E.R. Torre's Blog, page 110

I’m back!!!!

At least I sincerely hope so!

On my end things are looking quite good after suffering some serious issues following an upgrade to wordpress’ jetpack feature.  Doing so mercilessly killed the blog site and forced me to do some major tech upgrades before even getting close to where I was before.

As I said, I sincerely hope I’m back.

We’ll see!

The Killer Elite (1975) a (very) belated review

Its been said that if you work in the creative field, it is often more instructive to look at fellow artist’s failures versus their successes; that you can learn more about what not to do and, therefore, avoid those pitfalls.

For me and as a writer, I often find myself reading a book or seeing a film not only to get enjoyment out of them (their primary goals, obviously!) but also to scrutinize their strengths and weaknesses.  And to that extent I agree strongly with what I wrote above, that sometimes seeing what does not work in a movie/book/story/etc. is more instructive than seeing what does.

Which brings us to the 1975 film The Killer Elite.  Here’s the movie’s trailer (sorry for the quality, its the best I could find):

I’ve seen the film before and found it a fascinating failure.  Directed by the legendary -and controversial- , it can be argued that after achieving a high level of both praise for his at times incendiary works (The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs), The Killer Elite marks the moment his career first began to falter.  Those who know of Mr. Peckinpah know he was a very heavy drinker and combative writer/director who had many run ins with the studios.  Following the release of 1978’s Convoy, he all but burned every bridge he had within the Hollywood establishment.  Including that later film, Mr. Peckinpah would direct only three more films following The Killer Elite before passing away in 1984.

The Killer Elite, as the above trailer indicates, concerns Mike Locken (, quite good) who, along with his partner George Hansen (, also quite good) are wetworks specialists who work for an agency that the CIA contracts when they need someone to do that “special” job.  By hiring this agency, the CIA keeps their hands clean should anything go wrong.

Following a mission presented in the film’s opening, things do indeed go very wrong.  Hansen turns on Locken and, as the trailer shows, cripples him with two well placed bullets.  Down and seemingly out, Locken doesn’t give up on himself even as his employers do.  He trains and strengthens himself as best he can with his limitations.

Meanwhile, a dissident Chinese national arrives in the US and is instantly targeted for assassination.  This national is an asset to the US and therefore the CIA.  The CIA goes to Locken’s employers and wants to hire them to protect the National.  The agency, stung by Hansen’s betrayal and suspicious the CIA might have secretly sanctioned it, at first rejects the job.

They instantly change their mind when the CIA operative reveals it is Hansen who was hired to assassinate the Chinese national and they not only want to protect this national, they also want Hansen taken out.

Because of his intimate knowledge of Hansen, Locken is brought back into the fold to take on this job but as the movie progresses, it becomes clear there is even more intrigue hiding beneath the surface.

As I re-read my description, I can’t help but think this film is just so in my wheelhouse.  Assassins, betrayal, intrigue.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, based on what I wrote in the very first paragraph of this review, plenty.  As I said before, The Killer Elite marks, in my opinion, Sam Peckinpah’s first major misstep following creating a string of classic and cult hit movies.

The reason The Killer Elite fails, despite some really good acting by both James Caan and Robert Duvall (sharing the screen together for the first time since the classic The Godfather), is in the fact that Sam Peckinpah seemed unable to take the material seriously.  The moment the Chinese national appeared, and then the ninjas coming after him, things turn mighty silly and tongue in cheek.

Further, the action sequences, while decent, aren’t quite up to the classic nihilism found in The Wild Bunch.

And then there are the scenes that, frankly, are complete head-scratchers.

One of the bigger ones is presented in the above trailer above, the “bomb planted under the taxi” scene.  I don’t want to spoil too much, but during the course of the film the taxi’s driver, one of Locken’s men, suddenly stops his cab.  He’s asked, in voice over, why he’s stopped the cab and replies -also in voice over- that he hears a strange rattling.

This after a major car chase and slamming the taxi against another car!  I’d find it strange if he didn’t hear any strange rattling!

Anyway, he goes under the cab and, voila, finds and removes the explosive device, which as you see in the trailer he then gives to a motorcycle cop and -hilarity!- the motorcycle cop runs away with it to dump it in the bay.

That whole sequence, it seems to me, was a very late add-on/fix-up to the film.  First off, there’s the fact that important information is given via voice over.  If the scene was originally meant to play out as it was, why not show the characters saying these words?  After they get away from the motorcycle cop and drive off, they stop their cab elsewhere and get out.  As they do, you hear the distant sound of the explosion yet don’t react to it at all.  It was as if that whole bomb and explosion was something created in post-production!

Why?

I truly don’t know.  Perhaps the sequence was more “serious” initially.  Could it be the motorcycle cop was a bad guy in disguise and our heroes had to kill him to get away?  Is it possible that as filmed, this sequence was too confusing and maybe audiences thought our “heroes” were forced to kill a real cop?  Perhaps they originally did kill a “real” cop to get away?

I truly don’t know but the scene, as presented, is a mess and feels like the product of some very hasty last minute work.

Later in the film, when the ninjas appear, any attempt at hard-hitting realism is thoroughly flung out the window, but not before we get one really odd scene involving James Caan’s Locken talking with the Chinese national’s daughter, who talks to him about sex and then, bizarrely, confesses she’s a virgin.  I suppose it was meant to be a humorous scene as the bewildered Locken tells her to go away.

More bewildered was I as to the inclusion of the scene, which was not only silly but completely unnecessary.  It added absolutely nothing to the film and felt like something you would expect would be clipped and discarded well before the film is released to the theaters.

But perhaps the film’s biggest sin is that even as it builds up the confrontation and cat/mouse struggle between Hansen and Locken, it subsequently deals with it well before the film’s climax.

Unforgivable!

I obviously can’t recommend The Killer Elite to anyone yet it still fascinated me.  A failure, certainly, but an interesting one that features some interesting actors in a film that should have been a lot better than it ultimately was.

Ah well!

POSTSCRIPT: In 2011 Jason Statham, Clive Owen, and Robert DeNiro stared in a film called Killer Elite.  While it looks like its a remake/reworking of The Killer Elite, it appears not to be.  Here’s its trailer, if you’re curious…

Doctor Strange (2016) a (mildly) belated review

When I was very young I was a voracious reader.  Almost any book and comic I got my hands on I would read.  In time the first “adult” book I read, a meaty 500+ pager, turned out to be Clive Cussler’s Vixen 03.  I was entranced by the book’s cover and, to this day, still love the image…

The book, my younger self thought after reading it, was terrific.  So impressed was I with it I quickly looked up and read all the other Clive Cussler books available out there, which at the time amounted to only four, including the also terrific Raise The Titanic!

As the years passed and Mr. Cussler released more books, I read them as well.  However, after a while I came to realize that every one of his books post-Raise The Titanic! were curiously similar, plot-wise.  It was as if Mr. Cussler hit upon a successful formula and was determined to repeat it…over and over and over again.

Sometime into the 1980’s I gave up on Mr. Cussler’s novels and this was due completely to that repetition.  Mr. Cussler (and his various co-writers) have continued making books up to today and I honestly have no idea if he continues to present the same general plots (I would hope not), but the damage was done and I completely lost interest in reading any of the man’s works.

When Doctor Strange came out last year, I was curious to see it.  I like actor , who plays the good Doctor, and have found the Marvel movies, at least until roughly last year, to be by and large pleasant entertainment even as the more I saw of them, the more I realized they were, like Clive Cussler and his novels, works that followed a certain formula.

(There is one big exception, the wonderful, and I would argue best Marvel film, Captain America: Winter Soldier)

Worse, many reviews of Doctor Strange released concurrently with its release noted the film was essentially a magic themed remake of the film that started the whole Marvel movie industry rolling, the original Iron Man.

As good as Iron Man was, that film’s fingerprints have indeed been all over just about every Marvel film since.  Robert Downey Jr. was terrific as Tony Stark, the troubled, arrogant, and brilliant head of his self-named company who, thanks to a personal misfortune and a near death experience (his heart is very weak), devises the Iron Man armor and essentially makes himself a hero.  But this hero, unlike others on the screen to that point, retained his cockiness and glib attitude even in the face of death.  And, I repeat, Robert Downey Jr. was terrific in the role.

Unfortunately, not everyone fits that type of role as well.

Subsequent Marvel films have featured the “glib” hero in various stages, even if they don’t have the same arrogance.  It seems with every new Marvel film released, we have heroes -and villains!- offering jokes in the middle of what should be life and death situations.  Sometimes this works but, increasingly, it doesn’t.  At least not for me.

I was not blown away by Captain America: Civil War, though in my original review (you can read it here) I thought it was an enjoyable enough confection whose main problems lay in too many characters running around and too broad -and incomprehensible- a plot.  My opinion of the film, I must say, has taken a bit of a downturn since that original review.  While I still think the airport fight was good and Robert Downey Jr.’s meeting with Aunt May was fun, today I feel the film was more of a wiff than a success.  The very best films are those you are willing to come back to and see again and I seriously doubt I’ll ever watch CA:CW again.

With Doctor Strange, I hoped for the best but, frankly and based on those reviews I mentioned, anticipated the worst.  I feared the critics were right and the film would indeed be Magic Iron Man and I’d turn into my younger self and decide I’d had enough of the Marvel movie universe and their repetitive nature.

Doctor Strange starts with Kaecilius (, sadly underused), breaking into an ancient library, killing the man in charge of securing it, and stealing pages from an ancient tome.  He is then pursed by a mysterious figure who, we find, is the Ancient One (, easily the film’s best element).  Despite the Ancient One’s pursuit, Kaecilius nonetheless gets away and we then cut to…

Doctor Stephen Strange, neurosurgeon/surgeon extraordinaire.  The Iron Man comparisons are apt as he is glib, ultra-wealthy, arrogant, and, shortly after we’re introduced to him, has a life changing accident which destroys his hands and, therefore, wipes out his ability to be a surgeon.

His girlfriend, Christine Palmer (, truly and sadly wasted in a thankless role) tries to make Dr. Strange see that his life isn’t over but the arrogant and bitter man will not listen to her.  He chases her away while spending all his remaining money on experimental procedures to try to fix his hands.

While in rehab, Dr. Strange hears the story of a man who overcame what should have been paralysis and meets up with him.  The man tells Dr. Strange of a trip he made to the orient and Dr. Strange follows the man’s path, eventually coming upon the Ancient One and her/his (I’m not sure what his/her sex is supposed to be) magic arts study group.

It is there that the skeptical Stephen Strange gains knowledge of the magic arts and not a moment too soon as Kaecilius -conveniently- has waited all this time and politely allowed Dr. Strange to become reasonably proficient in the magic arts before making his move and attempting to destroy Earth.

I’ll get to the bottom line here: I didn’t like Doctor Strange all that much even as I’ll acknowledge it is a perfectly acceptable Marvel film and far from the stable’s worst (I know I’m in a very small minority here, but I really didn’t like Guardians of the Galaxy and feel it is easily the worst of the Marvel films).

The problem with Doctor Strange winds up being similar to the problem I had with the books of Clive Cussler.  I’ve seen this stuff before and, while there are new wrinkles here and there, the repetition is becoming tiresome.

Worse, though, is that the film never engages as much as one would hope.  The direction and editing never give us any big rush or sense of breathless action. The effects, good as they are, also become repetitious after a while.

As good as Robert Downey Jr. was/is at playing the Tony Stark role, even a great actor like Benedict Cumberbatch looks a bit lost trying to emulate that glib/arrogant-yet-funny/heroic type.  The others around him with one notable exception don’t really contribute all that much either.  Chiwetel Ejiofor is only OK as Mordo and his character’s change in the last minutes of the film feels like a plot contrivance rather than something his character logically earns.  I’ve already noted that I felt Rachel McAdams was wasted and Mads Mikkelsen was also underused and presented in a silly way.  He too engages in the glib/”funny” dialogue in inappropriate moments and this further destroys whatever threat levels we should have to the confrontations between Strange and he.

The big exception, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, is Tilda Swinton’s Ancient One.  She’s just enigmatic and stern enough to be intriguing but, when all is said and done, she’s in the film for no more than perhaps 15 minutes.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed just about every scene she was in and it says a lot that I would have rather seen a film about her/him than Dr. Strange!

In the end, while Doctor Strange isn’t a total disaster, it was just…there.  It was only okay.  Perhaps a little above mediocre.

Now that I’ve seen it, I seriously doubt I’ll ever bother watching it again.

Legion: Season 1 (2017) a (just about right on time!) review

Earlier this week FX played the 8th, and final, episode of the first season of the series Legion.

The series, tied in to the Marvel Comics X-Men series and, coming into it, I heard it was an ambitious, at times mind-bending work.  How “close” it was to the various X-Men comics it is I cannot say.

What I can talk about is the series itself, which I found incredibly entertaining, with some caveats, the biggest of which is that at times the show ventured from weirdly engaging to just plain weird.

The show’s pilot was, as I stated in my original review, was humorous as weird but at times one admittedly had to have patience.  The story was intriguing enough to keep me going, though even at a mere 8 episodes there was at least one which maybe could have been trimmed out without much loss (I forget which one it was…I think it might have been episode 6 which was simply one wild head-trip).

The show concerns David Haller () who is mentally disturbed and in an institution…and may have the mental power within him capable of destroying the world.  One of his best friends there is Lenny Busker () who may or may not be real.  The nature of Lenny becomes a central plot point of the series and Aubrey Plaza is a delight in a humorous and at times very scary role.

Into the institution appears Syd Barrett () who has secrets of her own, and the two are drawn to each other.  Turns out Syd also has her secrets and her interest in David extends beyond mere attraction.

There are also a group of military figures who are interested in David and they kidnap him from the institution which, in turn, sets off Legion’s story.

I don’t want to give away more than this but suffice to say the series is intriguing, creative, suspenseful, and at times howlingly funny.

I also believe I know one of the show’s biggest kept secrets, which I’ll get to in a second (it does involve rather huge SPOILERS).

Anyway, if you haven’t given the show a try, do so.  It’s weird and at times requires a bit of patience but it gets better and better as it goes along and its final two episodes, in particular, were knockouts.

Now, for those pesky…

SPOILERS

(abandon hope all ye who enter here)

 

Still there?  Required statement: You have been warned.

So Legion involves a group of mutants led by Dr. Melanie Bird () who are running from the government.  The government, rightly, fears the mutants and wants to stop whatever they’re doing.  The mutants, of course, want to survive.

In the course of the series Dr. Bird, it is revealed, has a husband, Oliver Bird () who is apparently a very powerful mutant who got himself stuck in the “astral plane” for the past 20 or so years.  He figures into the series, particularly the conclusion, and is at this point a confused individual who fancies himself a beat poet.

Ok, here’s the big SPOILER/SECRET I believe the show has hidden in plain sight:  Dr. Melanie Bird and Oliver Bird are somehow the future/older versions of Syd Barrett and David Haller.

No, seriously.

Take a look at these images of Dr. Melanie Bird…

…and Syd Barrett:

As the series progressed, I was struck by how similar these two looked, as if one was an older version of the other.

Syd Barrett’s mutant power is that whomever she touches “switches” bodies with her.  This process is painful to Syd and therefore she wears gloves and makes it a point of not touching people.

In the entire 8 episode run we’re never told -at least not to my memory- what Dr. Bird’s powers are.  Why not?  She runs a mutant enclave…surely she has a mutant power as well, right?  So why make a secret of it?  Could it be that revealing it would reveal she has the same powers as Syd?

My evidence, beyond simple visuals: Dr. Oliver often wears gloves, just like Syd.  She also doesn’t touch others.  Whenever Dr. Oliver talks to Syd and Syd tells her she’s going to do something -sometimes something Dr. Bird looks about to protest- Dr. Bird nonetheless holds her tongue and doesn’t question Syd’s judgment.  It’s almost as if she realizes that Syd and her are the same person and therefore, how does she question the judgment of her own, albeit younger, self?

There’s a further point: Dr. Bird reacts very curiously to the attraction Syd has for David.  It’s almost as if she realizes the person Syd loves is the same person she loves, which leads to the following:

If Syd Barrett and Dr. Bird are the same person, could David Haller and the astral-plane stranded husband of Dr. Melanie Bird, Oliver Bird, also be the same person?

Here’s Oliver Bird…

…and here’s David:

There is less visual similarity between the two versus Dr. Bird and Syd, but note the curious resolution presented in the show’s finale.  When the parasitic creature within David is finally drawn out, it bounces around but where does it ultimately land?

In Oliver.

If Oliver is an “older” version of David, where else would a parasitic creature go to but to the one whose “soul” it most knows?

Now, as I stated before: I never read the comic books which featured these characters and therefore don’t know if this is an already known story concept (or, indeed, if I missed some clearer hint to this in the series itself).

Regardless, these are my theories.  Perhaps they’re close to true?

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004) a (very) belated review

With the upcoming release of the  live action Ghost in the Shell, I admit to having gotten curious to revisit what I could of the original series.

I picked up the three new trade hardbacks reprinting the comic books and found them…ok.  The first book was the best but even that one, alas, didn’t impress me here and now as much as it probably would have when it was first released.  The original 1995 animated Ghost in the Shell movie, likewise, was recently revisited by me and while I enjoyed the film, I was surprised by its non-ending (you can read my full review here).  It was almost like the movie was a prologue to a longer, more involved story, one that I suppose came with 2004’s Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.

While I enjoyed the original Ghost in the Shell animated film, I must admit its sequel left me…weary.

The story, what there is of it, involves robots that are turning on their masters and killing them, and the investigation lead by Batô, the original cyborg partner of the Major (the character Scarlett Johansson plays in the new movie), and Togusa (also a character from the original film) into those killings.

Their partnership, in true movie form, is an uncomfortable one, with the more “human” Togusa worrying about his wife and child and the far less emotional Batô willing to push things as far as needed to solve the case.  He’s also not afraid of violence.

I’ll be blunt here: I didn’t like the film.

While its premise was intriguing enough, the film, to me, had difficulties setting a tone and sticking with it.  What should have been a good action/adventure with some intriguing questions about humanity in the age of cybernetics instead became too often too dull with those ruminations.  Further, it was so clear, even from the opening minutes, that (SPOILER, I suppose) the Major would make a re-appearance after her “disappearance” in the original film that this proved to be the only thing keeping me watching.

As a character Batô isn’t bad, but in the first film he worked because he was a secondary character and our focus was on the enigmatic Major.  In this film, Batô is the main character and his emotionlessness becomes…dull.

Indeed, there was only one sequence in the film that I found incredibly enjoyable, and that was Batô and Togusa’s visit to a Yakuza den.  It was action filled and, especially, hilarious in the set-up and payoff.

I just wish the rest of the film had that vibe.

Visually, this film, like the original Ghost in the Shell, is very pretty, though some of the computer generated images show their age.  When the film was released in 2004, I suspect the computer graphics were quite state of the art but in terms of computer graphics 2004 is a very, very long time ago and it shows.

Anyway, if you liked the original animated Ghost in the Shell and are curious to see the story’s continuation, you should probably check out Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, if only to see where things go.

Just tamper down your hopes.  The sequel, while enjoyable in spurts, doesn’t do so as a whole.

Tesla now more valuable than Ford…

Interesting article by Fred Lambert and found on electrek…

Tesla (TSLA) is now more valuable than Ford and why it doesn’t matter

Without giving away too much of the article (or, conversely, simply offering a summary), the article notes that Tesla’s stock has for the first time risen above Ford’s: $45.47 billion versus $45.35 billion.

The article also notes that there remain sharp criticism and critics against Tesla who will no doubt wonder what in the world people see in the company.  It is operating at a loss and Ford sells far more vehicles than it does and operates at several billion dollars worth of profit.

However, the article examines what exactly Tesla is and comparing it one on one to another car making company doesn’t do Tesla justice.  It is, after all, a company that not only produces cars but it also working on solar power, batteries for the home, and software.

I was in a mall this past weekend and it happened to have a Tesla “store”.  Within were two Tesla vehicles, the S and X model (the upcoming “cheaper” model 3 completes the S 3 X –sex– label…if nothing else, Elon Musk has quite the sense of humor).

They were freaking gorgeous.

I’ve long noted that it is my belief with the coming automated driving we will soon not have personal vehicles, instead relying on a Uber/Lyft app that will call self-driving vehicles to us, will take us where we want, then be off to pick up the nearest passenger.

However, if I should ever get myself another car, I suspect it will be the model 3…at least once it is readily available.

If my predictions of what’s to come with self-driving cars prove right, that might well be the last actual vehicle I own!

 

Meanwhile, back in the 1980’s

Over the weekend I had an appointment at my bank regarding a long term CD that was maturing and what I wanted to do with it…

[image error]

This picture is obviously not of me.

Anyway, while going through the various -truth be told pathetic– interest rates available should I squirrel away what little money I have for up to five years, the person dealing with me noted how when they started working at the bank in the 1980’s, there were long term CDs available with interest rates over 10%.  Today you’re lucky to get anything between 1-3%.

Now, before your eyes glaze over and/or you run away screaming from this website thinking I’m about to get into investment and banking:  Relax, I’m not.

The banker’s story of what was going on in the 1980’s reminded me of something I experienced back then, in those heady days, the days when banking wasn’t quite as well regulated and Miami, let’s be honest here, was a place many used to launder their money.

Today, if you try to deposit more than $10,000 at a bank, you will be scrutinized.  Back in the 1980’s, this wasn’t the case.  Do some quick research and you discover that banks were -wittingly and unwittingly- laundering vast amounts of “dirty” money made through drug dealings.

But it wasn’t limited to banks.

Back in/around 1986-7 or so, I was in the market for a car.  I finished High School and was in the University and had a budget of about $16,000 for a car.  I looked around and this one caught my eye…

That’s an Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce.  A fairly economic car to buy at that time yet one you could only purchase from dealerships that offered much higher priced exotic cars.

So my Dad and I headed to one of those dealerships (he’s an expert at haggling for the best price for a car), I looked around the lot and was wowed by many of the incredible, exotic vehicles available there.  While I was there for my more modest priced Alfa Romeo, my eyes lingered on two beautiful Lotus Turbo Esprits…

If the car looks familiar and you are a fan of films, you may recognize an earlier (circa 1977) model, one that is still very familiar, in the most famous scene of the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me…

Anyway, I was impressed by the two Lotus cars and curious what they cost and asked the guy we were dealing with what it would take to buy them.

“Sorry, you can’t have them,” the dealer said.  “They’ve already been sold.”

I stiffled a laugh.  There was no chance in hell I had the money to buy one, much less both, of these vehicles.  But back in those pre-internet days, the only way to find out about these things was to ask.

“I was just curious,” I said.  “What do each of them cost?”

“$50,000 each,” the dealer said, then continued: “Yesterday a guy comes in carrying a suitcase with $100,000 in it.  He bought them both on the spot.”

So I picked my jaw up from the floor and my father and I tried -but failed- to make a deal on the Alfa Romeo.

There is no way to know for sure if the cars’ buyer was anything but an honest man who made the $100,000 honestly.  Honest.

Yeah, there’s no way of knowing.

Nonetheless I suspect I came away with what may well have been the closest I ever got to the drug laundering going on in real time in Miami during that time.

The success of Netflix…

I use Netflix.  I suppose most people do.

It’s a nice service that offers both streaming films as well as, if you want to, DVD/BluRays sent to you that are not currently streaming.

Of late they’ve been busy making original shows and features, perhaps most preeminent being the Marvel related series.

Now, according to Devindra Hardawar at engadget.com, they’re expanding into big budget movies…

Netflix’s big budget Death Note remake lands on August 25th

While the headline is about the Death Note movie (included is an intriguing, if not quite great, trailer), Mr. Hardawar notes:

Netflix is no stranger to original films these days, but Death Note is one of the first big budget gambles for the company. It won’t be the last, though: Netflix has also shelled out $90 million for the Will Smith film Bright, $60 million for Brad Pitt’s War Machine and it reportedly spent over $100 million on Martin Scorsese’s next movie, The Irishman, starring Robert DeNiro.

Netflix makes a hell of a lot of money and it seems natural they should invest in movies/TV shows they can show on their services.

…however…

As much as Netflix makes, if one counts the supposed budgets of all these films (Death Note cost 45 million to make), they represent a total investment of (gulp) $295 million dollars.  That’s a terrific amount of cash to invest in what amounts to “only” four movies, regardless of the big names attached to them.

It’s not my money, of course, and if the films are successful they will pave the way toward making Netflix not only a movie provider, a proper movie maker.

I just hope they’re wise with their investments.

Impossible foods…?

If you’ve followed my posts here, by now you know I’ve got a pretty liberal mindset.

I feel climate change is a very real danger and we not only should, but need to invest in alternate sources of energy that are more environmentally friendly.  I’m also optimistic and very open to new technologies and hope they offer us a better way of living.

I’m also, it must be noted, a meat eater.

I love meat.

I love steaks.  I love hamburgers.  I love sausage and pork and bacon.

For that matter, I love eating chicken, turkey, and shrimp.

The liberal inside me is, yes, bothered by this.  I don’t want to think about what went into me getting my latest meal, as much as I may enjoy it.

I’ve tried alternate tofu patties, vegan burgers, etc., and found them…lacking.  However, I’m optimistic the industry will, over time, twerk the formula and soon enough we’ll have artificial meats that taste as good as and are healthier than real meats.

Impossible Foods is but one company involved in creating artificial meats and, in this article by Dara Kerr for C/Net, they’re about to expand…

Impossible Foods to supersize production of lab-grown burger

The article is fascinating and this passage from it, in particular, I found very encouraging:

The idea is that not only can these faux meat products be healthier, with less antibiotics and hormones, but that they’re also less resource intensive and more environmentally friendly. For example, Impossible Foods says producing one of its burgers requires only a quarter of the water and 5 percent of the land that making a conventional burger calls for, and that the process emits only 13 percent of the greenhouse gases.

Very encouraging stuff…if Impossible Burgers finally does arrive to my local grocery store, I’ll most certainly give it a try.

Hope it tastes good!

Little Egypt…

Once in a while I stumble upon articles that fascinate me.  Here is one such article, written by Kat Vecchio and found on Salon.com concerning a notorious late 19th Century, early 20th Century dancer Katherine Devine, better known as “Little Egypt”:

Katherine Devine, the Kim Kardashian of the 1890’s

It is truly fascinating to see how our culture has both changed and remained fixed in time over the years, especially when seen through the story of Ms. Devine.

I don’t want to give too much away from the article, but Ms. Devine achieved a level of notoriety at the turn of the Century 1800’s into the 1900’s because of her “risque” dancing, specifically a party she was hired to dance for involving some wealthy patrons.

The story of how Ms. Devine took what was a scandal and made it an opportunity is classic Americana.  Not the Americana people like to pretty up, but the real life flesh and blood that made much of this country…despite attempts by many to hide the “darker” aspects of our lust.

Based on the article, Ms. Devine was hardly a stunning woman, and I actually laughed out loud at this description, offered by The New York Daily Tribune, of her appearance in court following the “scandalous” dance she gave the millionaires:

The New York Daily Tribune reported, “The woman spoke with a French accent that didn’t work much more than half of the time.”

If you truly dig below the surface of the American dream, you’ll find so many people like Ms. Devine…people who used whatever “talents” they had and pushed them to their limits to make a nice life for themselves.  Considering the status of women in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s and presented in snippets through the article, one had to take whatever advantages one could to make a living.

While Ms. Devine, at least according to the article, was not a prostitute but rather a bawdy vaudeville dancer, the role of sex in the rise of the American West is fascinating because of the things we don’t talk about.

When I visited Seattle, one of the startling things I discovered was, among others, the role madam Lou Graham had on the rise of that city.  She was a successful madam and loaned money to various businesses as well as helped the women (and men!) under her wing get an education so that once their “scandalous” days are done they will have the potential to continue their lives productively.

The saddest part of the article on Ms. Devine was the nature of her passing, an apparent gas leak in the building she resided in.

Here’s to Ms. Devine and others like her, who managed to take on the hypocrisy of society -on the one hand many of them so high and mighty fighting “smut” while on the other hand incredibly quick to devour any little piece of information on it- and make a life for herself.