English-Palestine bank whose many clients were Arabs, and was the sole Jewish member of the Hebron Municipal Council. He had many friends among the Arab elders, who had promised to protect him. Twenty-two people died in Slonim's house that day including his wife and two young children."
Al-Husseini ran for the office of Mufti in 1922, and finished fourth in the voting. The British High Commissioner did indeed appoint him to the office, and actually added the modifier "Grand" to the title. So yes, the British played a leading role in his accession to power, though he was from a powerful and well connected family that had been so well before the British arrived in Palestine during and fter the First World War.
As for the PLO not allowing later Grand Muftis any political role, that may well have been the case once the PLO came into existence. There was no PLO in the 1920s and 1930s. The Grand Mufti at that time played a leading political role among the Arab community in Palestine. The British used him in that role.
Below is a source for this Grand Mufti's Second World War activites, to which I referred:
Source:
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_grand_mufti.php
Quote:
"At the Nuremberg Trials, Eichmann's deputy Dieter Wisliceny (subsequently executed as a war criminal) testified:
"The Mufti was one of the initiators of the systematic extermination of European Jewry and had been a collaborator and adviser of Eichmann and Himmler in the execution of this plan. ... He was one of Eichmann's best friends and had constantly incited him to accelerate the extermination measures. I heard him say, accompanied by Eichmann, he had visited incognito the gas chamber of Auschwitz.
With the collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945, the Mufti moved to Egypt where he was received as a national hero. After the war al-Husseini was indicted by Yugoslavia for war crimes, but escaped prosecution. The Mufti was never tried because the Allies were afraid of the storm in the Arab world if the hero of Arab nationalism was treated as a war criminal."
My original post tried to point out that trouble between Arab and Jew in Palestine predates any US involvement, or UN involvement. Whatever harmony may have once existed between those communities in Palestine was gone long before the UN came into existence, well before the USA played any significant role there.
Hard to believe now, when we straddle the globe like "Baby Huey" but within living memory the United States played a minimal role on the world stage, with an army that ranked seventeenth in size. History did not start in 1945. People hated each other long before we started interfering.
That's all.
Sorry for all this lengthy stuff.
I'll be quiet for a good long while now.
KOS
Jordan
You are right. I butted in and am double posting to boot. I'll take time off. I stay with my meaning but plead the foulest of spirits in this waiting game to hear if my husband has cancer. The results are draging out and I became quite unpleasant. Not like me. Sorry and my best regards, maggie
Violent Porn
I'm well aware of Ellison's superior skill- it is for that reason that the section of my bookshelf which houses my extensive collection of the man's work bears a striking resemblance to a Shinto shrine.
Anyway...
I would assert this: I'm a fan of Boyd Rice, who creates soundscapes that aren't music in the traditional sense but rather sound collages that are meant to stimulate the brain. In an interview I once heard him say that where most people make music for the mind, he makes music for the brain. This means that while most music uses psychological stimulation to effect emotion, his work provides direct stimulus to the nervous system. I think that sex and violence in any artistic medium are very similar. The plot, characters, prose, etc, affect the mind while the sex and violence target the "brain" directly. Its the capable artist can use the two extremes in tandem to create something that is mutually beneficial.
In any case, I was interested in what Harlan had to say. The fact that he's more than a cut above the average was already apparent to me.
Ave Satanis,
-Jordan
Splatstick
And yet there are some over-the-top violent junk horror films that I adore: FEAST, for instance. Would never confuse it with a conventionally good movie, but I think it was made with a genuine sense of humor, and thought it a greet hoot.
I can say that I enjoyed the first SAW movie, and not just because it gave me the opportunity to write the sentence, "I saw SAW, and saw SAW 2 too." (Though that was a major consideration. The sentence itself, I mean. It gave me the giggles.) Believe it or not; I considered that nasty tale fun in a grand guignol kind of way, not confusing it for a good movie for even one moment. I shuddered with nausea at my later exposure to the sequels. Unless you're talking about something like the Showtime series DEXTER or Bradley Denton's equally marvelous BLACKBURN -- both of which use the form to play out morality tales of surprising depth -- something's gone seriously wrong when the serial killer becomes the protagonist of the piece.
*
Amazing Race followers: this was not a good week to be on a team with anybody named Victor or Victoria.
Patton Oswalt
Just have to say that I saw Patton Oswalt at the Lisner Auditorium in D.C. Saturday night & nearly choked to death with laughter. Patton is the funniest & most educating comedian entertaining us today.
As for such films as "Nightmare of Elm Street", "Friday The 13th" and others of their ilk...
I will admit to being a fan of "horror" films, but prefer a good "monster movie" (such as the classic Ray Harryhausen, Godzilla, Hammer or Universal films, as well as the occasional & B-Level flicks) or the cerebral ones that rely more on playing with your mind that trying to gross you out. I think The first Nightmare film did just that, but quickly devolved into silliness.
As for films like "Saw" & "Hostel" (films that Clive Barker has labeled "torture porn"), I have no interest. Watching someone get beaten, butchered, bludgeoned, broken & bled.... well, it seems to me that there are much better ways to spend your time & money.
Junk violence
Jordan There are writers through lack of talent and imagination that fill in the blanks in their quote work with violence,blood and horror. Mr. Harlan Ellisons' writing is brilliant. His talent as good or better then any living or dead mainstream writer in the country. When and if he includes violence in a story it is with a purpose and there in lies the difference. best maggie
Overly wordy catching up and responding to comment hooks
By way of apology for my long absence from the Dining Pavilion (and in some cases it may be chosen to take it as an apology for my return), I say, "Sorry 'bout that."
By way of explanations/excuses - I lost a lousy job in mid-November and went into an unbelievable level of depression and denial for the financial disaster my life has become, mostly my fault. I am going to survive, somehow.
I hope all of you are well and prospering. I reviewed recent comments here back to February 24th. A few hooked me too much to remain silent due to the relative lateness.
Tears filled my eyes when I learned of Phil Farmer leaving. Then I read Harlan's immediate comment of Wednesday, February 25 2009 12:57:8 wherein with 136 words he conveyed such a sense of loss I was crying. I tried to read it aloud to Mary and choked up with tears pouring down my face.
Sorry for your personal loss, Unca H, so much more than this world's loss which is far from trivial. The bell tolls once again, my friends.
Khalil Gibran died 1931, _The Prophet_ was written in English and published in 1923. I do not know enough about copyright laws (US or international) to know whether it has yet moved into the public domain. But knowing Harlan's level of love for the internet I would hope that if it is indeed public domain, that one of the Flying Blue Monkey Squadron would have made the effort to print it and mail the physical pages to our dear host, in the absence of a real book, which I understand has been procured.
KOS: Sturgeon's Law has been quoted with many variations usually in the numerical percentage of excrement (as well as different levels of euphemism), with the number as high as 93% (was that you, Unca Harlan?). My own aphorism - at least I have never seen anyone else say this: call if Francis's Law and I will be honored (my dad loved it too). It could also be called the Law of Conservation of Intelligence. Here it is: There is a finite amount of intelligence in the universe and the population is expanding.
And, I must say, agreement on matters of opinion and taste is a poor standard for friendship. I like - hellfire, PREFER - having friends I can disagree with, it certainly raises the intellectual level of conversation (and sometimes the volume level as well). If you surround yourself with only people that agree with you in all particulars, it can be disastrous. An example comes to mind - the conservative Republicans and their horrifying intellectual inbreeding and repeating each others' lies as "talking points". I will add my voice to others and say to Diane Bartel - please stay. This is a wonderful place for casual dining because of the diversity of opinion and the ability of the diners to express their ideas in distinctly interesting ways. And, Diane, you contribute to this atmosphere. Please, stick around. It will always be interesting, but you add something that no one else could.
Uh, music. Hmmmm. Three chord rock. I started to become a self-taught amateur guitarist 45 years ago. Not great, but passable. My first lesson was, yup, ya guessed it, how to play three chords - E, A and B7, actually, rather than C, F and G7 or D, G and A7. As I get older, I find myself getting more into blues and folk, going back to the basics. (aside: If I amplify for my solid-body guitars I use a tube amp for the warmer fatter tone. For that matter, my arch-top jazz guitar and my thin hollow body electrics go through tubes when amplified, too. Anyone want to buy a couple of small solid-state Peavy rehearsal amps cheap?) The blues was the primary forerunner of 3-chord rock, with a major influence from folk as well (especially after Bobby Dylan created controversy by picking up an electric guitar in a concert all those years ago). And I still marvel at the depth, variety and richness available without straying too far from the simplest combination on the circle of fifths. (Yes, I've taken a cursory look at music theory too. My own theory of music is: If it sounds good, play it.)
"Flummery" is still one of my favorite words. I especially liked hearing it delivered by Maury Chaykin in his brilliant portrayal of Nero Wolfe in the A&E series, the one with Timothy Hutton portraying Archie Goodwin.
Duane, thanks for the shout out to CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE's CD sampler. I spend a lot of time on the internets looking for independent music and musicians. You will be amazed at all the talent coming to fruition that you will never find on the radio. Some of it manages to get on iTunes, more on CD Baby. But Look, my children and ye shall find. No limits on the variety. For so-called "popular" music, I have some favorite artists that I will buy commercial stuff from. But I continue to be rewarded as I search for talented quasi-pros making great music. I recommend that you do the same. You might even stumble on to some of my stuff.
Shagin - Convention math. We all HOPE the majority of attendees subscribes to the "1 - Shower per day". I often take more, 1 for hygiene and more for the formula in other con math: 1 shower = 2 hours of sleep.
Frank Church - comedian Rush Limbaugh (as he is referred to by Keith O) says he loves this country and in nearly the same breath wishes on it years of depression, suffering and financial woes merely because he thinks it will enhance his power. He is a sick, power hungry psycho drug addict who apparently hates America and Americans if he would prefer the suffering of Americans over the success of a politician he dislikes. Why is anyone, even among the 20% to 25% that could tolerate W, the ultimate failure of national leadership, still listening to this reeking pile of lies? I do not wish a coronary on him; I want him to see his listeners abandon him - and send him fire extinguishers to put out his flaming pants.
One more comment about forum structure: after all these years, I still have a bit of difficulty with the "Next" entries being earlier in time and the "Previous" entries later in time. And I'm a computer geek of long standing.
Re: Rabbit Hole #47...
Dear Mr. Ellison,
Received the 26 extra pages, and my certificate. I am, however, returning the certificate, as I already have several advanced degrees from said University. Thank you. Also, the enigma of page 20 was wrapped in riddle, but had a cream filling, similar in content to that of the fabled Oreo "stuffing."
I remain, as ever, an idiot. Bret
A (Personal) History of Violence and Lush Rimbaugh
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
Mr. Owen: I never enjoyed those few of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" or "Friday the Thirteenth" or "Saw" movies that I did view for one simple reason: the simple focus on gratuitous violence. No plot exists, no character development exists, and no resolutions at all appear at movies' ends.
Motion pictures, however, whose plots require some violence in order to facilitate resolutions--most war pictures, Shakespearean tragedies, zombie movies--do resonate with me. Even "Casablanca" had violent moments, or references. Said films also display character development and discernable narrative flow, again, with violence only shown incidentally.
As to Mr. Limbaugh, I feel I ought to share an observation I made to my reading group--to great applause-- some months ago during the general election campaign: "Limbaugh has the gab of Goebbels and the girth of Goering (another addict)."
Will see "Coraline" tomorrow after finishing Mr. Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book". Must preview before gifting to my dear niece, of course, and before meeting Mr. Gaiman at WorldCon in Montreal in August.
To understand Limbaugh and his brood, please read "Nixonland" by Rick Perlstein. All there.
A gratuitous plug for a local author hereabouts: "The Book of Tormod" by Kat Black. A YA Templar novel. To my nephew, of course.
Regards, waiting for another eleven inches of the white stuff.
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
(And Josh, sorry about the errors, the Beverly Cinema page was unclear.)
Prowler & Regency Books
If you mean The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World, Harlan wrote about the use of violence in it in the respective SPIDER thread over in the forums:
http://harlanellison.com/heboard/forum/viewtopic.php?t=955&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30 (this is page 3)
While I'm here: I have stumbled upon a great, LONG (vertical) page about Rogue magazine and Regency books (actually an electronic version of a paper fanzine eI 11 (Vol. 2 No. 6) December 2003 (c) Earl Kemp). This was never mentioned when the subject of Regency came up, to *my* knowledge. Those who want to know about Harlan in 1959-1961 might want to take a look at it. Among the many goodies there are two photos of Harlan from the era that I didn't know.
http://efanzines.com/EK/eI11/index.htm
Also eI in general seems to be well worth a look (index page):
http://efanzines.com/EK/index.html
Question on violence....
I don't disagree with you, Harlan, that the films you mentioned are bloodbath pornography, but I have to ask- what about your own ultra-violent work? Surely a story like Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World has a similarly sadistic bent, so what is the defining difference between the violence in films like Saw and what you do? This is not a condemnation of your work or a call of hypocrisy at all but rather a query into how and why you use violence in your work. I for one abhor actual real life violence but feel that all people need to find a healthy outlet for their natural blood lust, be that horror films, sporting events, video games, etc.
Strapping myself into a G-force simulator in anticipation of your response,
-Jordan
Re the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Harlan, are you sure you've never expressed a tolerance for these? Because I have a fairly clear memory of a _Watching_ column where you'd said something complementary about the "Freddy films" taking on a surprising and interesting turn into surrealism. I'm also reasonably sure that this piece mentioned William Kotzwinkle's having co-written one of the scripts. This must have been one of the later "Watching" columns, as it's not in your collection, which means I'm relying solely on memory here. But if Chris is thinking of the same piece I'm recalling...
... well, it's not as if you have to stick by every opinion you've ever had, but I'm pretty sure Chris might have had a reason to make his assumption.
Okay, now about Rush Limbaugh's insistence that he wants Obama to fail. Sure, it's loathesome. But here's why. Generally, we don't wnat our leaders to fail. Most of us probably didn't want George Bush to fail-- not because we liked him or his policies, but because we didn't want human lives to be ruined.
But, if his efforts _succeeded_, we'd have been upset because we don't want bad people or politica opponents to be _vindicated_. I mean, when your spouse bets the mortgage on a roulette spin, it's a hell of a risk, but you don't want him or her to _lose_-- you just don't want them to think that such gambles are a good idea or the right thing to do. And when they do fail, there's always going to be a sliver of schadenfreude there as well... because it vindicates our own caution.
Most of us know enough to keep that schadenfreude under wraps. Especially when the country's tanking and we want the President to frix things. But Limbaugh not only embraces this petulance, but he believes it to be a worthwhile reason for policy... and he congratulates himself on the "bravery" required to announce this publicly.
If Limbaugh said he liked to roll in shit and lick bicycle seats, and that it took bravery to say this publicly, he couldn't be more loathesome.
OH DEAR ... OH DEAR ...
Those of you who seem to have received a somewhat truncated version of the recent RABBIT HOLE, oh me oh my, how sad how bad how unacceptable! We have taken note of your nascent complaints, and will be sending out the missing pages by the very next post. I urge you to wait beside your mailbox for receipt of these treasures, which should arrive concurrently with your Certificate of Failure from the University of Udon'tGetIt.
Mr. Ellison
TICKTOCK TICKTOCK TICK and TOCK
Josh and I are going to see my pal Neil Gaiman's CORALINE (CRINOLINE? CORALSEALINE? CORALATOLLSEALION?) at the ArcLight, and he'll be here in approximately 20 minutes, and I didn't want to get involved with Real Work, so I'm killing the intervening minutes. Perhaps "killing" is not properly expeditious. I'm actually just maiming this interregnum.
-he
Harlan: My mistake. A misremembered "Harlan Ellison's Watching" column, I think. Still, 50% is better than my usual batting average.
I now return to my usual lurking.
RESPONSE TO CHRIS NOBLE
You're 50% correct. Yes, I cop to slavering affection for those two ultra-goofy "Bill and Ted" movies; but I have NEVER--because I don't--evinced even a dollop of tolerance for the (in my view) loathesome "Nightmare on Elm Street" (or "Friday the 13th" or "Saw" or any other of that nauseating ilk of bloodbath pornography). You must have me confused with Josh Olson.
Respectfully, Harlan Ellison
RESPONSE TO CHRIS NOBLE
You're 50% correct. Yes, I cop to slavering affection for those two ultra-goofy "Bill and Ted" movies; but I have NEVER--because I don't--evinced even a dollop of tolerance for the (in my view) loathesome "Nightmare on Elm Street" (or "Friday the 13th" or "Saw" or any other of that nauseating ilk of bloodbath pornography). You must have me confused with Josh Olson.
Respectfully, Harlan Ellison
Once again, Limbaugh opens his fat trap and says that he wants Obama to fail. He said this at the CPAC conference, where Max Blumenthal is getting some great video. Limbaugh compares Obama to a football team he wants to see lose. He, Rush, our country is the same as a sports team. He is fatter than ever, by the way. We can only hope for a coronary.
---------------
Amazing video by Blumenthal about John Hagee and his conference on Christians and Jews:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjMRgT5o-Ig
Full of anti-Jewish bigots. The shock is the speech by Joseph Leiberman, where he compares Hagee to Moses.
-------------
Blatty is alive.
The end of the story
"On another note, the great voice of Paul Harvey has been silenced. Man, I loved to hear him talk. "
I grew up listening to Paul Harvey. A great comentator & narrator. He was a favorite in the house of my youth, in particular my mother loved to listen to him, and because of him, and my father, history & learning about the story behind the story, is a passion of mine. He will be missed.
You guys got all this cool Rabbit Hole stuff and all I got was the bottom half of the two page Newt Gingrich nude spread. It could have been the top half. *shiver*
***
I received another personalized rejection for a piece this morning. Quoted a specific line from the story, commented about the strength of the writing, asked to see something else. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...
***
EXORCIST 3: Funny and deliciously terrifying by turns.
***
TALLY: Congratulations on your convention invite. I caution you to hold these convention survival rules close to your heart:
CONVENTION MATH PER DAY:
3 hours sleep
2 meals
1 shower
***
Somebody kick the Zach. It's glitching again.
shagin
Day the Earth Caught Fire
Let me second Josh's recommendation for DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE. I was at a screening at the American Cinematheque a few years back and filmmaker Val Guest (who passed away recently) was there.
The whole audience was in awe -- good writing, good acting, good camerawork... and a storyline about the earth heating up that seemed quite prescient in the 'W' presidency days.
We all spontaneously jumped to our feet and gave Guest a standing ovation at the end of the film. He was just about in tears from our enthusiasm.
*************************************************************
You guys didn't get all 36 pages of RH? Then you missed the great photo on page 29 of Harlan belting out his best with Etta James. Too bad.
John,
Re: Blatty
D-oh!
Hi John,
On your post on Mr. Blatty for his "new" novel. If you are referring to ELSEWHERE-that is a haunted house novel (which is actually quite good) that is going to be published by Cemetery Dance Publications in a signed limited edition. It is, however, a reprint of his contribution to the anthology 999 published in 1999 edited by Al Sarrantonio.
Exorcist 3
Josh-it is one of the better horror films,excepting the exorcism at the conclusion. There is a cut there that literally made me jump. But-Bill Blatty is not only still with us but has a new novel coming out.
Just Sayin'
EXORCIST 3 is also far funnier than you would expect it to be; detective George C. Scott's bantering relationship with a local priest (they insult each other constantly) is memorable in the extreme.
Saw FOURTEEN HOURS this AM. Little-remembered 1951 film of suicidal man on high ledge being talked down by traffic cop. Richard Basehart as the jumper gives a performance very little of his remaining career would lead you to expect. Grace Kelly, Jeffrey Hunter, Agnes Moorhead, Ossie Davis, and Barbara bel Geddes are also in it.
Jan,
I am, indeed, programming the New Beverly the second week of March. The schedule, as it stands now:
March 8/9: Straw Dogs, A History Of Violence (For the record - the whole thing started when, a couple years ago, I mentioned that I'd driven by the theater and saw this double feature, and was knocked out by the honor. They insisted we open with this - believe me, I'm not the guy who programs his own flicks at this sort of thing)
March 11: Ed Wood, Problem Child, with special guests Larry Karaszewski & Scott Alexander (Writers of both)
March 12: A Boy and His Dog, The Day The Earth Caught Fire, with special guest Cordwainer Bird
March 13/14: The Ninth Configuration, Exorcist 3 No guest, unless Blatty's ghost makes it.
As for The Day The Earth Caught Fire, as silly as the premise may be, it is a top notch piece of cinema, with one of the sharpest scripts and tremendous performances (including Leo McKern).
And I would say to anyone who has not seen Exorcist 3, do not give in to the understandable jerking of your knee, and come check out a movie that is somewhat flawed, but undeniably one of the scariest goddam movies ever made.
Susan- RH arrived safely in the hinterlands of Iowa. Was especially pleased with the hardcover binding and the free alarm clock. The pop-up version of "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" was quite impressive.
-----------------
The phrase, "It's an acquired taste," means, "It's shit but I like it." So as long as we're in confessional mode...
On my DVD shelf sits "V: The Original Mini-Series". There is no drug known to humanity that could make anyone mistake "V" for anything close to "good". I could watch the damn thing a million times. I love the stupid thing... and it is stupid, make no mistake- completely, unbelievably stupid. But there you go.
There is a certain type of criticism that seeks to make the person who enjoys the criticized work feel small. There is a large group of people who react with sneering contempt at the mention of Stephen King. Not just "he's not my cup of tea," or, "I never really got into him," but outright loathing of the author and the reader of same. I never quite got that. This brand of criticism unsurprisingly finds a comfortable home on the internet.
I have enjoyed many things our host does not, "Star Wars" and "The Dark Knight" among them, but I've never felt personally insulted by those criticisms. Besides, I seem to recall our host copping to an admiration of some of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies and the "Bill and Ted" films, so I've never felt that his criticisms came from the land of snobbery.
Besides, as my dad used to say, "I've been around for a while. I can take a little shit."
To Susan
I have a renewal form to send to you, but it says something about issue 46. Okay if I cross out 46 and issue 47 is sent instead?
Thank you!
DIANE - Admissions, I have many to make but will give you two in this forum of public humiliation: I once read and thoroughly enjoyed PRINCESS DAISY by Judith Krantz.
The second is that I once used the word "like" (as in Valley Girl "like") while answering a question from Harlan. There were witnesses. An abrupt silence filled the room. A *gasp*.
I lived to tell about it, but the restraining order prevents further details from being made public.
______________________________________
I received the properly counted out 11% of the latest RH. (Or, to be more technically accurate, I got 2.8% plus an advertising flyer.)
The rest of the story....
Diane,
What everyone here has said, times six. Now that we're all copping to an honesty bordering on felonious, I will just say that I have a stack of books in the bookshelf that I keep as a 'bad example department'. I have been told in no uncertain terms that I am doomed to perdition, that I should be so lucky to live my life in durance vile, that I am a living abortion, that I am unworthy to set pen to paper, because within that stack are "On The Road", "A Separate Peace", and others I dare not mention now. We all like what we like. Or as I put it at work- "Taste has no price." I'm just glad this little nook is here that we may discuss our likes and dislikes, not to enrage or savage another, but to freely exchange opinions in this 'marketplace of ideas', without an asinine jackhammering from trolls with nothing better to do.
Hell, just LOOKING at the Science vs. Religion board is enough to convince anyone that his group is the politest bunch of malcontents this side of the Andes, even when the discussion is spoke from polar opposites.
~~~~~~~
RH #47 received here as well. Just so you don't think it was a total wash-out, Harlan, I got the joke.
~~~~~~~
B. Siano~ Yeah, that's right on. Although what I do hate is what Harlan termed 'ignorant stupidity'- in this case, not knowing something and getting defensive because they don't.
I'll be talking and make a reference to something... Andy Warhol and Studio 54, say.... and if there's a younger person, I'll simply ask if they know what I'm referring to. There are a lot of smart and history savvy kids out there. There also are many, not. My younger friends will say, "Yes, I think so." or "Nope, not a clue.", a prevailing honesty that is refreshing.
It grates to hear somebody, kid or grown-up, say, "Now, why the hell would I know THAT? I wasn't even born yet!"
Well, fuck son, I wasn't born when Caruso was performing either, but I know of his singing.
THAT is capital A-nnoying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On another note, the great voice of Paul Harvey has been silenced. Man, I loved to hear him talk.
And, you know what? My mom couldn't stand him.
Cindy's, er, um, "revealing" post
CINDY: Personally, _I_ would NEVER have admitted to reading (and enjoyoing) THE PROPHET...nor would I have admitted to, you know, being a Republican...or enjoying the "film" (I use that term loosely) "White Chicks"...or tapping my feet and singing along everytime I hear the song, "Sugar, Sugar" -- ah, FUCK! Now you have ME doing it!!!
Love and kisses from the otherside of the world,
DTS
Apropos of Diane and others
This reminds me of... well, too many conversations to remember, actually.
Here's one. I was on the local comics shop, and I mentioned my age since it was my birthday that day. The clerk had to ask me something. My age meant that I saw the first _Star Wars_ movie as a teenager, so he asked me what that was like-- seeing it not as a _child_, who could be overwhelmed, but as a semi-adult, with some critical ability. I said I liked it a lot when I saw it, but even then I didn't think it was the _greatest_ SF movie ever made. For me, that was (and still is) _2001_. The other clerk couldn't understand why I'd put any movie above _Star Wars_, so I said, "Ever see _Lawrence of Arabia_?" Guy shook his head.
That happens a lot. I start talking to someone, and they mention something that they really, really like. And they ask me if I like it. And I never see the point of lying about whether I liked a book or film or not, so I say, politely and sometimes apologetically, that I didn't like it.
I get the same thing when someone tells me about something they like. I say, "You like that? Oh, man, then you should check out X or read Y or watch Z." And people tell me that this makes other people feel _stupid_ because they didn't know about these other things.
I can understand this, because when I'm talking to someone smarter than I am (and that's a lot of people), I'm trying to ask questions that don't seem too stupid. And if I'm un informed about something, well, I _feel_ bad because I don't know about it, but I remind myself that I can't be expected to know everything.
But that's just about information. When it comes to art and what affects us, it's trickier. I think Harlan once said that he wasn't very enthusiastic about Carl Hiassen's novels because they seemed like tepid reflections of the greatness of Donald E. Westlake. But a lot of Hiassen's fans have never heard of Westlake (I know, it's a fucking sin), and I wouldn't begrudge them the joy they've received.
Sometimes something really trite and mawkish can hit us at just the right time, and at the right angle, to shake us in a profound way. Or, let's say you encounter some ideas you've never encountered before, and you find them compelling... but the person who brought those idea to you isn't a very good writer. Or there are better writers out there who've done far better work.
So Diane read Kahlil Ghibran and found him deep and meaningful. That's fine. But Diane, don't be upset that Harlan (or anyone else) points out that Ghibran wasn't exactly without precedent, and may not be as nuanced or as keen as another writer. It's perfectly possible. I won't say there's _no_ shame in being affected by a particular writer's work (anyone who says they were moved to tears by _Forrest Gump_ deserves a third Bush term), but don't take it so personally. Check out Omar Khayyam.
Susan,
Got Rabbit Hole #47. Boy, am I glad we've got a progressive administration in office, with a more progressive AG.
I mean, the whole Shagging Fungoes gatefold was pretty damned explicit. The Bushies would have been knocking on your door over that bit of pornography. And how do Fungoes get into that position anyhow?
Chuck
Don't leave, Diane!
We all have guilty secrets! I am addicted to the HBO series Big Love, 30 Rock and the fucking Mentalist-- yeah, that’s right, I copped to it right here in front of Harlan and everybody-- the fuckin’ Mentalist, for God’s sake, OH and Medium!!! I fuckin‘ watch MEDIUM every week! I have read AND enjoyed Harold Robbins novels ( Okay, when I was 19) and I have never been able to get through Moby Dick( not ONCE!) because I keep stopping to look up the words I don’t understand.
Let’s see-- I once stole a fishing lure when I was 10, I listen to Willie Nelson a LOT. I hate opera and ballet-- I fell asleep during Shakespeare In Love and I loved the film White Chicks.
There--- now, don’t you feel better?Oh WAIT and I’m a Republican!
C’mon, pal-y stick around! I admire your usage of the word "fuck" when you're pissed off-- you wield it at least as well as I do!
Don't leave because you've had your feathers singed. You're lovely to have around and we'll miss you!
:)
Cindy
To Our Princess Diane, and ........Holes
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
Diane: I read "The Prophet" years ago, and I found the experience less than satisfying. Thus, Mr. Ellison and KOS do have a point as to the quality of the literature, and also do have the right of expressing their dislike of the work here in the Pavilion. I'm still filling in the fistula bequeathed me by Mr. E. for my mis-spelling (guilty) of Edgar Allan (not Allen) Poe's name a month ago. Will leave a nice scar, though.
No need to leave. As Sammy Davis Jr. once uttered: "If someone doesn't criticize, then they don't give a damn." We do care about culture; hence, this site.
Staying on the subject of holes--not fiscal, mind--as a non-subscriber, has The Rabbit Hole morphed into The Pigeon Hole? Just a thought.
To our Welsh friends, Happy St. David's Day tomorrow; to all else, Happy Sunday. (Our day comes on the seventeenth, of course.) To our Jewish friends, Happy Purim.
Just begun a 1974 reprint of a 1904 novel by Robert W. Chambers entitled "In Search of the Unknown". Any remarks, dear friends?
Regards, en garde.
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
RH47
Arrived here in Darkest Oz this morning. I too received only 4 pages and at first thought something was wonky. Then went back, looked at Harlan's note, figured I was having an exceptionally slow day and just wasn't getting the joke (about par for me these days), and then realized that it had to be a joke and I wasn't missing any pages.
Because a coupla sharp customers like our host and hostess would probably use a larger envelope and more postage if they were actually sending out a 36-page extravaganza.
Gotta say, though, I envy you LA folks that New Beverly Cinema. Nice schedule. Reminded me how much I miss being able to see the old stuff at the Clark Theatre or the 400 Theatre in Chicago.
Bests to all,
--tr
2 questions--
As I'm thinking there might be skullduggery involved, I must ask: are all you Rabbit Hole subscribers are getting the same 4 pages, or are you getting random pages of a much larger edition?
As the subject has been beaten into submission, can we please stop discussing the Israel/Hamas situation?
On receiving the Rabbit Hole and reading recent postings.
Which reminds me of a story…
A couple of years ago I wrote an article for Internal Auditor magazine. In it, I announced that the Institute of Internal Auditors (the IIA) was going to open an amusement park- Auditland - near their headquarters in Altamonte Springs, Florida. The article went on to outline planned “lands” and rides that mirrored the more famous Anaheim-based land we all know. The article was clearly labeled “On the Lighter Side”. Within a few weeks, the magazine was contacted by one of their associate members in India wanting detailed information and flyers about the new amusement park. The editor really didn’t know how to handle the request and forwarded it to my attention for a reply. I didn’t want to insult the writer if he was, indeed, in on the joke, but I didn’t want to embarrass him either. I replied that, as a writer, I appreciated when someone responded to my humorous pieces in a similar manner. My thought was that, if he was indeed trying to be funny, he would know I enjoyed the humor. If on the other hand he just didn’t get the joke, this response would not rub his face in the mistake.
Fast forward one year. There were a number of international travelers visiting IIA headquarters. One of them happened to meet the editor of the magazine. The individual was very excited to see the editor because he was interested in learning how things were progressing with Auditland. According to the editor, he was quite serious.
I am of the opinion that the missing pages of the latest edition of Rabbit Hole have been lost somewhere with the plans for Auditland.
(Just for the record, I am not making up the magazine, the IIA, the location of headquarters, or this story.)
Mike
Rabbit Hole #47...
I, too, received four pages. A Rabbit Hole of any length (depth?) is cause for celebration, but the mystery of page 20 is nibbling upon my compos mentis.
Rabbit Hole #47
What Mitch says. It just hit the mailbox today, but my copy is also just the front page and the back page (for ordering Deathbird Stories)-2 sheets, front & back. Am I missing anything in between?
Rabbit Hole 47
Just grabbed me issue 47 of zee ole' Rabbitz Holez from the trusty rusty old Mailbox, but......
all I have is a pretty blue 4 page extravaganza! Harlan mentions this issue as having 36 pages, but maybe that was a joke of some kind. Just thought I'd bring it up in case there's a problem somewhere. Have a good one, All.
Mitch Keith
Rabbit Hole #47 arrived here today, somewhere in the swamps of Jersey. Thank you, Susan. Thank you, Harlan.
I especially loved page 27 - you know, the mash note J.D. Salinger wrote to Harlan after reading "Paladin of the Lost Hour"? Wonderful, apocryphal stuff! Still waiting for the Ellison-Salinger collaboration he proposed...
KOS, where are your sources, Pally?
The Grand Mufti was installed by Britain until 1948, when Jordan's king did it. The Mufti could not entertain political matters or he would be removed. Arafat removed one such Mufti for saying suicide bombing was a good tactic. That was Arafat.
You cannot talk about anti-semitism and not talk about how our country hated the Jews. We didn't want them in after the good war and Nazi parties were a custom before the war. One side of radical Zionism advocated that the Jews go to Israel instead of America. The Jews, if polled, would have wanted to be here. Much of this was political hackery by the Zionists--or one side of Zionism, since another strain was against a Jewish state. Chomsky was that kind of Zionist back then.
I need to see them sources kiddo.
Aaaahhhh, Saturday. My cellphone is off, my work computer is off. Go f*** the b*st*rds say I.
________________________________________
SUSAN - You mention the Lewis Carroll album by Harlan and Michael York in RH47, along with Blackstone's website and toll free number. Any chance this is also carried directly by HERC???
________________________________________
The new issue of Comic-Con Magazine has several items of interest to Webderlanders' tastes. An interview with Zack Snyder about WATCHMEN; followed by a preview of WonderCon (those of you attending might want to pick up this mag, which is undoubtedly available on the floor somewhere); an interview with Stephan Pastis (creator/artist on the comic strip PEARLS BEFORE SWINE) and Richard Thompson (same for CUL DE SAC); and lastly an interview with AMAZING RACE contestants Bill Kahler and Mark Yturralde (they of the geek squad last season, one of whom nearly passed out while wrestling women in the Andes). (Y'see what happens when you don't watch this show? You miss things like geeks wrestling women in the Andes. Y'see?!)
___________________________________________
And penultilastly, now that Facebook has admitted that maybe they DON'T own the copyright to everything posted on their website, I've put up a Travel-related photo album with a number of shots nobody here has seen (and a few you have). They're from the archive of my as-yet-stillborn travel website THE THUMBNAIL TRAVELER.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69222&id=593857204&l=9d0a5
You don't have to be a member of Facebook to see the album, just cut and paste the above link. Not sure if you can post messages...
____________________________________
HARLAN: I owe you some printouts. Apologies for the delay, but work has been intense for the last couple a weeks. To offer some solace for my delay, I give you the information that March 5th is apparently James' birthday -- and I was wondering if you'd shot any gophers lately...
New Beverly Cinema
Jan:
It's the New Beverly Cinema (no Glen and not anywhere near Beverly Glen).
It was run for 30 years by an old pal of mine, Sherman Torgan, who passed away in '07 unexpectedly. (I used to manage a movie theater down the street, the Pan Pacific, and we'd help each other out with supplies and stuff on occasion, as well as comping one another into our theaters.) I'm happy his family is keeping the place alive.
So if any of you guy to any of the screenings (and I hope to, work permitting), whisper a little hello to Sherman while you're there.
Hux Lee and Meier
Confused Thomas for Julian.
Can't remember what essay I was after.
Oh well. Save evolutionary human religion for later.
Time to read the Talmud Jmmanuel and formulate reasoning as to why the aliens are not trustworthy. A primitive, all-praise-to-the-sky mindset. Or to the heavens, as it were.
THOSE SANCTIMONIOUS ALIENS - I will call it.
I don't think the Doc. will like it. Fond of Origin, him.
Blather - Our country theater will show WATCHMEN. Just a tad bit flabbergasted. They didn't show DARK KNIGHT.
-Zack is Malatesta
Ah,the first sinus infection of the year is soooo exhilarating.
On the plus side, I convinced my three year-old that he didn't need to watch Chicken Little for a *third* time today. So we're watching Wall-E instead.
It got me thinking of 5-6 years ago, Catherine--then three--had gotten into trouble for something or another, and her punishment was that she didn't get to watch any of her movies for the weekend. By Sunday afternoon, she was seriously jonesing for Monsters, Inc. She comes to me with her big blue eyes, "Daddy, can I **pleeeeeeeeaase** watch Monsters?"
I held fast, but offered an alternative. "How about we cuddle up in the chair and watch one of *my* movies?"
"OK."
She then proceeded to watch *Singin'in the Rain* three straight timees. She till watches it every now and then.
Time for more Nyquil.
Josh & Harlan double feature details
This is probably also in the newsletter.
The New Beverly Glen Cinema now has details about the Ellison and Olson-picked double features - http://www.newbevcinema.com
April 23 Dreams with Sharp Teeth 7:30 / The Discarded - Harlan Ellison in person! The legend in flesh and blood!
April 24, 25 All About Eve (1950) / The Big Knife (1955)
April 26, 27, 28 Lost Horizon (1937) / Co-feature TBA
April 29, 30 Stray Dog (1949) / Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Harlan, we know exactly what you're up to. This theatre is very close to Pink's.
I'd love to see some all these on the big screen though.
Regarding Lost Horizon, is this a more or less complete print? I heard more progress was made restoring it and that my VHS is obsolete.
I think Harlan may also have picked the films for the All Day Dolph Lundgren Film Fest on April 18th. So don't miss it.
Josh:
March 8, 9 Josh presents A History of Violence (2005) Sun: 6:30 only; Mon: 7:30 / Straw Dogs (1971)
March 12 "Special guests! New Print of ABAHD!" A Boy and His Dog (1975) 7:30 / Co-feature TBA (1961)
The L.A. Weekly says Harlan comes if schedule permits, and the co-feature is The Day the Earth Caught Fire. (Another silly SF prediction that didn't come true.)
Unknown programmer (could be Josh according to RH46)
March 13, 14 The Exorcist III (1989) / The Ninth Configuration (1980)
(Harlan, you know you're in MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE AVENGERS VOL. 9 HC, available May 20th? Yep, okay.)
(The pirated (I assume) e-book collections on ebay are still selling very well from Ireland:
http://shop.ebay.com/items/_W0QQ_nkwZ100Q27sQ20ofQ20EQ2dBooksQ20Q2dQ20Q2elrfQ20Q2dQ20forQ20sonyQ20readerQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZR40QQ_mdoZ )
KOS, as shagin has been known to say, it's a good thing I wasn't drinking when I read your post re: Kahlil Gibran. I have fond memories of one of my best friends giving a "dramatic reading" of Seasons in the Sun. It was funny (that's me understating).
I read The Prophet as a teenager (just about the same time frame as aforementioned was out, along with JLS). Loved it. Even had a Prophet journal, which I filled with such deep thoughts as "I think Craig really likes me!!!!!" (heart, heart, heart). Then I grew up. I hadn't thought about it again until now.
Diane: as my grandmother used to say, to each his own, as the woman said as she kissed her cow.
Diane, Diane -- please stay!
Don't let the carpers get you down, Diane. Stick around here long enough and everyone will have reamed everyone else at least once. It comes with the territory. I've gone after KOS, and somewhere deep in the archives there's at least one occasion where Harlan ripped me a new one for inadvertantly trampling on one of his fondest memories.
I have no opinion on The Prophet since I've never bothered to read it, but I know my folks were fond of a few passages. _The Brothers Karamazov_, now . . . it's GREAT that you're about to read it. I am, too -- for the fourth time, I think, at the behest of my book discussion group, most of whom will be reading it for the first time. If I'd had my druthers, I'd be rereading one of the Dostoevskys I've only read once before, most likely _Crime and Punishment_ or _The Devils_ (aka _The Possessed_). But the BK is unbeatable. And to think, it was intended as a PRELUDE to the MAIN story Dostoevsky wanted to write about the spiritual journey of Alyosha. But alas, he died three months after finished TBK.
But I digress. This board is huge, it contains multitudes -- in the sense of values, attitudes, and interests. Do stick around, will you? It will surely be worth your while, sooner or later. And if you haven't visited the Bulletin Boards (that "another place" link near the top of this page), you should check it out for more niche-oriented threads devoted to literature, Harlan's writings, politics, pop culture, and the more specific antics and hobbies of the distinctive folk who hang out around here.
(I, for example, just got back from my fourth performance in the starring role of a production of Noel Coward's "Private Lives." There was a reviewer from the Oregonian in the house, reportedly, and so now I'll have a nervous few days' wait to see the results. We were uneven but spirited tonight; I hope she's kind.)
Me, come across as condescending and dismissive?
Okay, ya got me there.
Let me write one thing about the hurt I obviously caused you, Ms. Bartels, and then I will shut my pie hole about "The Prophet", as well as let slip a few days here.
For all my condescension, which is more a matter of my manner and style than it is of considered thought and action, I respect the tastes of others, which is why I centered my comments on the "There's no point in arguing over taste" line.
I still get angry when people tell me the characters in my favorite Heinlein novels are basically cardboard. It hurts to see stories and writers you grew up loving denigrated by those whose taste is different than yours. How can they not hear the "music"?
It is perfectly okay to love a book that someone else, even MANY someone elses, loudly despise. If ANY book speaks to your heart, then it is special, and you SHOULD love it.
Loving an ugly duckling may not change it for the unbelievers, but it is every inch the swan to the ones that love it.
If you enjoy Gibran, never let anyone tell you YOUR taste is anything other than what it is: your very own, considered seriously by you, polished often and perfectly good.
Our tastes differ. Simple.
If you get from "The Prophet" something, anything, close to what I get from books I love, then you should cherish the words and the writer.
There are worse things to do in a world with too little joy.
About the Jews and Arabs living in peace and working things out without the interference of outsiders:
The US did not actually do much to set up Israel as a state in 1947, and nearly voted against the statehood resolution. Truman was unsure until some last minute appeals by American Jewish leaders, as I recall from my reading on it. Israeli statehood was supported far more actively by (wait for it), the Soviet Union. The Soviets knew many of the Jewish leaders in Palestine were pretty far left politically, and saw an opportunity there to gain influence in the region, which at the time was dominated by the USA and Britain. It didn't work out that way, and the Soviets soon had better opportunities to exploit on the Arab side when popular uprisings overthrew several pro-western Arab governments.
Even then, the USA was for years very leery of getting too close to Israel, because it had such huge interests in the Arab nations. Israel was armed mostly by the French right up until the Six Day War, because the USA did not want to be seen by the Arabs as actively aiding their enemy. President Johnson changed all that when he decided to sell the Israelis the top of the line American fighter/bomber, the F-4 Phantom, around 1967. That's when the USA began to meddle big time in the mess.
Not to mention that there were anti-Jewish riots in Palestine well before the UN existed or the USA had any significant influence in the region, during the nineteen-twenties and thirties.
Beginning more than two decades before Israeli statehood, the riots were pogroms, with entire communities of Jews massacred by mobs of Arabs egged on by their leaders. I have an old book by a European journalist, Pierre van Paasen, titled "Days of our Years", published in the nineteen-thirties. It contains an account of his visit to Hebron, a city in Palestine, after one of those riots. It's pretty illuminating to read the horrific details of that visit, and then realize it was before ANY Jewish forces took ANY sort of action against Arabs. The hatred was for the alien presence amongst them, not for anything the Jews had done. An all too human story. Xenophobia is universal. It's happening now in South Africa, where mobs of locals are killing immigrants from other southern African nations, refugees in many cases from repression and war.
Van Paasen also interviewed the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who helped incite those early riots. He was the -elected- head of the Muslim community in Palestine in that period. He wanted the Jews out of Palestine. This was before Israel existed, remember. He later wound up spending most of World War Two in Berlin, making speeches over Radio Berlin to the Arab's inciting them to fight against the Allies. The NA\azi's loved his blue eyes, they could not get enough of a blue eyed Arab that hated Jews as much as they did. When he had a spare moment from his radio gig, not to mention those siorees with Goebbels and Hitler, he was usually off leading SS recruitment drives in Muslim communities of the Balkans. This piece of work then, after his Nazi buddies and benefactors went toes up, hied himself back to the Middle East, and was sheltered there by the Arab governments from any war crime charges. Since the USA and Britain wanted to make nice with the Arabs, they let it go.
The whole Middle East is as messy, muddy and ugly as, well, as anyplace. But we all think we have a dog in that fight, so it looms larger in our minds.
That's why I won't argue about it. I just like to state facts sometimes.
I am so out of here.
KOS
Frank said: "Steve King is hopeful that three chord rock will make a comeback. With Springsteen playing the Superbowl you never know.
Actually, guitar rock is like the Energizer Bunny. Blue collar kids just like their noise."
King is dead-on correct, and I couldn't be happier. Yep, the blue collar kids are at it again.
Of course, you can't rely on radio, even satellite radio, to deliver the goods. Get yerself to a reputable news stand and plunk down nine bucks and change for this month's issue of CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE.
The February issue (with Deep Purple on the cover) contains a CD sampler of no less than 15 brand new songs from 15 (basically) brand new bands.
Not a single one of these bands will you hear on the radio. But the music on this CD has more art, craft and intelligence than most people's entire record collections. And it's loud and ballsy to boot.
I, too, thought rock music was dead, and during much of the last 15 years, it was. But it has been rekindled with a passion. Don't miss out!
MS. BARTELS REDUX
I was so busy tugging my forelock, that I failed to make the INTELLIGENT response, which is this:
When I was ten or so, I stumbled across THE RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. There hasn't been a week since then, close on 65 years ago, that I have not opened that same old brittle-brown-paged, chipped, falling-apart Avon paperback I later acquired who-knows-when, and read The Real Thing that (in my reasonably intelligent and informed opinion) a phony sentimentalist like Gibran emulated, parodied, baldly swiped, and disenfranchised.
Love him if you will, Diane, but understand that for some of us The True Creation should not be trammeled by hacks trying to fill the shoes of the Masters who have gone before them.
I guess I don't know when to stop, and I've likely fried your frijoles all over again. I am sighing, and I am sorry. For prodding your bear in its cage.
Harlan
DEAR DIANE
Oh, dear.
Honest to pete, Diane Bartels, I would not have upset you, even allowing for "de gustibus non disputandum," but of course you understand that I Could Have Had No Way of Knowing. I feel very badly that I have trod on a fave of yours. (I will have to say a second time, because of the tone-deaf nature of the internet, I am genuinely sorry, no undertone, no sub-text.) You are a nice person, and were we having this exchange in my actual Art Deco Dining Pavilion here at the house, instead of what is, at best, e.insufficiently, you would see the distress in my expression.
That said, with sincerity, you must ALSO realize what a dopey thing it is for you to have said you don't feel like posting here again; that you don't feel like being at one with us--and we're nice people, too, Diane--because our taste in reading matter diverges. It is akin to a Creationist telling Sinclair Gas s/he will never use the petrol again because they don't have a man alongside the dinosaur on their logo.
It is a thought, however distressed you might be at KOS and me, that is flummery. (As Nero Wolfe was wont to characterize such empty "threats.") That's one thing. My opinion of Gibran's New Agey outpourings are unchanged by your anger, and as I would not dim one megawatt of your affection for his book(s), so I would beg you not to fulminate so unfairly at my stating MY position. Little did I realize that among the multitude of matters that can raise the hackles--from Frank&Israel to the bobbing head of Nancy Pelosi and her OldWashington partisan standing ovations that made it impossible for me to enjoy my new President's important speech...from religion to labor relations...from sexuality to senseless abstention...who the hell would've thought THE PROPHET would so dement one of you.
I do not, as I said, back off one iota. BUT...
BUT...
I am truly penitent at having caused you contumely.
Harlan
I Done Been Ripped Off !
Received my Rabbit Hole #47, but I'm missing 32 pages! I done been buggered!
PS, Adam-Troy, picked up your new novel as well. Haven't read the first in the series yet, but will probably eat them both up some time this year.
-TODD
KOS: Aaaaaaaaaa-men!
-he
KOS: Aaaaaaaaaa-men!
-he
Space Cadet Shellenbarger Reporting In!
RH Vol.12/#3 was received in the Constellation Arizona, the Sector of Phoenix 0n 2009/02/27.
ATC: I agree with Steve B's comments, a well thought out piece on SDM vs. M. I enjoyed it greatly.
Space Cadet Shellenbarger Signing Off!
Just over a year ago, The New Yorker ran a profile of Kahlil Gibran. It's available online at
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/01/07/080107crbo_books_acocella
As for _why_ Harlan might want to consult a book he regards as "awful," well, I understand. Somewhere in my house, buried in boxes, are books written by UFO contactees, Pat Robertson, phony 'expoerts" in "Satanic ritual abuse" and more. Research on projects abandoned or completed.
Shame on you, Harlan Jay Ellison. Also shame on you, KOS. There is absolutely nothing, not a thing, wrong with The Prophet. You two just happen not to like it. It is a perfectly good book; no, it ain't fucking Shakespeare, and it ain't Asimov and it ain't Hemingway. But it is not supposed to be any of those fucking things. Anymore than Hemingway is supposed to be Shakespeare or Ellison Asimov. The pretentious, overbearing attitude you both displayed towards the book is just fucking really annoying, and rude. It's been one of my favorite books since I read it first at 15. And just for the record, I have a B.A. in English lit., a paralegal certificate, and 2 years of law school at Chicago-Kent, where I graded onto the law review before for I had to drop out because of an increase in my physical disabilities.
I have read Moby Dick, Steinbeck, Faulkner, the Russians, Ibsen, Dickens, Joyce, etc. Enjoyed most of them. I find the condescension in both your attitudes towards the book extremely offensive and less than intelligent. It makes me not want to post on this site or even read it any longer. Shame on both of you.
Frank, in my new book purchases is a Noam Chomsky reader. I started with an interview of him which opens the book. He began with a description of the experiences he had on a kibbutz in Israel. He made me wonder again how different our world would be is the United States and the United Nations had left the area alone to develop nationhood slowly and gradually, with the Jews and Arabs cultivating the land together. How sad the whole thing is. Also bought the Brothers Karamazov and started it.
A conversation between my mother and I a few years back:
Mom: "You tell people thank you when they do something for you. Why won't you let people say the same when you do something for them?"
Self: "Because I feel like I've done something wrong when they do."
Mom: "Okay, I was wrong. THAT'S the dumbest thing you've ever said."
My mother...patron saint of tact. And usually right in spite of it.
***
SUSAN: You're welcome.
Sandra
Art and Taste
I've no idea who first aid it, and it's one of those tihngs that;s certainly been sid a gazillion times anyay, but in fancy dancy Latin it's "de gustibus non disputandum".
I like to imagine Porky Pig saying it whenever I type it.
Roughly meaning "there's no arguing about taste" , but you knew that.
One of my belief's, not original, is that we need reminding more often than we need educating. That's why I so often come across as a "knowitall". I'm as much reminding myself as perhaps imagining I might remind someone else reading me, not to mention that I also act as if I actually -am- a knowitall. I know (saw that coming, did you?) this is aggravating, but there it is.
Anywho, about taste: Kahlil Gibran and "the Prophet" probably cross my memory traces about once every year when I pass that shelf in whatever mega-bookstore I am in that typically contains such "Inspirational" perennials as "The Prophet". The sand colored cover with that weird sketch of, I presume, Gibran, is usually there.
I'd never read it, as best I can recall. My only exposure to it was in fifth or sixth grade, Either my regular teacher or one of those "roving teachers" (do they still have them?) that teach art, music or even poetry read some of it to us and went on to an sufficient extent that I can recall it decades later. I remember being told in True Believer tones how Great and Powerful a Work of Literature it was. That put me off it Big Time. Kids pick up on those sort of Unreal Vibes from that sort of personality, everytime. It's a survival mechanism. I can see it having been very useful in avoiding crazy people back in cave man times, and getting passed down, reinforced every generation, since we have never had a shortage of crazy, near as I can tell. Crazy people can be entertaining, but they are also, well, crazy. As in unpredictable. Kids hate that. They want predictable in daily life. Of course, thirteen year olds love unpredictability, but then again, they're not children.
Anyway, I recall hearing that "The Prophet" was great, was inspirational, you likely also know the spiel about Significance and Meaning.
So I avoided it. I wanted trashy pulp fiction. I wanted Science Fiction. I wanted eyepop's in my stories, goshwow moments. Adrenaline and sex hormones sublimated in fantastic tropes. If I occasionally wanted Art and Meaning, I could always read Bradbury, because he was also Fun.
But "The Prophet" was always there, spotted here and there in the March of Folly. There was always the Sensitive Guy who carried it around like a talisman. The English instructor that placed it in a prominent place on desk or bookcase of class or office. The Sensitive Girl with soft eyes who kept it on her nightstand to read before softly folding her hands beneath her delicate chin and faling to dreams of, well, probably of the Sensitive Guy who never asked her out.
When Harlan poted his request for a copy of "The Prophet", with his small aside about it's failings as a work of literature, I had to go read some of it. You know how it is with train wrecks, whether they're actually wrecks of trains or of words? Sometimes you just got to spread your fingers a half-inch or so, and -peek-?
Who knows if it was the translator or the original author, but what a load of sentimental sappy half-baked fauz poesy.
As if Rod McKuen were to channel "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" and then strain it through the lyric sensibility of "The Captain and Tenille".
No one under fifty should understand the previous sentence. This is one reason there is hope for the future.
The best I can figure, the reason "The Prophet" is in print: it's gotten a LOT of people laid who would otherwise be alone with their fantasies.
Of course, that's why about ninety-per cent of modern civilization was invented and is still allowed to keep hanging around.
Hmm, and Theodore Sturgeon pointed out that ninety per cent of everything is crap? There might be a connection.
No accounting for taste, indeed.
KOS
Adam Troy Castro, I posted on your site.
---------------
Look at this crazy shit:
http://wcbstv.com/national/hillary.clinton.israel.2.945238.html
Notice who they don't ask for comments.
--------------
Steve King is hopeful that three chord rock will make a comeback. With Springsteen playing the Superbowl you never know.
Actually, guitar rock is like the Energizer Bunny. Blue collar kids just like their noise.
----------
Collectively sipping from the communal spigot, let's give the kids clean water: Obama, get us out of Iraq. No peace keepers, no anything. We have to get out now.
Not for Prophet motives
I have never read the book, but, thankfully, I only heard the album once.
It has readings and songs.
I think I am not a father partially due to this.
Brian Phillips
To Steve B.
Yes, I'll be rambling about SC ghosts at ConCarolinas. It's all part of my grand plan to heckle the "Ghost Hunters" from a panel at DragonCon instead of risking the loot by doing from the floor.
Thank you to:
The Great Morans: You made my life a little easier. The gift of chocolates came at a time when I had the WORST COLD EVER. Two days in bed stuffing my face got me through it. Thank you.
I think I did, but if I didn't..."thank you" to Shagin for the very kind gift from a couple of months ago. Much appreciated.
With very kind regards--Susan
ATC - Excellent piece. I agree with you wholeheartedly that two even-closely-related works of art should never be compared, but that's just the nature of the beast. Everything tends to be measured (as you do in the column) against the percieved "best" in any field.
I have not seen either of the two films you discuss, but would venture the following: "good" is in the eye/ear/senses of the beholder. A perfect example if this is the controversially "good" film MOULIN ROUGE. Some people insist it's crap, others insist it's really a wonderfully done film. (I'm in the latter group, but fifteen minutes into it I overheard my sister in law as she leaned into my wife and said "what the HELL are we watching???")
But I do completely agree with your point (from a theoretical level) regarding the role of the protagonist in a film. I've got no reason to doubt your argument about the protagonists in either of these films and how they impact your ultimate opinion.
(Wow. Is that vague enough to escape "spoilerage" but at the same time convey a partially coherent comment???)
______________________________________________
"I'm on this damned diet and..." Observation: Is it me, or do the last few bits of fiber cereal floating in milk bear an uncanny resemblance to viruses on a medical slide???
______________________________________________
TALLY - A belated congrats on the Con invite. Very cool. (Discussing SC ghosts or is it another topic???) As someone who has never graduated beyond hecklin...er, WATCHING others as they talk, it looks like a lot of fun.
MILK vs. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
(One of the occasional posts from my own newsgroup, elsewhere, that I feel I must cc here. It's lengthy; I provide the URL because that's less intrusive. But do read this. Essentially: why I found SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE profoundly unsatisfying, and why MILK showed me why. One of my better rants, I think.)
http://webnews.sff.net/read?cmd=read&group=sff.people.adam-troy-castro&artnum=29590
Thanks to Alan and Paul
I appreciate the advice. I'll keep in all in mind and put it in practice. Paul, I hope you bought the wife some of my books during your spree.
Harlan, Ok, no problem, I'll mail it today to your home. (I still have the address from when we replaced one of the broken sailing ship glasses from the quake about a decade ago.)
RH 47
Rabbit Hole #47 landed in faraway Glendale. Muchas Gracias.
About Libraries
In defense of Harlan (not that he needs defending) and the recent poster's wondering why he just doesnt use the local library for said book in question--
I myself have to use Amazon as well as Albiris (or is it Alibris?) online books, because your basic local library (even one as large as L.A.'s probably won't have a book. Especially an old copy of something you'd really, really like to read. It's just the way it is.
Oh sure, they'll have dozens of copies of James Patterson and Stephen King, but something that may be recently out of print, by an author who only sold 285 copies of a really good book that nobody bought (with the rest of the copies getting sent back to get pulped), is much more difficult to accomplish
Besides, libraries (like many good used bookstores)have only so much physical space and they have to deal with zillions of books that are already part of their catalog in addition to deciding any new titles to buy (and make room for) each year in addition to the inexcusably small operating budgets they are forced to deal with. (And here's an idea--We build large "wings" for hospitals and colleges through donations--the mind is just as important as the body--how come more local wealthy folks don't drop a tax incentived donation to a local library that could USE another few thousand feet of space and help out the next generation of readers eager to USE the library systems of America? There are thousands of books published EACH year and the libraries, many of which may have the money to buy the books, may not have the ROOM, which is sad)
Also-- I would think the new "free" copies of older tomes that have been made available online (can't think of names right now- sorry) more than likely wouldn't have a copy either because, as I said, thats just the way it is.
If I had the book I'd help him out no questions asked but alas, I don't. But I understand his plight.
Hope you find a copy Harlan.
CHARLIE:
Yes, I'd like to take you up on the offer. Via HERC, or to me directly at my home address if you have it. You can get same on the downlow via Rick Wyatt or Steve Barber. I'll get the book back to you ASAP. Postage will be repaid, of course.
Thanks, Charlie. Harlan
Gibran
Harlan, If you choose not to use any of the aforementioned options, I'm happy to shoot my copy your way when you say the word.
The Prophet is online
"The Prophet" is online, the full text at:
http://www.angelfire.com/wi2/ULCds/gibranA.html
I have no idea if it is authorized, but it seems pretty high visibility to be a pirate "edition".
KOS
Last time, I promise
Keith -- not Harlan's can I'm worried about at the mo'.
Anyway, there is this, no doubt illegal, posting within the U.S.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/gibran/prophet/prophet.htm
, but it would be ironic if HE went that route. Should work on dialup, though.
The Prophet
Oh, just one more thing, he Columboed --
onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/search?author=gibran&amode=words
That link will take you to the Online Books Page listing for Gibran's works online. The text of The Prophet is listed as available at an Australian site, with no US access. Depending on the site linked to, you may or may not be able to pull up the text anyway (a no-no from the US), or if you're just trying to nail down a quotation, perhaps some Australian webderlander can pull up the text and confirm it for you.
Bests,
--tr
The Prophet?
Harlan,
On the off chance that you're just needing to nail down phrasing on a quote --
You might find the book's listing on Amazon, pick one of the editions that has the "Look Inside" feature available, and use its "Search Inside the Book" function. If you can't recall enough of the passage to get a hit when you search, you might just try searching numbers one after another -- you may get a hit on the page number and be able to scan quite a bit of the book that way depending on the edition and how much was made available.
Bests,
--tr
douchbags
Oh nameless poster...of COURSE Harlan is going to open up a can of whoop-ass on us wiseasses. Why hide? Go naked into the rain and be cleansed.
amen
-keith
Wicked witch, Dorothy and Toto are at the 5 and Dime.
Harlan,
One word: Library.
-Keith
not asking _why_, but wouldn't a library be faster?
I find it hard to believe that HE (or his current assistant) doesn't possess a library card. Surely there is one reasonably closeby. And that *being compelled to return the vile thing* is built in to the very concept.
(Sorry Mr. Ellison -- I know you don't like nameless posts, but there a variety of reasons that people use them.)
As Tom notes, RH 47 (at least 11% of it) arrived in LB.
RH47 and...
Susan,
RH47 arrived safely to my corner of Orange County today. Good job as always.
The talk of Philip Farmer and his story in DV made me want to post my description of reading that story, but I had the feeling that I had already done that. So I dug through the archives and found it. If you will indulge a repeat I will resurrect a portion of my post on impressions of the 2006 WorldCon in Anaheim. From 8-28-06:
Watching one of Harlan's speeches reminds me of when I was first making my way through Dangerous Visions and came to Riders of the Purple Wage. You sit down in a comfy chair to see what is next in this great collection. Then you start reading. And you quickly realize that the comfy chair is gone, you have been jammed into a roller coaster car and it is time to strap in and hold on tight. For over 70 pages you hold on and in the end you finally, slowly, release your grip and say "Whew". A Harlan speech is kind of like that.
I read of his death on the board yesterday and Harlan’s reaction to it. Later in the evening after I dropped Katie off at the library I drove across a couple parking lots to the mouth of the canyon so I could hear the end of All Things Considered on NPR. I had heard earlier that they were going to talk to J.J. Cale, a musician of whom I am a huge fan. I found a spot to pick up the station without too much static and heard J.J. talk to the obviously younger interviewer about making an album at age 70. He joked about how he doesn’t write as many songs about sex and drugs and rock’n’roll as he used to (he wrote the song Cocaine, which Clapton covered for a huge hit). He also spoke of how the only bad thing about being an “old guy” is that so many of the people who understand what you know are gone. Made me think of Harlan.
The interview can be heard on the All Things Considered website, it’s a good listen. If any of you aren’t familiar with Mr. Cale you should remedy that situation. Pick up the first album, Naturally. It will hook you.
A good day to all here.
SHIT HELL DAMMIT !!!!
The title of the book is, of course, THE PROPHET.
By Kahlil Gibran.
Not any other of the 13 million books of sugary crap he created, just the first one, the original: THE PROPHET.
-he
I WISH TO BORROW AN AWFUL BOOK
Please try to hold in check your insatiable need to know WHY I do some of the peculiar things I do, such as this. Thank you, in advance.
I wish to borrow a copy of Kahlil Gibran's lachrymose faux- OmarKhayyam book of "poetry."
I will return it, same condition received, soon after I receive it. Perhaps two-three weeks at the outside. Condition no concern. I cannot bring myself to Amazon a copy, even if they have 10,000 of them available, at best price 1 cent. Because if I buy it, I won't be able to throw it out, and if I just borrow it, I'll DEFINITELY be compelled to return it.
So if you have one gathering dust in an old bookcase, would you please send it along c/o HERC? I thank you in advance.
Don't ask. Just don't ask.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
Catching Up
Catching up on randomous bits:
Re: "In The HouseOf Caesar": I actually got it from a website devoted to Robert E. Howard.
http://www.rehupa.com/?page_id=167
One "Rusty Burke" did some research. De Camp believed Howards famous couplet typed just before his suicide was a paraphrase from (quoting Burke) "Ernest Dowson’s “Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae” (or “Cynara”)".
Burke found a copy of an 1926 poetry anthology that contained two poems Howard was known to have quoted, one in a story, the other in eulogizing a friend. In that same collection, "Songs of Adventure", was "In The House Of Caesar", and Burke believes the overall tone of that poem matches Howard's personality better than the Dowson piece.
Interesting subject, as I have been working with Gary Lee on a Howard Biopic script for a couple years. While it's more or less "finished", we're always tweaking it and looking for new angles. It got -this- close to being optioned, until it fell into "Rights Hell" with some Swedish (!) media conglomerate that owns all of Howard's characters. I think they're primarily known for video games (Paradox Entertainment), which doth not bode well.
Michael Mayhew: That you knew of both Amyx and Roach at USC means we were likely classmates, even if only at some remove. At the time I was there, a fellow who I believe was named "Mc/MacGregor: was the temporary department chairman. He was my teacher for the first production class, the super eight one. Kring was the TA in it. Roach and Amyx were in that class also. It's like basic training in the Atmy, you remember those people that went through it with you. I imagine Clarion and other writing workshops are like that also. Other names: Sam Kaufman, I acted (well, I tried to act) in one of Sam's films for that class; Joel Hailey, a Texan attorney changing careers; and Cynthia Cohen. I had a Japanese-American teacher for tech, taught me all about sound, sound editing and lighting, Rick Jewell taught a magnificent class on the history of RKO, with his coffee table book on RKO as the text. Marsha Kinder befuddled me endlessly with her interminable lectures on film theory, until I realized it was all post-modern bullshit, and stopped attending. Feh. Arthur Knight was a character. I took his sumposium class, and he taught my study section for that class (maybe he did that for all sections, I do not recall). The one thing I took away from the whole school was that it's people who make films, not Little Tin God's and Goddesses. People, with all the good and bad that is inherent thereto.
The only time ever I saw Philip Jose Farmer was at my first convention, MidAmericon in Kansas ity,MO, the 1976 Worldcon. He was about, approachable, and yet for some reason I never IIRC asked him for an autograph or tried to engage him in conversation. He seemed too happy. too much "in his element" for me to bother. Kind looking, always accompaned by a lovely lady who was likely his wife. He never failed to smile when someone did speak to him. I watched him in some awe, while waiting in line one evening outdoors. It was a semi-balmy late midwestern summer evening, the line was for the Hugo Awards ceremony, to be held in a municipal theater across the street fom the convention hotel. Farmer seemed happy, sharing stories and joking with other writers in line near him. I wound up sitting just two rows behind him. He had an easy personal style. In fact, now that I think about it, he was in life much like his prose: accessible, unobtrusive and yet deep. Famous or not, he treated those about him with the same easy manner and consideration. Overall, he appeared to be one of the rare people who are completely aware of their humanity, can from that awareness occasionaly transcend the human condition, yet also always remain quintessentially one with the rest of us. While part of me wishes I had said "hello", the better part of me is satisfied to have seen him as he was, and not broken the spell of that magic hour. I hope I have not drawn too much from what was such a limited experience of the man, but he charmed me nevertheless.
He was the best writer of pure adventure I have yet read.
"Riders of the Purple Wage" was the best single story in the best original SF anthology.
We shall not see his like again.
KOS
K.M. KIRBY, SAN FRANCISCO
Er, uh, harrumph.
I spent about an hour very very early this morning, after an unsteady up&down, walking-around-in-a-dark-house restless night, poring over stacks of old photos. About two dozen of them, sent to me over the years (or delivered by hand) were of you. As a baby. As a baby with a fedora. As a baby with me lying on the carpet in muu-muu, entertaining you. You walking. You falling down. You putting inedible objects in your gawping maw. Your cheeks. At both ends of Terra InCogcheekdom.
How much is it now worth, to you, fellah, for me NOT to release these pix to FIELD & STREAM? Or to WHO'S WHO? for their infamous WHAT'S THIS? section.
I'm listening.
Ellison
Ahoy, Conventioneers
Are all these recent, con-related postings referring to the Wondercon? I'm there now, getting in some early volunteer time, and will probably have a free weekend pass for the asking.
Also, in all probability, a ten-minute con video piece should be postable by monday.
TALLY
I have never been a guest at a con, but have attended many, and seen many a guest sitting behind a table.
1. Most of all, you need to be prepared mentally. People can be both overwhelmingly great or overwhelmingly disgusting. If you are mentally prepared to be complimented or insulted by any visitor to your table, you'll survive the experience. You may find times when nobody talks to you for an hour, or you may find times when there is a line at the table.
2. Make sure you have access to drinkable water at all times. Dehydration affects the mind, which could make dealing with people more difficult, or make your thinking fuzzy.
3. Make sure there is time for you to get to a bathroom every couple hours. Getting caught needing to go, then having to wait for an hour will make you tense. And scrub yours hands completely after--not because of anything you might have, but because of what others may have.
4. Take some anti-bacterial hand wash to your table. Use it every few minutes. Many attendees at the comic book convention in New York a couple weeks ago came down with colds. These conventions are germ incubators, and not every person you come into contact with practices good personal hygiene.
5. Wear comfortable shoes. Don't wear new shoes. I made that mistake. After about 3 hours of a planned 2-day convention stay, I had a huge blister and was done and on my way home.
6. Have fun!
To William Sherman
Thanks for the advice. It seems to be a good place to make a debut, since it's more of a local Con. Since I am a fan who may be selling books, the big test will be not to go in costume.
Robert, your story was one with which I can identify. As you know, my kids are aorund the age of the child you saved. Unyielding vigilance is the price a parent of small children must pay but sometimes every parent forgets that for a moment. It strikes me that it could have been MY kid you saved and, even though it was not, I am very glad you acted as you did. Never question what you did in regard to this incident, you performed what we would call in Judaism, a mitzvah. Nice job, my friend, and I hope you continue to look and feel well.
Harlan, my deepest condolences on the loss of your friend. The world is a poorer place without Mr. Farmer.
A Few Easy Pieces
Dear Mr. Ellison (upon your return) et al.:
Tally--congrats on being invited to a convention. As a patron of cons in the Boston area, my advice for your first con would entail just soaking up the experiences. Think of yourself as a fan selling books. You'll be little-known to fellow fans, but some will seek out new authors, so be friendly and polite, and enjoy.
To everyone: excellent obituary in today's "New York Times" on Mr. Farmer. Recommend highly.
Off to re-read "Riders of the Purple Wage" in "Dangerous Visions".
Regards.
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
Philip Jose Farmer
I had been planning on writing Mr. Farmer someday to discuss "Riders of the Purple Wage". Now, sad to say, that opportunity is gone.
But the stories are still there.
I wanted to tell him how much I admired his writing skill and what he had to say. I would have loved to have just one discussion with him about anything. It more than likely would have been an evening to remember.
You were a lucky man, Mr. Ellison, to know someone with a mind like that. Mr. Farmer will definitely be missed.
I consider myself lucky that I get to write to you on this website, along with everyone else here. When the world gets too crazy, this place is great to come to. It's a breath of fresh air amongst all the bad news that the media sees fit to print.
When the time is right, I'd like to talk to you someday about "Riders of the Purple Wage." Until then, consider yourself hugged.
Philip Jose Farmer.
Another great voice has gone silent. Fortunately he left a legacy through his works and the memories of his friends.
My father was a real proponent of "oral histories", and while it may not be recorded I'd like to add to the requests for some memories of the man from anyone (Harlan) who really knew him.
Incidentally, not meaning to leave this out: my sincerest condolences for Phil Farmer's passing.
Condolences and other news
Harlan- So sorry to hear about Phil Farmer. The work lives on. I know that's weak tea at a time like this. We're here and we all care.
In other, hopefully more pleasant news, I will be a guest at my first Con this year. I will be at ConCarolinas in Charlotte sometime from May 29 to May 31. I have no idea what to expect, having only gone to dragoncon once as a paying customer to meet Harlan. ANY advice from those who know would be appreciated either here or via the above email address. And I do mean ANY. I'll be pimping my three books of SC ghostlore, not standard fiction, if that matters. Hope to see some of you there.
Phil Farmer
Harlan:
When you come back, I think we'd all love to hear stories about Phil Farmer. I only know his magical work, but I know nothing of the man.
And I highly recommend is WORLD OF TIERS books to all of you.
Robert Ross: Often, we mere mortals must do those things which God in his Almighty Absence can or will not (and to all children, at some point, until we learn otherwise, Mom and Dad are Gods). I don't know whether I could have resisted confronting that lady (and by "confronting" I mean "giving a good shake to"; the older I get the more volatile I seem to become on such issues as parental responsibility), but it sounds as though you handled the situation appropriately. Whether she rated a public dressing down or not, no child needs to see that happen to his or her mommy. You done a good thing, sir. And good luck with the chemo - we need you to stick around.
Steve Barber: I imagine passing milestones feels like passing a certain other kind of stone. Thank goodness I'm not prone to either! Seriously, though, thank you for the kind words and wishes.
Cindy: My only kinfolks in Austin are the variety one chooses, not those one is born (sometimes shackled) to. I think I'm closer to them for that. I attended the month-long Summer Theater Workshop at UT, in 1981, then lived there from '87 to '91. At the moment, I'm in Oklahoma City, waiting to sort out my mother's estate, but I actually live in Los Angeles.
KOS: Thanks for "The House of Caesar". A bit of it turned up in Robert Howard's suicide note, and I've always wondered whether it was original to him or elsewhere.
On PJF: My reading hasn't been exhaustive, but I have read enough of the man's work to say this - it always, ALWAYS, whether I liked the particular story or not (and I usually did), touched me somewhere emotionally. He might have inspired awe, rage, hilarity, fill in whatever emotional response you wish, but I never finished a Farmer story thinking "So what?" or "Meh..." He always gave my passions a working-over. It takes not only a good writer, but someone with a special line on humanity to do that so consistently and brilliantly. I can only vaguely imagine what the man himself must have been like.
Harlan and Susan, my heart is with you both.
...now comes the dark night of the soul
wherein any unlikely light
falls upon blind, weeping eyes...
r.i.p. PJF
My Sojourn Chapter Three
I was PLANNING to use this space to offer a sort of stream-of-consciousness entry about my trip, which took me from Queens NY (my first behind-the-wheel experience ever thru the frenzied canyons of NYC) to Kent, Connecticut.
But having spent part of this day going thru the photos and records I retrieved, to assemble it all into an album, I came across an item I'd COMPLETELY forgotten. And I mean COMPLETELY (note that SOME stuff in that place I just grabbed in handfuls, to save time, so I don't entirely yet what I have in the spoils).
Leo was with us until I was nine years old. He, my mother, and I occasionally gathered in the house to play a game, a sort of Godwin-Shelley-Byron tradition, where we'd take turns uttering a topic to which we'd write a poem. The time allowed to write it was something like 15 minutes. Then we'd each read aloud what we had.
Turns out my mother kept those. I'm looking at 'em right now.
Here's one I wrote - and this was when I was 8 or 9:
On Money
Is it money? Is that our King?
Well, gee, I THOUGHT it was the Divine.
Is money not our life-long vine?
Or is it the People merely hailing the Weeds of Hell, hollowed eyes never knowing? To Buy. To Sell. To Wither.
No other idols to bow before, we are forever trapped in the Weeds of Hell.
Alright! Alright! It's corny as hell! It's from a damn 8-year-old Commie, OK? That's when you have a RIGHT to be corny!
Here's a nice one Leo wrote (and here you'll see who shaped my socio-political eye):
Sitting Bull
White Man raped the virgin Indians,
Then came genocide to destroy them,
With his cruel greedy rush for gold,
Transformed the dark green hills to sand dunes,
Fenced in all his small possessions where once
The roaming Red Man lived the life of God,
Then came the cold steel tracks of trains,
To help decimate and destroy the buffalo
Then the wagon trains, road makers for the concrete highway,
Now destruction of all verdure, and the birth of vile pollution,
And soon we breathe and live no longer
And yearn for return to the Red Man's way.
This was most likely inspired by the book he'd been reading, 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee'.
Yeah. Leo, then in his early 80's, passed away about a year or so later. A very conscientious man on such issues as race, history, politics, and Capitalism.
And to think I'd repressed these memories for some years, which, for a time, WAS necessary.
Incidentally, I also came across photos and event flyers showing my mother when she was in her early 20's, as a singer at Carnegie Hall. That was LONG before she'd met my dad. She told me how, eventually, her drinking ruined her voice. Yet - and this is the sort of thing that always distressed me - THAT realization never STOPPED her from bingeing over the 30 years or so. She ruined her life. And, for a time, I got taken down WITH her.
I'm striving to turn that around, for both myself AND her. It's just a drag no other family - from EITHER her side, OR my dad's - ever tried to help or check in on us or express concern about her. There's a burning anger inside of me because of that. But I'm going to turn that around one day.
In Pace Requiescat
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
You have my deepest condolences, Mr. Ellison. Another literary light snuffed out; another full harvest for the Death Angel. Remembered him in my prayers during Ash Wednesday services today.
First story read (and the hook): "Mother". Simply blew me away and lead me to the "Riverworld" series. (Loved the scene in "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" when Hermann Goering dies. Wonderful.) My SF reading group plans to read one of his non-"Riverworld" novels in April or May. Glad that Pavilionites discussed "Riders" before Mr. Farmer's passing. Sign of his talent and effect on all of us, especially through "Dangerous Visions".
As the former owner/office manager of a long-term health care facility, though, I must say that ninety-one years represents a long, full life as a writer and library patron, despite his declining health, a la Jack Williamson. His work endures.
Regards on this sad start to Lent,
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
Philip Jose Farmer
*sigh*
My first copy of Dangerous Visions was the 1975 paperback; I was just 12 at the tim, and half of the stories skipped merrily over my head. Riders of the Purple Wage was one such story, but I just kept re-reading it. The WTF tableau of the opening, the dreadful puns..but the point of the story eluded me for several more years.
A few years later, I got my hands on Doc Savage: An Apocalyptic Life and A Feast Unknown. My older brothers had gotten me hooked on Doc Savage and The Avenger, and watching Farmer weave their threads, along with those of the other great adventurers, caught me in that young fanboy manner--he GOT it! He loved and revered these stories as I did, and wanted to be a part of that legacy.
JORDAN--You hit it right on the head. Farmer's prose was so easy to read...you just cruise through it, and then suddenly the ideas start to coalesce in the wake and you do a mental double-take as the implications sink in...
Harlan, I'm so sorry.
As for me, I'll be reading RotPW yet again later this evening. The story may have finally revealed its secrets, but the poetry remains.
P.J. Farmer
ALL: Even on the otherside of the world, news of Mr. Farmer's passing has made the local, online, papers (I'm sure the hardcopy papers will follow suit). A world-class writer, to be sure. It was a pleasure to help out on one of his last collections (because all did was read and try to pick out as many great stories as the publisher, and allote space, would allow). He's left an empty space in the world.
HARLAN: Condolences, and warm wishes.
-Dorman
It's hours later, now. I've tried a few times in the interim to enter several thoughts; and I plummet each time. I mistyped Bette Farmer's name. It was a black moment. So I will do it one more once, quickly, and hope I can get there this time.
I thank KOS again for his mailing.
I need to tell Robert Ross, in the words of that wise man among good men, Antonio Porchia, "We live only in hopes of becoming a memory," and that somewhere tonight a kid lives who might not've; and even in the midst of your personal torment, you demonstrated yet again...again, Robert...and we go back...you demonstrated once again that you are pluperfectly what my Dad told me when I was a kid, was the best thing you could ever hope to be:
You are a mensch.
I may go away for a day or two. Please do not worry, do not fret. And though I feel the kindness of your words, please do not expend commiserations on me. I'm here, I'm okay, and the least I can do toward the memory of a man I loved and admired since 1951, is to cry in the lee of his going far away forever.
Thank you, though. Harlan
RIP, Philip Jose Farmer
Philip Jose Farmer is one of those writer whose prose are what I call "compulsively readable" meaning one of those writers whose work requires no special effort of focus or intentional mindset to enjoy; his words go down smooth and resonate with the soul. That he is no longer among us is devastating pause, but only a pause. His words give form to his immortality.
Waiting for the riverboat
For Philip Jose Farmer -
THE HOUSE OF CÆSAR
Yea — we have thought of royal robes and red.
Had purple dreams of words we uttered;
Have lived once more the moment in the brain
That stirred the multitude to shout again.
All done, all fled, and now we faint and tire –
The Feast is over and the lamps expire!
Yea — we have launched a ship on sapphire seas,
And felt the steed between the gripping knees;
Have breathed the evening when the huntsman brought
The stiffening trophy of the fevered sport –
Have crouched by rivers in the grassy meads
To watch for fish that dart amongst the weeds.
All well, all good — so hale from sun and mire –
The Feast is over and the lamps expire!
Yet — we have thought of Love as men may think,
Who drain a cup because they needs must drink;
Have brought a jewel from beyond the seas
To star a crown of blue anemones.
All fled, all done — a Caesar’s brief desire –
The Feast is over and the lamps expire!
Yea — and what is there that we have not done,
The Gods provided us ‘twixt sun and sun?
Have we not watched an hundred legions thinned,
And crushed and conquered, succored and sinned?
Lo — we who moved the lofty gods to ire –
The Feast is over and the lamps expire!
Yea — and what voice shall reach us and shall give
Our earthly self a moment more to live?
What arm shall fold us and shall come between
Our failing body and the grasses green?
And the last heart that beats beneath this head –
Shall it be heard or unremembered?
All dim, all pale — so lift me on the pyre –
The Feast is over and the lamps expire!
– Viola Garvin
If there is a "Riverworld" (deus volent!), there is one hell of a party going on right about now.
KOS
Oh God. Farmer now. It's shaping up to be a torturous year.
Funnily enough the first book of Farmer's I ever read was VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL, which he wrote as Kurt Vonnegut's inimitable Kilgore Trout. I eventually gave the book away to the library, but I wished to hell I'd kept it. I also greatly admired his RIVERWORLD and DAYWORLD series, and especially THE LOVERS.
I'm so sorry, Harlan.
Alex
Harlan,
Please accept my condolences on the loss of Philip Jose Farmer.
Sincerely,
Bill
What Good End
'I have often wondered for what good end the sensations of grief could be intended. All our other passions, within proper bounds, have an useful object, but what is the use of grief in the economy (of life)?'
- Thomas Jefferson
Philip Jose Farmer
Somewhere, if there is any justice, Mr. Farmer is having grand adventures with Richard Francis Burton and Samuel Clemens and Tom Mix and all the rest.
I read the Riverworld books decades ago, but they still stand out in my mind for the sheer speed with which I plowed through them - Farmer was so compelling a storyteller that I just couldn't wait to find out what would happen next.
I was a Doc Savage buff, too, and when I discovered "Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life," with its speculations on Doc and Tarzan and the rest of the Wold Newton universe - well, it just tickled me pink.
Farewell, Mr. Farmer, and thank you for a lifetime of wonderful work. And deepest condolences to you, Harlan, on the loss of your friend.
(Apologies for the double post today, but this just cried out for it. Will stay quiet for a couple of days.)
MY DEAR GOOD FRIEND, PHILIP JOSE FARMER
It was earlier this morning. I came out of the bathroom and Susan had been standing there for a while. There were tears in her eyes. "I have bad news." She had been here and seen Adam's post.
"Phil Farmer died," she said.
I couldn't help myself. I went weak all over and began crying. It hasn't stopped for more than a minute or two. I went back into the bathroom. I cannot think straight.
Ash Wednesday. The long life of the Mardi Gras is over. Such a great and decent and talented man. I have written of him in praise half a dozen times. I don't need to do it again. The Mardi Gras is over.
Bettie Farmer called, and we cried together. there is nothing to say, just nothing and i cannot stop crying
ROBERT - What just happened is that you cared. And that is never a bad thing. Thank you.
***
Mr. Farmer's Passing:
The Shadow and Doc Savage are waiting for you in the wings of your imagination, Mr. Farmer, along with a multitude of other colorful characters. You lived and loved a good life. Thank you for allowing us to read along.
Sandra
Robert: Good on you.
Cindy: And you.
Doc: And you, too.
Gov. Bobby Jindal, however, can boil my shorts and drink the tea.
MM
MR FARMER
Phil sails on. We're the ones going over the edge of the world...
Philip Jose Farmer is gone. A sad day for the world of the unreal and real. A real pang should hang in one's chest. The distant bell tolling. We must mourn as we mourn, but remember the stories--they live on. The sadness is universal, the joy of reading forever is with us. Read and bring a great man back from the dead.
He marches into the soft kiss of sun.
Harlan,
I am so sorry . Philip Jose Farmer was amazing.
Cindy
Doc,
I didn’t know you had kinfolks in Austin. That’s where I grew up.. Back in the 70s. Are you in Texas?
I still wish I could say something to help you-- but words are diluted medicine at times. You’re still in my thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Cindy
Robert Ross,
You DID do something great-- I think you probably saved the kid. As for his mom-- her reaction could have been atypical for all we know. She may have yelled at the child because she was mad at herself for not going and grabbing him by the hand instead of just yelling at him to “ get over here”. I hate to admit this but at times, we moms tend to fuck up. I know I’ve done the same thing-- on occasion. You get a near miss and it rattles you to your marrow-- you have to release that pent up panic so you turn on the kid and say, “See? You see? You coulda gotten yourself KILLED!” It’s a mixture of horror, self recrimination and beautiful blessed relief pouring over you. So many parents now days feel awash with guilt for spanking their kids. I don’t think I’ve ever spanked Paris or Briggs-- but a couple of my older kids were hard mouthed. You’d have to stand up in the stirrups and pull the bit through the backs of their heads to get them to whoa on anything. I remember one of my close friends came over in tears and confessed to me that she had spanked her son, David, “ in anger”. I said, “ Awww, Betsy, don't cry! You’re not bad! The ONLY way I’ll spank one of mine is in anger. I have to really be motivated.”
Robert, you asked if you have confronted her? No, darlin’-- you did just right. She knows she dropped the ball and it nearly cost her everything. She yelled at the kid, but I can nearly guarantee she’ll hug him more tightly for the next month or so. And chances are good-- next time she’s not going to let him amble about in a busy parking lot.
I’ve had a kid in Mason Elementary school since 1987-- the last of the Mohicans is now in the sixth grade. Every year at Little League time-- the parking lot at the baseball field is filled with cars, parents, little kids and teenagers. I am always stunned at how many parents let their little kids wander around unattended. I don’t turn mine loose for a moment. Not even Paris who is a shrewd 12 year old. But I’m an old hand at this parenthood thing. The older I get the more I see where things can go awry. I treasure every moment even more than I did when I was a young, mother. I know how soon they’ll be gone away with babies of their own.
I hope you are feeling stronger every day and getting well.
Cindy
Philip Jose Farmer
It's as though Phil had read every adventure story in existence, decided he could do better, and had a blast doing it. There was the short story "Riders of the Purple Wage" which was a rollicking standout from the famous _Dangerous Visions_ anthology. There was _Doc Savage: An Apocalyptic Life_ where Farmer speculated that every single major action hero in literature, from Doc Savage to Sherlock Holmes to the Shadow and more, was descended from a team of families who'd encountered a radioactive meteorite in the 1700's. There was _The Other Log of Phileas Fogg_, where Jules Verne's adventure is revealed as only half the story-- the other half being even _more_ interesting. I didn't get around to _Jesus on Mars_ (great title) or _The Adventure of the Peerless Peer_, where Sherlock Holmes meets Tarzan.
And when fictional characters weren't enough, Farmer had the Riverworld... where _everyone who ever lived_ joined the cast of a typically outlandish Farmer story.
I think it's wonderful that Phil Farmer grew up to rank with Dumas and Sabatini. I hope he knew he did.
Philip Jose Farmer
Kudos to Farmer -- he did some great work. I'm currently in the middle of his WORLD OF TIERS series, which is magnificent. And he made it to 91.
Odd that he was being discussed here just recently...
good works
Robert:
You did the right thing. In more ways than one.
It was most likely the right thing not to speak to the mother. She would probably have taken it out on the kid further in her embarassment, after you'd gone. There's little chance you could have made up for all the damage she's doing and has done to him already.
The only thing I might have wished for is a brief moment to speak to the kid and make sure he understood that you were trying to help him out, and that on the right occasion it's not a bad thing to put his own safety before his mother's demands. He may have gotten it anyway, we can only hope.
ROBERT - You made a difference, whether recognized by Mom or kid. The minivan driver noted it, and you noted it.
Imagine the worst of scenarios: You were not there. The child was hit and injured. A mother angry (but oblivious to her own culpability), a driver agonized that she had hurt a kid.
You made a difference.
_____________________________________
DOC - You've passed a milestone, but in my experience now is where it becomes your own personal voyage. May you have smooth waters and red skies at night.
_____________________________________
Obama did a decent if not spectacular job last night. It's so nice not to cringe periodically while listening to a speech by our President. Whether you agree with Obama's politics or not, at least he sounds Presidential.
(I am finding it spectacularly disingenuous that the Republican Party -- after years of engaging in an unbridled drunken spree with the nation's pocketbook -- is now referring to the bailout plan with a "tsk, tsk" condescension.)
RIP
Philip Jose Farmer.
Audio Books
Michael Rapoport wrote, "The text-to-voice technology of Amazon's new Kindle is going to cut into income from audio books, too."
. . . and not just the income paid to the authors, but also to the fine actors/vocal artists who perform the books.
Another e-book problem
Writing in the New York Times today, Roy Blount Jr. points out a new e-book problem for authors, one I hadn't thought of: The text-to-voice technology of Amazon's new Kindle is going to cut into income from audio books, too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/opinion/25blount.html?_r=1
What Just Happened?
This is what happened. I went to a Super-Target to pick something up. Parked some distance from the entrance. As soon as I got out of my car, I heard a woman shouting "get over here! Get over here right now! Come here!"
As I started walking toward the entrance I saw a little boy, perhaps four, several cars down from an SUV. The back door of the SUV was open, and a woman was standing and facing inside the vehicle, doing something, and still shouting "get over here right now!"
So the kid starts walking back towards his mother. Just as he is only a few feet away from his mother, a van parked on the other side of the lane, just opposite the SUV, starts backing out. The kid looks at the van, and for whatever reason STARTS WALKING DIRECTLY AT THE VAN WHICH IS BACKING UP IN HIS DIRECTION.
I start running and waving my arms and yelling "Stop! Whoa! Look out, look out!"
The van stops, and the kid turns and walks back toward his mother. My heart is going boom-boom-boom-boom as I slow down to a walk and get closer. Did the mother take a couple of steps toward her son and scoop him up and say "thank God you're all right"?
No. No.
She just kept yelling at him, something like "you see what happenes when you don't listen to me?"
The van backs out a bit more, slowly, and the driver rolls down her window, and says to me "thank you," and she drives away.
As I walk past the mother and her son I make a snap decision to to not confront her. She didn't look at me. She was still yelling at her son.
Should I have confronted the mother? I don't know. I didn't, and I don't think it would have helped if I had. I doubt I would have been coherent.
Did I save the kid's life? I don't know. I do know that SOMETHING was going to happen in two or three seconds, and it does seem that I am the only thing that stopped that something from happening.
After I was done at the Super-Target, I drove over to my last appointment of the day, just a few blocks away. There, among other things, I sat in a crowded room, and a nurse inserted a line in my hand, and I drank some ginger ale and watched some TV while another dose of chemotherapy dripped into my body.
And I wondered about how much time I have left, and I thought about the mother, and her son, and I thought about how sick the chemo would make me, and I thought about being in the right place at the right time ...
And that ... was that.
Happy (Ash) Wednesday
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
To my fellow Papists and Christians, Happy Ash Wednesday. To all else, Happy Wednesday.
Regards, as I gather up my ashes and sackcloth,
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
Webderland Folks
I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow "Webderlander" tonight (last night if you're counting). I traveled to Mansfield, PA to hear The Real Group (Wow! If you aren't familiar; get hip. They are The Best). I met up with Julian of Webderland and Woolverine Games, his lady Anja, and Casey (or is that KC, or Casee, or KayCe?)the owner of the wonderful local bookstore (where I bought "The World According to Garp" and "Coraline") ). They showed me a wonderful time. I enjoyed meeting Julian's pet sheep and we four (folks; not sheep) shared dinner at a lovely new restaurant. Swapped stories (Harlan stories, of course, but I was just as thrilled to learn that Julian knows where The Forks is!!!!). I truly enjoyed the company. Thank you, Julian.
Webderland is more than your average website. Some righteous folks on here, man.
Thanks Rick. Thanks Harlan. Thanks smart folks who can read and have some taste and intelligence.
Good night, moon.
:)
You're welcome, Elias.
And for the ebookish among you--if any--yesterday at Fictionwise.com the ebook edition of HARLAN ELLISON'S MOVIE appeared in the new releases listings.
Bests to all,
--tr
For all or any of you who give a hoot'n'holler, I'm announcing the end of the "Doc's Mommy Is Dead and He's a Crazed Mess Who Misses Her" thread. Oh, I'm still a crazed mess (this is pretty much a constant), and I still miss her terribly, and always will. But I've got just enough closure and perspective at this point, I think, to start moving on, slowly, with baby steps.
The wake was this past Saturday, the 21st. There were some unexpected no-shows, but there were some unexpected appearances, so it balanced out. Some pals came up from Austin. Family were kind and non-abrasive. We ate brisket and chicken and black-eyed peas and fried okra and peach cobbler and stuff-like-that-there, and Mom stories were told, and music she and I liked was played - the Okie Nazarene crowd didn't even object to "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-dee-O-dee." A good time was had, some folks seemed surprised, and all agreed that my mother would have enjoyed it and that I was not a madman for doing things in this fashion. I had the good taste and presence of mind NOT to observe how few came to call on a dying woman, yet how many turned out for free food.
Between Friday afternoon and Sunday evening, the house was full of friends. My best friend came out from L.A., people came up from Austin, even a couple from the teeming metropolis of Commerce, TX. My dog, Beulah, has never known such a treasure trove of crotches and butts to sniff, or ear-waggles and tummy-rubs to wallow in. It was good to see some people I hadn't set eyes on in years.
David left today about 3:20, in a cab, to catch his flight back to El Lay. Now it's just me and the pooch. I feel... slightly different - subtly altered. That's worth further exploration, but I won't do it here (I will pause while you blot your respective brows in relief). I'm still grieving, but I have plenty of time for that; probably, on some level, I'll be doing that for the rest of my life. I may be fooling myself, but it really does feel like the hardest parts are over - so now I can get on to the annoying and time-consuming parts.
It's simultaneously liberating and frightening. People kept (and continue) asking, "So - what are you gonna do now?" You can only tell people "I don't know" or "Go on a four-state killing spree if anyone else asks me that" so many times before your brain starts working even harder on that question. And I had the flash that, as soon as I've sorted out the probate and the estate, etc.,... I can go anywhere and do anything. Not because I'm up to my nipples in filthy lucre (because I'm definitely not), but because there's no place I can think of that I really need to be. I'm at loose ends, kind of adrift. That's a creepy feeling for me - but it feels good, in a way, if that makes sense. All those Endings are still quite visible, but I'm seeing possibilities again, as well.
I might come through this better than I thought. I need to start writing again...
Meanwhile, I want to thank all of you for your kind words, thoughts and wishes. When you're having one of those days that it seems the only successful conclusion to it would be an enormous mushroom cloud originating from your living room sofa, as you pull up the covers for your night's rest, remember this: You helped.
ROB: I am delighted that you recovered those photos and paintings - congratulations. They are the spyglass through which we can look back to what was; the bridge o'er the chasm, from which we may behold Avalon. Or Camelot. Or Dogpatch. Or wherever you want your mind to go. I'm awful glad you got 'em.
And, since no one else has mentioned it, it gives me no pleasure at all to announce that actor Robert Quarry passed away on Friday, February 20th. My fellow "monster kids" may remember him from his titular role in the "Count Yorga" movies, and many others, some better, some worse. He was a good actor and a nice man. Think of him, if you get a chance.
Cheers,
Doc
No, hell no, I want Sarah Palin to keep on shredding pulp into toilet paper with her voice. She keeps the light in power. She makes the country laugh and remember just how worthless and foolish Republicans really are. No, she needs to keep talking.
--------------
KOS, haha, good stuff. The Letter is one of my favorite tunes of all time. I listen to it about once a week.
Goosepimples are a map to a good time.
-----------
The media is avoiding the Israeli elections--or the implications of the coalition. The hard right has won. The arabs are fucked.
-----------
Michael Moore's next documentary is about our buddies on Wall Street. You know that will be a hoot. Kites will be tangled around Godzilla's legs.
So I'm in my bedroom, folding laundry, and an ad for Dr. Phil comes on. He's sitting with the Octuplet Mom (don't even get me started), and says, among other things, "Do you know what I see?"
and all I can think is,
"I see a man sitting in a chair, and the chair is biting his leg."
CORRECTION!!!
The number I called is in HOBOKEN, NJ, not -NOT- Jersey City!
Area code 201.
KOS
Van Gelder contacted
Harlan, I just called Gordon Van Gelder (411 had the number in Jersey City, NJ, area code 201).
I pretty much repeated verbatiim what you wrote, and he said he would get in touch with you.
Hope this helps. I can put his number up here, but not sure if that would be appropriate?
KOS
Update For Harlan I SAY, SON, THIS IS AN UPDATE FOR HARLAN
Just checked the status of The Letter, as in "the letter I mailed to you yesterday", and not as in "The Letter", the classic 1968 "Boxtops" hit, which Corporal Fanta (his real name!), who resided in the dorm room next to mine at Lyman Ward Military Academy in Camp Hill, Ala-Effing-Bama, played Non-Stop for an entire Saturday afternoon while I was restricted to my room because my Platoon Sergeant had caught me In Flagrante Delicto with an Asimov edited anthology, "Tomorrow's Children" during study hour. I whiled away the hours idly daydreaming that if I heard "My Baby, She Wrote Me A Lett-uh!"_Just One More Time I would beat Corporal Fanta's brains right out from his porcine head, skull fuck what was left, and then disappear , naked and howling, into the bayou behind the campus to become a legend among the tar paper and tin-roof shanty folk that dwelt there with coon dogs on their porches ad stills in their backyards.
Ah, Good Times!
Where was I?
Your letter:
"Label/Receipt Number: 0413 1797 9250 4506 7109
Status: Delivered
Your item was delivered at 9:25 AM on February 24, 2009 in SHERMAN OAKS, CA 91413."
It was delivered today.
Frabjous day.
Etc.
KOS
Christamighty! I'm so annoyed I didn't add:
Gordon Van Gelder is the editor of FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, the magazine. He may have more than one website. His corporate name is Spilogale, Inc. or Ltd. or something.
Sheeet! -he
KOS And a REQUEST
Arrived today. Many thanks.
In the event a former incarnation surfaces I will, of course, mail it back to you.
Again, thank you for your Good Offices.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
----------------------------------------------------------------
I'm being driven crazy by Gordon Van Gelder's telephone/fax device. I completed the essay he needed by deadline the 26th, last Sunday. I fax'd through all but the last page, for which I needed to locate a bit of data. I'd had SERIOUS trouble getting through to him both by fax and phone, for days, prior to reaching him finally. He KNEW the last page was coming, and I told him Verizon was intruding and announcing crap that prevented me from reaching his number. He said something about "memory being full" or somesuch, but that it would be okay. Now I cannot get past the fucking device again...and I've been trying to get to him, calling again and again...for the last two days.
CAN SOMEONE OUT THERE READING THIS NOTE-IN-A-BOTTLE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REACH GORDON AND HAVE HIM CALL ME???? HE HAS MY PHONE NUMBER, AND MY FAX NUMBER!!! OR JUST ASK HIM PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TO DISEMBARGO HIS ANSWERING DEMON-DEVICE!!! THIS IS URGENT AND VERY ANNOYING!!! THANK YOU, ANYONE!
Watchmen
WATCHMEN premiered in London and has gotten some pretty good reviews (and one bad one) -- this news item is from WENN on IMDB(and like some people hate the term 'sci fi', I hate calling a film a 'flick' -- but that's just me):
Watchmen Premieres In London
24 February 2009 1:33 AM, PST
After a hectic history of rewrites, studio rejections, budget heedlessness, and legal wrangling, the $120-million Watchmen had its premiere in London Monday. Based on the graphic novels by British writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons, the movie is regarded as a superhero flick like none before it.
In his review in the London Times, Kevin Maher wrote: "It's not for the faint-hearted -- and, despite the preponderance of Spandex outfits, capes and costumes, not for kids either. Limbs are broken, bones are smashed and skulls split." Or as Britain's Guardian newspaper put it: "This is an (R-rated) superhero movie which makes last year's famously brooding Batman sequel The Dark Knight look like Alvin and the Chipmunks." Steve Anglesey remarked similarly in the London Daily Mirror: "Watchmen is unlikely to steal Slumdog Millionaire's tagline of 'the feel-Good Movie of the year!' but it's searing, spectacular and simply unmissable." On Time magazine's website, columnist Matt Selman commented, "It's a serious freak-out. ... Watching the visual world of the Watchmen movie unfold was one of the most powerful experiences I've ever had. Not film experiences. Just Experiences." On the Huffington Post blog, entertainment writer Mike Ragogna concludes: "It will demand your attention and intelligence as it entertains; it's sophisticated and sensationally sophomoric; and for those ... without any expectations or knowledge of the comic's storyline or historical importance, this really will be a blast." But Robbie Collin wrote on the News of the World website: "This two-and-a-half-hour wannabe pop culture epic isn't the worst superhero movie ever made, mind. But it Is one of the most spirit-crushingly disappointing. Because this time round, it was supposed to be all so different. We were promised darkness. We were promised maturity. But what we've got, is 163 minutes of tin-ear dialogue and absurd violence."
Three stories
I just read "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper", "A Toy for Juliette", and "The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World" seriatim.
Thanks to Mr. Tony R. for telling me where I could get a copy of the first story in a current anthology. I apologize for not remembering your last name.
Thanks to you Mr. Ellison for the Dangerous Visions anthology which I was able to purchase at Ye Olde Used Book Store.
Now to get off the tube and read the rest of Dangerous Visions.
Over and out.
Affinities:
Topic 1: While lurking and/or catching up, I was pleased to read about the influence upon the likes of youze of stories from "Dangerous Visions," (including "Riders of the Purple Wage,") all of which sufficiently warped my soul twenty nine (or so) years ago (he said, weeping and creaking). But the discussion brought something else to mind.
As someone who draws for more than half his purple yearly wage, (O god, five years of storyboard upon storyboard...do directors EVER think more than two minutes ahead of their fashion choices?) I wanted also to shout out to our gentle host who has long championed the marriage of written word and image. I'm a guy who dearly loves Joseph Coll and Franklin Booth, the early masterful brushwork of Frazetta (though I nearly uniformly hate his paintings), the mind-blowing Virgil Finlay and the technique of Patrick Arrasmith; but the illustrations from DV have for me held a magic and power, a strength and clarity derived from originality (though they fit into a larger aesthetic that took hold sometime in the fifties with an affinity to the graphic work of Ben Shahn and the great Tomi Ungerer, Saul Bass and paintings by Robert Gwathmey) that has long been with me, if only as a subtle reminder of how great an illustration can be. That goes, as well, for the innovative line work by Ed Emshwiller from "Again, Dangerous Visions." (The way those drawings relate to his film work, and Mr. Ellison's visual language inspires me even now).
Which is why I mourn the lost "I Have No Mouth..." illustrated by Gorey (whose technique may SEEM to be close to a high-schooler's sketchbook, but just TRY to approximate what he did). However, I would more than love, I would Luurrrve to see that project completed and re-visioned by the incomparable Ralph Steadman. Just a thought. (For years I've also thought that a coffee-table sized edition of Book One of Memos From Purgatory would be unforgettable--not that it isn't already--if published with Bruce Davidson's "Brooklyn Gang" photos from the 50's.)
Mr. Ellison's strikingly visual prose, along with his championing of artists--I keep an image in my mind, not that I've seen it except in DWST, of his house full of books and paintings as an aspiration--has been an inspiration and one of the reasons I believe I've gravitated to his work. It is also why I believe there is a movie about him and not about so many other great speculative writers, including the often re-assessed Philip K. Dick. Visual people love Harlan Ellison's work.
Which brings up Topic 2: did anyone else keep thinking of "Repent, Harlequin" while watching "Man On Wire?" Maybe it's just me. Or has someone else already mentioned that here? I thought of "Repent" and Richard Thompson's "The Great Valerio." Another funny connection.
Sorry to blab so long, Bret
Rob - Great posts. I'm looking forward to reading the lot of 'em. And, since I was off the Pav for a couple days, let me add my congrats at the recovery of your past.
________________________________________________
HARLAN - Next time you and Susan are down Long Beach way (could be a few years, I know, but...), we gotta take you to the reborn JOHNNY REB'S ROADHOUSE for some serious down-home BBQ. Cris and I hadn't been back since the place burned down a year or so ago -- but the reborn place is a real honkytonk with some seriously good bbq. (We went there Saturday night for dinner.)Right up your alley, and since it's in Long Beach your doctor would never be any the wiser...
________________________________________________
Good on the Academy for making SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE the little movie who could. And for Sean Penn (and Penn's speech for that matter). And for Hugh Jackman's pitch-perfect (pun intended) opening number.
________________________________________________
Would someone in the Republican Party please silence Sarah Palin? She's extending the embarrassment on a daily basis.
________________________________________________
"Bernanke: economy suffering 'severe contraction'"
Yeah, Ben, we in the streets noticed this some time ago. But thanks for making it official.
________________________________________________
There. I'm caught up. Where's my coffee???
GAH!
Susan-
I promise and I mean it this time, if I have the $15 to spare by April 1, I will join HERC. I've been meaning to since 1/1/07 but, you know...
my my my
How time flies...the manuscript of Ghosts of the Pee Dee (aka SC ghostlore book 3) was sent to the publisher on 2/9/09. Copy edit and review of the page proofs was completed today. In about eight weeks, it will be on the shelves near you.
The last two books, the process took twice as long for each. It seems like the turnaround time
Now to turn the Route 666 ghost story novella into a real novel...or edit it down to a salable length. So, that will be fun.
Dreams with Sharp Teeth
HARLAN: If you (or the folks at Creative Differences) send a copy of DwST to DVDVerdict (address below), we'll be happy to review it.
Michael Stailey
DVD Verdict
406 Broadway #324
Santa Monica, CA 90401-2314
Which story?
HARLAN: I noticed a mention of regardig a new short story being published in Fantastic Fiction this coming September (which will be their Jan 2010 issue): Any chance you could share the title of the forthcoming tale?
Cheers to you and Susan,
DTS
Harlan: "Good for you, pally!"
'Ey, Smokey! Put da spotlight on da gen'lman ova der doin da Jimmy Cagney! Ladies n'ALL...DANK da gen'lman from ya very HAUTS!
Just to bring the telescope into focus a LITTLE more, I'd gotten the flight tickets and made my plans before getting into the issues here; I was going regardless of how I felt. I wasn't THAT gootless.
MY aim HERE was to gain some angle to cope with my emotions in the EVENT those items were gone. T'weren't a matter of my bravery; t'wuz a matter of my perspective. Because for me this was like a private "Orange Alert".
Having clarified that, I DO wanna THANK you. Because your support and input from the others here, was an important reinforcer. I'd gone on for too many years with this thing bottled up in me; too many years ALONE with it all, trying to block it from my mind.
And you know what? As I approached the house that Friday night, looking around warily to evaluate the premises before trying anything, YOUR voice, among other "mantra"-like coaxes, was there WITH me. I didn't feel as alone as I WOULD have had I not sought the "meatball" psychology prior.
Incidentally, my own footprints are the ONLY aberration in the snow still settled on the yard there. Beyond that the snow is blanketing the entire property, as still and undisturbed as the moon surface itself.
Thank you for your empathy - and I mean that, sincerely.
In the next couple of posts, I'm going to try to encapsulate the important highlights of this trip...and before I'm done, you may know me in a startlingly new light. Because a few outcomes were very bad and depressing and confusing (well...here's a cliffhanger, in case you don't believe me: no one can tell me where my mother was buried! None of the people who used to occupy the house would tell me. City Hall could not find the info. So, I'm to call City Hall back on Wed to follow up. This is how it's been for me since I can remember, with, seemingly, no one giving a shit) You'll understand how bizarre my past was, but more importantly, I think you yourself will relate to the epiphany that came with this trip (that hint comes from your OWN story, Jeffty Is Five).
If you and I sat down over coffee, we'd have some real stories for each other!
BTW, should you or others ever be curious about Leo's work online, his paintings are exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, The Newark Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
And as sick and stupid as my mother became, her artistic skills were pronounced, having once been an Opera singer (before her drinking ruined her voice), a pianist, and a painter.
Many of HER own paintings were put in several museums, including one in Washington DC. In time, I need to follow up on THAT as well. Many of her paintings were sold too, several I wish had still been at the house. I managed to retrieve ONE of hers still remaining at the house - one of several I'd known my whole life.
OK...we'll call this one "My Sojourn Chapter Two"
american = "American" for those of you who can type.
s.
ROB -- That is a fien piece of news and a finer piece of work. Glad to hear that things turned out better than you expected.
***
Who is the sick american fuck that infected our culture with the inability to accept an honest, heartfelt "Thank you" without hemming, hawing, and otherwise belittling the moment? Please point me in the direction. I have a ten-gallon drum of penicillin with his name on it.
shagin
Made it through the Wage...Whoo Hoo!!
I read "Riders of The Purple Wage" all the way through...and it was worth every word. Philip Jose Farmer earned that Hugo.
I will be posting on the other site soon with my own input...I hope it's worthy of Duane's...
Nice to be back to this site...damn, I missed you guys!
NOT MY BACK-40 TO PLOW, BUT ...
ROGER GJOVIG ... Susan (who has a mild case of the cold kaff kaff) just thrust her head in and said, "Please tell Roger that insofar as HERC renewal is concerned, he's okay." That's what she said, Roger. You're okay. Her exact words. I alter not: oh & kay.
-he
TWO REPLIES, ONE SUBLIME, THE OTHER CRUSHING
ROB:
GahDAMN, boy! That is a jot of the BEST news I have gotten in some while. Good for you, pally! You came to the right group of wingnuts to get you moving. Your hegira, and its outcome, are ever-so-joyous. GahDAMN, you got yer shoulder t'the wheel.
With admiration, Harlan
---------------------------------------------------------------
Edward Gorey's death in 2000 broke my heart. For about ten years we had been putting off his collaboration with me on a Gorey-illustrated chapbook of "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream." The "lost" Shakespeare folio; the Great Library of Alexandria; the legendary "lost sequel" to Robert Louis Stevenson's KIDNAPPED; the novel Heinlein published under a pseudonym about a teen-aged female detective that no one can pinpoint; R.A. Lafferty's complete and integrated THE DEVIL IS DEAD. The Gorey-illustrated "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream." None of the above shall ever be seen. Their moments are fled, and we are bereft. Broken-hearted.
Harlan
02/23/09
BUSINESS ENVELOPE SIZED PRIORITY MAIL LETTER SENT 03:38 PM INSTANT TO HERC ADDRESS SHERMAN OAKS STOP
CHECK ENCLOSED WITH LETTER STOP
RECEIPT LABEL NUMBER 0413 1797 9250 4506 7109 STOP
END OF TRANSMISSION
HARLAN -ALERT- Twottle BEEP = HARLAN -ALERT- TWEETLE Boop
PRIORITY MAIL WITH AND CHECK
Rob, good deal, congrats !!
Hooray for Old Photos!
Rob-
Congratulations on finding your old family photos and news clippings. As an archivally-minded person, I understand that particular joy.
May I suggest (as an archivally-minded fellow) that you immediately scan these items at a good, high resolution, burn the scans onto a disc, and store the disc someplace cool and dry and far away from wherever you're going to put the actual photos.
Congrats again on getting out there and getting those images that meant so much to you.
MM
Strayhorn
Popped in to catch up and was so glad to see remembrances of Billy Strayhorn. He is my very favorite composer. I have a framed poster of him directly above my piano. I have been hooked on Strayhorn since I was in high school and first heard "Chelsea Bridge" at Maine Jazz Camp. I learned "Lush Life" early on, too. It's a very intricate and beautiful song.
One of my missions in life is to make sure that the world knows that it was Billy Strayhorn who wrote "Take the A-Train", not Duke Ellington himself (you knew that, right?). He wrote it at the time of the time ASCAP banned the radio play of songs licensed to them. All of Ellington's music was ASCAP. The task fell on Strayhorn and Ellington's son Mercer to compose an entirely new body of work that *could* be played on the radio. As I understand it,BMI was formed in response to the ASCAP ban so Strayhorn's music was licensed through them. "A-Train" was one of that first batch of tunes that Mercer Ellington and Strayhorn wrote in, what?,a week? Unreal.
I love David Hadju's biography of Strayhorn (entitled LUSH LIFE). I also *finally* saw the PBS documentary about him last week. It was in the wee hours (ended at 4AM) but it was worth staying up for. There was much footage of Strayhorn I had never seen before.
I just adore the music of Billy Strayhorn. It's good to see others appreciating him.
BTW: I bought and devoured "The Graveyard Book" and it may be one of my favorite books ever. I simply loved it.
Susan, mine too. M1095. Rabbit Hole rules!
Rob, congratulations. It's always better to take a chance than to waste a lifetime wondering what might have been.
BTW, "Prowler In The City" is my SECOND all time favorite SF story, sliding under RotPW by a gnat's whisker.
I discovered DV when I was 15, and it has never left me.
Susan - The (HERC renewal) check is in the mail, and should appear by the end of the week. FYI.
Harlan - Just a blurt to let you know I'm still successfully exchanging oxygen for lesser gasses and staying one step ahead of the law, two ahead of the net. I know you sometimes worry. Fret not - it's all busy / creative / blissful here in Electric Finderland - precisely as the Jade Marmoset foretold during the second blue moon of 1999.
My Pilgramage Chapter One
Picking up my story here from a few weeks ago, I made my sojourn to the house in Connecticut. With respect to retrieving my personal stuff - primarily family photo-history - it was a success. What I sought was still there (though much buried in tons of boxes I had to wade thru for 2 hours in this wintry fossil of what was once our home).
(Incidentally, I went in there against the effrontery of legal "trespassing" threats from an attorney. He was consistent with so many people as I perceived them while I was growing up: apathetic, with no effort at empathy at all, interested only in what he can gain at my expense or that of others. Therein lies my defiance against self-proclaimed authority. I've nothing but contempt for his type)
But the emotional impact - and some bizarre loose ends I'll share in time - produced an epiphany, that, I'll go so far as to say, MAY have even saved my own life. I'm talking about a real human journey, that I feel holds a message for ALL of us. Given its complexity and many terrible pains, but, conversely, a degree of personal closure, I'll tell you about some of it here in increments.
For now, one of the less intense aspects of the trip (I shared this over on the board):
Peter Jackson did a special dvd piece on Willis O'Brien's effects on the original KONG, which I'd viewed recently and found really inspiring.
Segue to my early childhood: I grew up without a dad, but had living with us for years a close, CLOSE friend who nearly functioned as a surrogate dad, though this was near the end of his life.
He was an excellent New York artist/painter - specializing in Abstract, but very fine in Realist when he needed to be. His name was Leo Quanchi.
In the 1930's Leo worked for RKO Pictures' New York advertising division. He won prizes in this field, and became part of the ad campaign for King Kong. I retrieved from the house photocopies of his original Kong 1932 poster layouts, in addition to newspaper clippings talking about his work on the campaign.
Leo was also the designer of the famously iconic RKO "radio bolt" logo we see on all those old movies from that era.
Artistically and politically, Leo had a great impact on me.
Finding his stuff still there brought me much peace-of-mind.
Kudos to Sean Penn for winning the big burrito. He was about as coherent as he will ever be.
You could tell Mickey Rourke didn't really care about winning. He was just there to hit the buffet.
Also kudos to Penn for his fair Hugo Chavez interview. Chavez said no question was out of bounds. Even Chris Hitchens was there. No dictator would do that.
--------------
Waves at Harlan. Hi buddy.
Some old business...
KOS after your reply about CORALINE (and I did detect your tone of sarcasm by the way) but before I read your subsequent explanation and Mr Ellison's helpful addendum, I looked at the Locus site and scanned some of Mr Westfahl's reviews just to get a "feel" for his "approach".
He gave the recent puerile brainless remake of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH a good review (I went because I am a helpless sucker for 3D). This told me all I needed to know about Mr Westfahl.
Now to today's business...
I congratulate the Academy for nominating Melissa Leo and Courtney Hunt for their work in FROZEN RIVER and am somewhat disappointed that they didn't see the way to actually bestow their awesome imprimatur.
Please please please do not let this wonderful movie sink into the abyss. Seek it out and you will not regret.
Paul wrote:
"Edward Gorey, born in 1925. He died on tax day, in 2000, and I remember hearing about it and thinking, "Well, THIS is a shitty way to start the new Millennium.""
Aside that it is always a shitty day to die...
2000 was the end on the millennium.
Hi Rick. I actually went to college at Parsons when it was still open and graduated in 1972. It has unfortunately been extant since the summer of 1973, it was open as a school for 99 years.I believe it was 1975 it was bought by MIU and opened as a school for them. I was in Fairfield two weekends ago and came in on US highway 1 north of the city so I could drive through the campus. I was nearly in tears at seeing so many buildings torn down that were part of the Parsons campus. MIU has this odd compulsion to tear down buildings facing any direction but east down and to build all their buildings facing east, they say it has something to do with the mojo they are trying to produce to save the world.
Parsons was a very cool school and it is very much missed.
Riders of the Purple Wage
Hi Mary,
Like Jan "said," I posted some comments about this story in the "Spider" forum on "the other side." A direct link is here:
http://harlanellison.com/heboard/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1998&start=15
I won't repeat here what I said about the story, but I will say the following two things:
1) RotPW is my ***ALLL TIIMMMEEEE*** favorite SF story, by any author, and
2) NOTHING I have said, can say, or will say about the story will ever do it justice; all I can do is pay unworthy homage.
I've been trying for the last 15 minutes to add something to what I've just written above, but I can't. I'd love to discuss this story (and receive further insight as well) with others on the "Dangerous Visions" thread. I desperately need to hear what others who have read and loved the story have to say.
And as for "he fakes it well," crack, Jan, guess what? YOU'RE covering the Cafe '50's bill next time, bub!!
Birth and death
Some research took me to a site of today's births/deaths throughout history, and I couldn't help but think about a few of these.
Today is Edna St. Vincent Millay's birthday, the first woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. I was thinking about the Pulitzers just a few days ago, and I still cannot understand why Harlan doesn't have one. Good god, the amount of human condition examined in his oeuvre is exactly what they've been giving the prize out for all these years.
~~~~~~
Edward Gorey, born in 1925. He died on tax day, in 2000, and I remember hearing about it and thinking, "Well, THIS is a shitty way to start the new Millennium."
Ah, Mr. Gorey. How can you not love the simple yet elegant drawings, somewhere between a teen-agers sketchbook and the best editorial cartoons from The New Yorker? I fell in love with THE DOUBTFUL GUEST before i was old enough to know I should be paying attention to who wrote it. Naturally, I am both looking forward to, and wary of, this:
http://www.muppetnewsflash.com/2007/04/henson-prepares-for-doubful-guest.html
If the name is unfamiliar *!!!*, his influences are not, and you've seen them everywhere, from the Goth circuit, to major movies (Tim Burton, anyone?), to the splendid music of Creature Feature -- http://www.creaturefeaturemusic.com/ -- who have an honest hommage to Edward titled A GOREY DEMISE, their own take on the The Children's Alphabet.
Gorey seemed to be a person first, and Artist second, and that was it for his personal life. People assumed his work was just Macabre for Children, but if I remember correct, he wasn't very fond of them. He was a surrealist, a purveyor of nonsense and nonesuch. He was sui generis.
~~~~~~
Dwight Frye has a celebration today as well. He is perhaps best known as the actor who played Renfield in Tod Browning's 1931 DRACULA, with Bela Lugosi. And as much as I love Tom Waits (and if you don't know, I LOVE me some Tom), Dwight is and was the DEFINITIVE Renfield.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJv92VfGAaA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekV6EpXsTPc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmCQNSAXM9g&NR=1
~~~~~~
On the opposite end of the spectrum...
Chuck Jones died this day in 2002. We have him to thank for helping our brains to atrophy on Saturday mornings. Animator and director of hundreds of Looney Tunes cartoons, he was part of the driving force behind their popularity in the 50's and 60's. There is NO ONE who doesn't know at least some portion of RABBIT FIRE.
Though he didn't invent the characters, to me his name is synonymous with them: Bugs and Porky, Pepe le Pew. Even as a tot, I knew when I saw the Merrie Melodies logo come onscreen, followed by his name, this was one to watch, to not turn the channel.
The ideas that he helped promulgate- that the symbol of timidity and meekness, the rabbit, be the smartest, toughest, most mentally agile creature in the cartoons; that a duck, a small duck that would normally never get a second look, a symbol of innocent bathtub toys and cherubic babys' room wallpaper, could become a plotting revolutionary, the outlet for narcissistic, egomaniacal, vindictive behavior- spoke volumes about his confidence in this 'childish' work.
Cutting through the pseudo-fruedian, hyper-limbic, subconscious-refining personal-reflection self-examination bullshit jargon that children would be subjected to in the 70's and 80's to see if cartoons were 'destroying our poor childrens' minds', Jones summed up the human psyche vis` a vie cartoons with one simple, short, eloquent and profound sentence, like a shotgun blast to Elmer's face:
"Bugs is who we want to be. Daffy is who we are."
~~~~~
Daniel Pearl (2002). If the name escapes you... shame on you. Seriously.
There was a great link posted here just a while ago, a column by Daniel's father. It's worth reading, even if it answers no questions.
follow up
Yes, It was mailed January 24, my original post about it was on January 25:
"KOS
The Datacombs, - Sunday, January 25 2009 20:30:18
The Straight Shit, or
A box with a check was Priority Mailed on Saturday, Jan. 24.
Yes, finally.
Tracking number follows:
239-02500545-99
Can be checked at www.usps.com"
I just checked the tracking system, and - ir has no record of the package.
So you never got it.
So, it goes out again tomorrow, this time I handwalk it to the desk myself and get a receipt.
I lose two letters in a year, and both are to the most important prson I paper trail mail to.
-sigh-
KOS
Payments and Paltrow
Boss H:
Mailed a check Priority Mail with tracking/delivery confirmation back some three weeks, maybe four week ago. Posted the tracking number on here, but never checked myself to see if delivery was achieved. Susan is off shopping (this being a Sunday it is her day for said sacred rite), but as soon as she returns I will with her able assistance go through the records to see if the package ever was delivered.
If it was, and you are enquiring on the possibility that there are further monies accumulating for disvursement, the answer (again, pending Her return for access to the records She keeps): Perhaps a few more simoleons since that last payment. We will check what books may have sold in the past few weeks. There were perhaps ten or so from the previous two shipments that, last time I checked a week or two back, were unsold.
If, of course, the payment above mentioned sent sevrral weeks ago was not received, this will be resent tomorrow. With any additional sales over the last few weeks included.
Just saw Gwyneth Paltrow in a PBS travelogue on Bilbao, Spain.
Forget stilts.
Pulchritude on a Pogo Stick.
KOS
Mickey Mania
If any of you get IFC (the Independent Film Channel), please check out Mickey Rourke's acceptance speech at the Independent Spirit Awards. It's non-stop fun: expletives, humiliating pal Eric Roberts, congratulating Marisa Tomei for 'riding the pole' -- I want him to win the Oscar just so he can make the network censors have brain seizures (if they have brains). And maybe send a few blue-haired biddies fainting to the floor.
Yeah, the movie THE WRESTLER wasn't so great, but Mickey's public performance at the award shows has been completely entertaining.
Look who's back!
Duane posted about the story in the forum's crawly SPIDER section under PERILOUS TUNNEL-VISIONS. Don't know if he read the story but he usually fakes well.
I'm sending your elusive password. I'd much prefer to give a hint but Rick would kill me instantly.
And Harlan, I doubt any of us are going to send you money - don't lower yourself any more and get a book out for Christ's sake! The Rabbit Hole can only support the two of you for so long.
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
Mary--please check out the Wikipedia post regarding Farmer's story. Will help, as it helped me after I re-read the entire anthology last year.
Mr. E.: If I understand the Academy voting procedures correctly, members of the Academy may only vote on nominees within the members' own respective guilds and films nominated in the Best Picture category. Correct? Being a life-long New Englander, all this show business stuff evades my comprehension.
Thank you in advance.
Regards,
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
Dangerous Visions
I brought down my very own copy of "Dangerous Visions", and opened it up to a story that has frustrated me for years. I don't know why...call me a triple blonde, intellectually stunted, anything you want...but there has been one story in that collection that I simply can't get my head around.
"Riders of the Purple Wage" by Philip Jose Farmer.
I have tried to read it, but it seems that a million things are being thrown at me in every sentence. There's a beauty to that story...the way Farmer writes is something to be envied, but I wish I knew what the story was about!
I can read every other short story in that collection, have no problem, but that particular story, no matter what I do or think, has turned me upside down. Perhaps I'm trying too hard to understand it, or there's something I've missed, I don't know. If anyone can help me, I've included my email address. I would have gone to the other website where I could post as many times as I wanted (I was Mary Midnight), but I have no end of trouble with my password on that site.
One of my resolutions this year was to read that story and truly appreciate it. I want to get past the first few pages without feeling like a dunce. Then I'll feel better about taking that book with me to the next Harlan Ellison signing.
Or, after I read it, I hope it's still possible to send it via snail mail and have Harlan sign it.
Thank you!
KOS KOS KOS KOS YO! KOS!!!!!!!!
A gentle query. Do I have any money coming my way?
Respectfully, Harlan
KOS:
I don't know if this is helpful (I'm so peripherally in "the biz" that it really doesn't count), but my cousin, Steve Monas, runs a firm called Business Affairs, Inc. in LA that deals with producers, talent, and so on. Here's his link:
http://www.bizaffairs.com/attorneys.html
Hope this helps.
Sandra, re:Disney - I will compose a diatribe whilst at work and email it to you.
A question for those that can answer
I had lunch with Tim Powers and his wife Serena Saturday. Tim is a casual acquaintaince of some years. We got together because I am (again!) selling a used car we no longer need, and Tim decided to look it over with an eye to buying.
Over lunch we discussed writing, among many other subjectsi, mostly the business end rather than any "creative" stuff. I suggested to Tim he miht consider trying some screenriting, as a good way to bring in a decent "paycheck" to supplement his other work as a writing teacher as as the earnings from his books. I believe he would have quite a bit of credibiliy with his novels, enough likely to get a "meetng" (I hate to use those sorts of cliched terms, but there it is, a "meeting" is what it is),
All to say:
A name, a number of any agent, producer, dealmaker, director etc. that would like to explore having a World Fantasy Award winning novelist come in to pitch a few ideas for development, would be a great boon. I think (I hope I am not too far out on a limb here) that Tim would be interesed in exploring this with someone with, how shall I say it, "gravitas", of "weight" in the motion picture/television business?
And no, this is not a round about "shout out" to Harlan himself. It's directed to anyone that might help,
I am doing this on my own, to see if I can help Tim out, so it's subject to his decision as to how far he will follow up on any suggestions or offered contacts. Just want to be clear about that. I'll run anything tangible offered past him, but I cannot guarantee to any third party more than that I will pass it on to Tim.
Thanks!
KOS
Just back from a laid back, fairly intimate concert by my musician friend, Alexander James Adams. Check him out if you get a chance. It was a special performance for a birthday party, and there was only half the expected attendance. Doesn't bother me at all, more music for me!
***
SARA wrote: "Back from Disney World. The twins had a fabulous time and were surprisingly well behaved, for 8 year olds. As for the parks - don't ask."
Drop me a line and we can commiserate about Disney World.
shagin
gotta love a blizzard
Good grief, Roger, you're giving me Maharishi flashbacks.
Rick
P.S. Howsoever, it could be the Red Label.
A Boy and His Dog is on our staff picks shelf almost every month (guess whose!) and rents regularly.
Also wanted to let you know, Harlan, that I have ordered six copies of Dreams with Sharp Teeth and will recommend it to everyone who comes in. Can't wait to see it.
Back from Disney World. The twins had a fabulous time and were surprisingly well behaved, for 8 year olds. As for the parks - don't ask.
Hi Susan. I sent a check to renew my subscription to Rabbit Hole with the last issue being my last paid for. The check has not yet been cashed and I just wanted to make sure it was received with the new issue coming out. Thanks for your awesome work putting together each issue. Please let me know if I need to send another check.
I drove 100 miles from Fairfield to Des Moines,Iowa to see "A Boy and His Dog" when it first came out. When the vhs tape came out I went out a bought a vcr, which I never owned, so I could watch it. The tape, which I still have, cost me at least $50.00 in the early days of vhs tapes and was actually the second movie i ordered. The first was my favorite movie of all time "To Kill a Mockingbird". I just ordered the cd version of ABAHD from the SFBC as it was offered as a selection in the most recent issue.
Woof
I recall our St. Paul Pioneer Press movie critic writing something close to: And the boy and his dog communicate telepathically, which is something movies do when they don't have the budget to make the dog's mouth move when it's supposed to talk. (!!!)
One particular A BOY AND HIS DOG review
Back in 1977, I dragged Dear Old Dad to see the movie. When it was over, I, naturally enough, asked him what he thought of it. "Not much. I'm not interested in movies about talking dogs. I like REALITY!"
"Uh, but, Dad, Blood didn't talk. He communicated telepathically."
"Same thing! It was trash! I like REALITY!"
I've often wondered how I got stuck with that man.
Basking in the afterglow
Harlan--thought you might be pleased to know that Robin Williams brought out the liberals in Texas last night. Fabulous, fantastically energetic show, mostly new material, but he revisited a few old favorites. The cheers were long and loud.
He has many dates left in the States--even if you have to go through a second party, it's worth it. Oh, and for what it's worth (though this might depend on the venue), he plays to stage right. And beware in the first row--you might get wet.
Love to you and Susan from Ben and me. We miss you.
Attention astronomers, The Green Light is come!
Comet Lulin fast approaches:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/04feb_greencomet.htm
Some folks weighing in:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/35992534.html
Here is an amuse-bouche:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pane/lulin/movie/
Paul, Resident Stargazer
yenta-ism
De Tar Baby, he didn' say nuttin'.
More out of ignorance than scruple, he must admit, but still . . .
We had a good, strong opening night last night in Noel Coward's "Private Lives," despite a stand-in on lights and sound who screwed up several of the cues, and the fact that the girl playing Sibyl had come down with walking pneumonia on Tuesday, missed two rehearsals tech week, was in the third day of her five-day round of antibiotics backed up with codeine, and therefore was a much greater health risk for the kissing scenes (which we temporarily excised, dammit) than the seven herbal cigarettes I have to light (five of which I puff on for a while).
Acting's fun. When -- not if -- I interview Harlan again, his days as an actor are one of the fairly unexplored areas I want to chat with him about.
Now I have to knuckle down and write that interview piece about the new landscape architect at the Portland Japanese Garden.
Billy Strayhorn's
Steve, et al.,
No Billy Strayhorn collection would be complete without the sublime masterpiece, "Passion Flower." Run, don't walk, and listen to Johnny Hodges work his magic on this strange and gorgeous tune.
Still in awe after 30+ years,
Paul
I'll second Brian's appreciation for your note about Strayhorn. I will admit that despite some 'slight' exposure to Jazz over the years, I knew little about him other than 'Lush Life' (which is a wonderful song). In fact, that's about ALL I knew until seeing STORMY WEATHER the other night. At the beginning of the play, I had to ask Cris who Strayhorn was (she knew, naturally, and gave me a quick, quiet discourse). I am now quite busily learning as much as I can about the man -- which made your reminiscences all the more meaningful. Thank you.
___________________________________________
The story about the librarian not reading Harlan's work because of the movie A BOY AND HIS DOG just cracked me up.
I ran this past Jazz, one of our two dalmatians. He's neutered and can therefore offer a pretty sound observation about not only psychic dogs but the treatment of women (he said "bitches", but please don't judge him) in the film.
He said that while the film is ruff on women, it's a metaphor. The librarian must be barking mad if she doesn't get the humor. Jazz thinks it's a Grrrrreat movie, and a really good tail.
(Editorial note: Jazz' favorite film is a certain animated Disney movie featuring a large number of spots. His opinions of other movies may be biased in some ways. Your mileage may vary.)
___________________________________________
47!!!
You go girl!
(Yeah, I know. Seems really weird for a straight middle-aged white guy to say "You go girl". Rattled in my ears a bit too. What you all missed were the "two snaps up" that I gave Susan as I submitted this.)
(The dog doesn't find this amusing at all.)
Lush Life - a (partial) note to Harlan Ellison
Thank you for the quick reminiscence on Billy Strayhorn. I love the song, "Lush Life" and I am particularly fond of Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane's version. I've heard a few versions of this. It is such a sophisticated and intricate melody, it is one of the few standards that I know of that is always sung in the same key. Many singers will take a song and put it in a key suitable for them, but I have a feeling that if "Lush Life" is not in your key, you don't sing it at all.
Billy Strayhorn was a genius. For those who wish to delve further, I recommend, "...and His Mother Called Him Bill" by Duke Ellington as well as the John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman album, which is six songs long and brilliant.
Brian Phillips
Finally some mail I look forward to having in my hands.
Issue #47
YOU GO GIRL!
And gourmet chocolate kisses to boot!
shagin
YESSS!!!
Issue #47! Miss Susan-- YOU GO GIRL!!!
THANK YOU!
:)
Your fan,
Cindy
A Boy and his Dog story
I don't know of any dog lovers who disliked the novella, but I did find a librarian who wasn't a fan ...
1988, finishing UofM library school, off on a job interview for a reference position at the Toledo public library. Me, a 24 year-old skinny man seated at an interview table with 7 women. They needed a literature persona for selecting new books and answering questions...
I was asked who my favorite author might be. Mr Harlan Ellison's name came up as "a" favorite (Considering the situation I didn't want to trap myself unnecessarily and had a list ready) and in fact the only name that had come out when the second woman down, on the right, exclaimed, "Mr. Ellison is the most sexist writer I know." I've quoted this because it's burned in my brain. I can't quote the rest because all went fuzzy. She backed up her statement with something about how she saw the movie A Boy and his Dog, and refused to read anything by him as a result, whilst I could do nothing but wait to say, "I have changed my mind, I think I will have that Coke you offered." I can quote that because it is also burned in my memory. It seemed an eternity before I had a chance to say it.
I have always treated interviews as an opportunity to see whether I would fit well into a place. Never has the answer been so clear as it was that day, so thank you Harlan, for something wonderful you had no idea you had done for me.
Dog Lover on ABAHD
That's the sort of reaction I had to it- It was a story that I revisited in my late high school/early college years when my childhood dogs and cats began dying. I first read the story/saw the movie when I was about 13 (the IHNMAIMS game had just come out and I was eating up all things Ellison) and at the time I got into it as a post apocalypse sort of adventure but was able to appreciate it on deeper levels as I got older.
I too noticed the personality switch between Vic and Blood and had always considered it to be a sort of commentary on the teenage mind in its pubescent years- that teen boys are so consumed with sex that dogs are more intelligent by comparison.
And yes- those nitwit grannies piss me off too.
Ave Satanis,
Jordan
reply
Harlan.Thanks.John
Harlan - OK, were good. Thank you.
- Barney
PS - And I'll own the "electrified fence" comment.
AS FOR THE REST OF YOU BUMS -------
I have never seen such a craven pack so quickly scream, "Not me! I didn't do it! I was just putting in my two sense!" and scuttle for cover. Not ONE of you, your snoots deep in the toils of this brouhaha, would admit to flagrant, I say FLAGRANT, yenta-ism. "Dirt on Clute" requests this Jordan person, and here come the loping drooling werewolf pack of you, one contributing John Shirley, another vouchsaving Clute's impeccable creds, a third one baying at the moon that Clute SEEMS to dis me with some regularity.
Look, folks...
I am not unaware of the tone John Clute and Dave Langford and Charlie Brown and manymanmany others use when they talk of me.
(No other living--maybe not even any deceased--sf writer, not Bester, not Wolfe, not Willis, not Asimov or Heinlein or any other body, has had a serious full-length professional motion picture devoted to his/her life and work--produced and directed by no less than the guy who has to his credit 2two2 Werner Herzog features. Not some jumped-up fanboy with a hand-held pseudo-box Brownie, but a man intimately linked with GREAT and even Oscar-nominated productions. And what do I get from LOCUS, that urbane and cosmopolitan journal of sf-analysis...? I get that pompous shithead Gary Westfahl explaining how much better DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH would have been, had it been molded true to HIS vision.) (When last seen, Ellison was running away down the road, spittle-trail in his wake, wolverines dashing in fear away from his hysterical, arm-waving dementia.)
What I'M saying, to all of you ... alibis streaming outta your ears ... is that you didn't do anything WRONG, so stop whimpering and hiding in the closet ... but you ARE fuckin' yentas, including YOU, Dannelke, who participated in one way or four others, to broadening this ruefully-unearthed imbroglio ... and I include myself. I should've just stayed silent, and ignored the lot of you.
You can stop twitching your antennae. It's all good, gang; truly. But ONE of these days you're going to have to learn--like Van Hise--when I am kidding, or kidding on the square, or actually NOT kidding. I am vast, sweeties; I contain multitudes. Now let me enjoy the weekend. Which does NOT include having ANYthing to do with the deliquescent Oscars.
Wearily, Yr. Pal, Harlan
JOHN ZEOCK:
Also: the Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, Smithsonian Inst Pr (June 1984), Bill Blackbeard, ed.
Amazon's got it used for less than ten bucks.
http://www.amazon.com/Smithsonian-Collection-Newspaper-Comics-Blackbeard/dp/0874741726/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235183033&sr=8-15
Still among the living,
JohnE
DEAR BARNUMS KOOTCHY KOO
I think you mean "David" Langford, of Ansible, not "John" Langford, who invented rye bread.
You made an incontinent leap. Chas. Platt is dead to me ... and I ain't alone in sighing same happily ...
YOU, my treasured pink snookybunny, could NEVER be dead to me. I can say this with assurance because, during the quarter million decades I have known you, the juxtaposition just in my head of
Barney Dannelke
and
a spastically firing without having to reload AK-47
has never manifested itself.
Honest. Never. Not once.
Tearful for having caused you angst, I remain,
Yr. Pal, Kalishnakov
MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT !!!!!!!!!
The Editrix of the HERC VastSprawlingOmniscient Publishing Empire has just informed me that
the new, splendid, issue #47 of
RABBIT HOLE
will deliquesce into the US Post come Monday!
Did I hear a youGOgirl?!?
-he
Kim,
I enthusiastically second your praise of/vouching for Tim Amyx and Jay Roach. My memory of them from USC is also that they were smart, no bullshit and among the most stand up people I knew when I was there.
And more then ever I suspect we've met - at least in passing. If the venn diagram of when I was there and when you were there does not intersect, then the gap between the circles must be just a whisker.
MM
What I am talking about.
Harlan wrote: "When Posters here--I believe the tawdry brass medal for this unnecessary prying into the historical dumpster goes to Sandra "shagin" Odell and Jordan Owen and Jan and Morales and Barney and company--dig up remarks ALLEGED to have been said at least a quarter-century ago, attributing them here'n'there, they serve no purpose save the creation of contumely. In Yiddish they are called yentas. Gossips. Charles Platts."
***********************************************************
***Harlan*** I'm sorry my post made no sense to you. Let me be clear. I was and am reacting to that paragraph. Unless I am misreading both the tone and the meaning of what you wrote it seems to me it does a few things I'm not real keen on. First it takes everyone who commented on the links regarding Clute, Shirley, Sterling, etc. (and in my case the additional remarks made and implied by me about John Langford and ANSIBLE) and lumps them all together and says all are equal and not just annoying to you but some "form of humiliating insult or treatment" - and then links the bunch of us to gossips in general and Charles Platt in particular. Do I have that wrong?
Because if I do - if I am parsing that ass-backwards somehow - well, tremendous. But the fact that I'm typing this means that I still don't think I am. Making me stand in a corner with Jan and Jordan and Robert and whoever is one thing. I'm not happy about that either but so be it. But now I'm in the same corner with Charles Platt? As "humiliating insults or treatments" go I will pass on that one.
- Barney Dannelke
Fond Memories of First Reading
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
Ah, yes. The summer of 1978. Wyoma Square Branch of the Public Library of Lynn, Massachusetts. An unknowing thirteen-year-old "mensch" happens upon the novella after seeing the innocuous title on its spine. A dog lover and owner, he borrows it, he begins to read it in the delicious air conditioned reading room, he takes it home with him, in murderous 90 degree F heat, and devours it in an afternoon. Thus began a thirty year affair (and counting) with the works of the man. Next project that fall, during the Red Sox collapse: Dr. Asimov's "Foundation Trilogy". Women would thus look upon me with sheer befuddlement ever since.
Would not experience another such epiphany until Proust's "Recherche du Temps Perdu".
Much thanks, Mr. E.
Regards,
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
JORDAN and ADAM-TROY
Re: Actual response by canine-owners to A BOY AND HIS DOG:
Try to make a distinction between
"A Boy and His Dog," the novella, a widely published and widely reprinted section of the (unpublished total) novel BLOOD'S A ROVER, and the motion picture A BOY AND HIS DOG.
The published novella was ADORED by readers, particularly dog-lovers, who correctly perceived that Blood's and Vic's natures were purposely and flagrantly exchanged: Vic was little more than a semiliterate beast; Blood was the manifestation of everything worthy and noble and witty and wise in the world, even the debased world used as setting for the story.
The movie. The only people (IIIIever heard about) who were negative about the story, were little old ladies with gray hair, varicose veins within support hose, and delicate natures, who took their adolescent grandsons or nephews to see "the nice, cuddly story about a boy and his dog," and five minutes into the film were demanding their money back from the manager of the matinee theater. Dog-lovers STILL write me letters or posts praising Blood, and me for inventing him, and books of dog-stories include excerpts from either the novella or one of the other two sections of BLOOD'S A ROVER published as separate short stories.
To my knowledge NO DOG LOVERS hated my story. But Clute may have access to secret data embargoed from my notice.
Harlan
REPLY TO JOHN ZEOCK
Hyperion Press. (Westport, Connecticut)
The Hyperion Library o