E.R. Torre's Blog, page 86
January 26, 2018
What’s good for the goose…
In the many years (and miles) of travel I’ve engaged in in this life, I’ve read, studied, and analyzed. I’ve tried to put myself in others’ shoes and sought to follow the “do unto others” philosophy to the best of my ability.
I’m no saint, mind you, and I would never claim to be.
I also found, quite early in my life, that religion wasn’t for me and that I was, at heart, an atheist. Having said that, I don’t begrudge anyone having strong feelings for their religion. If it makes your day that much brighter to follow your particular faith, then more power to you. I can respect your faith, can you respect my lack of it?
You see, this goes to one of the things that irks me -to the point of making my blood boil- most about religions: The seeming need to thrust your idea of religion on others.
See, though I have no religion, I don’t go around demanding others follow my ideas.
Yet there are those who do this, often with gusto, in the public arena. One prominent example is the issue of abortion. A thorny issue, I grant you, but one where the religious have tried to foist their ideals on others.
Enter the Satanic Temple.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: Satanic Temple?! They’re evil, right?
Actually, not really. This Wikipedia article on them offers a great summation of their philosophy and goals, all of which I’m all in favor of.
From the article, their stated mission is “to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people” …The Satanic Temple has utilized satire, theatrical ploys, humor and direct legal action in their public campaigns to generate attention and prompt people to reevaluate fears and perceptions, and to highlight religious hypocrisy and encroachment on religious freedom.)
In the case of Missouri’s restrictive anti-abortion laws, which are very skewed toward pushing religious ideals, they appear to be about to win in court using the very same tools the religious have used to argue their point.
From jezebel.com and written by Aimee Lutkin…
Satanic Temple suit may crush restrictive anti-abortion laws in Missouri
From the article (sorry for spoiling things):
The case states that in 2015, Mary Doe was forced to wait 72 hours, listen to a fetal heartbeat, and accept a brochure that states life begins at conception before she was allowed to have an abortion. These are all acts, the suit argues, that go against Doe’s religious beliefs as a member of the Satanic Temple. Those beliefs include a conviction that a “nonviable fetus is not a separate human being but is part of her body and that abortion of a nonviable fetus does not terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being,” according to NBC News, which she told her doctors in St. Louis.
Furthermore, the plaintiff says that the rules imposed on abortion seekers by the state of Missouri “does not advance a compelling governmental interest or is unduly restrictive of Doe’s exercise of religion.”
Using religious “rights”, in the plaintiff’s case with the Satanic Temple, is, IMHO, ingenious and, as I wrote in the headline, the very definition of the old cliche of “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander”.
And you know what? Wonderful.
According to the article, the state has already pulled back on some of their ideas and, it would appear (again based on the article), the Satanic Temple is on the verge of scoring a win here.
I strongly believe that those who are very religious should be able to follow their paths.
But we cannot allow those paths to block others from theirs.
January 25, 2018
Sketchin’ 48
If you’ve looked through my artwork you should see that I’m a fan of movies.
Why is that?
The image presented in this entry is the answer…
Released in 1971, the movie Duel was directed by a then mostly unknown by the name of Steven Spielberg. It was released theatrically in Europe but aired on TV in the US and Canada and, I do believe, I caught it when it aired in that year. I was likely between four and five years old at the time and this proved to be the first film I saw where I realized a story was being told from beginning to end.
It was, to my very young mind, nothing short of magic.
I would not see the film again for at least ten years, and when I did I was shocked to find that it was directed by Mr. Spielberg but in retrospect, that should have been obvious. For Duel is essentially an early draft, if you will, of the film that made him a superstar: Jaws. Only Duel featured a homicidal truck driver pursuing a harried driver along desert roads, their encounters proving more and more dangerous.
So why did this particular film affect me as much as it did? Easy: It was essentially a silent film.
Sure, there was dialogue, but it was incidental at best. In his commentaries for the DVD release, Mr. Spielberg pointed out the film was originally intended to not have one bit of dialogue, but the studio balked at that idea. Still, for the most part it is a silent film… punctuated by the sounds of engines and squealing tires. If you haven’t seen the film yet, give it a look.
It’s well worth it.
Bill & Ted’s third movie coming…?
Found this intriguing article written by Morgan Jeffrey and found on digitalspy.com concerning the possibility of a third Bill & Ted film ever seeing the light of day:
Bill & Ted writer reveals how the planned third film will pay tribute to George Carlin’s Rufus
Not familiar with Bill & Ted? Here’s the trailer for the first film, followed by the trailer for the second:
For me, the two films were very funny and the standout joke of the second film, given away in the trailer, is that Bill & Ted play against “Death”, a la Seventh Seal, but of course, the games they play are silly.
I’m curious to see a third film but, on the other hand, one worries whether a film featuring 50 year olds would work in as goofy a fashion as the original two did with youths.
Tourism slump…?
Ben Popken over at nbcnews.com offers the following article which, I suppose, is political in nature yet has real world consequences:
Tourism to the U.S. under Trump is down, costing $4.6 Billion and 40,000 jobs
I know I’m probably preaching to the proverbial choir, but this here is a very solid example of the real world harm which happens when someone in as prominent a position as Mr. Trump shoots off his mouth as he does.
Considering I live in a region which benefits from tourism, this is indeed very scary.
Well it was… sorta… fun while it lasted…
It’s been revealed that the Danny McBride Crocodile Dundee “film” is, in actuality… not really a film but rather a promo intended to shine a light on Australian tourism, at least according to this article by Britt Hayes and found on screencrush.com:
Here’s the truth behind the fake Danny McBride Dundee film
For those unfamiliar with the whole thing, a week or so ago appeared the following “teaser” trailer (after the teaser featured below, you got some trailers for the other “real” Crocodile Dundee films):
Then, a few days ago, appeared a second, IMHO far more amusing trailer which featured Mr. McBride alongside Chris Hemsworth (this teaser trailer, annoying, concludes with the first teaser trailer):
Gotta give Mr. Hemsworth plenty of credit. To make one word, “really” so funny takes considerable skill! 
January 24, 2018
Billy Joel and… H. P. Lovecraft..?!?
Hilarious (to me anyway, your mileage may vary!) article found on i09.com and written by Beth Elderkin regarding the fascinating fact that…
Billy Joel and H. P. Lovecraft “Sing Us A Song” for Cthulu
From the article, its very first line:
Turns out, it’s surprisingly easy to take Billy Joel’s song “Piano Man” and turn it into an ode to the Elder Gods long gone.
To wit, people have realized that H. P. Lovecraft’s 1917 poem Nemesis syncs up quite well with Piano Man.
There are three videos embedded in the article. I liked this one quite a bit (though that Billy Joel picture is pretty damn creepy!
Thanks for saying that, Michael Steele…
As usual, a warning: Politics be here!
So beware!
I’m old enough, and have perhaps wasted far too much time on following the ebbs and flows of politics, to recall when Michael Steele was chair of the Republican Party. When he was in that capacity, he would come on TV and often make what to me were incredibly asinine comments in defense of the Republican Party.
To put it bluntly: He made my blood boil.
Now, I should have taken those comments that so inflamed me back then with the proverbial grain of salt. While chair of the RNC, it was his job to defend the Republican Party and therefore some of those crazy (again, IMHO) statements were probably made for the cameras but which he may well not have believed in.
Now that he’s no longer the chair of the RNC, he’s become one of my favorite pundits on TV. His comments/opinions have been, it would seem now, to come from a far more honest place. He’s willing to criticize both sides equally and, at least whenever I catch him, talks with a combination of wit, humor, and refreshing bluntness.
His latest comments given toward the end of this segment of MSNBC’s Hardball, regarding evangelical leaders, is particularly right on target (sorry for the stupid add for a CNN clip that hides his face):
Preach, brother.
Preach.
January 23, 2018
2018 Oscar Nominations…
Here ya go, from Huffingtonpost.com:
To me the most interesting category is that of Best Picture. I’ll spoil the article above -at least a little bit- by listing the movies nominated for this year’s Oscar:
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Post, Call Me by Your Name, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, Get Out, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, The Shape of Water.
So, I’m familiar with all the films listed above and a couple of them, especially Three Billboards, have intrigued me to the point where I want to see them.
But, once again, I’m batting .000 in terms of having seen any of the films considered for the Oscar.
Yup, I’ve not seen any of them.
I was intrigued with Get Out but as word …er… got out (ouch) about the story presented, I unfortunately had too much information on what the story presented was and, therefore, felt little need to go see the film.
Dunkirk, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, is a film that intrigues me, especially given that its a Christopher Nolan directed film, BUT I’m so tired of “war” films at this point. Understand, I have little doubt its a good, perhaps even great film, but there you go.
Very curious to see which of the films win, though I can’t help but wonder if I’ll ever see any of ’em!
January 22, 2018
About the upcoming Super Bowl…
New England Patriots? I suppose that isn’t too much of a surprise yet one has to give credit -to a point!- to the Jacksonville Jaguars for giving them such a hard game and, for a while anyway, making it look like the Cinderella underdogs might just unseat the proverbial king of the mountain.
The Philadelphia Eagles, the team that will face New England, sure looked unstoppable with the suddenly surging backup QB Nick Foles.
Weird year and New England, though certainly a favorite, may get quite the game from the Eagles, provided Mr. Foles continues what he’s doing.
January 21, 2018
Sketchin’ 47
Released way back in 1955 and directed by Robert Aldrich (perhaps best known for directing 1967’s The Dirty Dozen and the original 1974 Burt Reynolds starring The Longest Yard), Kiss Me Deadly is, to me, one of the most fascinating post-modern “noir” films ever made. It was WAY ahead of its time and skirted with what I’m sure were considerable censor issues, presenting us with a Mike Hammer we’d never seen before or since.
In this movie, Mike Hammer (played by Ralph Meeker) was a smiling shark, a sleazy, blinged out P.I. who made a living off of equally sleazy divorce cases. Once hired by a disgruntled wife, he’d set his faithful and sexy secretary Velda (Maxine Cooper, terrific in her role and accompanying Mr. Meeker in the picture below) off to seduce the soon to be divorced men while Hammer takes photographs of the whole thing. Here they are, the sleazy P.I. and his faithful girl Friday…
In the movie, Hammer’s living is good enough for him to dress well and have a very modern -for the time- apartment while driving around in an exotic car. But Hammer is after a bigger score, and when he gets involved in a case of some stolen …something… that has the government, local police, and the mob all excited, he senses he’s about to make himself the biggest score of all.
And when Lt. Pat Murphy, who has absolutely zero tolerance for this creep, tells him he’s in “way over his head”, Hammer should have listened to the man’s warning.
If you haven’t seen the film and this sounds like your cup of tea, by all means go out there and get it. It was recently released by Criterion films on BluRay and is very much worth checking out. A bit of trivia: Remember the glowing suitcase in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction? That idea was taken directly from this movie.
