#chicago horror con

[germ-t-ripper]

04AUG24 We're totally babe-aliciois! Owwwww!

[wonderlesch]

August 2024 Must See Events

Let’s end the summer with some bass, some barrels and some big name celebrity guests! Must See Events - August 2024 shares music festivals, whiskey tasting, Star Trek, Star Wars and more. Grab your calendar and start planning your next August adventure!

Hello and welcome to August 2024 Must See Events. Read on to discover how much fun August 2024 is going to be. Whether you are a music enthusiast (that’s me), a food lover (that’s also me) or a sci-fi fan ( well, I am all of the above), there is bound to be an event that will pique your interest. Let’s start planning your unforgettable August adventure! Lollapalooza August 1 – 4,…

[healthyboom]

Creating a positive environment for your child is essential for their well-being and development. Start by fostering open communication, where your child feels heard and supported. Encourage their interests and hobbies, allowing them to explore their passions. Set clear boundaries and rules, promoting a sense of security and responsibility. Create a nurturing space at home, filled with love, respect, and positivity. Be a positive role model, demonstrating kindness and empathy in your interactions. Prioritize quality family time, and build strong connections. Provide opportunities for learning and growth, both academically and emotionally. Ultimately, a positive environment nurtures your child's self-esteem, confidence, and happiness.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Emil Ferris’s long-awaited “My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two”

NEXT WEEKEND (June 7–9), I'm in AMHERST, NEW YORK to keynote the 25th Annual Media Ecology Association Convention and accept the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity.

Seven years ago, I was absolutely floored by My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, a wildly original, stunningly gorgeous, haunting and brilliant debut graphic novel from Emil Ferris. Every single thing about this book was amazing:

https://memex.craphound.com/2017/06/20/my-favorite-thing-is-monsters-a-haunting-diary-of-a-young-girl-as-a-dazzling-graphic-novel/

The more I found out about the book, the more amazed I became. I met Ferris at that summer's San Diego Comic Con, where I learned that she had drawn it over a while recovering from paralysis of her right – dominant – hand after a West Nile Virus infection. Each meticulously drawn and cross-hatched page had taken days of work with a pen duct-taped to her hand, a project of seven years.

The wild backstory of the book's creation was matched with a wild production story: first, Ferris's initial publisher bailed on her because the book was too long; then her new publisher's first shipment of the book was seized by the South Korean state bank, from the Panama Canal, when the shipper went bankrupt and its creditors held all its cargo to ransom.

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters told the story of Karen Reyes, a 10 year old, monster-obsessed queer girl in 1968 Chicago who lives with her working-class single mother and her older brother, Deeze, in an apartment house full of mysterious, haunted adults. There's the landlord – a gangster and his girlfriend – the one-eyed ventriloquist, and the beautiful Holocaust survivor and her jazz-drummer husband.

Karen narrates and draws the story, depicting herself as a werewolf in a detective's trenchcoat and fedora, as she tries to unravel the secrets kept by the grownups around her. Karen's life is filled with mysteries, from the identity of her father (her brother, a talented illustrator, has removed him from all the family photos and redrawn him as the Invisible Man) to the purpose of a mysterious locked door in the building's cellar.

But the most pressing mystery of all is the death of her upstairs neighbor, the beautiful Annika Silverberg, a troubled Holocaust survivor whose alleged suicide just doesn't add up, and Karen – who loved and worshiped Annika – is determined to get to the bottom of it.

Karen is tormented by the adults in her life keeping too much from her – and by their failure to shield her from life's hardest truths. The flip side of Karen's frustration with adult secrecy is her exposure to adult activity she's too young to understand. From Annika's cassette-taped oral history of her girlhood in an Weimar brothel and her escape from a Nazi concentration camp, to the sex workers she sees turning tricks in cars and alleys in her neighborhood, to the horrors of the Vietnam war, Karen's struggle to understand is characterized by too much information, and too little.

Ferris's storytelling style is dazzling, and it's matched and exceeded by her illustration style, which is grounded in the classic horror comics of the 1950s and 1960s. Characters in Karen's life – including Karen herself – are sometimes depicted in the EC horror style, and that same sinister darkness crowds around the edges of her depictions of real-world Chicago.

These monster-comic throwbacks are absolute catnip for me. I, too, was a monster-obsessed kid, and spent endless hours watching, drawing, and dreaming about this kind of monster.

But Ferris isn't just a monster-obsessive; she's also a formally trained fine artist, and she infuses her love of great painters into Deeze, Karen's womanizing petty criminal of an older brother. Deeze and Karen's visits to the Art Institute of Chicago are commemorated with loving recreations of famous paintings, which are skillfully connected to pulp monster art with a combination of Deeze's commentary and Ferris's meticulous pen-strokes.

Seven years ago, Book One of My Favorite Thing Is Monsters absolutely floored me, and I early anticipated Book Two, which was meant to conclude the story, picking up from Book One's cliff-hanger ending. Originally, that second volume was scheduled for just a few months after Book One's publication (the original manuscript for Book One ran to 700 pages, and the book had been chopped down for publication, with the intention of concluding the story in another volume).

But the book was mysteriously delayed, and then delayed again. Months stretched into years. Stranger rumors swirled about the second volume's status, compounded by the bizarre misfortunes that had befallen book one. Last winter, Bleeding Cool's Rich Johnston published an article detailing a messy lawsuit between Ferris and her publishers, Fantagraphics:

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/fantagraphics-sued-emil-ferris-over-my-favorite-thing-is-monsters/

The filings in that case go some ways toward resolve the mystery of Book Two's delay, though the contradictory claims from Ferris and her publisher are harder to sort through than the mysteries at the heart of Monsters. The one sure thing is that writer and publisher eventually settled, paving the way for the publication of the very long-awaited Book Two:

https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/my-favorite-thing-is-monsters-book-two

Book Two picks up from Book One's cliffhanger and then rockets forward. Everything brilliant about One is even better in Two – the illustrations more lush, the fine art analysis more pointed and brilliant, the storytelling more assured and propulsive, the shocks and violence more outrageous, the characters more lovable, complex and grotesque.

Everything about Two is more. The background radiation of the Vietnam War in One takes center stage with Deeze's machinations to beat the draft, and Deeze and Karen being ensnared in the Chicago Police Riots of '68. The allegories, analysis and reproductions of classical art get more pointed, grotesque and lavish. Annika's Nazi concentration camp horrors are more explicit and more explicitly connected to Karen's life. The queerness of the story takes center stage, both through Karen's first love and the introduction of a queer nightclub. The characters are more vivid, as is the racial injustice and the corruption of the adult world.

I've been staring at the spine of My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book One on my bookshelf for seven years. Partly, that's because the book is such a gorgeous thing, truly one of the great publishing packages of the century. But mostly, it's because I couldn't let go of Ferris's story, her characters, and her stupendous art.

After seven years, it would have been hard for Book Two to live up to all that anticipation, but goddammit if Ferris didn't manage to meet and exceed everything I could have hoped for in a conclusion.

There's a lot of people on my Christmas list who'll be getting both volumes of Monsters this year – and that number will only go up if Fantagraphics does some kind of slipcased two-volume set.

In the meantime, we've got more Ferris to look forward to. Last April, she announced that she had sold a prequel to Monsters and a new standalone two-volume noir murder series to Pantheon Books:

https://twitter.com/likaluca/status/1648364225855733769

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/01/the-druid/#oh-my-papa

[rippleberries]

Jeffrey Combs Live

Running list of upcoming Jeffrey Combs appearances

31 Jan-2 Feb, 2025: Creep IE Con (Ontario, California USA)

14-16 Feb, 2025: Pensacon (Pensacola, Florida USA)

23 Feb-2 Mar, 2025: Star Trek the Cruise VIII

7-9 Mar, 2025: Mad Monster (Atlanta, Georgia USA)

23-25 May, 2025: Texas Frightmare Weekend (Dallas, Texas USA)

18-20 July, 2025: OKC Horror Con (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA)

1-3 Aug, 2025: Flashback Weekend (Chicago, Illinois USA)

17-19 October, 2025: Scarefest Weekend (Lexington, Kentucky USA)

Alert me if you spot an upcoming appearance for him!

[elbiotipo]

Creés que lo de Milei (su mensaje, sus propuestas, su método) es parecido a lo de Trump? Veo demasiadas coincidencias en sus campañas. HORROR

Es otro ejemplo de la derecha global, más parecido a Bolsonaro que a Trump, pero todos comparten las mismas características. Milei se diferencia porque en vez de copiar a la derecha republicana de EEUU, copia a la derecha libertaria de EEUU, pero su discurso es prácticamente discurso yanqui reempaquetado, a veces ni siquiera intenta adapatarlo a la Argentina (el tema de la portación de armas por ejemplo), simplemente traduce las ideas de allá más o menos y las implementa abiertamente en su discurso. Al punto de que Milei ha sido apoyado por "think thanks" libertarios como la Atlas Network.

Por si no me crees:

Por eso siempre hay que, desafortunadamente, prestar atención a la política de EEUU, porque todas sus ideas de mierda las reempaquetan y las exportan acá, así como hicieron los Chicago Boys en su tiempo.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Akbar Shahid Ahmed and Sanjana Karanth at HuffPost:

CHICAGO ― Critics of President Joe Biden’s role in the war in Gaza said Wednesday night they had lost a high-profile battle to secure a speaking spot during the Democratic National Convention ― and blamed Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nominee. Abbas Alawieh, a DNC delegate from Michigan who lived through U.S.-backed Israeli bombardment in Lebanon when he was young, said outside the convention that “Vice President Harris, unfortunately, has made the decision that the child in me, the American child in me, who was certain my own government was going to kill me, is not going to get to be heard at this convention.”

Alawieh announced Wednesday evening that he was launching a sit-in outside the convention unless there is a shift in policy from the DNC, despite risking arrest.

The “uncommitted” campaign had sought speaking time on the DNC’s main stage for a representative of their group, which had won support from hundreds of thousands of voters. They initially requested two slots ― the other for a doctor who had served in Gaza, to address the humanitarian crisis there ― but later in the week said they sought only one: a Palestinian American speaker. They and their allies said that was vital to show equal concern for Israelis and Palestinians amid the latest cycle of violence in the region following the Oct. 7 attack inside Israel by the Gaza-based militant group Hamas, and they highlighted that the DNC agreed to give a high-profile speaking slot to the parents of an Israeli-American hostage captured by Hamas in that assault. That was appropriate, they said, but could appear one-sided.

The developments represented a new escalation in a simmering confrontation between the “uncommitted” delegates and other critics of the war, including prominent Democratic politicians, and the party establishment.

[...] Critics of Biden’s near-total support for the Israeli attacks had spent days arguing that the party’s limited concessions to their concerns, such as Biden referencing efforts to reach a cease-fire deal in his speech to the convention on Monday, were deeply insufficient. “It’s been unconscionable for me in the last few months to witness my colleagues in this administration … not understand that ‘working tirelessly for a cease-fire’ is really not a thing, and they should be ashamed of themselves,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said at a news conference on Wednesday morning, describing the humanitarian toll of Israel’s moves in the Palestinian region by speaking of horrors such as families digging dead babies out from the wreckage of bombed buildings. Biden and Harris must leverage U.S. influence over Israel if they really want a deal, opponents of the policy say ― for instance, by suggesting American backing for the country’s campaign could end if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not move toward an agreement.

This is a terrible and disgraceful move by the DNC to deny a speaking spot to a pro-Palestine voice who opposes the Gaza Genocide campaign by Israel Apartheid State is just plain wrong.

The group calling for the inclusion of a pro-Palestine speaker supported the decision to include parents of an Israeli-American hostage captured by Hamas in the speaker lineup. #FreePalestine #DNC2024

[bewitchingbaker]

Chris + Delia (kid meme)

Name:

Jason Cemil Luna

Gender:

Male

General Appearance:

Jason Luna is a tall slightly lanky young man with dark brown skin and brown doe eyes that he inherited from his parents (though they have more of Delia's shape). Like his dad he has a rather large cute nose and his smile. He has a head of curls that he often fashions into a large poofy pony tail. There are a few hints of his being half succubus such as his pointed ears, fangs and a pair of small wings.

Like his mom, he tends to favor the color red and is often seen in a red hoodie and matching converse. His ears have 3 piercings (a gold cuff, earring and a triple helix). He tends to wear black nail polish.

Personality:

Young Jason is a artsy young man with a high interest in film, mainly horror and silent films. But he'd much prefer to film everrything rather than be in front of the camera as he's a shy young man. When he's around his parents and close friends, he will talk their ear off about any new movies or skate videos that came out. New person? You'll get a quiet hello and shy smile.

Jason has high expectations of himself since his parents are ptetty cool he tries to live up to their reputations, though they assure him he's doing fine.

Special Talents:

Aside from being a great videographer, Jason is pretty skilled in levitation magic. Often lifting his whole room without much effort. He also has some skill in charm but doesn't have his mom's confidence to use it.

Who they like better:

Chris, only because his dad lets him see certain cool movies early and tells him cool film facts. But he likes hanging out with his mom alot too.

Who they take after more:

Delia, she has his mom's passion for the arts and ambition.

Personal Head canon:

Jason attends the Chicago horror con every year, usually in his succubus form to blend in with the cosplayers.

Face Claim:

[ @ofdemonessence / @gretaphasmatosmartin ]

[baby-alien11]

taglist: @volturi-girl-imagines @dessxoxsworld @aonungsgirlfriend @ethanlandryluver @wenvierismycomfort @aliciacat20 @gabbylovesreading @nikfigueiredo

[evolution-ofa-geek]

31 Days of Horror

Favorite Indie Horror Movie

Saw - 2004

Director: James Wan

Starring:

Tobin Bell

Cary Elwes

Danny Glover

Dina Meyer

Michael Emerson

Shawnee Smith

synopsis: Waking up in a bathroom, two men, Adam and Dr. Lawrence Gordon, discover they have been captured by the infamous Jigsaw Killer. The men must escape before time runs out, otherwise, they will face the deadly consequences.

Back in the summer of 2004 at Chicago Comic Con or Wizard World Chicago or whatever Wizard called it… They were giving out posters for this. It was already screened on January 19th and Lionsgate had picked it up from Twisted Pictures. It came out that year on Halloween weekend. Sure, it was met with mixed reviews, but it also gained a cult following. A following that I was a part of for the next 9 movies.

What attracted me to it? Lets play a game. A nonstop game with twist and turns in every movie and every turn. Maybe a few storylines that backtrack but the money maker are the kills. The gore is what attracted me to it and made me want to go back the following year and watch the second installment. What former crack head doesn’t want to dive in to a pool of needles just to get a key for your survival? I still cringe when I see the third one with Donnie Wahlberg breaking his own ankle.

As time went on, people hated it, but I kept going by every halloween and watch, including the one in 3D. I came for the game but I stayed for the gore. And evidently the video game… 

Directors James Wan (who built the jigsaw doll for the film) and Leigh Whannell wanted to make a film after they finished film school, but they could only afford one room. However, they challenged themselves to create a film that only occured in one room. This film was the product, and it is considered one of the most profitable and successful horror films of all time.

Saw II (2005) was approved for production the weekend this film opened.

Kill Count: 6

Favorite Contraption: Amanda in the Bear trap

What is your favorite horror indie movie?

[rumpletrumple]

Just realized I never even made an intro for you all to get to know me 😭

———————————————————————

I’m rumpletrumple but I prefer to be called Rumple! I’m 19 years old and I’ve been a fan of Phantom for 5 years! I saw the restaged production in 2020 at the Princess of Wales theatre! The phantom I saw was Derrick Davis :> This musical has literally consumed me and is my number 1 favourite :))

I like other musicals as well, ofc! I’m also a fan of Come From Away, Chicago, Les Mis, Spongebob the Musical, Sweeney Todd, and Hamilton! I’ve seen productions of them all except for Sweeney, I’m hoping to go sometime 🤞

———————————————————————

My main video games currently are:

- Identity V, Genshin Impact, Resident Evil 7, and Roblox!

I can’t decide on a favourite movie but I’m a huge fan of horror movies and Shark movies! I also like TV shows such as:

- The Boys, Gen V, House of the Dragon, and Black Mirror!

I have three pets! I have a dog named Emily, a gecko named Loki, and a fish named CJ :) (RIP Davy Jones 💔) I also own a community fish tank and a shrimp tank!

I love to write! I write mostly phanfic that focus on Raoul since he’s my favourite and my comfort character :} My ships are rerik, raoulstine, and megstine! I don’t ship erikstine cause it’s just not for me but I won’t judge anyone that does!!!

Quick DNI list

Racists

Homophobes/transphobes/terfs

Zionists

Proshippers/comshippers (dead dove, incest, underage and non con)

Raoul haters

If you ever wanna chat feel free to dm me, I do work but for the most part I’m available to talk!

My socials

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RumpleTrumple

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rumples_art?igsh=aWR6NXQ1MXpiazh6&utm_source=qr

Discord: rumpletrumple

[seph7]

J.T. Walsh (1999)

I like Oliver Stone movies, but I stayed away from his Nixon when it was in the theaters in 1995, and never rented it on video. As the child of good California Democrats, I grew up hating Nixon. When I was in my twenties and he was president, he gave me more reason to hate him than I ever wanted. When he died I didn’t want to think about him anymore.

One night, though, flipping channels after the late news had closed down, I happened onto Nixon running on HBO, and I didn’t turn it off. I was pulled in, played like a fish through all the fictions and flashbacks, dreaming the movie’s dream: waiting for Watergate.

It came into focus with a strategy session in the Oval Office. Anthony Hopkins’s Nixon is hunching his shoulders and look­ing for help. James Woods’s impossibly reptilian H. R. Halde­man is stamping his feet like Rumpelstiltskin and fulminating about “Jew York City.” Others raise their voices here and there—and off to the side is J. T. Walsh, the canniest and most invisible actor of the 1990s, doodling.

As almost always, Walsh was playing a sleaze, a masked thug, here a corrupt government official, White House adviser and Watergate conspirator John Ehrlichman—as elsewhere he has played a slick Hollywood producer, a college-basketball fixer, the head of a crew of aluminum siding salesmen, a porn king who makes home sex videos with his own daughter, a slew of cops (Internal Affairs bureaucrat on the take in Chicago, leader of a secret society of white fascists in the LAPD), and a whole gallery of con artists, confidence men who seem to live less to take your money than for the satisfaction of getting you to trust them first.

Walsh in the Oval Office is physically indistinct; he usually was. At fifty-two in 1995 he looked younger, just as he looked older than his age when, after eight years as a stage actor—most notably as the frothing sales boss in David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross—he began getting movie roles in 1986. Except near the end of his life, when his weight went badly out of control, his characters would have been hard to pick out of a lineup. Like Bill Clinton he was fleshy, vaguely overweight, with an open, florid, unlined face, a manner of surpassing reasonableness, blond in a way that on a beige couch would all but let him fade into the cushions. He had nothing in common with even the cooler, more sarcastic heavies of the forties or the fifties—Victor Buono’s police chief in To Have and Have Not, say, or the coroner in Kiss Me Deadly, their words dripping from their mouths like syrup with flies in it. He had nothing to say to the heavies appearing alongside of him in the multiplexes—Dennis Hopper’s psychokillers, Robert Dalvi’s scum-suckers, Mickey Rourke, with slime oozing through his pores, the undead Christopher Walken, his soul cannibalized long ago, nothing left but a waxy shell.

Walsh’s characters are extreme only on the inside, if he allows you to believe they are extreme at all; as he moves through a film, regardless of how much or how little formal authority his character might wield, Walsh is ordinary. You’ve seen this guy a million times. You’ll see him for the rest of your life. “What I enjoy most as an actor,” he said in December 1997, two months before his death from a heart attack, “is just disappearing. Most bad people I’ve known in my life have been transparent. Not gaunt expressions—they’re Milquetoasts. It’s Jeffrey Dahmer arguing with cops in the streets about a kid he’s about to eat—and he convinces them to let him keep him. And takes him back up and eats him. What is the nature of evil that we get so fascinated by it? It’s buried in charm, it’s not buried in horror.”

Walsh’s charm—what made you believe him, whether you were another character standing next to him in a two-shot, or watching in the audience—was a disarming, everyday realism, often contrived in small, edge-of-the-plot roles, his work with a single expression or a line staying with you long after any memory of the plot crumbled. As a lawyer happily tossing Linda Fiorentino criminal advice while an American flag waves in the breeze outside his window, Walsh taps into a profane quickness that for the few moments he’s on-screen dissolves the all-atmosphere-all-the-time film noir gloom of John Dahl’s The Last Seduction. In The Grifters, as Cole Langley, master of the long con, he radiates an all-American salesman’s glee (“Laws will be broken!” he promises a mark) that makes the hustlers holding the screen in the film—Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, Annette Bening—seem like literary conceits. Yet it all comes through a haze of blandness, as it does even when Walsh plays a sex killer, a crime boss, a rapist, a racist murderer, as if at any moment any terrible impression can be smoothed away: How could you imagine that’s what I meant?

In the Oval Office his Ehrlichman, whom America would encounter as the snarling pit bull lashing back at Senator Sam Ervin’s Watergate investigations committee, retains only the blandness, occasionally offering no more than “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea” before returning to his doodles. It was this blandness that allowed Walsh to flit through history—in Nixon playing White House fixer Ehrlichman; in Hoffa Team­ster president Frank Fitzsimmons, locked into power by a deal that Ehrlichman helped broker; in Wired reporter Bob Woodward, who helped bring Ehrlichman down—but as Walsh sits with Nixon and Haldeman and the rest you can imagine him absenting himself from the action as it happens, instead contemplating all the roles in all the movies that have brought him to the point where he can take part in a plot to con an entire nation.

What makes Walsh such an uncanny presence on-screen—to the degree that, as the trucker in the first scenes of Breakdown, or Fitzsimmons as a drunken Teamster yes-man early in Hoffa, he seems to fade off the screen and out of the movie, back into everyday life—is that while the blandness of his characters may be a disguise, it can be far more believable than whatever evil it is apparently meant to hide. Even as it is committed, the evil act of a Walsh character can seem unreal, a trick to be taken back at the last moment, even long after that moment has passed—and that is because his characters, the real people he is playing, can appear to have no true identity at all. You can’t pick them out of the lineups of their own lives.

At the very beginning of his film career, in 1987, in David Mamet’s House of Games, Walsh is the dumb businessman victim of a gang of con men running a bait-and-switch, then a cop setting them up for a bust, then a dead cop, then one of the con men himself, alive and complaining, “Why do I always have to play the straight man?” The straight man? you ask him back. In Breakdown, in a rare role in which he dominates a film from beginning to end, he first appears as a gruffly helpful trucker giving a woman a ride into town while her husband waits with their broken-down car. She disappears, and when the husband finally confronts the trucker, with a cop at his side, Walsh’s irritated denial that he’s ever seen his man before in his life seems perfectly justifiable—even if, as Walsh saw it, that scene “had a residual effect on the audience. ‘Don’t catch me acting’���when I lied, deadpan, on the road, you hear people in the audience: ‘He’s lying!'”The moment came loose from the plot, as if, Walsh said, “I’m not just acting”—and that, he said, was where all the cheers in the theaters came from when in the final scene he dies. He had fooled the audience as much as the other characters in the movie; that’s why the audience wanted him dead.

Walsh’s richest role came in John Dahl’s Red Rock West. The mistaken-identity plot—with good guy Nicolas Cage mis­taken for hit man Dennis Hopper—centers on Walsh’s Wayne Brown, a Wyoming bar owner who’s hired one Lyle from Texas to murder his wife. As Brown, Walsh is also the Red Rock sheriff—and he is also Kevin McCord, a former steelworks bookkeeper from Illinois who along with his wife stole $1.9 million and was last seen on the Ten Most Wanted list. Walsh plays every role—or every self—with a kind of terrorized assurance that breaks out as calm, certain reason or calm, reasoned rage. He’s cool, efficient, panicky, dazed, quick, confused. You realize his character no longer has any idea who he is, and that he doesn’t care—and that it’s in the fact that they don’t care that the real terror of Walsh’s characters resides. You realize, too, watching this movie, that in all of his best roles Walsh is a center of nervous gravity. His acting, its subject, is all about absolute certainty in the face of utter doubt. Yes, you’re fooled, and the characters around Walsh’s might be; you can’t tell if Walsh’s character is fooled or not.

At the final facedown in Red Rock West, all the characters are assembled and Dennis Hopper’s Lyle is holding the gun. “Hey, Wayne, let me ask you something,” he says. “How’d you ever get to be sheriff?” “I was elected,” Walsh says with pride. “Yeah, he bought every voter in the county a drink,” his wife sneers—but so what? Isn’t that the American way? Get Walsh out of ‘this fix and it wouldn’t have been the last election he won.

Watching this odd, deadly scene in 1998, I thought of Bill Clinton again, as of course one never would have in 1992, when Red Rock West was released and Clinton was someone the country had yet to really meet. In the moment, looking back, seeing a face and a demeanor coming together out of bits and pieces of films made over the last dozen years, it was as if—in the blandness, the disarming charm, the inscrutability, the menace, the blondness, moving with big, careful gestures inside a haze of sincerity—Walsh had been playing Clinton all along. He was not, but the spirit of the times finds its own vessels, and, really, the feeling was far more queer: it was as if, all along, Bill Clinton had been playing J. T. Walsh.

[healthyboom]

ABA Therapy Success Rate: What You Need to Know

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy has gained recognition as an effective intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and various behavioral challenges. This evidence-based approach offers promising results, but its success is contingent on several crucial factors. In this article, we delve into the key elements contributing to the efficacy of ABA therapy and shed light on the factors influencing its success rate.

Early Intervention: The Foundation of Success

Early intervention is a cornerstone of success in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy, particularly when addressing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other behavioral challenges. Research consistently underscores the significance of initiating ABA therapy at a young age, and this early start can lay the foundation for improved communication, social skills, and behavior management. This section explores why early intervention is crucial in ABA therapy and how it contributes to positive outcomes.

1. The Critical Window of Development

Early childhood is a period of rapid brain development and learning. During this time, children are more receptive to new information and are forming the building blocks of communication, social interaction, and self-regulation. For individuals with ASD or behavioral issues, intervening during this critical window can be transformative.

2. Maximizing Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to reorganize itself and form new neural connections, is at its peak during early childhood. ABA therapy leverages this Neuroplasticity by introducing targeted interventions that help shape desired behaviors and skills. As the brain becomes more adaptable in early childhood, it becomes easier to establish positive behavior patterns.

2. Tailored Treatment Plans: Personalization Matters

One of the hallmarks of practical Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy is the creation of individualized and tailored treatment plans. In the world of ABA, one size does not fit all, and personalization is critical to achieving successful outcomes. 

1. Recognizing Unique Needs

Everyone, whether on the autism spectrum or dealing with other behavioral challenges, is unique. Their strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and challenges differ significantly. ABA therapy recognizes this diversity and emphasizes acknowledging and understanding an individual's needs.

2. Comprehensive Assessment

Creating a personalized ABA treatment plan begins with a comprehensive assessment. Behavior analysts or therapists conduct thorough evaluations to identify an individual's current skill level, communication abilities, behavior patterns, and any specific challenges they face. This assessment serves as the foundation for tailoring the therapy.

In ABA therapy, personalization is not merely a feature but the linchpin of success by recognizing and addressing an individual's unique needs, personalizing goals and strategies, and involving families and caregivers.

3. Qualified and Trained Therapists: Expertise is Paramount

The success of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy hinges on the competence of the therapists or behavior analysts delivering the intervention. The significance of having qualified and well-trained professionals cannot be overstated. In this section, we explore why therapists' expertise is paramount in ABA therapy and how it contributes to the effectiveness of the treatment.

3.1. The Science of ABA Requires Expertise

ABA therapy is grounded in behavior analysis principles, a well-established scientific field. Therapists must deeply understand these principles to design and implement effective interventions. This expertise ensures that therapy is evidence-based and aligns with the latest research findings.

3.2. Board-Certification: A Gold Standard

Board certification is a critical credential for ABA therapists. It signifies that a therapist has met rigorous educational and training requirements and has demonstrated proficiency in delivering ABA therapy. Therapists with board certification thoroughly understand the principles and ethical guidelines governing the field.

4. Consistency and Intensity: The Recipe for Progress

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy is a highly effective intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other behavioral challenges. Two critical ingredients that contribute significantly to the success of ABA therapy are consistency and intensity. This section explores why these elements are pivotal and how they combine to form the recipe for progress in ABA therapy.

4.1. Consistency: The Key to Behavior Change

Consistency refers to the regularity and predictability of ABA therapy sessions and the application of ABA strategies across different environments and contexts. Here's why consistency is paramount:

Reinforcement: Consistency ensures that support for desired behaviors is delivered predictably. When individuals experience a consistent connection between their actions and positive outcomes, they are more motivated to engage in those behaviors.

Generalization: Consistent application of ABA strategies across settings (e.g., home, school, community) promotes conception. It helps individuals transfer the skills they learn in therapy to real-life situations.

Reduction of Problematic Behaviors: Consistency is crucial for addressing problematic behaviors. When interventions are consistently applied to reduce or replace negative behaviors, individuals are more likely to show progress.

Skill Acquisition: Consistent practice and repetition are essential for skill acquisition. Consistency ensures that individuals have ample opportunities to practice and master new skills.

5. Data-Driven Decisions: The Power of Analysis

In Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy, data-driven decisions are a linchpin of success. ABA therapists meticulously collect, analyze, and interpret data to guide their interventions and tailor treatment plans. In this section, we delve into why data-driven decisions are integral to ABA therapy and how they harness the power of analysis for positive outcomes.

5.1. ABA Therapy's Scientific Foundation

ABA therapy is firmly rooted in the principles of behavior analysis, a well-established scientific field. At its core, behavior analysis relies on empirical observation and data collection to understand and modify behavior. Applying these principles in ABA therapy necessitates a rigorous commitment to data-driven practices.

5.2. Identifying Patterns and Trends

Data collection in ABA therapy involves systematically recording behaviors, responses to interventions, and environmental variables. The accumulation of this data over time allows therapists to identify patterns and trends in an individual's behavior. These patterns provide critical insights into the effectiveness of interventions and the triggers or consequences that drive behaviors.

Conclusion

ABA therapy offers a promising path toward improving the lives of individuals with ASD and behavioral challenges. Many factors influence its success rate, from early intervention and tailored treatment plans to qualified therapists and data-driven decisions. By emphasizing personalization, consistency, and collaboration, ABA therapy can pave the way for remarkable progress and a brighter future for those it serves.

[letsgethaunted]

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Episode 104: H.H. Holmes & The Murder Castle, Part I Photodump

Image 01: H.H. Holmes (born “Henry Webster Mudgett”) was an American con artist and serial killer. He enjoyed human dissection for sport and funded his pursuits with body snatching. He would marry for money and had been engaged dozens of times. Image 02: Holmes had a knack for scamming and was the subject of more than 50 lawsuits in Chicago alone. Image 03-04: Holmes’s first wife, Clara Lovering, was the victim physical and emotional abuse. She was often seen with black eyes. She left Holmes due to the red flags and infant corpse dissection. Image 05: Holmes was inspired by his love for anatomy to go to Med school. Medical students with a cadaver during the 19th century. Cadavers were hard to obtain as dissection was seen as a fate worth than death itself. Image 06: Myrta Belknap, Holmes’s second wife was a Chicago socialite who was described as “plain looking.” Is being plain bad? Why is being plain considered an insult??? Image 07: With the help of his new wife’s parents, Holmes purchased a lot in Chicago and began building what would be known as “The Murder Castle.” Image 08-10: The Castle appeared to be a regular building; however, the second floor was full of trap doors and false walls. There were rooms that had no doors and doors that went to nothing. There were chutes that led to dissection rooms and corridors that circled back to the where they started from. It was a house of horrors.

[moviemaniac2020]

Ieri sera mi sono rivisto “Candyman”, film capostipite del 1992 dell’omonima saga di quattro capitoli, forse 'fratello minore' di “mostri” cinematografici più famosi come Jason Voohrees (“Venerdì 13”) o Michael Myers (“Halloween”). Il primo "Candyman - Terrore dentro lo Specchio", scritto e diretto da Bernard Rose, a distanza di molti anni l’ho rivalutato così tanto, che lo piazzo forse al primo posto fra i più noti “slasher-movie”, anche se è sbagliato parlare di “slasher”, quel sub-genere horror/thriller in cui l’antagonista è un maniaco omicida (spesso mascherato) che dà la caccia mortale a un gruppo di persone. Il mostro di “Candyman”, a priori, non dà la caccia a nessuno, però si risveglia e ti vene a cercare se osi “non credere alla sua leggenda”. Personaggio creato dallo scrittore e autore di best-seller inglese Clive Barker (“Cabal”, “Hellraiser”), "Candyman" è uno spettro vestito con un cappotto pesante che copre il suo orrendo corpo pieno di api e con un enorme uncino al posto della mano destra. In vita fu Daniel Robitaille, un pittore di colore vissuto nell'Ottocento, che venne linciato e ucciso da una folla inferocita, perché amò e mise incinta una ricca ragazza bianca. Dopo avergli tagliato la mano destra con una sega arrugginita, l'uomo fu cosparso di miele appena sottratto dai favi, cossiché uno sciame di api inferocite lo finì con le sue punture, mentre la folla lo scherniva al grido di "Candyman! Candyman!". Poco prima della morte, gli fu posto di fronte uno specchio per mostrargli il risultato delle fatali punture. Perciò, una leggenda metropolitana molto diffusa al Cabrini-Green (fantomatico ghetto popolare di Chicago abitato solo da gente di colore) vuole che pronunciando per cinque volte la parola “Candyman”, stando davanti a un qualsiasi specchio, venga richiamato dall'oltretomba lo spirito di Daniel, che appare alle spalle dello sventurato evocatore e lo uccide, squartandolo con il suo letale uncino. "Candyman" appare, però, senza essere evocato anche alla studentessa Helen Lyle, che per scrivere la sua tesi di laurea sui falsi miti delle leggende metropolitane, ha osato dubitare di lui e ha contribuito alla cattura di un falso serial killer da parte della polizia. "Candyman", allora, per punirla la costringerà a compiere violenti crimini, finché ella stessa non sacrificherà la sua vita per salvare quella di un neonato rapito e dopo la sua morte diventerà anche lei una “urban legend” alla pari di quella di Daniel/Candyman. Alla sua uscita il film “Candyman” fu accusato di razzismo, per via della presenza (per la prima volta sullo schermo) di un “cattivo” nero, ma il regista replicò che sarebbe stato veramente razzista vietare che al cinema ci fossero degli Hannibal Lecter o dei Freddy Krueger di colore. Venato di macabro romanticismo e dal ritmo lento e sognante stile fiaba horror, “Candyman – Terrore dietro lo specchio” uscì come un film di serie B, perché ovviamente Hollywood lo trattò come un banale slasher a basso costo, senza promuovere un piccolo cult-movie con una forte poetica e un'altissima visione onirica retrostante alla pellicola. Nel corso degli anni “Candyman” si è giustamente preso il suo posto nel cinema “horror” di massima serie: tre sequel, di cui uno recentissimo, girato nel 2021 da Nia Da Costa. Consiglio la visione (o la ri-visione), sorpattutto perché è un film fuori dagli schemi tradizionali horror degli anni ‘70 e ‘80, e da quelli moderni, che non sanno più raccontare belle favole “noir” come questa. “Candyman - Terrore dietro lo specchio” (1992, UK/USA, horror, 99’). Regia: Bernard Rose. Cast: Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Vanessa A. Williams. Streaming gratuito: https://www.tokyvideo.com/.../candyman-terrore-dietro-lo...

[gonzalo-obes]

IMAGENES Y DATOS INTERESANTES DEL 7 DE OCTUBRE DE 2024

Día Mundial de los Calvos, Día Mundial del Hábitat, Día Mundial de la Arquitectura, Día Mundial del Algodón, Jornada Mundial por el Trabajo Decente, Día Internacional de los Inquilinos, Día Internacional de la Neuralgia Trigeminal, Día Internacional de la Biblioteca Escolar, Semana Mundial del Espacio, Semana Vegetariana, Semana Internacional de la Crianza en Brazos, Año Internacional de los Camélidos.

Santa Justina, San Augusto, San Baco, Santa Osita y Nuestra Señora del Rosario.

Tal día como hoy en el año 2023

Hamás, la guerrilla palestina que gobierna la Franja de Gaza, lanza una operación militar sorpresa, por tierra, mar y aire, sin precedentes contra Israel que causa en la población civil centenares de muertos, secuestrados y heridos. La respuesta israelí, en forma de bombardeos sobre objetivos en la franja de Gaza, se cobrará la vida de miles de personas. (Hace 1 año)

2012

En las elecciones celebradas hoy en Venezuela durante una jornada sin incidentes, Hugo Chávez gana por cuarta vez la presidencia logrando el 54,5% de los votos con una participación muy alta del 81% de los electores. El candidato opositor, Henrique Capriles, ha reconocido su derrota y ha llamado a la unidad. Chávez debería gobernar seis años más, pero morirá de cáncer en marzo del año próximo tras varias semanas de cruel y dolorosa enfermedad. (Hace 12 años)

1985

Cuatro terroristas palestinos, que dicen pertenecer al Frente de Liberación Palestina, secuestran en las costas egipcias el "Achille Lauro", crucero italiano dedicado al turismo. Exigen la liberación de 50 militantes palestinos encarcelados en Israel. Como muestra de que hablan en serio, arrojan por la borda en su silla de ruedas a un judío americano de edad avanzada que fallece. Dos días más tarde se rendirán a las autoridades egipcias a cambio de salir con vida de esta extorsión. El 10 de octubre, cuando los secuestradores se encuentren a bordo de un avión a reacción egipcio, fuerzas especiales de la marina americana interceptarán el avión y le obligarán a aterrizar en una de sus bases situada en Sicilia. Una vez allí, tropas italianas y norteamericanas rodearán el avión y los terroristas serán arrestados quedando bajo custodia italiana. Un juzgado de ese país los declarará culpables y los condenará a prisión con penas de hasta 30 años. (Hace 39 años)

1952

En EE.UU., los inventores Joseph Woodland, Jordin Johanson y Bernard Silver patentan el código de barras, invento que permite reconocer rápidamente un artículo en cualquier punto de la cadena logística pudiendo así inventariarse o consultar sus características. El sistema, sin embargo, no será comercialmente utilizado hasta 1966. (Hace 72 años)

1949

Nace la República Democrática de Alemania, primeros escarceos de la Guerra Fría que dividió a los alemanes y a su capital, a Europa, y al mundo en dos bloques enfrentados. (Hace 75 años)

1882

En Madrid, a los 26 años de edad, la leridana Martina Castells y Valdespí, tras licenciarse en Barcelona, se convierte en la primera mujer española que logra el título de doctor en Medicina. (Hace 142 años)

1871

Chicago (EE.UU.), joven ciudad, sufre un pavoroso incendio que devasta durante 48 horas una extensión superior a los 8 km2. Las terribles cifras dan idea del horror que padece una población de sólo 324.000 habitantes: 200 muertos, 17.450 edificios asolados y 70.000 personas sin hogar. La solidaridad pronto llegará de todo el país iniciádose su reconstrucción. (Hace 153 años)

1813

El general Wellington y sus tropas, que han liberado a España de la ocupación napoleónica tras haber perseguido a los últimos contingentes del ejército francés hasta la misma Francia, realizan incursiones en el sur de este país. (Hace 211 años)

1796

En España, el rey Carlos IV declara la guerra a Gran Bretaña "para sostener el decoro de su Corona y dar protección a sus reinos y súbditos". Los ingleses, temerosos, abandonan el Mar Mediterráneo occidental. (Hace 228 años)

1769

El británico James Cook, en su primer viaje con el Endeavour, arriba a las costas de Nueva Zelanda. Permanecerá hasta abril de 1770 cartografiando las islas en lo que piensa forma parte del continente que busca: la Terra Australis. (Hace 255 años)

1649

En España, el rey Felipe IV se casa con su sobrina, la archiduquesa Mariana de Austria. (Hace 375 años)

1582

Se puede decir que este día de este año nunca existió ya que en Roma, el papa Gregorio XIII ha decretado el calendario gregoriano en sustitución del calendario juliano, y la noche del pasado jueves 4 de octubre dará paso al viernes 15 de octubre, por lo cual el 7 de octubre de 1582 nunca existió en nuestro calendario. (Hace 442 años)

1571

Tiene lugar la Batalla de Lepanto, combate naval acaecido en las aguas del golfo de Lepanto (actual Golfo de Corinto, Mar Jónico), entre la flota del Imperio otomano y la flota de una coalición de fuerzas cristianas coaligadas en la denominada Liga Santa que obtiene la victoria. La batalla dura 5 horas y se calcula que en ella mueren 35.000 hombres. Tras esta derrota, los turcos pierden la hegemonía en el Mediterráneo. (Hace 453 años)