Unca Harlan's Art Deco Dining Pavilion

Archive - 10/08/2007 to 12/17/2007

Unca Harlan's Art Deco Dining Pavilion

MIKE LANE: Begs W*H*A*T question? I never met Rod Serling. You
assume too much.

KB: What I despise most about the internet and, sadly, this site is apparently equally unsafe as the rest of the terrain...
people pop in here without doing any perusal of what has gone before ... and so we have the same questions asked over and over and over and over, and we must continue to educate the parvenus until blood gushes from our ears.

I mean you, KB. No longer ago than a week, we asked people NOT to rehash new movies, spoiler warnings or not, because it fucks everything up for those of us who have lives to live and get around to each new Friday's load of cinema offal when we can.

Apparently, you either missed all that, or you're tone-deaf.

Either way, it is what drives me, personally, away from this place.

Harlan Ellison

Gerrold Interview

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Star-Trek-Animated/1992

It would be best if I included the link

David Gerrold Interview mentioning Harlan

This goes back a few years but it’s a very interesting interview with a very good writer. The interview is broken up into three sections, Section two involves Harlan but the whole interview is well worth your time.

Regards

Jarod Hitchcock

Paul, go to any peace rally and you will see the cops for what they are--thugs.

They hate democracy and they obviously hate us. Taste tear gas sometime, it is not the Binaca kiss.

They own us and they know it, the best way to fight them and other forms of authority is to be active and to be awake. All you can really say.

Cindy knows we have her back.

-----------

Rob, you just called me, you said that you hated Dali, thought his art was like a...let me get this right, "a crack baby drawing with a burnt crayon."


Don't think I don't have your number bub.

Actually, Dali is the man. Rob loves him, we all love him, but never more then he loved himself. You can ask his ghost; but he is the only ghost I know that doesn't do house calls.

Ba boom.

Re: The Starlost
Dear Todd Cassel,

as we used to say in my day, THE STARLOST sucked the moose's root! Run away! (I don't think our host loses a penny if you do.)

You can read about Harlan's ordeal with the series in his memoir, "Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto" - it's in THE ESSENTIAL ELLISON. However, you'd best go on bookfinder.com and hunt down HE's original teleplay in Jack Dann & George Zebrowski's anthology, FASTER THAN LIGHT. It is sublime writing instructive to anyone who wants to write SF for any visual medium. (Oddly enough, M. Night Shyamalan's THE VILLAGE is closer to Harlan's vision than the series ever was.)

Todd,

From what I remember of the series, I would say the DVDs should make nice coasters. That's about it. Even as a high school kid who loved SF, it was lousy. I don't remember one good moment from it. Of course I didn't see the whole thing, but I doubt there was a late-season rethinking/rewriting that made the later episodes any better.

Some were groaningly bad.

Buy some nice coasters instead. They're cheaper.

Chuck

I'm with those who say I Am Legend is half a good movie, and that's half more than the first two. I saw The Last Man on Earth when I was eight or nine, and it scared the hell out of me. I rented it a few weeks ago, watched the first fifteen minutes, and turned it off before I got to the parts I remember being scary. It’s a mess. And Chuck-Heston-versus-the-Manson-Black-Power-Hippie-Luddite-Albinos didn't even have the virtue of being frightening. When I finally got my hands on the novel, age ten or eleven, I was enthralled. I must have read it half a dozen times. So it's fair to say I've been waiting for this film for thirty years. And I don't mind filmmakers taking liberties with plot as long as they don't make a mess of it. The first half of this film is wonderfully spooky and atmospheric and features at least one sequence of unbearable stomach-clenching tension. And while putting a dog in danger is about the most cheaply manipulative thing a film can do, what the hell, it works. The flashback sequences, maybe of necessity, weren't as frightening as they could have been. The biggest flaw, aside from the ludicrous implausibilities that pile especially high in the second half, is the conception of the "dark seekers". Obviously "28 Days Later" raised the ante by making the slow-moving Romero zombies into speed demons, but this one makes them virtually superhuman. As if they need speed and strength when they have numbers. And CGI has rendered them indistinguishable from one another. The horrible thing - one of the horrible things - about vampires in general, and Matheson's in particular, is that they are recognizable as formerly human. (Paging Ben Cortman and Virginia Neville.) These things might as well be aliens. But I though Will Smith did a fine job. And man, did I love that dog.

Harlan Ellison's Starlost
Just announced:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Starlost-North-American-Release/8630

So, who can refresh my memory on the history of Harlan's involvement in this series. I know it's been essayed ad naseum, but it's been years since I read about it and I'm wondering if these DVD's will be worthwhile.

-TODD

My pal Alan wrote:

"According to Mark Evanier, Leno and O'Brien are going back to work on Jan. 2. ASSHOLES!"

Not that anyone asked me, but...

It's probably been close to ten years since I watched Leno for more than a few minutes while channel-surfing. The last time I recall, several months ago, he was still doing Clinton BJ jokes.

O'Brien? Never found him funny, haven't watched him in years. Not even channel-surfing.

Tony

Susan, thanks for checking on the membership for me.

Cindy, take care.


And bests to all.

--tr

Writing
What a bitch. Last week I work like a buggered HouseMaid for three days cleaning, laundering, sorting, filing, emptying trash, throwing out old mattresses (by moonlight so the landlord don't charge me fifty bucks for large item disposal so sue me, I pay two grand in rent monthly you can haul a couple old mattresses on the cuff you bastards), paying bills, answering months worth of old mail, paying old debts, cleaning up bookshelves and making sure the cat's took their hairball medicine and stop drinking the water from the Chritmas tree.

All of that in service of "clearing the decks" for the script rewrite I was hired for a month ago, which rewrite is to be turned in January 20. Which rewrite I did a preliminary pass on and turned in two weeks ago. Which rewrite I have twelve pages of handwritten notes taken verbatim from the producer to follow for the first forty pages. Which forty pages I was to turn in before Christmas.

And I sit here, the laptop (for some reason hidden from me I write best on a laptop. Maybe it is like Harlan writing on typewriters? Harlan, don't you write on a portable typewriter when on the road? Is it that there is something comfortable about holding your whole career right there in your lap, winging it, flying over the shoals and reefs, out to the open sea of story, just me and my fingers? Probably not.)

And I sit here, realizing I am supposed to be writing. I am being paid to write.

And yet:

Actually, there is some mail to do. Not to mention I have not balanced my checkbook in a few days. Oh, and look, three Christmas cards I have not sent replies to...

SO why am I smiling now?

KOS

Muses of Fire, that Ascend the very Heaven of Invention. . .
But David, mightn't a newcommer to Shakespere be better served by a format they are more familiar with? I mean, unless she's already intimate with live theatre, perhaps a filmic presentation, with close ups, and incidental music and a "pause" button with which to tackle Elizabethan idiom for the first time might be actually be a good introduction.

No question the bard was meant to be performed. But sitting through a full length Hamlet might be a tall order for someone who's never tackled it before.

I confess, when I was introduced to Shakespere in High School, I found the language as indecipherable as hyroglyphics. It was the on-screen performances of Kenneth Branagh and Ian McKellon that drew me in (Roman Polanski's sex and violence didn't hurt either), more so than the live Othello I eagerly took the bus to Stratford for.
And today, even the little 12 year olds I work with are familiar with the Baz Luhrmann version of Romeo and Juliet.

When it comes to introductions, motion pictures can make a lovely Trojan Horse into the psyche.

(having said all that, I would avoid "Tromeo and Juliet". Amusing as it is, it is probably not the impression you're looking for Alex.)

Thine Own,

-Steve E. of the House of Dylag

Mr. Ellison

Your recent post on Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont begs the question "Did you meet Rod Serling?" and if so in what context and if I may inquire what did you think of him and his work. I know you worked on the New Twilight Zone which suggests you were an admirer of his work but I don't like to assume things. Thanks for any comment you might provide
Sincerely

Mike Lane

Late night hosts returning to work
FWIW, the WGA seems fine with the late-night shows going back, figuring that having vocal support from the hosts will only be a good thing. According to the Nikki Finke's site http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/ , the WGA simply reminded them of the rules regarding monologues, etc.

Jan

Barber,

I'm going to that!

David,

Getting The Shakes:

The very problem you just brought up - experiencing the Bard as the form is meant to be experienced - has defined an ongoing conflict for me since I can remember. When I'm reading a play - whoever the writer - I feel I'm doing it an injustice. Yet, it's an issue I'll have to resolve because I've really little choice. If I want to revisit Shakespeare, I'll have to do it at home. I particularly, at this time, have Hamlet and Richard III in mind.

I also want Beckett, Shepard, and obviously Tennessee Williams.

But I need to get past this problem of feeling self-conscious because of the form. If I can't, the focus isn't there.

I also noted what you said about Hemingway and Fitzgerald "inflicted" by the school system. It's the dead weight - I think - of unimaginative and uninspired instructors who can do that. I make that argument, because, like you, some authors were "ruined" for myself as well. But, there are some periods I recall the opposite happening: an excellent teacher - who'd included these authors in his course - turned me onto Melville and Faulkner, compelling me to find more of their works years later.

That doesn't always happen, of course. That's why I feel it lies in the talents or lacking thereof in a teacher.

***I AM LEGEND

No one here is closer to the author of this brilliant novella than Harlan.

For ONCE, I'm declaring this openly: I'll only take a look at this thing with Will Smith if I find out Harlan himself was pleased with it. I am an outrageous PURIST when it comes to Matheson's story, as I would be for any adaptation of an Ellison story. And with the 2 previous movie fiascoes (even though there are some elements in the Heston version I DO like), I don't need to experience a third. Critics out there seem to be saying right now that this is both the best and the worst version; that it does a great job in the first half, and then descends into the routine and predictable action train. Richard Roeper, this last weekend, praised the shit out of it. I don't trust him on this. The outtakes I saw looked stupid. The harsher critiques I picked up earlier last week sounded legit.

If Harlan knocks it, or if I never read his response to it...I'll probably take a walk on it.

****Und finally, one of many films I saw and studied way back there in Melnitz at UCLA filmschool, when it was still a BA program, was 1948's noir watershed, The Naked City. It was the ushering in of Neo-Realist filmmaking in American film (and the beginning of many careers) - influenced by the Italian wave - and a radical experiment in narrative (I BELIEVE this film is one of Kubrick's early influences; you look at this, and you see so many of his early films here).

I felt like revisiting the film and exploring it on a new level. Except for the narrator, producer Mark Hellinger, who I feel goes TOO far with the "intrusions", my respect aside for the experiment, its claustrophobic imagery is intoxicating. Even today you can pick up SOOOOOOOO many ideas from this thing.

Eventually, I'll own a copy.

I felt like

According to Mark Evanier, Leno and O'Brien are going back to work on Jan. 2. ASSHOLES!

http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007_12_17.html#014482

WGA Strike
I thought that I would share the "interwebblognetwebblog" at
http://lateshowwritersonstrike.com/.

It has some comments and videos regarding the WGA strike. There is a good deal of wit and cleverness, even to the point of being laugh-out-loud funny.

I do know the strike is serious but the AMPTP is too easy a target for satire and parody. Greedy corporate thugs is all they are.

I would hope they realize that their ultimatums and rollback "offers" are not winning them friends and will get rid of Nick Odemus Counter before he fucks up the entire entertainment economy.

I also hope the side negotiations will go well - and wake up the corporate thugs.

Neighbor (sort-of) Brian:
Thanks for the Flanders and Swann. I only knew "Have some Madeira, M'dear" from late night convention madness known as filking, and I find the source to be a true delight.

Yr. Obdnt. Svnt.
wcf

ANGELENOS: Salvador Dali and Film Exhibition at LACMA

If you are a fan of film-making, a fan of Dali, a fan of Surrealism or the Marx Brothers or Disney, I cannot recommend this exhibition highly enough.

Among the highlights are his most famous painting, PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY; a large exhibit of works relating to Hitchcock's film SPELLBOUND (including a large screen viewing of the dream sequence); and the completely finished version of the Dali/Disney collaboration film DESTINO -- which was not completed until 2003 when computers could take a whack at the complicated imagery.

I went to it yesterday and the show is gobsmacking (yes, it's a Brit word that describes exactly this show).

http://www.lacma.org/art/ExhibDali.aspx

The show only runs until January 6th, but it's worth changing your plans...

(This means you Harlan, Susan, Erik, Josh, Tom, Rob, Duane and all other LA-based film-liking Webderlanders.)

reading aloud w Bill da Bard

ALEX JAY:

You want my advice? I would say you should NOT read Shakespeare. Not yet.

Do you know if she's ever seen a play? If not, take her to one. Take in a couple. See how she likes the territory. Make sure it's the real thing, not one of the videos, no matter how fine. Shakespeare was written to be heard and seen and felt live.

Which is not to say there are no rewards to reading the scripts to oneself in silence, or reading them aloud one-on-one or among a circle of friends or even strangers -- all of which I've done.

If the live shows pique her interest, THEN you can read her the favorites that are not being produced locally. And I would say let her pace you: if she stops with a question, welcome those, but don't lecture where YOU think it's called for.

Classics should invite people in, not be imposed on them. They have plenty ability to do so. I was required to read Hemingway and Fitzgerald in high school and I've hardly ever gone back to them since. My loss, I know, but not my fault that I was put off by them by the system first.

Go here for a mess of pottage!
There is something up on YouTube, which I am fairly sure Mr. Ellison would dig, as well as give all of you a chuckle.

In one of Ellison's essays, I noticed a reference that sounded familiar to me, "...come up to my place for a mess of pottage!". This same phrase shows up "Design for Living" by (Michael) Flanders and (Donald) Swann. I have just about all of their recordings, but there is VERY little footage of them, but someone who, according to the poster, has the permission of the estate, has put up two clips of them performing "A Song of Patriotic Prejudice" and "Madeira M'Dear". Not only are they both funny songs, Flanders' considerable acting chops are hinted at.

It's been a rough year for a lot of people and hopefully this will bring a couple of smiles to people's faces (myself included).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW_zi8n4HDQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vh-wEXvdW8

Brian Phillips

P.S. For those who are unfamiliar with Flanders and Swann, their first two albums, "At the Drop of a Hat" and "At the Drop of Another Hat" are absolutely wonderful!

The Green (not bright) Hand (not young men)....
Dear Mr. Ellison:

Thank you! It's entirely possible that I've been reading too many animation blogs, and made the conflation between the Green Hand group and the Seven Bright Young Men out of sheer non-Googling laziness. My apologies.

As for that Victory team, well, how nice for you, then....

Sincerely,
cgeye
(a frustrated former Blue Blaze Irregular)

ATC,

There are times when I feel lucky just to have made it through the day. I have been from that lousy place, myself. I hope you were able to give vent to those feelings and that being able to vent a bit here helped ease the pain.

If I may quote a Wise Old Gentleman: "It is when the shitrain falls most poundingly, that the core nature of the strength of our character manifests itself...If I've said it once, I've said it at least twice: yes, of course, Life is tough; but if it were easy, hell, EVERYONE would be doing it! Remember this, kiddo: as the little old lady in the play THE CONNECTION said to a loftfull of junkies, "You are not alone."

Just remember that there is no need for you to feel alone in this.

Chuck

Adam,

You made it through another day and that's what matters most. You're right, we've all been there, and now that you've come through the other side -- perhaps only to go there again -- we're still here and don't have any plans to leave you wanting.

Chin up,
shagin

Harlan,
I think I'm gonna be just fine. I'm not afraid but I'm vigilant. How's your battle coming?

Cindy


Adam Troy?
I'll pray tonight for your tomorrow to be less oppressive. If you feel like venting do it! Don't hold back-- just turn on those turbines and it crank up.
I'm listening,
Cindy

Random Plaint
Harlan is fond of an epigram to the effect that if people's faces were as unformed as their hearts (or souls -- the exact reference eludes me), monsters would roam the streets.

Today I feel a little unformed myself, and am not showing a great face to the world. Not having a great emotional day, is what I'm saying.

Nothing big. Nothing you need to worry about or knock yourselves out interfering with. Just the standard issue pissed-off-with-myself to which we're all heir from time to time. I felt like venting. Sigh.

ERRATUM

"in and" should be "and in"

-he

PAUL:

Like you--and I've ratified this more than a few times in essays, in and short stories such as "Free With This Box!"--I am not much of an admirer of cops in general. But, as with anything else, there are some good mixed in with the brutes and the power-control-junkies; and a few of those are friends o mine. Nonetheless, and the foregoing notwithstanding, the "us against them" restatement spoken to you...has been spake to me. Not once, not twice, but on three separate occasions by three different police officers of my close acquaintance, in three different cities, at three different levels of rank.

I fear US against THEM, for too many law-enforcement individuals means--precisely and EXACTLY--what you heard. Us is the blue line, THEM is you and me and Cindy, kiddo.

(How you holdin' up, sweetie?)

Yr. Pal, Harlan

REPLY TO CGEYE:

Dear Sir or Madame:

"The Green Hand" was the informal gang-monicker for the group of Southern California tv/film scenarists who loosely allied in the mid-'60s with Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson at the core. I refer you to a book published within the last few years titled, if my memory is still precise, CALIFORNIA SORCERY. It contains stories by all of us, a bright group of "young men,"
and memorializes that auctorial Hanseatic League.

The group included Theodore Sturgeon, who had come out to California at a turbulent nexus in his career, to live with me for a while. Formerly (before the "Green Hand" identity) the bunch of writers included George Clayton Johnson, John Tomerlin, William F. Nolan and even Jerry Bixby. I got to LA in 1962, and was close friends with Chuck Beaumont and, subsequently, Dick Matheson. I knew all the rest of the bunch, medium to well, and everyone sort of hung.

But I was a "member of the group" only by time and venue. The writers who orbited Dick and Chuck got much of their tv script work as referrals by Beaumont/Matheson--"Wanted: Dead or Alive"
and "Twilight Zone" to name only two--while I went my own way, and could be called "associate" to that sterling group only through friendship and some similarity of subject matter.

Years later, when the story of that cadre was being codified, I was amazed to find myself (happily) on the roster. I flat-out worshipped Charles Beaumont; and have written encomia of the great Richard Matheson enough times for even the most casual observer to perceive my honor at being called his friend. Chad Oliver, another grand grand writer, was one of that bunch, and a good friend of mine, though he is most usually thought of as a Texan; the late Ray Russell was--after his stint as fiction editor for Playboy--an amigo of the core group; Ray Bradbury, though long-established at that time, was another; as was Jerry Sohl. As was I.

CALIFORNIA SORCERY begins with a much more accurate and detailed essay of that time, this place, and those icons. When your query was first transmitted to me through friends--Kay and Josh--reference was made to "The Seven Bright Young Men," and not "The Green Hand." After scratching my head for a moment,I parsed your question as a misthinking of the latter for the former. On the other hand, if you really DID mean "The Seven Bright Young Men," you might have meant the animators who worked for Disney, or the OTHER group to which I belonged ...

THE SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY. Of which I, as Wong, sidekick to The Crimson Avenger, attest to being party, with The Vigilante, The Shining Knight, The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, Green Arrow and Speedy, as my cohorts.

I hope the preceding clarifies everything for you.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

Police; Meet the new boss, same as the old boss....

18-odd years ago I dated this girl whose father was a Police Inspector from CA. He was a pretty good guy, I suppose. Never liked cops much at all, but i've known some over the years, and even though i've never really been treated unfairly by them, but i've known plenty of people who've been roughed up unnecessarily and perhaps I felt the animus just on GP. He moved back East and started a house alarm company, saying he didn't want to do 'that' kind of work anymore. So we would sit around in the evenings, all of us, talking, and it was one of these evenings that he said one of the most frightening things I've heard, coming from someone whose job it had been to "Protect and Serve".
He said, "When I started on the police force (this woulda been 'in his 20's, 1960-65 or so.), the mentality was Us vs. Them, meaning the cops against the bad guys. I quickly learned that the truth was Us vs. Them, as in the police against EVERYBODY ELSE." The look on his face chilled me. He had believed that.

Cindy, you are one hell of an individual, and my thoughts are with you. Echoing sentiments and alla that, i respect the heck out of you. That Texas good-ole-boy system is an SOB to break, and i'm looking forward to reading all about it. Go get 'em tiger. Stay safe. Courage.

HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY, SIR ARTHUR C CLARKE!!!
There are writers who have meant more to me in my life I suppose but it was Arthur C Clarke who first ignited the dream for me with his fiction and his essays.

The future didn't turn out quite like he and Asimov thought maybe but let's hope the vision of human beings facing the universe with courage and imagination and wonder never dies.

"Why, with a mind like that he is almost one of us gods!"
-- Zeus, about Odysseus, in the ILIAD.

Mary, cops are thugs, most of them, sad to say; they seem to get real glee fucking with people, especially poor ones. Brutes who want to kick ass wear the badge--I have seen this way too many times. When was the last time you saw any cop who had a hankerin for democratic morays?

Face it, we called them pigs back in the day for a reason, not just to be hyperbolic or crass. That too, but fun is fun.

This is why we must find a way to dismantle all unchecked authority and live in an egalitarian world. '

Do I dream? Sure. This is one thing nobody can deny.

---------------

Camille Paglia has a tribute to Norman Mailer in the latest Rolling Stone. Except for a few nutty moments, she has it right. She doesn't downplay Mailer's sick moments, but keeps it pretty correct.

Mailer was a bastard, but we need bastards.

--------------

Harlan, can you explain Will Smith? hehe. '

--------------------

Corporations will never allow themselves to be regulated--especially if you regulate their profit. They will not stand for that and they have means to get even with any person who fucks with them.

They can transfer funds as quick as a sneeze now in the electronic age. They could hurt the economy with one stroke of a mouse. These are vindictive rats, remember.

We first have to regulate capital flows. But that does not take into account the sad fact that people, mostly the poor, still have to rent themselves out to a boss or company, to be used. Better that people themselves control their own work.

Cindy:

I find it interesting (and frightening) that some individuals are given badges, and then they turn around and do whatever the hell they want. It appears this sheriff threw away his decency, humanity, honesty, and sense of true justice in the trashcan along with the badge he supposedly upholds. Then again, I'm sure the people like that idiot former boss of yours giving him the power to do what he wants doesn't help either. Continue to hold your own...for as long as I've read this message board, you've always spoken your mind along with everyone else here, and you've done it with style, passion, and a healthy dose of intelligence. It's what keeps me coming back.

As far as my two cents goes, enough is enough is enough. People like that sheriff need to be run out of town on a rail. The written word wasn't meant to protect his sorry behind. It was meant to express the opinions of all, and most importantly, the truth. Don't stop, Cindy. I've never met you, but you've got more cajones than most people I know.

There are many more important subjects...

...to talk about than this...

...Cindy, your story is frightening on many levels, good luck and godspeed to you...

...Roger, best of luck with your mom's health, the last 30 days have been a rough time for my own circle as well, I know too well the feeling of fretting about the parents...

...but, may I just say, apropos of nothing, that this thing the Los Angeles Times is doing, of taking the Sunday Comics, and splitting them into two sections, and burying them deep, deep, deep inside the advertisements so that you have to paw through alla that crap just to find out what Trudeau and Breathed have cooked up this week, is driving me OUT OF MY GODDAMNED MIND!

Okay, I feel a little better now.

Back to our regularly scheduled conversation.

MM

The Green Hand
I was referred here by Mr. Olson:

I recall reading about a group of writers who banged around the Science Fiction/Fantasy TV series of the '60s, possibly including you, Matheson, Beaumont.... was it as tough as the Black Hand, but concentrated on more scripts, more money, fewer drive-bys?

Song n'Dance for the politically aware:

KOS: "You use government to restrict business, and you use economic freedom to keep government in line. Too much power on either side and you get a mess."

I wish that population held in the right-wing media-byte fishing net would grasp this point as precisely the plight and object of the Progressive Left. The equation KOS highlighted is the entire basis for an American middle-class.

Following the timeline, from Reagan's rhetoric way back in the 80's which found a hefty share of purblind suckers...and how it alarms me NOW the way competition gives way to "legal monopolies", and corporations own most of the media air waves, so that many otherwise "serious reporters" - should they defy the shareholders, will find themselves out of work like Cindy, and "BRITNEY" dominates newscasts to drown out the Bush-Cheney debacle. (Recall what Maria Shriver had to say about NBC when Anna-Nicole was all they could prop as news)

We're not yet in Putin's Russia, where bold journalists determined to report the truth get murdered; here, you'll just lose your job. But let things move freely as they are, and we COULD get there!

And ONE more thing: I was talking with a friend last night as we were listening to this dipshit Republican-Libertarian, Lou Dobbs, sharing his "vision" for "America".

Well, this friend of mine has a sister who, in her early 20's, was subjected to radiation in a lab accident. Today - some 25 years later - her mind is deteriorated. She can't help herself. She closes herself in a room upstairs nearly 24 hours/day, and rarely accepts direct help. If her family didn't have money for insurance she'd be on her own. Problem is, there are people in this country in that very situation - where they've NO money - and may even be out on the streets.

Likewise, I've a friend who is bipolar. She has NO money and therefore no insurance. Her family has abandoned her because she is so difficult to deal with. The result: she once prostituted herself just to survive financially, and she's landed in jail several times, the last because of traffic violations, bench warrants for court "no-shows", and driving on a suspended license. Her family wouldn't bail her out, and she sat there for a week.

Needless to say, there are probably millions in this country who are worse off than both these people.

YET...ALL of these people - according to Dobbs - would simply be "responsible for themselves".

KOS' equation is really, REALLY relevant - and I hope more people wake up to this fact, and that they've been suckered round the clock. The balances of regulation in behalf of an American Republic - those that are to benefit and protect all groups.

(And, finally, re: KOS' reference to untrustworthiness of human nature - whether in business or government...you can't leave out religious hierarchies either)

I guarantee that the Founders, whom right-wingers oddly LOVE to use as reference to promote their positions - including Hamilton and Adams (who were at opposition on issues in their day) - would all be turning in their graves right now.

I suspect Cindy's situation is a symptom of this massive deterioration.

Sorry for the diatribe, but - nah! Actually, I'm NOT!

Mr. Kos:

This link might make it a little mo' easy to git to the books:

http://tinyurl.com/32ln3p

Book info
Books are here:

http://search-completed.ebay.com/_W0QQ_trksidZm37QQcatrefZC5QQdfspZ1QQfbdZ1QQfclZ3QQfisZ2QQflocZ1QQfposZ91752 QQfromZR6QQfrppZ50QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQfssZ1QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQnojsprZyQQpfidZ0QQsaaffZafdefaultQQsabfmtsZ0QQsacatZQ2d1QQsacqyopZgeQQsacurZ0QQsadisZ200QQsaobfmtsZexsifQQsargnZQ2d1QQsaslZamparionQ2dgalleryQQsaslcZ0QQsaslopZ1QQsofocusZbs

Yes, all of that. The webdress is really that long.
(The book ad's are mixed in with some nice lingerie ones; no, don't ask. Yes, it is a long story.)

Email amparion@sbcglobal.net with any questions

KOS

Books
KOS: I must have missed the post, where do I go to see the offerings from Harlan's tittering tower of books? Much obliged.

Nouttin' Honey
Dear Harlan and Susan,

I got your message left this AM. Thanks for the kind words, and I will keep you apprised of the sales. It's no trouble at all, so if you wnt to send more books as they accumulate, by all means, away all packages!

Everything that's been paid for has been shipped, so those of you who bought, watch for packages.

Frank: Of course the market is soulless. Left to itself the market would sell your daughter's virtue (assuming you had a daughter) and human flesh by the pound. It's called "The Race To The Bottom" and is why I am NOT a libertarian or a believer in unlimited free markets or free trade.

I believ it wasAdam Smith who wrote something aong the lines of "You cannot get two or more businessmen alone in the same room for more than five minutes without them fixing prices."

See, i don't trust business any more than I do government. Human nature being what it is, good and evil, all mixed up and distibuted very unevenly, one cannot trust blindly in the goodness of others. Sometimes you roll seven, someies it's snakeyes. Sometimes you roll seven, but it's a "Seven-out". You just can't be sure,,l so you hedge your bets. You use government to restrict business, and you use economic freedom to keep government in line. Too much power on either side and you get a mess.

On the other hand, if you put ME in charge, (hah) I'll just take enough to keep me in clover and treat you all like prize herefords. Up The Empire! "I'm Here To Help You!"

ANd if you write the graphic novel I know a cracker jack artist (sheeit, they're all over this place) to draw the picksures fer it.

I see the movie version now: "A History Of Economics" starring Jack Nicholson as Adam Smith.

Or something like that.

KOS

To all of Y'all,
This is the greatest bunch of people. Your words eased the sting more than you know. I'm going to be okay. This gives me more time to spend writing the petition for removal I've been constructing for the past year or so. In Texas any resident of a county who has lived there for six months or better can bring a petition to the District Judge. If the Judge deems there is enough of a problem with the official to remove him from office he can order the District Attorney or the Attorney General's Office to bring the case before a jury. The jury would then decide whether or not to remove. In this case the Judge knows what's going on first hand. He's very wise and completely fearless. He sees me poking around the courthouse from time to time. He always smiles at me and asks if I'm still stirring up trouble. I grin and assure him I'm doing my best to. I just have to make sure I have every detail covered and each charge laden with conclusive information. It's all about specifics. Even if the jury ended up stacked with the Sheriff's friends-- even if they voted not to remove him; the information in the petition would show the voting public what he's been doing since he's been here. He's up for re-election.

Thank you again, each one of you-- you made my heart warm.
Love,
Cindy



Harlan,
Thank you-- I needed that.
:)
Cindy

CINDY, CINDY, CINDY

You are not a failure. You weep because you feel you have not done enough. Perhaps this is true, perhaps it is not. But you have done far more than lesser people have, and you will do far more in the future. No fight can be won unless it has begun. You have started a fight that needed to be started. For that, you should be immensely proud.

Good Luck and know that the thoughts of many people here are with you.

Cindy

Reporters who don't, periodically, argue with their management, or with the local authorities, are not worth a penny.

If it cost you your job, you're aces in my book for having the drive to stand by your work. That's honorable and commendable in my book.

Too few of your peers have the cajones not to get pushed around on a valid story or series of stories. But that's a fundamental part of the job, if you're ethical about it. Silencing the "media" is always the work of scumballs and criminals, just remind yourself of that. And any radio station that accepts advertising from the subject's spouse and runs it just before your broadcast is highly questionable in my view. It reeks, and not in a fine French cheese way.

Yes it hurts. Yes it pisses you off. Yes it costs you money. But -- and this is important -- ten years from now you're going to look back on this and take some very valid pride in your actions.

Trust me.

For what it's worth, you've got my deepest respect.



(Your editor, on the other hand, needs to grow a pair.)

Barney: thanks for your comments on the "penny book" phenomenon. I'm the guy who wrote _Other People's Treasures: Selling Books & CDs on Amazon.com_, & if my tiny publisher ever makes good on doing a 2nd ed, I might hit you up for blurbage &/or review. My little operation moves maybe $100 to $300/month, almost entirely obscure items I bought at 10/$1 at some thrift store or other (though I just sold a John Hartford CD from my collection for $45).

Those cheapass books are simply weird. A couple of times, I've ordered one as a reading copy, & received a near-mint item with minor imperfections, sometimes even tight. I mean, "wtf?" seriously applies here. I also shelled out $20 for a stolen library book -- which I returned gratis after contacting the library.

And I too am bugged by the "descriptions" like (not kidding) "WERE FABULOUS JUST LOOK AT OUR RATING'S BABY!!!" not to mention the ever popular "different book" & "we sell only new books, some items might have library markings."

Oh no, Cindy honey, no tears, don't let them see those tears; baby girl, fight the fight. Gooooooooooooo Cinders.

Call AP, New York Times, your alternative media around those parts, email fair, Fairness And Accuracy In Reporting, tell them your story, ask for advice. Email Project Censored, ask them too, they got's connections babe. Even Fox News, if you can, make sure you remind those bozos that you are one hot far right babe--and you are strapped.

The truth is the truth, only the left cares about actual reporting or reporters rights, find as many numbers as you can. I know it's hard babe, but the ACLU is the place, sugar snap.

Call around, be vigilant; do what Harlan said and carry. In this situation guns are your friend.

Don't be scared, be watchful like I know you can.

You are brave, strong and ready for action.

All you can do is fight. Much love.

---------------

Kos, the fact that a group of men, armed with box cutters, could hijack four planes and take on the US of A is comic book material as well, but it happened.

Cough:

"Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority"

James Madison

"When I mention the public, I mean to include only the rational part of it. The ignorant and vulgar are as unfit to judge of the modes of government, as they are unable to manage its reins." The people are a "great beast"

Alexander Hamilton

"The people who own the country ought to govern it."

John Jay

"the Constitution was intrinsically an aristocratic document designed to check the democratic tendencies of the period," delivering power to a "better sort" of people and excluding those who were not rich, well born, or prominent from exercising political power""

Madison scholar Lance Banning.

You see that today with Swillary Clinton and Mittsey Rumrunner.

"Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all. "

Adam Smith

"DAVID BARSAMIAN: One of the heroes of the current right-wing revival... is Adam Smith. You've done some pretty impressive research on Smith that has excavated... a lot of information that's not coming out. You've often quoted him describing the "vile maxim of the masters of mankind: all for ourselves and nothing for other people."

NOAM CHOMSKY: I didn't do any research at all on Smith. I just read him. There's no research. Just read it. He's pre-capitalist, a figure of the Enlightenment. What we would call capitalism he despised. People read snippets of Adam Smith, the few phrases they teach in school. Everybody reads the first paragraph of The Wealth of Nations where he talks about how wonderful the division of labor is. But not many people get to the point hundreds of pages later, where he says that division of labor will destroy human beings and turn people into creatures as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human being to be. And therefore in any civilized society the government is going to have to take some measures to prevent division of labor from proceeding to its limits."

I see a graphic novel in your future Kos.

Forgive me for being Anal,
But it shoud be I can't "wait" to get into the stories

Cindy, Shatterday & Other Thoughts

CINDY: Let me just say, Don't let the Bastards get you down (too Much) Keep on keeping on, you seem to be fighting a just & noble fight & in the end I hope you prevail. An email to Mr Goldberg might not be a bad idea. From reading your posts on this site you seem to be a spiritual person I hope you find some solace in your faith.

SHATTERDAY: Today my copy of this inspired collection of short stories arrived from the States. Harlan the back cover is pure Ellison (but then what else would it be) I cant to get into the stories, I've read the introductions of a few & think I'll start with "ALL THE LIES THAT ARE MY LIFE" also does anyone have any information on Arthur Suydam who's painting adorns the front cover, Much Obliged

OTHER THOUGHTS: Truth be told I don’t really have any other thoughts I just liked the title. But as I sit here typing this I'm watching an old episode of MURPHY BROWN and it reminds just how great Mo-town & DAN QUAYLE jokes are & how lovely CANDICE BERGEN was & still is (BIG BOSTON LEGAL FAN) also JAN thanks for the links to the ELLSION & GERRALD Radio Interview (just finished downloading)

Best Wishes to All

Jarod Hitchcock

Cindy,

Be careful, watch your back, and don't give up fighting for what you feel is important! Keep your friends close and your self defense tricks closer. Don't give up.

***

Barney,

Thanks muchly for the advice. I prefer to adhere to the "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" horrific paraphrasing, and in this case I was right to do so. Your advice went a long way towards cementing this feeling and allowed me to ask the questions I needed answered so I could make an informed decision.


shagin

Rusty's Space Ship
Actually the one part of Kos' description that doesn't track with my memory of the book is the last part about "The Terra Terror" and "The Man in the Moon". Either I'm just misremembering that part, Kos is recalling two separate books as just one, or there are two books out there with very similar premises.

The one I read goes like this (and sorry for the spoilers if any of this thread compels you to track a copy down): Rusty builds a wooden spaceship in his garage, whereupon a little alien guy suddenly shows up and builds some kind of material onto it that allows it to fly, protects if from cosmic rays, etc. He wants Rusty to fly him to his home planet which he calls "Eopee", only he can't recall precisely where it is.

So Rusty and e.t. (not to be confused with the E.T. in a particular movie) go whizzing off around the solar system, taking tours of each planet in turn while Rusty takes some pills the e.t. gives him to supply him with oxygen, protect him from the cold, etc. There may have been at least one other kid along for the ride as well, but I don't remember for certain.

Eventually they get all the way out past Pluto, still not having found xenomorph's home planet. Finally e.t. recites some rhyme in his delirium that goes something like "I am ____ from Eopee/in Andromeda Galaxy", prompting Rusty to smack forehead as he realizes said critter ain't from around here.

Can't recall exactly how it ends, but Rusty and spaceship somehow end up back on terra firma in the garage and e.t. disappears along with the modifications to the ship. I think he told Rusty before he left that he found some alternate means of getting home, but again, it's been over 3 decades since I even saw a copy of this.

Books
Just a last word on the books: If you want one, at the opening bid price, you have until Sunday at 6PM Pacific Time. That's when I will relist them for the general public.

Well, Alex, I wish you luck. Of course there are exceptions to my "rule". Though I've to also say that I particlarly dread political types who are going to "help" me. But that's my bete noire, and what the hey, go for it.

Frank, what can I say? You make my case for me, admittedly with your own typical gusto and aplomb. You ought to write a book called "Franks Comic Book Guide To Politics And Economics". It would be a bestseller. Don't be offended that I would catalog it with the fantasy, as I am just that way.

Cindy: Sue the bastard. Fight the good fight. Sell the movie rights. Buy the radio station, fire the ball-less wonder. Then run for sheriff, win and clean house. Dagnabit, where is Joe Don Walker when you realy need him and that Big Stick?

My Susan made me look at her in two different dresses tonight. Wanted my opinion on which is better. Did I mention they were -wedding- dresses?

And I thought comedy was hard!?

KOS

ROGER: Excellent to hear that your mother's on the mend. may her recovery progress quickly and fully.

KOS: I hope to prove you wrong. If my current career trajectory with the union keeps on, I should have enough political and press contacts that I may just be able to run for Congress by decade's end, if I can leverage the funding.

And I want to be in Congress for the same reason I'm an elected union steward--because the work suits me, because I'm good at it, and because I help people for a living. There's no other good reason to run, if you ask me.

It's not "Power to the people" which should be the guiding light; it's power FOR the people; the people are elected officials' employers, after all.

(I'll admit to perhaps wanting to move from Congress to the Senate in due time, but not for personal power; rather, because it brings with it a greater opportunity to do good, and because not having to concentrate one's energies on running for office every other year will free up motre time to actually BE in office doing right by folks instead of continually SEEKING office.)

(Also, AMAZON has copies of RUSTY'S SPACE SHIP for sale for about $20-$25.
If anyone is seeking wonderful books of childhood memories whose names they cannot recall, there's a bookseller who solicits queries of this sort to "Stump the Bookseller", who is able to identify most of the entries offered: http://loganberrybooks.com/stump.html )

BARNEY: I really enjoyed Chabon's FINAL SOLUTIOZN (and have you read his GENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD? It's a fantasy, his Jewish version of Fafrhd and the Gray Mouser, and is quite excellent.
I will say, however, I hold a special place in my heart for Laurie King's Mary Russell novels and for the "Beekeeeper" issue of Rick Veitch's MAXIMORTAL comic book, as Holmesian pastiches go--and we simply CANNOT leave out the short story Isaac Asimov wrote featuring his Black Widowers ...

DAVID LOFTUS: Some advice, if I may. I love reading to people, and used to while away lazy weekends reading to my girlfriends--Milne's Pooh stories being a favorite. With those kinds of things, it's easy: Read the narration straight, and try to do distinctive voices for each character.
But now I face a conundrum.
My current girlfriend, though near-genius if not genius-plus in intellect, was horribly home-schooled; in point of fact, she was given almost no schooling at all, to the extreme where she had to teach herself to read with Nancy drew books at the age of NINE.
(and yes; I DO find that obscene.)

As you may expect, she has all sorts of holes in her reading.

I want to read to her as I did in the past, but I want to read her Shakespeare--the ones I love, like Much Ado About Nothing, Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry V, The Tempest ...

How would you, as a reader and actor, recommend I do this? Do I stop midstream to explain archaic words?
Do I preface each line by the name of the character who is speaking?

(Harlan, since you have so much experience at doing readings, do please feel free to pitch in on this.)

CINDY: As painful as this is, try to see it instead as an opportunity. No longer bound by the "proprieties" forced upon you and the worries of keeping this job, you can talk to NPR. Talk to your Congressman or state rep. Talk to the local U.S. Attorney.
And I second what Mark Goldberg said.

My prayers are with you, Cindy
Dear Cindy,

I admire your courage in doing what is right and fair. It is becoming rarer than I would like to believe. I pray that you will find better employment soon, as well as for the people being abused by this sheriff. Having a job that pays well, but costs too much is something I can empathize with.

You may already know this, but in his autobiography, David Brinkley said that when NBC used to air his reports on the civil rights protests in the 1960's, one of the NBC affiliates in North Carolina took it upon themselves to run reports by a local journalist, which would refute and rebut the statements made by the protesters (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., A. Philip Randolph, et al.). Brinkley had heard of this reporter, because he knew of his reputation, which was that of a tinhorn.

The reporter in question was Jesse Helms.

Yours in prayer,
Brian Phillips

Watch yer back, podnuh!
Cindy:

I'm becoming more than a little alarmed, here. I think that what you're up to is important, and must be done.

I also think you may be in mortal danger.

Don't stop. Do whatever you can, whatever you need to.

Just keep in mind that the current administration has demonstrated that it's not too concerned about truth, justice, or the American way... unless they get to define the terms, in their favor. Every damn day brings another reminder, in plain sight, of this.

Make sure you don't have all your eggs in one basket, and make sure you know where your back is at all times.

And I don't think I'm being alarmist.

At all.

I'm getting the feeling I get when I walk through the room when the kids are watching some damn slasher pic, and something's just about to happen, and I know damn well that it's going to happen, but there's nothing I can do but keep walking and try not to look. Or listen.

Be careful. Please.

Cindy,

My condolences, been through the fired by an evil boss bit (the last time a week after my second child had been born) and know it hurts like hell.

Speaking as a Human Resources professional, you may have some protection from this. While pretty much all states allow termination for any clause (at-will employment), an employee may have cause in the courts if the company violated their internal procedures in terminating you.

Or, to put it in English, have they given you poor performance ratings, any warnings that you were doing a bad job before canning you? When others have been fired, what were the steps that were followed (formal warning, performance improvement plan, etc.) Did they follow these steps with you?

Finally, you might qualify under whistle-blower protection because of your unique circumstances. If I were you, I would talk to a lawyer ASAP, as you might very well have a case that you could win in court. Most employment law is heavily tilted towards the side of the employer but as you presented the information, it sounds like you would have an exceptionally strong case.

Shoot a message to my Gmail account if you would like to discuss this further off-line

Mark

Well shit, Cindy.

Fuckit.

Life sucks when your boss has no balls.

You need anyone to write to, talk to, cry on, drop me a line or give me a buzz. I'll give you my cell number if that'll work for you.

That "boss" of yours didn't deserve you. Remember that.

Remember that.

Chuck

Cindy -

Take a left turn and make friends with Randi Rhodes. She'll watch your back all the way.

CINDY:

(You know my voice, so hear this as me saying it aloud.)

Awww, gawdamighty shit, baby!

Fuckin' coward bastards!

Watch your back, watch your flanks. Tell your old man to keep the pumpgun handy.

Don't know what else to say.

With a hug, Harlan

LEE:

One of those "yentas" over whom you eavesdropped was very likely my dear now-departed mother, Serita R. Ellison. She was in Miami Beach her final decade or so, and when I went to visit we would stroll down Collins to Wolfie's.

It was the estimable Serita R. Ellison who taught her kid how to play Ninja Death-Rattle Gin Rummy at a half-cent a point.

She was a helluva mom to have to put with a ... me.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

If you get fired a few times in your life it probably means you're a decent person and not moving up the ladder in corrupt company like so many. Whether you quit or get fired doesn't matter, it's both because of standing up for what you believe in. You always pay a price for that. Those guys don't deserve to have you around. Hope it doesn't deter you too much, though your own life and family has to be your priority always, obviously. There's no shame in saying, "I did what I could."

It's scary how some people can vanish and no one really follows up on it, unless they're "important."

My boss fired me today. Y'all are going to laugh at this one but around one o'clock my time today I prayed that God would send me some kind of sign that that he's got my back in this Sheriff thing and that he is going to bring it to a conclusion soon--I'm so fucking tired. An hour later-- my boss calls and tells me I'm fired. The Sheriff showed up at the station several times since being elected and threatened him with a lawsuit if he didn't shut me up. I told my boss that the truth is always defensible in Texas and said it was important for people to know about the things the Sheriff is desperate to cover up. My boss told me not to do any more reports on anything that had to do with the Sheriff or his department. He said I was forbidden. I told him I would never quit working to help the poor people that the Sheriff has been victimizing. I told him he could fire me if he wanted but I wouldn't stop helping them. He said he wanted me to keep it off the air. Then he let the Sheriff's wife pay for an advertisement that he put on before my report every day, in which she basically called me ( by name) a liar and said nothing I reported on the Sheriff could be considered true. That ad ran five days a week every time I was on the air. She'd end the advertisement every day with, " Paid for by citizens for truth in reporting ." It was hard-- it felt like my boss held me down and let her and that criminal Sheriff black my eye every day. That rocked on for a good six weeks or so.

There have been huge things happening lately, a huge federal sweep of organized crime resulted in the arrest of one of the Sheriff's protected meth dealers. It was a name I had given to a Texas Ranger Lt. 18 months earlier. 22 indictments were handed down-- I had told the Ranger it was organized crime involving meth and guns. I told the Ranger that this particular individual was operating under the Sheriff's protection with his knowledge. I also told him I felt like the Sheriff was in the ring with some law enforcement officers in two and maybe four counties. A couple of weeks after the 17 arrests, a guy ends up burned up in his car-- parked outside his house maybe two miles from where I live. I gave the story to two reporters ( since I was under the boss's gag order) and they called Low who said there was nothing to it... that it had been a natural event and it wasn't a big deal. I got the report from the Bexar County Medical Examiner's office ( San Antonio) a few days ago. It said Francisco Escobar's body was so damaged they couldn't tell if he died before or as a result of the fire. The report also said that law enforcement had indicated Francisco had been positively identified, but it was the opinion of the M.E. that any identification could only be considered tentative. Not one word about the burned up man made it into the press-- not one word. The man was a Mexican national and nobody seems interested in finding out if he was who they said he was. There's more to this but it's all I can write here. There is an FBI agent in Austin, a lady with a very festive name. I keep sending her what I get-- I type it up and fire it off with a prayer that the pieces will fit together soon.

So, thirty minutes ago my boss calls me to tell me that I'm fired. He said my reports were so weak and I never reported on the Commissioners courts any more. I told him of course they've been weak because he is so afraid of the Sheriff. I told him it was a disservice to the public to withhold the truth. He said he wasn't interested in the truth. Then he amended his statement to, " I'm not interested in the truth as you perceive it". I said," The truth is the truth-- perception has nothing to do with it." My boss said he wasn't interested in it. I said, " That's funny-- that's exactly what the editor of the local paper told me ( a good friend of the Sheriff). I said, " I told HIM (right before he physically threw me out of his office) that I thought it was egregious that a news man would have such a complete and utter disregard for the truth-- and it's the same with you-- it's egregious." I told him it was wrong not to report the facts to the public. I guess I was a sell out to not quit as soon as he told me to shut up about the Sheriff-- the salary was nice. Now I feel like such a loser-- canned. What's the Lord's message here? I guess I should be relieved-- happy even-- I don't know why I'm cryin'. Such a baby.

: (
Cindy

Michael---You doubt my word? Well, yer in excellent company, as even my friends tend to doubt what I say as I frequently 'ad lib' the truth. However, when I speak of alternative health methods, I am speaking what I know to be true. New information may appear next week to change my mind.

Most food is grown on the same land for decades. The nutrients get depleted from the ground, therefore there are fewer nutrients in the foods we eat. Foods are processed so much that nutrients are leached from them. Notice that flour is often 'enriched'. The nutrients have been flushed out so much that artificial nutrients have to be put back in.

There are plenty of peer reviewed studies about natural health methods. I'm on dial up and the connection is real slow this week. I'll try to find some links. I've also registered for the other place, so I'll open a thread there soon so we don't waste everybody's time here.
==================
So, I was just about to email all my friends that Harlan Ellison was dying. After reading 'Geezus Peezus", I realize that I was indeed correct: Harlan Ellison IS dying and HAS BEEN dying since 1934. If you have some free time some weekend, have lunch with him and he'll tell you ALLLL about it.

KOS, economies work for the benefit of the elite and powerful, yes, you are correct. Wink.

Without economic justice there is no real freedom. You cannot enjoy freedom if economic hardship makes freedom nominal, or not important, beyond reality tv and football.

The richer you are the more freedom you can buy, this has been the truth from day one when the founding fathers made a constitution written for the benefit of land owners, not the rabble--us.

Complete Constitutional convention, that's what we need.

Even that playing field out.

----------

Harlan, we knew you were a cranky old man, nothing new there. Just stay whole until I can shake your hand, there buckaroo.

Love ya sweetpea.

Thank you Susan to both you and Harlan for your kind thoughts. It has been a tough week and a half. A good friend of mine for 30 years died last week after struggling with Alzheimer's for two years and his funeral was Friday which was the day I found out my mother would need surgery the following Monday. She is continuing to improve and I have four days off to try to get better myself,both physically and emotionally.
I did see "I Am Legend" after work today. I had not read the Matheson work the movie was made from, I am not even sure how to describe the movie. I just needed to be by myself for a couple of hours and that happened to be the next movie starting when I got to the theater.I'm sure most of you seen the trailers so enough said.

good play

I don't know how many of you like to read plays -- or even go to live theater -- but I just read a very recent play that is terrifically entertaining. If you get the chance, I recommend "Moonlight and Magnolias" by Ron Hutchinson -- not least because, apart from being very funny, it raises some of the serious issues that come up regularly here.

David O. Selznick has shut down filming on "Gone With the Wind" and fired George Cukor as its director. He's called in Ben Hecht for a rewrite and brought Victor Fleming off "The Wizard of Oz" to try to salvage -- actually, rewrite -- the entire movie in one week.

It's basically a three-man show in a single room (with occasional appearances by Selznick's secretary, Miss Poppenguhl). Since Hecht has to write the thing but he's never read the book, Selznick and Fleming narrate and act out a lot of scenes from the story for him. Hecht is unimpressed with the plot, and actively disgusted with some of its turns.

Questions about the nature of creativity, racism, and anti-Semitism surface. It's a great story.

Book dealers
***Shagin*** That's a complicated question depending on your needs but there are some basic rules of thumb I can describe that work for *Me* - both as a buyer and seller.

If you only want a reading copy then you might as well go low-ball and buy the damned penny book some housewife is selling. There is no way these people can stay in business and the book will almost invariably be beat to shit in some manner but you will generally get the book you asked for. The seller can make about $1.25 per book on the postage and that's the insane business model they are working from. We Real Booksellers look down are noses at these folks, but there's nothing to be done about it.

If you care at all about condition or edition then you come to me and my peers. We don't use our description lines for shite like "I ship daily" or "benefits a church bake sale!", etc. These sellers do ship fast but the quality of their books and their packing will generally be shoddy or the condition will tend to be about one grade off what you had hoped for.

My description lines tend to look like this;

Doubleday Anchor PB 1st edition / 1st printing. Square uncreased spine. No marks.

HC 1st edition / 1st printing. Fine in illustrated boards with gold stamping, no wraps - as issued. No marks. As new.

National Audobon Society TPB 1st edition / 1st printing. No marks. All 29 color stickers still bound in - not placed. Like new.

Etc., etc. Not much room for ambiguity there. I'll note if the cover is "as shown" or from a different edition. I'll answer any question a buyer might have in less than 24 hours. I will sell books in Good or VG condition if rare enough or obscure enough or if it amuses me to sell the book. But I always note spine creases
or blemishes or store stamps or if a book is ex. lib. I try to sell only Like new or As New but often it's worth lowering this standard. Plenty of folks NEED markup copies and will take a beat copy for this purpose. So I "got over" the pristine book snobbery awhile back.

Things to be wary of;

"Comes in brodart."

This should mean JUST that but often is code for "ex. lib. with all the ugly markings" and these dealers ought to be horse-whipped.

Feedback below 90%. You are probably dealing with a screwup or amateur. 100% is unlikely. 95% is where my feedback generally hovers. I was at 100% for 55 days and then Christmas came and I got a couple of REALLY fussy customers and they slammed me over a couple of $2.00 books. It happens. That means I generally disappoint about one in every 200 customers. I can live with this.

Final warning. If you ask for "points" on a book and they don't know - things like book club or specific edition - shine them on.
At least 5 times this year I had book dealers answer specific inquiries with lines like, "well, it seems like a 1st edition..." but if you ask them for a number line or a price on the wraps, they never get back to you. They are always trying to sell you book club. Which is fine if you want book club and maddening if you don't.

And now if you'll excuse me I have 62 books to pack between now and 3PM E.S.T. because you do not want to be in a post office after 3:15PM at this time of year.

- Barney Dannelke (Demon Bookseller of Sleet Street)

County of Bubblewrap
Dymoprinter, PA.

ps. Harlan - Chabon's FINAL SOLUTION is probably the best Holmes pastiche I've ever read. If you've not done so, bump it WAY up in the pile. It's set in 1944. Holmes is 89. Guess how pissy he is. Just guess. - B

Roger:

Our best wishes to you and your mum. Speedy recovery. That's an order.

Sincerely,

Susan

Well Harlan, just think of us as your overworried children, fussing over you with blankets and cocoa and smothering you with clucking concern and overt affection, making noise and getting underfoot and messing up the joint while you're trying to get some work done...

Ahem. Ok, maybe not so much a comforting analogy.

Nevertheless, we do care. Feel better.

W. Powell

"The Shy Stegosaurus of...." Haven't thought of those books in years. Thanks for reminding me.

Mike

If you insist on comparing a script to a commode (which tells you where AMPTP's heads are at when they're not up their own asses), then the writers aren't the ones who repair the fixtures. They're the ones who furnish the water, without which the fixtures are useless. And yes, as a matter of fact, the city does charge you every time you flush.

Steve J.

My Toilet Runneth Over
T
he point the toilet analogy misses is that someone IS collecting every time the throne is used. It's a pay toilet, baby.

D.

The plumber
"If you hired a plumber to fix your toilet would you expect to have to pay him every time you took a crap and successfully flushed?"

-NOW- you tell me?!

KOS

Plumber analogy

"If you hired a plumber to fix your toilet would you expect to have to pay him every time you took a crap and successfully flushed?"

My best answer to that: "No. However, if the plumber invented a brand new type of toilet after working on the problem for a year, one that saved water and warmed your ass in the winter, and millions of people all across America rushed out to buy this guy's new toilet, then I think he'd be entitled to make a few cents on every unit sold, don't you?"

MM

Stephen wrote: "A while back, Shagin mentioned that "Writers certainly don't take years to perfect their craft." I beg to differ. And I can't believe I am alone in this."

Sarcasm, my dear fellow, hearty, hell bent sarcasm in keeping with the post it self and the frustration of idiots who don't understand prevailing wage or how time and training can affect a craft.


shagin

KOS
No! Stephen's incorrect, although I've read the Mushroom Planet books and they're cool.

The book Kos is looking for is called "Rusty's Space Ship", written by Evelyn Sibley Lampmann. Read it in the fifth grade, along with "The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek" and "The Shy Stegosaurus of Indian Springs" by the same author. (My interest in space and sf can probably be traced back to the former more than anything else.)

It shows up on eBay from time to time, but usually priced rather high.

Ellison will prevail
Harlan,
Sorry to hear of your ailments.
But if you attack them with the same vigor as all your other enemies, I'm sure you will prevail.
As to Alzheimer's, even if your mental capacity was halved, you'd still be able smarter than the average bear. ( politician, studio exec, Fox news anchor, ect. )

Funniest thing I heard about the strike today, out in deepest darkest new jersey: those writers are all overpaid, where do they get off asking to be paid again and again for the same work? if you hired a plumber to fix your toilet would you expect to have to pay him every time you took a crap and successfully flushed?

file that under "some people just don't get it"

KOS: I believe the book is _The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet_ and that it was written in 1956. I might have the year wrong, pretty sure about the title.

A while back, Shagin mentioned that "Writers certainly don't take years to perfect their craft." I beg to differ. And I can't believe I am alone in this.

I hope Harlan is keeping a daily diary of the strike, as only he can. With his unexcelled use of colorful methaphors and penchant to cut through the bullshit and get right to the heart of the matter, it would be a real page turner and a good insight into the inner workings of a bona fide justified labor action. Plus the cast of characters would be a veritable who's who.

Stephen

Harlan,

You just brought back a forgotten entertainment that I used to love when touring Miami. There was a place called Wolfie's Deli at Collins and 21st where you could get all the usual offerings of a Great Jewish Deli. A few of us used to spy out a table of 4-6 classically dressed yentas holding court - thick rimmed glasses with done up hair and huge breasts draped in parti-colored chunky jewelry. We would sit at a nearby table savoring cheese blintzes and homemade potato peirogies with sauteed onions and sour cream. We'd wash everything down with hot black coffee and listen to the conversation.

I swear it was a respectful sort of eavesdropping.

The pitch, breadth and passion of their densely woven health narratives were a thing almost poetical. Ovid couldn't do an operation like a table full of yentas.

Wolfie's and the fact that Ringling Brothers Circus was often playing the other end of the community center where we rehearsed was about all there was to like about Miami. Though we got to know the clowns and hang out by the animal cages between rehearsals, we never did take the clowns to Wolfie's. Some things make no sense in hind sight.

Book Title Question
Harlan,

Mailed you an invoice and cover letter the other day, to the P.O.B. We've sold a few books, and I expect to sell more when they are listed for the general public.

Also, I have taken glaucoma med's of one sort or another for twenty years. If you have questions, ask them if you will.

Book search:

Looking for the title of a book, and/or author's name: This book was published in the fifties or early sixties, as I read a library copy around 1962. It was Children's SF, about a boy in a suburb who decides one day to build a "spaceship" out of scrap lumber and odd bits of junk. After nearly finishing he decides his craft needs a "nosecone", and finds a thin, round piece of shiny, flexible metal. He nails the round metal thing to his ships' nose, and then hears a complaining cry. From out of a corner of the boy's garage comes a little alien (I think a little green lizard thing) saying something along the lines of "Hey, that's my flying saucer you just nailed to that thing! Give it back!)

Anyway, the kid makes friends with the alien, and they discover they cannot get the flying saucer off of the wooden spaceship safely, so the kid talks the alien into using the wooden spaceship, since with the "flying saucer" nailed to it, it now has the ability to fly into outer space (seems logical to me!)

Anyway, the alien gives the kid "oxygen pills" so they can survive the lack of air, and they travel all over the solar system, from the moon to I think Pluto? They were looking for something, not sure what though after all these years.

The kid's wooden spaceship was named "The Terra Terror". They meet the Man In The Moon. At the end they get the flying saucer off the wooden spaceship, and the alien leaves.

Can anyone help with the title or name of the author?

Thanks!

Frank: I gots no problem with Chavez. He's elected, he's a clown, he's innocent (like most socialists) of any real knowledge of how economies work, and my attitude is that of John Adams, "We are the friends of liberty everywhere, but the guardians of only our own." If Chavez turns into "Fidel Light", clinging to power after thirty or more years like a junkie hovering over his last gram of China White, well, that's Venezuela's tragedy and none of mine.

I just think it funny that you think ANY politician loves ANYthing more than power. Every last one of them is a deeply flawed soul who would walk over their mother for the chance to be Top Dog. In other words, not very different from anyone else, only more so.

No one would give Uncle Hugo a listen if he didn't control all that Venezuelan Sweet Crude and why in the world are we still burning stuff to run our civilization? Isn't it The Future yet? Solar Power satellites and nuclear power and we can let the dinosaur's rest in peace.

And as a great sideshow effect: The Conspiracy Types will just go "Bugfuck" over Solar Power Satellites. I'm gonna get stock in ALCOA 'cause they're gonna sell TON'S of foil once that first SPS system goes on-line.

KOS

GEEEZUS PEEEZUS, GANG!

Jews only know three things in this life.

1) Guilt (as opposed to Shame, which Catholics know)

2) Chinese food

and

3) The location of every ache or pimple on their body.

Of which, especially,

OLD

Jews will bore your asses off describing each and every, in pustulent detail and living color, not to mention SenSurround High-Def Kvetching.

Had I realized, had I the brain power of a bedroom slipper insole, had I understood that I was opening such a door, I would've kept all that nominal shit to myself. I am JUST FINE, kids. I swear, Heavens to Betsy, and Back to Heavens for a double-play, I am in no pain, no suffering, no malaise. Crikey, what an old lady! Bitch bitch bitch, ooowee, has'ums got a widdle pain?

I ask your forgiveness. Very unseemly, nobody's business but mine own, and just fuckin' stupid.

It is beginning, at last, to dawn on me: I am not perfect.

With chagrin, Yr. Pal, Harlan

Speaking of Science Fiction
I'm fond of interview books, and there's one I'd been looking for called Speaking of Science Fiction by Paul Walker (1978) which has become impossible to find at reasonable prices. It has 31 writers from Asimov to Zelazny, including Harlan, Farmer, Simak, Moorcock, Bloch etc. Ann, the editor and typesetter, is selling her final stock of about ten. "All hardcovers are shrinkwrapped. The paperbacks are not, but all are new, some with minor imperfections just from being stored so long. Hardcover $19.95, paperback $9.95, U.S. shipping $7.00." Thought someone else might be interested too, and will gladly put you in touch with Ann, or you write her at: com aol at Dragonpad (in reverse order). She even accepts paypal, I think. The leftovers will go out on ebay.

TREK picket audio interview/outburst/banter with Harlan and David Gerrold (by Tanja Barnes):
http://wgastrike2007.blogspot.com/2007/12/wsc-show-35-star-trek-day-harlan.html

More Harlan stories on Scribd (ostensibly arranged with Harlan):
http://www.scribd.com/people/view/160206-harlanellison

I just got my mother home from the hospital yesterday. They found out after a week and a half of tests that she had a blood clot in her neck, that was removed very early Monday morning, I about freaked out when I went to see her after work Monday night when they told me at the front desk her room was in intensive care/cardiac care. She was better than I had feared and the surgery had been completed successfully. The swelling in the right side of her face is pretty drastic and she cannot eat anything solid yet, and she cannot drive herself anywhere for 2 weeks, but all in all she came through the proceedure pretty well.

HE's HEalth
I offer no cures, no prayers to a nonexistent Deity, only Best Wishes for recovery and continued good health from one mortal to another.

Mr. Ellison,

Hang in there. I'll be right beside you with the eyedrops for the glaucoma concerns, we'll bitch about the diabetes while we what we can (and sometimes what we want), I'll prattle on about cataracts and arthritis, and you can gripe about CFS and nerve pain. We'll make it, sir, because we're too damn cussed to give up and it would upset our spouses if we did.


*****


Barney,

I have an odd question for you, and expect an odd, if sincere, answer in return. What qualities should I look for in an online book seller? With a storefront I can examine the physical merchandise for a better understanding of value or quality; that's not as easy online. Any tips or words of wisdom?


shagin

rx
Harlan- if there's anything i can do, Susan has the number. i'm going to repeat something i've mentioned in 2 separate letters as a cautionary tale to others. when i was 2 i had a seizure. they said epilepsy; did eegs and gave me dilantin. for 4 more years the eegs suggested epilepsy and so they kept me on dilantin. no more eegs. at 17 i was taken to the hospital with convulsions. was never an epileptic. dilantin, given to a non-epileptic, just sits there in your system until it poisons you. wat i'm saying is this: question everything, start at the beginning and go over what they say you have, what you're taking, any effects, any interactions. this is not to say that anyone is a bad doctor or has made a bad diagnosis. something may be true monday that isn't true on friday. take care, Harlan, and be well. i remain, as always, obediently yours.

I'm going to keep posting pro-Chavez stuff until you mooks get the picture that the guy is NOT a damned dictator. He is a skilled comedian and scourge of Bush, which is very attractive to victims of the United Snakes everywhere.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=45&ItemID=14480

--------------


Next, they will go after football, mark my words. OJ may finally get some badly needed press.

Eyeballs, etc.

HARLAN: So very sorry to hear about your health troubles. In general, I'm not sure I approve of this falling-apart-as-we-age concept. I'm positive I didn't vote for it. Did I miss the plebiscite?

Here's hoping your eye drops do the trick, and the very best to you with the various other troubles.

(this said despite the fact that you have completely ignored my earth-shatteringly important cookie question)

ALAN: I'm trying real hard to be an open-minded fellow regarding everyone's various healthcare ideas, but: "It is nearly impossible to get the nutrients your body requires solely from food" ??

Do you have some data on that one? From, maybe, a published peer-reviewed study? It just seems like if that were true then there wouldn't be any creatures walking the Earth.

Skeptically,

MM

Tony R.:

Your HERC membership is fine. No need to worry.

Susan

Wish they could pace up that genome technology!

Yeah - glaucoma got my mother before she passed away a few years ago. I'm glad you've been spared THAT misfortune!

Natural treatments are for everybody and for every ailment. I recommend them for all. This is one of the things that I never thought about when younger, but endorse to all my friends today.

The problem with natural treatments is that so few people are trained in them that it is very difficult to get information from friends and neighbors, so that many people never hear of them. Then there is the problem of poor quality food supplements being sold. And there is also, unfortunately, quackery.

People get fragile bones because they do not retain enough calcium. It's usually not because they do not ingest enough calcium, it is because they do not get enough Vitamin D in order to process the calcium. Recommended amount of Vitamin D is 400 IU (International Units) per day, yet evidence shows that humans might need 2000 IU daily.

All heart patients should be taking Coenzyme Q-10, Magnesium, L-Carnitine, fish oil, and D-Ribose, and maybe a few others.

Just about all people should be taking fish oil or flaxseed oil.

Angina sufferers can usually get relief through EECP, Enhanced External Counter Pulsation, a process where blood pressure cuffs are used on parts of the body to force blood backwards. Sounds unreal, I realize, but it has been used for over 50 years. Sometimes, Olympic class athletes use it to increase blood flow without resorting to drugs. I have heard that Medicare will pay for EECP, but I cannot confirmed that.

Diabetes patients should walk a minimum of 10 minutes after every meal. Diabetics should be taking Chromium Picolinate every day, among many other vitamins.

All people should be taking a daily multivitamin supplement. It is nearly impossible to get the nutrients your body requires solely from food.

Those are just some of the things I have studied in the past few weeks. I listen to www.healthytalkradio.com whenever possible, either on the radio or online. There are thousands of sites on the internet that explain natural treatments and which vitamins and other supplements are beneficial to any ailments. Look for Applied Kinesiologists or Naturopathic Doctors in your local phone book. Some medical doctors are using this kind of information. They usually advertise themselves as Complementary and/or Integrative Physicians.

Good luck and good health to all!

HARLAN,

"Aw-shit?" The first phrase that comes to my mind is "Oh, FUCK me."

There are many diseases and afflictions I can forgive the Higher Forces for, but Alzheimer's is inexcusable. My body may rot into a putrid husk, but for God's sake let my brain be the last thing to go!

As for your own health dilemmas...try watching THE WHALES OF AUGUST. That movie does a suprising job at relaxing one's mindset to the point where even physical ailments become invisible.

HARLAN - A mixed bag of health issues, but at least the one (glaucoma or not glaucoma) is the right answer. It seems as if you, like me, are suffering from weight-associated ailments from the rest of it. I have an appointment myself next week that I ain't looking forward to. Have you checked out Byetta yet?

(Maybe we ought to challenge each other to a weight-loss regimen??? AFTER dinner at Prizzi's, that is...)

Just sayin'.
_______________________________________________

So. The scoop is more of a non-denial denial.

Whatever they are filming at City Hall in Long Beach is enormously secretive. I've lived and worked here for 20+ years and we've never had this kind of security for a shoot.

The City Hall-facing side of the municipal parking structure has been fitted with floor-to-ceiling chain-link fences, with a green plastic fabric attempting to block any view from that end of the structure.

In the large courtyard between City Hall and parking, a similar fence (roughly eight feet tall) has been erected to isolate a section of the plaza. Within that structure is yet another large white canvas -- hung almost as if it's a temporary outdoor movie screen -- that has been built underneath the building's overhang, effectively creating a very big "outdoor room" with the (fairly immense) overhang of the building as the roof. Not sure if it might be a green screen on the other side, but I'm at a bit of a loss to explain why they went through the effort to coming to Long Beach just to block any view of the plaza.

All employees have been told not even to speculate as to what is being filmed -- but walking down the hallways of CH I heard "Star Trek" at least three times in casual conversation.

There are more security guards guarding this one film shoot than guarding City Hall itself...

(And there's absolutely NO truth to the rumor that I walked past the white sheet and yelled "Hey look! Harlan Ellison's here!" and got a high-pitched girly-scream in response...)

(JUUUSSST KIIIDDIING!)

From the department of "For What It's Worth"

Harlan - I'm so sorry to hear about Mr. Pratchett. Cancer and Alzheimer's are the two booby traps of our existence, with the latter being an almost sublime "fuck you" to anyone who has devoted his/her life to creative output and sharing of intellect. Just you mentioning the possibility of such a diagnosis for yourself scares the hell out of me, as you are a cornerstone, dear sir. Your fears of glaucoma, along with the health problems that you listed, make me think of Stephen King. I remember him deciding to drift away from fiction at one point (someone correct me about King facts - I speak from opinion and a somewhat murky memory, and I've only read a handful of his novels . . . or two handfuls, as they tend to be pretty robust), and then, after his accident, he returned with a fury. It was a wake-up call for him, and I think he realized that he should never turn his back on his gift. I wonder, as the body works hard to interfere with your love of life, if one message of these symptoms could be that you can never quit, never roll over, never stop being the wildly creative pain in the ass who motivates, entertains, enrages, and always provokes some sort of reaction. You force people to think by being intolerant of lazy stupidity. I would never expect you to be a quitter, and I don't infer that at all from your communications on this board. I just think that these things you mention have the danger of making anyone's mind weary, but the YOU inside could never roll over. You're the toughest person I've ever "known" (as a guy who has only shaken your hand once at a signing). Lawrence Tierney tough.

To Susan - Thank you for the HERC subscription, and the package! You Ellisons are more than generous.

-Jim

Dangerous visions, indeed
Harlan,

C'mon man. It's your own fault for going through seven decades projecting your vision of reality like the Greek Euclid and his metaphors of impressions on wax seals instead of sitting back and receiving reality like the rest of us poor saps. That's gonna cause some serious eye-strain. Blame yourself.

As for the news about Terry, well, this just goes on my large pile of evidence that the god some of you still believe in really really REALLY has no sense of humor whatsoever.

Big love to you and yours pretty much the year round - Barney

County of basement -
Packingtable, PA.

One nice gesture we could all do for botH Harlan and Terry
Go to a store (not a used one--doesnt really COUNT on the 'books') but a BORDERS or BARNES AND NOBLE next week (i dunno- maybe organise a mass buying day) and BUY a book each of these fine writers have written.

Lets do it in a mass buying frenzy

Perhaps it will make enough of an impact where the publisher will have to do reprints which (should) will give a bit more money to them so that later on when the medical bills begin to pile up they'll have the extra bit of cash

hi harlan, susan and everyone. Harlan, I was very sorry to hear about your health problems. I too suffer from a variery of ailments. I'm going to suggest some things that have helped me. You can all laugh out loud now, as this is nontraditional stuff. First, herbs: I bought a book by a RN/herbal practioner as my regular medicine has stopped working on a variety of thing. I'm sure that a licensed herbal person could also help you too, but it's been neat learning about teas and things that help. I've peppermint tea, green tea, nettle tea for pain and a couple pill garlic and etc. I've had decent success with lowering my bp, reducing arthritis pain and stiffness, and being not so tired. Also, and this is the part where you all will really laugh at me, I've started trying crystal therapy on my own. It helps some, especialy with sadness and tiredness. There are crystal therapists too, but I'm doing it on my own, because I like to learn about different things. I'm at my sister's house, so I don't have my books with me, but I can post the titles next time I post. I've found the books informative and helpful. I'm also thinking about trying acupuncture, but I haven't found one yet. Harlan, I hope all your health problems work out soon. You and Susan will be in my thoughts and prayers. And I really have gotten some help and relief from the herbs, more so than the crystals.Take care

Hey Harlan,
You're still beautiful, my friend. Nothin' will ever change that.
:)
Cindy

Harlan,

Arrested glaucoma is better than a conviction, I guess. As to the rest, if there's ever anything I can do to help clear away the gloom, please let me know.

Good Vibrations

Unca Harlan,

Here's-to-better-health vibes go out to you. Getting old is indeed a bitch. And as Bette Davis once said, "not for sissies".

Harlan,

Hadn't heard about your health problems to that detail before. Sorry you have to deal with it all. I hope anything that can happen for your betterment, does.

All the best
Jason

Hi Harlan,

Sorry to hear about you health issues. Hang in there (it beats the alternative) and Cindy and I send great health thoughts your way.

J. Argendeli

p.s. I should add that we contacted the doctor who performed the study and he added that his son, who suffers/ed from CFS, made a significant improvement after treatment.

Harlan, Were you aware of the recent (summer) medical article linking CFS to an infection of the stomach? If not, I have a copy of the article from the medical journal that I'd be happy to fax you. My girlfriend also suffers from CFS and we're always searching for any scintilla of a cure.

Bostonians! Friday December 14event in support of the WGA strike
http://community.livejournal.com/pandemonium_bks/145387.html

Dirk's note
(Sorry Rick, but I wont be posting for a few days, so it'll even out)
DIRK: the "although" was meant as a qualifier because my note had nothing to do with Harlan. I dig Springsteen's music and lyrics, so no slight on him.
-DTS

Harlan's note
HARLAN: First of all, damn shame about Mr. Pratchett. Here's hoping he outruns the disease as long as he can.

As for your ailments, sorry to hear about the glaucoma (and I've always been sorry you have to suffer through Epstein Barr -- my mom has it), and I hope you fair well in dealing with both: the rest? Well, the rest should just be chalked up to living life to the fullest. (Even though he sounds a bit Pollyanna, Herr Hitchcock is right in taking a glass half full outlook). I've been dealing with all sorts of recurring aches and joint pains since my 30s (due to accidents I survived on motorcycles, etc), tinnitus since '03, the lower disc problem since '05 (it makes trying to get a good night's sleep without waking up to back pains a challenge) and an apparent case of carpal tunnel for about a year and half now (the numbness wakes me up in the middle of the night sometimes). And that's just the stuff I can remember at the moment! And hell, I'm only a third of your age! (Okay, my math skills are off -- maybe not a third). I figure all the aches and pains and injuries (and numerous scars) are well-earned badges of a life spent actually _living_ and experiencing things -- big and small!

Just today, me and my boy -- a terrific dog (staffordshire terrier and boxer mix) named Irving -- had to try and get back home from the vet (last week, in his not-quite-two-years old exuberance, he went tearing around the back yard and hit a patch of moss lying just in front of wall which he usually avoids with a quick cut to the right -- he broke his leg -- and has never ONCE howled or whined about it -- tough little fucker)...where was I? Oh, yeah: today, me and the boy found ourselves ignored by every cabbie within hailing (and, apparently, telephoning) distance. After an hour of such nonsense, I hoisted him up on my shoulders -- being careful to squat as I did so -- and took him home in a fireman's carry (same way McQueen did for you, ages ago). We had to stop once or twice -- to give my lower back a rest, and to let Irving take a pee -- but we _both_ actually enjoyed the mini-adventure (the various Aussies that passed us by in their cars probably thought I was practicing some new type of American-born exercise).

Don't let life get ya down, Harlan. You're still alive and kicking, and enjoying your time with Susan -- hang in there, buddy.

Cheers,
Dorman

Harlan, I know you have plenty of supportive friends. But if this stuff is getting you down and you think a fresh listening ear could help, you have my number.

Harlan,

Chip up Old Boy!

Take the good news where you can get it & fuck the rest.
No doubt that list of aliments keeps you up at night (as it would all of us). The only advice I would offer is to maintain your Rage & Enthusiasm for life & all the shit that comes with it.

Think about it you've made it into your mid seventies, you have the pleasure of the lovely Susan's company, Your well respected writer, a true success in your chosen vocation & a snappy dresser to boot!

As Woody Allen said "Life is filled with misery & sadness & it's all over much to quickly"

Regards

Jarod Hitchcock

For the few close friends who knew:

I had the full glaucoma eye exam today, at the former Sinskey Institute (now the Assil-Sinskey Institute) in Santa Monica. This in the lee of Monday's after-picketing eye exam, the report from which led off with two words you never want to hear in juxtaposition:

"Glaucoma suspect."

Apparently, I have "abnormally thick corneas," "optic hypertension," and very healthy optic nerves. I have been initiated into a regimen of eye drops every night before bedding down, to lower the pressure in my right eye. Less so my left.

Apparently...I am not going to drift into glaucoma darkness.

I confess to having been a mite twitchy for the last few days.
Now all I have to worry about is the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the stage-two diabetes, the 75lb weight-gain, the high-blood pressure, the trapped nerve from shoulder to wrist in my right arm, the hairline fracture of my left foot, the dry-eye from the Valley fever allergies, the rum tummy, and ... of course ... the ongoing fear of ALL old farts, Alzheimer's.

And not to make any fu7n of it all, perhaps you have not heard that our friend, the quick and clever Terry Pratchett, has in fact been diagnosed with Alzheimer's; and it is the fast-moving type. The word aw-shit comes to mind.

Otherwise, shit is mostly quiet around here. See you on the line tomorrow.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

A casually dropped wisecrack in the December 14 issue of "Entertainment Weekly" irritated me sufficiently that I finally sent them an e-mail to complain about it. The opening sentence of the "News & Notes" column reads as follows: "Hollywood writers might be forced to hawk their Rolexes to pay for holiday gifts if the strike drags on much longer." This is in the context of pointing out that the staffers of late night talk shows are being rescued from holiday season penury by Leno, Letterman, O'Brien, and Kimmel paying the staffers out of their own pockets. Leaving aside the fact that Lynette Rice, who wrote the piece, doesn't seem to know the difference between "hawk" and "hock," I found this snarky little opener offensive because it plays into the nasty stereotype of screenwriters as pampered millionaires just looking to pad their already bloated bank accounts. Sad to say, this is a stereotype that is being advanced on a daily basis by AMPTP surrogates with a completely straight face. Even sadder to say, it appears to have considerable traction in certain quarters. That being the case, "Entertainment Weekly" has no business endorsing it, even with a wink and a smile.

This is the text of the e-mail I sent to EW: "The opening sentence of your December 14 News & Notes column, 'Funny Money To the Rescue,' was as offensive as it was misleading. I would have expected that a publication that styles itself as being in the know about the world of entertainment would know better than to fall for the simpleton's stereotype that all screenwriters are millionaires. The fact is that the vast majority of screenwriters depend upon residuals in order to be able to sustain even a modest standard of living. To blatantly sacrifice accuracy in this way for the sake of a cutesy opening hook for a column is unconscionable."

I should point out, by the way, that this publication as a whole does not seem to be anti-WGA. A recent column by Mark Harris carries the headline "Why the Striking Writers Are Right." What we have here, I'm convinced, is a columnist who dashed off a supercilious little opening line in an effort to be clever, and in the process was more than willing to prop up a harmful stereotype so that she could crack wise. But her editor, who presumably has more of an investment in accuracy than in her cleverness, ought to have caught it and corrected it.

Steve J.

Haggis
Hey, Haggis is great! Love it with a good whiskey cream sauce or mustard sauce. Not all haggis is created equal of course, every outfit has their own recipe. I was always partial to the one from the local grocer down Deeside Road near where we lived in Scotland. (Kelly of Cults).

And if you're worried about all those horrid ingredients you hear tale are in Haggis, well... if you eat most of the hot dogs or saugages in the states you've probably have had just as bad and don't know it.

I feel haggis and whiskey both represent in the culinary tradition the indomitable spirit of the Scottish people, surviving throughout history in some of the most difficult of conditions. They demonstrate the extreme lengths to which man will go to create food and alcohol from the most meager of ingredients. (Sadly, I never developed the taste for whiskey though I did learn to appreciate the varying qualities of the different styles and regions.)

Some noms de plume for KOS:

Walter "Wally" Lazlo

Bruce Whitewater

Perry Rodin

Jackson Rodriguez

Douglas Mertz


And thanks to those who added to my list of **Cuisine I'll Never Try, Even at Gunpoint**. Before today, it was only Haggis and Spotted Dick.

Chuck

Actors and Boeing
Interesting. Actors at Beoing in Anaheim.

My ex-wife, when she was not yet "ex-" worked at the Anaheim Boeing, before rotating to Irvine, and now is at Huntington. I lived about two miles from that Huntington Beach one when it wa still McD (and yes resistance is futile, whether it be to my -ex-eife or either Boeing or DIsney. I anticpate with some angst their merger just prior the edchaton, which will doubtless be greatly immanentized by that unholy aliiance, by which name I refer to The Merger, not to mention my former marriage.)

My father had a business in a small town, where once for two weeks Clint Eastwood took over "our" parking lot, abutting directly onto the back door of the establishment, all in support of the filming at a local landmark of a portion of one The Clint's early 80s efforts. Every (presumably) unattached woman in town between 12 and 50 (being charitable here. I think a few were pushing retirement age) gathered daily to stare at The Clint and his co-stars. Occasionally The Clint would go over and press the flessh. It wa like The Beatles arriving at JFK. Madness. What a zoo, indeed.

But we didn't let the actors use our restroom either. That may have been because it was a unisex one-holer, with cracked seat, that unpredictably betimes would spray cold water all over the floor and/or your ass when flushed.

It was one heck of a great "wake Up Call" if you were having trouble getting started in the morning.

Why did Hitchcock refer to actors as "cattle"? I think it was because he had already screwed all sheep.

Just one man's opinion.

Baaa.

KOS

Things you do not want to hear while decorating for the holidays #241: "Honey, I'm at the doctor. I have a hernia and it's pretty bad. They're scheduling me for surgery either tonight or tomorrow. Can you come get me?"

Who'sa'fuck'a'wha'nutz?!!


*sigh*


shagin

The Maltin books contain reviews from all sorts of people. I had a film prof in the mid-80s who was hired each year to review a dozen or more movies per edition. His specialty was horror B movies, and that's what he was assigned.

The ironic thing is Rob ate the chicken.

----------

Harlan, ask Maltin one of these days how in in holy hell he was able to view all of the films in those books? The guy must have bleary eyes.

-------------

Speaking of Maltin:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=67TiW9dsmU8

Boeing Boeing


:: signs on some of the restrooms saying "Boeing Employees
:: Only, No Actors". I have no idea why actors can't be
:: trusted in some restrooms.


Makes no sense to me, either. (We) Actors can't be trusted ANYWHERE.

Kim,
Thanks for that description of how we Califuckingfornians spend our morning and afternoon. That one still brings a grin the next day. And I join the large crowd who enjoyed the tale of the Ice Cream Summer.
Chris,
Connie works at Boeing in Anaheim, the old Rockwell Autonetics facility. Just this week she told me that there are actors in one of the buildings. Trailers parked outside and signs on some of the restrooms saying "Boeing Employees Only, No Actors". I have no idea why actors can't be trusetd in some restrooms. Anyway when I see the new Star Trek movie, whatever multi-generational web it turns into, I will have to look for any familiar sights. I worked there for over 10 years.
The Huntington Beach plant where I work (used to be McDonnell Douglas, also now Boeing, resistance is futile) has a large Underwater Test Facility (translation: pool) which was used in the 4th ST movie, with the whales. That was before I worked there but I was there when they used it for Waterworld. What a zoo. The secretaries would hang by those trailers all day if there had even been rumor of a Costner sighting. A few times he came out and gave them really sweet messages, like "Why don't you people go back to work?"
As always, a good day to all here and all affected by the strike.

ROB and BRIAN - Thank you for finding and posting the link to the Welles/Wells interview. I hadn't heard this before either. Great stuff.
_______________________________

Rumors are running rampant that the new Star Trek film is shooting down at Long Beach City Hall (which was, previously, "destroyed" by the Cylons in the original Galactica series first episode).

LB is used for location shoots in hundreds of tv show episodes, films and commercials every year, so it could be any number of other production crews. (Okay, so they TELL you it's "Miami", "Vegas" or "Chicago" or "The OC", but it's really just us kids on the coast)(We're kind of a "body double" for America, it seems.)

I have a meeting at CH this afternoon and will ask those "in the know" who's really filming.

Rob:
Orson didn't use H. G's story without permission. He (or CBS) bought the radio rights for a one time broadcast. No matter what Herbert George said to Orson in 1940, he was said to be quite upset immediately after the broadcast, having had no idea that his story would be so freely adapted, and false news broadcasts would be used.

Rob, thanks for posting that account of the Wells/Welles conversation. For what it's worth, it can be found at: http://sounds.mercurytheatre.info/mercury/401028.mp3

Fans of old movies might enjoy The Unsung Joe, a website devoted to tracking down information on _very_ minor bit-part actors of golden-age Hollywood, at
http://morethanyouneededtoknow.typepad.com/the_unsung_joe/

I haven't been posting here much for lots of reasons. The big reasons are Insanely Busy, and Lack of any Expertise on the Writer's Guild Strike.

Life and Death of Jesse James
In my bi-weekly Eat this Essay lunchtime meeting, we will be discussing Josh's essay "The Life and Death of Jesse James." The story resonates even more clearly now than when I first read it 2 months ago, especially in light of the MySpace suicide tragedy.

Upon re-reading it, I did wonder about something: what was it that prompted Tania and Will to investigate Janna? Had Janna said or done something after Jesse's supposed death to make them suspicious of her?

Thanks,

Mark

Rob, i can imagine what that was like, and what you wrote just then made me smile, smile, smile. It made me think of the first time I heard Welles voice for the first time. I was 12 when I first started taking out and listening to the Hagerstown Public Library's Classic Records section, 4 at a time, two weeks, return promptly! I had already read Sherlock Holmes, and knew it as a radio show, but here there were records, I could hear them, 33 revolutions per minute (RPM's) that I could listen to