Kitsch Done Right: The Blood of Heroes

Part III of III (dystopia minus the kitsch)

As luck would have it, another one of those films sort of happened to be in the right place at the right time...on a big screen. Why hadn't anyone noticed? This one film does the dystopia right, and on a lot of levels. Despite the fact that this film apparently never made it big and is not even considered among the Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time, this film is a must see. Ladies and gentlemen, a film with two names:

Salute of  the Jugger

or 

The Blood of Heroes

 Say what?

Maybe the title was just too long. Jugger Salute or Heroes' Blood might have made a difference. But there's no use crying over spilt blood milk... is there?

Years of Sorrow, Years of Shame: Exposure

 Part III of V

In response to Part I, Mr.S of Hanlon's Razor mentioned that environmentalist David Suzuki had been in the camps in Canada. For some reason, I hadn't realized Mr. Suzuki was Canadian even though he's apparently got a sense of humor.

Special thanks to the Lillith Gallery for this revealing photo.

Lillith Gallery

This set of correspondence is from the next round of mail from Mrs. H and the response.

Intermittent

With the fuse lit and metaphoric language as a crutch, the journey is well under way. With timezones askew, downward creep has started, unease is seeping in, through those cracks.

A voice says:

When someone's got a different view on life, the question is not: 

Why would a person want to be that way? 

When someone's got a different view on life, the question is:

Why wouldn't a person want to be that way?!

Every single thing in the  immediate environment has been deliberately chosen. Like the coffee table book... so many layers. Almost every frame on the wall is filled with images from known entities. The treeline is too flat, the sky is too blue. And the night sky glows just before darkness falls. 

Maybe hate would have been easier...it never disappoints.

 

Waiting in line, one of them visiting from a windy city asked, “What’s it like?”

He smiled, trying to see who was asking and gave the response, “It’s love/hate, of course.”

Damn that love/hate relationship.

Kitsch Done Right: S.H.E.

Part II of III (there's only one more after this, I promise)

 

Listen to this Dick.

SHE really is a B movie. But it sticks. Not just because Sandahl Bergman represents a certain kind of a 'babe' quality that somehow 'does it' for a certain part of the population.

Breeding Material

The movie sticks for anther reason. And if anyone knows why, they need to be locked up and heavily sedated after being burned at the stake a few times.

 A Nork

Borrowed in the spirit of Fair Use, as it says here somewhere on this site.

And what the Norks believe.

For a true post-apocalyptic hangover that feeling that most people would be embarrassed about, this is just a little taste of what is in store: 

Do not watch this. Please.

Somehow the movie delivers virtually all the way through. Which creeps me out in a way.


Now, before my internet-assisted virtual IQ goes negative and the death-threats start rolling in, I will go for a walk.

Kitsch Done Right: Six-String Samurai

Part I of III*

We're going 'link-lite' on this one because of time-constraints. Could definitely flesh it out with some cross-referencing that takes it deeper, which wouldn't be that hard, but...but...whatever.

B movies are hard to get right. There's an art to it...really. At least that is my belief. Only a session in Room 101 can change that.

Yeah, there are tonnes of "straight to video" types of films out there, but there are a few "films" that somehow are able to go beyond, doing so much more with so much less that you gotta' kind'a nod and maybe even smile. A cult classic.

Which brings us, Kimo Sabe, to a film that has Fallout written all over it. While it might-seem-to-just-barely-manage-to-get there, it is worth watching to the end once. At least once.

Looking for a hero...

Food for Thought

Every time I head back 'over there' 

I seem to end up meeting a number of 'them'.

And just who are they?

People who take their food very seriously.

Raw Food Delight
Edible flowers picked that morning...

Edible Beauty
Another bouquet of nutriment...

Years of Sorrow, Years of Shame: Divisiveness

Part II of III (or so) V

"Years later, the questions I'd been willing to ask myself by not being intimidated into not following a certain train of thought introduced me to a power like Hurricane Betty with an attitude not entirely unlike Hiroko, only this graceful work of art was into her 90's.  Unlike Uncle Yo, her story was recorded (to be written down at a later date."

  

But first, I'd like to pay my respects to the late LH for daring to speak her mind (and all those like her).

In some ways, nothing has changed. The core is still there.

What the hell is this guy blogging about? 

 

After listening to an interview posted on here where an intelligent and attractive urbanite brought up three likable things about living in Tokyo: convenience, nightlife, and friends.

In that way, cities are a sinch. But if you are planning on staying long-term, cities can be brutal.  Not really news for most people. But this isn't about the city life.

How about places that are inconvenient, have no nightlife, and are located where choice of friends are scarce?  You learn to do more with less.  

In some ways, nothing has changed.

Maybe the best way to tell is by showing. Does anyone remember I**ho Digest?

Even if you don’t, that is not really important. What is important is that the digest is where a connection was made in the name of combating divisiveness. 

And this is what it looked like:

Years of Sorrow, Years of Shame

Part I of III (or more) V

You ever just happen to read one of those books that just kind of widens the scope of your mental lens? One of those very books snuck in through the side window while I wasn't looking.


Okay, I lied. Actually, I was looking. I was also bored and trying to save money. What more could a person want than to visit a used book store? 

"They smeared our windows with dog shit. They'd yell at us inside our houses at night." 

Wonder who would do something like that? So did I. It was these very sentences that had me shake my head, go back and reread. Wondering to myself, "Who did this?"

Addictions

Methadone

Inspired by the Crazy One

Show you my praise by becoming a bad writer?  Um…doesn’t the Godfather of Blog see what he’s brought together? Or are we just a collection of people with habits born of something like Bad Behavior? This thing people call ‘writing’ is becoming a mental addiction. Now, I’m understanding what Maddox was getting at.  

But how can I say this? The only metal that has pierced the skin of this fool has only been bent on extraction. 

 

Last Full Moon

Another weekend to think...

 

Last full moon, after a swim...

The next day, fowl was roasted on a spit....

And the kids did this.....

The Last Wake: Great-granduncle Yo

Everyone just called him Uncle Yo. He was the kind of guy you knew who everyone was talking about when they were talking about him, which wasn't all that often. You see, he was kind of difficult to be around.

Instinctively, I'd wanted to go out to dinner with him. Get a chance to just sit and talk. The wifey said no. Regrettably, I listened. No one stopped me from trying to save what was left.

But first...

We actually first met when he'd stopped by to drop off a bottle of Merlot  or a "dry, red, and full-bodied wine" for the wine snobs in our audience. Uncle Yo had done a wonderful translation of the label, but had miss-translated 'bouquet' for flowers instead of what it really meant. Not like it really mattered. The family took up their chance to pounce on him and his pride after I'd been allowed to kindly point out his mistake.

"Big deal," I thought. But no, they rode him hard for this. In a way, someone might even be tempted to think that they must have fucking hated him.

You see, he was kind of difficult to be around.

Oh...Death?

I don’t like where this is going… any of it.

First heard this from a movie where the music is far more important. The faces don't matter, nor do the names. The clip here is chosen because the voice echoes in the brain when the headset is on. 

  

Once this was put on auto-repeat for the transition from home to work, while heading into the Rising Sun's default mode. Tried to do it justice by following along, repeating every line, again and again. One day…I'll get there. Of that, I'm certain. Maybe even see it coming.

He told me something about the Default and the Playa where people burn effigies of The Man…

When we were kids, we used to have a “what if” conversation that went like this: