#Sidney Berger

[machetelanding]

[adamwatchesmovies]

Carnival of Souls (1962)

Few films demonstrate that “less is more” better than Carnival of Souls. Consistently eerie and surprisingly frightening, this little horror film was made on a shoestring budget but drips with atmosphere thanks to simple but effective techniques. You’d never guess that it was Herk Harvey’s directorial debut. What's even more shocking is that this was the only film he ever directed.

After miraculously surviving a car accident, Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) moves to Salt Lake City to work as a church organist - and get away from her home. There, she has persistent visions of a ghoulish man (played by director Herk Harvey). Try as she might, she is unable to relate with the locals and cannot shake the strange feeling that something in the nearby abandoned pavilion needs to be investigated.

Anyone who has seen Night of the Living Dead will immediately recognize this film’s influence on it. The ghastly man with white skin and dark circles around his eyes is the progenitor of George A. Romero’s flesh-eating ghouls. The dream-like story had an undeniable influence on David Lynch. There are sure to be others who will cite it as a game-changer.

The atmosphere is amplified by the organ score and black-and-white cinematography. Everything we see just… doesn’t feel right. It’s so eerie you’re never sure what to expect next, even if you can foresee the film’s ending. I did not but even if you do, this story is so strange it grips you. Any other movie would spell what’s going on clearly and that would rob what we see of all suspense and unease. By leaving so much to the imagination even at the end, Carnival of Souls infects you with an anxiety you just can’t shake.

This delightfully sophisticated film preys on several fears. The man Mary keeps seeing - the first of many - must be some kind of ghost or lost soul. He eerily resembles a figure in one of the church’s stained glass windows, making you wonder if he isn’t an angel of death coming after “The one that got away”. Whatever he is, it can’t be good, particularly not for Mary, who sees the church as a place where she earns her pay and nothing else. How terrifying it must be for someone who doesn’t believe in anything to suddenly discover that there is a life beyond ours.

Carnival of Souls also examines the fear of the unknown and of being alone, but not in the way you expect. Whatever The Man is or represents, Mary doesn’t want anything to do with him. In a desperate attempt to avoid being alone, she decides to play nice with John (Sidney Berger), the other lodger in the small hotel in which she’s staying. It doesn’t take long for us to see that John is a jerk; one of these overgrown frat boys who will jump onto any opportunity to have a drink and isn’t inclined to take “no” for an answer. The thing is, in a new city where she doesn’t know anyone, he’s the only protection Mary has from the sinister force stalking her. They say the devil you know is better than the one you don’t, but it’s hard to agree when your safety net is this guy.

Because no one can see what Mary sees, she worries that her sanity is slipping away. If there’s one thing worse than going crazy, it’s everyone around you THINKING you’re crazy. What’s particularly striking is that the effects used to bring The Man and his fellow ghouls to unlife are so simple yet so effective. They look just like us except for a few small details, just enough for you to wander close before realizing something is wrong. Once they start moving, there’s no mistaking them for normal people.

Though the film stands on its own, Carnival of Souls becomes much more impressive when you realize it was made for about $33,000. In terms of a movie, that’s nothing - even for 1962. While the illusions on display would be considered crude by today’s standards (though to me they seemed quite convincing and I could not figure out how they did them “back in the day” with so little money) and the performances range from decent to pretty good, what makes this film a triumph is how scary it is. I can just imagine a child watching this, late at night, all alone and having nightmares for months. I'm singling out children because Carnival of Souls would be a great pick to watch on Halloween night with the family; there's no blood, nudity or any other material that might make you want to cover a little one’s eyes… except for those terrifying ghouls. (Extended cut, November 19, 2021)

[brokehorrorfan]

Murder on the Orient Express will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on September 24 via Kino Lorber. The 1974 British murder-mystery is based on Agatha Christie's 1934 novel of the same name.

Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon) directs from a script by Paul Dehn (Goldfinger). Albert Finney leads an ensemble that includes Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York, Rachel Roberts, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Perkins, Richard Widmark, and Wendy Hiller.

Murder on the Orient Express has been restored in 4K from the original camera negative with Dolby Vision/HDR. Special features are listed below.

Disc 1 - 4K UHD:

Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson (new)

Disc 2 - Blu-ray:

Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson (new)

The Making of Murder on the Orient Express

Interview with Producer Richard Goodwin

Agatha Christie: A Portrait

Theatrical Trailer

Having concluded a case, detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) settles into what he expects will be a relaxing journey home aboard the Orient Express. But when an unpopular billionaire is murdered en route, Poirot takes up the case, and everyone on board the famous train is a suspect. Using an avalanche blocking the tracks to his advantage, Poirot gradually realizes that many of the passengers have revenge as a motive, and he begins to home in on the culprit.

Pre-order Murder on the Orient Express.

[justforbooks]

“I always felt like the kid that sat at the foot of the gods,” said Treat Williams, who has died aged 71 following a road accident. And it is true that the first decade of his movie career was dominated by one high-calibre director after another.

John Sturges put the doughy-faced, darkly handsome actor toe-to-toe with Michael Caine in The Eagle Has Landed (1976), adapted from Jack Higgins’s novel about a plot to kidnap Winston Churchill. Miloš Forman gave Williams his first lead, as the hippie Berger in the screen version (1979) of the 1967 musical Hair. He was an ill-tempered army corporal in Steven Spielberg’s wartime comedy 1941 (also 1979). Sidney Lumet drew on his cocksure swagger and his air of moral ambiguity in Prince of the City (1981), a thriller about police corruption. And Sergio Leone cast him as a union boss in the gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America (1984).

It was Lumet’s film that announced Williams as a formidable talent, with a special aptitude for ensemble playing. He starred as Danny Ciello, a corrupt drugs squad detective who becomes increasingly isolated as he informs on his colleagues in the elite Special Investigations Unit. The character was based on the detective Robert Leuci. Williams lived with Leuci while preparing for the part. He also attended drug busts and hung out with police officers. “By the time we started rehearsals, I was thinking like a cop,” he said.

Janet Maslin in the New York Times commended the “playful, arrogant, effectively brazen quality” of his portrayal. Equally integral is the seam of self-disgust that runs through Ciello, first when he is exploiting his power over drug addicts and dealers, then when he turns on his own kind.

Williams went on to display a menacing eroticism in Smooth Talk (1985), directed by Joyce Chopra and based on Joyce Carol Oates’s 1966 short story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? When he turns up in the second half of the film as Arnold Friend, a vision of adult masculine prowess that the teenage protagonist (Laura Dern) seems to have been yearning for, he is simultaneously ridiculous, alluring and intimidating.

Williams was born in Stamford, Connecticut, and raised in nearby Rowayton, the son of Richard, a pharmaceuticals executive, and Marian (nee Andrews), an antiques dealer who also ran a sailing school. He was educated at Kent school, Connecticut, where he first began acting, and at Franklin & Marshall College, Pennsylvania. He studied in New York at the Actors Studio, where his classmates included Mickey Rourke, and was hired as understudy to four parts (including Doody, played on stage by John Travolta) in the Broadway production of Grease. Eventually he took over the lead role of Danny Zuko, which he played for three years.

Having already appeared on stage in the London production of The Ritz, Terrence McNally’s comedy about a hounded businessman hiding out in a gay bath-house, he was then cast in Richard Lester’s 1976 movie version.

Auditioning for the film of Hair was a lengthy and arduous process. During his 12th audition, he recalled: “I started removing all of my clothing. At the end of the monologue, I was standing stark naked in front of them … They applauded, and I told them: ‘This is all that I’ve got, I don’t know what else I can give you.’” It was enough.

Discouraged when Hair, 1941 and the comedy Why Would I Lie? (1980) continued a run of box-office flops, he began an alternative career flying planes in Los Angeles. A call from Lumet, who was looking for an un-starry and largely unknown cast for Prince of the City, put him back on track.

He continued to alternate between film and theatre, following Lumet’s picture by appearing in Ohio in Carlo Goldoni’s farce The Servant of Two Masters and on Broadway taking over from Kevin Kline as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance. On television, he played the boxer Jack Dempsey in the TV movie Dempsey (1983), Stanley Kowalski – opposite Ann-Margret as Stella – in A Streetcar Named Desire (1984), the title role in J. Edgar Hoover (1987) and the super-agent Michael Ovitz, co-founder of CAA, in The Late Shift (1996), for which he was Emmy-nominated.

In Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead (1995), he played a thug working as an undertaker and using corpses as punch-bags. He was also in the noir-ish Mulholland Falls, the superhero adventure The Phantom (both 1996) and the thriller The Devil’s Own (1997), starring Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt.

Better than these were two projects that displayed his versatility: the monster movie Deep Rising (1998), in which he does battle with sharp-fanged sea-serpents, and The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), starring Williams and Michelle Pfeiffer as a couple reunited with their son many years after he was kidnapped.

He starred in Woody Allen’s Hollywood Ending (2002), played James Franco’s father in Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, and the writer Mark Schorer in Howl (both 2010), which also starred Franco as Allen Ginsberg. He had a recurring role on the series Everwood (2002-06), as a widowed neurosurgeon settling in Colorado with his children, and on the cop drama Blue Bloods (2016-23). He also appeared in many Hallmark channel productions, including the series Chesapeake Shores (2016-22), as well as the Netflix musical Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square (2020).

He is survived by his wife, Pam Van Sant, whom he married in 1988, and their children, Gill and Ellie.

🔔 Richard Treat Williams, actor, born 1 December 1951; died 12 June 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[byneddiedingo]

Cast: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger, Art Ellison, Stan Levitt, Tom McGinnis, Forbes Caldwell, Dan Palmquist, Bill de Jarnette, Steve Boozer. Screenplay: John Clifford. Cinematography: Maurice Prather. Film editing: Bill de Jarnette, Dan Palmquist. Music: Gene Moore.

There aren't many one-offs in movie history, films like Carnival of Souls that come out of nowhere, made by unknown directors who never make another commercial feature, but which capture the imagination enough to develop -- after time passes -- not only a cult following but also critical admiration. Herk Harvey was an employee of a firm based in Laurence, Kansas, that made industrial and education films, when he had an idea for a horror movie that would be set, at least in part, in an abandoned amusement park like the one he had seen near Salt Lake City. He mentioned the idea to his colleague, a writer named John Clifford, who whipped up a screenplay about a woman who survives an accident but then begins to feel that she's going mad. It needed, Harvey told Clifford, to climax with a scene in which ghoulish figures were dancing in the abandoned amusement park. Harvey scraped together the money and hired an actress and model named Candace Hilligoss, who agreed to take $2,000 for her role in the film. There is no credited art director for Carnival of Souls, but Harvey or whoever assisted him found a great variety of evocative locations, including the Saltair pavilion, a former dance hall and amusement park that had fallen on hard times and was standing derelict near the Great Salt Lake. The settings also include a factory that makes pipe organs and a carpenter gothic rooming house, both of which serve the creepy atmosphere of the film. Not all of the semi- and non-professional actors Harvey cast in the film are up to their jobs, but there's a somnambulant quality to Hilligoss's performance as the haunted Mary Henry that's just right, and while Clifford's dialogue is sometimes tin-eared, the story he crafted around Harvey's suggestions takes hold of the imagination. That's Harvey himself as the spookily made-up man who menaces Mary. 

Carnival of Souls (1962) dir. Herk Harvey

[agrpress-blog]

Il grande attore americano, interprete di film come Invito a una sparatoria di Richard Wilson, Quiller memorandum di Michael Anderson, Chi ha paura di Virginia Woolf? di Mike Nichols, Il gufo e la gattina di Herbert Ross, Un tocco di classe di Melvin Frank, California Poker di Robert Altman e molti altri, avrebbe novant’anni. Nato a Great Neck - nello Stato di New York - nel febbraio 1934 (è morto nel marzo del 2021) da genitori figli di emigrati russi, si diploma alla Columbia University e frequenta l’Actor’s Studio. Dopo alcune apparizioni televisive, esordisce al cinema all’inizio degli anni Sessanta in Giorni senza fine (1961) di Phil Karlson, con Ben Gazzara e Fredric March, e, nel ’62, fa parte del cast corale di Il giorno più lungo di Ken Annakin e Andrew Marton, tratto dall’omonimo saggio storico (1959) di Cornelius Ryan sullo sbarco in Normandia. Segue un’intensa stagione - che durerà per circa vent’anni - da comprimario e poi da protagonista, dal western psicologico - Invito a una sparatoria (1964) di Richard Wilson, con Yul Brynner - al film di spionaggio - l’ottimo Quiller memorandum (1966), scritto da Harold Pinter, diretto da Michael Anderson ed interpretato anche da Senta Berger e Max von Sydow); è un pittore nel drammatico-grottesco La nave dei folli (1965) di Stanley Kramer, con Simone Signoret e Vivien Leigh (al suo ultimo film); ottiene una nomination all’Oscar come Miglior Attore non Protagonista per Chi ha paura di Virginia Woolf? (1966) di Mike Nichols, tratto dall’opera teatrale omonima di Edward Albee, ed interpretato da Elizabeth Taylor e Richard Burton. A prove drammatiche - Loving, gioco crudele (1970) di Irving Kershner - e di grande intensità - Il mio uomo è una canaglia (1971) di Ivan Passer - alterna commedie più indiavolate ed eccentriche come Il gufo e la gattina (1970) di Herbert Ross, con Barbra Streisand, Un tocco di classe (1973) di Melvin Frank, con Glenda Jackson, California Poker (1974) di Robert Altman, con Elliot Gould. Negli anni Ottanta e Novanta, sia pur continuando a lavorare a pieno ritmo, la sua carriera cinematografica si avvia verso il declino e Segal si orienta al film tv - Intrigo a Berlino (1984) di James Dearden ed alle serie televisive. Le sue apparizioni al cinema si orienteranno a ruoli di secondo piano, come ad esempio Senti chi parla (1989) di Amy Heckerling, con Kristie Alley e John Travolta, Giorni di gloria… giorni d’amore (1991) di Mark Rydell, Un orso chiamato Arturo (1992) di Sergio Martino, con Carol Alt, Senti chi parla adesso! (1993) di Tom Ropelewski, con K. Alley, J. Travolta e Elias Koteas, Caccia mortale (1993) di Vic Armstrong, Da morire (1995) di Gus Van Sant, Babysitter… Un thriller (1995) di Guy Ferland, Il rompiscatole (1996) di Ben Stiller, L’amore ha due facce (1996) di Barbra Streisand, con B. Streisand, Jeff Bridges, Lauren Bacall e Pierce Brosnan. Fra gli altri film ricordiamo Squadra di emergenza (1964) di John Rich, Qualcuno da odiare (1965) di Bryan Forbes, Né onore né gloria (1966) di Mark Robson, con Claudia Cardinale, Il massacro del giorno di San Valentino (1967) di Roger Corman, Addio Braverman (1968) di Sidney Lumet, Non si maltrattano così le signore (1968) di Jack Smight, con Rod Steiger e Lee Remick, Il suo modo di fare (1968) di Franco Brusati, Il ponte di Remagen (1969) di John Guillermin, La pietra che scotta (1972) di Peter Yates, con Robert Redford, Una pazza storia d’amore (1973) di Paul Mazursky, Roulette russa (1975) di Lou Lombardo, La volpe e la duchessa (1976) con Goldie Hawn e Marito in prova (1979) con G. Glackson entrambi di Melvin Frank, Rollercoaster - Il grande brivido (1977) di James Goldstone, con Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda ed una giovanissima Helen Hunt (al suo esordio cinematografico), Non rubare se non è strettamente necessario (1977) e Qualcuno sta uccidendo i più grandi cuochi d’Europa (1978), di Ted Kotcheff, Sfida alla vita (1985) di Michael Tuchner, Scherzare con il fuoco (1985) di Burt

Reynolds, Heights (2004) di Chris Terrio, 13 giorni a Las Vegas (2007) di Charlie Picerni, 2012 (2009) di Roland Emmerich, Amore & altri rimedi (2010) di Edward Zwick, Elsa &Fred (2014) di Michael Radford, con Christopher Plummer e Shirley MacLaine. Molto attivo, come già detto, anche in televisione, è apparso in vari film tv - Death of a Salesman (1966) di Alex Segal, Le piccanti avventure di Robin Hood (1984) di Ray Austin - ed in alcuni episodi di serie e miniserie - Channing (1963), La signora in giallo (1993), Just Shoot Me (1997-2003), circa centocinquanta episodi , Law & Order - Unità vittime speciali (2003), Retired at 35 (2011-13, oltre venti episodi), The Goldbergs (2013-21, oltre centosettanta episodi).

[jamesgraybooksellerworld]

3 Early books for teaching a history of the printed book class.

This Blog is inspired by the two book shows I did last month, these three books seemed to excite many university librarians and their students. One of the books, The Quintilian , prompted Sidney Berger to say: ” I could teach this book for two semesters and still have more to discover! “ After he left my booth I ordered His new edition of THE DICTIONARY OF THE BOOK, which was at my home before I…

[moviesandmania]

CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962) Reviews and free to watch online in HD

Carnival of Souls is a 1962 independent American horror film produced and directed by Herk Harvey and starring Candace Hilligoss and Sidney Berger. Produced for just $33,000, the film did not gain much attention when originally released; today, however, it is widely regarded as a genuine cult classic (and not just any old film that lazy critics and journalists cite as a “cult classic”). Set to…

[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events 14sep23

DoJ ignoring Berger -

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The felony convictions of four former Navy officers in one of the worst bribery cases in the maritime branch’s history were vacated Wednesday following allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, the latest setback to the government’s yearslong efforts in going after dozens of military officials tied to a defense contractor nicknamed Fat Leonard. U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino called the misconduct “outrageous” and agreed to allow the four men to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and pay a $100 fine each. Last year after the trial, Sammartino had ruled the lead federal prosecutor committed “flagrant misconduct” by withholding information from defense lawyers but said at the time that it was not enough to dismiss the case.*** Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Ko, who was brought on after the trial last year, admitted to “serious issues” and asked the judge to vacate the officers’ felony convictions. He said his office does not agree with all of the allegations but said errors were made. “There were pretty obviously serious issues that affect our ability to go forward” defending the convictions or seeking a new trial, Ko told the judge, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Andrew Haden, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern California District, reiterated that in a statement after the hearing. “As stated in court, we do not agree with all the allegations or characterizations in the motions or in court,” Haden said. “We recognize and regret, however, that errors were made, and we have an obligation to ensure fairness and justice. The resolutions of these defendants’ cases reflect that.”*** The officers — former Capts. David Newland, James Dolan and David Lausman and former Cmdr. Mario Herrera — were previously convicted by a federal jury on various counts of accepting bribes from foreign defense contractor Leonard Francis, and his company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, or GDMA.*** https://www.pilotonline.com/2023/09/06/felony-convictions-vacated-for-4-former-navy-officers-in-sprawling-fat-leonard-bribery-scandal/

Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 88 (1935) says

The United States Attorney is the representative not of an ordinary party to a controversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all; and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done. As such, he is in a peculiar and very definite sense the servant of the law, the twofold aim of which is that guilt shall not escape or innocence suffer. He may prosecute with earnestness and vigor—indeed, he should do so. But, while he may strike hard blows, he is not at liberty to strike foul ones. It is as much his duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one.

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Video of police officer Mark Dial shooting Eddie Irizarry in Philly on 14aug23

DA released body cam video on 8sep. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/philadelphia-da-releases-police-body-camera-footage-of-fatal-shooting-of-eddie-irizarry/ar-AA1gr1mF. Officer Dial has been charged with murder, and he has surrendered to police.

A resident's surveillance captured the shooting, and the resident posted it a couple weeks ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0xjpvDWlmM

Rest in peace, Eddie.

***

Georgia v. Trump

Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro had their trials severed from the other defendants. That means they'll have a separate trial.

[Judge] McAfee did not appear convinced by prosecutors on District Attorney Fani Willis's team that they could hold a joint trial for all 19 defendants in October. “It just seems a bit unrealistic that we can handle all 19 [defendants] in 40-something days,” McAfee said, though Lieb emphasized that the judge has still not made a final decision over a joint trial.***

That 40 day estimate does not include time required for jury selection. Good luck w/ that.

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Nothing to celebrate

For woke pols, violent crime’s only a problem when it affects them personally: Meet Shivanthi Sathanandan. A bigwig in Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, she vowed in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department. “Say it with me. DISMANTLE The Minneapolis Police Department,” she urged: It has “systematically failed the Black Community,” so it’s “time to build a new infrastructure that works for ALL communities.”  But now she’s gotten carjacked in front of her house and left with serious injuries, so she’s singing a new tune.  “These men knew what they were doing. I have NO DOUBT they have done this before. Yet they are still on OUR STREETS. Killing mothers. Giving babies psychological trauma that a lifetime of therapy cannot ease. With no hesitation and no remorse,” she thundered on Facebook.  And: “REMEMBER ME when you are thinking about supporting letting juveniles and young people out of custody to roam our streets instead of HOLDING THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS.”***

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democracy at work

Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio proposed a bill banning federal COVID-19 mask mandates. In order to move it forward, he needed the senators who were present on Thurs to not vote against it. Well, he lost.

The motion was blocked by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who claimed the legislation would “hamstring public health experts who guided our nation out of the pandemic.” Markey has a history of supporting mask mandates: In December 2020, he called states without mask mandates “dangerous” and promoted his Encouraging Masks For All Act, legislation asking states to implement mask mandates when social distancing is not possible. “All of us have gone through the experiment of mandatory masking,” Vance said Thursday, before Markey blocked the motion. “Today, I want to make sure we do not subject the people to the tyranny for the sake of nothing.”*** https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/09/07/democrats-oppose-jd-vance-bill-banning-mask-mandates/

The point is that at least someone voted somehow on an important issue. It wasn't just some unelected bureaucrat imposing his will on Americans.

+++

in other covid related news

A New York judge said Wednesday that 10 employees fired by the New York City Department of Education for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine must be reinstated with back pay. In a major victory for vaccine mandate opponents, State Supreme Court Judge Ralph J. Porzio held that the city's denials of religious accommodation to certain employees were unlawful, arbitrary and capricious. The case, DiCapua v. City of New York, concerned school principals, teachers and other educators who sued after city officials rejected their claims for a religious exemption to the vaccine mandate.  "This Court sees no rational basis for not allowing unvaccinated classroom teachers in amongst an admitted population of primarily unvaccinated students," Porzio wrote in a 22-page opinion. "As such, the decision to summarily deny the classroom teachers amongst the Panel Petitioners based on an undue hardship, without any further evidence of individualized analysis, is arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable. As such, each classroom teacher amongst the Panel Petitioners is entitled to a religious exemption from the Vaccine Mandate." *** https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nyc-teachers-win-jobs-back-backpay-refusing-covid-19-vaccine

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good sentence

Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison after being convicted of rape. His wife, actor and model Bijou Phillips, was in the courtroom as her husband's sentence was handed down. Court sketches show Masterson blew a kiss to Phillips before being led away. The actor was found guilty on two counts of forcible rape in May. A jury was hung on a third charge during the trial after the seven men and five women deliberated for eight days. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo sentenced Masterson to 15 years to life on each count, and ordered the sentences to be served consecutively. The sentence was the maximum allowed by law. It means Masterson will be eligible for parole after serving 25 1/2 years, but can be held in prison for life.*** Alison Anderson, partner at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, and attorney for Jane Does 2 and 3, said in a statement to Fox News Digital, "Niesha and Chrissie have displayed tremendous strength and bravery, by coming forward to law enforcement and participating directly in two grueling criminal trials. "Despite persistent harassment, obstruction and intimidation, these courageous women helped hold a ruthless sexual predator accountable today, and they are not stopping there. They are eager to soon tell the fuller story of how Scientology and its enablers tried desperately to keep them from coming forward."*** "You are pathetic, disturbed and completely violent," she said. "The world is better off with you in prison." The other woman Masterson was found guilty of raping said he "has not shown an ounce of remorse for the pain he caused." She told the judge, "I knew he belonged behind bars for the safety of all the women he came into contact with. I am so sorry, and I’m so upset. I wish I’d reported him sooner to the police."*** Prosecutors told jurors that Masterson drugged the women’s drinks so he could rape them. They said he used his prominence in the church — where all three women were also members at the time — to avoid consequences for decades. The accusers alleged they were hesitant to file charges due to the church's strict protocols against public involvement with member issues. *** https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/danny-masterson-sentenced-30-years-prison

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Something more to it? Sounds unfair to deputy...

A Denver sheriff’s deputy will be suspended for at least 10 days for punching an inmate in the face during an altercation at the Downtown Detention Center in November 2022. Deputy Diego Villalpando-Hernandez is receiving a lesser penalty for using inappropriate force because he expressed remorse and learned from the experience, according to a decision letter issued by the Denver Department of Public Safety in August. Villalpando-Hernandez was attempting to lock down an inmate, referred to in the decision letter as JS, on Nov. 9, 2022, when the inmate began acting aggressively toward him and adopting a “fighting stance,” according to witness statements. Villalpando-Hernandez then also took a fighting stance and hit JS once in the face before they went to the ground and the inmate was detained by Villalpando-Hernandez and other deputies.*** https://www.denverpost.com/2023/09/08/denver-deputy-diego-villalpando-hernandez-punch-inmate/

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Unintended consequences? What's that?

SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday issued an emergency order suspending the right to carry firearms in public across Albuquerque and the surrounding county for at least 30 days in response to a spate of gun violence. The Democratic governor said she expects legal challenges but was compelled to act because of recent shootings, including the death of an 11-year-old boy outside a minor league baseball stadium this week. Lujan Grisham said state police would be responsible for enforcing what amount to civil violations. Albuquerque police Chief Harold Medina said he won’t enforce it, and Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen said he’s uneasy about it because it raises too many questions about constitutional rights.*** https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2023/09/08/albuquerque-guns-governor-concealed-carry

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keep Seattle spun?

SEATTLE - The University of Washington ran a study to see if drug smoke from fentanyl and methamphetamine is affecting transit operators and passengers. "We consistently put [detectors] by the operator on their seat and that's to be representative of their exposures," said Marissa Baker, a UW assistant professor of environmental and occupational health sciences who co-led the assessment.  Researchers additionally hid the battery-powered monitoring devices behind signs and panels. Same with trains. The study analyzed 28 evenings between March and June of this year. Researchers collected samples from 11 buses and 19 train cars.*** Out of the 78 air samples, researchers found fentanyl in a quarter of them. 100% of those air samples had methamphetamine. Out of the 102 surface samples, almost half had detectable fentanyl. 98% of those air samples had methamphetamine.*** This year alone, almost 500 people have died this year from methamphetamine overdose in King County. More than 700 people have died from a fentanyl overdose. That's more than this point last year.*** https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/uw-study-finds-meth-fentanyl-in-air-and-on-surfaces-of-public-transit

***

Just close it

Nike is reportedly permanently closing its store in northeast Portland , Oregon , citing safety and security issues for vacating the retail space.*** The Nike community store on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the city is the latest business to leave as crime and homelessness wash over the city. A report from last month showed that Portland lost $1 billion between 2020 and 2021 as residents left the city amid crime and rampant homelessness.*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/nike-store-portland-shuts-doors-crime-safety-concerns

***

Oh, you want to hurt my mother?

PHOENIX (KPHO/Gray News) - Police in Arizona say a teenage boy shot a man who was allegedly trying to break into his house. Officers responded to a Phoenix neighborhood around 10 p.m. Friday, where they found 35-year-old Juan Saavedra, who had been shot. He was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, KPHO reports. Detectives investigating the shooting learned Saavedra allegedly tried to break into a home in the area. He doesn’t live there or have any other connection to the home. A mother and her teenage son, who live in the home, confronted Saavedra as he was allegedly breaking a window and hitting the door. The teen reportedly shot the suspect.*** https://www.wsaz.com/2023/09/10/teen-shoots-man-allegedly-breaking-into-his-home-police-say/

***

Danelo Cavalcante escape & manhunt timeline

I've heard he now has a rifle.

***

Not all enemies of free speech are American

***efforts to censor and control speech about authoritarian governments in the United States continue unabated, online and off. The Chinese government has been especially prolific in this effort. In recent months, U.S. federal agencies have charged dozens of people with crimes related to their work spying on and harassing dissidents on behalf of the People’s Republic of China. The alleged acts included the creation of floods of fake social media accounts intended to threaten Chinese government critics and surveillance operations conducted out of a secret “police station” working in New York City.*** Some student activists’ messages in support of China’s protesters were defaced and even set on fire , and isolated acts of violence were committed against demonstrators. Weeks before the protests took off, Xiaolei Wu, a student at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, intimidated a fellow student for posting pro-democracy flyers on campus, threatening to “chop [her] bastard hands off” and report her to China’s state security agency. Wu has since been charged with stalking. Though they spiked last year, acts of censorship and threats of violence on U.S. campuses have long predated the most recent round of widespread protests in China. At Cornell University, a student from Hong Kong was assaulted last summer after posting flyers, which were frequently torn down, supporting victims of human rights abuses in China. Peers of a Purdue University student who spoke openly about the Tiananmen Square massacre threatened to report him to authorities back home in China. Ministry of State Security officials visited the student’s parents, who warned him to stay silent. At campuses including the University of Chicago , Johns Hopkins University , and Brandeis University , students have attempted to cancel or disrupt events featuring critics of the Chinese government. At times, administrators have even pitched in to aid the censors, such as when George Washington University’s president temporarily threatened to unmask student critics of the CCP ahead of the Beijing Olympics, and a Harvard Law vice dean interfered with an event about human rights in China to protect the university’s relationship with the country.*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/faith-freedom-self-reliance/how-china-is-suppressing-free-speech-on-us-college-campuses

***

after tues

Remember RetractionWatch.com?

Florida State University criminology professor Eric *** Stewart was a widely-cited scholar, with north of 8,500 citations by other researchers, according to Google Scholar — a measure of his clout as an academic. He was vice president and fellow at the American Society of Criminology, who honored him as one of four highly distinguished criminologists in 2017. He was also a W.E.B. DuBois fellow at the National Institute of Justice. The professor received north of $3.5 million in grant support from major organizations and taxpayer-funded entities, according to his resume. The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, the National Science Foundation, which is an arm of the federal government, and the National Institute of Justice, which is run by the Department of Justice, have all funneled money into research Stewart presided over. The National Institute of Mental Health, a branch of the NIH, poured $3.2 million into research on how African Americans transition into adulthood. Stewart presided over that initiative as co-principal investigator from 2007 to 2012. Meanwhile, he reportedly raked in a $190,000 annual salary at FSU, a public university.*** He even passed judgment on students accused of cheating and academic dishonesty themselves, as a member of FSU’s Academic Honor Policy Hearing Committee.***

Either faked his data or gathered/reported it so negligently that it was unreliable. Studies retracted.

***

DoJ wants a round in the chamber in case the state verdict disappoints

Five police officers already charged in the murder of Tyre Nichols, a young African American who died after being beaten, now face federal indictment, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. Videos showed the officers, who are all Black, repeatedly kicking and punching Nichols during a traffic stop close to his home in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 7, three days before he died in hospital. “The country watched in horror as Tyre Nichols was kicked, punched, tased and pepper sprayed,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a brief video statement posted online.*** https://www.breitbart.com/news/federal-charges-for-five-police-over-beating-death-of-african-american/

***

Land of Enchantment news

Democratic New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez announced he will not defend the state in pending lawsuits against the governor's public health emergency order suspending open and concealed carry of firearms in Albuquerque and surrounding counties. In a letter to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) regarding four impending lawsuit cases, Torrez shared the same sentiments from Democratic and Republican lawmakers and law enforcement, saying the ban violates the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. “Though I recognize my statutory obligation as New Mexico’s chief legal officer to defend state officials when they are sued in their official capacity, my duty to uphold and defend the constitutional rights of every citizen takes precedence,” Torrez wrote. “Simply put, I do not believe that the Emergency Order will have any meaningful impact on public safety but, more importantly, I do not believe it passes constitutional muster.” While recognizing his duties as chief legal officer to defend New Mexico officials who are sued, he cast doubt on whether the order would reduce gun violence in the community.*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/courts/new-mexico-ag-refuses-defend-grisham-gun-carry-lawsuits

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Really cold case

After the commencement of a grand jury earlier this week, Keith Emmanuel Smith, 86, was arrested Thursday in a 55-year-old cold case involving a baby in Florence. The charge stems from the 1967 murder of Roxanne Archuletta, who was 14 months old at the time. According to the indictment, Smith was arrested on one amended count of second-degree murder, a Class 2 felony, and is being held on a $10,000 cash or surety bond. According to cemetery records, the remains of Roxanne Marie Archuletta were disinterred on March 2, 2022, at Union Highland Cemetery. Her cause of death was listed as “unknown.” She was born in 1966 and died Nov. 3, 1967, the cemetery records state. The indictment states that on or between Nov. 1 and 2, 1967, Smith broke the baby’s spine, thereby causing her death. Florence Police Department Detectives Jeff Worley and Alex Wold began re-investigating the case in 2021. District Attorney Linda Stanley said this is the first grand jury impaneled in the 11th Judicial District.*** https://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/2023/09/07/breaking-news-man-arrested-in-55-year-old-cold-case-involving-a-14-month-old-baby-in-florence/

***

12 bombs?

A Washington man was sentenced today in the U.S. District Court in Seattle to 40 months in prison for his role in a plot to burn the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) building in downtown Seattle in September 2020. According to court documents, Justin Christopher Moore, 35, of Renton, made and carried a box of 12 Molotov cocktails in a protest march to the Seattle Police Officers Guild building on Labor Day, Sept. 7, 2020. Ultimately, the marchers were moved away from the building in downtown Seattle.*** https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/washington-man-sentenced-bringing-box-molotov-cocktails-protest-march-summer-2020

***

Hook 'em up w/ LWOP

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Two 20-year-old men were convicted in Norfolk following an armed robbery and rape during a home invasion. On Oct. 2, 2021, Dameron Wright and Deandre Ward robbed a male and his friend in Virginia Beach before forcing them into a vehicle at gunpoint, and demanded they drive to the mother’s house, of one of the victims, in Norfolk, according to a news release from the Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. After arriving at the house in Norfolk, the defendants entered the house following the son of the woman and his friend before ordering the three victims to the ground and demanding thousands of dollars. Despite the woman handing them $800 in cash, Wright and Ward demanded more money, the release states. They proceeded to direct the three victims into a bedroom before tying their hands. While Wright searched the house for more money, Ward forced the mother to perform oral sex at gunpoint, and then raped her in front of her son saying, “Look what I’m doing to your mom.”

Actually got worse.

On Wednesday, Oct. 13, Wright pleaded guilty to rape, forcible sodomy, abduction with intent to defile, armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and three counts of the use of a firearm in the commission of those felonies. Ward pleaded guilty to the same charges with an additional count each of rape and forcible sodomy. There is no agreement on either defendant’s sentence, according to the release. Judge Tasha D. Scott accepted both pleas, and both defendants are docketed for sentencing on Dec. 15. https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/norfolk/two-men-convicted-after-rape-armed-robbery-during-home-invasion/

***

You're a wonderful human being, Mike.

Mike Farley has been a pr0nhub employee for about a decade. 12 min hidden camera video shows him admitting that the pr0nhub business model includes female victims of rape and sex trafficking with their faces blurred to evade laws requiring proof of identity and age verification.

[tspoe-pods]

They have the colorized version on Amazon. What damn fool thought this was a good idea?!

It doesn’t ruin the film, but it does soften the it’s “edge”.

[kevintumbles]

News: Ian Gallanar, Artistic Director of CSC, Receives International Award; Uses Prize Money to Start a New Fund For Latin American and Caribbean Shakespeare Companies

Ian Gallanar, Founding Artistic Director of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 Sandra and Sidney Berger Award from the Shakespeare Theatre Association. Baltimore, MD – On Saturday, January 7, 2023, Ian Gallanar, Founding Artistic Director of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (CSC), received the 2023 Sandra and Sidney Berger […] See original article at: https://mdtheatreguide.com/2023/01/news-ian-gallanar-artistic-director-of-csc-receives-international-award-uses-prize-money-to-start-a-new-fund-for-latin-american-and-caribbean-shakespeare-companies/

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[highonfilms]

Carnival of Souls (1962) Dir. Herk Harvey

[moviediaryxo]

Carnival of Souls

1962

[letterboxd-loggd]

Carnival of Souls (1962) Herk Harvey

April 21st 2021

[istitutofemminile]

Carnival of Souls (1962) Horror, Mystery Full Length Movie