Month: October 2018

My Post Kavanaugh High Has Me Low on Outrage

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I just don’t feel the anger this week.  Sure there are all kinds of outrages to get outraged about but I’m just feeling outraged out.  I propose to talk about positive things.  So extending the previous post about deplatforming, I’d like to consider how to select what alternative platforms the Right should develop for itself.  Where to start?  Two selection principles come to mind.

1)            Criticality

2)            Likelihood of Success

Both of these criteria have their merits.  In fact I think that each is the best criterion for a different participant audience.  The critical platforms, like on-line financing or large corporate entities like a large social media network or retail commercial entity, are projects that require the cooperation of large groups for funding and support.  In this way resources and time is available to nurture a difficult project that is sorely needed but not easy to achieve.  So these are projects that should be supported by collective action.   On the other hand, personal goals should be the ones that have a high likelihood of succeeding.  And in addition to a high likelihood of success they should also be reasonably profitable in whatever connotation that can have.  So for instance a business venture that will earn a good income or a hobby that will provide a goodly amount of satisfaction those would qualify as profitable endeavors.  In this way it fits the resources and enthusiasm of the small time operator.  It will be seen as a positive endeavor and not a drain on the individual.

And this is how I address my place in the greater scheme of things.  If someone who has more resources and/or energy is endeavoring to build some ambitious platform or entity that will benefit the larger community, I support it with my small resources and by publicizing it.  For my own projects they are more modest.  I will build a website and try to provide an environment where like-minded individuals can communicate and socialize without the endless trolling and official censure of the Facebooks and Twitters.

I put up the link for a Directory Right Wing Businesses to encourage other folks to pass along info on people on our side trying to make a go of it.  So far that has been fairly inactive but time will tell if the readers get more enthusiastic as things move forward.

Of course, at some point much more will have to be done.  I think it is overly optimistic to think the federal government will be successful in forcing the social media companies to play fair.  I think it will be the profit motive that draws some fairly larger groups forward to provide the equivalent of Stripe, PayPal and the crowdfunding companies for those of us on the Right who are being threatened with deplatforming.  Whether that will happen in months or years depends on how the Left presses forward with their purge.  If they go too far it will definitely produce a market for alternatives.

So that’s my current thought on making our own stuff.  Agree, disagree, any comments?

Universal Classic Monster Movies – An OCF Classic Movie Review – Part 2 – Dracula

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Re-posted from October 2017

 

Dracula is the King of Monsters.  He is obviously royalty.  He has all the trappings.  His castle, his formal evening attire, even his diction and good manners.  He is called Count Dracula in the Universal film but his legend descends from a real prince.  Vlad III (the Impaler) was ruler of Wallachia in present day Romania.  He was called Dracul (Dragon) for his defense of Christians against the Turks but his cruelty against just about anyone he came in contact with was legendary.  The legend of the vampire (nosferatu) is central European in origin and goes back very far into the imagination of primitive people huddling in the dimly lit hovels and fearing the long winter nights for all the real and imagined terrors that lurked right at their doorsteps.

Bram Stoker took this legacy and created a gothic novel that followed the conventions of his time and populated it with upper class British characters right down to the damsel in distress and the square jawed leading man ready to save her from a fate literally worse than death.  It cried out for a stage adaption and of course it got it.  And then some.  Several productions were launched and in 1927 a company opened the play in the United States.  And interestingly enough three of the lead male parts reprised their roles in the Universal film, Bela Lugosi as Dracula, Edward van Sloan as Dr. Van Helsing and Herbert Bunston as Dr. Seward.

Let’s now look at the film.  What are its chief characteristics?  It’s an early talkie.  The sound is not perfect.  Whether an artifact of the age of the prints used or of the original production there is considerable background noise.  The sets for the most part are the studio versions of city streets and upper class drawing rooms.  The sets used for the village and castle in Transylvania are unconvincing but highly evocative.  My one pet peeve with Castle Dracula is that while showing all the creatures crawling around in the cellar we are given a good look at some armadillos.  These are New World creatures and what they would be doing in central Europe is very hard to imagine.  The set for Carfax Abbey is equally entertaining and in fact is probably built on the set for Castle Dracula used earlier.

With respect to the actors, they are exaggeratedly and understandably stagey.  After all, most of them were stage actors.  They exaggerate their words and gestures to such an extent that sometimes it appears to a modern audience as parody.  This is probably the result of both the stage and silent film legacy of most of the cast.  Probably the most entertaining performance is given by the Cockney Orderly who watches over the madman Renfield.  He is an exaggerated lower-class everyman who adds comic relief and a really terrible accent to the film.

And finally the special effects.  At one point, Renfield looks out the window of the stage coach he is travelling in to Castle Dracula and sees a bat flying above the horses.  It is hard to minimize how laughably pathetic it looks to anyone used to the magic that CGI can perform today.  I think the strings are actually visible, but maybe it was just my scornful imagination.  There is at least one more bat flyby in the film and it doesn’t improve over the first.  ‘Nuff said.

Okay, now I’ve run down everything about the film.  It sounds like a hot steaming mess.

 

Well, it is and it isn’t.  All that I’ve said is true.  But it still remains an entertaining experience.  It is a time capsule of what our great grandparents looked on as theater.  The British basis of what was considered civilized and urbane is on display.  And you can see the tension between reason and science on the one hand and the instinctual and irrational forces at work in the universe.  And it’s interesting to note how young women are the weak point in the rational structure being undermined by the powers of darkness.  Really the story isn’t that different from our own morality tales about the dissolution of the world of light into the abyss.  It’s only different in that it has a happy ending.  Today the forces of darkness would win and we would cheer them because of how cool they dress.  And the characters get to mouth some very entertaining lines.  In one exchange between the main protagonists Dracula declares in his best Transylvanian English, “You are wise for one who has not lived even one lifetime, Van Helsing.”  For me that’s worth the price of admittance right there.

Universal Classic Monster Movies – An OCF Classic Movie Review – Part 1

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Re-Posted from October 2017

 

A friend of mine at work is a movie fan.  But being a Gen X aged guy he hasn’t been exposed to the full gamut of classic Hollywood films from the ‘30s and ‘40s.  Recently he’s begun a systematic review of these films.  For instance, he just finished up an exhaustive viewing of all Alfred Hitchcock’s films in chronological order.  He even watched the early silent films Hitchcock made.  Now that is dedication.  On the whole he seemed impressed by Hitchcock’s body of work.  While he recognized weaker efforts he also felt that Hitchcock was an extremely competent craftsman who produced quality work.  And he noted that Hitchcock innovated over the course of his career and broke new ground in several ways.  He did chide him for birthing the slasher films with Psycho.  But all in all he was a great director.

This month he started on a smaller project.  He’s watching the Universal Classic Monster films.  He just finished up on Dracula, Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein.  When I spoke to him he was surprised and disappointed at what he judged a lack of quality.  I told him I predicted he’d really be shocked once he’d watched the Wolfman.  He is soldiering on but I could see he was let down.

After my comment, my friend questioned whether I disliked the Universal series.  I told him I have a fondness for them but have no illusions about the artistry they represent.  My exact words were, “Peter, they were made to scare children and simple people.  They were wildly successful at doing this.  And if you watch them in the right frame of mind they still can entertain.”  I’m not sure if I convinced him but it got me thinking about what those movies could say to an audience today.

First off, let’s see how they do with today’s kids.  I have a 13-year-old grandson who has been fed a steady dose of these films from about the time he was five.  Now, they may have become tame fare for him now but he still likes watching them.  He probably recognizes the relation to such modern fixtures as the Count on Sesame Street and Hotel Transylvania.  And basically kids are still kids and monsters are great fun for kids.  So, one audience still exists for these movies.

For those of us who grew up watching these movies their charm although thinned by use still survives.  They’re like old relations who diminish in importance as we grow up but still are fondly regarded and maintain an association in our minds with the happiness of childhood (if your childhood was happy).  This audience is shrinking but is still a large population.

And finally, there are those who are fans of all things fantastic.  If you are a SF&F fan then how can you not, at least, have a curiosity about the origin of all those First Blood and Underworld stories?  Sure, the 1930’s models were vastly less cool, what with their crosses and holy water, but even if just from an historical perspective, they should be viewed and discussed.

Being solidly in the second and third camps I feel entitled to give my opinion.  And that’s what I’ll do.  I’ll plow through the canon and give the pluses and minuses as honestly and objectively as I can.  It should be fun.  Stay tuned.

Deplatforming Becomes More Pervasive

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Recently everyone saw the spectacle of Alex Jones being outlawed from YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Apple Apps, etc., etc., etc.  Vox Day posted that Indiegogo has reneged on his recent crowdfunding foray for one of his comic books.  Without a doubt our Tech Masters are intent on purging the sinners from their midst.  Now this isn’t a surprise especially to Vox who preaches the good word of building our own platforms.  But the hardest things to replace are financial institutions.  Things like PayPal, Stripe and the various crowdfunding companies are currently irreplaceable for net businesses and they know it.    The Trump Administration has made the first rumblings against the Techs for persecuting the Right on-line.  But it will probably be a long time before any legal relief is possible.  This makes it more important than ever for alternatives to be established.  But who has the wherewithal?  It’s one thing to open a store on Amazon (which is also a risk to right wing individuals and businesses) but it’s quite another to open a bank.  So right now, there’s no good answer for this.  Hopefully some of the bigger players on the right side of the aisle will see this as an opportunity and jump in to service an under-served market.  That’s right Peter Thiel I’m talking to you.

My Annual Halloween Celebration

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Lichen on Monument
The Raven is a Wicked Bird

 

Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays as a kid and in my heart of hearts I haven’t really progressed far from that.  I guess I’m not a progressive.  So here is the advantage to being in business for more than a year.  The calendar allows you to recycle stuff you did last year.  I did movie reviews of the Universal Classic Monster Movies and a few other related films last year and I’ll recycle them around for the Halloween season.  And I’ll add some additional films to avoid the label of laziness.  I’ll also try to find some other Halloween content.  I guess Ray Bradbury’s “Something Wicked This Way Comes” is sort of the quintessential American story for this time of year.  But there are all kinds of other stuff out there from Poe to (yikes) Lovecraft to even that lefty doofus Stephen King.  So stay tuned and I’ll start cycling those in.