Happy Halloween!

...and good evening.

Zombies are everywhere. We must mobilize now.

Learn more about the zombie menace here on NPR.

Image by Robert Kirkman. Published by Image Comics.

Also, to see something truly terrifying... click here.

This weekend I attended the scattering of ashes of my Uncle Allen in Ann Arbor. Allen had died in May. He had been suffering from Multiple Sclerosis for many years. He was a concert flutist before he became ill, and continued to teach music and repair flutes. Allen was quite the character. He carried a large cup of expresso coffee in one hand; he had a large, scruffy beard, fedora hat and pipe wedged in his teeth. There was always a twinkle in his eye.

It was an overcast, rainy fall day. The ceremony was only a few minutes. Afterwards, we went to his favorite expresso bar and raised a glass of coffee in his honor. A fitting tribute. The rest of the family headed up north to scatter the rest of his ashes in Long Lake, near Traverse City.

Curse of the Were-Rabbit!

Yet another favorite Halloween film of mine. Wallace and Gromit are at it again... this time as a pest control service. Just as a sleepy English town is about to host their annual vegetable contest, they are overrun by a terrible menace that threatens to eat their entire crop! Only cheese-o-holic and inventor Wallace and his trusty sidekick Gromit can save the day!

If anything convinces Liam to eat his vegetables, this movie will. "Just a little harmless brain alteration..."

Thriller

In keeping with the holiday, a group in Austin, Texas held the largest "Thrill the World" dance-off, with 881 synchronized dancers. No matter what you think of Michael Jackson these days, you can't deny the impact he's had on the world. Found on Aintitcool.com

The Shining

One can't talk about Halloween movies without mentioning, arguably, the scariest of them all, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Apparently, Stephen King was not happy with Kubrick's take on his novel. 

Jack Torrence (Jack Nicholson) takes his wife (Shelley Long) and young son to to act as caretakers of the Overlook Hotel, a ski resort which is so isolated in the mountains, it must be shut down for several months in the winter. The caretakers will be completely isolated from the outside world during this period. Jack views this as an opportunity to work on his writing. Jack's wife, meanwhile, is growing concerned about the increasingly strange behavior of their son, Danny. 

The hotel, it is revealed, was the site of a horrific murder/suicide by a previous caretaker of is family some years before, and was built on sacred Indian ground. As winter closes in, the characters slowly begin to fall prey to the same cabin fever that took that family so many years before. Danny, we learn, can read minds and see glimpses of both the past and the future, an ability called "shining." What follows is psychologically complex... is what they are experiencing real or a result of cabin fever? Are there spiritual forces at work? Kubrick leaves it up to the audience.

Kubrick pushes the feeling of isolation by framing the characters so they appear small in a vast space and use of minimal dialogue and soundtrack. Exactingly controlled long shots are suddenly interrupted by flashes of terrifying imagery, usually in Danny's mind. Terror builds slowly through the film not through violent acts but anticipation of these acts as we watch characters slowly unravel.

Outside of the hotel is a full-size garden maze the characters can wander in; the hotel itself is a winding maze of hallways and with maze-like patterned carpets that reflect the psyche of the residents. According to Wikipedia, the pathways and walls of a maze are "fixed, pre-determined." One definitely gets the feeling by the end of the story, that these seemingly random events were predetermined.

The film has been satirized many times, most notably by The Simpsons.

Ohio Second only to Michigan in Job Loss

It was announced in the Plain Dealer today that Ohio ranks second only to Michigan in job loss "...with its 'unprecedented, Depression-level' loss of 496,900 jobs since 2000, or 10.5 percent of its work force, exceeded Ohio's decline of 213,300 jobs." Manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas, which has decimated manufacturing areas like Detroit and Cleveland. It's downright scary.

Ohio, Michigan, and the country at large needs to start investing in new technology, like renewable energy – solar panels and wind turbines – and sell that all over the world. After Pearl Harbor, FDR said in a year we would build X-number of planes, and we exceeded that number. All it takes is a little vision. It's probably naive of me to ask, but how hard would it be to convert some of these empty auto plants into windmill and solar panel plants? Create a new industry, new jobs and maybe benefit our environment at the same time.

Additional note (added 1:23 pm): Here is another article at Newsweek explaining, in part, why the unemployment numbers are actually higher than they appear.

Yellow Subsimpsons?

I was trying to find something scary in keeping with the Halloween spirit. I succeeded. Found this on Cartoon Brew. I have no idea what this is. I take no responsibility for any long-term damage this may cause.

Don't lose your head!

Seems everyone has been blogging about their favorite Halloween/horror films. Here are two that are required viewing this time of year, both of the same name: Sleepy Hollow.

First is the classic Disney short from the 1950s, narrated and sung by Bing Crosby.

The other is Tim Burton's brilliant spin on the classic. The film reflects Burton's stint as an animator at Disney. There are some wonderful tips of the hat to the Disney version.

Lipstick on a Pig

The Chestnut Tree

Here is a wonderful little animation character study I discovered on YouTube called The Chestnut Tree by Hyun Min Lee. There is very little I need to say about it; just watch and enjoy!

You can learn more about Hyun Min Lee here.

Another day at the office...

glumbert.com

To boldly go...

Okay, so I'm a total geek. JJ Abrams, one of the creators of Lost, is helming the new Star Trek film. He says he is trying to bring a "Star Wars level of intensity to the franchise," but promises to keep it's optimistic view of the future. If it's half as good as Lost, it promises to be awesome.

You can see the pics of the new Star Trek movie here on Yahoo.

And the winner is...

Joe the plumber of Toledo, Ohio! 

John McCain referred to him over 20 times during the debate.

Crop Dusting with David Sedaris

Went down to the Allen Theater at Playhouse Square last night with a group of friends – Liam, Deanna, Collette and Erin – and saw David Sedaris in concert last night. He read excerpts from his writings, then took questions from the audience and did a signing afterwards. We waited in line for three hours after the show to get his autograph! (As a bonus, we each got a little drawing.)

I was first introduced to David Sedaris on a compilation CD from This American Life, but it was my friend Liam who really got me hooked when he loaned me his book When You Are Engulfed in Flames. David Sedaris writes what I would describe as slice-of-life essays from his own humorous, perhaps slightly skewed, perspective. Ultimately what one gets from his stories is reassurance because we are all slightly skewed! Not to mention a lot of laughs.

Perhaps one of the funnier anecdotes he shared was that of an airline stewardess, who told Sedaris that one of the natural side effects for the human body at higher altitudes was gas. To cope with this, the stewardesses would each take turns walking up and down the aisle of the plane, quietly releasing gas among the passengers. They called this "crop dusting."

And to add a totally bizarre twist, while I was getting my book signed, Sedaris looked over my shoulder at Liam and asked, "Have we met before? Do I know you from somewhere?" Liam had another book signed by him THREE YEARS AGO. But he remembered. Amazing.

To hear audio of David Sedaris on NPR, click here.

Thanks to Cruise Director Liam for getting us tickets!

John McCain and Sarah Palin's Fireside Chat

Speaking of Fireside Chats, John McCain and Sarah Palin have started their own. You can see it here. Image by Mark Fiore.

Fireside Chats

Last night, after watching the debate and the talking heads pontificate for a while and feeling rather disillusioned, I switched over to Jon Stewart's The Daily Show to get some much needed perspective. I was happy to discover that one of my favorite authors, Sarah Vowell (aka, Violet, aka, Invisible Girl) was on promoting her new book The Wordy Shipmates. 

Alluding to the current financial crisis, Sarah remarked "seems like everything gets [closer] to hell every time I visit. The next time I'm here, we'll be talking on a pile of rubble." Sarah went on to say she didn't even have the heart to read the paper that morning. Instead, she went online and read some of FDR's Fireside Chats. That's how bad things are. She went back to the 1930s to find reassurance in 2008.

So I followed Sarah's example and googled Fireside chats. This was the first transcript I read. FDR had to declare a national bank holiday after a run on the banks in order to prevent a crash. FDR had been in office less than two months and was in the process of pushing forward on his New Deal legislation.

Sunday, March 12, 1933

"It needs no prophet to tell you that when the people find that they can get their money – that they can get it when they want it for legitimate purposes – the phantom of fear will soon be laid. People will again to have their money where it will be safely taken care of... I can assure you that it is safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than under the mattress.

"The success of our whole great national program depends, of course, upon the cooperation of the public – on its intelligent support and use of a reliable system.

"...I do not promise you that every bank will be reopened or that individual losses will not be suffered, but there will be no losses that possibly could be avoided; and there would have been more and greater losses had we continued to drift.

"After all there is an element in the readjustment of our financial system more important than currency, more important than gold, and that is the confidence of the people. Confidence and courage are essentials of success in carrying out our plan. You people must have faith; you must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses. Let us unite in banishing fear. We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system; it is up to you to support and make it work.

"It is your problem no less than it is mine. Together we cannot fail."

One wonders if we will ever see that level of leadership again. Hopefully, whoever wins in November, we will see that person rise to a higher level of statesman.

You can read the entire text, and access other Fireside Chats, here: http://www.mhric.org/fdr/fdr.html

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog, Monkey Stone Soup! I hope this will be a springboard to exchange ideas and have some fun along the way. Stone Monkey (or Monkey King) is a character that is near and dear to my heart. A Chinese folk story that has been retold many times in many formats, I wrote and drew a comic book as my BFA thesis at Cleveland Institute of Art many years ago. Stone soup is, of course, the story of the beggar who made soup from a stone.