Ted Rabinowitz's Blog, page 23

Silicon Valley

Not the place, the show. Mike Judge is behind it, and it seems pretty good so far. You have to love a show where a character is shanghaied by the computer glitch in a driverless car.

A Revolt That Never Was

The Fishing Creek Confederacy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishing_Creek_Confederacy Think of it as a writing prompt.

People I Hate That I've Never Met

For years I hated Jim Morrison, frontman for The Doors. As a member of Generation X, I loathed most things having to do with the '60s, and to me, the Doors' catalog epitomized the pomposity and self-importance of the Boomers. (I've changed my mind about some of their songs since, but "Love Me Two Times" and "Touch Me" still piss me off.) And Morrison seemed like the essence of narcissistic '60s bullshit - the canned beans and LSD, the Venice Beach "meet cute" with Ray Manzarek, the bare-chested pouty album covers, the rocker flameout death in Paris, the liebestod romances with Rimbaud and Kerouac. But then I found a recording of a bit of an interview Morrison did with Howard Smith. Morrison is talking about putting on a freshman thirty at college, and how he liked being fat. He's playing around with the interviewer, and it's so friendly and and down to earth, it's hard not to like him. It reminded me that hating on people you've never met is a mug's game. Actor, athlete, artist, reality TV "personality," those are only personae. Anyone older than 18 knows that intellectually...but we all have to be reminded, from time to time.

The Devil's Dictionary

A hundred years ago, freelance grump Ambrose Bierce wrote a book called The Devil's Dictionary, which was full of the snarkiest definitions he could invent for American sacred cows. Of course, such a dictionary could not be allowed to pass forever from the earth - so the good folks at TL;DR Wikipedia have updated the project for the Internet Age. Enjoy!

[SPOILER] The King Is Dead. Anyone Want To Be King?

Congrats to Jack Gleeson on helping to animate a character so vividly hated by so many people. Joffrey will be missed by all of us who enjoy a good sadist/coward combo (a classic trope of Western storytelling). I do hope Jack hasn't been getting blowback from unbalanced Game of Thrones fans who can't distinguish between the actor and the role.

Bad Science

One of the biggest problems facing us today isn't anti-vaxxers, or climate deniers, or Holocaust deniers, or creationists. It's the force behind them that makes all of it possible - a deliberate rejection of knowledge, a triumphant ignorance. This kind of ignorance can only flourish when we as a society lose our "herd immunity" to nonsense; and we keep that immunity by knowing how to think. By understanding the laws of logic and evidence, of separating truth from lies, of coming to correct judgments. Here's an article that helps a little.

The Affordable Care Act

I just went through New York's ACA marketplace to change my health insurance. I'm now saving about $70 a month, with expanded coverage. Thank you, Obamacare.

Incredible Volcano Footage

Now THIS is a great way to use drones.

It Didn't Hold Water!

When I wrote The Wrong Sword I assumed, like about a million other writers of historical farce/fantasy/drama/baloney, that folks back then preferred beer and wine to water because water could be "iffy." Turns out that's not true! Our ancestors were NOT morons. And here's the blog post to prove it:

http://leslefts.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/the-great-medieval-water-myth.html

It makes sense if you actually sit down and think about it. Contaminated water is a bugaboo of human occupation, especially settled, urban-ish occupation. We have a tendency to crap where we eat (and drink), after all. And in Medieval Europe, with far fewer people and far more untended land and unpolluted watersheds, the likelihood of finding clean water - from a spring, a well, a stream or even a sufficiently clean pond - was that much greater.

And there it is!

Harold Ramis, 1944-2014

Damn it.

One of the great funnies died today - Harold Ramis...aka Dr. Egon Spengler. He collaborated as a writer on some the best comedies of the '80s, from Animal House to Caddyshack to Ghostbusters, and he directed movies like Groundhog Day. Ivan Reitman, who directed Ghostbusters, credited Ramis with adding the best parts of the story - the romance between Billy Murray and Sigourney Weaver, the irony, and "all the adult writing." He also added that Ramis was the one who was responsible for the film's story structure.



I mention this because when I, like all film students, was struggling to wrap my head around the nuances of three-act structure, Ghostbusters was my go-to script. It hums along perfectly, like a freshly lubricated electric motor, so efficient that it seems effortless and you almost don't notice the transitions from act to act, the planting, the payoff...the mechanics. And, of course, funny. FUNNY. And I know, deep in my heart, that it was Harold was responsible for the two best lines in the movie:

"Your girlfriend lives...in the corner penthouse...of Spook Central."


&
"When someone asks you if you're a god, you say...YES!"
What were your favorite Ramis lines?