DC Comics does Reading

Saw this set of reading aids via DC Comics characters on Tumblr. They are ridiculous and silly.

Of course we have all seen this one.

It's long since become a meme.

Trilogy of Horror B-Days

As will happen in any attempt to group, this week has given us a trio of horror great birthdays. These three fellows spent decades scaring, thrilling, and amusing their fans.

From House of Long Shadows - Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, and Peter Cushing
-- And a John Carradine bonus!

The Horror Of...Dracula through the Ages - Stoker's Tale

Having enjoyed some folklore, having taken in some other literature, it's time for the main act.

It's time to get to the book most know. You know the book. Bram's Stoker most remembered tale.

Dracula (1931) Promo Photo

DRACULA

Puppies need your love.

Dogs. What can you say? Most of us love and adore them. But not every dog gets the affection it deserves in it's life. ...Made you sad?

How about a couple of tales of dogs getting a second chance? How about some sad dogs that are given a reason to wag their tails enthusiastically about life?


A blind stray dog finds love, home, and sight.




Caged Beagles discover grass, and fun.




There are a lot of services and facilities around the country that work to help out stray dogs and cats, or those that are exploited, or those that are in need. Consider donating time or money to help out.

Game of Thrones: 1990

Imagine if Game of Thrones was not a 2010's show, but a 1990's show. The 90's music. The smiling, earnest, or forlorn montage. And those 90's title effects. Oh, yeah!

From Cracked.com:

If 'Game of Thrones' Was Made in the '90s -- powered by Cracked.com

The Horror Of...Dracula through the Ages - The Literature That Came Before

From folklore and rumor, we go to the tale on the page.

Let's get into the literature that led into and inspired Dracula. After all, while Dracula inspired many, it was also born from earlier work.

Many of the works that helped cement the more modern view of the vampire, and formed the basis of Dracula, came early in the 19th century.

The Horror Of...Dracula through the Ages, From Folklore and History

In the dark, down through the ages, we have been stalked. From the shadows we can feel it, but never can we escape it. Our dreaded myths and legends will never let us be.

That which hunts us has gone by many names, and has had many forms. Folklore. Legend. Myth.

And among those mythic visions is the vampire. The creature of the night. The creature of the tomb. The creature of blood.

While we've grown comfortable with a particular vision of the vampire it hasn't always been limited by one set of rules. Different cultures have had their beasts. Beasts that feasted on blood. Beast that feast on flesh. Beast that won't stay put in their graves. Dracula may be synonymous with vampirism, but he isn't the Alpha or Omega.

Le Vampire Engraving - R. de
Moraine - 1864

The vampire has had it's forms and predilections. An amorphous form with tentacles. A hopping corpse that can go rabid. A ghoul. A ghost. Detachable parts. A creature that spreads sickness. A being that stalks up behind lords in their halls and bashes them over the back of the head, using a bucket to catch up all the best bits.

Another aspect often at debate is just who can become a vampire. Generally, it was the dead who would turn; unless we are talking of tales of naturally preternatural being. Sometimes a person who was wronged would not stay still in their grave; no peace found. Other times it was a vile criminal who Hell could not hold. As you can imagine the ideas intersected a great deal with the ideas of other beings, like ghosts.

That is just how folklore works. It changes, from person to person, from culture to culture, and age to age. Changing. Morphing. It finds it's new niche.

Transitioning from word of mouth the vampire became a useful force in written stories. They would appear in different forms from time to time in different cultures.

Let's get into the some tales that at least partly step out of folklore and into reality. Some historic events also marked future tales of vampires.

The Horror Of...Scheduling, May 2013

Hello, again. It has been awhile since I've done an update.

But this seems like a worthwhile time.

Friday the 13th on Almost Tuesday the 13th - Episode 8 - Shadow Boxer

The 13th has come again, who could have seen that coming...

Okay, I didn't. I've been distracted the last week. I was haunted by the idea that there was something I wanted to get done, but nothing clicked. But something needed to dealt with, and I had no bills due. And then it finally hit me Tuesday. ...Which is apt with the story of this episode.

So it's time to move on from bad doctoring to bad pugilism in this episode.

Let's take a look once again at Friday the 13th the Series.

Time to get into the ring with "Shadow Boxer".

Trailers in Short - Speedsters, Mystics, and Detectives. Oh My!

Well if the rounds of superhero movies isn't enough, we seem to be in store for a whole range of TV series based around comic book heroes. (Okay, we often have various superhero series these days. But let's all pretend, like the media does.)

So let's see all the DC Comics and Marvel Comics offerings coming this year. (And maybe some movies. We are obliged.)

Let's start with The Flash (he always races to the front of line). He's a favorite of mine in comics. And I am always pleased when he gets some press or representation. (And maybe they'll finally finish a Flash video game. The one that almost came out before looked lovely.) And I do love a speedster.

The Real Climate Change Skeptics

Image from Roberto_Rizzato

"I can't hear you over the weight of scientific consensus!"

Climate Change is one of the issues that, despite conservative media claims, is pretty well established. Much of it is human made. And the human made portion is having a clear negative impact on humanity. The world is less hospitable to us.

It's an undeniable consensus now.

And if we find a trail of evidence that leads another way, I'll be surprised, and scientists are ready to hear about it. But like in dealings with religious apologist and Creationist, there is NO new data against human made Climate Change to consider.

Galling in this issue, are people opposed to accepting the impact Climate Change. They call themselves skeptics often. They are skeptics in much the same way as guys who call themselves demonologists and skeptics, or antivaxxers and skeptics. (And, yes, we have seen some famous people who call themselves skeptics who mocked the idea of Climate Change. And they deserve to be criticized for the bad analysis.)

The Simpsons - McBain: The Movie

Sure, The Simpsons has a movie. They also have another movie, embedded inside their TV show.

Everyone remembers McBain, right? We keep seeing bits of his movies throughout the series. Who doesn't have the occasional urge to shout out, "Mendoza!"

All those clips, scatter through The Simpsons, actually fit together into one semi-logical (as far as action movies go) story line. The story of one cop, who doesn't play by the rules, who is out to stop the sinister Senator Mendoza.

Watch.

Ever since learning this existed, I keep having to look back at it. It's classic 80's action, with the awkwardly bad or boring in between scenes excised out.

Penny Dreadful - New show, Victorian horror

Penny Dreadful is officially starting tonight on Showtime. A Victorian Horror Series that brings together a number of archetypes and characters of the era's horror, it offers what the potential to sate one's Sunday night horror needs.

It's already an overstuffed night, with Game of Thrones, Veep, Last Week Tonight, Mad Men, etc. So I thought I'd take a quick look at the show's opener to tempt anyone looking for something new.

Now to be clear, this is a Showtime show. So that means, blood, gore, and sex will be included. I know most of us assume any drama show that appears on Showtime or HBO will have this stuff, it is worth reminding people who are bothered by that.

So to begin, Josh Hartnett has the question to ask as Penny Dreadful starts.

Some People Say We Have To Leave It There

Upton Sinclair

I was pleased to see this quote on Chris Hayes's show a few weeks back.

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

It's from Upton Sinclair in 1935, about his failed run for the California governorship, I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked. I believe Greg Mitchell has written some on it.


And Hayes was looking at this in regards to climate change, were it is apt. But it clearly goes beyond that. The media and conservative politics have a vested interest in not paying serious attention to many serious issues.

Elections, infrastructure, voting access, any scientific consensus, etc.

For the GOP it's more important to redefine a situation to fit and agree with their decades old ideological stances. No matter the state of the economy, the answer to improve things will be a series of tax cuts. No matter how much need there is in the country for aid, the answer will be to cut the social safety net. No matter the national security standing of the nation, increased expenditures are needed. And actual understanding is irrelevant to these politicians jobs.

And even when their once was agreement about the facts and the problem, new pressure from the old guard means that it's better to no longer agree with yourself. The future of environment will no longer be a problem. Access to birth control becomes controversial. They may have had some common sense, but that common sense isn't worth losing their jobs, or paychecks over.

It's all sports, particularly for the media. Who sounds better? Who's more convincing? Who's more popular? Who had the biggest blooper this week?

For the media, if it wants to talk about some blatantly ridiculous fact free position of a political party, it will only get them "labelled". And that seems to scare the media. They won't get invited to all the parties. Press flacks won't rush to them with the latest spin. So it's better to not rock the boat, unless everyone already agrees on the topic. Then it's a lot easier.

They learn to not be controversial to the wrong people.

So media becomes ridiculous, often playing it safe. Often not digging beneath the surface. Often just repeating what others say, without questioning the validity. It's not worth risking that salary to look closer.


Former Secretary of State (and future presidential candidate) Hilary Clinton had this thought on the state of media:

"A lot of serious news reporting has become more entertainment driven and more opinion-driven as opposed to factual," she said. "People book onto the shows, political figures, commentators who will be controversial who will be provocative because it’s a good show. You might not learn anything but you might be entertained and I think that’s just become an unfortunate pattern that I wish could be broken."

And I can't disagree. There are some good venues still out there. Some that are interested in a real discussion or real analysis, but it's mostly fluff you could fast forward through and miss nothing.

Honestly, how many shows bring on a round table that spout off the obvious? So little new information comes out. So it's come to the point that news channels need to have constant ALERTS and BREAKING NEWS.

They may be stating the obvious. They may be repeating information you already heard earlier in the day. But you get a flashing words at the bottom of the screen.

We need people who understand what they are doing, and care about what they are doing. And it wouldn't hurt if they cared about serious discussions and debates.

Trailers In Short - Monsters Don't Respect Boundaries Edition

Flipping monsters. Always stomping on your house, eating your friends, being racist caricatures, or arresting you. They are such bores.

You see this, monsters?

Source

That's class in a large and respectful being. You can carefully walk over something without destroying it. Learn something!

But would it be Summer without our monsters? We will never know. So let's look at the terror to come this Summer. Nymph. Transformers 4. Godzilla. Wolfcop.

Trailers In Short - Dystopic Battle Jam

In a world where movie voice over guys rule the world...One man has all the answers, and has chewed all the bubblegum. One woman wishes it was Tuesday, so she could take the day off. And one plucky kid better get off the computer before his parents ground him...Looking at you.

Dystopic futures. Grim battlegrounds, war torn cities, and nasty heartless governments...I am talking about the future, right? ...Still, it's always an option for movie makers, as long as some urban center in the world is suffering an economic downturn. And this year we've have a new dented rusted batch...From the crappy future! Edge of Tomorrow. The Purge: Anarchy. Battle of the Damned.


Edge of Tomorrow



I was going to have good things to say about this trailer. The first 80 seconds made me hopeful. (Even with Cruise warning he has important news, and the fleet of planes flying, I was avoiding ANY Scientology jokes.) It starts with a future war. And Tom Cruise is playing a recruit is looping through time, again and again.

That could be interesting. A man out of time. Stuck in a grim war. A horrible loss coming. But this odd loop he's in may hold the answer to ending the conflict. Interesting Science Fiction premise.

Then it starts turning into a action packed "Run! Tom! Run!" movie. It feels duller by the end of the trailer. A tacked on romance to boot. It is such a Tom Cruise movie.


The Purge: Anarchy

The first teaser came out and I was underwhelmed. The first movie didn't do much. And the new teaser suggested a story about a couple running through a city gone wild...But...There was a flurry of clips near the end that showed a wider view of this Purge world. And you had to wonder.



So this movie is looking more and more complicated, if we're lucky. It might actually be a series of experiences from different perspectives that are drawn together in the narrative. It could actually give an interesting look at this world, and how it really functions. Hunters. Prey. Rich. Not rich. People out for vengeance. People who order take out victims.


You know, in the first teaser, there was a quick clip that looked like some rich people readying to kill a family member. It made me wonder. What if you did a country manor murder mystery in this world. All these rich people lock themselves away, safe from the rabble. Then someone is killed. It wouldn't say much about this world, but it would be an odd play on this concept.


Still, this movie may be a good sequel. Or it may be a poorly made mess. I hope to hear good things.


Battle of the Damned



Dolph Lundgren fights zombies. ...What? Do we need more reason to watch a movie?

Okay. Did I mention the robots? They also fight the zombies.

Dolph. Zombies. Robots. Fighting.

Come on! How do you not rent that at least once?

Sure, he's on a rescue mission in a cut off city. It's borrowing heavily from Escape From New York, but...Dolph, Zombies, and Robots...?

I think nothing more needs to be said.

Trailers In Short - Brains Don't Work That Way Edition

So many Go To's in science fiction fantasy. Among them is the magic of the human mind. It can do anything. Get Uploaded. Get Downloaded. Time Travel. Make Heads Explode.

So let's look at some new movies that take up two of these tropes. Lucy and Transcendence.


Lucy



Hey, it's Johansson in a solo superheroish movie...but still not a Black Widow movie.

So she gets infused with some magic drug, and becomes super focused and agile. Okay. It makes you think she might be super cool spy type for the movie. Then it gets weirder.

She starts warping reality, hacking the Matrix, and discovers that Love really is a dirty word (Maybe not the last one.) ...And all because, we all only ever use 10% of our brains. Sigh. We actually use all of our brain. We may not look like it, but we are making full use of our noggins. We don't have secret super powers locked away, like were video game characters. It's so silly. I know it's a trope, but it's a trope that used to sell people on stupid ideas and products in the real world.

That is just not how our bodies work...

Anyway, while she has amazing new perceptions, an altered brain, and world altering powers, she's still focused on getting at the people who did it all to her. Think bigger.

But, hey, Morgan Freeman's there to mentor her along the way. That's requisite these days, right?


...Speaking of Morgan Freeman...


Transcendence



Johnny Depp gets uploaded onto the Internet.

Apparently, if you try and copy a person, it works fine. Imagine that, it's ALL there? Memories? Sure. But, psychology? And what about all those other different aspects that make up the mind? It would be a perfect replica?

Better yet, would it be you? Sure, why not? Shame on you for doubting it! Blasphemer!

But better, once you are Of The Internet, you get superpowers. You get to be superior, or better.

It's a movie that feels like a bad movie. It's a shame, much of this feels like it is an over long episode of The Outer Limits (the 90's version). The 60% of that show about people being afraid of technology, rightly or wrongly. It would be interesting if this movie looked at what makes one human or something else. What is gained or lost in "transcendence". It could be a fascinating topic.

But movie producers are a little leery of that stuff. More boom, less hmm.

But, hey, at least you get some fanatical Luddites as a counterpoint to the technology questions!

What? A Right Wing Hero Who Is Racist? *UPDATED*

I think you have the wrong flag up.

As I'm sure shocks us all, Cliven Bundy (I guess I've been calling him Clive.), of "Get Off My Lawn And Your Lawn To" fame, has shown off a new facet of his charm offensive. Racism.

Now this has stymied some of us. How could he be like this? He's seemed so informed and level headed up to now.

Would someone whose openly said:

• He doesn't recognize the United States government as existing.
• He wanted the local sheriff to disarm the Forest Service officers in the area, and then have those weapons handed to him.

...seem like a person that would spout idiotic racist patter?


Being serious, most of us aren't surprised. Another Right Wing hero tosses out casual confident racism. Somehow people who obsess over a past, where white people were king (Well, more kingly.), look back at how black people were treated, and see it as right and good. It is the sad outcome of their conservative philosophical process. Women back in the house. Blacks and Hispanics working in the back.

Conservatism has become defined by these regressive ideas. But the one lesson most conservative leaders learned is how to couch their horrible ideas in coded language, and pseudo intellectualism. (Clean Air Act, Academic Freedom, Trickle Down Economics, Kenyan)

And that is what is galling about Bundy, and others like Todd Akin and Phil Robertson. Bundy talks like the GOP's many failed candidates, going off on blacks, gays, or birth control.

But they all still share common thinking with the rest of the conservative movement. They are hostile to gay rights, to civil rights, and to reproductive rights. But it's all supposed to be coded. People like Paul Ryan work to hide it. They try and sell "urban" as an innocent and honest. It's really racist and disingenuous. People like Bundy screw up the strategy, by plainly speaking the bigotry and contempt.

The Horror Of...Universal Monsters and Shock Theater

From Screen Gem catalog.

Following my look at Universal Monsters in general, I wanted to consider how these characters emerged. Sure, they had their premieres, and found fans. But what happen in the decades to follow, to help keep them in the public's mind? I wanted to look at where those creatures went in the 1950's. And the answer is...

Shock Theater! (or Theatre, if you like)

In 1957 Universal made the decision to release 52 of it's horror movies in a package called SHOCK! It was part of a deal made with Screen Gems. (They also sold packages of other genres.) The idea was to syndicate these movies, and share them on television.

It was an important moment, as it allowed these movies to be more easily accessed by a new generation of potential fans. Like the young kids that never got to see these movies the first time around. Also those that remember seeing these movies in a different time. It was a chance to be taken back to their youths.

Among this package of movies was Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man, and The Mummy. Most of what would be called the Universal Monsters. (Obviously Creature from the Black Lagoon was still a too recent movie for them to offer up.) Also many of the sequels were also offered up. And other interesting films, like The Black Cat.

And then in 1958 a second batch of 20 movies were released. SON OF SHOCK. It included more of the Universal Monster sequels, including Bride of Frankenstein.

It all created quite a stir with TV viewers, and inspired new merchandise and new media.

Bundy Ranch: The Takers Come Home To Roost

The most patriotic anti-American patriot ever.

...I probably should have made that a cattle reference. Still, Clive Bundy doesn't make much of any sense either.

A rancher in Nevada, Bundy has taken it upon himself to skip out on paying grazing fees for his cattle over the past 20 years. These fees were being paid by his neighbors as needed, and by any other rancher in the country.

It's a simple enough idea. You want additional grass and scrub for your cattle. So you can make a deal with a neighbor, to allow your cattle on their land for awhile to eat. As part of the deal you may agree about how long they can stay, or you can pay for the use of the land.

It seems very friendly and simple. It seems rather capitalistic.

But not to Bundy. He seems to have decided that since the land is owned by the government, he can use it at will for whatever reasons he decides. And when he's asked to pay his fees, he refuses. And when he goes to court looses, he still refuses. And when he looses again in court, he refuses...You see how this is going.

He's a cheat. He currently owes around one million dollars. (Imagine how nicely you'd be treated if you refused to pay that amount of money to the government.)