Painting Myself into a Corner

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Last month I whined about an insanely expensive critical repair project going on at the Compound.  Well, my contractor performed flawlessly and after a month or so of staged demolition and construction we ended up with the end of the house restored to its former functionality only with the ground floor consisting of a poured slab instead of a pier supported wooden floor.  The only hitch was that the slab needed to cure another two weeks before staining it.  And since this contractor has moved onto his next big project, getting him back to stain the floor isn’t possible.  No problem, I promised Camera Girl that I would take care of the painting myself after the requisite two-week delay.

Well, last night she reminded me of my lightly given promise and that by her reckoning Friday was the end of the two weeks.  Like a trapped creature I looked around for a sliver of daylight that I could run through.  But as I’ve said, the middle of October will be a tragically busy time for me when I won’t be able to do anything significant like painting rooms and moving furniture.  Checkmate.

So early today (11am) we went to the big box store and I bought the stain and all the accoutrements.  And after lunch (the condemned man had a hearty meal) I performed the ritual first coat.  Tomorrow, I’ll purchase a paint brush (I thought I had one lying around), do the detail work in the tight spots and put on the final coat.  Then, Sunday I’ll be toting barges and lifting bales for several hours restoring the contents of the room to their original positions and thereby fulfilling my promise to Camera Girl.  Such is the life of a modern husband.  When his wife has the effrontery of quoting his own words back at him, wife beating is no longer a convenient option.  In fact, it’s positively frowned on in some circles.  O tempora, O mores.  I really need to bring Camera Girl to a showing of Shakespeare’s, “The Taming of the Shrew.”  Kate saw the light.  Camera Girl should follow her good example.

But when all was said and done, I rather enjoyed the event.  Well, all except taping the moldings.  That really should be done by someone young and spry.  But rolling on the stain was fun.  Painting a floor is easier than painting walls and a lot easier than ceilings.  No drop cloths, no crick in the neck.  So, I acquiesced semi-gracefully and pretended that I was completely on board with finishing the room this weekend.  Mental agility (or self-deception) is an important survival trait.

I was thinking today about the kind of world that the information age is creating.  Specifically, with the monopoly of advertising being in the hands of Amazon and Google, there is an incredible need (opportunity) for alternate information flow paths.  Google has been declared a monopoly by the federal government but no action seems in the offing.  Since that is the case, it seems more important than ever that some private resource step in and provide an alternative.  Elon Musk has hinted that X is that alternative.  But will it be?  Does he have the vision to provide an unfettered electronic agora where both commerce and information can flow unimpeded by ideology?  So far, I haven’t seen that realized.  Maybe he’s waiting to see if Trump wins the election.  After all the federal government is the biggest customer for his batteries and his rocket ships.  If the Democrats are ensconced in power maybe he’ll just give up his free speech and populist efforts and concentrate on making money.

So much seems to depend on an election that probably won’t be honest.  Maybe I’m the one who is looking at everything all wrong.  Possibly the important lesson to be learned is not how to have free speech but rather how to have hidden speech.  Now that’s a thought.

October Viewing – 2

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So, I enjoyed my recent first foray into old horror movies with Dracula enough to give it another whirl.  Tonight, I was going to try the Mummy but last night TCM had some Lugosi movies on so I picked “The Island of Lost Souls.”  This is a 1932 film starring Charles Laughton as Dr Moreau; a scientist who experimented on surgically converting animals into humans.  Lugosi has a relatively small part as one of his experiments.  He looks like a man-wolf and functions as, “The Sayer of the Law.”  This movie is just a renamed version of H.G. Wells’ story, “The Island of Dr. Moreau.”

Okay, the first thing to take into account is that Laughton is a much better actor than your typical horror movie mad scientist.  Now granted, this isn’t “Mutiny on the Bounty” so he has to work with what he’s given but Laughton sells it well.  The rest of the cast is adequate to the task at hand.  And the movie does deliver the climax that a fiendish Frankensteinian scientist will always reap; destruction at the hands of his tortured creations.

The highlights of the movie are of Moreau portraying an omnipotent ruler as he commands the obedience of his many creations.  On a hill in the jungle, he rings a gong twice, cracks a bullwhip and shouts down to his assembled subjects repeatedly, “What is the law?”  And the Sayer of the Law gives the various answers at each repetition of the question,

“Not to walk on all fours.  Are we not men?”

“Not to spill blood.  Are we not men?”

“Not to eat meat.  Are we not men?”

And this is enough to quiet the beast within each “man” when the night awakens his blood.  And if they become especially restless, he reminds them of “The House of Pain.”  This is where Moreau rearranged their living flesh to simulate a human form and apparently anesthetic was not part of the program.  Just the mention of it triggers howls of fear.

But when Moreau orders one of his creatures to murder an outsider, a man like Moreau, the creatures put together the pieces of the puzzle.  Moreau ordered one of them to spill blood, so, “the law is no more!”  And a man like Moreau was killed, so Moreau could be killed!  And so, dragging Moreau into the House of Pain for some unskilled surgery of their own was now on the agenda!

The subplot where Moreau tried to get an outside human male to fall in love with the “panther woman” who was his most successful attempt at mimicking the human form is somewhat interesting.  And the antics of the sailors who show up in a couple of sections of the story provide a slight amount of comedy.  But the real story is Moreau playing god to his creations and the inevitable revenge reaction destroying him.  H. G. Wells was a good writer so it is no surprise that his story is somewhat fun to watch in its first Hollywood portrayal.  I very much enjoyed rewatching Island of Lost Souls.  And I assume that Charles Laughton is the main reason.  Now, without a doubt he hammed up his portrayal as needed.  But his Moreau is a successful portrayal of the mad scientist.  Kudos to Mr. Laughton.

 

Fall Housekeeping

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I was happy to hear that JD Vance had a very successful debate against Tim Walz.  That is all to the good since Vance will be on the short list of real leaders for conservatives going forward.  And by that term “conservative” I mean anyone who is against the Leftist project.  I know that conservative has become a dirty word for the new right but honestly, I can’t keep up with the nomenclature so I’ll just use the old-fashioned meanings of words.  So, for me a conservative is someone who believes in the things that have been true about human nature for untold thousands of years.

But regardless of what JD Vance did or didn’t accomplish last night, life goes on here in Dunwich.  I have photos and quotes to select.  I have posts to write.  I have work of all sorts that must be done, both at home and at the office and I have Camera Girl, the dogs and all the other life forms that she keeps to deal with.  I have now lugged several hundred pounds of potted plants up two stories to her plant windows.  And this is a very important task because of the threat of frost.  One year I played fast and loose with the early frost date and an eight-foot-tall ponytail palm bit the dust.  I was greatly reviled for that faux pas.

We turned on the heat last week but for the last three or four days we’ve set the thermostats below the point where it will demand heat.  It’s just too warm out to need it on.  It was just one of those little cold snaps a week ago that demanded a shot of heat to rally us through.  But soon enough we’ll need it.  My guess is October 21st.

I enjoyed that fresh-eyes approach to viewing Dracula.  These classic movies have become the equivalent of museum pieces and it makes sense to try and strip them of the baggage they’ve accumulated through overexposure in the popular culture.  They deserve to be looked at from the perspective of art that was a product of its time.  It’s like reading Shakespeare.  You have to hear the famous monologues with fresh ears.  You have to meet them halfway.  I think I’ll do something heretical and instead of watching Frankenstein next, I’ll skip to the Mummy.

I’ve begun the re-framing of my American Archipelago “world.”  I realized that I had not done enough outlining of the larger story ahead of time.  I was in danger of painting myself into a corner and cutting off a lot of other stories that I will want to write later.  After all I’m not the Marvel Comic Universe.  I can’t invoke the multiverse to bring back the characters that I stupidly kill off.  And I need a road map ahead of time so I don’t wander too far off into left field.  I think what I’ll do is have my heroes threaten Washington into allowing a “free zone” to exist in a large chunk of the middle of the country where a border won’t be enforced but federal rule will not exist.  My plan is to allow a gradual expansion of this zone until it becomes the majority of the land mass.  I assume I’ll have the requisite number of crises and resolutions before the new state swallows the United States (and maybe Canada).  Making this sound reasonable and figuring out how to make my Connors character a worthy prince (or CEO) is the trick.  Of course I could just model him on me.  Then he would be a veritable Pericles in all respects.

On the political front, if Harris is installed, the quadrillion dollar question is just how bad will the economy get?  Will they keep printing money until hyperinflation kicks in?  Will they let Americans starve to death because a loaf of bread costs a thousand dollars?  Well, I guess we’ll find out.  Barack Obama à  Joe Biden à Kamala Harris à ?  How much stupider can presidents get?  Will Harris be followed by a potted plant?  We’re going to learn so much.  And I assume it will be incredibly painful.  But that is truly the only way that stupid people learn anything.  And apparently this country has a very large number of stupid people.

I’m trying to figure out if we can have Americans without an America.  Can we celebrate things like the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving if we no longer have the America that birthed those holidays.  After all, how can we have an Independence Day when we’re no longer a free people?  And if we’re no longer free then what are we giving thanks for?  That we’re still breathing?  Well, I still like a July barbecue and I still like a turkey dinner so maybe I can keep the celebrations but change their significance.  They can become the Summer and Winter Solstice celebrations (with a little fudging of the dates).  Oh well.

So regardless of the Apocalypse I’m busy, busy, busy.  But once the election is over, I intend to re-order my priorities to use my time more appropriately.  Under a Harris administration I don’t see the need to provide daily updates on the disintegration of the American republic.  I will probably concentrate on entertainment and public service messages about useful things for folks on our side of the political spectrum.  So, send in the clowns.