tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389059802024-03-19T01:37:37.566-07:00Communist VampiresBy <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1453604294/communistvampire">Vampire Nation</a> author Thomas M. Sipos, who blogs about horror films at <a href="http://horrorfilmaesthetics.blogspot.com/">Horror Film Aesthetics</a>. So this blog will now be about ... other stuff.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-6563731619454930212024-01-14T01:20:00.000-08:002024-01-14T01:20:27.996-08:00David J. Skal, R.I.P.<p>Several horror icons whom I admire have died these past several months. I just now learned that David J. Skal (1952 - 2024) <a href="https://twitter.com/super_cassette/status/1743987484747317487">died after being hit by a drunk</a> driver in Los Angeles. <br /><br />I first encountered Skal through his book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140240020/communistvampire">The Monster Show</a>. A self-described "cultural history of horror," his book is informative, filled with original insights, and well written; a breezy, entertaining read, mercifully free of academic jargon. The prose is literate yet accessible to lay readers, the way film criticism should be always.<br /><br />I later read his <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/158234230X/communistvampire">Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween</a>, as part of my research for a class I taught at The Learning Annex about Halloween haunted houses. It was great preparation for my lecture.<br /><br />I only met Skal once, in the fall of 2001, at Burbank's Dark Delicacies horror bookstore. Several writers were there for a book-signing, including me and Skal. I had brought <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140240020/communistvampire">The Monster Show</a> for him to sign, which he did. I still prize that book with his inscription.</p><p>To my surprise, he bought a copy of my book, <a href="http://communistvampires.com/halloween.htm">Halloween Candy</a> and asked me to sign it. I took it as his way of encouraging a fellow writer and fan who was hardly in his league.<br /><br />Overall, Skal was a fine historian, a skilled writer, and a gracious man.</p><p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbNEwjFXs3LtPwVukrocH9oqQawt6cgNsEokyLs0Qq_-LFbH6nthvREisjzS2kbDZzbxKcg6hE_X5ouTHyMuhwMB5nwonHXSpYOTbJVBw_nVqNBndPhPmbjpP_QuUeDTSUU6znZsJPdSKSNtV-l8LIYvaA7z2J2EPWlEFFxpZ2XDqCAd73zxO/s3733/David%20J.%20Skal's%20inscription%20in%20The%20Monster%20Show%20to%20Thomas%20M.%20Sipos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3733" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbNEwjFXs3LtPwVukrocH9oqQawt6cgNsEokyLs0Qq_-LFbH6nthvREisjzS2kbDZzbxKcg6hE_X5ouTHyMuhwMB5nwonHXSpYOTbJVBw_nVqNBndPhPmbjpP_QuUeDTSUU6znZsJPdSKSNtV-l8LIYvaA7z2J2EPWlEFFxpZ2XDqCAd73zxO/w518-h640/David%20J.%20Skal's%20inscription%20in%20The%20Monster%20Show%20to%20Thomas%20M.%20Sipos.jpg" width="518" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p> </p><p> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-24384054223371212292023-07-23T02:01:00.000-07:002023-07-23T02:01:01.307-07:00 First Halloween Sighting in 2023 on July 22<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ChkLz3NS_YKtb7BvjEde2BSUIFQmX21bc2MEBCo2k4VmaH6Z9A6cLykQDKuFUEUIpeVi89All8ScZ4c9v8TCcHxzc20GAQJa6DndzcKSRTIWSSo2HSffEtXHpBzrEXXQDZTmNUfbMa_i-vWs72pscyc2Wr_PLbWIYY_d1M28K0g0Ba8WXENX/s3808/Knott's%20Scary%20Farm%20ad%202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3808" data-original-width="2790" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ChkLz3NS_YKtb7BvjEde2BSUIFQmX21bc2MEBCo2k4VmaH6Z9A6cLykQDKuFUEUIpeVi89All8ScZ4c9v8TCcHxzc20GAQJa6DndzcKSRTIWSSo2HSffEtXHpBzrEXXQDZTmNUfbMa_i-vWs72pscyc2Wr_PLbWIYY_d1M28K0g0Ba8WXENX/w234-h320/Knott's%20Scary%20Farm%20ad%202.JPG" width="234" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table>Every year Halloween (and Christmas) starts earlier. For some time now, my first Halloween sightings have been around mid August. But this year, Halloween began in July.<br /><br />On Saturday, July 22, I received the Fall 2023 issue of <i>Westways</i> magazine (published by the California AAA. In it was ad advertisement for Knott's Scary Farm.<br /><br />That makes July 22 my first official Halloween sighting of the year.</p><p>============= <br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-10993787221863935862020-06-10T17:51:00.004-07:002020-06-10T17:51:48.988-07:00Loscon 47 Canceled Due to Covid-19<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg26cSNCxvh08R1zMEd54L6yjqXqNI4yUqDA6qMj6N2gULgsYg-Gu9vh-rEIlxYCJz7V1bdWh_kVf9Qv4IetKk3SzZUJoOkEXeSAn04IHh0UfTP1vhWHb2yKUi4qNRBlTs-zANK/s1600/Loscon+47.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="691" data-original-width="691" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg26cSNCxvh08R1zMEd54L6yjqXqNI4yUqDA6qMj6N2gULgsYg-Gu9vh-rEIlxYCJz7V1bdWh_kVf9Qv4IetKk3SzZUJoOkEXeSAn04IHh0UfTP1vhWHb2yKUi4qNRBlTs-zANK/s200/Loscon+47.png" width="200" /></a></div>
Today I received the following email:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i>Members and Friends,<br /><br />With the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic being felt in many sectors, we are not immune I'm sorry to say. The fallout of these effects sadly means that we will be postponing Loscon 47 until next year. We are rescheduling Loscon 47 for Thanksgiving weekend (November 26th through November 28th 2021).</i><br />
<br />
<i>We will be rolling Guests, members, and dealer room participants over to next year. Writer Guest Dr. Gregory Benford, our Artist Guest Jeff Sturgeon and Fan Guests of Honor Dennis and Kristine Cherry have all agreed to be there and are looking forward to being there next year. </i><br />
<br />
<i>There will be more info as we re-assemble our teams to bring this to fruition in November of 2021.</i><br />
<br />
<i>A general meeting to discuss this will be on Friday 6/19/2020 at 7:30 via jitsi meet. This will be a very brief meeting just to touch base with members and staff. The link is <a href="https://losconmeeting.com/update2020">https://losconmeeting.com/update2020</a> from most web browsers. You only need to download an app if you are on IOS or Android.</i><br />
<br />
<i>As always you may ask questions at <a href="mailto:info@loscon.org">email:info@loscon.org</a> and I look forward to seeing you all Thanksgiving weekend 2021</i><br />
<br />
<i>Loscon Chairman, Scott Beckstead</i><br />
<br />
<br />
This is disappointing. I attend Loscon most years. While I understand some members' concerns, I think this is overkill. Loscon 47 was to meet at the end of November. Surely Covid-19 will quiet down by then? Plus, Loscon 47 can always requires masks, gloves, and social distancing for those who choose to attend. <br />
<br />
If you agree that Loscon 47 should go forward this November, please let them know. Offer to help in whatever you can to make Loscon 47 happen, and happen safely. <br />
<br />
=============</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-15664448578726531682019-10-17T03:28:00.000-07:002019-10-25T09:58:30.334-07:00Horror Films Screening at Loscon 46<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWiS9fq1I1hrU1nFh4wGTcvrYcmBxRteARtjOF8gjSPCyu9-I2ICZDs-nsNTYIUOFZC6lfYDAPCZhkDgkARfu3ZQRnbpZLQghVHP-zn8nvsDJoEW6ljqZcycoxP_yBhqCZCZvS/s1600/Tabloid+Witch+Award.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWiS9fq1I1hrU1nFh4wGTcvrYcmBxRteARtjOF8gjSPCyu9-I2ICZDs-nsNTYIUOFZC6lfYDAPCZhkDgkARfu3ZQRnbpZLQghVHP-zn8nvsDJoEW6ljqZcycoxP_yBhqCZCZvS/s200/Tabloid+Witch+Award.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Come this November, I will once again
be returning to <a href="https://loscon.org/46/">Loscon</a>, Los Angeles's premiere science fiction
& fantasy convention, to <a href="https://sites.grenadine.co/sites/loscon/en/loscon46/schedule/1645/Tabloid%20Witch%20Film%20Festival">host a screening</a> of select horror films on the night
of Friday, November 29th.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Films will be chosen from among the winners
of the <a href="http://www.hollywoodinvestigator.com/2019/horrorfilm2019.html">2019 Tabloid Witch Awards</a>, which I manage.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The screening will be followed by a
Q&A panel of guest filmmakers. So far, <a href="https://slasher-films.wixsite.com/horror">Justin Head</a> (<i>Queen of the Dead</i>) and <a href="https://www.shannonebrown.com/">Shannon Brown</a> (<i>The Potluck</i>) have
agreed to attend.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I invite all horror film fans to come!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
=============== </div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-13372127190611026872017-10-15T12:04:00.002-07:002021-03-08T00:10:46.285-08:00Harvey Weinstein Raped Horror Actress Lysette Anthony<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6v_6qI1vCMK-H6a47ALBqSrN6mI3TAf_eR3sUOHcR4Nq3aAxiLITeK3c8Q1I74gdE_Ub2RQiZhu-bPOxZFnBhjCpjqS9vG7npNuSNmr09Yu0Oe3AOX0KugLKN16ySIDhYy3y/s1600/Lysette+Anthony+in+Dark+Shadows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="373" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6v_6qI1vCMK-H6a47ALBqSrN6mI3TAf_eR3sUOHcR4Nq3aAxiLITeK3c8Q1I74gdE_Ub2RQiZhu-bPOxZFnBhjCpjqS9vG7npNuSNmr09Yu0Oe3AOX0KugLKN16ySIDhYy3y/s320/Lysette+Anthony+in+Dark+Shadows.jpg" width="320" /></a>British actress Lysette Anthony has announced that she
too was raped by producer Harvey Weinstein.<br />
<br />
According to the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-4981326/British-actress-fifth-women-accuse-Weinstein-rape.html">Daily Mail</a>
[October 14, 2017]:
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
British actress Lysette Anthony has
told police that Harvey Weinstein raped her, the Sunday Times
reported, becoming the fifth woman to level such accusations against
the disgraced Hollywood mogul.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The 54-year-old actress, who currently
appears in British soap Hollyoaks, told Metropolitan Police last week
that she had originally met Weinstein in New York, and agreed to meet
him later at his rented house in London, according to the paper.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
"The next thing I knew he was half
undressed and he grabbed me. It was the last thing I expected and I
fled," she told the Times.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Anthony, who appeared in Woody Allen's
1992 film "Husbands and Wives", said that Weinstein then
began stalking her, turning up unannounced at her house.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
"He pushed me inside and rammed me
against the coat rack," she said of the attack in the 1980s. "He
was trying to kiss me and shove inside me. Finally I just gave up."</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Weinstein has denied all allegations of
nonconsensual sex.</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Anthony first came to my attention when
she played Angelique Bouchard in the short-lived 1991 <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00P7ZD578/communistvampire">Dark Shadows</a>
remake. While Anthony is not especially known as a scream queen, her
extensive body of work (she has 89 acting credits on IMDB) does
include many horror films and TV shows.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
My favorite horror work by Anthony is
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0184JZDCI/communistvampire">Trilogy of Terror II</a> (1996), in which she played the lead role in all
three tales of that horror anthology sequel. This was in the
tradition of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00LUUSASI/communistvampire">Karen Black</a> playing the lead in all three of the
original <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000FFJZO2/communistvampire">Trilogy of Terror</a>'s stories.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BdSAzMWrtKM?rel=0" width="560"></iframe></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The original is justly considered a
horror classic and Black's performance was a tough act to follow. But
while the remake is little remembered, Anthony's performance was a
worthy successor to Black's. Especially in "Bobby" (the middle story), wherein
Anthony plays a mother who turns to witchcraft in an attempt to resurrect
her dead son. By all means, watch it.<br />
<br />
Horror is a tight-knit community,
composed of passionate fans. Although all of Weinstein's victims
should be supported, reading about Anthony felt personal, as though
"one of our own" was attacked. Let's hope Anthony and the
other women find peace and justice.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
============= </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-7318275313573604772017-08-31T12:58:00.002-07:002017-08-31T12:58:48.964-07:00Remembering the Mass Hysteria Over Princess Diana's Death<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5RJCWrOplO-tlGVsItVTTJ1581ewCMEgmr2fJeBIpcVzbASt8vmH8Ue-_YQw96dKM69mc1iwrYD5mzAh9SPphbvVFfIHRuWOa3zHKi2yMF1lHyIcnTo-XVGXUiRPcmgWHvS1Y/s1600/Princess+Diana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1134" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5RJCWrOplO-tlGVsItVTTJ1581ewCMEgmr2fJeBIpcVzbASt8vmH8Ue-_YQw96dKM69mc1iwrYD5mzAh9SPphbvVFfIHRuWOa3zHKi2yMF1lHyIcnTo-XVGXUiRPcmgWHvS1Y/s200/Princess+Diana.jpg" width="141" /></a></div>
Princess Diana died 20 years ago today in a car accident. Unless you were alive at the time, you can't imagine the mass hysteria that swept the British public over her death.<br />
I never understood the adulation she attracted. She seemed rather ordinary to me. A pretty face, but lacking any great accomplishments other than marrying into the royal family at age 19. One of those celebrities who are famous simply for being famous.<br />
It wasn't my imagination. Major newspapers today are recalling the mass hysteria. Jonathan Freedland writes in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/aug/13/britishidentity.monarchy">The Guardian</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It has become an embarrassing memory, like a mawkish, self-pitying
teenage entry in a diary. We cringe to think of it. It is our collective
moment of madness, a week when somehow we lost our grip. A decade on,
we look back and wonder what came over us.
<br />
There were some who felt that way at the time, but they were the
minority. Indeed, they complained they were a marginalised, even
oppressed, group - gagged dissidents in a new totalitarian state of the
emotions. Some looked at the mountain of Cellophane-wrapped bouquets
that piled up outside Buckingham Palace - a million of them, it was said
- and sniffed "floral fascism" in the air. Later, Christopher Hitchens
wrote that in the week after Princess Diana was killed in a Paris car
crash, Britain became a "one-party state", such was the coercive nature
of the public reaction. He sought out the Britons who had been forced to
close their shops or cancel sporting events on the day of the funeral,
lest they feel the rage of the tear-stained hordes outside. The writer
Carmen Callil was more specific: "It was like the Nuremberg rallies."</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
Such was the crazy, cultish, worship of Princess Diana, that I wrote an essay at the time, entitled <i>Deification of a Princess</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ0XmNbP1rRMryBlnVCAIOKTVGofGEzJbZfRjj1pkFGTBAQV8xvpLdmBzkXmWTLxwNEf7jsbCYAGlpJW-a-AAMo5cWQ5U95T5a0ISs8z0qVhoMuEY8U4uHxg0SW7lgWV12HuVj/s1600/Princess+Diana+murdered+in+ambulance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ0XmNbP1rRMryBlnVCAIOKTVGofGEzJbZfRjj1pkFGTBAQV8xvpLdmBzkXmWTLxwNEf7jsbCYAGlpJW-a-AAMo5cWQ5U95T5a0ISs8z0qVhoMuEY8U4uHxg0SW7lgWV12HuVj/s200/Princess+Diana+murdered+in+ambulance.jpg" width="173" /></a></div>
My predictions mostly failed to come true, apart from foreseeing the explosion in conspiracy theories. Many "murder of Diana" conspiracy books are available on Amazon. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561719226/communistvampire">One book</a> even attributes her "murder" to a plot involving both the CIA and MI6. But the Diana worship died down. It turned out to be a mere temporary insanity rather than full blown madness.<br />
However, I dug out my old essay (I still have computer files going back 31 years), and reprint it here, as I wrote it 20 years ago.</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Deification of a Princess</b><i> </i></div>
<br />
<i>Born a Lady. Lived a
Princess. Died an Angel.</i> </div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
So said one of the thousands (millions?) of
eulogies to Princess Diana written on posters, uploaded onto web
pages or inscribed in registers around the world. Aside from the one
in London, the British consul here in Los Angeles provided a register
for the public, and I heard of a register sighting in Chicago.</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
So as we approach
the new millennium do we witness the consecration of a new messiah.
By contrast, Elvis can only compare to John the Baptist. James Dean
and Marilyn were mere prophets. Sure, Diana died <i>before</i> the
millennium but Christ was born <i>before</i> Year One. Note the
symmetry. New Agers have
another term: synchronicity. When seemingly unrelated events
coincide it must all mean something.
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrgkBFf0dOAEwFDTNxF9xm7216JRJLsakY2obrpgQn3_4kC8Y89X4Iycd4_cvCovn8RmzTKxpm1dUGRc2d9mmnjLKFvYJeuVl-Kkx0-5NnKXYHk7VWIeDdF9UVKo-aYDjWVR8/s1600/Mother+Theresa+and+Princess+Diana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="303" data-original-width="425" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrgkBFf0dOAEwFDTNxF9xm7216JRJLsakY2obrpgQn3_4kC8Y89X4Iycd4_cvCovn8RmzTKxpm1dUGRc2d9mmnjLKFvYJeuVl-Kkx0-5NnKXYHk7VWIeDdF9UVKo-aYDjWVR8/s200/Mother+Theresa+and+Princess+Diana.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Diana died at age 36,
which is when <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01N63QRR7/communistvampire">Mother Teresa</a>, whose rosaries were buried with Diana
and in whose shadow she died, founded her mission. Marilyn, too, died
at 36. Don't laugh. The First of the Ten Insights in the bestselling
New Age book, <a href="http://www.weeklyuniverse.com/2012/celestine.html"><i>The Celestine Prophecy</i></a>, is that coincidences are
never merely coincidence.</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Not that any of this
is necessary. Diana cultists will believe in her divinity because, as
UFO buffs candidly admit, <i>I want to believe</i>. The <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0931872170/communistvampire">numerological</a>
mental gymnastics are rationalizations, not rationale. In New Age
terms, everyone has their own truth, and everyone's truth is as true
as anyone else's.</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Diana's cult will
sprout innocently, almost unnoticed. As with so much modern
loopiness, it will initially be justified and expressed in
psychobabble. People will erect personal shrines to Diana in their
homes and offices, maybe a photo and a candle. It will make them
"feel better." All part of the "healing process."
No one will ask, why the need to heal?<br />
But it won't stop there. Soon
people will associate their nicely healed good feelings with whatever
good luck comes their way. After reaching-out to Diana at work by
meditating (or daydreaming) on the smiling Diana photo on their
desks, the boss gives them a raise. Surely, Diana must have
interceded for them in some heavenly afterlife.</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Eventually,
emotional and financial healing will extend to the physical Miracle
cures which will be attributed to Diana. Expect to see weeping Diana
portraits, busts, and statues. Most Dianas will cry water. The better
ones will weep saltwater. A few will go the limit and shed tears of
blood.</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Diana's likeness
will be seen and photographed in cloud formations. Her image will
appear in waffles, flapjacks, scrambled eggs, and hash browns. No
item on America's roadside café breakfast menu will remain
unblessed. Savvy proprietors will keep ready rolls of film and cans
of shellac, for no one knows the day or hour of her next appearance.
The People's Princess, ever the democrat, won't discriminate. She
will appear on barn doors, in crop circles, and even in bathtub water
stains.</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
As though sensing
the people want more than her image, Diana sightings shall come to
pass. The Princess of Hearts shall visit hospital rooms and bowling
alleys, often bathed in white light. People returning from near
death will report seeing her at the end of that ubiquitous blue
tunnel of light, whereupon she sends them home with a smile and a
message. She will appear in deserts and on mountaintops, in Third
World slums to comfort the poor and in suburban basements come for a
quick game of ping pong.</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBcQRx-CDCYPF2mvUh7dF6WdpEbYT9W6zSptJzZMBjV6ETOCuyIlhucBCOJa8Z8A9P1MnK-nURS-UUiL_mBFW1LKZ394IlXddYm4QzJN0YzaQ6bLc7Xr4lyKqcLBRsy-PmauY-/s1600/The+Murder+of+Princess+Diana+by+Noel+Botham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="309" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBcQRx-CDCYPF2mvUh7dF6WdpEbYT9W6zSptJzZMBjV6ETOCuyIlhucBCOJa8Z8A9P1MnK-nURS-UUiL_mBFW1LKZ394IlXddYm4QzJN0YzaQ6bLc7Xr4lyKqcLBRsy-PmauY-/s200/The+Murder+of+Princess+Diana+by+Noel+Botham.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
Confusing matters
will be those <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1786064766/communistvampire">conspiracy theories</a> claiming Diana and Dodi faked the
accident and fled to Egypt to escape the all-powerful Royal Family.
Conspiracy buffs and LaRouchites will be intrigued, but Diana
cultists will eschew Cairo and instead make their pilgrimages to the
weeping statues and pancake houses, some in wheelchairs. They will
arrive to find merchants selling Diana talismans, good luck charms,
healing crystals carved in her image, and glow-in-the-dark Princess
Posters.</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Naturally, the New
Age will embrace Diana. They need a new sales item. By now, pretty
much everyone who wants a crystal has one. Santa Monica's Phoenix
Bookstore closed this year. Diana might reverse this trend. She can
provide bases for whole new religions, or she can be
incorporated into existing neo-pagan belief systems. To the Romans,
Diana was the goddess of the hunt and of the moon. That Diana was a
bloodthirsty virgin. Nevertheless, revisionist goddess worshipers
will strain for a connection. To each her own truth.</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Christians shall
also claim Diana. Diana may have to share Catholic affection with
Mary, but she has the Protestant field to herself. The mainline
churches are so empty and squishy that anyone with charisma,
especially a woman espousing what sounds like a touchy-feely social
gospel, is easily sucked into their vacuum. And even some Catholics
will elevate Diana to a manifestation of Mary, just as some
Christians interpret Elvis as a second Christ. (I am not making this
up; I saw Elvis fans say so on TV).</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I suppose this must
all mean something. I don't know what. Maybe that post-modern
civilization suffers from a great spiritual void, people made
desperate and angst-ridden by a ravenous and parched thirst for
transcendent meaning that goes unquenched. Or maybe just that people
are stupid.<br />
<br />
==================== </div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-44604715177466180432017-07-08T06:19:00.000-07:002017-07-08T06:19:02.993-07:00Historical Origins of the Term "Politically Correct"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRpYIQOggjzCYiDEqbek_Uwid6c8_7NkOYDO8NeGyZHykmjdgWMoiiHS4Q9CKA_uXyEKE7K0RoVG2T3Ixvh9Cgzr1nLijkrfu5Gu-bnfi-98jYtiqmNwF8ItGTen6KYKIG__zY/s1600/Politically+Correct+sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRpYIQOggjzCYiDEqbek_Uwid6c8_7NkOYDO8NeGyZHykmjdgWMoiiHS4Q9CKA_uXyEKE7K0RoVG2T3Ixvh9Cgzr1nLijkrfu5Gu-bnfi-98jYtiqmNwF8ItGTen6KYKIG__zY/s320/Politically+Correct+sign.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The term "politically correct" is bandied about so much as to have
become meaningless. But what really does it mean? Here's a history of
the term (as best I know it).<br />
<br />
"PC" has gone through four stages of meaning. "Politically correct" was initially coined by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0486456099/communistvampire">Leon Trotsky</a>
to refer favorably to those whose views remained in sync with the
ever-shifting Bolshevik Party line. This was important, as "not PC"
people risked prison or death.<br />
<br />
"Politically correct"
was revived (and again, used favorably) by 1960s New Left radicals who
fancied themselves revolutionaries in the mold of Che, Castro, and Mao.<br />
<br />
"Politically correct" was first used negatively by 1980s conservatives, following the publication of Allan Bloom's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671657151/communistvampire">Closing of the American Mind</a>.
Conservatives embraced the term "politically incorrect" as a badge of
honor to contrast their championing of free speech against campus
leftists who used speech codes to suppress debate on sensitive topics.
This was also when the term first became widely known by its acronym,
"PC." <br />
<br />
In these three previous stages, everyone agreed
that PC meant Left, and "not PC" meant Right. But because liberals
don't like a reputation of being anti-free speech, within a few years
they did a turnabout, and called their opponents "PC" and themselves
"not PC." Bill Maher's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345412818/communistvampire">Politically Incorrect</a>
is representative of this fourth stage, creating the odd result of a
self-proclaimed "not PC" show winning a very PC environmental media
award. <br />
<br />
However, despite liberals' turnabout,
conservatives continued to refer to themselves too as "not PC." Thus
"PC" has lost any specific meaning in this fourth stage, since everyone
defines their position as the now chic "not PC," and their opponents as
"PC." (A far cry from the days when Russians dreaded the Chekists who
executed "not PC" people.)<br />
<br />
========== </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-14968294697708838482017-06-19T04:06:00.002-07:002019-10-17T03:35:35.394-07:00Actor Stephen Furst, RIP<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiB8t26RQCMJ4wUFVIxvQJk__TGLv6g-pMHoAxba5wRdv7gllpNugJtJvhqaZLZdbsNhWrNZlxuWa5xxf0cOL37uen4OocEXreS5k15VSilDB9oy-bumRvjpYy6QtB5b77DgU2/s1600/Stephen+Furst+in+July+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="263" data-original-width="330" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiB8t26RQCMJ4wUFVIxvQJk__TGLv6g-pMHoAxba5wRdv7gllpNugJtJvhqaZLZdbsNhWrNZlxuWa5xxf0cOL37uen4OocEXreS5k15VSilDB9oy-bumRvjpYy6QtB5b77DgU2/s320/Stephen+Furst+in+July+2014.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
News outlets are reporting that actor Stephen Furst has died. According to JD Knapp at <a href="http://variety.com/2017/film/news/stephen-furst-dies-dead-63-animal-house-babylon-5-st-elsewhere-1202469695/">Daily Variety</a> [June 17, 2017]:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Stephen
Furst, best known for getting his start in “Animal House,” has passed
away due to complications with diabetes, Variety can confirm. He was 63
years old. </i><br />
<br />
<i>Furst died in his Moorpark, Calif. home on Friday. His sons Nathan
and Griff Furst confirmed their father’s death on Facebook Saturday
evening.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
New media are highlighting what they regard as Furst's most noteworthy acting achievements, such as roles in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A02TZ/communistvampire">Animal House</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00COTLTUA/communistvampire">Babylon 5</a>, and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000GPPNO2/communistvampire">St. Elsewhere</a>. They're overlooking the work by Furst that most impressed me: that of "Junior" Keller in the 1980 horror film, The Unseen.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHeaykiAJJT_WfC8_afrGdwKJMiQVh8rQFng8SXb4nPl2EfzOCQc313XO4vqK3adUFmA50S6skvigBn97Vr3voiHvEN-SXJOfPOif6dU1Jm1ztmNgkXpYdq-0otB87TeY8uP31EA/s1600/The+Unseen+poster+small.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHeaykiAJJT_WfC8_afrGdwKJMiQVh8rQFng8SXb4nPl2EfzOCQc313XO4vqK3adUFmA50S6skvigBn97Vr3voiHvEN-SXJOfPOif6dU1Jm1ztmNgkXpYdq-0otB87TeY8uP31EA/s320/The+Unseen+poster+small.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0019D3DJM/communistvampire">The Unseen</a> is one of my <i>favorite</i>
horror films. (And I am not the person to say that lightly.) A framed
poster from the film currently hangs in my living room. The one on the
right. There are <i>many</i> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0019D3DJM/communistvampire">Unseen</a> posters out there, with different images. I should know. I own a few. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0019D3DJM/communistvampire">The Unseen</a>, Furst performed splendidly as an inbred, retarded killer. In my review of the film, I wrote:<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But it
is Stephen Furst (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A02TZ/communistvampire">Animal House</a>)
who shines as Junior Keller ... the unseen. Weldon describes
Junior as a "murderous, retarded, overweight, full- grown
baby." That's kinda what Junior looks like, but not really what he is.
Having
seen <span style="color: white;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0019D3DJM/communistvampire">The
Unseen</a></span> a dozen or so times, I suspect he
kills the women by
accident. He merely wants a closer look (at Lamm's golden
hair, for
instance), and pulls too hard. A child who doesn't know
his own strength. And he's not a "full-grown baby," he just looks like
one because he's fat,
dressed in soiled diaper-like rags, and he can't talk. He
can only
grunt.</span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Okay actors. Here's an assignment: Portray a sympathetic mutant retard killer, while
wearing soiled diaper-like rags, in makeup that makes you look like some
ugly incestuous spawn from <span style="color: white;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305558159/communistvampire">Deliverance</a></span>. And all you're allowed to do is grunt. Grunt and stomp and pound
and grunt. And oh yeah, try and be nuanced and subtle.</span></span></i>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Furst
does it.</span></span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5wmhA54SJu9jnzAfAcufrK7JJzzEt9ihyphenhyphenF7batSPfxvgRctxah7sA6Xpqvcu-yqWYMGRHu5ajRMqRnj3xY4LTU86hyphenhyphen3Bvl0y0kVcsQGpEa28IqA7AxgKhcW_gIIU8djbBtl2Avg/s1600/Stephen+Furst+of+The+Unseen.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="704" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5wmhA54SJu9jnzAfAcufrK7JJzzEt9ihyphenhyphenF7batSPfxvgRctxah7sA6Xpqvcu-yqWYMGRHu5ajRMqRnj3xY4LTU86hyphenhyphen3Bvl0y0kVcsQGpEa28IqA7AxgKhcW_gIIU8djbBtl2Avg/s400/Stephen+Furst+of+The+Unseen.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">His Junior
is ugly and frightening, yet we detect his motivations
beneath his grunting
and stomping. His frustrated ineffectual attempts to
communicate
with Bach and recruit her for his playmate. His love for
mom. His fear, then anger, at dad. However repulsive and scary and
unsympathetic
Junior initially appears, his demise is poignant. I
hesitate to equate
Furst's Junior with Karloff's Monster, but I also hesitate
to dismiss the
comparison out of hand.</span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You can see the entire film on YouTube (although I also own it on Beta, VHS, DVD, and Blu-Ray -- in addition to seeing it in the theater when it was first released).</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9K2DB8Mtcvc/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9K2DB8Mtcvc?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Some horror fans hate <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0019D3DJM/communistvampire">The Unseen</a>. Why do I love it so much? You can read my entire <a href="http://www.communistvampires.com/horror/Unseen.htm">review here</a>. I've also written about this film in my book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786449721/communistvampire">Horror Film Aesthetics: Creating the Visual Language of Fear</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
=================== </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><br /></i></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-59978379500800514882017-05-16T16:27:00.001-07:002017-05-16T16:27:21.210-07:00New York City Subways Deteriorating to Disasterous 1970s and 1980s Standards<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTV3wqgdFyeeej9ANg9yogMlVo-lGJIJx_Wq1JGEXvN13KmEzvkGzoqqu8IL-5UdJBy-uVMgMzjnZzvaYdkHH3kp1lR9sSlwUioG_gSwfs-jisxEYlFBcyyS7kGSN3pKrQoXhd/s1600/New+York+City+subway+1984.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTV3wqgdFyeeej9ANg9yogMlVo-lGJIJx_Wq1JGEXvN13KmEzvkGzoqqu8IL-5UdJBy-uVMgMzjnZzvaYdkHH3kp1lR9sSlwUioG_gSwfs-jisxEYlFBcyyS7kGSN3pKrQoXhd/s320/New+York+City+subway+1984.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
New York City's famed subways were famously horrifying during <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-the-nyc-subways-were-like-in-the-1970s-2016-10">the 1970s</a> and even <a href="http://all-that-is-interesting.com/new-york-subways-1980s">the 1980s</a>. I know, because I rode the subways back then. I even memorialized the experience it in my novel, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1452895074/communistvampire">Manhattan Sharks</a>, set during the rise of the yuppies in 1983.<br />
<br />
And so this <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/nyregion/cuomo-deblasio-mta-subway.html?_r=0">New York Times article</a> by Emma G. Fitzsimmons and J. David Goodman [May 15, 2017], about the subway's current woes, evoked memories. The article says, in part:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A signal malfunction at the height of the morning commute in New York City upends subway service from Brooklyn to the Bronx. Switch problems leave riders stranded across Brooklyn. A power failure at just one Manhattan station snarls nearly a dozen of the system's 22 lines....<br /><br />The subway -- a crown jewel of urban diversity, a vital piece of the local economy and a point of pride for millions of New Yorkers up and down the economic ladder -- is rapidly deteriorating. Delays have soared to more than 70,000 each month from about 28,000 per month in 2012. Riders are losing wages when they miss work. Business leaders are worried about the future. Residents are souring on the city. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I never know if I am going to get to anything on time," said Frank Leone, 31, who lives in Queens. Worsening subway service has made him rethink living in New York City. "I give myself an hour to get to work everyday, even though it only takes 35 minutes," he said, "and I still show up late to work."</blockquote>
<br />
In the 1990s, Mayor Giuliani did much to improve the subways. But now it seems that, under Mayor De Blasio, the system is reverting to its previous state of urban chaos and mechanical decrepitude.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, New York's subways are no longer my problem. I've long since escaped New York for Los Angeles, penning <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1452895074/communistvampire">Manhattan Sharks</a> as my good-bye, good riddance note to the Big Apple. The City of Angels has its own troubles (e.g., <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1452892601/communistvampire">Hollywood Witches</a>), but at least it's not New York.<br />
<br />
============</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-60988876743662249792017-02-18T03:03:00.001-08:002017-02-19T13:29:08.033-08:00Publishers Hire "Sensitivity Readers" to Censor Books<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHRH4LuiHQgbfp_Wf32hO4i1FENNdVq5Nqm_HbKvtqBxpwsD8b8Hx2WnD3HVDQxirrH6O38GglpGigSd4ri_l7dsINCUlx4lX4C0zrd1MHcqyvEFS7_GFgxHw2uDMuJdwTNEpk/s1600/Fahrenheit+451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHRH4LuiHQgbfp_Wf32hO4i1FENNdVq5Nqm_HbKvtqBxpwsD8b8Hx2WnD3HVDQxirrH6O38GglpGigSd4ri_l7dsINCUlx4lX4C0zrd1MHcqyvEFS7_GFgxHw2uDMuJdwTNEpk/s200/Fahrenheit+451.jpg" title="" width="190" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1451673310/communistvampire">Fahrenheit 451</a>, American author <a href="http://www.hollywoodinvestigator.com/2012/raybradburydies.html">Ray Bradbury</a> predicted that progressives (not conservatives) would enforce censorship in the United
States, beginning with books deemed "insensitive" to
minorities. Well, today's publishers have caught up with
Bradbury's dystopian vision.<span class="trb_ar_by_nm_pm"><span class="trb_ar_by_nm_au" data-byline-withoutby=""><span itemprop="author"> </span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="trb_ar_by_nm_pm"><span class="trb_ar_by_nm_au" data-byline-withoutby=""><span itemprop="author">Everdeen Mason of the <i>Washington Post</i> (reprinted in the <i>Chicago Tribune</i>, February 15, 2017) <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/ct-publishers-hiring-book-readers-to-flag-sensitivity-20170215-story.html">reports</a>:</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
These days, though, a
book may get an additional check from an unusual source: a sensitivity
reader, a person who, for a nominal fee, will scan the book for racist,
sexist or otherwise offensive content. These readers give feedback based
on self-ascribed areas of expertise such as "dealing with terminal
illness," "racial dynamics in Muslim communities within families' or "transgender issues."<br />
<br />
"The
industry recognizes this is a real concern," said Cheryl Klein, a
children's and young adult book editor and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/039329224X/communistvampire">The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults</a>. Klein, who works at
the publisher Lee & Low, said that she has seen the casual use of
specialized readers for many years but that the process has become more
standardized and more of a priority, especially in books for young
readers.<br />
<br />
Sensitivity
readers have emerged in a climate -- fueled in part by social media -- in
which writers are under increased scrutiny for their portrayals of
people from marginalized groups, especially when the author is not a
part of that group.<br />
<br />
Last year, for instance, J.K. Rowling was
strongly criticized by Native American readers and scholars for her
portrayal of Navajo traditions in the 2016 story "History of Magic in
North America." Young-adult author Keira Drake <i>was forced to revise</i> [my italics] her
fantasy novel <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1470827018/communistvampire">The Continent</a> after an online uproar over its portrayal
of people of color and Native backgrounds. More recently, author
Veronica Roth -- of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062387243/communistvampire">Divergent</a> fame -- came under fire for her new novel, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062348639/communistvampire">Carve the Mark</a>. In addition to being called racist, the book was
criticized for its portrayal of chronic pain in its main character.</blockquote>
<br />
Some might argue that "sensitivity readers" are no big deal, because their use is not government imposed (yet), and so it's not really censorship. It's an editorial decision. Some authors quoted in the article even claim to be grateful for the "help" they receive from "sensitivity readers" -- helping these authors to portray their characters "correctly."<br />
<br />
<i>"Thank you Comrade Sensitivity Reader, for correcting my errors!"</i> <br />
<br />
But how <i>voluntary</i> is that consent? "Progressive" activists are never satisfied. They will increasingly pressure hold-out publishers to hire "sensitivity readers." Publishers, in turn, will increasingly pressure authors to make the corrections "requested" by "sensitivity readers."<br />
<br />
As Mason <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/ct-publishers-hiring-book-readers-to-flag-sensitivity-20170215-story.html">notes</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Lee & Low Books has a companywide policy to use sensitivity
readers. Stacy Whitman, publisher and editorial director of Lee &
Low's middle-grade imprint Tu Books, said <i>she will even request a
sensitivity reader before she chooses to acquire a book to publish</i> [my italics].<br />
<br />
"It's
important for authors to consider expert reader feedback and figure out
how to solve the problems they point out," Whitman said.</blockquote>
<br />
In other words, whether an author consents to "solve the problems" complained about by some sensitivity commissar will determine its chances for publication. This will mean ever less diversity in literature, because weak, cowardly, incompetent, stupid, and evil personality traits will become (even more so than already) reserved for straight, white, Christian, male characters.<br />
<br />
Returning to <a href="http://www.hollywoodinvestigator.com/2012/raybradburydies.html">Bradbury</a>'s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1451673310/communistvampire">Fahrenheit 451</a>, here's an excerpt from the Fire Chief's speech, explaining how society eventually got around to book-burning:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Now let's take up the minorities in our civilization, shall we? Bigger the population, the more minorities. Don't step on the toes of the dog-lovers, the cat-lovers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs, Mormons, Baptists, Unitarians, second-generation Chinese, Swedes, Italians, Germans, Texans, Brooklynites, Irishmen, people from Oregon or Mexico. The people in this book, this play, this TV serial are not meant to represent any actual painters, cartographers, mechanics anywhere. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The bigger your market, </i>Montag, <i>the less you handle controversy</i> [my italics], remember that! All the minor minor minorities with their navels to be kept clean. Authors, full of evil thoughts, lock up your typewriters. <i>They did.</i> Magazines became a nice blend of vanilla tapioca. Books, so the damned snobbish critics said, were dishwater. No wonder books stopped selling, the critics said. But the public, knowing what it wanted, spinning happily, let the comic-books survive. And the three-dimensional sex magazines, of course. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
There you have it, Montag. <i>It didn't come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no!</i> [my italics] Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God.</blockquote>
<br />
Bradbury didn't get everything right. Publishers don't care about the sensitivities of Mormons or Baptists or Swedes or Germans. Such is our "progressive" culture. Poking fun at non-Christian religions is hate, but bashing Christianity is healthy satire. Nazis are unqualified villains, but Communists are at worst misguided idealists. At best they are the noble victims of McCarthyism. (The sensitivities of the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0674076087/communistvampire">victims of Communism</a> be damned.)<br />
<br />
But Bradbury had a great insight. Censorship doesn't start with government dictates. It begins with popular pressure. It begins in the private sector. And the signs are ominous.<br />
<br />
=================== </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-67012702323942320962017-02-15T03:30:00.000-08:002017-02-15T03:34:25.638-08:00Huffington Post Quotes Me -- Misspells My Name<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP_RmZNVAbTjF9-fM1M6nlXZTLX2W7W1miOjeu7R0_ajWB-FaUuXW-YnIBSeHVI2z1DqLL2vSoFOC2D3n0rBPgqDp6B_E4_AWo2SezOuh5eX_D_1txCLacIqzXsDsLIOurR0gU/s1600/Huffington+Post.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP_RmZNVAbTjF9-fM1M6nlXZTLX2W7W1miOjeu7R0_ajWB-FaUuXW-YnIBSeHVI2z1DqLL2vSoFOC2D3n0rBPgqDp6B_E4_AWo2SezOuh5eX_D_1txCLacIqzXsDsLIOurR0gU/s200/Huffington+Post.png" width="200" /></a>I guess it's nice to be quoted in a major publication like <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5-reasons-kevin-sorbo-should-play-john-galt_us_5897ebdee4b061551b3e0088?">The Huffington Post</a>, even if they do misspell my name (something I've lived with since childhood -- Why <i>is</i> it so hard to spell <i>Sipos</i>?).<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In her article, "5 Reasons Kevin Sorbo Should Play John Galt," <span class="author-card__details__name">Jennifer Anju Grossman</span> writes:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Sorbo has already played a
John Galt-like character in an indie film called Alongside Night, based
on a 1979 novel by Neil Schulman. Writing for <a href="http://www.hollywoodinvestigator.com/2014/alongside.html">HollywoodInvestigator.com</a>, Thomas M. Sipo [<i>sic!</i>] observes:<br />
<br />
<i>" 'In the near future, the
U.S. government grows ever more oppressive as it tries to avert economic
collapse due to its excessive taxing, borrowing, spending, and
regulation. Meanwhile, a morally principled group of anti-government
cadres prepares for a freer, post-socialist
America. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005N4DP1E/communistvampire">Atlas Shrugged</a>? No, it's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0113NVV1Y/communistvampire">Alongside Night</a>, a new indie film based on the 1979 novel of the same
name.</i><br />
<i>
</i></blockquote>
<div class="content-list-component text">
<blockquote>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>" 'The two films do differ on
some ideological points. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005N4DP1E/communistvampire">Atlas Shrugged</a> promotes <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400078938/communistvampire">Ayn Rand</a>'s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452011019/communistvampire">Objectivism</a>,
a philosophy that supports small government. Rand expressly rejected
anarchism. By contrast, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0113NVV1Y/communistvampire">Alongside Night</a> advocates Agorism, a school of
anarchism founded by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1847287719/communistvampire">Samuel E. Konkin III</a>.' "</i><span class="author-card__microbio"><br /></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="author-card__microbio"><i>Sipo</i>? Really? I've seen my name spelled <i>Sinos</i>, <i>Sitos</i>, <i>Sipas</i> -- <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0525050302/communistvampire">Charlton Heston</a> even spelled it <i>Sippos</i> when he autographed his photo for me. But <i>Sipo</i> is a new one.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="author-card__microbio">Grossman is CEO of the Atlas Society, former Cato Institute policy director, and former speechwriter for President H.W. Bush.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="author-card__microbio">================= </span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-42709075672091678392016-06-23T04:29:00.001-07:002016-06-23T04:31:32.931-07:00Food Cart Vendor Turf Wars<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg251m0Ur9pZ1soAeQWA7CH5vMmGIIhXfFuqp_eyhp1XrygPgaArIZ2sZ0f6QpG_YmEzNwdIsD9bOMl01QOYChRf2AtVfMBdQrcQTzRqddn5TCbomTZuSAHV1OOyLgMAO36lWpc/s1600/food+vendor+turf+wars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg251m0Ur9pZ1soAeQWA7CH5vMmGIIhXfFuqp_eyhp1XrygPgaArIZ2sZ0f6QpG_YmEzNwdIsD9bOMl01QOYChRf2AtVfMBdQrcQTzRqddn5TCbomTZuSAHV1OOyLgMAO36lWpc/s320/food+vendor+turf+wars.jpg" width="285" /></a>Sometimes it takes a while for reality
to catch up to satire. I first wrote <a href="http://www.communistvampires.com/sharks.htm">Manhattan Sharks</a> as a
screenplay in 1987, later turning it into a novel. Nearly 30 years ago.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://www.communistvampires.com/sharks.htm">Manhattan Sharks</a> is a tale of
job-hunting and career competition in the "Decade of Greed,"
from the highest CEOs to the lowliest food cart vendors.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
At one
point, two characters -- competing food cart vendors -- engage in a food fight over a New York
City street corner. At the time I worried that I was being too ...
out there. Too wacky and unrealistic. But it seems these things do
happen.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Reporting for the <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/food-vendor-slashes-rival-back-west-side-turf-feud-article-1.2683855">The New York Daily News</a> [June 23, 2016], Rocco Parascandola and Edgar Sandoval write:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>A West Side turf battle between
two rival food vendors vying for the same street corner turned
cutthroat when one of the men slashed the other in the back, police
sources said Wednesday.
</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><br /></i>
</div>
<i>
</i>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Mohamed Awad, 39, was charged with
felony assault and weapons possession in the Tuesday afternoon
confrontation, while his competitor, Eissa Naser, 37, required five
stitches.</i><i> The two men got into argument at 10th
Ave. and W. 30th St., each laying claim to station his food cart at
that corner.</i><i> As the dispute became heated, Awad
allegedly pulled out a razor, and sliced Naser, who collapsed by a
Jolly’s Gyro food cart. </i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
A year earlier, Gary Buiso wrote for the <a href="http://nypost.com/2015/02/15/halal-and-kosher-food-cart-vendors-argue-over-city-streets/">New York Post</a> [February 15, 2015, see above image]:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>... a group of irate Egyptian competitors block the kosher vendor from setting up on the sidewalk, literally squatting on the curb or placing umbrellas and beverage cartons to cordon off the space </i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>... Licenses granted by the city do not specify where vendors must locate, but the city can force vendors to move for a variety of reasons, including being parked too close to a subway entrance. Intense competition prompts vendors to arrive with their carts by 3 a.m. to claim a spot, with some camping out overnight.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="261" data-total-count="646">
My Googling also uncovered a 2009 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/dining/01truck.html?_r=0">New York Times</a> article [June 30, 2009], Julia Moskin reporting:</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="261" data-total-count="646">
<br /></div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="357" data-total-count="1003">
<i>... "The
police told these guys that nobody owns the streets. But it sure
doesn’t feel that way," said Mr. Di Mille, who called the Midtown North
precinct -- not for the first time -- when a jewelry vendor set up shop
directly in front of his sales window.</i></div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="357" data-total-count="1003">
<br /></div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="196" data-total-count="1199">
<i>In
four weeks of business, the couple has been threatened at the depot
where they park the truck; cursed by a gyro vendor who said that he
would set their truck on fire; told to stay off every corner in Midtown
by ice cream
truck drivers; and approached by countless others with advice -- both
friendly and menacing -- on how to get along on the streets.</i></div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="196" data-total-count="1199">
<br /></div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="392" data-total-count="1951">
<i>"I
want to be a good neighbor," Mr. Di Mille said. "But I am nobody's
fool, and nobody's pushover, and I should not have to carry a baseball
bat on my truck in order to sell cupcakes."</i></div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="392" data-total-count="1951">
<br /></div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="392" data-total-count="1951">
<i>... Turf
wars are nothing new for carts selling kebabs and cheap coffee. But the
makers of thumbprint cookies, chicken-Thai basil dumplings, and crème
anglaise are not happy about the sharp elbows that are part of the
city's sidewalk economy, or the murky bureaucracy that oversees the
issuing of permits. (Six people were arrested on Tuesday on fraud charges related to food vending permits.)</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Of course, I didn't have Google when I wrote <a href="http://www.communistvampires.com/sharks.htm">Manhattan Sharks</a>. I thought I was making it all up. But food cart vendors really do battle -- sometimes violently -- over street turf in New York City. Go figure.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
======================= </div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-33633852895339477042016-04-20T01:21:00.001-07:002016-06-23T04:30:52.144-07:00My 2016 World Horror Convention Panels<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrnz9-rpEQA4nqQyKSRzZL1I46L8RoJ6Q3GWU_vwU66Hrc9uS8TbpGW_yWjD81xPcRBg_4FXrycPlC0OAK5rh3rvdp-oFtRMa227jHXhKXQ8Bz9kK4EZaErj4E7eCpY9_EoI3h/s1600/WHC+2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrnz9-rpEQA4nqQyKSRzZL1I46L8RoJ6Q3GWU_vwU66Hrc9uS8TbpGW_yWjD81xPcRBg_4FXrycPlC0OAK5rh3rvdp-oFtRMa227jHXhKXQ8Bz9kK4EZaErj4E7eCpY9_EoI3h/s200/WHC+2016.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
As in most years, I'll be attending the <a href="http://www.whc2016.org/programming.html">World Horror Convention</a>. This time it's being held in Provo, Utah.<br />
<br />
It seems it's held in Utah every four years. It was in Salt Lake City in 2008 and again 2012. The 2008 convention included a fun <a href="http://www.weeklyuniverse.com/2008/tomcarr.htm">ghost tour</a>. The 2012 con had a <span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><a href="http://www.weeklyuniverse.com/2012/seance.html">séance</a>.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
I'll be on only one panel, on Saturday, April 30th, from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m.. It's called <i>My Favorite Horror Film</i>. Panelists to include: Darren Shan, Jeff Strand, Linda Addison (m), Sunni K. Brock, Sanford Allen, and Thomas M. Sipos.<br />
<br />
====================</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-52029209225227273732015-04-25T12:47:00.003-07:002016-04-20T01:22:40.798-07:00My 2015 World Horror Convention Panels<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfJ4uC76OcEW5_bAPBedWrtJz50M4gJ1V7V_FUuRKmz8iGUGB5Htf1bCeGdqCbCywyrIproB90Y9bkW3Qa0uVhG2trlKny_sc_dAMVXe-GMvqGJJ9Y_ktuintvzLz_BAG9Tqzi/s1600/WHC+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfJ4uC76OcEW5_bAPBedWrtJz50M4gJ1V7V_FUuRKmz8iGUGB5Htf1bCeGdqCbCywyrIproB90Y9bkW3Qa0uVhG2trlKny_sc_dAMVXe-GMvqGJJ9Y_ktuintvzLz_BAG9Tqzi/s1600/WHC+2015.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<br />
I'll be participating in several events at the 2015 <a href="http://www.whc2015.org/">World Horror Convention</a> in Atlanta, Georgia, over the weekend of May 7 to 10, 2015.<br />
<br />
* On Friday, and again on Saturday, (May 8 and 9), from 5 to 6 p.m., I'll be part of the <i>Filmmakers Lounge</i>. This is described as "a free and easy conversation on whatever the filmmakers want to discuss -- their own projects, favorite films -- as well as a networking opportunity. Daniel Griffith will moderate. Panelists to include Lynne Hansen, Daniel Knauf, Frazer Lee, Ryan Lieske, Thomas M. Sipos, and John Skipp.<br />
<br />
* On Friday night, May 8, from 8 p.m. to midnight, I'll be hosting a "best of" screening of past Tabloid Witch Award winning horror films. Details on the <a href="http://tabloidwitch.blogspot.com/2015/04/best-of-screening-at-2015-world-horror.html">Tabloid Witch blog</a>.<br />
<br />
* Also on Saturday, May 9, from 2 to 3 p.m., I'll be moderating the panel: <i>Two Stumps Way Up: Horror Film Criticism, Journalism and Scholarship</i>. Panelists to include L. Andrew Cooper, James Newman, and Gord Shriver.<br />
<br />
============ </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-33985160107096365592015-03-01T21:27:00.000-08:002015-03-01T21:27:18.025-08:00Hollywood Witches Skewers Liberal Diversity Hypocrites<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmpWx2srLsnKbDgGEJrjlcYynyooBV44YlxXPRAwwZ9zbfZXd61yNir5vAo9AzHlxKZAr_uYUQnt2wOE4TAQKK73KFzpEdljBbue6njjmjCf_FtWoZXKmK57aMO8D-42IFJ-dW/s1600/Hollywood+Witches+by+Thomas+M.+Sipos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmpWx2srLsnKbDgGEJrjlcYynyooBV44YlxXPRAwwZ9zbfZXd61yNir5vAo9AzHlxKZAr_uYUQnt2wOE4TAQKK73KFzpEdljBbue6njjmjCf_FtWoZXKmK57aMO8D-42IFJ-dW/s1600/Hollywood+Witches+by+Thomas+M.+Sipos.jpg" height="320" width="205" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The 2015 Academy Awards once again
exposed Hollywood's hypocrisy on diversity. The film industry has a
long history of promoting diversity on screen -- but only as a
message, not as an actual practice. As a random example, consider the
1980 TV-movie, <i>The $5.20 an Hour Dream</i>. In it, Linda Lavin
(TV's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0089BSLKS/communistvampire">Alice</a>) fights sexist bosses and co-workers for her right to do "a man's job" on a factory assembly line.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The makers of that film likely felt a
smug pride in berating manufacturers for their unequal hiring
practices. And a sense of moral superiority in belonging to the more
enlightened entertainment industry. Indeed, Hollywood has been so
prolific in fighting prejudice (on screen) that it's hard to list
every film and TV episode with an equal opportunity message. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008HUSFTS/communistvampire">Norman Lear</a> made a career of producing "liberal message" sitcoms
in the 1970s-1980s.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But that's okay. The message
-- that one should provide equal opportunity to all job-seekers,
irrespective of race, religion, ethnicity, sex, or age -- is right and
proper. The problem is that while Hollywood loves to wag its finger
at all those other "bigoted" businesses -- which are nearly
always depicted as being run by snotty, blue-blooded WASPs --
Hollywood has yet to practice what it preaches.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">According to the AP's <a href="http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Oscar-spotlight-draws-attention-to-industry-6087638.php#page-1">Jake
Coyle</a>, "[T]he academy is a reflection of the film industry;
it can only reward the films that get made. What this year's
all-white acting nominees did was lay bare the enormous, hulking
iceberg of the movie business' diversity problems." And
NPR's <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2015/02/28/389259335/diversity-sells-but-hollywood-remains-overwhelmingly-white-male">All
Things Considered</a> adds, "If you want an accurate picture of
ethnic and gender diversity in the United States, don't look to
Hollywood."</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Both articles cite the <a href="http://www.bunchecenter.ucla.edu/index.php/2015/02/2015-hollywood-diversity-report/">2015
Hollywood Diversity Report</a> prepared by the <a href="http://www.bunchecenter.ucla.edu/">Ralph
J. Bunche Center for African American Studies</a> at UCLA. But this
is only the latest in a long line of dismal Hollywood diversity reports. In
2000, the <i><span style="font-style: normal;">Tomás Rivera Policy
Institute released a report with the self-explanatory title: <a href="http://www.sagaftra.org/files/sag/documents/stillmissing_latinosinandoutofhollywood_sagpiacf_2000.pdf">Still
Missing: Latinos In and Out of Hollywood</a></span></i>.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I know about that report because I
cite its statistics in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1452892601/communistvampire">Hollywood Witches</a>, my satirical novel
about Tinseltown's hypocritical hiring practices. In <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1452892601/communistvampire">Hollywood Witches</a>, a New Age coven infiltrates the studios, seeking control
of the industry by hook or by crook -- or more specifically, through
sex and black magic. Once in power, they will impose hiring quotas
so that the industry "looks like America" on both sides of
the camera. Coven leader Diana
Däagen even has some programs on her Mac custom-designed for just that purpose: <i>Glass Ceiling 4.0</i> and <i>Bean
Counter 2.1</i>.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Diana Däagen
is a villain. Her plans require widespread blood sacrifice to
succeed. But like all great Hollywood villains, she has a point. There is
method to her madness. When she states her case (as all great
villains do before launching the final stage of their Master Plan),
she cites hard facts and makes valid arguments. Hollywood does
discriminate. Despite the usual boilerplate about "equal
opportunity" on studio stationery, nepotism and cronyism rule
the day.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And
it's even worse behind the camera than on screen. Audiences will notice
if there's no color on screen, but they never see who's
writing and producing (or not) off camera.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The
current controversy regarding the 2015 Oscars has focused mostly
(albeit not exclusively) on the lack of diversity on screen. But
Diana correctly understood that Hollywood will never achieve real
diversity until there is diversity among the gatekeepers doing the
hiring -- the agents, managers, producers, TV show runners, and
studio bosses. Give the devil her due.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">=============================</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-85003955713830221762014-11-21T12:21:00.000-08:002014-11-21T12:21:01.784-08:00Tabloid Witch Award Screenings at Loscon 41<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcoD2Vtdyl0reIXIjgUoOSUxNwLbcpwX6XUQb-4uoV-aF5-XHDAXPCETj6wNINNAVRqc7omiuqzQeUh0Psx7t1i_0CJRlmcMhdmL-LBs-ACWKgQrPJzepcfsGm7kymXi3Qq-nA/s1600/Loscon+41.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcoD2Vtdyl0reIXIjgUoOSUxNwLbcpwX6XUQb-4uoV-aF5-XHDAXPCETj6wNINNAVRqc7omiuqzQeUh0Psx7t1i_0CJRlmcMhdmL-LBs-ACWKgQrPJzepcfsGm7kymXi3Qq-nA/s1600/Loscon+41.gif" height="68" width="200" /></a>It's that time that of year again, time for Thanksgiving -- and <a href="http://www.loscon.org/">Loscon</a>!<br />
<br />
As usual, Los Angeles's annual science fantasy convention will be convening over Thanksgiving weekend, at the LAX Marriott Hotel. And as is often the case, I'll be screening past <a href="http://www.tabloidwitch.com/">Tabloid Witch Award</a> winning horror films there.<br />
<br />
I'll be screening the following horror films on Friday evening, November 28, from 8 p.m. to midnight, in the LAX Marriott Hotel's Saddle Brook Room. The schedule is as follows:<br />
<br />
<div align="CENTER" lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en"><b>short
film block: 8 </b></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en"><span style="font-weight: normal;">-
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en"><b>10:00
p.m</b></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div align="LEFT" lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en"><i><b>Psychic
Sue</b></i></span><span lang="en"><i>
-- </i></span><span lang="en">A
phony psychic meets a real ghost. Horror comedy. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en"><i><b>Timothy</b></i></span><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>
-- </b></span></span><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;">A
children's TV show rabbit turns out to be...not nice. We always </span></span><span lang="en"><i>knew</i></span><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;">Barney the Dinosaur and the Teletubbies were evil. Grisly dark
comedy. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div lang="en" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en"><i><b>The
First Step</b></i></span><span lang="en"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">
-- </span></i></span><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;">A
young girl in a new house hears a monster creeping up the stairs.</span></span><span lang="en"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en"><i><b>Za
Edgara</b></i></span><span lang="en"><i>
(aka </i></span><span lang="en"><i><b>To
Edgar</b></i></span><span lang="en"><i>)
-- </i></span><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">How
Edgar Allan Poe got so weird. Animation. </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en"><i><b>Somebody
to Love</b></i></span><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">-- A lonely man rescues a beautiful corpse...but women are all the
same! </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div lang="en" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en"><i><b>The
Heebie Jeebies</b></i></span><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
-- A mother's terrifying bedtime tale...or are Heebie Jeebies for
real?</span></span></span><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div lang="en" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en"><i><b>The
Stomach</b></i></span><span lang="en"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">
-- </span></i></span><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">A
tormented medium hosts spirits in his stomach. Bloody British horror. </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div lang="en" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en"><i><b>The
Fear Box: 666 Telemarketing</b></i></span><span lang="en"><i>
-- </i></span><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;">Telemarketers
really are from Hell. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div lang="en" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="en"><i><b>Ticket
to the Haunted Mansion</b></i></span><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>
-- </b></span></span><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;">It's
only a show...it's not real...it's only a show...</span></span><span lang="en"><i>right?</i></span><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div lang="en" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0049B2WKW/communistvampire"><span lang="en"><i><b>Lancaster Square</b></i></span></a><span lang="en"><b>
-- </b>A woman hears a baby crying...but where </span><span lang="en"><i>is</i></span><span lang="en"> the baby? </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Filmmaker's
Q&A </b></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" lang="en" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>feature:
10:30 p.m. </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">- </span><b>midnight</b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.hollywoodinvestigator.com/2013/tympanum.html"><span lang="en"><i><b>Tympanum</b></i></span></a><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>
-- </b>A family man finds a portal in his own apartment. A portal leading
to...another planet? Another time? Another dimension?</span></span><span lang="en"><span style="font-style: normal;"></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: normal;">===============</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-19200780658714834652014-01-24T03:12:00.002-08:002014-01-24T03:30:14.731-08:00Self-Published Authors: It's Not About the Money<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhimTYM9eXv41cFxl2uqE4478QZc7xRcLVdNruQMhNHNMRzFeLscyYTLu6FRMurOepIi0L8EZRuY15N_M6vzNFrlBOr78PEi0tIQ7k5z3NjcBgM41vZ0vV7ZhRlMEoErRDAO4RP/s1600/11949855142139989868cartoon_squirrel_mike_sm1.svg.med.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhimTYM9eXv41cFxl2uqE4478QZc7xRcLVdNruQMhNHNMRzFeLscyYTLu6FRMurOepIi0L8EZRuY15N_M6vzNFrlBOr78PEi0tIQ7k5z3NjcBgM41vZ0vV7ZhRlMEoErRDAO4RP/s1600/11949855142139989868cartoon_squirrel_mike_sm1.svg.med.png" height="200" width="143" /></a></div>
Does self-publishing a book make one into a real writer? That is, professional author? Or is a self-publisher merely a vanity author?<br />
<br />
The outside world may not care about such definitions, but as self-publishing became ever cheaper and easier over the past 15 years (due to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1480250201/communistvampire">print-on-demand</a>, distributing those POD books via Amazon, and finally Kindle ebooks), writers have hotly debated who is a professional.<br />
<br />
Only professional authors are permitted to join many writers' organizations, so defining a professional is not an entirely fanciful past-time. It has real world consequences.<br />
<br />
Richard Lea observes, in Britain's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008NF8I/communistvampire"><i>The Guardian</i></a> newspaper [January 23, 2014], that most self-published authors not only don't earn much money from their books -- they also don't think it's relevant to defining a writer.<br />
<br />
I found this excerpt especially interesting:<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>[T]he self-publishing revolution has allowed "hundreds of thousands of
voracious readers with a dream of writing a novel" to write books "out
of love and passion, just like a kid goes out and dribbles a basketball
for hours every day or kicks a soccer ball against a garage wall". But
over the past few decades we wouldn't have called these people "writers"
any more than we would call that kid in the back yard a footballer. If
all it takes to be a writer is to stick your work online then we're all
writers now.</i><br />
<br />
<i>In the old days things were much clearer. All you had
to do to call yourself a writer was publish a book, which meant you
needed </i><b>someone else</b><i> to publish it – and </i><b>someone else</b><i> to buy it.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
Read the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/jan/23/digital-publishing-death-author-writer-electronic">full story here</a>. <br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-42690446150263674732014-01-20T08:12:00.000-08:002014-01-20T08:27:42.338-08:00Bogus Amazon Reviews<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGdgMjEDZj_KBLwta8isLb5quUB-sC1it2-aL2abhwG_E1YP8tkpob3_14oh1cWW5S1Hcyk1euXDrvXnA9Luz1pRHa69NSFemZFSZIX4kT6sYwc4Ac3VVMqXydh9ilEV2d1WSf/s1600/scam+film+festival.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGdgMjEDZj_KBLwta8isLb5quUB-sC1it2-aL2abhwG_E1YP8tkpob3_14oh1cWW5S1Hcyk1euXDrvXnA9Luz1pRHa69NSFemZFSZIX4kT6sYwc4Ac3VVMqXydh9ilEV2d1WSf/s1600/scam+film+festival.jpg" height="158" width="200" /></a>As an Amazon Vine Voice, I take pride in my Amazon reviews. I am thus especially disgusted by bogus "reviews for hire."<br />
<br />
I found the below ad on Criagslist, which takes bogus reviewing to new depths. "Reviewers" are hired to post <i>pre-written</i> reviews. That's right. These phony slimebag "reviewers" don't even bother to write their own lies.<br />
<br />
I suggest that Amazon (and Yelp -- I've seen ads for bogus Yelp reviewers as well) should engage in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1288384327/communistvampire">sting operations</a>. Respond to these ads, try to find out who's posting bogus reviews, and delete all their reviews.<br />
<br />
Here's the Craigslist ad (contact info not included):<br />
<br />
<br />
<div dir="LTR" id="map">
<i>We are a literary marketing company that helps authors/publishers
increase book sales.</i><br />
<br />
<i> </i></div>
<div dir="LTR" id="map">
</div>
<div dir="LTR" id="map">
<i>We are looking for individuals who can
boost the positive "Amazon book review" postings on
selected titles. You will be given the reviews. No need to do any
writing. The books are of all genres, but some are erotica so you
should be fine with that. You must have an active Amazon account
(meaning having purchased anything from there) and a computer with a
unique I.P. address (no Kindles/phones, etc.).</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i> </i></div>
<div dir="LTR" id="map">
</div>
<div dir="LTR" id="map">
<i>Need a handful
of people to post reviews on about 10 books/day (should take less
than an hour total). You will be paid $5/book ($50 total/every day).
Payment is by Paypal on a daily basis.</i><br />
<br />
<i> </i></div>
<div dir="LTR" id="map">
</div>
<div dir="LTR" id="map">
<i>Serious responses only.
This gig starts right away.</i><br />
<br />
<i> </i></div>
<div dir="LTR" id="map">
</div>
<div dir="LTR" id="map">
<i>Please provide your email as the
system here keeps sending replies to junk mail. Thanks!</i></div>
<br />
<br />
You can find some tips on how to spot a fake review on <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Spot-a-Fake-Review-on-Amazon.Com">this site</a> and <a href="http://bestfantasybooks.com/blog/dont-trust-amazon-reviews-theyre-fake/">on this site</a>.<br />
<br />
=========================== </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-18917372392478493172014-01-10T08:50:00.000-08:002014-01-10T08:50:33.438-08:00The Quarterly Review Interviews Me<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixGYjDX2eFJ9LCT29uQjRuMA7e69X76UKumZufJxTcsDFmHyE3aTkQ0yNgSfPAD4FlOl6X_Pf9a6zgIvWLI9Thpe7jI5cptcBnFMScsEcHUsr9MvFexI9nw_Qi6mJbpMbosBcA/s1600/Quarterly+Review.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixGYjDX2eFJ9LCT29uQjRuMA7e69X76UKumZufJxTcsDFmHyE3aTkQ0yNgSfPAD4FlOl6X_Pf9a6zgIvWLI9Thpe7jI5cptcBnFMScsEcHUsr9MvFexI9nw_Qi6mJbpMbosBcA/s1600/Quarterly+Review.jpg" height="177" width="200" /></a><br />
Canadian writer Mark Wegierksi interviewed me for the <i>Quarterly Review</i>, during which I mostly discuss the creative process and themes behind my novels.<br />
<br />
You can read Wegierski's <a href="http://www.quarterly-review.org/?p=2240">article here</a>.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-72435409541137236852013-11-20T04:06:00.000-08:002013-11-25T03:45:22.872-08:00My Horror Panels at Loscon 40<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAXFCm3fd8SHrx0NT_Z1G1gU0VAWUxhWsfO46Hb-PyU8zem0-gwU02Kmeyj7B85jFkE0mDZ5IXndgkd7RaxoJW4gBWyjELw1o922cuXbJSzXO4rdYKHWQyO0JML4xllt7oPlGe/s1600/Loscon+40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAXFCm3fd8SHrx0NT_Z1G1gU0VAWUxhWsfO46Hb-PyU8zem0-gwU02Kmeyj7B85jFkE0mDZ5IXndgkd7RaxoJW4gBWyjELw1o922cuXbJSzXO4rdYKHWQyO0JML4xllt7oPlGe/s200/Loscon+40.jpg" width="200" /></a>I'll appear on five panels at <a href="http://www.loscon.org/40">Loscon 40</a>, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the Thanksgiving Day weekend, in Los Angeles, CA.<br />
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Although Loscon is a mostly science fiction/ fantasy convention, they've been expanding their horror events over the years. Four of my five panels are horror-oriented. They are:<br />
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<i>* Humanizing Our Monsters<br /><br />Vampires, werewolves, zombies, demons, serial killers. All have starred as sexy and dangerous, but ultimately misunderstood heroes and protagonists, of their own stories. What is it that drives us to give humanity to the manifestations of our darkest fears? Panelists: Jenna Pitman (m), Barbara Hambly, Julie Sczesny, E.E. King, Thomas M. Sipos. Friday, 8 - 9 p.m. Scottsdale Room.</i><br />
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I've much to say on this subject. In my book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786449721/communistvampire">Horror Film Aesthetics</a>, I discuss the four appeals of horror. The fourth one I call "Sympathy for the Other" -- when "monsters" are viewed sympathetically (e.g., <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004E113O8/communistvampire">Dark Shadows vampire Barnabas Collins</a>).<br />
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<i>* Science vs the Supernatural</i><br />
<i><br />Ghosts or radiation? Mad science or necromancy? Medical malfunctions or immortal monsters? Does science or magic make for a better back drop to illustrate what scares us most? Is it all circumstantial? Panelists: Jenna Pitman (m), Julie Sczesny, Thomas M. Sipos, E.E. King. Friday, 9 - 10 p.m. Scottsdale Room. </i><br />
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Yes, in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786449721/communistvampire">Horror Film Aesthetics</a> I break down horror's basic threats into three categories: the supernatural, <i>horror/sci-fi</i>, and the human (e.g., psychos). And I explain how horror overlaps with other genres, such as science fiction proper.<br />
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<i>* Horror Literature vs Horror Cinema<br /><br />Short horror works equally as well as a story or film. But horror novels and feature length are different monsters all together. What makes the novel different than a movie? Is one more frightening than the other? What do each of them get right? What do they get wrong? Panelists: Jenna Pitman (m), Thomas M. Sipos, Donald F. Glut, Tom Khamis. Saturday, 8 - 9 p.m. Atlanta Room.</i><br />
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In <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786449721/communistvampire">Horror Film Aesthetics</a> I also explain why horror works better on film than on text, whereas the reverse is true of science fiction.<br />
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<i>* And the Award Goes to...<br /><br />All horror fans know that the genre has lost respect in recent years. Once our movies and novels were good enough to be considered classics but now they've been reduced to jokes. When was the last time our genre was been acknowledged by mainstream judges? How can the genre return to its glory days? Is it possible? Jenna Pitman (m), Julie Sczesny, Thomas M. Sipos, Tom Khamis. Saturday, 9 - 10 p.m. Atlanta Room.</i><br />
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I disagree that horror has lost respect in recent years, which I explain in my other book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786465727/communistvampire">Horror Film Festivals and Awards</a>. You can also read about that topic in the book's forward, which is reprinted for free on <a href="http://www.communistvampires.com/horrorfilmfestivals.html">my website</a>.<br />
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<i>* Future of Investigative Journalism<br /><br />The newspapers have been the only institution in society to commit to in-depth investigative journalism, which is sometimes antagonistic to both governmental and corporate power. Now that the print market is imperiled, can bloggers and web-only publications fulfill their role? Richard Foss (m) Thomas M. Sipos, Mike Glyer, Dennis Mallonee. Sunday, 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Marquis 2 Room.</i><br />
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I say much about investigative journalism -- what it is, who's doing it today, its current state of heath -- in my novel, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1452892601/communistvampire">Hollywood Witches</a>.<br />
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All in all, I've much to say about all the above topics. Drop in to <a href="http://www.loscon.org/40/">Loscon</a> if you happen to be in the Los Angeles area over the Thanksgiving Day weekend.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-32883561232080626022012-06-25T23:05:00.000-07:002012-06-25T23:05:17.098-07:00France Bans Book Discounts<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1LAsuAcTqIgm-h2Ajbf2krVNExCLVl-PUlDRF8TxHEtk2R9iT_gE_EhP7ODupkVyqOPWaLi_8qNQcd_x-rtyGdjmaAVszrPSG2RrdXLXOOqzgd2L4zY6Ex5NOt_L-s6O_Q474/s1600/Eiffel+Tower.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1LAsuAcTqIgm-h2Ajbf2krVNExCLVl-PUlDRF8TxHEtk2R9iT_gE_EhP7ODupkVyqOPWaLi_8qNQcd_x-rtyGdjmaAVszrPSG2RrdXLXOOqzgd2L4zY6Ex5NOt_L-s6O_Q474/s200/Eiffel+Tower.png" /></a>Small, independent bookstores in U.S. have long complained that publishers grant deeper discounts to bookstore chains and to Amazon.com, because the latter buy more books. The chains and Amazon then pass these discounts on to customers. This puts small bookstores at a competitive disadvantage.<p>
Of course, the chains are at a competitive disadvantage even against Amazon.<p>
But this disadvantage does not exist in France, which, forbids stores from discounting books beyond 5% of retail price.<p>
According to Angelique Chrisafis, writing for Britain's <A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/shortcuts/2012/jun/24/why-is-france-shunning-ebooks">The Guardian</a> newspaper (June 24, 2012):<p><br>
<i>"In contrast to the UK's famous three-for-two deals, the French state fixes the prices of books and readers pay the same whether they buy online, at a high-street giant or a small bookseller. Discounting is banned. The government boasts that price controls have saved small independent bookshops from the ravages of free-market capitalism that were unleashed in the UK when it abandoned fixed prices in the 1990s. France has more than 3,000 independent local bookshops and 400 in Paris, compared with around 1,000 in the UK and only 130 in London. But online book giants are still eating into small bookshops, many of which struggle to stay afloat."</i><p><br>
According to Wikipedia, this is called France's <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lang_Law">Lang Law</a>. It was passed in 1981, and extended to cover ebooks in 2011. Similar laws exist in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.<p>
I love bookstores, but as a reader, I certainly appreciate book discounts. A conundrum.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-60671717889655035002012-06-15T07:36:00.002-07:002012-06-15T07:38:11.361-07:00Verizon Wireless Truly Sucks<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsQW6cuk9Q9zeDYJNemuGVXsqMk7zF4YFjAsufF8G1_U_WDZhzF9-2H1xBseka8TIx8Wcjf305Fk8XXs55X6aHJZey2w-FppGkNO9OpRYGVwPj2IkPVGgXW8vdNxElTvAAY7mo/s1600/Verizon+Sucks+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="80" width="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsQW6cuk9Q9zeDYJNemuGVXsqMk7zF4YFjAsufF8G1_U_WDZhzF9-2H1xBseka8TIx8Wcjf305Fk8XXs55X6aHJZey2w-FppGkNO9OpRYGVwPj2IkPVGgXW8vdNxElTvAAY7mo/s320/Verizon+Sucks+2.jpg" /></a>I've written before about my problems with Verizon Wireless and how much <A HREF="http://communistvampires.blogspot.com/2011/05/verizon-sucks-steals-another-50-from-me.html">they suck</a> ... and <A HREF="http://communistvampires.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-verizon-broadband-sucks-wireless.html">suck</a> ... and <A HREF="http://communistvampires.blogspot.com/2010/01/verizon-wireless-broadband-disconnects.html">suck</a> and really and truly <A HREF="http://communistvampires.blogspot.com/2009/12/verison-broadband-wireless-still-sucks.html">suck</a>.<p>
Most (though not all) of my problems with Verizon were billing related, their robots automatically charging me for services or time that I never used.<p>
Then, after long waits on their automated customer service line, Verizon would promise to credit me the full amount -- and then not do it.<p>
So I <i>canceled all of my Verizon Wireless accounts</i> last August. I haven't had a cell phone since then. Which is good, considering that <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452297443/communistvampire">cell phones cause cancer</a>. (Yes, they <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/078670960X/communistvampire">really do</a>. Truly, <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061864285/communistvampire">they do</a>.)<p>
Now -- after <i>not hearing from Verizon for nearly one peaceful year!</i> -- Verizon has begun emailing me a "monthly bill" of $46.62.<p>
Verizon is <i>truly retarded!</i> I <i>have no wireless account</i> with them. Yet they keep on billing, long after I've kicked them out of my life.<p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-91127815762237077222012-06-07T09:43:00.000-07:002012-06-07T09:45:01.237-07:00Ray Bradbury, RIP<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxoq67T0CIjhCDI_YIygZ4OnzYK8kh0Vp743_bIHm-TJLchjusUxPDemdXxdnkvWA6mJBuzMQhSA4yXNfUHVvD71-IzIPzSXBrONNfDNcbsyOYDGMLO50PFfinLUuQxPKivJPj/s1600/Ray+Bradbury+Dies+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="207" width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxoq67T0CIjhCDI_YIygZ4OnzYK8kh0Vp743_bIHm-TJLchjusUxPDemdXxdnkvWA6mJBuzMQhSA4yXNfUHVvD71-IzIPzSXBrONNfDNcbsyOYDGMLO50PFfinLUuQxPKivJPj/s320/Ray+Bradbury+Dies+cover.jpg" /></a>I discovered Ray Bradbury in a trash can. On my way home from grammar school, I saw that someone had discarded some yellowed, worn 1970s paperbacks. I salvaged all the true ghost stories and horror fiction anthologies. One Berkeley paperback contained Bradbury's "<A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0380973871/communistvampire">The Small Assassin</a>," the tale of a mentally mature infant who plots his mother's murder. (Think of <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000083C6V/communistvampire">The Family Guy</a>'s Stewie.)<p>
People forget that Bradbury, known for his science fiction, was also a horror writer. With "<A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0380973871/communistvampire">The Small Assassin</a>," I became a lifelong Bradbury fan, whatever his story's genre.<p>
I first met Bradbury in 1992, at a Malibu, California book-signing. (His, not mine). He loved my trash can story. One would expect the author of <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1451673310/communistvampire">Fahrenheit 451</a> to rejoice at people rescuing any books from landfills, incinerators, or recyclers.<p>
Read the rest of my article in the <A HREF="http://www.hollywoodinvestigator.com/2012/raybradburydies.html">Hollywood Investigator</a>.<p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-3346051570466401992012-05-30T01:07:00.000-07:002012-05-30T01:07:57.724-07:00What Does It Mean to Be Published?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnVWXXqf8ZklAwDTgUGRefSSxq1E4OutXDpXygA3U4FucBJumeICiuqHCuRCphRZcyHZL1cGc7zRJoPdxtHMPcTQh6JAJ6iWUr8vtKGlvahg3BukryZpwAgw846AqcDBZWvfa3/s1600/book.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="141" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnVWXXqf8ZklAwDTgUGRefSSxq1E4OutXDpXygA3U4FucBJumeICiuqHCuRCphRZcyHZL1cGc7zRJoPdxtHMPcTQh6JAJ6iWUr8vtKGlvahg3BukryZpwAgw846AqcDBZWvfa3/s200/book.png" /></a></div>Back before <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1469951576/communistvampire">Kindle</a>, before <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0972380132/communistvampire">print-on-demand</a> even, the public derided self-publishing as vanity publishing. Vanity books were not real books. Vanity authors were not real authors.<p>
To be published -- to be truly <i>published</i> -- required more than having a book in print. It required that an <i>objective third party</i> had invested in printing your book. A commercial publisher believed that your book was entertaining or interesting enough to find favor with the <i>paying public</i>.<p>
Commercial publishers are motivated not by vanity, but by an objective calculation of how much a book is worth on the market. Self-publishers call these people "traditional publishers," as though self-publishing is new and ground-breaking. It's not. Self-publishing is not ground-breaking. And "commercial publisher" better describes non-vanity publishers than the term "traditional publisher."<p>
If your book was printed by a commercial publisher -- an <i>objective third party</i> who risked his own money to publish your book -- then you, the commercially published author, derived prestige and status. The public admired you for overcoming the hurdle of an <i>objective third party</i>.<p>
By contrast, if an author self-published, that meant the book was printed solely because of the author's faith (i.e., his vanity) in the book's merits. And because every mother believes her child to be beautiful and gifted, however ugly and stupid a child may be, the public was rightfully skeptical of self-published books. Which the public called "vanity books."<p>
Vanity were not real books. Vanity books weren't published, they were printed. They sat stacked in cardboard boxes, unsold, in the author's basement or garage.<p>
Read the <A HREF="http://www.communistvampires.com/articles/published.html">rest of the article</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905980.post-13677052245602087342012-04-25T05:24:00.000-07:002012-04-25T05:24:53.510-07:00The Celestine Prophecy: Old Socialism for a New Age<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwhibiM_iGMNFCIVR9Px9qWmThubNmi_XoawRL1UVcmH7ytxxGt40JSNqCLeo3LrftI25cwP4TOnclISjRim_Ev-VAaXrTffQ8QwlssZiuNmxhLD6XWRE2uJh1uMlJA-HeaDNA/s1600/Spiritual+Revolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="184" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwhibiM_iGMNFCIVR9Px9qWmThubNmi_XoawRL1UVcmH7ytxxGt40JSNqCLeo3LrftI25cwP4TOnclISjRim_Ev-VAaXrTffQ8QwlssZiuNmxhLD6XWRE2uJh1uMlJA-HeaDNA/s200/Spiritual+Revolution.jpg" /></a></div>I'm not a big admirer of the New Age. My <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1452892601/communistvampire">Hollywood Witches</a> satirizes, among other targets, La La Land flakes and their silly infatuations with New Age make-believe.<p>
The New Age movement is a blend of self-obsession, self-delusion, squishy-Left politics, greedy scam artists, second-hand cafeteria spirituality, and pseudoscience -- with many practitioners embodying <i>all</i> of those seemingly contradictory traits.<p>
The dreadful <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446671002/communistvampire">Celestine Prophecy</a> -- a huge bestseller in the 1990s -- is a good example of New Age nonsense. I reviewed the book in 1995. That review is now reprinted at the <A HREF="http://www.weeklyuniverse.com/2012/celestine.html">Weekly Universe</a>.<p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0