#1986 popped off when they showed us his human form

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COOL DRAGON

in which the monkey guy fights a dragon prince over an eaten horse

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Stan Ridgway is best remembered as the guy from Wall of Voodoo, and Wall of Voodoo are best remembered as the guys from “Mexican Radio.” But there’s a whole lot more to Ridgway’s solo career, which began with 1986′s The Big Heat--Americana, epic narratives, and a whole lot of digital synth. (Transcript below the break!)

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! Today, we’ll be looking at an often overlooked solo debut: Stan Ridgway’s The Big Heat, first released in 1986.

Stan Ridgway is best remembered as the original frontman of Wall of Voodoo, and Wall of Voodoo, in turn, are best remembered for the single “Mexican Radio,” a landmark bit of New Wave eclecticism that became an unlikely hit thanks in large part to heavy rotation on MTV. That said, like a lot of ostensible “one-hit wonders,” the span of Ridgway’s artistic career is quite a bit more varied and more interesting than this solitary recording might suggest. While I don’t believe that “Mexican Radio” is simply a novelty song that can easily be dismissed, I will set it aside for the time being, because any attempt to cover the rest of Stan Ridgway’s work is probably better off without worrying about it. Instead, let’s take a look at his first bona fide solo release: the 1983 single, “Don’t Box Me In.”

Music: “Don’t Box Me In”

“Don’t Box Me In” was a collaboration between Ridgway and percussionist Stewart Copeland, then known chiefly for his work with the group The Police. While Copeland is now fairly well known for his work composing scores for cinema and video games, this was one of his first forays into that field: the soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola’s film adaptation of Rumble Fish. Based on a novel by S. E. Hinton, most famous for The Outsiders, Rumble Fish was actually a tremendous flop for Coppola, perceived to be a bit too avant-garde for its own good, and Copeland’s percussion-led score for the film, experimental in its own right, certainly didn’t help that perception. Despite all of this, “Don’t Box Me In” managed to do fairly well for itself as a single, achieving substantial alternative radio play purely on its own merits. And merits it has, weaving together the experience of a fish trapped in a tiny bowl with a more universalized sense of human ennui, being overlooked and underestimated by everyone around you. Not to be underestimated himself, Ridgway has not only written these evocative lyrics, but delivers them in a manner that shows a complexity beyond his semi-affected Western twang, conveying fragility and uncertainty alongside indignation and determinedness. This is also the version of Stan Ridgway whom we meet when we listen to The Big Heat.

Music: “Camouflage”

Despite being the very last single released from The Big Heat, the eerie war yarn “Camouflage” would go on to be the most successful track from the album, and Ridgway’s best-known hit as a solo artist. Perhaps surprisingly, the single was largely snubbed in the charts of Ridgway’s native USA, becoming a much bigger hit throughout Europe. While playing the harmonica and sporting a bolo tie, Ridgway seems to almost play the character of the quintessential American, and perhaps it’s that quality that’s caused this apparent rift. Is it necessary to analyze his art through the lens of exoticism in order to find it appealing?

It’s a hard question for me to answer, personally--I might be from the US myself, but at the same time, the vast majority of the music I listen to is European, as a natural consequence of being chiefly a devotee of electronic music. There is still a sort of novelty factor I find in Ridgway’s work. I remain in awe of the fact that a musical genius exists who uses a hard R, and says “huh?” instead of “pardon me?” But, of course, I am amazed by this moreso because it makes me feel “represented,” for once, in a musical tradition which is important to me. If people from Britain’s crumbling industrial centers like Sheffield and Manchester have made great electronic music, then surely synthesisers can also tell the stories of the American Rust Belt, where I come from? For that, we’ll have to step away from the sort of typified narrative of “Camouflage,” and take a listen to the album’s title track.

Music: “The Big Heat”

“Camouflage” told us a tale as old as time, in which a benevolent ghost offers one last act of aid to a vulnerable human being. The album’s title track, on the other hand, alludes to a particularly 20th Century form of storytelling: the detective drama and film noir, as hinted at by its allusion to the classic Fritz Lang film of the same title. Ridgway assumes the perspective of the hardboiled detective, hot on the trail of some mysterious quarry, and it is the innocent passers-by he seeks information from who respond with the song’s banal refrain: “Everybody wants another piece of pie today.” For as much as people have mocked Ridgway’s singing style over the years, you’ve got to appreciate his lilting delivery of this line here in the first verse, where it comes from the mouth of a female character.

It’s easy, of course, to see such apparent non sequitur lyrics in Ridgway’s oeuvre as merely ridiculous, as many quickly do with the likes of “Mexican Radio,” but the more you listen to him, the more his style begins to make sense. The instinct to find humour in things is deeply connected to the feeling of being surprised, and encountering the unexpected. Ridgway happens to be all about delivering the unexpected, and it’s precisely the surface-level absurdities and surprises his lyricism offers that make us think more deeply about the stories he tells. The title track of The Big Heat isn’t about pie, but rather the fact that everybody its characters encounter appears to be grasping for more out of life, and hungry for something else. It’s what drives criminals to transgress against the law, and it’s also, perhaps, what drives the detective to devote himself to the pursuit of the abstract principle of “justice.” To both the villain and the hero of this story, the civilians they brush past are little more than means to an end, despite their display of greater wisdom and insight into these issues than anyone else. Ridgway excels at conveying this sort of saintly everymannishness, and does so with similar gusto on the track “Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket)”.

Music: “Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket)”

“Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket)” was actually not released as a single, which is perhaps surprising given its hooky quality and sprightly synth backdrop. While “Camouflage” is assembled chiefly from traditional instruments, with only a subtle intrusion of Yamaha DX-7 to remind you that it came out in 1986, many of the other tracks, like this one and the title track, are willing to double down on electronic influences, and ride the wave of “peak synth-pop” that was easily cresting by the mid-1980s. That aside, the central theme of “Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket)” is the quotidian avariciousness one encounters among ordinary folk, and the psychological effects of living in a “mean world.” While the text mostly revolves around the idea of living in fear, and the paranoia of knowing that “everything changes hands when it hits the ground,” it reaches a climax by showing us an actual situation where this occurs: the pathetic figure of a filthy old man who finds a small bill in the road, and, in a fit of folk superstitiousness, is said to “thank the street.” The song’s tension lives between the bustle of the jealous ones, and the reality of life for those desperate enough to pick up money from the street. Like many of Ridgway’s greatest works, this track simultaneously portrays the mentality of the common man in a direct and serious manner, but also opens up room for it to be criticized. This everyman bystander persona is assumed more directly in the track “Drive, She Said.”

Music: “Drive, She Said”

While the album’s more electronic elements are its main draw, in my eyes, there are still a number of tracks that remain dominated by traditional instruments, “Drive, She Said” being a prime example of them. While narratives are always at the center of Ridgway’s work, “Drive, She Said” moves us away from omniscient narration like that of “Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket)” and back into the mind of a specific and individualized narrator--in this case, a cab driver who somewhat reluctantly transports a bank robber, with whom he might also be falling in love. While it doesn’t have the supernatural implications of “Camouflage,” the two stories do seem to have much in common: an ordinary person meets someone who quickly reveals their extraordinary nature, and despite the brevity of their encounter, the protagonist is deeply affected, and perhaps changed, by the events. Much as “Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket)” sees fit to shatter its apparent main premise, with an interlude that shifts the tempo of the music as well as introduces the contrasting figure of the old beggar, “Drive, She Said” introduces an interlude of its own: the driver’s reverie, in which he runs away with his enigmatic passenger. As in many of Ridgway’s tales, we must consider both the beauty of a wonderful dream, and its sheer impossibility.

On the cover of The Big Heat, we see a portrait of Stan Ridgway looking glum, which is not itself terribly unusual for an album cover, though the fact that he’s behind a metal fence certainly is. The main focus of the image seems to be Ridgway’s environment, a bleak industrial setting full of towering machinery, and no other traces of human beings. The absence of other figures in this scene draws attention to the scale of the machines, as well as the fact that in many parts of the US, including my own, it’s very common to see equipment like this that’s fallen into disuse and disrepair. Much as ruined aqueducts and palaces mark the places in Europe where the Roman Empire had once held fast, these sorts of derelict manufacturing facilities are a common sight in America, and serve as reminders of the squandered “American Century.” While many album covers have shown me places I like to imagine myself visiting, I don’t have to imagine what being here might be like, having grown up in a place whose pride left soon after the steel industry did. It strikes me as exactly the kind of setting that Ridgway’s narratives ought to take place in: dirty, simple, well-intentioned, doomed, and all-American.

Ridgway’s follow-up to The Big Heat would be 1989’s *Mosquitos,* an album that largely abandons the many synthesiser-driven compositions found in his earlier work. It’s hard to fault him for this decision, given how much the mainstream appeared to be souring on synth-pop and electronic rock by the end of the decade, but it does mean that this album offers little I’d want to listen to recreationally. That is, with the exception of its third and final single, “Goin’ Southbound,” a practically epic drama of small-town drug smugglers trying to survive, and one that fires on all cylinders when it comes to fiddles dueling with digital synths. This track feels like it would fit right in on The Big Heat, so if you’ve enjoyed this album, don’t miss it.

Music: “Goin’ Southbound”

My favourite track on The Big Heat is “Salesman,” which, to my surprise, received a small advance promo release without ever becoming a true single. The titular character, an unctuous but insecure traveling salesman, is as rich a narrating persona as any of the many in Ridgway’s catalogue, and I love the way the refrain just feels like a song you might make up while idly doing something else, silly and yet primal at the same time. It captures the feeling of living “on the edge of the ball,” enjoying the freedom of spontaneity, but also, perhaps, suffering for its enforced sloppiness. That’s everything for today, thanks for listening!

Music: “Salesman”

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Critters: The Making of a Comedy Horror Cult Classic

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Rupert Harvey knew he was on to something with Critters after one memorable test screening.  Specifically, it was the scene where the Critters, who had already been terrorizing the Brown family, were standing on the doorstep of the family’s home talking in their guttural language with subtitles translating for the audience…until one of them is blown to gooey bits by a shotgun blast (wielded by none other than E.T. mom Dee Wallace), and the other lets out a subtitled “Fuck.”

“It totally destroyed the audience,” Harvey recalls. “They just howled. We lost the next scene because they were laughing so hard and I thought: ‘Okay, this is probably going to work.’” 

It had already taken a lot of work for Critters to get this far. 

Bringing Critters to Life

Released on April 11, 1986, the horror comedy about a small town and farm-dwelling family under attack from little furry space aliens with a taste for human flesh was unfairly dismissed by some as a Gremlins knock-off. 

But that did a disservice to the unique tone of Critters; a sci-fi comedy featuring belly laughs alongside genuine moments of terror. A film that owed as much to 1950s sci-fi B-movies as it did anything else, with its tale of picturesque Americana under attack from aliens. 

It also overlooks the film’s quirkier narrative aspect like the pair of shapeshifting alien bounty hunters who arrive on Earth to hunt the Critters down, with one of them assuming the form of a popular Jon Bon Jovi-esque rock musician. 

This surreal sci-fi tone, coupled with the copious violence, occasional bad language, and general unpredictability of it all helped give Critters the feel of a rebellious younger brother to the more mature Gremlins.  

To many, it was the cooler, edgier movie and one that boasted underlying themes that remain universal to this day. 

More importantly, the accusation of imitation was incorrect. If the two films were related, it wasn’t by design with screenwriter Brian Dominic Muir first writing the script for Critters back in 1982, two years before Joe Dante’s film hit cinemas.  

“I don’t think I saw Gremlins until we were in post-production,” Harvey, who produced Critters and worked on two of its three original sequels, tells Den of Geek. “It was certainly not something we were thinking about very much at the time, if at all. 

We were dealing with very different creatures and the fact that they were so different in concept meant I wasn’t terribly bothered by it. Gremlins were these mythical, earthbound, magical beings whereas Critters were extraterrestrial. People who say there are similarities are just influenced by the fact Gremlins was such a huge success, but it was a much bigger budget movie.” 

Muir’s script didn’t see the light of day for nearly three years before he showed it to friend and fellow budding filmmaker Stephen Herek who developed it further. That was where Harvey came in. 

The three men met while working on Android, a distinctive low budget sci-fi film Harvey was producing alongside independent movie trailblazer Roger Corman.  

“Brian gave me Critters to read and l loved it,” Harvey recalls. “It was an archetypal American story about foreigners invading the homeland. It’s quite prescient given the current state of politics in America. There was this quintessentially American setup with this almost pioneering family struggling through adversity to come out the other side.” 

35 years on, that notion of protecting the homeland is one Harvey feels is reflected in the inward-looking politics increasingly prominent in America and the UK today. That sentiment was already bubbling under the surface when Critters came out in the Reagan-era of the 1980s.

“It was novel to look at that then through the lens of Critters,” he says. “No one was seeing the film in those terms but that human fear of outsiders coming in has always been there and has been a fundamental part of cinema and drama since forever.” 

Harvey agreed to develop the film under his production company, Sho Films. Though he mulled over an offer to produce a low budget version of Critters with Corman, everything changed when Bob Shaye and New Line Cinema came calling. 

Writing Critters

“New Line was really a mom-and-pop operation at that point. They hadn’t made A Nightmare on Elm Street yet. They weren’t the New Line of today, but Bob offered to double our budget, so I did the deal.” 

Even so, Shaye took some convincing on the choice of director. 

Herek would go on to helm Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, and a string of big budget Disney movies in the years that followed but had never directed prior to Critters, having previously worked as an editor. 

“Stephen, to his credit, even though he had no leverage other than a script we wanted to make, absolutely insisted that nobody would direct it but him and if he didn’t it wouldn’t get made,” Harvey says. “He stuck to his guns and there was never any shift in that position on Brian’s side. I had to convince Bob on several occasions to go ahead with us and, even during production, to actually stick with Steve. But we were all very glad that he did.” 

On the writing side, Harvey enlisted Sho Films’ in-house writer Don Opper. A fellow Roger Corman acolyte, Opper had written and starred in Android where he also worked with Herek and Muir. 

He was seen as the ideal candidate to work alongside Herek after Muir became unwell. 

“Brian, unfortunately, became quite ill not long after we started making Critters,” Harvey says. 

Muir was reportedly battling Hodgkin’s disease at the time. Though he recovered, the writer, who often wrote under the pseudonym August White for Full Moon Entertainment later in his career, sadly died from cancer aged 48 in 2010.  

“He was a very sweet, nice man,” Harvey recalls. “In Brian’s absence, Don worked with Stephen on polishing the script. One of the ways was to enhance the family and their relationships.” 

By then the distinctive looking Opper had also been cast in the pivotal role of Charlie McFadden, the town drunk and a conspiracy theorist convinced the fillings in his teeth are picking up signals from outer space.  

Like a cross between Randy Quaid’s deranged pilot from Independence Day and Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade, Charlie would eventually emerge as a fan favorite, appearing in each of the three Critters sequels. 

He was one of several quirky locals introduced early on in Critters with much of the first third of the film dedicated to establishing the Brown family, their farm, and the characters of the fictional Kansas town of Grover’s Bend where the Critters land.  

In one picture postcard scene of the perfect nuclear family, the Browns gather round the breakfast table in a primary colored kitchen, blissfully unaware of the approaching danger and disruption to follow. 

That slow build-up may be less commonplace today, but it’s something Harvey believes was crucial to the success of the film. 

“That was one of the things that appealed to me about the script,” he says. “If you set that up properly and the audience is in there with you. They gain an understanding of the family dynamic right away and they are engaged. It helps you then feel for each one of them subsequently…The rules are the same, and they have been since the first Greek dramas; storytelling is still about humans and the human condition. Just making stuff about what the monsters are doing has no appeal.” 

Critters came during a time when horror comedies were commonplace in multiplexes.

“Studios started to notice in test screenings that the audience response was often bigger when you capped a scare or moment of high tension with a bit of wit or humor,” Harvey explains. 

Post-screening surveys bore this out; using humor to emphasize or punctuate a terrifying moment drew a bigger response from the audience. Regardless of the visceral impact of the scare itself. It made it more memorable to viewers.

The Cast of Critters

It helped that Critters boasted an impressive cast to bring the script to life.  

Blade Runner’s M. Emmet Walsh appeared as the grouchy local sheriff while Dee Wallace, who had starred in E.T. only a few years earlier, was also convinced to sign on as the Brown family matriarch Helen. Billy “Green” Bush was cast as the hardworking man of the house Jay Brown with Nadine van der Velde as his high school teen daughter April. 

Despite some impressive names, Harvey ranks the casting of future Party of Five and ER star Scott Grimes in the role of mischievous central teenage protagonist Brad Brown as the most significant. It’s Scott who first discovers the Critters and Scott that begins to fight back against them using his slingshot and potent firecrackers coming off like a hellish Kevin McCallister from Home Alone. 

“Scott was tailor-made for the role,” Harvey says. “He was at the center of the craziness and he had the audience’s sympathy and support because no one was paying attention to him.” 

For all the acting talent on display, however, much of the movie’s success rested on the tiny shoulders of a few hedgehog-like puppets. 

“The biggest challenge was making the Critters appear to be a viable threat as the antagonists,” Harvey says. “We were really fortunate that we found the Chiodo Brothers.” 

A trio of siblings who specialized in stop motion and animatronic work, the Chiodos were relative newcomers to the movie business and would go on to projects like Elf and Team America: World Police. 

“We knew from the script we were dealing with a fur ball that got around fast by rolling around and was all teeth and voracious,” Harvey says. “That was the extent of the design parameters. They came up with the drawings and the details as to how they would work.”

Harvey cites the Critters’ distinctive, almost limbless design as both a blessing and a curse.  

“From a construction and manipulation point of view, they were relatively straightforward,” he says. “But from an action perspective, there was not a lot you could do with them.” 

While other projects, like New Line’s later Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, would struggle with glitchy animatronics, there were no such problems with the Chiodos’ creations with each running impressively well thanks to a crack team behind the scenes.

“Even though the Critters were fairly simple creatures, there were times for some of those shots, when we had 10 guys running different cables and things to them to get them right,” Harvey recalls. “They had eye movement, mouth movement, lip movement even their little arms and legs move because these things needed to look as believable as possible. But it was still tough to make these things that rolled around something scary and frightening rather than cute and laughable.” 

That was where Billy Zane came in. A good horror villain needs a good victim. Cast in the role of April’s unsuspecting boyfriend Steve Eliot, the then unknown Zane ended up falling afoul of the Critters in arguably the film’s standout gory death after encountering the furry fiends while enjoying a makeout session in the family’s barn. 

“It was the first thing he’d ever done. I think he’d arrived in L.A. a week before,” Harvey says, recalling how uncomfortably hot that barn scene was for everyone involved. “It was 100 degrees in the barn. He had little furry creatures stuck to his stomach and was covered in fake blood. It was so hot and sticky. We stayed there for the whole day, getting all the inserts and various other bits and pieces to make the scene…But that setup in the claustrophobic space of the barn helped to make the scene much scarier because we could set it up in a kind of way that made the punchline, the payoff, much more visceral.” 

The Bounty Hunters

For all the machinations of the Critters themselves, it’s their pursuers from outer space, the two faceless bounty hunters, who almost steal the show.

Especially after one decides to take the form of fictional hair metal superstar Johnny Steele, the singer of “Power of the Night” a song so pitch-perfectly cheesy, you had to wonder if Steele is a real artist rather than musical theater actor Terrence Mann. 

“I went to see Terrence who was appearing in Cats on Broadway. He’d been suggested by a friend and was seriously interested in doing the film,” Harvey says. “We had a friend in New York who was in the music business and had a recording studio. He put together some tracks and we created this imaginary band that he stole the identity of the lead singer from.” 

Despite some striking similarities to artists of the time, Harvey insists Johnny Steele wasn’t set up as a deliberate lampooning of any one artist.

“The band was generically inspired by particular bands of the time,” he says. “There wasn’t any one group or individual. We were post punk and before real heavy metal. There was more of a glam goth influence.” 

Teaming up with Charlie and Brad, the bounty hunters eventually destroy the Critters though it comes at a cost to the Browns, with the family home blown-up in the process. It was a powerful symbol of the way these invaders had shattered their lives but not their spirit. Unfortunately, New Line Cinema didn’t like it as an ending. 

“Bob wanted it changed so that the house was rebuilt in the end but I was against it so we had a few arguments about that, but it was Bob’s money, and we did it and it came out very successfully.” 

Shaye and New Line would occasionally prove tricky customers, with Harvey often forced to traverse the familiar pitfalls of independent filmmaking.

“We were in production and things were really tough and there was one point in time when Bob and I sat down in the trailer and he explained to me some things that I won’t go into,” Harvey says.  “Things were very tricky for a week or two financially, but they sorted themselves out. That was a typical attribute of an independent movie. ‘Oh God you’re spending $150,000 dollars a day, can you spend $100,000?’. Not unheard of but no fun at the time.” 

For all the trials and tribulations of the film, cast, and Critters themselves, however, he has fond memories of working on the film.

“We weren’t stuck in Los Angeles in some smoke-filled space,” he said. “The set was built on Newhall Ranch, this huge bucolic area of land outside of L.A and there we were for five weeks shooting in relatively hot temperatures.” 

Critters Sequels and What’s Next

After a quick turnaround in editing, Critters was released in cinemas, proving to be a hit with over $13 million made at the box office off a budget of $3 million. This kind of success made sequels inevitable.

Though Harvey was unavailable for the second film, he returned for the third and fourth movies, which were filmed back-to-back and released direct to video.

“By then video cassettes were a huge component to New Line’s early success and helped finance the Nightmare on Elm Street and Critters sequels and all of the other movies that they then started making in order to become the powerhouse they became,” Harvey says. “I think it funded something like 40 to 40 to 50 percent of New Line production for that period of time.”

Harvey was initially hesitant to get involved, citing Shaye’s wishes to make the sequels for even less money than the first film. However, he ultimately relented after agreeing to film them back-to-back.

Harvey has mixed feelings about the two sequels, particularly the third movie, which he had conceived as being “much darker and much more violent” than what eventually made it to the screen.

“I wanted to do a George Romero homage for the third film,” he says. “I was very much interested in the claustrophobia of the tenement building in New York City, that kind of atmosphere. Boy, did it ever turn out differently.”

Having also agreed to direct the fourth film, which was set in space and wrap up the franchise, he found himself too busy to oversee work on the third movie.

“It was different. I didn’t have as much to do with Critters 3 because I was directing the fourth film. We were shooting back to back. We had a week down in between the two. All the time we were shooting Critters 3 I was prepping Critters 4.”

While the fourth film featured both a young Angela Bassett and Brad Dourif on top scene-chewing form, the third entry has become among the most noted in the years since thanks to the presence of a young Leonardo DiCaprio in the main role.

“It’s the movie that shall remain nameless on Leo DiCaprio’s resume,” Harvey jokes.

He doesn’t have a lot of memories about DiCaprio on set though there was already a sense he was destined for big things.

“One day he told me he needed some time off. He had to go and audition for this movie. After he came back I asked ‘How did it go?’ and he said ‘Robert De Niro is really great’. he’d been off auditioning for This Boy’s Life…And of course, when he did that movie, it was like, ‘Holy shit. Well, where was that actor when we were making Critters 3?’” 

While Leo is unlikely to return to the Critters franchise anytime soon, Harvey, who had no involvement in a recent TV revival, believes that there is life in the old furballs yet.

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“It’s not a franchise that’s going to go away,” he says cryptically. “Whatever comes next needs to be something that is responsive to contemporary sources. I can’t really say too much about it, because nothing is final. All I can tell you is that I don’t think this is the end.”

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Random Review #3: Sleepwalkers (1992) and “Sleep Walk” (1959)

I. Sleepwalkers (1992) I couldn’t sleep last night so I started watching a trashy B-movie penned by Stephen King specifically for the screen called Sleepwalkers (1992). Simply put, the film is an unmitigated disaster. A piece of shit. But it didn’t need to be. That’s what’s so annoying about it. By 1992 King was a grizzled veteran of the silver screen, with more adaptations under his belt than any other author of his cohort. Puzo had the Godfather films (1972 and 1974, respectively), sure, but nothing else. Leonard Gardner had Fat City (1972), a movie I love, but Gardner got sucked into the Hollywood scene of cocaine and hot tub parties and never published another novel, focusing instead on screenplays for shitty TV shows like NYPD Blue. After Demon Seed (1977), a movie I have seen and disliked, nobody would touch Dean Koontz’s stuff with a ten foot pole, which is too bad because The Voice of the Night, a 1980 novel about two young pals, one of whom is a psychopath trying to convince the other to help him commit murder, would make a terrific movie. But Koontz’s adaptations have been uniformly awful. The made-for-TV film starring John C McGinley, 1997′s Intensity, is especially bad. There are exceptions, but Stephen King has been lucky enough to avoid the fate of his peers. Big name directors have tackled his work, from Stanley Kubrick to Brian De Palma. King even does a decent job of acting in Pet Semetary (1989), in his own Maximum Overdrive (1986) and in George Romero’s Creepshow (1982), where he plays a yokel named Jordy Verril who gets infected by a meteorite that causes green weeds to grow all over his body. Many have criticized King’s over-the-top performance in that flick, but for me King perfectly nails the campy and comical tone that Romero was going for. The dissolves in Creepshow literally come right off the pages of comics, so people expecting a subtle Ordinary People-style turn from King had clearly walked into the wrong theatre. Undoubtedly Creepshow succeeds at what it set out to do. I’m not sure Sleepwalkers succeeds though, unless the film’s goal was to get me to like cats even more than I already do. But I already love cats a great deal. Here’s my cat Cookie watching me edit this very blog post. 

And here’s one of my other cats, Church, named after the cat that reanimates and creeps out Louis and Ellie in Pet Sematary. Photo by @ScareAlex.

SPOILER ALERT: Do not keep reading if you plan on watching Sleepwalkers and want to find out for yourself what happens.

Stephen King saw many of his novels get adapted in the late 1970s and 80s: Carrie, The Shining, Firestarter, Christine, Cujo, and the movie that spawned the 1950s nostalgia industrial complex, Stand By Me, but Sleepwalkers was the first time he wrote a script specifically for the screen rather than adapting a novel that already existed. Maybe that’s why it’s so fucking bad. Stephen King is a novelist, gifted with a novelist’s rich imagination. He’s prone to giving backstories to even the most peripheral characters - think of Joe Chamber’s alcoholic neighbour Gary Pervier in the novel Cujo, who King follows for an unbelievable number of pages as the man stumbles drunkenly around his house spouting his catch phrase “I don’t give a shit,” drills a hole through his phone book so he can hang it from a string beside his phone, complains about his hemorrhoids getting “as big as golfballs” (I’m not joking), and just generally acts like an asshole until a rabid Cujo bounds over, rips his throat out, and he bleeds to death. In the novel Pervier’s death takes more than a few pages, but it makes for fun reading. You hate the man so fucking much that watching him die feels oddly satisfying. In the movie, though, his death occurs pretty quickly, and in a darkened hallway, so it’s hard to see what’s going on aside from Gary’s foot trembling. And Pervier’s “I don’t give a shit” makes sense when he’s drilling a hole in the phone book, not when he’s about to be savagely attacked by a rabid St Bernard. There’s just less room for back story in movies. In a medium that demands pruning and chiseling and the “less is more” dictum, King’s writing takes a marked turn for the worse. King is a prose maximalist, who freely admits to “writing to outrageous lengths” in his novels, listing It, The Stand, and The Tommyknockers as particularly egregious examples of literary logorrhea. He is not especially equipped to write concisely. This weakness is most apparent in Sleepwalkers’ dialogue, which sounds like it was supposed to be snappy and smart, like something Aaron Sorkin would write, but instead comes off like an even worse Tango & Cash, all bad jokes and shitty puns. More on those bad jokes later. First, the plot.

Sleepwalkers is about a boy named Charles and his mother Mary who travel around the United States killing and feeding off the lifeforce of various unfortunate people (if this sounds a little like The True Knot in Doctor Sleep, you’re not wrong. But self-plagiarism is not a crime). Charles and Mary are shapeshifting werewolf-type creatures called werecats, a species with its very own Wikipedia page. Wikipedia confers legitimacy dont’cha know, so lets assume werecats are real beings. According to said page, a werecat, “also written in a hyphenated form as were-cat) is an analogy to ‘werewolf’ for a feline therianthropic creature.” I’m gonna spell it with the hyphen from now on because “werecats” just looks like a typo. Okay? Okay.

Oddly enough, the were-cats in Sleepwalkers are terrified of cats. Actual cats. For the were-cats, cute kittens = kryptonite. When they see a cat or cats plural, this happens to them:

^ That is literally a scene from the movie. Charles is speeding when a cop pulls alongside him and bellows at him to pull over. Ever the rebel, Charles flips the cop the finger. But the cop has a cat named Clovis in his car, and when the cat pops up to have a look at the kid (see below), Charles shapeshifts first into a younger boy, then into whatever the fuck that is in the above screenshot.

Now, the were-cats aversion to normal cats is confusing because one would assume a were-cat to be a more evolved (or perhaps devolved?) version of the typical house kitty. The fact that these were-cats are bipedal alone suggests an advantage over our furry four-legged friends, no? Kinda like if humans were afraid of fucking gorillas. Wait...we are scared of gorillas. And chimpanzees. And all apes really. Okay, maybe the conceit of the film isn’t so silly after all. The film itself, however, is about as silly as a bad horror movie can get. When the policeman gets back to precinct and describes the incident above (”his face turned into a blur”) he is roundly ridiculed because in movies involving the supernatural nobody believes in the supernatural until it confronts them. It’s the law, sorry. Things don’t end well for the cop. Or for the guy who gets murdered when the mom stabs him with...an ear of corn. Yes, an ear of corn. Somehow, the mother is able to jam corn on the cob through a man’s body, without crushing the vegetable or turning it into yellow mash. It’s pretty amazing. Here is a sample of dialog from that scene: Cop About To Die On The Phone to Precinct: There’s blood everywhere! *STAB* Murderous Mother: No vegetables, no dessert. That is actually a line in the movie. “No vegetables, no dessert.” It’s no “let off some steam, Bennett” but it’s close. Told ya I’d get back to the bad jokes. See, Mary and Charles are new in town and therefore seeking to ingratiate themselves by killing everyone who suspects them of being weird, all while avoiding cats as best they can. At one point Charles yanks a man’s hand off and tells him to "keep [his] hands to [him]self," giving the man back his severed bloody hand. Later on Charles starts dating a girl who will gradually - and I do mean gradually - come to realize her boyfriend is not a real person but in fact a were-cat. Eventually our spunky young protagonist - Madchen Amick, who fans of Twin Peaks will recognize as Shelly - and a team of cats led by the adorable Clovis- kill the were-cat shapeshifting things and the sleepy small town (which is named Travis for some reason) goes back to normal, albeit with a slightly diminished population. For those keeping score, that’s Human/Cat Alliance 1, Shapeshifting Were-cats 0. It is clear triumph for the felis catus/people team! Unless we’re going by kill count, in which case it is closer to Human/Cat Alliance 2, Were-cats 26. I arrived at this figure through my own notes but also through a helpful video that takes a comprehensive and complete “carnage count” of all kills in Sleepwalkers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmt-DroK6uA

II. Santo & Johnny “Sleep Walk” (1959) Because Sleepwalkers is decidedly not known for its good acting or its well-written screenplay, it is perhaps best known for its liberal and sometimes contrapuntal use of Santo & Johnny’s classic steel guitar song “Sleep Walk,” possibly the most famous (and therefore best) instrumental of the 20th century. Some might say “Sleep Walk” is tied for the #1 spot with “Green Onions” by Booker T & the M.G.’s and/or “Wipe Out” by The Surfaris, but I disagree. The Santo & Johnny song is #1 because of its incalculable influence on all subsequent popular music. 

I’m not saying “Wipe Out” didn't inspire a million imitators, both contemporaneously and even decades later…for example here’s a surf rock instrumental from 1999 called “Giant Cow" by a Toronto band called The Urban Surf Kings. The video was one of the first to be animated using Flash (and it shows):

So there are no shortage of surf rock bands, even now, decades after its emergence from the shores of California to the jukeboxes of Middle America. My old band Sleep for the Nightlife used to regularly play Rancho Relaxo with a surf rock band called the Dildonics, who I liked a great deal. There's even a Danish surf rock band called Baby Woodrose, whose debut album is a favourite of mine. They apparently compete for the title of Denmark’s biggest surf pop band with a group called The Setting Son. When a country that has no surfing culture and no beaches has multiple surf rock bands, it is safe to say the genre has attained international reach. As far as I can tell, there aren’t many bands out there playing Booker T & the M.G.’s inspired instrumental rock. Link Wray’s “Rumble” was released four years before “Green Onions.” But the influence of Santo and Johnny’s “Sleep Walk” is so ubiquitous as to be almost immeasurable. The reason for this is the sheer popularity of the song’s chord progression. If Santo and Johnny hadn’t written it first, somebody else would have, simply because the progression is so beautiful and easy on the ears and resolvable in a satisfying way. Have a listen to “Sleep Walk” first and then let’s check out some songs it directly inspired. 

The chords are C, A minor, F and G. Minor variations sometimes reverse the last two chords, but if it begins with C to A minor, you can bet it’s following the “Sleep Walk” formula, almost as if musicians influenced by the song are in the titular trance. When it comes to playing guitar, Tom Waits once said “your hands are like dogs, going to the same places they’ve been. You have to be careful when playing is no longer in the mind but in the fingers, going to happy places. You have to break them of their habits or you don’t explore; you only play what is confident and pleasing.” Not only is it comforting to play and/or hear what we already know, studies have shown that our brains actively resist new music, because it takes work to understand the new information and assimilate it into a pattern we are cogent of. It isn’t until the brain recognizes the pattern that it gives us a dopamine rush. I’m not much for Pitchfork anymore, but a recent article they posted does a fine job of discussing this phenomenon in greater detail.

Led Zeppelin’s “D’Yer Maker” uses the “Sleep Walk” riff prominently, anchored by John Bonham and John Paul Jones’ white-boy reggae beat: 

Here it is again with Del Shannon’s classic “Little Town Flirt.” I love Shannon’s falsetto at the end when he goes “you better run and hide now bo-o-oy.”

The Beatles “Happiness is a Warm Gun” uses the Sleep Walk progression, though not for the whole song. It goes into the progression at the bridge at 1:34: 

Tumblr won’t let me embed any more videos, so you’ll to travel to another tab to hear these songs, but Neil Young gets in on the act with his overlooked classic “Winterlong:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV6r66n3TFI On their 1996 EP Interstate 8 Modest Mouse pay direct homage by singing over their own rendition of the original Santo & Johnny version, right down to the weeping steel guitar part: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT_PwXjCqqs The vocals are typical wispy whispered indie rock vocals, but I think they work, particularly the two different voices. They titled their version “Sleepwalking (Couples Only Dance Prom Night).”

Dwight Yoakam’s “Thousand Miles From Nowhere” makes cinematic use of it. This song plays over the credits of one of my all-time favourite movies, 1993′s Red Rock West feat. Nicolas Cage, Lara Flynn Boyle, Dennis Hopper, and J.T. Walsh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu3ypuKq8WE

“39″ is my favourite Queen song. I guess now I know why. It uses my fav chord progression: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE8kGMfXaFU 

Blink 182 scored their first hit “Dammit” with a minor variation on the Sleep Walk chord progression: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT0g16_LQaQ

Midwest beer drinkin bar rockers Connections scored a shoulda-been-a-hit with the fist-pumping “Beat the Sky:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSNRq0n_WYA You’d be hard pressed to find a weaker lead singer than this guy (save for me, natch), but they make it work. This one’s an anthem.

Spoon, who have made a career out of deconstructing rock n’ roll, so that their songs sometimes sound needlessly sparse (especially “The Ghost of You Lingers,” which takes minimalism to its most extreme...just a piano being bashed on staccato-style for four minutes), so it should surprise nobody that they re-arrange the Sleep Walk chords on their classic from Gimme Fiction, “I Summon You:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teXA8N3aF9M I love that opening line: remember the weight of the world was a sound that we used to buy? I think songwriter Britt Daniel is talking about buying albums from the likes of Pearl Jam or Smashing Pumpkins, any of those grunge bands with pessimistic worldviews. There are a million more examples. I remember seeing some YouTube video where a trio of gross douchebros keep playing the same progression while singing a bunch of hits over it. I don’t like the smarmy way they do it, making it seem like artists are lazy and deliberately stealing. I don’t think it’s plagiarism to use this progression. And furthermore, tempo and production make all the difference. Take “This Magic Moment” for example. There's a version by Jay & the Americans and one by Ben E King & the Drifters. I’ve never been a fan of those shrieking violins or fiddles that open the latter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bacBKKgc4Uo The Jay & the Americans version puts the guitar riff way in the forefront, which I like a lot more. The guitar plays the entire progression once before the singing starts and the band joins in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKfASw6qoag

Each version has its own distinctive feel. They are pretty much two different songs. Perhaps the most famous use of the Sleep Walk progression is “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers, which is one of my favourite songs ever. The guy who chose to let Bobby Hatfield sing this one by himself must have kicked himself afterwards when it became a hit, much bigger than "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiiyq2xrSI0

What can you say about “Unchained Melody” that hasn’t already been said? God, that miraculously strong vocal, the way the strings (and later on, brass horns) are panned way over to the furthest reaches the left speaker while the drums and guitar are way over in the right, with the singing smack dab in the middle creates a kind of distance and sharp clarity that has never been reproduced in popular music, like seeing the skyscrapers of some distant city after an endless stretch of highway. After listening to “Unchained Melody,” one has to wonder: can that progression ever be improved upon? Can any artist write something more haunting, more beautiful, more uplifting than that? The “need your love” crescendo hits so fucking hard, as both the emotional and the sonic climax of the song, which of course is no accident...the strings descending and crashing like a waterfall of sound, it gets me every fucking time. Legend has it that King George II was so moved by the “Hallelujah” section of Handel’s “Messiah” that he stood up, he couldn't help himself, couldn't believe what he was hearing. I get that feeling with all my favourite songs. "1979." "Unchained Melody." "In The Still of the Night." "Digital Bath." "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" "Interstate." "Liar's Tale." “Gimme Shelter.” The list goes on and on. Music is supposed to move us.

King George II stood because he was moved to do so. Music may be our creation, but it isn't our subordinate. All those sci-fi stories warning about technology growing beyond our control aren’t that far-fetched. Music is our creation but its power lies beyond our control. We are subordinate to music, helpless against its power and might, its urgency and vitality and beauty. There have been many times in my life when I have been so obsessed with a particular song that I pretty much want to live inside of it forever. A house of sound. I remember detoxing from heroin and listening to Grimes “Realiti” on repeat for twelve hours. Detoxing from OxyContin and listening to The Beach Boys “Dont Worry Baby” over and over. Or just being young and listening to “Tonight Tonight” over and over and over, tears streaming from my eyes in that way you cry when you’re a kid because you just feel so much and you don’t know what to do with the intensity of those feelings. It is precisely because we are so moved by music that we keep creating it. And in the act of that creation we are free. There are no limits to that freedom, which is why bands time and time again return to the well-worn Sleep Walk chord progression and try to make something new from it. Back in 2006, soon after buying what was then the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, I found myself playing the album’s closing track over and over. I loved the chorus and I loved the way it collapses into a lo-fi demo at the very end, stripping away the studio sheen and...not to be too punny, showing its bones (the album title is Show Your Bones). Later on I would realize that the song, called “Turn Into,” uses the Sleep Walk chord progression. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exqCFoPiwpk

It’s just like, what Waits said, our hands goes to where we are familiar. And so do our ears, which is why jazz often sounds so unpleasant to us upon first listen. Or Captain Beefheart. But it’s worth the effort to discover new stuff, just as it’s worth the effort to try and write it. I recently lamented on this blog that music to me now is more about remembrance than discovery, but I’m still only 35 years old. I’m middle-aged right now (I don’t expect to live past 70, not with the lifestyle I’ve been living). There’s still a whole other half life to find new music and love and leave it for still newer stuff. It’s worth the challenge, that moment of inner resistance we feel when confronted with something new and challenging and strange sounding. The austere demands of adult life, rent and routine, take so much of our time. I still make time for creative pursuits, but I don’t really have much time for discovery, for seeking out new music. But I’ve resolved to start making more time. A few years ago I tried to listen to and like Trout Mask Replica but I couldn’t. I just didn’t get what was going on. It sounded like a bunch of mistakes piled on top of each other. But then a few days ago I was writing while listening to music, as I always do, and YouTube somehow landed on Lick My Decals Off, Baby. I didn’t love what I was hearing but I was intrigued enough to keep going. And now I really like this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMnd9dvb3sA&pbjreload=101 Another example I’ll give is the rare Robert Pollard gem “Prom Is Coming.” The first time I heard this song, it sounded like someone who can’t play guitar messing around, but the more I heard it the more I realized there’s a song there. It’s weird and strange, but it’s there. The lyrics are classic Pollard: Disregard injury and race madly out of the universe by sundown. Pollard obviously has a special place in his heart for this track. He named one of his many record labels Prom Is Coming Records and he titled the Boston Spaceships best-of collection Out of the Universe By Sundown. I don’t know if I’ll ever become a Captain Beefheart megafan but I can hear that the man was doing something very strange and, at times, beautiful. And anyway, why should everything be easy? Aren’t some challenges worth meeting for the experience waiting on the other side of comprehension or acceptance? I try to remember this now whenever I’m first confronted with new music, instead of vetoing it right away. Most of my favourite bands I was initially resistant to when I first heard them. Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, Guided by Voices, Spoon, Heavy Times. All bands I didn’t like at first.  I don’t wanna sleepwalk through life, surrounding myself only with things I have already experienced. I need to stay awake. Because soon enough I’ll be asleep forever. We need to try everything we can before the Big Sleep comes to take us back to the great blankness, the terrible question mark that bookends our lives.

[en-la-casademiamor]

In a neighborhood, as in life, a clean bandage is much, much better than a raw or festering wound--Mayor Ed Koch

I’m going to begin many of the following sentences with the word, and—because whatever I say, it’s been said before. Countless times. In different places and in a variety of languages and tones. And I wonder if we gain anything anymore with words, no matter how it’s written or who it’s spoken by, but I’m willing to try. 

Here I go—And I remember it was maybe 1983, and my dad’s office window faced the Empire State Building. And I can’t say I was surprised by this when I first went to the skyrise he worked in. Maybe in some unidentifiable way, I felt my dad was successful and that this office, with its large window that faced a NYC landmark was befitting of how I viewed him.

In any event, my dad had a green thumb. He could make any plant not just grow, but take over. And so he had this type of plant that I always heard Cuban’s call, la malangita. And the full breadth of this plant circulated the entirety of his office. He was quite proud of this plant too, as if it were a child to him. I have inherited tons of its photos. My dad made sure to leave them with me when I last saw him in 2013.  

My dad’s office window had no curtains. I’m not sure there were even blinds and it was a very large window. I remember the vines from this plant criss crossed right in front of the extra large pane. NYC on cloudy days, its skyline can appear quite steely looking.  Its buildings can look exaggerated and sharp in its dimensions; and on this particular day ( I visited), I guess it was overcast because the green from this malangita just popped like in the way color pops when a comic book artist applies it to a strip that was primarily drawn in black and white. The plant’s green bled through, while behind the grey; the immensity of The Empire State Building stood stern. 

People were very friendly at my da’s office and I remember how they loved him. I was made to feel welcomed by them too. Everyone looked elegant but walked casually.  I remember that warmth, the soft jazz on low.  Every aspect of this place was in sharp contrast to where my mother worked before she finally left the textile industry in the mid to late 80′s.

But before she left, she had worked for a long time in a factory that made tablecloths for places like Macy’s and Bamberger’s or Gimbels.  The building my mom worked now houses the wealthy, which is always interesting to me; how gentrification has worked over the years.  

I remember what it was like inside the building and in the shipyard.  With distinction.  The workers there were primarily from Latin America, so when I’d go, I could hear many of them hollering in spanish, Evita! Mira quien esta aquí/Look who’s here! 

The building in where my mom worked was big for Hoboken. It towered over the nearby brownstones and bars that littered Washington St. The only elevator in this particular building was a freight elevator that carried up tons of spooled fabric that would come right off the docks. I haven’t seen ships docked in Hoboken in a long long time, and I guess I never will again.

When there was a fire, and there always were, employees from this factory would have to use the cement laden stairs. And if you fell down these stairs while exiting—And people did, you didn’t fair very well—And I’m not sure who paid for the medical bills accrued, but I recall that plenty of people were afraid to sue.  They just did their best to mend in order to go back to work quickly.

And I remember too, when come January, expected layoffs would roll in—And the women, would call each other; and cry, despair, and fret. When my mother was laid off one year, she got called back about less than a month’s time later.  This seemed to be the rote factory people were used to. I enjoyed her being home.  I think she enjoyed it too. 

By the time Reagan became president, factories took a massive direct hit. Most companies were finishing up the aspirations they started up with Nixon, and many of the factories that lined up against the Hudson River went belly up—It may have been in 1986 when her beloved employer never called her back.  In the long end (it’s good to note), these closures would affect my dad’s job too; as he was an managing accountant for very large department stores, famous ones, that would die hard in those years.

My mom wound up getting some other, lesser type job down in Hoboken or maybe it was Jersey City, after that. She didn’t make tablecloths anymore.  She had to pry apart lace from its overall sheet.  I’ve worked at this before.  It’s very hard on the eyes.

I remember going to that place in particular, too. It was a bigger death trap than the factory on the docks. I had been very ill on the day she took me and she had needed to take off, which managers from factories absolutely hate.  She had decided to show up to speak with the managers on the day she took me because I think they had threatened to fire her. And I guess she brought me along as proof; that I was not well. Imagine having to drag a sick child into a filthy factory to demonstrate need of absence?  Well, she did this because she needed to level some sort of independence against my father.  Times were that critical in my family.

She left me outside the office door when she went into speak with management. People around me generally ignored me while I was there.  It was as if I didn’t even exist. They weren’t friendly, I thought, like at the other factory where my mom worked at for many years.  They looked hollow too. Indifferent.  In any event, I guess I got bored of waiting. Or of being ignored? —And so I quietly opened the door to find my mom getting on her knees, pleading in order to keep her employment.

I was struck by the scene. I wanted to rush in there and pull her up.  The memory is as indelible as any profound experience anyone can have. The look of the young managers impressed upon me too; and how old everyone else looked in comparison to them.  My guess is that the factory was something that was passed down to them by their families.  

My mom got to keep her job that day, but I expressed my complete discomfort in her keeping it.  Imagine a child having a say.  She said to me, what can I do?  You know I need this job.  Within a few months time, my mom wound up passing the US Post Office test—And this would be her employer until she retired.  Thank God.

I write all this to say, I deeply value everything my eyes have ever witnessed. Not just what I’ve lived, but what others have too; that these differences in class that existed right in my home have served me well.  Very well--In my line of work and how it’s enabled me to connect deeply with people who want to connect deeply, at every stage of my life.  

At an early age, I was asked by something outside of me to see past illusions, past the clothes people wear, past the accents that overtake the english language.  I saw what my father could afford and how my mother had to scrimp. I lived too, the real time punishments of racism; how my father was belittled when he went into stores.  His fancy gear, great education and position did not afford him anything in those moments. 

I’ve been put into circumstances that have challenged me to consider one way of life over another. I may not get it right all the time.  There’s just no way anyone can get it right all the time, but I venture to stay in the breast of humility; and I don’t need to be right.  I just need to do right.

Those years in where industry was collapsing all around us; in where nothing was secure anymore; those years made me aware of the human need for dignity above anything else.  Nothing matters if a person is not treated with dignity.  Nothing matters if a person’s basic needs are not respected.  And what are our basic needs?  It can mean many things, but they all have to ring true in its highest form.  I’m not sure why I needed to write of this today, but it’s gloomy out, and the lessons of my childhood are speaking to me.

[huahsu]

YEAR OF THE BUTTERFLY

previous years: A SONG THAT DEGRADES EACH TIME YOU PLAY IT :: 2018 A CHURCH AND JOHN LENNON’S “IMAGINE” :: 2017 SIKH DEVOTIONAL MUSIC :: 2016 SPOOKY BLACK :: 2015 this year: I’ve spent the past few months working on a book that I’ve always wanted to write but never figured I’d make the time for. At a really basic level, it’s about listening to music with friends. A couple weeks ago, I devoted a few days to reading a stack of books and articles about the emotional experience of music. They were written by philosophers, critics, cognitive scientists, historians. I took from them two overarching questions. First, what does it mean to assign a piece of music a feeling, like “happy” or “sad?” Is the song itself “sad,” or does it just model a kind of sadness proximate to how we feel? What elements of a song do this? The fraying of a voice? Minor keys? Tempo? Is it all a trick of memory? None of the answers really satisfied me, since music is such an intimate thing. A song makes us feel a way for reasons that are often either blindingly obvious or remote and mysterious. An expert can tell you that humans are wired to feel joy when a certain configuration of notes are struck in tandem, but maybe it just reminds you of looking at the front door.

The other question was whether music itself facilitates any unique emotional possibilities--a mode of feeling that we can’t get anywhere else. Music doesn’t mimic the real world, it doesn’t make arguments. One writer suggested that the thrill of music was its capacity to remind you, foremost, that music can thrill you. In essence, each time we hear something new and feel something, we are being reminded of all the times we’ve felt this way before. We’re living in the echo of a former enchantment. Maybe you’ll hear it again, process it, assign it a genre or context, and the mystique evaporates. But music is one of those things that doesn’t happen on our time. We don’t stand in front of it and train our gaze on this quadrant or that. We don’t flip back to make sure we didn’t miss something. You can’t slow it down as it is happening, you merely let it happen. 

In the spring, the Museum of Chinese in America in Manhattan showed “The Moon Represents My Heart,” an exhibition I worked on with MOCA’s curators, Herb and Andrew. The basic idea was to look at all the ways music had enriched immigrant life, from early opera troupes touring America’s Chinatowns to karaoke bars, church choirs, and after-school violin lessons, fifties doo-wop trios to garage punks and self-taught dance music producers. There’s no legible tradition of Chinese American music so we just wanted to present it as a textured and everyday thing--the experience of the fan could be as legitimate as that of a Mando-pop superstar. While working on the show, people would often ask me for a playlist, but I didn’t really have any to share. It wasn’t really about the music itself, which could sound derivative or amateur to some. It was about the fact that they sought to express themselves through music, in contexts that made them outliers and oddballs. I came to love all the music in our show because of that second-hand thrill--that sense that these moments had been deeply meaningful to everyone in the room. 

You can hear it in the voice of Stephen Cheng, who ended up being the show’s most memorable star. He put out a rocksteady gem in the sixties and then spent the next decade in New York trying to get the Dragon Seeds, his Chinese “folk-rock” band, off the ground. Cheng died years ago, but Andrew found his children, who brought some reels of unreleased music to the museum. I remember staring at them, wondering what was on them. It was a kind of anticipation and wonder that I often miss, when the operative feeling I associate with music-listening on the internet is the frenzy of opening and closing windows, clicking links, proving my humanity to a captcha.

Stephen’s singing wasn’t great, but it was perfect. His version of “Yesterday,” all warbly and over-the-top, has now supplanted the original for me. Somehow, we played some of Stephen’s songs on the radio, including one about butterflies and love. Somehow, one of the people listening was a butterfly expert, and he was about to marry another butterfly expert. Who knew such a song was possible, the groom-to-be told me. Stephen was too obscure to be properly forgotten. Or maybe his song was just dormant all these years. It awaited just the right listener, and now, over forty years later, he would get his propers, sandwiched somewhere between the vows and Kool and the Gang, a couple minutes of people scratching their heads, searching for the right smile, saying Can you believe this? to one another.

### TEENAGE DREAM

Warren Defever/His Name is Alive, All the Mirrors in the House

EXCELLENT USE OF “P.S.K.” Kindness feat. Robyn, “Warning” EXCELLENT USE OF A TELEPHONE Mavi, “Guernica” TECHNICALLY 2018, BUT TAIWAN’S ANSWER TO COIL, JOY DIVISION, ETC SEN, “The Cicada” SAME (2018) BUT TAIWANESE DREAMBOAT VIBES Linion, “Can’t Find” ANOTHER, KINDA BILLY BRAGG-Y Wayne’s So Sad, “Wanderer’s Guide to Taipei” SUMMER IN TAIWAN, AND SO I BOUGHT A LOT OF CDs, INCLUDING THE LIMITED EDITION SIGNED 9M88 DEBUT 9m88, “Love Rain” THEY ARE VERY INTO THE “FUTURE SOUL” THING Andrea, “You Better Kiss Me” THIS GUY HAS THE SAME NAME AS MY COUSIN Yo Lee demos LOTS OF BACKPACKS Hsien, Lately AMAZED TO SEE LIM GIONG REISSUES THERE, THIS IS THE DANCE ALBUM HE RECORDED IN 1994 IN THE UK BEFORE BRINGING RAVE CULTURE BACK TO TAIWAN Lim Giong, Entertainment World (IF YOU ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH LIM GIONG, THIS IS THE GREATEST SONG EVER Lim Giong, “A Pure Person) AND HERE’S 9m88 COVERING “PLASTIC LOVE” 9m88, “Plastic Love” AIR SUPPLYERS Oso Leone, Gallery Love Sunset Rollercoaster, Vanilla Villa I ENJOYED THIS WHEN IT CAME OUT BUT HONESTLY FORGOT IT CAME OUT THIS YEAR, OR THAT I ENJOYED, BUT FOR THE LONGEST TIME MY “2019″ EMAIL DRAFT JUST READ “CHIEF KEEF HNIA KAIL MALONE (sic)” Chief Keef and Zaytoven, GloToven

ANOTHER DEVASTATING DUO Pink Siifu and Akai Solo, Black Sand

MYSTIC CHORDS OF MEMORY Kali Malone, The Sacrificial Code Clarice Jensen, Drone Studies I AM A SLOW WALKER, BUT I NEVER WALK BACKWARDS Michael Vincent Waller, Moments ana roxane - ~~~ A THOUSAND POINTS OF LIGHT Caleb Giles, Under the Shade Medhane, Own Pace WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR Angel Bat Dawid, The Oracle Art Ensemble of Chicago, We are on the Edge READ JOSEPH JARMAN Joseph Jarman, Black Case I and II RESPECT YOURSELF Helado Negro, This is How You Smile Deb Never, “Swimming” LET’S DO IT AGAIN Tommy Holohan & Casper Hastings- RVE001 Eris Drew, Raving Disco Breaks LET’S DO IT AGAIN AGAIN, BUT SMEARED Burial, Tunes 2011-2019 OR PERHAPS YOU WERE THERE Callisto, Guidance is Eternal, Part I PERHAPS YOU WERE THERE FOR MICROHOUSE AND PEAK MEGO AND BLOGS Barker, Debiasing AT A WAREHOUSE PARTY, ABLE TO HEAR TOO MANY FLOORS, ROOMS, SOUNDS AT ONCE, IN A GOOD WAY Dies Smely, “Neptune Rises” AT A WAREHOUSE PARTY, BUT THINKING ABOUT PLUNDER, THE TRAIL OF TEARS, THE SANCTITY OF EARTH Kelman Duran, 13 Month A KIND OF BLUE Steve Hiett, Down on the Road by the Beach POSSIBLY MY MOST PLAYED ALBUM, 2019 Galcher Lustwerk, Information R.I.P. PRINCE, FOREVER AND ALWAYS Serpente, Parada Moodymann, Sinner Nelson Bandela, Purprain THE OPPOSITE OF “I AM A GOD” Nelson Bandela - “i'm mortal” YOU GOT ME Shane Eagle feat. Santi and Bas, “Vanya” HARD TO BELIEVE JAZMINE SULLIVAN REMAINS SO OVERLOOKED Kindness feat Jazmine Sullivan, “Hard to Believe” WATCH FOR THE HOOK Quando Rondo, “Gun Powder”

ANTE UP Polo G feat Lil Tjay, “Pop Out” “PANTS GON BE SAGGIN TIL I’M FORTY” Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, “Thuggin”

“WHY THEY LET THE TERMINATOR WIN THE ELECTION?” Sault, “Why Why Why Why Why”

HOLLOW BONES Showbiz and Milano, “Guillotine” LADI LUV, “GOOD TO THE LAST DUB” City Girls, “Act Up” MONEY BOSS PLAYERS Benny the Butcher feat 38 Spesh and Jadakiss, “Sunday School” Roc Marciano, “Richard Gear” WARP 30 (1989-2019) Droop-E, “The Droop-E Way” INTERSTELLAR SPACE, PROBABLY KILLER LIVE Blacks’ Myths, Blacks Myths II ALICE NEVER WENT ANYWHERE Sam Wilkes, “Sivaya” Alice Coltrane, Live at the Berkeley Community Theater 1972 RIYL: LYRICHORD, EFFECTS PEDALS Seungmin Cha, Nuunmuun RIYL: EFFICIENCY, INTERLUDES Solange, “Binz” “WHO HERE IS STILL LISTENING TO JOHNNY MAY CASH’S “DRUGS” IN 2019?” Playboi Carti, “Molly” “MOLLY” CZ Wang and Neo Image, “Just Off Wave”

YOU’VE SUBSCRIBED TO “UK STREETSOUL YOUTUBE PLAYLIST” Apiento feat Harriet Brown, “Down That Road” WHERE WERE U IN 2092? Jai Paul, “He”

LIL B, INNIT Voldy Moyo, Paper World SCREAMADELICA Vampire Weekend, “Harmony Hall” Humeysha, Nusrat on the Beach FOLKTRONICA Aldous Harding, “The Barrel” TOO PURE Springfields, Singles 1986-1991 MY AQUARIUM Rod Modell, Captagon ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE Vagabon, Vagabon 4-TRACK TWEE BEDROOM COVERS OF BLINK-182′S DUDE RANCH Colleen Green, Blink-182′s “Dude Ranch” as Played by Colleen Green

KINDA AS THOUGH A PART OF MY 2016-19 LP PURCHASES FORMED THEIR OWN BANDS Anunaku, Whities 024 75 Dollar Bill, I Was Real Joshua Abrams and Natural Information Society, Mandatory Reality

JUST 30 OR SO GECS Cool Fang, Sparring I’M A DEADHEAD BUT FOR STANDING ON THE CORNER SOTC Art Ensemble, SOTC Double Bass Ensemble * Merciful Allah Black Hole Theater * 4/24/19 SOTC Art Ensemble, Variation 9 * Merciful Allah Black Hole Theater * 4/27/19

SONG OF THE SPRING, SUMMER, WINTER, YEAR, STILL UNDEFEATED

[firebirdtransam68]

When I Prefer Micron Legend And Superlink Over Generation One

Without Generation One, there will be no Transformers franchise (no Beast Wars, no Robots In Disguise, no Unicron Trilogy, no Bayformers, no Animated, no Aligned continuity, no Bumblebee (2018), no other work relating to Transformers).

Generation One originated in the 1980's, considered to be the best decade in pop culture history.  Transformers gave us giant robots besides Mecha anime shows like Voltron, Gundam, Mazinger, Robotech, and Evanglion; cool music ("The Touch," anyone?), and many different ideas for fan media.  The franchise is also well-known for having so many different characters of many different incarnations, with G1 being the most intriguing.

That said, while I really like Generation One, I came across two (technically three, but I saw two) anime shows that have the most G1 callbacks of all Transformers works; these anime shows are Micron Legend (original version of Armada) and Superlink (original version of Energon).  As I saw both of these anime series, and am currently rewatching the Generation One TV show, there are many factors in Micron Legend and Superlink that are actually better than G1.

Here are some examples where Micron Legend and Superlink are superior to the Generation One TV show:

- Micron Legend and Superlink prove to be darker and more heart-wrenching than G1; for instance, Thrust's death in Micron Legend looks more gruesome than Starscream's death in the 1986 film (getting slowly crushed to death feet first over freezing into crumbling stone the instant a laser hit its target), and the reactions to Optimus' death induced me to tears in Micron Legend (Hot Rod blaming himself for yelling at Optimus without getting a chance to apologize or say goodbye, even Megatron was grieving for his arch-nemesis' death (listen to him shouting Optimus' name after Prime was reduced to space dust in Episode 39), also Starscream's reaction in Episode 40), as well as Unicron

- Unicron's interior (and the Planet Eater, in general) is more unsettling than in G1; mind screwing other Transformers, tentacles trapping characters, paralyzed Transformers, the Micron's (Mini-con) origin, etc., the whole interior is similar to many cocooned scenes in Aliens (1986)

- The anime shows did not overdo it with puns (they hardly have any puns), while G1 had plenty of puns (yet interesting terminology); Armada and Energon, on the other hand, are filled with confusing puns that even 4Kids would have done better with during their career

- The characters in Micron Legend and Superlink were introduced better and more coherent than in G1 (G1 had the characters debut without any explanation as to how they arrived to Earth and allied with the rest of the Autobots or Decepticons (it was never explained how Brawn and Huffer came to be in Episode 9 vs. Silverbolt (Blurr) was called by Devastator (Scavenger) to search for more Microns in Episode 20 of Micron Legend)

- The Transformers in Micron Legend and Superlink are a lot more human than the Transformers in G1; for instance, they make sounds when in pain or distressed (grunting, groaning, screaming, and whining), show exhaustion after running or fighting, have inner thoughts (anime tends to do that, anyways, mostly with humans), and even sob (younger Transformers tend to cry, while older Transformers are silent, or scream in agony (like Optimus Prime in Episode 33 when Grap (Smokescreen) died); of course they have feelings and emotions); they even make grunting or screaming sounds while in their alt-modes (even more so than G1, which did not do as much human-like sounds with alt-modes as with robot modes); to put it plainly, they are more relatable to most audiences

- The soundtrack (score) in Micron Legend has a more variety than G1 did (classical, rock, 1980's style music, and sometimes techno (especially in Superlink))

- Even Superion looks better in Superlink than in G1

- Certain characters subvert their traditional G1 roles in Micron Legend and Superlink (like Starscream whose main motive was not overthrowing Megatron and is more sympathetic than his G1 counterpart, and Ironhide who is a Decepticon instead of an Autobot and is younger instead of older)

- The deaths in Micron Legend and Superlink are a lot sadder than in G1 (Starscream in Micron Legend (Episode 48) and Ironhide in Superlink (Episode 16), as well as Optimus Prime in Micron Legend (Episode 39) and a few others in Superlink such as Wing Dagger and Inferno (both of which got better and had new forms))

- Micron Legend and Superlink are more mature than G1 (even though G1 has more mature themes like espionage and betrayal than other cartoon shows)

- The two shows are more thrilling, exciting, suspenseful, action-packed, and have me at the edge of my seat, especially in the last episode of Micron Legend

- Age is more apparent in Micron Legend and Superlink than in Generation One (behavior, wisdom, height (sometimes), even voice); younger Transformers tend to be more emotional than older Transformers, for instance; both Autobots and Decepticons have really young, almost teenage-like, Transformers (Hot Rod (Hot Shot) and Ironhide (Demolishor) are really well-known examples) that make the anime shows a lot lighter despite their really dark themes

- While G1 was set in 1984 when the show debuted (1984), it was implied that Micron Legend was set in a more contemporary future like 2010 when the anime debuted (2002-2003)

- G1 had nearly the whole human population know about the Transformers since the More Than Meets The Eye portion, while in Micron Legend, the whole population (aside from the main human characters and the children) were unaware about the Transformers existing until Superlink (set in a farther away future); and since even Decepticons have children in their rankings, it is slightly concerning how the adult humans would react if they were to come across at least one of them (God forbid if they started to attack Ironhide in front of Megatron, Starscream, or Sandstorm (Cyclonus)), since Deceptions are brutal enemies, and their leader may be more dangerous when a younger Decepticon gets attacked (even in self-defense); in other words, humans are generally safer in Micron Legend than in G1, in which the Decepticons would be more than pleased to attack, kill, or even kidnap humans for their own agenda

- The two anime shows are how I became really interested in seiyuu in the first place (especially before I knew some of them in Sonic X); seiyuu are extremely underrated in Transformers since not very many fans (Trans-fans and seiyuu fans) talk about them as much

- Micron Legend and Superlink are generally really underrated anime shows

Of course, Generation One will always be better than most other works, but if you add the two anime series to the equation, Generation One has many flaws (then again, almost all Transformers works have errors), and some of their plots are slightly off and confusing.  Micron Legend and Superlink does better with the plot and introduction, but the only reason I will put them in a draw with G1 is that G1 has classic 1980's songs that the anime shows do not have, and the anime shows have more callbacks to Generation One.

That is all I will be saying for now.  I am still making a list of specific content that I want to see more on Tumblr, DeviantArt, and many other fandom-friendly sites; I still have more to be filled in before I consider it complete so I can post it.

Stay tuned for future posts.

This is FirebirdTransAm68 signing out.

[dalekofchaos]

My Ideas for what they can have Indy search for in Indiana Jones 5

Indiana Jones 5 will eventually come out and since there is no title to indicate what Indy will be searching for, here are some ideas I have that I’d love to see in a Indiana Jones 5!

The Voynich Manuscript. is a 240-page document (though some pages are missing) which is believed to be around 600 years old. Despite years of research and analysis, nobody actually knows what it says. Cryptographers all over the world have been stumped by its mysteries, and its true purpose remains a mystery to this day. Maybe Indiana Jones, genius explorer, could figure out the secret of the Manuscript.We could easily envision Indy's next adventure revolving around deciphering the meaning of the curious text and following its instructions on some kind of ancient treasure hunt, all while being pursued by villains. In this respect, the Manuscript could function like a more esoteric version of Dr. Henry Jones's diary from The Last Crusade, dragging Indy and his allies to a variety of wild places in the search of fortune and glory, while focusing the story and keeping the action moving at a blistering pace.

Holy Lance/the Spear of Destiny/the Spear of Longinus. the Spear of Longinus is said to be the weapon which pierced the dying Jesus of Nazareth as he hung from the cross. According to Christian legend, Longinus is said to have been so moved by the events of the crucifixion that he dedicated the rest of his life to spreading Jesus's teachings, and is today remembered as a Holy Saint. Numerous cities claim to hold the Spear of Longinus today, though such a claim is practically impossible to verify.If there's one (fictional) man who could find a way to prove the legitimacy of any of the so-called Holy Lances, it's Indiana Jones. The man has prior experience with biblical artifacts, having successfully tracked down both the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail. We trust in Indy to recover the spear from... Let's say, satanic occultists, and put it in a museum, where it belongs.

Al Capone‘s Treasure. Al Capone is probably the most famous gangster of all time; during the late 1920s, Capone practically had the whole of Chicago under his thumb. Eventually, he was busted for tax evasion (of all crimes) and sent to Alcatraz prison. He died in 1947. However, years later, secret tunnels belonging to the dead gangster were discovered, including locked vaults, and Geraldo subsequently hosted a two-hour television special dedicated to opening the vault. In the end, however, only a handful of empty moonshine bottles were found.What if Indiana Jones did battle with the mob over Al Capone's treasure, which is the reason why it was empty in 1986? Indy fighting against Mafia hitmen in a big city would be a cool change of pace for the character. Likewise, pursuing a more modern treasure would offer a new take on the classic Indy formula.

Pandora’s Box. Pandora's Box contained all of the evil in the world, as well as hope, which was all humanity was left with to protect themselves after the box was opened. Indiana Jones has surprisingly not explored Greek mythology in the movies, and we think it's time to change that. We'd love to see Indy chase after some secret cabal of evil-doers across scenic Greece in a race to discover Pandora's Box and the power concealed within.Also, Pandora's Box would be a good place for Disney to go if they want to try to evoke the first film in the series, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Both the Ark of the Covenant and Pandora's Box are mysterious chests containing a powerful esoteric force within that can presumably destroy entire armies in an instant. Maybe the movie can even use these similarities to make an attempt to connect the Christian and Greek mythologies.

Excalibur. The mythology of King Arthur and his knights of the round table is universally known in one form or another. From the Disney classic, The Sword in the Stone, to Guy Ritchie's upcoming King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. King Arthur's iconic signature weapon is Excalibur, given to him by the Lady of the Lake; in most versions of the legend, Excalibur is not the same as the Sword in the Stone, contrary to popular belief.We know that Indy is a whip-and-six-shooter kind of guy, but we still would love to see him wield the famous sword of Arthurian legend, perhaps doing battle with evil knights clad in full armor or some other sinister villains who want to seize the blade's power to blind its enemies, and make the wielder immune to damage. Unless they're going up against Daredevil, any army that went up against Excalibur would be useless against its great might. This one definitely "belongs in a museum."

The Fountain Of Youth. Indiana Jones is old. Harrison Ford is 74 years old, and will be 79 when Indy 5 comes out in 2021. What if Indiana Jones discovers the fountain of youth about halfway through Indy 5, and we are treated to a gloriously young and vibrant version of the swashbuckling hero? Maybe the effect will wear off or have some kind of undesirable side-effect, and Indy will have to accept that it's okay to be old, and resolve to make the most of the time he has left. This will satisfy the audience's desire to see a young Indy, as well as tackle the perceived problem of Harrison Ford's advanced age all without having to resort to recasting one of cinema's most adored and respected characters.

The Tower of Babel. Biblical lore suggests that the tower existed during the days of Babylon, but that God mysteriously destroyed the edifice and cursed its erectors. The video game takes this legend one step further; Indy suggests that the Tower may have housed a legendary machine, which the Soviets want to use in order to summon a malevolent deity known as Marduk to Earth. This particular storyline maintains the traditionally biblical nature of the Indy franchise, but cranks the stakes up to eleven by having Indy quite literally prevent an apocalyptic event.

The Knife of Cain.  The Knife of Cain is an artifact that appeared in the 1990 novel Young Indiana Jones and the Secret City. Taking inspiration from the legendary story of Cain and Abel from the Old Testament, it’s believed that the knife was used to commit the first recorded act of murder in the history of existence. The Indy story suggests that the knife’s power would reveal itself every time the stars, planets, and moons aligned in the same position as they were when Cain murdered his brother Abel, and that the power endowed by the knife would afford the one in control of it the power to conquer the world. That's a lot of pressure to put on a kid, so an older, more seasoned Indy may have a better chance of winning this time around.

The Labyrinth of the Minotaur. Another entry from Greek mythology, the next installment in the landmark franchise could see our hero lost in a maze, searching for the fabled Minotaur. Having Indy scower the Labyrinth of the Minotaur on the island of Crete could offer the Indiana Jones franchise a refreshing change of pace. Rather than a globetrotting adventure, the entire movie could be restricted to a cat-and-mouse game between our favorite archaeologist and a monster possessing the head of a bull and the body of a man. Using only his wits, the equipment he brings with him, and the thread of Ariadne, Indy would have to navigate the Labyrinth, defeat the Minotaur, and get out alive

Montezuma’s Treasure. Montezuma was an Aztec king that was responsible for major expansion of the Aztec Empire. But then a bunch of Spaniards showed up and started slaughtering the Aztecs, so Montezuma rounded up a bunch of gold and other valuables and sent them north, out the hands of the Spaniards.Fast forward a couple thousand years to 1914, when a prospector named Freddy Crystal would find a stone etching in southern Utah that matched a symbol on a map said to lead to Montezuma’s treasure. This symbol led to the discovery of a vast network of caves, laced with booby traps that claimed the lives of more than a few treasure seekers.Now, the great thing about this treasure is that entire story is verifiably true. And, like the Bermuda Triangle, this treasure fits wonderfully into Indy’s timeline.Last Crusade’s opening scene, as I mentioned before, takes place in 1912, when Indy is just thirteen years old. And where is he living in 1912, and thus likely in 1914 when Freddy Crystal would begin the search for Montezuma’s treasure? That’s right, Moab, Utah, the exact geographical location of Crystal’s search. Surely young Indy would have heard of Crystal’s excavation, and maybe could have even been a part of it. There you go, Disney. There’s half a screenplay for you right there. Indy needs to go on a good, old-fashioned treasure hunt, because, after all, what does he want most in life?Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory.

Atlantis. One of the most well-known and beloved ideas in all of mythology, the lost city of Atlantis is a world that exists at the bottom of the ocean and has informed numerous works across all of pop culture. We’ve seen Indy trek through deserts, jungles, and ruined cities, but we’ve never seen him wholly envelope himself in another world, so this could represent the next major step for the franchise.

[tomeandflickcorner]

Episode Review- The Real Ghostbusters: Ghosts R Us

Following the success of the 1984 hit, the animated spin-off show, The Real Ghostbusters, was produced by Columbia Pictures Television, DiC Entertainment and Coca-Cola Telecomunications, and it ran from 1986 to 1991.  You might be wondering why the show wasn’t simply called Ghostbusters, like the movie, and instead called itself The Real Ghostbusters.  Well, that’s because of a dispute they were having with Filmation.  Around the time Columbia Pictures they were creating the animated spin-off, Filmmation decided to create their own animated show, this one a revamp of their earlier live-action show, The Ghost Busters, which ran from 1975 to 1976. But instead of calling this animated revamp of theirs the same name as the live-action show,  they decided to drop the ‘the’ and make ‘Ghost Busters’ into one word instead of two.  Pretty obvious what they were trying to do there.  To be fair, of course, the legal deal that was struck up between the two studios that allowed the 1984 movie to use the title ‘Ghostbusters’ instead of some other tile like ‘Ghostbreakers’ or ‘Ghostmashers,’ stated both companies could use the title of ‘Ghostbusters’ in an animated show.  So technically speaking, Filmmation did have the rights to do this, even though it was clear they were trying to indirectly cash in on the success of the movie.  So Columbia Pictures, in order to differentiate their show from Filmmations’ version, and possibly to make a jab at them in the process, added ‘The Real’ to their show’s title.  Although, it does make a bit of sense in the show itself.  In the show’s universe, the animated versions of Egon, Ray, Peter, Winston, etc. are all the genuine articles, and the movie that preceded the cartoon was actually based on their experiences.  In one episode, I believe they even go to Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood as guests-of-honor for the movie’s premiere. 

So, with all of that out of the way, on to the show itself, starting with the first episode, Ghosts R Us.

The episode starts with the Ghostbusters on their way to respond to a ghost disturbance at a local chocolate factory called Conrad’s. Wasn’t aware there was a chocolate factory in New York City, but I think this takes place in a parallel reality to ours, so I guess I can accept this.  Turns out, the ghosts terrorizing the multitude of candy makers are a family unit- an irritable father, a doting mother and their giant baby, who might remind you strongly of Baby Huey.  When the Ghosbusters arrive on the scene, we get treated to a bit of slapstick, with the Ghost Family pelting them with globs of melted chocolate.  At one point, Slimer, who now lives with the Ghostbusters and decided to tag along on this call, gets to stuff his face with the multitude of chocolate being ejected from the factory’s smokestacks, and both Ray and Winston get a face full of chocolate goo.  Eventually, they manage to capture the Ghost Family in a single trap. Despite the huge chocolaty mess that resulted from the bust, the owner of Conrad’s thanks the Ghostbusters, rewarding them with a sizable pile giant heart-shaped boxes of the company’s finest chocolates.  And when I say giant boxes, I MEAN giant boxes.  They’re as big as a coffee table.  That’s a lot of chocolate.  

Upon returning to the Firehouse, the guys attempt to give the boxes of chocolate to Janine as a present.  But, as one would expect, Slimer, bottomless pit that he is, had already helped himself to the chocolate during the ride back, so all Janine ended up getting were empty boxes. Peter is particularly irritated by this latest stunt, and he angrily states that Slimer is on notice, and if he messes up just one more time, then he’s history.  With that, the Ghostbusters all head off to bed, with Winston announcing that it had been a very long day for them.  But first, Ray heads down to the basement to transfer the Ghost Family they caught to the Containment Unit.

During the night, Slimer wakes up from a dream about food. Because apparently ghosts can sleep. And dream.  Anyway, he decides he wants a midnight snack and proceeds down to the kitchen to raid the fridge.  While he’s down there, Winston gets woken up by the noise downstairs and he heads down to investigate.  Slimer, trying to avoid getting caught, tries hiding out in the basement.  Eventually, Winston returns to bed, deciding that he probably imagined the noise.  Slimer is relived he wasn’t caught, and slides down the side of the basement wall with a huge sigh.  But in the process, he accidentally hits the switch for the Containment Unit, which turns it off.  When Slimer realizes what he did, he goes into panic mode, remembering what Peter had said would happen if he messed up again.  He hurriedly pulls the switch back into the ‘on’ position to try and rectify the situation.  Deciding the crisis was averted, especially since none of the Ghostbusters heard the alarm going off, he returns to bed.  Unfortunately, it turns out that the recently captured Ghost Family had managed to escape the Containment Unit during that brief window. Upon making good on their escape, they begin to plot to get their revenge on the Ghostbusters by putting them out of business.

The Ghost Family’s plan soon becomes apparent.  Ghost Baby basically shows up at a particular location to scare some people.  But before the Ghostbusters can arrive, Mom and Pop Ghost appear on the scene disguised as humans and pretend to vanquish Ghost Baby.  It’s an admittedly clever con, and eventually, the people of NYC are trusting the new ghost exterminators called ‘Ghosts R Us’ instead of the Ghostbusters.  Though the plan only seems to work because, for some reason, there aren’t currently any OTHER ghosts crawling out of the woodwork at the moment.  Eventually, Janine, for reasons not fully explained, checked the Containment Unit and noticed that three ghosts were missing. She reports this to the guys, who instantly figure out what’s really going on, and also realize Slimer accidentally caused the Ghost Family to escape.  

Before anyone can come up with a way to punish him, the Ghost Family calls them up pretending to be some frightened humans, telling them there’s a ghost sighting at an old toy factory on the outskirts of town.  The Ghostbusters head out to the toy factory, knowing that the Ghost Family will probably be there.

Apparently, this toy factory trap is the final stage in the Ghost Family’s revenge plot.  Pop Ghost states there’s a ghost called Turlock who haunts in this old factory, and he goes in to try and get Turlock to take out the Ghostbusters for them,  Unfortunately for him, Turlock seems to have vacated the premises, and an even stronger ghost than Turlock resides there now. And this new ghost is NOT HAPPY about being woken up by Pop Ghost.  The new ghost proceeds to possess a bunch of discarded toys, forming a giant toy monster, complete with a creepy Jack-in-the-Box for a body and an evil Cymbal Monkey for a head, and the Toy Monster starts to chase after the Ghost Family through the busy city streets.  In order to put a stop to all of this, the Ghostbusters split off into two groups, with Peter and Winston remaining in the Ecto-1 to follow the Toy Monster and Ray and Egon taking the newly-revealed Ecto-2, which is basically a helicopter-like vehicle, to track down the Ghost Family.  Obviously, the existence of the Ecto-2 was mostly so Kenner could produce a larger toyline, but it’s still pretty cool.

The next few minutes of the episode is basically just the Toy Monster making its way down the street, leaving behind a lot of crushed cars in its wake with the Ecto-1 in pursuit, and Ray and Egon looking for the Ghost Family in the Ecto-2. After this goes on for a while, Egon and Ray manage to recapture the Ghost Family, who pretty much jump right into the Ghost Trap in order to escape the Toy Monster.  But of course, we still have to contend with the ghost inside the Toy Monster, which is now on some suspension bridge.  (Not sure which one, as there are apparently eight different suspension bridges in NYC, but it doesn’t really matter.)  A task easier said than done, as the Toy Monster can easily flick away both the Ecto vehicles.  Eventually, Egon gets an idea, and decides to activate some kind of self-destruct mechanism on the Ecto-2.  This, combined with Slimer’s efforts to make up for his blunder by spreading his slime onto the suspension bridge’s cables in order to make the Toy Monster trip, ends up doing the trick, and the ghost is forced out of the Toy Monster upon hitting the water and the Ecto-2 blowing up effectively vaporizes the ghost. (While somehow not causing any noticeable damage to the bridge.)

And so the day is saved.  The ghost inside the Toy Monster is gone, the Ghost Family is back in the Ghostbuster’s custody, and Peter informs Slimer that he’s officially off the hook.  Yay.

This is certainly a very goofy episode.  Not only was there quite a bit of slapstick, especially with the Ghost Family, they even featured a lot of rather pointless jokes.  The kind that I guess could be seen as funny to five-year-olds but would come across as rather awkward to older viewers. I think there was only one joke I almost smiled at, and that was the New Jersey joke they threw in at the beginning.  But that was probably just because I was familiar with how Jersey is frequently the target of various jokes.  Even the animation itself was very cartoonish in nature.  A lot of the background characters in particular looked more like caricatures then actual people.  And in the beginning, I’m pretty sure they used the exact same character design for all the candy makers, with only the hair color varying.  Though it does kind of make sense because this was technically the first episode to air, even though it wasn’t the first one to be produced.  The show creators were probably still trying to test things out at this point in the show and get a feel for what worked and what didn’t.

(Click here to read more Ghostbusters reviews)

[jefferyryanlong]

Fresh Listen - John Trudell, AKA Grafitti Man (Rykodisc, 1992)

(Some pieces of recorded music operate more like organisms than records. They live, they breathe, they reproduce. Fresh Listen is a periodic review of recently and not so recently released albums that crawl among us like radioactive spiders, gifting us with superpowers from their stingers.)

I approached John Trudellʻs 1986 cassette tape (re-released as a CD in 1992) AKA Grafitti Man with two significant biases. First, I have a strong distaste for the music recording technology of the period. Sonic engineers, with their updated machines, had the newfound ability to scrape the rust away from their records, smoothing and glossing the edges and sucking the space from an aural document so effectively that it came across as compressed and sterile as a snow globe. You listen to these mid/late-Eighties mainstream records and they extend through time and the imagination like brittle branches of plastic, all the living energy–the breath, the ring, the rattle, the bleeding, the overload–constricted out of the husk of a clearly articulated but dead idea. 

Second, aside from just a few exceptions, Iʻm skeptical of spoken word performances awkwardly conjoined with a musical context. Iʻve been disappointed too many times. Though a poetʻs words might resonate on a page, or upon the naked template of air, the same words sometimes fall dead against a drum or a guitar. Conversely, Bob Dylanʻs words may seem leaden and overblown in a book, but as a performer, he has the ability to empower the nasal delivery of his thought-dreams with a rhythmic electricity. Many people might tell you different, but songwriting  and poetry are not always complementary disciplines, and evoke different reactions within the gut and the soul. Experiments in marrying the two are sometimes excruciating as an experience.

On AKA Grafitti Man, John Trudell seems to have discovered a working formula for combining his poems with pop music. He builds his pieces around ear-clinging choruses, hooks that echo in the mind long after the more complicated parts are forgotten. Though less direct than what listeners are used to hearing on their pop music records, these are real songs, grown-up songs. Songs of regret and resentment, of protest and celebration. Trudell honors the traditions of rock, blues, country, and old-timey ballads and contours his poems around those forms, instead of the other way around. 

(If youʻve read this far and are wondering who the hell John Trudell is, I encourage to look him up on whatever media you have at hand. His personal story is more compelling, and important, than AKA Grafitti Man, though the record itself is a refraction of Trudellʻs past as a veteran in the US Armed Forces, Native American activist and spokesperson, and rogue DJ who, with a group of like-minded free radicals, snuck into Alcatraz and set up a radio station. A big thanks to Rodney Morales for turning me on to Trudellʻs music.)

Fortunately for the listener, Trudell has kindred-spirit helpmates to assist him in crystallizing his vision on the album. Jackson Browne served as Executive Producer–I thought I could hear his vocals on one or two of the choruses. I noted the lead guitar early on, a wonderfully peculiar tone, whether played as slide, blues, or straight-up rock, a tone that consciously avoids cliche blues regurgitations. Turns out the axman is Jesse Ed Davis. When you hear AKA Grafitti Man, youʻre not only getting a great John Trudell record, youʻre also getting a pretty damn good Jesse Ed Davis record. 

AKA Grafitti Man begins, as several of the songs do, with a Native American vocal, this first appearance against silence; a brief, vaguely familiar string of notes abruptly overtaken by a drum fill and a mid tempo rock groove. Trudell, claiming the expression of his people, infuses this expression with his own aesthetics, heavily influenced by Elvis, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry, all the while calling back to Native American music. “Rocking the Res” contrasts indigenous ways of relating to natural phenomena and natural people with false commitments perpetuated by a decadent, commercialized reality in which war and consumerism are enmeshed, each dependent on the other. “A weird kind of living,” Trudell calls it, finding comfort in the soft-spoken resistance with which his people have denied the dominant American consumer/political message.

The characterization of the shaman has long been over-generalized and dissipated by American popular culture. In AKA Grafitti Manʻs title track, Trudell repurposes the essential function of the shaman–to tell a truth that no one of the tribe has the courage or foresight to tell–and applies it to a street artist, who uses their medium to illuminate the order of the world to a benighted populace. The Grafitti Man of the song is not of the upper class but of the people, is not cut off from the viscous mess and fecundity of life by fancy clothes and money. The Grafitti Man is able to accurately portray the reality of class in the United States because they are most acutely a victim of it. “Down with bosses,” the Grafitti Man writes, identifying authority as a meaningless layer that separates us from the rough texture of real life.

In “Restless Situations,” Trudell moves into RʻnʻB territory (neatly offset by Native America percussion between the soul groove), female backup singers doing the emotional work of communicating Trudellʻs empathetic portrayal of a woman swimming against confusion and insecurity.  In “Wildfires,” the poetʻs normally cool delivery builds toward impassioned (though still controlled) intensity, his words landing like notes against Davisʻs steady guitar and the organ of some unidentified hero. Here, Trudell is less a poet with a backing band and more a part of the band itself. The technique with which he carefully drops each phrase just behind the beat displays the skill of a true musician. “The nature of fire is to burn, every spark gets its turn,” the vocalist (not Trudell) melodically yells between the verses, commenting on the whims and notions that make up an identity. Some of these sparks lead to conflagrations inside and out, while some fizzle and die, and all we have is this residual smoke that ambiguously defines ourselves and our actions. Trudellʻs “wildfire” is interior–the wildfire is whatʻs released upon our loved ones and our hated ones, that makes us who we are. 

Itʻs the keyboardist who elevates “Baby Boom Che” to something near a masterpiece, folding in tuneful references to Elvis hits (especially “Love Me Tender”) in between the turnarounds. For Trudell, Elvis Presley, whom Trudell claims not only for Native Americans, or White Americans, but for all Americans, was a liberating spirit that exploded the haunted, post-war piety of Fifties USA with sex and dancing a a new consciousness in which the drab alternatives proffered by mainstream USA were no longer sufficient. “I mean, you take ʻDonʻt Be Cruel,ʻ ʻI Want You, I Need You, I Love You,ʻ and ʻJailhouse Rockʻ or you take Pat (Boone) in his white bucks, singing ʻLove Letters in the Sand,ʻ I mean hell man, what’s real here?” Elvis is not simply an entertainer–he is a revolutionary in the most political sense (whether he had any awareness of this aspect of his popularity), laying the groundwork for a new way to understand bodies and minds that had been dulled for so long by the psychopathic pall laid upon young America by two world wars.

I should note here that Trudellʻs words, and the ideas he conveys through those words, are far more complex and concern so many more areas of thought than can be described here. A full examination of “Baby Boom Che” would require more than a blog post. It would require a thesis, if not a full dissertation. 

The two most musically ambitious songs on Trudellʻs album are the similarly themed “Bombs Over Baghdad,” a prescient outspeak of inevitable events that were to unfurl several years after this album was recorded,  and “Rich Manʻs War,” which condemns the tendency of nation-states to callously sacrifice human potential for material and commercial resources. Where “Bombs Over Baghdad” rocks with a chunky electric guitar and furious leads alongside a mournful war cry, “Rich Manʻs War” is a swampy, synth-driven groove imbued with a heartbeat by Native percussion and intermittent chanting.

“Never Never Blues,” bookended by outlaw country songs “Somebodyʻs Kid” and “What Heʻd Done,” is a straightforward throwaway intensified by a group of female singers, another lament on the failures in relations between man and woman. It sounds like Kris Kristofferson helping sing the chorus of “Somebodyʻs Kid” (a credit sheet for AKA Grafitti Man has been difficult tracking down over the Internet), and Iʻd say it could very well be Mavis Staples showing up for some emotive lines in “What Heʻd Done.”

Jesse Ed Davisʻs soulful slide guitar and a heartbreaking chant provide visceral support to“Beauty in a Fade,” where, in his deadpan rendering, Trudell deconstructs the temporal nature of romantic relationships, sifting through the sweet pain of love, which can only reveal meaning after love is gone or as its going away.

Itʻs fitting that AKA Grafitti Man was celebrated by a songwriter like Bob Dylan upon its release. Both artists skillfully (and crankily) impart their hard-won wisdom through weathered sensibilities, persons who have sorted through he fragments of their memories to create a narrative of growth through loss. AKA Grafitti Man accomplishes its truth-telling by providing an alternative to pop music tropes, while still doing justice to popular musicʻs road-tested forms.

[aion-rsa]

Reading beyond the veil: Paranormal book Recommendations From the Pros

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Don’t cross the streams. Never take your hands off a Ouija board without first saying “Goodbye.” The undead has to be invited in. Kill it with fire. Shoot it in the head. Wolfman’s got nards.

When it comes to the entertainment of the unexplained, or paranormal pop culture, humans live in a world(s) populated by all manner of preternatural, supernatural, otherworldly, and extradimensional phenomena. But entertainment also tells us there are rules that bring order to the abnormal – whether it’s a ghost or demon, alien or sasquatch, werewolf or vampire, or even a troll or fairy.

Yet behind every silver bullet solution that makes it into a script, there is typically a wealth of academic study that’s both complicated, and sometimes contradictory. From folklore to grimoire, anthropology to parapsychology, researchers have attempted to document and take a serious look at topics slightly askew from the norm. They are the real-world counterparts of Dr. Spengler, Dr. Van Helsing, and Father Merrin.

(And, perhaps unlike those fictional “experts,” many researchers would likely tell you the more they read up on these topics, the clearer it becomes there is more unknown than known, and more theories than rules.)

With that in mind, we reached out to a few notable figures and esteemed colleagues within the paranormal community to offer reading suggestions that go beyond what pop culture tells us about the unexplained. The following list is a guide for those inspired by the movies and TV shows to take a longer look through the veil, under the bed, at the stars, and into the forest.

Amy Bruni

(Host/Executive Producer, Travel Channel’s Kindred Spirits; Author, Life With The Afterlife):

ESP, Hauntings and Poltergeists: A Parapsychologist’s Handbook by Loyd Auerbach

“While I think it’s highly important to have a library of paranormal books, and to form your own research and investigative methodologies, I almost always recommend Loyd Auerbach’s ESP, Hauntings and Poltergeists: A Parapsychologist’s Handbook as a must have. 

It was published in 1986, and is widely cited as one of the books that inspired many of today’s most well-known investigators to investigate the way they do. A good number of Loyd’s methods and theories still ring true, as well as his healthy dose of skepticism. It’s not the type of investigation you see on television, that’s for sure, but it’s got some great ideas to help distinguish between what could be an actual haunting vs a perceived haunting.”

Grant Wilson

(Host/Executive Producer, A&E’s Ghost Hunters):

Morphic Resonance & The Presence of the Past: The Memory of Nature by Rupert Sheldrake

“Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D., and former research fellow of the Royal Society, guides us through his journey to discover if our memories exist outside ourselves, and how that idea could affect our view on how the entire universe operates. Sheldrake gently opens the mind to this idea with solid thinking, educated speculation, and sound experimentation. More than just a mental exercise, his theory proposes that all self-organizing systems, from crystals to human society share a common memory which guides their collective form and behavior. Basically, the more people learn something, the easier it is for others to learn. Which, if true, would have huge implications in the field of paranormal research, not to mention the fields of biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, and sociology. If our memories are collectively shared and stored outside our own brains, are ghosts simply some sort of manifestation of shared memories? I recommend this book to anyone looking to draw their mind out of the box we so comfortably live in and reshape how we think about well, pretty much everything.”

Jeff Belanger

(Author, Writer/Researcher, Ghost Adventures; Host, New England Legends podcast, and TV series):

Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter by Harry Price

“Published in London in 1936, this is a must-read to see how far paranormal investigation has come (and how little it’s actually changed in almost a century). In the book, Harry Price (1881 – 1948) explores some of his favorite cases, how to test a spirit medium, spirit photography, and he delves into his methods of investigating including equipment, trigger objects, interviews, and theories. Harry Price is the original ghost hunter.

Read it for free online here: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.218596/page/n9/mode/2up

Ghosts: True Encounters with the World Beyond by Hans Holzer

Parapsychologist Hans Holzer (1920 – 2009) helped usher the paranormal into the mainstream with his many books and media appearances. Originally published in 1997, Holzer profiles some of his favorite cases and the first-hand experiences encountered by the witnesses he interviewed. By 97’, Holzer had reached the age and point of his career where he believed he pretty much had everything figured out. Though I don’t agree with all of his theories or ideas on the afterlife, I tip my hat at his confidence on spelling out the unknown.”

Bryce Johnson

(Actor; Co-host, Bigfoot Collector’s Club podcast):

Where the Footprints End, High Strangeness and the Bigfoot Phenomenon Volume I: Folklore by Joshua Cutchin and Timothy Renner

“What in the hell is really going on with Bigfoot? Is this just a flesh & blood creature like most think, or is there something more “paranormal” taking place? It’s a great question, and one that Cutchin and Renner (both outside-the-box thinkers) tackle head on. It’s hard to deny that these guys are onto something, and after having read it, I don’t think that I can ever go back to thinking that Sasquatch is just an unconfirmed North American Wood Ape. Instead, what if the big guy/gal is more like a wilderness poltergeist? A “Wildnesgeist” if you will. A term coined by the authors. And while the term does not exactly roll off the tongue, it certainly could help explain the strange lights and orbs, sudden dematerialization, telepathic mind-speak, and the countless varieties of size, shape and colors reported with Bigfoot sightings. Books like the aforementioned are an integral piece of the puzzle if we ever wish to get to the bottom of what is really taking place on this strange planet of ours, and perhaps what Vallee did for the UFO phenomenon, Cutchin & Renner could do for the Bigfoot Phenomenon. Overall Rating 4 Bigfeet out of 5!”

M. Belanger

(Comparative religious studies author, The Dictionary of Demons; Paranormal Investigator, Paranormal State, Portals to Hell):

Poltergeist by Colin Wilson

“For those doing research into ghosts and the paranormal, Colin Wilson should be on your bookshelves right next to Hans Holzer. In addition to his landmark eponymous survey, The Occult, Wilson produced numerous books exploring psychic and paranormal phenomena over his decades-long career. My personal favorite is Poltergeist, which explores the concept of destructive hauntings. Extensive, cross-disciplinary research is a hallmark of Wilson’s work, and this book is no exception. Poltergeist includes theories about what these “noisy ghosts” really are, explores psychological and supernatural implications of their manifestations, and recounts numerous documented cases of the phenomena from the ancient through the modern world. Throughout the book, Wilson blends perspectives from psychology, anthropology, folklore, and mythology together with dedicated reporting of modern experiences. I keep my copy next to Harry Price’s book on the same subject.

The Phantom World by Augustin Calmet

“For a deeper dive into the folkloric roots of many of our modern beliefs about ghosts, hauntings, and even vampires, it is worth the search to score a copy of Augustin Calmet’s treatise on the apparitions of spirits and on vampires, often titled simply The Phantom World. This chunky tome covers a wide variety of hauntings, retelling experiences as they were relayed to Calmet himself, often through other members of the clergy. As a French Benedictine monk, Calmet was viewed as an authority on the supernatural and the miraculous, and although he does not apply much in the way of critical analysis to the stories he receives, the fact that he was able to record and publish these tales at all makes up for what modern readers might consider a fairly superstitious nature. As with Glanvill’s Saducismus Triumphatus, it is important to keep in mind that clergy effectively filled the role of paranormal investigators during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, collecting, verifying, and disseminating the accounts of their parishioners. Without their writings, credulous as they may in hindsight seem, we would have little access to any record of these strange and frightful encounters. Calmet’s work is of special value because it is one of the fist treatises to collect a wide variety of European vampire encounters, including some of the stories that have proven seminal to vampire folklore as we understand it today.

Demoniality by Lodovico Sinistrari

The final volume I would recommend for modern investigators is a slim treatise produced by another member of the European clergy, this time a Franciscan priest by the name of Lodovico Sinistrari. Sinistrari is arguably where we derive most of our beliefs about incubus and succubus demons, and he collects both his theories on these creatures and several compelling tales in his book, Demoniality. It is a quick and fun read — if, like me, learning about demons is your definition of fun.”

Margee Kerr, Ph.D.

(Sociologist; Author, Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear):

On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma

“Hailed as “a feast” (Washington Post) and “a modern-day bestiary” (The New Yorker), Stephen Asma’s On Monsters is a wide-ranging cultural and conceptual history of monsters — how they have evolved over time, what functions they have served for us, and what shapes they are likely to take in the future.”

Richard Estep

(Author, Haunted Healthcare; Travel Channel’s Paranormal Night Shift):

This House is Haunted by Guy Lyon Playfair

“In a field that’s chock full of sensationalist books, Guy Lyon Playfair’s This House is Haunted is a breath of fresh air. One of the few comprehensive accounts of a poltergeist-type haunting that runs from the very first incident through to the end, Playfair’s book is a masterclass on how to investigate the paranormal. There’s no drama, no theatricality; seasoned investigator Playfair and his partner, Maurice Grosse of the Society for Psychical Research, examine the strange goings-on in a small house in Enfield with a critical eye, always seeking out rational explanations and debunking whatever they can. This House is Haunted works as a page-turning narrative, but also contains a wealth of information for today’s paranormal enthusiast. As such, it deserves a much wider audience.”

Brian J. Cano

(Paranormal Investigator; Travel Channel’s Paranormal Caught on Camera):

The Encyclopedia of Ghost & Spirits by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

“To me, this is a must-have in any serious paranormal library. It references an impressive amount of material, and I use it often. There may be a name or concept that sounds familiar to me and when I need a refresher, it’s the first tome I reach for. Invariably, as I turn the pages, I get sucked in, and end up delving into many other entries.  It’s like an academic supernatural “choose your own adventure”!

How to Hunt Ghosts: A Practical Guide by Joshua P. Warren

“This gem of a guide is perfect for anyone looking to get their feet wet in paranormal investigating. It is thoughtful, comprehensive and delivers the necessary information for anyone to begin doing the work while walking the fine line between skepticism and belief. I’ve recommended it many times over the years and the guide has held up to this day.”

Buy How to Hunt Ghosts: A Practical Guide on Amazon

Ryan Sprague

(Author, Podcast Host, Somewhere In The Skies; Co-host of Mysteries Decoded on the CW):

Communion by Whitley Strieber

“In the 1980s, author Whitley Strieber was best known for his horror novels such as The Hunger and Wolfen. But below the surface of his fictional works was a story so visceral and bizarre, that it would change the course of his career thereafter. This was the 1987 best-seller, Communion. Many are familiar with the now-famous book cover of a beige-colored alien with big, black orbital eyes. But the contents of the book is what truly stays with readers. The story of a man struggling with fractured memories of being taken in the night by what he calls “visitors” and experimented on. The raw and traumatic string of events is what packs the biggest punch in the book. But even stronger are the bigger questions to be asked of this supposedly true story: If we are not alone, and we are being visited, what do these visitors want, and to what lengths will they go for their true agenda? Communion is well written, brutally honest, terrifying, beautiful, and profound in the most alien of ways. It ushered in the alien abduction controversy for many years to come and has ingrained itself into the annals of both pop culture and UFO history forever.”

Buy Communion on Amazon

Lynne S. McNeill, Ph.D.

(Folklorist; Author, Legend Tripping: A Contemporary Legend Casebook):

Aliens, Ghosts, and Cults: Legends We Live and Lucifer Ascending by Bill Ellis

“These two books present a folklorist’s perspective on the kinds of traditions and phenomena that paranormal investigators are interested in. His perspective highlights that folklorists aren’t looking to debunk or prove anything — they simply want to understand the cultural role that these ever-popular topics are playing.”

Buy Aliens, Ghosts, and Cults: Legends We Live on Amazon

Ty Gowen

(Paranormal Investigator, Haunt ME):

Ghost Hunter by Hans Holzer 

“This may not be an obscure text in paranormal circles, but that doesn’t make it any less important. Holzer existed in a liminal time for the paranormal, when the obscure community was in the direct center of a century-long shift between the popularity of the Spiritualism of the late-1800s, and its Hollywood resurgence in the mid-2000s.

This book chronicles some of Holzer’s cases while researching in NYC, as well as providing his commentary. This commentary is particularly important to those studying the field. We’re able to get a snapshot of what early research and curiosity were like, before it was tainted by the entertainment industry. It can be a bit dry, but that is part of the appeal; the book isn’t meant to dazzle or secure ratings. It might not be for everyone, but it was definitely a gateway book for me.

Honorable mention (because it’s fiction) is Ghost Stories by Roald Dahl. He read 749 short stories and narrowed it down to 14 for his book, and they’re great! Who knew the guy who wrote BFG was so macabre!” 

Buy Ghost Hunter on Amazon

Aaron Sagers

(Creator, ParanormalPopCulture.com; Paranormal Journalist, Paranormal Caught on Camera, Paranormal Lockdown; Co-Executive Producer/Host, Paranormal Paparazzi; Co-Host, NightMerica Podcast):

The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel

“Journalist John Keel remains a giant in the paranormal field, and for me personally, he was the first person whose work I discovered that connected the dots between multiple phenomena. He’s described by some as a UFOlogist, but I think he’s so much more. Before it was a 2002 movie that did wonders for the Chapstick brand, The Mothman Prophecies was Keel’s 1975 book that documented strange sightings around Point Pleasant, West Virginia – which culminated with the lethal collapse of the Silver Bridge in 1967. Yes, this book discusses the winged thing (Cryptid? Demon? Alien? Ultraterrestrial?) eyewitnesses described in Point Pleasant, and gives historical and folkloric context to it, but Keel goes deeper into the story. Though he does have his own conclusions, the author’s journalistic approach, and open-mindedness, served as an inspiration and starting point to me within this strange world. For a second helping of Keel, I’d recommend Operation Trojan Horse.

Buy The Mothman Prophecies on Amazon

A History of Ghosts: The True Story of Seances, Mediums, Ghosts, and Ghostbusters by Peter Aykroyd

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Notice that last name? Yes, Peter Aykroyd is the father of Dan Aykroyd, aka Ray Stantz, Ghostbusters co-writer, UFO aficionado, and entrepreneur of the metaphysically themed Crystal Head vodka. Dan inherited his love of the paranormal honestly, coming from a family of prominent Spiritualists, and in this book, his father discusses the Aykroyds’ role in the belief system popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Though it can be a dry read at times, and is not a collection of spooky ghost stories, History takes the reader on a tour of an era of living room seances, mediums, charlatans, eccentric characters, and famous names. I also think there are a lot of parallels to the age of Spiritualism, and the one we’re in now, where reality-TV paranormal programming continues to be a popular genre, and many people seek life answers in the supernatural world.”  

Buy A History of Ghosts: The True Story of Seances, Mediums, Ghosts, and Ghostbusters by Peter Aykroyd on Amazon

The post Reading beyond the veil: Paranormal book Recommendations From the Pros appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[patrickwritessometuff]

The Rising Resurgence of Authoritarianism in the Democracies in Southeast Asia

Abstract: This is a comparative study into the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia exploring the recent rise and surge of authoritarian and populist leaders in these countries. This study will explore all three countries’ recent histories, the rise of their current leaders, and their current status quo with an institutionalist perspective.

The introduction defines what Authoritarianism is and the various forms it takes on and summarizes the current governments of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand with the next subsequent sections exploring the recent history and current status quo of these countries and delving deep into their leaders while touching upon the repeating patterns of authoritarianism in these countries’ history. The conclusion delves deep into the reasons and economic and social factors that led to the Southeast Asian authoritarian leaders coming into power.

Introduction: Authoritarianism and Its Various Flavors:

Authoritarianism seems to be in vogue for many leaders of the 21st century. The rise of Populist and Authoritarian strong-man leaders like Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, and China’s Xi Jinping on the international stage feels like a response to the years of Neoliberal hegemony most of the world has enjoyed after the Fall of the Berlin Wall. No region feels more like it is sliding towards Authoritarianism than Southeast Asia. Authoritarianism is defined by Encyclopedia Britannica “as any political system that concentrates power in the hands of a leader or a small elite that is not constitutionally responsible to the body of the people.” Authoritarian leaders frequently wield control unilaterally and independently of established bodies of law, and they may not normally be replaced by voters who freely select between different competitors in elections. In authoritarian regimes, the right to establish opposition political parties or other alternative political forces to fight for power with the ruling party is either restricted or just plain nonexistent. What is in common with authoritarians is the use (or abuse, as some of their critics would say) of institutions like Legislative, Judiciary, the Military, and Law Enforcement to curb resistance and dissent against the State and the Regime. Authoritarians seek only to retain their power and influence. Human rights and democratic institutions are damned.

Not all authoritarian leaders are built the same or have the same political and social beliefs, nor does any political system have a monopoly on authoritarianism. On one side of the political spectrum is Chile’s Augusto Pinochet, who was a free-market-oriented populist ultra-nationalist with ties to the libertarian capitalist United States, and on the other side of the spectrum is Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro, a Marxist-Leninist nationalist with ties to the communist Soviet Union.

Southeast Asia’s recent additions to the list of Authoritarian leaders almost exclusively seem to lean more into conservative right-wing authoritarianism. Philippines’ Duterte is a law-and-order oriented populist authoritarian who has been waging war against criminality, corruption, and crime. Meanwhile, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is a royalist military hardliner who seeks to bring Thailand back to the late fifties. Indonesian’s Joko Widodo, once lauded as a liberal reformist, the “Obama of Indonesia” and “a new hope” for Democracy in a country that has always struggled with authoritarianism, has actually started a turn into authoritarianism through his own Duterte inspired hardline War against Illegal Drugs and the appointment of his political rival Prabowo as Minister of Defense along with former regime members of former Indonesian dictator Suharto.

Thailand: A Royal Mess Thailand’s slide to Authoritarianism began in 2014 when a Military Junta called the NCPO or the National Council for Peace and Order led by Prayut Chan-o-cha, overthrew and toppled the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand’s first female Prime Minister and sister of previous Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. (Kongkirati 2018) Even before the Military coup that unseats Yingluck, the country was already under deep turmoil after the proposal of a very controversial amnesty bill that would have pardoned various politicians, including Yingluck’s brother Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s former neoliberal Prime Minister under self-imposed exile after charges of corruption. During this time, the conflicts between pro and anti-Shinawatra forces have been ongoing for the past few years ever since Thaksin put himself in self-imposed exile. (McCargo 2015)

This bill received unanimous opposition across Thailand’s political spectrum, including pro-Thaksin leftist and liberal groups like the “Red Shirt” movement, because it would have also provided amnesty for murder charges relating to the 2010 Military crackdown. The bill was thrown out, but the damage was already done; political violence and anti-Government protests continued throughout the country, with the biggest being “Bangkok Shutdown,” where the anti-Thaksin faction locked down parts of Bangkok in protest. All 150 of the opposition MPs resigned, and Yingluck had to dissolve Parliament and call for snap elections, but violence continued in the polling places (McCargo 2015). This continued unrest led to the military coup and the rise of the NCPO as the current ruling class. The battle between the two pro and anti-Thaksin factions also continues to this day. (Chambers 2015)

This coup and the subsequent military dictatorship effectively harkened back to the rule of Field Marshall Sarit Thanarat (who came into power under similar circumstances in a military coup) styled military authoritarian rule of the late Fifties and early Sixties. It also brought back the old model of “Thai-style Democracy” in which the alliance between the Thai Monarchy and the Military dominates the country’s politics with an ultra-conservative discourse. With the coup, the Military has effectively established itself as the new ruling elite, enhancing its influence on politics, budget, and size. (Kongkirati 2018) Another aspect of Thailand that has been recently gained even more power because of the coup is the monarchy. King Vajiralongkorn’s ascent into the throne in 2016 has been worrying for a lot of people in Thailand as some have viewed him unfit for the throne. Unlike his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was a well-loved monarch, Vajiralongkorn has had his fair share of controversies, including his decision to rule the country from Germany. (Farelly 2017)

In Thailand, insulting, defaming, or threatening the King, Queen or heir-apparent, heir-presumptive, or regent is subject to something called Lèse majesté laws.  This makes it so that doing so is illegal and a national security issue and will land the one doing it in jail. There have been concerns from human rights groups that these Lèse majesté laws are being used and abused by the military ruling class to curb dissent against the monarchy and the military. Other forms of legislation, such as the Computer Crimes Act and sedition laws, have been invoked by the authorities to deal with alleged damage and insults to the monarchy.

The 2019 Thai general election in accordance with the 2017 Constitution was supposed to bring some sort of status quo change into the country but because of the elections’ controversial results leading to Prayut and his allies to retaining their country, everything seems to be back to square one. More recently as of the writing of this paper, the country is once again amidst political turmoil, which began in 2019 after the disputed elections that ended with Prayut Chan-o-cha’s return to power as Prime Minister. A Pro-Democracy movement reminiscent of the ones that emerged during the Hong Kong protests has been growing and shows no sign of stopping despite the rise of COVID19. This movement has been demonstrating for several months, demanding the need for a new constitution and curbing of the King’s powers, using modern pop culture references from the Hunger Games and Harry Potter to be able to indirectly criticize the Monarchy.

Philippines: “Change is Coming” and the Rise of Duterte “Change is Coming.” That was the political slogan of then-presidential Candidate Rodrigo Roa Duterte, known by his nicknames Digong and Rody; this was the slogan that carried him through the Presidential Race in 2016. A Presidential race he ended up winning.

Duterte has already built up a reputation as an effective law-and-order politician for his tenure as Mayor of Davao City, a position he held on and off for over twenty years. Before becoming a politician, he served in the city prosecutors’ office for almost a decade. His career in politics started out as the city’s Vice Mayor, appointed by Former President Cory Aquino after the 1986 People Power Revolution. (Kimura, Kuhonta 2018) He made his name as one of the negotiators in the 1989 Davao Hostage Crisis, where sixteen inmates who had escaped from the Davao Penal Colony took fifteen hostages in the Davao Metropolitan District Command Center.

During his tenure, he was able to transform Davao City from a city caught between Moro Rebellions and Communist Insurrections to one of the safest cities in the Philippines. This success at a lower level contributed to his reputation as an effective political leader (Kimura, Kuhonta 2018). Though his methods and alleged ties to the so-called Davao Death Squad have drawn controversy from Human Rights Groups.

Duterte presented himself as an outsider in comparison to the mostly Luzon-based political elites that he was running against in the elections, people from established political families like Mar Roxas and Grace Poe (Kreuzer 2020). He leaned into this perception of himself as the outsider and encouraged it.

For a lot of his voters, that was his appeal, he was the guy who called out “Imperial Manila” for ignoring and imposing their rules on Visayas and Mindanao. He criticized the current political establishment at the time for its perceived failures in handling the Mamasapano Massacre and the response to Typhoon Haiyan. This left the Benigno Aquino III’s Liberal Party’s reputation tainted and continued to haunt them well into the 2019 Senate elections where none of their eight “Otso Diretso” candidates won a seat at the Senate.

Duterte also allied himself with other political elites that could help further his own political ascent, with close political allies including Bongbong Marcos, son of former president Ferdinand Marcos and Alan Peter Cayetano, son of former senator Rene Cayetano. Major Political Parties like Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban) and the Nacionalista Party also allied themselves with Duterte in the 2016 Election with Duterte running as the Presidential Candidate for PDP Laban.

During the elections, Duterte continued his run as a law-and-order candidate with an anti-Illegal drug platform promising to eradicate drug trafficking operations and a push for a charter change to Federalism, a form of government Duterte supports and one that would give more freedom to the smaller regions and more autonomy from “imperial Manila.” . (Kimura, Kuhonta 2018)

The first big challenge to Duterte’s presidency happened on May 23, 2017, when what is now known as the Battle of Marawi or the Marawi Siege began. This five-month long conflict between the Philippine military and members of the Maute-ISIS group lay siege to the entire city of Marawi acted as a trial by fire of sorts for Duterte and ended up with the destruction of Marawi.

His tenure as President has been wracked with controversies upon controversies, the biggest one probably being his bloody tokhang campaign against illegal drugs which human rights groups have slammed for being allegedly prejudiced against the poor and lower classes, as of this writing the war on drugs has already had 5,810 suspects killed in official anti-drug operations (Kreuzer 2020.)

His approach to the territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea and China in general has also been criticized, with some accusing him of cozying up to China instead of fighting against them for the disputed territory. He has welcomed Chinese investors to invest in the country. His pro-China rhetoric has been concerning for some people who believe that China is just another imperialist power who seeks to colonize and take advantage of the Philippines. His sponsored anti-terror bill has been decried as unconstitutional and draconian by activist groups and the opposition. And some aspects of it, particularly it’s constitutionality and if it does break the writ of hebeas corpus is still being hotly debated.

His ties to Former Senator Bongbong Marcos, the rest of the Marcos family and some of late dictator’s allies have also been heavily scrutinized. His support for the burial of dictator Ferdinand Marcos with military honors in the Libingan ng Bayani (Cemetery of Heroes) has spurred nationwide controversy and protests with claims of historical revisionism especially from the Martial Law victims and their relatives. (Kreuzer 2020)

Despite all his controversies however, he continues to enjoy high approval ratings from polls and surveys. In 2020 in a Pulse Asia Research Inc. survey, Duterte received a 91 percent approval rating in both trust and performance, the highest out of any government official. This collective support indicates that Duterte’s exercise of political power is not seen by most Filipinos as a threat to their independence or democracy as a whole, but rather as a source and a symbol of social security (Kreuzer 2020).

Indonesia: Joko Widodo Jokowi is probably the least authoritarian of the three heads of state. Still, his Duterte-esque and somewhat draconian anti-drug policies makes him still count as authoritarian. There are a lot of parallels between him and President Rodrigo Duterte. Like the Philippine President, Joko Widodo (widely known as Jokowi) started out as the Mayor of a medium sized City called Surakarta in Central Java in the wake of Indonesia’s democratization and decentralization initiatives (Kimura, Kuhonta 2018). Widodo was a furniture exporter who at the time had little to no experience in politics before running for Mayor in 2004, but against all odds he won. Thrust to the position of local leadership, he pushed for a reformist agenda which appealed to pro-poor and pro-investment constituencies. He cracked down on corruption and reduced the red tape that hampered investments. He also implemented healthcare and education policies that expanded access to the poor (Kimura, Kuhonta 2018).

In 2014 Jokowi won in the Presidential race against former general Prabowo Subianto, Prabowo was a controversial military man, with ties to Indonesian dictator Suharto and had already been under fire from Human Rights groups for alleged human rights abuses (Bland 2019). Jokowi was the first Indonesian President to not be from an elite political or military background. As a President, he continued his push for pro-poor initiatives including a national universal healthcare policy that he promises would cover the entire population of Indonesia. His focus for most of his two terms has been infrastructure and development . (Kimura, Kuhonta 2018).

Some of the issues he’s faced during his tenure has been conservative Islamic parties which continue to spread discrimination regarding other ethnic groups in the country, Jokowi’s handling of these issues have been controversial to say the least, his critics say that Jokowi has allowed human rights, the rule of law, and the protection of minorities to weaken since he was elected in 2014. Law enforcement has been politicized, with the detention and jailing of government opponents on questionable charges. In the face of criticism from conservative Islamic parties, Jokowi has blinked, legitimizing anti-pluralistic ideologies that undermine the rights of minorities in Indonesia and emboldening the proliferation of divisive identity politics. (Bland 2019) And with politically surrounding himself with influential retired generals, he has promoted an increasing political position for the military, threatening to undermine the trends that followed the fall of Suharto in 1998. (Heydarian 2019)

This appointment of former Military officials, some tied to the late dictator Suharto himself has led to concerns about Indonesia falling back to an authoritarian dictatorship. Especially when one of those military officials include his former political rival Prabowo Subianto, someone with an allegedly already spotty record in human rights. (Heydarian 2019) There is also the issue of Jokowi’s drug war. Inspired by Rodrigo Duterte’s own violent campaign against illegal drugs, Jokowi began his own campaign. He once said in his words, “Be firm, especially to foreign drug dealers who enter the country and resist arrest. Shoot them because we indeed are in a narcotics emergency position now.”

In 2019 his presidency faced several protests. From the May 2019 Jakarta Protests and riots where rival Prabowo Subianto refused to accept his defeat against Jokowi which led to large scale protests. These Protests started on the day the election results were officially declared on 21st of May. Tense demonstrations around the buildings of the electoral agencies were accompanied by rioting in many areas on the night of May 21. As a result of the protests, eight individuals were confirmed dead, with hundreds wounded. The use of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp was also restricted to prevent protesters from being able to organize and talk to each other. Another protest later that year also took place in Indonesia Papua as a reaction to the detention of 43 Papuan students from Surabaya for perceived disrespect of the Indonesian flag, with the Government of Indonesia implementing an internet blackout throughout the whole region. Clashes between demonstrators and policemen resulted in casualties, killing more than 30 people in both the clashes and the riots. Another protest again in 2019, From 23 September 2019, a series of widespread demonstrations led by students occurred in major cities in Indonesia to rally against proposed laws diminishing the power of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as well as several bills, including a revised criminal code punishing extramarital sex and defamation against the president. The protesters were mostly students from over three hundred universities, the police reported that in the capital city of Jakarta that at least 254 students and 39 police officers were wounded and were being treated in hospitals. Two students were killed in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, one of whom was reportedly shot during a violent altercation. In Jakarta, further three demonstrators were killed.

Conclusion: By looking through the recent histories of each country and the repeating patterns between all three, there appear to be multiple factors that recur throughout two or three of them, which likely contributed to the rise of these Authoritarian leaders.

The first one is an apparent nostalgia for previous dictatorial and authoritarian regimes from a sizeable number of the population. Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia all have similar histories involving authoritarian dictatorships; the Philippines has Ferdinand Marcos’ regime, which ran from 1965-1986, Indonesia has Suharto’s dictatorship which was from 1968-1998, and Thailand has Field Marshall Sarit Thanarat’s military dictatorship from 1959 to 1963. The first two still being relatively recent enough to have an influence on the popular consciousness and politicians (or family members of those politicians) with ties to those regimes still being alive, while the third was instrumental in bringing the Monarchy back to the forefront again in politics where it continues to be until now.

In the Philippines, this manifests as Marcos apologia and revisionist history about the Marcos regime and the Martial Law time period, which Duterte seems to exploit through keeping close ties with the Marcos family and allowing the late dictator’s burial in the Libingan ng Bayani. In Indonesia, Jokowo’s attempts to centralize power, push for further infrastructure and development coupled with the appointment of dictator Suharto’s old allies into key positions in the government like Prabowo Subianto also has opened comparisons to the late Indonesian dictator. At the same time, Thailand’s Prime Minister seems to be pushing for a return to Sarit Thanarat’s military dictatorship, where the Monarchy and the Military are in control of the majority.

Another thing to consider is the new form of propaganda made possible by the advent of the internet and social media, with all three heads of state have had allegations of using troll farms and fake news sites and blogs to spread propaganda thrown against them in their elections. Fake news and misinformation about the Marcos Regime also continue to make its way through social media. Combating authoritarianism also means combating against this form of propaganda, either through proper education or curbing the avenues in which this kind of misinformation flows through.

The second one is the failure of modern neoliberal democratic regimes and institutions to address systemic problems and concerns like corruption and poverty, causing the populace to lose faith in the neoliberal system. The descent of Thailand to authoritarianism can be traced back to its inability to probably address and resolve the issues of the Thaksin Shinawatra corruption charges, the 2010 Military crackdowns, and various other connected issues and events; the Amnesty Bill was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. Jokowo’s early liberal presidency quickly degenerated to semi-authoritarianism.

The rise of Duterte can be traced back to the disillusionment of the Filipino lower and middle classes with the Aquino administration, several years of apparent economic prosperity that never trickled down to or actually benefited the lower classes, some of which continued to live in poverty. President Duterte and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha managed to zero-in on to this disillusionment in the system, criticizing the neoliberal democratic status quo and the political establishment that run it while presenting themselves as stronger and more effective alternatives to the system.

It seems like it’s pretty clear that the neoliberal democratic system from most countries in Europe and the United States have failed to bring these countries out of poverty and also haven’t fixed issues of corruption, leading to lower and middle classes looking for alternatives outside the elite political establishment.

As for actual solutions, there appears to be no easy ones, Authoritarian leaders are just the response to the of the socio-political problems and civil unrest these specific nations are dealing with. They represent a dissatisfaction with the current neoliberal status quo, which manifests as a search for an alternative or as nostalgia for previous dictatorial authoritarian leaders.

References: Bland, B. (2019). Politics in Indonesia: Resilient Elections, Defective Democracy. Lowy Institute for International Policy. pp. 2-7. Chambers, P. (2015). Civil-Military Relations in Thailand since the 2014 Coup: The Tragedy of Security Sector "Deform". Peace Research Institute Frankfurt. Retrieved October 20, 2020. pp. 2-9 Farrelly, N. (2017). Thailand’s Triple Threat. Lowy Institute for International Policy. Pp. 6, 14-15. Heydarian R. (2019).  A revolution betrayed: The tragedy of Indonesia’s Jokowi. Al Jazeera. Kimura, E., & Kuhonta, E. (2018). Jokowi and Duterte: Do Local Politics Apply? East-West Center. Pp. 1-2. Kongkirati, P. (2018). HAUNTED PAST, UNCERTAIN FUTURE: The Fragile Transition to Military-Guided Semi-Authoritarianism in Thailand. Southeast Asian Affairs, pp.363-376. KREUZER, P. (2020). A PATRON-STRONGMAN WHO DELIVERS.: EXPLAINING ENDURING PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR PRESIDENT DUTERTE IN THE PHILIPPINES. pp. 18-27. McCargo, D. (2015). THAILAND IN 2014: The Trouble with Magic Swords. Southeast Asian Affairs, pp.337-358.

[digital-arts-etc]

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte 

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (French: Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte) painted in 1884, is one of Georges Seurat's most famous works. It is a leading example of pointillist technique, executed on a large canvas. Seurat's composition includes a number of Parisians at a park on the banks of the River Seine.

Background

In 1879 Georges Seurat enlisted as a soldier in the French army and was back home by 1880. Later, he ran a small painter’s studio in Paris, and in 1883 showed his work publicly for the first time. The following year, Seurat began to work on La Grande Jatte and exhibited the painting in the spring of 1886 with the Impressionists.[2] With La Grande Jatte, Seurat was immediately acknowledged as the leader of a new and rebellious form of Impressionism called Neo-Impressionism.[3]

Seurat spent more than two years painting A Sunday Afternoon,[4] focusing meticulously on the landscape of the park. He reworked the original and completed numerous preliminary drawings and oil sketches. He sat in the park, creating numerous sketches of the various figures in order to perfect their form. He concentrated on issues of colour, light, and form. The painting is approximately 2 by 3 meters (7 by 10 feet) in size.

Inspired by optical effects and perception inherent in the color theories of Michel Eugène Chevreul, Ogden Rood and others, Seurat adapted this scientific research to his painting.[5] Seurat contrasted miniature dots or small brushstrokes of colors that when unified optically in the human eye were perceived as a single shade or hue. He believed that this form of painting, called divisionism at the time but now known as pointillism, would make the colors more brilliant and powerful than standard brushstrokes. The use of dots of almost uniform size came in the second year of his work on the painting, 1885–86. To make the experience of the painting even more vivid, he surrounded it with a frame of painted dots, which in turn he enclosed with a pure white, wooden frame, which is how the painting is exhibited today at the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Island of la Grande Jatte is located at the very gates of Paris, lying in the Seine between Neuilly and Levallois-Perret, a short distance from where La Défense business district currently stands. Although for many years it was an industrial site, it is today the site of a public garden and a housing development. When Seurat began the painting in 1884, the island was a bucolic retreat far from the urban center.

The painting was first exhibited in 1886, dominating the second Salon of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, of which Seurat had been a founder in 1884. Seurat was extremely disciplined, always serious, and private to the point of secretiveness—for the most part, steering his own steady course. As a painter, he wanted to make a difference in the history of art and with La Grand Jatte, succeeded.[6]

Interpretation

Seurat's painting was a mirror impression of his own painting, Bathers at Asnières, completed shortly before, in 1884. Whereas the bathers in that earlier painting are doused in light, almost every figure on La Grande Jatte appears to be cast in shadow, either under trees or an umbrella, or from another person. For Parisians, Sunday was the day to escape the heat of the city and head for the shade of the trees and the cool breezes that came off the river. And at first glance, the viewer sees many different people relaxing in a park by the river. On the right, a fashionable couple, the woman with the sunshade and the man in his top hat, are on a stroll. On the left, another woman who is also well dressed extends her fishing pole over the water. There is a small man with the black hat and thin cane looking at the river, and a white dog with a brown head, a woman knitting, a man playing a horn, two soldiers standing at attention as the musician plays, and a woman hunched under an orange umbrella. Seurat also painted a man with a pipe, a woman under a parasol in a boat filled with rowers, and a couple admiring their infant child.[7]

Some of the characters are doing curious things. The lady on the right side has a monkey on a leash. A lady on the left near the river bank is fishing. The area was known at the time as being a place to procure prostitutes among the bourgeoisie, a likely allusion of the otherwise odd "fishing" rod. In the painting's center stands a little girl dressed in white (who is not in a shadow), who stares directly at the viewer of the painting. This may be interpreted as someone who is silently questioning the audience: "What will become of these people and their class?" Seurat paints their prospects bleakly, cloaked as they are in shadow and suspicion of sin.[8]

In the 1950s, historian and Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch drew social and political significance from Seurat’s La Grande Jatte. The historian’s focal point was Seurat’s mechanical use of the figures and what their static nature said about French society at the time. Afterward, the work received heavy criticism by many that centered on the artist’s mathematical and robotic interpretation of modernity in Paris.[7]

According to historian of Modernism William R. Everdell, "Seurat himself told a sympathetic critic, Gustave Kahn, that his model was the Panathenaic procession in the Parthenon frieze. But Seurat didn't want to paint ancient Athenians. He wanted 'to make the moderns file past ... in their essential form.' By 'moderns' he meant nothing very complicated. He wanted ordinary people as his subject, and ordinary life. He was a bit of a democract—a "Communard," as one of his friends remarked, referring to the left-wing revolutionaries of 1871; and he was fascinated by the way things distinct and different encountered each other: the city and the country, the farm and the factory, the bourgeois and the proletarian meeting at their edges in a sort of harmony of opposites."[9]

The border of the painting is, unusually, in inverted color, as if the world around them is also slowly inverting from the way of life they have known. Seen in this context, the boy who bathes on the other side of the river bank at Asnières appears to be calling out to them, as if to say, "We are the future. Come and join us".

Painting materials

Seurat painted the 'La Grande Jatte' in three distinct stages.[10] In the first stage, which was started in 1884, Seurat mixed his paints from several individual pigments and was still using dull earth pigments such as ochre or burnt sienna. In the second stage, during 1885 and 1886, Seurat dispensed with the earth pigments and also limited the number of individual pigments in his paints. This change in Seurat's palette was due to his application of the advanced color theories of his time. His intention was to paint small dots or strokes of pure color that would then mix on the retina of the beholder to achieve the desired color impression instead of the usual practice of mixing individual pigments.

Seurat's palette consisted of the usual pigments of his time[11][12] such as cobalt blue, emerald green and vermilion. Additionally, Seurat used then new pigment zinc yellow (zinc chromate), predominantly for yellow highlights in the sunlit grass in the middle of the painting but also in mixtures with orange and blue pigments. In the century and more since the painting's completion, the zinc yellow has darkened to brown—a color degeneration that was already showing in the painting in Seurat's lifetime.[13] The discoloration of the originally bright yellow zinc yellow (zinc chromate) to brownish color is due to the chemical reaction of the chromate ions to orange-colored dichromate ions.[14] In the third stage during 1888-89 Seurat added the colored borders to his composition.

The results of investigation into the discoloration of this painting have been ingeniously combined with further research into natural aging of paints to digitally rejuvenate the painting

In popular culture

The May 1976 issue of Playboy magazine featured Nancy Cameron—Playmate of the Month in January 1974—on its cover, superimposed on the painting in similar style. The often hidden bunny logo was disguised as one of the millions of dots.[21]

The painting and the life of its artist were the basis for the 1984 Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. Subsequently, the painting is sometimes referred to by the misnomer "Sunday in the Park".

The painting is prominently featured in the 1986 comedy film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Such use is parodied, among others, in Looney Tunes: Back in Action and an episode of Family Guy.

In the Simpsons episode "Mom and Pop Art" (10x19), Barney Gumble offers to pay for a beer with a handmade reproduction of the painting.

At the Old Deaf School Park in Columbus, Ohio, sculptor James T. Mason re-created the painting in topiary form;[22] the installation was completed in 1989.

The painting was the inspiration for a commemorative poster printed for the 1993 Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, with racing cars and the Detroit skyline added.

In 2011, the cast of the US version of The Office re-created the painting for a poster to promote the show's seventh-season finale.[23]

The cover photo of the June 2014 edition of San Francisco magazine, "The Oakland Issue: Special Edition", features a scene on the shore of Lake Merritt that re-creates the poses of the figures in Seurat's painting.[24]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jatte

[sneek-m]

Listening 2017: June 6–15

The last entry brought older albums to the queue, and this one has even more. Though it put me pretty behind on new releases, I’m glad I’m more eager to turn to older records because I’m the worst when it comes to listening to albums made before the ’90s. I cover four of them here, which for me is a good amount than usual.

Here’s what caught my ear these couple weeks:

Sing Sing Death House

The Distillers Hellcat, 2002

Only a year sets apart Sing Sing Death House from Coral Fang, the punk band’s second and third release, respectively, out of their three-album run. The completeness of the latter compared to the former, though, astonishes me. Such a result most likely has to do with Coral Fang being a release on a major label, where an ability to write songs with a sharp sense of form and structure is a given as much as it is a sign of artistic growth. Sing Sing Death House, meanwhile, is a tight release in its own way. While Brody Dalle here may care less about providing full songs than a hook to shout, she still hands in a succinct half-hour rundown of the most gut-punching punk bursts. They’re proudly messy, which makes me curious to how they were received when they decided to clean up their act.

[7]

Conspiracy

Junior M.A.F.I.A. Undeas/Big Beat, 1995

How two legit hits can come out of a band of amateurs trying on the suits of their New York gangsta-rap heroes only speaks to the business mind of Christopher Wallace, who I assume learned a thing or two working with Sean Combs: that notorious scene of Puff Daddy pushing a Mtume-sampling record as the single to hardcore rapper Biggie’s debut comes to mind. Because most, if not all of the appeal behind both “Player’s Anthem” and “Get Money” — especially the latter’s — is the hook, not to mention its rather flashy loops. Same goes for the third, the Faith Evans-assisted “I Need You Tonight.” Rapping for rapping sake takes them only so far.

The rappers involved do fine world building that lives up to its title of Conspiracy with raps covering paranoia and double-crossing, Biggie’s favorite themes. But again, it’s the things extraneous from the actual rapping that make the non-singles to be more memorable. Straight-up rap track “Realms of Junior M.A.F.I.A.” shines less from the lyrics than the trusted sample of ESG’s “UFO.” “White Chalk” is a rather peculiar one with its stylistic focus nearing horrorcore, evoking more of Southern acts of the time. When they commit squarely to their mafioso role, it sounds exactly like a product by a gang of lesser goons under their bosses wing.

[6]

Possibility / Bitter and Sweet

Akina Nakamori Reprise, 1984; 1985

Per recommendation, Akina Nakamori’s Best I and II served as a fine introduction to the Japanese ’80s pop royalty. A definite shift in the singer can be heard from the first to the second compilation, her work from 1986 to 1988; four years after her first single, her voice has finally grown to that of a proper ballad powerhouse. But even in Best I, her hits from 1982 to 1985, you can pick up a gradual growth by the way her voice pairs with more flamboyant accents.

I’m in no way an expert to Nakamori’s work, but personally, I pin the point in time in which she began to hit her stride around 1984 and 1985 with, respectively, Possibility and Bitter and Sweet. She sounds more comfortable to swing her voice around in both. While she showcases just how she can deliver in traditional modes through a series of ballads in the former, she tries on more playful get-ups in the latter; Bitter and Sweet works more contemporary pop productions with drum machines, funk bass lines, starry synths and such. Her 1985 record worked much better for me especially because I’ve gone to associate Nakamori as a diva figure, and the glamorous sounds from that album befits that title.

[6] / [7]

The Pleasure Principle / Freedom of Choice

Gary Numan / Devo Beggars Banquet, 1979; Warner Bros., 1980

I don’t know what this says about me during these trying times, but I’ve lately grown a strong fondness for pop exploring humanness — and more so the lack thereof. For others, both Numan and Devo’s work in these albums perhaps feel too disconnected, but the impersonal mode these records assume from the deliberate machine-like rendering of pop is the very voice they strive to hit upon.

The deconstruction of their beloved formats — more singer-songwriter pop for Numan while Devo takes apart the romanticism of rock ’n’ roll — show admiration for the form as well as an eye to critique, mainly what pop tells us (sells us?) about our source of pleasure. And though the present-day has countless improved tools and smoother techniques to get a similar point across, the limitation of the available technology of their era brings an inimitable voice to the records. These prototypes of the man-machine hit a more poignant note than the later versions they inspire.

[8] / [7]

Payface

Payroll Giovanni & Helluv no label, 2017

Hundreds of rap albums have sold us the cool of a Scarface poster on a bedroom wall. When it comes down to it, though, pretending to be Tony Montana on a record is still kind of a geeky form of play, isn’t it? I thought this while Payroll Giovanni referenced DC Comics superheroes in his song about neighborhood heroes, which during this time full of comic-book movies hits me extra nerdy. While his icon instead rocks chains while in the drug trade, he drives a coupe which he likens to a Batmobile — sleek and extravagant of a metaphor, sure, but a bit kitsch. (“Fuck a Wonder Woman,” if you also want a diss that’s timely.) Payroll also re-works Montell Jordan’s eternal ’90s anthem to fit his drug business in Detroit so it reads, yes, “This Is How We Move It.” These underlining cheesiness about the day in the life of pusher, told otherwise with a brute composure tailored for a gangsta rapper, just about sums up this tape, I think.

[5]

Z

Zone Sony, 2002

Zone apparently once got stuck with the crude category “ban-dol” because the public could not decide whether the four piece is an idol group or a band. Had they stuck with the exuberant mode of their major-label debut “Good Day” for their debut album, the latter would befit them a lot better. But the power-pop hit was a one off for Z — personally a bit disappointed because it drew me to this album expecting more. They instead stick closer to the earnestness of “Secret Base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~,” a staple ballad out of the group’s catalog still to this day.

The album’s sappy mood also calls to mind the dozens of other solo J-pop singer-songwriters who later in the mid-2000s got popular by selling wholesomeness and sentimentality — many of them, acoustic clad. Perhaps it’s a trend, at the very least a micro one? It’s a curious observation I’d investigate further, but even for a sentimentalist like myself, the catalog of some of those artists can be dour to get through.

[6]

Others albums that caught my interest…

Agent Bla: Agent Bla

Bleachers: Gone Now

Chief Keef: Thot Breaker

Day6: Sunrise

Gang Parade: Barely Last

Haruomi Hosono: S-F-X

Mondo Grosso: Nando demo Atarashiku Umareru

Mozzy & Gunplay: Dreadlocks & Headshots

My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Beauty

Sayonara Ponytail: Yume Miru Wakusei

Sugababes: Angels with Dirty Faces

Sister Sledge: We Are Family

T-ARA: What’s My Name?

[little-red-2404]

The Technicalities of Tomorrow Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Before The Fire

         Our first mission after the death happened to be in Washington D.C, 1986 where Rip thought we could handle a break-in at the Pentagon. However, the whole ordeal backfired; we were almost arrested, Kendra’s crazy hawk-version almost scarred my face, and we just barely made it out with Savage’s file in hand.

           In the end, we all sat pouting and sulking in the main room of the WaveRider. I sat in a chair next to Sara, feeling much more agitated and pissed off than I expected.

           “I don’t see the big deal,” Kendra calmly stated, “We got the file.”

           I did my best not to speak up, but couldn’t help the roll of my eyes which I covered with my blonde hair.

           “I agree, it was awesome.” Mick huffed.

           I opened my mouth, ready to spit something out when Professor Stein beat me to it, “In the same way tsunamis, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are awesome, surely. All went smoothly I suppose, despite the hiccup with the alarm.”

           “Oh, so it’s my fault?” Jax snapped.

           “Oh, shut it!” I tried screaming, but to no avail as it came out in much more of a squeal. “Who cares what you two think? At least Big Bird here didn’t try and scratch off your faces.”

           “Big Bird?!”

           “Enough!” Rip shouted, silencing all of us at once. “What happened has happened… We’re just lucky the Department of Defense likes to keep these sorts of things under wraps. Now, Gideon, any luck with our secret file?” He then mumbled, “Please say yes…”

           “Yes, Captain. Seems Vandal Savage has defected to the Soviet Union.”

           “You mean our enemy has gone Red at the height of the Cold War?” Martin asked before sarcastically adding Mick’s previous word, “Awesome.”

           My nerves didn’t settle down, even as we took off towards the Soviet Union.

           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

           As the ship took flight, I decided to roam the hallways in hopes of shaking off this odd feeling. I felt a sort of pent up anger in the pit of my stomach and I couldn’t quite place why it was there in the first place. I stuck my hands in my jacket pocket as I walked down the hall and my hand hit something hard. Pulling it out, I remembered placing my secret-little-gift in there in order to confront Leonard about it.

           “Perhaps that’s why you’re angry?” Ronnie asked, stepping up to step next to me. “I mean, it is stolen.”

           I shook my head, looking down at the necklace as I opened the lid, “No. I’m over it. Besides, it was stolen in the past, not like anyone can do anything about it now.”

           “You’re starting to sound like him now.”

           “Shut up,” I mumbled before jumping away from the figure suddenly standing in front of me.

           “Who you talking to?” Leonard asked, eyeing the space around us, seemingly confused when he realized no one was there.

           I shook my head, still holding the box out in between us. “No one…”

           His icy eyes then glanced down at the gift in my hand and his smirk formed on his face once more. “So, I’m assuming you didn’t like your present?”

           “What makes you think that?”

           “You’re not wearing it.”

           “I can’t,” I informed him, suddenly making up my mind. I shoved the box against his chest, yet he still didn’t take it. “It’s stolen. I don’t want your stolen treasures, Leonard.”

           He chuckled then, taking my hand in his gloved one and pushing it back towards me. “I didn’t do this one, sweetheart.”

           I rolled my eyes, “Who else would steal a necklace for a girl?”

           His smirk grew into a smile as he reminded me, “I’m not the only thief on this ship.” I felt stupid when it dawned on me, realizing that I hadn’t even thought of Mick giving the gift. However, I had reason to: why would I think Mick would give me the necklace? He had no reason to. He wasn’t a flirt like his partner. “Besides,” Leonard let out a cough to bring my attention back to him before telling me, “I wouldn’t have chosen a Ruby necklace. You’d look far better in sapphire than in red.”

           “Why did Mick give this to me?” I asked, still holding it away from me.

           He shrugged his shoulders, “I’ll be honest, no idea. Mick doesn’t give gifts, not even to me.”

           That last bit sounded a bit bitter on his lips, so I gave him a smirk of my own, clamping my hand around the box and holding it up between our faces. “Jealous much?”

           “Hardly.” Was his reply. He stepped past me to walk away when he added, “Again, you’d look better in sapphire.”

           “Weirdo.” I whispered under my breath as I watched him walk away. I observed his blue parka bouncing on his broad shoulders and watched the way he sauntered down the hall.

           Then I heard Ronnie’s voice speak up again, “But cute, right?”

           I glared at him as he gave me a toothy grin, almost like he would give mom when we were kids. “Don’t call him cute, that’s even weirder.”

           “Hey,” he held up his hands, “I only say what you’re thinking, remember?”

           Before I could answer, the ground below me moved and I fell over immediately. Some of the pipes around me popped and blew out steam. I stashed the box back in my pocket as I picked myself up off the ground, looking around me, expecting to see some attacker but coming up emptyhanded. I gasped as the room tilted slightly and I stumbled towards the wall where I stabled myself by holding onto one of the large pipes.

           “What the hell is going on?” I squealed.

           The lights flickered on and off a couple of times, surprisingly not being the result of my panicked feelings for once as I heard Gideon announce, “Initiating emergency landing protocol.”

           I sighed, gripping onto the pipe with both hands and awaiting the large thud that awaited. I hissed when the floor convulsed underneath me, causing me to fly a few feet off the ground and ramming my shoulder into the metal pipe above me. When I came back down along with the ship, I hit the floor hard and waited for the rumble to end before getting back up. Rubbing my shoulder, I returned to the main room to find the team already discussing our next plan.

           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

           Seeing as I wasn’t needed right away, I took the opportunity to take myself and my aching limb to my room to take a little nap. I crawled up onto my bed and starred up at the ceiling, absentmindedly rubbing at the fabric on the black box that still sat upright in my pocket.

           “Are you going to thank him?” Ronnie asked, taking a seat across the room.

           “For stealing?” I questioned back, casting him a sideways glance.

           He shrugged, “If that’s how you want to see it.” He leaned back in the seat, crossing his arms and smiling at me once more. “But you heard Leonard, Mick never hands out gifts. So, you should thank him for doing a good deed.”

           “You were literally lecturing me on how it was stolen about twenty minutes ago.”

           He sighed, “Hey, you’re the one with the conflicted mind here. Not me.”

           “Perhaps…” I sighed before sitting up, placing the box on my lap, and opening it once more. After careful thought, I said out loud, “I can’t go up to him and thank him.”

           “Why not?”

           “I may not know Mick very well, but I have a feeling he doesn’t do compliments. He’ll probably pretend he doesn’t know what I’m talking about.”

           Ronnie nodded his head with every word I spoke. “Sounds about right.” Then his eyes went wide as I wrapped the silver chain around my neck and clipped it in place to where the ruby stone hung just above the collar of my shirt. “What are you doing?”

           I shrugged casually before closing the now empty box and setting it aside. “If I can’t properly thank him, the less I can do is wear it, right?”

           Ronnie’s demeanor immediately relaxed, seeing as I had made up both parts of my mind. “You’re the boss.”

           His image soon faded away as I heard some grunts outside my door. Hearing the sound of a fight, I immediately rushed out to check what was going on and was surprised to see Sara pinning Kendra down on the ground, her hands wrapped tightly around the Egyptians’ neck.

           “Sara!” I didn’t even bother grabbing at her, knowing full well what was going on. I wasn’t there for when Sara got resurrected, but Oliver had told me a little bit about it and how it slightly affected her humanity. Seeing her choking the life out of Kendra now, I finally understood what she meant. “Sara, let go, you’re killing her! It’s our friend! It’s Kendra!”

           I didn’t relax until the blank gaze in her eyes was gone, she blinked a few times before throwing herself off of Kendra, and backed away slowly. I held my hands out towards her, trying to show her it was okay, but she didn’t hesitate to run off.

           “Sara!” I called out to her, following her all the way to her room where she shut the door on me. “Sara, come on! Let me in!” I waited outside for ten minutes before giving up and walking away.

           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

           I had reached Rip’s office in time to hear him explain his dilemma with his old-Time-Master-friend and the Time Master’s offer to him. Jax stood in the corner, listening intently until Rip finished.

           “So, what happens now?” He asked after Rip ad poured himself a glass of whiskey. “You turn yourself in to the Time Masters and then what? The rest of us just—“

           “You’ll all be returned back to your original time lines.” He assured Jax. “As if none of this ever happened.”

           “But it did happen.” I spoke up, leaning against the doorframe.

           Stein nodded his gray-head, “Leah is right. Starling City might also fall into the hands of the U.S.S.R thanks to our efforts.”

           “All the more reason to consider the offer.” Rip pointed out. “Look, I didn’t say the offer was without it’s downrights. I still lose my wife and son…”

           “Then why throw in the towel?” Jax asked.

           “Look, when we first started, I wasn’t even thoroughly honest about my reasons for this mission or… Or how dangerous it might be…”

           I could read the guilty look glued all over his face. I sighed before reminding him, “Carter knew the risks before joining the team.”

           Rip nodded before saying, “And now it’s time for you all to decide if the future is worth the risk.”

           “I think it is.” I admitted immediately.

           “Me too,” Jax stated.

           “Agreed,” Stein chimed in.

           “Know what that means?” I asked Rip who downed his glass in one gulp. “It means you can go tell your Time Master friend that we don’t accept any offers. We have things handled here.”

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           I hid behind a tree not far from where Rip was meeting his old friend. I had to squeeze in just a tad to make room for Mick who occasionally peeked out from our hiding spot to watch Rip’s movements.

           “Are we sure his friend is actually going to attack him?” I whispered, turning to the tall man who held his heat-ray gun close to his chest. “I mean, they were friends once…”

           Mick shook his head before looking down at me. “I heard the way his “friend” spoke to him earlier. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is a trap…”

           His voice seemed to trail off at the end of is sentence, so I curiously looked up to see what had gotten his attention. I almost snapped at him when I realized his eyes were focused on something other than my face, when I remembered I was wearing the ruby necklace. He turned his head quickly as if to check on Rip once more, but the pink shade on his cheeks gave him away instantly.

           Ronnie stood a few feet away from us, not even needing to struggle to find a hiding spot, the lucky bastard. He only smiled at Mick as he said, “Busted. So, it was him.”

           I hid my smile by turning my back on the big man and peeking out at the tree to get a look as well. What I hadn’t been expecting was to see Chronos holding a gun to Rip Hunter’s head.

           “Never had you pegged as a coward, Druce.” Rip chuckled, trying to keep his shaking body still with the weight of a gun held to his skull. It brought me back to when Leonard’s father held a gun to my head and I involuntarily shuddered.

           “In that case, I’ll remain here to see that your punishment is set out properly. I wouldn’t want you die alone.”

           “Who says I’m alone?”

           As if we had planned that to be the signal or phrase needed to step out of our hiding spots, Mick and I both emerged from the tree together; he shot his heat gun at Chronos at the same time that I struck him with electricity from my gloves. Chronos flew back several feet, landing on the ground hard, while Jax shot flames towards Druce.

           I stepped forward to shock Chronos once more when he kicked out and knocked me onto my back. Hitting the solid dirt hard, my head bounced back and for a second, I thought I saw stars swirling around the trees. I blinked and regained my sense just enough to see Chronos aim his gun at my face. I gasped, expecting him to pull the trigger immediately, when his large, metallic body froze. Confused, I myself had frozen in place, forgetting the gloves on my hands for a split second.

           That is until Jax shot some flames our way, just barely missing Chronos’ head. Chronos then whipped around and reached for something large sticking out of his belt. The word grenade flickered through my mind just before he could throw it Jefferson’s way.

           “Jax!” I heard myself scream before rolling up off the ground and lunging towards the kid.

           Then there was a sudden flash and before my hand could meet with the material of Jax’s shirt, I was forced off to the side by the fiery explosion and sent smacking into a tree before I hit the ground. Luckily, I had remembered to cover my head this time, although that didn’t stop the swirling stars from appearing as I sat up on my hands and knees.

           “Jax? Jax!” I heard Rip and Stein call out urgently as Stein’s hands reached out to help me up. “I lost him,” he told me. “The explosion must have caused us to separate.”

           I felt a pang of panic before we all heard Jax call out, “Right here, relax.”

           We turned to see him stumbling our way, holding his head. “I’m fine…”

           “Then why didn’t you answer when I called out to you?” Stein barked as I rubbed my throbbing side.

           “I didn’t hear…” Jax sighed, stumbling a bit more. My body reacted before my foggy mind understood what was going on and I caught him as he fell into mine and Mick’s arms.

           “Jax?”

           “He needs the med-bay. Now.” Rip ordered.

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           “What happened to him?” Ray asked as we stepped inside the main room of the WaveRider.

           “Chronos.” I gasped, holding onto my abdomen with one hand as I helped Jax hold himself up with the other.

           Jax eyed me suspiciously, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

           “It’s probably just bruised,” I guessed before peering down at his bloody side. “You’re the one who is bleeding.”

           “That’s what happens when you almost get yourself killed.” Stein sarcastically mumbled.

           I ignored him, sighing as I tried to pull Jax along with me. “Come on. Take it slowly.” I meant to lead him out the door, following Rip and Mick when Stein spoke up again.

           “Don’t bother. He’ll just do opposite of everything you tell him.”

           “Do you got a problem?” Jax asked, pulling out of my grasp to turn and face the professor.

           “Seems our partnership has become untenable.”

           “Partnership?” Jax laughed dryly. “This is no partnership, it’s a dictatorship.”

           I started to feel that agitating feeling bubble up inside me again and I tried to step in between them, but the professor’s face flushed with anger before I could. “Do you think I like seeing you hurt?”

           “Don’t pretend you care!”

           “Both of you!” I stepped forward, trying to get a say in the argument, but the pain in my abdomen began to burn and instead, I leaned forward, grasping at my aching body instead. I leaned into Ray for support as he jumped forward to help.

           The conversation grew more intense as Jax asked, “Did you ever stop to think that I had a life back in Central City? One that YOU kidnapped me from?”

           “Oh, this old tune.” Stein sighed before laughing, “You were an auto-mechanic!”

           “I had a mom!” Jax shouted. “A widow! Who will probably have no choice but to think I left her if I don’t make it back to 2016! Do you have any idea what they does to her?”

           Stein face remained flushed and cold as he stated, “We’ve all made sacrifices!”

           “When are you going to learn that you are not my father?”

           “If your father were here, he’d be saying the same as me, Jefferson.” Stein informed him. “Just GROW UP, Jefferson. The future of the world is at stake and I’m more concerned with the billions of people who will die because of your egoistic adolescent ego!”

           With that final statement, the room went silent. The boiling blood in my veins seemed to have popped and set another, more chilling feeling up my spine as I stood and starred at the two arguing men in the room. I continued to stare at the gray-haired man as the other left the room, clutching desperately at his side, and limping away.

           “Was that necessary?” I asked, coldly as the professor turned to us.

           “I know it was harsh, but it was the only way I could get through to him! I don’t want to see another partner die, I can’t!”

           As if washed away by ice cold water, the burning anger subsided into something far more devastatingly painful that sat in the pit of my chest. I assumed it had been the comment on my brother’s death that had caused it at the time.

           I sighed, still leaning against Ray and clutching my side. “Jax isn’t Ronald, Professor. He is his own person.”

           “I can’t see him die.” Stein repeated, finally looking me in the eye. “Because then I have to be the one to go home to his mother and tell her that her little boy is never returning home, and I rather die than do that…”

           Ray and I both watched the professor turn on his heel and leave the room. I was left unsure of what to say. Yet, the cold-pit feeling in my chest evaporated as the large, metal door shut behind the professor.

           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

           I slept in the next day, still feeling achy from the explosion and when I sat up in bed, I thought for sure that the aching in my abdomen was going to cause me to vomit. I hadn’t slept well at all and the thing that frightened me the most was the sudden burst of heat in my hands that woke me up. I for sure thought they were on fire, but was confused when I glanced down at them to find that nothing was wrong. Getting out of bed and changing into a simple sweater found to be more difficult that I imagined. I avoided looking in the mirror at the large, purple bruise that took up my whole side. Gideon offered to heal it for me, but I politely declined, stating that I wasn’t comfortable with technology that I didn’t quite understand nor could I control.

           But as my hands continued to burn and Ronnie gave me a look of concern, I sighed to myself, “Yeah, maybe I’ll have Gideon figure out what’s going on. But later… It seems a little quiet… Too quiet…”

           Making my way to the main room, I saw the team standing around, looking quite pale-faced and panicky. Even Leonard.

           “What’s going on?” I asked.

           “Mick has been kidnapped.” Leonard bluntly stated.

           “And Ray and Professor Stein.” Jax added with a roll of his eyes.

           “What?” I squealed, regretting it immediately and pressing a hand to my side. “How?”

           “It happened while we were working on getting that.” Leonard sneered, jabbing his thumb toward some box with a large, circle-shaped thing inside.

           “The thermal-core.” Rip explained. “Used to create Firestorm.”

           “Why didn’t anyone wake me?”

           Sara shrugged her shoulders, “We figured you could use the rest, seeing as you won’t let Gideon fix your side.”

           I shot her a glare before stating, “I was actually just about to do that. And then we’re saving the others.” And with that, I stomped out of the room, headed for the med-bay.

[tokupedia]

SPECIAL SAIKOU!: Superhero Showcase: Gatchaman Pt. 1: Introduction

“Sometimes we are one...sometimes we are five....the white shadow that slips through unseen ! Science Ninja Team GATCHAMAN!”

Tatsuo Yoshida had loved the concept of superheroes from the very beginning. As a young boy after the US occupied Japan at the end of WWII, he and his two brothers often interacted with American GIs. Some of them were polite and respectful to young Japanese kids and gave away their old comics they weren’t reading anymore to them so they would have something to enjoy.

While none of the Yoshida boys could understand the English text, there was a resonance of appreciation that transcended language in the artwork of the comics. Then again, seeing mighty beings with powers and abilities far beyond mortal man or skilled costumed athletes showing the best of humanity’s good nature resonates with humanity no matter what side of the map you are on. Their favorite of course was Superman, though given the design of the superheroes we are going to talk about, it wouldn’t surprise me if they had a love for the other half of the World’s Finest as well.

These costumes were bright and colorful, so the boys started drawing them and eventually became very good at it.

Superman is the one hero who inspires other ideas in many people, especially since he helped bring the superhero concept to the mainstream masses. This would follow Tatuso as he would again intertwine with the hero of his youth.

In 1959 or 1960 Tasuo was working in a manga studio and was asked to do a manga on Superman!

Yes, this was more or less a manga made to capitalize on the 1957 George Reeves TV show, which had been brought over to Japan in 1958.

While a few Japanese citizens saw US superheroes and scoffed them as propaganda, Tatsuo looked past that. He saw the very core of what made superheroes great, that they are willing to do the right thing and selflessly help others.

In 1962, after a good career in the manga industry, Tatsuo opened Tatsunoko Productions with the help of his brothers. After the first series about modern super spy ninjas and an Astro Boy clone called Space Ace in 1965 (no relation to the Don Bluth animated video game), Tatsunoko hit the really big time on TV in 1967. Debuting a high octane action show that would eventually make waves around the world....Mach GoGoGo! 

The series made it to American airwaves in the fall of that year as Speed Racer, which was one of several old school anime would set off a slow chain reaction that would later explode into our modern western otaku culture.

Then came one of the pillars that held it in place....

In 1969, its codemane was Production 21 and later it went by many names: Science Ninja Squad 5 and even Birdman until Tatsunoko presumably found out there was a Hanna-Barbera character with that name. Finally, the advertisers chose a name...Gatchaman, which premiered on October 1, 1972. The series was partially influenced not only by Shotaro Ishinomori’s Henshin Hero Boom from the popularity of Kamen Rider, but also the spark of love Tatsuo had for heroes like Superman.

The reason so many in the comics industry love Gatchaman such as Alex Ross is because out of all Japanese superheroes, this one takes the rawest form of its rooted American concept. One can simply observe the look of the original  costumes and see aspects of Adams, Giordano, Swan and many other Silver and Bronze Age artists in the aesthetic. The same can be said for the evolving costumes later on as they borrow elements of popular western media and comics of the specific period.

Now you have to be asking, what the heck is a “Gatcha”?

Gatcha, at least in one translation, is the Japanese onomatopoeia sound of machinery such as a loom. This is more or less a reference to the fact this superteam uses machines to stop evil in its tracks.

If you wanna know more on the process of this series coming to be, check out this page:

http://www.battleoftheplanets.info/whatwas.html

Overview

The Original Series (1972-1974)

The International Science Organization and the world are under attack by a terrorist organization known as Galactor, overseen by the evil Sosai X, who want to control Earth’s resources for themselves. Dr. Kōzaburō Nambu, who knew of Galactor’s schemes, deploys a special task force to deal with them: The Science Ninja Team...Gatchaman!

The Sequels (1978-1980)

Gatchaman II (1978-1979)

After the destruction of his army, Sosai X tried yet again to attack the Earth with the help of an abducted child mutated into an adult Commander named Gel Sadora. The Science Ninja Team head out again with new weapons, vehicles and a revived comrade to do battle with Galactor yet again!

Gatchaman Fighter aka Gatchaman F (1979-1980)

After seemingly being destroyed by the Gatchaman, Sosai X’s remains mutate and he revives into the more devious Sosai Z. He recruits the cruel European dictator Count Erun Egobossler to make his Galactor organization even deadlier than ever before. Their first attack completely obliterates the Gatchaman’s gear and ship from the last season and defeats them. The team manage to get rescued before they are killed by an engineer, who shows Dr. Nambu’s latest mechas and gear for the team. This season gets darker than previous one towards the end and features the death of Dr. Nambu.

If the energy charged sword called the Gatchafencer and the Gatchaspartan ship weren’t dead giveaways, this was when Star Wars was a pop culture cult phenomenon in Japan. Every studio tried to duplicate the George Lucas magic in one way or another or at least ride its coattails.

The OVAs (1994)

In the 90s, Tatsunoko tried to revive their old heroes with polished new looks and retooled the characters for a modern audience. The story for the most part is derived from various episodes of the first series, but mostly the first episode and a few plots from others.

Gatchaman ‘98 (Unmade)

Tatsunoko was going to revive their characters again full time in a new set of TV shows, including Gatchaman.

However, one of the main problems that prevented this was their poor choice of a starting show: A Mach GoGoGo reboot. While the classic show celebrated its 30th anniversary in 1997, times had changed in the anime landscape. A guy with a cool gadget-laden car racing around a track was a bit pedestrian in a realm of Kamehamehas, Dragon Slaves and Moon Healing Escalations. Going big and loud for spectacle or subliminally selling tons of toys/video games/merchandise was the norm in the 90s for anime.

The Mach GoGoGo show cost a lot to make as it used CGI in parts of its animation and it was cancelled over halfway through due to low ratings. Another roadblock (no pun intended) for Gatchaman reviving in the late 90s was no sponsor wanted to back it despite the shows legendary status in pop culture (Possibly due to the debacle investment in the new Mach GoGoGo.)

NTT (2000)

http://gatchaman.wikia.com/wiki/NTT_Gatchaman

The Gatchaman Team vanished for 3 years until NTT East approached Tatsunoko with a proposal for a set of internet service provider commercials starring SMAP and brand new animation and costumes of the science ninjas in action. 

The Imagi Disaster (2011 aborted animated film)

Already talked about this one:

http://tokupedia.tumblr.com/post/147082771026/special-saikou-examples-of-toku-projects-that

Live action film (2013)

This is the film that, at the very least, made the older, traditional version of the superheroes limp on life support. This movie did what many revisionists do to any beloved superhero, find faults in ideas where there are none and make beloved aspects disappear and be replaced by something near unrecognizable.

Gone were the bird motifs and chest emblems, no mecha aside from the God Phoenix, no Sosai X and no Galactor (unless you count the in-name only reference). What was added was unnecessary, the Gatchaman all had superpowers and weapons given by shiny McGuffin stones and something about a virus that creates energy shields.

They didn’t even get to be ninjas too much in this movie. The saddest part is the complete waste of Tori Matsuzaka and this could have worked as a tokusatsu given the show’s legacy in the form of Super Sentai.

Gatchaman Crowds (2013-2015)

Sometimes derided by a few older purists as “Gatchaman for Millennials” or “Facebook: The Anime”, this reboot series departed from capes and costumes for neon Tony Stark armor by way of Akihabara, new characters and notebook souls. Lots of newcomers gravitated towards this season and it was considered as the sleeper hit of 2013 and 2015. So despite critics, it acted as its own entity. Crowds was also was the first new, full fledged Gatchaman TV show in over 30 years.

The show’s core philosophical focus was to examine how the internet and social media have affected society in both positive and negative ways and in rare cases, the relevancy of superheroes in the digital age. The second season insight focused on how hive mentality and politics associated with it on the internet could have very bad consequences or be distorted even in cases where the intentions are originally noble. 

A creative sort of re-imagining, this series examined how our future could be shaped for good or for ill by digital media before finally taking a neutral perspective as that is the choice we humans will have to make for ourselves.

Good Morning Ninja Team Gatchaman

There was a morning comedy Flash animation series of shorts featuring the original Gatchaman, but it is not worth the time examining as its is just gag sketches with no action.

Battle of the Planets/G-Force/Eagle Riders (1978, 1986, 1996)

The various edited dubs of the original trio of shows, which served as a gateway series to about 2 or 3 generations worth of future anime fans in the west. The content in some cases was heavily edited or censored as most anime were known for doing at the time.

Due to the various companies who hold the rights to these adaptations, it is impossible at the moment for the original Japanese Gatchaman Trilogy to be completely on DVD or Blu-Ray. But Sandy Frank Productions did relinquish their rights to the first series to Funimation for a release..so there’s that.

Up next....The leader of the ninja flock!