I liked it. Yet, I wasn't entirely engaged by Del Toro's Larry Talbot. He didn't exhibit any personal torment and fear when he realized that he had been infected or turned. This Talbot is stoic, resigned and disconnected; psychologically too inert.
However, this film does bring the monster back as more man than wolf. Thankfully moving away from the long snouted, CGI werewolf creations that have become so commonplace. The transformation of Del Toro and Hopkins into their monsters is riveting and pretty cool.
I have long missed the Lon Chaney Jr. and Oliver Reed wolf-men.
This phenomenon has a long history. The parallel to the American Party or the Know Nothings of the 1850s is striking (and sad). Fomenting a distrust of government and a fear of immigrants and Catholics succeeded in the north (ironically Massachusetts) for an election cycle or two.
In our time, the faux grassroots "tea party" has forced our political discourse to the right. In collaboration with a media that rationalizes the irrational and creates political narratives to attract and hold an audience captive, the ideology of the "tea party" has been mainstreamed. It's a "win-win" for the media, because as the "Know Nothing" party begins to unravel from its racism, xenophobia and self-righteousness, they will inevitably pivot and "objectively" chronicle its passing without ever exploring why it failed. The damage will have been done.
Post-failure, the tea party movement will always be characterized as a grassroots phenomenon that missed its mark. Moving forward it will be a data point used to analyze legitimate political trends. A fabricated and right leaning tug on all political discourse...a phantom, better known as a "Zombie Lie."
Grassroots Movement: angry group of economically insecure white Americans drunk on right-wing PAC money and self-validating talking points.
Central Massachusetts Elects Conservative Lug-Head (aka...Worcester's Revenge)
Yay!
UPDATE: Of course, I wrote the post above before the polls opened on Tuesday.
Even though Massachusetts gave Barack Obama a 26% adavantage over John McCain in 2008, the mood of the electorate is pretty sour. Also, Central Massachusetts responds instinctively to the dog whistles from the right.
The only reason the right has any appeal now, I think, stems from the fact that the Democrats chose not to tie the last decade's disasters to Republican rule. The Democrats (Barack Obama) actually believed that giving the Republicans an out, allowing them to self-correct (instead of forcing them to crawl through the broken glass of their regressive governance), would grant Obama's policy initiatives large bipartisan majorities.
Sadly, the Democrats continue to underestimate the unapologetic venality of the Republicans.
This guy's stump is a queasy blend of small government talking points and fake common sense.
On both the left and the right millionaire politicians are the rule, not the exception. But actually listening to one pretend to have common cause with the middle class as the bankers throw money at him makes me sick...and Rudy doesn't help.
I am selecting cat food at the pet shop in Dillon's supermarket and I meet an old woman. Seems her cats won't eat any cat food with fish in it. Well, I tell her, mine are just the opposite. They prefer the fishy foods like Salmon Dinner and Seafood Supper.
"Well," she says, "they certainly are company."
And what can she do for her company when there is no Dillon's and no pet shop? What can I do? I simply could not stand to see my little cats hungry.
William S. Burroughs 1986
When my grandmother was still alive, and we would pass the time talking about things gone or lost, her dead husband (my grandfather) or my dead mom (who grandma and I missed desperately), the conversation would always turn to my cats, Walter and Truman. I would share with her the latest account of their mischief, cuteness or devotion. She would always follow, after a pause, with the statement:
This makes me weep from laughter. Amidst all the sturm und drang over the lack of liberal purity of our current President (I don't necessarily disagree), it is helpful to recall how impure (on every fucking conceivable level) the previous President was/is.
It is helpful to remember these guys when they were younger (and slept less).
Although entirely different in character, they did have a very close bond. They wrestled and romped throughout the day when I was away at work. A neighbor, on the first floor of the apartment building in this photo, would complain regularly about the commotion above him. He was, at first, convinced that it was me, but soon accepted the fact that it was actually Walter and Truman galloping and tackling between naps....monkeys.
I miss them terribly.
UPDATE: I was reminded by a friend, that in addition to this raucous tumult, Walter had taught himself to turn on the TV (a pull-out knob that also controlled the volume). Initially this was a mystery (returning home to the blaring TV); something wrong with the set, mischievous intruders,...no, just Walter.
A remarkable collection of clips from the feature news program for cable TV. Hard, gritty, this is the early political and socially oriented work by artists now well-known as sculptors and filmmakers. Includes John Ahearn, Tom Otterness (Subways, Golden Gloves Boxing and Rats in Chinatown);Scott and Beth B (NYPD Arson and Explosions Squad vs. FALN); Charlie Ahearn (Bums Under the Brooklyn Bridge). Also includes Virge Piersol and Alan Moore (Bombing of JP Morgan) and Michael McClard.
It's a kick to see clips of New York from a time that coincides with my first visits; when the city was still Koch(ed) and before it was Giuliani(ed). At that time, the city "looked" like what it still is, an overused people's city.
This is almost un-watchable, but it does illustrate the attitude of the newly liberated and lionized dumbass. Free floating bigotry and non-cogent debate; for the political media these "white working class Americans" will become more financially lucrative than reality television (Cheaters, American Idol, etc.).
It is interesting to think about the ideas that actually penetrated the fat layer that shields this guy's brain. A mash-up of xenophobic propoganda of the past century; American Exceptionalism, anti-civil rights (any minority consciousness) and a non-ideological subjectivity that is reflexively hostile to science, history and objective fact.
This on-going spectacle will be as soul-killing as a Sarah Palin interview, any Ayn Rand novel, or this guy.
