Bar Stories

The New Narcissism

2009-03-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

You know this profile is about you. About you. About you. About you. Looks like pedophiles and film critics aren't the only dysfunctional personalities hanging out on social networking websites. A study published in the October 2008 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reports that narcissists are all over Facebook and they are easy to pick out. No, it isn't because they kept giving themselves gifts and joining Fans of Paris Hilton. Researchers at the University of Georgia studying Facebook discovered that the number of friends and wall posts that a person had in the virtual world correlated with how narcissistic they were in the real world.

According to the research, normal people behave on Facebook in the same way that they behave anywhere else. They socialize, post photos, invite you to events, chat, and so on, and so forth, but to narcissists Facebook is just another tool for self promotion. We've all been wondering about the implications of social networking and easy virtual friendships, but the good news seems to be that most people can tell the difference between online acquaintances and friends in the real world. The bad news is that virtual friendships can be disposable friendships if the price is right.

In January Burger King in a promotion called Delete Ten Friends Get a Whopper offered to give a free Whopper to anyone who deleted 10 of their friends on Facebook. The Delete Ten Friends campaign resulted in the severing of 233, 906 friendships. Not everyone who was deleted had a sense of humor about it and Burger King kept the ball rolling with "Whopper Sacrifice" where deleted Facebook friends could log on and fire back angry-grams against their former friends. (BTW the value of the Whopper coupon was 37 cents. OUCH.)

You're So Vain was a blockbuster hit for Carly Simon in 1973. Today it is considered one of her most memorable tunes and is listed at #72 on Billboard's Greatest Hits of All Time. The song has always been a bit of a mystery and guesses about the subject of the song have ranged from James Taylor to Warren Beatty. The smart money has always been on Mick Jagger.

Simon has refused to confirm or deny who is actually so vain. but she has dropped a few hints over the years giving up three letters A--E and R that she says are in the legendary narcissist's name. That leaves Jagger and Beatty in the game. Beatty is adamant that the song is about him. About him. About him...

W. Eugene Smith

2009-02-25T07:46:00.000-08:00

Born in 1918 in Wichita, Kansas, W. Eugene (Gene) Smith was a legendary photojournalist who got his start working for Newsweek. Smith's stubborn personality and prickly perfectionism however kept him from fitting in at the conservative publication. In 1939 he signed an exclusive contract with Life. Although his time as a staff photographer for Life would be short lived, his association with the publication would be lifelong and troublesome. The photographer would have numerous disagreements with Life and most were centered around the conflict between his singular artistic vision and the magazine's policies.

When war broke out in 1941 Smith become a war correspondent for Ziff-Davis, publisher of Flying and Popular Photography.

On the front lines Smith honed his talent for the photo essay. On May 23, 1945 he was seriously wounded by an incoming shell. Two years of painful recuperation followed.

During this period when he was home resting with his family Smith took one his most iconic images. "A Walk to Paradise Garden" an evocative picture of Smith's two children would become a part of a photo essay "The Family of Man."

W. Eugene Smith died in 1978 of a stroke brought on by years of drug and alcohol abuse. Now photographs and recordings that he made during the period of 1957- 1965 at after hours jazz sessions in a loft at 821 Sixth Avenue in NYC has been organized by the Center for Documentary Study at Duke University. The 3,000 hours of recordings and nearly 40,000 photographs that compromise the collection include sessions with Thelonius Monk, Zoot Sims, Roy Hanyes, Chick Corea, and many others. In addition to the exhibit, there are a series of radio shows with WNYC Radio in New York and a book.

Musicophilia

2009-02-20T05:26:00.000-08:00

Oliver Sacks the neurologist who brought us The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is an entertaining fellow. His latest book, Musicophila is all about the human experience with music. Just as he did in the previous book Sacks charts the curious dysfunctions of the brain by looking at patients with some unique disorders. This time Sacks investigates several cases where the brain's ability involving music sticks around long after other capacities have disappeared due to diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

He also tells a few tales about how for some unlucky individuals music suddenly becomes the brain's sole focus.

Everyone knows what it's like to get a song stuck in their head but what would it be like to become obsessed with music? That's the case with one of Sack's patients. Struck by lightning at forty two the man literally becomes possessed by the tunes in his head.

In this video Sacks describes another more common condition called amusia or tone deafness. People who are tone deaf cannot accurately discriminate between musical notes.

Che Guevara is listed by Wikipedia as one of the most notable examples of people suffering from the problem. Suffering of course is a relative term. Anyone who has ever watched American Idol knows that it is the folks who are forced to listen to tone deaf singers who are the true sufferers. You can take the tone deaf test and others involving associative musical intelligence here.

Rainbow Room

2009-02-16T12:39:00.000-08:00

Dinner for two at $600. Martinis $21.50. A $24 chicken sandwich. The prices are not for the faint of heart and the food bland and tasteless enough to please your grandmother, but after 75 years of serving up mediocre meals and expensive drinks the venerable Rainbow Grill is finally closing its doors. There's a new mood on Wall Street and with NYC dining in the doldrums, the art deco landmark at Rockefeller Center is finally calling it quits. After a well publicized dust up with the landlord and a suit for back taxes, the fixture at Rockefeller Center since 1934 has fallen victim to the new "It's not nice to flaunt your wealth" attitude in the Big Apple and some heavy duty tourist backlash against overinflated cafeteria cuisine. How do you spell, "costly mistake" in Des Moines? Not to worry though, although the eating establishment will close, it looks as if the bar will live on.

John D. Rockefeller completed his fantasy of urban development, Rockefeller Center in 1934 during the depths of the Great Depression. The Rainbow Room located on the 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Center was the project's crown jewel. With a revolving dance floor and gorgeous views of the City, the opulent supper club was a refuge for the upper crust. The rooftop cabaret opened the same year as the Apollo Theater and although old JD was a prohibition supporter he didn't let that stand in the way of opening the glitziest club in town. Designed by Elena Bachman Schmidt with assistance from Vincent Minnelli (Liza's Dad) the Rainbow Room was an art deco masterpiece. Broadway stars, Hollywood notables, and other hoity-toity lads and lassies of cafe society descended on the dance floor.

But club life isn't what it used to be. Over the years the Rainbow Room has seen its share of renovations with JD's son, David Rockefeller overseeing a 25 million dollar overhaul in 1974. In 1978 the Rockefeller Family sold out to the Italian Cipriani Family, owners of the famous Harry's Bar, and several other upscale New York eateries. There was some talk of payoffs to the Mob during union troubles in 2003 and Anthony Bourdain let go some rudeness in his 2000 memoir, Kitchen Confidential, but overall the place has been a tame tourist trap until its present well publicized economic woes.

The Sport of Kings and Queens

2009-02-13T11:43:00.000-08:00

The surfing documentary, Surfing for Life narrated by Beau Bridges offered profiles of ten legendary surfers. Included in the group was John "Doc" Ball an early surf photographer who wrote the classic surf book, California Surfriders (1946). When Ball hit the beach in 1929 there were only a handful of surfers brave enough to test the West Coast waves and they were mostly in Southern California where the water was warm, according to the surf pioneer. Ball was in dental school at USC when he first started carving the waves and in a testament to the sport's power of addiction, the man kept at it until he was well into his Nineties. Unfortunately, Doc passed away in 2001 the same year the documentary was released. However, many geriatric waveriders are still at it including "Granni" Grannis, a surfer for 67 years, Woody Brown still surfing Maui in his Nineties, and honeys Anona Napoleon, a surfer for over 50 years and Eve Fletcher. (pictured above)

Surfing has been around for a long time too. The earliest record of surf riding dates back to James Cook's visit to Hawaii in 1778. Although the poor Captain was killed in a terrible misunderstanding (He tried to hold a Hawaiian Chief hostage in return for a stolen boat.) Cook's second in command James King kept a prodigious journal that devoted two solid pages to surf riding at Kona.

Surfing was a vital part of early Hawaiian tradition and culture. The surfboard has seen many technological advances, but early surfboards were anywhere from 12-24 feet long and made from local woods. At some point redwood boards were introduced and this type of plank board would be the only game in town until the 1920's when improvements were made.

Check out my vintage photo of some excellent looking Virginia Beach surfers. Virginia Beach is home to the East Coast Surf Championships and some ankle busting waves.

Coco Chanel

2009-02-11T11:43:00.000-08:00

Audrey Tatou the French actress who played the winsome and eccentric Amelie in the 2001 movie of the same name is set to star in a new bio-pic about the early years of the famous fashonista Coco Chanel. Scheduled for a mid-2009 release Coco Before Chanel is based on Chanel's autobiography, The Nonconformist and will be helmed by screenwriter Anne Fontaine with costumes recreated by Karl Lagerfeld. Shot in Paris and Normandy, the film covers the couturier's rise from her humble beginnings in a French orphanage to fame and fortune as one of Europe's top designers.

Coco Chanel was a pioneer of modernist design and the mother of such creations as the little black dress, bell bottoms, and the Chanel suit. Born out of wedlock on August 19, 1893 Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was left in the care of nuns in the Aubezine monastery at the age of twelve following her mother's death from tuberculosis. It was there that she was taught the trade of a seamstress, a skill that would prove to be her ticket out of poverty. After serving an apprenticeship Chanel opened her own millinery shop with the help of French playboy, Arthur Capel. Her simple hats were soon popular with the public and the Chanel empire had begun. Her reign as a leading designer would survive even her affair with a Nazi officer during WWII.

Chanel died on January 10, 1971 in her private suite at the Hotel Ritz in Paris her longtime residence, but her legacy lives on. Her perfume, Chanel No. 5 created in the 1920's remains profitable and her timeless fashions popular.

New Black Panthers

2009-01-11T14:46:00.000-08:00

Here's the trailer video for "Inside: New Black Panthers" that I worked on this past year. Check out the National Geographic Channel website for the full schedule.

AMERICAN NAZIS

2009-01-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL
Tune in on Sunday night for a double header of hate. Two documentaries that I worked on this past year, "Inside: New Black Panthers" and "Inside: American Nazis" will air back to back on Sunday night. First up is the Panther program, an hour long insider's view of the New Black Panther Party then at 10 PM we're on to the National Socialist Movement, Aryan Nations, and several not so warm and fuzzy hate groups. These two are the latest documentaries in a four pack that I've been plugging away at about hate in America. The others "Inside: American Skinheads" and "KKK: Inside American Terror" previously aired on the National Geographic Channel. The programs will repeat several times so visit the National Geographic Channel for a full schedule.

Have You Heard?

2008-08-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

Gossip is everywhere, but what exactly is it and why do we do it? Some psychologists categorize any talk about social or personal topics as gossip while others suggest that such talk isn't really gossip until an evaluative aspect or an opinion about the topic is introduced.

Such a lack of distinction makes studying gossip difficult but using the broader definition, researchers eavesdropping on conversations in public places like train stations and bars, have determined that at least two thirds of our conversations can be defined as gossip. In the U.S. celebrity gossip has become a national pastime and most Americans are able to rattle off gossip about any number of celebrities without breaking a sweat. Newspaper columns, magazines, blogs, and television programs all feed the frenzy for star gossip.

But why are we so interested

Social scientists suggest that we do it because gossip is good for us and good for society. In fact gossip might be called the social adhesive of society. It's what keeps us together. Gossip is not just trivial chatter, but a vital part of human existence. Gossip helps us build relationships, bond with one another, reinforces our common values, and helps us maintain social networks. And apparently many of us include celebrities in our social network whether or not we have ever had actual contact with them. But one has to wonder in our fast paced world how do people find time to gossip? Researchers say that it looks like the cell phone is coming to the rescue. Studies of cell phone use indicate that men and women gossip equally while on cell phones, that people gossip about celebrities on their phones especially during significant life events such as high profile divorces, and that only 5% of gossip on cell phones is negative in nature.

Unfortunately, the ease of cell phone communication has added a new wrinkle to our modern life. Cell phones allow people to gossip anywhere and with anyone. Before cell phones when someone wanted to limit their gossip intake they could just duck the water cooler or the cocktail party, but now cell phone users seem to be everywhere, and overhearing gossip from fired employees, jilted lovers, and out of control exs, has become commonplace in grocery stores and doctor’s offices. Christine Goffman, writing in The New Atlantis calls this type of cell phone conversation— communications panhandling— forcing our conversations on others without first gaining their approval. She says it’s just another nuisance associated with the ubiquitous technology and an example of the breakdown in the division between public and private conversations. Conversations that in the past would have taken place over the backyard fence or at the kitchen table are now taking place in public on cell phones.

This lapse in social manners points out one of the more important functions of gossip— to inform us of the social rules and tell us what is and isn't acceptable. This function might be called gossip's evolutionary agenda. Gossip is a quick way for people to transfer information to each other that hasn’t been written down. This information or social knowledge is important to all of us as members of the human community, but it is particularly important to groups outside the mainstream. Gossip helps these groups navigate through society and provides them with opportunities for self promotion. Keeping in touch with what others are doing, and reading the latest news about the rich and famous is actually a smart way for people to keep track of their position in the social hierarchy and form social networks.

That’s one of the reasons for the perception in society that women as a group are the chief purveyors of gossip. Although women tend to gossip a bit more than men do, the reasons that social scientists give for this behavior may surprise you. Some suggest that early on tribal women needed gossip to adapt when they married and joined their husband’s family, others contend that gossip between women tends to be more positive than negative, a sign that women use gossip to lend support to one another, and still others think that women are just more verbal creatures. But Robin Dunbar of the University of Liverpool has his own point of view. He argues that human societies are essentially run by women. "There is all this froth on top made by the men, pretending to rule the system, imposing themselves, and restricting what women do," he says. "But women are running the system at the interpersonal level. If women were to stop socializing, society would fall apart." (qtd. In Drakin, 2005)

ALIEN HAND SYNDROME

2008-06-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

Alien hand syndrome (AHS) is a rare neurological disorder that causes hand movement without the person being aware of what is happening or having control over the action. The afflicted person may sometimes reach for objects and manipulate them without wanting to do so, even to the point of having to use the healthy hand to restrain the alien hand. A new study identified the areas of the brain involved in both voluntary and involuntary movement and found that neural activity was restricted to the primary motor cortex during the unconscious motor activity seen with AHS.

Gypsy Rose Lee

2008-04-27T14:53:00.000-07:00

The dysfunctional Hovick family has once again been revived on Broadway in "Gypsy" the musical. This time with the considerable talent of Patti Lupone as Mama Rose and under the masterful direction of ninety year old Arthur who also wrote the book. This tale of the most notorious show business stage mother and her stripper daughter, is loosely based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee. The original 1959 musical was nominated for eight Tony awards and developed by Ethel Merman and David Merrick with music by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim lyrics.

Gypsy Rose Lee was born Ellen June Hovick in Seattle Washington in 1911. Her sister also strangely named Ellen June Hovick and later known as June Havoc was born two years later. When their parents divorced the girl's mother, Rose Hovick developed a successful vaudeville act for her daughters aged five and seven, called Baby June and Her Farmboys. Although the act was making $1500 at its height, Vaudeville soon began to fade and Baby June eloped at 13 with a member of the chorus. Mama Rose though was hell bent on continuing without her main talent, and although Vaudeville was a dying art form--burlesque was blossoming and Gypsy Rose Lee was born.

Gypsy Rose Lee went on to a successful career as an actress, author, and talk show host. She wrote three books including the best seller Gypsy, and performed in 12 movies and , but the intimate details of smothering Mama Rose's life didn't feed public consumption until June Havoc wrote in her autobiography, Early Havoc. Rose 'turned toward her own sex,' at first ruining a lesbian boardinghouse in a 10-room apartment Gypsy rented for her on West End Avenue, and then owning a sort of lesbian farm in her country house in Highland Hills. At a party in that house, Rose pulled a gun on one of the girls, according to Erik Preminger Gypsy's son and killed a young woman.

Mama Rose's troubles may have started in her own childhood. Her mother, Anna, had left the family for long stretches, traveling to the Yukon with hats and corsets that she made, selling them to boom town prostitutes. Rose gave her own girls $1 a day to eat, kept them out of school, and rarely tended to their physical or emotional needs. She lived a hand to mouth existence, stealing from other performers, once pushing a pesky hotel manager out a window, and when June married a boy in the act named Bobby Reed, Rose had him arrested and brought to the police station, where she arrived with a hidden gun. When he moved to shake her hand she pulled the trigger twice, but the safety was on.

Hovick died in 1954, and after her death Gypsy began writing her memoirs and they were published in 1957.

GHETTO BROTHERS

2008-03-20T17:32:00.000-07:00

AFTER YOU READ THIS BLOG WATCH CHANNEL 13 FROM 1971.

AFTER THE DEATH OF BENJII 3 WEEKS LATER:

FREE TIME HERE

When I was fifteen my grandfather died, and my father brought home his old black and white television set. Our house was small with not much space to store things, so my father set the thing on the floor of my room. It took a few weeks, but one night I decided to plug it in to see if the light would be bright enough to read by, but low enough not to wake anyone up. So I fiddled with the TV dial and found I could get the brightness sharp and I could read with the sound down. That is what I did for a little while, until after some experimentation I discovered that I could get one channel and if I sat real close with the sound low I could watch TV.

The one station was Channel 13, WNET and the show that I watched was called "Free-Time." This show was broadcast live and came on at 11 pm. Free Time had a rather eclectic offering of guests, musicians, radicals, politicians, and poets. It was on Free Time that I heard a young poet named Nikki Giovanni. She read poems about John Coltrane and Billy Holiday. It was unbelievably exciting to me. Nikki was young and radical, very untraditional with a huge Afro and she was different than anyone I had ever heard.

So one night when the address for tickets flashed on the screen I jotted it down and sent off.

When the tickets arrived, I arranged with a friend to go. We lied to our parents and took the LIRR to NYC at nine at night. I'm really not sure how, but we found our way to the subway and then to the TV station. We entered the studio which was nothing more than some bleachers and a stage.

The program that night was about gang violence. The studio was over flowing with gangs from the South Bronx. People were pushing and shoving and cursing. And to my amazement my desire to see this show was so strong that I convinced my friend to stay. We found seats and the program went on.

The gang members who sat on the stage were it seemed to me at fifteen--mature and insighttful. They got right to the point. Don't judge us, they said. A gang was a family that you needed to survive and you just had to live in the South Bronx to understand. Although I didn't live in the South Bronx I did understand and while the program was running I lost what ever misgivings I had about our situation and how it would unfold afterwards.

These quickly came back when the house lights went down and the moderator left. There was a general uneasiness then. Everyone knew things was different out on the streets. The gangs were at war. Who would leave first? How would they do it? And what would happen as there was no promise of safety as we headed to the subway. By this time it was about 1 AM and my friend and I had little idea about how to get out of the City.

And then shouting started and we heard some threats, and because we were too frightened to leave-- we just stayed. We were still hanging around an hour later. Then these Ghetto Brothers walked over to us and started to talk.

The Ghetto Brothers were a gang (or club) founded in New York City's South Bronx in the late 1960s. They eventually spread to much of the Northeastern United States. Like the Young Lords, they were involved in Puerto Rican nationalism, including, in the case of the Ghetto Brothers, an association with the then-new Puerto Rican Socialist Party. Ghetto Brothers founder Benjamin Melendez, who left the organization in 1976, was also known as a guitarist. He led a band, also known as the Ghetto Brothers, which included his late brother Victor Melendez on drums. They released one (self-titled) album in 1972, which had only informal, local distribution.

The Ghetto Brothers, especially in their early years, had a reputation as one of the more politically minded and less vengeful of New York-area gangs. After Cornell "Black Benjy" Benjamin was killed in 1971 trying to prevent a fight between two rival gangs, the Ghetto Brothers did not seek the expected revenge on those responsible for his death. Instead, under Melendez's leadership (and that of Carlos Suarez, also known as Carlos Melendez), they were instrumental in achieving a moderately successful truce among South Bronx and other New York-area gangs. The best-known of the meetings to hammer out a peace treaty occurred December 8, 1971. Among those present was Afrika Bambaataa, then a 14-year-old Black Spade warlord known on the streets as Bambaataa.

Under Melendez's leadership, the Ghetto Brothers represented one end of the spectrum in terms of how they treated the women involved with the gang. Referred to as the Ghetto Sisters—the respectful term contrasted sharply with the names used for the women attached to other NewYork gangs of the period—the women were generally viewed as organization members and as girlfriends, whereas many other gangs treated women almost entirely as sexual property.

We talked with them like the high school kids that we were. We were all into this Free Time scene.The guys liked us and we had a lot in common. One guy in particular, a guy known as Benjii was a poet and we hit it off, he showed me some poems that he had written that he had in his pocket. Great stuff about the streets.

We felt comfortable enough to tell these guys we had to get home, but had no idea how to do it. They agreed to show us the way and walk us to the train. But first they had to do something important for our protection. Benjii made them turn their vest jackets inside out, so no one would see their colors on the street and we wouldn't be targets. They walked us to the train, these guys with their jackets turned inside out, and we talked some more and held hands. It was that kind of thing--kid stuff. We had a long walk, and it was winter and we were cold, but happy to have found each other, pleased about having a small bit of time like this when we could just be teenagers and not battling some problem.

When we got to the platform Benjii and I kissed and as I remember it, he read me another poem, and I thought it was really good and I knew we had a lot in common. Maybe he would call me sometime in the future—I gave him my number—give me someone to hang on to in my stupid life. And I went home. It was probably six in the morning when we arrived at the our stop and my friend and I slept on a bench in the waiting area until about 7 when we got up, school would start soon, and the school building was across the street from the train station. We didn't want to be seen by teachers arriving for work.

The next week while I was running some errands for my mother I waited in line at the cash register and grabbed up the Daily News to check it out---there it was on the front page, Benjii on the ground. Shot trying to make peace in the South Bronx. He was the only one killed. This was the kind of photograph that we were used to seeing on the front page in the Seventies of young men on the concrete because there were in gangs and crime was bad in NY. Young men were pretty much killing each other and themselves and later there were the riots and the police became the ones doing the killing and then of course there was Vietnam.

Benjamin Melendez began the GBs in the South Bronx around 1967 with his brothers and some neighborhood friends. Known on the streets as "Yellow Benjy", Melendez would also become a key organizer of the pivotal 1971 Bronx truce that transformed the culture of the borough, and made the rise of hip-hop possible.

So, the way I remember it is-- I was shocked, but not shocked. I went to school and started to thinking about how much the sidewalks of New York City looked like tombstones and how headlines can sometimes read like epitaphs and how some people will always be trespassers because there will be places where they're not allowed to walk and how first someone had to let you come in before you can go out and I thought about how much pain there is in the world and how someone has to express it and I thought about poets like Benjii who die with their words in their pockets when everyone else has a gun and I wrote my first poem.

Where The Wild Things Are

2008-03-02T19:38:00.000-08:00

Let the Rumpus begin. Where the Wild Things Are is set to appear in theaters in 2009 with a new script by Spike Jonze (Adaptation) and Dave Eggers (Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius). Currently in post production the cast includes James Galdolfini, Forest Whitaker, and seven wild creatures that have been created using foam body costumes and CIGI faces. The movie is based on the popular children's picture book by Maurice Sendak published in 1963. The story is all about Max, a little boy who is banished from his room for kicking up a fuss and decides to go live with the imaginary Wild Things. The movie version has been in development since the 1980's and has been tossed from studio to studio. The project eventually landed at Warner Brothers in 2007 when some concern arose at Universal over whether a 338 word book could really be turned into a movie. Here's hoping that the kinks have been ironed out of the little classic, but recent rumors say otherwise. Appears that Warner Brothers is unhappy with the film and Jonze may reshoot.

Another well known children's author and a personal favorite is Shel Siverstein. Silverstein wrote a bunch of kid's books like Where the Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up, and The Light in the Attic, but he was also known for his bohemian lifestyle and more adult fare. A fixture in Key West, Florida where he lived a "Peter Pan" like existence for almost thirty years before his death in 1999, Silverstein was among other things a pundit, a poet, and a songwriter. He won a Grammy in 1970 for the Johnny Cash song A Boy Named Sue and he penned many other songs including "Cover of the Rolling Stone" and "Sylvia's Mother" for Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show and the classic "The Unicorn" for the Irish Rovers. Silverstein got his start as a cartoonist for Playboy and was surprised to find out that his work for Playboy did not interfere with his sucessful career as a children's author.

Where the Sidewalk Ends
by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

Birth Of The Cool

2008-02-13T05:37:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows what cool means. Cool is an aesthetic, an attitude, an amorphous but defining quality that is often difficult to explain, but easily recognizable. The Internet is full of cool places like The Cool Site of the Day and Daily Candy and other search engines that aggregate cool. Cool can also be found on the library shelf and any up and coming Hipster can turn to the pages of the book Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury and explore the beginnings of Fifties modernist influences on the West Coast.

Besides being an aesthetic and an artifact of culture--individuals and music can also embody cool. Nothing is cooler than Jazz and nobody is cooler than Miles Davis. Davis' legendary album Birth Of The Cool was released by Capitol Records in 1957 with music from 3 recording sessions and the album is timeless cool and even inspired a whole school of jazz musicians in California known as the "cool school."

Objects, film, and fashion are also cool. Take Ray Ban Wayfarers, Messenger bags, and Cloverfield. But material cool can translate into consumerism based on a desire to enhance prestige and status by owning certain "cool" possessions. However, this kind of cool is a diminishing equation--affluent affectations are never cool.

People are Freezing in NYC

2008-02-12T16:47:00.000-08:00

Looks like it's pretty cold in NY.
People are freezing---

Valentine's Day

2008-02-11T06:07:00.000-08:00

My daughter used to hang out in this coffee shop in Boulder when she was a student. On the last day before she graduated and headed home her favorite barista made her a latte with a little heart in the center. She was thrilled. Maybe this Valentine's Day you can wake your Sweetie with a heart latte.

The following is from WikiHow:

"HOW TO MAKE A LATTE"

Things You'll Need
Espresso machine, with Steam Wand
Tamp
Metal Pitcher

Fill the metal pitcher 3/5 of the way full with milk, or to the base of the pour spout.Place thermometer securely inside of the pitcher. Steam milk to 145ºF. The temperature will raise an additional 5 degrees as it sits. If you prefer hotter drinks, that's fine, but you will scorch it above 155ºF. (be sure your thermometer is calibrated!)The steam wand should be inserted diagonally just below the surface of the milk. This will create froth or foam necessary for a good latte.When frothing make sure you are creating rotational flow in the steam pitcher and once the temperature of the milk is about 100ºF or just warm to the touch, raise the steam pitcher to cease frothing and continue to heat to above temp. Tamp the ground espresso into the portafilter with roughly 40 lbs of pressure and lock it into the group head on the espresso machine.

Pour your two perfect shots into your coffee mug or equivalent.

Texture your milk by rolling it around in the steam pitcher until glossy on the surface. Pour your steamed milk over the espresso. The froth will pour smoothly and blend with the espresso crema.

Is There a Hell

2008-02-09T08:14:00.000-08:00

Pointy-tailed Devils with pitchforks. Naked souls writhing in a lake of fire. The acrid smell of Brimstone. (What is Brimstone anyway?)

These are the familiar and icongraphic images of Hell with which most of us are familiar. But does Hell really exist? Almost all religions believe in a place of future punishment. For some religions the concept includes eternal damnation and an eternity of sado-masochist torture. For others like Buddhists, Hell is just a plateau where the human soul stops off to be cleansed before moving on to another life.

For those of you who believe in God--I know you're out there because you've been sticking The Lighthouse in this sinner's mailbox for years--The big question is whether or not believing in Hell means believing in accountability--Will people really get their props or be dissed for a minutia of earthly misdeeds come Judgement Day? (Just in case, my bro Steve broke that window in 1971 not me.) Answer me this believers; Is your God and maybe my God just some kind of big heavenly Accountant in The Sky recording sins in his/her/ one trillion terrabyte brain?
The notion and nature of Hell has been the subject of debate for religious folk, philosophers, and scholars for eons and eons and I know I'm not making any serious headway here, but it is an interesting topic for a reprobate to contemplate on a Saturday afternoon while avoiding real work.

In Spring '92 the New Agers had their say about Hell when in the Journal of Near-Death Studies P.M.H. Atwater described some very interesting interviews with individuals who had experienced near death. These interviews revealed that for some folks the near death experience wasn't all hearts and flowers and a tunnel of light.

"I had been looking up into the big glass cupola over the operating room. This cupola now began to change. Suddenly it turned a glowing red. I saw twisted faces grimacing as they stared down at me. Overcome by dread I tried to struggle upright and defend myself against these pallid ghosts, who were moving closer to me.I could no longer shut out the frightful truth. Beyond doubt, the faces dominating this fiery world were faces of the damned. I bad a feeling of despair, of being unspeakably alone and abandoned. The sensation of horror was so great it choked me, and I had the impression I was about to suffocate." Curd Jurgens, actor in James Bond films revived after a heart attack.

You can take what you want from that, but I think it was all about the drugs. The concept of Hell in popular culture is a curious one and Hell has turned up in the movies including What Dreams Will Come, Little Nicky, Constantine, and Deconstructing Harry. If you are feel like living dangerously you can put those bombs on your Netflix Q. In comic art Hellboy is a demon conjured up by Nazis in DarkHorse Comics. (Now there's an imagination)

Hell is also a popular bar on Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Now didn't I really take the long way around to get to that?

Spock Goes Nude

2008-02-06T16:12:00.000-08:00

Leonard Nimoy is one of the latest to add his voice to the female body acceptance movement. Last May he mounted a gallery show that featured photographs of obese women and in November he released a book The Full Body Project that includes photographs of full bodied women like those pictured above.

In an article in the NY Times Nimoy says that the Xtra large nude photographs were his artistic response to the cultural pressure on women in American society to conform to the size 2.

It's true. The size 2 woman is an unrealistic standard. Most women weigh 25% more than the average runway model. BUT STILL not many women are at the top of the curve that Nimmoy photographs. My guess is that this particular aesthetic is truly under appreciated by the public and in my opinion the unimaginative poses that the ex-Vulcan uses for his models seem to do little to change that view. Nimoy is no stranger to the female form and he's been photographing nudes since the early seventies.

His Shekhina series of photographs has its own quirky hook—sensual images of naked women in religious Jewish wear. Nimoy is a man of many talents-- artist, photographer, director, musician, and actor. He is best known for his run on the Star Trek series as the unemotional Vulcan Spock. Vulcanism is something Nimoy shares with Kirstie Alley ( The former Lieutenant Saavik in "Wrath of Khan.") Alley made some money by turning the tables on herslf in Fat Actress a rather distressing one season comedy from Showtime about Hollywood's warped view of women's bodies.

In the series Alley played a 200 lb plus actress trying to get a few yucks by making fun of bulimia. Besides being spokesperson for Jennie Craig and an actress who has long battled a weight problem herslf, Kirstie Alley has another Hollywood curse. She's a Scientologist who made news by donating over 5 million dollars to Scientology last year. In a recently unearthed video from many years ago she appears claiming that she "would be dead" without her man L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology.

Haunted Television

2008-01-26T12:03:00.001-08:00

Stories of souls trapped or lost in television's nowhere land permeated the folklore of the Sputnik Era.

In 1953 the NY Times carried an article about a Long Island family with a TV set inhabited by the ghost of a mysterious woman. Jerome Travers and his 3 children reported seeing the woman during Ding Dong School. The Travers family was besieged by reporters, but the image never reappeared.

In the 1960's a Wisconsin woman claimed to have seen a couple arguing on a balcony and the call letters of a defunct radio station on her television screen. The vision was followed by a desperate cry for help. Rosella Rose was not the first person to see the KLEE station card almost twelve year after it was abandoned, and when news of her sighting appeared in the papers it reinforced public perception that television was a netherworld where even the most fleeting earthly message could be trapped.

Reports of electronic transmissions between the real and the spirit world in the early days of television were generated by public anxiety surrounding the new technology. For a viewing public unfamiliar with ideas like electromagnetic waves, static, and cathode ray tubes, a host of suspicions arose including the belief that a television set was capable of transporting individuals to another dimension, holding them captive in some sort of electronic limbo, and if conditions were right, becoming remote viewers for surveillance.

These paranoias made rich fodder for a host of science fiction plots on popular television series like The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone. Early television reception was also full of electronic deficiencies like double images, phantom transmissions, and sound distortions that gave rise to a host of sightings. Scholars have linked these sightings to quickly changing social realities that fueled public distrust. The cultural implications of ghost sightings at the dawn of the television age have been written about at length by social historians in books like Haunted Media: Electronic Presence From Telegraph to Television and The Revolution Wasn't Televised.

Public reaction today to a ghost in the machine is quite different as evidenced by the reaction of the giggling group in the YOUTube video showing above. Due to constant exposure to the video stream our reactions are now mitigated by both experience with the technology and our sophistication with the meaning and limitations of media.

Happiness

2008-01-25T12:49:00.000-08:00

Everyone recognizes that "in the groove" feeling when someone is totally immersed, focused, and fully involved in some activity. In this state time drops away, the world recedes, and we become at one with whatever endeavor or task we are engaged.

Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist known for his work in the field of creativity called this feeling flow. In his best selling book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as a source of great freedom, enjoyment, and fulfillment. According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow is one of the hallmarks of happiness in life and work.

Until recently happiness has been an unexplored dynamic of human life, but lately some psychologists have begun to map the dimensions of positive human experience. In fact there is a Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pittsburgh where academics are collecting information for happiness studies. Individuals can take a Happiness Inventory ( I'm a 3.2 on a 1-5 scale) and participate in happiness journaling. There is also a six part series about the Science of Happiness available on the BBC News website that includes happiness tips. (Hint: It does help to count your blessings.)

There is no magic potion for a happy life, but researchers have teased out a number of broad categories that influence our well-being including certain personality strengths, the influence of family on happiness, and an indictment of pleasure seeking behaviors. In fact researchers say that pleasure is often confused with happiness and that for humans, learning the fast path to pleasure may be akin to evolutionary suicide.

The confusion between happiness and pleasure might explain why so many unhappy people surf the Web. The Internet is full of pleasure spots. For those who like their pleasure dark and their humor sick there is Cyanide and Happiness. The web comic can best be described as offensive, adolescent, and stupid.

The comic began with a 16 year old student, Kris Wilson and is now the work of 4 authors. Cyanide and Happiness can be hot linked to myspace and other social networking sites which has added to its rocketing success. The sketchy stick-like comic characters cover topics like venereal disease, racism, sexual deviancy, blasphemy, and other nonsense in pathos driven scripts.

Drinking Games

2008-01-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

Researchers at San Diego University did a little field work recently and discovered first hand that drinking games lead to higher blood alcohol levels for college students. Most academics study alcohol behavior by examining student self reports after the fact, but in this study the researchers observed 1,304 young adults at 66 college parties over the course of three semesters.

Not surprisingly they found that playing drinking games, having a personal history of binge drinking, attending a party with many other intoxicated people, and attending a themed event all predicted higher blood alcohol levels. In addition something surprising turned up when they discovered that women at themed events drank more heavily than men, especially at parties with sexual themes or costumes. The point of drinking games is to get drunk fast, right? So the results seem to be a no-brainer, but the study does sum up nicely what researchers have been saying all along about drinking to excess--that it is a function of both person and environment. And for women that might mean that wearing nothing but a grass skirt and a coconut bra to a party is a pretty good reason to get drunk.

Duplessis Orphans

2008-01-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

In a scheme that boggles a person's mind, fifty years ago in Canada, Quebec Minister Maurice Duplesiss entered into a pact with the Catholic Church to defraud the government by relabeling children left in orphanages by unwed mothers as psychotic or mentally deficient to gain greater funding. In the demented plan orphanages were also relabeled as insane asylums and run that way.

When the asylums were closed in the 1990's, the profit scheme came to light and a scandal erupted. The survivors began to tell about the horrors of imprisonment from childhood---the profound abuse, treatment as slave labor, electro-shock treatments, sexual abuse, physical tortures, straitjackets, and medical experiments.

Confronted with the evidence the government chose to trivialize the impact and refused to punish the clergy responsible. Eventually in 2001 in an attempt to stop further inquiry into the scandal, the government offered $15,000 per orphan in damages but just in certain cases. The offer outraged victims and they pressed for more damages, further investigation, and justice. How much did the Church benefit from the relabeling of orphans?

"It was definitely to the financial advantage of certain religious institutions to transfer these normal children to psychiatric hospitals, in order to profit from a higher daily subsidy for each child it was established that the religious communities involved were able to obtain, in 1999 dollars, an additional $70 million for the years between 1940 and 1960 (a mentally deficient child would provide greater subsidies than a normal child). According to the analysis, this amount represents a minimum amount since it does not take into account the unpaid labor which the children were forced into during their stays in these asylums.

In 2006 the Canadian government finally agreed to pay out 26 million dollars to the 1,000 to 2,000 orphans still alive if they agreed not to sue the Catholic Church. The Church never apologized. The period of Maurice Duplessis' tenure which was known for conservative and church oriented politics is called "The Great Darkness" in Canada and the treatment of the orphans as the "Canadian Holocaust." Much of what was perpetrated has been hidden from history and still remains uninvestigated.

The New Age Travellers

2008-01-02T18:00:00.000-08:00

The New Age Travellers are a loose band of modern day drop outs attracted to the nomad existence. Travellers eschew the ho-hum conventional lifestyle and prefer instead to live as vagabonds in tents, old school buses, and converted recreation vehicles. The Traveller scene morphed from the "Hippie" movement of the Sixties and Travellers are a broad based communal group that share common values of personal freedom, spirituality, and individual discovery.

Although the movement began in Britain, New Age Traveller groups can be found around the globe where they go by a variety of names like Rainbow Truckers, Hippie Travellers, and New Age Gypsies. Most experts agree that the Traveller lifestyle got a boost from Britain's seasonal free music circuit where promoters provided free campgrounds and services. In the 1980's it was not unusual to find upwards of 30,000 Travellers at these events.

The Traveller's free ride ended at the Stonehenge Free Festival on June 1, 1985 in an incident that became known as the "Battle of the Bean Field." When a convoy of over a hundred New Age Travellers attempted to breach a 4 mile police perimeter at the festival to spend the solstice at Stonehenge. Police retaliated by tipping over trucks, breaking windshields and chasing Traveller families into the fields.

When riot police arrived they took everyone into custody. Many Travellers reported severe beatings. Four years later four Travellers sued the police in connection with the event and were aided by Lord Cardigan, owner of the property who testified to seeing a heavily pregnant woman being clubbed mercilessly by police. Although the Travellers won the suit, no monetary damages were awarded and Cardigan took a drubbing in the British press.

Free Beer

2007-12-28T16:17:00.000-08:00

Guess what? I posted this a few weeks back and my Sis is one of the latest winners. Whoopee Do! That means free beer.....glug....glug. One more day to go on the contest so you'd better hurry. Dreams do come true....

"Dreams do come true. Everyday until Dec. 31, two lucky people can win free beer. Yes, $40 worth of fine Anheuser-Busch products. The catch? You can only enter once a day. But the good news is, you can win twice a month. So grab a good luck charm and logon to Bud.TV everyday to be entered. Because, today could be the day. And if not, there’s always tomorrow. Must be 21 to enter. No purchase necessary."

Go to Budtv.com

Capgras Delusion

2007-12-19T18:19:00.000-08:00

The Capras delusion is a rare disorder where a person suffers from the delusion that someone close to them has been replaced by an identical looking imposter. A French psychiatrist Joseph Capgras was the first to discover the disorder and the MH literature has many examples. The syndrome is believed to arise from damage to the fusiform gyrus, the same part of the brain that recognizes faces. The theory is that there is both an unconscious and conscious pathway to recognizing faces and that damage to this area of the brain causes an emotional reaction to a familiar face.

Several movies including the Stepford Wives and Invasion of the Body Snatchers have made good use of this fear inducing delusion to provide a plot full of twisted "what-ifs" for audiences. In most of these plots the replacements or imposters involve aliens or in the case of Stepford Wives some big bosomed robots.

The 2006 National Book award for fiction went to Richard Power's The Echo Maker which made use of Capgras syndrome to surprising effect. In the novel a young man is brain damaged in an auto accident and after he awakes from a coma begins to believe that his sister is not his sister although she looks, acts, and sounds like her. The book is a challenge for the intellect, but the through line is truly about our rather slippery grasp on the concept of reality.

Among the delusional misidentification syndromes Intermetamorphosis is one that is closely related to Capgras syndrome, but is less reported and appears to be linked to Alzheimer's disease. In intermetamorphosis a person mistakes others for someone they are not and believes that people are switching identities while maintaining the same outward appearance.

The audience for Todd Haynes latest movie I'm Not There may well feel as if they suffer from Intermorphosis syndrome. In this weird post modernistic movie six different actors represent Bob Dylan in a variety of incarnations. The actors include Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and a 13 year old African American actor, Marcus Carl Franklin. Dylan is an enigmatic individual so one might assume that it makes far less difference for him than for other real people to be portrayed by such a gathering of talents. However the motif is a considerable leap for bio-pic audiences. The non-linear narrative also adds to the lack of visual continuity leaving an effect that is more impression than substance. Sort of like most people I guess.

Daydream Believer

2007-12-16T14:25:00.000-08:00

The inner domain of the human brain is an interesting planet that I visit often. In fact my own personal INZONE is a spectacular place that boasts a constantly changing narrative, visual images, and inner speech. The only prompting that I ever need to access its environs is to fire up the vacuum cleaner or perform some other mind numbing task.

Unfortunately some folks like those in the business community consider day dreaming an infraction of the work ethic. If you are interested you can look at Oops: Discovering the Wandering Mind where a variety of slip-ups, mishaps, and other happy thoughts on what medical and transportation industry people call "attention failures" and their dire consequences are listed. From these you can gather where most of the mind wandering research is headed in this country.

The fact that boredom and lack of sleep are often the cause of these daydreaming lapses is no surprise to any of us. But one of the ways that we can improve our conscious attention may be. Seems that conversation and dialogue help rein in the rogue brain. The activity of talking to someone keeps us focused and in the loop. The idea is that conversation provides us with a road map at a time when we are basically wandering in the inner wilderness.

I'm all for directed thinking but a rigidly structured brain is of little use to poet and writer types like me or to college students either it seems. In one recent study college students reported that daydreaming took up a third of their day. Now that's an interesting statistic but what does it mean? All this distraction does serve some purpose and scientists theorize that when a mind goes AWOL we may actually be still at work on the subliminal level. While our executive function is taking a lunch break we plan and visualize our future. A something that may be the basis of art or the creative instinct.

Bio Mapping

2007-12-15T21:07:00.000-08:00

Since 2004 a community research project known as BioMapping has wired up over 1,000 people with an innovative device which records the wearer's Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), an indicator of the emotional arousal to chart their reaction to geographical location. After the subjects explore their local area a map is created which visualizes points of high and low arousal. By interpreting and annotating the data, communal emotion maps are constructed that show the relationship between the external and the internal world of the participants.

The idea is to represent areas that people feel strongly about, and somehow project the social space of a community. Bio-Mapping is the brainchild of Christian Nold, an artist, teacher and cultural activist in London. To date Nold has been able to complete a San Francisco Emotion Map using 300 paricipants and a Tokyo map is in the works. You can find a copy of a documentary about the project at the Internet Archive.

Eddie Would Go

2007-12-09T19:31:00.000-08:00

Eddie Aikau was born on the island of Maui and became the first lifeguard to work the rough North Shore of Wimea Bay on the island of Oahu, tackling thirty foot swells and saving dozens of lives. Aikau was also a well regarded surfer and a rising star in big wave competitions winning several awards including the 1977 Duke Classic. In 1978 the Polynesian Voyaging Society was seeking volunteers for a 30-day, 2500 mile journey to follow the ancient route of the Polynesian migration between the Hawaii and Tahiti. Aikau at loose ends after the break up of a brief marriage decided to join the voyage.

On March 16th, the double-hulled voyaging canoe sailed out of the dock and straight into some swift tradewinds. After developing a leak the boat capsized around midnight about twelve miles south of the island of Molokai. The crew hung on until morning, but after being smashed by huge waves and dragged by the current Aikau in an attempt to get help decided to paddle his surfboard toward Lanai. Although the rest of the crew was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard, Aikau was never seen again. The ensuing search for the young surfer was the largest air-sea search in Hawaii history.

In the 1980's, bumper stickers with the phrase Eddie Would Go began to spread around the Hawaiian Islands. Today the phrase "Eddie Would Go" has come to have a dual meaning-- going where no one else dares to go or doing the right thing to save lives. In 1987 surfwear giant Quicksilver launched a Big Wave Invitational in memory of Aikau. His family also established the Eddie Aikau Foundation, a charitable organization to provide education about Hawaiian culture. The whole story of Eddie Aikau can be found in the book Eddie Would Go by Stuart Coleman.

Zombie Squad

2007-11-29T08:56:00.000-08:00

Ran across information on the Zombie Squad while tip-toeing through the Internet looking into the recent resurgence in survivalism in the U.S. The group calls itself a non-stationary cadaver suppression task force, but the pierced and tattooed members of Zombie Squad are actually a posse of latter day survivalists intent on preparing people for the Apocalypse by making it fun. I guess there's no sense in being dark and gloomy about the End Times.

Appears that in the post-9/11 and post Katrina world the guys and gals of ZS have found a mission. They want to educate people about the next big disaster and these survival enthusiasts use Zombies as a metaphor for catastrophe and the slogan "You can never be too prepared" to push the message. No matter what Tom Ridge said about duct tape and plastic bags, The Zombie Squad wants to offer more. They provide training sessions on self reliance and preparedness, survival boot camp, and fund raisers for disaster relief. According to the website Zombie Squads are popping up all around the country and you can expect to see one soon I guess if you live near Heaven's Gate.

I can't think about Zombies without being reminded of Night of the Living Dead one of the original scare-fest movies of the 1960's. Before Tim Burton there was George Romano scaring the pants off kiddies down at the Bijou with this Zombie reanimation film. Made for a pittance ($114,000) Night went on to gross something like 50 million. There are some bone shaking Zombie moments in the movie, but to me knowing that the cast and crew were stuck in rural Pennsylvania for over six months is the scariest. Filmed in black and white the movie had minimal special effects, but the dark ending and scenes of flesh eating Zombies, child murderers and human bonfires were more graphic than had ever been shown before.

In fact some scenes were so objectionable that they had to be reshot before distribution. Even so the impact in the theaters was immediate. The movie was released to a matinee audience of pre-teens and children who didn't know what hit them--actually I was one of them (Sob!) Audiences were not prepared for the graphic fare and Roger Ebert described the reaction in the Chicago-Sun Times:

"The kids in the audience were stunned. There was almost complete silence. The movie had stopped being delightfully scary about halfway through, and had become unexpectedly terrifying. There was a little girl across the aisle from me, maybe nine years old, who was sitting very still in her seat and crying."

Seriously--the movie was a bit traumatic at the time. I really didn't like that creepy kid that ate her parents! But seems the barrier-crashing gruesomeness just whet the bloody appetite of a generation of adolescents and opened up a new era in the genre of horror.

The Blue Wall

2007-11-22T16:14:00.000-08:00

In 1971 Frank Serpico was the first cop in the history of the NYC Police Department to break through the "blue wall of silence" to testify about widespread corruption in the rank and file. Serpico, a plainclothes detective had been telling his superiors for years that his fellow officers were blatantly taking kickbacks and making under the table deals with mobsters, but when the brass contined to ignore him he contacted the NY Times and broke the story.

In response to the allegations Mayor John Lindsay appointed the Knapp Commission to investigate, but before Serpico could testify he was shot in the face during a drug bust in Brooklyn. The shooting took place in an apartment on Driggs Avenue where Serpico went with two other plain clothes detectives to make a drug buy as part of a sting operation. At the apartment Serpico knocked on the door, and when it was opened a few inches he tried to push inside, but the dealer pushed back, and Serpico became wedged.

Believing the other cops to be right behind him Serpico called for help but no one responded. Serpico was shot at point blank range in what was later thought to be a planned execution, although nothing could ever be proved at the time. A bullet penetrated his cheek just below the eye and lodged at the top of his jaw. He began to bleed profusely, but the accompanying officers failed to make an "officer down" call to police headquarters and left him to bleed to death on the floor. According to some reports Serpico was saved by an elderly Hispanic man who lived in an adjacent apartment. The shooting left Serpico deaf in one ear, but he survived. He went on to testify before the Knapp Commission and recieved the Police Department's highest honor, The Medal of Honor. However, the shooting and police harassment took a toll. He retired a year later and went to live in Europe.

Peter Maas wrote a book, Serpico about the cop that was later turned into a bio-pic directed by Sidney Lumet with Al Pacino. The movie won several Oscars including a nomination for best adapted screenplay for Waldo Salt.

Waldo Salt was a talented screenwriter and he had already adapted Ethan Frome, written Shopworn Angel and worked with some of the eras best known actors when he refused to testify before Joseph McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950's.

Salt was headed to the top of the heap, but after being blacklisted he found himself writing commercials and working under his wife's name in television. Years later when he was in his fifties Salt was given film work on the screenplay for Midnight Cowboy which he adapted brilliantly and for which he later won an Academy Award. Salt went on to write several more screenplays, winning an Oscar for Coming Home and a nomination for Serpico. He also taught at the Sundance Institute and he was filmed there for a documentary, Waldo Scott: A Screenwriter's Journey released in 1990 three years after his death. The documentary also received a nod at Oscar time.

Free Beer

2007-11-12T11:40:00.000-08:00

Go to Budtv.com

You can also enter the BUDTV contest ARE YOU THE NEXT BIG PRODUCER? Just reinvent one of the movie scenes featured on the website. The winning clip may be broadcast (I guess porn is out) but the "next big producer" definitely gets a free trip to MOVIES ROCK in LA. The headliner is Carrie Underwood. So bring your soup ladle if you suffer from objectophilia.

Objectophilia?

Tales from Objectophilia Land
A friend of mine recently acquired a huge stainless steel refrigerator after many years of mooning over them in the Home Depot. When she asked me to stop by her house for a viewing I went over and praised the thing, but honestly I couldn't see what the fuss was about. It was a refrigerator, right? I was a little surprised when she confided in me, "I love this refrigerator so much that I want to have sex with it." From the look in her eye I knew she meant business. I'd heard of "Roomba Love" but this thing looked like an ugly tank. Maybe my friend suffers from Objectophilia, a psychological condition where people fall in love with inanimate objects. Stop biting that pen! That tidbit brings me to Lars and the Real Girl, a comic little movie about a lonely guy who falls in love with a female blow up doll. Sound quirky? Yep, but there's a deeper premise at work here, one that has a certain appeal--"love conquers all." Oddly enough, even though I have a knee jerk reaction to simple and bland movie messages I still bought it. What can I tell you? I guess that sometimes I like my movies sappy, Pappy.

BIZARRO BOOKS

2007-11-11T13:09:00.000-08:00

About twenty years ago booksellers in England were encouraged to display their worst sellers in an exhibit called Dud Books. The idea was a popular and financial success, and ever since there has been public interest in bizarre book titles. Here's a few examples that I've encountered in the blogosphere.

11/12/07
UPDATE.
How bizarre is this?
Looks like the NY Times blogged this same post a few days ago on Paper Cuts. Here's a link to a book on the subject from Harper's Collins, Bizarre Books: A Compendium of Classic Oddities.

BUNCO SQUAD

2007-11-05T17:02:00.000-08:00

To my surprise I recently saw an ad in Prevention magazine sponsored by Prilosec and the World Bunco Organization touting the "festive" game of Bunco and providing instructions for a potluck Bunco party. Seems that in 2006 Prilosec's started sponsoring the World Bunco Championships and this March they will be held in Las Vegas with a $50,000 prize. What is Bunco? According to the WBO, Bunco is a progressive dice game that was unknown in the U.S until 1855 when it was introduced on the west coast, most likely San Francisco during the Gold Rush. The game became popular and spread across the country where it became a favorite family parlor game. It wasn't until the flappers and flamers of the Twenties coopted the game that Bunco turned unsavory. Bunco gambling parlors and speakeasies began to sprout side by side and a whole lot of swindling started going on. In case you're wondering how the game is played you can check out these Bunco rules.

Bunco Squad was also an RKO movie made in 1950 that starred Joan Dixon of Norfolk, Virginia. Dixon was Howard Hughes next big thing after Jane Russell, but she languished in a host of run of the mill dramas, including Bunco Squad.

Bunker Spreckels

2007-10-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

Taschen the world's coolest publishing house recently released a new coffee table book about Bunker Spreckels, the one time hottie surf champ and errant stepson of Clark Gable. The book Surfing's Divine Prince of Decadence was authored by TR Strecyk and has a slate of photos by surf veteran Art Brewer. Strecyk who co-wrote the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys was a close friend of Spreckels and one of the first on the California skate and surf scene. Stecyk's glossy book is a decadent document that records the short and privileged life of one of the true Princes of Bel Air.

Thrice married Kay Williams Spreckels was a model and stock actress for MGM when she took the plunge with Clark Gable and became his fifth wife. Bunker Spreckels born Adolph Spreckels III was five at the time and the child of William's third husband, Adolph Spreckels II, the dissolute heir to a sugar fortune. The Spreckels of San Francisco were well known, wealthy, and occasionally loony. Besides alcoholism, early death, and reckless behavior Spreckel's great grandfather, Adolph Spreckels I was convicted of shooting San Francisco Chronicle editor, Michael de Young. Seemed de Young had de famed him. De Young survived and Adolph Spreckels was declared insane.

And then there's this tidbit:

By far one of the most unusual accidents in the '30s occurred at Seattle's Green Lake. On June 14, 1936, Adolph Spreckels was driving an F Class Hydroplane owned by Finley Webb. As he returned to the pit area after a heat, the throttle stuck open. Spreckels hit the beach at top speed. The boat flew over one woman's head, then struck several other spectators before coming to rest against the sound truck. Spreckels was thrown from the boat and landed on a telephone pole, a climbing spike impaling his upper left arm. He hung there until rescuers were able to lift him down. Spreckels was badly injured and needed several operations to restore his arm and face. More tragic, however, was the fate of spectator Ord Lockhard, who had been watching the race from his wheelchair. He was struck by Spreckels' boat and subsequently died.

Bunker started out with a bit of a stacked deck. A talented surfer in his teen years he made a name for himself in the sport, but when he turned twenty-one he went to the bank with an armored car and took his 50 million home in cold hard cash according to reports. Not long after he began his rapid descent into a hedonistic lifestyle filled with drugs and sex. In an interesting and weird move Spreckels invited both Strecyk and Brewer to photograph and film his life, but before the project called "The Player" was finished Spreckels suddenly died of heart failure. Quentin T. is rumored to be interested in the bio-pic, but even he may not be able to find a through line.

The Singing Revolution

2007-10-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

The nonviolent revolution known as "The Singing Revolution" began in 1987 in Estonia with mass protests against the Soviets who had occupied the country since 1945. Night after night singing demonstrators numbering almost 300,000 gathered to sing nationlist songs and hymms that were forbidden during the years of Soviet occupation. In addition to the singing demonstrations there were political actions, and outspoken defiance of Soviet rules that led to the eventual independence of Estonia from the USSR in 1991.

According to James Tusty, an American filmmaker of Estonian heritage who recently produced a documentary on the revolution, the story of the Singing Revolution is one that has never been told outside Estonia. "We felt it was time the rest of the world knew what happened here,” Tusty said in a recent interview. The Singing Revolution, a 90 minute English speaking film opened in February to limited engagements. Trusty interviewed most of the major Estonian participants and he has included some stunning historical footage that has never been seen before.

Light Pollution

2007-10-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

Today on a cloudless night in NYC an amateur astronomer can see far less of the nightime sky than Galileo could see when he first began studying the stars. The reason is light pollution. Light pollution is measured on the Bortle Dark Sky Scale, and Galileo's night sky would have been classified as a 1 or the darkest on the scale while the sky above New York is currently considered a brightly lit, 9. In fact in the US there are no longer any class 1 locations and even class 2 areas are under seige from the omnipresent glow of outdoor lighting, a threat that grows increasingly more powerful each year.

In 1988 a non-profit group called the International Dark Sky Association began trying to do something about light pollution. The group's efforts include targeting poorly designed and bad light fixtures, reducing the wattage of individual outdoor lights and working to diminish the overall level of nighttime lighting. Light pollution comes in many forms, but one glaring offender is the untrained flood light. Floodlights attached to garage eaves, back doors, and porches, project unshielded light in all directions when the sky darkens. Although they are often sold as "security lights," studies show that flood lights actually can help a burglar go about his business. Outdoor security lighting is only effective if it allows a homeowner to view criminal activity and movement triggered devices seem to work better. Floodlights are not the only culprits of light pollution, bad lighting is everywhere and many buildings including, churches, malls, parking lots, convenience stores, and homes are often bathed in spotlights another common source of light pollution.

Spot lights have as many uses as duct tape in suburban communities. My tree lined road might be considered dark if it were not for a neighbor who has has illuminated each tree in his yard with spotlights and bulb lighting. When the lights are on, the neighborhood is a virtual Times Square. Unfortunately, high wattage polluters like my neighbor make a decision for everyone when they light up. The pleasure of the sky on a dark night is something almost primal and as each year passes it seems that pleasure is slipping away. In addition, health studies point out that light exposure leads to reduced melatonin, a factor in a variety of health problems. A recent study of work shift data theorizes that the industrial lighting may be a factor in breast cancer. Ineffective and overdone lighting also wastes energy and billions of dollars each year. One has to conclude that light pollution affects more than just the aesthetics of our environment.

I Saw Your Nanny

2007-10-04T12:07:00.000-07:00

Watch out SuperNanny. Hold on to your umbrella Mary Poppins. Nanny tattle-tales are watching you in the virtual world. On the website I Saw Your Nanny anyone can report a Nanny behaving badly and give up the goods for public consumption. Most of the eyewitness accounts on the website of over-zealous, negligent, and sometimes abusive nannyism come from New York City, but there are also plenty of incidents of arm tugging, nanny disapproval, care-giver meltdowns and so on from cities big and small. These highly subjective nanny sightings run the gamut from "child was refused a juice box" to a video of this purported Nanny (wrong) using her young charge as a "child bandit."

The Nanny relationship cuts both ways and the blog includes nanny complaints about reckless, indifferent, stingy, and down right insensitive parents as well. One live-in Nanny posted this picture of her employer's refrigerator. Apparently the young Nanny was not allowed to eat most of the family's food. Many of us have read the Nanny Diaries and the ordinary life of some Nannies seems to read like Nightmare on Elmstreet with ill treatment rather than generousity the norm. The book did have a humorous bent, but I wonder what our live-in Nanny thought of it? Probably "funny" wouldn't be part of her description, but then again she also claims she's being starved to death on post-it notes...

Bar Girls

2007-10-04T09:11:00.000-07:00

Many young women in Southeast Asia are unknowingly lured into the sex trade by high priced offers to dance in South Korean nightclubs that cater to American military personnel. Once the girls arrive at the clubs their passports are taken and they are forced to live as virtual sex slaves. These girls sometimes called "juicy girls" offer men their companionship and other services in trade for high priced juice drinks, and money paid through "bar fines."

Sex trafficking is a global world wide problem and affects millions of women. Prostitution and sex tourism are forms of sexual exploitation, and have become a major industry in Thailand beginning with the U.S. Military involvement during the Vietnam War. In the 1970's the U.S government contracted with the Thai governement for recreational services for U.S. soldiers, later in 1975, The World Bank built an economic plan for Thailand based on the sex industry.

In Thailand today, it is estimated that at least one third of the prostitutes are under the age of 18.The issue of sex trafficking is not limited to Southeast Asia. Sex Slaves, a documentary written and directed by Ric Esther Bienstock, and produced by Bienstock, Felix Golubev and Simcha Jacobovici documents the sex trade in the Ukraine and recently won an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Journalism. The program also garned high ratings for PBS. The documentary was aired in February on Frontline and exposes the ordeals of five women trapped in the sex trade, but highlights the story of a young woman, Katia. You can watch it here. The US Department of State's Trafficking in Persons Report puts 37 countries on a sex trafficking watch list.

Monkey Bars

2007-09-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

With recess back on the schedule and an upswing in litigation over recreational accidents, playground equipment has seen more than a few changes in the last ten years. The days when monkey bars were the norm in the schoolyard or park are fast disappearing. In fact, in some parts of the country the old fashioned monkey bars that people remember have vanished completely as older playgrounds are replaced and newer more versatile and safer products are installed. The first playgrounds were designed to keep kids from playing in the streets of New York, but modern playgrounds have come a long way from tire swings and sliding boards.

Today, the cost of a typical school playground can run as high as $20,000 and in most cases more people are involved in the design than ever before, including parents, teachers, and kids. Even some famous architects are paying attention. In June, Frank Gehry announced that he would build a playground at Battery Park. There were a few CHEERS and a few JEERS at the news of the $4 million play space, but many believe the playground is a step toward revitalizing Battery Park, a 21 acre public area at the southern tip of Manhattan. The Gehry playground is part of a larger project to transform the area and increase public usage of the space.

Adventure Capitalists

2007-09-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

Most people believe that society needs government to protect people and property, but there are those who oppose the idea of the state, seeing any form of government as restricting freedom and instead believe that individuals either through mutual participation or collective ownership can meet the same needs and goals. Anarchism as a political philosophy has been around for a long time with many variations, but one version, Anarcho-capitalism is a modern theory. Anarcho-capitalists believe that society can run effectively without the intervention of government and that market capitalism forms the basis of a free society. These anarchists advocate for protecting personal property, a self-regulated market, and the voluntary trade of goods and services.

Detractors of Anarcho-capitalism say that the theory lacks real world feasibility, as self-enforcement has limits not accounted for by the market economy. In other words how do you make the unwilling participate, protect property, and get people to follow rules. Peter Leeson, an economist and Professor of Capitalism at George Mason University is one of those who believes that self governance works better than we all think and Leeson is using an unusual example to make his point--18th and 19th Century pirates.

According to Leeson in "An-aargh: The Law and Economics of a Pirate, "Pirates are known for raucousness, recklessness, and chaotic rapine. Real-life pirates were highly-organized criminals. Unlike the swash-buckling psychopaths of fiction, historical pirates displayed sophisticated organization and coordination." Legends aside, pirates might have been the first Anarcho-capitalists. Although piracy was a criminal enterprise, pirate society was highly organized for the purpose of mutual gain. Pirates had sophisticated codes, laws, and rules for protecting personal property from theft, providing compensation for the injured, and punishing miscreants.

In addition pirate society divided power in a unique way among its members. Through voluntary participation, articles and constitutions, quartermasters, and unanimous consent, the division of power protected individual pirates from tyrannical and abusive captains. Some historians believe that it was this unequal relationship of crew to captain in the British Navy, and the abuse that it engendered that accounted for the rise in piracy in the 18th Century.

The DeLorean Motor Company

2007-09-22T17:18:00.000-07:00

John DeLorean was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1925 and after obtaining an engineering degree, he went to work at General Motors. While at GM DeLorean created what some consider the first "muscle car" by putting a big block engine into a Pontiac Tempest. The car, the GTO helped triple Pontiac sales in 1964, and before long DeLorean was promoted to an executive position at GM and earning one of the company's top salaries. In 1973 DeLorean left GM with the intended goal of starting his own company and giving the big 3 automakers a run for their money. In the next eight years the entrepreneur raised over 175 million from investors including 100 million pounds from the British government. In 1981 he introduced the DMC 12, a sporty car with distinctive gull wing doors and a stainless steel body. He began building the rear engine cars in a plant in Dunmurray, near Belfast in Northern Ireland. The car was innovative, but the DMC 12 had in addition to some shaky financing, assembly problems, and stiff competition in the crowded sports car marketplace. The DMC 12's failing sales figures however didn't prevent DeLorean from living at the top of the fishtank, with Park Avenue digs, a mansion in NJ, and other luxuries.

When the inevitable financial plunge began, DeLorean started looking for a quick fix to solve his money problems. That quick fix was a million dollar cocaine deal with an FBI informant. DeLorean was prosecuted, and although he was acquitted of conspiring to sell cocaine, the DeLorean Motor Company ended up in bankruptcy. Although ordered to pay back investors, DeLorean coughed up only a fraction of the money. He was still wanted on fraud charges in Britain at the time of his death from a stroke in 2005.

Manufacture of the DeLorean DMC-12 car began in 1981, with fewer than 9,000 cars rolling off the production lines before its closure in 1982. The DeLorean was turned into a time machine in the Back to the Future movies, and gained a cult following. Having owned one of the estimated 6,000 still in existence I can attest to the cars ability to draw a crowd with its sleek streamlined design and unusual features, but some of the car's design flaws and quality issues made for adventuresome driving, including its mammoth rear blind spot, failing gas powered door lifts, poor cooling system and underpowered alternator. The DMC 12 was engineered by Colin Chapman and loosely modeled on the Lotus Espirit with a Peugeot-Renault-Volvo hybrid motor that gave it a decent performance, but its fish tailing rear end gave it less than high marks handling off the line.

The Right Stuff?

2007-09-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

This summer following the arrest of berserko space cadet, Lisa Nowak, a panel of medical experts started looking at astronaut health. In its report filed in July the panel made the surprising charge that for some former astronauts, the right stuff was alcohol. According to the panel some astronauts drank heavily before space flights, and two may have actually flown their missions drunk. In response NASA filed its own it's own 45 page report that called the allegations "unsubstantiated." However, the agency did admit that its policy on alcohol consumption could use some revision.

The "drunk in space" claims aren't new and seem more urban legend than truth, but anyone who reads the NASA report will find the agency's alcohol policy to be a little strange. According to the report astronauts drink in their quarters, make "booze runs" for each other when quarantined, and drink alcohol at pre-launch celebrations, all under NASA's watchful eye. Seems vaguely reminiscent of the behavior of major league ball players during the 1960's, only Mickey Mantle wasn't docking a spaceport or riding a land rover on the moon.

Statistics show that drinking before flying can have serious consequences. The number of serious errors committed by pilots dramatically increases at or above concentrations of .04 percent blood alcohol with some studies showing deficiencies in pilot performance at lower blood alcohol thresholds. Flying drunk though isn't the only problem, the impact of hang overs and the groggy noggin on pilot performance can be worse. That's why there are rules governing the length of time between drinking and flying. It's called the the FAA 8 hour "bottle to throttle" rule. Want to know more? Read all about it in the FAA's nifty little brochure.

In other astronaut news, The Astronaut Farmer with Billy Bob Thornton came out in February, but some of us are just getting around to watching the home-spun tear jerker. In a nod to American ingenuity Billie Bob Thornton plays a former astronaut who wants to fly his home made rocket into space. The drama happens when the government tries to stop him. Billie Bob, a relative unknown until ten years ago had a breakout role in Sling Blade, winning an Oscar for the screenplay. Thornton calls himself a "simple boy from Arkansas" and considers himself as as much a musician as an actor. Check out the Billy tunes.

Couch Surfing

2007-09-16T03:32:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, the CouchSurfing Project was crippled by a massive database crash, but it's back on its feet and going strong. For those who have never heard of Couch Surfing, the term was reinvented a few years back and is the next generation's concept of freeloading. The project began after Casey Fenton, a computer programmer got a cheap ticket to Iceland and came up short on accomodations. Fenton got the "brilliant idea" to send a spam email to 1500 Icelandic students in Reykjavik and ask them for a spot on the sofa. Not long after Fenton devised the Couch Surfing Project where today a network of over 300,000 members arrange and exchange accomodations.

Membership in CouchSurfing is free and the network states it's mission is to "internationally network people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance, and facilitate cultural understanding," (whew) which loosely defined means good experiences, a goal that the project appears to be reaching. They report over 226,000 positive couch surfings and 292,000 friendships created. Coach surfing isn't for everyone though and in fact I think the idea is absolutely nuts, but it does have a certain appeal to the wanderlust crowd that's short on cash. For them, a worldwide club of 300,000 that offers free accommodations may be just the ticket.

MovieMaker: Art and Business of Making Movies

2007-08-18T19:04:00.000-07:00

Time to rush down to the newstand. I've got a teeny tiny picture in MovieMaker. (Jodie Foster cover) Don't forget to bring your magnifying glass! For those of you who can't get to the Barnes & Noble fast enough to grab a copy before they sell out--'cause I'm stocking up. Here's yours truly---

"In one of God's greater paradoxes, he made Virginia home to both Pat Robertson and a strangely independent and rebellious breed of filmaker."

The article is titled "American Revolution: Virginia's Vibrant History and Dynamic, Growing Population Make it An Ideal Setting." The filmmaker's comments read like vague commercials for Virginia production which ain't necessarily a bad thing, but I had been hoping for an insightful article on actual locations, current projects, and some statistics about the production community in Virginia. However, there is a nice little Virginia At-A-Glance that gives a once over to a variety of film resources in the state.

The Cult of Redheads

2007-08-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

Redheads make up less than 1% of the population, but I know from experience that we get a lot more attention than our numbers would suggest. Many redheads can be found in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England, where they are sometimes referred to as "ginger nuts." (Stop that!) Scotland has the largest redhead population, estimated at about 15% with over 35% carrying the recessive gene. In the US the percentage of Redheads is estimated at between 2% to 6%.

At Amazon there's a photo book of Redheads,an Encyclopedia for Redheads,a Redhead News Blog, and a book of Playboy Redheads. And just to add to the myths surrounding Redheads--I know what you're thinking. (Stop that!) According to the Daily Mail. "Blondes may have more fun but redheads have more sex, according to a study by a Hamburg Sex Researcher, Professor Dr Werner Habermehl. The dear ole professor looked at the sex lives of hundreds of German women and compared them with their hair color. He said: "The sex lives of women with red hair were clearly more active than those with other hair color, with more partners and having sex more often than the average." Ho-hum.

Scientists are always researching society's prejudices and trying to make them truth, but nonetheless some scientists have turned up a fair amount of differences between Redheads and the general population, discovering among other things that Redheads have unusual sensitivity to anesthesia and may be more succeptible to melanoma. Redhead Fun Facts include: When women dye their hair, twenty six percent choose to go blonde, twenty seven percent go basic brunette, and thirty percent choose to become redheads. In addition, a 2002 study found that redhead are harder to sedate than any other people requiring twenty percent more anesthesia. Inadequate doses cause people to wake up during surgery and have increased recall of procedures. (I can vouch that study is very accurate as I awakened in mid wisdom teeth extraction when I was a teen and ran around like a crazy loon until I was tackled by a nurse. Ouch.)

A few famous Reds-- Vincent van Gogh, Wilma & Pebbles Flintstone, Cyndi Lauper, Annie Potts, Carol Burnett, Winston Churchill, Anne of Green Gables, Mary Queen of Scots, Galileo, Sarah Bernhardt, Lucille Ball, Ronald Mc Donald, Queen Elizabeth I, Sarah Ferguson, Susan Sarandon, Bette Midler, Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth, Ann Margret, Bonnie Rait, Julianne Moore, Bernadette Peters, Sissy Spacek, Toni Collette, Gillian Anderson, Sarah Mclachlan, Little Orphan Annie, The Little Mermaid, and Emily Dickinson.

PATAGONIA BALONeyIA

2007-08-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

When I think of the word gaucho, I think of a pair of loose mid-calf length pants that are not too long, not too short, and not too.... attractive. However, in South American countries the term gaucho is the equivalent of "cowboy." The word gaucho is derived from quechua, a word that means orphan or vagabond. Gauchos were generally nomads of mixed ancestry who lived and worked on the pampas or plains that extends north from Patagonia. Gauchos were known for being great horsemen and in many countries the gaucho is the symbol of an untamed nation much like that of the U.S. cowboy.

Patagonia, the southern most portion of South America is also a word that I know in another context and that context has to do with clothes as well. Patagonia is a company that markets outdoor apparel, selling rugged clothing and accessories to mountain climbers, skiers, and other sports lovers and environmentalists willing to pay extra for their products. Besides the well-known Patagonia (outdoor gear and apparel), the company also sells gear from Lotus Designs (paddling gear), Water Girl (women's sportswear), and Great Pacific Iron Works (outdoor gear and apparel retailer) and is owned by Lost Arrow Corporation.

In 2005 PATAGONIA launched the COMMON THREADS program in which customers can return their worn out baselayers, fleece, and cotton t-shirts to the company for recycling. A very nice and unexplored concept in the corporate world. And that brings me back to the original geographic Patagonia which also was unexplored for quite some time. In fact so very little was known about the area that up until the 18th Century, Patagonia was believed to be inhabited by GIANTS. Eventually it was discovered that Patagonians were tall, but not that tall.

That didn't stop someone from using the concept to make a documentary, Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia. According to the blurb "If it weren't for a series of cataclysmic events, a comet impact being first on the list, our planet could well still be the domain of dinosaurs. Following Pr Rodolfo Coria, a world-reknown Argentinian paleontologist, we visit sites of major discoveries he has contributed to in Patagonia and travel back in time to see these amazing beasts come to life in 3D. Patagonia has given us the largest living animal to ever walk the Earth: the titanesque plant-eating Argentinosaur, and its nemesis, the Giganotosaur, a bipedal carnivore that could easily challenge the famous T-Rex."

Now that sounds as if its already using recycled material.

Romantic Violence

2007-07-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

In the 1960's groups of kids with brushed skulls began appearing on the streets of London. The original skinheads were influenced by Jamaican rude boy gangs, and adopted skinny suspenders or braces, work boots and shaved heads as symbols of their rejection of Carnaby Street Hippies and the latest fashions. A racially mixed group, the skinheads tended toward brawling, vandalism, and football hooliganism, but there was an undercurrent of anti-immigration sentiment and some "Paki-bashing." The culture faded during the 1970’s, largely due to a crackdown from the police; however, a second wave of skinheads emerged in the 1980’s during the British punk explosion. Popular Skinhead musician, Ian Stuart Donaldson of the band Screwdriver played a key role in transforming the subculture into a racist movement. Donaldson organized a political action group called White Noise that became an outlet for the politics of the right wing British National Front. This racist influence caused a schism in the skinhead culture that remains to this day.

At the present time there are two distinct skinhead cultures, each group embraces the same fashions and style, but do not share ideologies. Non racist skinheads are often referred to as Trads or traditional skinheads while racist skinheads are popularly known as neo-Nazi skinheads or simply racist skins. Traditional skinheads have a subgroup, SHARPS for Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice. This group is actively anti-racist and works to control racist skins who they call, “Boneheads.”

Shane Meadows new film, This is England begins in the economic rubble of 1980's Britain. Shaun, a troubled 11 year old boy falls in with the local skinhead contingent in a seaside town. Woody, the leader of the pack takes young Shaun under his wing where the boy is quite happy to play at family until another new male role model, Combo appears on the scene. Combo, a racist skin takes the boy into some uncomfortable territory. The story of the child's romance with a subculture that turns ugly mirrors the experiences of Meadows himself who was a skinhead in the 1980's. Perhaps the Meadow's story is a classic tale. The first racist skinhead crew in the U.S. was called "Romantic Violence" a poetic sounding name that is testimony to the group's melding of style to violent ethos, a combination that still attracts young people to the skinhead subculture.

The Billy Goat Tavern

2007-07-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

The Curse of the Billy Goat has its its roots in the 1945 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers. According to the legend, William Sianis a Greek immigrant took his pet goat, Murphy to the Series, but instead of sitting in their seats, Sianis and the goat walked out on to the playing field to garner publicity for Siani's tavern that was across the street. It didn't take long before both man and goat were escorted off by ushers. The pair returned to their seats, but orders came down from the Cub's owner, Philip Knight Wrigley to eject Sianis because the "goat smelled bad." After Wrigley insulted the goat Sianis placed a curse on the team, saying that the Cubs would never win another pennant or play in another World Series at Wrigley Field. The Cubs eventually lost the 1945 World Series and have not been back to the championship series since. Sianis' nephew has paraded a goat around the field a few times in an attempt to break the curse without any luck.

The Billy Goat Tavern was immortalized on Saturday Night Live when John Belushi and Bill Murray developed a skit that centered around the tavern's menu and hasty ordering system. The "Cheeseburger!Cheeseburger! Pepsi! No Coke!" routine put the tavern on the map, making it a favorite of tourists visiting the windy city. John Belushi was a comedic genius who got his start in the Second City Troupe in Chicago. His big break came when he was cast in National Lampoon's Lemmings in 1972, he then went on to SNL and fame. Belushi was only 33 when he died, his tombstone reads, "I may be gone, but Rock 'n Roll lives on."

The Casting Couch

2007-07-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

Long before Joey on Friends was forced to sleep with a studio executive in order to get a part in a daytime soap the casting couch was a part of Hollywood mythology. Allegations that sexual favors are fair trade in Hollywood though are more than unsubstantiated rumor. The history of the casting couch goes back to the Silent Era. Tales that stars like Charlie Chaplin and John Wayne made ample use of starlet "audition" are more than just conjecture. But back then women were subject to sexual harassment whether they worked in Hollywood or Hoboken.

Incidently, The Casting Couch is also the name of a mysterious "stag" film that was purported to feature Joan Crawford. According to Hollywood legend MGM was blackmailed into paying a quarter million dollars for the film. The story goes that after MGM bought the rights to the film, the only existing copy was destroyed. One of the earliest star-attributed porn films to circulate widely was a 1950's era nudie loop of a woman who looked like a young Marilyn Monroe.

The film known as "The Apple Knockers and the Coke" shows a woman doing a striptease, rolling an apple on her chest, and then sipping a soda. Actually the pseudo-porn-star of the film was in reality an early Playboy model. In the Sixties and Seventies there were rumors aplenty about star nudie tapes, but none actually surfaced. The 1980's brought us Party at Kitty's and Stud, with a rather big nosed Sylvester Stallone and of course, The Rob Lowe 1988 Hotel Tapes. Today of course there is the Internet and porn videos of Britney, Kevin, Paris, Tom Sizemore, Tommy Lee, Tonya Harding, Screech, and everyone else you never wanted to see.

I am a Curious Happy

2007-07-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

Are you one of those people who pokes around in dresser drawers, rummages in the glove box when you're left in the car or just can't help but look in a stranger's medicine chest when you're at a party? Curious fellow are we? Curiosity is a natural instinct. We all want to learn, explore, inquire. Right? Sometimes I think that I'm a little more curious than most folks. What am I curious about? Definitely not the contents of medicine cabinets or dresser drawers. I'm interested in the new, the novel, and the unknown in all shapes and forms.

I'm aware that many people see curiosity as a child-like trait modeled by inventors or scientists. I'm no Einstein, but I must say that I am rarely bored and I can focus. Whether I'm ferreting out information on new films, learning the principles of floral design or teaching myself HTML in 48 hours, people often accuse me of having too active an intellect.
Relax," they say. A comment that never fails to amaze me. Relax? I am relaxed. But the doubting Thomas' just shake their heads. Now I'm getting some support from an outside source. According to a recent study reported in Psychology Today, curiosity seekers like me report finding a greater sense of meaning in life, which is a better predictor of sustainable, lasting happiness. What accounts for the link between curiosity and well-being? The researchers speculate that while dabbling in new activities or subject areas may be uncomfortable at first, curious people are likely to be rewarded for their efforts over the long run. These rewards can be social, like enjoying weekly lunches with friends that you meet in a beginning windsurfing class or intrinsic to the activity itself, as when you master a piano sonata. Because the sheer high of such an accomplishment is its own reward, the curious tend to be highly self-motivated. Developing curiosity though isn't that easy.

Surmounting your fear of failure is the only way. So starting today I recommend that you join me in pursuing a new interest that seems intimidating. Make a pact that you're going to do this. We'll all be happier. Just leave me a note with your suggestions and let me know what we're going to be up to in the next couple of weeks.

Frozen Dead Guy Festival

2007-06-30T19:14:00.000-07:00

People in Colorado party around a cryogenically frozen dead Norwegian known as Grandpa in what is one of the world's weirdest festivals. The people in the small town of Nederland near the city of Denver spend a weekend celebrating Frozen Dead Guy Days. In 1989, Bredo Morstoel, a former landscape architect died in Norway and his grandson Trygve Bauge paid to have the body flown to California, preserved and stored in liquid nitrogen. Four years later, Bauge and his mother Aud Morstoel brought the body to their home in Nederland, 45 miles from Denver and put it on ice in a garden shed. Their hope was to build a cryogenics laboratory to bring him back to life in the medically advanced future.

When Nederland passed a law to prohibit the storage of frozen people within city limits, they could not make this ban retrospective. So the body was adopted by the town, while his relatives left America. Since then the town adopted the body in a very strange way.When the shed was just about to fall down, a local storage company donated a replacement and a Denver radio station raised money to maintain it.

The town now re-enacts the whole saga with its Frozen Dead Guy Days festival, complete with coffin races, snow sculpting and a grandpa Bredo lookalike contest. There's even a Champagne tour of the new shed with the body is kept, a rib-eating contest and a "Thaw Your Bones" chili cook-off.

Ice Palace

2007-06-29T17:39:00.000-07:00

It's carnival time, you know. First in ten years. And there's an ice palace they're building now that's the first they've had since eighty-five. Built out of the blocks of the clearest ice they could find -- on a tremendous scale.

The Ice Palace
F. Scott Fitzgerald

The first ice palace was built in St. Petersberg by Empress Anna in 1740 to celebrate Russian victory over the Turks. Ice trees, ice birds, and ice furniture were all part of the attraction. Celebratory events included a procession, a mock wedding, and a couple forced to sleep over night in the castle where they nearly froze to death. If you visit St. Petersburg today you can view a copy of the original ice castle for 150 roubles or about 5 bucks.Throughout the U.S., ice palaces are often built as part of a region's winter festivities. In Eagle River, Wisconsin volunteers put in more than 700 “man hours” each winter to cut nearly 3000 12-inch-thick ice blocks from a local lake to build a huge ice palace. The Eagle River Ice Palace has become a popular attraction for both locals and visitors who travel along Hwy. 45.

F. Scott's Fitzgerald's story, The Ice Palace is from his collection, Flappers and other Philosophers and was first published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1922. Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul in 1896. Fitzgerald's family lived in Buffalo New York for a few years, but eventually moved back to Minnesota when his father was fired from a job at Proctor & Gamble. The Ice Palace is about conflicted values, historical and cultural memory, and of course as all things Fitzgerald--two star crossed lovers.

Colorado had its famous Crystal Palace built on a rise above Leadville, Colorado. It was the largest such ice structure ever built. The crystal castle had a ballroom, a skating rink, a restaurant, a dance floor, a theatre, and a carousel house. The castle was begun on November 1, 1895 with a crew of 250 men. The palace was more than 58,000 square feet and made with 5,000 tons of ice. The towers reached 90 feet high and the structure stood on 5 acres of ground. The castle entertained more than 250,000 visitors until an early thaw. The site was finally cleared with dynamite.

Mutiny on the Columbia Eagle

2007-06-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

Protest against the U.S. Government took many forms during the Vietnam War, but none was quite as bizarre as what happened on March 14, 1970 when in the first U.S. mutiny in over 150 years, two sailors hijacked the merchant ship, S.S. Columbia Eagle. The boat was loaded with napalm and on its way to deliver to U.S Air Force bases in Thailand when Clyde McKay and Alvin Glatkowski claiming to have a live bomb forced the crew to abandon ship before sailing into Cambodian waters. Once there the men anchored 15 miles off shore where they were soon joined by the naval vessel, Denver and the Coast Guard cutter, Mellon.

In a clear case of delusional thinking, the hijackers believed that they would be welcomed with open arms by the Cambodian government. They arrived just as Cambodian ruler, Prince Sihanouk was deposed by a right wing coup. Instead of finding asylum in Cambodia, the men became prisoners of the Phnom Penh regime. Following the incident, a rumor began to circulate that the mutiny was in reality a CIA ruse to deliver weapons to depose Sihanouk. Eventually, Glatkowski was extradited to the United States where he stood trial and was sentenced to prison. McKay escaped before he could be extradited, along with a shadowy deserter named Larry Humphrey. The two men disappeared and more rumors circulated. In November of 1970 both were declared missing and in the ensuing years no information about their fate has been released. In a book about the incident, "The Eagle Mutiny" the authors claim that McKay's remains were discovered and returned to his family in 2005. Coverage of the incident of the Columbia Eagle was skewed and Glatkowski and McKay were often referred to as "two pill popping and marijua- na blowing hippies" to discredit their motivation.

Syphilis and My Black Book

2007-06-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

Back in the olde days when male sexuality was defined in terms of "conquests" and belt notches, guys used to jot down notes about dates in a little black book. Now they have a website where they can store, analyze, upload photos, chart, graph, and print personal reports on sexual encounters.

Launched in 2004, My Black Book is a secure online sexual history tracker with almost 2,000 registered members. In 2006, the website went a step further and brought out VDnote (short for venereal disease notification), a program that gives odds on contracting venereal disease by comparing a user's sexual behavior to national statistics. The United States has the highest rate of sexually transmitted disease (STD) among industrialized countries. 12 million Americans acquire a STD every year; 1 out of 3 Americans will acquire an STD in their lifetime. Pretty nasty statistics if you ask me.

Unfortunately, the history of sexually transmitted disease is one with a rather broad dividing line between genders. This month Michael Lowenthal published a book, Charity Girl on a little known and fogotten bit of history. During and following WW I over 30,000 teenaged girls, many with venereal disease were rounded up and interned in reformatories and prisons. The "purity campaign" was the result of a number of factors, but chief among them was a reaction to women's changing roles in society at the advent of WWI and comprehensive military physical exams. In the context of a nation at war, sexually active women were percieved as a threat to U.S troops. In the campaign instituted by Woodrow Wilson over 30,000 women were arrested and 15,000 who tested positive for venereal disease were imprisoned. Lowenthal's 336 page book is a work of fiction about an imagined "charity girl" but the fate of the real girls was given scant attention by history and few documents remain.

Prison:License Plates

2007-06-12T16:41:00.000-07:00

License plates have been around for quite some time and every country uses them to keep track of vehicle registrations. The Netherlands gets the award for introducing the first tags in 1898. Each U.S. State has a unique design that belongs to that state alone. Most reflect some heartfelt message of stately pride. Thus Georgia has a peach, Arizona has a cactus, Indiana a grain field, and Mississippi has a lighthouse. Lighthouse? There are a variety of laws pertaining to the tags that depend on jurisdiction. Some States require both a front and rear plate: New York. Others will let you skate with only one: North Carolina.

If you have an interest in license plate, you can COLLECT them. Many people do. Their plate collections are varied and often historical. There is a children's game with which we are all familiar. It requires hunting for out of state plates as you speed down the highway. There's a COOL website where you can pretend that you are in prison making license plates. Make your own like I did or just check out the neat ones from other folks. Someone named Kristin made more than a few. Who can blame the girl. Making license plates is fun.Some states still use prisoners to make license plates. Nevada actually has a prison industries tax for lost and damaged plates. Most states have put their inmates to work, but not pounding metal plates.California raises a hefty sum each year, somewhere in the 150 million dollar range from prison farms and factories. You can check out some of the Iowa prison products on the web or Arizona.

Looks a lot like WalMart to me. (In more ways than I can count) What do they pay these guys? Back in the day, license plates were hammered out by convicts using elbow grease and giant presses. Today the inmates all use a digital process.

Adventures of Tintin

2007-06-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

Looks like Hollywood still can't get enough of comic books and their erstwhile heroes. The Adventures of Tintin a series by Belgian artist Herge (Georges Remi) will be the latest to hit the big screen. Steven Speilberg and Peter Jackson have teamed up to direct two animated versions of the classic kids comic strip about an intrepid cub reporter, Tintin and his fluffy dog, Snowy. First issued in the 1930's, The Adventures of Tintin is one of Europe's most popular and enduring comics.

The creator of Tintin, Georges Prosper Remi was born in 1907 in Brussels, Belgium. He got his start as a cartoonist when he was asked to produce a children's supplement for the Catholic newspaper, LeXXe Siecle. Remi was pegged a collaborator following World War II because he had posted his comic strip in the Nazi sham newspaper, Le Soir during the occupation of Belgium. Like many others who acted in a similar fashion, Remi was barred from newspaper work for two years, and was only able to return to publishing with the help of resistance fighter, Raymond LeBlanc.

The series ran from 1929-1976 and several of the early comics (The Adventures of Tintin in the Congo and Tintin in the Land of the Soviets) have been demed racist, so it seems likely that Speilberg and Jackson will choose one of the later adventures to film. Speilberg has held rights to the series for twenty-five years having optioned them in 1982, the year before the cartoonist died. Jackson is currently working on The Lovely Bones and Speilberg on the fourth Indiana Jones movie, and it is a likely toss up on who will start work first.

Bar Stories

2007-06-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

BUY NOW

Bar Stories
Edited by: Nan Byrne
Price: $14.00 (US)

"Whether you're carousing in LA, New York, or Boise, Idaho, you'll recognize your favorite watering hole in this glorious new book. Bar Stories has all the hook-ups, fall downs, colorful characters, and laughs of a great night of the town."

Chris Lukic, editor of NewYorkOnTap.com.

Huzzah! Pretty soon Bar Stories will be coming your way in a brand new form. I've just finished editing this wonderful collection of stories by 14 fine writers. The book is a great read that's full of light-hearted tales about bar life and bar culture. You are bound to recognize your favorite watering hole and the everyday foibles of bar patrons, bartenders, and a colorful cast of characters. The book is currently available from AMAZON. Keep your eyes peeled for appearances on online shopping spots, bookstores, and your favorite websites. If you enjoy reading Bar Stories posts then I hope you'll pass along the good news on your blogs and websites. Link to the Amazon page. Also don't forget to ask for the book at your local bookseller. We hope to schedule some readings around the country. We may hit the road too. If you're interested in setting one up at a pub near you, please contact me at barstories@hotmail.com. Wouldn't it be fun to sit around your favorite stopping off place and hear a few great stories with names like---"Hiccup Tricks" or "The Glanton Gang" or "The Beauties of Drink"?
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Who The #$%& is Jackson Pollack

2007-05-24T02:23:00.000-07:00

Hamsters and squirrels are two animals that are well known for hoarding food. Although the type of hoarding for hamsters (larder hoarding) is different than that for squirrels (scatter haording), the behavior is a natural one for each species. For humans however, hoarding is clearly a symptom of a deeper problem. Unlike animals, people who hoard seem to collect useless stuff. We all have a "junk drawer," but for these folks, homes and yards are excessively cluttered with debris and they are often live in squalor. Hoarding behavior in humans may be the product of several mental disorders, but at the root are feelings of fear and dread. Hoarders are usually excesively attached to their possessions. Family members may tag hoarders with innocuous labels such as "packrat" or "eccentric," but in truth, a compulsive hoarder is a breed apart. The Collyer Brothers of New York City were famous hoarders. In 1947 the brothers were found dead in a Harlem townhouse filled to the rafters with over 100 tons of garbage.

Who the $#%& is Jackson Pollack? is a documentary about 73 year old Teri Horton. Horton, a truck driver and self proclaimed pack rat who likes to go dumpster diving for fun, visits a thrift store where she picks up a painting for five bucks. Pretty soon Teri is convinced her painting is a Jackson Pollack worth millions. The movie is about Teri's battle with the art world, but if you watch closely, I think you will see in Teri, the hallmarks of a pretty classic hoarder.

Medium

2007-05-18T04:23:00.000-07:00

Patricia Arquette's fictional character on the NBC television series Medium was inspired by real life psychic from Arizona, Allision DuBois. Dubois came to the attention of producers after she wrote Don't Kiss Them Goodbye claiming to have solved crimes for a wide variety of law enforcement agencies including the Texas Rangers.

In the real world, relationships like those in Medium rarely exist. Police departments are often skeptical about working with psychics, except as an avenue of last resort. Law enforcement cynicism stems from the nature of the information they are given by psychics which often proves to be either wrong or too vague to be useful. The idea that psychic ability can solve crimes has been around for a long time. In the 1800's when Jack the Ripper was terrorizing the East End of London, spiritualists from all over England held sittings in an attempt to learn the killer's identity.

One of the most famous cases of psychic detective work was the mysterious disappearance of Nell Cropsey. In 1901, young Nell Cropsey, 19 vanished from her riverfront home in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Rumors about Nell's fate abounded including tales of kidnapping, drowning, and suicide, but authorities wisely focused on a jilted boyfriend, Jim Simpson. However, even under heavy questioning Simpson refused to confess. In the midst of the investigation with the town in a fever pitch, a psychic sent word that Nell had been taken away on a boat. Soon a spiritualist from Norfolk, Va., named Madame Snell Newman, said that Jim had killed Nell. He had used chloroform, wrapped her in a blanket, and then driven her out into the country where he'd killed her. The body was in a deep well near an old house. The psychic also claimed Jim had an accomplice. After a search of wells, the police dragged the river, and Nell's body was found with a bruise on her forehead. Although there was no evidence to link Jim Simpson to the crime, the psychic's pronouncements made it easy to convict him and he spent 15 years in jail. A UNC professor has written a book about the crime,The Mystery of Beautiful Nell Cropsey: A Nonfiction Novel."

Butcher Boys

2007-05-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

In June 1966 Capitol Records released the Beatle's album Yesterday and Today to radio stations with a cover photograph of the band in butcher smocks holding dismembered dolls and hunks of meat. It didn't take long before DJ's began to register complaints about the gruesome cover and the album was quickly pulled from store shelves, but not before some retail sales were made. A few weeks later Yesterday and Today was re-released with a new innocuous cover pasted over the old one. In the past few years albums with the substituted cover have become hot items in the world of Beatle's memorabilia because the innocuous cover is easily removed. Why did the Beatles produce such a macabre cover? The origin of the "Butcher Boys" album cover has always been something of a mystery. Popular rumor says that the Beatles wanted to make a statement about how Capitol had "butchered" their music, but in fact that wasn't true. Yes, Capitol was guilty of greedily rehashing and repackaging Beatles music. But no, the cover was not a protest move by the Beatles. The photograph was taken by Robert Whitaker a friend of Brian Epstein as part of an artistic series about the group. It somehow found its way unfinished on to the album cover. Who made the decision? That's hard to say, but if you are inclined to browse for an answer then take a look at Everything You Always Wanted to Know About The Butcher Cover. And if you have an old Beatles album stored in the attic or you see one for sale at a garage sale---Here's a heads up---an album in good condition can sell for up to $10,000.

Origin of Pie Throwing

2007-04-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

Born in 1893 in Staten Island, NY, Mabel Norman got a job at 14 as an artist's model to support herself. Not long after she caught the eye of Director Mack Sennett and the two began an affair. Mabel's natural flair for comedy convinced Sennett that she was perfect for a lead in one of his short "Keystone" films and the rest was history. Mabel Norman became a huge star and made many films with Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, two Kings of the 1920's box office. Although Mabel ditched Sennett, she unfortunately became addicted to drugs and alcohol and her name became associated with several Hollywood scandals that diminished her popularity, including the death of Director William Desmond Taylor who was murdered in 1922. Whether it was the series of scandals or the short attention span of a fickle public, Norman's career had a short shelf life. Mabel stopped making movies in the late 1920's, and died soon after at the age of 37 of tuberculosis. However, Mabel Norman left a legacy of over 250 films that puts her contribution to early Hollywood films in the same category as women like Mary Pickford. Mabel Norman also made another significant contribution. She is credited with being the first person to throw a cream pie as a gag. Since Mabel's first toss, the act of pie throwing has become a comedy staple, and in the 1970's was elevated from mere slapstick to political performance art when a Yippie, Aron Kay pied Anita Bryant. Since then a diverse group of well-known individuals have been on the receiving end of the hurled pie, including Bill Gates, Calvin Klein, Ralph Nadar, Kenny Rogers, and Anne Coulter. Some pie throwers get off the hook, but some don't---Coulter pressed felony charges against the two Arizonia University students who missed their target last October.

Automats and Dark City

2007-04-27T08:09:00.001-07:00

Ever since Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, I've been wondering about when marizan was first concocted (15th century), cream puffs (17th century), bagels (15th century)---bagels? Ah, the history of food. When did the potato chip come into our lives? Who invented the pop tart? Invented. Not exactly. According to culinary experts, most foods aren't invented, they "evolve." Familar food dishes are actually the result of contemporary twists on old themes. How do we know? Apparently there is a good deal of food research going on and most of it is not being done by professionals, but by average people. These folks are tracking down old family recipes, attempting to reconstruct favorite foods from the olde days, looking for signature dishes, and just satisfying their curiosity about the origin of foods like french fries, ice cream, and jello.

They do their research by picking up old cookbooks at flea markets and garage sales, checking with newspapers and the Patent Office, tracking down elderly restaurant owners, participating in recipe exchanges, and experimenting with various ingredients in their own kitchens. Sometimes food research though just doesn't go anywhere. For instance, Kentucky Derby Pie, egg cream drinks, and any of the original recipes from Horn & Hardart, all seem to be popular research topics that lead to culinary dead ends. For those unfamilar with Horn & Hardart, I am talking about "automats." The last Horn & Hardart automat (200 E 42nd St., NYC) closed its doors April 10, 1991, and for those of you who have never visited--you really missed something. The pop-up glass doors, the gleaming chrome, the nickel coin slots, and the pie! The machines are still available and the concept has returned to NYC at St. Mark's Place, but the atmosphere-- that just can't be recreated, although Dark City did give it a good try.

For those unfamiliar with Dark City, the film mixes fantasy and reality in a nod to Dennis Potter (Singing Detective) and follows a guy who wakes up in a hotel room with no memory, but is being pursued by police as a serial killer. Potter's career deserves a follow-up post, but suffice to say, the film has some pretty decent, albeit strange moments, and is on several critic's "Best Movies" list. Filmed in Australia in an area with some distinctive 1920's features, Dark City has a unique shadowy visual aesthetic.

By the way, the confection that would become Pop Tarts was developed in 1963 by Post cereal from a process of enclosing dog food in foil to keep it fresh without refrigeration. The new cold cereal was called Country Squares. Kellogg, was able to develop their own version a few months later. First known as a fruit scone, Kellogg later changed the name to Pop Tarts, intended to be a pun on "pop art." As for the potato chip, it is believed that the original potato chip recipe was created by a creative chef at Moon's Lake House near Saratoga Springs, New York in 1853.

Commune

2007-04-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

In 1968 several dozen members of San Francisco's Mime Troupe and Digger Movement decided to separate from society and form their own community. The group raised $22,000 to buy 80 acres near Mount Shasta in rural Northern California. Their motto was Free Land for Free People and about a dozen men and women were expected to live at the Black Bear Ranch, but Elsa Marley who established the commune with her husband, Richard, a former union organizer in New York remembers that 40 people showed up and the ranks quickly swelled to 100.

Everyone stayed and both men and women were put to work planting, cutting wood, and building structures. The first winter was harsh. "Living in Harmony" required quite a bit of sacrifice, but weather was the least of the commune's problems. There was little money to spend on outside goods, and a militant free love policy that demanded that no one sleep with anyone for more than two nights in a row led to many fights. Fortunately or unfortunately, the free love rules didn't last and people started pairing off to start families and have babies. Eventually, some got tired of the hand to mouth existence and moved away, some weirdos came, including the bizarre Shiva Lila, a nomadic cult of acid-taking, baby-worshiping hippies. The group was ousted when 100 people demanded they leave.

A documentary, Commune produced and directed by Jonathan Berman details the history of the ranch. Berman uses home movies to trace the commune's history through the lives of the inhabitants. In the process, he explores the freewheelin lifestyle. There's plenty of footage of naked hippies, kids, and celebrities--James Coburn was one of the original financial supporters of Black Bear. Today, the kids are all grown up and their stories make the film very poignant. The utopian dream has been around for a long time and it's a good one----Live in Harmony. Black Bear appears to have worked the hardest at the goal. Reality though often has a way of shattering idealism. Commune was released last year and screened at Sundance, but it is still not available on DVD. Many people have studied the commune movement in the United States. In fact two Berkeley professors are working on a book that came out of a course on "Experiments in Living" at the University. Titled West of Eden, the anthology contains accounts by both scholars and commune residents and looks like an excellent read.

FEMINIST ART

2007-04-10T17:14:00.000-07:00

"Global Feminisms" is the inaugural exhibit at the newly opened Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. A stellar group of about 100 lesser known women artists from around the globe have their work in a suite of galleries that adjoin the permanent installation of Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party" (1974-79). It is very hard to distinguish the genre of "Feminist Art" from other art by women, but the curators at Sackler have tackled the job with some degree of success. Gender issues and art makes for an interesting synergy, but it is often difficult to describe and even harder to categorize.

FEM+IST= ART

On the other coast by some odd coincidence, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles also brings us Feminist Art. "WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution" is an exhibit that focuses on the period bewteen 1965-1980 when radical groups like the Lesbian Art Project took on the male art establishment with dramatic results.

Over The Edge

2007-04-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

Foster City, nestled beside the San Francisco Bay is an affluent planned residential community with shops, restaurants, an elegant central park, and a 144 room Marriott Courtyard hotel. A cult movie, Over the Edge, that depicts suburban teen life is supposed to be based on events that took place in Foster City in the 1970's.

Over the Edge stars Matt Dillon and has a great soundtrack by the Ramones. In the movie, suburban teenagers with time on their hands turn to drugs, rebel against authority and torch the local high school. The movie was so controversial at the time that it was made that although it was finished in 1979 it was never released to theatres, but appeared instead on HBO two years later. The film is reported to have been a favorite of Kurt Cobain's and he apparently was inspired to write the anthem Smells Like Teen Spirit after watching it. With Matt Dillon pushing forty the whole movie is to say the least, a real period piece with skateboards and bell bottoms. The film though is still a popular rental and cult favorite of the Boomer crowd. Pretty trendy.

A recent trend that caught my attention is the group suicide trend in Japan. An article in the current issue of Atlantic will fill you in on this totally insane practice where complete strangers meet over the Internet to commit suicide in cars, usually using charcoal stoves and carbon monoxide to do the job. Last Saturday, nine people died in two cars in central Japan. Experts say that this type of behavior tends to run in cycles and Japan may have more than their share due to the anonymous structure of the society and their sky high suicide rate. In the past several years high unemployment rates in Japan have pushed the suicide statistics over the 30,000 mark annually.

The nightmare has everyone in Japan taking notice and has caught world attention. Statistics from the World Health Organization show that the majority of suicide victims in Japan are not teens, but are males from age 40 to the mid-60s. Many of these men commit suicide after being let go from corporations after years of work and face an inability to find gainful employment because of their age. Ritual suicide has always had a toe-hold in Japan and the potential for dishonoring family seems to be the trigger for the increase in the total rate. The group suicide trend seems to be fueled by something else--perhaps a growing nihilism among affluent Japanese teens or as some suggest the influence of the Internet to set up complex relationships that compound problems. Still others believe that a cult is at work that touts suicidal behavior as some sort of last ditch effort to be accepted. Whatever the reason---it seems that affluence, depression, and the Internet are all variables in the equation.

St. Vitus Dance

2007-04-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

Syndenham's chorea or St. Vitus Dance is a neurological disorder that primarily affects children and adolescents. Characterized by a series of irregular muscle contractions and uncoordinated jerking movements, the disease affects the face, feet and hands. Most often caused by Streptococci bacteria, this type of chorea has been reported to occur in 20-30% of patients with rheumatic fever. Sydenham's is also associated with psychiatric symptoms and obsessive compulsive disorder is the most frequent manifestation. The disease's namesake, Saint Vitus was a Sicilian martyr from the 4th Century, he was tortured and killed along with his nurse at age 12 for refusing to worship idols. For obscure reasons, some 16th century Germans believed they could obtain a year's good health by dancing before a statue of the Saint on his feast day. (June 15) This dancing developed almost into a mania and was confused with the neurological condition which later became known as Saint Vitus' Dance. This connection with "dancing" led to his patronage of dancers, and later to entertainers and in particular to become the patron of Prague, dogs, domestic animals, young people, coppersmiths, actors, comedians, and mummers. His name is also invoked against epilepsy, lightning, poisoning by dog or snake bite, sleeplessness, snakebite, and storms.

Andy Warhol suffered from St. Vitus Dance when he was a child. The illness left him with a full blown case of hypochondria and very blotchy skin. However, these two afflictions were not the least of the artist's problems. Warhol had many phobias, including a fear of hospitals that began after he was shot in 1968 by Valerie Solonas from the group S.C.U.M (Society for Cutting Up Men). Warhol's fear proved not to be groundless. He died in New York Hospital after routine gallbladder surgery in 1987. Apparently Warhol was overloaded with fluids by overzealous or just plain careless attendants, and subsequently died from water intoxication. Warhol's memorial service was held on April Fools Day in Saint Patrick's Cathedral.

Sienna Miller plays Edie Sedgwick in FACTORY GIRL, a biopic released two months ago that chronicles life at Warhol's loft/ home/art studio/party place/film factory on West 47th Street. Sedgwick had many bouts with anorexia and mental illness before dying from a barbituate overdose in 1971. Any number of songs have been written about Edie since her death including, Ciao Baby (The Cult), Little Miss S (New Bohemians), Femme Fatale (Velvet Underground), Just Like A Woman and Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan), but neither the songs nor the new movie seem to provide a lucid account of Edie Sedgewick's ephemeral life.

Bad Birthdays

2007-03-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

Can the month that you are born affect your health? According to a scientific paper reported in The New Scientist, being born in a certain month may increase your risk for certain problems. Seasonal research isn't new, ever since scientists in 1929 reported a correlation between children born in late winter and an increased rate of schizophrenia there have been studies done. We now know that for people born in the northern hemisphere in February, March and April, the risk of developing schizophrenia is between 5 and 10 per cent greater than for those born at other times of the year. In recent research, season of birth seems to be linked to other conditions, too. A study of more than 25,000 suicides in England and Wales found that 17 per cent more people who had committed suicide had birthdays in April, May and June than in the rest of the year. Studies looking at a genetic link found that people with low levels of the serotonin for instance, were more likely to have been born between February and April. So are people who suffer from mood disorders. Novelty seekers are also more often born in April or May. Findings show that season of birth affects basic personality characteristics by influencing the expression or activity of genes that modulate the neurotransmitters for mood, although they doen’t yet know what the key environmental factors might be. Hypotheses abound--viral infection, lack of sunlight, Vitamin D, melatonin spikes, and the affect of temperature on the brain to name a few. As an April baby I must say, my theory is that the end of the regular tv season and the start of reruns is at the root of the problem.

2007-03-28T11:23:00.001-07:00

The Land of Lost Luggage

2007-03-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

We've all been there---staring at the empty baggage carousel waiting for our luggage to appear. Sometimes we get lucky and after a day or two we're reunited with our errant bag. But what about the rest? Most airlines do a good job of trying to track us down, but they only hold bags for 90 days. What happens after that? Why it's off to Scottsboro, Alabama and to ---The Unclaimed Baggage Center. This retail store takes up a city block and has over 7,000 items on sale--anything that was ever stuffed into a suitcase or carted on to plane. About 60% of the store is clothing, but there's also a wall of cameras and other electronics selling for $10 and up. According to the website, some strange items have beem found in unclaimed airline bags, including a mummified falcon's head and a 40 carat emerald. If the sight of all those unclaimed goods up for sale isn't scary enough, there's a website called "Tales of Lost Luggage" where travelers can swap horror stories about missing bags and get annoyed by unrelenting commercial ads. Lost your bag? Feeling miserable? Stop the pain at designer Hideo Wakamatsu's online store and buy a "cart all". These are the most envy worthy suitcases in town. Hmm. Maybe that's the kind of expensive tote that Paris Hilton was pulling when LAX baggage handlers swiped a $10,000 watch. Eleven people including 8 baggage screeners at LAX are being prosecuted for alleged thefts of high ticket items such as cameras, computers, and jewelry. Several celebrities are among the victims, but most thefts were from regular folks.

Born on A Blue Day

2007-03-18T18:53:00.000-07:00

Daniel Tammert has a rare form of Asperger's syndrome that forces him to order his day with such severity that he must measure the exact proportions of the food he consumes and count every item of clothing he is wearing, before he leaves the house. Yet he has written a sensitive memoir, Born on a Blue Day about his experiences. Born with a congenital form of epilepsy Daniel is well known in the UK where a documentary, Brainmman was made about his incredible mental skills. Tammert holds the European record for reciting Pi to 22,514 decimal places, a feat that took 5 hours. Besides his stunning memory skills, Daniel has an exceptional grasp of language, and speaks 9 languages fluently. There is a term for those who have exceptional skill with language, "polyglot." The record for proficiency seems to be 63, held by Ziad Fazah.The facility to translate language can be an important tool especially in times of crisis. In 1917, General Pershing put out an emergency appeal for bi-lingual women telephone operators to join the Signal Corps. Pershing had discovered that men were largely inept at the detailed skills necessary to route and translate switchboard calls for US Troops in France. Almost 7,000, "Hello Girls" volunteered from all over the United States, about 450 were accepted and transported to France. Once there, they began the dangerous work of stringing wire from the trenches. These women wore uniforms, were subject to all Army regulations, and often had to remain at their posts even under intense bombing because their work was crucial to U.S. communication. Although they were the first US female combatants, their bravery was largely ignored despite many petitions to Congress until the 1970's when they were officially recognized as WWI "veterans."

Looking For Jimmy

2007-03-11T18:58:00.000-07:00

With St. Patrick's Day on the horizon I thought it was high time that I set down my work on the anthology Bar Stories for a moment so that I could turn my attention to something a little less demanding, but just as enjoyable. Looking for Jimmy is a new book by Peter Quinn. Quinn hails from the Bronx and is well known for his historical novel, The Banished Children of Eve, as well as his nonfiction explorations of immigration, science, and religion. In his new book, a collection of essays, Quinn takes on the complexities of Irish American history and the roots of the Irish American soul with the narrative sophistication of a great storyteller. The book is a great read.

The title, Looking for Jimmy refers to Jimmy Cagney, the quintessential tough guy actor from 1920's gangster films and a founding member of SAG. A New York born actor he attended Columbia University, and worked in Vaudeville and on the Broadway stage before going to Hollywood.

Cagney was a hit in crime dramas and made over 70 movies. Although he said he didn't consider himself a political "leftist," Cagney lost the role of football coach Knute Rockne because he signed a petition in support of the anti-clerical government in Spain, a fact that irritated Notre Dame who controlled the film rights. This was a career set back for the actor, but he went on to win an Oscar for his role in Yankee Doodle Dandy. Cagney was part of the "Irish Mafia." A group of Hollywood actors that included Pat O'Brien, Spencer Tracy, Jacie Gleason, and others.

There's a new show on television about an Irish American family called, The Black Donnelleys. The real Black Donnellys were participants in a notorious Canadian feud in the 1840's. The original dispute began over land ownership, but quickly descended into murder, revenge, and retribution. The Canadian Donnellys emmigrated from Cork, Ireland and became land squatters near New London. Ontario. When the family patriarch killed a neighbor he was convicted and sent to prison. Town folks however, blamed the entire family for murder. On February 4, 1980, the family homestead was burned to the ground by a vicious mob with several Donnellys inside.

Fundamentalism and the Rise of Hate

2007-02-18T19:23:00.000-08:00

In reaction to the rise in modernism many Christian groups stress a strict and literal adherence to religious principles or in some instances, a rigid adhearance to the Bible, not only in matters of faith and morals but also as a literal historical record. This rigid adherence to principles appears to also incorporate intolerance of other religious views. These conservative Christians are better known as Fundamentalists. 42% of Americans now call themselves Fundamentalist Christians. Say, what?

What's behind the rise in dogma? I personally believe that Fundamentalism just may be the expression of our greatest fear. The fear of conflicting interpretations or fear of doubt and uncertainty. This year a great little documentary from Magnolia Films has been nominated for an Academy Award. Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, Jesus Camp is about a charasmatic or evangelical summer camp for kids. At the camp, the kids learn about the evils of abortion, gay marriage, and other moral threats. The film has had a very limited engagement schedule, but was previewed at the Tribeca Film Festival. There is no voice over narration for the documentary and although the public word is that the film is not agenda laden, there is the overwhelming input of Evangelicals both through the two girls at the center of the documentary and the camp preachers. So the film is a docu--dunk--amentry.

Skrewdriver

2007-02-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

When they first hit the music scene in the late Seventies, Skrewdriver was a confrontational punk band full of working class anger, but sometime in the early Eighties they went haywire and morphed into a front for the racist skinhead movement. Many linked the change from frustrated street band to white power anthem band to founder and chief songwriter, Ian Stuart (Donaldson) who started writing songs spouting a racist skinhead philosophy. Raising the flag for a gang of misfits, Ian Stuart went on to found Blood and Honour a group that distributed the crackpot ideas of the white power movement.

In September 1993, Ian Stuart Donaldson, 36 died in a car crash, but he still remains at the center of "hate music" or racist "Oi" hardcore punk and he has become an icon to Neo-Nazi and racist skinheads all over the world. WP or "white Power' music is an extremely visible and lucrative enterprise for hate groups. Labels like Panzerfaust and Resistance Records sell thousands of white power CDs in the U.S. and abroad. Recent FBI statistics show that: 33% of all known hate crime offenders are under 18; 29% of all hate crime offenders are 18-24; and more than 10% of hate crime incidents reported occurred at schools and colleges. Facts that support the growing concern about the message of "hate music."

There are currently almost 100 Neo-Nazi bands in Germany. A British skinhead group Chingford Attack, has just produced an album containing such songs as "Coon Hunt", "Dirty Black Bastard" and "Jewish Lies." The constantly raising bar for vitriol in hate music has taken many bands underground as both lyrics and intent reach intimidating levels. Although the politics and ideas of racist skinhead groups in the U.S can be tossed off as the work of a mindless bunch of hate mongerers there is no denying the financial impact of "hate music" that sells to many who think far outside racist ideology but respond to the sound. In fact statistics on hate crimes point out that only about 5% of hate crimes are committed by an organized group. Most such crimes are the work of individuals acting on prejudice, but racist music seems to be feeding the hate in more ways than one.

Wild Thing

2007-01-13T19:07:00.000-08:00

The song Wild Thing was written by Chip Taylor, younger brother of Jon Voight and Uncle of Angelina Jolie. Wild Thing was recorded by many artists over the years including Jimi Hendrix, Cheap Trick, and a recent cover by Aerosmith however, the best known version was recorded by the Troggs, a UK band in 1966. In 1967 a parody of Wild Thing was made by a comedy troupe "The Hardly Worthit Players." The tune poked fun at Bobby Kennedy and included the voice of "Senator Bobby" mimicked by comedian Bill Minkin. On the flip side of the 45 was a send-up of Republican Senator Everett Dirkson, a strong supporter of the Vietnam War. Kennedy was assasinated in 1968. Dirkson died the following year. The master tapes for the "Senator Bobby" version of the song were eventually bought by a former manager of the Rolling Stones and they have never been re-released.

There's a new ensemble movie Bobby directed by Emilio Estevez that is getting some Oscar talk. The movie was partially filmed in the old Ambassador hotel. The Ambassador built in 1921 was a Los Angeles landmark located on Wilshire Boulevard. It's Coconut Grove nightclub was a magnet for A list celebrities and many performed there, including Barbara Streisand, Frank Sinatra, and other members of the "rat pack." It was also the site of many of the early Academy Awards ceremonies. Long time residents included Howard Highes, Garbo, and Jean Harlow.

Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968 Bobby Kennedy was killed in the hotel's kitchen following a campaign speech. The seven story hotel fell into decline following the assassination, eventually closing in 1989. Following the closure the hotel became a frequent location for movies. Charlie's Angels, Legally Blonde 2, Pretty Woman, Forest Gump, Mask and many others were filmed on its 27 urban acres or in one of its 455 empty rooms.

The LA school district bought the building in 2004 and will build a Learning Center on the site. A few of the hotel's features will be retained, but most were demolished last year. Diane Keaton and others who fought for preservation of the building held a wake for the hotel in February and several thousand people attended.

Cell Phones and Gas Pumps

2007-01-13T14:01:00.000-08:00

As an eco-unfriendly suburban dweller who has to commute to work I spend lots of my time in gas stations filling up the gaping pie hole in the side of my car. I have to tell you that pumping gas is one of my least favorite chores. First, in case you haven't noticed it's cold outside, then there's the price, and now if you believe the latest news reports I'm in danger of being turned into a flaming inferno if I answer my cell phone. Or not? Are those news reports and little cardboard signs, "Turn Off Cell Phones" really right or is this just another urban legend? Could a ringing cell phone ignite the vapor in my tank? Not bloody likely. Looks like "cell phones ignite gas vapors" is an urban myth. According to studies most gas station fires are sparked by static electricity. The most common cause of static buildup? Re-entering your vehicle while refueling.

Now for something that isn't a myth and that will save you some money. Gas pumps measure fuel dispensed by volume, but depending on the temperature and density of the gasoline we may spend more or less. So, people living in hotter climates get less bang for their buck. Colder climates get more gas for their buck. It's simple physics-- as gasoline heats up in the storage tanks, it expands, becoming less dense. The difference is slight, but can add up, especially since the gas is kept between 61- 82 degrees in most underground tanks. In fact, U.S. consumers are estimated to overpay for "hot air" gasoline to the tune of $2.5 billion each year. The problem could be fixed. They have already addressed the issue in Canada where pumps are adjusted for temperature, but U.S. gas stations continue to drag their heels.

Jack Palance

2007-01-11T13:05:00.000-08:00

"Never Throw a Cat at Me Again"

Jack Palance's craggy face, sinister eyebrows, and deadpan delivery made him a "one of a kind" actor of the old school. Born Walter Jack Palahnuik in 1919 to Ukrainian-Polish parents Palance worked as a coal miner and then as a professional boxer before joining the Army Air Corps during WWII. Not long after his enlistment Palance was injured in a military training exercise when his B-24 stalled on a runway and caught fire. After his recovery Palance studied drama and graduated from Stanford University in 1947 with a Bachelor's Degree. After a few minor acting parts Palance's big break came when he replaced Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski in the Broadway production of Streetcar Named Desire. At 6' 4" the strapping actor was often typecast as a screen villain, but he also received acclaim for his roles including an Academy Award nomination for Shane. Palance eventually won the Oscar statuette at the age of 74 for City Slickers. Although he was known for his acting ability Palance painted landscapes, appeared regularly in commercials, recorded a country album, and published a book of poems. He died of natural causes late last year. Most of his estate was up for auction in October including his collection of more than 1400 books.

Palance was married twice and once "dated" Mamie Van Doren, a Fifties icon. Van Doren is still going strong at 70 and has the looks of a former Hollywood Sex Symbol. (Albeit with copious plastic surgery) According Van Doren in her blog "Bedtime Stories":

We left the restaurant and went dancing at a large dance hall not far away. After dancing for a while we went to Jack's car, parked in a far, dark corner of the parking lot. Rain had begun to fall and the weather had turned cold. Whatever cold I felt from the weather outside was burned out by the heat I felt from passion inside. We plunged into each other's arms and began necking furiously. We slipped out of our clothes. Thank God bucket seats had not yet become standard equipment in American cars! Though Jack is a big man, he handled me gently, like I was a china doll. He kissed fabulously. As we made love, he was tender and strong at all the right times. I watched the raindrops trickle down the windshield as we climaxed together. Jack and I dated one more time. I've forgotten now where we went, but I'm sure we ended up in the front seat of that convertible again, cramped between the arm rests on the doors like a couple of teenagers.

What's In a Name?

2007-01-07T16:02:00.000-08:00

Proper names are important human identifiers that distinguish one individual from another. Naming conventions vary, but research studies have shown that names exert an important influence over the way we think about ourselves and the way others treat us. In the entertainment industry the "right name" can mean the difference between career success or failure and for many performers assuming a stage name or changing a birth name is a right of passage.

For instance, does the name "Demetria Gene Guynes" have the same cachet as Demi Moore? How about Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra vs Meg Ryan or Winona Laura Horowitz vs Winona Ryder? Would you prefer Anna Mae Bullock over Tina Turner? Both the Screen Actors Guild and the British Equity Association have rules that prohibit actors from having the same working name, but many actors change their name to avoid confusion with another actor (Michael Douglas = Michael Keaton) or to to distance themselves from family (Nicolas Coppola = Nicolas Cage) to avoid discrimination (Marion Morrison = John Wayne) or just to replace a hard to pronounce name (Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko = Natalie Wood).

Actors may be on to something important too, according to the latest social science studies names are a potent aspect of human relations, and there may in fact be no coincidence that someone with the last name Foote becomes a podiatrist or that a woman named Georgia moves to Georgia or that all of us may feel a little warmer to consumer brands that share some of the letters of our first names. How does all this happen? Well, we or our brains it seems are just "pig headed" and delusional" according to a book I have just finished reading, A Mind of It's Own by Cordelia Fine. Ah, if that were only the whole answer. I'll let you read the book to find out more and while I'm at it I'll add another fact to the pile. Humans aren't the only ones on the planet capable of naming ourselves. According to National Geographic, it seems that Dolphins give themselves names and use distinctive whistles to identify each other and of course there are are your friends, the Feline species. I have never known a cat that would come when you called its name--now what does that mean? Perhaps in the cat world "Sparky" is what they call a fire plug.

Pretty in Pink

2007-01-03T18:17:00.000-08:00

Prison couture has changed quite a bit from the Thirties when the baggy striped prison pajamas that we all know and love went out of style. Today prisoners are clothed in everything from khaki pants and blue jeans to the ubiquitous orange, red, and even pink jumpsuits. Yes, I said, pink. In attempt to curtail recidivism, sheriffs in Texas and Arizona have resorted to "humiliating" male prisoners with pink clothing. Why is the color pink soooo humiliating? Well, the current gender convention is that "blue is for boys" and "pink is for girls," and we all know that any man placed in a pink garment will be sexually deactivated right on the spot. Right? Who do we have to blame for this gender color nonsense? Actually, let's blame the Nazis. In their insane uber human coding scheme the Nazis pasted Jews with yellow stars, Catholics with blue, and homosexuals were forced to wear small pink triangles. So gay=feminine=pink? Maybe. Actually, the origin of the pink and blue stereotype is hard to pin down. Rumor has it that early in the Twentieth Century pink was associated with males and blue with females because blue was a more delicate color and pink since it is derived from red is well, strong. Other rumors suggest that blue dye was more valuable and pink dye more readily accessible, blue is the color of the sky and closer to God, pink is softer and more human, and so on and so forth. Amazing what we can come up with when we have our stereotypes firmly in place. But why are we compelled to differentiate our children by gender sometimes from the time of conception? Now that's a good question, but I am already thinking about something else important. The movie "Pretty in Pink." Pretty in Pink starring Molly Ringwald was directed by John Hughes in 1986. Hughes who wrote the hilarious National Lampoon Vacation movies also brought us a cavalcade of memorable teen angst in the films, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Uncle Buck. He went on to score big with the Beethoven franchise, Home Alone, and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Unfortunately Hughes hasn't directed a worthy feature since the early 90's instead he has busied himself with mindless family comedy such as Dennis the Menace, Home Alone 2 & 3, Curley Sue, and Flubber. In defense of his genius though I must say he has just released the last documentary in a trilogy of films about the leftist Australian Realist Film Unit , one of his early influences. Critical reviews of the films are hard to find, but just to be safe I'd bring your pillow and blanket.

Jesus Appears On Laundry Room Door

2006-12-31T10:23:00.000-08:00

Jesus Appears on Laundry Door
by Kelvin Healey
December 31, 2006 12:00am
Herald Sun, Australia

A devout Christian has claimed the face of Jesus has materialised on his laundry door."It's a photo that just appeared that looks like Jesus," the Geelong man, who wants to be known only as Danny, said."It is a male, with a beard and longish hair. It is something very unusual, very strange." But the claim has been slammed by a Geelong Catholic priest, who said it brought ridicule on Christians.Danny said the 30cm face appeared about three years ago, two years after he moved into the Norlane home. Father Kevin Dillon, a priest at Geelong's St Mary of the Angels Catholic church, is unconvinced. "If you want to see a human face you can do that, (but) why you would say it is an image of Jesus is anybody's guess," he said.

Hound Dog

2006-12-28T08:16:00.000-08:00

The child actress, Dakota Fanning is as cute as a button and every little girl's idol. On her website "Lovely Dakota" fans can choose a Dakota avatar, try on Dakota's wardrobe, scroll through albums of Dakota pictures, play games that Dakota likes and enjoy according to the webscript, "everything Dakota" without actually being Dakota. Good thing too. In the young actor's new sexually charged independent drama, tentatively titled Hounddog or Hound Dog depending on who you ask, Dakota will play Lewellen, a motherless "woman-child" who in the film's most controversial scene is raped by an older boy after she is lured by the promise of tickets to an Elvis concert. Following the release of key scenes from the film's screenplay to the Daily News, Hound Dog's writer- director, Deborah Kampmeier and the child star are now treading through a family values minefield.

Besieged by morality groups, inundated by petitions calling for criminal charges, and likely shunned by audiences, the pair have been fighting a losing PR battle. Former child actor Paul Peterson of Donna Reed fame has even chimed in with a three part essay about Dakota. The issue of course is whether the eleven year old Dakota suffered emotional damage in making the film via her "pretend" sexual assault scene and another scene that involves mutual masturbation. Kampmeir's response to the criticism is that in the scenes in question Fanning wore a flesh body suit and the sequences were not shot at once, but in increments to avoid unnecessary trauma to Fanning.

The vehement reaction however continues with Fanning, Kampmeir and others connected with the production, in particular Fanning's mother and agent, Nicole receiving tons of hate mail. The movie is currently without a distributor and although it is set to premiere at Sundance, even the title may change if rights to the Elvis title are not hammered out. Although on some level the controversy seems to be about middle American morality clashing with Hollywood artistic sensibilities I would hazard to guess that the reaction is a healthy one. The public has a right to keep tabs on filmmakers. Not long ago (where are they now?) child stars were mere chattel in Hollywood money making schemes.

One doesn't haven't to go back too far to remember the tragic figures of Judy Garland, Linda Blair, and yes, Lindsay Lohan. I'm probably the only one on the planet who has any sympathy left for the partying "she devil," but actually I think Lindsay is a classic example of "child star" syndrome. Going naked in public, boozing, and brief sexual affairs are the sad legacy of children who were never able to erect ego boundaries between themselves and the adults they were expected to please.

Hunting Poodles

2006-12-11T19:11:00.000-08:00

This anti-Kerry NRA advertisement appeared a couple of years ago during the 2004 Bush-Kerry Presidential election campaign. The ad was meant as some kind of undefined class attack on John Kerry, but for those of us who own poodles and call them friends, the ad's copy just didn't make sense. (Not that the NRA has ever made much sense about anything) Standard Poodles are, for the uninformed, natural hunters, with or without the fancy haircut. Long parodied in the popular culture as high strung show dogs with finicky tastes, the Standard Poodles is in fact, a highly intelligient dog with a nose for the hunt. As this recent news article, "Hunting Poodles Are A Breed Apart" points out. Poodles can do just about anything that they set their minds to and their owners (me) can teach them. So, now you know that I really like dogs, but I guess, not as much as some women. Case in point, a new Indie, Sleeping Dogs Lie. What can you say about a movie that has Melinda Paige Hamilton giving her pet a blow job (offscreen) in the first scene? What can you say about a movie that was written and directed by comedian Bobcat Goldthwait? What can you say really when that single outlandish act and Hamilton's subsequent confession is the premise of a whole movie? Sleeping Dogs Lie is the ultimate low budgeter with amateurish camera work, and an adolescent script and POV. Despite the fawning by some critics, who I think, must be getting their own BJs, Goldthwait's movie reminds me once again how low the creative bar has been set by some Indie filmmakers.

Disappeared and Reunited: Cautiva

2006-12-08T08:35:00.000-08:00

During the "Dirty War" in Argentina from 1973-1976 over 30,000 people were taken from their homes and never seen again. Most of those kidnapped were illegally detained in camps tortured, killed, and had their bodies hidden. The "desaparecidos" as they are called in Spanish were victims of government terrorism. If you visit the website of Project Disappeared you will find a long list of names and accompanying pictures. Decades later there are few recorded accounts of the fate of the desaparecidos, but personal testimony has revealed that the government systematically erased records, disposed of bodies at sea, and through false documentation attempted to obscure the history of those illegally detained. Unfortunately, many of the desperecidos were pregnant or mothers with young children.The execution of 30,000 people is a nightmare in itself, but what happened to the born and unborn children of these women defies comprehension. Allowed to live only until they gave birth, the women were then executed, and their babies adopted by military couples, many directly responsible for their deaths.

A search for the children of the desaparecidos began with the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. You can read about the Disappeared and Reunited: The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo - here. Sadly, because of forged adoption records many of the missing children have not been located, some are believed to be in the U.S. There is a new indie movie, Cautiva that tackles the subject through the eyes of a fifteen year old. In the movie, an adopted girl discovers the true story of her birth---she is the child of a "college couple" who were murdered by the Argentinian junta. Cautiva is the debut of director, Gaston Biraben, and is being billed as a political thriller. However, I suspect that if the script holds to the truth of the events there will be no way that audiences will be able to separate the fictional account from the nightmare events in Argentina. When you see the movie be prepared to be politically educated.

Doube Dare

2006-12-03T07:39:00.000-08:00

The Flying Wallendas got me thinking about stunts. There is this really good independent movie about Hollywood stuntwomen called, Double Dare that debuted at the 2004 Toronto Film Festival. The documentary takes a look at the lives of two stunt women, Jeannie Epper, stunt double for the Wonder Woman Show in the 1970's and a working stunt woman, and Zoe Bell, a nineteen year old rookie and New Zealander. The documentary from Runaway Films was directed by Amanda Micheli and has interviews and some great action stunts. The film confronts the issues of agism and sexism in Hollywood, but does it in a very funny and intimate manner as it examines the lives of these two women who face some of the challenges of very ordinary women, one trying to hold on to her career as a stuntwoman and the other trying to break in to the business. The movie made the 2005 Rotten Tomatoes "Best Of" list and got scores of great reviews. A little long at 3 hours and 30 minutes, but get yourself a pillow as the film is well worth checking out. Speaking of stuntwomen, probably no one remembers Heidi Von Peltz, but she is a remminder what a very dangerous business film making can be. She was a stuntwoman in the 1980's who was severely injured in an accident during the filming of Cannonball Run. The accident happened in Las Vegas when an Aston Martin that had been switched from left to right hand drive performed badly during a stunt. The car was supposed to veer to the left at about sixty miles per hour, but the steering column locked. The stunt driver could not get the wheel to turn and the car hit an oncoming stunt van head on. Heidi, age 25 was a passenger in the van. She was paralyzed from the neck down. After long years of rehabilitation Heidi went on to write a book, My Soul Purpose and found the Follow Your Heart Foundation for people with severe muscular disorders.

The Flying Wallendas

2006-12-01T22:22:00.000-08:00

The Wallendas were a family of dare devil circus aerialists who toured the US and Europe in the 1930's and 40's as headliners for the Ringling Brothers Circus. Karl Wallenda, the patriarch of the clan was born in Germany and began his circus career at the age of six. The Wallenda's US debut was in 1928 when they performed in Madison Square Garden without a net. (The net had been lost in shipping) The Wallenda's four person-three level pyramid stunt was wildly popular with audiences and extremly dangerous.

On July 6, 1944 the Wallendas were performing when the worst fire in circus history occurred in Hartford, CT. 168 people lost their lives, and over 700 were injured as flames ignited by an arsonist spread across a big top coated with paraffin for waterproofing, trapping hundreds of circus goers inside. The Wallendas were able to slide down their ropes and run to safety.
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The most well known victim of the Hartford fire was a little girl with blonde curls known only as "Little Miss 1565" who although she was not burned at all, was never identified. The mystery of "Little Miss 1565" has been explored in several books about the fire including, Stewart O'Nan's, The Circus Fire: A True American Tragedy

In 1947 Karl Wallenda developed a spectaculor seven person chair pyramid. In the stunt, four men stood on the wire and on top of their shoulders were two men yoked together, at the top of the pyramid was a young woman riding in a chair. The seven person pyramid was performed successfully for almost a decade. However, on January 30, 1962 in a performance at the Detroit State Fair, the front man on the pyramid lost his balance and the pyramid collapsed in front of the horrified audience. Three men fell to the ground, two were killed instantly and one, Karl's adopted son Mario was paralyzed. Karl Wallenda and his brother, Herman balanced on the second level fell to the wire, the girl fell on Karl Wallenda who held her until a net was hastily erected.

Karl Wallenda eventually became a "sky walker" performing on a wire stretched between buildings and across stadiums. At age 78, he was killed when he fell from a wire in Puerto Rico in 1978. The cause of the accident was not lack of skill, but several misconnected guy wires. The Wallendas never stopped performing after Karl's death, after a reshuffle of performers they continue the act with the original seven person pyramid as well as a new set of thrills. Mario Wallenda who was paralyzed in the 1962 accident even went on to "walk" a wire across the Chicago River a few months ago.

Speed Racer

2006-11-29T19:01:00.000-08:00

Andy and Larry Wachowski are set to shoot a live action adaptation of the classic "Speed Racer." Best known for the Matrix Series and V is for Vendetta, the brothers grew up in Chicago and were house painters before getting into films. After the success of Matrix, Larry Wachowski married Thea Bloom, an actress and built a big Hollywood house, but by 2003 the pair were in divorce court after Larry Wachowski became involved with a professional dominatrix, Ilsa Strix. Strix, queen of the master/slave play book and a mainstay at the Dungeon, a Hollywood SM playground was also married, to Buck Angel, a female to male transexual.

Although an unusual couple, Strix and Angel were apparently happily married and doing a brisk business in fetish videos until Wachowski happened on the scene. Seems that Wachowski had a double life. Friends say that he had been attending bondage clubs dressed as a woman in drag for quite some time. The bondage community watched cautiously as the Isa-Larry relationship blossomed, but it soon become obvious that the ordinary master slave dynamic was not at work, perhaps due to Larry's million dollar income. Although dominatrixes most often keep their submissives at a distance that was not the case with Larry and Ilsa. The two moved in together and Larry began the hormone path to feminization and a new identity as a female Larry, or Laurenca. A decision I'm sure that was not easily made. The couple keep a low profile appearing only occasionally and may be living in London.

The Longbow and Courtney Love

2006-11-24T18:56:00.000-08:00

In the beginning there was religion, after that came ---Archery. Some historians credit the Welsh for introducing the Longbow into the British Isles around the 14th Century. A well trained Welsh archer was said to be able to shoot more than twenty arrows per minute and cover a distance of over 200 yards. Due to the draw on the longbow, great strength was required and most archers began their training in childhood. There is a rumor that the two fingered V salute began as a sign of defiance when the French cut off the fingers of captured Welsh archers following a battle. When we think of archers, many of us think of William Tell. In the Tell legend, an archer is forced to shoot an apple off his son's head as punishment for a misdeed. William Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch, killed his wife, Joan Vollmer in 1952 in a drunken game of "William Tell." Burroughs, had an on again off again relationship with Vollmer, a female member of the Beats. On the night in question, Vollmer was balancing a water tumbler on her head when the drunken Burroughs decided to take a shot and missed. The couple were living in Mexico at the time. Burroughs was held on murder charges but was later released. Burroughs would call the shooting a "pivotal event" in his career as a writer. Courtney Love played Joan Vollmer and Keifer Sutherland was Burroughs in the 2000 movie, Beat. The movie begins on the night that Lucien Karr, an associate of Jack Kerouac, (Father of Caleb Karr, author of The Alienist) murders David Kammerer in NYC and is full of all the happy goings on of the creative, but drugged out Beat crowd. Directed by Gary Walkow, Beat made a quick move to video after a few hours on the festival circuit. The director, Gary Walkow, has quite a bio in IMDb, apparently his claim to fame is being a "fanatical" croquet player and not only "writing" but publishing a book of poems called, Bad Sex.

51 Birch Street or was that 40 Pine Street?

2006-11-20T20:19:00.000-08:00

In his new release, 51 Birch street (Port Washington, Long Island) filmmaker Doug Block takes a look at his parent's marriage and guess what? He's surprised by what he finds out. Do we really know our parents? Do we really want to know our parents, Doug?

Here's Doug's sad story: "Just a few months after his mother’s unexpected death, his father Mike calls to announce that he's moving to Florida to live with his secretary from 40 years before, Kitty. Mike and Kitty marry and sell the family home, Doug returns to suburban Long Island for one last visit and discovers three boxes filled with his mother's diaries going back 35 years. Realizing that he has only a few short weeks before his dad will be gone, he grabs his camera, determined to investigate the mystery of his parents' marriage."

Here's what Doug finds out:

His parents are more complex and troubled than he ever imagined!
Could such a thing really be true?

And believe it or not, the Dad is 89 and the two reconcile and find out some things about each other and go to Shoprite together and they find out a few things about each other like ....both of them... don't like the Shoprite parking lot!

The documentary "spans 60 years and 3 generations, and weaves together hundreds of faded snapshots, 8mm home movies and two decades of verité footage."

Snore.

And yes, the result is a "timeless tale of what can happen when our most fundamental assumptions about family are suddenly called into question."

What questions? That Dad is a woman? Mom is a man? No one really likes brussel sprouts? The dog wrote on the butter dish? Should toilet paper really be hung over the top? Is there really a man living in the basement?

I won't argue with 'em, but Rolling Stone called it "spellbinding." Entertainment Weekly thought it was "remarkable."

I think this film scores a 10 on the Video Therapy Scale---one of the highest ratings available, with Kevin Spacey getting only a 9 in Beyond the Sea.

My Big Fat Polish Wedding

2006-11-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

Everyone's heard of My Big Fat Greek Wedding but have you ever heard of My Polish Wedding? Nope? Me neither, but apparently the movie was a big favorite at Sundance in 1998. So why did my Big Fat Greek Wedding become a big fat success story and My Polish Wedding--- to put it bluntly-- just lay there like a wet noodle?

I have three words for you. Word of mouth. The movie's marketing campaign targeted women and they screened and screened the film for months before it actually opened. Then it opened only in 100 theaters before emerging into wide release.

The movie was a "feel good", offend no one, spoonful of pablum and the positive reviews spread like wildfire. My Big Fat Greek Wedding went on to gross over 240 million buckaroos. Sounds like a great strategy, but can the "word of mouth" plan work with just any movie? Not bloody likely.

Case in point--- Snakes on a Plane. The Internet marketing of the movie generated BUZZ that's for sure, but was it a hit or just the plain best worst movie of the year? You do the math. Snakes took in only 15 million in its opening weekend and eventually about 50 million worldwide. The movie turned out to be an over hyped disappointment. Everyone was "talking" about the movie, but no one was actually going to "see" the movie. A little like Borat.

The viral marketing and blogging built anticipation, but that didn't really translate into extra box office. Now about that movie Polish Wedding. Why was the movie a flop? Was it all about the marketing?

Well, the critics weren't divided on that point. "A nearly laugh free comedy," according to Stephen Holden of the New York Times, an honest "It didn't work for me," from Dennis Schwartz. and a no holds barred "Polish embarrassment" from the San Francisco Examiner.

Hitler's Mother

2006-11-12T15:30:00.000-08:00

In 1907, when Adolph Hitler was 18 his mother was examined by a physician and discovered to have breast cancer. Klara Hitler had a mastectomy, but the cancer was at an advanced stage and she died just before Christmas at the age of 46. Adolph Hitler had been his mother's pet and his sister, Paula and half brother, Edmund often referred to him as an overindulged child. A pious Catholic, Klara Hitler raised her son in her faith and when she died Hitler placed a large stone cross on the grave. The painting (above) is one from Hitler's student days at the Art Academy.

There are many theories about the origin of Hitler's pathological hatred for Jews. One theory is that Hitler blamed Klara Hitler's doctor, Edward Bloch for his mother's death. Bloch was indeed Jewish. From all accounts Klara Hitler's died a painful death that was acerbated by a barbaric treatment. The doctor applied a caustic chemical disinfectant to her breasts in an attempt to halt the spread of cancerous cells. However, there are contradictions to this theory as a letter exists from Hitler to Bloch, thanking him profusely for his help.

Most historians agree that any psychological post mortem of Hitler's personality must include an investigation and examination of his relationship with his mother. In his "programs" and policies Hitler claiming to be "pro mother" abolished abortion and encouraged the virtues of German motherhood for the purpose of increasing family size. In 1938, he instituted an award to honor mothers of large families. Hitler's interest in mothers was a peverse interest. In the early stages of WWII, SS clinics were instituted throughout Germany with the sole goal of impregnating blonde, blue-eyed women in an attempt to breed an ethnically pure race. Almost 8,000 babies were born as a result of forced sex between Libensborn women and SS officers. As the German made their way across Europe, especially Norway that number grew to over 42,000 babies.Now adults, these children long scorned by their fellow Germans have formed an organization to demand answers about their births.

Suicide at the Cavalier Hotel

2006-11-08T20:47:00.000-08:00

Aldoph Coors, the founder of the Coors Brewing Company was born Adolph Kurs in Germany in 1847. He trained as a brewer and immigrated to the US in 1868, reportedly as a stowaway. Kuhrs settled in Chicago, and worked a variety of low paying jobs before changing his name to the more easily pronounced Coors and buying a brewery. Coors was a successful businessman who skirted Prohibition by selling near beer and malted milk, but he was not a happy camper.

On June 5, 1929 Adolph Coors leaped to his death from a window of the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach for unknown reasons. Dan Baum, a writer for the Wall Street Journal who wrote a book about the Coors family called, "Citizen Coors: An American dynasty, says that the suicide was not surprising, seems the whole Coors Family is a little wacky.

After Adolph's death his son, Adolph, Jr was given the reins for awhile. Next in line was Adolph III, who was unfortunately murdered in a bizarre kidnapping event in 1960. Adolph III left his home and headed to his office one morning only to encounter a car on the side of the road. Apparently being the inquisitive type he stopped to help. Unfortunately, in the car was Joseph Corbett, an escaped convict from California. Corbett knew Coors' route and had predicted that he would stop. Corbett jumped him and when he resisted and ran for his car, Corbett shot him.

The rest of the craziness? You probably know most. There was the born again Coor's heir who thought Elvira was Satanic, there was Joe Coors, what can we say about him? He divorced his wife of fifty years and married his mistress? Quit Coors to make wine? Stuck his head up Reagan's backside? We all know about the run ins with organized labor, the boycotts, the archaic pop top, and those nasty toxic spills, and all the rest. And now that you know all that, you have another reason not to drink the beer besides the taste.

The Pixies

2006-11-04T05:43:00.000-08:00

The name says it all--the PIXIES. In folklore of course, a Pixie is a mischievous creature who according to legend was not good enough for Heaven or bad enough for Hell. And now at a Blockbuster near you, LOUDQUIETLOUD, a film about the Pixies 2004 reunion tour and as a tie-in to the November 6th movie release, the documentary will appear on the big screen in select theaters in the U.S. The big screen venues include Denver, LA, Madison, Chicago, and Austin. Joey Santiago and Charles Thompson (a.k.a. Black Francis) were UMass students when they formed the band in 1986. The Pixies had a short run, recording only a few albums before falling apart between 1992 and 1993. The exact moment of the band's break up is hard to pinpoint as are the synergies of the falling out. Wagging fingers point to Kim Deal's drug and alcohol problems, Black's need to go solo, but the truth is most likely that strange fiction of creative differences, in other words, the Pixies fell victim to the bad behaviors and tensions that plague many creative ventures. I guess we all must get this movie! The Pixies were a bit more popular in the UK than the US, and many Alternative Music fans have not given the Pixies their due, but bands like Nirvana have acknowledged the sonic influence. The Pixies last album was released fifteen years ago, but their music is omnipresent in movieland----the exit music in Fight Club, background music in Unbreakable, two songs in The United States of Leland, a tune in The Weather Man, and my favorite Pixies tune, "Monkey Gone to Heaven" is everywhere, in TV shows like The Gilmore Girls (Lordy!) and films. News is that the Pixies are going to record, according to Frank Black they will start rehearsing in January. Studio time may be essential, the tour was a couple of years ago, and the last Pixie album, Trompe Le Monde was released in 1991.

Death of a President

2006-10-31T10:13:00.000-08:00

I happened to be in Toronto this past week when the independent film, "Death of a President" directed by Gabriel Range opened over the weekend. Knowing that I probably wasn't going to be able to see the film in the States due to the boycott I hastily left my conference at the Marriott Hotel and ran over to the Mutalife Cineplex on Kloor and plunked down my $11.50 CA for the first showing. I'm kind of a reverse lemming that way. I had the same reaction when I was in Boston a few years back and heard that an exhibit of Robert Mapplethorpe photos was under attack. Hey, what can I say. I think art should be subversive. Besides the last people that I want deciding what films I can and can not see are Bush supporters and theater owners. The cinema was crowded, but quiet as I took my seat and there wasn't much popcorn crunching when the house lights went down. For the next two hours I watched this very weird movie unfold. Part docudrama, part re-enactment, part made for television "world in jeopardy" movie like "Pandemic Bird Flu", Death of a President was a hokey fake-u-mentary or "faux documentary" of the events surrounding the hypothetical assassination of President George Bush by a Chicago sniper. Man, this thing was weird. Violent ideas or notions do not make a drama. Everyone in the audience knew they were being jerked around. How did we react? Like we were in an uncomfortable situation. Stiff laughter. Hee Hee, Cheney is President. Hee-hee, Patriot Act III. The thuddy thinking of this flick was a lot closer to my high school memories of "You Were There at the Boston Tea Party" than to "An Inconvenient Truth." It was like watching a "faux" murder of an actual person. Most of the film was about the actual assassination of Bush and his death. To tell you the truth the whole thing was pornographic. Now my definition of pornography may be different than yours. I think that pornography has little to do with sex, but is more about an expression of a culture that exploits violence. I've read the reviews and I find the critical response in the US interesting to say the least. The film was a stinker on many levels. I should have picked up a ticket to "Shut up and Sing" instead. Now that's a statement.

Eye Color

2006-10-21T14:46:00.000-07:00

Eye color is primarily related to the amount of melanin in the iris. Those who have a lot of it have brown eyes. Those who don't, have blue. Most folks have an equal amount in each eye, but in a condition called Heterochromia, one eye is a different color than the other. Though Heterochromia is rare in humans occurring in about 1% of the population, it is not uncommon in animals. Several famous people have Heterochromia including Jane Seymour, Kiefer Sutherland, Sally Rogers, David Bowie, Christopher Walken, and Kate Bosworth. Some just fake it, like Marilyn Manson. Heterochromia is most often benign, but sometimes the condition is caused by trauma or disease. Believe it or not eye color isn't stable and may change as a person ages. The inheritance pattern for eye color is complicated, and though it was once believed that eye color followed a strict pattern with brown as the dominant eye color, it is now known that it is possible for children to have completely different eye color than either of their parents. Eye color is more complex than two genes and is the result of various combinations of alleles. Brown is the most common eye color and in some populations is the only color, but 70 % of the population of Ireland and Britain are estimated to have blue eyes and about 80% of Lithuania and 90 % of Iceland. In the US the number of individuals with blue eyes is steadily decreasing. Brown eyes seem to do a better job of protecting people against macular degeneration. For those who are interested there is a nifty page that shows the inheritance pattern for eye color, in this case to determine paternity.

Hitting Highs

2006-10-16T06:27:00.000-07:00

The drug Lysergic acid diethylamide or LSD was synthesized in 1938 by a Swiss chemist from a grain fungus. When LSD was first introduced by Sandoz laboratories, the drug was viewed as having great promise as a treatment for psychiatric illness and was dispensed free to researchers. Many mental health psychotherapists experimented with the drug in supervised clinical trials and in their private practices, including Harvard professor, Timothy Leary who later became a staunch advocate of the drug. Eventually the CIA, interested in "mind control" and other Cold War tactics began lengthy trials of the drug in which participants were given doses of LSD without their knowledge. The drug was banned in the US in 1967, but underground use of LSD continues. There have been cases of psychosis induced by LSD and some users present with "flashbacks." Flashbacks appear to be the result of impaired sensory learning and although not predictable may occur with unintended consequences. When first introduced LSD was sold on sugar cubes, but now the drug is most often combined with a liquid and sprayed on paper or sold in tablets. There isn't much money to made in the illegal marketing of LSD because of the drug's low price and relative lack of popularity. However, in the 1990's there was a resurgence in the use of LSD that brought attention from law enforcement. Several high profile arrests were made and the drug became scarce. In a new study "Hitting Highs at Rock Bottom" published in the journal Social History of Medicine, Erika Dyck explores the use of LSD by Canadian psychiatrists in the 1950's to treat alcoholism. Apparently from 1950-1970 over 700 Canadian alcoholics were given a single dose of the drug in clinical trials The results were surprising. Over 65% stayed sober and abstained from alcohol for a year and a half (the length of the study). These results bolstered the argument of the British psychiatrist, Humphrey Osmond, one of the researchers, that alcoholism was a result of a biochemical disorder rather than an immoral character. In Canada the "psychedelic treatment" was supported by Alcoholics Anonymous, but not by major health authorities and the eventual abuse of LSD by street drug users made the legitimate use of the drug suspect. Humphrey Osmond went on to became an expert on hallucinogenic drugs. In the early 1960's the novelist, Aldous Huxley (Brave New World) wrote to Osmond to offer himself as a subject in the psychiatrist's experiments. The result of Huxley's subsequent acid trip was the famous essay, The Doors of Perception. The term psychedelic came from correspondence between the two men,

Huxley wrote:

To make this trivial world sublime,
Take half a Gramme of phanerothyme."

To which Osmond wrote back:

"To fathom hell or soar angelic
Just take a pinch of psychedelic

Atlas Shrugged

2006-10-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

Ayn Rand was born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Determined to be a screenwriter she came to the US at the age of twenty-one and settled in Hollywood where she worked at various times as an extra, a script reader, and the head of the costume department at RKO. In April, 1929 she met a young actor, Frank O'Connor and married him. (However, Rand later began an affair with psychologist, Nathaniel Branden who was almost twenty-five years her junior.) In 1932 Rand sold her first screenplay, The Red Pawn to Universal Studios. She then wrote two novels, We the Living (1936) and Anthem (1938). Her most successful novel, The Fountainhead was published in 1943 by Bobbs-Merrill, after being rejected by almost a dozen publishers, most of whom thought the novel too intellectual and unwieldy. Atlas Shrugged, another best seller came out in 1957. By then Rand's philosophy of objectivism was well established. Though some of Rand's views were controversial, especially her belief in the virtue of selfishness, she also had many supporters. Rand died in 1982 of heart failure, and many of her admirers attended her funeral including Alan Greenspan . Angelina Jolie recently signed to play, Dagny Taggart in the screen version of Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged. The Lionsgate production will be produced by Howard Baldwin (Ray). There have been a couple of movies about Rand herself. Helen Mirren, starred in a 1999 bio-pic, The Passion of Ayn Rand that focused on her affair with the young Nathaniel Branden (Eric Stoltz).

Janis Joplin

2006-10-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

Janis Joplin, died on October 4, 1970 from a heroin overdose, and for the past ten years Hollywood has been engaged in a slow-mo race to bring the bluesy singer's story to the screen. The most recent front runner has been Paramount's Piece of My Heart which has had Brittany Murphy, Courtney Love, and Renee Zellwenger duking it out for the lead role at various times. Now it looks like an indie, The Gospel According to Janis has Zoooey Deschanel on board, and has cleared all the hurdles. The biggest hurdle of course has been music permissions, and The Gospel According to Janis apparently has locked up a deal with the Joplin estate and with it the music clearances needed to make the film. Pieces may not be entirely out of the running though, and audiences may find themselves choosing between two Joplin bio pics next year, a la Capote and Infamous. Joplin who burst on to the rock scene in 1968 with a break out performance at the Monteray Pop Festival, had a short, but fierce career. Her biggest hit, the song, Me and Bobbie McGee was recorded for her best selling album, Pearl and released posthumously in 1971.

Bonjour Triestesse

2006-10-06T19:12:00.000-07:00

Jean Seberg was a seventeen year old Iowa farm girl in 1958 when she was discovered by Otto Preminger during a search for an unknown to play the lead role in his movie, Saint Joan. Seberg proved to be an exceptional actress with a vunerable pixish quality and she went on to star in several other big Hollywood movies, including Bonjour Triestesse, The Mouse That Roared, Paint Your Wagon, and Airport. At the tail end of the 1960's Seberg became involved in activist politics and a supporter of the Black Panthers. In an attempt to discredit her, J. Edgar Hoover started a rumor that she was pregnant by Raymond Hewt, one of the Panthers, and the story was reported in Newsweek and the LA Times. When Seberg's daughter, Nina died after being born prematurely, Seberg called a press conference where she presented a picture of the child's white body to dispel the rumors. Although her husband at the time, Romain Gary claimed to have fathered the child, Seberg later admitted the real father was, Carlos Navarra, a student activist. Already in a fragile mental state, Seberg became extremely depressed following her daughter's death, and for seven years afterwards she attempted suicide on the anniversary of the child's death, including once throwing herself under a Metro train in Paris. In 1979 she finally succeeded. Police found her dead in her car of an apparent overdose, after she had been missing for 11 days. In the year after her death both Otto Preminger, and Seberg's former husband, Romain Gary committed suicide. Although no script has been forthcoming, Kirsten Dunst has expressed interest in the life of the tragic actress.

Before the Devil Knows Your Dead

2006-10-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

Many of you may be familiar with the famous Irish drinking toast that ends: "Before the devil knows you're dead." But you may not know that there are two movies currently in production with the title. One, a thriller, set to be released in 2007, stars Seymour Hoffman, Albert Finney, and Ethan Hawke, and is directed by Sidney Lumet, the other starring James Gandolfini, James Mulroney, and Michele Hicks is a gritty crime drama. Neither of these is to be confused with the 2005 movie, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead that starred Amanda Peet, Christian Slater, Sean Astin, and Patricia Arquette. Only one of these, the Gandolfini movie is based on Michael Ledwidge's best selling book with the same title about a cop on the run. Confusing. Sure. Synchronicity? I don't think so. Writers know that titles aren't subject to copyright so it isn't uncommon to find books, and movies with the same name. Invisible Man by H.G. Wells and Ralph Ellison, Plan of Attack, by Bob Woodard and also by Dale Brown, The Island, by Peter Benchley, Gary Paulson, and others. In movies, well, where do you start? There are over 118 movies for instance that start with Once Upon a Time in the title. Titles come and go when movies are in production, Die Hard 4 became Die Hard: Reset, The gorey Eaters of the Dead became The 13th Warrior. Movies sometimes changes names several times. Steven Soderbergh's ill-fated follow up the Sex Lies, and Vidotape, titled, How to Survive a Hotel Room Fire was changed to The Art of Negotiating a Turn following the events of 9/11. The low budget film with David Duchovny and Julia Roberts finally ended up as Full Frontal.

Steve Guttenberg Day

2006-09-29T21:54:00.000-07:00

Steve Guttenberg, the other Tom Hanks was born in Brooklyn, and graduated from Plainedge High School in Massapequa. An adorable actor he had a break out performance in Diner and seemed to be all over the big screen in the Eighties. He was in Cocoon, followed by Three Men and a Baby, after that he appeared in Short Circuit, Police Academy, and then, what? His bio reads like a list of movie franchises, Police Academy 2,Police Academy 3 and 4, Cocoon: The Return, Three Men and a Little Lady? He does appear now and then on UPN's Veronica Mars, and he did direct a straight to video movie, P.S Your Cat is Dead in 2002. but what about his movie career? What happened? Could that fact that all of the movies mentioned made over $100,000,000 have anything to do with his hiatus? Franchise movies can be quite lucrative, and often actors can be victims of their own financial success. But actors aren't the only victims in the franchise mania, audiences have to sit still for the formulaic plot lines, endless retellings of the original story, and walk through performances. Why do we put up with retreads? There are many theories about the current Hollywood wasteland, some of which I've spilled before, but I think the bottom line is that the paying public still goes to the movies, good or bad. In fact they have been paying for a long time. The franchise or sequel move is nothing new: Tarzan, Andy Hardy, Ma and Pa Kettle, and so on. So grin and bear it. Want to see what sequel you'll be buying a ticket for next, then stop by sequelogue.com and have a look. PS Today is actually Steve Guttenburg Day according to a fan website.

Salvage Ethnography

2006-09-25T06:33:00.000-07:00

When Robert Flaherty, an explorer mounted an expedition to the Canadian artic in 1922 he included a motion picture camera in his gear. Flaherty had found the equipment useful in his previous explorations along the Hudson Bay and the films that he brought back about Eskimo life had helped defray the cost of his travels. By 1922 Flaherty had become a sophisticated filmmaker and the film that he made, Nanook of the North is widely regarded as the first documentary. Although much of the action in Nanook was staged by Flaherty, the improvisations are a true representation of Inuit life and customs. Flaherty had no idea when he recorded the Inuits going about their daily activities that he was recording a disappearing culture, but he was struck by the human struggle for survival and this forms the basis of the film. The film was released in 1924, but by that time Nanook the central subject of the film had died of exposure while on a deer hunt. Films like Nanook fall into an interesting category of anthropology, called salvage ethnography. The idea of capturing a disappearing culture has provided inspiration for many artistic projects, but the notion is largely a myth fueled by our need for nostalgic entertainment. Included in this category would be the familiar work of the photographer Edward Curtis. In the 1930's Curtis set out on an expedition to the Great Plains to document the traditional customs of American Indian tribes. The images of a "vanishing race" that he published in his twenty volume portfolio helped cement the prevalent idea in the east that native culture had been extinguished.