Unca Harlan's Art Deco Dining Pavilion
Left, right, nobody really knows what they mean anymore. Nobody cares. Nobody should. It is best to look at the world in as honest of a fashion as one can. You can only do that by going to the root of all problems, that means you must become radical. Radical just means you look at the root.
It gets you in trouble, it doesn't get you friends, you do not get invited to all the fine parties and shiny buildings. Leaders with that mindset either get involved in coups or they get killed.
Pat Buchanon, Pat Choate and Ha-joon Chang are all right about trade. Buy American should be our mantra. We can trade, but there must be new rules. Gut the WTO. We should raise tariffs on imported goods. Government spending for hard industry here at home. Let those idiotic tax cuts fail. Raise a slight tax on stock transactions. Create make-work jobs at home.
Elect me. haha.
The black flag party. Makes the Whigs look like Huckleberry Hound.
-----------
I was trained for years to hate Alexander Hamilton. I have seen the light. He was our greatest founding father. He was no conservative. I was tricked.
Protectionism, the new normal.
I'm not an atheist,
but I'm definitely an aneriadontist. And you neriadontists make me sick. Chew on that.
(sorry for the second post; forgot this)
Peeyes: Josh Olson, GREAT reply about independent thought and the tedious limiting pathetic monochrome liberal-versus-consevative dichotomy in this country, which is completely alien to an outsider (ie me) arriving here. People don't seem to think in any terms outside those myopic ones in this country; guess the right's don't-think-tanks and their popcult propaganda have worked all too well...
Harlan, dinnae gie's yer pish.
(Which is a Scottish expression meaning Harlan, please do not assail me with nonsense)
Oy vey! What a ramblerant kvetch! Sorry to have mistaken a few days for a week. That's the reason why I asked if you had seen the request, because I thought there was a good chance you hadn't. I am in flux right now. You have NO IDEA; my entire life is upside down.
OK, no interview, fine. How about this for a could-have-been first question:
Harlan, writing was supposedly invented 3500 years ago in Mesopotamia to record financial transactions. What do you think the first recording of human emotion might have been, and why do you think this, or that this was the case?
You think I was gonnae ask you about your youthful literary headspinfluences, or about Star Dreck, or such crap? NO CHANCE. I don't give a fuck about such popcult crapola. I was going to stretch my brain and come up with some hopefully interesting questions that would hopefully make you think too. But it's okay, it's cool, forget it. Got other things to think about, but it would have been cool to ask you some questions, as I did with JG Ballard (http://www.laurahird.com/newreview/williamsburroughsinterviews.html) by snailmail. I am proud of those letters I have from him. As I am of the replies I have gotten from you.
I genuinely only asked what the Harlequin poster looks like because it's possible, in these net-lit dazed futuristic days, to post PICTURES of stuff to be bought, a la Ebay; I was not trying to be funny or cute or obstreperous or difficult. Sorry if you thought I was.
Thanks for your reply Susan. I think if you still have the poster in two weeks' time, when I get money, I DEFINITELY want it for the bare cold walls of my new solitary place. If not, well, c'est la vie.
Onwards,
G.
METROPOLIS mention at the BBC
A reminder that a more definitive METROPOLIS is here / on its way (for home viewing). Caught this link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8949756.stm
Twenty-five original minutes have been restored to the edit. The footage is quite scratched, but hey, what a find. This is how Fritz Lang intended the edit to be before the tampering began.
For Ben: Send in your want list to me (with a telephone number) and I'll see what I can do.
Jason: I'm taking to my bed with all the kind words. Thank you.
Paul: Books will go out today.
All best--Susan
Less Contentious
Yeah, let's skip religion and politics and talk about stuff upon which we can come to a reasoned consensus. Abortion, say. Gun-control. Best beer or burger ...
Getting right to the most important one, best burger. I dunno anymore, but in 1968, the best one was the chili burger at Original Tommy's on Beverly Blvd. at Ramparts. Hands down, and anybody who says differently is a heathen savage and fie on them.
Perry
Susan
Yes please, that would be swell. Thank you both.
Paul
shagin--
Yeah, you gotta work your way back up. I started walking after the diabetes diagnosis, and am up to two miles a day on the treadmill. There's a great walking path at work, but it's been a frigging brutal summer here in Alabama. I've gotten to the point where missing the walk really messes with me.
Which I found out two weeks ago when this happened:
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa152/jthomas666/family/Photo0105.jpg
Let this be a lesson to you all: Always wear your seat belt, because you never know when some idiot not paying attention is just going to turn right in front of you. It's not the seat belt laws you should be worried about, it's Newton's Law.
Luckily, I was able to hit the brakes, so I only got a mild scrape on my forehead. Finally got the car replaced this week--words cannot express how much I loath car shopping--especially when on a tight budget.
With all of that out of the way now, I'm looking forward to a (relatively) peaceful weekend.
ATC's reasons for atheism are pretty much mine. I could work up a nice, detailed complaint against religions, full of refutations and citations of atrocities... but my main reason is that I just wasn't interested in religion beyond a vague notion of what God was. Kept undercutting that notion with my younger self's version of irony, weird questions, and rationalizatons... but at root, I just wasn't a very religious kid.
It wasn't until I saw the movie of _Inherit the Wind_ in junior high that I realized that I was an atheist. Maybe there's a phase atheists go through where we really _get into_ the refutations of the Bible's logical failures, and I went through that. I'm wary of people who haven't moved beyond that in their atheism.
My final thoughts on the subject before Harlan murders me
MARCI KISER,
"So, your bulwark against atheism is its failure to prove a negative, then?"
I was actually more interested in the deeper, more ethereal question of whether or not there IS something beyond what we know and are willing to recognize as conscious beings, but hey, if you really prefer to downgrade that question to a debate about the existence or non-existence of tooth fairies, I’m 100% certain you’ll vanquish me with your impeccable logic and rationality.
"As for the "bowing out before things get ugly," it's profoundly disingenuous to respond to criticism, make your own points, and *then* say "I'm walking away!""
Mother of Pearl. And Josh accuses ME of “missing the point”.
Marci…please pay attention to what I’m about to say. Regardless of what you think, I’m ducking out not because of cowardice - smooth method of enflaming a debacle that should die a quick death, by the way. I’m bowing out because I’m sick of bile, something which always seems to bubble up in my chest whenever I engage in any sort of discussion with an atheist (for some reason still unknown to me), and I predicted that’s exactly what I would get if I continued to carry the debate further.
And you know what? I was right. Imagine my stark horror when I discovered the one thing that you absolutely, positively MUST NOT argue with Harlan about for any cause or reason…
…was the one thing that I’ll absolutely, positively not change my mind about. Until I'm convinced otherwise, atheism to me will be capable of the same thuggish extremes as every other mode of belief on the planet. At least with something like agnosticism, you’re allowed the honesty to admit that you don’t know JACK about what the hell’s going on.
Try to imagine my dilemma at the moment. If I stay the course, Harlan or Josh, both men I fucking adore, will become demonized in my eyes as I will no doubt become demonized in theirs, with inevitable banning to follow. If I bail out, I’ll be a wishy-washy chicken shit - at least as far as you're concerned.
God might be an invention of Mankind, but the Catch-22 scenario is definitely the Devil’s handiwork.
I would like that to be my final word on the matter.
Now, could we please, please, please, PLEASE stop?
Atheism
Re: the idea of an atheist conference.
You know, those of us who can be described as "atheists" arrived there via different routes.
For those of us not forced into that philosophy by an oppressive government, there are several possible routes.
Some of us angrily rejected the tenets of religion when they saw how religion had contributed to mankind's suffering over the centuries.
Some of us rejected the tenets of religion because they could not reconcile them with mankind's other accumulated knowledge.
Some of us rejected the tenets of religion as a backlash against a trauma either personal or observed, unable to reconcile any worthwhile God with awful events.
And for some of us -- I suppose I'm in this group -- there was no formal "rejection" involved. I buy the the other arguments more or less, but the truth is that the teachings just never took, wth me; I was dragged to my family's place of worship just the same way every other kid was, almost weekly for some stretches, and I listened to the sermons and I learned the hymns and I sat through Sunday School and the seeds found nothing but barren earth in me.
My Father used to respond with irritation. "If you FOLLOW ALONG, sooner or later, you'll believe it." The two problems with that were that a) I did follow along, as much as I could, and responded to the historical record of the Jewish people but could not buy the precept of a mercurial sky man; and b) even as a child, I instinctively rejected the idea of a lesson that you had to hammer your skull into believing, until the dogma was ringing in your ears. My head just wouldn't cooperate with that.
Every atheist argument I've ever heard -- the evil churches, the errors in the Bible, etc. -- is redundant, as far as speaking to my personal belief system goes. I find some of them interesting to read, but that's about it. For me, it all goes back to the seed's failure to germinate in my inhospitable - though hardly hostile -- soil. It doesn't make me bitter or confrontational with religionists. As long as they don't step on my foot, or insist that their personal beliefs should dictate the laws of my country or the way my country treats those who don't subscribe, then I'm fine with them.
(I'll confess to invoking the mercurial sky man when in crisis, sometimes for as little as a difficult bowel movement, but I explain that by saying that, at such times, I'm not exactly a disinterested party.)
In light of all that..the idea of going to "an atheist conference" flummoxes me. They've already drawn their conclusions; what do they want to accomplish, spend three days telling each other how right they are? Or are they angrily talking about how wrong everybody else is? And making plans to spread their gospel of non-belief?
Can't imagine a less productive use of my time.
*
I was solicited to do one of those redundant interviews with Harlan, and though I *talk* to him all the time, I'm more or less happy it won't come off.
Deep Shagged
I just listened to On the Road With Ellison Volume 4, and I really dug the essay in the cd liner notes. When I see someone leave the men's room without washing their hands, I merely snicker, but when Harlan sees that he chases them down. I guess this is why I'm buying his cd and Harlan's not buying mine. I also can't help wondering whether the glove that you bring to signings is the left one or the right one.
Susan, I know that I am about a month late asking this, but are there any further Repent posters left? I also need to renew my Rabbithole subscription -- it's 15 smackolas correct?
Brad M666
HARLAN HAS ASKED...
...that the religion thread be taken to the Forums (or elsewhere).
http://harlanellison.com/heboard/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1727&start=3060
I would request we honor his wishes.
(I am committing this violation of the one-every-24-hours posting in the guise of Forums Moderator. Rick, if you have any objection, please let me know.)
ATHEISM: A LOVE STORY
CONTRADICTION IN TERMS
Speaking for myself, I get tired of “believers” – by whatever degree they consider themselves such - trying to explain my own thinking process to me, perhaps out of unconscious reflex to the effrontery: NOT believing something exists is NOT in itself a BELIEF! No scriptures are needed here. An atheist simply doesn’t believe there’s any sort of “supreme being”. It’s that simple. It’s one of these cognitive games even the most intelligent among us tend to use when their own faiths are threatened.
I AM an atheist. Stop telling me what an atheist is.
Now, what people do with this kind of “liberation” is vastly variable. One guy may renounce belief in a god, but have religious-like zeal politically, and such examples are multitudinous (ya gots yer loud-mouthed Nazis, or yer Stalinists, or yer fervent Nationalists...or even yer Rand-freaks!); or you may have yer greedy conscienceless fuck solely interested in the big buck! (We get these, whether they are god-believers or NOT) There are also many HUMANISTIC atheists committed to the earth, the elimination of poverty, wildlife protection, and so on. MOST atheists I myself happened to cross throughout my life fall into the last group.
A CONTRAST BETWEEN 2 VIEWPOINTS
You and I are sitting together in a room. The door is closed. Locked. I installed the dead bolt myself. Yet, abruptly, you declare there’s someone standing outside the door. I point out that the front door to the house is also locked, so there’s no reason to think there can be anyone there. But steadfastly, you insist that anytime you sense such things you usually turn out to be RIGHT! Your gut tells you there’s someone outside that door. I’ve no REASON to believe it, but your mind – hard wired as it is – has rendered the reality for you. I can't seem to change your mind. And since I tossed the key out this second-story window, NEITHER of us can open the door to see...because THAT was a two-way dead bolt I placed there!
I don’t BELIEVE there’s anyone out there. YOU do. This does not make my position...”likewise a BELIEF”!
I’m an atheist. Stop telling me what an atheist is.
THE PARSING
John Ruskin:
“Even the most superior mind and the most powerful imagination must found itself on facts, which must be recognized for what they are. The imagination will often reshape them in a way which the prosaic mind cannot understand; but this recreation will be based on facts, not on formulas or illusions.”
Without getting into the details, I was ONCE a “believer”! I had religious beliefs until I was 21 or 22. I remember VIVIDLY how REAL things seemed as bestowed by my faith. But I was also an abstract thinker since my infancy, compulsively asking questions and wondering about EVERYTHING! Eventually, after a series of events in my life, I stood back to re-examine WHY I think what I THINK. Was I prone to an idea because I HEARD it all my life, or because of empirical learning? My boldness with this question grew slowly as I got into reading history and science voraciously. I phased into the viewpoints generally associated with agnostics, which, incrementally, led to unabashed atheist.
The COGENT lesson I got from this was how REAL my beliefs seemed to me, even though there were no events in the external world to prove it. I didn’t NEED proof in the external world. My beliefs told me ALL I needed to know.
Thus, I understand the power of belief subjectively – CHEMICALLY! – for the same reasons the Shadow knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men! This epiphany was VERY important to me.
THE COMMUNION?
Like some of you here, I am uncomfortable around what I think of as “cultish environments”. I don’t like passing around the candle and chanting! Feels like my individuality is being absorbed.
And I can’t image what Atheists would gather for (even though I’m aware some actually DO). What are we gonna say to each other? “Hi, like you, I DON’T believe there’s a deity! WAY ta go!”
If it takes more than 5 minutes for a group of people to tell each other they don’t believe there’s a deity, something’s FUCKED and creepy about this scene!
A UNIVERSE
The human brain, by involuntary reflex, compensates for missing information about the external world. If it has never been told about the sun before seeing it, the brain will interpret the experience and put into place its own meanings. Our brains are defaulted to work that way, and it constructs our entire subjective world using this mechanism. This is why I am now very, very wary about presumptions, precepts, and faith.
Every day we’re learning SOOOOOOOOOOOO MANY new things about regions of the brain and its chemical receptors from neuroscience. However close we might be to a partner, we each exist within the boundaries of our solitary shells. Humans can only prove the existence of his or her own mind through introspection, and find access to another mind by analogy of ones own.
“HOW CAN YOU LIVE AND FACE THE WORLD WITH OUT A FAITH?”
My desire to learn. That’s what I live for. I have a voracious hunger to KNOW. When your mind travels that journey, you haven’t time or concern about mystical fancies. Speculation, imagining, expressing, observing; these, to me, are the cobblestones of growth and fulfillment.
Because time is the only bond between human flesh and cosmic legacy.
Thanks, Susan!
The book arrived today, beautifully packaged, as always. If only every retailer was equipped with a Susan Ellison to handle the shipping, the world be one step closer to perfection.
Thanks again,
Jason
Harlan --
I know I don't have to reply, but I just had to add that it's uncanny how I knew, just KNEW I'd blown it with my spelling of "foreword" when I hit the send key -- and that you'd notice it. I feel appropriately ashamed, especially since I've read your comments on this usage before. But the gentle smile was worth it.
By the way, I need to memorize your perfect deconstruction of that dreadful phrase "fundamentalist atheism" so I can recite it to the next person who tells me that "atheists are just as dogmatic and close-minded as any religious fanatic." Close-minded? Haven't I already admitted I was wrong about something!
Fast-FORWARD to the next topic.
The Oscar
I am not sure if our esteemed host is interested, but I pass this on to those here that might want to get involved. emovieposter.com auctions off posters, pressbook, stills and other arcane items. In this case its a 3 sheet for THE OSCAR. Bidding has just started and the condition looks good. Here is a link to an image: http://www.emovieposter.com/gallery/inc/large_size.php?lot=5p620
The auction is open till next tuesday. Good luck to those with a hankering for this piece.
Re: "Fundamentalist Atheism"
I remember hearing a lot about "Secular Humanism" back in the 80s.
Book Purge
Okay, as Harlan stated I am definitely "late to the party" but I have seen some postings about the re-listed purge. Unfortunately they would now be in the archive which only goes up to July as of right now.
So, Mrs. Ellison (hard enough to call Harlan by his first name, but his lovely lady fair?), what mechanism would you like me (or any others) to use if we are still interested in items that made that listing? Sadly I was on assignment during the original purge and could not participate.
I hate to bog down this list with minutae but there are some very cool items that I would still love to have. If you would prefer me to just send a potential list I would be happy to do that, just seems like dead air on this forum. Would perhaps over snail-mail to HERC make more sense? Let me know, and thanks for your gracious patience.
Ben
The Good: walked the second day in a row (having not walked for exercise/relaxation in quite some time).
The Bad: I didn't walk my usual pace, but I did take one of my usual routes.
The Ugly: Ou-fucking-ch. That will teach me to work up to these things.
shagin
chomps
BRIAN - "it's said that Chomsky's characterization of Faurisson as as "some kind of apolitical liberal" amounts to a defense or an endorsement of Faurisson's view"
I just want to point out nothing of the sort was said. My claim was that Chomsky said he did not consider Faurisson an anti-Semite, but rather some sort of apolitical liberal. This is practically a paraphrase of the section of the essay with the "apolitical" quote. And right before that I said "Chomsky presents a blistering defense of Faurisson's right to free speech" without mentioning any support or defense of Faurisson's views.
I never said Chomsky was an anti-Semite, or that he supported Holocaust denial in any way. I think the only correction I'd make to what I said is that on a more careful re-reading of the essay Chomsky does go out of his way to say he is going to restrict himself purely to the free speech issue.
I haven't really given my opinion, because it's speculation. Whatever his thoughts on Israel, I doubt he gave or gives two shits about Holocaust deniers for good or ill. But I'm sure he realized backing off would weaken his defense of free speech, and he *definitely* cares about free speech.
Sure, he was misled about the work and what was being done with his response to it - but he failed to do any due diligence. If you want my opinion, I think Chomsky just got a little sloppy. I bet when it blew up he went back and read the letters and was like "Oh fuck."
I've done the same thing, so whatever. Good on him. I don't have a problem with the dude. I just get tired of the overblown white knighting that goes on here.
My latest mad idea
Harlan, hi! Hope you and Susan are well. Despite being hot and french-fried.
This is a serious question and possible proposal. Would you really do an interview if someone paid you? And what is your fee for same? This would not be an interview for journalistic or publication purposes, and I would never use for same. It would be me asking you questions as a writer and human I have admired enormously since I was 20. For my own personal purposes. Among which is- I write fiction. And poetry, but it is the fiction that concerns me. Because I am stuck. I think I am a good writer. And I think I have good concepts. But I can't make it jell for me. And you did such a brilliant job of making your writing work for you from such a young age that I think and believe the answer for me might lie somewhere in your writer's psyche. And I think a personal interview would possibly give me the impetus or courage or direction or all three to pursue my writing seriously, which thought makes me happy. If you still went to Clarion or gave workshops, this is something I would happily pay to attend. So why not pay you directly for the privilege of picking your brains, if you were willing. I'm coming to madcon in some way if the crik don't rise. And if this proposition is not feasible for you, no worry. You and your writing are always an inspiration for me.
You can reply to my e-mail personally if you like or Rick or Steve B can get me via private message in the forums. Thanks always. Looking forward to seeing you guys at madcon
Confusion Say:
It's nice to see someone with all the intellectual skills of Harlan Jay get as confused by this board as I do on a daily basis.
*Who* said *what* to *whom* is one of the true challenges to keeping track of the topics??? You need a sports players' grid sometimes.
Then again, that's kinda what I like about this place....
BOOK PURGE STUFF
PAUL HULL: Received your order. Would you like your books personalized?
GRAHAM RAE: I have a "Repent" poster left. $30.00 plus $5.00 shipping.
TONY (Indy): Since the online book purge was your idea, if you are interested in an item let me know, and I'll see if I can oblige.
EDWARD DOOLITTLE: Your order was received on the 19th. Your books were mailed on the 19th (complete with lots o' custom forms-Priority International). Both your books and Morgan's books were mailed to YOU. The poster (separate tube package)was sent directly to Morgan. A confirmation notice was sent to you and Morgan. So...I think it is too soon for the books (or your confirmations)to have arrived. But, they are on the way. No need to worry. Hope that made sense. Please let me know when they arrive.
With all kindness.
Susan
Harlan: The heat can addle the best of us. At least you went back and checked.
Susan: The Hornbook arrived today, in excellent, nay, pristine condition. Thank you so much. And thanks to Harlan for writing it and signing the title page.
Chuck
REPRISE TO SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHITE!!!!!
Geezzus peeezusss, I really AM french-fried.
1. None of this has anything to do with Tony from Indy. Susan will get in touch with you shortly.
2. The fucking poster thing WAS YOU, Rae!
3. Yes, you're right, and I'm wrong, Correction Guy:
it WAS a Mark Rothko quote, not a Robert Smithson.
Fried.
Harlan
SHIT SHIT SHIT !!!!! WILL I NEVER LEARN????
GRAHAM: all of that was for you EXCEPT the part about the poster!
That was for "TONY IN INDY."
Shit shit shit shite!
----------------------------------------------------------------
TONY IN INDY: none of that was for you EXCEPT the part about the posters.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Wait. Stop. Rewind.
It's between 108 and 111 degrees up here today.
My brain is broiled.
Yr. fricasse'd friend, Harlan
Rothko.
Mark Rothko.
I mean, silence and accuracy-wise.
GRAHAM RAE REPLY
An interview. Not "a couple of days ago" ... you asked last Monday. And I didn't see it.
I cannot accomodate you. I'm interviewed out. Close to 60 years of being questioned. And answering. Which is a core part of "Riding the Rails in Atlantis. You come too late to the party, kid. Do you really think you can come up with something I haven't already answered in 75 books, this forum, or in person at hundreds of public appearances?
And no one ever wants to pay me for the time.
"Wellllll, it's JUST an innnnnnterview!" they whine nasally.
In the past two weeks I've been approached for interviews eleven (count 'em} eleven times. They all seem to think that THEIR obsession should be mine. And they are offended when I ask what I'll be paid. And then they offer as inducement, "Well, I'm not getting paid." Good, I tell them; you're an imbecile who wants to work for nothing. But you ARE getting paid, somehow, in something other than Coin of the Realm. Everyone works for payment: pelf or plaudit, payment or their face on Dumb Videos. I am blue-collar. Like you, I work for a meager living. SOMEone, if not you--then Sony or Verizon or Google or TimeWarner or SOMEone--will be benefitting from my words. Written or spoken, story or interview, they are MY WORDS. And I work for PAYMENT.
If, on the other hand, your electronic vampire wishes to pay me an exorbitant amount to go over the same shit for the 10,000th time, I will listen to an offer.
Otherwise, Graham, you're a good guy; so don't let yourself be turned into a schnorer (a Yiddish word for mooch, also explained in useage here, by me, at least 1500 times).
As for those posters from "'Repent, Harlequin...'" by Frank Miller, AGAIN, You Come Late To The Party, and on top of it you want me to explain what it fuckin' LOOKS LIKE?!!!? Geezus, kid, the book purge was bad enough. If Susan wants to accomodate your idle desires, that's HER business.
Do I smart thee?
Do you take offense at my tone?
As the architect/artist Robert Smithson noted: "Silence is so accurate."
Harlan Ellison
of money to be interviewed, and the copyright is in the name of The Kilimanjaro Corporation
PWA#1 review by Sam Christopher at Axiom's Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy
http://axiomsedge-scifi.com/wordpress/2010/08/he-is-risen-harlan-ellison-returns-to-comics/
--
Josh, I didn't know you're a fan of The Oscar. The German poster:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380257654076
If you do want it, I could send it with stuff I'm sending Harlan, or you get it directly when it reappears (soon, I'm told).
The Italian poster (one of several versions; medium-size) is around $40 with shipping regardless of destination:
http://cgi.ebay.com/LOCANDINA-ORIGINALE-TRAMONTO-DI-UN-IDOLO-JOSEPH-LEVINE_W0QQitemZ170531470638
Will also probably look in Italy later this year. The French posters:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3522/3840454157_c905796b0d_o.jpg
http://www.dreammovies.net/affiches6/La%20statue%20en%20or%20massif.jpg (around $45)
"I am not a joiner."
The above words of Harlan's have a special meaning for me.
I remember watching an interview with an old woman whose grandson died in the Branch Davidian conflagration at Waco.
"Poor Lester Earl," she told the reporter. "He always was a joiner."
At that moment I realized that belonging wasn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be.
SMALL COMMENT TO ROBERT NASON
I believe you mean "foreword," not "forward."
No need to reply.
A gentle smile.
Harlan
Harlan, you see that request from me for an interview from a few days ago? If you did and don't mention it again, I won't either.
What do you call a deer with no eyes? No idea.
What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fssshhhh.
Okay, so maybe those jokes work better said out loud as opposed to being read.
"This isn't the melody that lingers on/it's the malady that malingers on" - Foetus.
Tea Party... should I bring a cozy?
I spent two hours today shuffling several hundred volumes around a private library, hauling armfuls of books from one end of the room to the other and sweating "in the most unattractive of places" (to quote Davina McCall) as I tried to organize the chaos. The place in the process of taking out all the non-military-related paperback books and keeping the hardcovers, as well as integrating someone else's private library in with theirs. Fun. But at least I'm getting paid well for this.
Anyway, as the midday heat and the exhaustion got to me, I looked at one book cover that integrated the phrase, "The truth about..." into its title. And as I stared at the written history around me, I heard myself mutter, "Yea, they ALL think they know the 'truth,' don't they?"
It's worth noting that among this collection are monthly bulletins from the Un-American Activities Committee. Uh-huh. Just like putting the Japanese into concentration camps was once the "right" thing to do for our country, and calling out everyone with even the slightest shade to their reputation as a "Red," so the Tea Party movement has gained the same mindless support of the masses. Because it's what's "right" for our country.
Sure. Okay. So to the Tea Party zealots, I say, you g'head and ride with that and be the little patriots that you want to be. Just leave me and mine out of it. But do me a favor: look around as you wave your flag, and see what kind of religious, racial and social class diversity have joined you in your quest for what's "right." Then ask yourself, "If the U.S. is a melting pot, then how come this particular bowl of soup looks like clam chowder and not minestrone?"
Something to read and worry about if you choose
I usually start my mornings off by listening to an couple of hours of NPR. One of my favorite programs is Fresh Air. And while listening this morning I began to get very frightened for our Nation.
If any one out there dosen't believe that the Tea Party is one of the most dangerous orgnazations to crop up in America in recent history, may I direct your attention to the most recent edition of The New Yorker. In it author Jane Mayer talks about the Koch brothers, the most busy political activists you've never heard of.
The article discusses how these men have spent the last 20 or so years funneling BILLIONS dollars to right wing causes, setting up things like the Kato Institue and otherwise duping good people into doing some seriously dispicable things. (the last statement is that of your most humble poster)
For those who are interested here is the link directly to Ms. Mayer's article http://tinyurl.com/23f8nul
As and aside, Mr Barber, you have every right to be very afraid of the Tea Party and what they propose to do to this nation.
ATHEISM
I am an Atheist.
Have been since, literally, the age of six or seven.
All of you except the newcomers who seem unaware of the Archives maintained at this site, know this.
Know they, that I am an Atheist.
I know quite a few of you on a more than casual basis. Some of you are Jewish, some of you are Christian, some Muslim, some Buddhist, all the rest of you are one thing or another -- by your self-proclaiming. Wearily, I will say this once again, as I have at least fifty or a hundred times in the ten year existence of this small forum:
There is no such thing as the made-up, silly designation "Fundamentalist Atheism." It is a contradiction in terms. Those WITH religion, whatever or whichever, all have one thing in common...
ONE
THING
ONLY:
each one thinks it is THE one, the RIGHT one, the TRUE one, and
those with religion spend far too much time trying to convince everyone else that THEY are right, and all others are deluded.
I will not get into that.
I speak for myself. I am an Atheist, and the one thing that all religious world-views have in common is the ONE THING THAT ATHEISM
does NOT have.
You don't have to join us. You don't have to believe ANYTHING that you cannot prove without recourse to "faith" or "hunches" or "my dog spoke to me and said..."
I was asked recently to be a featured speaker at a big national or international Atheists Conference. I demurred. I am not a joiner. The very idea of massing to profess my Atheism is just too insane even for me. Cindy will understand. So will Josh and others of you I know. I politely said the same NO, THANK YOU as I would have to the Tea Party, the Republicans, the Democrats, the Libertarians, or anyone else.
If you even fractionally believe in some myth called Fundamentalist Atheism, then you deserve whatever comes your way.
But I do ask that you take this religion discussion to one of the Annex sites where it won't further bore me with echoes from the Crusades and even before.
I beg you, take it to its proper talking-place. Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion...FOREVER! UNTRAMMELED! But elsewhere, please.
Supine at your feet with this humble plea, Yr. Pal, Harlan
THANK YOU, GREG HURD
Your odd little gift received. Thank you, I guess.
Harlan
FRANK CHURCH'S NOAM CHOMSKY DEFENSE MILITIA--CODEX:
Here's Noam explaining himself better after the shit hit the fan.
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/19810228.htm
For better or for worse Noam has a certain matter of fact way of presenting himself. It's his personality. He doesn't want to put much emotion into these matters. Mainly, he thinks that that would get in the way of promoting the general idea.
We can say that a Holocaust denier is a dirtbag or a scumfuck or a dirty drawers or some such, compared to Chomsky's term "apolitical liberal." Can you deny the holocaust but still not be a nazi scumbag? Possibly, but as Chomsky mentions in several interviews, even mentioning holocaust denial is wrong. But he will defend free speech when a tribunal is going after someone, even if everbody thinks this person is a nazi pukeburger.
Chomsky should have read the views of Faurrisan better, but he does regret that the piece was used without his permission. Remember that the charactor assassins put out the meme that he approved of the ideas. A simple reading of the vast Chomsky archive easily proves they are intellectual barbarians.
Chomsky may be one of the last defenders of real free speech. No matter what you think of deniers, you have to admire that.
He is also on record defending some of the grievances of the tea party and that guy who flew the plane into the building in Texas. If you read his manifesto it's not as loopy as the media made it to be. It's all just sad.
---------
Now I know why Harlan loves this Josh person. Real good, real good.
Nancy Pelosi is our Sarah Palin. I wouldn't vote for her if she were the last liberal on the earth.
--------
There is a concerted effort to defame Noam Chomsky. From one of his books being pulped in the 70s to his marginality in the media. Then you had Finkelstein being denied tenure and Ward Churchill also being fired. The right get free speech, our side gets the boot.
A small note to Josh Olson
"...fanning the flames of hatred that led directly to the murder of a New York cab driver yesterday."
Ahmed Sharif, the cabdriver who was attacked after he said he was Muslim, blessedly, is alive. More importantly, here is what he said AFTER he was attacked, "I work hard, I try to support my family and I believe in this country, if you work hard and you're honest, you're good, you can have anything you want."
Quite the fellow.
A note to everyone else:
I am not a Muslim (no, really! Well, 80% of you may believe that.), but to show you the madness of crowds, let me tell you a story. I worked for a large company. I am African-American. My last name is Greek, my middle name is French and my first name is Celtic, but I am an Amurrican, as some put it. Around work, most everyone called me Hagar. It was part of my e-mail address. I used it because Hagar was mentioned in a sermon at my old church (I missed the part about her being a SHE). Also, there were several "Brians" and it was practical to delineate which Brian someone meant (It also beats being called a variant of what "Black Jack" Pershing was originally called!) Nothing to do with Dik Browne's Hagar the Horrible. I'd been with the company since 1995 and sometime after 9/11, one or two eyebrows were raised about my nickname. No one had ever thought my nickname was the slightest bit injurious or seditious. Now, someone was looking at me as if my very citizenship was in question.
Had this person asked me, I could have told them that as a little boy that my Dad took me on a tour of his new office, when his lab was being moved from Varrick St. (a cool building with gargoyles). I could have told her about the first time that I'd seen an elevator that went up a hundred floors. I could have recalled the wind while my Dad, brother and I walked through the floor still being built. Even though my Dad had passed over ten years earlier, I could have told her the relief that I felt that all of the folks that worked in my Dad's old lab got out safely, because he worked in one of the smaller buildings. Instead, this woman, found my choice of e-mail "interesting".
Before anyone jumps to any conclusions, the woman, was an African-American lawyer.
I am not comparing myself to Sharif. I am not saying that I suffered. I am not saying that our situations are too similar. I will say that someone as unlikely as me got a .00004% dose of what the madness of crowds can do. This woman and I had many pleasant conversations and she was (and probably still is) a very nice person. However, her mind changed about me, for however long. And it was all due to this horrible day, for a religion that I don't practice, nor vehemently hate.
By the way, it's probably best (and who in the hamfat are you, says everybody and they are probably right) to not get too out of line here. I'm glad to see our esteemed host back; let's not see it go sour again. That's a note to everyone, myself included.
Apropos of nothing, here is an article with some very interesting ideas by Rebecca West from 1914:
http://www.tnr.com/book/review/the-duty-harsh-criticism
Brian Phillips
Correction
Happily, the initial reports were wrong, and the cab driver who was stabbed for being Muslim survived.
Bait-and-switch
BEN said:
"But until intelligent design is irrefutably proven to be a joke beyond a shadow of a doubt, I'll regard atheism as a system of belief as much as Christianity or Judaism, complete with its own predilection for self-assured "rightness" about the way the cosmos works."
So, your bulwark against atheism is its failure to prove a negative, then?
As for the "bowing out before things get ugly," it's profoundly disingenuous to respond to criticism, make your own points, and *then* say "I'm walking away!"
Robert,
“I'd love to see Noam Chomsky write the forward to Sarah Palin's next book, just to show he believes in "all kinds of speech," no matter how odious.”
Your thesis doesn’t hold water, as no one is threatening Palin’s right to express herself. Should the day come when idiots like her are in danger of losing any of their civil liberties, I guarantee you, not only will Chomsky be fighting for them, so will I, and every other person here who thinks she’s an evil douche. That’s how free speech works.
To those who do not understand it, or honestly support it, though, this is an alien concept.
-----
Alan,
“You've painted yourself into a corner standing on a soap box of Extreme Liberalism;you can not wiggle even an inch;your views are so one dimensional you can't even imagine the patience of debate any longer,just hate and discust at those not coming with you to these conclusions.”
This statement is even sillier than Robert’s.
I’ve always found it fascinating that any time you criticize the views of someone who is a self-described conservative, you are automatically labelled a liberal, as though it’s inconceivable that one might honestly find someone like Sarah Palin disgusting without being part of some team.
I don’t view politics as team sports, and I don’t identify myself as anything. When I come to a political question, I don’t hold it up to some sort of test to see where I, as a good Whatever, ought to come down on it.
If I were to see a truck bearing down on a child and did everything I could to save that child from that truck, would I be labelled a Liberal if it turned out the truck driver was a Republican?
There’s a kind of team identification that I see on the right that I don’t see anywhere near as much on the left. It goes, I think, to the sort of mindset that’s required to be a true blue contemporary conservative. Problem is, conservatives are the ones who dictate terms these days, so we all just go along with it.
We don’t squawk, for instance, when the media labels fundamentalist Christians who oppose women’s free will as “pro-lifers,” even though these same people are very often demonstrably NOT in favor of life. We sit by idly and let them label a conservative centrist like Obama a liberal, and we let these labels stick.
And I, for one, am tired of it. The implication that my objection to Sarah Palin stems from some sort of team loyalty is personally offensive. It indicates a belief that I am incapable of independent thought, that I require orders from on high before coming to moral conclusions. It also suggests that I am not honest - that if I just switched “teams,” I’d suddenly start cheering every time this semi-literate moron blathered some new idiocy.
It is usually the case that such accusations tell us more about the accuser than the accused- because they are generally followers and ideologues, they take it on faith that anyone who opposes them must be as well. The problem is, once you start approaching things that way, you become nothing more than a tool. You are an object to be manipulated, as opposed to a human being with individual ideas and views. When I see Obama pull some shit that outrages me (which I do frequently), I am beholden to no party that demands I keep quiet. I speak my mind. Just as I do when I see Sarah Palin trot around the country spewing ignorance and hatred. I don’t give a crap about her politics. She’s a horrible human being, and I wouldn’t piss on her if her heart was on fire.
I am not a liberal. I am not a conservative. I am someone who is deeply concerned with doing right, with the survival of my species. Sarah Palin is clearly dishonest, clearly deluded, clearly a demagogue, and clearly out to do things to this country that are clearly harmful. To oppose her is not a political stance. It is a moral one. To see her as the malign presence she is is not a political judgement. It is a human judgement.
Feel free to call me all the names you want, but do not accuse me of adhering to some party line, some ideological rule book. I leave that sort of thing to lesser minds, to people who think “elite” and “educated” and “informed” are bad words.
"She's just a simple chick from Alaska."
No, she's not. She's a frothing ideologue who has spent the last week fanning the flames of hatred that led directly to the murder of a New York cab driver yesterday. Simple chicks from Alaska don't have hundreds of thousands of followers. That you can't defend her without lying about who she is says it all.
Steve Barber, the greatest quote in the New Testament (in my opinion) is also the least quoted, for obvious reasons:
"For I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?' "The King will answer them, 'Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' (Matt. 25:35-40)
The LEAST of these my brothers represent Christ?!? You can see why that's a problem.
My own interest in religion has more to do with culture than with scripture. If we say (and keep in mind I am quoting no one here, just offering a general hypothesis) that all religion is harmful delusion and has no value to intellectual beings, we also dismiss massive swaths of culture that we simply cannot do without. You can't have La Pieta or Mozart's Requiem without religious context. You don't get "I have a dream" without a Christian foundation, nor do you get the work of Mitch Snyder, and without Southern Baptist tradition you lose Mahalia Jackson, the Reverend Al Green and possibly even Elvis. I even think you don't get Superman unless you have Samson and the Golem.
Tolerance ain't just about graciously letting the unwashed littlebrains have their say -- it's about allowing for the possibility that great ideas can come from anywhere, and from anyone.
Book purge boat missed
Hi Susan,
Thanks for posting the remaining items from the purge (and at my suggestion, apparently!), but I missed the post over the weekend and the deadline it contained. I'm just happy to see that more items will find good homes. Anything to keep HE off the streets singing for his supper, right? (Even though, I've heard tell, he sings quite well)
Thank you,
Tony
DOUGLAS HARRISON,
"Well, notwithstanding that atheism, in its inclusive sense, is a lack of belief and not any kind of certainty, no one is asking you to commit to anything."
Never said they were. But until intelligent design is irrefutably proven to be a joke beyond a shadow of a doubt, I'll regard atheism as a system of belief as much as Christianity or Judaism, complete with its own predilection for self-assured "rightness" about the way the cosmos works.
PAUL,
"Josh can defend for himself what he meant by his wish, but in the battle between atheists and hardcore christians, I know who is more dangerous."
Mao. Stalin. Until proven otherwise, both parties are as capable of being just as dangerous and unhinged as the other.
JOSH,
I'm sorry if I phrased my last post in such a way that you misinterpreted my remarks as a personal attack. I'm willing to apologize for any unprovoked hostility, but not for my views on atheism and religion.
I've already had a nasty exchange with Rob and Amperion a few days ago, and I'm not ready to repeat the experience in such a short peirod of time. That's why I'm bowing out of this debate before the bile REALLY hits the fan. Some time ago, I told Peter David that I try to choose my battles, especially when I'm arguing with someone who's much, much higher on the social ladder in terms of professionalism and recognition.
This is a battle I'm ready to choose. You won't back down, I won't back down, things will go downhill faster than a car without brakes, and frankly, if rage and confrontation IS an inevitable factor in life, I'd prefer to face them in the flesh than in a zone as ephemeral as the web.
You're a man I deeply respect, which is why I don't want this to get any uglier.
Phoenix Without Ashes #1
I just picked up the first issue of Phoenix Without Ashes at my neighborhood comic store last night, and it is a keeper! I'm not sure what the technical term for this concept is, but it seemed very "cinematic" to me. As I read it, I got the same feeling that I get when watching a film by Hitchcock or Kubrick, and that the visuals tell the story, not just the dialogue. I can't wait a whole month for the next issue!
My coupla drachma on the tea partiers: these are the same people, who, for the past several decades, have championed excessive military spending, and also supported the completely unnecessary war in Iraq, as well as the war in Afghanistan, as well as Bush's irresponsible tax cut for the wealthy. And now that these decisions have racked up trillions of dollars of unnecessary deficits, they have the gall to protest the results of the policies that they supported for all of these years and believe that they have the right to blame others for this?!?!
Looking forward to Madcon in a few weeks!
Brad M666
Why is it...
...we get such vehement anti-elite rhetoric from the very same people who will argue that the rich deserve tax cuts the rest of us cannot afford; that will deny that we as a society are supposed to help those less fortunate than ourselves (kind of an elitist attitude in and of itself); want to deny Muslims a community center, but would wholeheartedly endorse a Christian construction in the very same spot; condemn, as elitist, anyone who thinks our leaders need to have some intellect about them; and tell us -- in the same breath -- that our morals and values are not acceptable.
Those that condemn elitism would seem to practice it daily.
I don't often look to scripture for commentary, but
"Luke 18:9-14
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ..."
It seems to me the Pharisees are in abundance these days...
The Tea Party Movement
From what I've seen, it seems to be yet another astroturfing brought to us by a few well-funded neo-conservatives and libertarians in response to the Democrats taking the White House. I do not think the Tea Party is racist, though I think many members are, as are many members of ANY political organization: I happen to believe racism is a natural biological manifestation which takes strength of character, education, or experience with those different from ourselves to counteract.
But IF the Tea Party is a legitimate movement, where do they stand on the following issues?
1. Statehood for Washington DC. (It seems this would be a main plank in the tea party movement). This would not only stand as a symbol of the movement, but also might win some non-white, non-conservative support for it, and ALSO would put these pesky charges of racism behind them.
2. VAT tax versus a flat income tax, versus our current graduated income tax.
3. What services should the government stop providing? (I've never seen a Tea Party Federal Budget. Like the accusations levied against the Democrats in the healthcare debates that they didn't have any plans available to be debated, which was not true, I actually haven't heard any Tea Party Budget plans. In the healthcare debates, EVERYTHING was on the table, from Public Options to plain old health insurance company reform.)
4. War Tax. Should we levy a tax to pay for the War in Iraq? Afghanistan? If not, how do we pay for it?
5. Where were you, Mr. and Mrs. Tea Party Member, when Bush was giving money back to the people without making any reductions in the Federal Government Budget, and where were you when Bush ran up a Trillion Dollar Deficit? And if Republicans win back the White House, will your participation in the Tea Party Movement cease, or will you still carry on passionately until you achieve your stated goals (or is your unstated goal, as I believe, to merely put another Republican in the White House)?
It's called a dialog people. Let's communicate.
-Keith
PS - Josh, you wrote a killer piece in support of marriage, debunking the arguments of that ignorant pastor, and I just wanted to tell you that. Good going. I don't know dick about Chomsky, so I'll not comment on that brouhaha.
I will say that I don't think Holocaust denialism is anti-Semitic, though plenty of anti-Semites probably subscribe to it. I support Israel, for no other reason than that Jews have been persecuted and chased out of countries for 5000 years, and I believe they should be allowed to stop running that marathon.
Mark GOLDBERG: there has been some sound advice re: your possibly anti-Semitic friend. My 2 cents: in person, I think his comment would have come across differently, and my guess is that he was just ribbing you in text. One of my best friends is a Jewish guy who belongs to the NRA, and we are like cats and dogs in our arguments. He doesn't eat pork, and EVERY chance I get I work that into the conversation. I also criticize him on his inaccurate use of Yiddish from time to time (thanks, Harlan!), and just about everything else that friends can rib each other about: we have a friendly-adversarial relationship, and we ALWAYS have each others' backs. He, on his side, criticizes my height, my stupidity, my lack of elan, my lack of fashion sense, my lack of conversational restraint, and, in general, everything about me that makes me identifiable as me. I, a gun control enthusiast, have gone to the shooting range with him. (And yes, I joke that the only reason I have to learn how to shoot a gun is to defend myself against the hordes of Tea Partiers descending on DC...and yes, he shares Tea Party Movement ideals, by which I mean vague feelings of powerlessness and a general feeling that he's not represented in Washington anymore. Ugh. Here we are, full circle.).
Ben W.,
"...just as I yearn to live in a world in which atheistic egoism is more extinct than the dodo, Josh. I'm sure colorful characters like Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin would agree with the common atheist assessment that most of the worst crimes committed against humanity were perpetuated by organized religion.
"With statements like that, is it any wonder most individuals of faith - any kind of faith - view atheists as jackbooted thugs smashing into their homes with steel-plated copies of Darwin's THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES while roaring the latest quote by Richard Dawkins like their own personal form of Bible-thumping? Because, really...are there that many greater hypocrisies than fundamentalist atheism? (No, that isn't an oxymoron. Not anymore.)"
What most bothers me about your response to Josh's remarks on religion is that you suggest his disdain for it reflects intolerance and belligerence--that, despite his avowed support for freedom of religion, his view of belief somehow impinges on the faiths of others. But what he wrote, however provocatively, was a simple opinion, nothing more.
"And neither will Christianity, Judaism, or Hinduism MAKE you murder in the name of your deity, unless you're already mentally ill to begin with. Believing in Intelligent Design doesn't enforce madness any more than not believing in Intelligent Design. This is the sort of topic where the only real option is to go around in circles like a merry-go-round, while the rest of the crowd places bets as to who will vomit first."
Your countering an argument I didn't make. I merely said that "atheism won't make you a communist tyrant," in response to your use of guilt by association.
"...and this is exactly why I can't commit to atheism any more than I can commit to a specific religion. It's the unwavering, unmoving, unbending CERTAINTY that we live in a universe of physical inevitability that I find offensive."
Well, notwithstanding that atheism, in its inclusive sense, is a lack of belief and not any kind of certainty, no one is asking you to commit to anything.
D.
OKAY, WE'VE GOTTEN TO LIGHTEN UP FOR A MOMENT, TROOPS
Guys --
I'd love to see Noam Chomsky write the forward to Sarah Palin's next book, just to show he believes in "all kinds of speech," no matter how odious. Or write the forward to ANY Tea Party-er who publishes a book.
Ain't gonna happen.
(I'm fully prepared for the cracks about Tea Party people being incapable of writing books. But it's even more impossible to imagine Chomksy contributing even a footnote to one -- just to show he really does believe in that much ballyhooed Freedom of Speech. "Free speech for me, but not for thee," as Nat Hentoff once said.)
I should never have waded into the murky waters of Chomskyland. One foot in, you get sucked down forever. So I'll just tell a joke instead.
A Jew, a Greek, and an Eskimo walk into a bar. The bartender tooks up and says:
"What's this, a joke?"
Mark Tiedemann,
Yep! Absolutely!
Even though I still think it's a SLIGHTLY different tangent, it definitely adds to the picture!
That clash in 1794 ALONE created a permanent part of anti-government culture: the Appalachian moonshiners.
THE TILLMAN STORY
Saw this documentary over the weekend at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood---brilliant, deeply affecting documentary I think will get an Oscar nom...about how the Bush Pentagon tried to use Pat Tillman's death by friendly fire to advance its agenda for the war, by pretending he was killed in a firefight with the Taliban. Tillman was hero enough, giving up millions of dollars as a football player to serve his country as a soldier in the wake of 9/11.
Anyway, the producer was there and asked the audience to get the word out. Well worth your time.
Political Viewpoints
I tried to stick to my one post a day and went a little long with Mark Goldberg's offensive friend issue, but the political dialogue here has really gathered my attention.
For fear of being repetitive, I can't for the life of me get the difference between the extremes of either side, in politics, religion, or anything. Those here on this site who so adamantly hate anything right-wing or conservative are no better than those they despise. Strident arrogant elitist atheists (almost certainly considerably more than 5%, nearly every one of the dozens that I have had conversations with) are no better than fundamental Christians.
The glory of America is that everyone has the right to have such an opinion, even as wrong-headed as it might be. Chomsky almost certainly didn't agree with the usage his preface was put to, but was making a point that even such an obviously incorrect idea as Holocaust-denial is allowed to be voiced. If anything it SHOULD be voiced so that those who know better can with equal fervency shout it down. I would much rather have loudly voiced ignorance than silent ignorance, such as that espoused by Timothy McVeigh, etc.
Sarah Palin: It was asked whether there was anything admirable about her. I must say she has a great set of legs. Sadly I can't come up with much more. She's become an icon for the ignorant who don't mind being ignorant, or in many cases are quite proud to be ignorant, not one of the "elite".
On the topic of elitism, when did elitism become bad? I have striven my whole life to rise out of the middle class and become an elite. That's the American Dream, isn't it? And don't tell me that Liberal politicians don't have the same dreams, that's just fooling yourself. There are elites of all ideologies, religions, and any other differentiation you would care to make. Is our proud Unca Harlan not an elite? He's damn sure an elite writer, one of that very precious few we all look up to.
To close the rant, ANYONE who says that ANYONE else is wrong all the time because they don't agree with their point of view is a moron. No ideology is right all the time, and certainly there are no perfect people out there. Those who hold true to their precious philosophy and throw out the baby with the bathwater (all conservatives are evil blackguards, all liberals are dopey tree-hugging hippies, all atheists are smug and arrogant, all religious people are ignorant, etc.) are ALL the problem, no matter which view they hold to the extreme. Listen to the world around you, even the most contrary view has something from which you can learn. As my step-father often said "The sun even shines on a dog's ass every once in a while".
Ben
Book order
Hello Susan and Harlan,
How are you?
I'm wondering whether you received the money order I sent several weeks ago for the books Morgan Beaudry and I requested from your recent book sale. Please let me know if there's anything else I should do.
Edward Doolittle
Ok Alan you’re just the guy I want to talk to. No yelling no spitting just that conversation to which everyone says both sides should aspire.
You say “…the same plane of politico speech as the Founders of our Constitution in that they want the corrupt fucks in Congress the fuck out;and their fucking pissed!” and “no message other than that understanding that Government has to get out of the way…”
Our Founders were violent revolutionaries. Are you advocating violent revolution? Do you think things are that bad? The British weren’t voted out of office.
Alan, WE elected the Congress. They represent US. They only get away with what they’re allowed to get away with. Those folks who work in the 202 area code are not the government, they work FOR the governement - the people. Our system requires reasoned participation. The Tea Party flails about swinging at every thing they think is against them. And somehow they never seem to grasp where their real interests are.
Sarah Palin is never going to be an intellectual but she is certainly crafty and wily. She’s like the college football talent who gets the offer from the Pros and leaves school without graduating. The athlete goes for the brass ring and who can blame them? But how seriously do you think they take the process of getting an education? Sarah Palin resigned as governor to go for the big brass ring. But how seriously do you think she takes the process of governing? I love my Aunt Fanny but I don’t want her to be President. If that sounds elitist then so be it. All our representatives should be the best of what we are not just who we settle for or worse, pick because we think they seem nice.
If the government is corrupt it’s because the people are corrupt. Politicians will act ethically and honestly if they know that’s the only way they can get elected.
Ps If you think Truman was a simple simon from the wheatfields you need to check it again.
There's a point or two to raise re Chomsky and Faurisson. For one thing, it's said that Chomsky's characterization of Faurisson as as "some kind of apolitical liberal" amounts to a defense or an endorsement of Faurisson's view. Thing is, given Chomsky's excoriation of what nominal liberals have done in terms of foreign policy, I don't think that this characterization works that way at all.
A lot of the debate forgets to mention the role of a fellow named Serge Thion, who was running the small Marxist sect that decided to defend Faurisson's rights. It was Thion who'd contacted Chomsky. Chomsky game him a statement about free speech rights, and told him to make whatever use could be made. So Thion thereupon printed it as a foreword to Faurisson's book without consulting Chomsky further. By the time the book came out, Chomsky couldn't have it removed, but he apparently decided that yanking it would cause more trouble. I _suspect_ that the material Thion sent Chomsky was somewhat skewed to attract his support.
Obviously, Chomsky's not a Holocaust denier. As for whether Chomsky tolerates Holocaust denial, here's how I see it. Chomsky's probably not worried about it because there's more than enough evidence for the Holocaust, and there are museums books, plays, movies, and Jewish groups devoted to the subject as well. It's not as if the deniers aren't getting a fight. Maybe that counts as "tolerating Holocaust denial."
On the other hand, there are atrocities that Chomsky's been writing about that don't have the benefit of this attention, and have their own kinds of deniers and "revisionists" who are tolerated and even praised by mainstream journalism. And many of those people aren't accused of rank bigotry. It could be that Chomsky's a tad irritated with the selective outrage. Rick's right about Chomsky being stubborn.
hey now
Let's not be breaking rules. There are plenty of people here capable of correcting an unfair characterization.
For example, it is not fair, Josh, of you to characterize Chomsky as finding Holocaust deniers "morally repugnant," painting him as someone who passionately defended Faurisson's work despite his detestation of it. Here is the preface, in its entirety: http://www.chomsky.info/articles/19801011.htm
Chomsky presents a blistering defense of Faurisson's right to free speech, certainly. But he also makes it clear that he does not consider him an anti-Semite, but more a kind of "apolitical liberal." Chomsky is also on record as stating he does not find Holocaust denial anti-Semitic.
Now, the storm of controversy Chomsky was responding to in his preface was certainly due to the contents of Faurisson's letters. But what really set things off was the short typed note Faurisson included with the letters. It contained 7 short statements. Here are statements 3-5: "(3) The alleged 'gas chambers' and the alleged 'genocide' are part of the same lie. (4) This lie, which is essentially Zionist in origin, has allowed a huge political and financial swindle of which the state of Israel is the principal beneficiary. (5) The principal victims of this lie and of this swindle are the German and Palestinian people." And, of course, Chomsky subsequently signing a petition supporting Faurisson fanned the flames a bit.
Chomsky stated most of what he read of Faurisson he did so in response to the French controversy over the petition. I find it unlikely he would not have read if not this brief note another version of its contents. I also find it unlikely that a person would write a preface promoting the free speech rights of an author espousing a view he finds morally repugnant and not mention this at all. But Chomsky is known for being a stubborn fuck and it's possible he didn't want to give anyone the satisfaction. Regardless, unless you make a point of disavowing the contents of a book you went out of your way to write a preface for and support (and have gone on to praise the author), it's reasonable to assume you don't have a problem with the material.
The question as to whether or not Chomsky is an anti-Semite doesn't seem to be supported in any way by anything I've read about this affair. But the rest, combined with the fact that the Wikipedia pages on Chomsky are so heavily spun they make my head spin, make any assertion that Chomsky does not at least tolerate Holocaust denial fail the reasonableness test as far as I am concerned.
However, so what? This is a reason to stop paying attention to him? You stop paying attention to people who have nothing to teach you, not people who say something you don't like. Even if this turned you off him as wrongheaded, well, extremely sharp and prolific wrongheaded people are just about the best in the world to use to sharpen your own views.
She's just a simple chick from Alaska.
Josh,
You've painted yourself into a corner standing on a soap box of Extreme Liberalism;you can not wiggle even an inch;your views are so one dimensional you can't even imagine the patience of debate any longer,just hate and discust at those not coming with you to these conclusions.
She's just a chick chosen out of obscurity and now has the fame and fortune some would sell their soul for. She has no special talents that none of the rest of us would have.This influence over others is just a smoke screen,she has no message other than that understanding that Government has to get out of the way and let us form our own life and liberty.The Tea-Baggers Frank hates so much seem to me on the same plane of politico speech as the Founders of our Constitution in that they want the corrupt fucks in Congress the fuck out;and their fucking pissed! Their viewpoint of plitics varies from one view to another because it's a grass roots movement.Look at an issue HE took to heart very early on and there was no consensus on their beliefs,the NOW movement. Gloria Steinem had way varied views than many others all across the Nation.Sarah Palin is paid to speak at lectures because the attendees already know the issues and the wake up call to vote in unison;that's it,no magical message or people passing out from Her inspirational touch;like Truman pulled from the wheat fields,simple message for people looking for answers your movement(LIBERALISM)has failed to address.If given the same scenario as Truman in WWII would you have dropped the BOMB? Do you think your Parents would have? Do you think Sarah Palin would have arrested Bin Laden when Prez.Clinton was given the chance after the first World Trade Center Parking bomb went off and perhaps saving us from a most certain attempt of further attacks?
Robert,
I know I'm breaking the twice a day rule, but this mischaracterization is so odious and ill-informed, someone needs to say something:
"I stopped paying any attention to Noam Chomsky after he wrote a glowing preface to a Holocaust denier's book. "
Chomsky did no such thing. Ever. What he did was defend the right of that particular slimeball to express his hateful ideas.
Many people seem incapable of grasping this, but we rarely need the First Amendment to protect our right to speak popular thoughts. It's there precisely to defend the unpopular, the minority view. One of the more despicable things enemies of free speech like to do is conflate the defense of a particular person's right to speak with support of that person's ideas. At its core, this is a profoundly un-American thing to do.
Chomsky did not defend the view that the Holocaust did not happen. Chomsky clearly takes it on faith that all good people find such a view morally repugnant. What he did was defend the right to express that view. To accuse him of endorsing it is ignorant at best, profoundly, disgustingly dishonest at worst.
BUT NOT ALL POINTS OF VIEW ARE EQUAL
Alan --
"Your prose is poetic in it's simplicity and truth." Thank you for that -- I can only wish it was really true!
Frank --
I stopped paying any attention to Noam Chomsky after he wrote a glowing preface to a Holocaust denier's book. Yes, yes, we should "hear all points of view" -- but Holocaust denial (or "revisionism," as its apologists like to call it) is not a point of view. It's a mental disorder.
Just for the record, I'd love to belong to the elite of my choice, though the high office in America doesn't seem to be too likely, since I've been a card-carrying atheist myself since the age of 11, or thereabouts. (I could never figure out why an Almighty Creator would care so much about whether I eat a ham sandwich or not.)
No doubt there are good elites and bad ones. The bad ones tend to be within the power structure, while the good ones fight within the structure or walk two paths--in and outside. A kind of grassroots hopscotch.
Tony Judt was another good one. Died recently of Lou Gehrig's disease. Another sad loss.
-----------
"Even if people in the media were from the Socialist Workers Party or some Maoist group, they would still report the kind of stuff they report. It's built within the internal structure."
Noam Chomsky
----------
Left wing books are tanking. Sad.
MadCon 2010 - Update
Hey Everybody,
As we are now less than one month away from the start of MadCon, I wanted to get out a quick update. First, all of our Guests remain confirmed to attend, including Gene Wolfe. Second, the Crowne Plaza has extended the deadline for the MadCon room/block until Sept. 1, so if you haven't booked your room yet, you still have a few days to do so. Third, we are putting together a fairly cool t-shirt for the convention, the design for which I hope to put up on the MadCon website within the next week; I think all of you will like it! Fourth, I've just heard from our printer, and our convention books and programs should be on their way to me in a few days. Fifth, I really do have most of the program worked out, but I need to check with a few more Guests before finalizing it. And, sixth, I am opening up one more table at the banquet, which will take care of the people already on the waiting list as of last Saturday; if there will be any more expansion, you'll be the first to know.
Meanwhile, if there are any other questions, just email me directly.
Jon C. Manzo
(a very tired) MadCon 2010 Co-Chair
There's a quite interesting piece in the September Playboy about the antediluvian retro-fixated mental machinations of the Tea Party. The pictures of Kelly Brook's fine naked body are pretty good too. Highly recommended!
Mark Goldberg
Years ago, my friend Victor and I would have all-nighter conversations. Back when our friendship was new and it was fascinating talking to an intelligent, erudite, esoteric, unafraid, opinionated speaker, in a small town known for its timidity and restraint. During those times we learned much about each others views on everything under the sun and like anyone else who eventually became friends, we agreed on much, some, not so much. He is a knowledgeable religious man, and we had some fiercely brilliant debate/talks.
Once the subject of the death penalty came up, and for the next several hours, our conversation went from civil, to heated, to angry to catastrophically vicious, stopping just at the point of bloodshed (which would have put a fine point on the end of THAT debate). I mention this particular conversation because this was grounded in religious dogma, which seems to play the role in your concern. We finished our talks at that point and said goodnight. Days later I saw him again, we talked about things and, since that day, we have had wonderful years of friendship, including him being the best man at my wedding. And without consciously thinking about it (at least on my part), the subject has never resurfaced again. This is the man I go to when I need the bodies buried. What I'm saying is, once we knew where our beliefs came from, I think it was good enough that we had so much other that bound us, that we could allow that to be a difference without affecting our friendship.
The idea that your friend is harboring anti-Semitic thoughts will be a burr forever until you sit down FACE-TO-FACE with him (if possible) and TALK TO HIM. None of the e-mail shit, a phone is good, it may help and assuage, but if not, if you have a phone conversation that doesn't end your thoughts, then a face-to-face is the only way you can know what's going on in his head. I'm a confrontationist, so YMMV, but I've always been the guy who has three different friends get themselves in, say, a love triangle, then each comes separately to me asking what they should do. I say, "Get together and hash it out." When they don't, and it goes on for weeks, secret trysts, them complaining to me that someone will find out, that's when I secretly invite all of them over to my house, lock the door behind them, kick over the table and MAKE them work it out. Sometimes, they hate me for a while, but my real friends know I did it for their own good.
But I believe to my shoe-tops that conversation is the key. You know what you want to ask him; you must see how he responds. If you think there is something wonky there, Michael Rapoport's question list is an excellent starting point. I also think that Ben Lomax is correct in saying a true anti-Semite wouldn't have been your friend for as long.
I have had fist-fights with friends over noble causes, who still remain friends. I've lost a soul-brother over a ridiculous rumor and no way to contact him. If it were me, I would HAVE to have the conversation, if it took five minutes or five hours or five days.
If my best friend told me I was great "for a white guy.", if my wife said I couldn't understand because I "was a man", anything that was proffered with a sweeping generalization that went directly to the core of WHAT I am, but not WHO I am, speaking for myself, I would beat that horse until it was dust or until it got up and grew wings and flew again.
My best to you, brother.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ben Winfield~ To a small degree you are right. There is a faction of atheists who are as fundamental and as zealous as any Anti-God movement could be.
But I feel safe in saying they are a 1% of the 5% of the people who are actually comfortable saying out loud that, well gee, not everyone believes in a god, so why don't we maybe stop trying to make laws based on antiquated books, and instead leave everyone alone about it.
You said "I'm not ready for delusion, nor am I ready for arrogance." and if that is a healthy take on the situation for you, then fantastic.
The fringe element will always be with us, but I err on the side that will do the least damage. No atheist organization will ever repeal the First Amendment. Fundamentalist Christian organizations have actively been trying to subvert and pervert, re-draft and misapply the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, as well as re-wire and jiggery-poke elections in favor of Anti-Anyone-Not-Of-Their-Faith/Beliefs. The non-zealot atheists that I am acquainted with try to do battle using reason and the idea that the First Amendment actually means something. Christians have millions of loyal to the death (literally), fervent, indoctrinated acolytes who seem to believe in criminal suppression (read: the Catholic Church Re-Location Program), disenfranchisement (gays), obscurantism (creationism), and a host of ideals that seem to have nothing to do with the teachings of Christ as recorded in the bible. That is personally abhorrent, but permissible in this great land.
The problem has more to do with forcing the majority of people BY LAW to follow those tenets simply because they were ordained by a "god", which is a movement in the evangelical circles that is a thousand times stronger, more organized and considered with more weight, than any atheist groups who want to change the Constitution (I think there might be three). I don't personally know any Radical Atheists or Rabid Christians, because I don't want to pollute my precious bodily fluids, so I cannot speak to their causes.
Josh can defend for himself what he meant by his wish, but in the battle between atheists and hardcore christians, I know who is more dangerous.
When god tells you you are right, it's kind of hard to stop at nothing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello Anne-Laure O.! Welcome to the monk- oh, sorry Steve, that's yours. ;)
Re: The Ellison Book Purge.
Just wanted to thank you for your continued support. So...thank you!
With all kindness. See you at Madcon.
Susan
Earl Wells: How right you are! I chose the wrong rural area. I should have said Franconia, the Black Forest, Schlesswig-Holstein, Saxony or a number of other rural farming communities. Oh well! An instructive mistake.
As for the intellectual elite in Berlin, I don't know if it's worse or better to count the communists out or Goebbels or Goerring in. I suppose it's how you define intellectual in the 1920s. Surely, there were many "intellectuals" (eg. Spengler) among the fascits. Thanks!
Steve Dooner
Calling TIM RAVEN...
TIM RAVEN: did you get to Glendale for the Ray Bradbury bookshop party? I was there, and looking for your cap (as described in your earlier post). Didn't see you. Or, to be more exact, didn't see your cap!
- Phil
Palin
Josh hardly needs my reinforcement, but since I've been on a bender against the Tea Party lately I thought I'd crowd in.
Palin IS a problem. First, she weighs in on topic she clearly does not know enough about to offer an opinion. As a national leader, I would expect, for instance, that she has some knowledge of the actual rights granted in the Constitution. Her pro-Dr Laura rant displayed, quite vividly, that she does not know what the docuemtn says or to whom it is applied under what circumstances. This is a very dangerous thing for someone who is influencing a large percentage of public opinion.
Secondly, her tactics are schoolyard in nature. When she cannot debate, she belittles. When she is confronted -- such as we were able to observe in the now familiar video with the woman displaying the "Worst Governor Ever" banner -- she acts little better than would a bully on the playground, complete with nasty asides to her entourage. Again, as someone who calims some sort of leadership role, bullying and snarkiness are poor traits.
Third, she has a profound tendency to dismiss rather than listen to contrary opinions. Ideological rigidity and stubborness, similar to that displayed by George W, Newt Gingrich and others, leads to an unwillingness to compromise. They would, in fact, view my conmment about this unwillingness as a badge of honor, but in a democratic republic built upon accommodating many viewpoints and backgrounds, such rigidity is not only counterproductive but counter to the very pricniples upon which this nation is founded.
I have said it before and will say it again because Ms. Palin is a prime example of the persnality and approach I feel is destroying the country: it's the people who demonize others; who are focused on changing the Constitution to fit their very narrow needs; who allow major corporate donors to fund their "grassroots" campaigns; who are unwilling to allow for different lifestyles and opinions; who view the facts and truths as inconvenient when a simple lie (death panels) can make their point much more effectively; and mostly to use fear and anger to fuel their base in the hopes that disenfranchised white voters can be used as pawns.
And THAT is why Ms. Palin is a very dangerous and ugly participant in dismantling our democracy.
John,
“On your way to making your point you made some assertions I found curious, and so I inquired. I was inviting discussion, not debate. You are obviously more than welcome to disregard any questions or statements from me at this or any other time. “
Ah, Got it. Apologies. I was making broad statements as a way of reinforcing the larger point. Honestly, if we were to start discussing my views on religion here (or yours, or Unka Harlan’s), this place would collapse in a day.
----
Jan,
If Harlan don’t want them Oscars, I might be interested....
-----
Ben,
“There's something to be said about how the rich - or at the very least, moderately well off - have a far easier time espousing the notion there is no Great Moral Center of the universe, than the poor and the ignominious. When any kind of physical comfort is readily available, the "inescapable reality" that there's nothing after death except maggots crawling out of the sockets of skulls must be a whole lot less intimidating. “
Oh, snap.
You really got me with that one, Ben. Except for the part where I grew up broke as shit in a neighborhood that you wouldn’t be caught dead walking through after dark (hell, BEFORE dark), and managed to not only survive, but thrive and excel without ever coming to the view that there was some mystical power higher than myself.
Like I said, I’m not going to argue the merits of religion vs non-religion here. But I’m also not going to stand by while someone maligns me personally and misrepresents my comments to such a massive degree.
There is nothing rigid in atheism. It is not a belief system. That some people (including some big A Atheists) think there is doesn’t change the fact that all it is - ALL it is - is the lack of belief in that which cannot be proven.
I don’t watch football. I don’t care about football. The only time I talk about football is when some football fan tries to engage me in a discussion about football. I do not define myself or my life by the lack of football. When forced to ponder it, I think it’s a silly game, and I harbor the suspicion that we, as a culture, would be better off without it. But I do not lift a finger to take away your right to enjoy it, nor would I.
And, as I said to someone else earlier, you completely missed my point.
“And neither will Christianity, Judaism, or Hinduism MAKE you murder in the name of your deity, unless you're already mentally ill to begin with.”
Well, actually, that’s not entirely true. Christianity, at least, demands that you not suffer others to live at various and sundry points. Granted, those others must be guilty of heinous sins like working on Sunday, but let’s be accurate here.
-----
Robert,
“Everyone claims to hate elites”
No, they don’t. Some elites are quite spiffy.
-----
Alan,
“I hear attack after attack on Sarah Palin.Is there anything kind about her jOSH? Do you not see any of the qualities you admire of any of your friends or family in Her?”
No, I don’t. After several years of exposure to her now, it’s clear she’s a truly monstrous person. I’m sure she has her good qualities in person - everyone does. But that’s not my concern. She’s on the world stage, using her position to influence large quantities of people. Her effect is nothing but negative - she spreads ignorance, fear, bigotry and lies. If I saw any of her qualities in my friends, they would not be my friends.
“but would you have if it were your wife carrying a challenged birthing?”
No, I wouldn’t. I also wouldn’t use a child - especially one with Down’s Syndrome - as a political prop. There’s probably a case to be made against her for child abuse.
-----
Frank,
Forgiveness granted, sir.
DOUGLAS HARRISON,
"Also, to say that one "yearn(s) to live in a world in which religion exists only as a dim and embarrassed cultural memory" is not to say that one wishes to administer the beliefs or opinions of others."
Perhaps not, but it does often have the inevitable side effect of making one stand up and leave the room.
"Here are some opinions of mine: atheism won't make you a communist tyrant; atheism is not dependent on material comfort, nor engendered by it; "fundamentalist atheism" is a pejorative term that loses its effectiveness once one realizes there is only a single component to atheism--the absence of belief in God--and no dogma."
And neither will Christianity, Judaism, or Hinduism MAKE you murder in the name of your deity, unless you're already mentally ill to begin with. Believing in Intelligent Design doesn't enforce madness any more than not believing in Intelligent Design. This is the sort of topic where the only real option is to go around in circles like a merry-go-round, while the rest of the crowd places bets as to who will vomit first.
MICHAEL MAYHEW,
"Nobody likes to feel stupid, or feel condescended to. Unfortunately that makes it virtually impossible to have any sort of debate between a religious believer and an atheist. When one side's position essentially is "what you believe is irrational," it's very, very hard to find a way to couch that without being accused of arrogance or looking down or whatever."
Well...you CAN'T couch a statement like that, Michael, because right off the bat you're already assuming an inflammatory stance that immediately puts the other party on the offensive. No matter how you look at it, "you're a cretin" is not an improvement over "My God is better than your God."
...and this is exactly why I can't commit to atheism any more than I can commit to a specific religion. It's the unwavering, unmoving, unbending CERTAINTY that we live in a universe of physical inevitability that I find offensive.
I'm not ready for delusion, nor am I ready for arrogance. I haven't yet been able to sustain an argument with a self-proclaimed atheist, online or in real-life without the conversation spiraling into boorish remarks and general nastiness. Until some sort of balance is found, atheism to me will remain just another belief that can be taken to grotesque extremes as much as any other religion.
Rob,
My apologies if I misstated. I didn't miss your point. My point was how the situation today is in major ways no different than it was then.
The Whiskey Rebellion is a good example. I elucidated the issues to show that the "rebels" had a serious issue which most of the rest of the country either didn't get or ignored in the general support for Washington's suppression of the rebellion. The "fine points" of the problem were blown away in nationalist rhetoric. (If not for Washington and his deserved reputation for reasonableness, the situation could have become much worse, and he did direct the repeal of the law in the aftermath).
But the nattering subintellectual atmosphere extant then is little different than today, which was the point I wished to stress. Far fewer people then had the franchise. The media drove the politics of the day and it was a glorious splenetic effusion of partisan bickering. The question of how Washington would be treated today suggests he was treated differently then---he was not. Let me give you an example.
A man named James Thomson Callendar was a prolific pamphleteer. He was, in fact, the Rush Limbaugh of the 1790s. Here is a sample of his poison:
"If ever a nation was debauched by a man, the American nation has been debauched by WASHINGTON. If ever a nation has suffered from the improper influence of a man, the American nation has been deceived by WASHINGTON. Let his conduct then be an example to future ages. Let it serve to be a warning that no man may be an idol, and that a people may confide in themselves rather than in an individual. Let the history of the federal government instruct mankind, that the marque of patriotism may be worn to conceal the foulest designs against the liberties of the people."
This was popular stuff, sold well.
The political environment has not changed so much. The biggest change is the speed at which stupidity spreads, but the Koch brothers would have been right at home in 1795 Philadelphia. I think it is a mistake to characterize the present era as somehow "special" or "unique" in its vitriol and lunacy. Memory is short, which is how so many pundits are able to recast the post Revolutionary period as some kind of ideal idyll of political sanity, a garden from which we've been cast out.
_____________________________________________________________
Frank Church
Do you want a list? Stanley Elkin, Joseph Ellis, Barbara Tuchman, Jay Winik, about a dozen others for general Revolutionary Era history. Specifically for the Whiskey Rebellion---William Hogeland, Thomas P. Slaughter, Jerry A. Clouse, a few others. Yes, Eric Foner is excellent, especially about Reconstruction.
Josh Olson: "You missed my point by a country mile. What I feel about religion is irrelevant, and I have zero desire to get into a debate about it here."
Josh, I didn't miss your point by a single inch. I agreed with it, which is why I didn't address it directly. On your way to making your point you made some assertions I found curious, and so I inquired. I was inviting discussion, not debate. You are obviously more than welcome to disregard any questions or statements from me at this or any other time.
Harlan, if you have any use for the German poster for The Oscar (and perhaps the Italian one, later), let me know. Different art.
--
The Starlost could be remade, says Furious D: "When Good Ideas Die Horrible Deaths"
http://dknowsall.blogspot.com/2010/08/hollywood-babble-on-on-579-when-good.html
Illegal download for PWA#1
http://forum.mobilism.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=136697&start=0
Trying to notify Ryall but don't think it works.
PWA#1 rated C+ by Dean Stell at Weekly Comic Book Review
http://weeklycomicbookreview.com/2010/08/23/harlan-ellisons-phoenix-without-ashes-1-review/
(I think the books are adapted from the TV script, not the Bryant novelization, so he has that wrong.)
sneering arrogant atheism
Nobody likes to feel stupid, or feel condescended to. Unfortunately that makes it virtually impossible to have any sort of debate between a religious believer and an atheist. When one side's position essentially is "what you believe is irrational," it's very, very hard to find a way to couch that without being accused of arrogance or looking down or whatever.
For myself, if the choice is between perceived arrogance and delusion, I'll take arrogance.
MM
Satoshi Kon and Studio Ghibli
Well, first time posting here. Hope I'm doing this right!
While I've sort of grown a profound hatred for the majority of the anime out there over the years, it really is sad to hear about the passing of Satoshi Kon. I'm not familiar with all of his work, but Paprika was one of the most imaginative animated films I've seen in quite a while. I suppose I'll have to look at the rest of his stuff sometime, because I loved his style.
And I haven't followed news from Studio Ghibli recently, but this really is... sad. I hope everything works out. As an aspiring artist, I really used to look up to Hayao Miyazaki's films, and I'd be so heartbroken if the studio closed.
Also, Mark G.,
I've been dealing with some friend-related drama recently in which both parties have said hurtful things. We've discussed the issues we had, apologized, but I've come to realize that if you continue to feel on edge over what you or your friend might say... then maybe the friendship isn't all that worth it. It saves a lot of stress.
Then again, I might just be cold and heartless, so of course that's a perfect reason to take my advice!
I meant, "vast number" not "vast numbers".
After all, lots of small ones invariably and logically amount to one big hefty feller.
Mark Tiedemann,
You seemed to miss my point by that beautiful "country mile"!
Had my last post been specifically about Washington, then I'd have had "half an answer".
Re-read the whole thing. I provided a caption summary of a policy initiated by Washington to serve a point about the pretzel twists used by these butt-fuck Right Wing cons. The POINT is my alarm about how MANY voters in this country sway to it.
The details you pasted about the Whiskey Rebellion are fine, but they address a different question. Here, they'd have been excessive.
**The vast numbers of poorly educated people in this country wouldn't be such a problem if idolatry weren't so typical in human nature in lieu of the desire for facts. We like clinging to the coattail of a leader-image, trusting his or her words heedlessly, rather than make efforts to find out if it's the truth or not.
A disturbing report today about the Koch brothers is yet another sickening example. These jackasses are longtime libertarians who believe in eliminating EVERYTHING that is "government". These are the billionaires who have given money to “educate,” fund, and organize Tea Party protesters to turn their private agenda into a mass movement. Everything that seemed like an outcry was scripted, kinda like Bush did in those "speeches" when crowds were screened in order to ensure applause. (I'm SO tired of the hillbillies running the country)
From 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus. Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a “kingpin of climate science denial.
I wonder how many people across the country are connecting the dots. Efforts such as these have been going on for decades, with so many swallowing the sound bytes while making no efforts to ask the scientists and specialists about real findings.
I tells ya: The accident that changed the earth 65 million years ago and eventually led to the evolution of humans begot a parasite. We are an organism eating the earth from the inside out. At SOME point, that will surely come back to get us.
...I feel a bit like Billy Jack!
Offensive Friends
Mark's anti-Semitic friend: For me being of WASPy birth and raising, it is touchy to advise, but I would say that your friend does not stop becoming your friend because he made an idiotic remark. In fact biblically and literally, this pivotal event in human history can be interpreted that way. But if you care to loosely interpret history that way, then my people killed many millions, among them many famous people of all nations and creeds. At the basis, JC was a Jew, so if not for Jews, no JC. And biblically someone had to kill him in order that he be raised and become what he became, so if not the Jewish priesthood, then somebody else would have had to do it.
But that isn't really the point, the point is that he made a stupid and offensive remark that makes it difficult for you to sustain your relationship. I lost a friend many years ago to an outright drunken racist remark that I made in anger. I attempted to apologize, but we were never friends again after that. From someone who has generated this very same offense, I would just ask you to try and reconcile it with his character. Is this part of who he is? If so you should not remain friends. Is this something stupid he said in the heat of an argument, but doesn't truly believe? Then that should not color a fast friendship.
Most likely this is somewhere in between, something he spouted because he has been half-informed. A true anti-Semite would most likely not have been such a good friend to you for years. It may be in your interests (and that of the friendship) to pursue him actually finding out what he is talking about. If this irritates him and he sticks to his guns, then you know something more about his character.
Beyond that it is a question whether this is a deal-breaker to your relationship. The guy might be more than ignorant, and actually harbor this hateful feeling. Your call whether someone like that could be your friend. I am friends with loads of ignorant people, but we don't have political or religious discussions. If you choose to remain friends and not improve his knowledge base, then you may very well have to be cautious about subject matter in the future. That to me makes it pretty damn tough to stay friends. But your mileage may vary.
Correction
"... OR engendered by it."
(That's what I get for going after someone else's diction.)
D.
Ben Winfield:
I think you want "egotism," not "egoism."
Also, to say that one "yearn(s) to live in a world in which religion exists only as a dim and embarrassed cultural memory" is not to say that one wishes to administer the beliefs or opinions of others.
Here are some opinions of mine: atheism won't make you a communist tyrant; atheism is not dependent on material comfort, nor engendered by it; "fundamentalist atheism" is a pejorative term that loses its effectiveness once one realizes there is only a single component to atheism--the absence of belief in God--and no dogma.
D.
Mark: I think my advice about your dilemma may differ from that of some of the others here who've responded.
It's one thing for two friends to have diametrically opposing political beliefs, as you note; that's commonplace, and admirable. We'd be pretty poor human beings if we shut ourselves off from any opinion that differed from our own, and denied ourselves a valuable relationship with another person because he or she doesn't agree with us about health-care reform, or the capital-gains tax, or how to solve the financial crisis.
But this is different. This is a case of a friend holding and voicing a belief that slanders you as a person, that effectively accuses you and others like you of complicity in, well, let's just call it the best-known murder of all time.
I hope your friend's remark was a simple case of speaking before thinking, offhand and carelessly expressed and not really meant, and that when confronted with it he'll apologize and retract it and understand the pain it caused you. Because if he doesn't - if he genuinely and steadfastly holds that belief - then I would question whether he's really your friend, no matter what kindnesses he's done you.
Ask yourself: Would you expect an African-American to remain friends with someone who uses the N-word and thinks blacks are inferior, even if this person has behaved in a friendly manner toward the black personin the past? Would you expect a gay person to remain friends with someone who believes gays are deviants and don't deserve to live? Then why expect a Jew to remain friends with an anti-Semite?
(Incidentally, I would be curious to know - and maybe you should ask him directly - why this friend has done these friendly and generous things for you if he believes you're a Christ-killer. Did he only recently adopt these beliefs, subsequent to his friendly actions? Does he think "well, the Jews murdered Christ, but Mark, he's an OK guy"? Is this some form of Christian charity, being nice to a Jew even though "your people killed our God"?)
I think you are doing entirely the right thing by treating this as a serious matter. None of us are in your shoes or know all the dimensions of your friendship with this man, and so we can't really tell you exactly what you should do. But if your friend stands by any scintilla of what he said, unless his response to your query is something along the lines of "you're right, it was a stupid and unforgivable thing to say, I didn't really mean it, I only said it because I was angry after our argument, I apologize and let's never speak of it again" - then I would weigh whether the good turns he's done you are really worth continuing a friendship with someone who, at some level, hates you and what you are.
Just my two cents.
Satoshi Kon dies at 47
Creator of Paranoia Agent, Paprika, Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress, Satoshi Kon has passed away. As anyone who has ever seen one of his films knows, the man had an imagination and vision that will truly be missed.
This on top of the news that Hayao Miyazaki has decided that he will be closing the doors of Studio Ghibli if his latest offering, an adaptation of The Borrowers, does poorly at the box office...well, it's a bad week for Anime fans as well those who are fond of superb fantasy.
Let us now bow our heads in silence with our fingers crossed in hopeful agony.
For Robert Nason
Your prose is poetic in it's simplicity and truth.Why the fuck is it so hard for others to accept. I read Josh and Frank and they really believe what they write;they feel it right.But what if they are wrong;what if they have it wrong.What makes any of us believe we have it right? How can we be sure? Is it because we want it to be the truth in our world and perhaps the less of the burdens we must contemplate if we truthfully have to engage in the debate of explaining without the dumb-fuck criticisms we heard on AIR AMERICA of how we came to understand the World view we hold and the views also cherished by others deeply.
I hear attack after attack on Sarah Palin.Is there anything kind about her jOSH? Do you not see any of the qualities you admire of any of your friends or family in Her? She has the burden of choosing to bring a mentally challenged infant full term and knowing Life is going to be Hell. She trusted in her faith that she would have strength to do it.I would not have and I'm sure Harlan would not have;but would you have if it were your wife carrying a challenged birthing?
The word "elite" seems to drive people into an absolute frenzy. Everyone claims to hate elites -- the left thinks it's the rich elites who are running and ruining the country and world; the right thinks it's the communications elite in the New York/LA media, the universities, and the mainstream Protestant churches who are bringing us to damnation. Maybe both groups are right. But there's no doubt that every society has had elites of some sort who tend to exert more influence than the rest of the people, and who tend to have an ideology of some kind. More advanced societies may have dual elites (such as pre-War II France, with its stand-off between the reactionary forces of the Church and military fighting the more secular intellectuals and the government. But let's not restage the Dreyfus Affair here -- we've got enough piss and vinegar flying in the wind already.
The truth is, all polls have consistently shown that something like 90% of newspaper reporters and editors vote Democratic, and the same percentage applies to college professors and Hollywood actors, writers, and directors. Is that because the're smarter. Maybe. Maybe not. They tend to identify with what Lionel Trilling once called "the adversary culture," and see themselves as outside mainstream, Babbitt America and all that it represents. It doesn't mean they're necessarily wiser about foreign affairs, economics, or social policy. Hence William F. Buckley's much quoted quip "I'd rather be ruled by the first 1,000 names in the Boston telephone directory than the combined faculties of Harvard and MIT."
Yes, I know that the owners of media outlets tend to be conservative, unlike their reporters, editors, filmmakers and performers. Some of the latter gravitate towards those careers because they already feel like "outsiders" to mainstream America; others simply want to write and act and make films or report the news and have no particularly strong political views, but absorb the prevailing views once they spend time working in the culture industry. (From personal experience in publishing, you learn pretty fast who to praise and who to damn, otherwise you're career's liable to go belly-up, and not because of any recession, but because of publishing's own little unwritten blacklist.) Why not be honest and admit all these things are true, stop calling each other or the American people morons, and address issues in a rational, adult way. Too much to ask?
One thing's for sure: While everyone thunders against "elites," they'd all love to get their kids into the best universities and become part of some elite, with all the financial and social benefits that such membership brings.
"Hitler's message never played in Berlin (where the intellectual Weimar elite were), it played in Bavaria."
Actually, Hitler's message played relatively poorly in Catholic Bavaria, based on election returns for Nazis through 1932. And the limits on Nazi sucess in Berlin had little to do with the presence of the "intellectual Weimar elite" and much to do with how well the Communists and Socialists had organized in the big cities.
Hitler's message played just fine amongst such intelligent, educated men as Goering, Goebbels, Thyssen, Schacht, von Papen, and Speer.
You don't suppose the lesson of history might be that whether people are smart is less important than whether people have a hearty appetite for dangerous bullshit?
Mark G.
Friendships aren't debating societies -- if you've been good friends to each other but can't discuss politics without things getting heated, maybe it would be best to issue apologies all around (and if I were in your place I'd go first) and agree to stay off the subject; if you can't stay off the subject then you might want to set some mutually agreed on limits and understand that while you're friends you don't necessarily view the world from the same angle, and just agree to disagree, and let some comments slide.
Good luck and all the best.
--tr
Once again, we have an “Elite’ who are out to destroy America. *sigh*
This time it’s the “Hollywood Elite” who apparently have a nefarious agenda above and beyond trying to coax as many Benjamins out of our pockets as humanly possible. (This extends, even more nefariously, to coaxing euros from Europeans, dollars from Canadians & Australians, yuan from Chinese, and pounds from the British. It’s a worldwide plot!!!) (PANIC IN THE STREETS~!)
We get more of the programming we watch. We get less of the programming we don’t. Simple mathematics. The more people watch, the more advertising can be sold for higher rates. The more people go to see TRANSFORMERS, the more TRANSFORMERS ripoffs we will see. The more people who listen to Rush Limbaugh, the more we will hear Rush wannabes take to the air.
It’s that simple. No global conspiracy of elitism. No deliberate attempt to “dumb us down”. We get what we vote for with our attention spans and entertainment dollars. Period.
__________________________________
MARK –
As you know, one of my best friends is a man I trust implicitly, but refer to as NeoCon Jim. This is because he is a diehard conservative Republican who is deeply religious. We have, at times, asked ourselves why we’re friends.
That friendship nearly died over Proposition 8. Jim and his wife had bought into the whole “teaching the schoolkids about Gay Marriage” misdirection. (I found the use of children as political footballs reprehensible, and said so on top of my whole “who cares, what threat is gay marriage to your own?” line of debate.) It grew more than heated. After a particularly pointed comment, Jim’s wife turned in her chair, set her jaw to “imperiously furious” and refused even to talk to us until we changed the subject. (She had received both barrels from Cris after telling us that since we had no kids, we didn’t know what the Hell we were talking about.)
Things are fine now, but it was close.
This last weekend we had a disagreement with another friend who became so agitated we received his finger wagging in our face a number of times. It was over the use of the n-word by Dr Laura. At one point he accused Cris of having “an agenda”.
We’re still friends and I would trust this other friend implicitly.
Talk to your friend. Jokingly tell him that despite his inexplicable embracing of the dark side you still want to be friends. But, and this is the important part, make it clear where he went over the line. The only way to regain that trust is to level with him, and let him know this is where he cannot tread. Set him straight. Then, once he has his say, let it go.
(Unless of course he repeats himself. At that point hit him low and hard then walk away.)
My two cents.
__________________________________
"Islam is a dingbat religion. So is Christianity, Judaism, Muftiism, Foofooism and Zoroastrianism."
Yes. But I believe the future our nation is far more endangered by the far right fundamentalist Christians -- who are radically trying to change America to suit their own vision of the country -- than we are by fundamentalists of any other religion.
No other group is trying to change the Constitution in order to disenfranchise people they dislike. To change it in such a way as to reserve specific rights for one subgroup over another. To enact laws to target specific people. To keep one religion as prefered among all of them.
"Fundamentally", THAT is the greatest collective danger we face.
Anti-mosques, anti-gays, anti-taxes, anti-regulation, anti-government, anti-Constitution, anti-social support, anti-Democrat. All bought and paid for by the elite powermongers and ultra-wealthy who hide behind the scenes and cluck happily to themselves.
Didn't we see this already? Ah yes. America, a hundred years ago.
Those who rewrite history are condemned to repeat it.
Some answers.
Hey Frank:
If you've not read a newspaper, or the political blog of your choice, or even left your home for more than a few seconds, you'd notice that the USofA isn't doing too well on the economic front.
Now, How do you know we haven't all ready done more than we really can afford. If the nation is gonna go down the crapper money wise, let it be because we tried helping ourselves. Then if it works, maybe we can help other Nations.
Mark Goldberg
First of all, I'm sorry for your problem. This is just my thought. First of all, remember we all say things in anger that we wouldn't say when we are calm and thinking straight. Second of all, if this man is as good a friend as you claim, an honest discussion of the matter, after a good cooling down period, will only strengthen the friendship in my opinion. You do what you think best and let us know how it turns out.
Josh, I spouted without thinking. Forgive me?
We all put our foots in our mouths at any given time, even our good friend Harlan.
Handshake bud?
And don't you ever again compare me to Amperion. ha.
----------
Mark T, good one. Where do you get your history?
Erik Foner is the man.
Howard Zinn, rest in peace.
James Loewen, write another book!
---------
Why aren't we sending more aid to Pakistan?
"Islam is a dingbat religion. So is Christianity, Judaism, Muftiism, Foofooism and Zoroastrianism. And Scientology. And any other you wish to name. I yearn to live in a world in which religion exists only as a dim and embarrassed cultural memory."
...just as I yearn to live in a world in which atheistic egoism is more extinct than the dodo, Josh. I'm sure colorful characters like Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin would agree with the common atheist assessment that most of the worst crimes committed against humanity were perpetuated by organized religion.
With statements like that, is it any wonder most individuals of faith - any kind of faith - view atheists as jackbooted thugs smashing into their homes with steel-plated copies of Darwin's THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES while roaring the latest quote by Richard Dawkins like their own personal form of Bible-thumping? Because, really...are there that many greater hypocrisies than fundamentalist atheism? (No, that isn't an oxymoron. Not anymore.)
There's something to be said about how the rich - or at the very least, moderately well off - have a far easier time espousing the notion there is no Great Moral Center of the universe, than the poor and the ignominious. When any kind of physical comfort is readily available, the "inescapable reality" that there's nothing after death except maggots crawling out of the sockets of skulls must be a whole lot less intimidating.
I don't know if I have enough "faith" myself to be a legitimate spiritualist of any sort, but I have even less investment in the rigid authoritarianism of the atheist that asserts we can only accept what's directly in front of our eyes, and anything beyond that is strictly "purple unicorn" territory.
If I was forced to choose between sneering arrogance and naive delusion, frankly I'd almost rather pick the latter.
I was wondering if I could lean upon the wisdom of the crowd here for something I am currently struggling with.
I have a friend whom I have known since the first day of graduate school. He has been there for me through periods of unemployment (even loaning me money when needed), my divorce, my Mom’s death, in short he has been a great friend to me. He is also a hard core right wing Republican. This, in and of itself, is not the problem, I have many other friends whose political belief differs from mine. However, he recently made some statements that I find….troublesome.
When we spoke earlier this week, he made a comment about “the liberal media”. I countered that there was no such entity, and presented various points supporting my argument (I worked for a newspaper for 3 years so I can speak with some authority about the media). An email exchange followed and it became somewhat heated. I had called him a religious zealot with a persecution complex at one point and he ended his last email by stating that the reason people like him have a persecution complex is because and this is a direct quote “your people killed our God ; - ) “
I am not sure how many of you have read The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. I have skimmed it, and let me assure you it is not fun reading, but the 12th Protocol is where this myth of a liberal media was generated. I pointed this out to him, told him he was espousing Anti-Semitic propaganda, and asked him if he was doing it deliberately (referencing his amusing quip from his last email” or unknowingly. I told him to think carefully before responding, as the shape of our friendship would be defined by his response
Even if we agree to never speak of politics again, I am worried that this seed of doubt if I can ever trust him. Again, this is a man who has come through for me on numerous occasions and who helped save my life back in school but I really don’t know if I can continue a friendship with someone who harbors these type of beliefs.
My question is this: if you were in my situation, how would you approach dealing with this person?
To all Webderlanders:
A lovely, wise tribute to Bob Thomson:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/opinion/24herbert.html
Cheers, Colleen
Josh Olson's Comments
I just want to second everything Josh Olson said. All of it.
He knows what he's talking about.
On American Stupidity!
Josh is right!
Even moderately intelligent, bidpedal American citizens can be brought to believe stupid things when those far-reaching advertising conglomerates, FOXNews and Clear Channel, are dedicated to practicing Psy-Ops on the entire population, 24-7.
Hitler's message never played in Berlin (where the intellectual Weimar elite were), it played in Bavaria.
Recently, the obtuse "news" men on the Sunday morning shows all concluded that Obama needed to pray more and go to church more so that 18% of the "unwashed" would stop believing he's a "terrible, evil Muslim." Not one mentioned that there was a concerted effort by FOX to make Americans believe that, day-in, day-out! Are everyone (newsmen included) really that blind? Or that stupid?
Why do people spend billions of dollars to advertise ideas if it doesn't work? Murdoch knows the truth of this. He puts his big color sports sections and his HUGE entertainment sections in with his biased news and his right wing op-ed columnists. It's bread and circuses, man!
America's constant desire for soft, dumb entertainment and MTV thrills will always make the Murdochs of the world possible. It's not the Hollywood elite, it's the Hollywood pander who's the problem.
Sadly, the left has no defense against this. Education takes time. Advertising takes a few seconds, and time is bending evermore in the advertisers' favor.
Steve Dooner
Robert,
“What semtence could better elucidate the view of that very Hollywood elite that's under discussion?”
Nah. I felt that way long before I was part of any Hollywood community. It doesn’t take much in the way of intellectual acuity to recognize that a significant number of our fellow Americans are very badly educated. As a rule, you’ll find that first generation immigrants are much better versed in their rights than the average stump who gets his information from Fox News, for instance. But go ahead and tell yourself that that’s just Hollywood snobbery.
I am perfectly comfortable acknowledging the fact that there are people in the world who are wildly more intelligent and informed than I am. If I do that, however, I must also be willing to acknowledge the opposite. This particular brouhaha over a complete fabricated non-issue makes it extremely simple.
John E Williams,
You missed my point by a country mile. What I feel about religion is irrelevant, and I have zero desire to get into a debate about it here. The point was that one needn’t respect a particular religion to support its right to exist in America, and that supporting its right to exist does not constitute an endorsement. My comment was in response to some nitwit who clearly didn’t understand that.
Bradbury
Still, thanks all. I hope that my head does not get too big to fit through the door.
*
Aint-it-cool has published this photograph of Ray Bradbury watching the music video "Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury." He likes it, he likes it. I warn y'all to get your satisfaction from the photo (and the video if you haven't seen it); the feedback section is as usual toxic, and includes missives about the singer being too fat to fuck, about Ray Bradbury creating STAR TREK, and of course about Harlan suing everybody. (Reading the comments section of anything, but especially at Aint It Cool, is an exercise in wanting to haul most of humanity away in a dump truck.)
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/46222
ARVIES
Adam-Troy: Let me add my voice to the choir - 'Arvies' is brilliant, heartbreaking, fascinating. Couldn't tear my eyes away, even when I wanted to.
Harlan: Mission still ongoing! Tracking down leads as I type.
Best
Jes
Rob,
Half a good answer is almost as bad as no answer at all.
Your characterization of the Whiskey Rebellion is incomplete, which is the same game as the Tea Party plays from the other side.
The excise was not a simple tax on alcohol as such. This was Hamilton's invention and it had two purposes. True, the United States was heavily in debt after the Revolution (some $76 million worth) and Hamilton, as Treasury Secretary, was trying all sorts of things. Internal taxes were unpopular across the board, so he came up with one on "luxury"---namely a vice, whiskey and other distilled spirits. In order to make it even more palatable, it was not directly imposed on the consumer, but on the manufacturer. He even said they could pass on the cost by raising their prices. To make it "fair" he set it up as a tax on production CAPACITY.
This is where the problem came in. Along the eastern seaboard, this meant commercial distillers, who manufactured a more or less predictable amount, and it was a luxury. But in Western Pennsylvania, it was entirely different. All stills were privately owned and used to convert unsold grain into storable form---whiskey---which was then used as CURRENCY. These farmers had little or no access to cash of any kind and potstill whiskey---"Monangahela Rye"---became a de facto form of legal tender. But because they were converting their excess grains, the amount per still produced varied wildly, and a tax on production capacity was unfair right out of the box.
Hamilton professed not to understand their complaint, which is disingenuous.
Washington for his part can only be blamed because it happened on his watch---a problem presidents have faced ever since.
But suppressing the rebellion was another matter. They had already been through Shays's Rebellion, which the state of Massachussetts, with no federal assistance---because there wasn't any---and only verbal support from other states, had been forced to quash. Rebellion to the Founders at this time was a terrifying thing. They were watching France being turned into a charnel house because they couldn't get a handle on "popular" rebellion. Hence the largest army since the Revolution was sent to Pittsburgh.
All of these things were within the legitimate authority of the president and his administration.
BTW, after the "rebellion" was "crushed" (it was effectively over before the army got there) only two people were convicted of insurrection and Washington pardoned them both---something that would be controversial today---and the excise tax was repealed.
Very few at the time raised a voice against Washington's actions in suppressing the rebellion.
There were no riots in Philadelphia. The actions to which you refer happened in Pittsburgh. People in Philadelphia were afraid the uprising would reach them.
But as a further note on history, by Washington's second term half the American people were vilifying his policies, especially what they regarded as his treasonous unwillingness to support France against England and his apparent desire for rapprochement with England. And then---talk about can't win for losing---by 1795 the mood switched when French privateers were taking American ships in violation of our state neutrality. Now the popular mood was for war with France, which Washington also refused to engage and, after him, Adams, knowing full well we couldn't win. The "news media" were chock-full of satire and slander against the president, the Congress, anyone in public life.
The situation hasn't much changed, apparently. (Though I don't think we want war with France anymore.)
Just sayin'.
Dingbats
Josh Olson,
Would a list of 'dingbat theists' include C.S. Lewis? St. Thomas Aquinas? Abraham Joshua Heschel? Mary Daly? And would the world be a richer place if their works were nothing but a dim memory? You tell me, brother.
I'm not deeply religious, and I am opposed to superstition and stupidity in any form, but I'm not so sure I'm ready to just dump an entire body of beauty and culture and art and thinking on the basis that everyone who believes any of it is a dingbat (or an idiot, whichever). I only wish on my best day that I could match the 'dingbatedness' of the thinkers mentioned above. But of course, your mileage, etc., etc.
Who Needs Satire When We Have Real Life?
When will the "Stupid Meter" explode?
The way the numbing and tiresome "our founding fathers" spiel is used to manipulate millions of clueless sloths outside the beltway, you'd think they'd reinstate sedition laws!
Here's a fascinating sample of Fantasy vis-a-vis The Real World:
Sharron Angle ~
“I’m sure that they probably said that about Thomas Jefferson and George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. And truly, when you look at the Constitution and our founding fathers and their writings, the things that made this country great, you might draw those conclusions: That they were conservative. They were fiscally conservative and socially conservative.”
Sarah Palin ~
"Washington was the consummate statesman. He served, he returned power to the people. He didn't want to be a king - he returned power to the people, then he went back to Mount Vernon, he went back to his farm."
"I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax, because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us, having a revolution every now and then is a good thing. And the people - we the people - are going to have to fight back hard if we're not going to lose our country."
Newt Gingrich ~
"Well, I think it’s pretty clear in the original document, the Declaration of Independence of the Founding Fathers, that we are endowed by our Creator certain inalienable rights which are the rights of liberty, life and the pursuit of happiness. And I think what every listener needs to understand is that in the minds of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and the people who wrote that document, they literally meant that your rights come from God, that you then loan them to the government, which is why the Declaration of Independence begins “We the people”. And therefore if we drive God out of the public square we drive out the source of our own rights and our own source of power."
AND NOW...MEET PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON...as things really were:
After the Revolutionary War, the newly formed United States had a heavy debt to those who helped finance the war.
Desperate for revenue, President Washington, in one of his first tests put to his authority, chose to tax alcohol.
The result was the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794.
Mobs of enraged farmers violently stormed Philadelphia in protest (after having tarred and feathered a tax collector, and burned down the home of another). Washington issued a proclamation announcing, "with the deepest regret", that the militia would be called out to suppress the rebellion. Some 13,000 federal troops were sent in. The insurrection collapsed.
President Washington, incidentally, also created the draft because so few volunteered. A much larger Federal army was required to hold the law of the land (as local militias in the states had proved insufficient).
WHAT would our insidiously sageful Right-Wing leaders say to that ? Those who KNOW they're misleading people are getting on well with the clueless and gullible that make up half our population.
Because if Washington were living today, he and his policies would be vilified by HALF the American population!
JOSH
"It strikes me (and this is directed more at dingbat Amparion than Frank), that some folks are simply too stupid to live in America."
What semtence could better elucidate the view of that very Hollywood elite that's under discussion?
Still, I support every American's right to be stupid enough to watch Hollywood's TV shows and movies, and I'm sure Josh would join me in this support.
ARTC
Such sad news - I did not know Brad, but I know Bill and some others of ARTC and the Mighty Rassilon Players and I can say that Brad was involved with a great set of people who did great work. My condolences to all.
A relevant Lichtenberg aphorism
"Judge men not by their opinions, but by what their opinions have made of them."
Sad news from the ARTC Folks
Harlan, I know you did some work with the Atlanta Radio Theater Company. The longtime musical director, Brad Weage, has passed. This came from Bill Ritch:
It is with great sorrow that I must report that Brad Weage passed away
during the night last night.
He went into the hospital with double pneumonia and after a lot of work
by the doctors he was getting much better.
Then Saturday he took a turn for the worst. The pneumonia reappeared
and his lungs began to bleed. His body was no longer manufacturing
white cells. His blood pressure and respiration had to be assisted. He
just could not fight it any more.
His brother Steven is driving into town today to help take care of the
business of Brad's passing.
I, we, have lost a great friend.
William Alan Ritch
.
__,_._,___
Frank,
What the fuck are you talking about? (two times):
"Hollywood is real quiet about the Mosque controversy. So much for the liberal elite."
Are you laboring under the delusion that there's some sort of club, and that we all get together and discuss the issues before issuing a statement? Hollywood's an industry, made up of people. Every single person I know is outraged about the repulsive, racist campaign that Fox et al have perpetrated against the community center. It's a fucking no-brainer. This is America. We're okay with people building churches we don't subscribe to. If you're not, the world is full of countries that don't respect religious freedoms. Go live there. Why do you need a press release from Alex Baldwin on this subject?
As for the "liberal elite" nomenclature, can we give that a rest? Finding the antics of the bigots, morons, poltroons, hooligans and scumbags on the far right to be distasteful does not make one a liberal. It makes one a rational human being. I do not find Sarah Palin to be despicable because my political ideology demands it. I find her despicable because she's despicable.
Then this twaddle:
"The new atheists are quiet too. "
Ay yi yi. I don't even know what this inane phrase means. New atheists? The notion that atheists ought to be speaking in unison on ANYTHING speaks to a profound lack of understanding of what atheism is. There ain't no organization there, Frank. Nor is there a uniform philosophy. Atheism isn't about believing something.
Bringing it into this discussion also displays an inability to grasp what's happening here. I hope the idiot Amparion will try to follow this, too, because I'm only going to say it once:
It is possible, if one is a sophisticated, intelligent human being, to hold two thoughts in the head at the same time. To wit:
Islam is a dingbat religion. So is Christianity, Judaism, Muftiism, Foofooism and Zoroastrianism. And Scientology. And any other you wish to name. I yearn to live in a world in which religion exists only as a dim and embarrassed cultural memory.
That said, I believe in freedom of religion, and support the rights of any dingbat theist to practice his or her dingbat religion freely in America.
One can support the right of these yahoos to build a cultural center (it ain't a mosque, folks. Do some legwork here, and stop letting Rupert Murdoch tell you what to think) without actually endorsing any of their views.
It strikes me (and this is directed more at dingbat Amparion than Frank), that some folks are simply too stupid to live in America. Some people think free speech is great except when someone they despise practices it. They fail to grasp that that is the ONLY time when free speech matters. That you could mistake someone's defense of the cultural center with an endorsement of Islam speaks to a profound intellectual inadequacy, and only make me wish that they still taught civics in high school.
That said, I do believe it should be against the law to build a Catholic church anywhere near a child.
Cindy: Here are a few names to consider: Sofia, Jessica, Samantha, Savannah, Natalie. I hope this helps!
Susan: The check, as they say, is in the mail. Thanks so much!
Steverino: Panic in the Streets! Love it. I wonder if Chris might want to record it?
Chuck
STEVE B.: "PANIC IN THE STREETS! (sung to the tune of “Dancin’ in the Streets”)"
Divorce Cris. Marry Me.
Doug's okay with this.
Love,
shagin
The World's Shortest Jim Jefferies Interview.
Sometimes dictaphones are a bloody nightmare:
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/the-worlds-shortest-jim-jefferies-interview/
I have a question, inspired by that inspiring experience. Harlan, if I could think up a few good questions for you (even by email, if you wanted, though I reckon I know what's up with the dictaphone I used for this interview), would you be into doing an interview for www.3ammagazine.com? I mean, it's a critically feted literary/cultural website (http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/what-they-say-about-3am/) and I would love to try and rack my brain to come up with a few semi-sentient sentences to say to you. You could do a wee bit of promo for Riding the Rails in Atlantis, and whatever else you're up to now. If not, well, c'est la vie. One other question, if you don't mind. I remember reading fairly recently that you were selling Repent, Harlequin posters. Any left? If so, how much are they and what do they look like? I would LOVE one; that's my all-time fave short story and the DNA strand that my contemporary writing evolved from.
Cheers whatever the outcome,
G.
Cindy: For whatever it's worth, I've always loved the name Emily, and "Emily Rippy" has a nice ring to it, at least to my ears. When my wife was pregnant, Emily was at or near the top of our list of girls' names, but we had two boys, so we never used it.
I received my copy of On The Road Volume 4 today I'm looking forward to listening. Oddly enough I was the the DragonCon in Atlanta that year so it will be interesting to see if anything rings a bell. I also received Season 4 of Rocky and Bullwinkle & Friends today.Woo hoo.
Lori do you have someone getting a copy of the Harlan book at Madcon? If not email me at my address.
Roger
Steve Barber
Ab
So
Lute
Ly
Brill
Yant
Mike
a reply to Amparion
What makes someone a wackjob is when they can't tell the difference between the KKK and the Quakers.
Or when they can't tell the difference between Al-Quaeda and some middle-class Americans who want to build a Mosque.
That's what makes someone a wackjob.
Cindy, Fay! I like that. Rachel is good but there are a lot of Rachels. I know one Rachel who is a total b====.
Francine sounds good as well.
Laquisha?
---------
Michael Moore made a very good point: General Motors is making profit, but they are not hiring. Success, especially socialized success should lead to jobs.
------
Hollywood is real quiet about the Mosque controversy. So much for the liberal elite.
There's a video of a black guy almost getting beat up in a New York rally against the Mosque. Scary stuff.
We need to squash the coming fascism, but how?
The new atheists are quiet too.
huh?
So if there is an ideology that:
Classifies women as second-class beings, eternally inferior to men.
Advocates the putting to death of homosexuals, adulterers, atheists, agnostics and apostates.
Insists upon pre-historic precepts of how the universe is constructed, such as a flat earth; creationism; earthquakes, floods, storms, weevils in the corn and boils on the bottom, eclipses and so on are caused by evil spirits punishing people for disobeying the Holy Book; that science is an evil effort put forth by disciples of an Evil Spirit, and insists that All Truth is contained within its Holy Book, that said Holy Book is literally true in all ways for all time. and that you mut act as if you believe this, or suffer consequences as varied as social ostracism, fines, segregation and perhaps even death if they feel like being particularly strict that day.
And if I oppose that mind numbing ideology, I am, Ipso Facto:
A wack job of the Right if that ideology is Islamic.
On the other hand, if the ideology holding forth those very precepts listed above is Christian or Jewish, I am just as obviously a rightminded free thinking Progressive whose poop is odor free.
Wait, I must have missed something.
Let's see, A equals B? Okay, A equals B, except when A equals C, where C is not B...
Do I have that right?
I'm so glad we have intellectuals to guide us. I would never have figured all that out all on my own.
I don't know what you folks think about it but it seems to me this has been a pretty dismal summer for movies. With a few exceptions.
One of those exceptions is AGORA, written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar. The reviews have been mixed but I thought it was brilliant. Rachel Weisz gives a wonderful performance as Hypatia of Alexandria who lived in the fourth century. (Shame on you if you don't know the story of Hypatia, especially you womenfolk.)
The story plays against the backdrop of one of those pivotal moments in history when the whole world changes, but it's a human story not a tract. The evocation of fourth century Roman Egypt (which Amenábar nimbly invites us to compare to our own time) is amazing.
I doubt this movie is getting much distribution outside the Greater Urban Nuclei but catch it if you can.
Here's a thought experiment for you. You are the curator of the last library. You are given five minutes to leave, before it is to be destroyed, with only what books you can carry in your hands.
What would YOU take?
(An example of why I'm unpopular with the far right)
For your musical pleasure, a little Monday creativity. The following is disavowed by singers, songwriters, music fans and the far right.
PANIC IN THE STREETS! (sung to the tune of “Dancin’ in the Streets”)
Fallin' out around the world
Are you ready for a brand new beat?
Islam's here and the time is near
For panic in the streets
Panic in Chicago (PANIC IN THE STREETS!)
Down in New Orleans (PANIC IN THE STREETS!)
Mosques up in New York City (PANIC IN THE STREETS!)
All we need is Fox News, or Limbaugh
There'll be panic everywhere
There'll be screamin', prayin' and “n-words” playin'
There’s panic in the streets
Oh, it doesn't matter what you are
Just as long as you aren’t gay
So come on, every guy grab a girl
Marry everywhere around the world
There'll be panic (PANIC!)
There’s panic in the streets (PANIC IN THE STREETS!)
This is an invocation
Across the nation
A chance for folks to hate
There'll be screamin’ and swearin’ and brown folks scarin’
Panic in the streets
Philadelphia, P.A. (the town is too gay)
Baltimore and DC now (Libruhls are in charge now)
Yeah don't forget the Motor City (can't forget the Islam City)
(PANIC IN THE STREETS!)
All we need is anger, sweet fury
There'll be panic everywhere
There'll be swingin', swayin' and hymnals playin'
And panic in the street, yeah
Oh, it doesn't matter what you are
Just as long as you are “fair”
So come on, every guy grab a girl
Chase immigrants around the world
There'll be panic (PANIC!)
Panic in the streets (PANIC IN THE STREETS!)
(chant out)
Philadelphia, P.A. (That’s where they be gay.)
Baltimore and DC now (you know, where the “n”s be now)
Don't forget the Motor City (Islam in the Motor City)
Illegals down in L.A. California
Not to mention Texas, Arizona
St. Louis
Panic, paranoia
Panic in the streets…
Jason - Confirmed
Thank you.
Quote du jour
SIMON SINGH, in the September 2010 issue of Wired, page 115:
"Science has nothing to do with common sense. I believe it was Einstein who said that common sense is a set of prejudices we form by the age of 18. Inject somebody with some viruses and that's going to keep you from getting sick? That's not common sense. We evolved from single-cell organisms? That's not common sense. By driving my car I'm going to cook Earth? None of this is common sense. The common-sense view is what we're fighting against. So somehow you've got to move people away from that with these quite complicated scientific arguments based on even more complicated research. That's why it's such an uphill battle. People start off with a belief and a prejudice--we all do. And the job of science is to set that aside to get to the truth."
* * *
Also recommended is David Gerrold's very funny "F&SF Mailbag" in the September/October issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, which has a passing mention of our esteemed host.
SUGGESTION TO CINDY
I have always thought "Rachel" was the most beatiful name for a girl o woman. I still do. I suugest it.
With love, Harlan
JOSH, STEVE B.: iPhone, Blackberry, whatever. Palm Pres are more user-friendly and less corporately fascistic.
HARLAN: Quite enjoyed the first issue of "Phoenix Without Ashes", as Starlost is one of the few bits of your oeuvre of with I am not passing savvy. When next you speak to Chris Ryall, you might say hi-de-ho for me; we hung out in the same electronic fora some several years ago. I know not how very likely he'll remember me, though.
And hey--get him to maybe sign IDW up for more adaptations, or maybe even new nonficcy stuff. (I've often hoped to see a "Harlan Ellison's Reading" column on comics ...)
... and, speaking of comics ...
Is everyone here aware that Ben Bova has a new webcomic? Called "A Duel in the Somme", and based off his short story of the same name, it is co-written by Rob Balder (whom some may know from his "Order of the Stick" and "Erfworld" webcomics) and illustrated by Bill Holbrook (artist of the syndicated comic strips "Safe Havens" and "Fast Track", as well as the anthropomorphic webcomic "Kevin and Kell").
The strip is being serialized at: http://duelinthesomme.com/
(a tip for those unfamiliar with webcomics: Before reading the strip which will pop up on that page, be sure to click the "First Page" link in the middle of the page, above it. That way, you don't start in the middle.)
Paris Hilton announces engagement to marry herself.
Film at Eleven!
I just had to share. I couldn't help but think of JEFFTY IS FIVE when I saw these movie posters, in particular the movies the main character and Jeffty saw that no one else did.
How about movie posters from an alternate universe?
Imagine a 70's version of THE MATRIX starring David Caradine, Sidney Poitier, Pam Grier and Peter Sellers as "Agent Smith". Directed by John Boorman.
Or an X-rated ROBOCOP with Marilin Chambers?
Have a peek:
http://io9.com/5618023/scifi-movie-posters-from-an-alternate-universe/gallery//gallery/1
Enjoy!
Chuck
The Purge
Dear Susan,
Unless I've missed something in my scan back through the last few days of posts, you should still have one copy of:
58) THE ESSENTIAL ELLISON (50TH). Morpheus International. Hardcover/Slipcased/Numbered/Signed. $150.00 (2)
If so, I would very much like to purchase it. Upon receipt of your confirmation, I'll pop a cheque in the mail.
Many thanks,
Jason
I Have No Mac, and I Must Scream
Hey Josh
Finally got a chance to read your blog post on same sex marriage...All I can say is THANK YOU!
If and when I ever get around to getting married will you be a member of my wedding party. My Male bff gets to be best person, would you settle on being a bride's person?
I am dyslexic, so I could read the upside down post. I can read in a mirror too. But now normal font looks wrong.
Oops.
Bradbury - 90
22nd August 2010, also wishing a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ray Bradbury.
He was a contemporary of Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and our own Ellison and I'm happy to have discovered many works by this fine authors.
Stephen B
Haydn - Confirmed.
Thank you.
ATC/JAN,
I'd love to think Bowman was being sarcastic in that article in regards to I AM LEGEND. The Will "I Like Shrek" Smith vehicle had about as much to do with Matheson's novel as I, ROBOT had to do with Asimov's.
Hell, APOCALYPSE NOW proved that you could make an adaptation that might seem light years away from its source material, and still remain true to what the book or short story was ultimately ABOUT.
But let's forget the usual fanboy complaint of fealty to source material for a moment and try to view the movie on its own merits. The last third act alone was just irredeemably STOOOOOOOOpid. The script occasionally feels like something you'd find as a satire in ENTOURAGE, except...horror of horrors...it's the real deal.
Bah. Whatever. Three movies in, and they still couldn't get it right. Time to move on to other post-apocalyptic fiction.
KRIS,
Actually, I own a laptop, so I was able to read your post just by turning it upside-down. Neener neener.
Re: At The Mouse Circus
Despite much research I'm still no closer to some sort of epiphany, but I came across a "review" of Deathbird Stories which had me pissing me knicks with hilarity. You'll have to take it on faith when I tell you that this is the sum total of the "review" . . .QUOTE "Some drivel about the King of Tibet and a Caddilac. Another off day. 2/10" UNQUOTE
I should point out that the mis-spelling is not mine and somehow made this academic consideration even more unreal. Ahhh the arrogance of dismissiveness without the desire for clarification, eh ??
My quest continues . . .Yer cock-sparra 'Owes
˙buıʇsǝɹǝʇuı sıɥʇ punoɟ ı - ɹnoɯnɥ ǝןıʇuɐɟuı ʎɯ uopɹɐd ǝsɐǝןd
˙pɐǝɹ puɐ pɐǝɥ ɹnoʎ uo puɐʇs ǝsɐǝןd 'uʍop ǝpısdn ɹɐǝddɐ ʇou sǝop sıɥʇ ɟı
ˇuoıʇuǝʇʇɐ uıɐb oʇ sɥʇbuǝן ɥɔns oʇ dooʇs ʇ,upןnoʍ ı ʎןıʞɔnן ʇnq 'sɔıɥdɐɹb puɐ sʇuoɟ ʍǝu ǝʇɐǝɹɔ uǝʌǝ oʇ ɥbnouǝ ʎsɐǝ s,ʇı ʎɐpoʇ 'ʞɔǝɥ ˙pɹɐʍɹoɟ ʇɥbıɐɹʇs ssǝן ǝuo ʇsɐǝן ʇɐ ɹo ʇɐɯɹoɟ ǝsoɹd ɹɐןnbǝɹ ɐ ɯoɹɟ sǝʇɐıʌǝp ɹǝʇıɹʍ poob ɐ uǝɥʍ buıʇsǝɹǝʇuı ʇı ʞuıɥʇ ı ˙ɯǝɥʇ ǝʇıɹʍ oʇ ǝʌoן ı ˙ɯǝɥʇ pɐǝɹ oʇ ǝʌoן ı - sǝıɹoʇs poob ʎq pǝןןɐɹɥʇuǝ os ɯɐ ı
Thank you all for your thoughtful and articulate responses regarding socialism and communism.
More later.
In the meantime, please help! My son has a daughter on the way in three weeks. They recently discovered that the name they
were inclined to select meant, " large, unshaped head." My daughter-in-law doesn't want to tempt fate so they are looking for girl names that go with the surname Rippy. My son Nick suggested Abilene-- but his bride is from Colorado...so no dice.
Please help! Any and all suggestions are appreciated.
Sincerely,
Cindy
P.S. I like Fay Wray Rippy.
Happy 90th Birthday, Ray Bradbury
Happy Birthday, Ray Bradbury! Many Octobers ago, a circus performer named Mr. Electrico tapped your shoulder with an electrically-charged sword, the sparks flew, and he said "Live forever!" And those of us who love you and your work hope you indeed do, along with your literary children such as Harlan and many others. In fact, it would be a nice way to celebrate if all the forum posters took a copy of "Again, Dangerous Visions" down from their shelves and reread Harlan's masterly tribute to the master. Live forever, Ray, live forever Harlan! The rest of us live better from the inspiration of your words.
The holes in our literacy
Speaking for myself,there are some words I will *always* mispronounce or misspell unless I slow down, or force myself. F'rinstance...encountering the word "epitome" in prose, I always think "eppy tome", even though I know better.
Saying
Continuing the thanks to everyone here, re the comments on Arvies.
Amparion, there's plenty of grownup science fiction worth reading by adults; much of it doesn't even take place in shiny spaceships and has nothing to do with battles in the void. Seriously: If you haven't read Paolo Bacigalupi's novel, you're in for a richly imagined and deeply thought-provoking future.
Saying
Continuing the thanks to everyone here, re the comments on Arvies.
Amparion, there's plenty of grownup science fiction worth reading by adults; much of it doesn't even take place in shiny spaceships and has nothing to do with battles in the void. Seriously: If you haven't read Paolo Bacigalupi's novel, you're in for a richly imagined and deeply thought-provoking future.
Steve,
Wouldn't be caught dead on a Blackberry.
Alex,
I'm glad you liked the piece. I wish it had gotten around a bit more - every day that this "issue" is treated like an issue makes me that much more furious.
(For those who don't know - I recently read a piece by some asshole bishop in Maryland lamenting the overturning of Prop 8. As I read it, it dawned on me that I could demolish every single word he'd written.... so I did. A friend sent my piece to a political blog, where it ran last week. It's here:
http://www.bilerico.com/2010/08/enough_already_with_the_gay_marriage_thing.php
Whoopsie
Should be "misused," not "always misused."
Wordslay
In his superb memoir, "Palimpsest," written when he was well into his seventies, Gore Vidal confesses that through most of the Twentieth Century he had always misused "palimpsest."
Oddly, finding that out made me feel a little better about myself, thereby proving once more the truth of Vidal's famous remark: "It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail."
CHARLIE in St. Pete:
Geezus, you're right; I'm wrong.
Not only have I misspelled it--"cozzen"--which must be a loose thread of memory from reading James Gould Cozzens back then--but I've BEEN misspelling it for years and years. And I do not even mean "cozen" as in cheat or defraud. I THOUGHT I was using the correct word for sort of something like "snuggling up next to" or "coyly seducing."
Whatever the hell I've THOUGHT I was saying correctly, forEVER, you are right write...I am rung imprecisely wrong.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
THE FIRM OF KORDERRINKLE & GUNDY, Esqs.
As you requested.
The maw has opened.
Red rydes again.
Harlan Ellison
Harlan, send long postings portion-wise, if that is how your computer wants it.
Forgot to mention yesterday that Chris Ryall (PWA editor) had already relayed Harlan's feelings to the reviewer.
www.omega-level.net/2010/08/19/images-words-phoenix-without-ashes-1/#more-7159
ATC: Good deductions. I had missed the "I Am Legend" anachronism in the interview. To me it feels like the movie was never made; I don't connect the recent one (which I only saw a trailer of) with the book at all. Haven't seen Reign of Fire either.
Too bad Bowman had to let go of Legend and PWA. Not surprising he went back to television.
Thought for today
There is an old story about a famous rabbi living in Europe who was visited one day by a man who had traveled by ship from New York to see him. The man came to the great rabbi's dwelling, a large house on a street in a European city, and was directed to the rabbi's room, which was in the attic. He entered to find the master living in a room with a bed, a chair, and a few books. The man expected much more. After greetings, he asked, "Rabbi, where are your things?" The rabbi asked in return, "Well, where are yours?" His visitor replied, "But, Rabbi, I'm only passing through," and the master answered, "So am I, so am I." -- Jack Kornfield
Book Purge: Final Chapter
Dear Susan:
Have you still got a copy of
93) MIND FIELDS. Hardcover. $30.00 (6)
up for grabs?
If so, my cheque'll be in the mail on Monday.
I have no idea
About any adult science fiction that is any damn good. I don't read it much any more.
Perhaps I believe it is a genre for children, and adults who can still drag out that old sensawundah and ignore the immaturity of it all.
Though I still enjoy Wells and some Heinlein. The mid-fifties adult Heinlein, like Double Star. Humanistic, not yet totally self righteous on politics, and not yet playing out his kink on the public stage.
Since I did not name you, Keith Baby (please forgive my familiarity, and imagine me with a twinkle in my eye and great respect for you, for that is how I see myself as I write this)you may consider my comments as directed at Harlan as and when he will or has written/said such as you have about Science Fiction.
I am not an oracle. I don't have answers, just questions and opinions, mostly informed. Not to be all socratic on you, or to be fake humble. I just feel fresh out of truths.
Though occasionally I spout something summat like a Truth, despite my lack of knowledge. In general my tongue is semi-in-cheek when doing so, and I try not to be mean spirited, which seems of late a favorite "Game, Set, Match!" argument terminator. Truth to tell, I rather like mean spirited curmudgeons. It's just the way I am meant to be bent.
The most recent SF novel I have read was that John Scalzi one about green starship troopers with the minds of old Earthlings transplanted through some hugger mugger ethereal electronic thingie. You may judge its impact by my inability to recall the title. Leaving aside my distaste for much of Scalzi The Public Man (the private individual might well be a peach), it was an OK read. But I would not present it as terribly adult or with terribly significant thematic material for discussion beyond "Ain't It Cool!"
Other than that, I dunno. Simmons kinfda sorta tickled me with that Hyperion stuff. Have not read his Ilium series.
I pick up a copy of Analog now and then, and excepting only a couple of Adam-Troy stories, I roll my eyes and chuckle. No wonder their subscriptions are down to the freshman classes at Calt Tech and MIT (Georgia Tech maybe), and every retired NASA engineer. What can you say about what was once the premiere SF and futurist mag when it won't even accept electronic submissions from its writers? Even Asimov's finally came on board with that one. I have to admit, I am also rather unhappy at the way they post partial stories on their website, and then never let you read the rest without buying an entire issue, electronic or otherwise. Example: I missed the "Shootout on the moon" story by A-TC when it was on the stands, and have only read the half they put on the website. I would pay a buckorso to read the rest, but on stiff-necked principle resist (I'm broke, in other words) paying more for the entire issue, in order to have five stories like "The Young Nano-Tech Engineers On Mars", an article on "Einstein Was An Idiot!!" and an editorial where Stanley Schmidt whines about the world not having finned spaceships and atomic cars.
I exaggerate. I try to make a point.
I am not the person to ask about what the hell is wrong with SF, or right.
I am just another whiner, at the heart of it all.
There. I said it.
Just another whiner.
Time to go soak my head.
S
Harlan...
Yuk! Yuk! Chortle! Snigger! Guffaw! Titter! Titter! Just so you know...read it. Tee Hee too!
Some believe WE(US) are the Talisman of our future to come
And I'm not sad.I'm hope-shaded in the belief the common Man will rise above and our future is full of the uncertainty of wonder and amazement not yet anticipated.
Tony Rabig-Thank you.I needed a little shot of Human brightness and decency,honesty and wonders believed still obtainable and just in reach if we all just try and reach out and touch the beauty and understand the significance our time alive offers.
Elections are coming soon and the Politicos' will be back at slandering each other with half truths and keen diatribe that just cuts the edge of truth,you may find yourselves believing and grasping for understanding and with just enough near truths you will color your logic with hear-say and really believe you are quite sound in judgement of others based on these near truths.You will go only to the reporting sites that confirm your now understood truths because the other sites might challenge these dogmas and you have no patience for this diatribe;because you trusted the original source;who was it again?
ALEX JAY - Wow! Glad to see you still amongst the living. Must've been a helluva honeymoon!!! Welcome back.
_______________________________________________
KEITH - I done you one better. I wrote a documentary about the people who isolated the cause of anaphylaxis and those who invented epinephrine.
It's called "Peanuts Without Atchoos".
_______________________________________________
KRIS - Thank you. Love the new term and I plan to use it at every opportunity -- and there are plenty!
_______________________________________________
JOSH - Not sure which Shore you're upon, but I'm sure I speak for "V" when I say "get off the fucking Blackberry."
If I can do it for a week, so can you.
_______________________________________________
SUSAN - Dinero is in the mail. Thankee for the second chance.
(And whoever snaps up that last leatherbound DEATHBIRD is getting a treat.)
______________________________________________
Speaking of the dumbing down of America, I have found that I'm guilty on some counts of not taking the time to correct typos, grammar, etc. It comes largely from work-related IMs, and equally work-related email. All too often I dash through notes to get them (proverbially) off my desk. The faster the better. But speed is making me sloppy when it comes to policing my own comments -- and as much as I might raise an eyebrow when someone posts a litany of typos, it strikes me that I may be conveying the same impression.
I am literate, hear me roar.
ADAM-TROY: Holy shit. "Arvies" was brilliantly perverse, brilliantly written, and heartbreaking. Hats off and low bows, sir.
BRIAN SIANO: I had rather the same reaction to the "Schtup Me, Ray Bradbury" video. Unfortunately, my feelings on Brother Ray--usually just shy of slavish adulation--are somewhat tempered this week by his weird non sequiturish comments on the whole Cordoba House situation.
That being said, if I retain one-quarter of the erudition and talent at age 90 as does Mr. Bradbury--and rest assured that I wonlt and can't--I will be lucky indeed.
FinderDoug: Did I really NEED the image of you engaged in a breakdance headspin?
BEN WINFIELD: Those here who know me know me as genial, jovial; ever with a laugh at the ready. However, never does a moment of any day go by when I am not filled with white-hot rage an several somethings.
anger is a great and powerful fuel--but it cannot be allowed to rule. I've read enough of your posts over the years since you first alighted here to know that you are strong enough, smart enough, and capable enough to harness the wind and not let it drive you. Find the kernel of anger and vitriol which you can use as a power plant, and discard the dirty husk which muddies your outer demeanor.
JOSH OLSON: From this heterosexually-married man eight days shy of a very happy first anniversary, THANK YOU for your reply to Bishop Bigot on the subjecg of gay marriage. Much needed; much appreciated.
You want to have your asses kicked, read economist Ha-joon Chang, who is one of the brightest lights in about fifteen years. He teaches economics at Cambridge. He shows the truth about myths surrounding capitalism. This is the book to look for:
http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Samaritans-Secret-History-Capitalism/dp/1596915986/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282412340&sr=8-1
He mentions that South Korea was a third world country in the 50s, early 60s. Protectionism, government intervention, high import tariffs, made the country a powerhouse. A company that used to export fish, became a company that dealt with mobil phones. Perhaps you know it--it's called Samsung.
Government intervention works. Free trade doesn't.
Later, no government will be even better.
-------------
Rachel Maddow is going to the middle. Arianna Huffington is wishy washy. Anthony Weiner is a shill for Israel. nah.
Chuck - Confirmed.
Thank you.
Bradbury at 90
Thought this was a nice piece and that the rest of the Webderland inmates might like to check it out too.
Assuming it's permissible these days to post a link to anything at National Review... :-)
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/print/244266
And bests to all.
--tr
Having read Phoenix Without Ashes in the past (if I recall correctly, both the original script and the Bryant/Ellison novelization.) I am diving into the new series with great joy.
Reading the first installment I was struck by an interesting parallel. The culture and experiences in the story have some interesting similarities with what has been going on the last few years in that part of Arizona (it should really be part of Utah) called the Arizona Strip – particularly in Arizona City. You may have heard - that’s the place where one person is arranging marriages and they are excommunicating the younger men to make sure there are no arguments (not to mention, to ensure there are more wives for some of the older gents.)
I will go out on a limb here and say that I don’t think Harlan had that particular situation in mind (primarily because, to the best of my recollection, it was not well known what was going on up there back when Harlan wrote Phoenix). But, it does represent a good example of real life and fiction colliding (or, maybe more accurately, a talented writer understanding just how evil humans can be.)
Mike
SEMI-WRITER,
"A short while back, I rambled on about "entitlement" as an American and what we expected/anticipated to have in our society. So... may you be blessed enough to HAVE a house and a car and a mountain of bills to call your own, my friend. 'Cause the alternative involves pavement and dirty coffee cups with coins in 'em."
Silly me, I've always believed in a third option.
Just because the world does its best to keep Door Number Three coated over with an extra level of paint, doesn't mean it's ceased to exist. Harlan has found his own unique frequency between the two extremes you've described. He has the house and the car and the bills to keep the wolves at bay, and he also has...something else.
It can be done. Like Sara said, ride the dragon.
Susan: If I count correctly there should still be copies of:
93) MIND FIELDS. Hardcover. $30.00 (6) (4?)
I'd like to glom onto one, if there are some left, with the author's nom de plume affixed in the appropriate place, if he pleases.
I also mailed an order for the HORNBOOK a couple of days ago. It's nice to not be broke.
Your grateful customer,
Chuck "Mr. Moneybags" Messer
oh golly miss molly
I have got a great name for a new porno movie. Can be gay or straight (I would prefer straight if anyone in the industry is listening and cares what I think…).
They had _Star Whores_. Then they had _E3, The Extra Testicle_, and then they even had _The Sperminator_ (very good special FX in that one: they even blew up a car, amongst other things blown). They even had _Chinese Lesbians in Space_ but that wasn’t a takeoff, so nevermind.
Well, why not a NEW and ORIGINAL porno movie about a long cylindrical tube flying through space to plant Humanity’s seed on other rich, verdant, worlds? Lots of no holds barred unprotected sex. There could be a new episode every 6 months and it has endless possibilities for new talent, because the journey isn’t only long, it’s also hard. We’ll call it: _Penises Without Assess_.
Amparion, you funny guy, you almost sound like Stanley. Why don’t you ever call Harlan out when he complains about the death of quality television, or the death of the culture, or the stupidity of today's youth? I mean, HE riffs on those themes from time to time, here, and you say nothing. It would be a good discussion, valid for this venue. Very well: to modify my statement about Science Fiction, I don’t believe it is dying, I just believe it’s not challenging and stimulating me as an adult. I’m sure 12 year olds are adequately awed by current Science Fiction. If you have read any other science fiction stories that adequately stimulate you as an adult, please share. I’d like to get back into this genre which my age and maturity have left behind. No sarcasm, no disingenuous, just lookiing for interesting science fiction. I don’t think Adam-Troy could write stories as fast as I could read them, so any additional talent you could hip me to (hep me to?) would be most appreciated.
-Keith
Forgive the private usage of a public facility, but a certain noted futurist ain't got no e-mail.
Yo, buddy. The shore is grand. No phone, minimal Internet access. This is Heaven. V and I miss you kids much, and will see you soon. The nieces & nephew ask about you daily, and will descend upon you next Summer.
Forgive typos. I'm doing this on a goddam iPhone.
Off
cozen v. cozzen
Harlan, I just read (and quite enjoyed) your essay in The Phantom Chronicles, Vol. 2. There is the sentence where you 'cozzened' Grace and Burford. I had to check the dictionary, as I thought "to cozen" had one "z" as I remembered before reading something from you where I saw the double "z". Webster says one "z", even in the past tense. Perhaps I'm just being loopy, missing the obvious of another word beyond my ken. I'll add, I also just read Phoenix Without Ashes #1 and am greatly anticipating #2 next month.
Re: Steve Barber, Tea Party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing
Apologies if this is a well known term, I only discovered it the other day in relation to the Tea Party.
Paul - Confirmed. Thank you.
catchin' up
Hey, Gang!
I've been so busy, I haven't been here in nearly two weeks, so paging back this evening was the first time I saw Susan's and Brian Phillips' responses to my August 7 post on that same day. Looks like I missed some of the usual fun and games; hope things pick up soon for everybody who's down (that's especially you, Semi-Writer), and the rest of you . . . keep on doing what you do.
So, what have I been up to? A lot more video and film shooting. I'll tell you about the indie features I've been shooting (VERY shoestring budgets -- read, no pay for the actors; shut up, Ellison, I'm making my own choices here -- but nifty screenplays and some real fun acting for me) some other time. But here's a couple of the short projects.
On Aug. 7, I sent you a link to the 48-Hour film I starred in last year, "A Hole Story." We just shot our entry for this year's contest two weekends ago. I was not the lead this time, but I appear in a number of scenes as a dimwitted DP (director of photography). The finalists are not going to be announced for a few more days and will be screened on Thursday the 26th, but we're a cinch to be among them, and possibly win some (local) awards, mostly because of the genius of our writer-director, Daniel Elkayam. His "director's cut" will probably run 10-12 minutes, but here's the version he submitted to the contest, which allows a maximum of seven minutes. It's called "Hit Count":
http://www.vimeo.com/14021260
On a more serious note, I shot an ad for high-speed Internet service, on spec, that's very brief but gorgeously done:
http://www.vimeo.com/14144868
This was done on spec, and the prospective client didn't bite, but I've shot two OTHER commercial jobs since then -- an ad for a new software rollout last Saturday and some footage today for a training video in which I play a dentist.
It don't pay enough to live on, but it's fun and it feels almost like being a pro. Next week I'll be shooting a small role as an Arab archaeologist in a TV pilot.
Oh, and if you'd enjoy learning more about the 48-Hour Film Project and how we did "A Hole Story," I've been writing an account about that on a blog:
http://www.americancurrents.com/2010/08/48-hour-film-project-actors-story-david.html
The idea is that within the coming week I'll get to explaining the story behind this year's shoot of "Hit Count." You are probably going to wonder how we managed to get some of the shots you will see in it.
thoughts after reading ATC's latest offering
"The best you can write will be the best you are. Every sentence is the result of a long probation." -- Henry David Thoreau (1841)
Another among the forgotten, seemingly and unfortunately. Along with Shirley Jackson. (I will go read "One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts" again after posting this, lest I be in danger of losing my sertsa.) That is the company I place you in, and the quote that immediately came to mind after I finished reading Herr Castro. The work goes on.
Kafkahead: don't worry so much about who has written what before you. Keep writing, and work on honing your craft. The rest can be kept in files to be picked up later when you complete the thought, or for editors to pick apart for you.
Susan
Susan, this churchmouse asks for the
19) DANGEROUS VISIONS/AGAIN, DANGEROUS VISIONS. Berkley 1983. 2 Trade Paperbacks. $30.00 (1).
As usual, a signature is requested and smiled upon with a dollop of a "Can you believe this!?" lopsided grin.
Thanks a handful. This time I won't send the check by carrier-sloth. Youse guys are aces.
ADAM-TROY
Thanks, Toots. Jan also righted me.
Gaw'bless the spread of Cultural Amnesia that permits this kind of flotsam&jetsam to pollute our HelloKitty! world. A young woman of color, in her 30s, chanced recently to cross my path and asked me about a photograph of a very black man hanging in a small gallery of my "heroes." Who is that, she asked. I said, "Jomo Kenyatta." She had no idea, so I told her. Then I walked her to the open Random House Dictionary on the stand beside my desk, and unfurled to the "K" reference. I had already answered the "who is that," so I was satisfied that I had passed along a bit of Great History to a nice person.
She then said to me--and she was a nice person--"So they named the country after him." And, in tears inside, I said very softly, "No, I think he and the country were named for the mountain that has stood there since Genesis."
No one has a prayer these days, kid. No one. They caught us all long ago. When it was new, NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR was the far abyssal edge of unthinkable dystopian prognostication. Today, with the possible exception of "Arvies," I think it unlikely that any of us could devise a prescience to describe the steady slide into ignorance "Communications Media" have used as back-alley to More and Better Consumerism.
Rob Bowman, blog from interview from 2002, Jomo Kenyatta, Gerald Kersh, Sophie Tucker, Bobby Franks, you, me. We were too slow, my old friend. They were more cunning, and thus faster, not encumbered by considerations of paying the piper, ethics, or accepting the blame.
This has been a strange week, pal. I need some sleep.
Thanks again. Harlan
Earning My Way Back "Among" Harlan's Good Graces
(Quick answer to issue of concern)
HARLAN:
I have performed my own quick investigation on the issue of Rob Bowman and his comments on "Generation Ship" and THE STARLOST.
Internal evidence in the interview I read suggests that it is of some past vintage. He talks about the dragon movie REIGN OF FIRE as if it has not come out yet, and he mentions I AM LEGEND as a project that has been recently canceled and will not come to fruition. Unless this article hails from an alternate universe, it clearly doesn't reflect what's going on now.
Although this interview, which I presume to be the one that's been mentioned, is republished in a couple of current blogs that are dated within the last couple of weeks, it is clearly old news. As in, years old.
Unless there's another Rob Bowman interview I didn't spot that is of a more current vintage, I infer that he legitimately had the rights at some prior point, that these comments date back to that point in history and reflect his determination to get the project off the ground, that the rights have since reverted and that (as you state) IDW has them now. The places reprinting this interview are doing so because of the release of PHOENIX WITHOUT ASHES, but have not bothered to provide context explaining that projects being flogged therein may not still belong to the creative person flogging them now.
Believe an article of this sort and you might find yourself looking forward to the imminent release of the movie adaptation of A CONDERACY OF DUNCES, starring John Belushi.
A-TC
Steve (you smooth talker), Brian and Tom - Confirmed.
Thank you for your kindness. Susan
I would now like to introduce what I call my "Jean Rousseau" List.
It compiles figures of present-day politics who have, to some degree, shown humanistic boldness absent in so many quarters; the FEW who've gained my trust (some once having been opportunists but now seem to project a refreshing forthrightness), and whose brand of intelligence I wish were more prevalent.
Without further adieu, LET the pageant music begin!!!
These, then, are MY candidates for the Gold Chalice (well, the only one I could afford at the 99 Cent Store):
Barney Frank
Bernie Sanders
Anthony Weiner
Alan Grayson
Sherrod Brown
Jesse Jackson Jr.
Al Franken
Rachel Maddow
Al Sharpton
Keith Olbermann
Dylan Ratigan
Ed Schultz
Chris Matthews
Ron Reagan
Thom Hartmann
Randi Rhodes
Spike Lee
Arianna Huffington
and my own hero, Jeff Corwin
REPLY TO BEN WINFIELD
I just spent, so help me I'm not exaggerating, honest to goodness, on the graves of my parents, Ben, an hour-plus, writing you a preliminary reply.
I have an old Dell dial-up. It says Inspiron 2200 on it. I have to rely on Steve Barber and others for the simplest task.
More than an hour to tell you that you are NOT nuts, that you do NOT misperceive, and that your voice in that post has been MY voice, word for word, since before I started writing even THE GLASS TEAT columns a thousand years ago. More than an hour.
Then it just vanished.
This malevolent instrumentality of chittering bat-shit from Hell's fundament just vaporized more than an hour of me trying to talk to you.
Please kill no one till I recover MY senses, as crazed as the windshield of YOURS. And I'll get back to you. You are not alone. You others: keep him distracted till I stop kicking this @#%$^%&*!!!!! grub of electronic infamy!!! and !
Bone-tired, Yr. Pal, Harlan
To Susan Ellison - #93 Mind Fields...and to Steve B.
My apologies for posting twice in a day, however I would very much like a copy of Mind Fields, personalized to Brian Phillips and my good lady wife, Rhonda Phillips-Guy. If possible, I would like to send the check on the 28th so that it arrives on or after August 31st, which is my payday. If this is too far out, I understand.
To Steve Barber: Any man that manages a Bugs-as-Fudd reference as slick as yours deserves a tip of my snap-brim Fedora.
...and welcome back, Kafkahead!
I will lurk and not post for a couple of days,
Brian Phillips
P.S.
Having no money really sucks. I see at least half a dozen things I'd like to buy on the list, and I can't afford any of them. Sorry, Susan. Maybe in a year or so.
I will now absent myself for two days.
HARLAN:
Sorry I missed your call - I was otherwise happily occupied and, although I did hear the phone ring, was not in a position to answer it (and no, I will not go into detail). Anyway, smug sensuality aside (ending 5 years of celibacy will do that to you), I'm way ahead of you - I caught that last night and fixed it before I sent the final print on to Jon. So no worries. And I won't call. But feel free to call me anydamntime.
Ben: As someone who always seems to come up with the perfect comeback line at least three hours too late, I hear you (which, in my mind, is infinitely preferable to "I see you"). At the ripe age (notice I didn't use "old") of 54, I have finally learned the secret of dealing with those silver-tongued, "knows how to argue" people, as well as those who would beat you about the head and shoulders with their opinion: agree with everything they say. Just because you agree with them doesn't mean you AGREE with them, and you're never going to change their minds anyway. Saying "yes" and "uh-huh" to every word out of their mouths gives them nowhere to go. They KNOW you don't actually feel that way, but what can they do? If they call you on it they just look deliberately belligerent. And you say, "I'm agreeing with you, aren't I?"
My new favorite phrase these days (as attested by the Annex) is this: "Change is a dragon. You can ignore it, which is futile. You can fight it, in which case you will lose. Or you can ride it." Arguing with these people is the same. You want to ride them? You want to beat them? Forget about arguing with them.
Teach your CHILDREN.
My daughter is 25. She's smart, passionate, articulate and knows how to argue. I kvell every time I hear her arguing with one of the trolls, because she's so good at it.
You want the future to be better? Instill the idea into your children. Give them the reins to the dragon.
Missed it by THAT much!
Barber, you bastard! While I'm running back and forth from computer to bookshelf to finalize my list you sneak in and snag one. Have you no shame, man? You promised! Susan, his order is hereby disallowed under the statute of limitations, the 5th Amendment, The Emancipation Proclamation and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trades.
Anyway, Susan:
Here is (sniff) what is left (sniff) of my order:
87
39
163
49
266
Thanks for the second chance and a belated thanks to you and the hubby for the kind words and phone call. Glad it resulted in polite posts going both ways.
A good day to all here.
Sorry, the comment was from a blog REPRINT of a July 2002 interview without the original date attached. It read like a new thing because I'm no longer up to date on Bowman's career. Haven't heard much about him since about that time. In other words, the project was a possibility in 2002, not now.
The original: http://www.natoonline.org/infocus/02July/reign.htm
The reprint: http://movie-memorabilia-emporium.blogspot.com/2010/08/rob-bowman-reign-of-fire-interview.html
Yeah, yeah, I promised to remain silent and not call anoybody any names for a day or two. This is in response to a direct question. Or, more accurately, a one time only offer which requires that I "call now".
"18) AGAIN, DANGEROUS VISIONS. FIRST EDITION. Hardcover. $176.00 (1 copy)"
I have never mentioned that this collection was my very first intro to the writings of one Harlan Jay Ellison, esq, (He owns a mansion und no yacht).
I found, in my readings of the "dangerous" collection of stories which the SF Book Club saw fit to adorn my doorstep -- back in those days when Cramer and I found wonder in our readings (crap, dude, you capture my attitude perfectly) -- a voice which transcended even the stories being told. I found that I looked forward to the...er, "forwards" even more than to the pieces themselves.
Yeah. Loved the collection, but even moreso found a voice that spoke to my own inner voice. An editor who, at times, made more sense than those things he collected. (The only other time I've experienced this was in this little tome know as "The Hugo Winners" in which THAT editor spoke VERY disparagingly against the editor of Dangerous Visions and its sequel.
Long story, but it ensures I HAVE to have that last volume, the first, of the collection. For without it, without that attention grabbing assault upon my teenage joie de vive, "future" Harlan would be rid of me and none the wiser for his gain.
(In English, send me the freaking book pls, Susan. Signed, and I will reimburse you handsomely.)
The Future is... the future.
Ben: "Is this really what I have to look forward to? Once I'm past my naive arrogance and have a house and a car and mountains of bills to call my own, I can look back at myself, and shake my head at the judgmental idiot I was."
A short while back, I rambled on about "entitlement" as an American and what we expected/anticipated to have in our society. So... may you be blessed enough to HAVE a house and a car and a mountain of bills to call your own, my friend. 'Cause the alternative involves pavement and dirty coffee cups with coins in 'em.
As far as being judgmental? Heck, let's face it. Until you've felt reality pinch you in a particular way on your backside, you just don't KNOW, cat. There are a lot of mysteries in this world that usually only materialize when times is tough. Don't beat yourself up over any ignorance you might incur, but do try to acknowledge it when you feel it echo in your brain.
JAN IN THE EU, and ANYBODY ELSE
Re: your post about "Rob Bowman" and "Generation Ship."
Whence comes this dollop of WHAT THE HELL...!?!?
I own ALL film rights to PHOENIX WITHOUT ASHES, and the new comic of same, from IDW, the first issue of which went on sale two days ago, is being currently bruited about town by IDW's theatrical agent.
"In the oven...?"
If Rob Bowman or anybody else, in oven, oast, radar-range or boar-BBQ-pit thinks s/he has PHOENIX in some bun-warmer, s/he better pretty damned quick get in touch with me directly, or the next voices they hear from the beyond will be those of my attorneys, who only come out at night.
Bewildered, and seeking some clarification
SERIOUSLY
FROM WHOMEVER
Yr. Pal, Harlan
HARLAN,
I'm going to ramble a bit. It's hard for me to be succinct.
Unfortunately I can't exactly pinpoint what's causing my distemper; it's too vague and nebulous for me to articulate in a way that would seem original or insightful. It could be a number of niggling little things that range from personal crap to the world at large. In other words, it's nothing you haven't heard before, I'm afraid.
It's sort of ironic for me to feel insecure about the ascension of consumerism and materialism, when I'm a child of the '80's myself. I soaked up as much TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES as I did Jules Verne.
But as soon as I hit my 20's, I started feeling this nasty, twitchy ennui that I've heard is pretty commonplace around that age. The unpleasant confusion of not knowing just how right or wrong you really are; what sort of person chance or your own choices will shape you into; the unknown fear of whether recognition or obscurity is going to be your lot in life.
Like I said, all very vague and nebulous. But what I'm really frightened of is the possibility that, like Oedipus, I'm condemned to some intensely ugly fate because of a particular temperament. I have no idea if I'm any quicker or slower to anger than most, but we seem to living in an age where a vast phalanx of creatures have emerged - brought about, maybe in part, by the anonymity of the internet - who have learned to exploit anger to their own ends. Rage has become an invaluable tool for bringing about an individual's humiliation. They know how to poke and prod until their target finally snaps, at which point said target has now been permanently branded as a hot-headed, possibly autistic cretin, while his persecutors throw back their hands and turn to the gawking crowd with the infallible phrase, "He did it to himself."
(That's why I really envy the rare and the few who have extensive libraries for brains. At least they can back up their outrage with authentic facts. I'm still young, still clueless about many things, and still vulnerable to attack.)
I'm worried about the possibility these people are the first step in a different kind of evolution, refining their skills from petty web trolling into a widely recognized - even respected - art of social interaction, turning indignant anger into an embarrassing weakness so those who might protest against The Way Things Are will lower their heads in ignominy and slink into a deep dark cave like Gollum or somesuch wretch. (If you've ever read or seen THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, the protagonist in that story is a loose caricature of the sort of person I'm terrified of - simply put, people who "know how to argue".)
And with the advent of people who "know how to argue", we bear witness to a new age of happy liberty from our consciences. Even those who aren't willing to completely abandon ethics become "realists". You can probably tell them from the type of language they use:
"I've got kids to send to college."
"I've gotta keep a roof over my head."
"Okay, junior, listen close: Some of us like to live in this place called the (patronizing cough) real world..."
Being young, of course, I feel as if I have no right to make any sort of smart-alecky reply to lines like these, because in one decade or less, I could be the one delivering them. I still need a few more years of living to be properly numbed and desensitized. But is this really what I have to look forward to? Once I'm past my naive arrogance and have a house and a car and mountains of bills to call my own, I can look back at myself, and shake my head at the judgmental idiot I was.
So we compromise. And compromise. And compromise. And those who don't compromise are punished via rejection from social circles and/or permanent unemployment. Until suddenly the day arrives when Frederik Pohl's worst nightmares have come to pass and we couldn't even be bothered to notice it.
Chances are I'll be seeing much more of the 21st century than you will. (Of course, I could always be slain by dolphin-flu tomorrow morning, and you're one tough S.O.B., so let's not place bets.) The scary/sad thing is, I don't know if that's something to be excited about. Then again, maybe if I was a person of a more "commercial-friendly" persuasion, I'd be VERY excited. It's all a matter of perspective, as always.
My brother is a puppeteer. His friends have similar interests, but they're also "realists". They've favored the reality of commerce over the delusion of art, and...in my sophomoric, inchoate opinion...have become something less than he is, by making their little pacts with the Horned One.
Hell, sometimes it seems like making pacts with Lucifer is more in-vogue than trading Pokemon cards. Even Spider-Man's jumped on that fashion train. One of my greatest fictional childhood heroes is ready to give ground to Pure Evil. Compromise is inevitable! Sometimes you've gotta lose to win (until you suddenly realize you've lost all over again)! What a lovely, timeless lesson to dish out to a new generation. Whoopee, Make Mine Marvel! Excel-fuckin-sior!
...okay, now I really AM going batshit. In any case, Amparion has already proven that the gradual ascension of corporations is nothing new; at this point, they're too firmly entrenched with every aspect of our daily lives for someone to cry "REVOLUTION" without looking the hypocritical fool. Maybe the dull acceptance of monolithic commerce will be to Mankind what a big-ass meteor was to the dinosaurs. (Or an Ice Age. Or a global pandemic. Or whatever.)
Or perhaps some of us could find another path that's neither a compromise, nor necessarily a direct solution. Become as the cockroach, and go...underground. Stubborn, reviled by the majority, but around long after the the men and women in the suits, the people who know how to argue, the ones with the sleek tongues and impeccable charm who always deliver the last word with the skilled precision of a surgeon, have had their final and most lethal business transaction.
oopps
I forgot...please have head chef personalize. thanks.
Charlie - Confirmed. Thanks!
Order In
Susan, I'll take one of those 93s, sunny side up. Check for $35 out on Monday. #M1031.
P.P.S.:
Jeff...did I mention that it was our original intention to GIVE all these books AWAY, absolutely free of charge and pack 'em all, and sign 'em all to specific requests asking that "Harlan should write something clever" on them, and schlepp 'em all down by car to the post office or UPS or Fedex, and post 'em all at our own expense, just to establish goodwill and to further the truth that I am a multi-billionaire who feeds his banana plantation slaves only once a trimester...but then one of the voices from beyond said, "Not a good idea." So we didn't.
Harlan
REPLY TO JEFF R. IN PHILADELPHIA
Though the preceding "book purge" question is properly in the province of Susan and her big fat fucking ideas to keep us solvent, I, Harlan, will answer you directly.
The prices on the items people had ordered and then didn't buy (as I understand it, that totaled 7 orders out of more than 600) were fathomed by Susan using the following guidelines:
1. It is our mutual intention to bleed you like a prize sow.
2. Nothing in the world today is worth doing unless you can empty someone's pockets to the tap root.
3. What others alllllllll over the internet were asking, WITHOUT the personalized signatures, who seemed to be asking MORE (usually) than the prices noted.
4. Reference sites, price guide books, voices from the beyond.
Any further requests for information should be directed to our excellent Shipping Department.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
P.S., Jeff: Did I mention go fuck yerself?
REPLY TO KAFKAHEAD
Nice to have you back.
Sadly, I can be of no help answering whatever it is that seems to be your question. I cannot parse it. It is surely my lack of comprehension at some level, kiddo, but it's as if you've posed me a question written in Swahili or Urdu, or some other language I never learned. If I'm even half correct on the preceding, others will--I hope--I trust--bound in to field this one. Sorry, K.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
The Ellison Book Purge
How were the prices determined? I am NOT trying to hint that they're too high, but I'm just curious as to how they were decided upon?
CASTRO
"Among" the three characters, not "between" the three characters.
I take back everything good I ever said about you.
Mr. Ellison
----------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, as long as I'm here for a sec, would someone, if you feel like it, go just below to Jan's post, the review of PHOENIX WITHOUT ASHES, and BEING POLITE, PUH-LEEZ, let the guy who did the review, or whomever, know that I am grateful for the gracious notice, and I wish him well discovering more of the Works.
This last is trivial, but good manners are waning as we speak.
I thank you in advance for the aiding&abetting...do not get more involved!
Yr. Pal, Harlan
SARA YO!
Got your letter. Called your home number, got machine. One omission still exists on the Xerox copy of the t-shirt design you sent. On the back, the trademark "bullet" (small R in a circle) has not been put in. Call me if necessary.
Harlan
Louis - Confirmed. Thank you.
Return from Digital Purgatory
Fellow Webderlanders (and Unca Harlan as well)
Returning from a period of accidental exile, caused by the intrusion of viruses, digital neuroses and hexadecimal constipations of my computer, which invariably had to be formatted for the sake of my sanity and writing (which also, unavoidably, grounded to a complete halt, a full stop that I came to regret), 'tis I, the meek and literature-inclined K.
In this time of absence, I've had time to think up a question to our dear host Harlan. Answer me this, if you may, stout story-teller: I've been under the stress of an idea that constantly pops up in my mind. Whenever I have a moment of inspiration, where a character or scenery flashes by through my mind, I have the sudden sensation that it would be wrong to use them, as if someone had thought of them before.
Mind you, I know the difference between the use of a trope and complete plagiary, but even then, when I feel that I have molded the idea into being, into an eidos of its own, the very thought that doesn't belong to me shows up. I need your two cents on what is more likely. You've had a similar situation before, I remember it from the Steve McQueen segment by the end of the "Sharp Teeth" movie.
Hoping a for an answer /and apologizing for my absence)
K.
More Purge
Susan,
Please hold for me 1- THE ESSENTIAL ELLISON (50TH). Morpheus International. Hardcover/Slipcased/Numbered/Signed. $150.00
I will send check for $155.00 right away.
Thanks again for your wonderful handling of my last orders.
Lou (HERC #M1303)
I'll be the broke guy at MadCon.
Director Rob Bowman said this week that Generation Ship is "still in the oven". It would be based on Phoenix Without Ashes.
Apropos movies, Harlan, I saw that the German movie Jackpot is based on one of your stories. Apparently it hasn't seen the light of day since 1980, apart from occasional screenings of the director's personal copy. I suppose you weren't involved. Here is the poster:
http://baumanngraphik.de/bilder/filmplakate_m/jackpot.jpg
Maestros de la ciencia ficción: "Los desechados" premiered nationally on channel Cuatro in Spain on July 5th at 03:28 AM.
THE GREAT ELLISON BOOK PURGE - THE FINAL CHAPTER
Thanks to Tony's idea.
Here are the final unsold Ellison books. The books listed are in no particular order.
First come, first served.
The "Final Chapter" will be open until 6:00pm (Pacific) on Sunday.
Number of copies available will be noted in ( ).
Just let me know what you want (via this board) and I'll put them aside for you. No invoice need be sent, I think you all know what to do. If you wish, indicate your personaliztion (name).
Send your order to: THE KILIMANJARO CORPORATION, Post Office Box 55548, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413.
Shipping $5.00 per order. CA Residents please add 9.75% sales tax.
Here goes:
18) AGAIN, DANGEROUS VISIONS. FIRST EDITION. Hardcover. $176.00 (1 copy)
87) MEFISTO IN ONYX. Slipcased/Hardcover/Leather-Bound. "A/C". $100.00 (1)
97) OVER THE EDGE. Paperback. Belmont. FIRST EDITION. $45.00. (7)
96) NO DOORS, NO WINDOWS. Paperback. Pyramid. $20.00. (3)
63) THE GLASS TEAT. Paperback. FIRST EDITION. Ace. $50.00 (4)
265) I, ROBOT. Longbox. DVD/HE's screenplay. Widescreen. $30.00. (3)
67) HARLAN ELLISON'S DREAM CORRIDOR. Volume 2. Graphic. Trade. $20.00 (4)
31) APPROACHING OBLIVION. British Hardcover. Millington. $65.00 (1)
39) DANGEROUS VISIONS. FIRST EDITION. Hardcover. Doubleday, 1967. $400.00 (1)
40) DANGEROUS VISIONS. Set of 3 in cardboard slipcase. Berkley/Medallion. 1969. Paperbacks. $120.00 (1)
50) DEATHBIRD STORIES. Harper & Row. Hardcover. FIRST EDITION. $200.00 (1)
56) ELLISON WONDERLAND. Paperback. Signet, 4th. $20.00. (9)
126) WEB OF THE CITY. Paperback. Pyramid,1975. $20.00. (10)
116) SPIDER KISS. "Science Fiction" on spine. Paperback. $30.00 (2)
58) THE ESSENTIAL ELLISON (50TH). Morpheus International. Hardcover/Slipcased/Numbered/Signed. $150.00 (2)
114) SLIPPAGE. Mylar cover. Trade paperback. Houghton Mifflin. $20.00 (10)
108) SHATTERDAY. Paperback. Berkley, 1982. $15.00 (2)
34) THE BEAST THAT SHOUTED LOVE AT THE HEART OF THE WORLD. Avon/Book Club. $45.00 (1)
101) PARTNERS IN WONDER. Pyramid, 1975. Paperback. $20.00 (4)
19) DANGEROUS VISIONS/AGAIN, DANGEROUS VISIONS. Berkley 1983. 2 Trade Paperbacks. $30.00 (1)
163) HEROES FOR HOPE (X-MEN). Comic. $35.00 (1)
57) THE ESSENTIAL ELLISON (30TH). Book Club. Hardcover. $20.00 (1)
98) PAINGOD. Paperback. Pyramid (#R-1270). $80.00 (1)
49) DEATHBIRD STORIES. Easton Press. Harcover. Leather. $120.00 (1)
219) SHADOWS OF DEATH. (Introduction to...) $15.00 (1)
106) SHATTERDAY. hardcover. British. 1982. $65.00 (1)
43) DANGEROUS VISIONS. Sphere. Set of 3. Paperbacks. $20.00) (1)
177) KNIGHT (Vol 7, #4) magazine. Contains "A Boy And His Dog." $35.00 (1)
81) LOVE AIN'T NOTHING... Paperback. Pyramid, 1976. $20.00 (1)
270) RUN FOR THE STARS (Audio). $15.00 (1)
281) MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION (DVD). $30.00 (1)
266) VOICE: PRETTY MAGGIE MONEYEYES Vol. 3. CD Audio. $30.00 (1)
266A) VOICE: MIDNIGHT. Vol. 2. CD Audio. $25.00 (1)
62) GENTLEMAN JUNKIE. Paperback. Pyramid, 1975. $20.00 (10)
93) MIND FIELDS. Hardcover. $30.00 (6)
Thank you! --Susan
I don't know Ray Bradbury
I never met RayBradbury.
No, I am not going there!
I discovered that notorious video on Jerry Pournelles home on the web. He placed it prominently on his main page for his personal daybook/journal, with warnings as to its sexual content and crude humor. Pournelle \mplied he might twit Bradbury about it. I don't know how well they know one another, but the sense was that Pournelle and Bradbury are more than passing acquaintances.
All to say that the general sense from Pournelle was "all in good fun, and Ray would not be offended". Jerry is not ray, but he is of Ray's period, somewhht (Bradbury was born in 1920, Pournelle 1933).
Having said that, I am mildly bemused by the blue nosed responses I have seen here. Good taste, something to which I modestly aspire from time to time, seems to have trumped the funny bone here and there.
I hope Ray Bradbury isn't hurt by the joke. As for his not knowing about it, Fat Chance. It was all over the web long before I saw it.
People have been predicting the death of Science FIction, in one way or another since about 1945. Those tired old tropes and deus ex machinae were tired and old when first used before the Golden Age. They were old when Homer used them. Old when wandering storytellers would warily approach a fire in the woods, smell the roasting boar, and offer to the weary hunters "You give me a slice of that pig and a horn of mead, and I'll tell you a story about a virgin and bull that'll knock your sandals off!"
We're the ones that got old and tired. Like Asimov said (I think it was Isaac Asimov?) "The Golden Ae of science fiction is twelve."
Thanks to All
Thanks to Keith Cramer in particular, Harlan who's already been thanked but who's gonna get it again, and everybody else who's been so effusive about "Arvies." You all made my day, several times in the last few days.
And the hits keep on coming: I just sold an 18.5K Andrea Cort novella to ANALOG. Wotta week.
The Ray Bradbury video's antecedent
I enjoyed the notorious Bradbury song a lot more before I discovered it was a comedy bit done by someone from the Upright Citizens Brigade. But then, I always prefer my humor to be unintentional.
I thought that some of you might like to know that in the early 1950s a young lady, who made a name for herself singing at the Blue Angel nightclub in New York, featured a song called "I'm in Love with John Foster Dulles." A Republican Congressman from Ohio dropped in to hear the song and determine if it contained anything subversive.
According to Max Gordon in his book "Live From the Village Vanguard," the congressman told him "I don't hear anything subversive...that girl should go places."
Oh--the girl was Carol Burnett.
Frank:
Heh. At least when Warren Harding was condemned for using the word normalcy there was evidence that the word had been created decades before.
-----
I can understand why some people may have some reservations about the Islamic community center about two blocks from the WTC. That said, somebody went and took some pictures of what else is located approximately the same distance from Ground Zero.
http://daryllang.com/blog/4421
I'm not sure how a boarded up building, a McDonald's and a strip club "honors" the victims of 9/11. Where is the outrage about these businesses?
Briano Siano
I share your reservations. I never met Isaac Asimov, but suspect that if the Good Doctor were still with us, he probably would have gotten a huge kick of out being the subject of such a music video. Perhaps Harlan Ellison would, too.
But something tells me that America's greatest living fantasist, a man I that have regarded with awe ever since I first learned to read, might be appalled rather than amused at such a thing. No offense to the talented, funny, and no doubt well-meaning woman who created it, but I sincerely hope that no one around Mr. Bradbury brings that video to his attention.
How to be a CC and never star in
1. To Brian Siano: I agree, it probably would be a bad idea to show Ray Bradbury something that racy. It would be even worse to show it to him on a 55-inch LED TV!
2. To Frank Church: "The obvious fact is even when we are crazy there is sincerity to the kookyness". This hypothesis is being picked up by some news organizations. When President Obama made his statements about the Community Center near ground zero, in which he dared to see two sides of an issue, a guest on CNN said something about President Bush being something of a fumblemouth, but at least you knew where he stood. As we speak, history is being re-written. I suppose if I had a child and I asked him/her to do a chore and she/he said, "No!" I should not chastise male/female's stubbornness, but praise the tanned-butt's/whupped hind-parts' resolve.
Lest anyone think that I am here to just to knock Bush about, let's also not forget that it was Bush that called for tolerance in the US just after 9/11, to try to stop people from harassing Muslims and torching Mosques and those sentiments are getting lost in the "Every-Muslim-is-a-potential-terrorist" maelstrom.
Read this:
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/17/gen.bush.muslim.trans/
By the by, I don't wish to have a long back-and-forth about Bush's policies. We just happened to agree on this point. Sadly, the US as a whole may not be mature enough to have our current President say the above without people crying "Muslim!" like a curse word, because of his face and name, even though he has repeatedly stated his Christian faith.
*sigh*
As a Christian, I remain prayerful and hope that sanity rules, unlike the horrible day that the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was attacked by Timothy McVeigh, however, I also think that due to his Irish Catholic upbringing, we should continue to scrutinize St. Joseph's Old Cathedral. It's about a block away from the site of the explosion and while it was indeed there for a long time, we have no idea when one of...those people might go off again. There are five Irish pubs within a ten-mile radius of the site. Is NO ONE there to monitor these faux-terror cells!? "Erin go Bragh", my foot! Speak American.
3. The title of this post refers to a milestone. I've been a member of Toastmasters for a little over a year and I am now officially a Competent Communicator, as of last night.
(FX: Celebratory Serpents, Ocarinas and Sackbuts)
Outside of having come from eloquent (and gabby!) stock, I'd also like to thank this forum for helping me keep my language skills sharp and my mind active.
AsaChristianIdisavowtheactsofMcVeighNicholsandFortieranddonotbelievethatMcVeighactedonbehalfofallCatholicsandhavingsaidthatcanIhangaroundhereNOW???,
Brian Phillips
I do not know Ray Carlson.
I do know, having read the article he posted the address to, that it's a somewhat scattershot picture of Ray Bradbury that might just easily have been titled any one of the following for the equal weight given these other points in the article:
Ray Bradbury Says We Should Go Back To The Moon, On To Mars
Ray Bradbury Finds No Joy In Our Machinery
Ray Bradbury Books Used For Kindling? Not If He Can Help It
Now, Ray Carlson went with headline the LA Times went with – fair enough – but the Tea Party remark – which is all his - is glib and baseless, and hangs a handle on Bradbury that is unwarranted. But everything in the world comes around full circle, and we're back to the seventies' fascination with label makers, because these days it's just easier to tap out “TEA PARTIER” or “LIBERAL WANK” or “CONSERVATIVE NUT-JOB” and slap a sticky-backed vinyl slug line on someone or something at the merest hint that they are Not Of The Body of which we approve. This is the tenor of the times. Some rise above it. Some succumb to it. Ya pays your nickel and...
Ray Bradbury doesn't like big government. And? It no more makes him a Tea Party guy than his reluctance to putting his books out as e-books makes him a luddite. And this has now used about fifty times the number of keystrokes it was worth, which was probably:
Ray: Whatever.
Now, I do know Keith Cramer.
He's about as stand-up a guy as they come. We hold frequent palaver over good food and cold beer in the speakeasies of Northern Virginia and discuss the life and times. He has always proven rational, courteous and is a bear of above-average intelligence. Also, if I had to throw down in a knife fight, he's one of three people I'd want to have my back, and certainly the one who should call Mom when I get cut to ribbons because I'm a gun guy. If I were any kind of a friend, I'd see what he's doing next Friday and suggest we grab a bite and catch up before we don't get to break bread until we're both in Madison in September, when I expect the collection of high verbals to result in new noise ordinances.
He is, quite simply, a mensch. As with everything, YMMV. But I like the guy. He knows how to bury a dead hobo at 3 am.
BRIAN – You're not the only one.
And now, time to start sussing out houses to look at in Houston, which is the point of this weekend's adventure with my honey. Yes, Virginia - it's Doug versus Texas 2, Electric Boogaloo.
Wonderful
Adam-Troy Castro,
I have had deep reservations about the legitimacy and veracity of “modern” science fiction. I doubted it would continue as a genre separate from action-adventure for much longer. “Idea” fiction that too often relies on the O’Henry ending (when it isn’t just pure action space opera garbage), science fiction is reduced to fetish and its images and tropes alternatively idolized and imitated by a fanbase with a limited imagination, and writers unwilling to do anything to challenge them. I donated money to Lawrence Watt-Evans’s short-lived online magazine, and found some unexceptional exceptions in the stories they published. But now it’s gone. I subscribed to Realms of Fantasy hoping for more, and have been largely disappointed.
The visual science fiction medium is much the same: I don’t think there is a single show on the SyFy channel I can stomach for more than 10 seconds: I have thumbs-downed with my TiVo remote all of the shows that show up on in my Tivo Suggestions if they originate from that channel. The movie _District 9_ was very well done, but for every one _District 9_, there are 50 other forgettable movies made by a tireless mechanical factory in the bowery of Hollywood which plugs the same old parts into a new synthetic silvery snake each week
Science fiction is a genre I came to as a child, with wonder. I haven’t had that feeling for a very long time. As an adult, I want to feel that same feeling I had as a child. Sadly, most of those in the genre are incapable of creating anything interesting or wonderful anymore. Certainly it’s because I’m older and have more experience under my belt, and the older I get the less novel these far-flung ideas seem to be. There are writers out there, famous writers, who make their livings from writing, who tread over the same earth time and again. Vonnegut is a classic example: if you’ve read one of his books of fiction, you may as well have read them all. They are stylistically and thematically similar. His essays are interesting as well, and I can recommend them all: but his fiction…find out what everyone considers to be the best one, and read it. One and done. Stephen King: same thing. Stephen King is like a baker who makes chocolate cake really well, and for the rest of his life he’s going to be baking up new chocolate cakes and serving them to an audience who loves his chocolate cake. H. G. Wells was probably, besides Isaac Asimov, the most prolific writer ever: how many of Wells’ novels can anyone name off the tops of their heads now? 6? 8? He wrote so much it’s amazing he had the time to seduce so many beautiful women and carry on affairs galore in his open marriage. It seems when he wasn’t writing or fucking, he was active in politics as well, as a self described socialist.
One of Harlan’s most famous lines is that anyone can write; the trick is, staying a writer. I think this is arguable. For one thing, if all you do is write the same shit over and over and over again, then the writer is no better than a factory worker cramming the same widget into the same garfunkus, or an accountant doing monthly account reconciliations, or a jogger running a marathon for the umpteenth time. It is a job, yes: but it is a routine one. The bulk of writers who “do it” for a living are milking the same damn ideas and themes over and over again. They are making the same cakes for the same audience of chocolate cake-lovers. What? You want a lemon cake? Sorry: Vonnegut does the lemon cakes. Move on. There’s nothing to eat here.
So I frequently find myself reading contemporary fiction.
But your story in Lightspeed, “Arvies,” has energized the puckish, curious, wondering part of my bean-brain in the most delicious way: I felt the nostalgic pull of my youth, where I read books by writers who put ideas and concepts in my head that I had never thought of before. I thought, “This is what I love to read, what I enjoy to the core of my being.” It is new. It is better than learning: it is thinking. Your story has proven to me that there are thoughts yet to think, and I am filled with happiness. I have a smile on my face, and tears on my cheeks. It has, for want of a better term, given me hope for a genre I thought was finally lying down in the tar pit: hope that it might pull free and find new ways to get into trouble.
From the tip top of my head, thank you Adam-Troy. It was a knock-out story, and I feel incredible right now. You did that!
_______________________________________________________________
Steve and John: Thanks you guys, for your support. I’m sorry I said anything. Nobody needs to see a bunch of dingbats like me and Ray throwing words around like crayons in a kindergarten. Ray’s got my e-mail address if he’d like to say anything to me.
That Ray Bradbury Video
I've never met Ray Bradbury, and my sense of the guy comes from reading a handful of interviews and hundreds of his short stories. So I could be wrong when I say, "Am I the only person who suspects that Ray Bradbury might be deeply _offended_ at this?"
I mean, I enjoy it for what it is. It's cute. Not my kind of sexy, not the funniest thing out there, but it's cute. To me. But somehow, I have this awful feeling that Ray Bradbury-- born in 1925, a fan of films of his childhood, a man deeply critical of the coarsening of the culture-- might be very, very upset that the Internet's presenting him as an object of cheerleader lust, complete with a cartoon of him getting a blowjob.
I could be wrong. As I said, I don't know the man. But I'm really glad that I'm not the guy who's going up to him with a laptop and saying, hey, Ray, have you seen this?
ARGH!
*blush*
Yep. You're right. Abe Lincoln.
I cite as my witness none other than Bob Newhart who riffs on the quote in his classic "Abe Lincoln versus Madison Avenue" routine.
I shall hang me head in shame for a day in penance for both the journalistic faux pas and the second post admitting same.
(And since I'm here, lemme throw my hat into the "Keith Cramer is a rockin' good guy" camp.)
Two days.
If you're given an inch,
take the mile.
I always thought that "All some, some all" quote was attributed to Abraham Lincoln ("Wasn't he a great automobile designer?"). It was once used on a Cuban postage stamp in the sixties, attributed to Old Honest Abe. P. T. Barnum was "There's a sucker born every minute."
He also put a sign up over the exit to his dime museum of freaks and wonders in NYC that said "This way to the egress". Irreducible numbers of Jukes and Kallikaks would flock to see this wonder, find themselves on the street, and pay yet another dime to re-enter and finish their gape mouthing.
I am not a Libertarian. They are poo poo heads. All wee wee'd up. I refudiate them. I kind of like that last one.
There are three things not to be underestimated in life-
The love of a good woman
The end of a good days labor
The knowledge you reached what you conceived to be your ne plus ultra, and passed it by even the smallest measure
The rest is sound and fury, in the long run signifying nothing.
Works for me, your mileage will vary.
Hey everybody.
First internet review of Phoenix Without Ashes #1 - www.omega-level.net/2010/08/19/images-words-phoenix-without-ashes-1/#more-7159
A new fan in Chicago - http://ryanzlomek.com/?p=339
Odd DVD of A Boy and His Dog - www.atomicmall.com/view.php?id=1167050
I don't agree that there are crazy people on the left who say similar things to the right, except for maybe a Maoist, but those kinds of people are marginal charactors. Hell, if Chomsky can't get on television or the newspapers, there is just no comparison.
The obvious fact is even when we are crazy there is sincerity to the kookyness.
---------
You think Sarah Palin is batshit crazy, I will show you just how crazy she can be:
"So we discussed what was going on in Africa. And never, ever did I talk about, Well, gee, is it a country or is it a continent, I just don't know about this issue."
-- Fox interview with Greta Van Susteren, November 11, 2008
“I don’t know if I should Buenos Aires or Bonjour, or… this is such a melting pot. This is beautiful. I love the diversity. Yeah. There were a whole bunch of guys named Tony in the photo line, I know that.”
-- Addressing a Charity of Hope gathering, Hamilton, Ontario, April 15, 2010
"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."
-- Facebook, Aug. 7, 2009
“I didn’t believe the theory that human beings – thinking, loving beings – originated from fish that sprouted legs and crawled out of the sea. Or that human beings began as single-celled organisms that developed into monkeys who eventually swung down from the trees.”
--Going Rogue
"'Refudiate,' 'misunderestimate,' 'wee-wee'd up.' English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!"
—Tweet, July 18, 2010
Be afraid.
I have spent a short amount of time in Keith Cramer's company, too short a time to decide if he was delightful, but long enough to find him charming, and worth knowing.
Just my two cents, docnhaknow.
Adam-Troy Castro-Good Bad Weird/Josh Olson-Alfredo Garcia's Head
Adam-Troy, I watched GoodBadWeird on DVD last night and I agree wholeheartedly!
I'd been anticipating its release with hungry eyes, and I was BLOWNAWAY by how utterly entertaining and cool this movie is!
And is it just me or does Jung Woo-sung (The Good) look remarkably similar to Dwight Yoakam in this?
Also, due to Josh Olson's Trailers from Hell recommendation, I watched Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia for the first time yesterday.
Great movie.
I enjoyed it very much, but for some reason I found myself laughing all the way through at the thought of Tom Waits replacing Warren Oats in a remake.
I must say that I am opposed to the idea of remakes in general, but how perfect would that be?
Majority Rools
To Mr Perry's quote I will add P.T. Barnum's "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time."
Mr. Barnum would surely be proud of the right's politically partisan campaign of outright lies. (Trust me, the Left are no darlings either, but it pales when compared to the deliberate lying to consttuents on the Right. We CALL our liars on their bullsh*t.)
Day is night. Right is wrong. Port is starboard. Obstruction is progress.
And Obama is Muslim. Libruhls are out to destroy the country. Brown people are invading. Gays threaten your marriage.
(Please ignore the man behind the curtain. Oz is really a great and powerful wizard.)
I cannot fathom why Americans would let themselves be led by a nose-ring instead of using their own eyes.
Henry Louis Said ...
H.L. Mencken didn't much like Jews. He liked Christians even less, and as a product of German superiority, was passing fond of elitism. But he had a couple of fun quotes that sometimes get conflated: 1) Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public. 2) Nobody in this world ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.
In a recent Pew Research poll, 18% of those surveyed believe that President Obama is a Muslim. In a separate poll by Time/ABT, that number rises to 24%.
Among Republicans, that edges a bit higher: one in three.
This percentage of dullards and ignoramuses seems to be a constant: One person in five you meet on the street would apparently have trouble finding the United States on a world map; or mayhaps, his ass from a hole in the ground. Always the guy who looks puzzled when you ask him who is buried in Grant's tomb.
Q: Who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.?
A: Uh ... Snoop Dogg? Lindsay Lohan?
I seem to recall that about 25% of people surveyed after George W. Bush left office thought he had done a swell job.
We are fortunate that so few of those folks find their way here ...
Perry
To Ray
Ray,
I post my e-mail address...so that people can e-mail me. What a concept! I'll not engage you further on this site. I would have liked to have sent my comment to you privately yesterday without muddying the waters here, but you didn't include your e-mail address in your post.
As for your comments below, well, I'm disappointed you're remaining true to form. Have a nice day.
-Keith
Ouch---that hurt, sista!
Keith "sweetie" Cramer,
Please grab a flashlight and while you’re up there see if there’s any sign of hieroglyphics written on the inside of your colon, because that’s how far up your a** you have your head.
I apologize for not living-up to your lofty standards. Unfortunately, we can’t all be as charming and delightful as you.
Love and smooches.
Ben,
Just letting you know I've always respected your contributions here AND your charm, so I would never push you into the stockade.
Your intentions with Amparion DID hit me in afterthought, figuring I might well have gotten that one wrong (and I agree about the "churlishness"), but I was definitely thrown by the Tiedemann trip.
Either way, bear in mind, when I went on with the officious advice it was intended as a reminder to myself as well.
Anyway - sorry about that. We're pretty much on the same page.
The Good, The Bad…
Just got it from Netflix yesterday in majestic Blu-Ray. Guess what I'll be watching over the weekend? :)
Trust Me. Get This.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD.
Bought this on DVD yesterday. Yes, it's out on DVD now, and widely available. I suspect that George Peterson and Bill Wilson, with whom I saw it theatrically, will immediately break through walls to claim their respective copies.
For the rest of you: this very loose Korean remake of THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (which retains the relationship between the three characters and the plot engine of a fabulous treasure, but jettisons everything else), is the wildest, wackiest action film you have seen in years -- and the climactic chase across a desert plain involving horsemen, several dozen vehicles, stunts galore, and Morricone-style
music is sheer bliss, the best setpiece of its kind since (and possibly including) THE ROAD WARRIOR.
You need to see this. You need to get this. You will kvell.
Trust me.
Many thanks to Susan and Harlan
Dearest Susan and Harlan,
I was delighted yesterday to receive notification of a package being held for me at the post office, and it is with great joy that I write to inform you that my order from the book purge has arrived here in Edmonton! The books are in excellent condition and are quite beautiful. Please know that they are cherished.
Many thanks to you Susan, for your tremendous efforts in this endeavour. You have improved the quality of life for so many of us who visit the Pavilion. I don't think that describing your efforts as Herculean would be inappropriate. Thank you so very much.
Harlan, a special thanks to you for the personalizations. It feels like an impossible task to impress upon you the gratitude that I feel. My heart is truly touched.
With so much love,
~Alisha
A BIG SMILE FROM SUSAN
Thank you, one and all, for your lovely thank yous.
Thank you, back at you, a hundredfold.
Susan
Books, posters, and joy!
After being away from home for 5 months, traveling for 35 hours and finally kissing my wife, I climbed into the car for the last hour of driving before climbing into my very own bed. But there was one last stop to make. The post office was holding my packages from the Ellisons. So, I stood in the queue, presented id, signed papers, grabbed packages and ran for the car!
Finally, home!!!
I opened my packages and was wonderfully surprised. Not only were the books and posters beautiful, they had each been personalized with inscriptions by Harlan.
This must have been a huge undertaking with all of us in our far-flung addresses and varied this and thats.
Thank you both so much.
Now I'll go back to sitting in my corner and caressing my books!
Fuck me, Ray Bradbury
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/08/fuck-me-ray-bradbury/
If you have NOT seen this, you MUST see this.
It requires broadband.
I hope when I am ninety I inspire such, er, ah, "loyalty"!?
Ahoy! Ellison Goodness Ahead
Quick reminder: Issue #1 of the comic book adaptation of Harlan's Phoenix Without Ashes is out today. Just get me own wee copy.
friends
TIM RAVEN: Definitely no sarcasm intended. If I can find a damned article, I will try to send it your way via email: It was in the Chicago Reader (freebie Friday paper), concerning two guys who have developed miniature nuclear power plant technology that is about the size of a microwave oven. I'm guessing you'd be interested. Attempts at getting the tech going have been constantly thwarted and dissed.
Just saying in this day and age of cyber dopelganger management (Facebook), Amazon gift registers (oh, the nerve), and running-around-like-a-chicken-with-your-head-cut-off-bullshit (i.e. "I gotta go to Target for..."), receptivity to one's own friends may be going by the wayside. In the 70s one may have been more in tune with friends. Upon recently seeing an old childhood friend after a few years she remarked, "You're a Type B personality, so ... "
Yeah, thanks, right. It's as simple as that.
Susan - Purge Order
Just a quick note to advise that my order arrived safe and sound yesterday. Thank you once more for organizing all of this, and of course thanks to Harlan for adding his scrawl :)
Jeff
Harlan: je vous en prie.
p.s. Nice medallion!
ON THE ROAD WITH ELLISON VOLUME FOUR
The cd arrived today from Deep Shag Records. Listening will occur tomorrow. Shazam!
THANK YOU, SARA
Posts noted. Susan, you and I will chat at MadCon.
he
CORRECTION TO PREVIOUS POST
Frustration makes me inarticulate. And probably rude. Which was not intended, neither at Jon, nor at Sara.
My inarticulation made something simple seem incomplete. I INTENDED to say:
If that etched-in-gold design on the leather cover of the
Easton Press edition of DEATHBIRD STORIES, for which Jill Bauman did five splendid paintings inside, is (in Jill's words)
"not hers," then use it with impunity. It needs no on-shirt accreditation.
I apologize if I have seemed ungracious and/or ungrateful.
No excuses.
Harlan
oh yeah - when the letter gets there, just tear it up. I mailed it this morning.
Ok, ok! No worries, Harlan, I'll take it off. It's not the work I wanted to do, but no harm, no foul. It's done. I'll send Jon the artwork and we'll get 'er done.
SARA!!!!!!!!!!!!!STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please do not take offense.
I KNOW
I KNOW
I KNOW
you are doing all this without pay, or much accolade
out of old friendship and the appeals of others
BUT
YOU
MUST
STOP
all this jittering and fumbling about. Jon's good intentions must be prevented from overreaching. Put NOTHING on the art on the back of the t-shirt. If it was not etched on the leather cover, it was done by some unnamed functionary at Easton Press twenty years ago! I don't know, you don't know, and no one will even remember who worked as a slavey on that item at Easton twenty fucking years ago!!!!!
STOP.
JUST STOP. SEND THE SHIRT TO PRINT.
This has become, along with all the other obsessive "let's-please-Harlan" unasked favors that have involved half a hundred well-meaning souls who eventually wind up CALLING or WRITING or INTERNETTING or WHATEVER
me,
to answer their unasked-for problem concerning an unasked-for project that emerges from a "gee, Harlan would like this" unsought obsession.
I was paid to come to MadCon. I will do so. But all of this sidedrift stuff is depleting what little energy I have left.
Do not send me a letter.
Do not make a phone call
Do not contact Jon to apologize for this rage.
Do nothing more than what you have wonderfully done.
Let it go.
Let ME go.
The shirt is fine. If it ain't Jill's work--who has also now been called three or four times, by me, by you, by Jon--and she isn't even involved--then it's NO ONE's work. It should not be credited. The shirt is done. It's finished. Stop.
STOP AND STOP. If Jon wants a t-shirt done, tell him it's done.
It's a convention, dear, not the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Wearily, and always grateful for your efforts, Yr. Pal, Harlan
Help, please!
OK, I confess - I had a blonde moment. Chalk it up to working eight days in a row and not getting enough sleep.
Oh. You want me to explain? Oh, ok.
I've been doing some graphic design work for MadCon, including an honorarium t-shirt for Harlan (which he really likes, calloo callay). On the back of the t-shirt, as a graphic, I have the Deathbird graphic from the cover of the Easton Press edition of "Deathbird Stories", which I thought just made the whole thing. It was (I thought) attributed to Jill Bauman. I was wrong. Jill says it's not hers. I found this out last night and reluctantly called Harlan, but the phone went dead after the second ring. I took this as a sign from the universe that it was a really bad idea and wrote him a letter, which I mailed this morning.
And here's the blonde moment: in my somewhat woozy and slightly panicked state last night, I forgot about youse guys. I remembered while I was (where else??) at work today. So:
Help!
Does anyone (and I'm sure you do) have a copy of that Easton Press edition? Can you tell me who the artist is, so I can contact them? My alternative is to use Bill Rotsler's drawing from IHNMAIMS, but I don't know how to contact his estate to get permission, either, so if anyone has THAT information that would help as well.
Thanks, guys, I knew I could count on you. And Harlan, if you're reading this...I'm sorry...
TO A COUPLE OF YOU FRIENDS IN OUR PAVILION
Reply to BRIAN PHILLIPS: "nannycock" MAY BE a term for a lobster, but I think not. "Nannycock," which I use several times in "Riding the Rails in Atlantis" (yes, still in progress), is a word so etymologically lost in hundreds of years of Palinesque mispronunciations, adaptations, curlews, defenestrations and cultural amnesia, that it is one of the VERY few that the OED states flatly is of "unknown meaning."
BUT...anywhere it has appeared, one would be "moderately safe" employing it as a disparaging term for someone of little consequence.
Not a lobster.
Steve Perry is NOT a lobster. Further, deponent sayeth not.
Reply to BEN WINFIELD: Would speaking to me, to bolster your equilibrium, be of any value? We both know I'm not Maimonedes, but when I jumped away a few weeks? months? days? ago, I made sounds exactly like yours. Friends asked me not to leave this neighborhood. Not easy to return, but I will indeed lose all human touch with some of you forever if I don't keep up with you, at least minimally.
So, Ben, though the doom peal I've been sounding about tv and the internet and all the octopoidal dark alleyways of this imprisoning electronic madhouse...beginning as far back as THE GLASS TEAT...is now, clearly, no more than the barking of a clown at the night sky...and yes, you're as trapped as I and everyone else, no more noble than consumers, the burros at the end of the pack-train...yet, Ben, if we care even a trace, then we should do what little we can do. If you think my tone of voice can keep you on the ridgeline above the lava below, we can chat.
Yr. Pal, Harlan, not yet as smart as Maimonedes
Arvies by Adam-Troy Castro
Hi Harlan,
Clearly I have been remiss in not informing you of Lightspeed--it's the new online sf magazine I'm editing, published by Prime Books. We launched in June.
Just wanted to say thanks for your kind words about Adam-Troy Castro's story. Obviously, hearing that an author as influential and distinguished as yourself loves a story you’ve published is an incredible honor and hugely flattering. But that the praise for this—shall we say…dangerous—story is coming from you, editor of what is quite probably the most important anthology in the history of science fiction—Dangerous Visions—well, in that case, it goes quite a bit beyond that.
Very glad that you enjoyed the story, and thanks so much for saying so publicly, so that others may discover it as well.
-John Joseph Adams
P.S. To those who missed the URL earlier, you can find "Arvies" in the August issue of Lightspeed Magazine, http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/arvies.
REPLY TO LORI KOONCE
"Bob's your uncle."
The answer, in full, and authenticated, can be found on page 17 of the handy, brilliantly-written, inexhaustively precious little book titled THE WORD DETECTIVE. It is by Evan Morris, who does the daily etymological column of the same title, and if you no longer go to books for wisdom restated over and over and over, as is this query, you can laze over to www.word-detective.com and without a doubt receive an answer to one of Mr. Morris's FAQs. Welcome, Lori, dear, Late to the Party.
And tell me, Mr. Ellison, where do you get your ideas?
Yr. Pal, Harlan
On The Same Day?
On The Road... v4 arrived today? That is wonderful news. Phoenix Without Ashes #1 also shipped today and is sitting on the new comic wall at my LCS. What a great day to be alive.
New "On the Road" arrives
And it sounds marvelous. Kudos to Deep Shag and, of course, our illustrious host.
Steve Barber writes:---"The Tea Party is not about compromise. They are about a single-minded ideology and to hell with anyone who disagrees."
This is the fruit of Grover Norquist. He said, if I recall correctly, "Bipartisanship is the same as date rape." The Tea Party is the ultimate flower of that philosophy. It's been growing for a long while.
Subtle
Oh, Unk ...
Balderdash! Flibbertigibbetry! Jackanapery!
That a fellow offers a modicum of restraint -- a modicum, I say! -- in literary critique instead of effusive hagiographical (if accurate) praise is the mark of subtlety.
Subtlety, I say, by God! Entremet!
Pish, tosh, and piffle, sirrah! Your canards are invalid! I am no miscreant: "You done good." is the ultimate compliment (and mayhaps "complement," as well) from one Southern Gentleman to another -- if one considers Florida a southern province, and temporarily residing therein, as one is reluctant, but required, to do. And even if the first Southern Gentleman has relocated to the far reaches of Oregon.
Excuse me. It is time to go brush my tooth -- that gator and possum stew is bad for the enamel ...
Perry
Quick Reply of Fact
SHATTERDAY was in fact the first segment of the very first episode of the '80s incarnation of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. (The b-story was the one about the housewife who discovers she can stop time.)
Yeah, yeah, spellcheck is your friend. Move on.
In a slightly more moderated tone I agree with my friend Keith's sentiments. The Tea Party is a construct of the media. (Grassroots organization pshaw, it's Fox creation kids. The "organizers" count amongst the most powerful Washington insiders of the last three decades.)
My issue with them is this: America is founded upon the principle of compromise. Any democracy must fundamentally be constructed this way.
The Tea Party is not about compromise. They are about a single-minded ideology and to hell with anyone who disagrees.
As a Constitutional Republic, this nation rests upon a bedrock of law and order, the core of which is the US Consitution. Under Conservative attack for the last decade, the Constitution must stand in times of good and bad as the conrerstone of justice.
The Tea Party wants to change the 14th Amendment. (I even heard the word "repeal" on a newscast this morning.) If they were to actually read what the amendment says and stands for they would instantly realize their error -- but they listen to the pundits and thereby attain their opinion.
They claim the right to First Amendment free speech and yet stand idly by while the government increases fines to broadcasters tenfold.
They claim rights under the Fifth Amendment when they themselves are arrested -- but claim it shouldbe waived for those in Guantanamo; or cross the Mexican border; or commit acts of terrorism.
The Constitution must stand at all times, not solely when convenient for the Cosnervative agenda.
Lastly, the Tea Party claims to want smaller government, but seems unwilling to pay the price for it in their own back yard. You want smaller government South Dakota? Fine, then get your hand out of Texas' pocket and build your own damned highways out of state funds.
"Lower MY taxes, so you need to balance the budget by cutting programs for OTHER people." NIMBY.
Alaska should pay for that bridge, not expect Californians to foot the bill. And it seems that despite all the rhetoric, South Carolina is quietly cashing the check for the stimulus funds. Pragmatism triumphs over partisanship.
On the way to work today I passed three ARRA reconstruction signs indicating freeways being repaired, bridges being refitted and a stormdrain system being rebuilt. A lot of good jobs fixing badly corroded infrastructure.
Ask a Tea Partier to define big government and they will point at social programs as the culprit. They will point at ownership of GM and Chrysler. They will point at Health Care.
In their world we would have no social security (tell grandma she's on her own); no medicare; millions of homeless and hungry clogging our streets; an armed borders with our southern neighbor; ridiculously high and escalating insurance costs; and millions of out of work autoworkers (and any other profession that can be shipped to support the economies of less enlightened nations).
Lastly, the Tea Party doesn't like many minorities. Argue all you like, but much of their platform is built upon bliming small groups for the plight of the masses. That's called demonization and was practiced most effectively by Nazi Germany. Yes, that is a deliberate comparison. I am not saying individual TPers are Nazis in any way, but I AM drawing the comparison to how it is being worked by Fox News and the leadership.
If things are bad, give people a target for their anger. It's an age-old decoy, and allows the party out of power to create energy without havign to actually create a solution.
Here the TP and the GOP give us: Illegal immigrants (who want to take your jobs); the gays (who want to destroy marriage; Libruhls (who want to destroy America); and Islamics (who want to eat your children, rape your wives, and kill every Godloving Christian in the world).
The Nazis had Jews. New Yorkers in the 1800s had the Irish. The Serbians had the Croatians. Catholics had the Arabians. The Tutsis had the Hutus.
And never has the demonization of a minority ended with a better society.
When fear is your primary tactic, your philosophy is bankrupt.
The Tea Partiers are the first to waive the flag and proclaim patriotism, but actions speak louder than words. Division. Ideology built in concrete. Fomenting anger for anger's sake. Actions which, I'm afraid, aren't of value for all Americans -- just the select few who seem willing to impose their values on others. No compromise for the Tea Party: "We're angry and we're not going to let you all destroy MY version of America."
That isn't a democratic republic. That isn't pro-Constitutional. That isn't even American, what little value that seems to hold with them these days.
________________________________________________
I watched The Twilight Zone episodes SHATTERDAY and CRAZY AS A SOUP SANDWICH which were telecast on Chiller a few nights ago. SHATTERDAY is just a wonderful piece. Bruce Willis' subtlety and range are in ample view. I vividly remember being startled by the episode back when it was first broadcast.
Question: Was SHATTERDAY among the first episodes shown on CBS? I seem to remember that it was...
(NOBODY ASKED ME, BUT: I would love to see someone take a crack at remaking CRAZY AS A SOUP SANDWICH on the other hand. It was decent, but the acting was not up to the script. My two cents...)
_____________________________________________
ATC - As I've noted elsewhere, ARVIES is an excellent piece of writing. But once you've got Unca Harlan's stamp of approval, my words are of little consequence! ;-)
_____________________________________________
I'm rereading a number of Isaac Asimov's ROBOT stories. On the subject of personal property -- I am in the midst of THE BICENTENNIAL MAN and truly think it ought to be required reading in our schools. *sigh*
really Ray?
Ray Carlson,
I don't like you. You are a vessel for hatred and mean-spiritedness, and you have no well considered, original opinions. If I want to know what you're thinking at any given time, I'll turn on FOX "News."
Like most of the thinking population, I am torn by the conflicting needs for fiscally responsible government, entrepreneurial business ventures, necessary regulation of industry, and social services.
I don't agree with everything Frank Church says here, either, but at least he's:
1. Original
and
2. Entertaining
None of your many posts have ever been either of these. They serve only to anger other people. Nice fucking contribution to the site.
-Keith
A Breath of Fresh Air!!
HEADLINE: Ray Bradbury hates big government: "Our Country is in need of a revolution."
Sounds like a Tea Party guy to me.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/08/ray-bradbury-is-sick-of-big-government-our-country-is-in-need-of-a-revolution-.html
Thanks and Whoops
Thanks all for the kind words on "Arvies," especially Harlan, who has been generous toward my work before, but who here completely stuns what became of the ten-year-old changed for life by a chance encounter with "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream."
Meanwhile -- I blush to note it -- this wasn't supposed to be simultaneous with "Arvies," but it seems that this has turned out to be A-TC Week on the Web: "Aural Delights," the podcast run by Starship Sofa, is now running an interview with me and a dramatic reading of my Vossoff and Nimmitz story, "Just a Couple of Highly Experimental Weapons Tucked Away Behind the Toilet Paper." (There's also an installment of a terrifying story by F. Paul Wilson.)
http://www.starshipsofa.com/20100818/aural-delights-no-149-adam-troy-castro/
Adam-Troy Castro and Dave Martens
Adam-Troy Castro, “Arvies” was very good. If I think about it too much, it compels me to…well, I’m not going to admit it here. Thanks for publishing the link so that I could have the experience of reading it! (arvies=RV’s=remote vehicles?)
Dave Martens, me being a bit paranoid, I was not sure if you were being sarcastic or not in your reply to my inquiry. I’ll go with the assumption that you were sincere.
I think that our human purpose is far more interesting than any boring religion could reveal. Experiences that I’ve had like the phone phenomenon seem to point to an underlying potential that has yet to be seriously explored or explained.
Anyway, with my feet now firmly planted on Earth, I thought that from a storytelling perspective it would be cool to detail a short period of tech that revealed a tantalizing taste of our unused talents. This was then cut off abruptly, before it could be widely recognized, because change and improvements inexorably march forward so quickly.
It would be a moment when a profound revelation was on the brink of discovery but was then abruptly lost because the world simply moved on. More of our potential remaining forever obscured due to random circumstance.
Number Nine….Number Nine….Number Nine….
(p.s. miss you John Lennon.)
Tim Raven
Well, "Ampere" I guessed (hence, my earlier misspelling)...but yeah!...the Flammarion Woodcut. Now, I get it!
OK, I like that! So why the "libertarian libretto" with me elsewhere, ever dumbing yourself down it would seem? You weren't being very scientific. Why don't you post on the board so that we can talk (assuming you don't do so under another ID)?
(Sorry about the rule-breach! Just seeking synchrony with "Amps". I'll stay off the Pav for a while)
From Ampere and Flammarion
Physicist and astronomer, respectively. French, don't ya know?
"The first significant American industrial corporation, the Boston Manufacturing Company, was not established until 1813."
THE HISTORY OF THE CORPORATION, by Bruce Brown, Introduction
Hence my rhetorical question. Do you smash flies with the same sledgehammer technique?
Tone deaf medium. Repeat as necessary.
The Red Army in the Second World War went through its first one year supply of American Lend-Lease toothpaste in but a few months. The American embassy detailed a staffer to investigate, suspecting someone was diverting Lend-Lease supplies to non-military uses.
Turned out the Red Army actually was using all that toothshine. Seems most of the peasant soldiery (peasant is strictly used here descriptively, not pejoratively) had never heard of toothpaste. What they did know was the rather hard and nasty army bread became rather more palatable when covered with a smear of Pepsodent.
Arvies
Castrovalva!!! This does (for me) what any good fiction should do: I had to read it more than once to really appreciate it, and then I had to sit back and contemplate and let my emotional reactions adjust. This is not something one simply reads and shrugs and tosses back onto the shelf. Thank you for sharing this sir!!! Astoundng!
...and this is why my visits here have been getting fewer and fewer.
My online existence is becoming increasingly nasty and inchoate; not just here, but on other boards as well. My internet life is being leveled by explosions of bile.
Obviously there's something going on with me right now I need to somehow resolve, even though I haven't the slightest inkling what it is yet.
My apologies to all.
"Ben, I don't understand why you tossed so many eggs at Mark Tiedemann just because he looked up and provided good information, or for that matter, why you got so smart-assed about the early history of corporations. It IS, in fact, a really interesting story. I think Mark did a really good job and he oughtta be praised for it! I wish, as I urged Amparion, that we all did more of that before we shape our opinions or make an argument.
Nothing sucks more than getting arrogant when we don't know shit about the topic. Human beings do that TOO much."
...and nothing makes an argument degenerate more quickly than casually tossing out colorful terms like "smart-assed" or "arrogant".
I think the fact that you've posted so regularly here has given you a sense of entitlement, and perhaps even a slightly inflated ego - which might explain your quickness to resort to inflammatory language. If you actually took the time to scroll back and analyze what I actually said, you'd find I was only reacting churlishly to Amparion's churlishness. A big mistake, I realize that now, but I don't particularly appreciate being dismissed as part of the ignorant masses you obviously enjoy to survey from your golden throne.
So just be careful.
...and Robert's your father's brother.
Lori: I checked on Google and Wikipedia (which can sometimes be useful) and here's a sample of the meaning and etymology of the phrase:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob's_your_uncle
And Bob's...
...well, you know.
Chuck
Ok... I need some help from the group mind.
Can any of you reccomend a reference source for finding out the orgin of the phrase Bob's your uncle? I know it's British, but I'm interested in knowing where in the UK it is from and exactally what it means.
Well I'm not, but I do so hate disapointing friends. ANd one of 'em asked me over dinner tonight.
Thanks in advance.
Lori
Nannycock or Bullyrag. Which do you recommend, waiter?
Since I asked about "boo-dow" sometime ago, I am not ashamed to admit publicly that Harlan's use of language sends me to the dictionary frequently.
After some digging, all I saw was that "Nannycock" was slang for a small lobster. At least that is what one source said.
Thanks for the lesson and the recommendation. "Arvies" thrilled me down to my aglets.
Brian Phillips
70s communication
TIM RAVEN: I think people were more psychic decades ago. I also think people were kind of more interested in what was right under their noses, as well. I just watched an interview with Damon Albarn from the band Blur on YouTube. He talks of being fascinated with the creatures known as "silverfish" in the 70s, and says he hasn't seen one in ages. I believe he says of silverfish: "They were seventies insects, no?"
There was that era when Marshall Cavendish published the delightful MAN, MYTH & MAGIC encyclopedia. People really had an interest in paranormal, shamans, etc. I think they were more receptive, in general. Great observation from you. I'm glad you mentioned that telephony phenomenon. Don't think that kind of receptibility can be nurtured sittin' in a Starbucks on a cel! Maybe that's me. Now I'm linking John Lennon's "#9 Dream."
Adam-Troy, I'm looking forward to your story!!
Ben, I don't understand why you tossed so many eggs at Mark Tiedemann just because he looked up and provided good information, or for that matter, why you got so smart-assed about the early history of corporations. It IS, in fact, a really interesting story. I think Mark did a really good job and he oughtta be praised for it! I wish, as I urged Amparion, that we all did more of that before we shape our opinions or make an argument.
Nothing sucks more than getting arrogant when we don't know shit about the topic. Human beings do that TOO much.
The ultimate Ray Bradbury tribute music video?
http://www.ucbcomedy.com/videos/play/6825/fuck-me-ray-bradbury
For a parody music video the production quality is up there with a lot of what you see on MTV, but they'd never be able to air this there. Other than on the internet, only the pay movie channels or Howard Stern could air this.
wagons and stories
Congratulations, Adam-Troy Castro! A stunning piece.
His story appears on Lightspeed magazine's website here http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/arvies/
There's also an author spotlight interview.
Thank you all for your research help. Anyone wanting to review the story after publication, please let me know.
FinderDoug: the publisher promises promotion, albeit not extensive for a short piece and a small publisher. My vision is beyond both our budgets, so the effort is mine. Though it may not hurt to ask again.
Mir,
Andrew F.
Poltroon! Caitiff! Nannycock!
Intellectually, you barren cow.
In a dudgeon oh, about, SO high: Harlan
THE CASTRO WARS -- DAY ONE: The Trenches of St, Lo
PERRY:
You insanely jealous and meanspirited blackguard!
Fatwitted and clodpated, you ooze a thin sluice of "praising with faint damns" in the sly foxfur of the grammaticaster!
Critique
ATC --
While I am -- ah -- less effusive than Our Esteemed Host, I will allow that it's not a bad story for a white boy.
You done good.
Perry
Arvies
Nicely done, Mr. Castro. Well-constructed, thought-provoking, and very entertaining, all at the same time. Makes me want to read more of your writing! Also, for some reason it brought to mind the title of Laurie Anderson's 1982 composition 'Born, Never Asked', although the overall theme of the lyrics is quite different.
Thanks for sharing!
ADAM-TROY CASTRO's NEW STORY ----
Remarkable. And in the purest intensity of the word: powerful.
You may quote me.
In any year in which "The Best" stories in this genre are selected, Adam's "Arvies" would be a certainty for adulation.
I, in truth, read it three times, straight through.
This is a grand talent operating at top-point efficiency. Even to spend an evening with intelligent friends discusssing the underlying moralities and categorical imperatives of this deeply wrought story, is to spend an evening letting creativity lave your intellect.
I understand it will appear in LIGHTSPEED Magazine, of which I know not; but Adam-Troy should be in my wake here, somewhere, giving uou the info where to get this special narrative.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
Grayson, sure. Personal property is another matter, which is there as well, even though it never tells you what property really means, but we can read between the lines.
Not even white men could vote for a long while, if they didn't have property--big plantations, slaves, horses, a saloon to vibrate the livers of statesmen far and yon.
So when the Rand Pauls and his overrated father open their trap doors, it is best to remember that writing on paper didn't liberate everybody until 1964.
----------
Corporations at least should be highly regulated, cut down to size and taxed. They are our bitches and we are the squires with the riding crops and the spurs.
I could accept a European style social democracy, but we could at least discuss worker control of the means of production--the socialist ideal. Sigh.
Ben:
"Feels great to be right, doesn't it?"
Only moderately. It wasn't my intention to prove anyone wrong. A question was asked, I did a little looking, and found an answer. Always best to debate facts when they're available.
If I may venture an opinion, integrity and business need not always or inevitably be at odds. Commerce is a system (or a collection of systems) and its nature depends on the people running it. So if your view is that business will always be corrupt and corrupting, then what you're saying is that people will always be corrupt and corrupting.
The numbers I mentioned re: 1815 have another interesting twist. The vast majority of those corporations were formed in the North. The South lagged far behind, and of course it was the South that depended on and defended to the point of civil war the practice of slavery. The elite of the South by and large mistrusted corporations and "yankee businessmen" even while depending on the capacity of those very things to build shipping. You might argue that corporations over time dehumanized the worker, but with slavery as a counter-example it seems obvious that people don't require modern corporate structures to indulge the inhuman.
Mark
All right, Mr. Tiedemann. You win. The slow and gradual corporatization of America has been in motion since the nineteenth century. Your evidence proves that in the struggle between integrity and business, business always wins. The victory of commerce is as inevitable as the victory of death.
Feels great to be right, doesn't it?
Harlan and Susan
The net is not my natural habitat so I am days late in posting this, sorry about that.
Susan, books received in perfect condition as always. The gift wrapping is a nice touch. It has been said before, but perhaps not enough- thank you for your kindness and patience.
~~~~~~~
Sometimes the simplicity of unnecessary common decency is enough.
Harlan, I cannot remember the last time I received a typewritten postcard. That was puckish and professional and, heck, just swell.
A small bow in your direction, boss. Thanks for the books, and your time.
Paul
P.S. Bettie Page~ Yowza!
paul, age 12
"Arvies"
Here's the direct link to my new short story "Arvies," which Harlan called to extravagantly praise the other day; I'd tell you EXACTLY what he said, but I blush at the prospect, and who the hell short of a memory savant can directly reproduce a sentence Ellison speaks in conversation, anyway? In any event, the tale is available for free at Lightspeed Magazine. A little wandering around the site will also provide the story as audiobook, and a DVD-extra interview with me. Plus lots of other great fiction by numerous worthies. Check it out, tell your friends, come back here and engage in acts of critical cruelty.
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/arvies/
ANDREW: First, kudos on the novelette.
Is Damnation Books responsible for this promo, or are you responsible for securing your own promotional materials? Because I would certainly believe as the publisher, securing promotional photographs/rights/usage fees/contracts with those artists or archives should be their bailiwick as the publisher, not yours as the writer. I ask because from your post, it sounds like this search (and the associated costs and securing of rights) have been laid on your shoulders, and frankly, that ain't right.
That said - if you're stuck in this position, and if you haven't inquired with them, the Dover library has a small archive of circus photos, and may be easier to work with in terms of fees or licensing from their collection than a museum - http://images.dover.lib.nh.us/circus_collection.htm
You may also want to run specific Google Image and Flickr searches for key phrases - "circus wagon", for example - and sift the results for independent photographers who may be willing to license their work under specific conditions for a reasonable fee. (The photographers here are better positioned to offer this kind of counsel.)
But seriously, if they're reputable, Damnation should have point on this activity, in my opinion.
Quesion
My question for all the esteemed brains here is - IS there a political-economic model that is feasible in which everyone in the world is relatively wealthy and well-off? A future where we've all "made-it"?
Cause my step-Grandpa says that al the n*grs in Africa are just lazy, and that's why their country is so poor and screwed up.
(One of the reasons I stopped working at his engineering firm)
It seems like Republicans think something similar about certain tax brackets here in the U.S. of A. - which is interesting seeming as how they appear to promote the conditions which manifest such things...we'll help oppress you...and then spit on you for being that way...WTF?
Is this one o' them HUman Condition questions?
Semi-Writer
Semi-Writer-
My offer extends to September and October. I'm not going anywhere. Keep me informed!
Tim
House-sitting
Tim: your offer is most gracious. Unfortunately it falls at a time when I don't need it, so I'm afraid that I'll have to turn it down... but please keep me in mind, as September through November are looking to be dodgy months. Speaking of the kindness of total strangers and I don't know if I mentioned it here, but someone in the L.A. area let me house-sit for them for the month of July (which then enabled me to sublet out my apartment for the month and at least be relieved of the $600+ burden for that time frame). A friend on the East Coast read my blog, told her friend about it, blah blah blah, I was a housesitter.
The only down side? Cats. And not just because I'm allergic to 'em, but because they have a tendency to, ahem, soil items in several different ways. Amusing little story for y'all: I specifically closed off the TV room to the critters. One less room to worry about, right? I swept and mopped the floor, cleaned the furniture, dusted, watered the plants and otherwise kept it clean all month. On the final day (and with the owner already home but otherwise occupied), one of the cats slipped in through the barely-open door, promptly vomited three times, then walked out. Like he was giving me a parting gift. Little bastard.
Laura: there's a Taglyan Culture Center here in L.A. (http://www.taglyancomplex.com/). Very elegant website. It's a brand-new building. And it's right next to, and built onto, the Armenian Church--so it's theirs, but there's a noticeable online disconnection between the Armenian Church and this complex. You can only find the word "Armenian" twice on the "About Us" page, albeit with more regular mentions in the Press News section. So I'm sad to say, it DOES make a difference calling something a Cultural Center.
Kenneth Stevens and the Telephone
Kenneth Stevens
Muslims and Jews and Catholics and Christians would all do well to tolerate each other’s phony baloney dogma. Because their respective gravy trains are not going to last forever. They’ve had their place in history, explaining existence and helping to ease Death. I’m not a fucking communist, but I think that this shit has run its course. I just hope that the belief that replaces it is a rational one. Sans cool-aid.
I wanted to describe a phenomenon that I was obsessing about a few nights ago as I was staring at the ceiling at 4:30 AM in the morning.
Back in the seventies, we had analog telephones. Black, tank like devices screwed into the wall of our kitchens. I will swear to the fact that at least ten times in the decade of the seventies I experienced this mind bending situation:
I would go to call a friend, and there would be no dial tone. I would say…..”Hello?”….and the friend would be on the other end of the line. They dialed me and I picked up before the phone rang. Crazy!
Or, conversely, I would dial up a friend, the phone would never ring, but I would hear breathing. I would say” hello?”, and the person on the other end would say, “Who is this, Tim, is that you?”
Since the mid eighties, when phones went kind of digital, you know, press a button for dial tone, I’ve never experienced this again.
So:
Were we psychic back in the seventies? Did the sort of organic style tech at the time expose this?
Or:
We were never psychic, and the fact that it never happens anymore is proof that it was an attribute of the very crude and forgiving analog tech of the time?
???????
I need an answer.
Tim Raven
You say "Amperion," I say "Amparion"
Amparion has impressed me on several occasions.
I shall now absent myself from the Pavilion for a while.
Amperion, I have to thank you for demonstrating my point, and with SO much humility!
Yes, indeed: Blind faith has its place in formal religion, but it should NEVER be mixed with the complex realities of politics. Before you mouth off like a Teabagger wanna-be – and you do that a lot! – you should look up the information on your own. RATTLE your world of blind faith by asking YOURSELF these questions, that you might actually pore through facts in search for the answers!
Anyway, returning to the topic: Corporations per se had been around since the 14th century. In the early decades of the American constitution, politicians and businessmen alike were very wary about such legal entities created under the laws of the state, but before 1820 Congress granted new rights to corporations. As a force unto themselves they did not dominate the country politically until the 1880's, but they were getting an early start once laws opened up for them.
Even if that had never been the case, however, I was, for my own purposes, using the term “corporate” in my last post as shorthand for a mind-set that would push through the century ahead like a juggernaut, helped along by the hammer bolt of “manifest destiny” come the 1830s.
The most obvious cases were the lucrative slave market and the railroads. Right?
It would be interesting, Amperion, if you shared your notions about how this country was built; the PROCESS by which land and property would expand.
Show us what you know, Amperion.
Impress us.
(Footnote: The U.S. is statistically no longer number one in economic mobility for its middle class; there are now other countries doing better than we are on that front. What does that tell you about what we as voters have allowed over the last few decades?)
Correction
That should be "Auschwitz," of course. My apologies.
Location, location, location!
A columnist I'd never heard of until today named Bill McGurn makes a pretty good point. He reminds us that back in the 1980s a group of Carmelite nuns moved into Aushwitz in order to pray for Polish Christians murdered by the Nazis, a course of action deemed legal by the Warsaw government but roundly criticized by many Jews. Peace was restored when John Paul II ordered the nuns to move to a more distant location that all parties found acceptable.
In this matter the Muslims would do well to emulate John Paul II. People might start to like them a little better.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405330350430368.html
To Semi-Writer
Semi-Writer,
You don’t know me, and I don’t know you, but we do have two common experiences; a love of writing and being at the bottom of the “good times, bad times” curve. If you’re really stuck, I would be willing to offer you hospitality at my home. As a bonus, I’ll be out of town for a week starting this Friday 20th. It could officially be a house-sitting. I can’t pay you any money, but it’s a roof, shower, bed and kitchen, washer and dryer. A garage and attic with storage space. Computers and Internet, and a kick ass industrial strength HP printer that can print out a one hundred and twenty page script in two minutes. Food in the freezer! Mostly chicken.
Just throwing the possibility out there. Sometimes at the most difficult hour life lines are thrown from many different people and from unexpected directions. That’s been my experience. It won’t be easy, my house is small. So what, life is rarely easy.
An option for you if you are interested and still in Los Angeles.
Tim
I wonder what would happen
If news outlets stopped calling the building a mosque and started calling it what it truly is, a Islamic Cultural Center.
You think those self righteous idiots would give a flaming fig?
Sorry. There should have been a link:
http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/project_updates/freedom_tower_26204.aspx
or two.
http://www.panynj.gov/wtcprogress/index.html
That's what happens when I try to instant message with my stepmom while typing a post here.
Outa here.
Chuck
Actually Ezra, the new tower construction is moving apace. There are several towers that will be built and a memorial. I think the hole should be part of it, like wall at the Vietnam memorial.
I think putting the islamic center is a fine idea, and the bigots can go gargle drano.
Chuck
ANDREW: Kudos on the upcoming publication! You may wish to ask local performers, firedancers, musicians, etc., to see if they have any historical references. SJ Tucker, a local performer organizing a gathering for Halloween weekend in Seattle (Strowler Nights) may be a good place to start. They plan on having a number of circus-style performances, and spin fire. The worst that can happen is that she says "No idea." Drop a line if you like:
http://s00j.livejournal.com/
***
EZRA: Marry me.
Is there any creature more worthy of contempt than a gutless, chickenshit politician scrambling to appease the prejudices and stupidities of his constituency?
An immodest proposal or two...
Let's ban all the sushi bars near Pearl Harbor. And all the Mexican Restaurants around The Alamo.
Banning all religious establishments near sites where crimes were committed by the pious would be going too far since that would effectively remove all of them. Hmmmmm.... Nah.
Meanwhile, that SACRED SITE over which our bigots weep, namely Ground Zero, remains after 9 years a big ole hole in the ground. (Perhaps a monument to the American soul worthy of a Michelangelo were our sad culture capable of producing such.)
"The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed,
But swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw,
Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread ..."
To all jazz lovers:
Great news!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/arts/music/17jazz.html
Cheers, Colleen
help needed - historic circus photos, with wagons
Dear and knowledgeable friends,
I'm looking for historic photos of circus scenes of performers, animals, tents, parades -- but distinctly include an ornate circus wagon, maybe off to the side or in the background. These photos must be in the public domain, or from a collection with minimal usage fee.
My novelette The Circus Wagon will be published as an e-book by Damnation Books next month. These historical photos would show briefly in a "book trailer" -- a 20-second video teaser about my upcoming story.
I've searched through many historical society, circus history group, museum, and library archives. Frankly, the usage fees remain simply beyond my abilities, but I am not about to swipe anything without permission. If you happen to have any old photos that you're willing to share, or know of anyone with a private collection, please contact me.
Many thank yous, ~Andrew
asfuller AT owlsoup DOT com
Samples of what I'm looking for would be a wagon like this
http://digilib.syr.edu/u?/eisenmann,1964
and a scene like this
http://www.kchistory.org/u?/Montgomery,4610
or this
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=1040104&imageID=TH-46698&total=389&num=280&word=circus&s=1¬word=&d=&c=&f=&k=0&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&imgs=20&pos=291&e=w#_seemore
If I had three wishes granted by a leprechaun,I wish......
1.All our troops would hand over their weapons to the pussy twenty-somethings that are sitting around all day smoking hashish and blends in Iraq and the other shit hole whose name tires me to spell,and get the fuck out of there!!
2.The Prez. would pull his head out of his ass and realize the significance at this time in History he is with control over the largest automobile company on Earth;fucking idiot! Give the greedy fucks the best financial years profit and start trading us,the populace straight out for our cars,get the Chevy Volt and Nisson Leaf out here;the taxes collected from Electricity and Natural Gas would far remove the expenditures in time and we wouldn't be funding the World madmen.Creates jobs and States and Municipalities win aswell.
3. Eric Nelson would propose to HE a documentary called "Partners In Wonder-Vol.2".Get the Getty Museum or Museum of Natural History for 7 after hour nights,nothing prepared,all on the cuff,HE and various writers and illustrators creating from scratch;7 days for each event that is.If not completed,still released as chap book on HE publishing entity.Or maybe MEDEA?
If I had a fourth it would be that somebody with a extra room in any city outside her current would offer Semi-Writer a new start;if Harlan found her worthy of financial help perhaps one of us would step up and if have a extra room give her a fresh start to bank some bucks before returning to L.A. basin and all its expense.
Best Intentions Always,Alan
Frank,
I don't think property in the Constitution ONLY referred to slaves, but point well taken.
As for BP, I seem to sense this feeling that the other oil companies are acting like, "Well, at least we aren't as bad as BP."
--Grayson
I forgot all about Slaymaker and her agreeing with mwa about our delightful oligarch and the gifts it gives to its shills and insider mooks in Washington.
The Social Compact has been abandoned because of the austerity consensus. This consensus is only among elites, since we don't have a vote--not that they would listen.
Social spending is out, deficit fever is in. What they don't get is that without jobs you cannot help the debt. John Maynard Keynes is now dry bones--swept away and fed down the memory hole. It will get worse and longterm joblessness is going to be the weight around Obama's neck.
----------
I was reading a tract by Paul Krugman, published in 1996, it was about how business leaders make bad policy advisors. The reason being is because business is an open model, while government is a closed one. The numbers and ideas in government are way too complex to rely on logic from executives, no matter how successful they are.
But we let them buy the powerful anyway. Thomas Ferguson wrote about the Investment Theory of Politics. Wall Street runs Washington.
What Obama needs to do is ignore business imput and ask the Krugmans of the world what to do. To dream.
---------
I was thinking about the right/libertarian arguments about property rights. Remember that property, as it was originally meant in the Constitution, meant slaves. "Originalists" are only honest when they admit that fact. This explains why anarchists say that "property is theft."
While corporations got the rights of people, blacks lost their rights because of Plessy v. Ferguson.
Ironies never cease.
The sad part is that corporations used the 14th Amendment as cover. The same Amendment blacks were buried by.
We are a country of contradictions.
What You See Ain't What You Get
Words alone, as folks way more skilled using them than I, have pointed out, aren't particularly good tools of communication. Squiggles on a screen or paper, these are always map more than territory. Sitting across a table, seeing somebody's facial expressions and gestures, hearing the tone and cadence of their voice, maybe picking up on their pheromones, that adds spice to the broth, and even so, Cool Hand Luke's Dictum is true as often as not.
So words on a screen aren't enough.
But: here in this forum, that's what we have, what we use, and as objective and paving-the-road-to-hell-well-intentioned as we might be, we will make our judgements based on what evidence we have.
(Augenblick snaps by folks paying attention face-to-face can be wrong, of course, but they can also be uncannily accurate. The bio-computer takes everything in and decides instanter sometimes yea or nay, and as Unk pointed out, people who are good at it learn to trust it.)
Don't get all that input on the wire here, nor from the pages of dead and pressed trees.
In re Semi's comments about armchair analysts, she's right. With naught but words put up here, the map is way sketchy to figure out what lies where. But she's also bailing against the tide, because we do take what we have and try to stretch it to cover things. And if the words sound depressed -- based on our experience of hearing -- or saying -- similar words, then people will make that leap.
Trying to diagnose somebody over the phone or the net is a mug's game, be it physical or psychological. Could always be zebras, but if you have some skill or experience, you can sometimes take a stab that is near the mark.
If it looks like a horse, runs like a horse, and neighs like a horse, it might not be a horse, but ...
From where I sit, Semi, you sound depressed. I don't know if this is true. Or if it is, whether it is chronic and psychologically-clinical or hormonal and acute. (I offered my opinion on the notion of emigrating to the U.K. based on what I know about that from my son, who tried it. Your mileage may vary, but traveling and visiting a place is not the same as residing and working there. If somewhere calls to you, you can go, but don't be surprised to discover the grass is not greener once you settle in.)
I offer that while we none of us have enough first-hand knowledge or evidence to be making such broad generalizations about our fellows here (all broad generalizations are bad, including the one I just made), we will, because like the scorpion who stung the frog hauling him across the stream, that is our nature.
If anyone here is one of those rare souls who never makes such judgements based on less than complete evidence, then they can certainly take the rest of us to task for it. Take a good look into that mirror before you do, though ...
Perry
Takin' Over The Asylum
Semi-writer....
I havent seen that program in years! Literally years. I watched it when it was on, many years ago now, possibly on BBC2. I loved it. And to make it worse, I completely forgot that David Tennant was in it!
It was great though. Funny and sad in varying degrees. A very well written show. So thanks for the reminder.
Cheers
Iain
corporations
There were well over a thousand corporations in America by 1815.
One of the first was a bank chartered in Philadelphia in 1781, the Bank of North America.
If I may quote from Charles Sellers' "The Market Revolution", though, the function of the corporation changed by 1815.
"The first corporations were chartered to enlist private capital for such public facilities as bridges, turnpikes, and urban water systems, with investors deriving their profits from tolls and user fees. Their public purpose also justified legislatures in granting them monopoly privileges as to route and location, as well as the right to seize private property under the state's power of eminent domain."
By 1815, the whole attitude toward the public function of corporations was changing and more and more they were seen (legitimately) as private profit-making enterprises. After 1815, the number of incorporations skyrocketed, especially after limited liability was won repeatedly in the courts.
But there were, relative to the population and the times, a lot of corporations in America in 1815.
"How many corporations were there in 1815 America?"
Not a whole lot, actually...
Whoops, sorry. Am I ruining your point? My bad.
Oh, I get it.
You're disappointed with America.
Reminds me of mine own disappointment with Christmas once I learned there was no Santa Claus.
Fortunately, I soon realized there was still something worth celebrating every Christmas.
Here's hoping you can turn the same trick with your disappointment in America.
How many corporations were there in 1815 America?
"The American dream that I was raised on in the Midwest tells us that we're all entitled to a respectable life--one with a roof over our heads, food on the table, a good job and a car in the garage. Even though the universe doesn't work that way. So that delusion, that good life which was preached from childhood upward with all its philosophies (work hard, keep your nose clean, and it'll all pay off in the end) is what's wearing me away."
Semi-Writer, on this we have a vast meeting of the minds.
You echo my ongoing frustration precisely. The Great Delusion: Corporatists have fed off it for nearly 200 years, controlling the our government at its core. Contrary to the banner of "God" and "Liberty" we're raised on from birth, MOST of the means by which we "built this great country" from 1815 to 1930 was maliciously malum in se. For anyone who believes mass killings, pilfering of land, deceiving American consumers, and depriving workers of rights, I state this as an issue of fact not opinion. It's pathetic that this should be deemed a "liberal" view, as, to anyone concerned about the interests of the majority, it OUGHTTA be "centrist". This is clear to anyone who roundly examines the history free of personal bias.
None of this means the U.S. is the only land marked by a dishonorable history, or that its people are inherently worse or better than any where else (like I say, human nature is human nature); but the shady disingenuousness within the capitalist machinery perpetuates a corrosion by which class rifts expand disproportionately. A system under such conditions eventually buckles. Sadly, relatively few in a deteriorating middle class are able to discern the symptoms until it's too late. (was a time, for example, we didn't have so many jobs outsourced overseas. HOW do ya s'pose THAT came to be?)
Live?
Alan: sorry, but you're WAY off. I graduated high school at 17 (in a class of 980+ students), and went away to a university for four years. I've done two active-duty tours in the Navy; I've been to Sicily, Italy, Spain, Crete, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Canada. I've moved across the U.S., on my own, from Michigan to Florida to Virginia to Illinois to Colorado to Maryland to California. Took off for random vacations to Nevada, Massachusetts and Toronto back in the Navy, when I had the money. Went on a cruise. I've worked blue- and white-collar jobs, everything from picking condoms out of bathtubs as a housekeeper next to I-275 to typing in a posh Chicago office as a directory researcher/editor.
In all this, I've met more people, been in more unique situations and done more things than I care to sit down and remember... so trust me, I've already "lived." And I'm only 39.
The American dream that I was raised on in the Midwest tells us that we're all entitled to a respectable life--one with a roof over our heads, food on the table, a good job and a car in the garage. Even though the universe doesn't work that way. So that delusion, that good life which was preached from childhood upward with all its philosophies (work hard, keep your nose clean, and it'll all pay off in the end) is what's wearing me away. Because it's bullshit. I'm a good, honest person with no addictions and more morals than is appropriate for someone of my low social class standing... maybe I'm not as smart as I'd like to be, and every time I talk with someone like Harlan, my "idiocity" comes glaringly to the surface... but I might as well be an alcoholic cokehead at this point (hey, at least they've got codependents).
How do I feel at this moment? Allow me to throw in a quote from the BBC Scotland program, "Takin' Over the Asylum" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON0jscGMRe0 - the scene in question is 1:50 in, if you're curious).
Campbell: "Can you no' see? That job's killin' you!
Eddie: "NO, Campbell! My DREAMS... my dreams are killing me."
Hollywood remakes.
Well it seems the Hollywood remake enthusiasm knows no bounds. Someone has actually seen fit to remake I Spit On Your Grave. Frankly I have only watched the original film once and found it so god awful that I would never watch it again. There was frankly nothing I could find in it that could even redeem the rather warped and distasteful premise. So do we really need another version of the same sick awfullness?
Personally I would say no, but I would because I hate the old movie so much. However there are bound to be some people out there who thought that it has some merit, even if I cant actually see any. I dont object to this remake for my usuall reasons of deminishing returns in style and quality that normally dogs Hollywood's attempts to recapture old magic. I object beacause the first film should not have been made, never mind a bloody remake. Frankly if this is what the studio execs think is a good idea to make some money then they should be lined up against a wall and shot in an effort to save humanity in general and to prevent such stupidity from breeding.
I for one am about convinced that we have reached the bottom of the barrel with remakes, based on the evidence anyway. If this is how low the studios will go, then there is little hope for the future. Get ready for a remake of the worst crap to have been committed to film. No, not Plan 9 from Outer Space, it at least has a "So bad that its kinda fun" thing going on, I mean the terrible direct to VHS dross of the 80's. The trully sickening garbage that should never be allowed to assault our eyeballs.
This is the begining... the begining of the end.
All the best
Iain
The Incredible...Hulks?
I can't help but wonder if Peter David is just a little amused by the most recent development in General Ross's life, seeing as how he whipped up a "What If?" issue entitled WHAT IF GENERAL ROSS HAD BECOME THE HULK. Fast forward a couple of years later to HULK #22, and doodley-doodley-DOOP...
Seeing as how the entire core cast have turned into monsters (the title is starting to resemble a bag of Skittles now, what with all the different skin colorings), poor Hulk must be feeling so inadequate right now.
Didn't mean to scanner darkly
Harlan,sorry if subject matter grew a little off course of a subject matter usually confronted under one's own roof. I guess I was sort of taken back myself on the acute observation;she has quite a figure that gal.
If I might offer a slightly off center review myself;I would suggest anyone putting the tails on for an evening of dining with the Ellisons' take along a 12" ruler and slap Harlan on the knuckles every time he licks his fingers before snatching a slice of pizza pie; Hee,Hee.
To Semi-Writer
It sounds like you have alot of self-realization to explore.I remember the finance issues last year you suffered with and sounds they have resurfaced again of recent;from a distance one would assume you haven't found your niche in life;your purpose. I guess an arm chair psychologist,like an arm chair traveller,would suggest constant influx of new experiences for you. Get in that car and meet people,open it up baby,LIVE!
I play alot of Texas Hold'em;try it,might like it.
For Eric Nelson
What can be said? You owe the man better.Volume Two.
Walking into the light,Alan
I think October will be the time to shoot that Kodachrome...
Yesterday....
I turned to a lady in line at the market and, by some involuntary reflex, sed: "How dey hangin' toots?"
Is this what they call the first signs of old age???
Our onomatopoeic word of the day: "oink!"
Winding down
Don't know about THE WIZ, but that quotation ("You can't win...") is a layman's version of the First through Third Laws of Thermodynamics commonly attributed to C.P. Snow.
Helpfully,
Michael S.
ADAM-TROY AND JUDY
Story, letter, and photos arrived yesterday. Will get to "Arvies" tomorrow, in a secluded moment sans sturm.
But the letter, and those photos...!
I had NO idea. Nor did Susan. Both us we is mutual aghast and agape. If we could think more highly and affectionately of Judy, we would so assert. But she already commands our friendship and fealty at an imperial level. Kindly smoosh her with a plethora of hugs'n'kisses'n'scones.
I shall get back to you soonest, Yr. Pal, Harlan
REPLY TO ALAN in Largo and his "Gal Pal"
in re: "TELLS" and "BODY LANGUAGE":
I've been a devotee of whatever physionogmical name attaches to the divining of "character as revealed in tics" -- the observe and extrapolate raciocination of Sherlock Holmes, as a good trope -- since long before the tv series "Lie to Me" began airing. It is a science, oft disputed, but good enough for me, to have used it as a prime survival tool since I hit the road at age thirteen. I am told I ain't too dusty at this parlor trick. Credits available when requested. So I would be the last one in the queue even to suggest she is off the mark. Despite the loving responses of those who posted after you, but before I, Alan.
To agree, would be to validate her suspicions of "lurking suicidal depression" or just plain "suicide." To disagree, is to suggest "self-denial" and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm cheeriness in the face of Reality as Revealed in my face in the film. Almost ANY comment can be interpreted, especially here in this nuance-desolate flat-aspect medium of "chat."
It is an interesting colloquy; and not one to which I can contribute much irrefutable insight. Be neither too slow nor too quick to take an opinion on this one ... but it certainly isn't a frivolous topic. It, for some reason, drifts me back to something said (by, I think it was Michael Jackson as The Scarecrow in the film from the musical, THE WIZ) some years ago:
"You can't win; you can't break even; and you can't get out of the game."
I actually had dropped in here to unload a semi-amusing bit of raconteurage, but Alan's lady-friend, the vest-pocket analyst, brought me up short. So I'll save it. It wasn't that profound, in any event.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
"Books do furnish a life" by Roger Ebert
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/10/books_do_furnish_a_life.html
I am listening to a new cd today by Robert Randolph and the Family Band as I surf here and elsewhere on the web. It is called "We Walk This Road" and is smoking. Robert plays an incredible pedal steel guitar and the music is a bluesy/r&b sound that is wery cool. I saw him in his early years at the Val Aire Ballroom here in Des Moines at a very late show that was a really awesome experience.
Amperion, there is a very controversial book by Israeli historian, Schlomo Sand that makes the case that most Israeli jews are recent converts, not ethnic jews. The ancient hebrews even have DNA links to todays Palestinians. This book was a bestseller in Israel for 19 weeks and was only available in hebrew until recently. I don't know what to make of his methods, but it sure is a hard issue.
The real thing to remember is that we have more in common than we want to admit. As the buddhists say, we are one community.
-------------
While we bellyache about the BP spill let's not forget that there are harsher oil spills in the Niger delta and the Amazon. Racism figures into why we don't report those far worse spills.
Good idea Tony"
Probably next Saturday, I'll put up whatever few items/orders did not sell in the Ellison Book Purge. Thanks for the idea.
All best--Susan
Mel Gibson's Nightmare
Anthropologists have found another African tribe, this time in South Africa, that are Jews.
First there were the Ethiopian Jews in the eighties.
Then there were the Tanzanian Jews, descended from shipwrecked traders.
Now we have the Lemba, whose legends claim seven Jews came to them in a boat a thousand years ago, married into the tribe and converted them.
In each case,DNA analysis showed they really were descended from Jews. With the Lemba, the men all had the gene that marks the ancient priestly tribe of Cohenim. The priest clan of the Lemba had that genetic marker at a higher level than the rest of the tribe.
At this rate, if we ever meet aliens, I am gonna assume that they're looking for Kadak.
Yep, Mel, sure looks as if Jews were everywhere before anyone but the natives. They diddled the women, taught everyone how to be nice to each other, and moved on.
Like supermen from an A. E. Van Vogt novel, silently shaping the human race into something presentable.
You can run, Mel, but ya can't hide.
Rubber Atomic Radiation Monsters trump Rubber Space Monsters !
Fifty bonus points to Amparion for remembering RED PLANET MARS!
My other lost, uh, "classic" from the 50s is Roger Corman's early, uh, "masterpiece" DAY THE WORLD ENDED (1955). A noble attempt at what is an entire genre in and of itself, the After-the-Bomb flick. It stars some familiar faces from the time, Richard Denning and Paul Birch, and what I believe is the first appearance from Mike "Touch" Connors (you know, MANNIX).
This is the kind of movie that the dreary Mystery Science Theater schmucks land on feet first but I swear there is a good movie here trying to burst forth from the bad one if you'll willingly suspend your disbelief. (Admittedly rather difficult because this movie has the absolute worst rubber mutant radiation monster on celluloid.)
There are some genuinely spooky moments especially the scene where the still mostly human mutant Radek asks the heroine Louise to go for a walk out into the radioactive vapors. "Great things are happening out there. Wonderful things..."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049128/
A good slice of TV to watch on a rainy afternoon...
THE DEAD PAST, an episode of the mostly-destroyed BBC science fiction series OUT OF THE UNKNOWN and based on a tale by the late Isaac Asimov, has been made available on youtube.
I don't wish to spoil the conclusion, so I'll just strongly recommend as you watch the episode to supplant the chronoscope device with the internet, and suddenly the narrative becomes frightfully prescient.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYpPYIJRn-8
Just think: If sociopaths and web trolls can do so much petty, small-scale emotional damage with a tool like the internet, what would come to pass if something like the chronoscope was made available to them?
A thought and a vote.
Alan –
Passion, that fountain of creativity, is often mistaken for anti-social behavior. Wait, I’ve changed my mind, passion very often leads to anti-social behavior. People become uncomfortable when someone else has the courage to show their heart without editing. Frightened thought slaves want to suppress passion in others because they lack that difficult but self-actualizing attribute in their own lives.
That’s my opinion.
Tim Raven
Amperion – My favorite 50’s Sci-Fi vote
Space monster with giant rubber feet that terrorizes rocket ship while the female crew-members serve the males tea on silver trays – “IT, The Terror From Beyond Space!”
Alan,
Don't worry, sweetie. Your friend doesn't know what she's talkin' about. Probably
never seen utter security before. It is a rare quality-- Harlan
bubbles over with it.
Cindy
Judging By Appearances
I just sent Harlan a lengthy reminiscence of a well-known figure who made another snap judgment of what a person was all about, based on first glance.
Suffice it to say that few of us are Sherlock Holmes.
On The Road With Ellison Volume 4 is here!
I must say it's a handsome little package and the selection of material this go around is ever so choice.
Pre-orders will start going out immediately. Have you ordered yours yet?
www.deepshag.com
Various
Brian Siano: Great decal design. I have laid down several very large decals on glass previously so am pretty familiar with the air bubbles. But I’d love to know what you used to design it, and how you went about getting them made up. Can take this private if you like (email above, just replace the at with an @)
Amparion: GREAT list. I too am a huge fan of the 50’s Sci-fi. For me the best is still Forbidden Planet, though Time Machine is very close. Not a big fan of the giant monster movies, but everything else I am in 100% agreement.
To "Alan"
Having been the person actually sitting, one on one, ACROSS from Harlan in all them "Dreams" interviews, might I echo and CONFIRM your comment as to your friends instant "analysis"....
"what the fuck are you talking about".
Sheesh. Just when I thought is was safe to go back to the Internet....
Erik
P.S That "dark mood title and color scheme the box suggested" was actually MY idea. Should I be hiding the shotguns?
Alan: nothing against you or the woman in this regard, and I don't know how Harlan feels about it, but I have to say that I take a TREMENDOUS amount of offense on a personal level whenever anyone looks at anything of mine--a photograph, my comedy routine on video, my writing--and proceeds to slap on a psychological analysis or a social judgment.
I'm overweight, so I must be unhappy. I've never been in love or been in a relationship, so I must be suffering from some terrible psychological condition--frigidity, or depression, or social anxiety disorder. Et cetera. I despise such things because it's a cruel, heartless and often mindless attack out of left field on my personal state of mind and health. For my own good, of course.
One reason that I hate this is because when some stranger steps forward, someone who is determined to pick me apart for whatever reason, they are dissecting ONE example of who I am during ONE given time frame of my life. It's the amateur "armchair diagnosis," if you will. My irritation at the isolated-incident analysis is then compounded by the fact that said stranger often overlooks a basic fact: change. Situations change, people change, we humans are lumps of flesh in constant flux. A thought or belief about a given subject that I might have in the morning is not necessarily the same thought that I'll have later in the day. And I CANNOT and WILL NOT be pigeonhold based on one person's diagnosis.
Let's put it this way. In 2003, I admitted myself to a military hospital (long story, don't want to get into it). The squadron doctor pegged me as suicidal, the E.R. doctor labeled me as schizophrenic, and finally the hospital psychiatrist re-diagnosed me with depression. Weeks later, when I saw another psychiatrist for more than a few months, guess what? It's determined that the real problem was HORMONAL! I've got PMDD! The night I checked in to the hospital, I was pre-period and thus going through anxiety issues due to my condition (and due to a stressful situation)... and so I was initially misdiagnosed three times. Then period hit a day later, and my body went back to normal. Not to say that I wasn't riddled with depression and anxiety and mood swings, but the underlying reason was overlooked in favor of shallow one-time observational diagnoses.
This is one of the reasons that I have to keep backing away from various fandoms. Sure, I like the notion of sharing and the feeling of online camaraderie to an extent, but I find that I'll make a joke, or say something flippant in a fan forum, only to feel opposing forces crash down on me (and bring friends with 'em) when they take offense. One casual remark, one slip-up that crosses the fans' borders of acceptable/funny, and I'm suddenly opened up to a wave of abuse like you wouldn't believe. The Uber-fans, the ones who want to be the "good" fans, pure and wholesome and always supportive of their media/celebrity hero, won't hesitate to pick apart the bones of anyone who contradicts their personal philosophies.
Of course, deep down there's that fear, "what if they're right?" Well, so what? That's what I say. We all pick up and develop our own little odd eccentricities and phobias and concerns and habits, and there's nothing wrong with that. Even the "bad" ones can play a good part; I have a bipolar neighbor who embraces both sides of her disorder, because the manic side gives her energy to do things that "normal" people wouldn't be able to keep pace with, and the depressive side will pull her into isolation and therefore away from the regular stresses of society and daily living.
Let's face facts. Nobody gets off Planet Earth unscathed.
A Heroic Nod To Susan,Harlan's St. Elmo's Fire
I was recently making some cocktails for a gal pal and suggested she look for something to watch from my dvds until we left for a comedy show in Tampa;she chose Dreams With Sharp Teeth. She hasn't read HE works up til that point but was curious of dark mood title and color scheme the box suggested.She works in phd. field;anyway we's watchin' and talkin' and suddenly she gets very uncomfortable and talks of the eye movements and choice of words HE uses and recognizes a pattern of depressive and chronic suicidal suggestiveness. I'm freakin' going what the fuck are you talking about and she starts talking about the creative artiste and the chemistry faced when health issues or chronic deppression causes loss of concentrative abilities to spontaneous creation of their craft;okay,i'm thinking,what the fuck? She talks of Ernest H. and the wrestling to the ground in shotgun central;how he just smiled to his friends and said it will all be okay,knowing himself that something larger than his life now calls to his ending of days;not quite pious,but strong in presence.To HE and Susan I send kindness of a strangers kiss,and wish you always a happiness we all work to happen.
MadCon 2010 - Unrepentant
Hey Everybody,
As a follow-up to yesterday's posting (and in response to inquiries I've received), here's how MadCon will be handling UNREPENTANT, the limited edition hardcover we're putting out for the convention. As I mentioned in the last email, there will be 100 signed/numbered copies, and 200 unsigned copies. The prices have not been finalized, but the signed/numbered copies will probably be $30 or $35. The unsigned ones will probably be $20.
Initially, these books will only be available to attendees of MadCon. This seems only fair, as they're actually coming to the event, and the book is being published in conjunction with the convention. Once MadCon is over, whatever copies remain will be available to purchase to anybody who wants a copy. If we have copies after MadCon is done, I will post a notice here, and it will be first come, first served.
Any other questions, just email me directly.
Thanks,
Jon
TGIF Issue
My Total Hokum Sci Fi Flick Best Of All Time List, Part One-
THE FIFTIES!!!
Best Creature Flick Ever- THE THING FROM OUTER SPACE
Second Best Creature Flick Ever- CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON
Guilty Pleasure Creature Flick- THE TROLLENBERG TERROR (AKA THE CRAWLING EYE)
Best Non-Wimmin Stealing Friendly Alien Flick Ever- THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
Tolerable Non-Wimmin Stealing Friendly Alien Flick- IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE
So Bad It's Cool Non-Wimmin Stealing Friendly Alien Flick- RED PLANET MARS
Best Big Ass Critter Mayhem Flick- GODZILLA
Creepiest Big Ass Critter Mayhem Flick- TARANTULA
So Bad It's Cool Big Ass Critter Mayhem Flick- THE CLAW
Best Teen Agers Save The Free World Flick- THE BLOB
Kind Of Cool But Not The Best Teen Agers Save The Free World Flick- INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN
Best Use Of Breasts To Terrorize Earthmen Far From Home- QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE
Pretty Good Use Of Breasts To Terrorize Earthmen Far From Home- CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON
Greatest Sci Fi Flick Actor Of The Fifties- RICHARD CARLSON
GREATEST EVER FIFTIES SCI FI FLICK- No Bout A'Doubt it, gots to be EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS
To Ben Lomax: Yep, I designed the window decal myself, and there's little trouble finding printers who'll make these things for you. If you want to try something like this, I should mention two problems. A decal of that size will have a great many air bubbles, and I forgot to specify that the letters should be opaque, as painted letters would be.
(In case anyone's wondering, the design isn't based on anything in the comic book.)
SUSAN
Susan
My order arrived yesterday safe and sound even with an “oops” on the postage stamp.
(If you didn’t write that oops, ignore 50% of this message)
It's been a pleasure doing business with you.
Richard Halasz - Thank you. Wonderful site. I’d love to watch some stoner slide around on it.
Steve Swanson
This Is Drop Dead Gorgeous
http://www.documaga.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/scaleofuniverse.swf
Allow a second or two to load, click play and slide, slide, slide.
-
Mr. Ellison!
Hey Harlan
I recently reread 'The Deathbird' for the fourth or maybe fifth time and...
THANK YOU!
Also, I think you would appreciate the link above.
Richard Halasz
Nature's Fireworks
If any of you are still up, the Perseid meteor shower should be spectactular for the next few nights.
Watch the skies!
Chuck
REPLY TO HARLAN, again...
Dear Harlan,
Thank you for your generous offer. I'm floored, and pleased beyond my verbal ability. I will send info via HERC.
It was a third reading of "Croatoan" that prompted the phone call to you about two decades ago. I'd first read it when I was quite young. From the vantage point of some personal experience, and--one hopes--emerging maturity, it affected me in a profound way.
I also frequently refer people to "Revealed at Last! What Killed the Dinosaurs! And You Don't Look So Terrific Yourself."
Apropos of the comment here by Tim Raven (on Aug. 10), I have not watched either cable or broadcast TV since 2006. At first, it was a matter of economy, but I never bothered getting an antenna for my "television instrument"--and never missed it. I use said instrument for watching DVDs.
In fact, recently I watched "Dreams with Sharp Teeth."
Harlan, please don't think this is all I got from it--but I have gleefully repeated the Descartes joke several times this week.
Again, thanks for your generosity--both now, and 20 years ago in interrupting your day to be kind to a stranger.
Appreciatively,
Brenda
Various
Dennis C:
Thanks, I appreciate that, and I will endeavor to participate more. I have had in the past a tendency to get too invested in forums and become troll-bait so I try to take a breath when some of the less rational political opinions get espoused here.
Josh:
"Fear and uncertainty are the foundations of international agreement, while hope and confidence fuel war."
Don’t agree with that as a maxim, though it often is true. Fear and uncertainty creates hesitation, and hesitation sometimes leads to agreement. Sometimes it leads to suspicion/paranoia, which fuels war. On the other hand hope and confidence often do fuel the idea that one could win a war. However I would venture to say that the United States at the start of World War I was quite hopeful and confident, and did not have any interest in joining that war, while the nations that engaged in it were for the most part all fearful and uncertain, as has already been stated here. I think that you have to deal with individuals. At the basic level, fear has two responses, fight or flight, neither of which is particularly conducive to agreement, while confidence typically leads to contentedness, which quite often can lead to agreement. So overall I think this maxim is oversimplified and as often inaccurate as accurate.
Adam-Troy Castro:
That Halka trailer was hilarious. Did the kid at the end say “I love you”? Sounded like a munchkin.
Brian Siano:
The Daily Bugle Door: I must have it! Did you decal that yourself? I don’t think my wife would go for it in the bedroom (can’t have a glass window on your door when you have young kids at home), but I would love to put that on my lab in the garage…
Book Recommendation
I fell head over heels in love with a new memoir called EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE GREAT, by Rachel Shukert. I commend it to everyone's attention because I'm pretty sure she's the only writer of my generation so far who can legitimately be called a genius. It's hysterically funny, affecting, compulsive reading. Check it out!
REPLY TO DWP re: SCOOBY-DOO AIRING
Hell, kiddo, nobody tells me nuttin'! I know it's going to be soon, because Josh keeps saying when he gets back from the East Coast it ought to be close to final print, and he's going to host a small clannish evening at his house, in order to view it on his 600 km x 1400 km jumbo screamscreen. Since the producer of the newly revived series is a friend of Josh's, kindly ask Mr. Olson. And after YOU find out, would you generously convey the news to me, back here with the rest of the work-for-hire porters.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
MadCon 2010 - Updates
Hey Everybody,
As we are only about 6 weeks' away from the start of MadCon 2010, I thought I'd post the information/updates I've been shipping out:
GUESTS: All of our Guests remain confirmed to attend MadCon. That Guest List includes Harlan Ellison, Sophie Aldred, Gene Wolfe, Peri Charlifu, Allen Steele, Pat Rothfuss, Peter David, John Krewson, James Frenkel and Lisa Snellings. Several of you have also asked to be panelists for the various panels that we have (and several of which were suggested by you). We will also be hosting a Sunday afternoon panel of contributors to the new book, CHICKS DIG TIME LORDS, which will include Sophie Aldred, Carole Barrowman, Kathryn Sullivan, Lynne Thomas, Jennifer Adams Kelley, Tara O'Shea, and one or two others.
SATURDAY NIGHT BANQUET WITH THE GUESTS: This, for the moment, is SOLD OUT, and we have 8 people on the waiting list. However, due to the number of Guests we have, we may be opening up one more table, so we may have room for a few more people at the banquet. It will be served buffet-style, and the entrees will be fried chicken, BBQ ribs, and pasta, with some vegetable sides. Dessert will be a choice of cheesecake and chocolate cake. Coffee and iced tea will be available, as well as a cash bar. Dinner will be followed by an exclusive talk by our Guest of Honor, Harlan Ellison.
PROGRAMMING: We are still putting this together, but we're getting close to finishing. Thank you to everybody who offered suggestions and who volunteered to be on panels; we don't need any more panel suggestions, but if anybody still wants to be a panelist, send me an email and I'll let you know which panels still have a slot or two open.
COOL ITEM: We are publishing a special book for MadCon 2010. Unrepentant is a limited edition hardcover book, celebrating the work of our Guest of Honor. Edited by Robert Garcia, this book features several articles about Harlan Ellison, a retrospective of some of the artwork done by Leo & Diane Dillon that have graced Harlan's work over the years, and will include an essay and two short stories by Harlan, including the very first hardcover appearance of Harlan's most recently published short story, "How Interesting: A Tiny Man." This book will be limited to only 300 copies, the first 100 of which will be signed by Harlan and numbered. We expect these to go quickly, and when they're gone, they're gone. The pricing on the two versions is still being determined.
THE CROWNE PLAZA: Remember, if you are staying at the Crown Plaza Hotel for any overnights during MadCon, make sure you mention the convention when making your reservation. This will make sure you get the best possible rate of $99 for 1-2 people and $109 for 3-4 people. Important: The room/block for MadCon will only be held open until August 24, at which point the rates go up, so don't miss this deadline.
VOLUNTEERS: Yeah, we're still looking for a few volunteers to help out during MadCon. If you want to volunteer when you get to the con, just ask at the registration table.
GETTING THE WORD OUT: I'll be honest, membership sales are a bit on the slow side, so anything you can do to get the word out would be greatly appreciated. If any of you are willing to get copies of our flyer out to bookstores, comic shops, libraries, wherever you think would be a good spot, send me an email and I'll send you the PDF of the most recent flyer. Harlan has been rather emphatic in his determination that this will be his last convention appearance as a Guest, so we really want to make sure to do what we can to pack the place.
I think that about covers it. More information is up at the website, www.madcon2010.com , or you can email me directly. And thanks again to those of you who have provided programming suggestions, agreed to be panelists, helped me with the flyers (especially Sara!). I think this will be a pretty good weekend.
Jon C. Manzo
JOSH (in Canada)
"Fear and uncertainty are the foundations of international agreement, while hope and confidence fuel war."
In less detail than Amparion’s response.
I disagree with the postulate in most cases. Wars – at least the vast majority of examples of the 20th and 21st centuries – seem to originate with Fear and Uncertainty. Not knowing what your opponent is doing, or not trusting what they say versus what you expect them to do seems to have a pretty direct correlation to conflict. Wars are not often started by nations who are secure. (Think Switzerland’s reassurance versus North Korea’s paranoia.)
Governments and people who are hopeful and confident have a more assured view of the world and are more able to negotiate from a standpoint of strength.
Fear and uncertainty were the tools used to goad us into war in Iraq.
Hope and Confidence are the tools used to negotiate the New START nuclear reduction treaty with Russia. (Though, to be open about it, Senatorial Fear and Uncertainty may scuttle the agreement early next year.)
_________________________________________
JEFF R. – They say that education is a wonderful thing. Perhaps you ought to venture out to the nearest bookstore. Undoubtedly you will find a copy of some historical World War II volume on the remaindered shelf. Make sure you find the largest, most comprehensive volume you can – you want to ensure your co-worker has all the details of the conflict. Take this home and carefully gift-wrap it to make it a special surprise.
Bring this volume with you the next time you have a meeting planned and begin the gifting with a recounting of her quote. Then take the gift book and hit this person squarely over the head. Hopefully they will not have procreated yet and you will be doing the rest of humanity a service.
Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.
Those who rewrite history condemn the rest of us to relive it.
(DEREK: Love the Kelly Bundy quote.)
_________________________________________
In all genuine seriousness, if our countrymen continue to lose their grip on reality with the same enthusiastic vigor of the last ten years, we’re looking north to Vancouver, BC, for our retirement. Before the rest of you pile on, I wanted to call “dibs”.
_________________________________________
JES – Are you obtaining US distro for the new publication?
_________________________________________
SOUTH BAY WEBDERLANDERS - My talented Other Half is guest performer on the Ports O Call Restaurant's Summer Series rear patio this Saturday night. 6-10pm. No cover, excellent location on the waterfront.
House Beautiful
Okay, so maybe I don't have little armies of Star Wars characters occupying my bookshelves. Maybe my coffee table's not made with Lego in the shape of the Millennium Falcon. Maybe I don't have those box-sets of _Babylon 5_ DVDs, arranged in series order so the spines line up, alongside of the box sets of the special.
And I sure as hell can't build a Keep in the backyard.
But, I did just install this. Behold the entrance to my CHAMBER OF SLEEP!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7262607@N03/4885987138/
Amparon
I am not Josh Olson.
I'm pretty sure he signs with his last name when posting here.
Sorry for the confustion.
RE: Questions from a 52-year old co-worker
Jeff R.,
Sadly, this sort of thing doesn't surprise me much anymore. For the majority of my own age group, anything that occurred after last week might as well have taken place at the same time as the Trojan War, or the Battle of Hastings, or the Beatles' appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. What is surprising, however, is your co-worker's age. I'd expect such a statement from some of the twentysomething clerks working in my building, not somebody ten years my senior.
As Kelly Bundy once said, the mind wobbles...
Fear and Certainty in High Places
Josh Olson asked if anyone here agrees with this
"Fear and uncertainty are the foundations of international agreement, while hope and confidence fuel war."
Aside from sensing a possible "set up" in such a question (though Josh is above such things, my Bull Shit Monitor tells me, for what that is worth), there is something to that quote.
I studied the outbreak of World War One. All the period documents I saw from diplomatic archives in Britain, Germany, France and Austria were full of confidence and certainty right up until suddenly all the players realized they were in Very Deep Shit and someone had turned out the lights. The Russians were not even that clued in. They went to war with blind confidence in, well, "What the fuck,let's roll the dice!". Along with a certain cynical "What's the worst that can happen?" I suppose that counts as "certainty". They certainly lacked common sense.
Fear and uncertainty, to a statesman, are not conducive to making Grand Decisions. Unless a nation is pushed into a corner, as with Japan in 1941. To be sure, they first put themselves into the general vicinity of the corner by their reckless actions and disastrous choices, and then could not get out once the USA decided to push them farther along their chosen path.
I find it likely that a mix of Fear and Certainty is very dangerous, more so than Confidence and Certainty. We were fearful and certain in 2003. Fearful of terror and Saddam, certain we could kick his butt three ways from Sunday and be home for supper with no heartburn. We lacked any sense of the Cautionary Principle. Measure twice, cut once, if you will.
The Japanese were fearful of the US embargo in 1941, and certain a sharp knock up side our head at Pearl Harbor would bring us to our senses and end the whole matter no sooner that it had begun.
The German leaders of 1914 were deathly afraid of the Russians and certain that if they destroyed French military power the Russians would give up and not invade Germany. The German Kaiser told the soldiers marching into Belgium and Northern France in August that they would be home before the leaves fell from the trees. All evidence is he was sincere in that sentiment; confident.
No serious person in any European government of June, 1914 expected war between the Great Powers. The British were close to civil war over Irish Home Rule, the rest of Europe having a grand old time. The Kaiser was on vacation, sailing his yacht in Norwegian fjords, when the ultimatums started flying back and forth.
Bismarck was fearful and unconfident, it was the hallmark of his foreign policy, which played a huge role in the longest period of peace in Modern European History to that point. The Bismarck of fact was not the Bismarck of later legend and myth, a fictional creature of blood, iron and fiery confidence. He was really a fearful man, always willing to cut a deal, and so lacking in self-confidence he would, under pressure, often collapse into tears and drink himself to a stuporous sleep with a mix of dark beer and champagne he named Black Velvet.
William II fired Bismarck, largely took over foreign policy, imbued it with his personal mix of confidence and insecurity, and did much to set the fuse on the powder kegs of Europe, leading to the deaths of perhaps a quarter billion. Though it might be that his Bad Example saved a billion or more others.
John F. Kennedy had read Barbara Tuchmans "The Guns of August" (which I highly recommend to anyone who wants a quick overview of all this), and was aware, during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October, 1962, of just how easily a confident and hopeful man could get in over his head. The American Joint Chiefs of Staff were confident and hopeful their forces could destroy the Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba before any were operational. It was revealed in the early nineties that many of the Cuban missiles, unknown to the Americans, were already operational, and worse yet, the Soviet commanders in Cuba had orders to fire the missiles without consulting Moscow if the United States attacked them. Kennedy's overruling of the Joint Chiefs, fueled by his sense of caution from his knowledge of history, prevented a disastrously confident decision based on unrealistic hope.
So yeah, Josh, I do agree that your quoted statement is sometimes true, except for when it isn't.
The world is Pogoesque.
Questions from a 52-year old co-worker
"Why did they drop the bomb on Hiroshima? Who dropped it? Oh, WE did? Hiroshima's in Germany, right? Japan? Were we ever at war against Japan? When?"
I don't know how much more of this I can take...
That'll learn ya! (a response to Semi-Writer
I dislike the stereotype of the "Ugly American", especially, when it turns out to be, sadly, accurate.
I would like to combat that, as much as I can. I have given serious thought to this and while it won't happen to-morrow for me, it may be more of a reality for you.
Have you thought about teaching outside the United States?
I don't know your educational background, but here is an article about it:
http://www.ajc.com/lifestyle/young-americans-flock-overseas-339408.html
Also, there is this link, which is a good reference, mentioned in the article:
http://eslcafe.com/
Between your erudition and the ability to work a room, I would think that this is a very good opportunity. The pay can actually be very good, because some programs give you room and board and has been discussed here many times, depending on where you are, your health care is taken care of.
Support The Arts - If You Don't, Who Will?
You Must See This. Must.
The most endearing thing about this trailer for an INCREDIBLE HULK knockoff from Bangladesh is not the somewhat below-par CGI, or that wild weapon-studded bicycle -- it's the "sting," the closing line, the seal-the-deal moment that in any modern trailer is supposed to make you think you can't possibly live with yourself if you don't see this movie *...right now*. How will you ever resist?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLKOkXopRxg&feature=player_embedded
For Susan - re: purge order
Hello Susan. I received your notice regarding the difficulties with my order payment yesterday. I have placed a US Money Order in the mail this morning, which I hope will be more successful than the non-deposit-able Canadian cheque. Thanks so much for your patience with my bumbling.
Jeff
RIP David L. Wolper
He was the Producer of "Roots"
If anyone here is planning on going to Ray Bradbury's Birthday party please give him my best wishes. Years ago (1975 to be exact) I like him joined the Navy and chose Great Lakes for my Boot Camp because that's where he served.
Hey Harlan,
Is the episode of Scooby Doo Mystery Inc that you did a voice for coming up soon?
Re: STRANGE WINE
I am fortunate to have a signed first edition hardcover. I don't know how many times I've read "Hitler Painted Roses."
Strange Wine and Other Things
Uh, Harlan (or Susan):
I'd love to purchase a non-mass market copy of Strange Wine if the price isn't too dear. (An affordable non-SFBC copy of Shatterday is also on my most desired list). Can you let me know if such finds are currently available through HERC?
And if there are any post-purge items remaining, perhaps they can be listed in the next HERC mailing? I would have called during the purge itself, but after my misguided post here last month.....well, I was too embarrassed.
Amparion:
Please let me know when the airship novel you referenced several weeks ago is published. I need it. (I'm probably the only other person you'll ever hear of owns a copy of Airshipmen, Businessmen, and Politics 1890 - 1940 by Henry Cord Meyer, and keeps it in my bedroom library to boot). For your research check out The Great Dirigibles: Their Triumphs and Tragedy by John Toland if you haven't already. Not to be missed. (Hell; any book by Toland shouldn't be missed).
Arctic Archaeology:
Canadian archaeologists found the wreck of the HMS Investigator the week before last. Readers of Dan Simmons' The Terror may know that this was one of the relief ships sent in search of the lost Franklin Expedition. The team is currently searching for the wreck of the Terror itself as well as the other expedition ship, the Erebus.
Ian O'Dell:
Nice post, Jackanapes! Hope to hear more from you.
"Fear and uncertainty are the foundations of international agreement, while hope and confidence fuel war."
"Does anyone here agree with this?"
All I can say is:
When I drink Chardonnay I sway to all sorts of concessions.
When I drink a Bud I run out lookin' for wars EVERYWHERE!
OH MY GOD!!!!
Frank said, "America is still a great idea. The thing is the to try to make that idea a reality. On paper it works. In reality you have corporations and their whorish political elite taking bribes, velvet knee-pads aplenty.
We have democratic elements, no actual democracy. We are an oligarch. The people need to PEACEFULLY take the reins back.
There is something to fight for."
I agree with Frank! did somebody spike my water???
Actually, there's a wonderful article by my former and second favorite senator (first being the OTHER senator from Vermont, Pat Leahy), Bernie Sanders, about just this issue. Here's the link if you want to read it: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/no-to-oligarchy_b_657082.html.
Bernie is what a senator should be. He goes home on a regular basis and walks the streets of Vermont's cities, asking people about their concerns and what they want him to address in Washington. We need more Bernies in the senate.
Speaking of which - I stayed out of the whole communist/socialist/capitalism debate, but here's my 2 cents: the synthesis of capitalism and socialism? Vermont.
REPLY TO BRENDA BALIN ---- PART 2
Send me your address via HERC.
I will send you a STRANGE WINE in mint condition. Signed to you. No cost. Don't know which edition, but not a mass market paperback.
Probably the spiffy trade paperback. All our hardcover copies are gone.
Harlan
Hi Brenda and all. No I am not that Diane Bartels. I am surprised by the number of folks who are no relation who bear my name. Think u made good choices re the books. Take care and good luck with the move.
D
An interesting quote I read today
"Fear and uncertainty are the foundations of international agreement, while hope and confidence fuel war."
Does anyone here agree with this?
My only vacation this year is the five days I've asked off at work to be able to go to MADCON. I'm very much locking forward to seeing Harlan and Susan and all the rest of you webderlanders. I hope to get to visit with a lot of you.
Roger
Semi-Writer, America is still a great idea. The thing is the to try to make that idea a reality. On paper it works. In reality you have corporations and their whorish political elite taking bribes, velvet knee-pads aplenty.
We have democratic elements, no actual democracy. We are an oligarch. The people need to PEACEFULLY take the reins back.
There is something to fight for.
Steve Evil lives in the UK. Let's ask him what he thinks.
---------
The Cincinnati Reds are bums. They let the Cards horsewhip them on a three game sweep. Not even a good brawl last night could get them Dancing With The Stars creds.
Maybe San Diego will finally have that year.
Without any political victories, there is still sports...haha
But... but... Speedy Gonzales IS my hero, Amp... (sniffle)
All the private struggles aside, this is for those those of you who are into collecting classic 1950s and '60s novels from Signet and Bantam:
1950s John D. MacDonald paperbacks: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330459834953&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT
Signet paperbacks (Aldous Huxley, Faulkner, Mailer): http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330460058238&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT
Gordon Davis, Philip Wylie, etc. 1960s paperbacks: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330460046052&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT
The American Legion was cleaning out its library and was simply going to distribute these to their members, as they're "only" paperbacks. (Oh, the fools. The FOOLS!) However, since they could use the money from any sales to help support Bar Night, I thought it would be wiser to try to sell them.
I've got three more batches to add yet, but anyone who'd like a worn copy of Damon Knight's "Hell's Pavement," a good copy of "The Empire Strikes Back" novel, an excellent copy of Roger Zelazny's "The Dream Master" (Ace Books), or a very good copy of "New Worlds of Fantasy #2" edited by Terry Carr (Ace Books) is welcome to shoot me an email via the temporary listing above... and thus save me from going into exhausting detail on these motherfuckers.
Ecnomics and Politics, oh my
Semi, you are free to go where you will, and with best wishes for success. However, almost every developed country requires you to have a job (usually a job that the hirer must prove to some bureaucrat can NOT be done by ANY native) before you enter, OR post a huge cash bond (like a million US) OR start a business that will employ a bunch of previously unemployed locals.
Unless you are a political refugee. Since we're not stoning wayward wives to death yet, it's unlikely you're gonna get that status as an American.
I suppose you could live in Haiti for a year on what it takes for a week here. Frank Herbert lived in Mexico for several years in a hacienda house with maid and cook, on what would have lasted a year here. He even got some kick ass peyote candy thrown in for free from the local El Jefe, which sort of like helped him come up with a certain novel idea about a family that relocates to a deserty sort of place with an easily available mind expanding drug that more or less made his career.
Anyway, most other civilized countries of the developed industrial Western world (enough Weasel Words for ya there?) have a clue as to how to control immigration in a way that doesn't screw their citizens. Only here, on the fringes of the uncilvilzed borderlands of the barbaric, developing non-industrial divide between east and west, north and south, etc. as some of the self appointed savants hereabouts like to describe us, only here do we just allow anyone to come in and do what they want with as near as anyone can tell carte blanche, and throw in a home loan that then, a couple years later, everyone realizes an illiterate gardener with six children, who earns twelve an hour really can NOT make the payments on. defaults on his 12 room McMansion and thus, after a few mill or so iterations of the above, torpedoes our economy into the abyss of the current Great Recession.
But of course if you were to write that, you're dismissed as a Nativist Asshat who probably thinks Speedy Gonzalez is a valid characterization of the Typical Latino.
So I'll just write "Good Luck In Your Search For Safe Harbor."
Meanwhile, here on the Bounding Main of the American Economy, the winds rise, the glass falls, and the sails are tattred. Fortunately we still have plenty of moldy hardtack.
Weevil, anyone?
Rant off.
So, how about those Yankees?
Red Sox?
Migration
Semi --
At the risk of offending our British cousins, if you are unhappy with the US, you aren't apt to like the U.K. any better -- especially as an ex-pat American. My daughter-in-law is English, and when she and my son married, they lived there for a time.
They live here now.
My son had a college degree and a job teaching, but it wasn't paying the bills and there was no chance of him moving in any directions save laterally or down -- no path to rise.
In England, class-consciousness is paramount. If you are born working-class, that's what you'll die unless you have some talent worth money and admiration that gives you a way to rise above your station. If you can make it as a rock star or as an actor, or in business, you can pull it off. But you chances of getting a chance to do that are better here than there.
Without waving the flag, there's a reason more people want to come here than go elsewhere, and I could rattle on about the grass being greener on the other side of the fence or the devil you know versus the one you don't, but you are smart enough to know those things.
You have a much better chance of improving your situation here than you do there. Or most anywhere -- Dorman notwithstanding.
Perry
To Susan: book purge
Dear Susan,
Books came a couple of days ago. Thank you for all of your hard work, and thanks for signing one of them. Is it a large question to ask if you have a run down of what might be left over from the purge or do those items go back to HE?
Thank you,
Tony
Oh, FOR THE LOVE OF...
Just yesterday, WHO announces that the swine flu pandemic is officially over, although we guessed as much a long time beforehand. Cue to 24 hours later, and doodly-doodly-doop:
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/08/11/uk-lancet-new-superbug.html?ref=rss
Seriously, I'm...just...so...NUMB to this bullshit now. Even if this strain does get around to murdering me and everyone I love, the worldwide press has cried wolf too many damn times for anybody to react appropriately if the REAL "apocalypse bug" finally decided to hit.
(You know, being slaughtered by a mustache-twirling germ is starting to look preferable to several more years of the media waving a flashlight under its chin and making spooky faces at me while going "BOOGA-BOOGA-BOOGA!" That's...kind of sad, isn't it.)
SEMI-WRITER!
Did you email me recently? If it was you, can I ask that you re-send it? I lost everything in my hotmail account recently and am distressed that, if it was you that messaged me, it appears I am ignoring you!
All the best
Jes
Oops!
That should be "happy," NOT "haoppy!"
For better or worse...
... I haven't had a regular TV for years. I have a portable DVD player with an eight inch built-in screen, and a small pair of stereo headphones, and that's about it. I still check the TV listings, and if there's anything special that I want (usually on Turner Classic Movies), I have one or two good friends who are always haoppy (God bless 'em!) to make a DVD-R of the particular program for me.
I thought I'd miss regular TV, but I really don't. Also, I now get a lot more reading done!
Tim Raven
I'm also 46 and gave up TV 2yrs ago, I haven't missed the damned thing one bit - must be an age thing!
Cheers, Iain.
Phil Nichols - Ah Hah! Found You!
Correction - SUNDAY 15th. Phil, see you at the party. I'll be wearing the black Bacardi baseball cap.
Tim Raven
Brenda Balin, Semi-Writer and Ray Bradbury
Brenda, if those books are precious to you, don't ever get rid of them. I suggest getting rid of your TV instead and use the new free space to store the books. Seriously. I'm forty six years old and gave up TV in February 2010 and have enjoyed the release from that mind jangling hag ride. I've given up precious books and guitars in the past due to downsizing, and have always regretted it. I would cling to STUPID STUFF, like televisions and beds and cheap IKEA furniture and then give or throw away things that were close to my heart. Why did I do that? I'll never know for sure, maybe it was self-punishment for having to downsize to a studio apartment.
Semi-Writer, what's wrong with declaring bankruptcy when you're hurting for cash? I did it and would be pleased to give you the insider skinny. It's worth doing in many circumstances. One of the very few advantages given to the folks who temporarily find themselves financially weak. Hell, giant corporations do it regularly, why not you?
I went to the Burbank Library yesterday after work and borrowed "The Martian Chronicles¨. I re-read it last night for the first time in thirty four years and decided to go to the Ray Bradbury Birthday celebration in Glendale this coming Saturday. I went back quite a few pages of posts and couldn't find the name of the Northern Atlantic Fellow that sent the original invite. I hesitate to specify British, Scottish, Welsh, etc. because of the touchiness encountered if a national inaccuracy is blurted by an American :). Anyone recall his name? Anyone planning on going?
Semi-Writer, if you have the desire to discuss the details of poverty and bankruptcy, I'd be glad to recount my experience. Email me at timraven@gmail.com. I'm really not such a trolly bad-ass guy, despite some of the marginal things I've written in here!
Tim Raven
MY REPLY TO HARLAN ELLISON'S REPLY TO ME
(No, I meant TEENSY WEENSY—not merely tiny!)
Dear Harlan,
Please forgive me for piggybacking my response to you along with my response to the others who responded to me. (whew!)
I’m trying to be a good girl and observe the @#$%! “one post” rule. I’m seldom good about anything, but I made some stupid bargain with some deity (I think Quetzalcoatl) while hospitalized earlier this year. I promised to observe the small rules, and break all the big ones. Or the other way around. I forget.
I DID look up the bypass shelves, and I guess I failed to convey how TRULY itsy bitsy this place is. There is no place to slide anything. I don’t even have one full wall. Nevertheless, thanks for your attempt at a practical solution.
I do understand why you dodged the question. It was, as James Levy said, “unkind and unanswerable.” I should have known better. In any given time, any given story says something vital to the moment. And as I noted in that single brief conversation with you, every time one re-encounters that moment, it is changed, offering new revelations.
So…with that in mind, I decided to give away those books I never want to read again, store those I might want to read again, but never do, and save only those which I have already revisited more than once.
Thus, Maugham stays. Jackson stays. Kersh, regrettably, I have never read, but if the writer I most admire most admires Kersh, he must be worth a read. I will do so. I promise.
Ellison (both of them: Harlan and Ralph) stay(s). Orwell stays. Huxley stays. King (Stephen) goes. Yep. I’ve got almost as many of his books as I have of yours. I've enjoyed them, but I never re-read them. His are in nearly perfect condition. Yours are dog-eared, relentlessly battered with tough love. My copy of the aforementioned “Strange Wine” has lost its front cover, and is now bound with duct tape, with “Strange Wine” scrawled on its spine in Sharpie. When I have money, again, I will replace it. “Deathbird Stories” has already been replaced once, so far. My few hardback books, including the (Forgive me, Harlan!) book club edition of “Stalking the Nightmare” (purchased from the sidewalk table in front of the Strand in New York, a zillion years ago) are holding up well, so far, but for the folded corners, the coffee stains and frayed jackets. These are the scars of well-loved books. If they were lovers, they’d wear bite marks and mouth-shaped bruises.
So, as I said a couple of decades ago, thanks for doing what you do, and for godssake, as long as you breathe, please don’t stop.
Yr. Pal, too,
-Brenda
Briefly, to…
James Levy: How could I NOT take “Essential Ellison” along? Or the others. Or any of the others…(see above).
Tony Rabig: As I am slouching towards fogeydom (at 60), I can appreciate the special economy of Kindle, but it just doesn’t feel like a book to me. One day, when you are old, and Kindle is replaced with an electronic patch you wear on your eyeball, you will understand.
Diane Bartels: Your name sounded so familiar, I had to Google you. Are you the same Diane Bartels who wrote a book about aviatrix Evelyn Sharp? If so, I would like to share with you a story I wrote about female pilots in Waukegan. It references the Ninety-Nines. (If I have the right Diane Bartels, you know what that is!) Small potatoes—but you might like it anyway. As for your list, yes, and “Angry Candy” is one of those that I purchased in hardback, ink barely dried. It was unassumingly tucked away on the shelf at the Borders in Deerfield. I felt like a successful bandit, discovering it and buying it before anyone else there seemed to know what it was.
To all, many thanks.
-BB
Semi-Writer,
When caricatures like Sharron Angle and Palin gain so much air-time and political power - when you realize it's possible for the IQ of a radish to fire up millions of other little radishes - you know it's time to bail out! We have some BUTT-fuckin' stupid amadins out there!
The problem is a few conglermates control the global markets (hear now how Google and Verizon are trying to deflect regulatory measures, that could supposedly preclude development of "new technologies"; whatever bullshit it takes to secure the markets), and the world's stock markets collapse in sympathy with the US stock markets.
This means things are getting worse now for countries throughout the west. When multi-nationals operate unchecked, economies collapse everywhere. The average schmo on the street has no clue about why it happened; he only sees himself falling on the social ladder. When this happens on the broad scale, populations look for skapegoats; they lash out at people who had nothing to do with their situation, blind to the real perpetrators, who WANT these very divisions! I think most of the world is going to see a nightmare unfold over the next decade.
It's going to be bad everywhere.
Like you, I've wanted to research the prospects of getting out of this country, should things get worse. From an economic standpoint - at least at the moment - I know some people making a better income in Canada and Hollnad than they were 6 months ago.
I hear nothing good about the UK right now.
The basis of a system - not so much the people (human nature, bad and good, MORE the former, I think, is common everywhere) - is what draws me to other places. In the US, with SO much power and money in the hands of a few, who, in turn, control the media by-and-large (the most POWERFUL political tool in the universe!), and 30 years of brainless deregulation, and millions of ignorant apes who get suckered by the rhetoric, voting against their interests in the long run (the Republicans are opposing a bill to help small businesses, and STILL they have a chance to regain the legislature????), I see little hope for a better place over the coming decade.
If another country sustains itself in that course as Democratic Socialist - the Netherlands long having been a good example - THAT'S an alternative with SOME promise.
Just trying to say, be meticulous in your research.
On a cheerful closing note, this is what MAY have to happen in the US:
Way too many people here understand little about the issues, yet they'll cheer on the rhetoric and the slogans with unwavering conceit. If their political leaders hold that global warming is a fairy tale, even though scientists say otherwise, then it MUST be so!
OK, so let's say, despite the disasters of the last decade under Republican domination, these drones actually allow Republicans to take back the House and/or Senate.
I've resolved to myself, hoping I can survive it, that, "alright...GIVE Congressional power back to the Conservatives". They will re-embark on mass deregulation, outsourcing our jobs, and manipulating the markets. More people will see their homes gone while a few billionaires get 100 times wealthier, and the education system will sink when teachers unions are obliterated.
If they think things are bad now...wait till the stupid voters of this country find what's waiting for them when they let Republicans take power again.
I think the worst has to happen before a better world emerges. Like yourself, though, I want to survive it, and BE something!
Just wanted to say that I liked the post by Ben Lomax very much. Post more often, sir.
To Semi-Writer
To the best of my knowledge your employer in the UK would apply for the work permit for you so you would need employment prior to moving to UK.
The UK Border Agency should have more information at http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/
However things in the UK are not good at the moment, our new "Coalition" Government is intent on cutting spending to such a degree many people think unemploment is set to soar.
Hope you sort things out.
Semi-Writer, you sound distressed, depressed. Frankly, you worry me. Hope sun tenders your darkened gap.
A billion people live on 2 dollars a day. Think on that and remember that you have options.
Big hug.
I heard Norway is nice.
Not likin' the news today...
Worse than that, I don't like this country any more. Hell, I have to admit that I haven't liked it for some time. There's never been a strong level of patriotism running through me, not even after serving twice in the military, but now my feelings are turning to outright disgust at the way things are. I can't even begin to think about political discussions, much less try to argue that any given side is the "right" side. The notion of debating--the futility of debating--just turns my stomach.
I'm not one for prayer, but I was praying on Sunday night that someone would steal my truck. Lo and behold, a truck WAS stolen in my neighborhood on Sunday night... unfortunately, it wasn't mine. But when a theft can be considered an uptick, an improvement, an elevation in one's situation... there's something DEFINTELY not right.
So... is it wrong that I want to leave the country? I've been so desperate for a sense of direction in life that I'm hitting up people for advice about what it would take to get a work visa in the U.K. (not that I'm deluded enough to think I'd "make my fortune" there, mind--I'm just seeking basic economic survival). My grandmother's death last summer, and my mother's generosity with her part of the inheritance, has kept me in L.A. for an extra year--and even though it's been a year, much thanks still goes out to those of you who helped me out prior to her loss. But since financial failure is imminent now, I figure why not take the risk before bankruptsy comes a-callin'? I just don't know how to go about doing it. (So any practical help--not just general advice but solid, focused information would be appreciated.)
Morgan - No problem.
Steve (Over 18) Swanson - Thank you. Your order is on the way.
Lost HERC Member - Victor J. Knight of Hopkinsville, KY.
Thanks--Susan
As a frequent Traveler...
Hmm. I have a dilemma.
On one hand I cannot condone the actions of the JetBlue flight attendant who abandoned his passengers after an angry confrontation with one of those true self-important asshats we all want to pummel on a flight.
On the other hand I feel compelled to doff my cap to the style in which he did it.
______________________________________
Speaking of which, JetBlue is one of my two preferred airlines. I can honestly state that the vast majority of their flight attendants are pleasant, friendly and above all helpful. I have seen them confronted by this sort of thing. As often as possible, when it occurs, I do my best to let them know how much their handling of it was professional and appreciated.
I do not like other passengers who do not feel the rules apply to them. The person who walks around the cabin while the seat-belt sign is illuminated. The person who stands when the jet is taxiing. The asshat who feels compelled to tell everyone else on the hot plane how much this is inconveniencing them.
In other words, being Naomi Campbell.
Personally, I'd like to see the flight attendants given tasers. Just for the fun of it. But that's just me.
Oh. And to make this relevant to this website, I'll note that I was reading SHATTERDAY the last time someone pissed me off on a flight. Too bad for them...
a-herrrm
that is, of course: EZRA
EXRA
top-notch posting, my man
keep up the wood gork,
Rick
Pay the (Singer or Song)writer!
The New York Times has a nice article on how hard it can be to make sure that musicians get paid.
Read, "The Music-Copyright Enforcers"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/magazine/08music-t.html
Brian Phillips
P.S. Thanks, Travis!
Politics and the Fear of Socialism
I don't really get into the political discussions here because of the rampant ideology and outrageous statements (whether they be trolls or what) made by many of those here who tend to wallow in those waters. But I am reading the Conservative Avenger's post so near following my driving behind a great big old pick'em'up truck with a sign on the back gate saying "The Democratic Socialist Party is in power, either fight them now or live with them later".
Several problems I have with this. First, what the hell is more Socialist about Obama's administration than anybody else? Near as I can tell he is firmly toeing the fence about most hot-button issues, and certainly isn't as far left-leaning as nearly all his Democratic predecessors. He's middle of the road Democrat at best. So what is there to fear?
Second, why do we remain the only civilized nation in the world where Socialism is a dirty word? I have no interest in a Socialist government, but the U.S. government is so far away from a Socialist one that I am astounded hard-core right wingers feel we need to keep our Red Radar on at all times. Are we really worried that the Russkies are going to drop in on us like Red Dawn the moment we approve universal healthcare?
The fact is that modern Conservatism, pointed out here many times already, is not what our founding fathers (enlightened slave-owners though most of them might have been) thought of as being the protectors of the American way of life. America was set up as a land of freedom. That is the key to everything good we have ever created or ever will. Protecting what we have by destroying freedom is the mechanism that many other leaders have destroyed their countries with.
It is popular to believe that allowing the dirty unwashed peasants to intrude upon the government will set back the American goal of "profit at any cost", but the fact is that without our system of representative government, which has always included people of both left and right-leaning viewpoints, none of the great things about America would be here.
To me, the radical fear of Socialism reads much like homophobia. "Don't allow any of that into our lives, we might like it!" What in the bloody hell do we have to be afraid of? Hard-core Socialism as a government has been tried and failed on small and massive scales. The same thing with Fascism, Communism, etc. Single party autocracy doesn't work, and the Americans that fear it just simply don't understand. But if you are stockpiling guns in your basement because the U.S. extends unemployment, chances are rational thought has left the building.
So, trolls and all, why the fear? To be a Harlan Ellison fan without an open mind seems counter-intuitive.
This turned into a political rant, which is why I don't get into these arguments. But for an intelligent group like this to espouse such fear just squicks me.
Ben
Even as we chat here so enjoyably a glance out the window reveals a darkening on the western horizon, as if a huge flock of Hitchcockian fowl were gathering. But these aren't starlings and crows and finches and wrens driven mad by Tippi Hedren's hairspray.
No, much much worse. These are none other than the fabled Shantak Birds from the Plateau of Leng in the Cold Waste. And in their nasty claws not human body parts eloquent of unhallowed feastings, but nameless trinkets and doodads filched from product placement tables in foul Hollywood dungeons where the rites are howled and the hideous chant springs forth to forever haunt the dreams of mankind…
EAT PRAY LOVE
EAT PRAY LOVE
EAT PRAY LOVE
EAT PRAY LOVE
EAT PRAY LOVE
They shall say to the mountains, "Cover us!" And to the hills, "Fall on us!" Hosea 10:8
Purge payment, thoughts on socialism
Susan: Saw your reply. This grateful buyer bows low in supplication, thankful for your and HE's munificence. It should be there Thursday. Pinky-swear.
Have read with interest the discussion on socialism/communism/capitalism in this thread. Frank: nice (if direct) reply to CA; you speak for many I dare say. And now I would like to venture far out into the deep end and add this:
I lose about 30 per cent of my pay in taxes but I don't really lose it per se. I get it back in health care, education, employment insurance (including a year of parental/maternity leave, and new Gov't paid leave to care for family, booyah!), old age pension and a host of other wonderful things.
Here comes the crazy: I'd happily pay twice what I do now to see more socialized programs in place such as universal child care, free university, universal prescription med coverage for youths and seniors, fully subsidized senior care...the list goes on. Yep. The socialized services we've got are far from perfect (or even universally accessible: ask any rural resident and everyone living north of 60) but I'll take it, oh yessiree I'll take it.
IMHO, when we share what we have we all end up with more. Mohandas said it best: A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members. If scripture is your guide to legislative remedies, check Leviticus 19 (specifically 9, 11, 13,14,15 and 33) for a few good ideas.
Here's what David Frum, another Canuck and one much wiser than I, has to say on the state of various isms in today's Oval office. http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/08/04/david-frum-the-socialist-in-the-white-house/
Is mine is a simplified view? Oh goodness yes. I don't count myself among the very informed, but I know that I'll take my government's flawed system over the fearful stance the US has towards similar undertakings.
Pay The Artist?
Things have (once again) been very busy in my neck of the woods, and I haven't been around much the past couple of weeks. I'm not sure if this has been brought up here or not, but I just came across it via a retweet from Warren Ellis:
It's an article written by a guy advising producers how to hire artists. It's pretty disgusting, and goes right along with paying/not paying writers.
This one quote pretty much sums up the article:
"Keep them in the dark:
This relates back to what I talked about earlier. If an artist knows how much their artwork will increase the value of the game they will then feel they deserve that amount of money."
The full piece is here: http://kaitol.com/how-to-hire-an-artist/
While I get the guy's point of view, it's still aggravating. I can't exactly blame the producer, because he's right: paying as little as you can for assets is part of making a profit on the end result. It's annoying, but it's the way of the world.
Instead, I fault the artists willing to work for guys like this, accepting that they'll be grossly underpaid while being grateful for "exposure". It's HE's argument all over again: the flood of amateurs working for cheap (or free) ruins the market for professionals and lowers the standards across the board.
Anyway, I thought folks here might like to take a look at the link.
-Kristian
Response to HARLAN ELLISON! from Glass Goblin
HARLAN ELLISON
- Wednesday, August 4 2010 11:51:26
TOPIC:Significance of GLASS in your Wiriting.
FRoM HARLAN ELLISON:
"Glass Goblin, sir: It means what you need it to mean".
With a smile, Yr. Pal, Harlan
REPLY from Goblin:
Dear Mr.Ellison,
BRILLIANT!!!...Simply Genius,Sir!
And I must say Harlan, your use of glass in writing is simply without bounds...it's unmatched by other authors.
Hey...BONUS QUESTION?
In an interview for "DARK DREAMERS";when you spoke of getting into the "Zone" to create - You mentioned digging tunes as helpful to/part of the creative experience...
Q: Can you suggest some favorite tunes/MUSIC?
+(a burning Bonus Question):Do you like FRANK ZAPPA?
?
Thanks again for your insight into the use of Glass in writing!
SIR,YOU ARE AN AMERICAN MASTER!
Sincerely,
Glass Goblin 'esquire'
(*timothyWalsh)
P.S.
If i may be so bold to suggest enjoyable tunes:
the SOFT MACHINE (the"THIRD"album)
ALSO:
***THANKS TO KEENEY For The Wonderous Welcome,very kind indeed!
PATRICIA NEAL IS DEAD
Klattau barada nikto.
Billy Goats Gruff
Attention River Crossers:
Please do not feed the trolls who live under the bridge. Such actions only encourage them to mischief, slovenly habits, and further water pollution.
Thank you.
Beaverton Bridge Tenders Association
We have in our gathering bright and earnest folk who can and do reasonably discuss issues, ranging from our Esteemed Host's works -- which are legion and shining examples of the art and craft of writing -- to politics and bad TV and horror movies. People who believe in something and step up to offer their thoughts and feelings on their beliefs. Crossing swords with men and women of wit and wisdom is good clean fun and edifying, win or lose, agree or not.
Then there are trolls. Folks who don't care particularly for the issue at hand yea or nay; who could just as easily argue the opposite of what they offer, and who really enjoy chumming the water and watching to see who bites.
Leg- and chain-pullers, looking for a rise, any response, and a waste of time trying to argue with, using such things as reason or logic or evidence. They really don't give a rat's patoot about whatever it is they rant about, only that they stir up a response. Ant-hill kickers, let's-you-and-him fight, people who name their kids Adolph Hitler.
Sometimes they are easy to spot. If you sneak in and hide behind a pseudonym like Toxic Conservative and spew, you give away the game. Sometimes they pretend to real convictions, but after a time, you get the drift.
They get a perverse pleasure in stirring folks up, and that's their bottom line.
How you best kill them is to starve them. Hard not to swat one when he slithers up, I've done it too often myself, but that's the ticket, truly. If the gibbering and capering don't get a response, if the rock tossed into the pond sinks without ripples, they lose.
And we all win ...
Perry
C.A.: "..I will fight Communism to the end of my life."
Yer a PROUD addition to my fossil collection!
antiwar conservatives and silence
Steve Barber, conservatives did not all sit still for the Patriot Act or the two wars.
Jerry Pournelle, a former protege of Russell Kirk (literally the Father of modern American Conservatism) for example, opposed both the First Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq War. He opposed, opposes and regularly rants to this day against the Patriot Act and the so called TSA, which he scathingly refers to as "Security Theater".
Antiwar conservatives were numerous enough and loud enough in the run up to the 2003 Iraq War that David Frum was used as an ideological "Hit Man" in the pages of National Review in 2003. Scum Frum wrote the following about the large numbers of Anti-War Conservatives that opposed the then looming Iraq War:
"They began by hating the neoconservatives. They came to hate their party and this president. They have finished by hating their country.
War is a great clarifier. It forces people to take sides. The paleoconservatives have chosen — and the rest of us must choose too. In a time of danger, they have turned their backs on their country. Now we turn our backs on them."
http://old.nationalreview.com/frum/frum031903.asp
Many antiwar conservatives also oppose the Afghanistan War as a pointless and impossible attempt to impose Western values on a people who have never united in anything EXCEPT their hatred of foreigners with guns on their land.
Pournelle often writes that the Afghan War is unwinnable (especially after WikiLeaks) and that the best solution would be to leave, with the reminder to whoever winds up in charge there that we can always come back and remove them from power, then leave again, if they ever allow anything like 9/11 to come out of their hills again.
I'd love to put this Conservative Avenger and Frank Church in a cage. They are made for each other.
Zack, I don’t have a problem with any of it. I have certain principles I try to follow, and that I encourage others to consider. I don't rant and rave when other people decide to follow their principles, or when the majority chooses to go where I fear to tread.
I do laugh and shake my head when it all goes South.
I'm only human.
Noam Chomsky is white.
Deep Shag Records
Volume 4 is almost here
I expect to have the CDs in hand this week with the shipment of pre-orders to commence shortly thereafter.
Have you ordered your copy of Volume 4 yet? If so, I bow from the waist in a show respect for someone with your obvious good taste.
If not, I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
www.deepshag.com
Ok, I'm going to start the journey - just this minute ordered Volume 1. Having been an avid reader of Harlan's work for over 30 years I'm looking forward to hearing the voice behind so many fabulous stories.
Cheers, Iain.
Volume 4 is almost here
I expect to have the CDs in hand this week with the shipment of pre-orders to commence shortly thereafter.
Have you ordered your copy of Volume 4 yet? If so, I bow from the waist in a show respect for someone with your obvious good taste.
If not, I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
www.deepshag.com
"The Conservative Avenger
Some where in the Pacific Northwest, Pacific Northwest - Sunday, August 8 2010 23:59:1
A letter to Liberals
I know 90% of the comments on here are from Liberal Democrats...that is okay...I am proud Conservative Independent and a proud veteran of the Vietnam War Era. I spent two years fighting Communists and the way of Communism Idealogy, only to find that they have and are doing what they warned us about nearly fifty years ago...they are in our government...they are in our lives....and they will not stop until we all fall under the veil of the Hammer and Sickle....or the Crescent Moon and the Simitar. So...go ahead...follow blindly into the labyrinth
but as for me...I will not go so easily...I will fight Communism to the end of my life. Change is here all right...bend over."
Thank you Senator McCarthy.
(It astounds me that Conservatives sat completely still for the Patriot Act; the tapping of our phones, email and online postings; two wars -- one of naked aggression; the wholesale assault/compromise on the 1st, 5th and now 14th Amendments; and Dick Cheney's use of oil companies to write national energy policy. But they're only NOW convinced the boogeyman is coming to get them?)
(Oh, and "CA"? My father spent thirty years fighting the commies, and he's greatly relieved the Bush Administration is out of office. Not because of policies, but because of practices. Pay attention to the world, son. It's not nearly the way you're being told to see it.)
Conservative Avenger, huh? Did you know that real conservatives, whom I respect, tend to be anti-war?
Robert Taft was the last true conservative. The American Conservative magazine tries, but some of the their views are a bit far out.
You are not conservative, in fact, you are a far right kook.
But let's use your logic.
Conservative Avengers killed about 3 million Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians. Really manly there.
Pinochet was a conservative avenger, as was Suharto, Batista and the like.
Conservatives have given us zero freedoms, no culture and no ideas, beyond hate and division. Now you want to change the 14th Amendment. Bah!
You Conservative Avengers are utterly boring and predictable.
------------
Kenneth, not morally superior, just have access to the right facts. Anybody can do that. It takes no great skill. As the charactor in Good Will Hunting said, you have to read the right books.
Avoid corporate or elite stuff and the sun shall shine on you as well, since you do seem like a decent chap.
Read a vast and deep set of sources. The world is your oyster. Don't be a conservative Avenger.
My forty-eighth post here
BRIAN PHILLIPS, hurray for your performing Shakespeare! I envy you, sirrah. I was just in Ashland, Oregon last month and saw “The Merchant of Venice” at the venerated Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Splendidly done, with all the ‘problem play’ contradictions intact. That Elizabethan Stage is a peach--but icebox-cold in the middle of summer!
PHIL NICHOLS, can ya believe the nearly 90-year-old Ray Bradbury’s still telling tales?! Here’s hoping H.E. will be doing the same.
By the way, everyone, also at Mystery & Imagination (‘Bookfellows’ on the sign), 238 N. Brand Boulevard, Glendale, California: “George Clayton Johnson will be helming a weekly writers talk upstairs here at the bookstore, every Wednesday night from 7 to about 8:30. Promptness not necessary. The interactive talks will begin this coming Wednesday June the 2nd. Mr. Johnson is not charging. The talks are free. Just Come!” G.C.J. may look like a crazy old prospector, but he’s done some fine work.
Kicking the can,
T.Y.
A letter to Liberals
I know 90% of the comments on here are from Liberal Democrats...that is okay...I am proud Conservative Independent and a proud veteran of the Vietnam War Era. I spent two years fighting Communists and the way of Communism Idealogy, only to find that they have and are doing what they warned us about nearly fifty years ago...they are in our government...they are in our lives....and they will not stop until we all fall under the veil of the Hammer and Sickle....or the Crescent Moon and the Simitar. So...go ahead...follow blindly into the labyrinth
but as for me...I will not go so easily...I will fight Communism to the end of my life. Change is here all right...bend over.
And to think that I never wanted to talk politics here...
Clearly, I must have been crazy.
"Do you really want children to starve, old people to die in the streets?"
Note to self: To persuade doubters, first seize the moral high ground, then surround it with razor wire, land mines, and an acid-filled moat.
"Al Qaida, John Birch, the Catholic Church, Adolf Hitler, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jerry Falwell and George Wallace and Joe McCarthy. They all had simple plans."
Keep those reductio ad hitlerums coming. They really put everything in proper perspective.
"fat christian tourists waddling by"
Increase the peace, baby!
"I have utter contempt for white people, since they are the scourge of the planet and evolutionary mistakes. Yea, my people are the real enemy."
Nothing screams "moral superiority" louder than a blanket condemnation of ten percent of the world's population.
Hi all. This is for Brenda; though I think Harlan's solution is probably better. When i was in smaller digs than now and during the couple years I bounced hither and thither between my families homes, my books were in blue plastic tote boxes. They come in a variety of sizes, if kept indoors are safe for books, and might be a good solution if for some reason Harlan's proves unworkable, though I think I might employ his my own self.
Now i am going to answer your original ques. for me. Angry Candy, the Essential Ellison and "Love Ain't" cause it was my intro to Harlan. Purely personal except I think Candy has two of the best short stories of the last 150 years. No hyperbole.
Brenda hope the move goes well.
Diane
Funny Attraction
Actors at one time or another in their careers - particularly in interviews - you could NEVER imagine being funny:
Carrol O'Conner, Ed O'Neill, Gene Wilder, Peter Sellers
Actors who could be so hysterical in interviews you could never imagine in stark dramatic roles:
Rod Steiger and Marlon Brando
Semi-Writer:
The plot device driving Eccleston's episodes is what drew me in. Here, the Doctor was at conflict with himself, and that's what pushed those stories. Lots of times, that's the MEAT of great storytelling. In style, looks, and manner I still embrace Tennant as the definitive Doctor, but Eccleston gave us a look at the internal world of Dr. Who, giving an edge to those shows I didn't expect. I never found that connection with any other actor in the role.
"shit head"
Hi Harlan,
Thanks for the reply. Regarding the schist kopf thing--I'm sure you were just being cute and cuddly. I can't even remember how it arose, it was like two or three Icons ago. But...I know better than to prod you in order to illicit some type of response. ("Duh, lookit the snake on the rock, let's poke it!") I ain't that crazy!
Hope all is well. I just saw you're doing "Phoenix Without Ashes" for IDW. I can't wait to read it!
Your friend,
Brian Schiavo
REPLY TO BRENDA BALIN
Oh, dear. Three?
I fear the best advice I can give you -- on the chance that three of mine might force you to exclude one of Maugham, or one of Kersh, or one of Shirley Jackson, or ... I mean, I'm enormously flattered that you'd want to take THREE -- but the best advice I could give you is what ME MYSELF I did when I was confronted with the same problem. I thought around it, thus:
Pick a nook in your new digs, any depth, any length, any width that is essentially "empty" space and get bypass track-bookshelves. Far less expensive and endlessly reuseable (unlike wooden bookshelves with ripping nails, etc), eternal and adaptable to any space you come up with. Double, treble your available library space without expanding. They stack, as in libraries or offices, they roll, they lock, and always need only one aisle, and you'll have to desert far fewer olde faves.
I am puposely not answering the question you asked, by giving you an answer outside that stricture. I do, really, hope my purposeful alternate solution is of help. It needn't cost you a lot of money. Look into it...it's one of the few ways in which total availability of resources via internet can aid booklovers. There are many "trak-bookcase" and "bypass bookcase" sites.
Nice to hear from you again. Yr. Pal, Harlan
CHUCK MESSER wrote: "By the way, it's also going to be the first day of Ramadan. I don't know what significance that has, either."
It means Glenn Beck will rationalize a way to blame you for 9/11.
Lindsay Lohan Causes Drunken Plane Crash Into an
Elementary School, and is sent to bed without supper.
Film at Eleven!
On Wednesday, the 11th, I will reach the age of 55. I don't know what significance that has, besides the fact that I'm still alive in spite of some of the shit the world has flung at me like an angry screaming monkey.
I'm employed, I still have good friends and family so things aren't so bad.
So here comes the Double Nickel.
By the way, it's also going to be the first day of Ramadan. I don't know what significance that has, either.
Chuck
Cindy Sue, let us first see what my seer says about socialism:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4Tq4VE8eHQ&feature=related
Industrial democracy is about as distant from what we have now as you can get. You basically rent yourself to a boss, the boss controls your life--your wages, how you dress, what time you come in, when to take vacations or ever, if you can have sick days, threatens you with firing if you unionize, says they will raise your wages if you "work harder," which is another word for obeying a civil authority and losing your humanity in the process.
True Libertarians run the factories, they don't take orders.
True socialism has been crushed, here and elsewhere, including the Soviet Union, where the socialists were rounded up and jailed.
Socialism is bottom-up control of production and government, with people selected through a lottery. Different people would have to run every so often. A democratic vote would decide most things. What we have now is elites selected through a fraud called voting. You have to raise huge amounts of cash just to compete and we know where the big boys get their cash.
The media pretty much goes along with this, because they are part of the power system. Socialism would end their reign and control over the mass mind.
Note all this talk about Obama's "anti-business" pedigree. It is a way to keep people like Obama in line. So far he is obeying.
Anti-business means that you don't fully support big oligarchs, unfettered "free trade," and the like.
They bark about small business, but places like Wal-Mart put smalltown America out of work by crushing competition and colluding on prices. Small business cannot compete with a supply chain five billion miles long.
They exploit labor overseas, lower wages here and lower environmental stadards. All this talk about immigration is just that. The Business elite love cheap labor.
They demonize unions to a point where even Democrats now only pay lip service. Note Obama's finger pointing at evil teacher's unions. Scott Brown, the tea party guy, was voted in by union households, because they were mad at Obama for not going far enough on the health issue.
Corporations have the rights of people--actually more rights, because you can arrest people, but you cannot arrest corporations. Corporations can go overseas, call themselves citizens of that country. People who try that are called illegal aliens.
If you rob a liquor store, you get a jail term, if you rob the economy you get a bailout.
They use our military to police international waters so that trade will flow in their favor. We overthrow democratically elected leaders if they refuse to let our companies loot their largesse. Hugo Chavez is a dictator because he wants to use oil funds to help the poor, not just rich investors.
Everything from integrated circuits to the internet, shipping containers to lasers were funded by the government, the technology later handed to private corporations. That is top-down socialism. The bad kind.
Look at road building. Every business should thank the nanny state for giving them roads that take customers to their front doors. Car companies and oil companies should give Uncle Sam a bj.
The Free Market is all an illusion. From sprawl to lowered wages, we are fucked unless we change this system. My take.
\\Amparion//
So the Right's problem is an analytic one? Okay. Interesting.
What is your disagreement exactly?
ZisM
Modified capitalism
Cindy, I agree with the poster (sorry, didn't write down the name) about the simple thoughts about complex problems. I would like to add this thought. The United States has NEVER been a pure capitalist society. We have always had some sort of checks whether in the form of tarrifs, anti-trust laws etc. Ever played monopoly? That's capitalism. In truth, we are an interesting mix of capitalism and social safety nets. When I have this discussion with a certian libertarian I know well, I point out if society is allowed to devolve we all would suffer a fate I'm sure Harlan could write about better than myself. Public schools have promoted our culture,(aren't you glad the person that fixed your brakes can read?) Do you really want children to starve, old people to die in the streets? That's the "pure dog eat dog" result. Trust me, you won't be the baddest dog in the street. YOU depend on a social structure that's civil. We all do. A desperate population isn't going to stand back and die peacefully. I believe the kindness we do with our social programs buys all of us something. I just don't think tea partiers and others value appropriately the things government does well, and the benefit to all of us it provides.
Essential Ellisons
Ms. Balin,
If you've got an ebook reader, such as a Barnes & Noble Nook, or Amazon's Kindle, or an iPhone/iPod Touch, or an iPad, or a Blackberry, or a PC, or a Mac, you should be able to go to www.ereads.com and find links to sites where you can buy thirty of our host's books in formats compatible with nearly any portable reading device or desktop computer you're likely to be using. Thereby ducking the entire issue of shelf space. And the prices for the ebooks are very reasonable.
Still waiting for ebook releases of Slippage, Angry Candy, the Essential Ellison, the Glass Teat volumes, Medea, and Mind Fields, but otherwise most of our host's backlist is readily available in space-saving ebook formats.
Just a suggestion.
Bests to all,
--tr
JES - I was (secretly) wondering about that, but was NOT going to mention it until you came forth. Or fifth. (rimshot!)
I hope the new venture is going well and you're having fun.
___________________________________________________________
I'm sitting here awaiting the washing machine repairman on a Sunday morning. Sunday.
It's a glamorous life being the roadie for a jazz singer, lemme tell you.
___________________________________________________________
Speaking of which, Cris has a couple of public gigs coming up in the next couple of months that ought to be a lot of fun.
This Saturday she's the guest vocalist for The Lindsey Hundley Trio playing at the Ports O Call restaurant in San Pedro. No door charge, and it's on the patio overlooking the port's main channel.
The BIG news is that she is opening for jazz bassist Max Bennett at the Coach House in south Orange County on October 4th. This will be the full band, and we're looking to pull out all the stops. Tickets are available at Cris' website.
(Those of you more long-term Angelenos may recognize Max's name from when he did a series of gigs at The Lighthouse in Redondo Beach, as well as playing behind such vocalists as Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez through the 1970s.)
Oh, and for this guy named "Sinatra". No word if they played pool together.
Woohoo!
__________________________________________________
ADAM-TROY - I would have given anything had the prosecutor turned to judge after Naomi Campbell's comment and asked to treat her as a "hostile arrogant bitchy little egotist". "With delusions of grandeur."
I'm sure the judge would have allowed it.
To Ms. Balin
A lovely post, but I think you've asked an unkind and unanswerable question of our host. Nobody who has done as much good work, and suffered getting it out, as Harlan Ellison can easily say, "well, ignore books abcdefg, just look at x and y, they're the real good stuff."
I'd take The Essential Ellison 50th, Deathbird Stories, and Shatterday or Approaching Oblivion. But I'd suggest that you know better, even than Harlan, what you should bring.
IAN AITKEN
Small world: one of the new SFX Editorial Assistant's duties will be to provide copy for the SFX spin-off mag Comic Heroes... which I edit!
Cheers
Jes
Harlan's Choice
Dear Harlan,
Ever since I stole a copy of "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" from my dad when I was in my teens, I've been addicted to your writing. I've cheerfully collected freshly-inked hardcovers when cash flowed, and ancient, battered paperbacks when cash was scarce. I've read and re-read most of them several times.
In fact, once, eons ago, in the '90s, I called you from New York, in a sudden fever of gratitude, just to tell you that my third reading of "Strange Wine" was like making a new discovery with an old friend. Contrary to common slander, you were kind and gracious, and took a few minutes to chat. I've kindly left you alone ever since.
Ours is a three-generation family of Ellison fans.
Now, I have a dilemma: I am downsizing from a large apartment with bookshelves everywhere to a tiny cottage, with teensy dollhouse walls.
No room for any but a very few cherished books.
I am about to become a fervent user of the Waukegan Public Library (in Bradbury's old neighborhood).
I can't take all of you (or rather, your books) with me.
and I cannot decide what to leave behind.
If you could leave only three of your books as a legacy, which three would they be?
Which three REALLY express the "essential" Ellison best?
I have to be packed up by August 21.
So, which of your brain children should be saved?
your anguished fan,
Brenda
My dream job....
Well, I finally spotted my dream job. An Editorial Assistant on SFX magazine.
Apart from not being a journalist and having a fairly rudimentary command of the english language I would sell vital organs to be able to get this job. I have been reading this magazine since issue one and have always enjoyed it tremendously. The chance to be a part of the creative process of something I love would be a dream come true.
Except.... The job is in Bath. I live in Dumfries. Not that I have slightest chance of getting it anyway, but if a miracle should happen I'd have to sell up and move. Not a really a viable option unfortunately. So it looks like back to driving trains for me.
Anyway, if anyone should fancy a look here is the link.
http://jobsearch.futurenet.com/JobSearch/JobDetails.asp?JobID=1077&blnJobAlert=0&lngJobBoardID=-1
Steve-evil could be just the man I am thinking....
All the best
Iain
Thank you to Jan and Charlie for the specifics about the first release date of the four issue Phoenix Without Ashes comics. I was getting a little nervous because the comic shop I go to was not sure.
Roger
Doctor Who
Rob: though I only discovered the show in mid-December of last year, I'm with the "David Tennant is MY Doctor." I did like Eccleston's Doctor considerably, and would've liked to have seen what his version of the character would've developed into over time.
But there are/were/will be numerous problems with any actor maintaining the Doctor role for any length of time. Eccleston apparently had some behind-the-scenes issues, things he said that he couldn't keep overlooking or ignoring, which made him draw a veil after only one year. Recently, Benedict Cumberbatch remarked about how he didn't want to be the Doctor and likened being on the production to "being on school box lunches." There's also the marketing involved, in which you give up a BIG chunk of yourself to promote the show (Tennant has his image splashed on everything from audiobook covers to children's underpants), plus enduring endless interviews and intense media scrutiny. And it's a physically demanding, sometimes uncomfortable (cold, wet, etc.) production that shoots in Cardiff, which can create a feeling of isolation for those who have no friends or family in the area.
Tennant was able to sustain the role for four and a half years of production time because he'd been a lifelong, rabid fan of the show (everyone loves the story of him deciding his fate based on "Doctor Who" at the age of three). When asked by Graham Norton if he really was "such a big, geeky 'Doctor Who' fan," the actor confessed, "sometimes I underplay it." That enthusiasm helped him overcome a lot. Hopefully Matt Smith's youth and hungry-actor mentality will help him last for a while in the part as well.
On a personal side note, it's rather pitiful that I'm a grown woman who wants to buy the 10th Doctor's TARDIS (plastic toy that costs around $40 plus shipping), even though I have no job and no money at the moment. Ah, the power of marketing...
two responses to two responses
Mare Tiedemann - I shall seek the books you recommend. They sound fascinating, and from your description I think they would reinforce the point which I was attempting to make: that the writing of laws - even laws which we later revere - is almost never pretty, and that understanding should temper any temptation we have to be worshipful about those laws or the people who wrote them.
Kim: "The problem with so many "isms' " capital and other, is that they take the complex world and reduce it to a simple model, then take the results of extrapolating that simple model and try to make the world resemble the models results."
Boy is that clearheaded and useful. Thank you for that.
MM
Pix
O' the Day....
http://tinyurl.com/278pnct
Correct, I forgot Americans write dates differently. Date for #1 is 25/08/10.
Regarding Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell cannot be dismissed as a murderer any more than Harry Truman or Winston Churchill or Menachem Begin or about a zillion other leaders can. You've got to get down to specifics. You've got to show that others would have acted differently, that he was not your run of the mill national leader, acting in the same amoral, creepy, and murderous way most national leaders do, but something much worse.
Cromwell really did, throughout his very odd rise to power, try and act rightly. His approach to problems was this: to attempt reason on those who disagreed with him, to make a threat if they did not "see reason", then if thwarted to ruthlessly carry that threat out. No Pol Pot, for sure. Not a Hitler or a Stalin. Not even a Franco, who murdered perhaps a 100,000 people after his victory in that most brutal of civil wars. I'd have to rank Cromwell as a more honest, intelligent, energetic, and driven George Bush (in that he was too sure of himself and his religion), but a Bush who killed fewer people in his day.
Roger G., PWA #1 isn't due out until the end of August, according to my local comic shop.
Neil Gaiman in Australia at Sydney Opera House
http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whatson/neil_gaiman.aspx?start=yes
He's appearing there today (August 7) and doing a reading for 2,000 people at the Sydney Opera House. Because of the logistical problems he's not doing a signing at the Opera House but instead he already went to a nearby bookstore and signed 2,000 books to make them available for fans who want to buy one with his signature later.
Dear Morgan:
HE pointed out your post. Sorry for the delay in checking. There is no problem about waiting for your order. No problem. Just wanted to know if you were still interested...and now I know. I'm giving Tom Paypal the day off this time. Although he says it will be available in the future. My enormous thanks. -- Susan
David--I like your smooth, fancy talk. Much appreciated.
Edward de Vere wrote Basilisk, I don't care what you say!
"...or here is a great article from the Boston Globe called, "Why Facts Backfire"" :
http://tinyurl.com/2b9ohy2
Andrew Breitbart certainly has a lot to answer for, considering the Sherrod situation. Here is a look at the man who broke the non-story. Meet Kevin Pezzi:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201008050030
Finally, I saw the last part of "The Hoaxters" written by Herman Hoffman. The last part is worth mentioning:
http://tinyurl.com/24dsuxt
Other notes:
Congratulations, David! I'm going to be in "Romeo and Juliet" to-night and to-morrow as old Montague. I haven't read until the end of the play, but the kids make a GREAT couple. I see big things ahead for 'em.
Also, I am glad that Shelley Berman got a lot of attention here and also I am glad someone here knows him. Should anyone wish to hear his legendary routines, they can be obtained here: http://shelleyberman.com/Recordings.html
Brian Phillips
Various
HARLAN: We still intend to send that package, but have procrastinated. You'll get it.
*
Naomi Campbell is not only a bad game show answer...she's the worst human being on the planet. Details -
http://bitchphd.blogspot.com/2010/08/this-is-big-inconvenience-for-me.html
Loftus checks in
Just checking in to let everybody know I'm around and hanging. I'm killing time this morning while waiting to hear whether/how I'll be used by my team in the annual 48-Hour Film Festival over the rest of the weekend. Some of you have seen last year's production, in which I was lucky enough to star, "A Hole Story," which is now on YouTube, here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfonQwdZC-4
With regard to the general political discussion, I'll make this short and sweet. Enemies of government denigrate "welfare" when it means helping the poor and sometimes venial, are fine with it when it applies to themselves (Social Security, Medicare, unemployment benefits, etc.), and mostly aren't even aware of it when it applies to corporations. Government does tons of favors for the private sector, whether deserved or not, but hardly anyone finds this unfair or unacceptable.
As for Cindy's question about communism and socialism, very few Americans that I am aware of are urging the U.S. change its economy over to either system whole hog; those are just swear words that a lot of conservatives apply sloppily to any change that makes them nervous or uncomfortable, no matter how small. At their best -- and one must admit they have been applied in a broad variety of ways through history and across the globe, and often very badly -- communism and socialism seek to take care of all members of society, while (in my view) capitalism could not care less about everyone, only the ones who are willing and able to play by its rules. When we do care for the aging, sick, and "lame," it is for reasons outside the logic of capitalism.
SUSAN: My purge packet arrived safely. To the rest of you: I try to maintain dignity, here as elsewhere, and not come off as a slobbering fanboy about ... well, whomever might be within hearing. But I gotta say, it just gave me a bit of a frisson to know that a certain someone had folded up those wrappings, applied the adhesive tape, etc., etc. -- those very same hands had touched these materials! -- and I felt just a little hesitation before throwing them in the recycling bin. Sounds silly, I know, but it's just not the same thing as getting a shipment from Amazon.
I have no problem with political activism of any flavor, including the Tea Party. Participation and activism are what make the wheels turn.
But let's see some serious, thoughtful discussion and some serious, thoughtful candidates.
If you can't see through Sarah Palin, what hope is there for you?
A couple comments prompted me to offer possible answers
TimRaven---the assertion that Cromwell was a murderer is based on two things, depending on which historian and/or partisan view one holds with: the most obvious being the beheading of Charles I.
But more pertinently, the massacres at Drogheda and Wexford, in Ireland, in 1649. War crimes at the very least, outright murder by some lights. Cromwell had moments of drawing up short in his megalomania, which make him an interesting study in tyrants and one of the least pigeonhole-able, but in these two instances he tried to defend the actions even while most of his supporters thought it a terrible thing.
Michael Mayhew and Cindy---the present arguments over the "sanctity" of the Constitution are nothing new, but usually (as in all things) they are most strident among those who know little of the history. "Miracle In Philadelphia" is good but Bowen tends toward the bias that all these geniuses were somehow guided by providence and it colors her account. I found one of the best modern accounts of the constitutional convention in a biography of one of the three delegates who refused afterward to sign it---George Mason. "George Mason: Forgotten Founder" by Jeff Broadwater has am efficient, cogent description that reveals the convention in all its contradictory, pugnacious, politicking, frustrating compromise-making splendor, plus gives insight into one of those who built it who then denigrated it.
The other is a bit fatter---Akhil Reed Amar's "America's Constitution" is a clause by clause, section by section "biography" of the document.
So-called "patriots" today don't seem to care for this kind of revelatory history (they general condemn it as revisionist) because if nothing else it humanizes the Founders, who have by and large been put up on pedestals for worship. While it can be argued that this was a unique group with a unique opportunity, the drift toward considering them Geniuses Never To Be Seen Again is distracting and makes all contemporary thinkers look like mere mortals by comparison and incapable of doing as well if not better.
By the way, while there was an official "secretary" of the Constitutional Convention, he took no notes during the proceeding. Our accounts are derived from Madison's reconstructions after the fact.
Just sayin', ' case you're interested.
Mayhaps as Mishaps
Sir: as the woefully-under-appreciated-yet-popular co-parent of Yankee Postmodernism, you don't need my custom, I know. I therefore appreciate the fact that you took the time to write the below-posted note. If I should one day come into possession of a time machine and a nifty order-processing droid which I can program with the irritatingly-complex (but necessary) details and teleport into your garage... I'll have those books yet.
With immense respect,
SA
Amparion
Oliver Cromwell was a murderer of the worst degree. I don't get the context of that quote. I watched that clip, and I felt the sincerity of the Brit, but I don't get that quote.
p.s. Amparion, you may not be the greatest, but I think our dick sizes pretty much match.
Tim Raven
Knowledge and Certainty
Zack. the problem the Right has with the apparent congruity between the concept they dislike "Welfare State" and your quote from the preamble of the Constitution may lie in the definition of "welfare", as well as in the significant difference between "promoting" something and attempting to guarantee it for every single person come what may.
The problem with so many "isms' " capital and other, is that they take the complex world and reduce it to a simple model, then take the results of extrapolating that simple model and try to make the world resemble the models results.
This simplification is done from necessity, as a model must be a simpler version of that which is modeled. It's like Borges' tale of the Mapmakers Guild, and their futile attempt at making a map exactly the size of the kingdom mapped.
The tragedy of attempts to force a complex, ill understood real world into a mold based on a simple model of reality is evident in the history of the last two hundred years. The Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and late nineteenth century America all fell prey to the hubris that is certainty in our beliefs.
A healthy respect for our lack of knowledge, and for our essential inability as fallible mortals to ever attain absolute knowledge should temper our ideological flights of fancy.
Oliver Cromwell said it best, as Jacob Bronowski quoted, standing in the pool at Auschwitz into which the ashes of four million human beings had been washed.
"I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken."
See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXsVKbHY_T0
One of the greatest moments in television, most especially at the end. I doubt Bronowski's actions were scripted, and they are all the more powerful for their evident spontaneity.
And that's all I have to write upon this Hot Potato, other than, most sincerely, "Good Luck Cindy!"
No apostrophes were intentionally harmed in the production of this post.
I am not The Greatest.
Ha! The first time I tried to post this the website told me I was bad.
Some philosopher speak:
Try to avoid absolutes. Nothing is ever always anything.*
'Communism as synthesis of capitalism and socialism' is a profoundly flawed idea due to Marx's belief in a perhaps unconsciously absolute 'roll of history.'
Marx's Weltanschnauung: Dialectical materialism is the best school-of-thought. It teaches us after detailed study that history moves society jerkingly yet unstoppably towards a classless statelessness called the 'end of history.' Since the roll of history cannot be stopped, and since we do not wish to be crushed as it passes, we must work to help history along. Therefor we must make use of a dialectical synthesis of the two opposing socioeconomic systems of the day (themselves the products of extended dialectic processes), and said synthesis must be a thing which moves us toward 'the end of history.'
There are a lot of problems with this which I won't go into. Most striking to me (besides the inherently false absolutism) is the illogical conclusion that communism (a kind of socialism) would synthesize from capitalism and socialism. Capitalism + socialism = socialism? This is not dialectic. This is a logic that counts capitalism as a zero sum.
If we are going to use dialectical materialism to determine what our socioeconomic systems will look like (which we certainly do not have to do), then the synthesis of the often typed capitalism and socialism will not be communism. I think it would be much closer to some types of democratic socialism or a heavily modified 'welfare-state' system.**
:END PHILOSOPHER SPEAK:
I haven't done that in a while. Good to know I still got it.
Time for my 4 a.m. whiskey. Mahalo.
ZM
*This statement negates itself unless you take into account tempotentials (the 'human absolute').
**I've often wondered about the use of the term 'welfare-state' as a pejorative among the Right. Is not one of the stated reasons for the ordination of the Constitution 'to promote the general Welfare'?
I never saw the Dr. Who episodes with Christopher Eccleston until this last week, largely because of my bias for David Tennant in the role.
Scoffing at first ("this guy isn't a good Doctor to MOI!"), I was converted quickly. These turned out to be DAMN good episodes: SHOW me an American series that ever challenged us with "farting" aliens (Aliens of London)!!
Eccleston's Who is more conflicted and emotionally vulnerable than the others (bear in mind, I was only acquainted with David Tennant and Matt Smith).
Also, the episodes - originally aired in 2005 - are relevant, drawing compelling parallels with capitalism, and the various demoralizing Bush policies of the time. This was particularly evident in the episode "The Dalek". I liked that one a lot.
Yeah, these are great! Really well-written!
How did it happen that Harlan Ellison was never involved with writing for the Dr. Who series? I think it would have been a perfect match.
Roger, Phoenix Without Ashes should be out but I have no proof either. #2 released next Monday.
--
Did you all note the hommage to Harlan in The Invention of Lying?
--
New reviews of A Boy and His Dog movie
Cut the Crap Movie Reviews - http://ctcmr.com/2010/07/29/a-boy-and-his-dog-1975/
Galen Strickland - http://www.members.tripod.com/templetongate/boyandog.htm
Cindy
The Tea Party is like many other political groups that champion simple solutions to complicated problems. They cling to nostalgia as a road map to happiness. Remember how great things used to be? Al Qaida, John Birch, the Catholic Church, Adolf Hitler, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jerry Falwell and George Wallace and Joe McCarthy. They all had simple plans.
The fact that you were able to attend that meeting without any violence from the political groups that are currently in power speaks volumes. I say keep going to the meetings; they apply an honest and sincere message to those casually corrupt career politicians in Washington.
Tim Raven
politics
Hey Cindy -
I think what you found at your Tea Party meeting is that most people, when gathered in a small group and talking about what matters to them, are reasonably pleasant to each other. I think if you had gone to a small, local meeting of progressives you'd have found about the same thing.
Regarding the Constitution - it's a well-written document with a solid foundation for a workable government, but it ain't scripture. It's full of compromises, and was in fact the result of the exact sort of ugly, sausage-making political process that the folks at your Tea Party gathering probably abhor (at least from a distance - I suspect if they'd had to write a complex law together they'd have gotten to haggling and arguing and horse-trading right quick).
But any document that says a black person is only three-fifths human is one which we might want to be careful about when it comes to any sort of absolute first-principles stand.
The original version of the constitution also says that the state governments should pick Senators. I'd hazard a guess that you prefer to vote on that yourself.
And speaking of voting, the original version of the constitution says you don't get to, because you were born with the wrong reproductive gear.
Don't get me wrong - I think it's amazing that the constitution was written and agreed to at all (and you can even make a rational argument that the 3/5ths compromise kept the country together long enough that when the inevitable civil war did come, the nation could withstand it), but I think our attitude toward it should be one of well-informed respect rather than absolutist worship.
Someone in this very Art Deco Pavilion once turned me on to a great book about the writing of the constitution - Miracle at Philadelphia, I urge you to give it a look as well. You really get a sense of how in many ways similar that process was to the creation of laws today.
Regarding the -isms, might I suggest you put aside labels and go a little deeper? The core question I think you're getting at is "what is the best role of government in our daily lives?" Or, put another way, "are there some things which we, the people, through our elected representatives, ought to do collectively for ourselves, or are we better off trusting that private companies have our best interests in mind?"
As a person who has in his life collected an unemployment check, who got a decent education at a public school and a community college, whose parents collected social security and utilized medicare, and who has a profound love of public libraries - but who also is the son of a successful businessman, and makes his living as an independent contractor, I tend to feel like business is good at making stuff and selling things, but that we should use our government to take care of some core infrastructure, health and social safety net issues. I actually feel like businesses can succeed better if they aren't also trying to look after retirement and health care.
I know from reading your posts from time to time that you fall more on the trust business side.
But very, very few of us are ENTIRELY on one side or the other.
The question is, where do you draw the line - and then once you've drawn it, are you willing to defend the choice?
MM
I was curious. I attended a Tea Party meeting yesterday evening in my little town. I didn't know what to expect and I was afraid to sign the 'list of attendees' ( I know what happened to Larry Adler) but I did. I didn't want to take anyone's word for what I would find there-- I wanted to see for myself.
You know what I found? A group of around 45 people, out of a town of 2300 or so. Mostly ranchers and farmers-- they listened to the speeches-- one given by the County Clerk who urged everyone to "vote early".
Truthfully, there weren't any references to the President, specifically-- or his administration-- they were down on EVERYONE currently holding office on both sides of the aisle. They expressed distrust of Congress. Their main desire was that the U.S. Constitution should be the Supreme Law of the Land.
It was sweet and it made me kind of sleepy. I understand what they are saying. I am naive enough to believe we should all go to the source. Don't take anyone's word for anything-- go directly to the source.
Y'all are the smartest most direct people I know-- would you explain to me why one might believe that Socialism or Communism would be an improvement over Capitalism?
Frankie, you can start.
Really looking to understand.
Cindy
Re: At The Mouse Circus
Most definitely pertinent. I used your recollections as a guidebook/roadmap whilst reading. As I hinted in my comments, I'm eating but not digesting . . .mea culpa.
Keep givin' it large me old cock. All best 'Owes
Twilight Zone-Harlan Ellison TV Alert
For those who have the "Chiller" channel, The following episodes are going to be shown on August 16th, all times EDT:
Crazy as a Soup Sandwich 1:00 PM
Shatterday 4:30
"Wordplay" by Spider Robinson will show at 2 PM.
I
RANDOM REPLIES
1. TOM HENSLEY: Don't think I ever actually met Shelley Berman, but as one who has hung with the greatest, from Lenny to Eddie Izzard to Lewis Black, and on across, there are few craftsfolk of comedy who can/could make me laugh as deeply and relentlessly as him. Please pass along to him that, like him, I would've ripped that fucking payphone out of the lath and plaster, and then used it to beat to death the manager of the club, who should've been just a TAD more prescient.
Otherwise, Joe and I send hugs'n'suchlike.
-------------------------------------------------------------
2. BRAD HAUPT: I've gotten two copies now (for which thank youthankyoutha...well, you know who you are) but a third cannae hooort. You can save it till MadCon if you like, save the postage.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
REPLY TO DUANE IN PHILLY
No, that one was bought by my succcesor at Regency Books, the late Algis Budrys. I had nothing to do with its acquisition.
Yr. Pal, Harlan
REPLY TO BRIAN SCHIAVO
Hell, yes, I remember you. Nice to be back in touch.
Yet...I am embarrassed: why in the world did I call you a shithead? Was I trying to be familiar and funny and "edgy," or was IIIII being my usual shitheaded? Specifics, boy, specifics!
Yr. Pal, Harlan
KEN 'OWES
Yeah, but did MY explanation seem pertinent? I'm curious to know.
Me old china!
-he
HARLAN & TOM MORGAN & STEVEN AUGUSTINE
CUTTING THIS AWKWARD GORDIAN KNOT:
TOM...you are, as always, staunch and helpful. You have extended yourself far beyond the perimeter to assist someone who is a total stranger to you, because you felt it might ease Susan's and my burden. You should not have had so much time stolen from you. I owe you. Save it and use it when YOU need something. But go no further; I will attempt to take care of Mr. Augustine here, now.
SIR...politely, and respectfully, no one has inveighed to "make you grovel." Your assumptions, and your chesspiece-dealing friend's assumptions that something seems "wacky" about our "shipping department" are coherent only if you don't understand what's going on here.
The "shipping department" is the woman who lies beside me every night. This book sale, unsettling to me from the outset, was conceived, amazingly put together, catalogued extraordinarily, and completely implemented by one person. Susan. Let me repeat that, so you will flense your head of visions of assembly line robots a la MODERN TIMES.
It's my honey and me. She does the invoices, she talked taking orders for more than seven hours, she hand-wraps each order, and things are carried down to an actual post office and sent out. I am not in the best of agility these days, but I sit up in the bed with a writing board and I sign every item, sometimes in three or four places, if required. When I knew the person in even a small way, I tried to personalize each item specially, dating most of them. After more than 700 orders, we have only 12 that are late, non-paid, or in some other manner bollixed or waiting. We have had no response from those 12 and Susan has sent 2nd Notices. Thereafter, those uncollected items will go back into my Archive. Forever, if I have MY way.
We also have had no complaints.
When you came to this site--through whatever means--you had a special, FOR US QUITE COMPLICATED ORDERING SITUATION. Yet, I went out of my way to accomodate you. Susan spent the time assembling your order despite your not responding to her simple request for a working postal address and/or a phone number. Susan, in fact, responded to your good offer to pay higher shipping fees, with a post that said Don't Worry About It...we'll figure out a way to get these to you overseas by the least expensive and troublesome manner. We heard nothing.
Then Tom, the Good Morgan, responded to Susan's appeal at this site, addressed to you. We have read your exchange with Tom.
But still we have not heard from you directly. I choose at this point to let it all just disappear. We cannot sell you my books. I'm sorry, but the minutiae is far too encumbering.
We have tried to be forthcoming. But this has just grown too "internationally internutty" and I think, for the peace of mind of all of us, that we simply not do business. You have sent us no money, we have sent you no books, we have imposed on Susan's overworked wonderfulness and Tom Morgan's concern, and like you I am a professional, so let it go. No harm, no foul.
I am gladdened by all the good words you sent Tom re my writing, and I'm sorry the mazework of this postal punctiliousness has made our small exchange impossible.
I insist on your understanding that I am being quiet and polite and gentlemanly here; but let us part nodding at each other in equanimity. Susan and I, a truly "mom'n'pop shoppe," wish you well.
Respectfully, Harlan Ellison
Re; At The Mouse Circus
Okey dokey . . .please understand, Harlan, that I would not normally quiz an author about his intentions but my inability to wring even a micro-millilitre of sustenance from this tale has been gettin' on my tits for well over 30 years now. If you were a man of lesser fibre I would suspect the intervention of exotic substances here and I know you don't booze so the problem lies squarely with me. If this piece had been penned by one of the Phils - Dick or Farmer - I'd have just shrugged and moved on to The Deathbird or something less mentally taxing. But it was you and so I must persevere.
Anyhoo, I went back and re-read the story - twice. One of these re-readings was on the pot where I could give it my undivided attention and here are my conclusions: Your creative thought processes meandered off to some umbrageous plateau where they encamped and fortified. Far beyond the boundaries of my intellect, sadly, I was forced downhill to gasp for some less rarified air. 'Tis a creative conundrum, Mr Ellison, and shall remain so. No matter. In fact I thank you for it because it serves as a reminder to me of how synchronised I am with the rest of your stuff.
Yr befuddled but appreciative servant, 'Owes
Mr. Berman, one more time...
During my time working with Shelley, it was never about the ego, it was always about the work.
Shelley Berman never got so much press in his life.
-------------
Anderson Cooper got an interview with Hitchens, after Chemo, looking really bad:
http://www.politico.com/click/stories/1008/hitchens_talks_cancer_with_cooper.html
It was worse than I first thought. Really sad.
Damned cancer sticks.
I'm fine, thank you.
My parents had a small record collection when I was a lad, and among them were Shelley Berman, Bob Newhart, and the Smothers Brothers. All of it went right over my head, but I loved the sense of fun right from the get-go. Once I did begin to tumble to what the jokes were about, I loved 'em all the more. Berman in particular got funnier as I got older, and his "Morning After the Night Before" is a true timeless classic. The uncle trying to have a conversation with his nephew can still reduce me to tears. "He sounds like the beneficiary to my insurance policy!" Hee.
Plus, I can't hear the Metallica version of "Whisky in the Jar" without hearing Tom and Dick. Double hee.
Shelly Berman
To see what he could do as an actor, find a DVD or VHS copy of "The Comic," an episode of PETER GUNN, written by (if I'm remembering correctly) series creator Blake Edwards. An excellent little half hour piece.
Berman is fun in "The Mind and the Matter," an episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE written by Rod Serling, but "The Comic" is really something special.
Steve P: "You should have used better examples"
I WAS pretty heavy on the hyperbole, thoroughly blurring the main idea. I really fudged it.
I am looking at careers that did not disappear, but eventually had a hard time finding its audience. These people continued working, but mainstream crowds weren't flocking to them anymore.
Don Knotts' pinnacle had to have been his years as Fife. Then he did "family"-type comedies for Universal. When the 70's rolled around, people were into edgier material. Knotts' movies were now flopping. They tried briefly to reinvent Knotts a tad with "The Love God?" and "How To Frame A Figg", but no one bought into it.
Then Disney picked him up, where he made good money. But his image was more muted, and I sense these movies were all outright mediocre (having caught a few on Turner).
He rebounded, of course, as Ralph Furley, "Bachelor At Large". This was a return to lots of his original material, using a vehicle that allowed to work really well.
And I LOVED Knotts in PLEASANTVILLE! ("What do you think this is, your own God Damn coloring book?")
For years, though, the Andy Griffith reruns have kept the quintessential Knotts alive for generations, where it was lost for a few years during the cultural shifts between (what?) 1968 and 1975.
Yeah, it's not like he ever faded. He just went through a few years of struggle in the face of Pythonesque-SNL fare. It was sink or swim, until his career could get a new foothold.
Bob Newhart (who jumped from stand-up to the Bob Newhart Show, when his routine seemed out of tune with the times) and Jerry Lewis went through a rather similar course.
That's what I had on my mind, and, yeah, I wasn't being clear at all.
When you post around 3am, clarity or even "better examples" don't seem to matter much!
In any case, it IS interesting how a career might see the spotlights, until another generation looks for something new. But eventually, they ALL become equal regardless of the era they once belonged to - whether we're talking about a Tim Conway or a John Belushi - joining the ranks of the classics; we appreciate them within the context of "retro". NOW we look at cuts from Newhart's original routine, and it's hysterical; it's the only reason, I might add, that I know the great Jackie Gleason so well.
...and I'm embarrassed to admit I never heard of Shelley Berman.
Voices from the Edge, already.
Hi Harlan,
Brian Schiavo from Schenectady, NY here. Well, not anymore, but you know, because of the "p.o. box" thing I thought I'd toss that in. I live in NYC now.
From what I ascertain, you ain't answering the internet stuff anymore and I can't say I blame you, it's okay, I completely grok where you're coming from, baby! (Lame 60's reference.)
I just listened to Voices From The Edge Vol. 3, call me out of the loop, where the heck have I been, I dunno, but I just got it from Blackstone and you still got it, my man! You are a veritable audio book gen-i-us. Thank you.
We have crossed paths several times at Icon, but you don't remember me, that's okay, not being a totally freaky, fat Battlestar geek, or possessing copius facial hair, you probably didn't focus on me as a potential stalker. I unnerstand, but still, you did call me a "shithead." That must have some cache...
I told you several times how you influenced me, I have indeed written and I'm making movies, don't check out "The Shriven," but it was my first produced script, don't you know? At any rate, "The Beast That Shouted Love" was one of the first books this kid picked up at WaldenBooks in the mist-shrouded seventies. That and numerous Doc Savage paperbacks. It was the only way I could get through the camping trips. Thank you for maintaining my sanity, sir.
You hear this crap all the time, but I love your heart, Harlan. Thank you for having the courage of your convictions, because it made a world of difference to some kid from Schenectady, NY.
Susan, you rool. I'm sure my wife could relate to you.
Gramercy, NY August 6, 2010
Brian
A big thank you!
Hi, Harlan, just wanted to let you and Susan know that I got my book back (IHNM&IMS), and to thank you sincerely (and publicly) for being so kind and indulgent to this slobbering fanboy. You are a gentleman of the highest order!
Best,
Brian Eisley
Regency Books
Hi, Harlan... longtime lurker with a quick question. I found a copy of HOLLYWOOD R.I.P. by I.G. Edmonds today, and was wondering if this was one of the titles you acquired during your time as editor at Regency Books.
(Very glad you're back, by the way...)
Cheers--
Duane
PayPal to pay for books?
Susan: a friend and I will be paying for our purchase together with a US funds money order...unless you can direct us to a paypal option mentioned awhile back on this board. Sorry for the delay, you'll have payment in about five days, or instantly should you, or anyone in the know, direct us to the paypal we could use. Thanks much.
Shelley Berman
I had lunch with Shelley recently, and the incident described in recent messages came up, and I'd like to share his comments about it.
He said that the documentary director filmed two nights of his club gig. On the first night, the phone rang during his set, and afterward he pointed out that since his act consisted of a series of phone calls, a ringing phone would be a serious distraction. He said he asked them to turn off that phone during his show, and management agreed to do so.
Nevertheless, on the second night, the phone rang again during his act, setting in motion the rant which defines him to so many. Okay, it might have been an over-reaction on Shelley's part, but I just thought that it would be more fair to tell his version of it. He added that the publicity damaged his career for quite a while—ironic, since today it would have probably given him a big boost.
Comedians
Pogue: your comments about Berman remind me of Richard Jeni--who was also very particular about his interpretation of comedy and how things should run. Although he generally had a good reputation, I've read of several instances where comics and club owners alike were turned off by some of his behavior (pulling rank a la "I'm the headliner and you're just the M.C.," or deliberately running over his allotted time as a way to get back at the club owner/manager for something).
Then again, any number of comics have disaster stories about showing up to gigs and not having something as simple as a working mic. If your job is comedy... and you're the headliner... and you need a comedy show to work, so that YOU can keep working... sometimes you have to be the asshole in a given situation and lay down your rules. At least that way, there ARE some rules. (Not to say that stand-up divas don't abuse that privilege from time to time, of course.)
Stand-up is a tough existence and I don't blame anyone who wants to jump off the merry-go-round in favor of a movie, TV, commercial or theatre career. Overall, you're not dealing with an intelligent, sober and calm bunch of people; it truly is an unhealthy environment. And yes, it is all about favoritism in comedy--just like anything else. Or as I like to say, "it's who ya know, and who ya blow."
Career why's and why nots
Shelley Berman often struck me as a diamond cutter among men and women who produced goods in a cookie-cutter fashion. In other words, I always imagined him a demanding, exacting, and perhaps touchy professional (sound like any renowned writter who visits these parts?).
As to why his career never got where it belonged, that one is always a mystery. Why, looking back, were Robert Taylor, Tyrone Power, and Victor Mature such huge stars? Why is Keanu Reeves, or Ben Affleck?
Weren't Robert Ryan and Richard Widmark much better actors than a slew of stars in the 1950s and 1960s? What kept them ever from breaking out the way Brando or Hudson or Curtis or Beatty or Redford did? Damned if I know.
And can anyone ever explain Chris Farley?
The confluence of person, times, taste, and luck that elevates one man or woman above another is frightening in its complexity and impenetrability. Once, Jerry Lewis had 13 hit films in a row. Today, he is the butt of everyone's jokes. Ten years ago it was Jim Carrey who was the "funniest man alive". Four years ago it was Will Ferrell. Now it's Steve Carell. I never liked Carrey, and think Ferrell and Carell are hit and miss. Berman was probably as good, and at least as versatile, as any of them.
But he never made it to "the big time."
Berman had class. He was a contender. But the gears did not click, the tumblers did not fall, for him.
Just damn bad luck, I guess.
Shelley Berman
I worked with Shelley Berman twice in dinner theatre in the mid-late seventies. The incident that derailed his career had nothing to do with his son, who died a few years after I worked with him.
The incident happened much earlier which was why Shelley was doing dinner theatre. I'm pretty sure it occurred during the height of his stand-up career. Though I've never seen the incident, it apparently happened during a documentary where a pay phone was apparently incessantly ringing during his act. The documentary camera's, according to what I heard, caught Shelley being enraged that his act was disrupted and he went back and ripped the phone off the wall. I never discussed the incident with him personally and only got things second-hand...so I might not have the facts right, but his career decline had nothing to do with his son's death, which happened in the late seventies, after I had worked with him the second time and about the time I moved to LA. I remember going up to his house for dinner and him speaking very lovingly of his son's last days.
During the time that I worked with Shelley, I won't deny he was a passionate and driven man. A lot of people thought him difficult. He had both his detractors and fans. I was firmly in the fan camp. A lot of actors (usually bad ones) didn't like working with Shelley, because he was very specific about the comedy. He hated busy actors who would do big reaction takes and outrageously mug in response to a joke. What they could never understand was Shelley's issue was they were cluttering up punchlines. He had two adages that have always stayed with me and I have adopted as two of my own performing edicts. "One joke at a time." "Keep the comedy clean."
I probably learned more about the essence of comedy from Shelley Berman than anyone else I ever worked with. He was brilliantly funny, a very good actor, and a very smart man. You could discuss anything with him. And I think some of the funniest times I've ever had, laughing till I was crying, was just listening to him riff.
I remember once we were watching our director working out a big piece of overwrought schtick with an actor, Shelley turned to me with a compressed, flat smile and deadpanned: "I like my comedy...subtle." So do I, Shelley, so do I.
Thanks Tom!
Susan,
I do not know if Steven Augustine will contact you. What I do know about his purge order I have gathered and placed in the mail. You should receive it in a day or two. Apologies for not doing so sooner.
Best to you and the hubby and a good day to all here.
EVERYONE'S INVITED
I flagged this up once before, but it probably got lost in the ebb and flow of the Pavilion. So here goes one last time:
On Sunday 15th August (2pm) there is a birthday party for Ray Bradbury in Glendale, California. Not just any birthday, his 90th. NINETIETH. And he says he's going to live forever.
And not just any Ray Bradbury, that's THE Ray Bradbury.
The party is open to all - see the invitation published here:
http://raybradburyboard.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3791083901/m/522108304
Despite living on a whole 'nother continent, I shall be attending. If anyone else from here will be there, please say hello. I'll be the quiet Brit standing politely off to one side, like we do.
- Phil
Actors? Why is it always actors?
Nobody cares if the Foley Artist beats his wife, or if the Script Supervisor likes to shoot cats with a nail gun.
As far as I'm concerned anyone who had anything to do with RIO BRAVO or UNFORGIVEN gets an automatic pass to gloryland.
Harlan mentioned recently that the first issue of the four issue series of Phoenix Without Ashes comics should be out. I do not have it available yet at the comics store I shop at. Have any of you been able to purchase that first issue yet? I know I can wait till the end of the year and get them all together, but I have all the rest of the comics Harlan has done in their original issues and would hate to stop now. Any info is greatly appreciated.
Roger
and the winner is...
Thanks for the answers to my Poul Anderson question. When in doubt my default position in such matters is "My bad!", so I like to think it was a doppelganger. I never doubted his essential decency.
That was a neat tale of seeing Poul, and then not seeing him, that Perry had.
Frank K. Kelly, a Golden Age SF writer (active ca. 1931-36) was at the World Con in 1996, to receive an award from First Fandom. He gave a talk as part of a panel, and told about nearly dying a few years before. He described the experience, that he was flying through space, out to the stars, and knew he wa going to see all of the universe. Then he woke up in his hospital bed. I never forgot that talk. It was riveting.
Frank K. Kelly passed away about two weeks ago, at 96. I like to think he's somewhere out there, on his way to Andromeda.
Rodney Dangerfield in the last years of his career appeared at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. A friend, a huge fan of Rodney, got tickets as a birthday present from his wife. He said Dangerfield that night was the funniest comic he had ever seen.
He started the show by walking out onto stage, staring goggle eyed at the palatial interior of the Chandler, wiped sweat from his brow, adjusted his tie, and said "Hey, I finally made it! The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion..."
Looked around again, adjusted his tie and stretched his neck.
"Yeah, this place has Real Class.:
-Beat-
He sneers.
"How's 'bout we trash this dump!?"
I still watch BACH TO SCHOOL now and then, just for him and Danny Elfman. Oh, and Sally Kellerman. WhattaBabe...
And Sam Kinnison, alas.
Comedians on the
I would argue for Shelley Berman following this pattern, to an extent, because he was doing quite well and his career was derailed temporarily by the death of his adopted son and a special that showed him in a fit of pique, which gave him the reputation of being rude and vulgar. He is doing quite well now, having held a teaching position as well as numerous guest appearances. Even with all of this, during his career low, he was still working.
Bill Cosby never completely stopped working, but before "The Cosby Show", NBC viewed him and the very situation comedy genre as damaged goods. Eddie Murphy and "Saturday Night Live" were parodying his guest host appearances on "The Tonight Show". His two variety shows had failed. While one could argue for prominence (Cosby wouldn't have starved had TCS never come to fruition), one could gather that he wasn't considered "relevant" or "hip" at that point.
For those who read this that are or were based in the UK, would Frankie Howerd qualify? It is my understanding that he fell out of vogue one or more times and came back successfully.
Brian Phillips
You Need Better Examples
Rob --
As far as I know, Jerry Lewis, the late Don Knotts, and Bob Newhart didn't go anywhere -- well, Knotts passed away -- but he worked up until he died. Lewis and Newhart are still working, well past retirement age.
Lewis and Newhart don't have to work, but both still can, and as far as I can tell, never fell out of favor. Sure, Newhart had a couple of TV series that go cancelled, but that wasn't because he had lost contact with the times. He's still funny.
It's true that all three men mostly left stand-up behind and got into other things, but that wasn't because they had lost whatever chops they had -- they elected to do movies or television by choice. Lewis did comedy and drama, Knotts did TV and movies for years after he was Barney Fife, and one of Steve Allen's men on the street, and Newhart has had a couple of successful TV series and he's still filling the seats in Las Vegas and venues around the country.
Perry
Reply to Bobby
Thank you much for the typewriter info! I appreciate it, and so will my daughter. She continues to hound me for one!
TYPEWRITER.
This is to let the gentleman who was looking for a typewriter for his daughter know there are many good typewriters available. You can even go to Yahoo and look in their groups and find several who are devotees for typewriters and could recommend a good one for you.
IF you get a manual typewriter one can find ribbons at Staples. It is just a matter of searching around a bit. I like the Smith-Corona or Remingtons but my favorite typewriter by far has to be the SELECTRIC. I have nineteen of them and use them constantly, even when sending an e-mail I will type it out and then scan it into the machine.
I hope your daughter has a lovely time with the typewriter! They are wonderful machines, unlike computers.
Have a great day!
Bobby
July 1st Onion
Hello, I am a little confused. Harlan, do you still need a copy of The Onion from July 1st. If so, I have a copy handy that I would be more than happy to send to you. I'm looking forward to seeing you at Madcon in September!
For Glass Goblin, if you're looking for works of fiction involving glass, I very highly recommend the novel The Glass-Blowers by Daphne Du Maurier. It's fantastic! As are most of her novels!
Peace to all, Brad
The answer is Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell connected with War Crimes?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100805/ap_on_en_ot/war_crimes_taylor_naomi_campbell
Banking off the topic of icons, I'm looking at the interesting arc followed by many if not most celebrated careers.
Particularly that of comedians and comic actors.
They get their grounding, and become a sensation for perhaps a decade or two.
Then, often taken by surprise, they lose touch with the times; audiences have moved on to new turf, and a one-time legend now seems tired and corny. He is left playing the lyre in his dotage.
10 or 15 years pass. And something happens: He becomes a name "fondly remembered" all over the world. He has joined the "pastures" of the CLASSICS...and suddenly, virtually reinvented by new generations, his name once again becomes marketable.
A few examples, offhand: Jerry Lewis, Don Knotts, and Bob Newhart.
A fascinating exception: Rodney Dangerfield! Ironically, after a long hiatus from stand-up (selling aluminum siding), he returned to show business in his forties, relatively late for that kind of work, with the whole "I get no respect" package. He NEVER had to look back. (By the way, anyone here ever see Rodney's widow, Joan? MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY GOD!!! She's a BOMBSHELL! I couldn't believe it)
At any rate, it's an interesting dynamic.
Wait-a-Minute!!!
When I joined the discussion about Art vs. the Behavior of the Artist, I thought we were talking about real artists, not Hollywood actors, for Christ’s sake. Whoops, I should delve back deeper into the conversation before shooting off my loud mouth. Actors…please.
p.s. Stefan Hall, get stuffed.
p.p.s. Wait, I’m turning over a new leaf in here, Stefan Hall, welcome to the conversation, we are so happy that you are willing to contribute.
p.p.p.s Weberderlanders, not too aggressive, right? Better?
Tim Raven
p.p.p.p.s I was going to invite him to….well, never mind. I’m nicer now.
Really.