Month: October 2024

October Viewing – 8

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Tonight, I got around to rewatching “Sleepy Hollow.”  This 1999 movie starred Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, a New York City lawman whose scientific methods were too advanced for 1799.  He is sent upstate to solve a string of murders that all involve the victims being left headless.  Christina Ricci stars as Katrina Van Tassel the daughter of a prosperous businessman whose family is at the center of the ring of murders.  And, of course Katrina is Ichabod’s love interest in the movie.

Spoiler alert; skip down to the last paragraph to avoid spoilers and just read the recommendation.

What we learn is that, just as in the Washington Irving stories about Sleepy Hollow, the countryside is haunted by the ghost of a Hessian soldier that was killed during the American Revolutionary War.  The Hessian lost his head during a battle with the Americans and his spirit has haunted the neighborhood ever since.  In our story, the Hessian (when he has a head) is played by Cristopher Walken.  And when he doesn’t have a head, well, who knows?

Being a man of reason, Ichabod disbelieves the stories about the ghost and claims the murders were the result of human efforts.  He claims this until he actually sees the Headless Horseman kill a couple of townspeople.  But once Ichabod recovers from his shock, he determines that he will investigate the ghost and figure out a way to end the string of murders.

And after most of the prominent townspeople are murdered, Ichabod realizes that the horseman is controlled by someone inside the town who understands black magic.  And that turns out to be Katrina’s stepmother (naturally).  There is a showdown and Ichabod figures out how to turn the horseman against the witch and save Katrina from being decapitated by the head-lopping Hessian.

Sleepy Hollow was a Tim Burton film and so it is no surprise that the look of the film stylishly captures the eerie, misty atmosphere of this dark fairy tale land.  The movie is always at least half comedy and Depp is very good as the always squeamish but determinedly, reluctantly brave man of science doing his best to solve the mystery and save his love interest from a gruesome fate.  While this tongue in cheek approach does not allow the movie to ever frighten us, it does succeed (in my opinion) in entertaining the audience.  The special effects around the character of the horseman aren’t quite up to the current state of the art CGI standards.  Nevertheless, his scenes are very well choreographed and look splendid.  The supporting cast do a creditable job of moving the plot forward one severed head at a time.  I’m going to recommend this movie to anyone who likes fantasy and the supernatural.  Here’s a natural pick for October viewing.

What’s Going to Happen?

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I intended to review “Sleepy Hollow” tonight for “October Viewing.”  But I haven’t seen it since it was in the theaters many years ago and it was too late tonight to watch it because I have work Monday.  So, I have to come up with something else to talk about.

Alright, let’s see.

So, the snipers didn’t get Trump at Madison Square Garden.  That’s good!  Because in a little more than a week we’ll get to do the Election Day charade.  Maybe they’ll let him win or maybe they won’t.  I’m beginning to think they will let him win because they think they can make him the fall guy.  It wouldn’t be so hard.  The economy is in tatters.  It’ll take months to even begin to clear the wreckage they’ve already made of things.  But I’ll confess, I’m curious to see if Trump really has a plan to fix the economy and also fix the Deep State.  And when I say “fix” the Deep State, I mean it in the same sense that you send your dog to be “fixed” by the vet.

After all, these people have been after him for more than eight years.  Maybe he’s just crazy enough to come back at them with both guns blazing.  Now that would be delicious.  Taking away their prestigious and lucrative perches in the intelligence agencies and State Department would be a very good start to hitting back at them.  My only hope is that this time he’s ready to appoint men who are loyal to him but also have the smarts needed to dismantle the government bureaus that need demolishing.  I’m not sure he is ready to do this but I’d like to find out.

So, we’ve got another week or so to fantasize about what he could do if he wins.  If he loses, he’s going to jail.  They’ll take away his money and they’ll put him in prison for the rest of his life.  And the rest of the world will see our country for what it is; just another thugocracy.  But one where the thugs go to Harvard, or at least Yale.  And that will be a “teachable moment” as that “fraud from Chicago” used to say.  Anyone who grew up in the middle class will understand that the fairy tale they used to tell us about America is just that; a grifter’s tale that helps them fleece the rubes.

But what we are seeing is that America was special because we thought it was special.  If we no longer believe in that exceptionalism then quite honestly it won’t be.  People were willing to cooperate to build a better world for their children.  But if they’ve revealed that they don’t even want us to have children then all bets are off.  Instead of cooperation they’ll find competition.  Competition to loot whatever is left of the patrimony that prior generations built up.  We’ll be looking for our piece of the pie.

And don’t even imagine that these people will send their sons to fight in someone else’s wars.  That’s just ridiculous.  The trust fund kids told us back in 2001 that it wasn’t their job to fight George W. bush’s wars.  Well, it’s time for us to return the favor.  Send the Venezuelan gang-bangers to fight in Ukraine or wherever else you want to start a war.  It won’t be our kids.  We have better things for them to do.

So, let’s enjoy the ride.  There seems to be a certain amount of angst in the Harris camp.  Maybe someone told them what’s going to happen after the 5th of November.  Now we’ll find out too.

Adapt and Thrive

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Sunday, I head back to the salt mines to dig out that salt.  I get back onto the galley and start rowing that oar.  I return to the mill and push that millstone round and round.  The mind deadening drudgery looms before me like towering wave that will roll over me and drown me in its awful size.  So let it be written, so shall it be done.

But for tonight I’m content.  I got plenty of sleep last night and I only had a couple of hours of lousy work today and even that was tolerable and unavoidable.  So good enough.

What I was thinking about today is that it’s time to move beyond the election and all of that way of thinking.  All of this anxiety over whether Trump will win or Kamala.  Living in a blue state it really hardly matters.  I already live under a woke communist regime.  Really, all that is necessary is to start thinking about what things I can control and what I cannot.  And just looking at things through that lens clarifies  my thinking and removes a lot of the anxiety that comes from depending on “magical” processes.

For instance, I supposedly have to vote for Trump.  Well, I have to vote anyway because there are local races that I can influence the outcome of.  So not voting for Trump would be kind of silly, so I will.  But I don’t imagine I’m making any difference by voting for him.  And whether he wins or not, my life won’t change very much at all, at least not for quite a while.  If Trump wins and a Republican Congress passes legislation that allows Trump to deport the millions of illegal aliens beyond partisan judges’ ability to block him, then eventually after several years I will notice some improvements in my quality of life.  And if he balances the budget and on-shores the jobs that were sent to Asia then I will see America start to revive.  But that’s a long time from now and I have a limited span on this planet.  So, this election is almost an academic exercise in political philosophy.

Instead, what will be interesting and useful is to try and find private endeavors and resources that individuals can utilize and patronize either collectively or individually.  For instance, if I ever finish my never-ending science fiction novel, I might decide to market it and advertise it by starting a go-fund-me page.  Well, even selecting something as ordinary as that is fraught with challenges because many of these crowd-funding companies are either run by or strongly influenced by left-wing zealots who police these sites looking to cancel anyone who doesn’t share their convictions.  So, researching the activities and tendencies of these types of sites is important if you want to avoid a potentially disastrous launch for a creative work like a book.

And the same applies for other commercial or cultural organization.  Especially if Harris is installed in the White House, I’m hoping that various enterprises will spring up to service an audience from our side of the political spectrum who need everything from entertainment, to news, to snacks, to educational services, to dating services, to you name it.  With the government monolithically leftist it will behoove us to become entrepreneurs and connoisseurs with respect to the things that will be unavailable from official sources.  And we’ll have to become very creative at avoiding government interference, which means we’ll have to become adept at camouflage and subterfuge.  And even that secrecy sounds like fun to me.  Belonging to a private club has its own pleasures.

So, as the election date approaches, I have a new attitude about the future and I think it will serve me better than what happened after the last presidential election in 2020.  In fact, it can’t help but be better, no matter who wins.