Unca Harlan's Art Deco Dining Pavilion
From a foreigner's perspective (not, as I have learned, a particularly welcome thing, in the Midwest at least - "My first reaction is I want to tell you to go back where you came from, but I'd never do that" as my work supervisor hilariously put it one time), I do not think that the Obama Peace Prize thing was about what he has done yet, or maybe will ever do, or even about him 'opening communication' with whatever channels had been blocked by Chimpjaws Slaverygubbedbeast Bush (i.e. ALL of them).
I think this award is the world rewarding America for choosing to come out of the torture-loving redneck Dark Ages, and for electing somebody it can hopefully do business with. I think my fellow countryman Gordon Brown is pathetic in still thinking, in his antediluvian way, that the UK still has any sort of 'special relationship' with a country that really couldn't give a damn about it (Ian Bell did a GREAT piece about this a few weeks ago in the Glasgow Herald), except as a source of 'Old Country' holiday tales, but that's almost besides the point.
Obama's award was a sort of nod towards the future and what America can accomplish on the world stage with a man with a brain and a tongue not twisted by simple English and cocaine and booze in his head. The award was the world letting America back into the global communication playpen after eight years of cold hard pariah labor. But this award was NOT about peace. It was about CHANGE. And let's hope Obama can live up to it. We'll see. Being the dark-minded Celtic cynic that I am, I don't believe it will, but I would like to hope so, for my daughter's sake.
G.
I'm a huge fan of musician Bill Nelson. I often wish that he & Mr Ellison could meet over lunch. On the site hosted for him, we're presently into a huge discussion of the state of music, what with downloads & corporate money-grubbing gone mad. Tell me if this sparkle sounds familiar:
"I'm sorry, but, regardless of whether anyone thinks that one band's music is worthless but another's priceless, ALL artists, regardless of your personal likes or dislikes, should be properly paid for their efforts, not have it stolen or given away for free against their wishes. I will never condone the attitude that it's o.k. to steal music. Music making is a proper job and it should be rewarded in the same way that any other work is."
"A few years from now, come the revolution, it will be the pirates and cultural hijackers with their backs to the wall. Mark my words, wait and see. And if I'm wrong, (And I may be,) well, you're looking at a future where the only music you'll be given, (no, not given but force fed,) will be bland, amateur, baby milk music suitable only for the momentary amusement of single-cell organisms. Don't say I didn't warn you."
http://www.billnelson.com/html/park/inn.php
(William's World, Bill Nelson Downloads thread)
Re: Dangerous Visions Bookstore
I don't know exactly when Harlan Ellison first entered my consciousness -- it seems I've ALWAYS known who he was, even if I did not get to actually read him until 1984.
I was on Ventura Boulevard one night back in the fall of 1984. I was lost and walked by the bookstore and did a double-take when I saw Harlan Ellison chatting with the staff. He was smiling and wearing a cap. Immediately, I knew who he was. I went inside, interrupted his conversation, and asked, "Excuse me, sir, are you Harlan Ellison?" He smiled at me and said, "Oh sh*t!"
I die of embarrassment thinking about it now, but I told him he wrote the best episode of Star Trek. He then looked down at the carpet and nodded his head and said, "Thank you, thank you." I also asked him whether it was true, that he liked to have women sit on his lap while he read them his manuscript?" At that moment, the staff burst out laughing, and Mr. Ellison turned around to them and yelled, "AW, SH*T! DO YOU SEE THE SH*T I HAVE TO PUT UP WITH???" And then one of the staff smiled and forewarned me, "Okay, now you are putting your life in your hands!"
I then asked one of the staff whether they had any Ellison books I could buy? One replied, "I hope so," and then he walked me back to the store and recommended SHATTERDAY (the Berkley paperback edition, which shows Harlan Ellison talking on the phone, which has become a Cobra snake).
I took my book up to the counter. It was to be the first book I ever had signed by an author, and I wasn't sure where was a good place for him to sign it. Ellison opened the book and pointed to the title page a few times and said, "*Always* the title page." He personalized it, then signed it in that very beautiful and amazing, angular autograph of his.
The staff then gave me directions to the place I was originally trying to find, and I thanked them and then I thanked Mr. Ellison and shook his hand, and as I was about to walk out the door, I turned around and thanked him again, and he said, "See you, (my real name)!"
I read SHATTERDAY cover to cover that night. From that night on, that collection has always been a sentimental favorite of mine. And that night Ellison became my favorite living writer.
Politics determines who gets hired & fired in Hollywood?
Tell that to Arnold Schwartzenegger, Bruce Willis, Kelsey Grammer, not to mention John Milius, Pat Sajak, or the late John Wayne, Ronald Regan and George Murphy. And that's just a small sample.
It's hard to make it in Hollywood, for anyone. The studios, however, will hire Jesus Christ or Satan Himself if they will draw people to the box office.
HUAC was headed in turns by J. Parnell Thomas (R), John S. Wood (D), Harold H. Velde (R), Francis Walter (D). Other key members were: John Rankin (D), Karl Mundt (R), Richard Nixon (R), Gordon Sherer (R), John E. Rankin (D) who spoke openly about "Communist Kikes" and used the word "Nigger" openly on the floor in speeches. A couple of the democrats were dixiecrats. Many of those did switch to the Republican party eventually.
Chuck
My Love Affair With America
It was a long distance relationship for most of this decade. Mr. Obama changed that when he became president.
I respect the opinion that it is a bit "premature", going strictly by the rules and some of what he has done, but as someone posted, he DID overthrow a regime that was doing a number on peace. He also gave a lot of people all over the world hope for something better. If you throw out that much ballyhooed "nomination deadline" that supposedly came two weeks after his inauguration, then, as cited in the award statement, his outreach to the Muslim world, the speech in Egypt, was huge enough to warrant the Prize.
Like our genial host, I am bursting at the buttons with pride, after due reflection.
Harlan is absolutely correct t that LYDIA MARANO, not Marta Randall, ran Dangerous Visions: The Bookstore with the estimable and gentle Arthur Byron Cover. If I could have another mans voice, it would be that of ABC. Like honey. Like butter. Like honeybutter. Sorry ABC and the lovely Lydia. My bad, My bad.
"The Presidency is not very important. Notice I said presidency and not "the President." The office of President of the United States is not important! Never has been! Wasn't supposed to be! That's why we established this country not to have a king, and called the "leader" a president. The whole idea of America is to not have a powerful leader that everyone hates or loves."
Ah, sweet idiocy! (All those "!" really hammer it home).
SORRY!
"Thanks for playing. Johnny, please tell our guest what their consolation prize is?"
Let's see, the President of the United States is:
Head of State, Commander in Chief of all the armed forces, appoints all Federal prosecutors, appoints and or orders about ALL the people who run the treasury, administer the armed forces, interpret and enforce all Federal law, and every other human agent of the government federal that actually does all the stuff that we want government (or don't want) to actually do (that's why it's called the EXECUTIVE branch of government, the part that actually carries out policy).
Not to mention the President can fire ANY of those people, without appeal to any other authority.
All that, AAAANNNNDDDDD:
POTUS (along with the holder of that worthless post described by the late great "Cactus Jack" Garner, Harlan's hero and mine, veep of FDR the first two times around the park, as "not worth a bucket of warm piss!") Is one of two persons EVERY eligible American participates in choosing for high office. The only time we all come together to speak with "one" voice.
And he gets to talk on TV at the drop of a hat and everyone everywhere listens.
Oh, and a lot of those Founding Fathers were sure we WERE setting up another king, and objected to exchanging one George for another. Most of the well deserved kudos rained on Washington was because he set so many precedents for restraint in the actual wielding of the massive powers granted our President.
No other democratically chosen leader in the world has the power in legal and actual terms granted POTUS.
I really ought to write a book on this. But since several hundred already have, just go read some of them.
KOS
My thirty-ninth post here
BRIAN PHILLIPS: “shagin is not THAT efficient about flog...OW!”
So you’re saying she flogs her flogging?
---
Nobel for Obama…
Now don’t that take the rag off the bush?
Huh,
T.Y.
KEITH AND TONY: D'oh! Abbott and Costello of NASA.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA WINS THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
I am as proud as I can be that OUR President has won this ALWAYS prestigious accolade.
Save me the bullshit about Woodrow Wilson's flaws. The League of Nations was a mere bagatelle of an idea, right?
As for Limbaugh, et al...one should never confuse Freedom of Speech with the braying of the jackass.
These are not Americans. They are Men Without a Country.
I am proud and delighted. I woke today with a grouseful mien; heard the news; and damned near burst into tears of joy.
The rest of you can worry this bit of gnash in your teeth till the cows come home; but MY President, the President of the USA...
Heh, he won the goddam Nobel Peace Prize!
Busting out with pleasure, Yr. Pal, Harlan
Moon/mars
Tony,
I think it must be a carry-over policy from the Bush administration.
-Keith
Why are we bombing the moon when it was Mars that attacked us?
Virus Linked To Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
by Jon Hamilton
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113613955
Shel Dorf Tribute
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009_10_08.html#017836
http://www.sheldorftribute.com/
Nobel
Why don't we ask Frank Church's man, John McCain, what he thinks of the Nobel Prize going to "Barry?"
McCain: "I congratulate President Obama on receiving this prestigious award. I join my fellow Americans in expressing pride in our President on this occasion....(To CNN): I think part of their decision-making was expectations. And I'm sure the president understands that he now has even more to live up to. But as Americans, we're proud when our president receives an award of that prestigious category."
Good to see someone capable of a little graciousness today.
Rushdie & Ellison
Doesn't surprise me that Rushdie read Harlan's work. Check out his first novel, Grimus. A superb little tome that he kind of disowned when Midnight Children became a success. Also check out Haroun & the Sea of Stories and The Golden Bough.
FAQ
Naomi Klein said it best today on Democracynow: "Awarding Obama the Nobel already cheapens an already cheapened award."
Obama hasn't been President long enough and he has not done a thing to foster lasting peace.
He is escalating the war in Afghanistan, doing nothing to stop settlements in Gaza, we are still in Iraq.
Wait a year, Nobel, then see how Barry does. This is a political move--has to be.
-------------
Tariq Ali just said that Noam Chomsky should have won. Amen..lol
Slightly informed opinions
1. What's sad about that hearing aid commercial? or representative of our culture? It's bad to sell hearing aids? What about GEO cars? :P
2. The Presidency is not very important. Notice I said presidency and not "the President." The office of the president of the united states is not important! Never has been! Wasn't supposed to be! That's why we established this country not to have a king, and called the "leader" a president. The whole idea of America is to not have a powerful leader that everyone hates or loves.
3. Nothing wrong with that food commercial either, with the little girl. So why whines cutely and gets what she wants. Actually if you're paying attention, you see that there's a cut between when she asks for it and when she gets it. You don't see what happened in between that cut. And besides it's supposed to be funny, funny in like "this food is so much better than that other food that it will even make you go against your best instincts to nurture your kid."
4. Harrison Ford rules! If he tried to sell me a gold earring through the YouTube box, I would consider buying it too! "Get off my message board," Harlan Ellison & Rick Wyatt says!
5. Here's what da REAL conspiracy theorists say, about Obama receiving the Nobel Peach Prize:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/war-criminal-obama-deserves-an-oscar-but-not-a-nobel-peace-prize.html
Same as Brian Siano.
Mr. Mulligan, while it is true that Harrison Ford's donations have traditionally been to the Democrats, what you conveniently forget to reference is that he was a vocal supporter for McCain during the last presidential election.
I did not include it because I have found zero evidence of it being true. Searching for "Harrison ford" and "john McCain" reveals that Mr. Ford was irritated with McCain for an ad, donated $31,000 to Obama in 2008 vs $0 to McCain (He did donate $1000 to McCain in 2000 when he was running against Bush), and an entry in democraticunderground debunking the idea that he was a McCain supporter. I don't pretend that my powers of research are infallible so if you will kindly direct me to any good source of your information I will gladly correct my error. Are you sure you weren't confused by the editorial cartoon of McCain dressing up as Indiana Jones?
As for my little blacklisting jest, obviously Mr Ford is too powerful to be blacklisted, even if he did something completely beyond the pale, like vote for Sarah Palin. But if you think that one's politics can't have an effect on your getting hired and fired in Hollywood, I think you are being naive. It isn't something most would state openly, though sometimes the facade cracks--"If I were a producer and I had to make a casting decision about hiring Voight or some older actor who hadn't (ticked) me off with an idiotic Washington Times op-ed piece, I might very well say to myself, 'Voight? Let him eat cake.'" said writer Jeffrey Wells. Of course, Wells is NOT a producer and at least had the decency to acknowledge that he was just blowing hot air, so maybe this attitude is atypical. Were I advising a conservative creator in Hollywood my advise would be to keep one's opinions on the down low until you become wealthy and powerful enough to be labeled as "eccentric".
At any rate...you DO know that McCarthy was not the guy behind the Hollywood Blacklist, right? He was a senator. The House Committee on Un-American Activities was, as one would expect, a House of Representatives affair. While it may be comforting to think that HUAC was a tool of the republicans in general and McCarthy in particular, the truth is that at it's height the congress was democratically controlled. Most of its chairmen were democrats. Neither party has clean hands in this. Look up John E. Rankin, who could give McCarthy a run in the loathsome department.
Obama's winning the Nobel Peace prize was a _tad_ premature?
Look, I like the guy, and I sincerely hope that he manages to pull the U.S. out of its major problems. And I'm sincerely happy that a man of obvious intelligence, and with a sense of what American can be, is President.
But he hasn't been President for even a year. His accomplishments are still pretty much in progress, even giving him leeway on the enormity of his job. Prior to his Presidency, he managed a term in the Senate, and prior to that, he was a good community organizer. That's fine.
But that's not Nobel Peace Prize material. Okay, granted, the Peace Prize has been meaningless ever since Henry Kissinger got it. And let's be brutally honest: Obama's conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq hasn't made me think "Peace," and the timetables to extract ourselves from Iraq were set up by Iraq and the Bush Administration. He's kept the Patriot Act going. He hasn't ruled out torture. He's still maintaining a lot of the evils of the Bush crowd.
I cannot see any rational reason why Obama should be getting the Nobel. I hope he has the sense, and the dignity, to decline it.
Yeah, I'd have to agree that Obama's win was a tad premature; frankly, if they really wanted to make a strong political statement, what better statement could they make than to NOT award the peace prize this year?
but I did get this e-mail from a friend which puts the award in a different light:
"Admittedly, this was a shocker, but Obama, a black intellectual, did manage to peacefully oust an evil regime that had spread war, corruption, and despair worldwide throughout the new century. That has to be worth something."
I find it...amusing...that the people most apoplectic about Obama's win of the Nobel Prize are precisely those people obstructing his ability to carry through on the "very promising" agenda.
I firmly agree that the award is premature.
But for Michael Steele and Rush Limbaugh -- two huge obstacles to repairing this country -- to state it isn't deserved is a little like Ramses the Second criticizing Moses for wanting leave Egypt.
__________________________________________
Question: In the reporting of the above news item, I note that some of the people interviewed (Desmond Tutu, Mohamed ElBaradei) are referred to as "former" winners.
"Former" indicates that the award is no longer theirs. Is it a rotating award like the Stanley Cup? Or is it that once you are a Nobel Prize winner, you're still a Nobel Prize winner in which case "previous" would be a far more appropriate word?
This Just In...
Obama has won the National League pennant and is a cinch to clench the World Series.
For anyone in the Minneapolis are who is interested, Rick Keeney and I will be heading over to Dreamhaven books tomorrow (Saturday 10/10) around 1 PM. If you decide to join us, just look for the tall (I am 6'4", Keeney is 6'5") geeks in the corner talking about Harlan. Can't miss us
Jan, the trend of reader comments in newspapers is one that pretty much all publications have embraced. A number of weekly papers have even gone farther, incorporating comments or reader submissions on their online version into the print publication. I know the Star Tribune's Vita.MN weekly paper (geared towards the 18-30 demographic) was looking into this as a way to increase reader particiaption and generate more content at a greatly reduced price.
Nobel
Kudos to Herta Muller (anyone know how to do an umlaut ?). I'd give the next to Harlan but we all know that's not going to happen. (although--whose winning of the award would make Harold Bloom's head explode faster-Harlan's or Steve King's ? Both deserving, say I). They keep mentioning Roth as the next American winner but I would prefer Joyce Carol Oates or W.S.Merwin and in the Never Going To Happen category- Ray Bradbury, Harlan, Steve, John Crowley, Donald Hall or Howard Waldrop. One of the tragedies of Phil Dick's early death is that HE might have won it (you never know how much better he reads in translation...). (And-think of all the money Phil would have made suing the makers of The Matrix films, The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind) And Phil's winning would have made Harold Bloom's entire body explode.
Just Sayin'
I honestly cannot wait for the conspiracy theorists to start arguing that Barack Obama is secretly Swedish.
BLAM! Take THAT you fish! BLAM! My barrel's sprung a leak now.
Although I cannot wait to see what Victoria Jackson has to say about this, I knew I could count on some backlash for President Obama's peace prize.
Here is some pre-lash from Limbaugh:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200906030046
And Fox weighs in:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200910090002
Get ready for a wave of folks denigrating the Nobel Peace Prize itself. I still pray for the day that I can talk to kids about how foolish people acted when a B___k man was elected president.
Me, I'm proud that the first sitting President since Woodrow Wilson won this prize. I am also certain that my ancestors are smiling as well, because Wilson:
- was pro-slavery,
- pro-segragation,
- pro-KKK (he screened "Birth of a Nation" at the White House and declared it "perfect"
From his State of the Union of 1918:
"All that we can do as their legislative and executive servants is to mediate the process of change here, there, and elsewhere as we may. I have heard much counsel as to the plans that should be formed and personally conducted to a happy consummation, but from no quarter have I seen any general scheme of "reconstruction" emerge which I thought it likely we could force our spirited business men and self-reliant laborers to accept with due pliancy and obedience."
From this, I glean he didn't care for Reconstruction.
So, I iterate my joy at President Obama's win.
Perhaps President Wilson is sitting somewhere in eternity, wearing his Nobel Peace Prize.
Perhaps President Wilson is sitting somewhere in eternity, at a table, prepared by the people he oppressed, eating his Nobel Peace Prize.
Over and over.
Brian Phillips
Hey, congratulations Barack!!!!!
Now, everybody knows who HE is!
Make that: "...and there are no interesting women AMONG THE CHARACTERS."
Sorry.
Hi Harlan, wasn't sure if the Rushdie item was of much interest to you (in my mind you're friends with almost every major writer) but here the translation because I think the whole statement is noteworthy.
You often told stories of the past. Did you ever think about writing about the future?
I'm thinking about it right now. It might be the subject of my next novel. I've always been interested in SF. My first story - which frankly doesn't mean much - was an SF story. And from time to time I used the genre in my novels by inserting little stories into others. From childhood I read everything of that genre; it was the 60s, today considered the Golden Age of SF. There were Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison. But today that literature is not very interesting. Most modern SF writers can't write well, and there are no interesting women among them. So at a certain point I became bored and stopped reading it. At this point, however, I have become interested in the matter again. And you know why? Because SF allows a writer very much. That's why it's bound to experience a rebirth: It's the only genre that really permits a writer to explore ideas, much more than a realistic story about the present.
---
The Nobel for Literature went to Herta Müller which made me glad because of the kind of work she does (and her nationality because German literature should be more on the map). For the record, our critic Reich-Ranicki favored Roth, as usual, and Grass favored Oz. Bets in London were 50:1 against her. No one's really commenting here or anywhere else because she's not being read nearly as widely as, say, Grass or Lessing. The articles appearing (particularly in the US, but also in Europe) are quite cautious and tentative.
Did you all notice that more and more newspapers are allowing direct reader comments? What is the world coming to? I noticed one comment underneath the L.A. Times piece that dismisses the Nobel as a marketing tool, demands that maps be included in European novels, and ends with: "Names and places plague the readers of fiction." (Granted, this is the blog section of the Times, whatever that means.)
Speaking of the L.A. Times, a painting by Bradbury:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/10/ray-bradbury-painter.html
A book of essays by Chabon:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-michael-chabon4-2009oct04,0,4055347.story
Hemi/demi/semi Hugos
Harlan, thanks for the reminder of your dramatic presentation Hugo wins. Referring back to that bar chart I linked to (http://sfscope.com/2009/10/hugo-award-fiction-winners-by-1.html), I see they show 7 FICTION Hugos each for Ellison and Anderson. When added to the 1.5 for Dramatic Presentations, this makes 8.5 for HE.
How dare anyone round this down. If anything, they should round it up!
- Phil
Counting the clocks...
A list of 10 unique wrist watch designs I thought Harlan might enjoy. I'm pretty sure both Harlan and "The Harlequin" would wear the Ora Unica. Probably costs LOTS of really big nickels. Not my problem.
http://listphobia.com/2009/05/31/10-most-unique-wrist-watch-designs/
The toes of Salman Rushdie
I once stepped on the _toes_ of Salman Rushdie! Not many folks can say _that_. Not quite the same as being mentioned by him in an interview, but hey -- pretty cool, anyway. He was wearing sandals -- and very polite about it, when I said, sorry, and "I really enjoy your work" (like me, he was at Radio City Music Hall, with his kid, to listen to readings by Stephen King, John Irving and J.K. Rowling). -DTS
PHILLLLLLLLL NICHOLLLLLLLLLLS:
I have 2 Hugos for Dramatic Presentation, well, actually 1 and 1/2. One for CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER and the half for A BOY AND HIS DOG because they gave it to the Producer, not the writer. Nonetheless, I am the recipient of 8 and a half Hugos, even if there are those who, for their confusion and inability to handle anomolies, continue to round it off.
Others may think this all moot and petty. I do not. I did the work, I deserve the credit.
Harlan Ellison
JOHN ZEOCK: No, thanks. I have a mint copy, signed to me by Bernie, who was a friend.
KOS: Art Cover's wife, who owned DANGEROUS VISIONS: THE BOOKSTORE, was not Marta Randall, the author who lives in the Bay Area, was once President of SFWA, and whose novel ISLANDS I published in the Discovery series.
Her name was, and is, LYDIA MARANO. They are still living together, here in the LA area. Had dinner with them both not many months ago.
Lydia Marano. Not Marta Randall.
-Harlan
Talking Ball
Don't know about your story specifically, but talking balls seem to be popular. Er, I mean that in a clean way.
I found this: http://www.kcactive.com/aande/reel/reel2006_09.htm (see "Everyone's Hero" reviewed by Russ Simmons)
"Jake T. Austin provides the voice of Yankee Irving, a youngster who, in the 1930s, lives in New York with his poor but loving parents (Mandy Patinkin and Dana Reeve). Naturally, Yankee is a huge fan of the boys in pinstripes. But Yankee isn’t much of a player. In fact, he is so bad that the boys in the sandlot always choose him last. One day, Yankee stumbles across a ball that apparently flew out of Yankee Stadium. Strangely enough, this ball he nicknames Screwie (Rob Reiner), can talk and he’s the only one who can hear it... Directed by the late Christopher Reeve (aided by veteran animators Colin Brady and Dan St. Pierre)."
One note in Wikipedia (yea, I know) cites that the movie was based on a story by Howard Jonas, but quite frankly, that doesn't make sense time-wise. Another interview says that Reeve's son pointed out the story that the film is based on, so wherever the kid got it from... sounds like an echo of your lost story.
________________________________________________
Although speaking of lost stories, does anyone remember this one? A science fiction novel about a girl(?) who is able to travel to different dimensions by catching rings of different colors and sizes that float through the air and leaping through them. She goes to a somewhat peaceful watery dimension where she transforms into a sea creature, and another where she's a regular human, and I think another where she's a strong, large predator.
ITALIAN ELLISON
The url worked for me, but the interview is in Italian. Here's the answer in which he mentions you and Dick:
Il reportage indaga il presente. Spesso lei ha raccontato storie del passato. Ha mai pensato di scrivere del futuro?
"Ci sto pensando. Credo che potrebbe essere il soggetto del mio prossimo romanzo. Sono sempre stato interessato alla fantascienza. Il mio primo racconto, che a dire il vero non è un granché, fu un racconto di fantascienza, appunto. E qualche volta ho usato questo genere nei miei romanzi, inserendo piccole storie dentro altre storie. Da ragazzo leggevo tutto di quel genere: erano gli anni Sessanta: oggi considerati il periodo d'oro della fantascienza. C'erano Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison. Ma oggi questa letteratura non è molto interessante. La gran parte degli scrittori odierni di fantascienza non scrivono bene, e non ci sono donne interessanti tra i personaggi: così a un certo punto mi sono annoiato e ho smesso di leggerla. Invece, in questi mesi sono di nuovo interessato a questa vicenda. E sa perché? Perché la fantascienza permette molto a uno scrittore. Ecco perché è destinata a rinascere: è l'unico genere che davvero consente a uno scrittore di esplorare le idee, assai più di una storia realista sul presente".
(28 settembre 2009)
Rushdie interview (italiano)
http://espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio/rushdie-lamore-la-vita/2110864&ref=hpsp
JAN:
Are you sure you got that tinyurl address correct for the Salman Rushdie interview? Tried it a couple of times...and it tells me tinyurl can't find it with the info as you posted it.
I'd actually like to pull it for my scrapbook. Geeez, Rushdie!
Yr. Pal, Harlan
I think THIS advert sums up our society pretty neatly too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ1WRj2OaMk
All I asked was...
...is James Argendeli OK after all the rain? Then he goes and gets published! A far better answer than I could have hoped for!
TRAVIS: shagin is not THAT efficient about flog...OW!
That's gonna sting come winter,
Brian
Congrats to James A.! Well done!
James Argendeli: Congratulations! Good on ya, mate!
Richard Cohen:
“Last week someone took a Gigli saw to the heads of Astaire & Rogers --
and occasionally amputated the dancing feet as well -- on a broadcast
of "Top Hat" over PBS ("42nd Street" followed, but I'd had enough).”
It may have been a moronic decision by someone at the local station. We’ve got two PBS stations here in Colorado, and channel 12 is a recent addition, dating from the early 80’s. They would screw up the broadcast of TV shows, movies, etc. I’d sometimes see someone’s shadow pass by as someone walked in front of the projector. Once, one of the local news anchors said, “Quick, turn to channel 12! They’re showing a movie backwards and they don’t know it!” Sure enough, they were showing an episode of Have Gun Will Travel upside-down and backwards. At least they were airing programs such as that and Twilight Zone sans commercials.
They’ve gotten better since. I think the crew in those early days were mostly cokeheads.
Chuck
My thirty-eighth post here
HARLAN: As it’s Frank Herbert’s birthday today, I was curious about your experience of knowing that brilliant fellow. I see that he contributed to “Medea: Harlan’s World”--such a fascinating project. His great work “DUNE” seems more relevant than ever, considering how sandtrapped we are today in petropolitical desert wars.
(Dovetailing, that reminds me of that “Pharsalia” verse by Lucan you used to open your war story “Basilisk”, which I just read: “What though the Moor the basilisk has slain, And pinned him lifeless to the sandy plain, Up through the spear the subtle venom flies, The hand imbibes it, and the victor dies.”)
JAMES ARGENDELI: Congratulations on your first sale! Another “w” (for “win”) in the “W” (for “Writer”) column!
GRAHAM RAE: Points to you, sir, for the obscure Z-grade s.f. flick reference of ‘Planet Arous’.
Though it’s naggin’ to the noggin,
Even gaggin’--rhymes’a cloggin’--
I’m not flaggin’ in my bloggin’.
(Hopin’ SHAGIN gives me floggin’!)
T.Y.
SHIRLEY JACKSON AND THE JERRY SPRINGER CROWD
Shirley Jackson wrote (I'm not making this up) that soon after the publication of THE LOTTERY (one of the greatest short stories of the 20th Century) the most frequent fan mail she got regarding the story asked her where exactly was this village, and could they watch?
Shirley Jackson
During the last month or so I've seen a couple of references to a Library of America volume of Shirley Jackson, edited by Oates, to be published late this year or early next.
Bests to all,
--tr
Question for Entertainment Industry Mavens
Last week someone took a Gigli saw to the heads of Astaire & Rogers --
and occasionally amputated the dancing feet as well -- on a broadcast
of "Top Hat" over PBS ("42nd Street" followed, but I'd had enough).
This violence to the original proportions of the picture was done for the
sake of force-fitting it to the new dimensions of the wide-screen TV
now in favor.
I expect I missed the debut of the warped practice -- but
it has leapt to the top of my how-TV-makes-me-sick list.
So, the question:
Is this being done as a matter of course now
or did I just happen on a horrible experiment?
To any repliers, Thanks.
---- And to James Argendeli -- Congratulations!
Richard
Ludus Paganus
The diversions of the country folk are still with us. TV is but the crossroads fire of our age, and the freak show continues.
We're good Frank, as I took your jibe exactly as you intended it. Your puckish interior shines through.
STORY I REMEMBER AND AM LOOKING FOR TITLE/AUTHOR{
I read this in a grade school English reader ca. 1964, so it was written no later than the early sixties. I suspect from certain elements of the story that it was written in the 1930s.
A man walking past Yankee Stadium while a ball game is underway. He hears the crowd cheer wildly, as a baseball sails over the outdfield wall and lands in the street near him. He picks up the ball and puts it in his pocket. Later that day, he hears a soft moaning. Then a small voice muttering to itself. He cannot find the speaker, then realizes the voice is coming from his coat pocket. He begins a conversation with the voice, and turns out the ball is talking to him. Tells him it was Babe Ruth that hit the ball out of Yankee Stadium, and that it was hjit so hard it will never let itself be hit again.
The man starts a career as a barnstorming baseball pitcher. He always uses the talking ball, which wildly dodges and weaves whenever it comes near a bat.
I dont remember how it ended.
Anyone?
KOS
Attn Shirley Jackson fans. Joyce Carol Oates has a nice review of the newly reissued WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE in the Oct 8th New York Review of Books online here...
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/23131#
If you're not a Shirley Jackson fan a good place to start.
Movie Rating
I can live with:
"“Stark Raving Black” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Most of the abundant profanity is delivered at the top of Lewis Black’s raspy voice."
The rest of the NYT review:
http://tinyurl.com/ykwv5h6
Finis
I dunno where I got the impression that Ford was part of the Republican action-movie Mafia -- maybe his support for McCain -- but I concede the error.
*
Typed "THE END" at the close of Andrea Cort novel #3, four minutes ago.
JAMES ARGENDELI wrote: "Just to let you know that I have made my first pro-fiction sale. I am in an anthology titled THE ANTHOLOGY OF DARK WISDOM."
That is great news! Congratulations, and may this sale be followed by many, many more!
Sandra
Second and last post for today. Professional rates (so I have been told) and it is a horror fable titled AND ON THE FOURTH DAY.
Look at this commercial folks. This pretty much sums up our society:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTx2yNmHdgA
-------------
James, good on ya. What kind of story is it and how much did they pay you? haha.
----------
KOS, I am not denegrating your service which was sincere.
World War 2 gave us small freedoms, but that lead into the National Security State, which gave us economic booms, but at what cost? The Cold War was all about who controls the economic story. Our industrial society would not be where it is at without all that social pentagon spending.
We socialize risk, one percent reap the benefit.
Obama is now part of their brood. Sadly.
Hi Harlan & Susan,
Just to let you know that I have made my first pro-fiction sale. I am in an anthology titled THE ANTHOLOGY OF DARK WISDOM. Other contributors to the book include Peter Straub, Alan Dean foster, John Shirley, Gene O' Neill and too many to list here. The book will be available on Amazon, Target.com and other retailers and is now available from the publishers site: Elder Signs press.
If you can imaginge how excited I am...try multiplying that by 100!
Half a hugo...
Reply to One who lurks:
I doubt that Poul Anderson has a half-Hugo. The chart I linked to was headed "fiction", I seem to recall, so I doubt if the Dramatic Presentation category is covered. Said category being where Harlan got his demi-Hugo, I believe.
- Phil
Mr. Mulligan, while it is true that Harrison Ford's donations have traditionally been to the Democrats, what you conveniently forget to reference is that he was a vocal supporter for McCain during the last presidential election.
Regardless of Mr. Ford's political affiliation, I take offense to the assertion that being a Republican would cause one to be blacklisted in Hollywood. McCarthyism was one of the darker periods in American history, one perpetrated by a Republican zealot, and it galls me when Republicans try to use their own disgraceful actions in the past to claim persecution in today's society.
Should you wish to discuss this in greater depth, I would be happy to continue this over in the Forums.
Regards,
Mark
Adam Troy-Castro says: "Fine, then. Explain how come the single most prominent Hollywood movie star to work with Polanksi during his exile is...Republican Harrison Ford, star of the middling FRANTIC."
Not sure where you got the idea he was a Republican. his political donations seem to be 97% Democrat 2% Republican (http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Harrison_Ford.php). His wikipedia entry says Like his parents, Ford is a lifelong Democrat, and a close friend of former President Bill Clinton. (taken for what it's worth--I know Wiki's not always stellar accuracy rate). he did oppose the Iraqi war and call for regime change...on both sides.
What made you think he was a Republican? You trying to get the guy blacklisted?
Travis Yoder: as some wag put it: It's a vagina, not a clown car. I don't care if you have 17 kids or however many, you're STILL not interesting or entertaining or talented. You know what I found sort of fascinating, from a sociological and psychological standpoint? That 'Kate Plus Bitter Divorce Hate' Gosselin shrew woman was in the news a few weeks ago, saying that she never thought about the fact that celebs were REAL PEOPLE until she became one - she, like many other morons, seemed to believe that they come from Planet Arous on a beam of light and are flickering entities sent for your amusement and enjoyment, then packed off into a case or something at the end of the day after being used. And the idea of exploiting your poor family to further your own attention deficit disorder needs is absolutely anathema to me.
It's amazing, frightening, pathetic and bizarre the disconnect between the view of the general public on their choice of celeb meat and the ACTUAL CARBON-ATOM-BASED EXISTENCE of these (micro)celebs. If they are on TV they must not be real, the received (il)logic seems to run, even though the public watch these muppets for some affirmation of their own viability as a human being because there are people JUST LIKE THEM on TV. And yet if it doesn't happen on TV it's not worth doing. I can understand it, though it's so COMPLETELY NUTS it's almost beyond belief. Television has come a long way since its first public display in 1926 in my old home town of Falkirk - a long way in destroying reality, that is. This country, like many in the Western world, is hypnotized and obsessed by the gogglebox, and it's just pathetic. A million channels and nothing's on. I'm just glad that reading and recreational methamphetamine and solvent abuse have not lost their sheen. Otherwise I would be lost for an evening's relaxation.
errorum seriatim
Ah, I do wonder wnat a bilent revolution is, I do.
Violent.
Bilent comes just before bicarnival.
KOS
Glorious Folly
Beat ya to it, Frank. My first response to Cindy's kind "thank you" was "What did i do NOW?!" immediately followed by "Ohhhh! That?"
You're welcome, Cindy. You little stinker.
I am cynical about the military, and yet realistic. Liberty is gained by people who stand up and act. Your kids in the sixties, as well as certain other kids who freed millions from literal slavery in the 1860s and 1940s.
Most pacifism seems based on the idea that if big armies make for big wars, and smaller armies for smaller wars, then perhaps if we had no armies at all...
Of course there are scholars with deep theories that go way beyond that. I write simplistically, so yes, I am simplistic in this opinion.
So I won't argue or debate it, because, hey, you might be right. I listen, but argument and debate is largely a waste of time. It bores me, though the cats might give it a go.
But I listen.
I do like these two quotes though:
"(The disarmament movement of the 1920s and 1930s was) ...tragically successful in disarming the nations that believed in disarmament." -Walter Lippmann
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - George Orwell
Interestingly, the active duty Swedish army now consists in total of one battalion of about a thousand men.
Good luck, Sweden!
KOS
PS
It occurs to me that Sweden will likley never have a bilent revolution for one salient reason: How the hell can you build a decent barricade with IKEA furniture?!
:
Bernard Wolfe
HARLAN-found a copy of Wolfe's Trotsky novel-HC,sans DJ,for 50 cents.Reply only necessary if affirmative,John.
TRAVIS: You need to be flogged. Talk to Brian. I'm really very efficient.
***
JOSH: Well done article, sir. I found the responses an interesting slice of the internet as well. Not very intelligent on the whole, but interesting.
shagin
My thirty-seventh post here
HARLAN: I really enjoy Josh’s (and some of the others’) film mini-reviews on the “Trailers from Hell” site. Any chance of YOU becoming one of the ‘Film Gurus’ as well?! Great forum to discuss the flicks you love—or hate—the most.
GRAHAM RAE: I'd commiserate with you about how schadenfreude seems to have become the staple of American entertainment, but I’m too busy cackling over “bucket fanny”!! :D
FRANK CHURCH: You made a great point, but I think we’d have to be dimensional about this and say that at certain times it was activism that secured our freedoms, and at other times it was military action. We didn’t beat King George with protest signs after all.
JOSH OLS®N: Aaahh, I was able to access your Polanski/petition essay today and quite well done it was too. Just the right blend of sober data and justified snark to refute the sensationalists. I’m thinkin’ you’re a good egg.
STEVE JARRETT: I know I’m behind topic-wise, but I just heard H.E.’s dramatic recitation of your J.O.-inspired Seussist poem. Awesome! I bow to you, sir.
---
“When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock,
“And the ‘artful dodger’ Roman is delivered to the dock,
“And wingnuts wail at straw men, by greased-up grudges gripped,
“Olson (no ‘e’; two ‘o’s) still won’t read your fucking script.”
With apologies to James Whitcomb Riley on today, his birthday,
T.Y.
This is not "viral talk"...this is affirmation of conscience:
"...we have all been screaming because we do not want to face, we cannot face, what is at the heart of all of this, what is the unspoken essence of every moment of this debate; what, about which, we are truly driven to such intense ineffable inchoate emotions. Because ultimately, in screaming about health care reform, pro or con, we are screaming about death.
This, ultimately, is about death.
About preventing it. About fighting it. About resisting it. About grabbing hold of anything and everything to forestall it and postpone it, even though we know that the force will overcome us all - always will, always has. Health care is, at its core, about improving the odds of life in its struggle against death. Of extending that game which we will all lose, each and every one of us unto eternity, extending it another year or month or second.
This is the primary directive of life, the essence of our will as human beings, all perhaps that is measurable of our souls, the will to live. And when we go to a doctor's office or a hospital or a storefront clinic in a ghetto we are expressing this fundamental cry of humanity: I want to live! I want my child to live! I want my wife to live! I want my father to live! I want my neighbor to live! I want this stranger I do not know and never will know to live! This is elemental stuff — our atoms in action, our survival mode in charge. Tamper with this and you are tampering with us."
- Keith Olbermann
Brian Phillips McDonough: yes, I know that crap has ALWAYS been around in the (in)human (disg)race, but the contemporary level of voyeuristic electronic apathy and hatred is surely something new, at least in that TV and films and the net have not been around, historically speaking, for all that long. I moved to America from Scotland just over four years ago and have been more than disgusted by the absolute mind-numbing soul-crushing ABSOLUTE FUCKING STUPIDITY of the American 'entertainment' culture. Xenophobic flesh-hating Abhu Ghraib-inspired torture porn films for idiot teens, sexy pathologist garbage full of mutilated dead bodies (but no nudity cos THAT would be sick), reality TV shows about morons like Flavor Flav going back to high school (you would assume to get a diploma finally), endless shows about mewling talent-free clowns whose only claim to fame and infamy is having spawned a litter of brat-rats from their bucket fannys...it's absolutely BEYOND BELIEF OR RELIEF.
I am also appalled by how mean-spirited and mentally backwards the whole mentality of viewers is towards the self-projected micro-stars debasing themselves for the 'entertainment' of selfsame braindead fools. It's a mixture of jealousy and self-loathing and eight years of Bush-led misanthropy. Or something. I'm not trying to say the UK is any better, but man - this country's media production is just pretty much pure concentrated SHIT from start to finish. I hate TV and never watch it (genuinely - not being elitist by saying that), but somehow still pick up odd facts about the morons who populate it by osmosis as my wife watches some crap. It's depressing and disturbing and disgusting, and I really don't know what else to say. Every day here feels like my brain is being fried by the decortication of the humanimal.
Fuck it.
Items of interest:
Didn't see anyone post this here, but it should be of interest, especially with all the "E-reads" material of our host's available: http://tiny.cc/uMTcP
And here is an "online exhibit" about the history pulps and fanzines: http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/specoll/exhibits/scifi/ , in which Harlan gets his own section. Because of the "wonky" navigation, I will link to the list of authors, so you can see what august company he is in: http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/specoll/exhibits/scifi/#sixteen
Click his name to get to his part of the exhibit.
Phil Nichols: Anderson also has a half-Hugo?
Cindy, what did KOS do? lol
I hate to break this to folks, but the military does not give us freedom, activism does. Thank those kids who marched in the 60s, they are the true footsoldiers. Struggle creates freedom. War takes it away.
KOS,
THANK YOU for your service. Without you and those like you we wouldn't have what we have.
Cindy
That is "need to be comments". Sorry for the error
I did not say you emailed me Frank, I was just making a comment after reading a couple of yours. I am not sure why you would think you could bash someone based on a message that included a comment about the Yankees or a hockey team, but you chose to do so. I have been concerned about Robert and his family and they have been in my thoughts and prayers along with so many here. There just does not to be comments, like you made, at a time like this. If you think I am wrong you are more than welcome to email me and we can discuss it in private.
Whoops
Whoops, that's what comes of not reading recent notes before posting.
Response to Graham Rae
Thank you for a funny/sad article from the Onion, but I think the real question is "did popular culture ever stop being diseased"? Ask a major writer who has an avuncular bulletin board named for him and he'd tell you that he wrote for a gossip magazine many years ago, with titles such as "I Had My Father's Baby", which an uncomfortable number of people swore was true.
A small note here: I am pointing out what was done to show how many folks took it as Gospel, NOT to look down my nose and sneer at someone trying to support himself by writing.
At one time, I had a book called, "The Encyclopedia of Graffiti", which showed some "reportage" dating back to ancient Greece. Some of the entries were quite long. So blogging is nothing new. There are unmarked "party" records from the 1940's and 1950's with names such as "Birth Control", sensationalist journalism is nothing new (wanna read about Mary Astor's extramarital affairs? The New York Daily News published excerpts from her diary), so what is different now?
The use and abuse of the internet.
Bad or spurious news doesn't just travel fast, it SCREAMS past you now and there is so much of it. I have used the restroom to-day and no one should care, but were I famous, I could "Twitter" this out to my loving "Tweets" and I might be hailed as an apostle of G.G. Allin in some circles (with pentagrams in 'em, I suppose).
Of course it's not a good state of affairs. I also don't necessarily think that it's better merely because people read the nonsense rather than podcasting it.
All of the above is either sage advice or a strange observation from a man who just wrote a long response to a blog about a TV show called, "The Kids From C.A.P.E.R."
Brian Phillips
Aid
Anyone trying to read Josh Olson's piece can access it via Mark Evanier's site newsfromme.com.
Kudos to Olson
Our old friend Josh Olson, quoted at length in an article by Patrick Goldstein, utterly demolishes the simplistic meme that's been going around, that Hollywood as a bloc has been supporting Roman Polanski. Rarely have I seen a bullshit belief not just dismantled, but scattered to the four winds.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/10/is-hollywood-really-a-hotbed-of-support-for-roman-polanski.html
The one point that has not been raised about this, as far as I've seen, is in opposition to the idiot meme, spoken a number of times on Fox, and here on Facebook, that links (any degree of) industry support for Polanski, even if it's just a few prominent names, to left-wing moral relativism; i.e., "Of course they don't want the child molester ... Read Morearrested! They're liberals, and liberals don't think anything anything's morally objectionable!"
Fine, then. Explain how come the single most prominent Hollywood movie star to work with Polanksi during his exile is...Republican Harrison Ford, star of the middling FRANTIC.
*
Watched last night: NOBEL SON, with Alan Rickman as an arrogant and insulting Nobel laureate whose son is kidnapped. There's not enough of him, as the kidnapping takes over.
Hugo Awards
Harlan (naturally!) appears prominently in this recently updated chart showing Hugo awards winners (placing joint second with Poul Anderson):
http://sfscope.com/2009/10/hugo-award-fiction-winners-by-1.html
- Phil
Many Thanks
Thank you Susan - the complimentary Rabbit Hole showed up today along with the poster - which the local post made me go pick up. Weird.
(Please listen to "Incompetence Indifference" by Adrian Belew from his album Side Three.)
Your lovely poster wrapping illustrates the great care involved which was a 180 degree spin from the local postal service and so cancelled them out. Your personalized note then trumped them.
The Half Time Score:
Susan - 13,465,789
Local Post - 0
Best Wishes!
Satire or straight up?
This sounds about right:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/98217
When exactly did America's popular culture become so utterly worthless and braindead and diseased?
My thirty-sixth post here
AAARRRGGHH! My computer won’t let me access Josh’s article at latimesblogs for some weird reason. Can someone do me a favor and e-mail the text to me? As long as that’s not some breach of blog etiquette, that is. I’d sure appreciate it.
Blog bog,
T.Y.
Josh Olson
Nicely done piece in the L.A. Times, sir. Always nice to hear a voice of reason in the wilderness.
Perry
Autumn Angels
The summer of 1976 I went home for two weeks around the Fourth of July, taking the Amtrak from Kansas City to LA. Returning in late July to my duty station at Fort Riley, on the Kansan plains, I found myself both eagerly acnticipating the worldcon in Kansas City at the end of that summer. As is common with such anticipatory sensations, I found them to be entangled with a midsummer Sargasso-like doldrums of the heart. The blank and wide heat spaces of the "Great American Desert" can do that. As Duerer showed us, melancholy is a sense of distance and removal as much as a simple, if profound, sentiment of sadness.
As was typical of that time, long before internet nastiness and distraction, I visited the local bookstores at least once or twice weekly, if only to see the new SF. At the time I was in my Golden Age of reading the "trash", often plowinfg thorugh a complete novel or story collection each day, along with subscribing to, and of course reading cover to cover, all five major magazines. At least monthly I received a packet from the SF Book Club. I was also discovering fanzines, from Locus to Dick Geis's The Alien Critic.
It was on one of those visits that I spotted "Autumn Angles", which had just been released, by all appearances. It would have been late July or early August of that summer. I had nevbr heard of Arthur Byron Cover, but that Harlan Ellison recommended him was enough to get my attention. The cover did not hurt either. Sold.
I read the book largely on an afternoon spent on Custer Hill, taking a class in how to be a radio operator. Someone in the chain of command of my Intell unit had decided I was the one to learn to work a radio. I suppose it might possibly have had something to do with my intriguing and quirky inclination towards disputation with superior officers as to matters such as why did I have to be the one to work all night, and why do I have to practice reading German all day when I really want to read my SF mags and play wargames with Specialist Frappier from the II shop downstairs?
Ah well. Between learning how to turn the radio on and off, hearing over and over and over again "Don't say 'ROGER',!" and staring into the hazy horizon dreaming of meeting Robert Heinlein for the first time in just a month or so, somewhere in there I read most to all of Cover's novel.
Can't say I understood it quite, but then again, as they used to say at the time, "What A Trip!"
Having later met ABC once or twice in passing, and hung out a bit at the old Dangerous Visions bookstore on Ventura Boulevard that he and Marta Randall ran for years, I can say he's as kind and interesting of a man as he is a good writer, without fear of either being under appreciated by anyone who knows him in either capacity.
Then there's the time at DV that I got into an argument with Norman Spinrad over whether he had ever written a story with a robot in it. (He insisted he never had. I pointed out he once had a cyborg character in a story published in Asimov's. He insisted a cyborg is NOT a robot. Another time David Gerrold was in there talking to ABC, and I kept wondering who he was. I didn't recognize him, but I knew that voice. It was bugging me, so I finally asked him if he was on the radio or something? Gerrold shot me a funny look, and said "Well, I do a little show on Fridays called Hour 25..." and I smacked myself mentlaly and blurted out, "Oh, that's right. You're David Gerrold." and went back to my browsing.
Later, I was sitting in my car at the curb outside the store, checking the books I had bought, and Gerrold exited the shop. As he passed by my car, seeing the movement I looked up, and he gave me onw of those "Am I being stalked?!" looks, or at least it felt like that.
I just ignored him. I figured if I did anything else, he would kick my ass.
Soory 'bout that, David.
KOS
ROBERT ROSS
Kipling once again: "They will come back-come back again-as long as the red Earth rolls./He never wasted a leaf or a tree. Do you think He would squander souls ?" A quiet journey home...
Just got off the phone with Melanie & Theresa, Robert's two sisters. Robert is not conscious at this point, so they held the phone up to his ear to allow me to say a few words to him.
That had to be one of the hardest conversations I have ever had, one sided though it was, but there were a few things I had to tell my friend; one of which is that he will not be forgotten, and that is a promise I damn well intend to keep
Fuck, I feel like a sledgehammer just hit me
JOSH -- Excellent essay. At first I wondered when you'd changed your name to Patrick Goldstein, but caught on a few inches down the page. But yeah, good points for pondering.
"But some of us won’t sign the damn thing, because if we accede to the ludicrous demand that we sign petitions stating that it’s a good thing when wanted criminals are brought to justice, the next thing they’ll demand is that we take loyalty oaths."
Good on you. (Unca H'd be proud.)
___________________________________________________
Plans continue for what Rick the Wyattmaster describes below. We've got a good core group of "volunteers" working on a fitting group response to Robert's personal tragedy.
Stay tuned.
After a week or so of stories and right wing rants about how Hollywood thinks child rape is a grand thing, I felt it was time for someone to say something that contained a little more truth to it.
The LA Times ran my essay this morning. Before you show up at the gates of Hollywood with a pitchfork and a torch, please read it:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/10/is-hollywood-really-a-hotbed-of-support-for-roman-polanski.html
Todd, if you look at the bibliography of Harlan's work in this website you will see there are five titles listed in the Discovery series Harlan edited.
My thoughts are with Ross. Glad the call was made.
TODD, the other titles were #3 The Light at the End of the Universe by Terry Carr, #4 Islands by Marta Randall, #5 Involution Ocean by Bruce Sterling. See listing in Ellison's newer books.
Harlan, incidentally the Sutherland, Randall and Sterling titles have German editions.
Salman Rushdie mentions he read Ellison and Dick during the golden age, complains that today's science fiction is not very interesting, and thinks his next novel might take place in the future.
http://tinyurl.com/y88re9d (Italian Espresso interview, 2nd question)
A brief blog-appreciation of Rock God: http://tinyurl.com/ybdpmrd
Round abouts 30 minutes ago I reminded my brother that I am my mother's daughter and if he doesn't like it he needs to pull up his big girl panties and get a life. He's being evicted from his apartment and will be coming to live with us for a time. To make a horrificly fucked up, pissant story short, he would rather kill his daughter's dog and his own cat rather than take them to the pound because "he doesn't want to break up the family".
Stay tuned and send your regards to my husband if you hear about an exploding fat woman round Bremerton way.
***
TODD: I hadn't heard of that series either. Sounds like it's worth looking up.
shagin
Frank, I am not sure who appointed you the arbiter of what is right and wrong, especially considering your many gaffes in your emails. I have not posted recently because I have not been well, but I have included a lot of people from this website in my prayers, including Harlan and Susan, without leaving a message here. Life does go on regardless of the happenings all around us. To jump on Todd because he made a comment about the Yankees or the hockey team near him in Phoenix was not right. I've been a Yankees fan all my life, does that make it wrong for me to wonder who they will be playing against in the playoffs. Please show a little discretion before accusing someone of doing a wrong when none was intended.
Todd? Shakes head.
Cancer the Thief
Comes stealing in
To leave another hole
In the world.
Fuck Cancer.
Chuck
Robert Ross
I didn't know Robert, didn't interact with him here, and knew very little of him personally. Yet his goodbye post struck me, having lost several family members to cancer, including my mother. To be comfortable, pain free, and with loved ones, is the best he can wish at this point.
I'm glad Harlan spoke to Robert and conveyed our collective farewell.
Peg
Robert Ross
Thanks for that, Harlan.
Robert's facing his destiny with courage and dignity. I hope I can do the same when my time comes.
Maybe he'll let us know what's on the other side.
Life would suck if it wasn't so goddam beautiful
yeah.
P.S.
At one point, Robert passed the phone to his charming sister, Melanie, who was at bedside. We chatted a while, mostly to fill the silence until Robert could breathe more easily; and you must excuse my gaffe in not mentioning the exchange in my post of a moment ago. I made HER laugh, as well...it's my job, y'know...and she conveyed the moment to Robert who lawffed again. As the ant said to the old man from the shetl, "I do what I can do."
-he
The Harlan Ellison Discovery Series ??
I'm browsing along the dimly lit aisle of Phoenix's Bent Cover used book store when I spot the name Arthur Byron Cover on a binder title I had never heard of: Autumn Angels. Hmmmm, I hmmmmed, I wonder what this is, pulling it from the shelf to check out the cover.
A wild cover: features Hawkman, yes Hawkman, and some green beaked Buddha and a fat man and a derbeyed man and a sleepy-eyed Mickey Mouse-type and, most interesting of all, along the top left corner the words: The Harlan Ellison Discovery Series #2.
Huh? Never heard of it. What the heck is this? I thumb through, seeing a long introduction by the man himself, and decide it's worth the three bucks and search within for what the #1 book in the series was. It's Stormtrack by James Sutherland (who?) and, zounds, I found that beat up paperback on the shelves as well with Harlan intro.
Hints of a Marta Randall book in the series, but, nope, couldn't find it under Marta's section of 5-7 books.
So, friends, of whom I have not spoken/typed in so long a time, what do you know of The Harlan Ellison Discovery Series? Was there a book #3? More? Any other interesting tidbits on this series; how it came to be? How it came to go?
Sure, I could search on the internet, but I find it much more fun to pry the minds of like-minded fans. So I won't. I'll wait and see what info turns up (until I get desperate, of course). How did this series manage to stay hidden from this fan of the past 35 years?
- TODD
PS: Go Yankees! It's been oh so long since they won that World Series in 2000. And Go Coyotes! But please stay....Debbie and I love being season ticket holders for this action packed sport.....ice hockey in the desert, who woulda thunkit?
Been trying to get back to some of you with promised remarks and queries, but it's been an exhausting week or so, trying to get two books out, fulfill contracts, paperwork, the "Star Trek" litigation, requests from overseas publishers, et al. I cannot even summon the energy to apologize for wiring-you-up and not getting to it all sooner. Patience is commended, but if not, well, as Dorothy Parker was wont to put it, "If it falls in the ocean, well, hell, then it falls in the ocean."
I do plan on finding a moment's surcease this week and, well, we shall see.
This one moment, however, I will steal to report that Robert Ross and I spoke yesterday. As you might suspect, time growing so short, he did not sound terrific. They have him in the hospital, of course, and he's on a breather. So he could talk only for a short spell, then he began to cough, and his voice sandpapered, so I took over and just talked AT him, to give him a break. He told me a grotesquely disreputable joke, and I told him one designed to match the grue of it all. He chuckled: that was better than nothing. He expressed pleasure at the plethora of good wishes from each of you, and remarked that you were a small but elegant community of "good people."
On your behalf, I wished him a safe and fulfilling journey. We go all the way back three decades to the Clarion Workshop, and he did not expect to cash in quite this soon. Well, I suppose none of us does. There is a long sigh running below the surface of that last sentence.
I told him goodbye, for all of us.
I'll see you very soon.
Stay well, all of you.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
My thirty-fifth post here
ROBERT ROSS:
Today is the first anniversary of the passing of a good pal of mine, too soon and by cancer. It was the first time I’d really lost anyone close to me who wasn’t a family member of advanced age. When I attended his service, I couldn’t allow much solace in; I could only think of what a genuine loss it was. But now I remember how many people attended, and how we all loved the guy. It was such a loss because his presence while alive had been such a gain.
From all the sincere posts I’ve read here addressing you, it is clear that you have also been a net gain on the scale of humanity. You’ve been a plus, a positive in the world, and those who know you will keenly feel the displacement of your value. We all lose the battle eventually. Can we all say that we will be so missed?
I thank you, sir, for sharing your keen intellect and rich humor on this website, and I will miss it.
T.Y.
Each and Every:
I am sure I speak for all of us when I mention the numbness. I corresponded with Robert a couple of times, that's all. Some of you (Rick K, Mark) had the opportunity to meet and talk to him. Some of you can lay some claim to friendship (Harlan).
Behind the scenes, out of public spotlight, some of us are crafting a plan to honor Robert Ross amongst ourselves. "Internet Community" be fucked, he is one of us.
Stay tuned. We have some ideas and the basis of a plan to honor his fight.
Just sayin'.
Robert Ross
This past Saturday, when I read your post, it hit me right between the eyes, much like Harlan's story, Neither Your Jenny Nor Mine, did when I read it for the first time. It was the most real (for lack of a better word) and heart rending post I've read on these forums since 1996 and have been unable to respond to it, until now. I wish you nothing but the best, Charlie
Mr. Ross
For whatever it's worth coming from a total stranger, if you must go, go in peace and with dignity.
And yes, if you haven't already, please make the call.
Mr. Robert Ross
I wish you peace, and an end to your pain.
Reply to Susan -- Tip O the hat to Mr. Ross
SUSAN: Guess the internet really _doesn't_ convey feelings well, since my last note to you was one of resignation (thought I might have made the blacklist or something). "Snippiness" was never felt or intended. Thanks for the update. My address is:
P.O. Box 6050
Vermont South, VIC 3133
Australia.
I'll send a postcard as well, just to make sure you have it.
Many thanks.
MR. ROSS: As noted above, ironically enought, the internet is a place where miscommunication takes place more often than communication. Although I haven't actually exchanged notes with you (or gotten to know you -- I find the internet too devoid of feeling to rely on it alone for the building of any sort of real relationship), many others on this forum certainly have. I'm gladdened by the thought that their friendship and kind thoughts might offer you a bit of succor at this time. But even more, I'm glad to know that you _are_ (as noted in a post below) surrounded by "loved ones." _That_ is as it should be. The _memories_ of the good things -- and good times -- we have with each other is the only lasting -- only "immortal" love -- we can pass on to each other, and to those who come after. Sounds like you've done just that.
-DTS
Mr. Ross,
You don't know me and you never will, but you have not been far from my thoughts for days now. Peace and love to you and yours,
John E Williams
Thank you . Mr. Ross
Dear Robert Ross,
Thank you for your words, for your courage, for your strength.
Others have said it better than I: You are loved, respecred, and thought of.
You are a noble spirit.
You are in my prayers.
KOS
Robert
Dude. I'm hearing today from a lot of folks that wish you well and want to know how to help. It's clear how much you are loved and how many people you've touched. I wanted to let you know I'm dedicated to doing something here with those people that will make a difference in the world. It may not come to fruition in time for you to see it, but inasmuch as you trust me, trust that it WILL come to fruition.
I am not a believer in the persistence of the soul, so I am not one to offer comfort there. But I do believe based on what I've seen and heard that you are a good man and you are fighting a good fight. All I ask of anyone is that they be worthy of the flesh they were given to carry. In your remaining time, I wish for you whatever happiness and grace you can gather. Let me know if there is anything, here or elsewhere, I can do for you.
- rick
the GOLDBERG headliner was an oversight, sorry
...
GOLDBERG
I spoke with Robert Ross this morning. I was surprised he accepted my call. He said he felt comfortable and pain-free. He also said that he was surrounded by his loved ones. I told him that is the most any of us could ask for. And we said goodbye.
---------------lighter note-----------------------------------
One of the many wondrous things about having children, is that they remind you of some of the profound secrets you have forgotten.
Reminder #107 from my toddler son:
Ketchup is not a condiment. Ketchup is a course.
It certainly is.
Only good things,
Rick
Robert Ross, oh my God, oh my God. I was watching a football game yesterday so I missed coming online. I missed something more important for a football game...
Robert, I believe God is by your side--not trying to stuff some belief in your face at this time...
There's nothing I can say...obviously, the main thing is that you are loved. That's one thing that will never die--love.
Big hug.
To: DTS:
Out of respect to Robert's news I left my reply to your snippy posting for Monday. In response to your question: After your move (I have your address on Hemel) I sent you issues of the Rabbit Hole. Your L.I. is 52. If you didn't get them I will sent you another batch--just let me know. If the address is not correct, please advise.
--Susan
Robert Ross
Wishing you strength, courage and years.
Paul
Robert,
Wishing you time to spend with loved ones. Know that people care about you.
Robert Ross:
I really hope you're not reading this and spending much needed time with family but if you are...
I hope you are having if not the best, then at least a good time with those that matter most in your life.
Add my own good wishes to you on this list...funny how the Internet can be such a good thing as well as a pain in the butt at the same time. Draws so many people together...
Robert Ross
Go in peace, brother. People love you.
Robert: I hope you're not looking at a computer screen right now, and pulling whatever joys you can from the rest of your life.
I hate it when we lose good people.
Robert Ross
Robert,
I hope you're still around to read this. It's not going to make a difference to your condition, but I've been saying for a long time that I'm going to register to be a bone marrow doner, but I've never actually done anything about it. Now it's the age of the Internet, and not only can we commiserate with pals like you across the country, we can also research and register for causes easier than ever before.
So with you in mind, I finally did it this weekend. I regisered to be a bone marrow doner at http://www.marrow.org. My packet to take the DNA samples should arrive this week.
Take care. Be at peace.
-Keith
Robert Ross
Very sorry to hear your news. Hope you get to talk to everyone you need to in the coming days, including Harlan.
Last weekend my wife and I did an ALS fundraiser walk in memory of a friend with whom we had walked it in 2008 and who died just 10 days before.
Life is very fragile, precious, and all too short.
Robert Ross
Fuck. Fuck.
Perry
Casey Mowat
Your point ? There is a line in Harlan's post of 16:30:42 that answers your question. The great Robert Graves is,sadly,the late Robert Graves.
STUPID Cancer!!
Robert Ross
Still being a somewhat recent arrival here, I didn't know Robert Ross really much at all. I do note the number of affectionate tributes herein is just as staggering as the amazing message Robert left, which, even though it was brief and from someone I've never known the obviously pleasant acquaintace of, affected me.
I think of connections now, and even though I'm in my 40s, too old to be young and too young to be old, years away from retirement and (it's to be hoped) years away from my own end, I think again of mortality.
You never know where your lessons come from.
Robert Ross
The affectionate tributes given here and your own dignified farewell
are more than enough to let me know I should be sorry not to have
known you. I am. Goodbye, Mr. Ross.
Richard
Unh, wasn't GOODBYE TO ALL THAT the title of a Robert Graves memoir before it was a Harlan Ellison short story?
GOLDBERG
Mark,
Let me know as soon as Robert contacts you. Please.
Robert Ross, if you're here, blessings on you, chum. You are a good guy, and it's been a pleasure.
only good things, my friends,
Rick
ROBERT ROSS,
Like all your many friends here, I am deeply saddened to learn of your prognosis. I hope that you are aware that you have earned the affection and respect of many people who never had the privilege of meeting you in person, myself among them. Whatever your journey from this point forward, know this: you will be remembered.
Steve Jarrett
Robert Ross
Geez, Robert, I am so sorry your battle is ending like this. There's nothing I can say, save that you can know that people do care. It's not much -- but it's something.
Robert Moss
I am saddened by your situation. God bless and good journey.
Odd Coincidence
Harlan, last Saturday, September 26th, Laurie and I were leaving the NCL Norwegian Pearl at the San Pedro, CA port. I had been attending a voice-over workshop aboard with v.o. coaches Deb Munro, Bob Bergen, Joyce Castellanos, Bill Holmes, and Julie Williams. Laurie and I were waiting for a taxi and we couldn't hear the guy calling out the names as the taxi's arrived, so Laurie moved to the curb while I stayed behind the crowd with the luggage.
While I waited, I turned around, surveying the people around me an noticed a taller, middle-aged couple just behind me. He had short-cropped salt-and-pepper hair with a beard to match. She was an attractive woman, perhaps a former model, with a light complexion. I looked back at the gentleman, noticing the diamond stud in his left earlobe and his slight resemblance to Leonard Nimoy. Hummm.
The woman spoke to him (I couldn't tell you what she said) and I found myself waiting for his response because a dawning awareness told me I would recognise his voice. He spoke and all doubt vanished. I had heard his voice many times before, but the most significant time had been back in November at Buzzy's Recording Studio when he had directed me in an audio book narration workshop hosted and taught by Pat Fraley. The man was Stefan Rudnicki and the woman was Gabrielle de Cuir.
I introduced myself (he politely acted as if he remembered our previous meeting) and soon discovered that they had also been aboard the Pearl. They had gone to Seattle to attend a film festival which showed their short film, "The Delivery." I discovered that they needed a cab and I suggested Stefan put his name in at the taxi kiosk near the curb.
Gabrielle and I had a pleasant chat, but the taxi came too soon and I quickly said goodbye and joined Laurie. The taxi took us to the Budget Car Rental Lot, we got our car, I took Laurie to LAX, and I headed to the workshops taught by MJ Lallo and Ned Lott in Burbank.
After the workshops, I left MJ Production and drove about one mile to Marc Graue's Recording Studios where I ran into Scott Brick. Scott had also been one of my instructors last November at the audio book narration workshop, so he enjoyed the serendipity of my having seen Stefan at the port in San Pedro.
Robert,
I have no words, save these: do take the man up on it, and call him if you can.
Robert,
You're in our hearts.
D.
Robert: Helluva way to break the one post per day rule, but...
...there are no words.
I agree with preceeding comments -- make the call. Now is no time for regrets, especially when you can do something.
Chuck
Robert,
Not sure if you are checking the board at all through a laptop. I have your work contact info but not your home or cell number. If you want a visitor, let me know where you are and I can come by and see you.
I am and always will be proud to call myself your friend
Mark
ROBERT ROSS
Geezus, kid, don't cut me out of the loop now. As Cindy and Adam-Troy and all the others said, call me. I can't get to you, there in the hospital, but you can call me collect if you wish. We go back too long and too far for you to just break up with me in a goddam e.post.
You know the number. I'm here all day today. And tomorrow.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
DAVID LOFTUS
Didn't know if you were going to the Powell's appearance of Mr. Schreiber, but since I saw the first notice of his use of NO DOORS, NO WINDOWS I've wanted to plant feet before him, hold up any copy of any edition of my book of the same title--even though I know I shouldn't care--hell, Ellroy is just cribbing from the same A.E. Houseman poem as was I, having first encountered it as the title of a great Chad Oliver story long ago (but I DID have the courtesy to ask Chad if it was okay with him, and he gave me a swell letter acknowledging the courtesy)--but unless Joe Schreiber has a small note on the indicia page of HIS same-title book, it is a trifle nose-outta-joint-ism, and I'd love it if someone pulled his tail about it.
As with "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" that was once in line to be pilfered by a UK film company, whom I stopped by using the one procedure that transcends You Cannot Stop Someone From Using Your Title, by having my attorneys prove that one CAN protect and forbid others' from exploiting...
"Any title that one can prove still manifests for the original user, an ongoing ongoing financial interest."
I can, of course, prove same for NO DOORS, NO WINDOWS.
Should you happen to be in Mr. Schreiber's company, do not get yourself busted or spat upon. Just, well, stick it in front of his kisser and let him know...
"Ellison knows what you did this summer."
Or not.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
Congressman Alan Clayton! THAT'S the kind of rep I've dreamt
seeing since the day I could vote! A Democrat with spine and chutzpah!
My kudos also to Bill Maher this week on Real Time (as always) for reprimanding many in Hollywood (including talents like Scorcese and Woody Allen) for exonerating Roman Polanski ("it's a thing of the past, and he PAID the price"). Maher was explicit and unrestrained about what Polanski had done, as well as the misguided judgment by this group.
Maher has grown in many ways since his days on ABC, and his voice inspires me more every week.
I also discovered Janeane Garofalo on his show this week. Those who watch '24' probably know her. She's REALLY cute, but more importantly she's incredibly smart, articulate, and outspoken. She turned me into a fan within 5 minutes! In short, I have a crush on the lady!
Robert Ross -
May what time you have left be as peaceful and comfortable as possible. I am deeply saddend.
David
To Chuck Messer
That was a really well-written post and reaffirmed my belief that "Knox" was one of Harlan Ellison's ten best stories, and one too often overlooked. When I was in grad school in the UK and had one chance to introduce my friends to Harlan's work when we decided to each read one story we loved, I chose "Knox", and it knocked 'em for a loop.
To our host, thanks for producing ballsy work like that, which artists today would recoil from producing out of fear and a misplaced desire not to offend.
Robert, that's certainly not a situation for which we envy you. We wish you and your family the best and hope you're able to make some good personal use of the time you have left! (Which, we know, probably involves staying off the internet from now on.)
Robert Ross
I have no words, so I'm going to borrow a few of our esteemed host's - under the circumstances, I don't think he'll mind:
You are not alone.
Everyone who frequents this forum and knows of your situation is thinking of you and wishing you strength and courage as you face whatever lies ahead. Godspeed.
Mr. Robert Ross...
It is an honor to say thank you for your kind heart and keen mind, and what a pleasure it is to know you here in this forum.
Robert,
Call him. It will be good...I promise.
I felt the way you did when I was told that my ex-husband's grandmother was close to death and if I didn't call her soon I would miss the chance. I had moved home to Texas from Colorado about a year earlier. I hadn't talked to her on the phone since then because it hurt too much. There had been only two things--really, only two.... that I had been loath to leave in Colorado, my best friend Becky and "Granny". Granny was a fundamentalist, Pentecostal Christian. She didn’t just talk the talk- she was one of the only people I ever met in whom there was no surface evidence of sin. She always said she was a sinner, but I didn't see how or when. She was kind of a hard liner on sin and nobody felt like they measured up to her. Her large, (also Pentecostal )family hid from Granny whatever acts they committed that she might construe as sinful. I married into her family at the age of 17. When I was 26 I was divorced from her oldest grandson--and Granny didn't believe in divorce. But she didn't turn on me. Much to the shock of the family, she pulled me closer to her. Then, I got pregnant. I didn't marry the guy.... instead, I had this baby.. Beau. The family thought that would certainly finish me off in Granny's eyes. But it didn't. Granny used to say, " Beau's a Rippy just like the rest of your babies." Her family was angry because (as they said) " Nobody but Cindy could get away with this." Granny loved me and I loved Granny. But I didn't want to call her-- and I didn't for a year--- because it would hurt me too much and I knew I would cry and be a baby. I told myself it would just upset her if I cried in her ear... so I put it off.
When I got the call that it was last call-- I finally realized I could let the opportunity pass and regret it the rest of my life-- or I could man up and dial. I did it and I wouldn't take for the memory of that last call. Here was Granny trying to console me! She was the one who was moving on-- and I was the one who was still earthbound. I love her as deeply today as I did then. Sometimes I see her in my dreams and they are so real that I believe I have actually spent time in her presence.
You know me, Robert-- I'm a Christian.... I believe this is not the end-- I think we get to step out of these earthly hulls when they’re broken or worn out. I think we step out and find ourselves inhabiting a new, once again perfected body. I don't believe we are separated from those we love-- but I don't think we have to endure those we can't endure any more.
While you're still here, love-- don't listen to their deadlines. Nobody knows how long you have. That's between you and God. Don't give up until suits you to do so. You're a sweet man, it's all good. Don't leave us too quickly and please, please don't say farewell.
And call Harlan, dear, you'll be glad you did-- he'll make you smile.
Love always,
Cindy
Robert Ross
No words are enough.
Know that the thoughts are there.
Mr. Ross
Robert
I do not know you except for the postings on this forum.
However, I think HE would appreciate your call.
Richard Halasz
Robert
%$#@ me.
Godspeed.
ROBERT ROSS wrote: "Farewell..."
I'm waiting for the punchline. There has to be one, right?
YJ sends warm, happy fuzzies, "lots of them".
Fight as long as you can, take what you need. And, hardest of all to say, if it hurts too much to go on, then do what you must.
Keep posting. Please.
Sandra
I didn't want it to be like this. I thought I'd have more time.
They took me to the hospital yesterday. They tell me I have probably a few days left to live, maybe a week or two, no more. Cancer is unpredictable, and tenacious.
HARLAN: Well, hell. I thought when it came down to it I'd be calling you to talk to you one last time ... but I think hearing your voice now might break my heart a little. I don't know if that makes sense, but there you are.
Thank you to everyone for your kind words and messages. Glad I got to meet Mark Goldberg and Rick Keeney. Wish I could have met more of you.
What else is there to say?
Farewell ...
a bell goes off
So I took a look at the Powell's Books events schedule for this month and noticed that one Joe Schreiber, horror writer, is coming to town to publicize a new novel published by Del Rey whose tag is "When madness is your inheritance, how do you escape it?"
The title? _No Doors, No Windows_.
Something familiar about that.
Oh, hey: James Ellroy, celebrated author of _Blood's A Rover_, is also going to be in Portland this month.
Texas time.
Rick~ Good luck on the long distance thing. It will work if you want it to. I couldn't do it, but then I'm a shallow git.
Have we said thanks recently for your work here? Thanks, mate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Travis Y.~ I live two blocks from that Pok-E-Jo's on Great Hills, and even though they've spread out now (five whole stores!!), they food is indeed honest tasty home-cooked.
But verily I say unto thee, for the best barbecue, or bar-b-que, or even BBQ, in Austin, one must hie thee to the East side. Twelfth street to be exact, and there you will find Sam's. The Saltlick is good, Three Forks is alright, but Sam's is the Bastion of Goodness, a Beacon of BBQ Truth. Just a little white house in the middle of the ghetto with damn good eating. Brisket with the magic rub, sausage from heaven and the piece 'de resistance- mutton. Mutton, you say? Oh, yes. A lip smacking, finger-licking mouthful of greasy goodness. Tender and flavorful, god's own.
Sam's is where Bill Clinton and Co. would stop for takeout while coming through back in the day. How's that for a testimonial? Check it out next time you pass through.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Regarding racism, Steve Perry said it best on Wednesday. From an adopted Austinite, a quiet thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes Harlan, he said, eyebrow arched, words from you about the state of Texas are making us curiouser and curiouser.
The Intruder (1961)
Adam Cramer.
Is a man.
Who.
Hails from Los Angeles.
Is associated with the Patrick Henry Society.
Comes to Caxton to do some “social work”.
He aims to save the town of Caxton from the evils of Brown vs. Board of Education and integration.
I usually don’t buy a DVD sight unseen, but after seeing the trailer at Trailers From Hell, I decided to get a copy from Amazon. The script was written by Charles Beaumont, from his novel. He also plays the school principal, Mr. Patton.
Ten black students are going to attend the formerly all-white high school. Adam Cramer has come to Caxton to see to it they don’t succeed. He sees the students are met by people holding signs that say things like “Niggers go home”. That gives Cramer an idea.
Adam Cramer.
Is a man.
Who.
That night whips up the townspeople in a barn-burning, blood-chilling speech on the town courthouse steps. Shatner made my hair stand on end, especially with his rousing finish, “I would gladly give my LIFE to see our country FREE, WHITE and AMERICAN!!” as he pumps his fist in the air, almost in a Nazi salute.
Roger Corman was told the next day that the big tree on the courthouse lawn was used for lynching in the not-too-distant past. This was 1961 and Corman was using guerilla filmmaking to film on locations in Missouri using mostly local people in his cast. The Intruder was a gutsy, ballsy film which lost money in spite of its low budget. Corman put a second mortgage on his house to finance it.
After the speech, people begin to really think about where they stand on the integration issue, especially newspaper editor Tom McDaniel, ably played by Frank Maxwell.
Tom McDaniel.
Is a man.
Who.
Heard Cramer’s speech.
Who wasn’t sure he liked this integration thing, but after witnessing Cramer’s hateful spew and the crowd’s reaction, decides maybe integration is the right thing. After a cross-burning and fatal church bombing, he escorts the ten black high school students back to school the next day.
And then is met at his car by people demanding to know what he thinks he’s up to. They don’t like his answer. They knock him the ground and kick him senseless. He wakes up in the hospital, with multiple fractures, internal injuries and…
Tom McDaniel.
Is a man.
Who.
Lost an eye to an angry mob.
I won’t give away too much for those who haven’t seen this film. This is just a taste. It is a powerful, underappreciated movie with William Shatner’s best performance, perhaps including the one he gave in The Andersonville Trial. At turns charismatic, Machiavellian and manipulative, he shows how someone can whip a crowd into a lynch tenor and then be shocked, shocked that they went and did something terrible afterwards.
Adam Cramer.
Is a man.
Who.
Shakes your hand and says, “We’re going to be friends, aren’t we?”
Chuck Messer.
Is a man.
Who.
Couldn’t help but think of KNOX as he watched this film.
That, and ENTER THE FANATIC, STAGE CENTER.
And sends good thoughts out to a certain ailing doggie.
The "School" of Arts and Sciences
Harlan and friends - After reading through the HE bio, references to gladiatorial bouts with the studios, editors, and other forms of repressive oligarchy, it occurred to me there is a one-to-one correspondence between lives in writing and in science (where I live). In particular, watching HE's YouTube rants about getting paid to perform, and how professional remuneration has been negatively impacted by ignorant amateur-newbies, hits all too close to the bone.
Strangely, after some 10+ years of education on a pittance, in this life one is expected to walk obsequiously into the laboratory of One Who Is, bow down on bended knee with nape exposed, and simply Ask For Another. Plebiscites are trained not to ask for pay for work or for publication, but to honor and glory the sanctity of their PI ... all in the Name of Science.
It is not until years, or even decades later, when one's eyes are opened by exiguous circumstance (such as the Need to Eat), that epiphany opens the robes of Idealistic Vision, permitting them finally to be shed.
It would seem that what the world of the researcher and graduate student needs is a Harlan Ellison of their very own.
"Art is long, life short, judgment difficult, opportunity transient." - Goethe
SUSAN and HERC subscription
SUSAN: Thought I'd ask again, before mailing a postcard in case the first inquiry was just lost in the shuffle: would you be able to tell me with what issue my HERC subscription (the four issue one from the deal we made last spring) runs out? Member number is 1168. If the silence is as defeaning this time, I'll try the postcard route before calling it a night.
Thanks,
DTS
BILL WARREN !!!!!!
Just got to reading your post about the Matt Robinson/Ricky Gervais film. Got a huge smile out of it. Robinson is a good joe.
Uh, if you're not keeping those "about the production" handouts, could I cadge'm off'n you for my archive of Career memorabilia?
(Seems so odd: doing this electronic thing, when we have talked human-to-human for so many hours over so many years. But since you popped in here, olde friende, I guess this is the "new" way to shout back to each other. But I still prefer the phone, and the melody of your inimitable voice.)
Yr. Pal, Harlan
KOS ....
Sorry, must've missed it. Talk to you in a month or so. The stack does not diminish.
Thanks. Yr. Pal, Harlan
Youtube trailer remixes
Thought this was funny... :)
10 Things I Hate About Commandments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1kqqMXWEFs
from Empire Online's list here
http://www.empireonline.com/features/50-best-youtube-movie-mashups/default.asp?c=50
Many of them are old. Saw The Shining one (#2 on the list) years ago, seems like.
Coffee thrower
This guy throwing the coffee - the same sort of person that would step over a homeless person lying on the sidewalk in their own piss so he can spit on someone wearing fur. On an even brighter note - I read this week that you can carry hand guns into bars in Arizona as long as the bar hasn't posted signs banning them. Can't you just hear Louie Armstrong singing "What a Wonderful World"?
"Moore told a story about his bodyguard: He is in Manhattan, a guy comes out of a Starbucks, coffee in hand. The guy turns purple, tries to throw the hot coffee on Moore. "
And this is the unfathomable part, for me.
Moore makes political films. He talks about things that people are passionate about. I get that the man with the coffee might have disagreements with a filmmaker over such things.
But throwing hot coffee?
I don't like Dick Cheney. Not even just a little. I think he's a vile, angry, evil man. But if I encountered him on my way out of a Starbuck's I would never even consider throwing coffee at him. (Mainly because it's $2 a cup).
Bernie Ebbers cost me 30% of my retirement account. I might say something to him, but again would not throw something or otherwise assault him.
Michael Moore makes movies. And unless this guy was personally injured in some major way (was one of the criminals at a financial institution who lost his job but -- obviously -- not his freedom; or was the PR Director at GM while Moore was making ROGER AND ME; or this man's wife was killed when Moore pulled out into traffic and ran her over) there's no excuse.
But some people are having difficulty with the grayer and grayer line between having legitimate disagreements over policy and the schoolyard practice of settling those disagreements with your fists.
It's not pleasant out there kids, and with ammunition manufacturers having trouble keeping up with demand, I fear it's only the beginning.
Frank (and I ask this rhetorically because your answer is "no"): Is the the anarchy of which you're so fond???
Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story, everybody go see it or I go to your house and fuck your dog, kill your plants and pee on all your dvds.
Yes, I am sane. Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
----------
Moore told a story about his bodyguard: He is in Manhattan, a guy comes out of a Starbucks, coffee in hand. The guy turns purple, tries to throw the hot coffee on Moore. Moore is thrown out of the way by his bodyguard, an ex-Navy Seal. The bodyguard takes the coffee, face first, gets second degree burns, but cuffs the coffee creep, bundled for the police.
The military, dear friends, is good for something.
stuff caught in amber
March 29, 1962 -- JET Magazine's note on South Africa's
banning of titles from Harlan's Regency Books
(including his own Gentleman Junkie) may be seen at
http://books.google.com/books?id=k7MDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=Regency&f=false
And interested parties might want to see and search for other old items
that'll similarly show up in Google's magazine database.
By the way, they've got LIFE magazine there now --
not gloriously big and hand-filling as you guys of a
certain age will remember it -- but awful easy to get to.
Richard
SF and the short story
Here's an interesting article with various informed opinions on the future of the SF short story:
http://sacurrent.com/arts/story.asp?id=70562
- Phil
To Rick
Sorry about 2 posts yesterday-can't resist a sick dog. Z.
Google Ad Sense and Scam.com
Google Ad Sense is an advertisement service from Google. The web site owner activate an account with Google to place advertisement on their web site. When a person clicks this advertisement, the web site owner gets an average commission of .45 cents. A web site that gets a lot of traffic, they can easily make $150,000 per month.
Scam.com is a message board claiming to be informing the public about scams being done by companies or individuals. This web sites have individuals working for them for the sole purpose of targeting companies or individuals in order to generate traffic to the web site (Additionally some posters with connection to scam.com have Google ads in their posts). This method is artificially generating traffic to the web site, this is FRAUD as outlined by Google Ad Sense policy. The higher the traffic, the higher the percentage of individuals that will click onto the Google advertisements.
Additionally, Individuals post copy right information of companies on scam.com; web site owners request from scam.com to remove their copy right information and scam.com refuse. This is also against the policy of the Google Ad Sense program.
If you believe that you are being targeted by individuals on scam.com; simply click the Ads by Google in the bottom right hand corner of the advertisement on the web site. You will be taken to a Google page, click onto: Report a policy violation regarding the site or ads you just saw
File a report and the Google Fraud Department will investigate
Dear Harlan:
As a classical music fan you might be pleased to know that I will soon have the chance to interview the legendary pianist Leon Fleisher about his role as a mentor to younger musicians. (Did you ever read his smart, brave Feb. 2008 editorial in the Washington Post? Definitely worth a look...) I'm very excited!
Elvis? What do you people want from me? Consistency?
Mississippi'd be a better place if people did something besides complain and leave.
Can't beLIEVE!
Yo ZACH: Can't beLIEVE you'd forget the Tupelo Missippi Flash...the King of Rock and Roll...Mr. TCB...Elvis the Pelvis himselvis.
What the blankety-blank is WRONG with you kids nowadays! How could you leave Mr. Presley offn da list?
(And KOS, smack yourself in the head for not reminding him).
Ain't NOTHIN' comes from Mississippi more famous!
Thankyou.
Thankyouverymuch-uh!
Mansion Of Many Chambers, Room Number Two
Hi Harlan, how are you? I thought I said something after one of those hails from you back when it was new and the world young.
We can pick up some books in about a month, if that works? Right now, ah, right now we are living in an Efficiency Apartment like something from a latter day Dickens with urchins running up and down the hall at midnight just feet from our cramped bedstead where we huddle against the darkness like two poppyseeds on a lemon minimuffin, for the next month, so no room for books or even a full computer set up until we return to full housekeeping dury in November.
Saw "Bright Star", Jane Campion wrote/directed, about John Keats. Quite good, reallt. Recommended.
Zack, Mississippi ALWAYS gets a pass for the one thing you did not mention: It gave us Howard Waldrop.
Of course, even Howard got the hell out of Dodge as soon as he could. The man ain't stupid.
KOS
Harlan Spotting, Sort Of.
Earlier this week I saw Matt Damon in Steve Soderbergh's THE INFORMANT!, which is a very good, not quite great but still very good, movie based on true events about a corporate whistleblower who gets the goods on his company's malfeasance...before the FBI discovers just what kind of colossal flake they have on their hands.
Like most good movies, it is better than its TV commercials and trailers, which can only focus on punchlines vapid enough to be set up and appreciated in less than ten seconds.
The character he plays, Mark Whitacre, has one of the strangest voice-overs in movie history. Pure free-association, it rarely has anything to do with what's actually going on at the moment; they're random, rambling digressions. He will, for instance, go on and on about somebody he met once, with a not very interesting quirk, and completely drown out whatever the actual supporting character on screen is trying to tell him. Thus underlining his character as a flake.
The device starts out being annoying as hell but evolves into one of the film's most endearing qualities.
Reason I mention it: one of the random thoughts is something like this (I paraphrase, but not much). "There ought to be a tv show about a guy who calls his own home, and gets himself on the phone. I mean, not an answering machine, but himself, just as surprised to get the call as he is to hear himself answer it. And the rest of the show would be about the guy who makes the call trying to get the guy who answers the call out of his house. I think that would be a good show."
Hi, Harlan.
OH...one other thing...
Uh...
KOS, are you out there? No response to two or three hails from my poopdeck over a month or two...
Anyone know anything?
-he
Some unsolicited advice on long-distance relationships
Rick: I've been there. If she's worth it, keep at it. Long time ago, I met a young lady, and we took a fancy to each other - problem was, she was going to law school in Virginia, and I was living and working in Connecticut. After a couple of dates, and the requisite are-we-sure-we-really-want-to-do-this conversation, we began a relationship - me going down to Charlottesville (and then New Jersey, where she started work after graduating) and her coming up to Hartford, punctuated by lots of long phone calls. I'm not going to tell you it was easy, but we both decided that being with each other, even on that attenuated basis, was better than not.
Two and a half years after we met, we managed to get ourselves in the same zip code, and we moved in together. Sixteen years, one wedding, one mortgage, two kids and a few gray hairs (mine, not hers) later, we're still together.
DONE ... AND DONE
Haven't read your posts during the interregnum since I asked for help with the Spanish translation, it's been a chaos of a day, exhausting and bewildering...but...within minutes of my appeal for help, my indefatigable DREAMS producer, the amazing Erik Nelson, had obtained the services of one of his employees at Creative Differences, a charming Argentinian named Carolina (pronounced "care-o-LEEN-uh") who was gracious enough to take on the chore.
But thank you, all who weighed-in on this one.
Yes, Cindy, I know you and the Faithful are waiting. Let me just get out from under...
Yr. pooped Pal, Harlan
Susan--My DWST poster arrived yesterday!! I'll be getting it mounted and framed next week. I've got a spot for it picked out next to the computer; I just have to find a new spot for my Bugs Bunny-Marvin the Martian sericel. Happy days, indeed!
Zach--Mississippi is, of course, the state that keeps Alabama from being dead last.
A new movie
We saw "The Invention of Lying" the other night. It's a good, but not outstanding movie, definitely worth seeing. It's based on a premise I never encountered before: it takes place today, but in an alternate world in which the concept of lying is unknown. It was written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson, and stars Gervais.
The reason I'm mentioning it here is that in the production notes under the "About the Production" header, it says "The idea first came to co-writer/director Matthew Robinson after a weekend spent watching episodes of 'The Twilight Zone' and reading Harlan Ellison."
Translation
How soon do you need it, tio Harlan? Because I could very well take a stab at this over the weekend. Just let me know and I'll pass you the fax info. Haven't read the original in a while but I can make it a quick read. Also, is this collection only going to be available in Spain or are they distributing it to latin America as well? I ask in case so I can keep my eye out on any cultural nuances.
Once again I'm forced to defend Mississippi (I'm looking at you, Ellison. I flick my chin at you).
Things you may not know about Mississippi:
1) Mississippi is often called the "Liberal Alabama."
2) The largest city in Mississippi is Memphis, Tennessee.
3) The Mississippi Delta region is both a swamp and a desert. Scientists consider this a miracle. It is also home to bigfoots and a manatee.
4) Mississippians invented Coca-Cola, Walmart, Rock-n-Roll, Oprah Winfrey, Apple Pie, Baseball, Racism, Sex, Christianity, Walmart, Democracy and Everything Else that Makes America so American.
6) Put some goddamn sugar in your tea. What is wrong with you people?
7) Do you guys know what the hell "livercheese" is? I bought two dollars worth of livercheese the other day and...
8) David Banner, y'all.
Ryan:
You may want to send me a PM on the forums if I don't respond to your email. Thanks to having this site up for 15 years I have a very VERY aggressive set of spam filters, and people emailing me for the first time often have issues.
The rule, just for clarification, is no double posting unless Harlan asks you a DIRECT QUESTION. Mind you, I'm tolerant if it's done to aid Harlan with something he's asked for specifically. I just know if I say double posts that "help Harlan" are okay, people (not you fine folks, of COURSE) will come up with the craziest rationalizations for their extra post(s).
Back to St. Louis on Tuesday for more Cardinals baseball and more time with a lovely lady. I don't know how you guys handle the long distance thing. I'm just getting started and it's already driving me bonkers.
Translation
Hey KRISITIAN: Rick set up the rules so that you get a pass when talking to (communicating with) the Godhead himself. Or if you are doing things to help out. For future use: if copies of stories are needed by yourself (or any other person translating or doing such work for Ellison) in the future, and if I have them, I have a _scanner_ on my computer. Saves in cost of copies and fax, since scans can be sent via email!
Cheers,
DTS (who has a great memory since he left Texas -- Kristian will understand)
Translation Check, And I Am Stupid
I have the story, it's in one of my Essential Ellison copies, and I'm deeply stupid for not remembering that. If you want to send it on, you can fax me at (409) 617-5191. If it arrives before I leave work (where my fax machine lives) in half an hour, I'll have a look over it tonight and let you know in the morning.
Then again, you might not want to trust this task to someone who can't even remember where the stories live. *sigh*
Sorry for the double post. Self-banning for a day, unless otherwise pardoned.
-Kristian
A copy of SONG...
Hey Kristian,
I can email you a copy of the story -- by scanning it here on my computer, then emailing the attachment -- might save someone a few bucks, since it costs me nothing.
Let me know, 'cause I can do so tonight, your time, since it is early morning here and 4:25 pm (central time; 2:25pm Pacific, etc) over there. Check your email if you wanna do it this way (your server might send my message to the "spam" section, since my email comes from OZ -- it'll have my name on it though).
-DTS
Answer to Keith -- and another shout-out to Susan Ellison
KEITH: the answer is: Naomi Campbell!
SUSAN: Did ya catch my query below (Have I become persona non grata -- or persona nonexistent -- in the Ellison household)?
If I don't hear from you on the board, I'll assume your PC has gone blind and try the query via the regular mail.
Cheers,
DTS
Translation Check
Harlan,
I could look over it for you tonight, only I'm fairly certain I don't have the English copy of the story to compare it against. (And now I feel sullied and less than.)
If no one else steps forward and you still need it ASAP, let me know and I'll do my best to dig up the story in this three-legged one horse town in which I live.
-Kristian
RYAN LEASHER
Okay, send Rick Wyatt your address, and he'll give it to me.
ASAP it'll go out; the CD of Vol. 3, of course.
Harlan
Unca Harlan is mentioned in reference to the Terminator franchise at http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/index.htm
A NEED .......
Page proofs of my and Robert Silverberg's story "The Song the Zombie Sang" have been sent to me by the Spanish publisher, Minotauro, for my approval of the translation.
I neither read nor speak very much Spanish. Un poquito, at best.
I need someone out there who knows this story (or at least my work) well enough to compare and advise me of this version's efficacy.
They want the pages back ASAP (as always, rush rush rush, who cares how it may inconvenience the writer) and as it is a story that fits into an anthology, I am sorta backed against a bilingually bereft and a hard place.
Can anyone out there DO THIS?
PLEASE, no idle suggestions or "well, whadifyoo..." Just a straight-up "I can read Spanish on a literary level, and if you fax me the pages at 555-555-5555, I can read it against the text in PARTNERS IN WONDER or wherever, and simply tell you it serves...or it's lame."
Thanks in advance, whatever amigo mio, Yr. Mijo, Harlano
LARS-
You're correct; those are the original links. I'd read all the 'Writing' entries, though. I was reading my way through them when I hit that statment and it was the cumulative effect that got the reaction out of me. There's a 'Writing' tag on the blog that will take you to all the writing-related entries.
As for your 'more thoughtful than anticipated' observation, I hope no one took from my original post that I thought he was a dullard or anything remotely so. I pointed out that his views and observations on character design and animation are pretty damn impressive. I had several 'huh, never thought of it that way moments' reading his blog. It's just on that topic of words and writing that I severely disagree.
KEITH-
Thanks; your post about the irony of writing that knocked something loose and it occurred to me that the statement is strangely self-defeating:
Is there a way to explain visually, in a concise and effective manner, that 'words are a primitve medium'?
And I'm gonna take a moment to point out that I'm not trying to elevate words about visual communication, I'm just putting both on pedestals of equal height.
--
Ryan
wish
Skiddles, get well soon.
Judy: Thanks for the info...and you're very correct, Ira Einhorn is scum. I'd say lower than scum, if that's at all possible.
Skiddles
Hi, all. Hope everyone is well. You guys may think this is silly but I want to ask you all for some prayers and good wishes for my sister's dog Skiddles. She came down with diabetes a couple months ago and she is now at the vet with an acidsis crises. Two little kids, Rachel and Joe are worried to death and my nephew Vinnie, who has disabilities is frantic. We need the puppy to pull through for her sake and all ours. Compared to what all you guys are prevailing over, this is small potatoes. But the poor dog and the poor kids. And this site is a powerful source of encouragement and fellowship. Thanks. Diane.
Sorry for the double post I hereby ban myself until Saturday late
Mark Goldberg,
It's not cowardly, dear- it's human. You're a good guy, you know that? Your mom has a great kid.
Love,
Cindy
guess
Martha Stewart.
Barber, sugar cookie, of course you like October, you live in LA for crying out loud! Putting a pumpkin next to a palm tree may look cute to you but to us oakies youse guys make us sick...
Kiss.
-------------
"“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Joseph Goebbels
guess
That sounds like something I read of Twain's when he was talking about Christian Science. Someone (Dawkins ? Hitchens ? ) was quoting it.
Mongo use words... Mongo do Google search
I was curious to read the original post behind the quote, "words are a primitive medium" so I did a search on the phrase. It shows up on only two sites: Harlan's (in this very discussion) and the blog of "Ren & Stimpy" creator John Kricfalusi, so I'm going to assume that Ryan originally read it there. Ryan, correct me if I am mistaken.
To those with strong opinions on the matter, and specifically the author's intent, I commend the originals to you. I found them to be far more thoughtful than I anticipated.
The quote appears in a reader comment for this related post:
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2009/09/clarity-screenwriting-2.html
It was originally stated by John K. in this post:
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/04/writing-for-cartoons-8-writing.html
Keith,
I am going to guess Jane Goodall
Mark
I was gonna say Twain, but I too must go with Marceau.
Hey, if anyone here loves HOMICIDE like I do, a new, complete series collection is being released later this month for less than 150 bucks.
October Country
God I love this month. This weekend we break the decorations out and turn the front yard into a cemetery.
________________________________________
"Anyone care to guess from whence the quote originates?"
Marcel Marceau?
Awesome quote of the day
"When you read it you seem to be listening to a lively and aggressive and oracular speech delivered in an unknown tongue, a speech whose spirit you get but not the particulars; or, to change the figure, you seem to be listening to a vigorous instrument which is making a noise which it thinks is a tune, but which, to persons not members of the band, is only the martial tooting of a trombone, and merely stirs the soul through the noise, but does not convey a meaning."
This sums up how I feel when watching FOX news, or reading conservative blogs, lately.
-Keith
Anyone care to guess from whence the quote originates?
To Robert Ross
Ironically, that was a rather short post. I guess it depends on how you use it. Thanks for the early munin' laugh.
I only read the Pavilion for the articles,
Brian Phillips
Dear Susan -- seeking help with HERC
DEAR SUSAN: I apologize a gajillion times for misplacing it, but after the last move (the second so far in OZ -- which we truly hope WILL be the last move for a few years), I managed to misplace the envelope, sent to my current P.O. Box, that stated how long I am currently subscribed to HERC. When time permits, can you kindly provide the issue #? (_my_ top-secret code number is 1168, and...I think my subscription was renewed during the trade-off of favors that apparently went wrong on your side of the world, back in the Spring of this year).
Thanks.
All best,
DTS
Man from Uncle DVDs
There is a complete set available in a spiffy attache case and 10 hours of bonus features. I got a set for my birthday this year.
Kath
Robert Ross, thank you for putting a smile on my face, my friend. Hopefully we will be able to get together at Dreamhaven in a few weeks, with all Webderlanders in the Minneapolis area invited to join us, of course (Looking at you, Keeney!)
Harlan, my apologies for not responding earlier, but I did send my Mother the story "Mom" as you requested. She said to pass along a thank you for thinking of her. Unfortunately, there ain't much good news to report. She was at Johns Hopkins last week and had a bad episode where the doctors thought her liver was shutting down. Turns out it was not, but that the stent in her liver had either slipped or become clogged. This was fixed through surgery earlier this week but she has had no energy at all.
Is it cowardly of me to admit I am terrified as to how she will be when we visit in a few weeks?
MARY
Ira Einhorn is the scum who killed his girlfriend, Holly Maddox, skipped bail and fled to Europe for 16 years before being brought to justice.
Aloha Susan,
I received my copy of the DWST poster. It will go nicely with my "Mind Fields" poster that I got at BookExpo from Morpheus International in 1994.
Mahalo, Colleen
UNCLE on dvd
UNCLE was released on dvd as an expensive $400 set two years ago for all 4 seasons as part of a special book club situation. One year ago they were released as individual seasons on the mass market. On Ebay right now you can buy all four seasons for about $100, and I see that a couple people have just season 3 for $40.00, but they tend to turn up on Ebay for even less for individual seasons if you're patient.
Deep the Heart of Texas
As somebody from Louisiana -- about twenty-five hundred miles from there, these days -- my use for Texans is generally about the same as for Mississippians -- which is to say a place to point and say, "Hey, we ain't so bad, look over yonder!"
That said, people are are quick to point at them ignorant redneck crackers who hate niggers down in Texas obviously haven't gotten off the main highways anywhere else in the US of A. Down rural roads in California, Oregon, North Dakota -- pick a state --
you will run into folks with just as much fundamentalist racism as any place in Texas.
Pots calling the kettle black and motes and beams in eyes and stone casting all like that, my brothers and sisters.
They surely ain't all saints down there in jackrabbit country, but there are plenty of sinners north of the Mason-Dixon line, thank you very fucking much.
Perry
Dat's Primitif!
Woids! Woids! Dey nutin' but woids!
My thirty-fourth post here
WEBDERLANDERS: ‘Scuse me, just stepped out for five months. Had to write stuff, and as all know here, “Words are a prime rib medium”—-best cooked slowly.
---
JOSH OLS@N: I just now read your terrific Village Voice article “I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script”. Must commend you; sometimes the direct approach is indeed best—rip the bandage right off, so to speak. Enjoyed the generous shaking of ‘fuck’s throughout as well.
---
ADAM=TROY CASTRO and ROBERT MORALES: Very well said, both of you, on your Polanski-extradition takes. Yeah, it just sucks all over. Someone once said, “Suffering does not necessarily breed wisdom.” I guess someone can suffer so much, they lose all perspective. Still, as much as I admire him, the guy’s gotten a pass for too long.
---
LE: Sorry for your bad experience of Texas. As an ‘Exan’ myself, I know of what you speak. A cousin couldn’t believe I’d vote for a “n****r” for president, so I wore an Obama tee-shirt to my family reunion down in Rockport last June. That wound ‘em up good! A lot of those folks really believe the talk-radio weirdness; my own stepmother was yelling at me for supporting a ‘socialist’.
There are some good people in “the Friendship State”. A person of intelligence, worldliness and empathy just needs to stick close to Austin or, barring that, Dallas.
By the way, I know UNCA HARLAN likes restaurant recommendations, so if any of y’all find yourself in Lone Star’s capitol sampling all the great barbecue, the best BBQ pork loin I’ve ever had was on the north side near the Arboretum in a little joint called Pok.e.Joe’s on Great Hills Trail. Also, if you ever slum it with Chinese fast food, a place near there called Food Shui on Parmer will ruin you for Panda Express forever.
---
MONICA BELLUCCI: I know you don’t read this, but happy birthday, bellisima! L’amo, tesoro! MWAH!!
Ciao,
T.Y.
Attn: John Pickett
John,
Harlan wrote two episodes of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. "The Sort of Do-It-Yourself Dreadful Affair" and "The Pieces of Fate Affair." They were, respectively, the 2nd and 23rd episodes of the third season.
Both are available on DVD through Time-Life's THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. THE COMPLETE SERIES collection which is, unfortunately, quite expensive because it collects all 4 seasons in one set.
Rumore has it that a season-by-season release will be coming in a year or so. (That's what Time-Life did with GET SMART, it relased the entire series in one set and a year or so later started releasing seasonal DVD sets.) If there is a season-by-season DVD release, you could buy just season 3 for Harlan's episodes if you want. However, the season-by-season DVD sets haven't been announced yet.
I should warn you, however, that although Harlan's episodes are good, season 3 of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. was for the most part quite bad, as the show tried to capture, with little success, the campiness of the BATMAN TV series.
Bob
"Words are a primitive medium."
Ryan,
He wrote that, right? He didn't animate it? On his "blog." How hypocritical of him. Or ironic.
Mayan and Egyptian are languages based on symbols. Are they still being used, actively? Words are a primitive medium? That man suffers from some form of narcissistic disorder.
His reasoning: I eat shit all the time. I eat dog shit. I eat goat shit. I eat cow shit. I eat emu shit. I am a connoisseur of shit. Therefore, I tell you that dog shit is the best food.
-Keith
ROBERT ROSS wrote: "Oh ... why did I go there?"
Because you knew that I needed a laugh and graciously shared one of yours today.
Other than that, um, I could go there but I'm married, and, well...
shagin
John Pickett: Harlan's filmography is here: www.imdb.com/name/nm0255196/
The Uncle DVD's are out. I think 60s TV won't be in public domain for decades. But available on demand for $1.99 per episode at TV Guide.
http://video.tvguide.com/Shows/Man+from+U.N.C.L.E.
--
Something from Goethe I came across today:
"And then one must keep repeating the true because the error is also being preached around us, and not by individuals but by the masses. In newspapers and encyclopedias, everywhere the error is on top, and it feels fine and comfortable there, knowing the majority to be on its side."
"Words are a primitive medium."
I guess it depends upon the way you're using the word Primitive. From one standpoint, yes. Words were one of the original forms of communication -- it shortly grew out of our species-wide use of pantomime as our main form of discourse.
The need for a common language became evident one evening around the campfire when tribal leader Grog misunderstood warrior Ugh-ugh's physical description of killing and flaying a small woodland creature as meaning "I bedded two of your ancestors last night".
Needless to say, chaos ensued and Ugh-ugh's heirs convinced the chief that something above and beyond Charades might be a good idea.
Words are also a living organism that continues to grow and change as we move towards (hopefully) a common ground.
But if the perosn making the comment that "Words are a primitive medium" meant that words no longer serve as a modern form of communication, I'd have to disagree completely. I'm primarily a visual artist, and yes I have fun with my writer friends by pointing out that a picture is worth a thousand words, but I do not delude myself into thinking that visuals are a good substitute.
So much so, that I can't believe the writer actually wrote what they were truly intending to say (how's that "value of words" NOW, eh?). I'm not so much angered by the comment as saddened.
___________________________________________
As far as my eating habits are concerned, I learned everything I know by watching my dogs.
(But if you hose me down sufficiently, I can be publicly presentable. Upon occasion.)
___________________________________________
Polanski. I touched a nerve I hadn't intended. I don't believe he should be forgiven for his crime. He fled justice -- though I will continue to assert that justice's moving target of punishment was unforgivable -- and that's unacceptable.
It has, however, nothing whatsoever to do with his status as a filmmaker or celebrity. To have jumped to that conclusion shows...well, jumping to conclusions. It has more to do with the "a-Ha Gotcha!!" media campaign being conducted thirty years after the fact. I would be far more convinced of the inevitability of the American Justice system if we had convicted OJ, caught bin Laden, prosecuted Cheney, or any one of thousands of lesser known legal inequities that occur every day in American courts.
I've served on nine -- count 'em, Nine! -- juries over the years. It's a great system (no sarcasm, it's a great system), but there are flaws in it as much as there are flaws in any system.
We've had thousands of opportunities to grab Polanski over the years. Why now? Why the Swiss?? He's been to Switzerland many times. And Italy. And other American "Allies".
He's a pawn, kids. Don't let yourself think this is about exacting justice thirty years later. Don't let yourself think this is about bringing a pedophile to justice. Don't let yourself think the ultimate goal here is to bring closure to a victim who has long ago tried to put this behind her.
This is about something else. Not sure what, yet, but using our judicial system for some sort of grandstanding isn't its purpose.
The guy ought to be arrested and put away for having fled the system. But it's what's motivating it, right now, that I find suspect.
My two cents.
(And for anyone tempted to write that it doesn't matter what the motivation is, you're mistaken. Motivation ALWAYS plays a role in these sorts of circuses.)
SHAGIN
Yes, I'm still hanging in there. I've been hanging in there so long, and doing it so well ... hanging, that is ... that you could say that I'm ... well hung.
Oh ... why did I go there?
"Words are a primitive medium"? No. I think you're right, Ryan; words and images are complementary media, each with its (their?) own strengths and weaknesses. Words are best for conveying nuance, detail and depth; images excel at conveying emotion and impact, particularly in a compressed fashion.
Each can be superior depending on the circumstances - the argument I just made, for example, can only be made with words, not with pictures, no matter how beautiful or profound. And I can't imagine any sort of visual representation of, say, T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" that would fairly represent the original. On the other hand, I could use words endlessly to describe a starry night and not come close to what van Gogh did with a single image.
Of course, it's entirely possible for words and images to work in harmony, to combine to create something more than either medium could achieve on its own. Indeed, that's what movies are all about, or should be. A good example of that harmony, to my mind, prompted by the recent Polanski discussion: "Chinatown." It's hard for me to imagine that film without either Polanski's direction or Robert Towne's script.
This holds true, I think, even for animation, which prompted this whole discussion. Chuck Jones was one of the greatest animators who ever lived, but he knew full well the importance to his work of writers like Michael Maltese - he devotes a long chapter of his wonderful memoir "Chuck Amuck" to remembering and praising them. In fact, for my money, the single funniest sequence in all of animation is verbal, not visual: the "pronoun trouble" sequence in the Bugs Bunny-Daffy Duck cartoon "Rabbit Seasoning," by Jones and Maltese. (If you've never seen it, you've lived a deprived life. Find it, watch it, and laugh yourself silly.)
I think the animator you cite overstepped himself badly, Ryan, but there's a valid point buried in what he said: Writers, no matter their skill or talent, aren't necessarily skilled in writing and thinking VISUALLY, in using images rather than words to tell their story. It's equally true, though, that not all scenarists or visual artists are skilled at expressing themselves in prose. Can't we just accept that we're talking about two different, complementary modes of expression and leave it at that?
Scolded by the Host (it's beschert)...also....
----- Anhedonia? Me? I was hedonic twice last week, I'm sure.
But, Harlan,
your real charge against me is simpler, that I never truly grasped the situation:
that --- assuming I grasp it now, from your "he had made up his mind" ---
'Chokey *never wanted* "I ROBOT" to go ahead and, rather than oppose the picture directly,
figured inaction on his part would be the way to kill it.
See, I never understood his motivation.
The things I always got from your Intro were: he's Irresponsible-&-Stupid (-&-Arrogant),
kind of a highly-placed Slacker.
But Opposed-from-the-Outset, I didn't get.
I'll re-read again and see if the charge sticks.
(Also -- in an earlier waste-o-time I did include a note acknowledging
better tasks for time travelers {to say nothing of better real-world tasks},
but never mind: give out with Serious and the demand's all for trivia; indulge in
a little bijouterie-ism and you're a traitor to Mom and Milwaukee.
I would say I learned my lesson, but can't see how that'd make any difference.
So I'll cheer myself up by looking at the picture of Emeline Michel from her "Rasin Kreyol" CD --
it works!)
----- Steve Barber's dining adventure and the helpful (chew, swallow, repeat)
advice of Frank Church brought to mind how not long ago I was telling some lady about
an old Bob Newhart program. In it, Bob and his sister recall for Emily (who mentions
that sharing a meal with Bob is like eating with a metronome) their mother encouraging
them to chew thoroughly before swallowing: 23 times keeps your tummy from danger/
Then you can stay up and listen to the Lone Ranger.
The lady I repeated this to found it "sick," a weird weird reaction, I thought, and think.
----- "The Damned United" movie got a positive review (not-your-typical-sports-story)
in Sports Illustrated. Anyone else have anything to say about it yet?
RIchard
Words
"Words used to be
such a pefect way to see
how to reach you - teach me"
-Daevid Allen, "Where have all the Flowers Gone"
The one thing about words, is that they are not the things they describe. They are symbolic, and associational, and will usually fall short of recreating the experience of the thing itself.
And yet, the gift of the adjective by what ever diety or set of circumstances to the pitiful ape-like man has to be one of the greatest gifts bestowed upon the human race. The infinite attempt to describe realities is a major thing that keeps poets and writers involved in what they do.
Languages are standardized because they are a medium of thought transference, and we live mostly in a semantic universe. To understand the importance of language - quit using it for a day. Soon, your body language antics will have people looking on you in sympathy (in good scenarios).
In my experience, it is a lack of wanting to learn the extensive vocabulary available to us that causes people in other fields to scoff at that paragon of descriptive art. An animator places everything they imagine before you visually. This is one interpretation. Peter Jackson gave us one interpretation of the Lord of the Rings. And yet the literature itself does not lend itself to the tyranny of the screen - it allows the space for the interpretation of the individual imagination.
"Language is a virus from outer space
and I'd rather hear your name
than see your face"
-Laurie Anderson, quoting William S. Burroughs
Harlan 's Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Someone on a NCIS board mentioned the old TV show "Man from UNCLE" . I seem to remember seeing somewhere that Harlan wote a script or script for several episodes. Were they filmed and are they available on DVD? I know there are sites on the web that allow you to stream old TV shows online and I was just wondering what length of time has to pass before what a writer produced for TV does that work EVER pass into the "public domain"?
Anger would be an Ellison-esque reaction to that sentence, I suppose--Harlan is the great defender of writing--but my own reaction was one of nodding agreement.
Words are NEVER crystal-clear. Their interpretation all depends on what language you're speaking in (illustrated even in the simple differences between UK English versus US English versus Australian English), the regional dialect of the country for that language (i.e. U.S. North vs. South), along with context and intent, the intellectual capability of the one wielding the words and that of the receiver. Just in stand-up comedy, I've often seen an audience take what SHOULD be a perfectly-understandable sentence and completely miss or misinterpret the comic's true meaning behind it. When an audience becomes offended or outraged by something said onstage, they're more often than not taking the words at face value and actually embracing the "primitive medium" that words provide.
Spoken language is the best we got, but it is crude at best. There is no one universal language to explain everything to everyone. If you've ever translated something from one language to another, then you can feel where words falter. To say one word in Hebrew, for example, often takes a few sentences in English to fully translate, and even then, such details related to the world (such as inherent cultural information) are lost.
Scooby snacks
Michael Mayhew:
I stand corrected re meddling vs pesky.
DTS:
That will be VELMA, not Thelma. (http://tinyurl.com/ygk3og ). I am all in favour of your scenario, but can't help wondering about your rejection of "pesky" and "meddling". Do they have a troublesome etymology?
Ryan Leasher:
Words=primitive. I haven't thought it through, but Maslow's idea (my paraphrase of which is 'if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail') probably applies here.
- Phil
HARLAN-
Hi, Harlan...no apology necessary. I figured you were up to your neck in litigation and would get to it eventually.
If Rick is around (not sure judging by the posts), I can email him the address again.
Oh, and the "pfactosaurus elmerfuddicus"...am I missing a key Warner animation reference or didja just make that up?
EVERYONE-
In all the time I've been faux-lurking on the board I don't think I've ever actually gone deep to the well looking for opinions. I break that trend thusly:
"Words are a primitive medium."
I read that sentence mere minutes ago on an animation blog and was surprised by my reaction: anger. Seemed a little strange, but it was there.
I guess I should interject that I earn my living as an artist; people actually pay me to make pictures for films. I've animated, I've sculpted/modeled, and I'm currently lighting and compositing. In the end, though, it's all stuff that eventually gets poured into pretty flickering pictures.
The aforementioned blog is written by a very seasoned and skilled traditional animator. He's got some impressive views on character design and animation. Coupled with that, though, is what appears to be a barely-concealed contempt for writers, be it for animation or for live action. Boiled down, his view is that the writers are barely good for ideas; unless they are also actors, animators, etc. they simply aren't capable of creating of creating the good stuff. Only the animators can instill the proper dialogue, story, sugar, and spice necessary to bring a character to life.
I initially dismissed the slight as someone who is extremely pleased with his field and puts it above all others. I'm cool with that; I consider someone with that level of satisfaction to be very lucky. This quote, though, was too much.
A primitve medium? Really?
The foundation of both visual art and the written word is metaphor. They are identical twins of implied ideas.
Each has its strengths, but to delcare one primitive to the other is laughable.
Sure, I'll nod in happy, delirious agreement with the argument that an image can deliver a clearer, more concise rendering of a metaphor. Argue that the same conciseness is an inherent weakness to communucating a metaphor, and I'll nod like a mindless sycophant to that, too.
And both have unique efficiencies and effectiveness in different situations. Let's say you need to communicate the state of mind or being of an individual to someone else. Is it more efficient to illustrate the person in question or write the statement, "She was tired."? How can a medium that is so efficient in communicating idea and metaphor be primitive?
Gah...okay, end of rant. Got to get back to work.
So, what do all y'all think?
--
Ryan
The Polanski petition
To be fair, the petition addresses itself _solely_ to the issue of the Swiss authorities arresting and extraditing Polanski, and what this means for filmmakers and artists who travel to other countries for film festivals and the like.
For example, imagine a dissident filmmaker in exile from a country that's gone Fascist, whose work is directed at fighting the ruling junta. Does this mean that such people cannot attend international film festivals, on the chance that they'll be extradited to some prison-state? (I'm not surprised to see Costa-Gavras and Salman Rushdie among the signatories.)
This doesn't mean that Polanski's of the same moral stature as this hypothetical dissident. But the petition is addressed to the safety of filmmakers in foreign countries. It's not a defense of Polanski himself. It's not a defense of raping children. About the worst that can be said is that the petition's acquired a lot of signatures because of Polanski's stature as a filmmaker and celebrity, but that's not really an argument against the petition.
Petition
there's a petition to free Polanski:
http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/39618660.html
(lots of comments, but you have to expand most of them)
The general reaction from the press:
http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=petition+polanski
WADE IS SOOOOOOO ON THE BUTTON
Yo, guy: been there, done that.
You are so absolutely so dead-on correct. And whether or not I've ever brought back something worth a pin-dot on Kafka, van Gogh, Pollock, Lovecraft, or Dostoevsky, that is one demoniac vista out there at the cliff's edge, and yeah it's true, look long enough into the abyss, as the man said, and very quickly the abyss starts looking back into you. Been there, done that.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
All posts offer very insightful views into this...I understand Steve Perry's view completely. What Polanski did to that then 13 year old girl was wrong. Yet she has since moved on with her life, and has said recently that Polanski's arrest has brought unwanted attention to herself. I do wish the media would leave her be. As for Polanski, this one's hard. He did settle out of court with his victim, but he did skip the country. I believe he should have faced up to his responsibility, regardless of what he thought the judge was going to do back then.
Then I think back to another case of where a popular figure skipped off to France...I wish I could remember his name, but he was a guru of sorts in his day...some would have called him a hippie. He took up with this young lady, but the relationship was tumultuous. She disappeared, and it was eventually discovered that for a considerable amount of time, her body was stuffed in a trunk in his closet. He skips town, heads off to France, is eventually discovered hiding out there, and for the longest time fights extradition. In the meantime, this woman's family couldn't celebrate holidays with her, couldn't tell her they loved her, couldn't share memories with her. That empty space would always be there. There would just be photographs of her and memories.
As wrong as Polanski was, at least the young girl he was accused of raping was able to overcome what happened to her. She has a husband and children that love her. She was luckier than that poor girl was. Does this lessen what happened to her? No...Polanski again was wrong. I choose to admire his work, but the man himself I do have issues with. But is all this fuss worth it? Will it erase what happened? I don't know. I remember watching "To Catch a Predator" one time (a show that deals with catching online child predators) and being sickened by what I saw and heard. What shocked me is that these guys come from all walks of life...one of them was a corporate executive! That exec more than likely went to jail...so by that same argument, Polanski needs to as well.
I could go on and on...
Crazy mixed up world we're livin' in...
RICHARD COHEN IN MIAMI
Despite your shoulda coulda woulda MondayMorningQuarterbacking anhedonia, I ASSURE you, whether I'd yanked the ignorant muthuhfuckuh out of his chair or not, whether I'd cozzened or inveigled ... he had made up his mind before I ever entered that room. You cannot win an argument with an ignorant--AND arrogant--person. So you can woolgather and sigh all you want, but do so about appearing in the Texas Book Repository and making a huge screaming noise of distraction at the instant Lee Harvey Oswald was drawing a bead on JFK's cranium with that outdated Mannlicher-Carcano (or even better, maybe not waiting till the clock clicks down to zero before you cut the red wire and not the blue one, and get there a coupla minutes before Oswald climbed the stairs, and hit him in the head with a ball-peen hammer from behind...hard, hit him REAL fuckin' hard).
Don't cry for me ArgenCohenA, I got a swell book out of it, instead of possibly a decent movie.
Go back in time where you're needed. Somewhere, sometime that counts...not on this piddle-shit.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
MORALES
Geezus, Bob, I didn't see the post you put up yesterday right after I decamped. I've read it now, and frankly, old friend, no shit--it took my breath away. What a bit of splendid artistry of verbiage.
Yr. Pal, in admiration, Harlan
Harlan and Scooby, pt 2
OOPS: HE can't say "pesky kids" (guess my profane mind took it a step furhter already) -- nor can he say "meddling kids." (See below). --DTS
Harlan and Scooby
TO ALL WHO HAVE SPECULATED: No, no, no, no, nooooo! If the story goes as we hope, and the culprit is revealed to be Harlan Ellison at the end of the show, he canNOT end it by saying, "Damn kids!" What HE MUST do is something along the lines of the reaction he had when encountering the goofy and naive 8 or 9 year old girl and boy in a glass elevator in KC (when they claimed to be afraid to go by themselves and asked if they could ride with Harlan, Susan and myself). The cartoon Harlan must end it all by saying: "Are you fucking kidding?" Then, turning to Scooby or a nearby grownup (because Shaggy or THelma or one of the "kids" will have unmasked Harlan), he will say, "Are they fucking kidding?"
The, um, charm of Harlan Ellison around kids is that he still thinks he's a kid (it's the main reason he has gotten along with kids in the past -- I know, because part of ME still thinks I'm a kid -- I have MUCH more fun with most kids than I do with most adults -- unless said adults are female and scantily clothed). The only problem is that Harlan's "inner kid" is so street-wise that he scares the poop out of a lot suburban kids -- mostly because his inner kid doesn't realize the exterior looks like a kindly grampy.
Wish you all could've been there to see the jaws of those kids drop about half an inch...and their eyes glaze over as they shuffled out of the elevator after "Grampa" Harlan said the "f" word! I _still_ get a laugh out of that memory. And THAT would be the greatest, and proper, ending to a Harlan-guest shot on Scooby Doo!
With that, I ammmm: Routa rere (Rooby Doo)!
-DTS
I Got Your Justice Right Here
"Polanski fled justice after justice reneged. Nobody's happy. Let him go back to France and just drop the international extradition."
There's a great attitude.
Justice didn't renege; a judge reconsidered a bad plea bargain because he was getting his balls busted, and rightly so. Polanski didn't wait around to see what the number was going to be. I don't believe the judge ever sentenced the fugitive, did he?
Did Polanski deserve time for raping and sodomizing a thirteen-year-old girl? He wasn't her teenage boyfriend, but a man older than her mother.
Lot of jailbait out there can get an unwary man in trouble. Looks eighteen, is only twelve. But Polanski *knew* how old she was, and his action was not in spite of, but *because of* her age.
The law says, Thou shall not diddle the children, even if they say they want it. Where do you draw that line? Eleven? Six? That's the pedophile's big defense: She wanted it.
Statutory rape laws are to protect those for whom informed consent is not a given.
Your man Roman fed her champagne -- illegal -- doped her up -- illegal -- raped and sodomized her -- illegal -- said "Don't tell your mother." -- just immoral -- and then hauled ass when he knew he was gonna get sent to the Big House. Also, ah -- illegal.
They aren't after Polansky for the rape, when he plea-bargained down to a lesser charge, but for taking it on the lam, which is a separate crime.
If the lesson here is that if you have enough money and can get to France, you are gold, then maybe that's the wrong message to be sending.
Perry
Barber, chew, swallow, chew, swallow. Do you need your diaper changed as well?
haha.
Glad to see that you are ok pookster. I need you, so that I have someone to beat in debates..wink.
Chew, swallow.
--------------
Wellll, the girl forgave Polanski; they could have gotten him years ago. He did an awful thing. I have no idea how I think..
Great art does come from bastards....whistles...
Ah, umm, the art lasts, the artist drys up and turns to dust. The only thing that matters is the art. Van Gogh needed help, but thank God we have Starry Night.
great art requires great suffering
On the subject of great art requires great suffering - I have a theory that great art work causes great suffering. It’s the artist choice to go some place out on the edge to find that something special – and sometimes the artist doesn’t come back from that place as a whole being. It’s a cost that they’re willing to pay to bring the art work back. I think good examples of this would be Van Gough, Kerouac, and Pollock. They had to take themselves some place completely off the map. Plus, these were new art forms that most people didn't understand, rejected but over time the public have grown to appreciate. So was it worth for the artist to destroy themselves for art? It’s a tough crowd.
Speaking of artichokes, I had a scary experience last night. (Like that segue? Huh? Huh?)
During dinner, a very nice garlic and herb chicken over angel hair pasta I had prepared, a bit of something not completely chewed -- probably the zucchini. It's always disliked me -- became lodged in my windpipe.
The situation became desperate enough that I got Cris' attention and fell off the couch to my knees. She grabbed me from behind and whether due to her efforts or my own (probably the combination) the offending whatsis was dislodged, restoring my air supply.
Breathing, even in Los Angeles, is not overrated in the least.
_________________________________________
I would love love love it if Harlan was, indeed, an unmasked villain in the next Scooby Doo series. Love the show for years. (except those with the vile Scrappy Doo. Those are outside canon IMHO.)
Damned kids.
_________________________________________
Polanski fled justice after justice reneged. Nobody's happy. Let him go back to France and just drop the international extradition.
_________________________________________
Lastly, I have to disagree with the premise that great art requires great suffering.
My question regarding art and suffering -- using Van Gogh as the example -- was an attempt to see if we the viewing/reading/experiencing public felt that the artist's angst was worth paying in exchange for that art.
So I'll reiterate: If given the choice, would you relieve van Gogh's mental suffering even at the expense of STARRY NIGHT?
(This question, BTW, isn't wholly mine. If you've been watching HOUSE lately you'll note the source.)
Polanski
Let me state what I'm NOT doing here. I am NOT suggesting complicity in an act NOR the obviation of any guilt. I am NOT reducing 3 people to abstracts and ignoring pain. I am pointing to them as cautions to us all. BUT- why do you let Polanski in the same ZIP CODE as your daughter? Why are you anywhere near Mike Tyson's hotel room or Phil Spector's house at 3 in the morning ? People,just because a GPS machine tells you to go east on Beacon or turn right onto Geary don't just blindly accept it and move on. You don't have to succumb to agoraphobia and never leave your house but be informed. A computer's voice coming from your dashboard may sound as if it knows what's going on but all it repeats is what another computer tells it to say. Rather, heed the words of the mariners of the past who would put over the Terra Incognita," Here There Be Tygers..."
Polanski Doc
Forgive the 2nd post today, I'll go away for a while after this. Just wanted to say to HARLAN -please ignore the earlier query. I believe Brian has answered it.
Thanks,
MM
Some months ago, a good friend who works for a large, venerable magazine publishing group told me a story:
One of their few bestselling mags was holding a writing competition and notices needed to be snail-mailed to a hundred finalists. Business envelopes for the contest were traditionally addressed by hand, so Human Resources sent up a young temp to do the job. The next morning, the editorial staff came in to stare for some time at one hundred envelopes piled on a conference table, each addressed like so:
Mr/s You Surname 115 Maple Boulevard Apt 47 Anytown US zip code
The temp began immediately below the embossed return address, scrawling rightward until she ran out of room, then continuing below that by starting again on the left side of the envelope.
"And this," my friend said, "was somebody who went to college! We had to get someone else."
"I hope it was somebody over thirty," I said.
"It was!" she said, somewhat surprised. "You know, it's funny you say that, because the youngest people here are in their thirties, and we were all shocked ..."
Kids text or email today; the only envelopes they send out are pre-addressed for bill payments or applications. I think our colleges would be noticeably underpopulated if students had to address their school applications by hand.
Phil... Scooby
"MEDDLING kids," not pesky ones. Meddling. Almost always.
Yours, for (really, really) pointless trivia,
MM
The Poalnski documentary
Salon did a good piece examining this film's claims, and finding them, well, _wanting_:
http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2009/02/19/roman_polanski_documentary/
"Bad art is supposed to be harmless, but the 2008 film "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," about the notorious child-sex case against the fugitive director, has become an absolute menace. For months, lawyers for the filmmaker have been maneuvering to get the Los Angeles courts to dismiss Polanski's 1978 conviction, based on supposed judicial misconduct uncovered in the documentary. On Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza ruled that if Polanski, who fled on the eve of his sentencing, in March 1978, wanted to challenge his conviction, he could -- by coming back and turning himself in."
(...)
"But the fact that Espinoza had to state the obvious is testimony to the ways in which the documentary, and much of the media coverage the director has received in recent months, are bizarrely skewed. The film, which has inexplicably gotten all sorts of praise, whitewashes what Polanski did in blatant and subtle fashion -- and recent coverage of the case, in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and elsewhere, has in turn accepted the film's contentions at face value."
? What if no 'artichoke' ?
Had Harlan, in 1978, held his tongue and not blown up at that infamous Warner Bros. executive,
would we today have HE's "I Robot" movie?
Its natural to wonder, but since we don't know why the reviled exec was dragging his feet
on the project to begin with, there can't really be an answer -- no answer, that is, apart from the one
which says that Harlan holding his tongue in the face of such vapid deceit was not possible.
That being the case, the Aestheto-Temporal agent must seek to circumvent the explosion
of the bomb Ellison.....
Set me down OUTSIDE the Warner Bros gate, damn him, so I had to
break through, take a small-caliber wound and rush to the office,
weak, crazed, weaving, sick, incoherent. Perfect.
Burst in like a lunatic, made and played hell, not a word heard that wasn't me raving.
No one accused of having a vegetable, marinatable, suitable-for-salad mind. No feelings hurt.
In fact, no thoughts expressed at all on either side. A spot of insane chaos merely.
An incident to shake things up. A maniac appears, and life is short. Make a decision. Make a movie.
Was it enough to tip things?
An LA cell, the night, and then he brought me back, made a window in the hellmouth
and ran me just a little: main titles, a bit of scene one. Swine. Fink. You'd think I'd at least get
to see the thing entire. Still, he hadn't screwed me on the job. The film existed.
Joanne Woodward was never better, he said and sighed -- and laughed.
The Warner's exec appeared between us.
You! we shouted at each other and Satan shook his finger.
Yes, he said, he wasn't that shook up by your little shot of norishkeit. Kept putting things off,
and I had to settle with him. Personally. But don't feel bad, you were my inspiration.
Too much denouement, said the exec.
Now? I shrieked, Now you give notes?
Then something poked me and we entered the flames: one movie exec
and two fans.
Richard
PS: On the subject of tongue-holding -- the short and long-term results --
there's quite a good episode of 'Malcolm in the Middle'
("Malcolm Holds His Tongue" by Gary Murphy) -- on TONIGHT! apparently on NIK
Roman Polanski Scooby Snacks
Harlan Ellison in an animated Scooby Doo adventure: Why does that idea give me the "uh-oh" feeling? Why? I mean, I"m sure it'll work an all, I'm just a dilettante after all, but …
Well, it's just that of all the combinations of words that could possibly form sentences, I never thought I'd see Harlan, Ellison, Scooby-Doo, and Animated in the same one unless it were meant as ironic humor.
That said, I hope he is the one behind the mask, yes.
OMG Roman. I am of mixed feelings on this myself. But if I may be so bold as to say, that it's all academic: it doesn't matter what anyone here or anyone else feels – whether one thinks Roman ought to hang for it or whether one thinks the whole thing is pointless, whether or not the victim has moved on and has asked the DA to never mind it, the fact that the length was went to to snag him in the way it was done says just one thing to me: he is their white whale. They will have him. It's all on another, more transcendental level now.
Of course, it is true that that's what you get when you flee the country under a legal cloud like that. Like the officers on COPS like to say, you *have* to take care of your warrants.
All we have to do, regardless of how we feel about it, is to settle in and watch the show.
Scooby don't
Harlan wrote:
But I still have a shitload of replies and assorted stuff to post, from my upcoming appearance on the new SCOOBY-DO animated series, playing..."Harlan Ellison,"
And nobody here batted an eyelid. So let me be the first to say that I look forward to the scene where the rubber mask is ripped from the monster, and the gang all yell, "Harlan Ellison?!"
Then Harlan says, "And I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you pesky kids!"
TO: DTS, re: Texas blows - Part Deux
DTS -
Thank you for your comments. I was very sorry to read what you had to endure from other ethnic groups. The great tragedy about racism is that it's usually passed down from the parents to their children, who, in turn, usually pass it down to their children, and so on and so forth.
Growing up, I got to move around all over the US (my mother was a "travel" nurse), but we never experienced ANYthing like the racism and discrimination we experienced in Texas.
So my hatred of that sh*t state (especially Temple, Texas) still stands.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Wow, Roman Polanski! I don't have the words to express my affection for ROSEMARY'S BABY and CHINATOWN. Compared with those two masterpieces of American cinema, I am afraid THE PIANIST comes up woefully short.(How sad that Polanski's mother died at Auschwitz.)
Chopin: Ballade #1 in g minor (performed by Ivan Moravec, from an out-of-print 1960s recording he did for the Connoisseur Society):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_zM49emRoE
:)
Dorman,
;)
On Polanski
Y'know, nobody comes second to me in appreciation of Polanski's work. CHINATOWN...wow. ROSEMARY'S BABY...wow. THE PIANIST...wow. Hell, I even liked, but did not love, FRANTIC. The man is as superior a director as we've had. I would not want to lose the films we would have lost, had he spent all those years in prison.
But...yeah, god damn it, he raped a kid.
I have long nurtured an unavoidable doublethink in the case of superior artists who were also rotten human beings. Except in certain extreme cases and exceptions that prove the rule, (i.e. James Hogan's Holocaust denial). I've never been the sort to say, "I disapprove of this individual as a person, so I condemn his art on principle. I've found it easier to still accept the art when the artist in question was safely dead; i.e., W.C. Fields, Harlan's own favorite example Dostoevsky, and you will certainly be able to come up with better examples. I can be comfortable in such cases, saying that I am demonstrably not supporting the artist, but the art.
When they're alive...goddammit, he raped a kid.
And then there's the other side of the coin, known to all of us who labor in the creative fields...the colleague we consider a paragon of virtue and personal generosity who is, as a creator, not much. I wince at the work of a couple of people who have never been anything but good friends to me. I know them to be wonderful folks, but my regard for them does not improve my judgment of their talent one iota. It's not that I don't root for them to suddenly exceed all expectations and produce a sudden masterpiece...it's that I don't think they can, and am appalled to expect more from the snotty guy who I've seeb acting like a piece of shit.
Nor am I saying that you have to be a piece of shit to be a superior artist. God, no. I know folks whose talent manifests as being able to transfer to the printed page the generosity and empathy they show in everyday life.
I'm just saying that there isn't always an easy point of connection. Which is where you get the cases like Polanski...a man who suffered much...who may have been half-crazy from the murder of his wife on top of everything else he went through as a child...a man who IS a superior artist...and who still, god damn it (I repeat myself) drugged and raped a kid.
How do I reconcile it? By admiring the work, not the man.
By saying that the work is no excuse for the deed.
By saying that I will able to appreciate the work without complication once he's gone.
And by saying, you know what? I'm somewhat glad he stayed free all those years, and was able to give us stuff like THE PIANIST. But I also don't feel sorry for him at all. Fuck him.
Polanski Doc
HARLAN - I haven't yet seen the Polanski doc. I remember that it was well-reviewed, and it's on my "to rent" list. I'm curious which way you think it slants -goes too easy on him, goes to hard on him, or goes off on wrongheaded tangents in some other way?
MM
Not even half an hour ago I walked in the door to find a poster tube sitting on the railing. Low and behold, it is a DWST poster courtesy of The Ellisons by way of Sara's good graces. Thank you very much, Sara. It really could not have come at a better time. I'll find a frame for it and hang it for all to see.
It's been a rough few weeks of late, struggling with systems, paperwork, life, and...other things. I received my fourth Honorable Mention from the L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest and am trying to see it as a good thing rather than validation of being a loser to the losers. Enough of that pity party. I'm writing. Submitting and what comes of it is gravy.
A good friend and dear lady is continuing her 6 year battle with cancer.
Robert Ross is hanging in there.
FinderDoug is crawling on his hands and intellect through graduate school.
Harlan and Susan fight the good fight and keep their heads above water one stroke at a time.
Hanging in there with everyone else. Be safe, people. And thank you again, Sara.
shagin
I'm sure many of you -like me- jump over to Mark Evanier's blog to keep up on things of interest. Not to belabor the point, if you don't here's a short piece by Samantha Geimer, which should have been the last word on the matter
http://tinyurl.com/ya5jemp
ME adds a few words on the matter as well as ignorance on the web which is just as significant as the story itself.
Polanski & by coincidence, Van Gogh
If there was ever a guy I'd like to give a free pass on protracted misery, it might be someone who'd suffered the Holocaust and the massacre of his wife, unborn child and friends - as well as the initial media blame for their deaths. But the point is Polanski anally raped a 13-year-old after drunkenly plying her with drugs and booze. He made those decisions. Later he copped to a generous plea, then understandably fled when he saw that plea wouldn't be honored and he'd be made an example ... but he's guilty of hurting a kid. He deserves whatever judgment due him because in THIS society, we are not supposed to let people who hurt kids slide. If we do, what's the point of having a justice system at all? Polanski may receive mercy in his sentencing because of the forgiveness of his now-adult victim and the mitigating circumstances of his flight, but it's ultimately NOT about him, it's about US not having the luxury of looking away.
I've been ruminating this weekend on Steve Barber's Van Gogh question because of the romantic conceit behind it: Great art is born of suffering or madness or pain or some terrible sacrifice. Nope: Great art is born of insight and prolonged decisiveness. Countless micro-decisions went into "The Starry Night" ... from how Van Gogh chose to mix his paints ... to what visual effect one element in his palette would bring out in another ... to whether or not allow an UNINTENDED result to stand ... And so on. Van Goghs are really difficult to reproduce because of the magnitude of his technique, the way he applied his vision - it's like the difference between a great photo of the Grand Canyon and, well, the Grand Canyon. Has it occurred to anyone that had Vincent NOT been fucked up, he might have been MORE productive? It's extremely damaging to art and artists, this mythology that one produces because of one's deficiencies not despite them. It's a psychological handicap to artists that buy into it.
If you love artists, let them live no differently than you. Don't romanticize their 12-step issues, make sure they take out their garbage, respect the need for peace everyone needs to work efficiently. Whatever judgment Polanski gets should be mitigated - like all wise judgments - by the circumstances, not because he got an Oscar. If you see a Van Gogh, remember that he didn't simply throw up his tormented vision but fought past his own bullshit with such doggedness he could reach a level of clarity as to color, light, texture - the same satori that gave us the polio vaccine, flush toilets, and chocolate cheesecake, among myriad, fine things. Madness gave us MEIN KAMPF, genius produced THE TRIAL.
UH ... ER ...mmmmmmm ... Redux
I urge all of you who commend the recent (last year) HBO "documentary" (uh, kinda more of a docu"drama") on Polanski, to take its content with more than a dash of salt and solicitude. Or, you might just wish to hold fast to the taffrail, the slant of the ship is rather acute.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
Blue Monkey Alert!
Harlan, if you type in Dreams With Sharp Teeth in Google, but also type in Rapidshare, you will get several sites that offer free downloads of your doc. Some of these sites may be viral, so don't click or you may get spyware. Just wanted to let you know so you could stop the bleeding from the everything is free crews.
Kiss.
TEXAS QUERY TO COME
CINDY, KRISTIAN BLAND, OTHER TEXICANS: Please forgive my making you wait. My plate is a tosh full at the moment. It really IS a serious head-scratching question, and I promise, SWEAR't'Gawd,
I'll be on it ASAP.
-he
UH ... ER ...mmmmmmm
Tense times here at the Ellison manse.
I really&truly am not being a tease about this, but passim the litigation, I am forbidden by court-mandate even to speak of it; obliquely or otherwise. So: you don't ask, please, and I don't tell, heaving a sigh.
But I still have a shitload of replies and assorted stuff to post, from my upcoming appearance on the new SCOOBY-DO animated series, playing..."Harlan Ellison," to answering Jan that no, Jack Skillingstead wrote "The Avenger of Love" all by hisself; and the (if I remember correctly) three or four pages we began quite another story with, well, they're lying around here somewhere, and Jack and I haven't yet given up the idea of collaboration.
Well, that clears up a COUPLE of odd ends. The rest, and Andy Rooney tonight on...no, wait, that's wrong. All that, and CINDY's query, when I get mah shit t'gether.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
(who hasn't read the posts here since last Thursday)
SHOUT OUT TO RYAN LEASHER !!!!!!
I suddenly realized -- shy of only two days short of a week -- mea culpa and geewhiz I'm sorry -- that you had asked if I could send you the new Blackstone CD of VOICE FROM THE EDGE: Vol. 3 -- PRETTY MAGGIE MONEYEYES, to complete our manuscript barter.
I didn't answer immediately, because for some reason, as terrific a company as is Blackstone, like many another house for which I've toiled, getting comps is akin to filing the front fangs on a pfactosaurus elmerfuddicus.
But today a small box of VOICE 3 came in, and I've got one for you. Susan HAD yr. address before you moved to one of the most gorgeous spots on the planet; but we're not sure if what we've got is correctomundo. So...if you will...lob said destination in all its kiwi korrectness here, and VOICE 3 will go off to you immediatest.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
Roman, the Return
Now that Polansky finally gets the chance--albeit against his will--to resolve all those local legal issues, the directorial A-list is probably going to see a shakeup. Hollywood will now be forced to meet a higher standard.
Back when I was 13, those girls were all a bit too "fast" for my tastes; and since then, no real recovery has taken place. Still, after a certain point, the older guys shouldn't be allowed into competition with the junior high set. Now that "Roman's girlfriend" is well into middle age, maybe they can get married...?
Planetary Fiction
John Clute on SF:
"“As far as I'm concerned, all the literatures of the fantastic are related -- perhaps in a parodic, perhaps in a dancing-dervish fashion -- to the planet itself. They are planetary fictions. When I think of horror over the last 60 years since the end of World War II, it strikes me that the central function is not the traditional recovery that fantasy is involved in exemplifying and that so much literature necessarily gives us to believe is possible, but that the central function of horror is coping with amnesia. That the world we have been moving into is a world that has progressively evacuated most of the meanings that allow people to make sense of their lives. That the dissolution of the boundaries between privacy and the rest of the world is part of the same reduction of the capacity of memory to make sense, the capacity of our cultures not to create what I've called in a couple of pieces 'cenotaphic fiction.' Much of the world that has been created since World War II is a set of cenotaphs, monuments to that which is not there: vacancies, absences.”
Whoa. ALl RIGHT!
Yeah, BABY...
I'll have some of what HE'S having!
(Seriously. That's some Heavy Shit, and it's right down the main pipeline. Amnesia is the Real Deal, cultural and historical).
KOS
Polanski
I saw the documentary on Polanski too - if I remember right - where he got screwed at (no pun intended) was he supposed to 90 days in jail. He did like 45 and got released on good behavior. When the judge that sentenced him got wind of the release the judge played to the media and wanted Polanski to go back and serve the rest of his time - BUT Polanski's lawyer said he couldn't trust the judge - that he may make the jail time 5 years. Polanski had death threats while in prison and figured he couldn't do any more time and fled.
So on one hand he's already done his time - but they're gonna stick it to him if they get the chance for fleeing. I can already see the media jumping on this and making it another Salem Witch shin-dig.
Steave Barbur, I had my hare cutt at the barbur todaa annd he given me a shaeve 4 frei.
I almust gotten a lolypup;; but---i cryyd abut my fase burnin.
Bless liturasy. Burp.
It's All Good Until Somebody Starts Crying
Polanski, if had done nothing but "Chinatown," would have made his mark indelible as a director.
But being really good at your job? That doesn't really buy you a pass to diddle the children. What folks want to wave off was that Roman had a thing for girls who'd just stepped into puberty. That he took a thirteen-year-old girl to Jack Nicholson's house, plied her with champagne and Quaaludes, then raped her, and since the original charge included "sodomy," you can make of that what you will.
Was Samantha Geimer the first? I can't say. But she wasn't the last post-pube, pre-adult; at the very least, there was fifteen-year-old Nastassja Kinski. One might not be blamed for wondering if those were but the tip of the condom.
More, when asked about his arrest, Polanski shrugged it off. He liked 'em young, so, what's the big deal?
Spending the next thirty-odd years living high on the hog in France, getting laid by younger women, and those not yet legally women -- there's a pattern here -- his life as a fugitive hasn't exactly put him into the Jean Valjean class, has it?
The French, who are ever so much more cosmopolitan about such things than those of us over here in the gauche New World, welcomed Polanski and excused his penchant for little girls because he was an auteur. Good for them.
That Polanski's victim doesn't harbor bad feelings for the man these days is admirable on her part. That the law should shrug it off because it was long ago and he's old and respected now? And maybe not so much a threat, given his age? Maybe not such a good thing.
I'd doubt that he's gonna do any time, if he even gets extradited, which is also not a sure thing. He's not being pursued for statutory rape, but for jumping ship. Statutes of limitations are different for those two.
Yeah, I saw the documentary. He might have gotten screwed on the deal his lawyers cut with the judge. That wouldn't have made it unjust, would it?
You can't do the time, don't do the crime. (Unless, of course, you are OJ or Blake.)
Perry
Ahhh, yes. Ya got me, Persona non Grata/Voice of Reason.
Since I've got a 98% certainty of who I am addressing, let me clarify: "Anything COPYRIGHTED that is posted online without consent is piracy regardless of who does it."
Does this help? If you are, indeed, who I assume you to be, you knew enough to have filled in the blank, but evidently wanted to make a point to make me appear hypocritical.
Yes. I missed a word -- which I'm certain everyone else filled in. But you got me. Thwok, thwok, thwok as the comics would say. I'm dyin'.
(Oh. And courts have held that emails, once sent, are no longer the "property" of the sender. So that part of your anonymous assault holds no water. My transgression would be if I identified the person without their permission.) (But you knew that too, I'm sure.)
Happy?
_______________________________________________
It's Monday. Not five minutes after Cris and I selected "Team Yoga" for our favorite AMAZING RACE competitors they were ousted from the race. Didn't even get out of LA.
*sigh*
_______________________________________________
Apparently there's now a FOX News-initiated fracas over a video of children singing a song about President Obama.
I guess these folks must've missed the Louisiana school choir serenading Laura Bush with a song about how her husband and FEMA came to the rescue of their home town. I don't remember a peep out of FOX News over that one...or anyone else for that matter.
Oh. That's right. It only counts if a Democrat is involved.
Mary, a couple items on Polanski. It is not the U.S. Government after the director, but the LA District Attorney's Office. There was a very good documentary I saw (I think last year) about the situation on HBO. If you want to learn more, I'd suggest tracking down that documentary and watching it as it was quite informative. It boiled down to the trial judge allegedly nullifying the plea deal.
DTS...many thanks...wish sometimes this page had spellcheck...I know, there's always a dictionary within reach, but hey...
I was curious about a recent article...Roman Polanski has been arrested in Switzerland, but I wondered why there is still this need to arrest him. His victim has already settled with him out of court. While I don't condone what he did, why does the US government persist in its pursuit of him? Anybody familiar with this case care to add more? For some reason, this bothers me, but I always like to look at both sides...
HARLAN –
I’m always here somewhere, cuddles. I may not flap my yap or make my rounds with the agility I did before life piled my plate high, smorgasbord-style (deadlines, relationship, 11 weeks of grad school to go), but I keep one eye on the comings and goings, the cries for help and requests for goods, and I spackle the holes where and when I can. Thanks for the confirmation on Vic & Blood; I hope Friday proved thorny for Paramount; and as always, know that you and Susan bulk large in my affections, even though I don’t send my report card home with any regularity (still straight A’s – I know you expect nothing less from me since that day in 2002 when you donated that small but critical part of your posterior inferior temporal cortex for my betterment. Sorry that still itches on rainy days.)
ALL – As mentioned by some already, the E-reads lists boasts a few “neat-o”s if your shelf is lacking the odd book or if you (like me) are a divergent edition junkie. If you want a copy of FROM THE LAND OF FEAR (OOP since the mid seventies, if memory serves) and all the used ones you’ve ever found were missing covers, had weird odors, or sported underlines and cryptic marginalia in “The Time of the Eye”, you have a friend in E-reads.
Stimulate the economy! Replace your dog-eared copies! Indoctrinate your loved ones! Shop now for Christmas! If you recently bought a remastered Beatles album (for the fourth time in your life, but you still don't know all the words to "Dear Prudence, do ya? Huh?), then don’t you owe it to yourself to update your battered STALKING THE NIGHTMARE?
THAT SAID:
I would ALWAYS caveat with “Check the HERC store first!” because:
a) the Ellisons get 100% of that HERC sale,
b) author defacement of the title page is a wonderful perk, and
c) Susan is a far more gracious and caring proprietor than Amazon could ever be.
Don't know what the HERC store is? As Prince would say, "You better ask somebody."
Happy Yom Kippur
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:
To our Jewish friends out there, Happy Yom Kippur.
William Sherman
Boxford, MA
Happy 100th Anniversery Al!
The secret of how to live without resentment or embarrassment in a world in which I was different from everyone else, was to be indifferent to that difference." — Al Capp, American cartoonist (1909
If U Cn Rd Ths U Cn Gt A Gd Jb
I had clientelles once, but after a visit to a doctor and an antibiotic they trouble me now not at all.
Sam Klein
Better Now.
Arrrghhhh, maties, Im a pirate I am Iam. N I sometimes mistype a word or two. T'aint my spelling. I spell purrrrfecttttly, like I do most everything. Just me parrott bit orrrff a couple three fingers and I cant type so good no more. Keep a civil tongue in yer heads though, or I be marching you all off the plank.
Yers truly, Salty and Polly. (I'm really tired of homework now. Can I go to bed now please?)
STEVE OMG DUDE
U said u woulen't post what I wrote 2 you I hate u 4ever
P.S. Still waiten for that job dude
Dennis Stenson
TO ALL WEBDERLANDERS -- REGARDING THE "VOICE"
ALL: You don't have to go along with it, but I vote WE ALL IGNORE ALL POSTS from the troll known as "Voice of Reason" until he or she can come clean with a name.
RICK: _Sorry_ for the extra post (banishing myself from posting for three days)
--DTS
Communications and cliques
STEVE: I'm floored that someone in communications can be so clueless as to the importance of, well, communicating in the written form (sounds like you work in telecommunications -- maybe not). One could overlook the occasional misspelling (I have my own group of words that vex me), but not in an important communique about getting a _job!_ Worse, the person (I got the vibe that it was a woman -- not because of mysoginist leanings, but because of the extra exclamations) didn't think twice before telling _you_ what her or she wanted to talk about with the person would be interviewing _him or her_ -- as if you were expected to further pave the way, or the interviewer should be expected to do things in a manner that the interviewee deems appropriate.
If _that_ is the cream of the crop, I feel soooooo bad for you!
MARY: It's, um, grammar...not grammer (occasional -- which I usually spell with two "Cs" and one "s" always vexes _me_).
Le: Sorry to learn of your experiences in Temple. And, yeah: there are a LOT of crackers (and racists) in Texas. (Come to think of it, there are a lot of those in Kansas and Missouri...and Worchester and Boston had _their_ fair share when I lived in that part of the country in the '80s -- maybe Temple was just one of those "points of power" which attract more than the average number of assholes). Had to put up with some of that shit myself, when I was much younger, in Corpus Christi, TX -- in my case, it was a group of Latinos trying to pick on a short, skinny, quiet white kid (sometimes the occasional white or black dude or two gave it a goe, but usually groups of Latinos -- the majority in that particular school -- provided most of the adrenaline rushes).
--DTS
{Anything that is posted online without consent is piracy regardless of who does it.}
Since I doubt you got the consent of the friend you decided to humiliate, by posting their error-riddled request to you, then are you too a pirate?
Re: Texas
Don't get me started!
I had to live in Texas for three consecutive years as a kid; my mother and I first lived in El Paso, then Houston, then Bryan-College Station, then, unfortunately, Temple. I found El Paso to be a fairly friendly place, and in those days it had a feeling of a place where people go to hide out from the law! Houston was pretty cosmopolitan and wasn't bad. However, then we moved to Bryan. Of course, it was illegal, but the administration led the school in prayer every morning over the PA system. Everyone had to stand up and bow their heads during this and say "Amen" afterwards. It was difficult being a racial minority in a mostly White and very Christian milieu, and the people there spread their Christian love by frequently subjecting my mother and me to racial slurs and discrimination.
As bad as Bryan was, nothing could have prepared us for the town of Temple. I am guessing it had a population was under 30,000 back then. The people there made the term "White Trash" lose all respectability. When Don McLean wrote that creepy song "General Store," I bet he was thinking of people like those found in Temple. I hated going to school. There was a field behind my school I had to cross on foot to get back home. There I was often attacked by a few of my hayseed classmates (stupid inbred sons of b*tches!). They always grabbed me from behind, then pull me into the trees adjacent to the field.
Unfortunately, that painfully long year I had to live in Temple instilled in me a great fear and mistrust of Christians that I have not been able to shake since.
I remember when Harlan Ellison read that incredible first page to Dan Simmons's SONG OF KALI and how "Some places are too evil to be allowed to exist," I immediately thought of Temple, Texas. I am so embittered from having to live in that sh*t town that I, too, dream of Temple's "human figures dancing like burning insects, like obscene praying mantises sputtering and bursting against a fiery red background of total destruction...The dreams are not unpleasant."
The only good thing I can say about Texas is that my favorite filmmaker (Terrence Malick) lives there. That's all I can think of.
Jeff-
Spent Monday helping Michell and Darragh. Never met Beth. David moved away.Z.
That was horrible, Steve, don't do it again!
It's true, it shows a certain lack of common respect if you send people who aren't your best friends something as sloppily written as that. But it reminds me...
Szeve, Please can you wrtie a jop reference for me 2 lol?
If you please have the folloing key traits ascribed to me by tomorrow Sunrise, please Sir?????
Achieves perfection
Always finishes first, lol
Punctual to a flaw (quote from boss)
Finds solutions in his box
Protects box from customars and thiefs every time of day
Regardless of circumference will follow every order
Sees events before they happen
Training disablity
Good workoholic
Be a player, a leader and a follower
Always grins at customers and coustomers not surprise!
Coldshowering
Thanks man!!!!!
Steve: By any chance was that message sent to you via e-mail? For whatever reason, I think, a lot of people don't feel as much of a need to use correct spelling, grammar and just plain good writing when they communicate via e-mail. They compose a message at top speed, hit "send" and hurry on to their next task without checking it or stopping to think about what they've written - as if they have something more important to do than convey an impression of their intelligence and literacy to the recipient of their message. Yet another (admittedly minor-key) way our society's standards are in freefall.
---
Wishing an easy fast to all those commemorating the Day of Atonement beginning tonight.
Quickdraw
McHerzog....
http://tinyurl.com/yac5s8w
For JOHN ZEOCK:
That was an excellent post. I can tell that Steve's untimely passing has affected you quite deeply. I hope you heard the tribute to Steve, featuring his wife and daughter, last night. I was only able to listen to part of it, but what I heard was fine.
Although Steve seemed to like most people, he had trouble with one frequent caller who seemd friendly enough on the surface, but who always seemed to be trying to needle Steve and one-up him, back in the 1980s. I'm referring to a guy named David, whose last name I can't recall. Whatever became of him? Sitting in his studio, did you ever meet his groupie, Beth, back in those days?
Yeeeeeeeeeeehawwww!! What's that you say? That's what Cindy's car alarm sounds like. haha.
Love ya sugarsnap.
------------
Ms. Bland, what happened to Austin? They still have the hipster music scene--a lot of great bootscootnboogie comes from said piece. They have South By Southwest, they have great colleges, a more liberal outlook. I heard Texas was going blue. Am I wrong? But I'm never wrong.
Wink.
They could nuke or firebomb Waco and Midland and all would be fine.
Steve:
Just read that post...I cringed at the lack of spelling skills that person had. If they have such talent in other places, then why is it they can't improve their spelling and grammer? A well written email, letter, etc., is just as important as the selling skills a person has...it reflects who he or she is just as much as anything else.
Oh dear...
%$#@
(This is what happens when you use two different keyboards. You hit the wrong button and inadvertently post what isn't ready for Prime Time.)
PERSONA NON GRATA
Anything that is posted online without consent is piracy regardless of who does it.
I agree HarperCollins probably isn't guilty of internet piracy in this case, but what possible line of thought would cause a publisher to put an entire book online as a "Look Inside" teaser I cannot fathom. It's corporate stupidity, but probably not unlawful.
(shrug)
Above my paygrade.
I was debating whether to post this. This goes far to illustrate the need to teach writing skills in school, an opinion shared by everyone on this site I would presume.
The below was sent to me by a person seeking a job reference. *This person* (no names) is good at the job they would be asked to perform, so I have no issue recommending him/her.
But this is what *this person* actually sent to me to ask for the recommendation.
You would think the circumstances would have merited something a bit above a grade-school level note, but this recreates, exactly, the typos, line cuts, spacing, punctuational errors and just flat out poor English *this person* used. (No one here would know *this person*.)
Talking to them, you'd never guess that they would send this sort of note. But they did. I was not only appalled, but a bit insulted.
"Hi Steve
Thank you so much for talking with me this Morning.
I talked to (misspelled hiring person's name) just a few minutes ago and I am metting him tomorrow morning at 11:30.
I am hoping and praying, you will have tim to get something to me in the morning by 9am???
If you can, The things I would like touched on would be the following:
Know the I.E. (territory, clientelle)
Being a consultive sales person
Knoledge on both voice and data apploication from Frame to MPLS
Beam a team player, a leader and can follow
Training ability
Punctual
Good work ethic
Regarless of circulstances always keep clients in the loop so they are always updated and not surprised
Meets timelines
Finds solutions out of the box
Coldcalling
I hope this gives enough exapmles, lol
Thanks a million!!!!!"
The purpose of my posting isn't to make fun of this person. As noted, this person IS good at their job and deserves my recommendation (which I have given). Speaking to *this person* you would never know they would possess such poor writing skills.
And I wish I could say *this person* was a rarity.
Just had to put this somewhere, and my Facebook page is a little too public. I figured if any group woould commiserate with me, it's y'all.
_____________________________________________
PERSONA NON GRATA
________________________________________
J.G.Ballard
Those with a taste for the late J.G.Ballard might like to know of some recent/current BBC radio offerings which are available online for a short time.
First, a one-hour documentary written and presented by the British novelist Will Self, with archive recordings of Ballard interviews and short readings from his work. This is available online until next Saturday:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mtnq7
Second, each weekday a 15-minute reading from Ballard's autobiography MIRACLES OF LIFE. The first is on Monday at 2.15pm UK time, and I expect the episodes to be available to listen online for seven days after broadcast:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mzdkt
- Phil
J.G.Ballard
Those with a taste for the late J.G.Ballard might like to know of some recent/current BBC radio offerings which are available online for a short time.
First, a one-hour documentary written and presented by the British novelist Will Self, with archive recordings of Ballard interviews and short readings from his work. This is available online until next Saturday:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mtnq7
Second, each weekday a 15-minute reading from Ballard's autobiography MIRACLES OF LIFE. The first is on Monday at 2.15pm UK time, and I expect the episodes to be available to listen online for seven days after broadcast:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mzdkt
- Phil
CINDY
Heck With TEXAS -- CINDY! (One the few reasons I _don't_ hold a grudge against the state over Dubya).
:)
-DTS
TEXAS.
:)
cINDY
Internet Piracy?
Okay, I'm admittedly a bit of a dullard but, how exactly can you accuse the publisher of a book of internet piracy?
Anyone?
DO AS YOU ARE TOLD
I have gone out online and done did what was told of me by my Uncle. Him being Unca Harlan. Me being a newest and honored owner of WEB OF THE CITY. That being a novel unknown to me as to why it wasn't mine already. Being as I went to e.r.e.a.d.s.DOTCOM. And now I got it, is as before I had not. Somehow.
But anyways,
Rick
Texas?
Gee whiz, Harlan! You get a guy from Texas all excited about commenting on this lovely state of woe and misery in which I live, then you make me wait. Granted, I'm like a kid at Christmas when it comes to the idea of impaling the lone star state's many and varied grotesqueries upon the rusty tines of a neglected barbecue fork and then roasting them to a putrid brown over a manure-fueled campfire, but I'm trying to exercise restraint. Failing.
Then again, it might be that you want to hear something nice about Texas. I can't imagine the strange version of reality where that would be actually be the case, but Cindy is the obvious choice for such misplaced adoration. She loves our state, although I suspect Rick Perry is drugging her morning coffee with happy pills. As far as I'm concerned, about the only place in this whole Brobdingnagian state of hillbillies and hell-heat that's not worthy of taking off and nuking from orbit is Austin - but even that is changing.
If I were really put to the screws to give the place a compliment, I'd probably break down and admit that the battle of San Jacinto opened up the West and spread America from sea to shining sea, but then states like Utah pop up and I'm back to apologizing all over again.
Well, we have good steaks. Does that count for anything?
I can vouch the Ellison books are available as I have several of them on my Kindle.
Love the Kindle.
Love the Kindle.
Have I mentioned I love my Kindle?
The Kindle is the best toy I have ever bought myself. Nothing like taking a library of books with you wherever you go.
Two notes regarding E-Reads
1) I may be wrong about this - and if I am, I'm sure our esteemed host will let us know - but in addition to the VIC & BLOOD "first," isn't the E-Reads edition of HARLAN ELLISON'S MOVIE the first time that book has been independently available in a mass edition? (The only previous publications I know of are as part of a two-volume pricey limited edition of the HORNBOOK, and part of an EDGEWORKS.)
Just curious. It's one of the few significant Ellison works I don't own in one edition or another, and I was delighted to see it available through E-Reads.
2) All here should appreciate the banner ad that's on top of the E-Reads home page at the moment: "DANGEROUS VISIONS: The most subversive science fiction collection of all time back in print at last!"
THE BOOKS OF ELLISON
Josh just called to advise me (one who would even fail the McDonald's Intern Order-Counter Programme questionnaire) that
all 30
30 30 30 30
new Ellison editions on EREADS (or e.reads, or E.READS, or Ereads, or E.Reads, or however one is supposed to type it in)
all 30
30
of them can be ordered as print-on-demand through AMAZON, which is what, I guess, I should've said at the git-go. So if you're committed inelluctably to keeping Susan from having to butcher off pieces of my sirloinlike goodness to keep starvation from our environs--perhaps I overstate a tad--well, I'm beggin' ya, Sherrif, gimme a break here! Ah swear I'll never rustle no one's ponies again, if'n ya just cut me loose this once, Sher'f!"
What the fuck am I going on about, he asks.
Sleep, o pointyhead; go get some sleep!
Bgmmmmmml, yehrpillherman
Re: A WORD TO Le
Mr. Ellison -
Thanks for the notice. Then you know that your SHATTERDAY
Intro for "Jeffty is Five" that story is also available online. I just emailed Rick Wyatt requesting my two earlier
posts be deleted.
Thanks again for the heads-up.
With sincere apologies,
Le
A WORD TO Le:
I would hope you knew--but apparently do not know--that your kindly act of sending people to read "Jeffty is Five" at a site that has put it up without my permission, is encouraging the very internet piracy I have been fighting for years.
Might I suggest, when you want someone to read me, send them for short stories such as "Jeffty" to FICTIONWISE.COM, who pay me a small fee for every inexpensive download.
For books entire, well, E.READS has just issued thirty (30) of my books in uniform, numbered editions, all with a great Dillon cover, each pretty much free of errors, and even one "first" edition, a new manifestation of VIC & BLOOD (FinderDoug, are you there).
If you, Le, or anyone, would like to help keep Ellison in the cultural memory, PLEASE spread the word as virally as you can. They're not expensive, but I get a goodly share of the pyment-per-book. PLEASE, if you take away from this site ANYthing, take away the resolve to look up the books on E.READS, and if they look good to you, let the rest of the fad-swilling electro-hypnotized mass know they're AT LAST available, at delightful prices.
My thanks to which or whomever of you attend the above plaint.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
REPLY TO LARS KLORES
How's the chair, kid?
As best I recall, the first time I SAID IT (and if it actually originated with someone else, I never knew it, nor ever heard it): "Everybody believes and bleats that s/he is entitled to his/her own opinion. No, they're not! They're only entitled to their INFORMED opinion. Without truth and facts to back it up, all it is, is a fart in the wind."
It alters every time I use it, or any time someone gets ahold of it (if I had a dime for every time some sloppy-rememberer dredges up my "The two most common ELEMENTS in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity," and mundanely substitutes "things" for "elements," the latter being funny, the former being only slapdash slovenly reading or lazy memory blahhh, which sorta makes the point,I would have just a lotta dimes.) Consider this the variorum response to this question.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
"Jeffty is Five" online - postscript
I forgot to mention that after you click on the link, you have to scroll all the way down to page 71 to get to Harlan Ellison's "Jeffty is Five" story.
This was the first Harlan Ellison story I ever read. I cringe in embarrassment now when I think back on how when I was a college freshman and the time I brought in a copy of SHATTERDAY for my professor to read...as if she had either the time or inclination.
Anyway, I noticed the story is availabe online (as is every other story from THE LOCUS AWARDS: THIRTY YEARS OF THE BEST IN SCINCE FICTION AND FANTASY)
http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060594268
STEVE: This is my third attempt at responding to your post. It touched a chord I hadn't realized was there. Questions such as that are fine and frustrating conversation fodder.
Offering up the chimera of happiness pre-supposes that he would be happier if he weren't driven to express his genius and passions on canvas. Is it really a question of "you can paint, or you can be happy"? Or is it a hope that he would have still been able to paint as well if he were "happy"?
Or do we look at it through the eyes of Neil Peart of RUSH as he wrote in "Mission":
It's cold comfort
To the ones without it
To know how they struggled --
How they suffered about it
If their lives were exotic and strange
They would likely have gladly exchanged them
For something a little more plain
Maybe something a little more sane
You're right in that there is no choice in the matter, yet I'd wager you could ask that question to any number of crowds and run into some version of the "I'm entitled" argument (consider Neil Gaiman's "George R.R. Martin is not your bitch" blog response: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.html ).
I, of course, being an expert in all things creative and the muses, demons, and bits of fancy or outrage that inspire them. Don't step in the sarcasm...
shagin
Steve Friedman
At his peak his show ran from 9PM to 6:30, Sunday morning. 1210 AM was, and is, a 50,000 watt station and as the night wore on more and more people would tune in until he was reaching 38 states, Canada, and into the Gulf Stream. The dark night of the soul where it's always 3 AM would crawl its way across the country and confront all those who could least afford to face it. But out there would be a soft and kind voice ready to listen. He used to joke that telling someone they had great taste meant that they had your taste. But someone would call and say they saw a movie about a tap dancing squirrel or God's voice coming over the radio or money growing on trees or giant ants in LA's sewers and he could tell them the name of the film and help bring back a memory of their youth and, maybe, happier times with family and friends or at the very least validate their memories. Now, the voice is still and for those who loved what was night is now silence and darkness. Some people should always be remembered.
Thank You!!
Harlan & Susan:
Thanks again for a glorious evening out with two of my favorite people,
spectacular Thai food, the ghostly telephonic presence of Erik & Josh, and a
privileged view of the world's most interesting home. :-)
All went well on the way back---due no doubt to the subtle "safe driving
spell solicitously cast by HE--this intrepid New Yorker navigated LA's famous
nighttime freeways back to the valley of Corona without scratch, ding, or mortal
harm to the Bright Yellow Bug!
Believe it or not Harlan, you also provided breakfast this morning ( which I
woke craving early, on NYC time!). I had the savory warm soft-shell crab with
broccoli, a side of crispy bean sprouts and cold pineapple rice with shrimp--which by
the way is unbelievably delicious right out of the refrigerator!
Big hugs to my most gracious hosts, who I hope are no worse for wear in body
or spirit The Morning After!!
Love, CC
We give Van Gogh peace and no great art exists from him--fine. The problem is great art comes from bad times, struggle, alcoholism, depression--not all of it, but lots. Really cracked people have that talent bug, it crawls through those cracks in their beings, leaving little droppings--that stain attains wisdom.
Or something..lol
the latter, of course
STEVE: the latter, of course. And if everyone thought that way, most of the lessons (or insights) given to us by great works of art wouldn't be necessary (since we would all be looking out for one another's happiness and well-being).
-DTS
It has never been an actual choice of course, but (to use an example) would humanity's cultural value of Van Gogh's art trump Van Gogh's right to happiness?
In other words, if you had to choose between his artistic legacy or giving him peace, which would you choose?
Piping Up
I watch Olbermann several times a week and find his skewering of crazy rhetoric a fine palliative, most of his Special Comments masterworks of passionate political thunder. Any actual comparison of what he does to Glenn Beck's stirring-up-of-the-ants-with-a-stick has always struck me as absurd.
Reason In The Heart Of The Savage
"There can't be any such thing as civilization...unless people have a conscience"
- Henry Fonda, The Oxbow Incident
Whether you think the dollar should rule all
Or you hide behind the hypocrisy of some God while leaving the poor and sick to their own fates
Or live in blind paranoia and equate the Gun with God
Or remain apathetic about what we do to the planet and the survival all the lower orders
Or whatever the fuck your problem is...
Knowing what we are underneath, being well-versed about what we evolved from, I think every single one of us - myself included - should have this brilliant quote stippled into our forearms to remember it every morning. It's the grounding we should ALL have - and without the artificial invocation of angry gods or Puritanical judgment or asshole parents who let out there frustrations on their kids.
I just saw a remarkable 1950's noir/semi-documentary film - THE PHENIX CITY STORY. Made during the time the case was still being tried, it surrounds the real-life assassination of a lawyer running for Attorney General in the state of Alabama. Grisly scenes included the murder of 2 children, one a black girl who wasn't even yet 10, and local Mafia brutalizing citizens of Phenix all over the place. Horribly, these events were all true.
Because of the crazy timing of this airing (the movie was scheduled on Turner 3 months ago), it evoked in my mind the case now emerging in Kentucky of that murdered Fed, in addition to the galvanized hate-mongering sprouting in parts of the country over recent months.
Further, the juxtaposition with Michael Moore's new film, and the exhausting uphill plight in Congress for universal medical care - politicians getting well-paid by Corporate lobbyists (basically a component of a legally sanctioned Mafia) to vote against any Government sponsored program (our "Government" is supposed to be the Democracy representing the will of the People, not Corporate America!) - ignited my anger over these issues.
We've a ship filled with stupid people, lemming-like tribes who need to lose it all before they understand they're being taken, and it's going to be a long, LONG battle - clearly!
**Harlan,
I'm going to pester you about ONE more point I'd like to make - 'cause you got me so spun in a tizzy over that Obermann business in some odd sample spacing of media "viral talk"!
Again, I didn't see the exchange that led to your comment; I haven't time to go scrolling back to see the context. So, if I misinterpreted your intentions there...AH!
I would argue this:
Remember when you did columns back in the 1980's, in titles like Future Life?
Columns about, among so MANY issues, the Moral Majority; about figures like Norman Lear becoming a bullseye for the "Moral Midgets", with quotes by personalities like Lenny Bruce. About the ERA. About Hollywood executives who expunge creativity for the dollar. About a whole array of frustrating and irksome matters.
Well, mediums aside, I would argue Keith Olbermann does exactly what you did back then. He essays - often with biting eloquence - the truth behind the same lies you were going after back then.
Thus, if I interpreted your logic correctly, and attached Olbermann to the ever-spreading "viral talk", I'd have to put YOU in there TOO!
But I don't! I think your words were and remain stirring and valuable. They are therefore PAINFULLY necessary! JUST as I deem Olbermann's.
Look: I was reaching for your columns like a coke addict reaches for his nose, BECAUSE of their stand and their style.
I feel just as revved up about social responsibility - inspired to research the facts behind many arguments - when I listen to Olbermann (among a handful of others, like Maher).
No one introduced me to Olbermann last year. I was channel surfing. I found him by accident. Hearing him only briefly, I couldn't turn the channel. He was biting, eloquent, funny, and jumping for the right jugulars, disseminating the goddamn manipulating lies out there by human waste like Rupert Murdoch. It was REFRESHING!
So...I'm thunderstruck about the way you dispensed with Olbermann in your post. Or I'd say, perhaps, MINIMIZING him.
I remember when you related in an old piece, when a guy named Richard Morse asked, "Given the horrors you've written so far, how do you preserve your outlandishly high opinion of humanity?"
You responded, "Easy kiddo. I believe...that the human race is the noblest experiment ever attempted by the uncaring universe...any species capable of painting the Cistine Chapel ceiling, or writing MOBY DICK, and of putting a man on the moon, is a species worth giving a damn about. It is when representatives of that noble experiment settle for McDonald's toadburgers, Judith Krantz novels and The Dukes of Hazzard that my love affair with the human race becomes polluted."
As you well know, those who paint Cistine Chapels or write Moby Dick or follow in the footsteps of Carl Sagan are ever-so-painfully in the minority. An occasional beacon in an otherwise dark and savage sea!
And I heard Olbermann occasionally hit notes of similar urgency.
In 50 years, as global catastrophes, like floods from the melting glaciers, bring reality to our doorsteps, our petty priorities of today will succumb to the science of bio-engineering to save what's left of our asses, most likely shifting economic and cultural models radically.
Until then, I wonder how many of us will perish before we see things as they really are. If we as a species cling to the voracious instincts of our early ancestors, I'm willing to bet the head count will be high.
One caveat on that Kentucky census-murder.
Officials have noted another reason why the man may have been murdered; there's a fair amount of marijuana growing and meth labs in that area. (And as much as I've enjoyed marijuana, I don't believe that all involved in its growth and distribution are peaceful retiring types.)
So this may not be a murder by vigilante right-wing fringe fuckheads-- which is what I first assumed. Once reminded of the drug trade in rural Kentucky, it occurs to me that it might be _violent criminals_ who've resurrected the anti-revenoo'er tactics of old-time moonshiners. Or who want to divert suspicion away from themselves. Or who also watch Glenn Beck when they're not processing meth.
Minor Threat With Ben Kingsley on Vocals:
This is a chuckle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt5QNS-SVxs
DTS wrote: "CHUCK: If you now try planting an upside-down Spidey Kiss on Harlan, I'm gonna run screaming!
-DTS"
I'm a middle-aged guy with a heart condition and arthritis. I'm afraid my days of upside-down spidey kisses are over.
Think Rip Torn sending the Will Smith off on his first battle with illegal aliens in MIB. That I can handle. Now, If you'll excuse me, it's time for my nap.
Chuck
OT: Music
Today is Shostakovich's birthday!
"She was with me even in my grave
When the last of my friends turned away,
And she sang like the first storm heaven gave.
Or as if flowers were having their say."
- from the poem "Music" (Dedicated to Dmitri Shostakovich) by Anna Akhmatova, translated by Lyn Coffin
Passacaglia from the Violin Concerto #1 in a minor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-swUGxiUTM
Fugue #16 in b-flat minor for piano, from Opus 87, performed by Shostakovich:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwO1Jm7goao
Michelle Malkin's sick ravings now have a death count. That bitch is not a nice person.
Tim Burton's take on Alice...
Yeow! Check out the trailer for "Alice in Wonderland": All that is missing is a kinda sorta Harlan face on the white rabbit, who is checking his timepiece, naturally (I thought Harlan so identified with the story that he named his newsletter in honor of it -- never occured to me that it was due to his name -- doh)
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4240966169/
Paramounted - A Call To Taxidermists
I hope the legal eagles have honed the talons. And I'm sure Harlan and Susan will right a wrong.
But...how many stories might have been written if Harlan didn't have to spend time and energy on these leeches?
In the meantime, the paths of least resistance marked as beck and malkin and o'reilly are on best seller lists.
I hope paramount bleeds like a stuck pig with ebola, sans clotting agents.
Richard Halasz
Somebody put a python in my hottub:
"Mm-hmmm, o yeah: Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform chickens.
Big-nosed, bearded, Christ-killing, Protocals of the Elders of Zion pizzas. With little pepperoni-sized yarmulkes."
Am I allowed to laugh at that? Do I go to hell if I do? Very funny, plus very serious. This Ellison guy may have a career.
All I have is this closet full of dead hitchhikers. Durn. Spits tabakky at the moonhole.
--------------
Limbaugh was on Leno last night. Leno did the softshoe, acted like Limbaugh was the gentle stream with the deer wetting its nose. Leno almost pulled down his pants.
--------------
Shocking to watch both Olbermann and Michael Moore reflect on mainstream telly about how evil capitalism is. Still no Chomsky, but this is a good start. They even were willing to quit when the pitchforks and torches came out.
I fear we are too busy text messaging and slurpee drinking to tent up with John Brown's body.
We are a nation of sheep. Bah.
Dream corridors...
Potentially very geeky, but I found this web page about CORRIDORS in SF movies quite fascinating:
http://tinyurl.com/mr8yv2
- Phil
Cosi Fan Tutti
Well, sorry Steve Barber, but when the corporations tell the government what to do, it is perhaps "Corporate Nationalism" in one of its varying definitions, or just plain corrupt "pay for play", but it is not "Fascism".
Mayhap you have run afoul of that old hoary concept called "the corporate state", which is one aspect of Fascism. The "corporate" in "corporate state" refers not to business corporations, but rather to "social corporations" sucj as labor organizations, professional associations, churches, fraternal groups and so on. The organizing principle of Fascism is that the state mediates the differences of all those corporations, forces them to work together, and has the final say. The idea is that such "corporate groups" are the true building blocks of society and the state, not the individual humans that form them.
Like the man said:
"Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, and nothing against the state."
It's interesting that Fascism actually developed out of socialism. Mussolini was at one time a leading socialist journalist/intellectual, pre-World War One. Fascism accepted the inevitability of "class conflict" as put forward by Karl Marx, but attempted to resolve and manage that inevitable conflict by the power of the state forcing the classes to cooperate. At one time fascism was called by "party line" Marxist's "Right Deviationism", much as they called "Trotskyi9sm" "Left Deviationism".
I'm glad we had this talk. Pedantry suits me to a tee.
Mrrmee mrrmeee
Best Wishes
Here's hoping that there's a genuine spirit of negotiation in the room and that Harlan gets what's his due without having to go to war.
Yeah, I'm an optimist.
Jan S.
Here's hoping for a good settlement, Harlan...you of all people certainly deserve that and more.
It's also nice to be back on the 'puter. I wound up with multiple viruses, and my father's good friends played doctor. Viruses are gone, my computer is happy, and so am I.
By the way...if something that says "Windows Police" or something like that pops up on your computer warning that you have viruses, it's a virus itself. "Windows Police" was actually a nasty criminal that kept popping up trying to get me to purchase a virus protection program. Every time I clicked on cancel, it wouldn't go away. I hope this time it doesn't come back.
As for my movie column, I hope to get it started back up again, but life took a couple of swings at me, and I ducked...sort of. Oh well...dust myself off and keep going.
butts on a salver
Here's hoping you hand 'em their asses, Unca Harlan.
Best Fishies,
Rick
with 54 minutes to go
Harlan,
Go get 'em. Make 'em cry "uncle." And most of all make them pay what they owe.
MM
Beckerwood
I must admit, mah peoples, I am sad.
It's bad enough that the masses (who are asses) adore Glenn Beckerwood, but then I have to come here and read it.
Yeah, I know that we-us will discuss that which amazes us. But I do a political blog, and I hear about this brain stem who gets paid a mega-million a year just to fart dust, and then I come here and everyone's talking about it to, so I'm going to pout and whine for a moment, if that's okay.
I have just one main point to make about him: people who watch Beckerwood are also famous for drinking thier own bathwater. He has no points to make. He dances about, getting people excited, then acts all "well, gee, who could've knowed" when the shit hits the fan. As Harlan said, this doesn't happen in a vacuum.
You sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. Beckerwood's been sowing more furiously than most.
When I think of all the people doing honest work that could live off the money that oxygen thief gets, I get angry and sad simultaneously. I would also point out that the name of his so-called "production" company is Mercury Radio Arts, and you all know what happens when you consume mercury.
I even read somewhere that he saw himself as a latter day (geddit?) Howard Beale.
Pfui. He wishes. If he said it in any seriousness ever, he completely misses the point of Network, anyway.
Michelle Malkin – nice? Well, in as much as she doesn't go round her own nabe poisoning her neighbors' pets and shooting the neighborhood kids with an air rifle, I guess she's nice. And she, as far as we know, doesn't beat her kids.
But that don't make up for all the damage she's done. Do recall that she's seen fit to post the home addresses of her critics on her blog - and encouraged her readers to harrass them.
She's a dreadful, horrid woman.
"The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim."
Sun Tzu
______________________________________________
People may be misunderstanding the content of my comments regarding reigning in the extremists.
Fine. In simple English.
I am not suggesting you stop them from talking. I am suggesting you speak louder than they do.
In your silence, you are complicit.
Plain enough?
I've been away from my computer for many days, and just getting caught up with what's been posted here has taken some time.
Just a couple of minor thoughts:
BULLITT: There's a scene where McQueen is woken (waked?) by someone buzzing his apartment, and he gets up, steps out into the hall to pull on some lever to open the building door, and then sits on the edge of his bed, half-asleep. His visitor walks past him with a cup of coffee, and McQueen makes a kind of a gesture for the cup, which his visitor doesn't give him.
I mention this because I think McQueen is fantastic in that scene. Any actors here may think I'm making too much of this, but I think McQueen is excellent at playing that wakey-sleepyhead scene especially compared with other actors, who can do the obvious, yawn and stretch and paw at their eyes, but can't come close to convincing you they did just wake up and get out of bed.
There was something else I was going to comment on, but now I forget ...
Surely you're joking
Matthew, you think Michelle Malkin is 'kind of a nice woman' and 'normal nice mother'.
Really.
Did you get garner this impression from her anti-liberal screed 'Unhinged'?
Or her previous tome in which she argued in favor of Japanese internment camps during WW2?
Or when she had a snitfit because Rachael Ray wore a scarf during a Dunkin Donuts commercial?
Or when she was peeking through the windows of a father whose children had gotten medical treatment via S-CHIP only to discover that they had *gasp* concrete countertops?
Or when she posted the contact information of anti-war student protesters at UC-Santa Cruz and refused to take it down even after being told they were receiving death threats?
Really. A nice woman.
Ok.
(And sorry for calling you Shirley.)
"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more..."
Hmm. Close, but not quite... ah... here we go:
"Have fun storming the castle!"
Good luck today, Ellisons!
This just in.....
"You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant."
— Harlan Ellison
This is the closest quote I could find in my old battered copy of Bartlett's but it did not have a clear source listed.
Only Harlan knows for sure
Go get 'em and is James Argendeli OK?
To Harlan Ellison:
Much success on your "peachy" case with Paramount. I may be just another schmuck with a modem, but wish you the best.
I haven't seen him about lately, but since I know his byline is "Lawrenceville, GA" I want to be sure that James is OK after the flooding in some areas of my adopted state. Me, I made it through OK, though the house-rattling thunder put me RIGHT into prayer mode.
Thanks in advance to Harlan for being my road buddy. I will be taking a long drive for business purposes and I am saving the third volume of "The Voice from the Edge (well, most of it)" for the road. "Prowler..." I will only listen to in the DAY, thankyouverymuch.
Viva audio books!
Brian "Wendell Scott" Phillips
Glenn Beck's frankensteins?
I don't think people take Glenn Beck seriously. They mainly watch him to see what leaks out to the "mainstream media." Or trickles up.
Here's a funny video with Katie Couric interviewing Beck about "white culture" comment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKZ1qbDyKOM
But if you look at the 'related videos' section of that video, you get this other Glenn Beck upload where he's interviewing Peter Schiff, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKZ1qbDyKOM, where the title of the video calls Beck "the snake" in all caps and in the description "BE CAREFULL INTO BUYING INTO GLENN BECK, HE IS A SNAKE, HE REFUSES TO TALK ABOUT 9/11 TRUTH, FEMA CAMPS, ETC... CHECK OUT ALEX JONES INSTEAD."
But then if you "dig deeper" than that, you pull up names like Eric Hufschmid, Daryl Bradford Smith, and other anti-zionists/anti-jews (or whatever) who hate Alex Jones and call him the big phony. There's an amazing amount of infighting and suspicion and distrust among the underground right-wing. Except it's not right-wing and it's not left-wing. It really isn't. People are pretty by-the-issue. If they're Republicans they're almost always "but but but" sorts that say they're only republican because of what the platform is supposed to stand for, and it's kind of the same with the Democrats and all the others.
I really think politics is for the birds.
But more interesting to track than Glenn Beck is stuff like Republic Broadcasting Network, JTF & Chaim ben Pesach, or names like Bob Chapman, Stanley Monteith, Ron Paul (who's been on Bill Maher and Morning Joe and I think the Daily Show), John Stadtmiller (sp), and these sorts who seem strangely connected. It's really easy with the internet.
To be fair, none of these people I've named as far as I know have called for violence against "the Fed" (that sounds so old-fashioned).... although I *have* seen a number of violent comments on Infowars / Prisonplanet websites (Alex Jones stuff), and heard calls for violent action on Jones' show, but he always cut them off and tells them they're wrong.
There's so many of these people. I once had lunch with some recruiter guy for the John Birch Society who wanted me to read The Creature from Jekyl Island and he seemed very sincere and older than me and conservative and serious.... and I remember HIM telling me how ludicrous Alex Jones was (this was back in like 2001 or so) and how he once saw him standing outside some buildings dressed in masks and cloaks in protest, which was from his Bohemian Grove documentary, the protest idea coming from Eyes Wide Shut.
Anyway, just wanted to say that Glenn Beck / Michelle Malkin / anyone-who-appears-much-on-TV name mentionings here strikes me as a bit lame. If anything, if there's any truth to the CONSPIRACY, these sorts are employed to quell and pacify and soak up all the revolutionary/murderous hatred in the world. But you know maybe that's also true of these relatively underground sorts like Eric Hufschmid (if he has a following and isn't just talking into the dark) and whoever else.
Mainly this stuff never impresses me much. Even if I was on the side of staging a second American revolution, an overthrow of the government, restoring it to its constitutional republic or whatever, I still would think it's an impossible battle 'cause they got tanks, biological weapons, nuclear weapons, police squads, the army, lots of other technology, and what good is the second amendment against that?
Personally I think Michelle Malkin is kind of a nice woman. Maybe a bitch, but otherwise a pretty normal nice mother, a nice person really. That's what I've gathered from seeing / reading her non-talking head stuff.
Jack S.
Thank you for clarifying. You've apparently just released your first novel too (Harbinger - sounds familiar, I think we already mentioned it), so let me wish you the best of luck with those two books and your current projects.
www.amazon.com/Harbinger-Jack-Skillingstead/dp/0982073038
www.amazon.com/Are-You-There-Other-Stories/dp/1930846614
“Jack Skillingstead is fearless.” (Daryl Gregory)
Upside Down Spidey Kisses
CHUCK: If you now try planting an upside-down Spidey Kiss on Harlan, I'm gonna run screaming!
-DTS
scary
It's strange you all are talking about this now as just yesterday I went over to do some cleaning on the room I am moving into...a house across the street. The upstairs window of that neighbors house was open and I could hear a t.v. in the background. Suddenly I heard a man's voice saying" That b---h better resign from congress. I swear I'll go over and slit her throat from ear to ear that c--t. God damn Democrats are destroying this country.......". It went on that way for a while...while I was thoroughly creeped out and even scared. I finally moved away from the window as I was worried he would look out and see me there. I knew the guy as a neighbor but never spoke to him...he just lived alone and kept to himself.
I don't know...he spoke this all in a very menacing..bizarre tone. I just wonder if this is a crazy man venting or ...idk what to think but I am sure not looking forward to being a neighbor of this guy.
Dreams with Teeth
Hi Mr. Ellison,
I just finished watching the documentary featuring you. Your house is fantastic. I wouldn't think you'd allow for tourists? Have you made any move to get "off the grid" (i.e. solar power or wind turbines, well water, etc.)?
Informed Opinions
as per Steve in Duluth and Lars Klores -
I do not know about the origin of such a quote - it sounds like something that could have been said a thousand years ago, but I have this from Robert Fripp's diary, dated Mon., Aug 10, 1998:
"We would probably agree that personal freedom is a basic human right: if I am to act in accordance with conscience, I must be free to do so. This is my right. But it carries with it an obligation: to act in accordance with conscience. This is where the drama of our adult lives begins.
My rights are balanced by my obligations: they are the same, but the perspective is different. If I have the right to express my opinion, I have the obligation to form that opinion - and this obligation implies that I must be informed (at least in minimal degree) as to the subject of my commentary. Otherwise, my opinion is - at best - baseless. But since every action carries with it repercussions, witless and uninformed commentary is prejudiced, prejudicial, and may cause damage.
In a sense, I pay for the right to freely express an opinion in the currency of my learning experience to know my what I'm talking / writing about. If I don't know what I'm talking about, better to remain quiet, and continue to engage with the topic under discussion, than trumpet my ignorance."
A long form of the same idea, but well put I must say.
Gas From Bad Moonshine!
At the risk missing something here, I enjoy the hell out of Keith!
I think his information is great, and I think his semi-satirical verbal arsenal - along with Rachel Maddow and, on radio, Randi Rhodes - is a necessity in today's swarm of media contagions.
Just tonight, he and Michael Moore had an incredible tete-a-tete, and he later informed us about this moron, Glenn Beck, who just used a slice from a provision of the U.S. Constitution that prohibited Congress from outlawing the slave trade before 1808 to argue that the Founders "felt like there was a value to being able to live here" and lamented: "Not anymore. These days we can't ask anything of immigrants - including that they abide by our laws."
Seeing Keith Olbermann's name grouped with primates like Beck and fluff like Leno is like a kick in the patella.
I'm prattling - perhaps taking something out of context - but that's ok. I'm at Keith's side like a ravenous rottweiler frothing at the mouth. If nothing else, this gives me an excuse to hype the guy! For tonight, that's MY agenda.
I saw Olbermann for the first time just last October. I don't know how his reports and commentary ran in prior years, but thus far I haven't heard one damn thing that wasn't DEAD on! He's GREAT for christ-fucking-sake!
Call it "agenda", or whatever stamp you want to put on it, if you speak truth you speak truth! That's no news to YOU!
The Right to an INFORMED Opinion
Harlan, Steve in Duluth raises a question which I would like clarification on as well.
Is there a preferred version of the quote "Everyone is not entitled to their opinion. Everyone is entitled to their INFORMED opinion"? And, is that quote original to you? I have always assumed it was but have not been able to confirm.
It is a quote which I think gets more and more relevant every 24-hour news cycle.
On Responsibility
Josh,
I could never be as entertaining and eloquent as Harlan. I look at it thusly: individual responsibility extends just as much to those using words as weapons as to those using swords. Having the right to free speech does not grant one immunity from the consequences of that speech especially when it leads to social disruption.
To use another analogy - soldiers are not excused for actions because they were "just following orders"; yet those giving the orders are still held culpable as well even though they did not pull the trigger, so to speak.
Obviously those who enact violence have to answer for it personally, no one has said otherwise here. However, those who knowingly foment the crowd, who deliberately seek to manipulate the populace in fear and hatred while uttering disgenuous disclaimers- they also have to acknoweldge and take responsibilty for *their* part in the chain of events. This may not be by prosecution per se, merely by public declaration, but it is a necessary judgement nonetheless.
To blame Glenn Beck for his contribution does not absolve the person(s) who committed the act in any way; it simply demands recognition for the role of public actions & words in the matter.
Cheers
Peggy
An addendum on the responsibility of the Becks of the world.
Look, I'll be the first to admit that demagogues of the Beck-O'Reilly sort _must_ have some inkling that, among their listeners, there are those who'll grab a gun and start shooting. Especially after downing an earful of helpful pep talk about how census workers are an SS vanguard or that national health care will strangle their grandparents.
The fact that some of these people _get_ death threats doesn't change this: anyone who's famous gets those. The fact that they may have made some bleats _against_ violence, probably after getting spooked by their followers, doesn't matter much either.
The fact isthat they're _trapped_ by what they've said. They've built up national audiences by _not_ showing restraint. They've attracted listeners because they play up the drama, punch the fear buttons, and drive down the subtleties of the issues. That's how they got their following.
If they were to cut down on the Obama-Nazi comments, or explain to people why guns _don't_ make good political tools in a civilized nation... they'd lose their audience. Look what happened when a man as respected as John McCain tried to tell his supporters that Barack Obama was a decent human being. If Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly were to jam on the brakes and try to calm people down... their careers would evaporate while, knuckles dragging, their listeners will simply find someone who _will_ punch their buttons for them.
They wanted to ride a bronco. They may not control it as they would like, but that doesn't exonerate them for letting it out of the cage.
This Saturday is Museum Day 2009
http://microsite.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/index.html
HARLAN ELLISON last post. It is cruicial to know what is true. I don't think you can live any kind of a life without without a core of knowledge of the truth hard won in pain and loss and glimmers that grow often only in the hope of what you want to be true, need to be true until the shape begins to form and you make it yours and live by it. As a girl being beaten unconsious, flying thru the air and smashing into walls Harlan became the one voice that spoke for my indignant rage and my developing soul. That spoke all the words I would wish to say, gave a langauge and a unerring guide. But I feel now I must say there must be more then this. I hard scrambled and clawed my way to joy, loving family, a sence that there was more good then bad and that I was and active part in making that so by being it. And I count among my friends and the world I have made around me a good and decent place. I love my country. Not blindly or stupidly but on reflection like in each single human being there are dark places always warring and I am giving my vote on the humans and the country to mostly get it right. This is not the babbleings of a woman who had it easy. Just when I got everything pretty much right in my life the sledgehammer of Bi polar madness decended on me and took another number of years to grapple with and master. Riding the wirlwind of madness is unlike any other terror and yet I am no longer afraid. SO thats my two cents. It is what I have gotten from what I have lived. Harlan is still my all time great hero only out shined by my husband who is brilliant and fearless and funny in his own right.
Go get 'em, tiger!
Chuck
I have a myriad updates, gardyloos, queries, answers, and even one for only Cindy or any other Texan to respond to. But not today. I've been sidetracked by the court-mandated settlement hearing to be held at the office of the appointed mediator on the morrow, ten ayem. I am waiting for Carol Cooper to call me back about dinner with me and Susan tomorrow night; and I'm exhausted. So, perhaps on Saturday you will feel, again, the Power of The Shadow, for as we all know, the weed of crime bears bitter fruit...
Yr. Pal, Harlan
RESPONSIBILITY
JOSH IN CANADA:
As wholly as I subscribe to, and endorse absolutely, the credo of being responsible for one's choices, actions, comments, judgments and ultimately any sentence pronounced against one...
Show business, tv babbletalk, political subterfuge as propaganda (whatever the secret agenda), Art with a cap or without, public performance, oral history, LenoTalk, LimbaughTalk, MalkinSpeak, OlbermannTalk, and all the etceteras ad seriatum...well, they do not appear magically, as did Athena from the forehead of Zeus...
Our world is not a vacuum. It is an environment in which viral speech has found its trail of ants to the dead mouse of ignorance, the corpses of obscurantism and illiteracy, the rotting gardenias of revanchism and terror that rule America today. They do not speak in a vacuum; they perform: and they are as desirous of proving their ascension to power and cheap Willie Starklike Populism is a true coronation, as does the circus acrobats or high-wire fliers who DO IT to make you fear and reactto fear...their responsibility is greater than the average...
Because they KNOW what power their performances have, and though they bloviate the standard disclaimers, "oh, this is show business, just comedic societal comment," and I'm not responsible for the crazy acts of others," well, Josh, it is not a vacuum. It is viral. And to stunted minds as slow and inhumanly casual as must be the mind of the Kentucky redneck who killed that poor man, it is The Word From On High...
Yes, one is responsible. That's what YOU'RE saying, and it's what I AM saying. One cannot get away with saying, "Oh yes, I worked at Auschwitz, but I was only a pastry chef. I thought they were broasting chickens in those ovens. Or pizzas."
Mm-hmmm, o yeah: Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform chickens.
Big-nosed, bearded, Christ-killing, Protocals of the Elders of Zion pizzas. With little pepperoni-sized yarmulkes.
So, Josh, when one speaks of "responsibility," one does not use paralogia and carefully-proscribed interpretations of language, the loopholes of chicanery, the contractual escape hatches of purposely calculated verbiage and denial, to escape the price that must paid by little old survivors of lymphoma who, in their spare time, at their own cost, go door to door to get a non-political census that will correctly and egalitarionly INCLUDE THEM in the positing of the American Character.
One must ask, Josh, "Whence came the prod that inflamed the lynch mentality of that Kentucky backwoods butcher? Not spontaneous intellectual combustion, because we are dealing with a brute here, not a forensic debater. Not historical vengeance, because I have been among those folks out there in Kentucky, oh my yes I have, and they know no history, they do not carry the grudges of the Great War of the Confederacy in their souls and minds and beliefs. They are like kittens and babies: they play with what lies before them; they move as the tides of television take them.
SOMEONE (or plurals of that vulpine word) turned them on to the Menace of the Feds, and that is why that word was carved into the strung-up old man. Responsibility. Yes, that's EXACTLY what is on the barrel-head here.
Take it, or flee, and as is said (in Deuteronomy, I think) "the wicked flee, though no man pursueth." There is blood on Glenn Beck's hands, and in his mouth.
Respectfully, Harlan
DENNIS J. AND MARK ZUG
You guys are ignoring the rules here, and that won't stand--even as much as I love you, Mark--and as good as I've found your comments, Dennis. You are each a good guy, but you have flouted the rule of THIS venue by going back&forth with each other HERE. You've gone on a rampage. Stampede. No restraint.
Too much, guys, just too much, and flagrant. Will not stand!
And so, because it's becoming an annoying practice by MANY others--and I'm excluding the "oops, my error" and the perfectly okay "p.s." immediately following a post--and so, to complete that sentence...here is the sentence for doing it.
You're outta here, the both of you, for two FULL weeks, beginning right now. No replies, no grumbling: go away. We will miss you, you are in my heart, but get the fuck outta here NOW, for two (2) weeks.
To others: take note. Webmaster Rick Wyatt may be away, but I'm in his stead. So observe the rules. You'll know when exceptions are permissible. The law here in Deadwood is fair, but merciless. There's the gibbet over there. As y'all can see, Glenn Beck is swingin' on it.
Yr. Pal, Merciless but Fair Judge Harlan (Hang 'Em High) Ellison
On this politico talk
Now, normally I don't try to get involved in this crap, or post at all. Nonetheless, I'd just like to express one little thing here in this little discussion.
On FOX news being a hoard of lies, or Glen Beck being a jack-off, etc: Fine and dandy. I don't fully agree, but fair enough I guess.
However, theres on little assertion here that's driving me nuts and I just cannot be quiet about: That (insert commentator), or a "moderate" of a said position, or whatever, is responsible for an extremists actions, and should be held accountable as though they did the act.
One is only responsible for ones own actions. Simple as that. Otherwise, you reduce people to mere cattle with no freewill.
Ya'll have a good one.
Glenn Beck as Gandhi
I suppose I should have named Michelle Bachmann since she tends to lead in the Big Census Fear. Beck, however seems to want to take credit for things and I still feel on this one he is due. That WAS his march on Washington and it did seem to be his peeps carrying the usual colorful signs. I'm sure pundits on the Tube will weigh in on this as well. I'll take this on the other side as things unfold.
Poster Received
Hi Susan and Harlan, I just wanted to drop in and let you know that I received both the poster and the HERC packet of goodies. Thank You! Now I need to go find a nice frame!
COMMENT FOR JAN
Out October 1st Jack Skillingstead's Are You There And Other Stories which includes "The Avenger of Love"
"Skillingstead has arrived, and there’s no putting his genius back in the bottle now."
http://tinyurl.com/l49jxa
I could have sworn Harlan and Jack collaborated on the story, to a large degree, but the reviewer seems to have reason to believe the finished piece is more of a solo effort.
*********
Jan -- I wrote "The Avenger of Love" as a kind of tribute to Harlan's work and published it in F&SF. Harlan has the first three pages or so of an earlier version, and we may yet come up with something together.
quote sited by Mr. Ellison
I used to love to watch Mr. Ellison on Sci Fi Buzz. I remember one rant where he quoted some historical figure who said something along the lines of "You don't have a right to vote. You have a right to an INFORMED vote!"
Does anyone remember who he was quoting?
No, no, I hold Glenn Beck and others responsible for what happened because they should have known that kind of crazy talk could lead to something like this. Telling people that the coming communist gulags were being set up by Barry Obama and that we should fight this with the "blood of patriots," pretty much sums this up. Beck may not have advocated violence, but he knows his views foment it. Conservatism tends to be pro-violence as advocacy.
Even moderate conservatism leads to evil laws. Michael Moore's new movie will show that in spades.
Glenn Beck is holding back now for legal reasons, but he is the head to this snake, that's for sure.
Barney -- I, Claudius and Claudius the God are absolute joys. I try to read them every other year or so. Lately I've been reading in 20-30 page bursts myself; I'm currently halfway through Zelazny's Lord of Light, and am so much richer for the experience. When it's this good, genre becomes irrelevant
I'm leaving this afternoon to take my daughter to a weekend diving clinic; I won't have much to do, so five or six books are stacked in my front (along with the first two seasons of Burn Notice on DVD). These days, I really have to work to find reading time, so I'm gonna enjoy the hell out of this weekend
As far as Glenn Beck is concerned, regardless of whether he incites to violence, he is a shill and a fool, and is best avoided on those counts alone. But on the cover of his current book, "Additional Fecal Spewings", doesn't he cut a dapper figure in his faux SS uniform?
One of the amazing things about The Day the Earth Stood Still is its economy. It could have easily been a maudlin, anvilicious exercise in overt didacticism. It's still heavily didactic, but Wise's brisk pacing and efficient direction make it work. As Steve Barber notes, it's spectacular precisely because it doesn't try to be spectacular. Trivia: The studio REALLY wanted Spencer Tracy as Klaatu...
Powers and Disney
Disney has optioned Tim's novel ,On Stranger Tides, for their 4th Pirates film. I wonder, in an alternate universe without Harlan, if they would have bothered...
Angry Rhetoric and the Devil His Due
(Dennis, I highly approve of your intent to start a thread. Go to it.)
Glenn Beck, to give him his due, has stated publicly that Timothy McVeigh was a coward and that violence is not the answer.
On the other hand, it needs to be understood that the issue is not with one or two commentators who are inflaming the masses. It's the entire chorus of conservatives who, viewed as a spectrum of voices on a single theme, seek to destroy the central government of Obama. And some have said so openly.
It's not the Glenn Becks of the world. It's the Glenn Becks, Rush Limbaughs, Bill O'Reillys, Hannity, etc. who are inflaming the probably very small minority of listeners who are becomign genuinely angry and focussed on the "offenses" of the Obama Administration.
One minister actually prays for Obama's death and exhorts his flock to do the same.
It's the chorus which is the danger, not the individual voices. There's nothing wrong with an energetci opposition -- but in this case the opposition is not opposing one policy with another, they are simply opposing. And becoming increasingly agitated. They offer no answers, but are simply getting everyone angrier and angrier.
Now, I will disagree with my buddy Keith in only one area. I DO hold mainstream Republicans responsible for the actions of their commentators. Worse, policy seems to be being made on the airwaves of Fox News and THEN repeated by the politicians. Health Care is a premium example where the tail is wagging the dog. Fox creates "spontaneous" events and then covers them as if they are news. They create lies -- outright and provable lies -- and then hammer them hard enough to convince their followers that they are truths.
And no valid-enough evidence can be produced to dispute them. Obama's actual birth certificate was produced and endorsed by the State of Hawaii. Not good enough.
Wording actually IN the HealthCare bill precludes illegals from participating. Not good enough. (They also ignore that illegals ALREADY get treated, and that NOTHING anyone has proposed changes that. But somehow it's solely the fault of the reformists.)
I could go on. But, suffice it to say that as the extremists gain a greater hold on the GOP, it is the mainstream Republicans who lose power. If you -- meaning Republicans in general -- DON'T speak out, DON'T make it clear that Beck/Hannity/Limbaugh don't speak for everyone, then ultimately it is YOU who lose.
Fox already seems to have an inordinate influence on policy, and that ought to scare everyone. (It's called fascism, kids, when companies make policy.)
Beck, on his own, isn't much to worry about. But, as I called it above, it's the chorus that is making the imprint. They don't speak for the majority, but they're the ones being heard.
And that's never a good thing.
I had hoped it would be clear from the tone of my post about Michael Dirda that I was not attacking him as a critic or a person but apparently not.
So let me state for the record and for the Homeland Security analyst tasked with monitoring this font of subversion,
Michael Dirda is not a scumbag.
I read him regularly in the Wash Post.
I appeciated his nice review of J G Ballard's short story collection. (He referenced Swift & Borges & Calvino!)
When I described him as the "critic who came in from the cold" I meant it not in the sense that he suddenly discovered SF but in the sense that he is a old veteran who still uses the terminology and values of a age gone away surrounded by a new generation not so respectful of these values. It helps I suppose to be familiar with Mr le Carre's book.
But it's not a joke if you have to explain it, right?
A broken glass dildo to this thread...
No way in Hell could the smirking reactionary shill Glenn Beck ever find his way around a wine list like the ever thoughtful Harris character of Hannibal. And Hannibal is probably also better improvising with found objects. He's fictional and I still resent the comparison.
Speaking of fiction, I'm currently working my way through Jim Harrison's novels and have been pitching camps and making twenty page assaults on Robert Graves CLAUDIUS, THE GOD. I'm not saying I regret the genre stuff I've read to date, but I do wish I'd got on these heavyweights a little sooner. Entirely different writers. All they have in common is an incandescent brilliance.
Go on, keep talking about Beck. See if I give two shits. Unless it's Beck the musician. He rocks solid.
- Barney
15 Things Kurt Vonnegut Said Better Than Anyone Else
http://www.avclub.com/articles/15-things-kurt-vonnegut-said-better-than-anyone-el,1858/
Includes two of my favorites:
"Literature should not disappear up its own asshole, so to speak."
"We must be careful about what we pretend to be."
And one for Harlan:
"I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled 'science fiction' ever since, and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal."
Glenn "Tea-Bag" Beck
Dennis J:
I agree with your comment that equating Glenn Beck with the killing of a Census taker in Kentucky is inflammatory. However, doesn't Glenn Beck himself say inflammatory crap all the time? He says so much inflammatory crap that the chief advertiser on his show is for ExtenZe, a penis enlargement pill (everyone, please, keep a straight face: this is serious!). Of course, he also has 2.5 million regular viewers.
Have you recently called Glenn Beck out, either in writing or by calling up FOX, for saying inflammatory shit? I think I can guess the answer. And, honestly, it's not your job to do so. If we all had to run around calling "foul" about everything that deserved it, every day, nobody would be able to get anything done but complain and complain and complain.
But you have taken a moment to defend the reputation of Glenn Beck here, and I have to wonder why. Why?
I have watched Glenn Beck's show once, which was once too often for me. I have seen his mug blathering garbage on Jon Stewart's show, on the news, and on Real Time with Bill Maher too many times. I have heard way too many quotes from Glenn Beck to believe he's anywhere close to a responsible human being, and I wonder what would cause anyone, especially a rational guy like yourself, to watch his show. Can you please tell me what you get from it? Maybe I'm missing something enlightening, or humorous. I'm perfectly willing to admit that, and if so, I'll tune in the next time he's on. Maybe I'm not getting the subtext.
I watch COPS for mindless entertainment, and maybe that's why you watch Glenn Beck. There's nothing wrong with that, either. I can't and won't say anything negative about anyone's guilty pleasures. I'm sure you have a reason. Just would love to know what it is, so I can see where you're coming from.
-Keith
PS - Incidentally, equating Glenn Beck with the death of a Census taker kind of equates him with Hannibal Lecter, a popular anti-hero, and man-about-town. Not necessarily a bad thing...
Sorry: grammar
...Every movement of brownshirts HAS its intellectual enablers who remain plausibly deniable to the end.
The Glenn Beck Discussion
Apologies for the double post...I'll be creating a topic in the forums at some point soon to discuss the Beck issue further, to allow for more than one post per day. Please stay tuned.
Dennis J:
He of course goes out of his way to say it. This is not a virtue of Beck's -- he is required to say it, both legally and by a certain bare minimum of civil discourse. Never let it be said that he never did the least he could do.
And I also think Greg's intimation was inflammatory -- but only because Beck has long beat him and us to it, and the nature of the Kentucky crime has to make anyone who dips into this cultural stream wonder the same as Greg wondered aloud.
The issue is the same as: "Abortion is murder. Abortion doctors perform abortions. Now I'm not saying what you should do, and hasten to add that y'all should remain peaceful -- BUT..."
Every movement of brownshirts as its intellectual enablers who remain plausibly deniable to the end. THAT's what we're talking about.
On Greg Hurd's Comment
Greg - Your comment regarding Glenn Beck's "...little army" is inflammatory. I watch and listen to Beck regularly, and state categorically that he goes out of his way to tell viewers that they must remain peaceful in all their actions.
Erm...
That's COMICA.
Back to bed.
S.
HARLAN & SUSAN: Give 'em hell tomorrow! i tried to engineer a breed of legal warm fuzzies but they cannibalized themselves.
***
ZACH: You're only just now finding COMICIA? Flog yourself, man, and don't enjoy it!
shagin
Dear Harlan & Susan:
It sounds like your Friday may be busy indeed this week...should we reschedule? I'll try to catch you by phone tomorrow if you don't catch me first....xx, CC
Only FOUND on Sept. 12
It looks like Glenn Beck's little army is now mobilized:
http://tinyurl.com/kqx9x8
I DO hope this is an isolated incident and not a glimmer of things to come.
The Day the Earth etc.
Other than being one of the formative films of my childhood, TDTESS has one other, not-coincidental connection to my life.
I am, as evidenced by my birth certificate:
Michael Rene Zuzel
Mom and Dad got some things wrong, a lot of things right. That one, though, was downright inspired.
Zuz
Hey, Harlan...
Do you have an extra CD copy of the new _Voice From the Edge_ you could send out to finish off our manuscript trade?
--
Ryan
Joe Haldeman in Hospital
Bad News: Joe Haldeman in the hospital. Apprarently pancreatitis.
Good News: Prognosis trend is pointing up.
http://webnews.sff.net/read?cmd=read&artid=%3C4ab912c2.0@news.sff.net%3E
I can relate, having just gotten out of the hospital for a staph infection.
Break a Brief
Best of luck on the playing fields of Tort on the day after the morrow, Unk,
Give 'em hell.
Perry
shagin--
Found any new comics? I found one called PRINCIPIA COMICA which made me laugh some. It's a philosophy comic, which means me and about three other people think it's funny.
ZM
Hell Is For Heroes (mark spieller) and The Outer Limits Soldier
Hell is for Heroes is actually my favorite of all McQueen movies. When Steve's working that guy over in the trench with the butcher knife he puts the fear of God into you. Don Seigel did a nice job of putting that together with no money - from what I've read anyway.
On the same train of thought but not really - Mr. Ellison did you know one of the helmets from "The Outer Limits" Soldier is here in Seattle at the Sci-Fi Museum?
Best of luck with the Paramount court gig
Michael Dirda & The Day the Earth Stood Still
Responding to Ezra from last week: Michael Dirda is a careful reader of the SF & F fields. He and I covered the 1980 and 1983 Worldcons (I as photographer) together for The Washington Post. He's no johnny-come-lately to the praises of science fiction and fantasy.
My first viewing of The Day the Earth Stood Still was also Saturday Night at the Movies, but probably a re-run because I remember it as being on July 20, 1963--the day before my birthday. Earlier in the day, my cousin, siblings, and I got our first gander at the dreadful Plan 9 from Outer Space, and we missed the total eclipse of the sun that plays a part in at least two books by Stephen King because it was raining outside (a great disappointment to the young astronomer-wannabe me.) The original Day the Earth Stood Still, and Harry Bates' Farewell to the Master, remain great favorites of mine. Keanu Reeves appears to be a very nice man but he is no Michael Rennie.
"The bible is the most genocidal book in our canon."
Noam Chomsky.
Re the Krauts, no problem, it was more of an "oh and by the way" item I wouldn't have brought up for its own sake and which didn't offend me personally. C.S. - my criticism of your post was not based on a misapprehension of tone or context. I was concerned about what everyone *but me* (who knew the original) would make of it, including but not limited to Harlan. It brought to memory, vividly, an incident I didn't want to mention. What I'm saying is that one can't always apologize by explaining. Lapses are lapses, minor as they may be. Nor is it much good to present an apology (heartfelt or unnecessary as it may be) as a facile placeholder for an explanation (see your current post). But don't get me wrong, we're cool - just saying it for future reference. People may understand what you're doing but still have a small problem with it.
Out today in Harlan's series from IDW Publishing with a great cover by J.K. Woodward:
Rogue Dragon (Paperback) by Avram Davidson
"...the latest addition to the growing New Classics of the Fantastic library, a series dedicated to bringing great Sci-fi stories to a new generation of readers. Jon-Joras came to Earth to oversee arrangements for a dragon hunt to amuse his king. The dragons, brought to Earth centuries earlier as pets of an alien race, were powerful but slow-witted - until now! Now, Jon-Joras finds himself caught in the middle of an uprising that could shake the powers of the galaxy! Featuring an Introduction by Harlan Ellison, Avram Davidson's classic, Rogue Dragon, is reprised in this attractive package."
Out October 1st Jack Skillingstead's Are You There And Other Stories which includes "The Avenger of Love"
"Skillingstead has arrived, and there’s no putting his genius back in the bottle now."
http://tinyurl.com/l49jxa
I could have sworn Harlan and Jack collaborated on the story, to a large degree, but the reviewer seems to have reason to believe the finished piece is more of a solo effort.
erm.
???"No film, no matter how good, is going to suffer from the expectations we set in our minds"???
Make that "ANY film" and the sentence will make a lot more sense.
Thank you.
(Harlan using upper AND lower case for his name, and now Ezra using ONLY caps. I'm totally confused...)
Ez - Unless I miss my guess, Clipping Service IS in the Biz -- or close to it. Just sayin'.
I don't usually get involved in the movie discussions but as regards THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and its remake, I have a strong opinion. The original stands the test of time because of the reliance upon character and mood. Adam-Troy is exactly right that it moves much more slowly than current films, but to me this is part of the charm.
Perhaps it's a sign of our times, but for all the vastness of what can be shown on the screen via CGI, the films being made are curiously claustrophic. For all the visual FX impact of films like TRANSFORMERS, DAY AFTER TOMORROW, and others, you leave the theater with a complete lack of wonder. Few FX-based films have the staying power -- and by that I mean you're still thinking about them two hours after it ends -- of some of the more original films that came before.
DAY is one of the best combinations of direction, lighting, performance and writing overcoming the limitations of visual effects. I haven't seen the remake with Keanu Reeves, but the trailers convinced me it was based more on FX-travaganza than solid writing and performances.
It's the nature of the beast that we remember the best examples of any given genre, and not the vast mediocrity that may have been released that year.
(Good example: Who remembers DAMNATION ALLEY, THE CAR, DAY OF THE ANIMALS, DEMON SEED, THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN or ORCA? They were all released in 1977, the same year as CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and STAR WARS. And SORCERER for that matter.)
One observation: While I think it's cool that Adam-Troy has finally seen the movie, I can't help but wonder if his viewing might have been tainted by the "I'm gonna watch a CLASSIC film!". No film, no matter how good, is going to suffer from the expectations we set in our minds. My first viewing of CITIZEN KANE left me profoundly unimpressed. (Yes, I like it much better now, thank you.)
I would suggest that films such as DAY and KANE, can improve with each viewing as a direct result of more accurate expectations of what the viewers are going to see. Lesser films will degrade over time for precisely the same reason.
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL -- the original -- is a spectacular film because it is exactly UN-spectacular. Instead of being treated to shots of lights going out in cities across the globe, we see two people trapped in an elevator. Instead of vast balls of energy destroying Manhattan, we see a far more menacing zap of light on an intimate level as it destroys a tank.
(And don't even get me started on the use of the theremin.)
Just my two cents.
_______________________________________
One month from today Cris and I will be freezing our aspirations off on the Canadian tundra looking at Polar bears and (hopefully) the northern lights.
Can't wait.
Klaatu Barada Nikto
1962, NBC Saturday night at the movies. I watched The Day the Earth Stood Still with some visiting relatives. I couldn't stop talking about that movie for days.
Sometimes a science fiction film gets made that tries to do more than blow things up and burst your eardrums. Like MOON, for instance, or CONTACT.
The fifties were rife with I Was a Teenage Radioactive Zombie From Outer Space-type movies, but sometimes you'd get DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL or INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS or FORBIDDEN PLANET.
Treasure them all.
Chuck
Gort, he's a robot. What could he do?
ATC, don't hop on the plane. As the designated Village Atheist over at the OTHER PLACE I've been championing the virtues of Cristina from Romania for a while. After doing a bit of research I've discovered she's happily married, alas. She's whip smart, witty and obviously better looking than Prof Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens.
Mr Clipping Service, sir, I'm not "in the biz" or a film historian, but is it really accurate to describe Robert Wise as "the man who personally butchered THE MAGNIFICIENT AMBERSONS"? If he's going to do any time in purgatory it'll probably be for STAR TREK (actually I have it on good authority that there is now an entire annex in HELL devoted to ST). Of course THE HAUNTING probably got him quickly ushered into paradise.
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Ahhhhh.....like all of you a great memory. GORT is still the badassest robot ever. Slow and clunky? Well if you can kick ass on a planetary scale, why ever get in a rush? Good point about Patricia Neal being so trusting with her son going off with Michael Rennie. The only part I think suffers is of course a result of the aftermath of 9/11. No way does the army post only two privates with carbines to guard the alien spaceship.
It's also sad to still talk about this movie because it just highlights the dearth of science fiction movies done with care and ethics and vision. There is a reason people still watch this movie 50 years later and the remake will be hard to remember five years from now.
Mea Culpa
Harlan. I thought I HAD apologized to Jan, immediately after the offending comment, by explaining in a second post the context of my alleged jest, and the fact that it WAS one, but, agree that the simple words "I am sorry" is far better than contextual analysis, and should have been immediately tendered.
So. Jan, I am sorry for using the "K" word, even in alleged jest. The statute of limitations on the casual use of that word ran out a few weeks after the Battle of Verdun, and it should not be tossed around lightly.
Your tireless efforts on Harlan's behalf, and on behalf of "DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH" have long been noted by this correspondent, and much appreciated.
I am quite certain that the producers of "DREAMS" feel the same way.
Yr. Ever Faithful Servant,
D. F. Boy
ASSORTED ANSWERS
1) JAN IN THE EU: apart from the sureprising and delightful innovation that you have simply become an indispensble source for me, thus putting me in your pocket, I don't think anyone ever settled the tendered affront "kraut: floated past you a week or so ago. Were the posting entity not known to me, and known to me as a very sweet hearted man--though like each of us, an occasional foot in among the wisdomless teeth misspeaker,I'd have suggested that the opprobrium "kraut" don't play that no more. So I'm apologizing on the part of JoJo the Dog-faced Boy. -- I feel it in my bones that he feels a bit ashamed of havng used such a Politically Unacceptable bit of nomenclature. I apologize for him.
Yr, Pal, Harlan
COLLEN
Sounds superlative. Please send it! Thanks for the courtesy,
Yr. Pal, Harlan
First saw Day the Earth Stood Still when I was 11 or 12. Once upon a time (I'm thinkin' starting in 1962 or 63 and for a few years after), NBC ran movies at 8pm CST every Saturday night -- The Day the Earth Stood Still was shown regularly (and this kid caught just about every showing), as were other nifties like Five Fingers, Battleground, Titanic (with Clifton Webb), Cheaper by the Dozen (ditto), The Man Who Knew Too Much, and plenty more that one now sees only on TCM or AMC.
Around the same time the Chicago CBS and ABC affiliates did sf movies every weekday afternoon at 3:30 (ABC leaning heavily toward American-International epics like Teenage Caveman, The Spider, and Killer Shrews). The NBC affiliate did likewise on Saturday nights -- a double-feature starting at 10:30. Someone said earlier there were only four people who remembered Cosmic Monsters with Forrest Tucker -- wrong by at least one; it showed up a number of times on the NBC late Saturday night lineup, along with fare like The Crawling Eye (also with Tucker), It-The Terror from Beyond Space, The Magnetic Monster, Godzilla, Donovan's Brain, The Giant Behemoth, and gobs more.
Heaven for your average sf-addicted 12-16 year old kid. It's a sin that the Science Fiction/Sci-Fi/SyFy/Whatever-the-hell-they're-calling-themselves-this-week Channel can't carve out one evening a week to run the older stuff instead of the slapdash bloodbaths they fill their schedule with.
Hell Is for Heroes -- that one was written by Robert Pirosh, who also wrote Battleground, and soon after HIFH developed the tv series Combat. If you liked HIFH, it'd be worth your while to check out Combat--that series still holds up nicely.
Bests to all,
--tr
Day The Legend Stood Still....
I did my actual college THESIS on "DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL", back in 70 ought Seven. Wrote Robert Wise a letter asking to interview him. The Great Man responded in the affirmative, gave me directions to his Swell-A-Gant Malibu Colony home, and endured hours of my puerile questions -- knowing full well the "reach" of this particular interview was confined to a hostile grading faculty.
A gentleman of the finest variety.
That same year, I also met our Distinguished Host for the first time at a long gone Science Fiction bookstore in San Jose.
He was not so nice to me, but equally memorable.
Anyway, as far as subliminal leftie politics, carefully disguised warnings on Joe McCarthy and a not-so- veiled political messages go, according to Wise, everything we read in the movie was very much intentional. Which was the point of my thesis.
And, oh yeah, Klaatu's adopted Earth Name of "Carpenter" was not exactly a coincidence, either.
But remember, Edmund North, the screenwriter, ALSO worked on PATTON, so, go figure.
But... I met the man who personally butchered the MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, directed the below mentioned SAND PEBBLES (The Great Richard McKenna, take a bow!) and was Val Lewton's right hand man, so there.
Steve McQueen and the Day the Earth Stood Still
San Francisco's 'early show'on KGO-TV was a daily collection of low budget 1950's monster movies from AIP for school kids entertainment. But there was one golden week: Invasion from Mars, Invader of the Body Snatchers, The Invisible Man (with Claude Reins), The Mummy (with Boris Karloff) and on friday, "The Day The Earth Stood Still" were all shown.
Bernard Herrmann's made me look up from my comic book, and made me check the name of this weird music, and once the credits finished I sad quietly, wrapped in the story, not really identifying with the little kid (I never identified with sidekicks or children ---except in Our Gang comedies---but with the adults who were DOING something) but with Michael Rennie, so perfectly out of tune with everyone else. I must have been around 8 or 9 at the time, but I knew this was my kind of movie and this was my kind of music. I started reading credits more, looking for people who did things that caught my attention, starting a facination with movies,music, TV and the people who made them.
Steve McQueen was always cool! The Magnificent 7, The Great Escape and Bullitt all have great examples of McQueen 'cool' but there are a pair of movies that show his skills when 'cool' was not part of the character. The first a less known film is called "Hell is for Heroes" A 'small' film about a squad of soliders left without support holding a line against a german pillbox and a full company. McQueen plays a replacement, with a certain reputation that get hinted at by some in the squad. He is reclusive, quiet, brooding, introspective. As members of the squad die off during the attack, we learn things about his character but he remains an enigma. The film has a certain brutality that makes it different from others of the time.
The other movie, more well known is "The Cincinnatti Kid", directed by Norman Jewishon. McQueen does use his 'cool' here but there is other things going on, especially as he relates to the others who sit across him at a winner take all card game.
I won't play spoiler with either of these pictures. I want you to enjoy McQueen (and the other actors) in these pictures and the places they take you. Enjoy.
A Gift For Y'All
This young Roumanian woman has a lot to say about Kirk Cameron's doctored version of THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. You should watch her. She's great. I know that under different circumstances I'd be on the next plane. Watch this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmHN3JtyUXg&feature=player_embedded#t=373
In the mail today - "The Voice From the Edge - Volume 3". Just in time for Saturday's twelve hour drive to Yellowstone.
Hooray!!
Mike
The Day The Earth Stood Still
The part of Day that always gets to me is at the beginning, when the newscasters describe the arrival of the spaceship. Of course, it's lost on younger watchers, but people my age (59 in a week) and older remember H. V. Kaltenborn and Drew Pearson and, at the start, Elmer Davis. In 1951, these figures, along with the voice of Gabriel Heatter later in the story, provided a sense of versimilitude to what was being sold as space opera. In particular, Elmer Davis, who had headed the Office of War Information during WWII, likely brought '50s moviegoers to attention with his straightforward description of the situaation.
Going on a tangent here: Mr. Davis was the author of a collection of essays, the title of which would resonate well right about now: DON'T LET THEM SCARE YOU.
My Day The Earth Stood Still Story
I saw it for the first time in 1962, on Channel 11 in LA, the old KTTV, on the weekend evening movie series "Colgate Theater", with some guy in a suit hosting the movies. They used to do that in the old days of TV for serious movies. Just as with not so serious ones they had Vampira, and later Seymour (!) and of course Elvira.
That was all my best friend Ken Merriman and I talked about for the next week. The Robot, Michael Rennie. The Robot, the spaceship, Micahel Rennie, The Robot, the plastic cube, The Robot, Micahel Rennie.
Michael Rennie was ever after a name to be reckoned with in my pantheon of actors. Could do no wrong.
What a face, what a voice.
Anyway, about fifteen or so years ago my office at the Disney place I worked booked a bus package tour to Laughiin, Nevada. It's a little blister in the sun town on the Colorado River, with half a dozen or so cheap jack casinos and the occasional dead biker (in joke).
I booked a seat myself. What the hell, beat sitting in the apartment for a weekend listening to the upstairs couple fuck each others brains out all night and scream at each other all day.
So the bus had a VCR/12 inch TV mounted at the front.
I rummaged through the box of tapes. Total shit. EXCEPT: THE DAY THE EARTH SROOD STILL!
Well as soon as the lady who had booked the trip, whose son was driving the bus. finished calling out the free bingo game, and passed out the beer, soda and peanuts prizes (Big Fun!), I cranked the VCR up and popped in the plastic fantastic classic. No one knew what I had picked, and as the titles in black and white rolled, someone moaned.
There were a couple of other gripes, one or two cheesy "joke" comments, and then about where the spaceship appears over DC it got quiet. It stayed quiet. A bus full of twenty something partiers sat and let themselves see, hear and wonder.
At least two of them later that day asked me some pretty cool questions about the story and the actors. The movie had reached across forty years and touched them.
I suppose it helped that they couldn't get off the bus. Still, I think there is a chance for todays audience to appreciate this sort of film. Granted, fifteen years ago is not todays audience, but it's close enough to make one have a bit of hope.
By the way, has anyone ever written or commented on the little joke of having Klaatu's spaceship land on a baseball field, in -left- field? Is there an interview somewhere where Wise copped to that one?
My favorite Steve McQueen film is The Sand Pebbles. Except for the ending. He should have got out of there. Fuck Candice Bergen. As in dump her. Never did like her style anyway. Just too damn perfect. A womans got to have her flaws, just as a man has to know his limitations. McQueen's were out beyond most of ours, but he knew them to a tee, and always rode right out on the edge with his nuts blowing in the wind. What a man.
KOS
Aloha Harlan,
A jazz recording "New Hope Jazz Mass", with the Heikki Sarmanto Ensemble(Finlandia label), has come across my desk. Can you use this? Looks like a hard to find item.
Cheers, Colleen
Hope all goes well Harlan. Peachy cases sometimes turn into wormy brie.
Paramount needs to be beheaded. Swing dat axe babeee.
Steve Barber,
Thanks for the heads up. Signed and done!
Copyright Alliance Letter
The American Society of Media Photographers -- of which I am a member -- has fully endorsed the following. Given the number of artistic types who come here, and the often energetic discussions regardng copyright, I thought some of you might want to sign.
"No one can speak up for your rights better than you. In fact, there are a lot of people who don't want you to stand up for your rights. They think that the creative contributions you and other artists make to society are unimportant and should be diminished by reducing your rights, or taking your rights away all together.
But, as an artist, you know better. You know that maintaining ownership of your work is important. And having the freedom to choose how you copy, use, and distribute your work is also necessary for your success and livelihood.
So, speak up for your art and your rights. Sign the letter to tell the President and Vice President that you want your creative work to be recognized and respected."
The Letter:
"Dear President Obama and Vice President Biden,
We, the undersigned, are just a few of the more than 11 million artists living, working, and creating across the United States. Our work brings significant cultural and economic value to our society - and contributes $1.52 trillion to the nation's GDP. Yet that value is being disregarded as our rights and incentives to create are increasingly under threat.
Hear us as we speak with one voice about the importance of creators' rights.
We are the essence of America. Since the founding of our country, our work has provided light in the darkness of conflict, humor in the depths of sadness, beauty in the face of ugliness, and reason in the dysfunction of division.
We serve as the foundation of our communities; you find us in schools, performance halls, libraries, museums, community centers, and movie houses. We enrich our culture with a wide range of creative expression, including music, film, software, video games, writing, photography, graphics, and other visual arts.
We contribute in some way to every single industry in the country. Many of us are self-employed. All of us work hard and pay taxes.
Yet, we are under assault. Our right to control the distribution, use, and reproduction of our works in our vibrant digital age are dismissed by many who do not understand the value we bring to society. They tell us to work harder, create better, and give our works away. Some think that they should control our works and that they should be able to appropriate, perform, and copy it how they please, without our consent, benefit, or participation.
Our freedom as creators lies in the Constitutional rights we cherish, rights given to us to promote our culture. Without these rights, our ability to pursue our creative dreams and to meet the high expectations of those who benefit from our creative works are significantly diminished. As a result, all Americans will suffer.
Mr. President and Vice President, hear our call. We know you understand the value our creative contributions bring to our society and economy, and we know you can encourage our citizens to respect our rights. Please pursue policies supportive of the rights of artists and the encouragement of our creative efforts. Without the proper respect for our rights and works today, it will become even more difficult for us to create in the future."
If you want to sign, there's no registration required (just your name, city and art form). Cut and paste the below.
http://www.copyrightalliance.org/letter/
_______________________________________________
Speaking of coopyrights, I'd wish Harlan and Susan good luck on Friday, but chances are it will be Paramount that needs the luck.
_______________________________________________
barbergallery.net just hit the 12000 page views mark.
Woohoo.
Various
MEMO TO GLENN BECK : You want to unilaterally declare a "national day of prayer and fasting," that's your business and the business of the people who follow your edicts. But Yom Kippur does not belong to you, and Jews didn't invite you to specifically and consciously link that day or their worship to your partisan causes. You have acted with colossal, almost unforgiveable arrogance. Apologize and back off.
*
ON DISSING OF STEVE MCQUEEN: I am not a particular fan of BULLITT either; I think it pales next to THE FRENCH CONNECTION, which Friedkin deliberately designed as stylistic rebuttal (including the car chase on *crowded* streets). However, I do respect the star of PAPILLON and THE CINCINNATI KID, among others -- those just happen to be my favorites -- and I continue to shake my head at the arrogant dissing of the past by the present. In response to my comments on THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, somebody said in my topic elsewhere that it's impossible to get young people to see old black and white films; to that I would add that it is additionally impossible to get them to see films that require an attention span beyond thirty seconds, and films that are not sfx extravaganzas or fart-and-vomit comedies. At a certain point one must say that it is not the fault of the old films, but a deficiency in the audiences.
*
ON DINNER WITH THE ELLISONS: Doubly impressive? The dinner that admirer just paid $1300.00 for is...pot luck.
The Day the Earth Stood Still
It was not the first viewing of it for me, but it was a significant one. I was visiting the Smithsonian ca. 1985 and they showed many a film, free of charge. This may have been the only time this has happened to me, but when the titles came up there was applause.
I believe this was due in part to the classic status of the film, but I also think that people reacted to the marvelous score by Bernard Herrmann. In particular, I like the cue just after the main titles, with the frenetic piano.
In keeping with the spirit of the board, having seen the movie, everyone should read the story on which it is based, "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates.
Brian Phillips
Letterman
Hey Harlan,
Did you ever start watching the Letterman show? Our President was on last night, and it was great to finally see him speak in a venue in which there was no heckling. I hope you caught it.
Also to Jan (FL) and Harlan, congrats on the price of the winning bid for the Dinner with the Ellisons. It's heartwarming that you guys are willing to do all that for friends in need.
-Keith
Friday Harlan rideth forth,
and at his side: the sword of Carmichael,
and on his arm: the heart of Toth,
and for his banner: the wrath of Buchwald,
and on his shield: "What's Mine is Mine."
Stay tuned? Good Lord, yes!
***
While we wait for the sounds of battle to reach us,
a couple of not so epic notes:
------ "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" -- fun, of course, but pretty?
Listen to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS0JOyr4FHc
(while there, you may want to visit
the same arranger's
own performance of "Angel Eyes"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uYc27ucPLc
------ also,
(& once again Munchkin-minded)
a neat short film aired on a Deutsche Welle TV import-program last week --
all about the Peel Trident & P50, tiny little cars made in Britain in the 1960s.
Turns out the film is not that new and may be
easily seen at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07ub5rBdrE4&feature=fvst
(maybe on Deutsche Welle TV, too, though I couldn't
find it)
I'm sure I once saw a bite-sized auto myself in real life (possibly an Isetta, not certain)
back in the late '60s or early '70s in Cutler Ridge near US 1 & Caribbean Blvd:
I remember my Dad saying the thing could be lifted at the rear
and moved by hand -- which slightly blew my little mind.
***
Friday...Holy Smoke!
Richard
Happy birthday, Barney!
If Facebook is to be trusted - often an iffy proposal - today is the birthday of the distinguished Barney Dannelke.
Here's wishing you a terrific day, sir, and many more extremely spiffy years to come.
Here's hoping...part 2
HARLAN: After the fact that it is one of my favorite articles (one which -- back to front -- ended up the way I wanted it to end up after editing), the reason I like "Harlan Ellison Vs. AOL" is because it depicts you defending your work, and the money you should rightly earn from it, and doing so with pride and determination. Too many writers -- many of them big names who earn so much money that they wrongly believe there's no reason for them to be bothered with such actions (nevermind that they worked hard for rights) -- either don't know any better or (for some stupid reason) think that defending one's work in such a manner is crass, and beneath "an artist" -- or, perhaps, cheapens the work). That sort of thinking feeds the idiotic carping from internet trolls who think it's an insult to point out that you often make a lot of money from your lawsuits (which are brought about in an effort to defend _your right_ to continue to make money off of _your work_ -- and stop others from doing the same wihthout your permission, and without paying compensation). Of course, the same mooks don't complain when Disney, General Motors, Utility companies, Universal Pictures or Marvel Comics defend their interests in a similar manner.
You're still one of the few out there defending the right -- and the responsibility -- of writers to look out for their work, their annuity. Here's hoping you win big (winning is a foregone conclusion -- now it's just about the size of the settlement). Looking forward to feeling the tremors here on the outer reaches of The Ring of Fire.
All best to you and Susan,
DTS
Steve
Jeff-if you told someone that you knew someone else that saw Forbidden Planet 300 times,built a lifesize Robbie The Robot from scratch and saw 45,000 movies you'd figure that he looked like Herbie and still lived in his parent's basement. If you told the former that the latter stood about 6'2", was married to an Elizabeth Taylor look alike and had an staggeringly talented daughter he wouldn't believe you.I tried for years to get Harlan on his show-not because I thought that Harlan needed the publicity or that Steve needed the ratings but because I was never so sure of anything as I was that it would have made wonderful radio and I loved Steve and I love Harlan and I love radio. Ah well. If there's something you'd like to ask later, when I can concentrate you can reach me at my e mail. There is a website-rememberingmrmovie@gmail.com and there will be a funeral mass on Wednesday. He was good friends with Leslie Nielsen; Roger Ebert said on the air when Roger and Gene were guests on Steve's that he was in awe of Steve and Terry Gilliam said that Steve's interview with him was the best he ever had. Thanks everyone for putting up with me. One final thing- my pal, Howard Waldrop, reviewed The Mist for Locus Online. Howard mentioned that The Mist was more or less a remake of The Cosmic Monsters, a 50's UK SF film with Forrest Tucker. I said to Steve-"I'll bet that Howard, Bill Warren, me and you are the last 4 people on the fucking planet who remember the Cosmic Monsters." Now, there are 3 of us...
Weirdest thing in the real world of the last week, as I saw it
Jung's Necronomicon
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/magazine/20jung-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
The Red Book of C. G. Jung
"This is a story about a nearly 100-year-old book, bound in red leather, which has spent the last quarter century secreted away in a bank vault in Switzerland. The book is big and heavy and its spine is etched with gold letters that say “Liber Novus,” which is Latin for “New Book.” Its pages are made from thick cream-colored parchment and filled with paintings of otherworldly creatures and handwritten dialogues with gods and devils. If you didn’t know the book’s vintage, you might confuse it for a lost medieval tome.
And yet between the book’s heavy covers, a very modern story unfolds. It goes as follows: Man skids into midlife and loses his soul. Man goes looking for soul. After a lot of instructive hardship and adventure — taking place entirely in his head — he finds it again.
Some people feel that nobody should read the book, and some feel that everybody should read it. The truth is, nobody really knows. Most of what has been said about the book — what it is, what it means — is the product of guesswork, because from the time it was begun in 1914 in a smallish town in Switzerland, it seems that only about two dozen people have managed to read or even have much of a look at it."
KOS
The End
So the auction has ended and the final bid for Dinner With the Ellisons is....$1314.00. There was a small flurry of activity in literally the final second of the auction and I'm awaiting payment.
Once I've gotten that, I'll see what needs to be done to put Winning Bidder in touch with the Ellisons.
Harlan and Susan, many thanks for this.
Jan S.
NBA Best Fiction Award?
Organizers of the prestigious literary prize are asking the public to choose the best fiction winner in the awards' 60-year history.
The six finalists, announced Monday by the National Book Foundation, are: "The Stories of John Cheever," Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man," William Faulkner's "Collected Stories," "The Complete Stories" of Flannery O'Connor, Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity Rainbow" and "The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty."
Starting Monday, through Oct. 21, votes can be cast through the Web site http://www.nbafictionpoll.org. The winner will be announced Nov. 18.
Once again Asimov Bradbury Clarke & Harlan were left off the list
MadCon 2010 - Programming comments from Harlan
A few weeks ago, I posted a note here regarding programming at MadCon 2010, with the focus on Harlan's chats.
Here's the relevant portion of my posting, which was done after I had had a brief conversation with Harlan, and not fully getting down what he had suggested in my notes:
-------------------------------------------------------------
Also, I spoke with a gent at Deep Shag Records, who wants to make sure that all of Harlan's talks at MadCon 2010 get properly recorded for a possible future release of On The Road With Ellison. Harlan has already suggested several topics and/or classic stories he would like to get on record, such as:
Harlan Ellison and the Lepers
Harlan Ellison's Guaranteed Dissertation on Total Success in Life
Harlan Ellison gets arrested by Inspector Clouseau in Paris (a.k.a. Harlan Ellison and the attempted assassination of the President of Poland)
Harlan Ellison and the Body in the Elevator Shaft
Harlan Ellison and Maurice Chevalier at Dinner
Harlan Ellison and Joe Straczynski - Undercover Agents
and
Harlan Ellison the Heretic
I'm pretty sure I've only heard 2 of the above tales myself, so I'm looking forward to hearing some of the others.
-------------------------------------------------------------
A few days later, a fax arrived from Harlan, explaining how I got it mostly wrong:
AN OPEN NOTE TO THOSE CONTEMPLATING
ATTENDANCE AT THE MADCON 2010 GALA!
FROM HARLAN ELLISON
The idea I had to cozzen you into venturing out into the icy horrors of Wisconsin in September next year, well, it was merely stunningly brilliant. I says to the jefe of the convention, the well-known certified shyster Jon C. Manzo, I says. "This is undoubtedly the last public do of this sort I'll ever attend -- I've long since stopped going to the Big Ones -- so let's make it a special one. I'll be here and there for the three days, speaking here, there, wherever required, without reservation...but why don't we offer the con-goers the extra treat of THEM programming me? That is to say, there are legends, lies, myths, mysteries, about my life and career. I don't lie (unless I'm telling a story, on paper or in person, and we Major Authors like to call that mere engrossment, but I never lie for real).
So there is no question I will not answer.
Fully, more than fully, to the point of anhomie sometimes. So the MadCon audience will be given a ballot with the titles of a number of anecdotes thereon (said list to have been selected from your requests at this website over the next year) and I will tell those circumlocutories first, to make sure they get told. Now, it it's some stupid rumor you heard, or some even stupider accusation, well, it's mother's milk to me. I have no secrets. If it's a story you heard once and wish to hear one more time before I go to the Big NutHouse in the Sky, just list it with a clue in its title, such as: HARLAN AND THE LEPERS or HARLAN THE HERETIC or HARLAN PUTS RITA HAYWORTH TO BED or any of the others Manzo included in his errant posting, which was all wrong because he was too goddam busy chasing an ambulance. We await your desires. Uh, open only to members of the MadCon, of course.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The above constitutes Harlan's correction and enhancement of my posting; any typos are my own. I await your suggestions, which you can email to the convention at madcon2010@gmail.com or to me directly at Voiceodoom@aol.com.
Jon C. Manzo
Hi, all. Just saying hi. Very busy with school. Had a longer message but accidently dropped it. I think. Less Gremlins et it.
So be well. God Bless you and your mom, Mark.
Diane
Auspicious returns
I come back from another several month (unintentional) sabbatical to Harlan's post of impending action. What better sign could one request?
Harlan - get 'em.
I HAVE MANY THINGS OF IMPORT TO CONVEY...HOWEVER...
Friday, iconically, almost to the day I called the now-canned ex-Star Trek editor at Pocket Books, Marco Palmieri (an example of the WORST kind of protect-your-ass-no-matter-how-much-money-or-trouble-your-passing-the-buck-causes-your-employer-and-everyone-else) to tell him that Simon&Schuster, Pocket Books, Paramount, et al, had infringed my rights AND the Writers Guild M(inimum)B(asic)A(greement) with those three hack Trek novels that used my concepts ... Friday, almost to the day, Susan and I go to Federal District Court for the court-mandated pre-trial
pre-WorldWar3 "settlement" conference.
Three years. John Carmichael, Esq., my fanged litigator from the Scrib.d, AOL, Fantagraphics and several other encounters, all of which have resulted in the two of us prevailing against the Norns and Trolls, will be at our side, or we at his.
I Urge you to stay tuned for the thunder. It will be the sound of Paramount being handed its head. Ours is, how shall I put this mildly, "a peachy case."
Other stuff, and more, later. Yr. Pal, Harlan
Frank - go Bengals? Aww, Frank... just when I was convinced you were a sensitive, brilliant and discerning man...
Yeah, the Bengals looked darned good yesterday.
But... go Bengals?
Well, I guess it coulda been worse. You coulda said "Go Steelers!"
Now those would be fighting words! :)
ATC: "It's Raining Men?" Jee-sus Chee-rist. Someone needs to get a limb amputated.
Rob: I'll try not to let it go to my head. ;)
Chuck
Along with Robert Vaughn.
Bullitt is boring?
So, the other day I’m working on this Sci-Fi movie in the Mojave Desert and, as most movie productions go, I was mostly standing around checking myself for polyps. As I’m standing there contemplating why there’s no spit in my mouth - the lead actor strikes up a conversation with me. He’s a kid of about twenty-two. (I can say kid if they’re half my age). Anyway, we start talking about the movie we’re working on, the movies we like and great actors. I mention that Steve McQueen is my favorite actor and this kid gets a look on his face like a dog looking at his bowl when you change its usual food to something else. With his half-twisted grapefruit face the actor says, “You know, I don’t get what’s so big about McQueen. I watched Bullitt the other day and besides the car chase - it’s a fuckin’ boring movie.” As I stood there trying to form a thought provoking rebuttal all I could think of was - you could probably cut this guy’s head off and he couldn’t be any dumber. Last night I watched Bullitt for the first time on the Blue Ray DVD and I say McQueen’s the coolest mother fucker that ever lived and I weep for the future.
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The space ship is still state-of-the-art movie SF Gort might be a little creaky, but that ship, with Klaatu waving his hand and having sensors pick it up. That was so cool back in the fifties it was hard to believe. And the aetherphone (aka: Theremin) spawned a thousand musical copies ...
Contrast this to the recent remake, about which I will say no more.
Perry
Wyatt, what's her name, what does she look like? Does she know you play with the frisbee in the dark singing show tunes?
Kiss.
--------------
Kate, no, go Bengals!
IS oops
For JOHN ZEOCK:
Any memories of Steve Friedman you might want to share here? I met you at one of his live remotes decades ago, when you were proudly exhibiting a personal letter Harlan had written you, if I recall correctly. Seems like such a long time ago; seems like yesterday.
God, we were all so young...
Jack Kirby estate suing Marvel/Disney
Legendary comic creator Jack Kirby's estate has an intellectual property lawyer going after Disney/Marvel -- looks intriguing...
http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/urgent-intellectual-pit-bull-lawyer-marc-toberoff-goes-after-disneymarvel-deal-on-behalf-of-jack-kirby-estate/
Finder-Samuel
One of you are correct. (Since I saw the Erik Nelson teaser way back, plus two viewings of DWST, I definitely GOT IT) Though I've never seen Jeopardy I do know how it works. As such, I would like to relinquish the board to none other than:
Naomi Campbell
Whoops
That's FAKE ALIBIS. (It's a misstatement that even the author makes, from time to time.)
Various
DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL: Considering that I have a strong tolerance for old-movie pacing, can deal with primitive special effects as long as the story works, and knew the entire plot going in, I was very impressed and do see why it's considered head and shoulders above most filmed sf of its era (and, current). I enjoyed it thoroughly.
The most dated element, incidentally? Not the cold war politics, not the fashions, not the special effects, not even the pacing. The most dated element was Patricia Neal's character happily accepting the boarding house stranger's offer to spend the day looking after her young son. Once upon a time, that read as neighborliness. Now? Warning flags.
*
WAAAAAAHHH!: Anybody who spots, let alone makes any move to obtain, a copy of my new book FALSE ALIBIS ("Written by Frank Sibila, with Adam-Troy Castro and Caren Kennedy")...let me know. It seems to be clad in ninja garb.
*
AN ASSHOLE: Considering the guy who tattooed lizard scales over his entire body, or the guy who tattooed a photo-realistic portrait of the Golden Girls on his back, or the fellow who tattooed a plate of bacon and eggs on the top of his bald
head, or the folks who print the words, "FUCK YOU" across their bare backs, or the many many people who have hit on the hilarious idea of using their belly buttons to represent the "assholes" in tattoos of various characters mooning the observer; considering gang tattoos and the evil bastards who think it's great to tattoo swastiskas or racist slogans on their bodies; considering how intensely stupid MANY (though by no means all) tattoos are when viewed in the cold light of day, it's definitely saying something to nominate one tattoo in particular as rock bottom. But let's just say that if you find yourself seriously considering putting this image on your body, if you actually go through the pain and expense of doing it, if you're proud of it and consider it funny, you should have a plastic bag secured over your head right now. I'll donate the rubber band.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/lindseyweber/the-worst-tattoo-ever-ru
Samuel John Klein – methinks Greg Hurd was actually aiming for the fact that you didn’t phrase your question in the form of a question… which actually means he now has control of the board. So to speak.
Barney – I don’t know about being a smarter younger brother. I just try to not open my bleet-hole unless I have a) an insight I think is truly germane and useful or b) a snark that will give me a migraine if I keep it in. The end result is an illusion of smarter (or, as a friend put it this weekend, that of being "a comedy ninja"). Plus, you did most of the heavy lifting. I am but Sancho Panza, astride my mule, watching you fuck up windmills and go crazy and what not.
ALL – So much for rumors of my grace: The Rapture has apparently come and gone and I’m still slogging away – though some maintain there's a 'window' until the 23rd. A lot of Christian prognosticators and Biblical code-talkers are gonna have some ‘splainin’ to do by Friday. I suspect this also means I’ll be buying Christmas presents in 2012 after all, no matter what the Mayans or Roland Emmerich have to say about it.
I am just catching up on my Pavilion reading because my Internet access has been in shreds for weeks. "Jewboy New Year" made me crack a rib. As to the rest:
Adam-Troy Castro: I so dearly love THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, and I envy you for getting to see it as a fresh and new experience. Please share your thoughts on it when you get time.
Somewhere out there, Sara Slaymaker is experiencing the same grueling online classwork via the Academy of Art University as I, only more so since she's taking more classes. If any of you see her 'round here, be nice. We're getting the crap kicked out of us.
Ralph Nader has written a novel called ONLY THE SUPER-RICH CAN SAVE US, which depicts Warren Buffet, Ted Turner, George Soros, Bill Cosby, Barry Diller and Yoko Ono as superheroes who "use their collective influence and wisdom to transform the country". Swear. To. God. The villains are "corporate CEOs and their allies in Washington, led by Lancelot Lobo (a composite character, Nader says) and sidekick Brover Dortwist (any resemblance to anti-tax activist Grover Norquist is entirely intentional.)"
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2009/09/rs-nader21.html
Unless Nader and/or the Washington Post are pulling our legs, I for one am speechless.
Mr Movie
FOR those who were his fans and friends- Steve Friedman 1947-2009
"Naomi Campbell"
@ GREG HURD: That was a reference to a bit in DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH, where Harlan related an incident where he and Susan were watching an edition of that late game show, "The Weakest Link", and the compere asked the question "What "S" wrote a long-running syndicated Bridge column", and the contestant answered "Naomi Campbell".
Our Favorite Author and The Mrs. were aghast, of course, because the answer given was so far disconnected from not only what it would have been, but what it could (or ought to) have been. It was wrong on every conceivable level – not the least of which that the name "Naomi Campbell" has not one S in it. Since then, according to the account, the standard Ellison household answer to any question, if one wished to give the appearance of being a dullard, would be "Naomi Campbell".
So it seemed natural that the answer those witlings on Jeopardy ought to have given, if they couldn't give the right one, would be "Naomi Campbell".
@ ADAM-TROY CASTRO: I can't wait to find out what you think about The Day The Earth Stood Still.
Speaking for myself, I was bored with it when I first saw it but I was raised on a diet of f/x and things that asplode a lot but then I left behind some of my childish things and realized when I was being told a story that engaged me and that movie quickly became one of my favorites because it stood out by being dialled back.
The insights of someone who "came to it late" will no doubt be amazing. I hope you share.
Albacon
Sad news everyone... Albacon 2010 has been cancelled. No, not the New York one, the Scottish one. Lack of membership is to blame.
I am begining to wonder just what the hell has happened to fans of late. I have been going to Albacon every time its been on since the early 90's and had a tremendous time at every one. Cuddles and the crew always put on a great convention. BUt I noticed the last one had a rather poor turn out indeed and had to be co-run with another convention for Highlander fans. The general science fiction fans were simply not there. What happened to them? They cant have all decided they'd rather go to a Trek con or something could they???
Admittedly running any convention is a tricky business and I would never in my wildest dreams even attempt such a stressful and worrying undertaking. Hats off to those who do. However the big recession we keep hearing about cant be that bad. Can it? Is there no-one out there who has money to spare to go to a weekend of entertainment for a measily £40? Or is there just not a large enough fan base in Scotland to warrant a Scottish convention any more? Has the memory of the Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow kept people away because it was so bloody good they would feel cheated by a lesser con?
In truth I have no idea and I am damned upset. Albacon was my first convention. It is precious and dear to me and I was hoping to take my wife and kids to it. Now its gone. Deeply sad indeed.
Also in a related piece I found out that Professor John Salthouse ( a regular and huge hit at Albacons with his Son Et Lumiere show) died two years ago. His shows were wonderful! Its the only stage show I have ever seen where a chemistry prof brings out a flask of liquid oxygen... THAT HE MADE HIMSELF!! He made his own liquid oxygen.(its a rather delightful blue colour) Marvelous! There is just something so rewarding in watching things going bang and burning intensely under the control of a pyromaniac chemist.
I have had the pleasure of meeting many wonderful guests at Albacon. David Gerrold, Terry Pratchett, Robert Asprin, Ray Harryhausen to name but a few. I hope this is not the end, merely a rather sad pause, until they come back with vigour.
Edward Brock thanks for the link.
When I listen to Kirk Cameron & Ray Comfort I am reminded of scripture...
"When the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."
-Luke 6:39
I think Darwin's writings are in the public domain at this point. Nobody to litigate.
A Choir of Angels...
...sing a triumphant chord! For the Money Order for the DWST poster is in the post! Thanks Susan!
And now - Handel's Messiah on Kazoo...
and this is the wonder that keeps the stars apart
Okay - not a lot of energy to be careful or to maintain the right level of tact here. I'm in St. Louis with limited time and limited access to the site. I should be getting back home about now but, well, there's this girl, and, yeah. The plan now is Wednesday.
Not a fan of the double posting as no matter how well intentioned it invites similar responses, and that is how the brush fires tend to start. However. This Special Olympics stuff seems to be just some wires getting crossed among some basically decent guys. Let's assume I said something sage and succinct about appropriate levels of sensitivity being raised and we all decided to give it all a pass.
You guys will give me that, right? You know I could do it if I had the time. I am so perfectly capable of fucking up the next two days even without being distracted.
Some weeks ago, Chuck Messer posted a great argument:
“Every system of ideas eventually gets distilled down to pre-programmed responses, which I call Thought Substitues -- much easier than going to all the trouble of thinking. Hell, refusing to learn from the world around you -- true stupidity -- has become a virtue. Thought Substitutes make the loser spouting them feel like they are the only ones in the know.”
Every year I revisit H.G. Wells, always to unearth something new from the author’s radiant imagination.
Utilizing the principles of Darwinian evolution with a satirical edge, The Time Machine shows humanity devolved into two degenerate races: the small and beautiful but mindless Eloi, who lived an idyllic existence on the surface of a garden-like world, and the grotesque subterranean Morlocks who feed on the Eloi: the outcome from millions of years of the human order trapped in class conflict, where the upper classes lived an idyllic existence for so long that the evolutionary pressures which had sparked the development of intelligence would disappear, and the lower classes, illustrated by the workers spending endless days in the work-houses, slaving away at machines, would become adapted to their OWN environment. An ingenious metaphor for the “Thought Substitutes” as Chuck likes to call them.
Was a time in the past I had a hard time applying Wells’ allusions to the modern setting; many of his stories were, after all, intrinsic to their time, denouncing Colonialism and the mentality it sewn. But, looking at the social landscape of today, one of MANY examples being the tensions between Progressive ideals and Neo-Con hate, I’ve found The Time Machine to be incredibly germane.
In this regard, the novella really is TIMELESS!
Here on this site, I’ve gone on about tribal mentality many times. It’s a huge issue for me, and essentially Chuck worded the very same argument in his own way. The sad, SAD part of it is we can go on and on about the lessons to be learned, and, for the most part, it won’t make a MAGGOT’S worth of difference.
As long as we’re alive we still have to fight the good fight; but the frustration can be maddening.
There too I here the voice of H.G. Wells.
Harlan VS Valley of the Dolls
Trailer's from Hell, one of the more entertaining sites and one where Josh "Fucking Script" Olson oftens hosts a trailer or two, had one for the cult, camp, crapfest that is "Valley of the Dolls" One of the little tidbits offered is that Our Esteemed Host was the film's original Adapter/Screenwriter. I would love to hear anything Harlan would like to share on this film. I recall some of his observations on Ms Suzzane where she compared the death of her french poodle to then fresh tragedy of the assasinationg of Robert F. Kennedy. If memory serves me it is in one the Glass Teat volumes. In any event it will be intersting to hear if Harlan wishes to add his view of this film's backstory.
before this gets out of hand
I'm going to go again.
I've been thinking about this all evening and Dorman and others are correct. Should I submit that anywhere or incorporate some of the back and forth I've done with Doug Lane about various types of anti-intellectual bully-ism (as we skate around the irony here) I will be sure to re-write that one sentence. I can't actually use the Steinbeck line because Lenny is the wrong flavor of brute for what was going on in that moment - but I'll conjure up something.
In my mild defense, I *MADE UP* a non-existent special Olympic event so as to not detract from real participants in real events, since I also know two people who have competed in said Olympics.
HOWEVER, I see that any reference to this event that is less than 100 percent positive is going to get me into trouble. And possibly trouble I deserve. So the line goes. There is a strong contrary impulse that wants to say "lighten the fuck up" but I called Harlan out last year on something that was exactly like this and he took it better than I could have hoped for so the least I can do is step back and cock my head to the side and ask if there isn't a better way to do something.
Plus, I'll be damned if I'll have the whole piece scuttled for one line I'm not married to.
As for "voice" - he or she has my e-mail and I'm in the book. See me anytime.
A Day Without
VOICE: A day without your nameless (and spineless) personal attacks is like a day without a bowel movement. Thanks, and...say hello to the gators and goldfish on your way down.
Cheers,
DTS
{Please feel free, if it helps you or your daughter, to substitute a metaphor}
I think the suggestion, better taken, was that YOU substitute a metaphor, Mr. Dannelke.
{Rick may have been voicing dismay at the oft-used shorthand ("Special Olympics" or "shortbus") many of us often wield}
No DTS, many of us don't wield them, often or even occasionally.
The new century welcomes you both.
----- Our younger-than-springtime host is one of a number of public-spirited folk
receiving grateful nods for the lending and scanning of rare comics repro'd in
"The Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics" (eds Spiegelman & Mouly).
You'd assume (it's possibobble) that Harlan's help was Carlson-related and, shoo-mike,
the book does have a Pie-Face Prince tale (also a Carlson puzzle, Puzzle Fun cover,
along with a few Jingle Jangle covers in among section-heading collages).
The P-F Prince story is from Jingle Jangle #6, and in it there's a tumbling jam jar
which wonders aloud whether it'll have a soft landing.
How would I have reacted to that before the advent of Douglas Adams, eh?,
since now all I can think of is Adams' suddenly-materialized mid-air whale
on its way down, asking if the ground will be friendly?
NB: There's other stuff of interest in the Toon Treasury-
Familiar and Un-;
Rare and Not so-
- but the editors really do mean for the book to gladden young, un-milled hearts,
so take your adult carping outside, y' lousy grupp, and don't let me catch you
around the funny books without you bring in a kid along with you next time oiyoiyoi
----- Landsmen, Gut Yontif, Gut Yur, and to each member of the Goldberg family especially
all good thoughts for the best that can be.
Richard
Ray Comfort-Kirk Cameron & Darwin (again)
Someone please explain this to me--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN9zpf5cT0M.
I know the why (conversion & controversy), but I did not know that this type of thing was so easily "allowed". Does this mean that any book I disagree with can be "reintroduced" with a new forward/introduction/preface to support my own ideas?
Hey Rick Keeney -- congrats on last year's win by your daughter! I know you must be very proud! I will always admire Eunice Kennedy for her work on behalf of the Special Olympics.
Does anyone on this site follow football? No? Well, yeah, I know it is bread and circuses, but what the heck... I gotta say it:
GO RAVENS!
Okay, back to your regularly scheduled programming!
Day/Still
To ATC- Spencer Tracy is my favorite actor and Claude Rains is in my top ten . They were the studio's first and second choice for Klaatu. Wise said that he wanted people to believe in the truth of the alien and that the second the alien took off his helmet he didn't want people to say, " Hey ! That's Spencer Tracy !"
In case anyone is counting
Harlan's epic PAY THE WRITER rant, recently passed 300,000, yes, Three Hundred THOUSAND "You Tube" hits -- with no signs of stopping.
See for yourself!
http://tinyurl.com/2erhwt
Unless I am mistaken, and, if I am, I will no doubt be corrected on this very forum, that represents over 300,000 different computers, as You Tube doesn't tally "hits" from the same machine.
No matter how you slice and dice it, that's a whole LOT of people paying attention.
Warner Brothers should have just sent Harlan the damn DVD.
At the risk
BARNEY: At the risk of inviting another uninvited comment by "Voice" (who might mistakenly think him or herself clever by trying to turn these comments into an attack on me), Rick may have been voicing dismay at the oft-used shorthand ("Special Olympics" or "shortbus") many of us often wield when wanting to express disdain for the Neanderthal-style acts of those _not_ hampered by mental or physical disabilities. Maybe it wasn't a jab at you, personally, so much as a bleat of frustration.
I've felt the same frustration as well, and I _don't_ have a child who was born with any disabilities. I also feel the same frustration -- with my fellow humans -- when they use shorthand terms that denigrate gay folks, or various ethnicities, when trying to be funny while expressing discomfort at someone who is different than they are (NOT that these last example has anything to do with the first, other than that they are overused bits of "shorthand" -- especially since the dumbest, strangest and meanest of us all are those that would clinically -- and statistically -- be herded into groups labeled "normal", etc.)
Hoping I didn't add anymore fuel to the fire,
I remain,
Down Under....
Cheers!
-DTS
Special Olympics
Rick,
So, you think what, exactly?
That I made up a fictional Special Olympics event to insult you, the Special Olympics or the actual achievements of your daughter?
Please feel free, if it helps you or your daughter, to substitute a metaphor where I compare this real-life Paleolithic throw-back and his very real side-arm book tossing technique to the fictional character Lenny from Steinbeck's OF MICE AND MEN.
No offense meant to the fictional characters of dead Nobel Prize winners. Well, most of them. Knut Hamsun was a pant-load at the end by some accounts.
Sincerely - Barney Dannelke
Special Olympics
Last year my youngest daughter (diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder at age 4, and a Harlan fan since she met him and saw his "fish-head" impressiona at Minicon a few years back.) won two medals at the Iowa State Track and Field special Olympics event. Forty yard dash(silver), and tennis ball throw (gold. Biggest grin I have ever seen on that very serious face.
Discus is not a Special Olympics event so far as I could see.
Rick
Josh's friend the Paglia student
I think I knew that guy distantly back in the day. Initials RW?
THE END OF THE WORLD IS...
TOMORROW!!!!!
SEPT 21ST, 2009
No shit, folks!
http://home.flash.net/~evt/rapture.htm
So if you're going to repent or get one last good ash hauling
DO IT NOW!
I wrote this Thursday afternoon and put it up on my Facebook page. Because of that Adam-Troy and Doug Lane and a couple of others who use this watering hole may have already seen it. For that redundancy my apologies. A few days later I still like it well enough that I wanted to cross post it here. It's a bit more of a core sample of who I am than a lot of my blather and has gotten some nice feedback. In fact some of that feedback went a long way to making up for a week that was not all that easy.
Doug Lane (my smarter younger brother) in particular sent me a long note where he discussed some of the pig-headed nature of the fearful intellectual bully that I thought about but ended up glossing over right at the end. So this, while no longer a rough draft might still get a two paragraph tweak. Nevertheless...
***************************************************
Why getting 600 free books is less a good thing
and more a thought crime.
Yesterday I sent an email out to a couple of people kind of bragging that I had managed to acquire about 600 books WHILE working on my awning and doing other things. While true, I didn’t go into the tragic circumstances of just how that happened. I was going to leave it as fragments in a couple of e-mails but it got the wheels spinning on the nature of public and private libraries and the ephemeral nature of every damned thing, but particularly storehouses of human knowledge.
This note will still be fragmentary since I am a book seller and I still have plenty of books to pull and pack and ship today – but, fragments are better than nothing – and if I don’t stitch it together right now I probably never will.
************************************
After mentioning this 600 book “free get” a friend asked if it contained certain writers. I had to sigh just thinking about the method of my choice and how little attention each book got. I sent back this;
...I have not had ANY chance to really look at the stuff. It was a very painful "windfall" - the way so many windfalls can be. I had this neighbor in the apartment building two doors up from my house, which is a three story brownstone in center city Allentown. This was a family of five crammed into a two bedroom, three story walk-up apartment. Husband and wife and three children. The kids are approximately 24, 18 and 3. I could be off on all three of those estimates by a couple of years. We were just “howdy neighbor” sort of acquaintances. He was maybe five to ten years older than me but looked much older. Not ancient looking, just frayed and frazzled and worn down. He was some sort of "minister" but I always got the impression that it was of the mail-order variety. He may have had a share in one of the store-front congregations one finds in some inner cities but nothing that was making his car payments or anything.
I believe the daughter was some sort of distant genius. Finished high school a year early (like me) and then - I don't know. I thought she was still living in the building as I saw her vote last year but she may have moved out shortly thereafter. The son went through a number of phases quickly. ROTC, then computer nerd then blue haired I’m not sure quite what who moved to Texas for the summer. When I saw him at the beginning of June he told me that was where he was off to. I told him I suspected blue hair might be a tougher sell in Texas and to that he just shrugged. That leaves the 50 year old mother and infant girl. I have NO idea where they are and neither does anyone else I know.
I had not seen any of them since June of this year. People come and go in this neighborhood rather quickly (except me) and I thought nothing of it.
Yesterday, as I was coming back from Home Depot with some much needed electrical hardware I noticed that there were about 45 boxes that appeared on the sidewalk in front of the building along with a tire and some junk furniture and a couple of empty recycling containers. This is a bit of a sore spot with me as I once had to pay a $125.00 fine for putting my garbage out before dusk because I had to be in NYC that day but apartment tenants and the local firehouse often treat my sidewalk and alley like EVERY day is trash day. It’s the sort of thing that turns people like me into the Eastwood character in Grand Torino after a few decades. Front door was open so I went up the stairs to see if this was "we don't give a crap" moving day or garbage left out on the street three days early.
As I passed the boxes I noticed that almost all of them were books – and not Reader’s Digest condensed books. Philosophy, comparative anthropology, theology, theosophy, etc. The good stuff.
They told me "take what you like, the VIA truck will be here in an hour." I said "Whatever I like?" and they said sure. I said, “Where’s the family?” The family was gone. Nobody knew where.
“What about the Minister?” I asked.
They said the “Minister” (you could hear the air-quotes) had caught a fatal heart attack while working as a greeter at Wal-Mart.
(blink blink)
Time out. Whatever my eventual demise. Publicly and violently. Meteorite strike. Testicular cancer. Please, please, PLEASE don’t let me catch a massive fucking heart attack surrounded by shoppers and smocks on the linoleum floor of a Wal-Mart. Please.
Thank you.
I ***KNEW*** this guy collected religion,philosophy,theosophy, etc.
I knew it because I had sold him some of it and given him others, the same way I gave his son boxes of books when he was going through his computer nerd period.
They told me they had already pitched out 80 boxes Tuesday night.
I damn near screamed.
I asked them if they could hold off or re-route the truck. Nope. They were on a schedule. Begin the mad scramble.
Truck shows up 20 minutes later and then it was an increasingly vicious pissing contest with me trying to sort and stack books before they could HURL the boxes on to the back of the truck. I offered to give VIA $50.00 bucks to “just Fucking Wait 20 minutes” for me to go through the boxes properly but the idiot zipper head driver said he couldn't do it because “he was on a schedule.”
Meanwhile two other guys are going through what I now think of as “my stacks” because one of the Tantric massage books had a naked lady in it. The faster I worked the faster these guys tossed, primarily to piss me off.
I gave them a little lecture about how I had sold this family some of these books and that what they were doing to this fellow’s library was damned near criminal.
You see, THIS is my NIGHTMARE. That a personal library that I have assembled over 35 years would be tossed and given away with no rhyme or reason in minutes. Because I’m dead and won’t be around to distribute it. I own maybe 55,000 books. Thirty five thousand are book store stock that I own out right and another twenty thousand volumes that I think of as mine rather than the store stock and a few thousand I hope to die in possession of and then my daughter can deal with those. To her financial advantage rather than disadvantage. Signed Kipling. Twain first editions. Things like that. But I need TIME to pare it down. Right now I’m like a friend I know who has a wine cellar larger than he can consume if he drinks 2 bottles a day for the rest of his life. He once confided to me that he had mis-timed his purchasing against his capacity. As Alice Cooper sang, “Welcome to MY Nightmare.”
The more indignant I became the less they cared. One guy was just winging boxes into the back of the truck as hard as he could like he was trying to win a discus medal in the Special Olympics.
Now, I know you are thinking, “sure, but those books will be re-sold. It’s the cycle of life, etc. Yadda yadda yadda.” But I know for a FACT that VIA will dumpster any religious material of a non-Christian stripe or any theosophy that looks pre-Christian or anti-Christian, rather than risk offending one Blue Haired Lady. It's their stated policy and I've seen them do it. So, half of what they took right out from under me they will themselves later toss. Or, possibly they will be recycled as pulp paper after the covers are ripped off. I know where all of this local sausage happens to be made.
So, that was that. I saved what I could. Then I went back to helping Dave with the awning build.
I didn't have a lot in common with this poor guy. Nothing really, except a respect for books. And it wasn't the Library of Alexandria he had crammed in that walk-up apartment. But it deserved a heck of a lot better than it got yesterday and today.
Mark Twain (one of my few literary heroes) wrote;
"A public library is the most enduring of memorials, the trustiest monument for the preservation of an event or a name or an affection; for it, and it only, is respected by wars and revolutions, and survives them."
Mark Twain - in a letter to the Millicent Rogers Library, February 22, 1894.
Nowadays almost every community is facing massive library budget cuts and closings. I think our culture is more suspicious than respectful of the concept of a library. Public or private.
I think Mark Twain was wrong here. I think Ray Bradbury got it right.
- Barney Dannelke (09/17/09)
Klaatu Barada Nikto
And what did you think, ATC? Was it worth the wait? I hope you hadn't previously been tainted by the Keanu version!
Shameful Confession
Sometimes, even the greatest, most omnivorous movie geeks among us have gaps in our resumes: the extraordinarly iconic movies we hesitate to admit that we've never seen, that we finally catch up with, that we then mention we've seen for the first time.
This is one of mine.
And it's especially surprising, coming from me: the guy who's seen all of Kubrick's films multiple times, most of Hitchcock's films multiple times, all of Scorcese's, all of Altman's; many of Kurosawa's; the guy who dotes on the '40s; the guy who sees every important indie that comes out. Despite knowing about this one film all my life, I've never had the opportunity to address this one gap in my filmic experience until now.
I have no excuse for this. Except to say that the gap just got filmed in, a few months short of my fiftieth birthday.
I just saw it for the very first time.
The original THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.
One of my dearest friends in the world took Camille Paglia's class many, many years ago. To this day, he credits her with teaching how to think critically, and he does it so well, I must give her credit.
That said, she's been crazy and - worse - stupid for so long I can't remember the time when she actually mattered. I recall being startled at how far she'd sunk when she did a commentary track on the DVD for Basic Instinct, and called it - among other things - one of the greatest films ever made.
It's one thing to be iconoclastic, contrary and confrontational, but she's just ridiculous. And now she's asserting plain untruths. It must be said - Camille Paglia is, simply, an asshole.
That was great, but
Q: Who is Naomi Campbell?
Dinner with the Ellisons Auction Update
With 36 hours left to go, we're getting into the home stretch on the auction for dinner with Harlan and Susan. The bidding's been at $1,100 (5 bids) for a few days now and the page has had 1262 visitors and has 44 people keeping an eye on it.
For those who might not have bookmarked the auctions for Jeanne Robinson yet (And why not? hrmph!), go to http://tinyurl.com/mc927r to check all of them out. Several more really cool items, one of them also Harlan-related coming up this week.
Jan S.
LaRue In Jeopardy – Correct Answer and Question
@LARUE: I have it, I have it!
Today's Jeopardy Answer:
"This 1969 novella by Harlan Ellison of Blood, a telepathic canine who teaches his master to read."
The Answer:
"Naomi Campbell"
C. Paglia
When I read Paglia's first book, _Sexual Personae_, I thought it (and she) were fabulous. It's a rich, thoughtful, hyperintelligent, witty, and entertaining book. With each passing year (and book), my respect for and interest in anything she had to say plummeted steadily. I think the woman fell in love with her own cult of personality, and became too interested in saying things for their shock value effect, thinking she was some sort of latter-day Wilde or Walter Pater, and instead she's become a sort of intellectual clown.
I suspect _SP_ benefited from an incredibly long gestation -- as I understand it, it began life as a doctoral dissertation, and nobody would publish it for years until one of her friendly mentors at Yale, the infamous Harold Bloom, went to bat for it and Yale University Press agreed to take it on . . . and got a surprise bestseller for their pains.
Nowadays, Paglia doesn't have the benefit of being able to think before she opens her mouth and somebody dashes to put her blather into print.
A hearty L'shana tova from me as well. (I'm not exactly observing it correctly by typing this or accessing the internet, of course, but it looks as if I will have the chance to dump some bits of leftover bread into a nearby creek tomorrow at least.)
Re: Paglia - the very finest comment I ever heard regarding her came from the late Molly Ivins, who responded to one of her lengthy rants with a succinct "Christ! Get that woman a Valium!"
"When Gossip Came Back and Our Modern Age was Born"
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn09182009.html
The year 5XXX? 2XXX? I know not these numbers. It is the year 64, my friends, and the new year is very far away.
---
Okay, stop me if you've heard this one before:
Bertrand Russell and H.P. Lovecraft walk into a bar...
Today's Jeopardy Question Is
On today's 25th Anniversary Jeopardy airing, under the category of SCIENCE FICTION, the answer was:
"This 1969 novella by Harlan Ellison of Blood, a telepathic canine who teaches his master to read."
Sorry to say, no one had the correct question.
A Pythonesque Thought on Racism
To only slightly mangle a classic Python line:
There is NO racism in the Republican party. And by that, I mean there is a certain amount. So if you wake up and discover that you're being asked to campaign wearing a white sheet over your head, contact me IMMEDIATELY so I can cover it up.
(N.B. It's only "slightly mangle" because the sketch is actually about gay rights, not cannibalism.)
L'Shana Tova To All!
And have a great weekend also!
JIM THOMAS IN BIRMINGHAM
Um, yes; I did indeed read that introductory sentence, and after I'd posted my response I realized I might be whipping the stone overhand at the wrong person. But when I then tsk-tsk'd myself, and went back to read the ACTUAL reply I'd made, I was relieved to see that I didn't actually pillory YOU for the post, but had used syntax that might apply to ANYone Anywhere other than here (meaning my house).
I could dissemble and pretend the post could be read as intended for a non-specific person, but that would be very close to the kind of creepy denials Sanford and his ilk use.
The truth, at core, picayune as this may be, is that I just FORGOT your opening line, and to plead otherwise would be mendacious. And at the moment, Kanye's homie has a corner on THAT rotted vegetable matter with his "Kanye wuz jus' bein' Real."
Yes, he was. A real pig's patoot.
Yr. Pal, Harlan (Open Covenants, Openly Entered Into) Ellison
Avast, ye scurvy dogs!
It be "National Talk Like a Pirate Day!" You know what t'do. Be about it, then!
Mark Goldberg, Harlan and all
L'shana tova. May this be a fortunate and joyous year for us all.
Kim Stanley Robinson on SF etc
Thanks, Clipping Service, for the link to the report about Robinson's comments. The idea that SF once had some respectability, which is now lost, is not uncommon in the UK. After all, the genre is often linked historically to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and to H.G.Wells. In other words, it was just a part of the literary tapestry. It was only with the American pulp magazines that there emerged a parallel genre, in many ways external to the literary tradition. In the decades since, the genre has largely become an American one, in terms of global influence, at least.
What I find most disturbing in that newspaper article is the ignorance of one of the Booker Prize judges - a professor of English who says he is "not aware of science fiction". Imagine a professor of music who confessed "I am not aware of opera", or a professor of film who confessed "I am not aware of westerns". I wouldn't ask that a professor LIKE all genres, but I would ask that they have at least a minimal awareness of them!
Incidentally, Robinson's views came to attention thanks to a special science fiction-related issue of NEW SCIENTIST magazine. There are articles from a number of British SF's shining lights (Ian Watson, Geoff Ryman, Paul McAuley) on their website, here:
http://www.newscientist.com/special/sci-fi-the-fiction-of-now
- Phil
We really don't need intellectuals.
This is what Camille Paglia said on the radio the other day:
"First of all, I reject the idea that the “birther” campaign is motivated by racism. There may be racism among it, but there are legitimate questions about the documentation of Obama’s birth certificate. I’m sorry, I’ve been following this closely from the start. To assume that all those signs about the birth controversy were motivated by racism, that is simply wrong."
Following what closely, your dowsing rod? Your alien mood ring? The bumps on your head??
Succotash and cornbread, this girl is wigged.
She also complains about feminine victimhood but says that the Sopranos are unfair to Italians. We all have our own mirrors, I'd assume.
--------------
This is Penn Jillette's answer to world peace: free trade! Yea, we never trade with bad guys, right? Ever hear of Burma, China, Pinochet??
Smart people are making my head hurt.
Harlan--
Harlan:
Please note the first line of the post:
"A friend of mine sent me this:"
I was not the one who witnessed that cretin. Had I been, I certainly hope that I would have called the dumbass on it.
Because you are quite correct that the only way to deal with this shit is to drag it into the light of day and call it by its true name.
I'd like to send out a L'shana tova to all those celebrating the new year. May your name be inscribed and sealed for a good year.
God knows we all could use one.
Chuck
Since Harlan mentions Lewis Black...
For some reason I thought of our host this week while watching this angry, hilarious rant by Lewis Black on The Daily Show about, um, anger:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-september-16-2009/back-in-black---angry-outbursts
L'Shana Tova to Harlan, Mark and all others celebrating the New Year this weekend.
Kim Stanley Robinson
mixes it up, re. Science Fiction and Prestigious Literary Awards:
"According to Robinson the ghettoisation of science fiction is a comparatively recent phenomenon. He pointed to a little known letter written by Virginia Woolf to the science fiction writer Olaf Stapledon, after he had sent her a copy of his novel Star Maker. "I don't suppose that I have understood more than a small part – all the same I have understood enough to be greatly interested, and elated too, since sometimes it seems to me that you are grasping ideas that I have tried to express, much more fumblingly, in fiction," wrote Woolf. "But you have gone much further and I can't help envying you – as one does those who reach what one has aimed at."
The rest:
http://tinyurl.com/me5mhv
AHEM !
As long as I'm being petty (and it takes a truly LITTLE man to admit to that)...
It is incumbent upon me to explain that "Good yontiff" or "L'shana tova" is what we Juden say to each other on the even of Rosh Hashonah, which is the Jewboy New Year. I mention this only because the year that dawns at sunset tonight is, on the Hebrew calendar, the (wait for it) year 5770.
Five fucking thousand and seven hundred and seventy goddam YEARS, you goyim muthufuggahs! With your scrawny New Testament 2009! Hah! Hah, I say! Two thousand and nine...pffffft! Suh-NAP y'all anno dominos!
Respectfully, Harlan the Heretic
(Available for shrivings, sackcloth&ashery, cross-burnings and crucifixions like, ahem, you know who, whom was as you know, one of OUR boys, and thank you Lewis Black.)
FOR MARK GOLDBERG
L'SHANA TOVA TO YOU, my friend. May you, and your mother, be inscribed in the Book of Life for another year.
Which brings me to a favor I'd appreciate your doing, if it's not crossing the line:
The conversation between you and your Ma, well, were I not laden down with the inimitable Susan, I would hit on your old lady in a Goldbergian second. As MY mom useta say, Whatta pistol!"
So. The favor is this: would you photocopy, or whatever, my story "Mom," and put it in front of her, if she's got the moment to waste while in such dire straits? I can't do much, for her or for you, but maybe a laugh...well, you know...
With infinite respect, Harlan
JIM THOMAS IN BIRMINGHAM
Even as I know I should not say this to you, because you're there and I'm here, and the subtext of these words is hardly commendatory, and you will not (nor should you)(nor should I expect it), as I say, you will not love me for this.
Nonetheless:
Merely staring back at such a human monstrosity may seem worthy of the recounting, but--public moron that I am--shouting BACK from right beside him, at his snickering, his sheeshing, his getting a cheap laugh out of other idiot diners...well, THAT is an act of courage. Yelling BACK at him, louder than HIS remark, "Shut your racist mouth, you cracker pinhead!" well, I'm hardly the brave little tailoer, but in MY universe, saying nothing just because some bloated sack'a guts might take umbrage and try to swat you with his fish'n'chips is exactly the same as letting go without penalty, a guy who'd put mirrors on his shoetops so he could look up the short skirts of parochial school girls.
I will take what you dish out, Jim. I should have kept my yap shut...but...as you can see from the above, I never learned that restraint.
Harlan
REPLY TO FINDERdoug
Pursuant to yesterday's query anent VIC & BLOOD:
I don't know. I hope t'gawd it ain't just the stories, because that would trammel my hopes to complete BLOOD'S A ROVER--
--and YES FOLKS, I know full well that Jim Ellroy used that piece of the A.E. Houseman quote for HIS new book--
--la dee dah, no dog in that hunt--
--in my lifetime.
But I won't be able to get you an answer till Monday, so hold off going anywhere near it till then, compadre.
Yr. pal, Harlan
Small note to Josh Olson
To continue Mark Goldberg's point, take a look at this map:
http://www.splcenter.org/center/petitions/standstrong/
Also, from the Southern Poverty Law Center:
"Fueled by immigration fears, the economic crisis and the election of a black president, racist hate groups increased their numbers again in 2008. The Southern Poverty Law Center has documented a staggering 926 hate groups operating in our country — a more than 50% increase since 2000." Also, take a dekko at the number of these groups that are in Southern California. I didn't count the dots, but the concentration gives Georgia a good run for it's money.
...so I'm not ready to believe that the Klan and like-minded folks are cartoons, but if they are, they may be DVD boxed sets with commentaries.
However to show that this thinking can collapse on itself, there are folks that compare President Obama to Hitler. You'd figure SOMEone in this 926 would be happy about that, considering who they model themselves after.
Just no pleasing some folks.
If you can call them that.
On a much less flip note, Happy New Year.
Brian Phillips
L'Shana Tovah Markie.
---------------
According to Tim Wise nine out of ten people who get stopped by police for drugs or guns are black or hispanic. Another study shows that whites are two out of three times more likely to actually have drugs or guns.
Yea, racism exists.
Michael Dirda
Ezra, Michael has been a friend of Sf for years- I remember a review of ,I think, The Avram Davidson Treasury, where he stated pretty emphatically that Avram was a great writer, period.
Well I was born in a small town in rural Georgia in the late 50s, a child in the 60s, a teenager in the 70s. My mother's father was a minister active in the civil rights movement (in the 40s and 50s when it was dangerous) and no he was no one you would have ever heard of, just a foot soldier in a war.
My father's brother on the other hand, was the local Grand Wazoo. You might say I had a funky childhood. One of my earliest memories is standing between my mamma's legs looking our through the front screen door while a group of white robed men burned a cross in our front yard. The Klan wasn't a joke back then and it scared the hell out of me. It was years later that it occured to me a goodly number of the folks out in the yard were my own relatives.
So I can't stand up before Great Cthulhu and you folks and claim that racism didn't exist and doesn't exist now. But it has changed for the better. But just like I resent being accused of being an anti-semite when I criticise the state of Israel, I refuse to be accused of racism just because I criticise Obama. All I'm saying. We don't want to go there.
I don't think Bush Limbo believes in anything. I think he is totally cynical and will play on the fears and stupidity of the people to enrich himself. I haven't been exposed to Glenn Beck as much but it strikes me he might just be a genuine lunatic. (Who has a top ten bestseller right now by the by. That might keep us up at night so don't think on that too much.)
CHANGE OF SUBJECT
Micheal Dirda wrote a nice lengthy review of J G Ballard's recently issued Complete Short Stories yesterday in the Washington Post. References were made to Borges, Calvino and Swift. The detested neologism we are all familiar with was completely avoided and he used the dear old acronym 'SF' twice.
I hereby designate Mr Dirda as the Critic Who Came in From the Cold.
Just got yelled at by a pastor lady because I wouldn't admit that God makes sure I continue to breath while I'm asleep.
Oh Mississippi...
Josh, while I certainly agree that racism is alive and well, calling the Klan a cartoon is understating their impact tremendously. Granted, they no longer wield the power they had in the 19th century or the early portion of the 20th, but their threat is undeniable. Allentown, PA, where I went to college, was a hotbed of Klan support at the time (Barney would be in a better position to comment on the current situation). Even though my college had a large Jewish population, there were still rumblings about times and places where a young Jewish boy should not be. To me, I did not see them as a cartoon, but as a real threat.
A quick update on my Mom, the cancer has continued to spread. The CAT scan on Monday showed that her liver is now riddled with cancer, and it has now entered her bones. At least 2 of her ribs showed spots. There is no hope short of a miracle at this point.
However, I would like to share with you what I at least found to be a funny conversation between my Mother & me earlier this week.
Me: Hi Mom, what are you doing?
Mom: Just making some lists (at this point I realized what her mood was like, as I found out she had been devising lists of who is and who is not going to be allowed at her funeral and decided to try to cheer her up a bit)
Me: So Ma, am I on the list that will allow me to attend your funeral, or am I on the banned list?
Mom: You haven't pissed me off recently, so for now you are allowed
Me: Oh good, I was hoping I could attend and.....(am interrupted by Mom)
Mom: But you better god-damned follow the criteria I am setting up or I will fucking haunt you!!!
Me: (thoughts of Harlan's story Mom, which I re-read only last week, racing through my head) From someone else I would think that was an idle threat, but you know what? I believe you would haunt me. So what are these criteria you are establishing anyway? How I should act at the funeral, after you are gone, c'mon Ma, inquiring minds want to know
Mom: I'm still working on it; I'll get back to you
No response, despite multiple requests, as to a final list of the criteria
She is a helluva lady, with a rather perverse sense of humor, and I have no idea what I am going to do once she is gone
She goes to Johns Hopkins next week in a last ditch attempt to find a way to stop the advance of this fucking disease. Prayers are still appreciated
I wish everyone L'Shana Tovah, a very Happy New Year, as Rosh Hashanah begins tonight
All the best,
Mark
A friend of mine sent me this:
--------------
I went to my dad’s yesterday for my usual Thursday visit and to pay the sitters. He wasn’t home (went to the dollar store, of course), so I went to the Krystal on Acton. I ordered and sat down, and after a few minutes this middle-aged, teabagger-looking guy sat near me. The place was a little busy, and when the cashier (a young black woman) brought my order out, he asked her how much longer his order was going to take. She came right back with his order, apologized, and said they were cooking more fries and she’d bring them out separately. I thought she did a nice thing by bringing what was ready since he seemed to be in a hurry, rather than waiting for the fries. He just snickered and made kind of a sheesh sound. So not two minutes later, she brings out the fries and apologizes again, and what does the guy say, loudly enough for the entire restaurant to hear?
“Thanks a lot, MISS OBAMA!”
Then, the guy laughs, as do most of the other customers. But out of everyone in the place, he looks straight at me, expecting approval. I don’t say anything but just stare at him with a “what is wrong with you?” face. Clearly peeved I didn’t find his joke hilarious, the guy mumbles something like “those people don’t do anything right” and then glares at me several times during the meal.
Yeah, the Obama haters aren’t racists at all…
---------------
And yet if you even suggest that the Right wing assault on Obama has consciously played on racism, you're laughed at. It's become quite disgusting at this point.
C.O.W.
"It was a typical hamfisted Lardbaugh attempt at satire.
But hey, if you want to label everyone racist, go for it."
That's a pretty creaky bit of rhetorical deceit there. Labeling Limbaugh a racist is not the same labeling everyone a racist, or even everyone who hates Obama as racist.
Limbaugh is, undeniably, undoubtably a racist. He's proven it countless times over the years, and arguing it at this last stage of the game is just absurd, and an insult to the intelligence. If this is news to you, do some digging. His comments are ubiquitous.
"Me, I prefer to just shoot the fuckers when they show up in their white robes. Those little black crosses make such nice aiming points. Right over the heart in most cases."
Yeah, well, it would be lovely to live in a world where racism only reared its head in the form of Klanner and Nazis, but sadly, we've NEVER lived in that world, and people often use those bugaboos as a way of discounting the existence of real racism.
The Klan isn't real racism. It's a cartoon. It's an ever dwindling group of hilariously extreme, stupid and hateful people who are in no way, shape, or form representative of mainstream American racism.
Limabugh, on the other hand, while somewhat exaggerated, speaks to and for millions of straight up racists. The kind you work with, who live next door to you, who sit on the bus with you, the kind who turn red in the face when they read a story like the one about the bus, but don't spare a second to think about the number of black men in our prison system due to heinous and racist drug laws, for instance.
Don't bury the truth under bad rhetorical tricks and cartoon villains. Racism is alive and well in America.
DTS: "Woose sounds like a genetic cross between water rat and moose."
Clearly, that's the species I was referring to! Any WUSS knows THAT!
Why Harlan Ellison is like Jesus Christ...
...Their title, not mine.
http://www.comicsvillage.com/column.aspx?ArticleID=229
A happy and healthy and safe and meaningful New Year to all of you!
Rob's post
ROB: It's Wuss. Or Wusses. Or Wussies. Woose sounds like a genetic cross between water rat and moose.
--DTS
Ezra...don't get me wrong, we're in agreement; but it's mostly CONSERVATIVE members of his own party Obama is having trouble with (the Democrats are wooses), while the Left has justifiable issues over this very issue, as well as Obama's concessions to big money interests and the partisan "aisle" where there IS none. But that's a kettle separate from the one we're goin' on about right now.
(OK - sorry! I'm staying off the air now!)
Friends, Obama's problem is not Republicans. It's the members of his own party.
And sure Limbaugh is repulsive but let's not get to the point where any criticism of Obama is considered racism. On some very important issues (to me anyway) he's been pretty chickenshit.
Lush Lardbutt Redux
I do think Lush Lardbutt is a windbag, BUT, when he said:
"LIMBAUGH: I think the guy's wrong. I think not only it was racism, it was justifiable racism. I mean, that's the lesson we're being taught here today. Kid shouldn't have been on the bus anyway. We need segregated buses -- it was invading space and stuff. This is Obama's America."
It was in the context of mocking the alleged attitude of so called (as described by Lardbutt) Obama supporters who allegedly believe all whites are racists, and thuerefore WHITES should be segreagated from the rest of us cool folk who are not racists by definition as white.
It was a typical hamfisted Lardbaugh attempt at satire.
But hey, if you want to label everyone racist, go for it.
Me, I prefer to just shoot the fuckers when they show up in their white robes. Those little black crosses make such nice aiming points. Right over the heart in most cases.
Republican Frank Schaeffer calls Fundamentalists "village idiots"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emPFYIO8T_U
Vonnegut correction!
That's Sunday 20th September for Slaughterhouse Five. Sorry, mistyped.
Kurt Vonnegut - new radio dramatisation
On Sunday (22 September), BBC Radio 3 is broadcasting a new radio dramatisation of Slaughterhouse Five. It's a 90-minute play.
It can be listened to live via the Radio 3 website: www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
And should be available for listening for seven days via this web page:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnwj
If listening live, the play begins at 8pm British time (which converts to 12 noon California time, I believe).
- Phil
One nice thing about Limbaugh's bus comments
We can now refer to him, and his listeners, as "white separatists."
I speak as someone who knows people who research right-wing groups, and as someone who's done a few articles about'em as well. It used to take some work to explain to people that many right-wingers were racists. That's because many of them had learned to disguise it, or obfuscate it with rationales or side-issues. For example, if they complained about some effort to protect civil liberties, they'd claim they were concerned about the expansion of government power; a matter of _principle_, they'd say, and it had nothing to do with _race_.
So we'd have to _prove_ it. We'd have to point out their memberships in ugly organizations, research their histories, point out contradictions and make linkages. Point out that Orrin Hatch was a member of suchandsuch, or that Jesse Helms argued A for white people but argued B for blacks, or that Charles Murray's research sources were beneficiaries of the racist Pioneer Fund... it took _work_, every step was subject to pettifogging, and most people'd glaze over if you mentioned it.
But Rush Limbaugh's done us a favor, by letting the cat go screaming from the bag. He's admitted that he truly _is_ a white separatist and an advocate of racial segregation. He's saved us all a lot of work. Now we can take it as a _given_ that he and his followers are racists. We can refer to "White Separatist Rush Limbaugh" without looking like nerds.
PBS ran the 1977 David Frost interview with Nixon in its entirety. What an astonishing psychodrama!
It's the first time I ever saw David Frost, and all I can say is how I WISH journalists today had the balls to do what he did with this model sociopath!
I'd pay good money to see a Keith Olbermann or Chris Matthews take Bush and/or Cheney apart like this in the public arena, and absolutely humiliate them by simply tossing every microbyte of facts back in their apish countenance!
But mainstream news owned by-and-large now by Conservative corporate media, the kind of grit and integrity displayed by Frost is, in today's milieu, DOA!
In this respect, I found this prized piece very depressing, as we saw our own era touch the brink of corporate fascism, marked by mock news, misinformation, and disinformation (not to mention the sort of dictator-ish "pre-screening" used by Bush whenever he came to the podium to address his faithful lemmings).
I wonder if integrity will ever return to mainstream journalism.
**BTW, in the wake of Jimmy Carter's comments this last week, I learned that racism toward blacks is a - well, shit! - a THING of the PAST!
Conservatives explained to us that Carter grew up in the Jim Crow South, and he is simply behind the times.
I feel like such a dork now, figuring all this furor with Obama as Hitler, Obama as an ape, Obama as Satan, and Obama as the Joker had ANY thing to do with RACISM!
There is NO racism today! My eyes never would have seen the daylight had I not listened to Conservative spokespeople.
Tony Isabella, as citizens we are all Godzilla--to bad our voices are muted down like watching a Godzilla movie on a micro-teevee.
---------------
Glenn Beck will be on the cover of Time magazine. Sad state of affairs.
Two Things
Josh Olson: so how was your lunch with Mark Evanier?
*
Above question just typed to make the internet scarier today.
*
Rush Limbaugh has come out and said we need to re-segregate buses. Really. Fifty years after Rosa Parks, he came out and actually said this. He used the word "segregate", too, so it's not a case of an implication accidentally given; he knew what he was saying, and he meant it.
L.A. area people
Just sending out a quick request: my former place of employment (which still hires me a few days a month, bless them) is putting on a "Tamara"-like play. The audience is going to move from space to space with the actors, in other words.
They need to buy lights. Stage lights, light poles, barn doors... they can't afford to shell out several thousand dollars for new lights, but are interested in knowing what they CAN get for their money locally. So if anyone knows of a theater closing or a film company that's refurbishing their stock, give them a call at eight51 thirtythirty, area code 3two3.
__________________________________________________
Wow. Is this or is this not becoming a heavy casualty month for celebrities?
__________________________________________________
Saw a comedienne (God, I hate that fucking word) named Gina last night from England, who was charged $15,000 for a one-night hospital stay ("I can't afford to be on a heart monitor... can't you just hook me up to a Wii?"). Her solution for health care in America is that, if she goes out and gets "a leg se'ered off" then she's going to pick up the leg and head straight to British Airways, buying two seats--one for herself, one for the leg--and have it taken care of in the UK. "I'll have a drink... and more ice for my leg, please."
Think about it. It's cheaper to fly anywhere else in the world for free medical care than to stay here to get immediate help. Bitch about "socialization" all you want, but that should NOT be the case. Nor should going bankrupt over a one-night stay be allowed.
I was in the hospital a few months ago with uncontrollable bleeding, where I not only spent the night but I got several different tests and medical treatments. Thank GOD I'm a veteran, because there's no way that I could've afforded such concerned care otherwise.
Tony,
"I wish I were Godzilla and the Republicans were Tokyo. "
We ARE Godzilla, and they're barely even a tiny suburb of Tokyo. The problem is, our Godzilla is terrified of breathing fire, and lets a tiny, angry mob of suburban Tokyo residents dictate the rules of the game. It's time to start standing up to these fucking freaks, and to call out the media, and our Democratic leadership. We have the power. Let's use it for once.
Henry Gibson, R.I.P.
From the Nashville soundtrack:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUZ_zSWLwGo&feature=PlayList&p=06C8E71CA4481B35&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=37
David
RIP, Mary Travers of P, P & M
I was so sad to read the news of her passing at 72. Peter, Paul & Mary, and their lifelong contributions to social change have never become irrelevant. (Listen to their live album with guests from 1995, LIFELINES)
I wish I were Godzilla and the Republicans were Tokyo.
As Jan has invoked the eReads reprints, I have a question for you, Herr Professor Doktor Ellison:
Is the eReads edition of VIC & BLOOD strictly the texts of "Eggsucker", "A Boy and His Dog", and "Run, Spot, Run", independent of Richard Corben's graphic adaptation? Or is it the whole ball-o-wax that was put out through iBooks in a new format?
I SUSPECT it's the former, but before I plunk ducats (because the former would technically be a first edition of the Vic & Blood stories as a straight prose collection, and you and I both know which pack of dire wolves I run with), I thought I'd ask directly.
"HORNBOOK was never done in paperback." - Unless you count the E-Reads paperback. http://tinyurl.com/lfyevt (B&N) It has a sales rank at Amazon, so it exists. (Though I'd get it from B&N for $5 less.)
Check and box received. Forwarding Steven Barber's soul to Udaipur, India. Hansaraj says money soon on the way. (What was it, 3,900 Rupee? Or did you want the glowing stones?)
"I think it would be rather difficult for someone—-someone a part of the SF community of writers, readers, and fans—-who didn’t live through that period, from ’sixty-five through ’seventy-one, to have a sense of how ubiquitous Elison’s name—-and the energy associated with it-—was." - Samuel Delany - http://tinyurl.com/mo2nw4
Caitlin R. Kiernan: "And where do I put Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Shirley Jackson, John Steinbeck, and Angela Carter, all of whom were enormously important formative influences on my own writing?" - http://tinyurl.com/nmwkth (Interview by Jeff VanderMeer)
John Scalzi weighing in on subject of Asking Favors From Established Writers - http://tinyurl.com/ok53p2
Commentary by Jason Sanford - http://tinyurl.com/new96r
Creepy Archives Volume 6 Graphic Novel, Feb. 24, 2010 - http://www.darkhorse.com/Books/16-333/Creepy-Archives-Volume-6-HC - I presume this will feature Harlan's Rock God.
A midnight revelation
The greatest, most influential magazine in the United States during the twentieth century:
MAD Magazine.
The rest?
Fuhgeddaboudit!
KOS
For writers
There are things which I have been meaning to post for the writers and hopeful writers here.
The first is a link to a site I came across on refdesk.com. Purdue University has an Online Writing Lab (OWL). It contains a huge amount of information on writing. They have decided that it should be shared with anyone who is interested in writing. The link is:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
The second is a couple of essays by Jim Blaylock on writing. The first concerns the teaching of Creative Writing, including the grading system he and Tim Powers came up with. The second describes Jim's experiences in trying to get published. I have placed these in the Forums under the "Moving Finger" section, which apparently is for subjects relating to writing.
A good day to all here.
Lost, Lost, Utterly Lost
I myself have never lost anything on Mars, but my neighbor claims he has visited Saturn's G ring. He also claims that toast tells him the future, so we don't pay him much mind.
However, seeing as Oregon State University has extension offices on Mars's two moons, Verbose and DesMoines, I can tell you that surveys have shown that there is an AMAZING amount of lost things on Mars, not just Aztecs and Incas (or Incans, if you will). These include
• Single Socks
• Lost reading glasses
• Car and House Keys
• Michael Cimino's career
• The parts of 2001: A Space Odyssey that had blue food in them
• The green, green grass of home
• Everything forgotten in senior moments
• Everything forgetten in juniior moments
• Elvis. No, wait, that was a smudge on the lens.
• My Sharona
If there are any Incas, Mayas, Aztecs, or Amway distributors up there, they've got a job of work keeping order out there. When we finally do get there, they're going to be PO'd.
In as much as various athletic conferences have expanded throughout the solar system, as another poster here intimated, the PAC-10 have settle on Mars's two satellites. We are an important but humble conference. Our needs are as modest as we are.
Sam Klein
When touring the solar system, don't forget to stop by the Lost Celebrity Centre of Titan, and view the Dianetics video.
Aztecs, Incans...
Being a ticket taker at the Lost Toltec Amusement Park on the Moon, I must say that I think it is in very poor taste to constantly remind the Toltecs of their unfulfilled peregrinations. Many Toltecs tell me they like the Lunar climate and have settled here out of a sense of destiny rather than inability.
If ever you visit - please stop by and say hello. Oh, and check out the Green Cheese booth at the Royal Court of Food Things.
You know, someday there are going to be people on Mars, and those people are going to stumble around and say, "Where are the Aztecs now?" and it will be y'all's fault. Shame on you for confusing the stupid, stupid future.
And it was the S.E.C.C. that got to Mars first you ignorant bastards. Roll Tide.
ZM
Harlan - Lost Temple Correction
Harlan,
Apologies for the mistake. Now that the item has bids I couldn't change the original wording but I've added a correction at the bottom. In red.
Please extend my abject apologies for the error to the Aztec Martians, too.
Jan S.
THE LOST AZTEC TEMPLE OF MARS.
Harlan is perfectly correct in saying that the Incans never made it to Mars, I have been there many times and I can assure you that its Aztec all the way!. There is however a small well kept community by the name “The John Carter Estates” but that’s for the rich and they stop a guy like me at the gate.
Gary
FOR DIMA
Dear Dima: Regarding your post.
HORNBOOK was never done in paperback. Just hardcover and limited (with HARLAN ELLISON'S MOVIE).
SLEEPLESS NIGHTS. We don't usually sell this title. Sometimes I'll find a few when we do a "Great Ellison Book Purge" but that's usually when a box falls on me in the storage bin. You could try Alibris. But, thank you for thinking of us first. Nice.
With kind regards--Susan
Oh, and if a box of SNITPB falls on me, I'll let you know.
Whoops...
Whoops...Incan...Inkin. Easy mistake. One is a former denizen of S. America, and the other is a small member of the faerie family, related to the Bendith Y Maumau, on the North Coast of Wales.
--DTS
INFAMY...
ALL: If you never read the essay, go out and track down a backissue of "VLife" (which, if memory serves, is in "Variety") and read "Infamy: the New Fame," another of Harlan's terrific, latter-day essays (up there with "Xenogenesis" and "The Three Most Important Things In Life"). Although I read about the idiotic doings a few days back, I haven't had a chance to post and say _just how relevant_ Harlan's essay remains with self-centered morons like Kanye West and Serena making headlines for their stupid and/or semi-felonious actions.
HARLAN: Swear to Gawd: When you and Susan weren't looking, I once saw an Inkin duck underneath your sofa. Apparently at least one of 'em made it to Mars.
-DTS
Temple name mistake
I think the lost "Incan" temple of Mars can be attributed to Neil Gaiman, in Dreams Without Teeth video, chap. 8. He labels it as such just before the scene with Robin Williams. Be gentle, he's British.
ATTENTION!!!!!! JAN SCHROEDER
You need to make a correction on that e.bay billboard for dinner with Susan and me. ASAP. Petty, but grrrrrr'ing.
I have no idea where some dimwit came from who began posting the identity of the front wall at my house as The Lost "INCAN" Temple of Mars, but if I ever see that sophomoric misnomer again, I will do something extremely unfortunate ...
It is, and always was,
THE LOST AZTEC TEMPLE OF MARS.
"Aztec," not "Incan," fer chrissakes!!!! Everybody KNOWS the Incans never made it to Mars. Venus, yeah, sure...but NEVER a foot of Incan steppage on Mars.
Plz. change it posthaste.
Thank you. Respectfully, Grrrrrrrrrr.
Great Writer
on Great Writer. Dennis Lehane on Michael Connelly (and Harry Bosch):
http://tinyurl.com/qunt5u
Reply to Lori
I had hoped to have the Janis Ian stuff up by now but work and life have interfered. Tell your friend I'll try to have it listed tonight or tomorrow.
LOTS of really cool stuff coming!
Jan S.
Hey Jan
A friend of mine over at Alt. Calhans wants to bid on the Janis Ian stuff you mentioned in my post about your auctions, but can't seem to find it at the site.
What should I tell her.
Audible has Voice From The Edge 3 for 13.96 (non-members) and a 5-minute clip from Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes - http://tinyurl.com/mmn8u6
Still spreading, Erik: "Harlan.Ellison.Dreams.With.Sharp.Teeth.DOCU.2008.DVDRip.XviD-UBiK"
Lots of talk about Olson/Ellison/Jarrett incl. recaps at Cinematical - http://tinyurl.com/naqmxu - and JustPressPlay - http://tinyurl.com/oxofrl - and commentary by Lee Goldberg - http://tinyurl.com/ko8vdn
Harlan "told me he listens to jazz cranked to 11. He then proceeded to argue with me for about forty-five minutes or so, when I stubbornly refused to admit that Django Reinhardt was a better guitarist than Les Paul. That one ended with him bonking his signing pen off my noggin and cursing me out in Yiddish, great fun." - Paul Sizer, www.paulsizer.com/SizerBlog/2009/09/
Reply to David Silver
Woo...and may I say Hoo!! Thanks for the bids. And I hope you win...eventually...after a fierce bidding war.
Many thanks for being first.
Jan S.
From the Department of Irony: My first three science fiction/fantasy books, those bought specifically for me, were Harlan's SHATTERDAY, Vonda McIntyre's DREAMSNAKE, and Spider Robinson's CALLAHAN'S CROSSTIME SALOON. So, Jan S. is running an auction with items donated by Vonda to help Spider's wife, and I read the updates on Harlan's board.
***
MARK: You have my number. Please, please, please call day or night if you need anything. I don't care what time. Don't worry about the "I don't want to be a bother" bullshit. Email me your number if you'd rather I call you. You are never far from my thoughts. If I could wish this away for you, I would. Believe that.
***
Robert R.: Keep fighting the good fight. I'm watching cancer eat away at a beautiful, strong, vivacious woman. Worse, I'm watching what it is doing to her loved ones as they deal with the dementia that has come from complications resulting from the diagnosis. Never give up, man.
shagin
And "here, here", Mr. Silver. Good on you.
Just to mention. I sent the link for Harlan's oratory on IWNRYFS to one Mr. Penn of "Penn and..."
(Whom I met via Harlan and a nefarious plot against a certain Brit couple devised by HE earlier this year.)
Penn's response?
"This is wonderful. Just great. Thank you."
And the beat goes on.
Mark Goldberg: I feel your pain more than you know. What a lousy situation. May it turn out better than you dare hope.
Robert Ross: Keep at it, slugger! Beat the Big C's ass. I have a personal grudge against that plague. I'm among your cheering squad.
Chuck
DWST Poster
I must join the trend of folks on here that have been informing the kind and merciful Susan about why they have not sent the mazumas for the DWST poster. My tale:
I am moving at the end of the month and am not certain what my new address will be - I have the money and just need to go get the money order from the bank, but am also in the middle of making a movie about Garden Gnome Zombies and time has been amazingly tight.
May a mighty computer trap me within itself and torture me for all eternity if I do not cough up the dough soon!
Respectfully yours,
-Kris
p.s. No, really - Garden Gnome Zombies! I'll link to here when I'm done...
Dinner with Harlan & Susan - Jeanne Robinson Auctions
To Jan Schroeder, who wrote: "The dinner auction seems to have a lot of interest but so far no bidders." Well, there's a bidder now! So maybe some of those 798 visitors and 27 watchers will get off their butts and start chasing it!
Take care,
David Silver
(Jan, on eBay that's "dfscameras" to you!)
Reply to Harlan - Jeanne Robinson Auctions
Dear Harlan,
In general, the Jeanne auctions are going *very* well. To date we've collected over $1200. and the items up for auction have bids for at least another $1300. I have more items to list including items donated by Janis Ian, John Varley and David Gerrold and some lovely handmade jewelry and bookmarkers. List of all of the auctions so far is at:
http://tinyurl.com/qhae7d
The dinner auction seems to have a lot of interest but so far no bidders. There are still 6 days left in the auction. There have been 798 visitors to the auction page and there are 27 people 'watching' which usually is a good indication of whether there are bidders keeping an eye out for competition. Your dinner auction is listed at:
http://tinyurl.com/mpdrn9
Stay tuned. I think you and Josh in particular will get a smile out of what David Gerrold has offered.
Jan
Mark Goldberg -- I'm sorry to read that you are confronting such a tough decision. This nasty work is never easy. Been there. For whatever it is worth, my thoughts are with you and your family.
REPLY TO DAVID LOFTUS
Should I fuck with you and tell you we've both been steaming about your desultory, nay, dilatory, payment? Or take mercy on you and point out we give about as much concern to same as we do to the tides off Iberia?
Have a nice trip.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
JAN SCHROEDER IN FLORIDA
How goes the Jeanne Robinson business, and the dinner auction folderol? As I never know where to look for this sort of thing, I guess I'm thrown back on imposing on you, at your convenience, to bring me updatum into the loopityboomboom.
Respectfully, Harlan
Just checking in
SUSAN:
Just wanted to let you know why you haven't seen a check from me yet for the "Dreams With Sharp Teeth" poster, which I hope you can continue to hold for me.
I spent the last week on the Atlantic aboard the Queen Mary 2, and this week I'm in London to see some theater shows before flying home to Portland on Saturday. This was a dream trip largely financed by my mother and booked well before I was laid off, suddenly and without warning, on July 17. So I decided to become an actor and a model, at the ripe age of 50 and in the middle of the worst recession since the 1930s.
I have the money, though, and am not making excuses on that account. It's just that I haven't had the TIME to get it in the mail to you, since two weeks ago -- the week after I asked for a copy of the poster -- our seventh-floor storage closet got leaked on by a corporate co-tenant and much of the books and papers inside got water-damaged. Not a great loss, but I had to spend many hours of the time I would have preferred to spend packing for my trip, instead drying out and assessing the damage for insurance claim purposes.
Just a long way of saying your check is not in the mail, but will be soon, if you can be patient with me.
Woo, doagies!
Did you guys know that H.L. Mencken wrote a book about Nietzsche's philosophy?
Mencken! Nietzsche! Mencken on Nietzsche! Is this proof that we live in the best of all possible worlds? I think it is, ladies and gentlemen. I think it is.
ZM
P. S.
Perhaps I shouldn't have assumed you knew this, but...
As you know...
The original 1st edition of Jim Thompson's THE GRIFTERS, which I bought and published as one of my last editorial commitments at the paperback line I created, in the '60s, Regency Books, was my design. Horizontal and all. It was an original novel, and one of the last important books Jim wrote.
Yeah, he said with pardonable pride, not only did I inspire, edit and publish Farmer, B. Traven, del Rey, Bloch, Budrys, Clarence L. Cooper, Jr., Bill Brannon (W.T. Brannon, to you), Sheckley, Don Honig, Hal Ellson (and a coupla books by a Harlan Ellison), I published the great, the GREAT Jim Thompson. With a horizontal cover.
Yr. P.S. Pal, Harlan
RICHARD COHEN, ET AL ------- spatial relationships
Funny you should mention it. The cover of my forthcoming A FISH HEAD IN ASPIC is a sidewise cover. That's how I (and Arnie Fenner) designed it pursuant to the myriad responses to
the (apparently somewhat controversial)Jeff Hardin artwork we premiered here a couple of weeks, or so, ago.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
Over at his wonderful website 'feuilleton', artist John Coulthart (an occasional visitor to this very site) is doing a nice survey of the work of French artist François Schuiten, especially his collabaration with Benoît Peeters in a series called "Les Cités Obscures".
If you're not familiar with Schuiten's work why don't you mosey on over to www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/ and drink deep. You'll also find Mr Couthart's site a veritable font of links to all sorts of cultural web nooks and crannies of interest. Not to gush but this site seems to me to be what the internet is for.
Living as I do in MYSTERY BABYLON (known to the vulgar as Washington DC) I am fortunate to have a comic store available where I was able to discover some of the series a while back, both in French and in English. So a shout-out to Mr Joel Pollack at BIG PLANET COMICS.
Script, po-em, perrrrrrformance
Olson, Jarrett, Ellison:
Thanks to each of you for the words and performance. Brilliant, hilarious, true. The day after I read the article and laughter knocked me out of the chair, my dad asked me to redesign a book cover for him. I nearly blurted out my new favorite phrase.
Also, John Scalzi has just written a piece "On the Asking of Favors From Established Writers."
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/09/15/on-the-asking-of-favors-from-established-writers/
HERC inquiry
Hello Susan,
Could you please tell me if you have "Sleepless Nights in the Procrustean Bed" available for sale? It was not listed on the HERC page. Also, do you have the Hornbook in paperback?
Thanks,
Dima
Ezra, I'm with ya fella. The mooks didn't laugh at my succotash quip either. I am in the heartbreak club with ya pal.
-------------
Hitchens recently admitted that he is anti-abortion. He said that a fetus is a viable person. That mook is all over the place, aint he?
Thank you for the many nice compliments I have received on the Seuss pastiche / Olson tribute.
Thank you especially to Unca Harlan for the once in a lifetime thrill of hearing something I wrote performed by my favorite writer.
MARK GOLDBERG, my heart goes out to you and your family as you confront these brutal decisions regarding your mother's care. I've been there. Many of us here have. You are not alone.
ROBERT ROSS, it's great to hear that you have gained some hard-won ground in your health struggles. Clearly you are a fighter. Your courage is an inspiration. Hang in there.
DOUGLAS, I remember that DragonCon dinner well. It was you and Keith and Debbie along with Gina and myself, and a good time was had by all. We'll do it again sometime. In fact, we would have already if we didn't live so far apart -- you way up there in BC and us way down here in NC.
Steve J.
Trek News
Not sure if there could be any monetary interest for our host, but it was announced today that the remastered STAR TREK original series are being sold to 6 CBS-branded channels in the UK in a deal with Chellomedia:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118008557.html?categoryid=3599&cs=1&query=Chellomedia
And to think that I saw it on Ellison Street!
Thank you Josh Olson, Steve Jarrett and Harlan Ellison for a most enjeuyable (if it's pronounced "Soyss, then...) diversion. As I said on the Village Voice's blog, it sounded like a meeting of the Theodores: Geisel and Brother.
Suggested future readings:
Tears From a Glass Eye Can Write! (by Le Sieg and Nosille)
Oil of Dog in the Hat
Oil of Dog in the Hat Comes Back
I'm Sorry or Your Welcome,
Brian Phillips
Be well, Mr. Ross.
Clarke's "Reach for Tomorrow" had a fairly famous horizontal cover by Powers.
That, and a few more are noted at
at http://www.bookscans.com/Oddities/horizontal.htm
Various blogs and merchants on the internet note as well:
"The Club" by Steve Yardley, "I am Sexual" by Janet Baker,
and "The Sad-Eyed Seductress" by Carter Brown
(female recumbency seems the dominant idea);
also "The Grifters" by Jim Thompson (Regency paperback)
Of course there have been some horizontally-oriented
comic book covers over the years too.
Richard
Scriptreading & Poster!
Harlan,
Rest assured that I will ALWAYS make time to read your F****** Scripts!
Susan,
Sorry for the delay but had to spend a few days at the VA hospital for tests. MO for poster is in the mail.
Harlan,
I'll be looking for your story in December.
I'm glad you posted that reminder!
REPLY TO ALEX NYSTROM
My new story (I discussed this, and answered this very qyestion at length, some weeks ago, right here) will NOT be appearing in the new "Twilight Zone Memorial" volume. No great mystery as to why: they offered me a pittance, presented me with a usurious contract that took everything, gave nothing, and would not compromise. I pulled the story, sold it to REALMS OF FANTASY one day leter, and was well-paid. The Dillons have done the art, the story is titled "How Interesting: A Tiny Man" and at the moment is scheduled for the December issue.
I am quite pleased with it.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
REPLY TO ALEX NYSTROM
My new story (I discussed this, and answered this very qyestion at length, some weeks ago, right here) will NOT be appearing in the new "Twilight Zone Memorial" volume. No great mystery as to why: they offered me a pittance, presented me with a usurious contract that took everything, gave nothing, and would not compromise. I pulled the story, sold it to REALMS OF FANTASY one day leter, and was well-paid. The Dillons have done the art, the story is titled "How Interesting: A Tiny Man" and at the moment is scheduled for the December issue.
I am quite pleased with it.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
Best wishes to Mr. Ross. I have been down the surg/chemo/rad road. It's worth the pain for the gain -- 19 years remission this December for me, almost half my life.
Does anyone know the status of the Paramount/WGA lawsuit currently? It is clear that Harlan's rights have been grossly abused, particularly with respect to the three books written about his "miniverse" without credit to him. Thanks!
c3
I don't honestly know which impresses me more - Mr Olson's original essay, Mr Jarrett's poem or Mr Ellison's reading thereof. Brilliant, the lot of you.
FinderDoug: "All I need now is Orson Welles reading 'Fox in Sox'".
Reality has come VERY close. Many years ago I had two LPs of Dr Seuss - including "Fox in Sox", "Green Eggs & Ham" and "Horton Hatches the Egg", and several others - read by the late Marvin Miller, who had a voice and delivery to rival Welles. I was having slight flashbacks as I listened just now...though HE's performance (particularly the last line) put me more in mind of George C. Scott.
I'm happy to dip my toe into the waters here and report that my situation has improved ... quite a bit, actually. I'm still on chemo once a week, but I was able to return to work part-time, and last week I had a CT scan which showed the cancer is at a standstill. It doesn't look to have advanced since my last scan in June. The scan did show a great deal of fluid around my right lung, so I had a procedure to drain much of that fluid off, and that was a BIG help. I'm breathing easier now.
How much fluid? Well, I'll put it this way: The next time you buy a two-liter container of soda pop, hold that up to your chest, and imagine what it might feel like to have that surrounding one of your lungs. Then imagine how good it would feel to have it drained off. Hoo ... wee ... !
I won't try and predict how long this can last; it just feels good to feel good.
A Big Thank You to everyone here for their good wishes, et cetera. I don't have much energy to join in on the discussions going on here, but I read everything with great interest.
Brilliant post from Steve Jarrett. It did indeed give me a laugh when I needed one.
One little thing I was curious about: I picked up the latest Hard Case Crime title, and the cover painting is on what I would call the horizontal axis ... meaning you have to turn the book on its side to view the painting properly. I don't remember ever seeing any cover painting on a paperback like that ... so I wondered if that was somehow considered taboo to do it like that? Can anyone list any other books with cover paintings similarly situated?
Love it
The narrated poem is fantabulous.
But I also like the WereWhale idea.
A Brush with Fame
Not to brag or anything, but I once had dinner with Steve Jarrett, his marvelous wife, and a small entourage.
D.
Harlan, Steve and Josh: Oh, sweet Jesus, that was wonderful. After a long day of work and travel, I can't tell you how good it felt for me to get home, check the Pavilion, find the reading and let loose in a long series of horse-laffs. Kudos to all of you, gentlemen.
On another subject: The New York Times gave Norman Borlaug a front-page obit this morning:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/business/energy-environment/14borlaug.html?hpw
Wait just a goddamn minute! You mean NOBODY is interested in my white whale werewolf script!?! Even with the great ending when Captain Van Helsing gets hoisted on his own silver harpoon and Maleva the gypsy cruise director comes paddling by intoning those immortal words...
EVEN A WHALE WHO IS PURE AT HEART...
Of course, the whole point of "Green Eggs and Ham" was that the refuser was being close-minded and unimaginative. At the end he did sample the eggs and ham and was all the better for it.
Not that we're celebrating any close-mindedness or lack of imagination here.
Geekdom In A Pot o'Beans
With nothing better to do with my life for the last two weeks, I settled back wadin' through horse shit n' chawin' hay, tuning in on old Bonanza episodes I've never seen.
Well, by cracky, I guess I become what ya call yer sod bustin' semi-fan:
Some of them very early episodes of the first and second seasons are better n'chitlins!
*A remarkable and brutal episode about mental illness - in a time when doctors were just beginning to understand it but were totally helpless to treat it - titled 'The Dark Gate', starring James Coburn. Pernell Roberts as Adam was excellent, trying to help his increasingly violent friend who'd "disappeared" nearly a year earlier as multiple personalities emerged. This episode, believe it or not, is painful and provocative to watch. I was very impressed.
*Another great episode centered around Adam about the mining tragedies of the Comstock, when wealthy investors - strictly interested in profit - showed no concern about miners losing their lives in constant cave-ins (striking social parallels in this story and much of what happened on Wall Street a year ago). I learned from this one about Philip Deidesheimer, a Dutch inventor who solved the problem with a mine support system based on the honeycomb. It became known as "square set timbering".
*From another historical episode I learned about The Bowers Mansion, which was built in 1863 by the new millionaires of the Comstock mining boom. A comedy eloquently narrated by Adam Cartwright, starring Ida Lupina as "Annie O'Toole".
*I learned about yet ANOTHER historical figure previously unknown to me, the physicist Albert Abraham Michelson, who won the Nobel Prize for developing optical precision instruments which made it possible for scientists to measure light waves. I forgot the title of this episode, but it was most illuminating.
*Another starred the talented actor Howard Duff as Samuel Clemens.
I like these historical episodes. They inspired me to research the topics.
While I find many Bonanza episodes to vary widely in quality, some of them are REALLY good!
Other remarkable and well-written shows were 'The Ape' (with a pre-Trek Leonard Nimoy in a performance unlike any I've ever seen from him), 'The Magnificent Adah', about a drunken and ruthless professional boxer, 'The Duke', another fictionalized historical episode with British character actor Maxwell Reed as a cruel London boxer seeking a bout with John Heenan, the Benicia Boy, and a great episode with Lee Marvin in 'The Crucible'.
...n'before I take mah mule back inta the mine shafts, I'll just say this about Hoss Cartwright:
The character is a genuine original; one of the handful of great tv creations up there with Spock, Columbo, Archie Bunker, and House!
I wish there had been a Harlan Ellison episode in this series (a non-Corwainer Bird, of course). I think Adam would have been a great instrument for an Ellison characterization.
So here I am at home with walking pneumonia, and what to my wondering ears should appear but Harlan not reading nobody's fucking script. Better than antibiotics, I'm telling you.
Harlan, *please* tell me that is now your answering machine message.
Leave you guys alone for two days …
Wow. leave you guys alone for two days while I have to get hospitalization for a sudden raging infection, and look what you guys do.
I love that po-em (with the correct "auf Deutsch" pronounskiation) of the byname "Seuss" and the rolling R's that Harlan does so well.
I'm at least thrilled to be able to say I was there when it all started, and Josh Olson is the newest addition to my stable of role models.
Theodore Geisel
Loving the "po-em." I've listened to it several times already. That is a marvelous group effort!
Regarding scripts: Josh O's reaction is one of the reasons that I refuse to get into the scriptwriting business to begin with. Oh, I'll make a stab at it here and there with a spec script and a proposed TV series, just to prove to myself that I can write in that style. Then I'll register it, send it maybe one or two places as an experiment (like the CBC and BBC, who accept unsolicited material, unlike this country), then get the rejection letters and pack it all away--and that's about it. These aren't delusional "this will make my career!" actions, either; they're just... well, something to do until I die. I've certainly never thrown a script or short story at friends or family and expected anything big to "come of it."
Having been here in L.A. for several years and on a comfortable level with a lot of professional comedians, I know that I could hit up a few people in the industry and send them something I wrote, but to what end? From a realistic standpoint, I know that I--one of the non-union, inexperienced, unqualified writers in this closed-in Hollywood world--don't stand a chance, no matter how well I can write or how "brilliant" the idea. It would be a waste of time, effort and hope to think that someone is going to pluck an idea of mine out of the rubble, polish it up and make it shine.
Josh, Steve and Harlan:
Outstanding. It's on my Facebook page.
This just in from my sweet, innocent, ingenuous daughter:
::customer walks through the door:: "Hi how are you?" ::under breath:: "get out of my fucking store before I fling movies at your head"
I told her to go listen to Harlan so she can laugh.
MadCon topic & story suggestions
Just a reminder to please EMAIL your suggestions to me. I don't get to The Pavilion as often as I'd like and would hate to miss anybody's input. By all means post them here as well, but copy me via email so I can compile a list for Harlan. There's no guarantee he'll do any of them, but you never know. He might do 'em all.
Thanks,
Michael
Steve,
"You're not only viral, but quickly becoming a cottage industry. I'd copyright "IWNRYFS" (the phrase, not the acronym) ASAP."
With the help of the lovely Mrs. Ellison, I'm working on it.
I just found out that a film teacher in GERMANY is assigning it to his students.
Steve Jarrett, thank you for such inspired poetry and thanks to Harlan for his typical great job on reading the work. This humor was much needed, as I was asked to be present via conference call for my family's meeting with the doctor tomorrow morning.
We will be discussing whether to switch to a particualrly nasty form of chemo or stopping my Mom's treatment and letting the end come naturally. There are, unfortunately, no other options at this point as the morphology of her disease does not meet the profile of any clinical trials and even if it did, she would have to be off all treatment for 4 weeks prior to entering the trial, which would probably be fatal, as fast as this tumor is growing.
Thus, the laugh was very much appreciated
All the best,
Mark
RANDY JOHNSON -- thanks for the Hard Case Crime recommendations.
DAVID JESSUP -- thanks to you, likewise; and I take the point that it's a good idea
to buy 'Fright' (whether lesser or greater -- pace Rick Ollerman).
Won't be able to read it for awhile, though: I'm on a Woolrich break.
To ADAM-TROY -- never say I'm not CASTRO convertible:
your words on Dr. Borlaug got me searching then reading,
so now I know, and thanks for being the spur.
(No entry for Borlaug in my much-loved copy of
Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science & Technology --
maybe a later edition includes him.
But come to that, don't we need a new, updated edition A'sBEofS&T?)
BRIAN PHILLIPS -- you'll scorn me a little since I've always found "Dick Tracy in B-flat"
disappointing, but I'm curious about the source of the Larry Gelbart credit for it.
Can you refer me?
Richard
Steve Barber is the clerk in the liquor store of life.
--------
I am starting a new charity, hoping you will all give me funds for it. Stop the suffering! Justice for succotash! We use our little comic jibes about how fun it is to watch succotash suffer, but I find that appalling. So I implore you all to help me stop the suffering.
Say no to suffering succotash! Amen.
That's all folks!
"I Will Not Read..."
In the parlance of the medium, I am ROTFLMAO.
(Attn: Michael at Deep Shag, *this* needs to be on the next album.)
____________________________________________
DTS - You're quite correct. Never worked in a liquor store.
Taco Bell and Toys R Us, yeah. But never a liquor store.
On the other hand, I've been a customer for years.
____________________________________________
PAUL - "I ran around the corner to our local liquor store to get a can of cat food"
It's apparently my own attempt at surrealist poetry.
(And, technically, it's not a fragment. Just poorly written.)
____________________________________________
STEVE JARRETT - You have joined the ranks, monsieur. Brilliant.
JOSH - You're not only viral, but quickly becoming a cottage industry. I'd copyright "IWNRYFS" (the phrase, not the acronym) ASAP.
HARLAN - Just the right metric patois in the reading. One for the books, so to speak. (See reference "Deep Shag" above.)
The Cat Piano
Given our Esteemed Host's ailurophobia, perhaps this isn't the best place to post this. But it's magical. See what you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj4RBmU-PIo
(Originally, I put this on the Annex, and received a vote to re-post it here.)
For those with browser problems
For those having problems with the audio file showing up at The Village Voice site, here's a direct link to the audio file: http://vvoice.vo.llnwd.net/e12/3852845.0.MP3
Hopefully the double post will be forgiven... :)
No play button here using Internet Explorer. In desperate need of a reason to laugh this morning.
Nope
Nope, nope, nope. Page loads with an error. And I am using Internet Explorer. I will see it when it shows up on Youtube.
That was wonderful - like a petit four just after lunch. My boss doesn't often get to ask me if I have a screw loose because I'm giggling madly in my cubicle in the middle of the day for no apparent reason. Bravo to all concerned.
All I need now is Orson Welles reading "Fox In Sox".
ATC, try with internet explorer.
A welcome surprise.
Josh, can you also record Harlan reading something like Poe's Annabel Lee?
Would Deep Shag or Blackstone do a disc of Harlan-selected poetry?
It would be a fine thing to do.
Nope
Nope, no play button here. Dammit.
wAAAH
For some reason the play button is not coming up for me. I'll take another look.
Steve Barber, I have a hard time parsing the fragment, "I ran around the corner to our local liquor store to get a can of cat food".
--------------
SUSAN~ No replacement is necessary. I believe I can fix the wrinkle when I matte it. I only wanted you to know that extra insurance in the form of crimpled paper 'in tubus' as it were, was a good thing. Your kindness, as always, is appreciated. Thank you.
--------------
Josh and Harlan and Steve~ Really fine work, gentlemen. I hope there is a Grammy for this one.
(Apparently my computer didn't reload the page once or twice while I was posting in the comments section, and I tripled my words. I hope they kill two of those. Embarrassing on a national scale.)
Happy happy joy joy
Heard it, heard it, heard it, calloo callay and posted the link to my FB page because these needs to be shared. Let the world rejoice.
ATC,
You have to click the Play button under the photo. I'm looking at it as we speak.
Ummmm
That just posts the poem. Is there supposed to be a video or audio of the reading?
Script Reading
Someone needs to get that clip up on YouTube - truly outstanding reading, Harlan! (and props also to Josh and Steve Jarrett for the writing!)
It's up
Enjoy. This is the finest kind of merriment:
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/09/harlan_ellisons.php
POTC IV
http://tinyurl.com/p2jdws
Disney bought the rights to the novel ON STRANGER TIDES even before POTC III had finished production. loved those movies, by the way. and this coming from me who won't even go to Hollywood films.
very important -- libraries in Philly will close unless we act
Every library in Philadelphia will stop lending on September 30 and close (forever) on October 2. Philadelphia has seriously planned to do this.
If you care about this, call up Senator Pellegi at 888-984-3478 and ask him to pass the budget and allow these libraries to stay open. please forward this message on to everyone!
A news story:
http://tinyurl.com/nsgcdr
Dr. Soice
Josh's surprise has been posted. I will not give it away or link it, but if you poke around a bit you'll find it. Out-friggin-standing.
Favorite Harlan readings
Well I grew up in a smallish town as a teen and watched Star Trek every Friday night. I always made a note of the writer of the episode and if it was a new one I knew I'd be at the local library that Saturday morning to see if they had any of his books/stories. Well thanks to Harlan's script for that show I was able to find a copy of Dangerous Visions. I have been a fan since then!
The only script I will read is "Foundation Trilogy" if Harlan ever adapts those books for the Silver Screen".
A wonderful Larry Gelbart tribute.
From the great blog of Ken Levine:
http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/
Brian Phillips
For Josh Olson:
I liked your article on the Village Voice website. I've read with interest some lively debates over it. One published author, and I'm talking Tor here---not a vanity press, disagrees with your contention that you can tell if a person can't write after only one sentence. Otherwise she thinks you've done a valuable service to those wannabes who aren't willing to learn and improve their writing.
Now to change the subject, I would like to bring the following web page to the attention of the denizens of the Pavilion:
http://savethedragons.nu/
Dave Freer is a South African SF and Fantasy writer who is in the process of moving to an Australian island with his wife and their pets. Correction, the three dogs they're taking with them are pets; the four cats consider Dave and his wife staff. But, there's a problem. They have to put their menagerie in Quarantine for six months. That costs money. Much more money than they originally planned. Especially once the exchange rate got into the act and went against them. They need a minimum of $10,000 US Dollars to pay for the Quarantine. Instead of just asking for money Dave has put out the storytellers bowl. He has a novel, Save The Dragons, which was originally going to be serialized in Jim Baen's Universe before the magazine decided to close. He plans to release a chapter a week as they are paid for until he reaches the end of the story.
So far thirteen chapters have been paid for. They're about halfway there.
So, denizens of the Pavilion, please check out the web page. If you could see your way clear to contribute a dollar or two, it would be much appreciated by the Freers. If you're like me, broke, please consider forwarding the link once you've checked it out.
This is only my second post here at the Pavilion, so I hope you all don't mind the announcement I've made. Thank you for your time and attention.
Wyman Cooke
I will post on your fucking website
I'm so sorry to be brief here. Some of the comments from folks - especially Adam-Troy Castro - have been magnificent and heartwarming.
This goddam thing has taken on a life of its own. The Voice's blog has never gotten anywhere near this many hits before, and it's spread all over the damn net. My editor at the Voice has estimated that the piece itself - in all its iterations on the net - has gotten a million hits.
Absolutely whacko. And gratifying, because the response has been overwhelmingly positive, and in eventually, I'll talk about that more, probably in a follow up piece, although there's no way it'll ever top the original. Yeesh.
Anyway. I wanted to say one thing about this place.
I have not wept with joy in so long, I can't remember. The other day, Harlan called me, and read me something someone posted here that was so brilliant, and so funny, and so right, there were tears in my eyes, and not just of laughter.
When I conceived the thing, I knew what the title was off the bat. It just came out of nowhere, and I loved its Seussian cadence. I wrote it months ago, and had pretty much given up on publishing it anywhere until the Voice stepped in, but all that time, I kept thinking, "I need to do this thing. It demands to be done." But I didn't. I'm lazy, I'm busy, and, I'm glad I didn't, because, frankly, I'm nowhere near as good at this sort of thing as Steve Jarrett is.
So here it is again:
I will not read your fucking script
I will not read it in a car
I will not read it in a bar
I will not have it in my house
I will not click it with my mouse
I will not read it here or there
I will not read it anywhere
I'd rather be tied up and whipped
Than have to read your fucking script
I will not read your fucking script
I will not read its exposition
I will not read its scene transitions
I will not read its dialogue
I will not read its epilogue
I'll leave its pages quite unflipped
I will not read your fucking script
I will not read your fucking script
I won't discuss its plot reversals
I won't attend its cast rehearsals
I won't discuss its complication
I won't discuss its adumbrations
I won't discuss its camera angles
Its syntax I won't disentangle
I won't critique its denoument
Nor its hero's tragic flaw
My lips remain securely zipped
I will not read your fucking script
I will not read your fucking script
I will not read it as a lark
I will not read it in the dark
I will not read it on a drunk
I will not read it in a funk
I will not read it on a dare
I will not read it for a scare
Until they lay me in my crypt
I will not read your fucking script
I will say no more, save this - something kinda wonderful is coming out of this, and Steve knows what it is. In the next day or two, so will you.
You'll love it. I promise.
And Steve, again, from the bottom of my black little heart, thank you, brother.
Spider reacts to Harlan's generosity
I'm not planning on issuing a daily report but I wanted to pass on to Harlan what I just heard on Spider Robinson's podcast http://www.spiderrobinson.com/podcast.html in reaction to the news of Harlan's offer. Spider proclaims himself "...startled and deeply moved" as well as "...mindfucked and deeply grateful" at Harlan's generous offer when he got the news, apparently toward the end of recording the podcast.
So far the auction page has had 416 visitors (and no, that's not me checking every 30 seconds; I never check oftener than every minute)and has 14 people watching the item. No bids yet, but the day's still young.
I very much appreciate the folks who've posted the info in various places and invite everybody who posts anyplace even vaguely related to books or SF or Harlan to post links or email me with suggestions. As usual, information about Jeanne's situation can be found at http://stardancemovie.blogspot.com/. Various ways to help can be found at http://wedreamforjeanne.blogspot.com/ and a list of all of my auctions is at http://tinyurl.com/qhae7d
Thanks all,
Jan S.
Hard Case Woolrich
Woolrich's "Fright" is one of the best Hard Case Crime books. I thought it was terrific by any measure, difficult to put down and compulsively readable. I don't know who labeled it "lesser Woolrich" (I've seen that, too) but someone should find them and throttle them soundly. Seriously.
Even if you agree that it's somehow "lesser" when compared to his other work, the label itself brands it the book inferior in a way beyond the Woolrich oeuvre. I don't think it's his best book (I don't know which I think is his best book) but I don't think that merits the derogation associated with the term.
If you're in the mood for a Woolrich, "Fright" will not disappoint. Just my one cent (it's less than two cents, which makes it-- Never mind.).
Labels are probably never fair, especially when they seem to become catchphrases for a particular work,
Hard Case Crime and The Marx Brothers
No, not together.
One title in my "to be read" queue is the HCC August 2007 reprint of Cornell Woolrich's "Fright." Though reputedly a lesser effort, since this was "the first publication in over 50 years" this was the time to grab a reasonably priced copy.
As for the Marx Brothers, a long-lost appearance. While researching my book (non-Marxian) I was directed to a website or two displaying various documents concerning tobacco companies' litigation. While grabbing all the "Camel Caravan" scripts between 1936 and 1939 I could find, I came across the script from September 1st 1936:
http://www.rjrtdocs.com/rjrtdocs/image_display.wmt?ROTATION=0&&CAMEFROM=28&SEARCH=1&DOC_RANGE=514532649+-2670&GOTO=1&SIZE=1&tab=search&USESECONDARY
(Apologies for the insane address length.)
The script has been grabbed and posted elsewhere, too; a search may turn it up. The show itself - as far as I know - doesn't exist except for a couple non-Marxian minutes. If I'm wrong, I'd love to hear about it.
Norman Borlaug
Just a quick post to note that Borlaug's obit is a prominent link on the front page of The Huffington Post, third from the top, with a provocative-enough headline (along the lines of "The Man Who Saved a Billion Lives") that I suspect quite a few more people will know who he was and what he did before the day is done.
MM
and then there's the one
about the time he was riding the rails and had to murder that hobo.
Clerks, libararies and Ellison Apochrypha
STEVE BARBER: YOU have obviously never worked as a clerk in a convenience (or liquor or gas station/convenience) store. The scenario you described happens a lot. Especially when you are the only one working in the store, and expected to keep the cooler stocked, the place cleaned up, and the customers happy. The REALLY weird encounters -- when I was a kid, going to highschool and earning bucks for gas money, car insurance, etc -- involved things like a guy trying to act Vato loco, getting up in my face, wanting to beat the fuck out of me, because (trying to learn Mexican on my own) I asked the girl I worked with what he and she had said to each other, and he overheard as he was leaving...or learning that the old guy I changed places with at one of the three convenience stories I worked at (before getting fired for insubordination) was peeing in a jar in the back of the store (where food and cigarettes were stored) because he was worried about leaving the cash register unattended -- yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeccchhh!
GAIMAN's LIBRARY: Because of all the reviewing I did for various papers and magazines (I only recently realized just how _many_ reveiws, columns and author profiles I cobbled up_ -- I managed to build up an impresssive basement library in KC; about two thirds the size of Gaiman's. It gets me misty eyed thinking about alla the books sold upon deciding to go to Australia (then I look out the window, and it's all good).
HARLAN: Don't know if I ever told ya, but Joan Bunke, my fine editor in Des Moines, was very impressed by your long-ago phone call (and voice message on her phone). I was finally scanning and saving the columns I wrote for her paper. Each one of them -- not to mention a stand-alone book review (of a Dan Simmons novel) -- got 2/3s of a page! At the time, since I'd just started writing for newspapers, I thought it was cool, but I had _no idea_ how rare such an event was in newspaper publishing! Joan was most definitely one of the best friends the SF genre had, since she came up with the idea of starring the column after I (having landed a regular gig with the "Denver Post" hit her up for work. She was also one of my favorite editors, actually sending me pages to proof before running the columns. I never experienced _that_ again.
ELLISON STORIES for DEEP SHAG: I vote for Harlan Ellison and the Chinese Waiter, since Robert Silverberg mentioned it in his F&SF introduction to the special Ellison edition back in the late '70s.
-DTS
The Ascent of Man
The great work of mankind is often done by quiet hands in hidden places. We only know of the laborer, too often, by tracing the lines in a child's laughing face.
I noted Norman Borlaug's passing yesterday, and I did know a bit about him, and his work. I was pleased to see A-TC take note of this here. as well as that Adam-Troy was not the only voice raised in praise of a great soul. We ought all look up from out daily work and play, take a moment, say a quiet "thank you",
Tyrants used food in the 20th Century to murder hundreds of millions. Norman Borlaug took their favored weapon, beat the sword of famine into the horn of plenty, and thereby saved hundreds of millions.
RIght up until a year or two before his death yesterday at 95, he travelled the world working to do for Africa what he hed already done for Asia: empower the poor with the ability to feed themselves and their neighbors, and thus begin the long walk from poverty. That's all he ever wanted to do, and he did it over and over and over and...
Norman Borlaug and Larry Gelbart: Two more reaosns why I cannot stomach the canard of America/Americans as stupid or evil.
I'll even gently throw Harlan Ellison into the mix, as a vibrant example of an American at his best.
KOS
KOS
Classic jibe from Bill Maher, calling Sarah Palin "Carrie's Mom." hehe.
To Richard Cohen
Hard Case Crime Books
1. Stop This Man! Peter Rabe
2.Dead Street Mickey Spillane
3. The First Quarry Max Allan Collins
4. The Last Quarry Max Allan Collins
5. Deadly beloved Max Allan Collins
6. Killing Castro Lawrence Block
7. Fake I. D. Jason Starr
8. The Cutie Donald E. westlake
All very good.
Hard Case Crime series
For the most part I've had a good time reading 11 of the Hard Case Crime paperbacks --
all but a couple them resurrected oldies:
361
Blackmailer
The Dead Man's Brother -- an old ms, though newly pubd
Grifter's Game
Home is the Sailor
Lucky at Cards
The Murderer Vine -- probably the best written of those I read, but it left me depressed
Plunder of the Sun
&
The Vengeful Virgin -- in some ways the most satisfying, and with a smashing cover
The two that weren't old timers were "Little Girl Lost" by Richard Aleas, which I liked
and "The Colorado Kid" by Stephen King, which I despised as an anti-fictional cheat.
If anyone here would like to recommend me other titles in the series
-- new stuff or old,
Please do
and Thanks,
Richard
DAVID SILVER & STEPHEN from Wrigley Field: With the ups, downs, and sideways of late I forgot to thank the two of you for responding to my queries about the KEWPIE camera. Much appreciated, gentliesmen.
***
The garage/yard/estate sale continues and, with the notable exception of two or three ill mannered vultures who wouldn't take no for an answer and all but threatened to be let into the big shed where even older items have yet to be uncovered, the crowds have been fine and full.
Only 1/6th of the entire trove has been uncovered so far. Items such as unrotted s