Category Archives: Movies

Rodan139: Lower Ledges

Need to start this post by wishing a Happy Valentine’s Day to all who celebrate. It is the one true holiday, that has yet to be adulterated by crass commercialism.


Happy Valentine's Day - 2023
Happy Valentine’s Day

I wish I could buy you all cookies, but settle for this picture of a cookie and I might buy some of you cookies on Thursday. We’ll see how my day goes.

I do like publish power rankings on holidays. So for Valentine’s Day, I present my Top 10 Best Romantic Comedy Power Rankings:

ROMANTIC COMEDY POWER RANKINGS

10. About a Boy (2002)

STORYLINE

Twelve year old Marcus Brewer lives with his chronically depressed single mother, Fiona Brewer. Both Fiona and Marcus beat to their own respective drummers. Marcus will do whatever he can to make his depressed mother happy, even if it causes himself grief. As such, he realizes that he is perceived as different than most kids, as even the self-professed weird kids don’t want to hang out with him as he is the target of bullying. Part of the taunts against him are the fact that he sings and speaks to himself without even realizing that he is doing it. Meanwhile, thirty-eight year old Will Freeman is a slacker who has lived comfortably off the royalties of a song written by his deceased father, and as such has never had to work a day in his life. He is a solitary man who places himself as the first and only priority in life. He comes across the idea that dating single moms meets his selfish carnal needs. It is in this capacity that Will meets Marcus, as one of Will’s single mother conquests, Suzie, is friends with the Brewers. Trying to escape his life but wanting Will to date Fiona, Marcus infiltrates Will’s life, much to Will’s chagrin. Will slowly begins to realize that Marcus is more than just a nuisance, but rather someone who needs some guidance navigating through the trials of adolescence and the trials of dealing with a suicidal mother, and perhaps he can be a small part of providing that direction. Conversely, Marcus may be able to show Will the path to becoming a real adult.

FAVORITE QUOTE

I wanna be with her more, I wanna be with her all the time, and I wanna tell her things I don’t even tell you or mum. And I don’t want her to have another boyfriend. I suppose if I could have all those things, I wouldn’t really mind if I touched her or not.

9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

STORYLINE

Much to his surprise, timid Joel Barish is shocked to discover that the love of his life, sparky Clementine, has had him erased from her memory. As a result, hurt and angry, Joel wants to pay her back in the same coin, going as far as to undergo a painless but intricate medical procedure to do the same. However, poor Joel is utterly unaware that darkness is an essential part of the light. And as the once-cherished recollections of Clementine gradually fade away, giving way to a soulless black void, something unexpected happens. Now Joel has second thoughts, toying with the idea of stopping the irreversible process. Who said ignorance is bliss?

FAVORITE QUOTE

Why do I fall in love with every woman I see who shows me the least bit of attention?

8. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

STORYLINE

Peter is a composer and a likable sad sack who’s devastated when his girlfriend of five years, Sarah Marshall, the star of a cheesy CSI-style crime show, dumps him. He weeps, he rails, he mopes. Finally, his step-brother Brian suggests a vacation, so Peter heads for a resort on Oahu where, as he’s checking in, he sees Sarah and her new beau, Aldous, a perverse English rocker. The weeping and moping start again, until Peter is rescued by Rachel, a thoughtful hotel clerk who invites him to a luau and to hang out. Although he constantly runs into Sarah and Aldous, Peter starts to come alive again. Will Sarah realize what she’s lost, and what about Rachel?

FAVORITE QUOTE

It’s getting kind of hard to believe
Things are going to get better
I’ve been drowning too long
To believe that the tide’s going to turn
And I’ve been living too hard to believe
Things are going to get easier now
I’m still trying to shake off the pain
From the lessons I’ve learned
And if I see Van Helsing
I swear to the Lord I will slay him
A-ha-ha-haa!
He take you from me
But I swear I won’t let it be so
A-ha-ha-haa!
Blood will run down his face
When he is decapitated, ah
His head on my mantle is how
I will let this world know
How much I love you
Die, die, die
I can’t

7. Sabrina (1954)

STORYLINE

Linus and David Larrabee are the two sons of a very wealthy family. Linus is all work — busily running the family corporate empire with no time for a wife and family. David is all play — technically employed in the family business but never showing up for work, spending all his time entertaining, and having been married and divorced three times. Sabrina Fairchild is the young, shy, and awkward daughter of the household chauffeur, who has been infatuated with David all her life, but whom David hardly notices till she goes away to Paris for two years and returns an elegant, sophisticated, beautiful woman. Suddenly, she finds she’s captured David’s attention, but just as she does so, she finds herself also falling in love with Linus, and she finds that Linus is also falling in love with her

FAVORIE QUOTE

It wouldn’t have worked out really, darling. The papers and everybody else would’ve said how fine and democratic for a Larrabee to marry a chauffeur’s daughter, but would they praise the chauffeur’s daughter? No. Democracy can be a wickedly unfair thing, Sabrina. Nobody poor was ever called democratic for marrying somebody rich.

6. High Fidelity (2000)

STORYLINE

Thirty-something Rob Gordon, a former club DJ, owns a not-so-lucrative used record store in Chicago. He not so much employs Barry and Dick, but rather keeps them around as they showed up at the store one day and never left. All three are vinyl and music snobs, but in different ways. Rob has a penchant for compiling top-five lists. The latest of these lists is his top-five break-ups, it spurred by the fact that his latest girlfriend, Laura, a lawyer, has just broken up with him. He believed that Laura would be the one who would last, partly as an expectation of where he would be at this stage in his life. Rob admits that there have been a few incidents in their relationship which in and of themselves could be grounds for her to want to break up. To his satisfaction, Laura is not on this top-five list. Rob feels a need not only to review the five relationships, which go back as far as middle school when he was 12, and try to come to terms with why the woman, or girl as the case may be, left him, but also, in the words of Charlie Nicholson, number four on the list, “what it all means” for why he has ended up where he is, which is nowhere, personally or professionally, close to what he envisioned. He also has to come to terms with what it means that Laura has moved on to Ian Raymond, a man for whom neither had any respect when they were together.

Favorite Quote:

“What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?”

5. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

STORYLINE

Adapted from William Shakespeare’s play “The Taming of the Shrew,” 10 Things I Hate About You starts off with Cameron, new student at Padua High, sitting in the office of the quirky guidance counselor Ms. Perky. He is then shown around the school by Michael, who will become his best friend. During his tour is when Cameron first sees Bianca Stratford, a beautiful sophomore with one problem: she isn’t allowed to date. And neither is her “shrew” sister, Katarina, a senior who loves indie rock and feminist prose and hates conformity. But Kat and Bianca’s father alters his house rule: now, Bianca can date… as long as Kat has a date, too. Now, in order for Cameron to date Bianca, he has to find someone to date Kat. So Michael helps him enlist the help of pretty-boy/jerk/model Joey Donner, tricking him into thinking that *he* will get to take Bianca out if he pays someone to take out Kat. His choice: Patrick Verona, a bad-boy with a mysterious reputation–some say he ate a live duck once, others that he lit a state trooper on fire, and even more claim that he had a brief porn career. Will Patrick win Kat’s heart? Will Cameron win Bianca’s? Or will everything hit the fan…?

FAVORITE QUOTE

I hate the way you talk to me and the way you cut your
hair. I hate the way you drive my car. I hate it when you
stare; I hate your big dumb combat boots and the way
you read my mind. I hate you so much it makes me sick;
it even makes me rhyme. I hate the way you’re always
right. I hate it when you lie. I hate it when you make me
laugh, even worse when you make me cry. I hate it that
you’re not around. And the fact that you didn’t call. But
mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you, not even close,
not even a little bit, not even at all.

4. Juno (2007)

STORYLINE

A tale told over four seasons, starting in autumn when Juno, a 16-year-old high-school junior in Minnesota, discovers she’s pregnant after one event in a chair with her best friend, Bleeker. In the waiting room of an abortion clinic, the quirky and whip-sharp Juno decides to give birth and to place the child with an adoptive couple. She finds one in the PennySaver personals, contacts them, tells her dad and step-mother, and carries on with school. The chosen parents, upscale yuppies (one of whom is cool and laid back, the other meticulous and uptight), meet Juno, sign papers, and the year unfolds. Will Juno’s plan work, can she improvise, and what about Bleeker?

FAVORITE QUOTE

Look, in my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you, the right person is still going to think the sun shines out your ass. That’s the kind of person that’s worth sticking with.

3. The Princess Bride (1987)

STORYLINE

An elderly man reads the book “The Princess Bride” to his sick and thus currently bedridden adolescent grandson, the reading of the book which has been passed down within the family for generations. The grandson is sure he won’t like the story, with a romance at its core, he prefers something with lots of action and “no kissing”, but he lets grandfather continue, because he doesn’t want to hurt his feelings. The story centers on Buttercup, a former farm girl who has been chosen as the princess bride to Prince Humperdinck of Florian. Buttercup does not love him, she who still laments the death of her one true love, Westley, five years ago. Westley was a hired hand on the farm, his stock answer of “as you wish” to any request she made of him which she came to understand was his way of saying that he loved her. But Westley went away to sea, only to be killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts. On a horse ride to clear her mind of her upcoming predicament of marriage, Buttercup is kidnapped by a band of bandits: Vizzini who works on his wits, and his two associates, a giant named Fezzik who works on his brawn, and a Spaniard named Inigo Montoya, who has trained himself his entire life to be an expert swordsman. They in turn are chased by the Dread Pirate Roberts himself. But chasing them all is the Prince, and his men led by Count Tyrone Rugen. What happens to these collectives is dependent partly on Buttercup, who does not want to marry the Prince, and may see other options as lesser evils, and partly on the other motives of individuals within the groups. But a larger question is what the grandson will think of the story as it proceeds and at its end, especially as he sees justice as high a priority as action.

FAVORITE QUOTE

There’s a shortage of perfect breasts in this world. It would be a pity to damage yours.

2. 500 Days of Summer (2009)

STORYLINE

After it looks as if she’s left his life for good this time, Tom Hansen reflects back on the just over one year that he knew Summer Finn. For Tom, it was love at first sight when she walked into the greeting card company where he worked, she the new administrative assistant. Soon, Tom knew that Summer was the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. Although Summer did not believe in relationships or boyfriends – in her assertion, real life will always ultimately get in the way – Tom and Summer became more than just friends. Through the trials and tribulations of Tom and Summer’s so-called relationship, Tom could always count on the advice of his two best friends, McKenzie and Paul. However, it is Tom’s adolescent sister, Rachel, who is his voice of reason. After all is said and done, Tom is the one who ultimately has to make the choice to listen or not

FAVORITE QUOTE

If somebody gave me this card, Mr. Vance, I would eat it. It’s these cards, and the movies and the pop songs, they’re to blame for all the lies and the heartache, everything. We’re responsible. *I’m responsible.* I think we do a bad thing here. People should be able to say how they feel, how they really feel, not you know, some words that some stranger put in their mouths. Words like “love”… that don’t mean anything. Sorry, I’m sorry. I, uh… I quit. I’m… There’s enough bullshit in the world without my help.

1. The Philadelphia Story (1940)

STORYLINE

Philadelphia socialites Tracy Lord and C.K. Dexter Haven married impulsively; their marriage and subsequent divorce are equally passionate. They broke up when Dexter’s drinking, a mechanism to cope with Tracy’s unforgiving manner toward Dexter’s imperfections, became excessive. Two years after their break-up, Tracy is about to remarry in a ceremony at her family’s mansion. Her new bridegroom is nouveau-riche businessman and aspiring politician George Kittredge, who is otherwise an ordinary man who idolizes Tracy. The day before the wedding, three unexpected guests show up at the Lord mansion: Macaulay Connor (Mike to his friends) and Elizabeth Imbrie–both friends of Tracy’s absent brother Junius–and Dexter. He works for the tabloid Spy magazine and made a deal with its publisher and editor Sidney Kidd to get a story on Tracy’s wedding–the wedding of the year–in return for Kidd not publishing a salacious story with accompanying photographs of Tracy’s father, Seth Lord, with New York showgirl Tina Marra. In reality, Mike and Liz are the reporter and photographer for Spy. Mike and Liz don’t particularly like this assignment or working for Kidd, but their chosen other fields as serious writer and painter don’t pay the bills. A suspicious Tracy is onto them, and when Dexter admits the truth, she decides to turn the tables on Mike and Liz. But hours before the wedding, as the more self-assured Dexter and Liz get to work on how to get the Lords out from under Spy’s threats, Tracy and Mike, both inebriated, go on a journey of self-discovery with Tracy ultimately coming to her realizations a little faster than Mike.

FAVORITE QUOTE

The time to make up your mind about people is never.

The storylines were taken from the Internet Movie Database.

Anyways, Happy Valentine’s Day.

+++++++

Now we got that Valentine’s Day stuff behind us, time to share a collection of drone pictures I took of Lower Ledges back in October.


Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Rodan139: Ledges State Park

Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to live so close to such a beautiful little slice of nature in Ledges State Park.

Washington County Aux. – Vol. 2

Time to share the second collection of auxiliary images from my road trip to Washington County to harvest their town signs. A few of these are still in Riverside. Which I consider to be a must visit for anybody that likes Star Trek.


Washington County - Riverside
Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Ainsworth
Ainsworth

Washington County - Ainsworth

Washington County - Ainsworth

Washington County - Ainsworth

Washington County - Ainsworth

Washington County - Ainsworth

Washington County - Crawfordsville
Crawfordsville

Washington County - Crawfordsville

Washington County - Crawfordsville

Henry County - Olds
Olds

Henry County - Olds

Henry County - Olds

Henry County - Wayland
Wayland

Washington County - Coppock
Coppock

Washington County - Coppock

Still one more collection of images to share from this road trip!

Washington County Aux. – Vol. 1

Back in early July I took a day and tooled around Washington County harvesting their town signs. The two best things in Washington County is that it is the home of Riverside, which is the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. The other awesome part is it is the home of Kalona, my favorite town in Iowa to visit. However, I didn’t spend much time in Kalona on this trip.

Here is the first collection of images:


Johnson County - Oxford
Oxford

Johnson County - Oxford

Johnson County - Oxford

Johnson County - Oxford

Johnson County - Oxford

Johnson County - Oxford

Washington County - Riverside
Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

Washington County - Riverside

There are many things up for debate in this world. But one thing that isn’t, is that the best captain the Enterprise ever had or will have was James T. Kirk.

Still more to share from this trip!

Clay and Lyon County Aux. – Vol 2

Here is the last of the auxiliary images from a road trip I made with Teresa to harvest the town signs of Clay and Lyon County.


Dickinson County - Lake Park
Lake Park

Lyon County - Rock Rapids
Rock Rapids

Lyon County - Rock Rapids

Lyon County - Rock Rapids

Lyon County - Rock Rapids

Lyon County - Rock Rapids

Lyon County - Rock Rapids

Lyon County - Larchwood
Larchwood

Lyon County - Larchwood

Lyon County - Tri-State Marker
Tri-State Marker – Where Iowa, South Dakota, and Minnesota meet.

Lyon County - Tri-State Marker

Lyon County - Tri-State Marker

Lyon County - Tri-State Marker

Lyon County - Tri-State Marker

Lyon County - Tri-State Marker

Lyon County - Tri-State Marker

Lyon County - Inwood
Inwood

Lyon County - Inwood

Lyon County - Inwood

Lyon County - Inwood

Lyon County - Inwood

Lyon County - Inwood

Lyon County - Inwood

Lyon County - Inwood

Sioux County - Hull
Hull

Sioux County - Hull

A word about the tri-state marker. There is only one place in the United States where 4 states come together at a common point. Those states are Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. Also known as future Big 12 Country. Probably.

There are 62 tri-points in the United States. 38 of those tri-points are on land. The rest are in water. Where Iowa-South Dakota-Minnesota all meet is the only one in Iowa that is on land. Iowa-Nebraska-South Dakota, Iowa-Missouri-Nebraska, Iowa-Minnesota-Wisconsin, Iowa-Illinois-Wisconsin, and Iowa-Illinois-Missouri are all in water.

The tri-state marker used be in the middle of the road, but apparently a big concrete obelisk in the middle of the road kept getting hit. Who could have seen that? The marker now is technically in South Dakota. There is a pin in the middle of the road that marks the actual spot, but I didn’t get a great picture of it.

The next time we hit the open road to look at auxiliary images from THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Sioux and Plymouth County.

+++++++

This is more of an archive than I expect anybody to read it. It really isn’t even mine. I’m just putting it here so I know I have a copy of it when I decide I want to read it again and again.

Then why is it here? Here is my way of explaining…

Here are a couple Christopher D. Bennett Fun Facts. When it isn’t college football season, Saturdays are for NPR. If you are in the car with me on a Saturday, you can lock in that at 9 AM, the radio dial we be on 90.1 and I will be listening to “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!”. Followed by “It’s Been a Minute”, “This American Life”, and “Snap Judgement”.

The other Christopher D. Bennett Fun Fact is that I have probably 3 or 4 or 5 movies that rotate as my favorite movie. PSYCHO (1960), MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (although the shine is off this one a little bit due to the way the filibuster is actually used today), KING KONG (1933), INHERIT THE WIND, and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.

Of these A CLOCKWORK ORANGE is the movie I use to judge people. If they don’t love A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, are they really worth knowing? I think we all know the answer to that.

In fact, the one time that somebody agreed to watch it, without me in attendance they called me about 5 minutes into it wanting to quit. But they were troopers and finished it. They even claimed to have like it. I assume they were telling the truth, cause how could you not like it?

Last Saturday, my love for “This American Life” and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE collided as they did a story on the infamous missing chapter. If you don’t know, the last chapter of the book was omitted when published in the United States. The rest of the story, I’ll let this transcript from “This American Life” tell the story.

Ira Glass
Act 3, “Never Hear the End of It.” So we close out today’s show with this story that is very on point with everything we’ve been talking about till now from Sean Cole.

Sean Cole
This is one of my favorite stories to tell. I tell it at parties or to anyone who will listen. And since we’re here talking about the nature of people and whether they’re mostly good or mostly bad, I figured I’d tell it to you. Have you ever seen A Clockwork Orange, the Stanley Kubrick movie– guys running around in bowler hats and jockstraps on the outside of their pants, committing acts of, quote unquote, “ultraviolence?” It’s one of the most iconic films of the 20th century, set in a dystopian near-future where teenage hoodlums speak this stylized, Russified slang. It’s also intensely violent and deeply misogynist in ways I don’t think I understood when I first saw it and obsessed over it. I was in my teens then, the same age that the main character Alex is supposed to be.

Alex
There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim. And we sat in the Korova Milk Bar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening.

Sean Cole
The thing is, the meaning of the story, what it says about the inherent goodness or badness of people, has been largely and grossly misunderstood, or at least the meaning that was originally intended by its creator, Anthony Burgess, the guy who wrote the novel the movie’s based on. He talked about this a lot in his lifetime.

Anthony Burgess
Although Kubrick made an interesting film out of it, the film wasn’t quite accurate. He didn’t follow the book as he should have done. He cut out the final chapter, for one thing.

Sean Cole
The final chapter, chapter 21. The film is actually really faithful to the book until that last part. But that last chapter radicalizes everything. If you know the movie, you know the movie. But if you don’t, you at least need to know the plot of it for any of this to make sense. I’ll try to summarize it as quick as I can.

So Alex and his three droogs, meaning friends, they spend their nights getting hopped up on drug-infused milk and hurting people. They beat up a panhandler, steal a car, and run other cars off the road. There’s a pretty famous rape scene, which incidentally was inspired by Burgess’s first wife getting assaulted, though not sexually, by a group of American soldiers. About a third of the way through, Alex accidentally murders someone during a break-in and goes to prison. And after serving a couple years, the government chooses him for a new experimental type of aversion therapy.

Man
He’ll do.

Sean Cole
They give him this drug which makes him basically allergic to violence. Any time he so much as pictures hitting someone, he’s overwhelmed by nausea and dread, also whenever he hears the music of Beethoven, but that’s another thing. Then the government does this presentation where they trot out the new forcibly reformed Alex, subject him to insults, injury, sexual temptation, and in response all he can do is gag and retch. Then a priest in the audience leaps up to object with the operative word–

Padre
Choice! The boy has no real choice, does he? He ceases to be a wrongdoer. He ceases also to be a creature capable of moral choice.

Interior Minister
Padre, these are subtleties.

Sean Cole
Anyway, Alex gets out. A bunch of bad stuff happens. He tries to kill himself. The government sees the whole thing as a PR nightmare and gives him an antidote to the treatment, transforming him back to his evil, remorseless, smashing-things self. Also he can listen to Beethoven again.

Alex
I was cured, all right.

Sean Cole
The end. It’s bleak with a point that it’s better to let people choose to be bad than to brainwash them into harmless robots, clockwork oranges, with no will of their own. But in the book, the final chapter that wasn’t in the movie, it changes the meaning of everything that’s gone before it.

In the final chapter Alex is back at the Korova Milk Bar with three new droogs, whole new gang. But this time when they go out to stomp on random people, Alex hangs back. Something’s eating at him. It’s like he’s bored with all the violence now, doesn’t enjoy any of this like he used to.

He wanders into a coffee shop where he runs into a member of his old gang, Pete, and Pete’s wife. They look happy, living the quiet life. And Alex thinks, maybe that’s what’s missing. Maybe I should settle down, have a kid, hopefully a son. “I felt this bolshy big hollow inside my plott,” he says, meaning his body. “Feeling very surprised too at myself. I knew what was happening, O, my brothers. I was like growing up.”

When I read that, it was like the top of my head blew off. Alex isn’t inherently evil. He didn’t just go back to doing all the bad stuff he used to do. And he didn’t need an experimental drug to reform him. He just needed time to get there on his own. I was in my early 20s when I picked up the novel, so some years after I saw the movie. And the feeling was like I’d unfairly underestimated someone for a long time.

It’s also an ending that comports more with reality. There’s research that shows a big reason people disengage from gang life is just that they get older, age out of it. But more than that, the two endings represent two completely different ways of looking at the world. One is saying that people can change, even the worst people, whereas the other is saying that evil is evil, irredeemably.

And those two worldviews, they’re baked into this ridiculous backstory about that final chapter. According to Burgess, when the book was published here in the States, the publisher told him they wouldn’t put it out unless they could cut chapter 21. This was way before the movie was optioned. It was still just a novel. They said the optimistic ending was Pollyanna-ish, naive, and bland.

They were like, we Americans are tougher than you Brits. We can handle a nihilistic ending. Some people are just beyond hope. That’s more realistic. Burgess needed money back then, he said. If the only way to sell the story to Americans was to lop off its conclusion, then so be it.

So now there were two Clockwork Oranges in the world with two different endings depending on where you lived. Burgess writes about this whole mishigas and how he felt about it in an introduction to a later edition of the book. I just want to read– this is probably my favorite part of what he says.

“Now, when Stanley Kubrick made his film, though he made it in England, he followed the American version and, so it seemed to his audiences outside America, ended the story somewhat prematurely. Audiences did not exactly clamor for their money back, but they wondered why Kubrick left out the denouement. People wrote to me about this. Indeed, much of my later life has been expended on Xeroxing statements of intention and the frustration of intention while both Kubrick and the New York publisher coolly bask in the rewards of their misdemeanor. Life is, of course, terrible.”

It’s funny, but it was also endlessly frustrating to Burgess. He wrote that he didn’t think the American edition and thus the movie was a fair depiction of human life. It’s as inhuman to be 100% evil as it is to be 100% good. The two need to coexist. He was unequivocal about that.

Further, when the film came out, there was a moral panic about it, both in the UK and here in the States. And it wasn’t just the violence people were upset about. It was the ending. An editor for The New York Times wrote in the Arts and Leisure section of the paper, “The thesis that man is irretrievably bad and corrupt is the essence of fascism.” I can’t help but think how all of this might have been different if that last chapter had never been cut.

And that, for years, was everything I knew. But then recently, as I was getting ready to tell all of this to you, O, my brothers, I thought I should actually do some research, make sure I got my facts straight. And as with A Clockwork Orange itself, it turns out there’s a whole other chapter to this saga, one that I didn’t know existed. To start with, that quote from Burgess I read earlier that ends with “Life is, of course, terrible.”

Andrew Biswell
That’s a very entertaining account of the story. I think it’s inaccurate in various ways.

Sean Cole
This is Andrew Biswell. He’s spent more than 25 years researching Burgess in part for his aptly titled book The Real Life of Anthony Burgess. It wasn’t always the easiest job.

Andrew Biswell
He would embroider, and he would be more concerned with telling a good story than with sticking to factual accuracy. Now, I’d been going through the manuscript of A Clockwork Orange as part of my research into Burgess.

Sean Cole
The original manuscript, the one Burgess sent around to his editors in England and America.

Andrew Biswell
And just turning the pages and noting any annotations on the typescript. And I remember coming to this note in his own handwriting, which says at the end of chapter 20, “Should we end here?”

Sean Cole
“Should we end here? An optional “epilogue” follows.” “Epilogue” is in quotes. Again, this was at the end of the second-to-last chapter, where Alex turns bad again.

Sean Cole
And what did you think when you saw it?

Andrew Biswell
I nearly fell off my chair. I was very surprised, because I’d grown up with the Burgess introductions and commentaries on his book. And up until that point, I’d been inclined to believe them. And this question, “Should we end here?” I was surprised by the level of doubt.

Sean Cole
Surprised because Burgess publicly was so emphatic that he had been forced to cut the last chapter and that it was the wrong decision. And when Andrew looked into it further, he found that Burgess’s editor in America, Eric Swenson, never insisted on scrapping the last chapter. Yes, he thought it was Pollyanna-ish and, quote, “unconvincing,” but getting rid of it wasn’t a condition of publication.

Not only that, this guy Swenson said Burgess agreed with his opinion and that Burgess told him he’d only added the 21st chapter because the British publisher wanted a happy ending. Also Burgess wrote his own screenplay for A Clockwork Orange that ended at the same place Kubrick’s screenplay did, no redemption. And then years later, Burgess wrote a musical, yes, a musical version of the story, which reverted back to the longer redemptive ending and took it even further.

Andrew Biswell
Alex goes off with his girlfriend, and they’re going to get married.

Sean Cole
Oh!

Andrew Biswell
That’s right. Yeah.

Sean Cole
Is she a character, or is she offstage somewhere?

Andrew Biswell
No, no. She appears and speaks. She’s called Marty.

Sean Cole
[LAUGHS]

Andrew Biswell
And then the play has a prologue in the Garden of Eden, where Alex and Marty play Adam and Eve. It’s very confusing. The whole thing is messy. It’s strange that he tries to pin this on other people, whereas the reality is that it’s like the good angel and the evil angel are dictating sort of different endings to him.

Sean Cole
So in the end, which ending do you think that Burgess thought of as the better ending?

Andrew Biswell
By the time you get to the 1980s and he’s making his stage adaptation, he’s coming down in favor of chapter 21 as the correct or the authorized ending.

Sean Cole
And what does that say, do you think, about his worldview, like about what he believed about the true nature of human beings?

Andrew Biswell
Well, the big thing that had changed in his life was that he had a son by his second marriage and a very wayward son. He was, I suppose, worried that this person should do well in the world. Yeah. I suppose Burgess in the ’80s, he’s much more of a protective father figure.

Sean Cole
Which, if that’s the reason, makes so much sense. When you have a kid, especially one you’re worried won’t turn out well, you have to believe people can change like Alex finally changed, dreaming of his own son. It’s like they literally ended up on the same page, Burgess and Alex. One of them happened to have typed out that page while the other danced across it in a jockstrap and suspenders. They both grew up.

Funnily, Andrew Biswell says he prefers the shorter ending. Just thinks it makes for a tougher book, although he goes back and forth, he says. Depends on what day you ask him.

Me, I come down where Burgess ultimately did. I like believing that we can grow into better versions of ourselves. And besides all that, you get to see Alex walk off into the sunset. On the last page he says, “Farewell from your little droog.” Should we end here?

Ira Glass
Sean Cole is one of the producers of our show.

Are you wondering where I come down on it. First of all, you never question Stanley Kubrick. He was the greatest filmmaker of all-time, and when people say that the movie can never be better than the book… compare A CLOCKWORK ORANGE movie to the book. Compare THE SHINING movie to the book. Perhaps the greatest upgrade, compare 2001: A SPACE ODDYSSEY movie to the book. You could even claim that LOLITA the movie is better than LOLITA the book, but that one… I mean the fact that he was even able to make LOLITA into a movie at all, at that time was borderline miraculous.

The short answer is, I think the ending of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE the movie is perfect. The last chapter is maudlin and doesn’t fit with the tone of the rest of the book at all. It sticks out like a sore thumb. It wasn’t needed and I don’t think it helps. Type of thing Spielberg would have thrown onto the end of it. (For the record I think Spielberg is a great filmmaker, but much of his stuff gets hokey. Even some of his best movies get hokey in parts. See the bookend scenes of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.) It is a compromise where no compromise is needed.

If the question is, can we grow into better versions of ourselves? Of course I believe that and I see it all the time. I also see people growing into worse version of ourselves all the time as well. I don’t believe anybody is beyond redemption, but I don’t think that the path people walk is a straight line. They don’t constantly get worse or constantly get better. They go up and down. A couple steps forward. A step backwards. Sometimes several steps backwards.

I would also add that I’ve never considered the main theme of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE to be about whether humans can change or whether humans are evil or good? I’ve always considered the main theme to be if you remove choice from a situation does a human cease to be a human? Or if a person doesn’t have a choice and are forced to be “good”, are they “good” at all?

That is my Saturday night philosophy for you.

WPC – WEEK 355 – ENTERTAINMENT

Last Monday was the halfway point in Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. The halfway point is a good time to review a few things. Here are some Frequently Asked Questions.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is there a limit to the number of submissions I can have each week?

The short answer is, “no”. Some people think that there is a limit of one submission per person because I only present one submission a week, personally. I have the other 6 days to post my photography. So one is more than enough image from me.

However, the longer answer is, 3 would be a good guide to limit yourself to submit. It isn’t a rule, but much over 3 begins to start to overwhelm the submissions of the others in the community. Also, if you are submitting multiple submissions, think about your submissions. Are they unique? Are they of wholly different subjects? Is each submission saying something unique?

The long answer is, there isn’t a limit, but 3 is a good rule of thumb. If I start to average about 30 participants a week, I will consider putting a limit of 1 per participant, to help manage my workload, but we are a long ways from averaging 30 participants a week.

Can I send you several pictures and have you pick the best one?

No! No! NO! If those words come out of your mouth or your keyboard, I consider that to be a non-submission.

Do you ever question whether somebody’s submission fits the theme?

Meh. Only if I think somebody is clearly confusing this week’s theme with last week or next week’s theme. Otherwise, if the submission makes sense in your head, that is good enough to me. However, I would urge you to not try to fit your favorite subject into the theme. This isn’t a challenge to share a picture every week of your kid or your business or your pet. It is a challenge to take pictures of different things every week. Which isn’t to say subjects can’t be repeated, but you shouldn’t become reliant on the same ones.

Why can’t I submit after 11 AM on Mondays if the post doesn’t publish until 12:01 PM?

I go to lunch at 11 AM. I leave my office. I’m not near a computer. At 11 AM I hit “Schedule” and then I go throw food down my throat. 167 hours is more than enough time to send a submission. Okay, 166 hours and 59 minutes. You got me.

Are there resolution requirements for submissions?

I won’t turn down submissions that are too small. I will probably ask you for a picture of greater resolution if it is really small. The typical 4 x 6 image posted to my website has a resolution of 1280 pixels x 853 pixels. While a 400 x 300 image might look okay on your phone, it looks like trash on a computer monitor. I prefer images that are at least 1000 pixels at their largest point, but don’t ban smaller pictures at this point.

What format should my submission be?

.JPG but .PNG also works.

If I write a description of my image will you include that in your post?

No. Photography is art that should stand on its own.

When will you start accepting suggestions for next year’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE themes?

I will accept those the last Monday of October and the first Monday of November. I only accept suggestions in the “Comments” section of the journal entries on those days. Don’t text me or email me them or call me or Snapchat me. Put them in the Comments section of the journal entries on those days. I have my reasons.

Why do you hate cats?

I don’t hate cats, they go to the bathroom inside and that is disgusting. But I don’t hate cats, eagles have to eat too. Cats make good eagle snacks.

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As can be expected, the holiday did take a toll on the participants this week. How big of a toll, you’ll have to scroll down to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, June 27, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

+ Lori Backous – 1 week
+ Suzie Brannen – 1 week
+ Jen Ensley-Gorshe – 1 week
+ Derrick Gorshe – 1 week
+ Evie Gorshe – 1 week
+ Layla Gorshe – 1 week
+ Mary Green – 1 week (3)
+ Monica Jennings – 1 week
+ Stephanie Kim – 1 week
+ Willy McAlpine – 1 week
+ Becky Parmelee – 2 weeks
+ Mike Vest – 2 weeks
+ Angie DeWaard – 3 weeks
+ Dawn Krause – 6 weeks
+ Linda Bennett – 8 weeks (4)
+ Jesse Howard – 10 weeks
+ Kim Barker – 12 weeks
+ Joe Duff – 13 weeks
+ Logan Kahler – 15 weeks
+ Teresa Kahler – 23 weeks
+ Tamara Peterson – 23 weeks
+ Carla Stensland – 23 weeks
+ Michelle Haupt – 24 weeks
+ Micky Augustin – 25 weeks
+ Andy Sharp – 26 weeks
+ Bill Wentworth – 27 weeks
+ Cathie Morton – 31 weeks
+ Elizabeth Nordeen – 32 weeks
+ Shannon Bardole-Foley – 34 weeks
+ Kio Dettman – 37 weeks (3)

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:


WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - BECK AND HARRISON GORSHE
Beck and Harrison Gorshe – 1 week

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - SARA LOCKNER
Sara Lockner – 1 week

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - JEN ENSLEY-GORSHE
Jen Ensley-Gorshe – 2 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - MARY GREEN
Mary Green – 2 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - MARY GREEN
Mary Green

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - ANGIE DEWAARD
Angie DeWaard – 4 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - DAWN KRAUSE
Dawn Krause – 7 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Bennet – 9 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Bennett

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Bennett

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Bennett

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Bennett

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Bennett

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Bennett

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker – 13 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - JOE DUFF
Joe Duff – 14 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - JOE DUFF
Joe Duff

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - LOGAN KAHLER
Logan Kahler – 16 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - LOGAN KAHLER
Logan Kahler

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT -TERESA KAHLER
Teresa Kahler – 24 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT -TERESA KAHLER
Teresa Kahler

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - TAMARA PETERSON
Tamara Peterson – 24 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - CARLA STENSLAND
Carla Stensland – 24 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - CARLA STENSLAND
Carla Stensland

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - CARLA STENSLAND
Carla Stensland

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - MICHELLE HAUPT
Michelle Haupt – 25 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - MICKY AUGUSTIN
Micky Augustin – 26 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp – 27 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - BILL WENTWORTH
Bill Wentworth – 28 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - CATHIE MORTON
Cathie Morton – 32 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - ELIZABETH NORDEEN
Elizabeth Nordeen – 33 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - ELIZABETH NORDEEN
Elizabeth Nordeen

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - SHANNON BARDOLE-FOLEY
Shannon Bardole-Foley – 35 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - KIO DETTMAN
Kio Dettman – 38 weeks

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - KIO DETTMAN
Kio Dettman

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - KIO DETTMAN
Kio Dettman

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - KIO DETTMAN
Kio Dettman

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - KIO DETTMAN
Kio Dettman

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - KIO DETTMAN
Kio Dettman

WEEK 355 - ENTERTAINMENT - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett – 457 weeks

22 participants. Not bad considering the holiday. But obviously, there was a blood bath of streaks that ended. Lori, Suzie, Derrick, Evie, Layla, Monica, Stephanie, and Willy all had 1 week “streak” not make it to two weeks. Vest and Becky had 2 week streaks. Most tragically, Jesse had is 10 week streak hit the ash heap of history.

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:


WEEK 356 - ROAD TRIP
ROAD TRIP

ROAD TRIP! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a ROAD TRIP photo? It is simply any picture that is taken during or in preparation for a ROAD TRIP. Or even as the result of a ROAD TRIP. What is the difference between a ROAD TRIP and just running to the store or to work? Doesn’t have to be. A ROAD TRIP is generally thought to be a long-distance journey. But who am I define what you consider to be “long-distance”.

When considering your possible subjects for your ROAD TRIP picture meditate on the following quote:

If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.
– Lewis Carroll

I look forward to your interpretations.

Cerro Gordo and Worth County Auxiliary Images Vol. 1

A few weeks back Jesse and I traveled up north to harvest the town signs of Cerro Gordo and Worth County. This trip included a stop at the Music Man Square in Mason City. Music Man Square is devoted to the history of famous composer. Wilson is most famous for writing the Iowa State pregame song “For I, For S”. Some people recognize the name because he wrote THE MUSIC MAN too. I think there is some little ditty you hear coming out of Iowa City now and again that he also wrote. A song that is based on another one of his hits, “It’s Begging to Look a Lot Like Christmas”. But he is definitely best known for “For I, For S”.

Here is the first collection of pictures from the road trip:


Cerro Gordo County - Rockwell
Rockwell

Cerro Gordo County - Rockwell

Cerro Gordo County - Rockwell

Cerro Gordo County - Rockwell

Cerro Gordo County - Rockwell

Cerro Gordo County - Rockwell

Cerro Gordo County - Rockwell

Cerro Gordo County - Rockwell

Cerro Gordo County - Rockwell

Cerro Gordo County - Rockwell

Cerro Gordo County - Rockwell

Cerro Gordo County - Rockwell

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City
Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City
The starts the T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pool!

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

Cerro Gordo County - Mason City

If you think I was watching the inferior but still great Matthew Broderick version of THE MUSIC MAN that you can watch for free on YouTube while I was writing this post, well you would be right! One of the greatest musicals ever.

Madison County and Union County Auxiliary Images – 1

This is the first collection of other images I took while harvesting the town signs of Madison and Union County. This was the last one of these trips I took with my Mom. It also includes the last picture I ever took with her. It was at the John Wayne Museum, next to the John Wayne statue. She was a big fan of John Wayne movies. His westerns. She didn’t care for his war movies.

All of the pictures in this collection were taken in Madison County. Mostly in Winterset. A few were taken in Bevington and Patterson.


Madison County - Bevington
Bevington

Madison County - Bevington

Madison County - Bevington

Madison County - Patterson
Patterson – Patterson is one of the dumpiest towns I’ve ever been in, in my life (but not the dumpiest town on this day), but it did have this fascinating WWI Memorial.

Madison County - Patterson

Madison County - Patterson
Note that there are two different dates here.

Madison County - Patterson
These two soldiers wrote their own names in this cement slab, which held a flagpole in the Salsbury front yard, with the inscription “Shot in France”, before they left for WWI.

Madison County - Patterson
The story is here, but it is hard to read from the condensation, but both soldiers were killed in France, during a gas attack. Salsbury is buried near Patterson and it is believed Downs is buried in Illinois.

Madison County - Patterson

Madison County - Patterson

Madison County - Winterset
Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset
The last picture I took of my Mom.

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

Madison County - Winterset

There are probably 2 more collections of pictures from this trip left to share.

Wright County Auxiliary Images

Buckle up, this one could be a long post.

I need to start by wishing Dawn a happy birthday. Happy birthday Dawn!


9 Emotions Project - Dawn Krause

Photo of the Day 0089 - July 30, 2014

Bonne Finken

Josh Davis Band

I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be!

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I also need to wish a happy birthday to Baier. Happy birthday Baier!


Baier Tenderloin Road Trip

Photo Journal - Page 56 Reject

Cardiff Giant - Fort Dodge

Baier Family Photo Shoot - 2009

I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be!

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It is beyond time I share the photos from my trip around Wright County with my Mom and Teresa harvesting the town signs of… well Wright County. Although some of these pictures are also taken in Humboldt County, Hardin County, Franklin County, and Story County. But I want to start with a little history lesson about Woolstock. The birthplace of George Reeves.

For those of you don’t know, George Reeves was the first television Superman. He also appeared in GONE WITH THE WIND. But after playing Superman he was typecast and had difficulty getting other roles. He died tragically and mysteriously. It was ultimately ruled a suicide, but there are many that think he was murdered. His death was the focus of the 2006 movie HOLLYWOODLAND. He was portrayed by Ben Affleck.

Here is a little bit on George Reeves and Woolstock from the Superman Supersite:

On January 5th, 1914, George Keefer Brewer was born to Helen Lescher Brewer and Don Brewer of Woolstock. At the time of his birth his parents had been renting 2 front rooms in the home of the Fischers. So and so was the midwife that delivered little George in the Fischer home on that cold January day. Marie Claude was his babysitter (Her experiences with George will be coming soon).

Helen Lescher, George’s mother, came from Galesburg, Illinois, which is also where she met George’s father, Don Brewer, while he was at Pharmacy school. She was a child from a wealthy and prominent Galesburg family. Her move to Woolstock was made after she had become pregnant with George and came around the time of her marriage to Don Brewer in August of 1913. She disliked Woolstock because of its small town setting and her desire for more attention and fancy flare that she could not receive in it.

After the birth of George, Don soon acquired a small bungalow home on present day Cecilia Street. Their move there did not tame the flames already drawn by Helen, and Helen became disappointed that Don didn’t want to achieve more then what he already had with his pharmacist job in a small rural community. After a year or so, she would request separation and a divorce. There is talk that Helen ended up staying at the Woolstock Hotel on the west corner of Main Street (now it would have been located on the corner of Herman, Nellie, and Alice Streets across from the grain silos/elevator) during the separation. After the divorce, Helen eventually moved with George to Pasadena, California, near her sister, where she would meet her 2nd husband, Frank Bessalo. Frank eventually adopted George, and Helen made up fake documents about George’s past and told him that his real father committed suicide. Later George would meet his father unexpectedly during a show that George acted and toured with during the 1940s, after the success of Gone with the Wind (George played Stuart Tarleton). George was surprised that his father was alive, and was angry at Helen. He would never meet with his father after that because he thought too much time had gone by.

Don Brewer, himself, was born and grew up around the area of Woolstock in near by Webster City. He continued with business at the Reed and Brewer Drug Store, but would eventually move to Mason City, Iowa.

Well, his mom was a real piece of work.

Here are the pictures from the road trip:


Wright County
Woolstock, Iowa

Wright County

Wright County

Wright County

Wright County

Humboldt County
Thor, Iowa – I wonder is this sign works. Cause I have all sorts of doubts.

Wright County
Goldfield, Iowa

Wright County

Wright County
Clarion, Iowa

Wright County

Wright County

Wright County

Wright County

Wright County

Wright County
Belmond, Iowa

Franklin County
Alexander, Iowa

Wright County
Dows, Iowa

Wright County

Wright County

Wright County
“Abundent”?

Wright County

Wright County

Wright County

Wright County

Wright County

Wright County
Outhouse!

Wright County

Wright County

Wright County

Wright County

Hardin County
Alden, Iowa

Hardin County

Hardin County
Buckeye, Iowa

Hardin County

Bald Eagle
North of Zearing, Iowa a few miles. Bald Eagles, the turtles of the sky.

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

I believe Jasper County is next up for the sharing of auxiliary images.

The Low Place

It is probably past time I shared photos of my basement clean up project. It isn’t really done, but it is pretty close to being in the ball park of being able to see the ending. Also, next Thursday the DAV (Disabled Veterans) Thrift Store is coming to pick up the donations that have filled up my guest bedroom. Plenty of which, came from the basement. While it should go without saying, veterans are not “losers” or “suckers”. Disabled veterans should be allowed to be in parades. Opinions of the current administration notwithstanding.

Here are the before pictures:


The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The Low Place - Before

The main thing I did was “finish” the wall in the basement. Paint it black. Then re-orient the Union Street Theater. Logan helped with the wall. Teresa helped paint it and move the screen. While it is possible that it won’t look much better to you. It looks WAY better to me!

Here are the after pictures:


The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

The Low Place - After

I also hung up some old dark room lights to provide a little bit of light for when the basement is in full theater mode. Also, the new movie posters came from Nader.

The idea of re-orienting the Union Street Theater is to be able to have a couple people over to watch movies or sports in a way that can be more physically distanced and with nobody sitting in front of anybody else. I eventually plan to upgrade my home theater screen and then in the distant future, upgrade the home theater projector to 4K. However, the new projector is well into the future. The new screen might happen later this year.

Also, the new sweet Hilton Coliseum rug? That was a sweet $40 pickup from the Furniture Zone. Brand new, that thing is almost $200. Bonus!

Space Jockey

I need to start today’s post by wishing Alisa a happy birthday. Happy birthday Alisa!


Selfie Project - January 27

Kansas City Mission Trip #1

Kansas City Mission Trip

Martin, South Dakota Mission Trip

Milwaukee Mission Trip

I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be!

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My friend Anders is a very talented writer and an incredible film researcher. However, the reason why we are such friends in that often our tastes in cinema so closely aligns.

We are both big fans of science fiction. While his tastes run more towards STAR TREK and STAR WARS and mine run more towards dudes in rubber suits, it is really our love for the absolute dregs of the cinema that really bonds us.

We both have a deep affection for MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE and THE SWARM and NIGHT OF THE LEPUS and PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. However, the one film that really brings us together is the Phil Tucker joint ROBOT MONSTER.

It is my absolute favorite terrible movie and I’m pretty sure it Anders’ favorite as well. After all, he did write the definitive book on the movie.

2016 Birthday Party Invite
Picture of me reading Anders’ book while dressed as The Master from MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE, while Jorge mows my lawn dressed as Torgo from MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE. Basically a typical Saturday for me.

You can purchase our copy here:

I Cannot, Yet I Must

To say that I’ve spent hours on the internet reading up on how to create my own Robot Monster costume would be an understatement. But I’m not here to talk about the greatness of ROBOT MONSTER. I’m here to talk about a different Phil Tucker joint, SPACE JOCKEY.

Anders and I first read about the movie SPACE JOCKEY in the book “The Golden Turkey Awards”. In that book, Phil Tucker is interviewed about ROBOT MONSTER, but he ends the interview by saying that ROBOT MONSTER is a masterpiece compared to another one of his movies SPACE JOCKEY. A movie he described as “a real piece of sh!t”.

Sadly, SPACE JOCKEY has been lost to the sands of time. Very little is known about it, other than a few articles in an Alaskan newspaper.

However, when Anders published the definitive work on ROBOT MONSTER he became somewhat of a celebrity in the old timey science fiction world. It was because of this fact that well, I just let Anders tell it:

It is my privilege and my pleasure to make a huge announcement.

The script for Phil Tucker’s lost film Space Jockey has been discovered, thanks to a copy of it kept by an original cast member. The film remains lost to the best of my knowledge, but Tucker’s script for his lost film has surfaced.

In September 2019, I was contacted by Tok Thompson, professor of Anthropology and Communication at the University of Southern California. Tok’s mother Donnis Stark Thompson, recently departed, had lived a full and fascinating life that included an early stint as an actress. And when Phil Tucker shot the lost film in Fairbanks, Alaska during the late summer of 1953, she was part of the cast. Years later among his mother’s belongings, Tok’s family discovered her copy of the Space Jockey script. Contacting film journalist Phil Hall, Tok was advised to contact me about the script because of my Phil Tucker book I Cannot, Yet I Must.

Thanks to Tok graciously sharing the script, I’ve been able to read it and, thanks to the copyright research of Elias Savada, it’s been confirmed that Tucker’s script was never copyrighted or renewed. As the script is public domain, I am pleased to say that it will be published in the year 2021. Also, there are hopes of performing it in some manner.

As this project is in development and ongoing, I’ll have more to post as the year keeps rolling on, with a publication date to be narrowed down and announced later. I hope that everyone out there who is a fan of Robot Monster, Phil Tucker’s movies, and cult cinema in general is as excited about this project as I am, and I look forward to you being able to experience this lost original script by Phil Tucker.

Stay tuned!

Anders sent me the script last summer. I read it immediately and have been dying to talk about it since then! I finally can!

I want to put together my own table reading of SPACE JOCKEY. Who has Zoom? Who wants a part?

Source: https://runestadwrites.com/2020/07/19/phil-tuckers-space-jockey-a-lost-script-found/

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Around the 4th of July, it was crazy around my neighborhood with the fireworks. I took the drone up and took some video. I’m not great at editing video, so you’ll probably never get to see that, but here are some photos I took:


Space Jockey

Space Jockey

Space Jockey

Space Jockey

Space Jockey

Space Jockey

Space Jockey

Space Jockey

Space Jockey

Space Jockey

Space Jockey

Space Jockey

Space Jockey

A few of the pictures at the end are from the last couple of nights. I need to let Rodan139 spread its wings more often.