E.R. Torre's Blog, page 95
October 12, 2017
Corrosive Knights, a 10/12/17 update
Quick update:
I’m slowly… very slowly… reading through the current draft of the book and…
I’m liking what I’m reading.
To be sure, there are some things that will need expansion and/or “cleaning” but much of what I’ve read (approximately the first 1/3rd or so of the book) flows remarkably well. Helps, too, that much of this earlier material is “fresh” to me.
I know what happens in these early pages but its been many months since I’ve looked at them so, therefore, I’m looking at them with fresh eyes.
I suppose when you’ve made it to your 11th major work, even if you’re a fool like you’re bound to learn a few tricks along the way. Either that or I’ve finally learned to write things with a stronger eye on making it closer to what it should be by the time I’m through.
Anyway, back to work.
October 11, 2017
Sketchin’ 32
Not so very long ago came the news that actor Martin Landau had passed away.
Though perhaps not one of the best known actors out there, Mr. Landau carved an impressive career for himself. Today he’s probably best known for playing the foul mouthed, drug addled elderly Bela Lugosi, a role which won him a Best supporting Actor Oscar, in the 1995 Tim Burton directed film Ed Wood.
Terrific as he was in that role, my familiarity with Mr. Landau came with earlier roles, two specific, which happened to be television shows that also featured his then wife, the stunningly beautiful Barbara Bain.
The two shows? Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999.
Anyway, I was looking around the internet last night seeking some interesting picture from Space: 1999 to use for my next piece and, though I didn’t find it, I did find a fascinating picture with both Mr. Landau and Mrs. Bain which looked as if it was taken after their stint in Mission: Impossible and a little before Space: 1999.
And here it is. Enjoy!
October 10, 2017
Politics… beware…
Once again I dip my toe into the subject that raises people’s ire and finds no easy medium.
But, does it seem like after last week (that terrible last week) that we’ve crossed some kind of line with regard to President Donald Trump and his shenanigans?
With the latest clash between Trump and Senator Corker and Trump and Secretary Tillerson, the later who supposedly called his boss a “moron” (or, if you believe some sources, a “f*cking moron”) along with the terribly delayed response to Puerto Rico’s emergency following being hit by a hurricane, and the silly stunt Vice President Pence performed at the Indianapolis football game this past Sunday and one gets the feeling that even many of those invested in Trump are perhaps tiring of his silliness, the incompetence, the general chaos, and starting to sour on him.
Indeed, even the startling, sickening news of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual deviance and eventual ouster from his own company has, ironically, cast the spotlight on something too many have chosen to ignore… and that is Donald Trump’s own history of sexual deviance.
Now I’m not naive. I know there will always be those who stand behind the Donald. To them, he can do no wrong.
But I’m curious if the Republican party… at least those who are serious about running the country, have maybe, just maybe had enough and, with Senator Corker speaking out, the proverbial dam has finally developed a leak.
Mr. Corker will remain in office until the midterm elections but now that he’s “unchained” from seeking votes, one wonders what’s next for him, and for the party that rode that tiger to this point.
Will that dam finally break?
Stay tuned.
Lawsuits, lawsuits…
This is… interesting.
From bleacherreport.com and in an article written by Scott Polacek, we find that…
Cubs, MLB Sued by Fan Who Was Struck By Foul Ball and Left Blind In One Eye
To be sure, this sounds like an absolutely terrible situation for the fan. Jay Loos, the fan in question, was hit by a foul ball while attending a Cubs vs. Pirates game and has undergone three surgeries and has two more to go through and will probably also need a prosthetic eye.
Yes, the foul ball essentially destroyed his eye and broke bones in his face.
On the one hand, I feel for the man, who is seeking some $50,000 in damages. Based on that figure, which doesn’t appear too terribly exaggerated, I suspect he’s not seeking much more than the costs of the surgeries and getting him back to a semblance of what he was… at least as much as possible.
On the other hand, if you’re taking in a baseball game and you’re in the seats immediately behind and to the left and right of the batters, there is the possibility of foul balls -and bats!- heading your way in a mighty big hurry.
The article (yeah, I know, I’m spoiling the whole damn thing) notes that baseball teams are investigating/considering extending the netting behind the batters for situations like this and, frankly, it surprises me there is all that much pondering to do.
I know there may be those who argue this will limit people’s vision but if there is a possibility of avoiding this gruesome injury in the future, what’s there to consider?
October 8, 2017
Sketchin’ 31
When I was much younger (way back in the stone age, natch), I very clearly remember the release of the subject of my latest sketch, Mel Gibson’s Mad Max from the incredible Mad Max 2 or, as it was known in the United States, The Road Warrior.
Back when the film was released, I was too young to see this “R” rated film without *ahem* adult supervision. I nonetheless managed to see the film twice upon its initial release and was turned away a third time.
Ah well.
I still consider Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior one of the very best action films ever made, regardless of people’s current opinions -sadly, understandable- against Mr. Gibson. I felt the latest Mad Max film, Mad Max Fury Road, would have been better served with Mr. Gibson, though please don’t take that as a slight against Tom Hardy, who took over the role.
It’s just that to me, Gibson is Mad Max and I personally feel he would have done better in the lead role… but that’s crying over spilled milk at this point.
So here he is, in all his glory, a very young Mel Gibson in the role that made him a star…
October 6, 2017
Blade Runner(s)…
Today we have the release of a very belated sequel.
I’m referring, if you haven’t paid attention to the headline above, to Blade Runner 2049, the Ryan Gosling starring vehicle -though Harrison Ford is back as well- of the 1982 film (duh) Blade Runner.
Which means this sequel comes an astonishing 35 years after the original movie’s release, which I believe is a new record. The previous record of the longest time between original movie and its sequel is, I do believe, 1982’s Tron to 2010’s Tron Legacy, something I’ve had on my mind very recently. To save you doing the math, that movie had 28 years between original and sequel.
I plan to catch the film in theaters as I am a fan of the original though I feel director Ridley Scott’s previous film to that, Alien, is a far better overall film.
Blade Runner was a difficult sell back in the day it was originally released. It was something way different from what many expected and was a murky, at times difficult film to understand. In some ways this was understandable. Director Ridley Scott was forced to add a “voice over”, which Harrison Ford reportedly couldn’t stand doing, to explain for audiences what was up.
The film wasn’t a terribly big success but over time the movie received second and third looks and, voila, people began to appreciate the movie more and more. In fact, things became so good for the film that Mr. Scott was given the unheard of until then chance to return to the film and “fix” it so that it more resembled the version he wanted.
That meant various versions, most of which did away with the voice over and included or cut certain scenes but, with the eventual release of the “Final Cut” of the film, we have what is likely the final word on it… though I personally don’t feel the “other” versions are so terrible they should be burned at the stake. Hell, I don’t even mind the Harrison Ford voice-over!
But when I watched the original Blade Runner a little while back, I noted something that always troubled me about it: The story presented was… slight. In fact, if you look at Blade Runner as a modern noir mystery, the mystery part is surprisingly slight. Here we have the police department going to Harrison Ford’s Deckard to find these lost Replicants as if he’s the only one capable of doing this type of dirty work -the classic “he’s the only one with the knack” archetype- and the way he goes about finding them is, let’s face it, something the police should have been able to do.
For example, he finds a snake scale -something the police should have found- in an apartment along with a photograph (which he does not much more than zoom in on) to get valuable clues to where those replicants are.
But here’s the thing: The movie uses a film noir/mystery to offer us a fascinating sci-fi mood piece/environment which influenced pretty much all futuristic movies that came afterwards.
In fact, so many movies were influenced by the visuals presented in Blade Runner (which, to be fair, was itself influenced by works such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis), that today’s audiences looking at the movie for the first time may have trouble finding it as great a film as others have. In fact, I recommend those who are fans of the film (or not) to check out this interesting article over at i09.com, a site dedicated to geek culture, which had two of its staffers see the film for the first time and react to it.
Anyway, as I said above, I do plan to catch Blade Runner 2049 sometime in the very near future, though the run time -two hours and forty some minutes!- does seem rather… long.
Still, as a fan of the original film and based on many of the good reviews, I’ll give it a look-see.
October 5, 2017
Sketchin’ 30
So it enters my mind to do Clint Eastwood picture.
He is, after all, one of the more recognizable stars of the 1960’s on…
Thing is, I don’t want to do your typical Clint Eastwood picture, ie the grimacing, angry, Dirty-Harry-carrying-a-weapon-type image. I’ve had my fill of late of angry, grim people.
After looking around, I find this image, clearly a Clint Eastwood promo picture taken before his “spaghetti western” period (he’s clean shaven!) and probably was made in/around his Rawhide years. What’s fascinating is that it looks like the type of picture Mr. Eastwood might have forwarded to the folks over at Bonanza!
And there you have it, a young, smiling, clean shaven Clint Eastwood!
Sketchin’ 29
Don’t know why I haven’t found enough time to do more sketches but its been a while since I’ve posted one.
I take that back.
There have been other sketches I’ve done but haven’t felt were worth posting. Some I’ve come close to finishing but decided it just wasn’t working.
C’est la vie.
Anyway, this is one I did manage to finish up yesterday. I like it:
This is from the original 1982 Tron, a film I was so damn excited to see back in the day but which turned out to be a disappointment.
The graphics/effects, for the time, were out of this world but the reality is that the film was… well… far less interesting than the effects.
In fact, I was amused when in 2010 the very belated sequel, Tron: Legacy came out and Disney, the movie’s producers, made it quite difficult for audiences to get their hands on the original film, something you would figure they’d be more than happy to do. Yet there was no “special edition” of the original movie made available via DVD. Nothing at all.
I suspect they knew what I did: That the original film wasn’t all that good so just keep the whole thing mysterious and release the DVD later on, which they did.
Alas, the sequel was just as weak, IMHO, story wise as the original while the effects were quite amazing.
I suppose the more things change, the more they stay the same?
Even though the movie(s) may not have been all that much, I do still like the original’s visuals and enjoyed taking on this image.
It Comes At Night (2017) a (mildly) belated review
The commercial ends and Alex Trebek smiles to the cameras. We’re watching the latest episode of Jeopardy.
Alex: E. R. Torre, you’re in a bit of a hole with negative $1,398,032, but you’ve got a little better than five minutes to make it all up. (Offers the camera a “yeah, right” smile and rolls his eyes) So, what category would you like to start your (suppresses a chuckle) comeback?
E. R. Torre: Let’s take Films That Make You Want To Slit Your Wrists for $200.
Alex: All right, let’s see what–
E. R. Torre: Oh, and Alex?
Alex: (sighs) Yes Mr. Torre?
E. R. Torre: The comeback has officially begun, baby!!!
I recall when the (unfortunately) named It Comes At Night (2017) er… came out. The critics were ecstatic about it, calling it a dark, nightmarish vision. Over at Rottentomatoes.com, the film earned an impressive 89% positive among the critics.
Here’s the movie’s trailer:
But here’s the thing: While the critics loved the film, audiences weren’t quite as intrigued.
In fact, over at that very same Rottentomatoes.com subsection devote to this movie, you’ll find that audiences gave it a far less positive approval rating of only 44%.
Ladies and gents, I’m siding with audiences on this one.
It Comes At Night is a post-apocalyptic thriller in the vein of recent zombie features/TV shows except that instead of zombies the very small cast in what I imagine was a very low budget film fights to survive against a disease that has decimated humanity.
When our adventure starts, we’re introduced to a small family consisting of Paul (), his wife Sarah (), son Travis (), and Sarah’s infected father ().
Father is, for all intents and purposes, gone. The infection has taken him and he looks like something from a proper horror film. His eyes are black orbs and blood seeps out of his mouth. The danger from the infected, we find, lies in the fact that they are contagious rather than a physical threat. Both Sarah and Paul deal with him while protected by gas masks. Sarah gives the man some last words before they take him outside, put a bullet in his head, and burn his body.
As you can see, the fun has just begun!
We find these now three survivalists have a very tight regimen for dealing with the dangers of this post-apocalyptic world. They’ve barricaded their home and have one entrance/exit.
In through that exit comes, one night (it does come at night!), Will (). He’s quickly disarmed, beaten, dragged out of the house, and tied to a tree. We learn that if a person is infected, they’ll show signs of said infection within 24 hours. When Will makes it through that time period, Paul talks to him, roughly, and wants to know what his deal is.
Will states he has a wife and child and broke into the house thinking it was empty and while looking for supplies… specifically water. Though the film doesn’t come right out and state it, one gets the impression that the infection is in the water as Paul and his family are quite diligent in filtering it.
Anyway, Will and Paul make a tenuous peace and head out. They eventually get Will’s wife () and child and the two families try to make a go of it before tragedy eventually overtakes them.
I won’t give away everything -though believe it or not these plot developments, meager though they are, have just given you roughly 1/2 of the film- but suffice it to say things don’t end well for the entire group.
The movie mostly follows the sometimes distorted visions of Travis, Paul’s 17 year old son, who is having a tough time dealing with the deaths and horrors of the apocalypse. He isn’t helped by the fact that his parents try to shield him from these horrors and that only serves to augment them in his mind.
As one may have implied from what I noted above, It Comes At Night, unfortunately, has too little plot and too long a runtime, in my humble opinion. Had this been a one hour episode of, say, a show like The Walking Dead it might have worked out better as my patience was severely tried as the production dragged along.
When we do eventually reach the film’s end/resolution, I felt there were also too many things up in the air. I don’t mind a film that leaves a lot of mystery behind, but this one’s mysteries aren’t all that earth shattering and it didn’t feel like a mystery was needed.
Who was ultimately responsible for what happened? We don’t know. Yet instead of appreciating the mystery, I found I didn’t care all that much. Who was infected, who wasn’t? Again, it didn’t matter all that much.
When so little matters, one can’t help but feel the film has failed in its mission.
The bottom line is that I’ve seen films like this before and while It Comes At Night is stylish and well directed and well acted, works like it –better works, it must be said- are out there and are worth pursuing before giving this movie a try.
Alas, a pass for me.
October 3, 2017
Tom Petty’s passing…
And the beat -sadly- goes on.
Just yesterday I noted the string of bad news coming since last week and continuing through to the latest -and largest- mass shooting which occurred in Las Vegas.
Thought things couldn’t get worse but, of course, they always can.
Word came last afternoon/night that singer Tom Petty had died. Then, that he wasn’t dead but, worse yet, that he was taken to a hospital after a heart attack and, as per do not resuscitate orders, was taken off life support systems after being found to have no brain activity.
Man.
Today, word came that he had indeed passed away, something that was expected given that last bit of news and, of course, I offer my condolences to his family and friends.
I distinctly remember the first time I heard or at least noticed a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song. Back in those stone age days before the internet and when MTV first hit the airwaves, I was amused and entertained with this video, which used the then very popular Mel Gibson film Mad Max 2 aka The Road Warrior as a visual template:
The song wasn’t bad, either!
Look, I’m not going to lie: I was never a HUGE fan of Mr. Petty. For me, his singing style was not my cup of tea as it was just a little too Bob Dylan-esq.
Having said that, the man knew how to create memorable songs. He had a string of very popular and very deserved hits and was an ever present fixture of the radio stations I’ve listened to for most of my life.
I could list his most popular/well known songs but I suspect most people out there know them quite well. While his voice may not have thrilled me, there is little doubt his musical legacy is large and He will be remembered for many, many years to come.
As an artist, ultimately that is your hope, to create something that will entertain and amuse people even when you’re gone.
So Rest In Peace, Mr. Petty.
I believe it’s time for me to listen to more than a few of your songs, for old time’s sake.
