Film historian Sam Sherman nails it….

(A series of emails between film historians Sam Sherman and Rick Mitchell as prompted by my blog) 

RICK MITCHELL: …but all Regal [“B” movies produced by Robert L. Lippert and released by 20^th Century-Fox] films I’ve seen after that were credited in being in RegalScope, including British made THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN OF THE HIMALAYAS, which was actually shot in what’s now called Super 35; [a film collector] e-mailed me that his 35mm print credits Megascope, the term Hammer used for the films it shot in Super 35 and Columbia used on spherical films it released in Europe with anamorphic prints.  

SAM SHERMAN: There is so much information and especially mis-information on this title due to several reasons – The claims   that this is a Hammer film or a Regal film are completely Wrong.  The film was originally made as a US British co-production between (US) Buzz Productions Inc. (Bob Lippert, Bill PIzor, Irwin Pizor) [**]  and (UK) Clarion Films Ltd. (Jimmy Carreras) (a separate company and not legally part of Hammer) with Fox  handling all world-wide distribution outside of the Clarion territories of UK and Japan, as the film was a UK quota financed film there, as released by Warners.  The process listed was somewhere “Hammerscope” elsewhere “RegalScope”,   but was most likely regular Cinemascope.

In the Fox territories the film was cut by several minutes and re-titled ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN OF THE HIMALAYAS. Videos here are from the British master and show the Warners logo and UK credits.  The US Theatrical release was the top of a double bill with GHOST DIVER, which I think is a Regal film…, as second feature.  US TV was originally handled by Seven Arts (which had a Fox TV film group package) and later became part of Warners.  I have a Seven Arts 16MM TV print with different (US) credits which had a prominent credit for Buzz Productions, rarely seen elsewhere.  My company (IIP) [Independent International Pictures] is the owner of the Buzz Productions interests.  This is probably the best film that the Clarion and Hammer production team ever made. It is finally getting a reputation, is shown yearly at a special film festival at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and fans finally have gotten to appreciate it.  When I took over the rights to this film and started working with Fox they thought nothing of the film until I told them it was great! They didn’t believe in it as they had mis-handled it originally and it made no money.  Once, due to my efforts, they reviewed all of these issues and they started marketing it to Cable TV in the US (including HBO) where they did a great deal of business. This film was in the Red from 1957 to the 1990s until I took it over and now, it is solidly in the black.

RICK: Kit Parker forwarded to me your comments about the rights history of this film, which sound very complicated because it was an international co-production.   ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN was shot by the technique known today as Super 35: full aperture spherical photography composed for 2.35, which would be extracted and squeezed to a dupe negative for release printing. This was originally done as Superscope but didn’t work as well on color films as with black-and-white and we are now discovering that a number of black-and-white films from the late Fifties released with anamorphic prints and advertised as being in CinemaScope or similar “Scopes” were actually shot that way. Megascope was Hammer’s term for films shot this way and Columbia used it on some films shot and released spherically in the US but with anamorphic prints in Europe, including THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD [1958]! 

SAM: I won’t believe this super-35 story on ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN until I see a piece of film in my hand like that.  I remember seeing some Superscope films in theatres (Tushinsky process) originally… especially INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS [1956]. It was inferior looking and very grainy from blowing up that negative. ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN always looks very good leading me to believe it was shot with an anamorphic lens and not blown up from part of a negative.  I worked on two films shot in Techniscope (a similar idea using half the negative) and squeezed into an anamorphic version – and it usually looked grainy and horrible.  If SNOWMAN was shot the same way, it should look equally bad which it does not.

Unfortunately, we have not had access to MGM’s files to get their side of this, only Panavision’s. Obviously, they couldn’t publicly announce it as it would have been in violation of their licensing agreement with Fox. One giveaway is there is a credit on these films saying “Process lenses by Panavision”, which was used when Panavision optical printer lenses were used for conversions. Through 1960, films shot with Panavision lenses, though credited as being in CinemaScope, carried a sub credit “Photographic lenses by Panavision. Unfortunately, this credit appears near the end of the main title sequence on the card with the copyright notice, etc., so you have to watch the film’s main title sequence to catch it. One other thing I noted was that the films’ original negatives were cut into A&B rolls so they wouldn’t have to go to another dupe stage for dissolves and fades, just title sequences and opticals. We’re fairly certain all their black-and-white “CinemaScope” pictures released in 1957 and 58 were done this way, but still need to research the 1959-60 releases because MGM had begun using Panavision lenses on its color films about that time. Marty has confirmed that THE GAZEBO, released at the end of 1959, was shot anamorphic.

[**]  The name “Buzz” probably came from Robert L. Lippert, who had just produced “The Fly” (1958).

Sam Sherman, writer, producer, distributor, and film historian:

http://www.badmovieplanet.com/unknownmovies/reviews/independentinternational.html

Rick Mitchell, film editor and film historian.

http://www.in70mm.com/news/2007/rick_mitchell/index.htm

Wide Screen 101:

http://www.cinematographers.nl/FORMATS3.html

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/

email:  kit@kitparkerfilms.

Saved from embarrassment!

Ronnie James, one of the great unsung movie and television researchers, pointed out that I neglected to include the most important Lippert movie of all, THE FLY (1958).  I had intended to highlight it, but instead hit the delete key, the most dangerous key of all!  He also mentioned QUATERMASS 2: ENEMY FROM SPACE (1957) and FROZEN ALIVE (1964)…I’ve asked him to double-check.  Ronnie felt that the Filmography would be more useful and telling, if it was in chronological order.  It started out that way, but I found too much conflicting information among my various research publications.

Film editor and film historian Rick Mitchell has great credentials when it comes to wide screen cinematography. He asked several excellent questions that I’m sure others have wondered about as well.

RICK MITCHELL: I believe there are some errors in the Lippert piece. I don’t believe Sam Fuller’s CHINA GATE and FORTY GUNS were made for Lippert but under a separate deal Fuller’s Globe Productions made with Fox, like Edward L. Alperson’s. THE FLY is not considered a Lippert production but an official Fox one.

THE FLY is definitely a Lippert production. Director Kurt Neumann came to Bob Lippert with the story, and Lippert felt it would be a big hit so, according to Dexter, authorized a $700 – $750K budget…astronomical for a Lippert production, but small by Fox standards. Most of the money went into special effects and, of course, it was filmed (in Canada) in color.  Lippert showed it to Fox president, Spyros Skouras, and he decided to make it a Fox “A” release.

KIT: Sam Fuller was the producer of both CHINA GATE and FORTY GUNS, released in 1957. 

 These were Lippert RegalScope productions that so impressed the Fox brass that they were released as Fox/CinemaScope pictures. Head of production was Bill Magianetti, and his assistant was Maury Dexter.  I spoke to Dexter and he confirmed this and also went into detail about the filming. Maury also told me some great Fuller stories connected with those two pictures which I’ll reveal in a future blog!

RICK: Are you sure THE FLY was filmed in Canada? I’d seen THE GIFT OF LOVE a few weeks before I first saw THE FLY and was shocked to see the same interiors of the house in both films. Fox did recycle standing sets: the schoolroom build for PEYTON PLACE appears in THE YOUNG LIONS and THE LONG HOT SUMMER with no changes, for example.

KIT:  Rick was mostly right…only some scenes were filmed in Montreal, the rest at Fox studios.

In one of my blogs I wrote that Lippert couldn’t put his name on any of his Fox productions because he totally alienated the unions by insisting on releasing his earlier productions to television and refusing to pay residuals.

RICK: Lippert takes executive producer credit on THE YELLOW CANARY (1963).

KIT: Yes, by 1963 the union problems were behind him.

RICK: The first Regal film credited on the film as being in CinemaScope; I haven’t seen any ads or trailers, so I don’t know what’s on them.

KIT:  I do know they used CinemaScope lenses on all of the Regal’s, but Fox didn’t want to use that name on low budget, black and white second features. One thing that continues to stump me is some of the Regal prints have the Fox logo, and other prints of the same picture say Regal Films! Maury Dexter didn’t know, either, so it is a probably a question that will never be answered.

RICK:  See attached frame blowup from a friend’s 16mm print of STAGECOACH TO FURY; I now have one of my own. It has the Regal Films logo at the head. I have not seen any of the other RegalScope films released in 1956 and don’t know how they were credited but all Regal films I’ve seen after that were credited in being in RegalScope, including British made THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN OF THE HIMALAYAS, which was actually shot in what’s now called Super 35; [a film collector] e-mailed me that his 35mm print credits Megascope, the term Hammer used for the films it shot in Super 35 and Columbia used on spherical films it released in Europe with anamorphic prints.

RICK: Incidentally, re your Lippert Pictures filmography, THE BIG CHASE was expanded from what was to be 3-D short, I believe BANDIT ISLAND.

KIT:  True; producer Robert L. Lippert, Jr. made both the 3D short and incorporated the footage (in 2D) into his feature film, THE BIG CHASE (1954).  The 3D short itself is not known to survive.

RICK:  I believe the color films Lippert did before the formation of Associated Producers were released as official Fox films because they were in color.

KIT: The only two color films that came out of Regal Films were THE FLY (1958) and THE DEERSLAYER (1957), which were released as Fox pictures, but produced by Lippert. When the Fox-Regal deal expired, a new one was set up under the name Associated Producers. Many of those were in color.

RICK: Were CATTLE EMPIRE, VILLA! (both1958) and THE OREGON TRAIL (1959) not part of the Lippert deal? They are credited as being produced by Richard Einfield, the son of a former Fox exhibition executive. I’d gotten the impression that all the obvious color B’s Fox released during the Skouras years went through the Lippert Unit. [condensed for clarity]

KIT: CATTLE EMPIRE, VILLA! And THE OREGON TRAIL are Lippert (API) productions.  I know IMDb isn’t the be-all-end-all of credits, but it doesn’t list CATTLE EMPIRE or VILLA! as Einfield films. Maury thinks Einfield “may” have produced CATTLE EMPIRE, and he did produce OREGON TRAIL.

Both Dexter, and VILLA! star, Margia Dean, confirm that Spyros Skouras’ son, Plato Skouras, produced VILLA!  Dexter says that Plato wanted to be a movie producer so his father assigned him to “produce” some Lippert’s, a way to get him off his back and still allow his son to call himself a producer, although his involvement usually wasn’t much more than as a figurehead.  Dexter adds it was a similar situation with Richard Einfield, whose father was indeed an exhibitor, and therefore a customer of Fox.  He added that Einfield did not have much to do with the actual producing, but did more so than Plato Skouras given Einfield had a background in film editing and directing.

Dexter has given me more details on THE FLY.  He says Lippert read the “The Fly” short story in a 1957 Playboy Magazine, at the suggestion of director Kurt Neumann.  He immediately dispatched someone to Paris to buy the movie rights from its author, George Langelaan.  Langelaan was paid $2,500, a little over $19,000 in 2010 dollars.

I’m thankful for Rick’s questions and comments, and hope he will contribute more.

GREAT NEWS!  Maury Dexter wrote an unpublished autobiography which I found to be a page-turner.  He has asked me to make it available at no charge.  I’ll get to work on the project as soon as I can figure out how to upload the book from a floppy disc!

Recommendations:

Google Rick Mitchell, or start with this site: 

http://www.in70mm.com/workshop/departments/mitchell/index.htm

The Big Chase DVD:

http://vcientertainment.com/forgotten-noir-collectors-p-556.html

“With notebooks and pens we will end suicide bombings and gore. Sensitivity to backward culture will help us to control the horror. They’ll learn love for American freedom through stories they’ll come to adore.”

“Anthropology will help to explain the people we wish to contain. We’ll win hearts and minds behind enemy lines by mapping the human terrain.”

“We’ll identify those we can trust to embrace the occupation. We’ll remove all the others….”

“With social science to lead us, through dark Afghanistan, we’ll blaze a path toward victory, and eventually into Iran!”–words from the song, Shadow Anthropology, see below.

Dr. Rick Mitchell, is a professor and creative writing advisor in the Department of English at California State University, Northridge who, with the support of his university’s Faculty Research Fellows Program and the Puffin Foundation, has created and launched a play that is getting a number of positive reviews: Shadow Anthropology–A Post 9/11 Comedy. This has been mentioned in previous articles that we have published, as an upcoming production. One review from Eye Spy LA tells us that “Mitchell weaves a complex story about U.S. colonization into an enjoyable, comedic romp,” one that uses “almost every form of dramatic spectacle with Turkish shadow puppets, catchy musical numbers and light Brechian flourishes.” In this play, the U.S. Army’s Human Terrain System, and the work of militarized anthropology are targets of criticism. We are told that “the play is critical of U.S. occupation strategies that are intended to reduce conflict, but only fuel it through ignorance.” As for HTS another review tells us that it is, “touted as a way to win hearts and minds…a devious attempt to root out insurgents through entrapment.” HTS is also referred to in one of the reviews as, “an underhanded American ploy to colonize and ferret out insurgents.”

To clarify the aims of Rick Mitchell’s project I asked him to what extent HTS was intended as a focal element, if it was. He explained that “HTS is certainly a big element, but the play also focuses on broader areas, i.e., the (ugly) US occupation of Afghanistan (and, to a lesser degree, of Puerto Rico [the anthropologist is from Vieques]), the stereotyping (and necessity) of ’enemies,’ the drug-war connection in US warfare (and espionage), the ‘occupation’ of women exacerbated by Sharia Law, etc.” The main point is that, in Mitchell’s words, ”the piece is adamantly against occupation of any kind.”

One of the HTS characters, on a Human Terrain Team, is a former Marine, Evan–described by one review as a “trigger-happy coked out junkie;” in another review in LA Weekly as “a well-paid defense operative…an unprincipled superpatriot whose sprawling ego is pumped up by his coke-and-heroin habit and his steady intake of Viagra. A practiced slimeball;” and, in a review by the Levantine Cultural Center as someone who, “shadows the Afghan population to gain insight, while remaining in relative darkness.” The other team member, Fe, is supposedly a left-leaning Puerto Rican anthropologist, “with sincere intentions for the use of anthropology,” described in another review as “unwitting.”

I asked Rick Mitchell what his main sources of information/inspiration were in creating the HTS characters, Fe the anthropologist and Evan the soldier of fortune:

I did a ton of research, not only about the HTS, but also about Islam, Afghanistan’s history, the US military, BlackWater, mercenaries, extremisms (of the Islamic, X-tian, and Free Market variety [Tariq Ali's The Clash of Fundamentalisms was useful here] etc., etc. Of course, a couple of early, major leaders (of the HTS and a private mercenary co.) were on my mind when I began writing. But that changed a lot as the play developed and the characters began going in different directions.

Evan works for a firm that in the play is called SwampWater, and while not modeled on any one person, nor a composite of specific persons in existence, his creation by Mitchell was influenced by some of the books he has read “about the kind of guys who were working as private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan (and by the Fundamentalist right-wing in the US).”

Rick Mitchell’s next stop is at the South Asia Center at University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, to present a reading of the play on Feb. 18 at the following conference: Popular Culture and Alternate Histories: Voices from Beyond the Security State in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.

With parody videos, critical books, online critiques, and this play, one is forced to reject one of the central premises in the sales pitch delivered by the Human Terrain System early on: that it would help to make anthropology useful and relevant, and presumably, respected.

I am currently reading through the 130+ pages of the play and a follow-up article may come in the future. In the meantime, below is the song of the play, with lyrics by Rick Mitchell, music by Max Kinberg, and vocals by David Lee Garver:

[Photos by the Son of Semele Theater]

“Please warn your sources in HTS that TRADOC G2 senior management is on to them. I was told this in a conversation I had with the TRADOC G2 today. It’s sad that finding out your sources seems to be a priority. I hate to see anyone lose their job over this.”

As for Christopher A. King, who now replaces McFate as the social science director of HTS:

“He was chosen to lead the social science directorate not for his qualifications but because he is the least controversial last man standing.”

Also, this news:

On the artistic side, HTS will be featured as the topic of a theater performance in Los Angeles, California. Playwright Rick Mitchell has penned and produced a performance titled SHADOW ANTHROPOLOGY: A Post-9/11 Comedy. The play will be opening and running in Los Angeles in January and February, as part of a theatre festival.

Shadow Anthropology will also be the lead play in a forthcoming collection of Mitchell’s work. The fine American actor Edward James Olmos says of Mitchell’s book, “”Funny! Provocative! Stunningly poignant! Rick Mitchell is a great American Playwright.”

Mitchell is also working on a “comic song” about the Human Terrain System.

More about SHADOW ANTHROPOLOGY:

As a poor Afghan family struggles to hold onto its farm in spite of a drought, a warlord offers possible solutions, including a more profitable crop, as well as an odd marriage proposal for the farmer’s young daughter. Soon thereafter, an idealistic anthropologist from Puerto Rico teams up with an opium-loving American mercenary as part of a U.S. Army Human Terrain Team. While the visitors attempt to create a more “culturally sensitive” military occupation of Afghanistan, various characters and bawdy shadow puppets battle it out for who controls not only the story, but also the land. A satirical examination of the U.S. military’s “new” post-9/11 strategy to win Afghan hearts and minds, this dark comedy features original songs, Turkish-style shadow puppetry, and Spam.

Some might recall Rick Mitchell’s previous work on anthropology and HTS: ANTHROPOLOGY: Or How To Win Friends and Influence Afghans.

“Please warn your sources in HTS that TRADOC G2 senior management is on to them. I was told this in a conversation I had with the TRADOC G2 today. It’s sad that finding out your sources seems to be a priority. I hate to see anyone lose their job over this.”

Clearly, program reorganization and redirection are the key elements of Colonel Sharon Hamilton’s mission as program manager of the HTS. Sources speculate that she has questioned some in the chain-of-command about the “many millions of dollars wasted on a program that cannot produce any product.” Whether that is true or not, one thing is certain: Colonel Hamilton was dropped into a US Army program that was allowed by senior TRADOC management to carve its own self-destructive path. Meaningful oversight of the HTS program was non-existent.

Colonel Hamilton’s task is largely thankless. The investigations of the HTS program by the US Army and the House Armed Services Committee, and the stories as relayed by nearly 100 sources for this 17 month series of articles, has shown just how rotten the core of the program had become.

She deserves much credit for her actions thus far in trying to change the culture and, apparently, merge Human Terrain Analysis into Geospatial practice for modeling and simulation. The Human Terrain System website shows that the management has backed off marketing the program as “applied anthropology” and, of course, has forced the resignations of those who, while at the helm, shipwrecked the HTS effort and in the process lost and shattered lives.

Sources say that HTS Training is still a serious weak point in the program and the much ballyhooed HTS Training Redesign is already in trouble.

“There is lack of progress in the much discussed training redesign. There is supposed to be a 10 week redesign that goes in to effect in January 2011 but only 1 week is complete and not properly vetted or to TRADOC standards. The only successful training that continues to receive high marks is to be eliminated. For example, there is a contractor that repeatedly received high marks from students and also refused to reduce TRADOC training standards or compromise on work product. The HTS Training Redesign Team hates the contractor and frequently copies their product but can’t replicate the contractor’s experience.”

What it boils down to is this, agreed sources: “The real problem that HTS has is that their reputation is so bad that it scares off any qualified/creditable trainers. They will not work on the program. They can’t even get people to the CRC on time!”

There are rumors, say sources, that the HTS program’s performance has been so poor that it may cost General Martin Dempsey, CG of TRADOC, dearly. “A serious issue is that the [HTS] investigations have reached into the TRADOC Headquarters and may negatively impact on Dempsey’s future. He has not done enough to clean up the HTS mess.”

Other sources have reported that Dempsey is a “good man” and has done a good job as the TRADOC CG. They say Dempsey’s problem is Maxi McFarland who is known as a real bare knuckle, back room fighter. He gets what he wants and no one will challenge him. He has friends in high places. His contacts are built on personal support of the Army’s current leadership. He was a colonel when the current leadership held captain/major rank. There is no risk to him or his position.”

Sources say that one of the US Army’s Human Terrain System senior managers, Jeff Bowden, is resigning effective 31 December 2010. Observers say that Bowden was recently reprimanded by the HTS Program Manager, Colonel Sharon Hamilton (USA), for matters relating to his performance, or lack thereof, in the HTS program.

Also of note is the promotion of Christopher King, PhD in Forensic Anthropology—not Cultural Anthropology—who will head the social science directorate. Some say the difference in the two fields” is important.” Chris King is a forensic anthropologist. He was chosen to lead the “social science directorate” not for his qualifications but because he is the least controversial “last man standing.”

On the artistic side, HTS will be featured as the topic of a theater performance in Los Angeles, California. Playwright Rick Mitchell has penned and produced a performance titled SHADOW ANTHROPOLOGY: A Post-9/11 Comedy. The play will be opening and running in Los Angeles in January and February, as part of a theatre festival.

Shadow Anthropology will also be the lead play in a forthcoming collection of Mitchell’s work. The fine American actor Edward James Olmos says of Mitchell’s book, “”Funny! Provocative! Stunningly poignant! Rick Mitchell is a great American Playwright.”

Mitchell is also working on a “comic song” about the Human Terrain System.

Associated Press photo

Lesbian high-school student Constance McMillen was told by her rural Mississippi high-school officials that she could neither wear a tuxedo nor bring her girlfriend to her high-school prom — which the officials then canceled altogether because of her insistence that she be allowed to attend with her girlfriend, wearing what she wishes to wear. It wasn’t that long ago that mixed-race dancing was prohibited at red-state high-school proms, and the same “arguments” that were used to justify racial discrimination are now used to justify discrimination based upon sexual orientation — not only in rural Mississippi but even in the U.S. military, as the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is debated even though it clearly violates the principles of the U.S. Constitution.

If you have read me for any time at all, you know that there is a lot that I fucking hate.

I hate the U.S. military. Not the individual members of the U.S. military, necessarily — although I question how they can support the U.S. military when it has been debased into becoming little but bands of thugs for the megacorporations’ profits (bands of thugs paid for by us, the American taxpayers, and of course the megacorporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes) – but the whole damn idea of the U.S. military, with its might-makes-right, jingoistic bent. The majority of those in the military call themselves devout Christians, too, as though Jesus Christ would have had anything to do with their maiming and killing for the expansion and the preservation of the American Empire in the names of freedom and democracy — and even in the name of Jesus Christ.

Yet, as much as I never would have joined the U.S. military, opposing pretty much all that it stands for (patriarchy, violence and aggression, jingoism, misogyny, homophobia, “Christo”fascism, xenophobia, etc., etc.), I have a real fucking problem with the fact that non-heterosexuals don’t have equal human and civil rights in the U.S. military, that they can be expelled from the military or prevented from joining the military for solely who and what they are.

I never went to my high school prom, either. Not so much because I’m gay and because in the red state of Arizona in the mid-1980s there was no way in hell that I had the opportunity to go to my high-school prom with another male, but because I hate the whole concept of proms, too. I find them to be pretentious wastes of money, relics from the past. (I love the original film version of Stephen King’s “Carrie,” by the way…)

But the idea that high-school officials in rural Missifuckingssippi canceled the high school’s prom because a lesbian student wants to attend prom with her girlfriend boils my blue-state blood.

Reports The Associated Press:

School officials in a rural Mississippi county told a lesbian student to get “guys” to take her and her girlfriend to a high school prom and warned the girls against slow dancing with each other because that could “push people’s buttons,” according to documents filed [today] in federal court.

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Itawamba County School District and some officials at Itawamba Agricultural High School on behalf of Constance McMillen, 18, who wanted to escort her girlfriend to the prom and wear a tuxedo. A hearing is scheduled for Monday to hear an ACLU motion that seeks to force the district to hold the April 2 prom it canceled after McMillen made her requests.

In the court documents, McMillen said Rick Mitchell, the assistant principal at the school, told her she could not attend the prom with her girlfriend but they could go with “guys.”

Superintendent Teresa McNeece told the teen that the girls should attend the prom separately, had to wear dresses and couldn’t slow dance with each other because that could “push people’s buttons,” according to court documents.

The school district last week said it wouldn’t host the prom “due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events.” District officials said they hoped private citizens would sponsor a dance. The decision came on the same day the ACLU asked the district to act on McMillen’s prom requests.

McMillen said she approached school officials weeks ago about wanting to take her girlfriend to the prom.

“I want my prom experience to be the same as all of the other students, a night to remember with the person I’m dating,” McMillen said.

The district, located in northern Mississippi near the Alabama state line, prohibits same-sex dates at the prom. The ACLU has said that violates the rights of gay and lesbian students.

The school district had not responded to the ACLU filing by [this] afternoon.

Christine Sun, a senior counsel with the ACLU’s national gay rights project, said the organization is determined to put the prom back on the school calendar.

Fulton Mayor Paul Walker said he has heard that parents are making plans for a private dance but he didn’t know the details. It’s unclear if gay couples would be welcome at that event….

Shit like this makes me wonder why in the hell the blue states didn’t just allow the red states to secede way back in the day of President Abe. (Speaking of whom, did you know that red states started seceding from the Union after his election but even before his inauguration? Um, yeah.) But then I remind myself that the oppressed peoples of the red states, without the help of those of us of the blue states, would be completely at the mercy of the mouth-breathing fucktards who dominate the red states. It’s not right to allow that to happen.

Equal human and civil rights — liberty and justice for all – just don’t grow naturally in the red states. They have to be forced upon the red states from without. It’s unfortunate that that is so, but it is the red states’ fault — for all of their talk of the founding fathers, for fuck’s sake – for their absolute refusal to live up to the American ideals that every0ne is created equal and that everyone has the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Two female students or two male students dancing at prom together would “push people’s buttons.” Oh, boo fucking hoo!

Was not the very same argument made to outlaw mixed-race dancing at red-state high-school proms past? Or to disallow non-white students to attend prom at all?

And the prom was canceled “due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events”?

Really?

Or was the prom canceled because the high school officials are a bunch of fucking homophobes and/or fucking cowards?

“Due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events” — that is what you call blaming the victim, who in this case is the lesbian student who just wants the equal human and civil rights to which she is entitled by the founding documents of the United States of America, including the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence (which, I understand, are being rewritten for the Texas public-school textbooks…).

Goddess bless the ACLU.

If a good number of high-school students truly do have a problem seeing same-sex couples at their schools’ dances, that’s probably because they just never see it. What you never have seen, when you see it, can feel and seem quite alien.

But it’s fucking circular: Same-sex dancing at high-school proms is rarely or never seen at most high schools, and so it’s taboo, and because it’s taboo, it is banned at many if not most high schools, and because it is banned, it is never seen, and because it is never seen, it remains taboo, and…

Constance McMillen is brave; she is a sort of Rosa Parks for 2010.

I admire her.

I love her balls.

I hope that she gets to go to her high-school prom with the person of her choice, wearing what she wishes to wear, and that by so doing, she shows her classmates what the noble American principles that the red-staters only claim to value actually look like.

The district announced Wednesday it wouldn’t host the April 2 prom. The decision came after the American Civil Liberties Union demanded that officials change a policy banning same-sex prom dates because it violated students’ rights. And the ACLU said the district not letting McMillen wear a tuxedo violated her free expression rights.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Oxford to force the school district to sponsor the prom and allow McMillen to bring whom she chooses and wear what she wants.

This is an astounding level of bigotry. Rather than allow a student to go to a prom with her date of the same sex, the school district actually believes it is better to ruin everyone’s biggest senior moment next to graduation.

Of course, they aren’t going to take the blame.

A school board statement said it wouldn’t host the event in Fulton, “due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events” but never mentioned McMillen or her girlfriend, who also is a student at the school.

There is often a tremendous amount of arrogance floating around the egos of those who have petty control over others, but this really takes the cake. [D]istractions to the educational process? What are these people on? Did they consume large quantities of alcohol before writing this? Was it all hard stuff?

The fact is – and this is the silver lining – the district recognizes that they will lose any lawsuit against them which challenges a ban on same sex dating. They do not have the right to ban any such thing. Upon recognition of this obvious fact, they have sought to maintain getting their childish little way by dirty means: it’s high school; everyone knows what is happening with everyone else. When they tried to blame the victim for their ineptitude and lack of concern for equality, they knew exactly what they were doing.

…the 18-year-old lesbian high school senior reluctantly returned to campus to some unfriendly looks, she said.

“Somebody said, ‘Thanks for ruining my senior year.’” McMillen said.

There was never any doubt this would happen. The district ‘leaders’ went ahead and ruined a significant moment in the lives of an entire high school class and then had the gall to blame an innocent student. They know the law disagrees with their stance. They know McMillen has a right to attend her prom with her girlfriend. They just don’t know why they’re morally wrong.

The school district had said it hoped a privately sponsored prom could be held. McMillen said if that happens, she’s sure she’ll be excluded.

“It’s a small town in Mississippi, and it’s run by an older generation with money. Most of them are more conservative and they don’t agree with it,” she said.

Okay, they topped themselves. I thought just canceling the prom was bigoted enough. Now the school is actually encouraging others to set up a private event. Why would a private event not be the same supposed distraction? Why does location matter? Why doesn’t the school want to host an event they can monitor with security for the students?

Fulton Mayor Paul Walker said he supports the school district’s decision and knew of no private efforts to host the prom.

“I think the community as a whole is probably in support of the school district,” Walker said of the town of about 4,000.

Oh. I guess if a lot of people agree, then it must be okay. It’s not like the school district is on its way to an assured legal defeat due to its bigotry or anything.

But wait! There’s more. As always, the arbitrary religious figure must be paraded out.

Southside Baptist Church Pastor Bobby Crenshaw said he’s seen the South portrayed as “backwards” on Web sites discussing the issue, “but a lot more people here have biblically based values.”

“But”? “But“?

Crikey has aggregated some of the articles posted from 17-19 November.

A Wikipedia page appeared on 19 November.

Len Johnson discussed the Report in his post in the Runner’s Tribe on 20 November. Nick Bryant discussed ‘Thirsting for Gold’ in his post on the same day.

This is an SBS post from 21 November that quotes David Crawford.

Roy Masters discusses membership of the Australian Sports Commission Board in the Sydney Morning Herald on 21 November. He discusses ‘Fair go, sport’ in a separate article in the paper.

Rick Mitchell suggests in The Age ‘Want medals, fund coaches’ (22 November).

Tim Gavel interviewed David Crawford on ABC radio on 22 November.

Nicola Berkovic reported on 23 November that ‘AOC Chief Slams Minister’. This blog post, We’re Sports Mad appeared on the same day.

Jacquelin Magnay noted in The Age on 24 November that the ‘AOC prepares for legal action over report’. The ABC posted about the AOC’s concerns about funding measures in the Report.

David Gittens discussed his take on the Crawford Report in the Sydney Morning Herald on 25 November. In the Business section of the paper Saul Eslake discusses the ‘National Midas Touch’.

John Coates responded on 25 November to an article written by Malcolm Maiden on 20 November.

The AAP reported on 25 November that the Minister, Kate Ellis, has pledged to increase funding for Olympic and Paralympic sport. This was reported in The Australian too by Margie Macdonald.

Andrew Shaw discussed on 25 November some inclusion issues raised by the Report as did this blog post on homophobia.

The Australian Olympic Committee published an open letter to the Minister on 26 November.

This is a post in The Australian written by Nicole Jeffrey that leads with the headline ‘John Coates questions impartiality of five-member Crawford panel’ (27 November).

Doug Conway has written about the Report and a David Crawford interview in The Roar (27 November)

Photographs

Beijing 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony

Munich, Olympic Games Tent

Bill O’Reilly’s Grip

Tonight, Friday, 30 October, a free play reading in North Hollywood will start at 8:30pm — the title of the production: ANTHROPOLOGY: Or How To Win Friends and Influence Afghans (see the circular). The play was written by Rick Mitchell, an associate professor in English at California State University, Northridge. The featured story line is,

“A satirical examination of the US policy of making the War on Terror more culturally sensitive, ANTHROPOLOGY: Or How To Win Friends and Influence Afghans features a poor Afghan family struggling to survive as an overpaid private contractor, with a predilection for opium, a drug dealing warlord, an earnest academic and bawdy shadow puppets battle it out for who controls the story and the land.”

According to the author of the play, Rick Mitchell,

“Due to the absurdities of the current occupation of Afghanistan, the play contains a significant amount of comedy, along with live music, out-of-control private contractors, and violent puppets. And the performance features a great, multi-ethnic cast.”

In Rick Mitchell’s very interesting project description that laid out the original plan for the play, the main “objective will be to create a sweeping, epic drama that theatrically examines, through the plight of an anthropologist embedded in Iraq [now Afghanistan], cultural differences and historical conflicts related to the Iraq War and, importantly, the battle over the control of knowledge.” The play, according to that initial plan, was to feature “several individual, culturally specific stories offering widely divergent points of view that are representative of stories being told, contested, and collected (by social scientists) within contemporary Iraq (and perhaps Afghanistan). The play will also suggest that the pertinence of such stories to ‘winning the war’ is well understood by the United States military, which attacks not only ‘enemy combatants’ and their supporters, but also— culturally and psychologically—the primary narratives that they tell.” The play also critiques the Army’s December 2006 counterinsurgency manual, FM 3-24, a portion of which is to be read out during the play.

Anthropology itself, which after all is the first word in the title, comes in for some critical exposure as well:

“US-backed anthropologists have historically operated in war zones, in places like Japan, Viet Nam, Central America, and, more recently, in Iraq and Afghanistan, in spite of the fact that many anthropologists are strongly against allowing anthropology to support US war efforts. They fear, like the play’s embedded anthropologist (at least early in the play), that there is potential for government-funded fieldwork within “theatres of war” to be turned against the very people whom the social scientists are living amongst and studying.”

Mitchell says that anthropology is “a discipline historically referred to as the ‘handmaiden of colonialism’” (which seems to take me back to my zero series). The role of science and society and the legacy of the Enlightenment figure in the play’s contextualization:

since the Enlightenment a key problem in the West has been: How should scientific knowledge (and technology) be utilized, and whom should it benefit (or oppress)? This problem is also relevant to Western portrayals of the current “War on Terror” that pit the consumerist, technologically advanced West, with its high-tech military apparatus, against the “underdeveloped,” “primitive” Islamic insurgents of the Middle East, who often rely on low-tech guerrilla warfare and improvised explosive devices.

Research for the play was based on “extensive reading of books, articles, and blogs,… interviews with anthropologists, Iraq War veterans, Iraqis living in the US, and US-supported soldiers-for-hire (from companies such as Blackwater).”

The play will also feature comedy, music, and audience interaction.

The reading takes place tonight at the Academy for New Musical Theatre, 5628 Vineland (near Burbank), in North Hollywood, at 8:30 p.m.

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HUMAN TERRAIN: War Becomes Academic, is a new documentary film by James Der Derian at Brown University. According to the synopsis posted on the website for the film:

‘Human Terrain’ is two stories in one. The first exposes the U.S. effort to enlist the best and the brightest of American universities in a struggle for the hearts and minds of its enemies. Facing long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military adopts a controversial new program, ‘Human Terrain Systems’, to make cultural awareness a key element of its counterinsurgency strategy. Designed to embed social scientists with combat troops, the program swiftly comes under attack by academic critics who consider it misguided and unethical to gather intelligence and target potential enemies for the military. Gaining rare access to wargames in the Mojave Desert and training exercises at Quantico and Fort Leavenworth, ‘Human Terrain’ takes the viewer into the heart of the war machine and the shadowy collaboration between American academics and the armed services.

The other story is about a brilliant young scholar who leaves the university to join a Human Terrain team. After working as a humanitarian activist and winning a Marshall Scholarship to study at Oxford, Michael Bhatia returned to Brown University to conduct research on military cultural awareness. A year later, he left to embed as a Human Terrain member with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan. On May 7, 2008, en route to mediate an intertribal dispute, his humvee hit a roadside bomb and Bhatia was killed along with two other soldiers.

Asking what happens when war becomes academic and academics go to war, the two stories merge in tragedy.

On that site you can view a list of the persons who appear in the film, read an extensive director’s statement and more about the filmmakers, and check for upcoming screenings.

With respect to the director’s statement, it does not appear to be pitched as a war propaganda film, given the references to “a dying empire” and “illusions of empire.” On the other hand, the film seems to pivot around the figure of Michael Bhatia, his interests, circumstances, decisions, and ultimately his death as a HTS researcher in Afghanistan in 2008. The director notes, “Michael became a public figure, with all sides swift to attach their own interpretations upon his death.” He adds: “After extensive and often rending conversations with his family, we decided that we could not make the film without having Michael’s story be part of it.” It is not clear why that had to be so.

Why must the story be about Bhatia? Is it because he encapsulates all of the main features of HTS, its development, and application (unlikely), or is it because of the drama of his death (likely)? Both the director, Der Derian, and Bhatia were at the Watson Insititute at Brown University, so I can appreciate that there can be an insider’s angle on an insider’s story. At they very least, I can say that the logic of the decision to focus on Bhatia is open to question. Der Derian goes further: “To the extent it was humanly possible – and humanely necessary – we wanted to provide all parties to Michael’s life and death the opportunity to tell their side of that story.  We went to the family, back to the military, and interviewed the supporters as well as critics of Human Terrain.”

Not to continue to offend as I apparently have offended many American readers many times (not that this in itself is of concern to me), my question is a simple one: Why is the story always about the Western protagonist as if his life matters more, and is more valuable and worthy of note, than any of the thousands of Afghan civilians who were killed by Bhatia’s employers, the U.S. military?

As for the HTS critics interviewed, these comprise Roberto González, Hugh Gusterson, and Catherine Lutz — which is great, except that their voices are submerged under more than twice as many supporters of HTS in the film.

Here’s the trailer:

The film that remains to be made, and will likely never be made, is one about HTS that does not feature Western protagonists, whether they be supporters or critics of the program, but rather one that is filmed entirely in Afghanistan and features only Afghans, especially in villages that have been “visited” by Human Terrain Teams. It would be an unembedded film, and led by Afghans themselves.

The week ahead will be a different story.  Plan on rain chances for several of the days this week, with a risk of a few severe storms, and perhaps heavy rain.

Tomorrow will be up mostly cloudy with a chance of a couple of storms developing.  Conditions will be present for severe storms if the storms can develop.  If they do, it will most likely be late afternoon or evening.  The highest risk for severe weather will be from northern into southwest Oklahoma, and the main threat will be hail.  However, the wind shear is great enough that an isolated tornado or two will be possible as well.  If conditions continue to look impressive tomorrow, the risk of tornadoes could be higher.  The overall chance of rain tomorrow is not very high, but if the storms can develop, they will likely be severe.

Tuesday will be a cool day with clouds and a low chance for a shower to two.

Rain chances do increase for later Wednesday into Thursday.  Along with another risk for severe storms, there will also be the chance of heavy rainfall.

Things look to settle down Friday through next weekend.

By the way, you’ll notice something different about my weathercasts starting tomorrow at 5 pm.  We will also be debuting something that will make staying in touch with the First Alert forecast easier than ever.  Tune in tomorrow to find out what it is.

Rick

 In the coming weeks and months you’ll notice additional changes to our website that will make tracking the weather easier and more fun.  You will also be seeing some things on our air that you will like.  I can’t discuss any of those things just yet, just know that there are things “in the works”.

 Our Easter weekend weather looks on track.  Saturday will still be nice, but a little cooler with highs in the 60s.  Sunday will be a chilly day with highs in the 50s.  There’s still a chance of showers Saturday night into Sunday morning.  The highest chance of rain will be in the southwest part of Oklahoma.

For sunrise Easter church services, it will be chilly with temperatures in the 30s and 40s, and windchills in the 20s with a chance of showers.  By afternoon, the showers will be gone and temperatures will be in the upper 40s to low 50s.

Much of next week will be dry and windy with a warming trend.  I’m going to enjoy the tranquil weather pattern as we all know that it will get busier as we get deeper into spring.

I hope you have a great, safe and blessed Easter.

Rick