Times it will always be

A meditation by the narrator of A Separate Peace by John Knowles notes there are moments that essentially get frozen in the memory. For him it's the era of his school days. Roosevelt will always be president, he'll always be in high school, he says, and so on.

I keep thinking about that passage as I contemplate a favorite story I need to re-read, Sticks, by Karl Edward Wagner. Wayne Sallee, who was close to Karl, has written eloquently about him in a couple of posts, including this one.

Wayne's notes and going through my books, still for Library Thing, thumbing my paperbacks of In A Lonely Place and Why Not You and I, have me thinking about the days I went to a lot of conventions. Karl Edward Wagner always seemed to be there, everywhere, and doing something crazy.

I remember him coming into a panel room once and grabbing a table cloth to throw it around his shoulders or opening a panel discussion on monsters by affecting an instructor's monotone and saying: "We are here today to discuss the care an maintenance of the CXL small engine..."

I remember him acting like a professional wrestler and trading insults, boasts and challenges with Charles L. Grant

In my mind, that's a time it will always be. A floating universe somewhere, where time hasn't moved along so rapidly.

I read "Sticks" first in that big collection of horror stories edited by David G. Hartwell. It's collected in In a Lonely Place, which I bought along with a couple of the Kull books right after KEW died, selfishly worrying they would quickly become hard to find.

Favorite Short Stories: Charles Beaumont - The Howling Man

Since we've been having fun discussing classic horror short stories and Richard Matheson and all that and since it's on my mind because I've been working on my Library Thing catalog, I thought I'd mention another of my favorites - "The Howling Man" by Charles Beaumont.

It's included in Charles Beaumont: Selected Stories from Dark Harvest, and was adapted into one of the most kick-ass episodes of The Twilight Zone ever.

If you've never seen it, wait up for it on Sci-Fi Channel the next time it airs! Seriously.

Originally published in 1959 in Rogue, which can be found on ebay listed as a "vintage men's magazine," it's a study of evil.

On a walking tour of Europe, the tale's protagonist encounters a group of monks who have the devil imprisoned, of course he's in his "angel of light" guise to the hero.

From outward appearances it seems they monks are a little off and the poor guy they have trapped is the victim of mistaken identity who won't shut the hell up! Hence the howling man nickname.

I finally got to see the TZ episode on WGN in the '80s and I've watched a few more times on Sci Fi re-airings. It's a wonderful black and white rendering with plays of light and lightning, skewed camera angles and SPFX as well.

The story is rich and symbolic, faithfully interpreted for TV but it should be read as well. If you've loved Beaumont, leave me comments.

If not get to a bookstore, mail order house or library. Now, do it. Don't just sit there.

What's On the iPod? - Lady Frankenstein

When I was a kid, my hometown had a drive-in multiplex. TWO BIG SCREENS! They were designated Showtown East and Showtown West.

I think showtimes were earlier on the west screen because it had the sun at its back.

Maybe it was the other way around and there was some advantage at the East screen. That part's fuzzy.

In the bleak early '70s
In the early '70s, the twin Showtowns presented second run flicks like True Grit often paired with new releases such as A Gunfight with Johnny Cash, but it was also the venue for the usual Southern drive-in fodder that was still floating around.

Newspaper ads trumpted footage of real births or vampire double-features so horrifying some guy who saw them had to be institutionalized.

We also got TV ads for all that stuff while we watched I Dream of Jeannie re-runs in the afternoons. Did they think 10 year olds were going to the drive-in? And people worry about toy ads.

Portrait of a Lady
I can remember among those spots was Lady Frankenstein's ad campaign - really, I can -- slightly sinister, slightly sexy and slightly scary with her big, folically-challenged creation lumbering across the screen. Can't remember exactly what the announcer said but it was something to the effect of "She had the stones to create a monster!" I guess that's kinda in keeping with the films intended feminist take on the Frank story.

Never got to go see any of those darker flicks in those days. My dad liked Westerns, don't you know? But the promos were always good for my Famous Monsters of Filmland-driven imagination, perhaps more exciting than some of the films themselves.

Better 35 years late than never
Nonethless, I was excited to discover via Mondo Schlocko that Lady Frankenstein with Rosalba Neri, aka Sara Bey, is in the public domain and available at archive.org.

If we can believe Wikipedia ;-), it's often compared to the Hammer Films Frankenstein cycle though lensed in Italy.

Back in the day I thought it was one of those becausee it had that costume-drama style. Also it stars Joseph Cotten who has a vaguely Hammer Films air about him. I didn't know who he was then but he looked vaguely like Peter Cushing.

I got the download MP4 of LF on my iPod now. I'll probably squeeze it in this weekend if I have to stand in many lines while Christmas shopping.

Books I need to get around to - Spindrift

Plugging books into my new Library Thing catalog has reminded me of some books I own that I really need to get around to reading.

One I've had on a "read-soon" stack for a while is Spindrift: Spray from a Psychic Sea. I picked it up at one used book store or another a while back, though I'm not sure when.

It looked like an Exorcist-era horror novel but it's actually labled non-fiction, the story of Broadway actress Jan Bartell and her experiences with a Greenwich Village townhouse where strange sounds and shadows turned into a belief of a "diabolical Possession."

If Wikipedia is to be believed ;-) Ms. Bartell was possibly clinically depressed, but I'm intrigued by delving into her account. It sounds a little like a real-life version of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House.

OK We're doing a poll

On the "Which Tarot Card Would You Be?" post below, Stewart Sternberg of the way cool House of Sternberg blog postulated that more creative "What Would You Be?" tests might be possible.

I've set his suggestions up as a poll at left. It's informal and non-scientific, but which would you most like to take?

If you vote, maybe Stewart will send you a picture of a radish. (He has a post about strange pictures he used to send in e-mails.)

Maybe a future poll could be a fill-in-the-blank variety.

What is the strangest thing you actually received in the mail in a letter from Chicago writer and moving-target blogger Wayne Allen Sallee? (Pictured at left is Wayne as his fictional character:The American Dream.)

If you received snail mail from Wayne at any time in the '80s or '90s, you know what I'm talkin' about.

If not, well let's just say Wayne used to pack interesting things into his envelopes.

Doin' the Library Thing

My buddy sent me a link to Library Thing and it's been keeping me busy. It also confirms what I have known for a while. If it's possible to own too many books, I do.*

Library Thing is like MySpace for book lovers with a little extra. It allows you to create a catalog of your books online.

I have seen the Library Thing User and He is Us - Sorry, Pogo
With cross links in your profile area, it also lets you see there are other people out there just like you.

Frighteningly just like you if you read the profiles. I think there's a guy that is me. He's the same age, grew up reading Famous Monsters of Filmland and has a lot of the same books as me. We probably have more books in common than is currently apparent because I'm not finished adding mine yet.

I've added a lot though, it's addictive. You can search by title, author, ISBN number or a few other ways. It relies mostly only Amazon but it has other sources to draw on as well. It can usually pinpoint the exact edition of the book you own, though sometimes there are a few flaws.

It usually finds cover art, though in my obsession I get a little frustrated if the picture doesn't match my edition. I find myself envious of people who have managed to display cover art of the same editions I have when mine displays only the simulated wood grain that is the default image if no cover art is available. Ahhhhh!

An aside
Note to Library Thing Creators: Fabulous job but if there's a feature to add your own cover art scans, I don't see it. And I would use it. I know there's probably medication.

Another cool thing is that the creators really seem to have their act together. While I was looking around on the site yesterday they apparently got Slashdotted, which may be better than being digged, I'm not sure. I think that is the right past tense of "digging" a site but I'm not sure. Maybe I should check the urban dictionary on that.

Real time communication
Anyway, they were overwhelmed and real time messages were appearing - "We've been Slashdotted, bear with us." Ah, the new words the web coins for us.

Guess there's a little sense of Big Brother going on there. The, uh one from Orwell or the Mac commercial, not the CBS TV Show, I guess.

Here's what's happening with that, though. The people who built this thing are obsessive book lovers too, and they're just watching to see if you added a book they want to read. Talk to you later, I'm going to IM the me from the parallel universe to see if he wants to do a "need it, need it, got it" book trade. View my online catalog here.

Addendum
Duh! There is a way to fix covers. Just had to read the FAQ. I think they officially thought of everything.

(*I'm not sure it is possible to own too many books - please reference the Twilight Zone episode "Time Enough At Last." If Burgess Meredith did not break his glasses he would then have just enough books. If something happens like in Stephen King's The Stand and I am one of few survivors, then I will need these books. Dish Network will probably stop working.)

Shock Waves

One of my favorite collections of horror short stories or horror and suspense stories is Richard Matheson's Shock Waves.
I don't know that it contains his best tales for there are many including a number of stories that became Twilight Zones.

But it's a book that got me through a whole lot o' boredom once, so I hold it in high regard.

It was near Christmas one day in the '90s and I was called for jury duty. I'd bought the Matheson book used fairly recently so I tucked in my jacket when I left home that morning.

And while I sat through the preliminary selection process and voir dire, I read Matheson stories - "A Visit to Santa Claus," "Finger Prints" and a host of others.

One that I remember vividly still is "A Drink of Water." It's not a horror story exactly, but it at least is a tale of desperation.
It's about a guy who's been to a movie one hot August night, had some popcorn and upon arriving home decides he needs a drink of water since the popcorn was salty.

Sounds simple, but when he reaches his apartment he finds the water's been shut off due to one problem or another.

He's got no water in the fridge, and every avenue he pursues fails him for the next six or seven pages. I was right along with him in that tale, desperate in my own way, trapped in one of those processes from which there's no escape.

You just have to endure and hope you come out the other side.

A good book full of cool stories can make the trip more bearable.

Did the story's hero ever get a drink? Well, I suggest you look up Shock Lines. It's well worth a read.

Burning Bridges

There's always a joke that kids will celebrate when school burns. That's not the reality. The school where my mother taught most of her career has been destroyed by arson. Age has wiped away most of her memory, but I can't help feeling a little sad that hallways where her footsteps echoed for many years are gone.

I never attended there, but we lived within walking distance when I was a kid. We used to stroll there in the late afternoons. I once found a discarded Hardy Boys novel on the campus and I think I still have it.

I went to a lot of functions with her also. She took me to a play called The Guy From Venus that was put on by the drama department in the '60s. Later I would see the guy who played the alien drive past our house on his way to classes every morning, and it was like seeing a celebrity.

Most of her time was spent in a free-standing home economics building, but faculty meetings and other matters took her to the main building frequently.

One more marker that time marches on.

I didn't hear any strange beeps but...

I got up this morning right after my cats woke me. This usually happens 10 to 15 minutes before the alarm clock goes off. It's like, well, clockwork.

Monty bothers Daisy who hisses to warn him to leave her alone. She continues to hiss until Christine awakens just enough to tell me to do something about it.

So I get up, switch off the alarm clock, feed them and start the coffee pot since it's still minutes before the automatic timer fires. Yet I stubbornely refuse to re-set it.

I did all that like always, the coffee maker wasn't already on or anything because I remember it making whining sounds when it started.

I let Oliver, the indoor-outdoor cat, out then sat down at my computer. (Christine's friend said recenlty: "You know four cats is getting dangerously close to `strange cat people' behavior.)

I got coffee when it finished brewing, read a few e-mails, blinked and it was an hour later than I thought it was.

I looked down at the time in the lower corner of the screen and thought something was screwed up with my computer. Then I discovered every other clock in the house had the same time.

Cue The Twilight Zone theme.

I don't know if I was abducted by aliens when I let the cat out or what happened but Holy Moses!

1. The alarm didn't go off.

2. The coffee maker didn't start automatically so I think I got up when I thought got up, yet boom suddenly it's an hour later than it's supposed to be.

If I mysteriously disappear, remember this post.

Books I'm Really Enjoying - Touch the Dark

I'm glad I picked up Touch the Dark by Karen Chance. I was prompted to buy it because it was featured in a sampler at World Fantasy, and it's really an enjoyable read.

I've been reading a lot of thrillers lately, and sometimes I forget what a blast a fantasy can be, especially one that has a vampire Mafia, werewolves, clairvoyants and even a golem.

The story is told by Cassandra Palmer, the girl pictured on the cover, though the pentacle on her back is stretched out a little more.

She's fleeing Tony, a vampire mobster, but she also has killer magicians and much more on her plate. Happily, a sequel's due in the spring.

War of the Worlds

My adaptation of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds for Mind's Eye Theater from Thayne Multimedia is now on sale in its first location, Teach Out Loud.

Eventually it will be available in more places, but it's ready for the iPod now! It's also available free to the blind at FearYouCanHear.com.

It's believed to be the first radio-style adaptation in the original period setting. Usually it's presented in contemporary settings like New Jersey.

It's done with British actors and features music from a Greek artist so it's an international production.

In Dreams

Charles Gramlich has a post about dreams over at Razored Zen. That made me think about my dreams from last night, which were a little more esoteric than the one he describes.

I'm not sure if there's meaning to be gleaned, and only a fragment remains but it is one of those fragments that carries over the eeriness of the dream world.

I saw a girl I used to know who was struck by a serious illness. She was looking at me, down through a glass or maybe backward through a glass. It was like an over the shoulder glance from the her before the illness.

Maybe I should look up one of those dream interpretation sites - there's probably a meaning for glass, a meaning for a glance from a distant friend.

But maybe there's more mystery in wondering.

Dreams can be our mind's way of forcing us to analyze things.

Maybe it's more important for me to work on it a while than for checking a guide of symbols.

What's on the iPod? - Professional improvement

I wimped out with my Audible downloads and opted for a professional improvement option.

All Marketers are Liars was a featured item on my start screen. Damn you clever web marketers!

I was intrigued by the premise, nothing exactly new, but it made the use of storytelling in marketing sound like the Power of Myth. The lie part is sort of for shock value.

I feel I draw on a lot of the same reservoirs for ad and marketing writing that I do for fiction, and if nothing else theory books can be inspirational and stimulating, so Twilight by Stephenie Meyer was postponed for next month.

The arc
The Liars book brought to mind a backburner radio script that I'm quite proud of that was absolutely storytelling. It offered a one-minute snapshot of a man's life.

It's one of the more satisfying things I've done recently and I guess I'll turn it into a short story or something since it got a pass from my boss.

Based on a true story
It involved a grandfather and his granddaughter and a party, but I based it on an uncle of mine and a moment of cleverness I never expected. When he was about 90 he participated in a husband and wife nursing home pagent.

I don't remember all the areas of competition but one area involved Q&A. You know the same kind they do with Miss America where they all want world peace. My uncle stood on the stage, leaning against a cane, his mind a bit fuzzy from his years. I sat in the audience wondering if he'd be able to respond.

"What's your favorite birthday?" the pageant host asked.

"I don't know which one to pick unless it's the next one," my uncle responded.

I think he took home a trophy for that quip.

Bond Trivia

I have to come up with James Bond trivia for a Bond-themed party my company is hosting. We'll be giving away some things like martini shakers and copies of the trade edition of Casino Royale then probably some DVD sets.

It's not as easy as you'd think because the questions can't be too hard or too easy. Here's what I have so far. Feel free to play at home, although I can't send any prizes.

1. In the films, how does James Bond prefer his martinis?

2. What handgun is Bond most known to use?

3. What Australian actor appeared in only one Bond film?

4. In what film did television's Kojak play the bad guy?

5. Bond villain Goldfinger was backed up by a hat-throwing henchman. What was his name?

6. How much did the Man With the Golden Gun charge?

7. Who sang the title song for The Spy Who Loved Me?

8. What star from Jaws appeared as a bond villain?

Answers

1. Vodka martini shaken not stirred. (OK if you didn't get that one you should really leave the room. Give yourself extra credit if you know the mixture described in the novel Casino Royale.)

2. Walther PPK is the answer we were looking for. (Extra credit if you know he was issued the Walther because his Beretta jammed.) What's he carrying now?

3. Oh come on, honestly, George Lazenby. You had to look? What? Have you been sleeping?

4. On Her Majesty's Secret Service. You'll note a certain tie between questions 3 and 4.

5. Odd Job - some of the people in the office didn't get this one, making me wonder how these are going to fly. He was parodied in Austin Powers. It should be another gimmie.

6. $1 Million a shot, according to the Lulu song, or $1 million per assassination. What other famous movie theme song did Lulu also perform?

7. Carly Simon. I once saw John Davidson perform it on the Tonight Show as "This Girl Who Loved Me. Ackkk!

8. Kind of a sneaky one since there was a henchman named Jaws. The answer we're looking for is Robert Shaw in From Russia With Love, who played the beloved boat-owner Quint in Jaws.

Thanks for playing - have a good day! Enjoy Casino Royale if you go this weekend.

Ray Bradbury Interview - Part 5 (intro)

(At last, here is the final part of my 1995 Interview with Ray Bradbury)

Science is not going in a direction makes hopeful the Bradbury who once longed to live in futuristic cities and loved the 1933 World's Fair for its exhibits that matched SF magazine covers.

"Not as far as space travel is concerned," he says when interviewed. "That's our own fault. We've given up our space flights to the moon, which is a terrible mistake."

The space shuttle, he says, has been relegated to a role that's like delivering mail.

Maybe another space race is what the world needs, and there's still one superpower left.

"I hope that some time in the very near future, we pick a semi-fight with Red China," he says. Then maybe they'll start heading to the moon, and the U.S. will get back on the launch pad. "We all need competition," he stresses. Read more...

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Ray Bradbury Interview - Part 4 (intro)

A grand tale that is as he expounds on it to the audienc. "He sat in a chair and got electrocuted every night," Bradbury explains, painting this illustration so the crowd can envision the barker on a long ago carnival midway: "We are now going to put one million volts into Mr. Electrico's fragile body!"

Bradbury and friends went nightly, checking to see if one time the electric chair would work, but Mr. Electrico always survived to take up a sword and aim it at his amazed patrons.

As he pointed the sword, the guests hair would stand on end. When he aimed it at Bradbury one night, and the charge turned his... Read more

Ray Bradbury Interview - Part 3 (intro)

(Continuing my article originally published in 1995.)

It was when he was 12 and living in Tucson that myth and metaphor began to come together and his search moved on, he continues in his crisp Midwestern tone as our phone conversation rolls along.

He sat down that year to write his first novel.

From that illustration others would blossom and over time he would reach millions. Read More

Part 1

Part 2

Ray Bradbury Interview - Part 2 (intro)

(This continues my interview with Ray Bradbury from 1995.)

It goes back further than that season of 8, back to the time he was 3 and collecting metaphors -- myths and fair tales and sips of dandelion wine. He offers those illustrations Tuesday night to the crowd of 1,500 at Centenary College's Gold Dome. Young and old have gathered. To some he's the longtime master of miracles, to others, he's required reading in the flesh; the freshman class has been studying Fahrenheit 451.

In his black suit, blue shirt and tie, Bradbury looks like a breathing version of his cover photos, standing beneath the dome's ceiling, a sky of white cubes. They seem appropriate as a backdrop. They look like building blocks for one of the futuristic cities of his dreams.

He draws laughter as he tells of how he "walked funny" after seeing Lon Chaney in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. "When I was 5, Lon Chaney made the Phantom of the Opera in 1925," he continues, then recalls the film's impact on his imagination -- he borrowed a relative's opera cape and fashioned it to his own needs, sported a set of fake fangs and dropped from trees to scare passers-by.

"There were plans afoot to drown me in Waukegan, IL.," he recalls with a chuckle. Read more...

Start with Part 1

Keeping things Kinky - Friedman that is

The spirt of independence lives on. Over at Get Kinky they are striving to keep the momentum born in Kinky's campaign going.

I love their subhead: Vote your heart, your dreams, and your conscience.

Linda Blair on horror and animals

Linda Blair is featured in the L.A. Times discussing animal protection efforts and her history with horror films.

Ray Bradbury Interview - Part 1 (intro)

(A long time ago - 1995 to be exact, I wrote a feature story on Ray Bradbury, based on aninterview and remarks he made at Centenary College in Shreveport. Since a lot of people drop by here to read my post on The October Game, I thought this might be of interest. In several parts - here is my story on Cosmic Ray from The Alexandria Daily Town Talk, Feb. 25, 1995.)

Ray Bradbury created the Illustrated Man for a 1951 short story collection. The man was a fellow whose flesh had become the canvas for a carnival wtich who tattooed him with multi-colored scenes. Read more...

Elections and people and fear and V - Oh My!

Once upon a time I went with a rabbi and one of his congregation members to visit a family from Russia who had recently relocated to the U.S. I was doing a newspaper story on the effort.

The congregation was helping the family get established in the U.S., and I remember as we drove up to the house where they were staying that the young son was riding his bicycle out front.

This was all before the wall came down, so it was emotional just to see that little slice of American life had already been adopted.

While we visited, the phone rang. It was someone from the government, and that terrified the grandmother of the family. In the Soviet Union a call from the government was bad, always.

The businessman who'd come along with the rabbi consoled her. "It's OK. It's really OK," he said. "You're in America now. We don't fear the government."

Indeed we don't. As Lou Dobbs noted in his CNN.com column this week:

"Voters chose to overturn our current one-party political structure and returned checks and balance to our government. November 7 also demonstrated that the American electorate is far more discerning and independent-minded than either political party or our elites would like to believe." (Read the complete column here.)

The election transcended party, dealt with many issues and indeed reflected the collective flex of the people's will.

Issues I follow
I follow animal cruelty issues and noted earlier Conrad Burns' election was no doubt affected in part by voters offended by his positions and actions on America's wild horses. So too was the election Congressman Richard Pombo of California. Both got a mention in The Wall Street Journal's article on The Humane Society of the United State's election efforts, in fact. It appeared on election day.

Many more issues reflected democracy in action, however. Dobbs notes:

"Voters in nine states issued a stunning rebuke to all levels of government on the issue of eminent domain. In those states, voters halted the rising national trend of allowing primarily local governments to seize personal property for private commercial development. Democrats as well as Republicans would do well to understand that the record long list of state initiatives represents frustration with elected officials at both the state and federal levels."

As the analysis of the week continues the comment from long ago echoes in my head. "We don't fear the government."

Noteworthy quotes
It harkens back much longer to the words of Thomas Jefferson:

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." -- Thomas Jefferson.

That's the comment that was paraphrased as the tagline for V for Vendetta: "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

It's something leaders facing future elections would do well to remember, lest they have to pack their bags and go home like some of the colleagues.

The voters are watching.

Cool Things I Got at World Fantasy Part 2 - The Superhero's Closet

Superheroes are real in Andrew Lynch's novel, an integral part of the society and landscape that 16-year-old Lain Grey must traverse in The Superhero's Closet.

It's a literary, coming-of-age novel set in a comic book universe - what a combination. It's definitely something different!

If you're enjoying NBC's Heroes, check out this book.

The election - Kinky and the whole dang thing

Well, Kinky didn't take the mansion, but he certainly made the race interesting and he highlighted some good points:

Special interests are controlling way too much on the state and national level.

It's hard for an independent do get on the ballot .

People will vote for somebody with perfect hair quicker than they will a writer/singer/songwriter with quips.

If I wore a hat, I'd have it off to him now.

Cool Things I Got at World Fantasy Part 1 - The Black Tattoo

There's always plenty of bling at the World Fantasy Convention. I got a bag full of books and purchased a few more. I also picked up a ton of bookmarks and postcards and other promotional items.

I was excited to get an uncorrected proof of The Black Tattoo, a fantasy I'd actually considered at the store even though I think it's technically a young adult novel - think Harry Potter but a little darker. Just getting started on it, but looks good.

I also bought a chapbook called The Four Redheads of the Apocalypse which seems fun and I'm told by one of its authors, one of the four redheads, that it's under consideration for film option. The four are the wives of Death, War, Famine and Plague. What more can you ask from a chapbook?

Picked up several items from friends too - more on those soon.

Conrad Burns!

Interesting that the power structure in the senate hinges in part on the political fate of Conrad Burns, the man who initially removed protections for America's wild horses by a slick maneuver in an appropriations bill.

World Fantasy 2006

I think I discovered some sort of universal truth this weekend: If you drop back into an environment after many years, it feels the same -- everyone just has whiter hair.

I went down to World Fantasy in Austin with Wayne Sallee, and we connected with people we hadn't seen since the last Ice Age. I haven't been to World Fantasy since it was held last in New Orleans in the '90s.

It was a great time of catching up and browsing a lot of great books at one time, signing a few copies of older books and introducing Wayne's new book, Fiends by Torchlight, to the masses.

I was a little surprised at who'd lost touch with whom, glad to meet some new folks and most of all glad to get a reminder I have great friends scattered across the country.

Once in a while it's nice to get them all together in one place.

Willie Nelson on Horse Slaughter

Willie Nelson has an op-ed on the horse slaughter issue on CNN.com today.

Worth a look.

More Halloween Reading - Contemporary - Ash Wednesday

Note: Ash Wednesday is now available in a new e-book edition from Crossroad Press

It's hard to imagine an eerier, more imaginative story for the Halloween season than Chet Williamson's Ash Wednesday.

I don't know why I didn't buy this book when it came out in the '80s, but somehow I passed. My bad.

I've actually wanted to read it for a while, and I've had trouble finding a copy.

A couple of years ago, while my buddy Wayne was visiting, we dropped in one of my favorite used bookstores and while we browsed horror titles -- we were in the Ws so I was probably, vainly, checking to see what they had of mine--he noticed some Chet Williamson books.

"They don't seem to have Ash Wednesday," he said. "That's a good book."

"What's it about?"

"In this small town, one day all of the people who've been killed suddenly reappear, glowing and blue, in the spot where they died."

Strange and certainly original.

I didn't go searching on ebay, but I probably should have. I've checked for it frequently in used bookstores. Hopefully it's hard to find because everyone plucks it up as soon as they see it.

I certainly did when I spotted it at last on a trip recently.

Not only is it a great ghost story, it's filled with richly drawn characters that trace the life in its fictional small town.

Look it up if you can and read it tonight between doorbell chimes.

Halloween Reading - Classical - John Silence and A Psychical Invasion

It seems anything goes in terms of Halloween scares these days. I saw one haunted house ad the other day promising an alien abduction experience.

I guess on one level that is a legitimate route to go for chills. Alien abuductions do seem to be a modern re-imagining of myths. More or less scientific underpinnings replace tales of magical faries swiping humans. Creatures with big eyes from other planets at least fit the popular conception of what's possible.

(I've long suspected vet visits for my cats seem to them like an alien abuduction. They're whisked in strange containers to a room with bright lights where strangers conduct rectal probes and administer mysterious injections.)

Give me spooky over transporter beams any day
I'm a purist, though. For Halloween I'd rather have spooky scares.

As far as haunted house reading, one of my favorites is A Psychical Invasion by Alernon Blackwood. It features his early version of Kolchak and Fox Mulder, Dr. John Silence.

Silence is a physician as well as investigator, and in "Invasion" he faces a very creepy house. Written in an age when interest in spiritualism was high, it's in fact a sort of bridge between out -and-out folklore and science, if you use the term science loosely.

In some ways it seems ahead of its time, since it was originally published in 1908. Dr. Silence is called on to assist a young humorist who's essentially dropped acid, long before Timothy Leary's influence.

A man under the influence
His young client explains he was hoping for a mind expanding experience that might improve his imagination. Under the influence he's been hearing colors and talking to bookcases and generally getting all psychedelic.

Unfortunately, a dark force also drifts in those realms of consciousness, so he's not able to write funny stuff any longer.

Instead he's constantly compelled to draw a hideous face.

After hearing him out, Silence decides to de-haunt his house and takes a couple of spiritually-sensitive animals in to assist.

He has no easy time of it, as the fabulously eerie experience unfolds with fog and strange sounds and much more.

To me it's a perfect Halloween tale to be read by candlelight.

Read all of the John Silence adventures in The Complete John Silence Stories

Halloween Songs

Last year I did a post on Halloween songs. I would do it again, but I'll do just as well to point you to the playlist of my new online buddy, Stewart.

While you are visiting his corner of the web, you will also be well served for the season by reading some of his flash fiction. Really, read his tale George.

He has a wonderful gift for telling a story in a few words, something I admire since I am not particularly given to brevity, often creative sentences like William Faulkner's just to express simple thoughts.

My Halloween Costume Part II

I've done a few plays, but I've never been much of a costume person. Never went that route at conventions, but wow it was kind of a blast doing it for charity.

Found I was freaking out a few folks, however.

My back story was that I was sort of a Cthulhu-conjuring sorcerer like Dean Stockwell in The Dunwich Horror. It's an old movie but you get the picture, a nice fantasy dark sorcerer, generally harmless.

I couldn't find a copy of the Necronomicon to carry, but maybe that was for the best.

Cthulhu lies sleeping
"The problem," said Christine who went in Renaissance dress, is that nobody but you knows who Cthulhu is."

"Apparently not the old guy who's staring at me disapprovingly," I said.

This was in a restaurant, and he was sitting, head propped on one hand, glaring. I wanted to say: "Hey, there's a pimp over there. You're not staring at him."

Purple suit and fur hat, cane. No, no problem with a pimp, but a sorcerer?

GASP
Got a gasp from one waitress. "That's not a pentagram is it?"

The packaging said amulet. Note to self for next time, spring five dollars for the jeweled ankh.

"I think it's a pentacle," I said.

"A what?"

"Pent-a-CULL."

Not that that would really be any better in her mind, I guess, but hey if you can't dazzel 'em with brilliance... (Actually my friend, Earl, noted it's a six-pointed star if you look, so it's not a penta anything.)

"Just quit talking to her," Christine said.

Why, I was thinking, is a sorcerer costume such a big deal? It is just a costume at a costume party. If I'd come as the Headless Horseman it would be reasonable to assume I still had a head sequestered somewhere on my person.

One waiter actually was pretty cool.

"Can I get you anything else?" he asked. "Salt? Pepper? Holy water?"

"There's a pimp over there," I said.

It's good to try new things, but costuming is an adventure.

Rant: Spoiler Warnings

OK, do websites and magazine have to blurt out every plot twist and surprise outcome these days? What happened to spoiler warnings?

More and more media outlets are getting like that annoying kid in school who always read the class book project first and told everybody how And Then There Were None turns out.

For a while it seemed publications were being pretty good about saying "In the next paragraph we reveal the fate of Jack, Kate and Sawyer so read ahead at your own risk," but now, when there are more delayed ways to view programming than ever--DVR, VHS, iTunes, the web, My Space, DVDs just to name the legal ones-- I keep seeing publications trumpet details.

I mean "IN YOUR FACE" annoucements vs. just dropping something in a paragraph in the body of an article.

Ruining Runway
I logged on to yahoo.com Thursday to check e-mail, only to be hit with a giveaway of the Project Runway finale that was sitting on my DVR because Christine and I like to watch that together and couldn't on Wednesday night.

I'd avoided blogs since Fashion Week so I wouldn't find out who won in advance, only to have the Yahoo! home page emblazoned with a picture of and blurb about the winner.

The Project Runway winner is such important news it has to go at the top of frickin' Yahoo? Couldn't it just be a link reading "Find Out Who Won Project Runway?" so the revelation is kept a secret for those who want to see it for themselves?

I know there's a long tradition of throwing out things like World Series victories in headlines, but there's a little more immediacy to watching a sporting event than there is a reality show that's taped in advance and kept under wraps, sort of at least.

Even Bravo doesn't expect everyone to watch when its first broadcast, given that there are Runway marathons scheduled pretty much around the clock before and after the finale.

It's for fun, so why take the fun out of it?

Breaking Prison Break secrets
You could say it's my own damn falt for being behind, but I opened the front cover of TV Guide the other day and had a major element of Prison Break shot at me.

William Fichtner kills (_____).

How do you not read that? You can't blink fast enough. That shouldn't be on the first page of a magazine about television, right?

It's a busy world. Everybody doesn't watch television when it airs anymore.

Cut it the f out!

My Halloween Costume

Halloween costumes have certainly improved over time. I'm not usually inclined to costuming, other than the work wardrobe I don to look corporate.

Besides what my folks called "false faces," I've never had many Halloween costumes, except for a shirt I bought in the Little Five Points area of Atlanta once. Christine made me give it away after we got married.

I bought a Monk's robe costume for a party once upon a time. It was made out of some kind of vinyl so in photos it looked like a raincoat.

I was kind of pleasantly surprised when Christine and I dropped by a
Spirit Halloween Store to pick up something for a charity event.

They're made out of fabric nowadays, what a concept. Someone had suggested we might want to look at ketchup and mustard outfits.

Like that was going to happen. I went to the vampire, zombie and sorcerer section. Much as I love the Universal Horror films, I figured Dracula's been done.

I briefly entertained a couple of robes with hoods but settled on a Gothic Sorcerer, pictured from the packaging. They don't show it on their website for some reason.

"It's a little dark isn't it asked Christine?" who was shopping the Rennaissance Festival Wear.

"Sure," I said. "It'll keep me from having to work the door."

I probably need a sorcerer's staff to really dress it up. Christine drew the line at the costume. No toys.

But maybe I'll come up with something before the party.

Searching for a Friend

Monty, our oldest tomcat, rarely spends more than a few minutes in our closet when he conducts perimeter checks, but one day recently he decided to nap there.

Failing to realize he was pausing from his companion animal duties for a few Zs, Christine closed the door and promptly left the house.

It's a roomy, air conditioned walk-in closet, so Mon's temporary accomodations were not too bad.

He was able to do pretty much what he does when he's not in the closet - doze.

When Christine came home she discovered all of the cabinets in the house opened, however.

Ash, our half-blind cat pictured at right, and Monty have become best pals. They are not inseparable but they are definitely buddies.

Apparently Ash noticed Monty was not in his usual spot of repose and grew concerned
enough to launch a search effort.

Bathroom cabinets, lower kitchen cabinets and probably every corner Ash could think of were scrutinized.

Monty evidently remained unaware of his friend's concern, slept through most of the experience and was ready for a stretch when Christine returned.

Ash began cleaning his head for him. As usual that deteriorated into a bit of a tussel, but I guess Mon was glad to know Ash had his back.

(Mon is at left, seen where he usually naps.)

Tags: Cats, pets

Doctor Who for Halloween

There's a fabulous Dr. Who image on the BBC website, a publicity collage for the Tooth and Claw episode, which pits The Doctor against a werewolf.

There's a scientific explanation of course, but it's still a horror installment, and with its full moon and sprinting werewolf it makes a great Halloween season desktop.

To me the episode is an exceptional installment in the second season, and hopefully we'll see a rebroadcast before the 31st.

Season 2, now airing on The Sci Fi Channel has many scary moments. Just on was "School Reunion" with a guest shot by Buffy's Anthony Stewart head and some fabulous winged gargoyle type creatures.

I love winged gargoyle type creatures.

We still have Cybermen to come on Sci Fi and more monsters, possibly even the devil.

I can't wait!

At Black Beauty Ranch

"It will be interesting to see, but it will probably be sad," Christine said on Friday as we discussed going to an open house at Cleveland Amory's Black Beauty Ranch.

"No," I said, "These are the success stories, it'll be fine."

So of course it was me fighting tears the most as we stood in a rare East Texas rain looking at the animals cared for at Black Beauty, originally created as a spot for Grand Canyon-area burros that were to be shot by the National Parks Service in the '70s in order to free up grazing lands.

Now a host of animals are housed there -- camels, horses, chimps once kept in zoos or research labs, and burros including one named Friendly who was part of the original airlift from the Grand Canyon.

It's only on occasion that Black Beauty's gates are opened for visits because, as the keepers stress, it's not a zoo. The animals are there to live out their days following harsh and inhumane treatment in many settings, not to be viewed.

Babe
Babe, the lone elephant, was left an orphan in South Africa by culling procedures there and wound up in the U.S. as a circus elephant.

Her legs on her right side were injured and untreated during that stint and require ongoing care.

A huge pile of sand is kept in her living area so that she can lean against it to take weight off those legs. She's kept on a strict diet to hold her weight down and relieve stress on those legs.

She lives alone now, her companion, an elderly Asian elephant having died. Upon that death, volunteers say Babe issued a rare trumpet sound from her trunk.

A sign of sentience? Who is to say?

Black Beauty also houses blind ponies, their sight lost to disease. Two of the blind ones are frequently guided by a third resident pony who stays beside them.

The burros, calm and docile were the last animals we visited. They were quiet hosts, mingling with visitors as they frequently do with other animals at the ranch.

Friendly, now around 30 years old, and another named Eeyore stood close to us and to others, allowing their fur to be stroked by children and often bowing their heads.

When their heads tilt now, the markings across their fur become more obvious, dark brown on their coats.

Legend holds those markings were left by the shadow of the cross of Jesus Christ as the donkey He rode into Jerusalem gazed up at His crucifixion.

Yes, it was sad, but it was also wonderful.

For more on the story of Black Beauty Ranch check out Making Burros Fly.

Desperation or How Long's It Been on The DVR?

So what's the longest you've kept something on your DVR?

I got interviewed by a Wall Street Journal reporter a while back who was working on a story about letting Netflix movies linger unwatched yet unreturned. I got the call because I'd answered a poll on Hacking Netflix. (Elektra, most of summer 2005, thanks for asking.) I don't know that the story saw the light of day, but he was interested in the real cost of "no late fees." Netflix after all benefits from you holding onto a title longer.

The last temptation
The DVR is a bigger temptation for procrastination than "no late fees." I usually watch episodic TV shows within a few days, but movies linger a little longer because it's harder to carve two hours out of a day. I only watch a couple of things "live." Lost being one of them. Who can wait for a new installment?

Stephen King's Desperation
Well anyway, I started watching Stephen King's Desperation the other night. It's three hours long so I finally had to watch it in pieces. Otherwise I wasn't going to see it at all.

I got curious about how long I'd had it and checked the time stamp.

May 23!

That's not saying anything about the quality of the show, just about the convenience of modern technology. As Peter Hyman notes in The Reluctant Metrosexual, we can now record everything on TV simultaneously.

Watching is a different matter.

I don't manage to read every Stephen King book as it arrives on the scene as I once did, though I listened to the brilliant Cell as an audiobook.

Desperation, like Cell and many King works, involves a broad cast of characters thrown together in a strange situation. It's a good telefilm, sort of reminding me of the days of cool movie-of-the-week thrillers like Scream of the Wolf, Gargoyles and Trilogy of Terror.

OK, it was technically better than those but it harkened.

As I watched, though, I kept thinking that I should have read the book to experience the full effect of King's characterization that even a three hour TV movie couldn't provide.

And that's the real problem with Netflix and DVRs and movies for iPod.

I have books that sit around waiting for me longer than any DVD or recorded program, and that's my real loss.

Fiends by Torchlight by Wayne Allen Sallee

You should buy this book, and I don't usually say that about things I haven't read yet.

But I have no doubt it's a collection of top quality short fiction of the wry and twisted variety. Wayne, a Chicago-based writer frequenly found on the "L" Train, has been my friend for many years now, and he has consistently produced out-of-the-ordinary tales that frequently landed in "Years Best Horror" collections.

I will give more specifics about Fiends by Torchlight, but trust me, don't wait for that. Find a copy now and look for other stuff by Wayne including the chapbook "For You, The Living," one of the finest zombie stories ever, and his novel The Holy Terror, a piece of urban literature in the guise of a serial-killer thriller.

It features a character known as The American Dream, and you should also look for short stories by Wayne about TAD in any guise.

The Spot Across the Bay

I know there have been a ton of movies and TV shows set on Alcatraz.

I saw The Birdman of Alcatraz when I was a tiny lad and Escape from Alcatraz when it was in theaters when I was a little less callow. And of course I saw The Rock as well as and Point Blank with Lee Marvin.

But I knew the movies based on true stories were not particularly accurate, and I'd never developed more than a passing interest in Alcatraz history until I took the cellblock tour.

Strolling history
Strolling the prison's Michigan Avenue and Broadway quickly transported me back in time, and I was quickly fascinated and imagining the men housed and the guards.

The occasional photo exhibits and the faces evoked a feeling of the era, the tension and the desperation.

The Battle of Alcatraz
I had only peripheral knowledge of the Alcatraz siege, but the tale of Bernard Coy and his accomplicies, Joe Cretzer, Marvin Hubbard and Sam Shockley, told in the cage that once housed the library really nabbed my attention.

I was excited when I returned home to discover emusic featured an audio dramatization of Kentucky bred Coy's 1946 escape attempt from Actors Scene Unseen.

It turns the facts into an interesting and compact program in two parts that captures some of the frustration that must have fueled the convicts' actions. Coy, who worked in the library and took reading materials to prisoners who'd earned the priviledge, plotted the escape which involved getting guns from the gun gallery with a makeshift bar spreader and obtaining a key to the recreation yard.

They got the guns but not the key and the battle that ensued resulted in guards being shot and required the U.S. Marines.

I'm sorry now I missed Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story when it aired on NBC back in the day. How can that have been 1980? I can still remember the on-air promos, God as my witness.

I've asked my local library to track down Clark Howard's out-of-print Six Against the Rock, a novel about the Coy escape that was also adapted for TV. I've read his short stories forever in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and never been disappointed.

More

Parks Service Official Alcatraz Site

Bernard Coy's Last Words

Escapes from Alcatraz


Tags: Alcatraz, Bernard Coy, Gangster Era

"Where Bush Street Roofed Stockton"

Christine picked the City by the Bay for a getaway, and for me that meant looking up a few noir locations. She should have known that was coming.

Hard boiled detective fiction provided some of my earliest reading enthusiasm.

It was with a little help from San Francisco Noir by Nathaniel Rich that I found the plaque identifying the location of Miles Archer's death from The Maltese Falcon.

(I guess it has a bit of a spoiler so don't look if you're planning to read the book.)

I can remember reading about the monument's placement in the '70s in one mystery mag or another but for some reason I've never made it to San Francisco until now.

I can't say why it took so long, but I was glad for an opportunity to travel in the footsteps of Sam Spade.

At Hotel Rex
We were staying at the very cool Hotel Rex, which has a Maltese Falcon passage mixed in among literary quotes that decorate various floors. We were actually about a block and a half from the spot "Where Bush Street roofed Stockton before slipping downhill to Chinatown."

So of course it was the last night in town I actually found Burritt Alley, even though I'd spotted Dashiell Hammett Street on our first night, when we were heading to Chinatown for a festival and dinner.

Finding noir
It's not hard to find, but earlier in the week I'd managed to pass on the wrong side of the street almost every time.

A girl in a chef's jacket was talking on a cell at the mouth of the alley when I located it--something you wouldn't have seen in Spade's day--but otherwise it looked about like it's described in the novel.

She offered to take a picture of Christine and me together, but I opted for us to do separate poses.

The sun was still a little high, I guess, for the perfect experience which would have called for night and fog, but it was still nice to be there, almost inside a great literary work.
Tags: Sam Spade, San Francisco, Film Noir, hard boiled fiction, Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett

What's on the iPod? - A Real Mix

iSkin gave me free downloads on emusic as a thank you for buying skins for the SidPod from them a while back, so I've been perusing the MP3 offerings and trying to put together a quality playlist or, failing that, a pile of guilty pleasures.

The selection doesn't rival iTunes, but I've found a reasonable mixture of indie and classic, kind of across the board.

Favorite Discoveries via emusic
Alexi Murdoch is my favorite "new to me" indie artist from emusic. Apparently "Orange Sky" caused a bit of a stir that I missed out on when his EP was released, but now I'm board. Cool song.

Mediaeval Baebes - OK, I'm a little naive about the Classical charts but I've been to a Renaissance Festival or two. I love tunes in the middle ages tradition, and I found several tunes from their Mirabilis album including their take on "Scarborough Fayre. "

Favorite filling in the gaps in my collection
I love the music of the late Warren Zevon, and I found several tunes I didn't have including ironically his recording of "My Ride's Here," one of my favorites.

It's sad and cynical and I really like Bruce Springsteen's version on the Warren Zevon tribute album, "Enjoy Every Sandwich," but it's nice to have the original to carry with me. (Usually--aforementioned excepted--I hate tribute albums , and that's one thing you have to watch out for on emusic. They have lots o' songs recorded by someone other than the original artist.)

Another great Zevon tune I found was "I Was in the House When the House Burned Down," also featuring his dark, cynical humor.

Guilty pleasure of the lot
The Archices - "Sugar, Sugar" that's really all I have to say about that isn't it?

Favorite PBS star recordings
Picked up a couple of Roger McGuinn tunes from "Roger McGuinn Live at the XM Studios" album including "Mr. Tambourine Man."

Rounding things out
I've never owned enough Jazz or been Jazz literate enough so I also grabbed several classics from John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk.

Songs I'm pissed off I downloaded
"Rocket Man" and "A Word in Spanish" speaking of tunes not recorded by the original artist. I'm sure there were ASCAP payments involved but I really thought I was getting the Elton John versions. You start listening to a cover, and you just get that feeling something ain't right.

All in all though, I've a good emusic experience, and you've probably read the benefits - you buy you own, you're not just renting tunes until the next device sync.

Tags: music, iPod, music downloads, emusic.com

What's on the iPod? - They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore

Because it's important to know the truth and not the smear tactics being spread by those running against Kinky Friedman, the next Texas Governor.

I'm offended most of all as a fiction writer, because if you read the lyrics to "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore" it's clear the negative remarks come not from the Kinkster's first person persona in the song but from a:

"...redneck nerd in a bowling shirt..."

Trying to brand Kinky as a racist with those remarks is like attributing Darth Vader's remarks to George Lucas and saying he favored the Empire over Luke Skywalker's forces.

If traditional politicians misrepresent the truth in their ads, can we trust them on anything?

Wow, is that the queen mother of dumb questions?

Charles L. Grant - The Last Call of Mourning

Messages from a couple of directions are telling me Charles L. Grant has passed away after a long illness, and I'm, of course, saddened by the news.

I once heard him called a writer's writer, admired by those enraptured by words for his mastery of the language. His opening paragraphs are always fabulous passages to read, and his tales wonderful evocations of dread. He long championed "quiet horror."

The OxRun Station cycle includes my favorites of his books, but all of his novels under his own name were worthy, atmospheric reads.

A scary little town
The OxRun books explore a strange little town in both the modern era and in its distant past with a trilogy of novels that also paid homage to the black-and-white horror movies of the thirties. He also wrote comic science fiction and much more and edited some of the most respected horror anthologies of the current era.

I remember one of the first times I ever saw him.

It was when World Fantasy was in Nashville-- I think I'm remembering the place correctly-- in the eighties. He was hosting a late evening panel called "Charles L. Grant's Dark Corner of the Shop."

Sharing the dais was the late Karl Edward Wagner.

While they waited outside the hotel meeting room where their panel was to convene, they donned wrestler's masks and hurled boasts and insults at each other in a wild and fun impromptu exchange.

Hard to believe they're both gone now.

Tags: Charles L. Grant; horror, writer, Ox Run Station

Great Horror Short Stories - A Psychical Invasion by Algernon Blackwood

I love pyschic investigator stories, forerunners to the X-Files and Kolchak, many penned in an era of spiritualism and mysticism around the turn of the 20th century.

One of my favorites is "A Psychical Invasion" (1908) by Algernon Blackwood. It features Fox Mulder's spiritual grandfather, John Silence. (Read it online here.)

Silence is one of those physicians who stretches his intellect beyond the challenges of his medical practice, and "Psychial Invasion" is one of his most exciting cases.

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Silence is called on to help a haunted writer who, following essentially a psychidelic drug experience, is hearing colors and having conversations with inanimate objects not to mention being opressed by an unseen presence who compells him to draw her likeness.

Silence sets out to dehaunt the young writer's house using a collie named Flame and cat named Smoke, animals being highly attuned to spiritual activity.

The dehaunting is a task as challenging as just about any besides Shirley Jackson's Hill House.

Kinkyads are here

Kinky for Governor television spots are now available for viewing online at Kinky Friedman's website- www.kinkyfriedman.com:

Good Shepherd - featuring animals from Utopia Animal Rescue founded by the Kinkster

Clean Energy, Clean Government - focusing on Texas' need to import energy

Check them out - both do a good job of image building and stressing Kinky's stand against political business as usual.

If you're not from Texas, tell somebody who is.

What's on the iPod? - A Song for 9/11

I first heard Loudon Wainwright III's "No Sure Way" on NPR's Fresh Air in October 2001, when we were all still in shock.

The singer/songwriter's account of a subway trip into Manhattan days after 9/11 remains as deep and affecting as the first time I heard it -- blending mythological references (...there beneath the East River it felt like the River Styxx...) with the stark, painful reality.

Five years gone
I attended a charity function the other day, and a speaker noted that the cool autumn morning made it impossible for him not to think of that other September, now five years ago.

Five years? I've lost touch with the guy I was on the phone with that morning when I heard, but not how I felt.

"No Sure Way's" lyrics capture it well:

I saw the three initials
W, T and then C
I'd survived/somehow was living
But somewhere I shouldn't be
At the next stop the doors opened
And I emerged up above ground
I was in another country.
Elysian Fields? No Chinatown.

I think I'll have to listen a few more times over the next couple of days. To the memory of the innocent...

Further reading

Esquire: "The Falling Man"



Tags: 9/11, Loudon Wainwright III,songs, music, iPod

At the Table of Free Voices

(Note: Since writing this I've read coverage that there were streaming problems from The Table of Free Voices. What I saw Saturday morning seems to have been a real time feed toward the end of the day so apparently it was corrected.)

Watching the discussions at The Table of Free Voices was a little overwhelming in more ways than one. If you haven't heard via droppingknowledge.org, it was a gathering of 112 participants from around the globe.

They were prompted by 100 questions posed by people from everywhere and read by Nigerian activist Hafsat Abiola and actor Willem Dafoe.

The corners of the wind
Ideas were coming in many languages and from literally many directions yesterday morning, but it was fascinating to watch and listen--not to agree with every viewpoint-- but to be stimulated by the minds and nations represented.

I came to the table a little late since things started at 9 a.m. Berlin time, but I caught many interesting snippets.

Open ended
Sometimes the questions that came across as the most affecting were those less concrete.

And the one that resonated for me in the moment came from activist Julia Butterfly Hill--she who spent 700 plus days in a tree to save it from loggers and later founded Circle of Life Foundation:

"What is your tree? What is it in your life that calls you to be bigger than what you think is possible?"

Fear is the cheapest room in the house
I heard Anuradha Mittal's response Saturday morning and thought it was eloquent. Now it is available online in its entirety here :

"I would have to say it is a phrase by Hafez...who said, `Fear is the cheapest room in the house. My dear, you deserve better living conditions...' Every day I remind myself that it is about courage. That one can never be defeated until we give up hope, 'till we give up the courage, 'till we accept the fear that they want us to live in. Her phrase is my tree..."

And what a wonderful tree that is.

Amended and expanded 7:56 p.m. 9/11

Tags: Table of Free Voices, Willem Dafoe, Hafsat Abiola, Dropping Knowledge, world affairs, environment

Rolling to 44

Yesterday was my birthday. It was such a busy day I didn't have a lot of time to think about it. Then I checked in on my MySpace page.

The little profile box had automatically changed from 43 to 44. It was the first time I saw it in print and it was sobering.

I'd grown comfortable with 43. It's not 23 but it's not bad.

But 44?

The 4 somehow makes things different. I'd accepted 43.

44 is closer to 45! which is halfway between 40 and 50 and howthef**** did I get to 44 or even 40?and ohmigod where is the f***ing break lever?

I was recovering from minor--except surgery is major--on my last birthday and I blinked and it's a year later, a year since I stayed home two weeks recovering and watching movies until I felt good enough to read books again to pass the time--how much The Man Who Knew to Little --there's nothing but crap on can you stand?

And now it's a year later.

And there's a 4 at the end of my age.

Already.

Down in the Cellar

My review of the upcoming Gospel of the Living Dead by Kim Paffenroth is now available in the new webzine Down in the Cellar. Check out the book reviews section.

The book is an interesting examination of the "Dead" films that really delves into their deeper meaning.

The 'zine also features horror fiction, poetry and movie reviews. Drop over and have a look!


Tags:
Zombies, George Romero, Night of the Living Dead , horror

What's on the iPod? - The Last Man on Earth

I've always thought The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price must have provided a bit of inspiration for George A. Romero as he prepped Night of the Living Dead.

The two came out only a few years apart then went on to extensive late-night TV re-runs.

The Price film, the first movie adaptation of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, features scenes of shambling vampires menacing Price in a boarded up house, and they look a lot like the ghouls converging on the farmhouse in NOTLD.

The films diverge from there and NOTLD probably has a higher scare quotient, but I've always had a bit of affection for Last Man's moodiness.

I like it better than the other adaptation, The Omega Man with Charlton Heston, even though its take on the vampires is interesting, especially with Anthony Zerbe as their leader.

I'm looking forward to the next adaptation allegedly due in 2007. I've lost track of who it's allegedly starring now.

Free - Vampires - Free
Last Man is an essentially Italian film. Apparently it was going to be a Hammer Film and would have been shot, no doubt, in lurid color, but they passed. It is for one reason or another in the public domain and is thus available for free download at Archive.org. They have iPod ready versions . By the way, if you run an Mpeg4 through Videora, it really screws up the soundtrack. I don't recommend it.

Vincent the Vampire Slayer
As mentioned, the film involves Vincent Price as Robert Morgan--marginally an action hero!?- being menanced by vampires. He's the lone survivor of a plague that's turned everyone into bloodsucking freaks.

He hides out in his bachelor pad at night and spends his days staking vampires. He just can't seem to find his old friend who's turned and keeps coming back to get annoy him. He's that kind of friend.

There's a long, somewhat slow flashback at the center detailing the disease's course and Morgan's hopeless efforts to protect his family, but the beginning and the action-adventure ending make up for that.

After the flasshback, he befriends a poodle, meets a woman--not a swinging '70s African American woman like Charlton Heston--but a woman who's not a vampire yet.

There are visually interesting scenes of black clad pursuers--fortunate that they color-cooridnated--tracking Vincent/Morgan through a church as the climax arrives right along with the thematic meditations on morality in a world turned upside down.

It's made darker and thus scarier by its black-and-white stock.

Check it out if you have a few gigabytes free. It's got its scares, and it's got Vincent Price.

Tags: Vampires, iPod, movies, horror, Vincent Price