The American Taliban

The party that lost the 2008 National elections is getting crazier and crazier in their zeal to usurp the lawfully elected President and Congress.  The Tea Baggers want to take our country back -- and that's about all they ever say.  Not that the country has been stolen from us, but that's how they look at it: a black guy is in charge --

-- he just can't be "one of us," so he must be evil, he must be godless, he must be an alien; the suits in power want to tax us and take away our guns, dogs and cats will be living together . . .


So in response to a moderate black democrat in charge, the rich, angry white guys -- and their, simply put, crazy as batshit female tea baggers --

-- will do or say anything to destroy the American political system: the system that they say works like a charm when they're in charge (yeah, remember the Bush years?) but somehow, magically, that same system is completely broken when they're out of power in D.C.


"Poor, poor pitiful me!" the far-right non-thinkers whine.  They rattle the bars of their invisible cage --

-- gnash their fifes and drums, hide behind the cross and the flag, and, also, hang our President in effigy.


Very, very Christian of them.


The tea-bagging whiners are nothing more than sore losers.  Their ideology is as crazed, as zealous, and as dangerous as the beliefs of Islamic extremists: race-based, religion-fueled, loud, stupid and violently furious.

In an essay, “The Down Side of Stupidity,” Robert J. Elisberg recently wrote:

. . . by "stupid" I don't mean simply disagreeing with an opinion. (The "Oh, that's just stupid" gambit.) I mean actually stupid. Thinking you can fly and stepping off a building to prove it. Buying a set of steak knives for your five-year-old. Like that. Like when one blindly accepts something against all known and rational evidence that has no basis in reality.

Believing that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, that is stupid.

Believing that Barack Obama is a Muslim, that is stupid.

Believing that Barack Obama might be a terrorist, that is stupid.

Believing that Barack Obama is comparable to Adolf Hitler, that is pathetically stupid.

Believing that Barack Obama is a Socialist, that is stupid.

Believing that Barack Obama is like Hitler and a Socialist - two completely opposite concepts - that is incredibly stupid.

Stupid. Like that.

Literally stupid.

The American Taliban wears a tri-cornered turban.

Here are a few articles you may not have seen.  This one makes a very valid point about the American Taliban, and how their hatred of knowledge and reason -- closely combined with their religious fervor -- threatens to turn America into a nation of thug-like ignorance.  The next article?  Well, I'll just quote the headline: "New Tea Party study: Glenn Beck is an "educator" and the most highly regarded individual.  Seriously."

Finally: Who funded Hillary's vast conspiracy?  You know -- the one not even liberals wanted to believe existed.  It was these guys.

Seriously.

Rusty's Horseradish Sauce

Are you as tired of store-bought steak sauces as I am?  I mean, seriously, even the high-priced ones from New York restaurants, like Smith and Wollensky's or Peter Luger's, just don't cut it -- they are NOT what I'm looking for.

What do I like?  Spice.  Tang.  Maybe only a HINT of sweetness.  Just something different from the goddamn mainstream.

So here's what I've made, based on a basic sauce that restaurants serve with Prime Rib.  I've added stuff, a little more flavor and texture, and it goes not only with Prime Rib, but is good with Rib Eye steaks grilled out, hamburgers, and even with traditional Corned Beef.  Trust me.

Rusty's Horseradish Sauce for Two

Two heaping tablespoons of prepared horseradish

One or one and a half heaping tablespoons of sour cream

One green onion, chopped

1/2 tablespoon fresh ground pepper

Pinch of white pepper

Pinch of garlic powder

Pinch of parsely

Sprinkle of dry mustard

VERY DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS:

Combine it all, stir, serve cold on top of your meat.  If you know what I mean.

Retro Superboy

I found this beautiful piece by Michael Cho on a couple of sites today – it’s the cover of a new hardbound collection of Superboy comics from the 1940s.  The composition, the colors, the red wagon, the antiquated design of Superboy's shorts -- it captures perfectly a lost, impossible era of innocence and nostalgia.  It's the era every kid lived in when he started collecting comics.

And the pup, probably a nod to Krypto, is simply wonderful.

Personally: keep the stories.  I’d rather have a framed print of this, instead.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

The early '70s were a great time for horror on TV.  Dark Shadows opened the door for a heightened sense of fear that went beyond Twilight Zone, The Sixth Sense and Scooby Doo.

1971 saw two groundbreaking events.  First, Dark Shadows was cancelled by ABC.  Ratings were still good, but they had been higher before parents and "morals" groups started campaigning that the horror/gothic/soap opera was scaring our precious little snowflakes after school.  Many affiliates showed something else in the afternoon during the Dark Shadows spot, but later showed, usually on the weekend, all five episodes back to back during late night.

Despite that, the show was cancelled.  Then Dark Shadows creator/producer Dan Curtis produced the original TV-movie, The Night Stalker.



The impact of one single little vampire movie -- written by Richard Matheson, based on an unpublished novel by Jeff Rice -- could hardly have been imagined by the ABC suits.   For years after its premiere, Night Stalker still held the record for being the most seen show ever on television.  A vampire movie.  Ever.

They made a sequel, which was lackluster at best, and then a one-season monster-of-the-week TV show that is fondly remembered by geeks who were kids at that time, but was, in reality, hardly scary and a pale shadow of the original.

It cried out for a sequel, and 20-some years later, they made one -- a new tv series that had nothing that the original had.  It didn't even last a season.

Night Stalker should be reimagined again -- as a movie, with impact, special effects, and, more importantly, good characters and good writing.

They've done it now with a property I never would have thought deserved to be remade: a tv-movie from 1973 starring Kim Darby about -- things -- living in her chimney.



Guillermo del Toro has taken a cheesy, low-budget tv movie and turned it into what appears to be a mid-budget, spooky, atmospheric thriller -- but you'll have to go here to see the trailer.

We need more cheese.  We need more of our processed '70s cheesy shows and movies updated for today -- and updated well.  Not just to be popular, but to work -- to capture the imagination, to recreate the feeling of awe and wonder we all felt while watching the originals.

Yes, remake Night Stalker.  Again.  Remake Gargoyles, a nice bit of cheese and rubber costumes and visible zippers that scared the beejeezus out of 13 year olds like me.  Remake Night Gallery -- and make it scary as shit.  And remake Trilogy of Terror -- perhaps the scariest killer doll story ever made.

But grow them up.  Make them better.  Not campier, not cheesier.

Scarier.

Bat-Geekery

As a lifelong Batfan, I had to watch the new Batman movie, Batman: Under the Red Hood, via On Demand as soon as it was released.  It's animated, produced by pretty much the same team that brought the original Batman Animated Series to TV in 1991 . . . and it's gorgeous.

It is a great showcase for new writers, as it can be used in comparison with the comic book storylines that this film was based on to show how to make a long and involved story work far, far better than the originals.  You can read all about it here in this i09 review -- which I agree with 100%.

May the Bat signal shine forever!