A San Diego from Years past

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Saturday, I spent three hours at the Central Library downtown researching the movies that played in the summer of 1984 here is San Diego. I needed specific movies and theaters beyond the major studio productions and megahits of that year. And that year had a lot of megahits, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Star trek III, Indian Jones and The Temple of Doom and so many more, but those I can research on the internet and are far less importance to my coming novel. No, I needed the small arthouse films, and just which arthouse were in operation in my adopted hometown.

I was here in that summer. I watched many of those movies, but my memory is foggy on when in the season they player and names of those theaters that have long since shuttered their doors, hence the need to scan through rolls of microfiche looking at the newspaper ads of the day.

Man, that brought back memories. This city used to have so many movie theaters. I saw ads for movies I had nearly forgotten entirely and the old movie houses where they played.

I adore the era of streaming and the ease with which it makes it possible to watch a lot of material instead of waiting on the whims of late-night programmers, but I miss those theaters, the thrill of something wild and unexpected when you went to showing with little or no knowledge of the film and shared that discovery with a live audience.

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Tesla Vandalism Is Domestic Terrorism

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Before I start let me state without qualification or evasion that Elon Musk, unelected and unaccountable, should get the fuck out of our government.

A recent spate of vandalism against Tesla dealerships and charging stations has erupted on the news cycle prompting the President to declare the acts as ‘domestic terrorism’ with promises of persecution. This is turn has caused some corners of the left to insist that it is ‘just vandalism’ and not terrorism.

I would maintain that acts of violence, against people or property with the goal of effecting political change, in this case driving Musk from his position of power, is pretty much the definition of terrorism. It occurred within our national jurisdiction and presumably from American nationals making it thoroughly domestic. Simple logic renders the inescapable conclusion that these acts are indeed ‘domestic terrorism.’

That’s not the real fuck issue.

The real issue is that this administration will in no way or in no manner treat all acts of domestic terrorism equally. The pardoning of the violent insurrectionist who attempted to overthrow a fair, free, and legitimate election is proof of this. Further evidence is the legal action against the man who organized pro-Palestinian protests.

When Trump promises to use law enforcement against some persons but not others, he is employing the fascist credo ‘For my friends, everything; for my enemies the law.’

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Fake it Till You Make it

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The affirmation ‘fake it ’till you make it’ has long been one employed to fight the dreaded ‘impostor syndrome.’ To be a writer with confidence, act like you have that confidence, play the part until it because a reality for you. This applies to nearly all areas of human activity; act the way you want to be, and it will help you become exactly that.

I think there’s a dark mirror-universe version of this effect as well. I think if you want to be that thing you are act is fairly irrelevant. You will tend to become what you pretend to be, even if that was not your original intention.

There’s an activity, principally online, known as ‘owning the libs,’ where people, mostly men, perform in a manner to provoke anger and outrage from liberals and then rejoicing in the fact that you managed to make the outraged. The fact that there’s an entire community of people acting this way is of concern because in my opinion many of them are ‘faking it’, being homophobic racist until they ‘make it’ actually becoming homophobic racists.

Compounding this effect is the presence of actual homophobic racist all too eager to welcome anyone to their ranks. The pressure of conformity within any social group is powerful, humans are social creatures, and those drives are very hard to overcome. Pressure to conform to the hateful community eventually molds those ‘pretending’ into actual adherents.

So, maybe that ‘okay’ hand gesture wasn’t really and truly meant as a white power symbol, and maybe that ‘roman salute’ was just someone throwing their heart to the crowd, but such things a welcomed with great joy by the fascists and racists and positive reinforcement changes people. Sometimes they fake it until it makes them Nazis.

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The Flowering Phase of Creativity

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So, another post about my next novel and how my creative process works.

I am in what I can call ‘my flowering phase.’ I haven’t committed much to text as far as the next project goes, it’s still a little too indistinct for that, but enough of the project has firmed up that ideas and concepts are sprouting like springtime flowers. They are common enough and specific enough that even while having lunch with my sweetie-wife I can do quick research to validate them as they erupt.

Yesterday, after our quite enjoyable walk in the zoo under a gloriously clear blue sky, I realized that an element of my plot could be resolved by a second Adamas avenue theater, one that by the 80s had become a fabric store. Fast and accurate googling on my smart phone confirmed that what had once the Adams Avenue Theater, a movie palace of old, worked perfectly for my needs.

Soon it will be time to start crafting the details of the plot and putting the outline into shape. While a lot of the story and the plot remain hazy, just shapes in the fog on a dark night, they are there just waiting to be discovered.

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The Next Novel

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I have begun to earliest work on my next novel. Another horror, this one a bit of a period piece, but a period I know well, San Diego the summer of 1984. This one will be a ghost story centered on an arthouse/revival house movie theater in the Kensington area of the city. For people who know San Diego, yes, I am crafting a fictional version of the beloved Ken Cinema that ceased operations at the start of the pandemic. The Ken was part of the Landmark chain of theaters that once thrived here and now no theaters of that illustrious chain remain open in San Diego.

The summer of ’84 was an eventful summer for the nation and the city. Los Angeles hosted the Olympics, which the Soviets boycotted. Our mayor was embroiled in a scandal that seems so small and quaint by today’s degenerated politics. Ronald Reagan was riding to a massive electoral victory and San Diego erupted on the map with for a while the largest mass-murder event in the country’s history. Sadly, America has broken that record repeatedly.

That was the year I still performed as part of the fans that attended The Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight screenings, made lifelong friends, and discovered some of my favorite films in class at college.

Amid all this crisis and confusion, I plan to play with ghosts and cinema. It should be a lot of fun.

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This is Far Worse Than I Expected

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I have been posting far less political content not because the environment has improved an in any manner but because I had nothing really new to say. My opposition to Trump, Trumpism, and the entire GOP has not changed or slackened in any manner. It is terrifying to see what has become of this nation and I fear terribly for what is yet to come.

That said, the fucked-up nature of what has transpired in the less than six weeks since the fool and narcissist took office is far worse than I had imagined.

Oh, I was pretty sure that idiot would abandon Ukraine. His sympathies are entirely with Putin. He imagines himself as a strong virile and tough man. In his deluded and stupid brain the man thinks he’s like some cinematic mafia boss when the reality is that his fragile ego and limited intelligence make him the plaything and tool of those vile and evil men. The bowing to Putin is hardly surprising, I just thought it would take a little longer.

I also though crashing the economy would take more time. I though the disaster of extending his massive tax giveaway to the world’s richest people would be the anchor that jerked the nation’s economy to a halt but we’re not waiting for such laws. No, we’re in a full-scale trade war with Canada now and already the markets are falling and if this shit goes on we are in for some serious monetary pain the likes of which we have not seen in decades.

I see no way out of this in the next two years. The Supreme Courts abdication of responsibility has locked in gerrymandered districts that assure us that no GOP house member will stand up for the nation, their district, or even their separated powers. Plus, the world’s richest person has already assured them that his vast wealth, growing greater by the day as he and he alone determines what government spending is to be enacted, that he will destroy them should they show the slightest evolution of a spine.

We may be witnessing a new world order coming into being. One that no longer has American’s hand on the helm.

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Movie Review: Diabolique (1955)

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At a run-down private school in France a cruel schoolmaster torments his mistress and assaults his wife prompting the women to conspire in his murder.

I was supposed to see this film on the big screen with the San Diego Film Geeks monthly screening at the Digital Gym but came down with a cold that weekend and was forced to miss it. Luckily the film is playing on the Criterion Channel.

Artwork: Criterion Collection

Diabolique is considered a classic of the thriller genre. Starring Vera Clouzot as Christina, the Spanish spouse of cruel headmaster Michael (Paul Meurisse) and Simone Signoret as Nicole a teacher at the school and Michael’s mistress. Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, Vera’s husband, the film is a tight suspenseful production in the vein of a Hitchcock movie. (The novel which the film was adapted from was one Hitchcock wanted but Henri-Georges Clouzot beat him to it.) Murders never come off as planned and murderers rarely are truthful on their lives leading to a story with twists and reveals right up to the final shot. It is an ironic tragedy that Vera Clouzot, playing a woman with a serious heart condition, died suddenly from a cardiac event just 5 years after Diabolique’s release.

There is a reason why this is considered a classic. Every aspect of the production works, the performances, the cinematography, and the direction all take what is a fairly standard film noir set-up and play it to near perfection. I regret that illness robbed me of the chance to see it for the first time in a proper is small theater.

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Key Star Trek (TOS) Character Episodes

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I recently watched a YouTube Reactor react to Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The amusing elements in this reaction was that the young woman had zero context for the film, being utterly unaware of the characters and their history. One of her reactions when Spock comes aboard after the wormhole event is ‘Oh, they know Spock?’ with a tone of surprise.

In her wrap up, she of course mused about watching the series and that got me thinking about the most pertinent episodes for understanding the core characters of Star Trek. Not the best episodes mind you, just the ones that give you deep insight to Kirk, Spock, and McCoy and the relationship to each other.

Season One:

The Naked Time

The Menagerie Pt I & II

The Galileo Seven

Arena

Space Seed

This Side of Paradise

The City on the Edge of Forever

Season Two:

Amok Time

Journey to Babel

The Ultimate Computer

Season Three:

The Enterprise Incident

The Tholian Web

The Paradise Syndrome

The list ended up heavy on season one episodes, but I think if someone new to the series who wasn’t going to watch all of it would get a pretty good understanding of the characters and what they mean to each other for the films that followed.

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The Hardest Part of Writing a Novel

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It’s really not the novel itself. It’s not plotting out the twists and turns of the story or combing through the entire 90,000 words trying make sure you don’t look like some who failed basic English.

Nope. It is none of those things for me.

It is writing the god damned synopsis.

I’ve spent six months carefully working out line by line precisely what the story is, who the characters are, what the twists and reveals need to be, and hopefully crafting a tone that is engaging and provokes the emotions I want to reader to experience. Now, I have to find a way to convey all that in just a few pages and yet engaging enough that an agent or editor when they read it feel energized and want the full experience.

Can you tell that’s where I am at on The Commune? I have my query letter in place for the next cycle of agent stalking and I think it’s my best one yet but the synopsis? Man, that’s hard.

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Quick Review: The Gorge

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Dropped on Valentines Day this year was the action/horror/romance movie The Gorge. Two expert sniper/assassins are the latest people assigned to monitor a mysterious gorge with

Apple TV+

orders to prevent anything from leaving the site and maintaining strict no communication with each other. Since the pair stationed on opposing sides of the chasm are outstandingly attractive people (Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy) the no-contact rule is of course broken. By the third act of the film the pair find themselves at the bottom of the gorge, fighting for their lives and uncovering terrible secrets it has hidden for 80 years.

Directed by Scott Derrickson who gave us the first Dr. Strange film and the wonderful Black Phone I had hopes for The Gorge but while not bad the film in the end proved to be less than satisfying.

What works in the movie are the leads, Teller and Taylor-Joy works quite well together, have an excess of chemistry with each other and the camera, and are simply fun to watch. All of the movie’s troubles start at the bottom of the mysterious gash in the Earth. The secret they discover not only strains credibility but is actually lackluster. Their fight for survival is meant to the suspenseful but with a film boasting a cast this limited it can never leave your mind that both are going to survive. Additionally, once they reach the bottom of the gorge all character development grinds to a halt. They face no choices or challenges that impact on their character only on their physical survival.

I don’t regret watching The Gorge but it’s highly unlikely I will ever revisit it.

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