In all the frenzy of Climate Change, Global Warming, Global Cooling, Kyoto, Copenhagen (the city not the snuff), etc. etc., evidently your lovable dog is killing the planet.  No, I’m not exaggerating. 

In an article from France entitled, “Polluting pets: the devastating impact of man’s best friend,” the author expounds on how detrimental dogs are to the planet.  I decided to reprint the whole article as I find it rather humorous.

PARIS (AFP) – Man’s best friend could be one of the environment’s worst enemies, according to a new study which says the carbon pawprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle.

But the revelation in the book “Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living” by New Zealanders Robert and Brenda Vale has angered pet owners who feel they are being singled out as troublemakers.

The Vales, specialists in sustainable living at Victoria University of Wellington, analysed popular brands of pet food and calculated that a medium-sized dog eats around 164 kilos (360 pounds) of meat and 95 kilos of cereal a year.

Combine the land required to generate its food and a “medium” sized dog has an annual footprint of 0.84 hectares (2.07 acres) — around twice the 0.41 hectares required by a 4×4 driving 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) a year, including energy to build the car.

To confirm the results, the New Scientist magazine asked John Barrett at the Stockholm Environment Institute in York, Britain, to calculate eco-pawprints based on his own data. The results were essentially the same.

“Owning a dog really is quite an extravagance, mainly because of the carbon footprint of meat,” Barrett said.

Other animals aren’t much better for the environment, the Vales say.

Cats have an eco-footprint of about 0.15 hectares, slightly less than driving a Volkswagen Golf for a year, while two hamsters equates to a plasma television and even the humble goldfish burns energy equivalent to two mobile telephones.

But Reha Huttin, president of France’s 30 Million Friends animal rights foundation says the human impact of eliminating pets would be equally devastating.

“Pets are anti-depressants, they help us cope with stress, they are good for the elderly,” Huttin told AFP.

“Everyone should work out their own environmental impact. I should be allowed to say that I walk instead of using my car and that I don’t eat meat, so why shouldn’t I be allowed to have a little cat to alleviate my loneliness?”

Sylvie Comont, proud owner of seven cats and two dogs — the environmental equivalent of a small fleet of cars — says defiantly, “Our animals give us so much that I don’t feel like a polluter at all.

“I think the love we have for our animals and what they contribute to our lives outweighs the environmental considerations.

“I don’t want a life without animals,” she told AFP.

And pets’ environmental impact is not limited to their carbon footprint, as cats and dogs devastate wildlife, spread disease and pollute waterways, the Vales say.

With a total 7.7 million cats in Britain, more than 188 million wild animals are hunted, killed and eaten by feline predators per year, or an average 25 birds, mammals and frogs per cat, according to figures in the New Scientist.

Likewise, dogs decrease biodiversity in areas they are walked, while their faeces cause high bacterial levels in rivers and streams, making the water unsafe to drink, starving waterways of oxygen and killing aquatic life.

And cat poo can be even more toxic than doggy doo — owners who flush their litter down the toilet ultimately infect sea otters and other animals with toxoplasma gondii, which causes a killer brain disease.

But despite the apocalyptic visions of domesticated animals’ environmental impact, solutions exist, including reducing pets’ protein-rich meat intake.

“If pussy is scoffing ‘Fancy Feast’ — or some other food made from choice cuts of meat — then the relative impact is likely to be high,” said Robert Vale.

“If, on the other hand, the cat is fed on fish heads and other leftovers from the fishmonger, the impact will be lower.”

Other potential positive steps include avoiding walking your dog in wildlife-rich areas and keeping your cat indoors at night when it has a particular thirst for other, smaller animals’ blood.

As with buying a car, humans are also encouraged to take the environmental impact of their future possession/companion into account.

But the best way of compensating for that paw or clawprint is to make sure your animal is dual purpose, the Vales urge. Get a hen, which offsets its impact by laying edible eggs, or a rabbit, prepared to make the ultimate environmental sacrifice by ending up on the dinner table.

“Rabbits are good, provided you eat them,” said Robert Vale.

So not only are cows and volcanoes bad for the environment, but I guess we can add dogs and other domesticated animals to the mix.  I wonder how long it will be before we start to get rid of the humans.  Next step: Soylent Green.  I’m just sayin.

Of course, this is just my opinion.

Rob’s Rant

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Soylent Green (Richard Fleischer, 1973)

So what’s the contrast between schlock and one of the 100 best films ever made? Sometimes, I’ll admit, it’s a lovely blurry line. That’s the case with this gem from the Richard Fleischer stable, a legend of a Novel York City with a population of forty million and a food supply that comes in shrimp squares of red, yellow, and green.

Buy,Download, Or Stream Soylent Green! Click Here

Thorn (Heston) chews scenery. Roth (Edward G. Robinson) spends his life moaning about how things were better in the seventies. (If only they knew.) The two of them try to rep through their lives scavenging from the rich, like everyone else in Recent York. They have an edge, with Thorn being a cop who treats corruption like a confortable pair of undershorts. A high society kill tips Thorn off that all may not be well with Soylent, the company that makes the majority of the world’s food supply, and Thorn and Roth launch digging deeper deapite warnings from the victim’s conventional bodyguard (Stephen Young) and Thorn’s lieutanant (Brock Peters) . The production values are strictly seventies, and it’s ample to coast fun at various things in the film (“my god, it’s 2022 and they’re aloof listening to unpleasant lounge music? “) . And yet there’s something undefinable about this film that propels it from the realm of poor seventies science-fiction exploitation into the realm of good genius. What that thing is, I don’t know; when I figure it out, I’ll voice you. But something clicked. Heston’s patented god-guns-and-guts character is perfect for the role. Robinson actually looks convincing salivating over a stick of celery. And somehow the movie’s last lines are delivered convincingly. It’s unbelievable. Whatever magic they managed to create with this one, Hollywood needs to execute more of it. **** 1/2

The DVD release of this mammoth Charlton Heston classic is a marvel to see. It’s in widescreen format and all the TV/VHS fog is gone, gone, gone; the images and sounds are as positive and crisp as the dawning day.

This film deserves such treatment. Along with _Planet of the Apes_ and _The Omega Man_, it’s allotment of Heston’s series of three ‘last man’ films, and it’s considerable better than _The Omega Man_. (As movie buffs know, it’s also the touching final film appearance of the slack Edward G. Robinson.)

Buy,Download, Or Stream Soylent Green! Click Here

A classic in its genre, this film is based on Harry Harrison’s ‘Make Room! Invent Room!’ and is a somewhat heavy-handed morality play on the subject of Malthusian population dynamics. It’s fabulous that it works as well as it does. But it really does work; this is one of the all-time greats of SF filmdom, fair up to and including its eminent closing moments.

Put this on your shelf next to Heston’s _Planet of the Apes_.
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Am I one of the last people to get around to watching that Al Gore film, ‘An Inconvenient Truth?’ It’s been out for a while, I know, but I just didn’t get to it until now. I have to say, I enjoyed it immensely.

Al’s film (directed by Davis Guggenheim), is entertaining as heck, although, regrettably, it’s been transformed into laugh-a-minute time capsule material, a fairy tale about the all-importance of preventing global warming and saving the environment, paper-airplaned to us direct from the far-off care-free era of 2006.

I say this despite the fact that I live at the Jersey Shore, close enough to the sea that a mere two meter rise in sea levels (considerably less than those estimates cited in ‘An Inconvenient Truth’) would have the surf rolling through marshy Belford, across US Route 36, and right up to my doorstep. So much for my property value.

The truth, sadly—call it The Unfortunate Truth—is that ten or twenty years from now, no one’s going to give a rat’s ass about the environment. Why? Because we’ll all be dying off en masse. Probably over as short a time frame as five years or so.

In 1962, the year in which I was born, the world population stood at 3.12 billion, give or take a few million. That was a lot of people. If you were a kid in the early 1970s, you heard a lot about the Population Explosion. Approaching famine and disasters and Soylent Green and such. But that reckoning never came. It was put off by a growth-facilitating factor that threw a monkey wrench into the system, delaying the comeuppance we had already earned. Call it the Oil Factor.

Today, world population stands at 6.7 billion. This is an anomaly, a calamitous statistical deviation caused solely by the availability of oil. Oil is to humans on earth as several industrial-sized vats of honey would be to a sealed warehouse full of fruit flies. It has created an artificial and temporary environment in which human population has expanded far beyond the capacity of the earth to sustain it.

This anomaly is about to be corrected by a sharp decline in the earth’s obtainable oil resources. “Peak Oil” is the term for the tipping point at which our ability to pump, process, and transport oil stops growing and starts declining, even as demand continues to expand. Some people think this correction is already occurring. Other people—optimists in the crowd—think we have another twenty years or so until we start feeling the pinch. No one anywhere—from the worldwide scientific community to Al Gore to Dick Cheney to Sarah Palin to the oil companies themselves—believes that the total collapse of known oil reserves is more than fifty years away.

“Pinch,” it should be said, is used here as a euphemism for global war followed by a massive die-off of the vast majority of the human population. Oil is the answer to virtually every possible question you can ask about human existence in the 20th and 21st centuries. Without it, there is no energy, no food, no potable water, no medicine, no Paris Hilton, nothing. When the end comes, it will be swift. We won’t have a lot of time to regret turning so much of our oil into trash can liner twist ties, McDonalds Happy Meal toys, and cellophane shrinkwrap.

But, hey, what about solar and nuclear and wind power and wave power and hydrogen power? We’ll still have those things, right? Yes we will! Some of these power sources will still exist in the refreshingly uncrowded world of the future. After the mountains of fresh human corpses have decayed into moldering heaps of fairly fertile topsoil, there will undoubtedly be small tribes of people living along the rivers and coastlines of what was once America, using wave power and paddlewheels to generate small amounts of power. Solar grids will prove helpful until their parts wear out and can’t be replaced. Hydrogen and nuclear power technologies, however, are inextricably bound up with oil. They consume energy, provided by oil, in order to produce energy, in the form of electricity. Once the power goes out, these technologies will cease to exist.

Who will survive the massive die-off of the human population, even for a short while? People with skills that can be bartered for goods. Well diggers. Plumbers. Farmers. People with flocks of birds and herds of sheep. People with guns. That’s pretty much it.

Soon, the power will start to go out. It probably won’t go out in America first. (We don’t have all those troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and everywhere else for nothing. We still, to this day, have 35,000 troops in Japan, of all places.) But all we’ll be gaining for ourselves in that year-or-two interval before the power outage reaches our shores is a better seat from which to watch a fantastically escalating global war for resources. Again, some people believe this war (now located in Iraq and Afghanistan, soon to spread to Iran and Pakistan) has already begun. After it’s over, the power will really go out. And the darkness will be really, really dark.

Which, on the bright side, will put an abrupt end to our global warming problem. The seas will probably still rise for a few centuries, but hardly anybody will be around to see it.

Mother Nature Network reports -

New climate-friendly cremation method uses water and lye to transform human remains into 200 gallons of liquid fertilizer. “Resomation” is the process of disposing of human corpses through alkaline hydrolysis, which occurs when the body is sealed inside a vault-like tube filled with water and lye and steam-heated to 300 degrees. Three hours later, some powdery bone fragments and 200 gallons of fluid are all that remains. Essentially, Resomation — which was developed by Scottish company Resomation Ltd. — is just like the natural process of decomposition, but on fast-forward. The fluid can be safely dumped into sewer systems or even used as fertilizer on farms and gardens — a proposal that some say comes a little too close to ‘Soylent Green’ for comfort.

Continue reading.

Oh once again the joys of Stats and Analytics.

I do love a good laugh!

Ever wonder if someone is trying to communicate with you?

I have friends who have joked about doing this …

maybe it’s them but it’s too funny/random/cryptic not to share.

Soylent Green is one of my favourite movies, yes.

Does this mean, Dear Googler…

that you’re searching for some “raw me” for dinner?

OR

was it NOT a misspelling and do you mean the metal band Soilent Green?

Yes again, I have heard of them before now.

BUT…..

You lost me at Particle Accelerator.

??????

Thanks for checking out my blog though!!

* Why Dollhouse failed: an interview with Joss Whedon.

“The problems that the show encountered weren’t standalone versus mythology [episodes],” Whedon said. “Basically, the show didn’t really get off the ground because the network pretty much wanted to back away from the concept five minutes after they bought it. And then ultimately, the show itself is also kind of odd and difficult to market. I actually think they did a good job, but it’s just not a slam-dunk concept.”

(via here and here)

* Continuity: a game that combines all the fun of low-res platforming with those sliding box puzzles we had when we were kids.

* Good news from places I have lived: Cleveland has passed a transgender protection law, while NJ may vote on marriage equality next week. “Democratic officials previously said they would not put the legislation to a vote unless they had the support needed to pass it.” So it’s as good as done.

* And close enough: Hundreds of New Yorkers rally in Times Square for marriage equality.

* Bad news from places I have lived: MTV’s The Shore premieres tonight.

* Next year, residents of Denver will get to vote on whether or not the city should set up a seven-member commission for the study of UFOs and extraterrestrial sightings.

* The headline reads, “Hungry polar bears resorting to cannibalism.” (Thanks Leah. But Canada is still on notice.)

* Of course, as we all know, polar bears are just early adopters.

* Actually existing media bias: The Dallas Morning News has saved journalism by ordering its section editors to report directly to its advertising staff. Via MeFi.

* A University of Montreal study on the effects of watching pornography ran into trouble when it couldn’t find any men who didn’t watch porn. Also spotted at Pharyngula. But won’t somebody think of the children?

* Amanda Marcotte: You’ll notice that entire categories of women are being redefined as so disgusting that any man who touches them should be ashamed. First it was over 40 (cougar), then over 30 (puma), and now over 25 (cheetah), and soon it will be anyone over the age of legal consent. And those below it? Illegal. Exactly zero women will be acceptable for fucking.

* Nate Silver continues his quixotic efforts to handicap the 2012 GOP field.

* And hairy chests are back. I have come prepared.

Here’s the first ever podcast of the Celtic Rebel v/w Stygian Port “Dinner With Andros” series [in stereo]. Technically, it’s the 3rd broadcast, but the 1st recorded.

So, why the hell is it numbered “zero?” Because, this show, like all things that enter this world, was birthed of the hole of the goddess. {*1} So, the second, yet unheard podcast, will be released with a “1″ designation. Yes, I know, it’s very confusing.

Rationalization: this was our first recording and we, at one time, thought it a bit rough and not release-worthy, hence another reason for the convoluted numbering scheme. Upon review there’s some invaluable material (in our opinion) regarding immortality, chaos, Tanerlorn and personal responsibility. The download link.

Had I thought about it beforehand, I’d have released this in time for the great American slave holiday called “Thanksgiving.” It’s a time when many fools gather together to celebrate being granted a couple of days off the hamster wheel, dig their graves, consume mass quantities of tortured flesh, seal mankind’s karmic destiny and gather around the television to watch the gaynefel’s homoerotic gladiator spectacle (oddly, always featuring “lions” and “cowboys”). {*2}

Please don’t get in the habit of questioning this, or other, “traditions,” as I did when I was little. The cool kids will surely start to exclude you from the slave clique/cult of normalcy [i.e., "death"]. I’m sure some foolhardy child such as myself [one not yet conditioned to accept depravity as the status quo], back in the days of [glorious] Rome, said “Mommy, do we have to sacrifice both a Christian and a Moor this year?” He was probably met with a similar response: “Shut up! It’s tradition.”

Among my many pet peeves, most of which stem from the unfathomable depths of the abyss of human ignorance, is that at this time of the year many an dumb cunt, in an effort to be cordial, passes along a “Happy Turkey Day” greeting. “Turkey” Day? Oh, please. You programmed robot. Shut the fuck up!

Ignorance aside in honoring a tradition, like many Holy Days, ones given to us by our masters, to commemorate events of significance to them, do you have to go so far as to label a day after the sacrificial victim? I doubt the Romans went about in days great numbers of Christians were roasted or fed to the [Detroit] Lions in the Colosseum, casually saying, “Happy Christian Day!” On second thought, considering man’s propensity to happily wallow/sink in his ignorance, they probably did.

The Priests of Holy Wood have instilled the average dumb cunt with a romanticized notion of what the holy day is about and thanks to legions of brain-dead monkeys posing as “historians,” tracing the true origins of Thanksgiving a quagmire of surreptitious fiction mixed with a few facts here and there. Of the latter, of the most interest to me, was the Vatican recognized/blessed the holy day in 1888.

One of the early “Thanksgivings” in Plymouth was celebrated aside the head of the chief of the local “friendly” Indians impaled on a pole, from where it graced the 24 great givings of thanks that followed. Here’s but one account. There are many other undeniable facts demonstrating the “Pilgrims” were a bloodthirsty lot, and not the persecuted god-fearing hippies the lying brush of history repainted them as.

Speaking of dumb cunts, this podcast was recorded prior to my including Carole Leifer in a tirade about zombies. I think we discussed the topic of programming the expiration date of the slave mind fairly well, so I have little to add.

Of interest, if you see one relevant movie in your life [the story beneath the surface], make it Star Trek: Generations. Here’s some related/revelant dialogue:

Dr. Soran: The Borg came and they showed me that if there is one constant in this universe, it’s death. Afterwards, I began to realize that it didn’t matter. We’re all going to die sometime. It’s only a question of how and when. You will too. It’s like a predator; it’s stalking you. Oh, you can try and outrun it with doctors, medicines, new technologies but in the end, time is going to hunt you down… and make the kill.

Picard: It’s our mortality that defines us, Soran. It’s the truth of our existence.

Dr. Soran: What if I told you I found a new truth?

Picard: The Nexus? [¿a vortex?]

Dr. Soran: Time has no meaning there. The predator has no teeth.

The film featured prominently in my Burning Ring series, of which the main part is technically done. Part VII deals with you, and is probably overdue. Part VIII will be pile of odds/ends, including a video, and who knows when that will be released.

Incredible synchornicity: I included clips of the song “What’s the time, Mr. Wolf” in the podcast, prior to finding the above/below quotes. A WOLF is the archetypal predator, also syncing us to the FLOW of time, and Soran’s [¡Sauron's!] “predator.”

Picard: Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we’ve lived. After all Number One, we’re only mortal.

Riker: Speak for yourself sir, I plan to live forever.

Spoken like a good little slave Picard, I’m gonna have to side with Riker on this one. Don’t forget, Picard had already been “ass-imolated” by the Borg once, hence he would naturally be more accepting/rationalizing of the programming. Who knows what they did to his “lil cute ass” while he was in their custody? Requiring little mention: the parallels between the Borg and the social engineers of our world.

Whoever it is that puts together South Park, I have to respect the fact they make fun of their audience regularly. I love how the Thanksgiving special shows the idyllic imagination of how Turkeys may meet/meat their end right out of Soylent Green.

It’s fairly safe to conclude that the reason this factory farming system, beyond rationalizations of “cost saving,” has been crafted and tailored to the present levels which causes unimaginable suffering, raising fear, dread and terror to extremes in the animals/victims. Thanks to Javier, we have the discussed video:

Any “naturist” carnivores reading this, please spare me your debate. I AM NOT addressing these thoughts to you. While I may not agree with the practice, I have some respect for those willing to raise and slaughter (or hunt and kill) their own animals [certain "humane" guidelines applying].

One day you might hear someone knocking, loudly at your door
And you know it must be bad news, absolutely sure

You must realise before you, strike the very first blow
He’s the one who only tells you, what you already know
Lay not a finger on him, beat not oh bruise not, his skinny skin skin

Understand he came a long way, only on a lonely road
Multiplying were his trials, heavy was his load
Understand his heart was breaking, never once did he sleep
And no hollow log kept him warm, no council did he keep
Give him food, give him a bed, touch not one single hair on his head

No, don’t ever harm the messenger. It could be you.

But, ye who support unmitigated torture and suffering upon our animal brothers, via apathy or indifference, well, you already know your crimes. After all, I’m just the mirror-bearer, The Messenger, “the one who tells you what you already know.”

Jennifer’s Body (discussed at length), was probably one of the most subversive, yet honest films of the past year. Another suggestion to those wondering why it then failed at the box office: it was too revelatory (or as I recall a reader, Jonathan Nolan once saying in reference to another film, “too prescient”). Above, is the relevant [revelatory] scene, as Jennifer prepares to eat her next meal. She shares, to the detriment of her victim, and for our [audience's] benefit, precisely what the Succubus requires of the morsels of flesh she’ll consume. {*3}

An earlier scene, one not discussed previously, is the strange elements added to the preparation and consumption of another victim, the gay football player (#92).

Why were the peaceful woodland critters gathering about, all so captivated by the murder and slaughter to follow? Why would a herbivore “dear” feast on the remains of Jennifer’s latest kill? I have no idea, but someone should call Mr. Hardly and ask.

There does seem to be an uncanny parallel to another set of woodland creatures, those born of the twisted mind of the fascist/authoritarian Erik Cartman, no?

Per the episode (Woodland Critter Christmas), these critters alleged to be “the most evil cartoons ever imagined,” set about killing and sacrificing to bring about the birth of their antichrist. Another tidbit of revelation, the 66th episode of South Park aired, was “Scott Tenorman Must Die,” featuring cannibalism. {*4}

Speaking of, Hardly’s Thanksgiving “special” showed the number I’ve associated with “death,” 22 [2B] as the Turkeys were being unloaded at the killing station. Also worth noting: the carcasses were then picked up at station 3C/33. Of more striking significance: Soylent Green takes place in the future, in the year 2022.

Moving on, I had considered creating a poll where readers could vote on a new name for the show, such as “Less Talk, Moore Cock,” or “The Chaos Pulpit,” but reconsidered, else the next show might end up being called, “I Like Kitty Cats and Puppy Dogs featuring Celtic Rebel and Stygian Port.” We’ll do a few of these “Dinners with/tween Andros” and then either quit or worry about a new name then.

David Shayler had come up in a previous post, but his story is insane enough to warrant a new image (the prolific commenter and kindred spirit we speak of, is one Daniel Peter Skipp). It would also seem some of the church images from the last show (particularly those relating to “salvation” and “deliverance”), fit in too.

Alas, this episode comes to an end, and I think I’ve gotten my point across. Spare me any diatribes about the importance of gatherings and giving “thanks.” There is much magic in people sharing food, love and appreciation with each other. That’s something you can do at any time, sans the blessing of/permission from the state.

Free-men of free-will, meet at times of their choosing, honoring their own gods, or themselves should they so “choose.” The [free-range] slaves on the plantation worship whatever and celebrate whenever master commands, feigning freedom and faking free-will via rationalization, justification and nonchalant participation.

This tradition needs to die, like all the rest that our masters [the priest class and nobility] have sanctioned. Unfortunately, it is beyond doubt at this juncture, that the United States of America, a nation built upon the graves of native peoples, who’s people have become obese “living graves of murdered beasts,” and proudly revel in their own ignorance, will one day [according to plan] perish as well.

Even one of heralded Founding Fathers, of conscience, admitted: “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.”

Do yourself a favor. Listen to the closing song in its entirety [it's "Big A, Little A" by Crass]. Probably one of the best songs ever written. Goes really well with the content of the podcast. It should also make it pretty clear why a song like this and any movement associated with it had to be crushed, and replaced with the mindless crap most fools call “music” today.

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*1: For any curious, the two “goddess” symbiants represented by sculpture are, in order, Britney Spears and Angelina Jolie. Hopefully, the date of the recordings [MP3 filenames] help minimize the confusion. [LB]

*2: The agenda-serving GAY-NFL came up in a prior article, and is probably coming up again. The reason for the “Lions” should seem obvious before this is over. As for the “Cowboys,” I could probably reach [around] in a post-Brokeback world, as to the shady nature of the suggestive “Lone Star” on “America’s Team.” [LB]

*3: I gather I may lose a few readers, for as one “Ray” surmised, people take their food way too personally. And, it makes sense, as nothing (and no one), gets more “intimate” with us than what we consume. Those who do choose Butterballs, or any other good slave brand of “Meat/Meet,” would you rather be ignorant, or aware of exactly what it is you are getting intimate with [torture, sodomy, hopelessness, terror]? [LB]

*4: Most telling, in a disturbing manner, is that there’s a dispute about what the 66th episode of South Park is. Officially, its the episode about “shit” [It Hits the Fan], but the cannibalism episode, easily the darkest, was the 66th “aired.” Regardless of misdirection, they’re respectively focused on separate ends of the human stargate. [LB]

I was thinking about film today, as I do pretty often, wondering what I’d pick if I tried to come up with a combo list of slightly strange sci-fi movies including some post apocalyptic stuff.  Films I liked.  Films that had an impact on me… couldn’t forget scenes from them, made me think a bit… that sort of thing.  This is what I came up with…. in no particular order.

2001: A Space Odyssey (68)

2010 (84)

A Boy and his Dog (75)

A Scanner Darkly (06)

Bicentennial Man (99)

Blade Runner (82)

Brave New World (80)

Capricorn One (77)

Cherry 2000 (87)

Damnation Alley (77)

Dark City (98)

Demolition Man (93)

Dreamscape (84)

Escape from New York (81)

Gattaca (97)

Handmaid’s Tale (90)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (78)

Jacob’s Ladder (90)

Liquid Sky (82)

Logan’s Run (76)

Mad Max Movies (79-85)

Matrix Trilogy (99-03)

Metropolis (27)

Minority Report (02)

Mission to Mars (00)

Omega Man (71)

On The Beach (59)

Planet of the Apes Films (68-73)

Quatermass and the Pit (68)

Scanners (81)

Red Planet (00)

Silent Running (72)

Soylent Green (73)

Stargate (94)

Tank Girl (95)

The Running Man (87)

The Day The Earth Stood Still (51)

The Island (05)

The Island of Dr. Moreau (77)

The Andromeda Strain (71)

The Time Machine (60)

They Live (88)

The Thing (82)

V for Vendetta (05)

Total Recall (90)

Videodrome (83)

The Warriors (79)

Waterworld (95)

Westworld (73)

Zardoz (74)

“Dilbert” cartoonist Scott Adams for the first time, to my knowledge, has taken the baby-boom generation head on in his strip for today:

(The full-sized strip is at the end of this post.)

The “pointy-haired boss” of “Dilbert” for years has been the quintessential baby boomer, utterly clueless and incompetent yet in charge of the whole show nonetheless — and in possession of wildly exaggerated views of his own competence, talents and worth.

The title character of Dilbert, I do believe, is a member of my generation, Generation X (which is probably why I’ve always loved “Dilbert”). Dilbert incessantly struggles to do a good job despite the obstacles that his incompetent baby-boomer boss puts in his way.

Today’s “Dilbert” strip has Asok, a member of Generation Y, I believe, flat-out telling the “pointy-haired boss”: “Your [generation] has destroyed the hopes of my entire generation.”

Yup.

Not that the boomers give a flying fuck that they are the first generation in the history of the United States of America that didn’t give a shit about leaving the nation in better shape for the next generation than the nation was when they inherited it.

I would say that the boomers’ mentality always has been “Get mine and get out,” except that they always got not only what was theirs but also what wasn’t theirs, but what belonged to their children and to successive generations. Like cancerous tumors, the boomers just can’t get enough at the expense of the whole (that’s why I’ve also thought of the boomers as Generation Swine), and their greed has brought the entire nation — indeed, the entire world — to the brink of collapse. 

Ironically, the boomers apparently thought that things would collapse right after their deaths, but their unbridled, hordes-of-locust-like greed has been such that we are seeing the catastrophic results of their utter selfishness and irresponsibility sooner (as in now) rather than later.  

The boomers’ legacy will include such things as stolen presidential elections, bogus wars in the Middle East (only perpetuating the terrorist threat from there for years to come) and environmental devastation (including melting polar ice caps, for fuck’s sake) and economic devastation that will affect generations to come.

There are exceptions that are far and few between, but even the most progressive boomers tend to show central boomer traits, such as materialism (even their “spirituality,” such as “The Secret” bullshit, is about materialism) and a refusal to acknowledge the damage that their generation has done to the generations succeeding them.

I wonder if Adams is going to continue the discussion, and I wonder if a larger national discussion about the worthlessness of the baby boomers is going to follow.

I hope…

P.S. The Wikipedia entry on Scott Adams notes that he was born in 1957 — which makes him a baby boomer. He is one of the rare exceptions, one of the few boomers who will admit that the baby-boom generation dropped the ball on the American dream, which is that each generation would make things better for the generations that follow it.

When we finally round the boomers up for Carousel (or maybe for Soylent Green [or for both]), perhaps we can give Adams an exemption…

So I found an old notebook I always carried around. Carried it around from a few Dragon*cons ago (but not within the past two years) and I wanted to share some highlights from it. I wrote down my most memorable moments.

-Mythbusting apple pie (which I still am unable to do, APRIL).

-Space Ghost & Buicks.

-It sucks to be so beautiful?!?!

-SNACKS!

-The World.

-Doped up brother-in-law.

-“I think this might be porn!”

-“This panel is a tad boring. So boring that I’m inspired to go home and read his comics instead of listen to him talk.”

-“Your FACE is beautiful.”

-Mike as the band’s manager.

-Sleepiness at Venture Brothers…we never made it.

-I want to write for TV, it sounds fun!

-Watching and making fun in the Marriott.

-We should write our own pilot!

-“? L penguins”

-“Everyone in this elevator is Solyent green!”  “What?!?!” “I’ll miss you…” “…at least we’ll be together in the same can.”

-“Please help us!” “Please help us find Robin!”

-OUR PANEL.

-“So are you the ONLY girl here without a dick?”

-Walking out on Paul D’ini to the point he recognized us. Oops.

Recycling system of the future.

Bottles and cans on the right, Soylent Green rinds and other organic material on the left.

The congress is about to steal $500 Bill from Medicare.  Since this money was keeping sick old grandmothers across the nation alive, we have to conclude that Rep Alan Grayson, Rep Nancy Pelosi, Senator Harry Reid, and Chairman Barack Hussein Obama want granny dead.  What to do with all those fresh corpses?  Why like good communists they will not let anything go to waste.  Maybe they will do like that old  Charlton Heston movie and making granny’s corpse into food.  Old folks sold out by the AMA and AARP.  I hope they enjoy their 30 pieces of silver.   I am certain that their executive officers have integrity and they when they are bought, they stay bought.

Soylent Green is Grandma!

Grannie goes green

Using Granny

Population Control

Grinding up Grandma

Commies ADMIT IT.  Grandma is on the menu!!!

Soylent green health care

Kill your dog

AMA and AARP throw Grandma off the train and under the bus

Commie Care:  The Fix is in

Endorsements

ExtremeSkins

Kevorkian care?

Posted by A.

Halloween has come and gone. Thanksgiving is around the corner. Soon it will be New Year’s Eve, then boom: 2010.

Is it just me, or is time moving faster and faster the older we get? There was a point in my life that 2010 sounded like a futuristic date straight out of a sci-fi film, a date when society would be so over crowded we would be forced to eat dead people in the form of green Triscuits or a date when robots would rule the world. But here we are, and 2010 isn’t a sci-fi plot device — 2010 is next year, two months from now.

Some days seem to take forever. I sit watching and waiting for the numbers in the bottom right hand corner of my computer screen to change. It seems like they never do. Yet, the last year flew by in an instant.

The holidays may be markers of the year past, but  even those are quickly fading into oblivion. There’s nothing futuristic about them at all.

Complete with screenplay and fine music as the assisted suicide doctors come in … It’s the scene from Soylent Green that was key to leading police officer Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston) to the fountain head of the mystery, where does Soylent Green come from? Elderly police researcher Sol Roth (Edward G. Robinson) figured out Soylent Green, it’s people, and decided to die instead of reveal the secret.

Trailer:

Sol’s death scene:

The future form of assisted suicide?

From the film ‘Soylent Green’   – Charlton Heston’s tears at Sol’s death were real, as Heston was the only cast member who knew that Edward G. Robinson was dying of terminal cancer. This was the 90th and last movie in which Robinson appeared. He died nine days after the shooting was done, on January 26, 1973.

The “going home” score in this part of the film was conducted by Gerald Fried and consists of the main themes from Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique”) by Tchaikovsky; Symphony No. 6 (“Pastoral”) by Beethoven; “Morning Mood” and “Åse’s Death” from the Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg.

We may get there yet … Obamcare has all the characteristics. When you are no longer productive, do the right thing for the greater good. If this gives you the creeps, it should.

Oh, hi.  I didn’t see you there.

I was about cook up a plate of Soylant Green before I sealed up the doors and windows.  We want to keep out those pesky vampires (or zombies… no one’s for sure).  The reason why I’m doing all this?  It’s because hell has arrived on Earth in the form of:

Why is the theme to Rugrats stuck in my head?

Recently on display at the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco, the company states via their website that product will be available Winter 2010.

Samples:

All I have left to say is this: pack for cold weather.

We’re for damn sure heading to the coldest layer of Dante’s Inferno.

I’ll be joining everyone else as soon as I finish eating this old person sandwich.

(more here at Something Awful)

Encore child: (Reading the back of her Starbucks hot chocolate cup) Made from 10% post-consumer fibers.

Me: Mm hmm.

Encore child: What does that mean?

Me: It’s recycled.

Encore child: You mean it’s made from the fibers of dead consumers?

Me: I don’t think that’s what they mean by “post-consumer”. (Now I can’t stop thinking of The Secret of Soylent Green)

My Flag Flies Everyday

About four months ago, I made up my mind that I should cancel my subscription to AARP.  My reason was that they sounded like they were in the pocket of our beloved president Obama.  I never did cancel.  AARP is supposed to be the voice of the senior citizen. I thought they were my lobbiest in Washington. Wrong. They are another voice for socialism, and the public option health care plan. Over the years they have become an insurance company. Now, they fear for their life. The public option threatens to destroy them and every other insurance company in the country.

Today, I received an e-mail from a friend which contained a copy of a very eloquently voiced letter from a lady who expressed my own concerns.  I don’t want this BLOG to be a medium of passing e-mails, but every once in awhile something really good comes along that needs to be spread. This letter is one of them.

Finally, I’m getting off my ass and will cancel my subscription to AARP right now.  I hope that after you read this letter you feel the same, and act on it the same way.

Here is the letter.

I received this letter in a friend’s e-mail and felt that it would be worthwhile to make it available to everyone that visits my blog—it’s a good read, regardless of one’s political preferences or affiliation. In the interests of full disclosure, I must tell you that the original letter, although written in the first person, was signed by two people, so I took liberties and edited it, including the substitution of the personal plurals of we, us and ours. And I, without the slightest hint of blushing, consider my editing to have significantly improved the original letter.

Hey, it’s my blog—I’m allowed to do that, especially if it adds to, and does not take from, the spirit and intent of the missive.

Okay?

Lighten up!

This is the e-mail I received:

This letter is well written, and it’s a good shot across the bow of AARP. I checked it out and it’s a real letter, and Miller Farms Equine Transport is real. The letter to the AARP says it all, a must read regardless of one’s age. Some people just make sense in what they say, and this couple certainly does that. Their letter was sent to Mr. Rand, the Executive Director of AARP, and is as follows:

Dear Mr. Rand,

Recently you sent a letter encouraging us to renew our lapsed membership in AARP by the requested date. We know this is not the letter you were looking for, but this is the most honest response we can give you.

Our gap in coverage is merely a microscopic symptom of the real problem, a deepening lack of faith. While we have proudly maintained our membership for several years and have long-admired AARP’s goals and principles, we regret that we cannot endorse its abdication of our values.

Your letter specifically stated that we may depend on AARP to speak up for our rights, yet the voice we hear is not ours—it’s yours. Your offer of keeping us up to date on important issues through Divided We Fail presents neither an impartial view nor the one we have come to embrace. We do believe that when two parties agree all the time on everything presented to them, one is probably not necessary. But when the opinions and long-term goals of the two parties are diametrically opposed, divorce is imminent.

This is the philosophy that spawned our 200 years of government. At one time we looked forward to being part of the senior demographic. We looked to AARP to provide certain benefits and give our voice a power we could not possibly hope to achieve on our own. AARP gave us a sense of belonging, one that we no longer enjoy. The socialist politics practiced by the present administration, and empowered by AARP, serve only to raise the blood pressure our medical insurance strives to contain—clearly a conflict of interest!

We do not understand AARP’s posture. We feel greatly betrayed by the guiding forces that we expected to map out our senior years, and we leave your ranks with a great sense of regret. We mitigate that disappointment with the relief of knowing that we are not contributing to the problem anymore by renewing our membership. There are numerous other organizations that offer discounts without threatening our way of life or offending our sensibilities.

This administration scares the living daylights out of us, not just for ourselves, but also for our proud and bloodstained heritage, and even more important, for what our children and grandchildren will inherit. Washington has rendered Soylent Green a prophetic cautionary tale rather than a fictional scare tactic.

We have never endorsed any militant or radical groups, yet now we find ourselves listening to them. We don’t have to agree with them to appreciate the fear that birthed their existence. Their borderline insanity presents little more than a balance to the voice of the socialist mindset of those in power. We became Americans by a great stroke of luck in some cosmic uterine lottery, but as adults we choose to embrace our heritage, and we embrace and nurture the freedoms it represents and the responsibilities it requires.

Your website generously offers us the opportunity to receive all communications in Spanish. Are you kidding? People are breaking into our houses and invading our homes without our invitation or consent. And now our president insists that we keep the invaders in comfort and learn their language so we can communicate our reluctant welcome to them.

We do not choose to welcome them.

We do not choose to support them.

We do not choose to educate them.

We do not choose to medicate them.

We do not choose to feed, clothe or house them.

American home invaders are arrested. Please explain to us why foreign lawbreakers enjoy privileges on American soil that Americans do not have. Legal immigrants must comply with our immigration laws to be welcomed, yet illegal “immigrants” need only break and enter to be welcomed!

We travel for a living. We transport horses all over this great country, averaging more than 10,000 miles a month. While out there we meet more people than a politician overdosed on caffeine. Of all the many good folks we met on our last 10,000 miles, the trip yielded only one supporter of this administration. Either we, or those that determine policy at AARP, are out of touch with mainstream America. Since our poll is conducted without funding, I have more faith in it than any poll which is power driven.

We have decided to forward this letter to everyone on our mailing list, and will encourage all to do the same. With several hundred people in our address book, we have faith that the eventual exponential factor will make a credible statement to you.

We are disappointed as hell.

We are scared as hell.

We are mad as hell and we’re not gonna take it any more!

Walt and Cyndy,

Miller Farms Equine Transport

Sitting in my office I noticed that what appeared (according to all my senses) to be popcorn cooking in the microwave turned out to be instant macaroni and cheese.  Leaving me with the thought:

It’s a representation of how profit bent that companies are that they will deliver one product, with all the representations of another product, just to make sure we consume it.

What the hell has happened to our sense of adventure?

Then I start to feel the mental dog chasing its tail.  They do it because we want it, and will pay for it.  We want it because we are diffident with regard to expanding outside of our boxes.  Which generates a homogeneous environment that we are terrified to leave.  They don’t present us with anything outside of that box for fear of losing profit, so we further seek the similar products, and stay within the box.

Next thing you know, we’re all eating Soylent Green and wondering what its made of.  Then we become irate when we find out … and blame them for letting us let them do it.

You know those old monster and/or sci-fi movies where the villagers and/or farmers gather up pitchforks, torches and/or possum rifles and storm the castle and/or space ship to kill everything inside?

Well, I was reminded of that when I saw this headline in an Ottawa newspaper the other day, Councillor calls on province to kill coyotes.  Seems that coyotes are running amok in Osgoode and Greely and parts of Ottawa’s south end. They’re scaring people and hurting/eating pets and livestock. City Councillor Doug Thompson, along with many of his constituents thinks the coyotes should all be trapped and killed.

From the Ottawa Sun, Sept. 24/09. This guy is proudly holding the preserved head and pelt of a coyote he killed.

People tend to want to kill wild animals when they see them in their backyards – bears, raccoons, skunks, foxes, whatever. In fact, humans’ first reaction to anything unexpected or unfamiliar or scary is to destroy it. Whether it’s a spider[1] in your bedroom or a weed on your lawn or a growth in your body or the citizens of a country of whom we’re not particularly fond. We’re forever battling something, beating stuff, waging wars on things, fighting fights. It’s exhausting.

And it doesn’t really work, does it?

Sure, it’s great that we’re able to kill the offending tumour with all the miraculous toxins we invented, but when are we going to start taking a serious look at where all these tumours are coming from in the first place?

And spraying poison all over our orchards and fields makes us conquering heroes over all the nasty pests and unwanted plants that try to invade our food sources. Don’t we care that we’re also going to end up eating those poisons?

We fight with our own bodies when we “battle” weight problems, “beat” addictions. Violence is a quick fix and gives the illusion of progress. But it’s almost always a short-term solution.

We tell our kids to use their brains not brawn when dealing with problems, but by example we ingrain them with the lesson of mindless destruction.

We need bigger homes so we destroy acres and acres of woodland and the finely balance eco-system that goes along with it. Some creatures are not polite enough to lie down and die when their habitats are pillaged and end up resorting to unusual behaviours in order to survive.

Do you suppose a coyote’s first choice for a fine dining experience is rooting through someone’s garbage or gnawing on a mangy old cat or a yappy Lhasa Apso?

And where does it say that it’s okay for your cat or dog to roam around free in the outdoors at night, but it’s not okay for a coyote?[2]  If the two happen to meet, inevitably one of them will become the other’s dinner.  That’s what the term, “it’s a dog eat dog world”  means. If you don’t want your pets to be part of that world, keep them indoors.

But WE are at the top of the food chain, so WE reckon WE have the right to ride roughshod over every other life form on this planet. The problem is that all this destruction is killing off link after link in that chain. And what will WE do when WE’RE the only link left?[3] 

[1]What’s the deal with all the spidercide? Why are people always wanting to kill spiders? I read two spider killing blog posts in a row on Friday. (Linked in the text). It was horrible!

[2] In some native legends, the coyote is a messenger, bringing culturally significant information to the people.

[3] Once again, I will refer you to Soylent Green

Saw this at Blockbuster last week and it brought back memories of when Saturday Night Live used to be fairly watchable.

“Soylent Green is people.  It’s people!”

I think I’ll have to rent it.  I’m just too curious.

Anybody out there seen it?

Brian

DEDICADO A BLOGUER IN THE SHADOWS Y A ZOMBI

Como se cumple el 35 aniversario del film “NO PROFANAR EL SUEÑO DE LOS MUERTOS” de Jorge Grau, Videodromo quiere sumarse a la celebración, y dar debida cuenta de un film que marcó mi adolescencia, ya que la primera vez que pude verla fue en televisión dentro del programa de Narciso Ibáñez Serrador “Mis terrores favoritos”. Os prometo que al día siguiente en el instituto nadie hablaba de otra cosa que no fuera de este largometraje. Así que sirva este monografico de homenaje a una película que marcó posiblemente a una generación de españoles y que hoy en día sigue tan vigente como entonces. Y que en la X Semana Internacional de Cine Fantástico y de Terror de Estepona la ha programado en una versión restaurada que se proyecta el próximo viernes 11 de septiembre en el centro cultural Padre Manuel a las 18:30 horas.

LA TRAMA
El film arranca cuando Edna sin querer avería la moto de George. Edna va camino de Southgate a ver a su hermana, al llegar se pierden y George descubre que el departamento de agricultura está llevando a cabo un experimento en una granja aledaña para exterminar los insectos y los parásitos de las cosechas mediante radiaciones ultrasónicas (sic), ya que actúan sobre su sistema nervioso enloqueciéndolos y haciendo que se devoren unos a los otros. Lo que no saben es que posee un efecto secundario esta máquina, pronto serán testigos de cómo los muertos de una abadía cercana cobran vida y acaben matando al cuñado de Edna. Lo malo es que el detective que lleva el caso de la muerte de Martin sospecha de su mujer, Katie, que es heroinómana, y piensa que las hermanas se están encubriendo.

DESGLOSE DEL FILM POR SECUENCIAS:
Secuencia 1: Presentación del personaje de George.
Secuencia 2: Títulos de crédito
Secuencia 3: Crítica medioambiental
Secuencia 4: Encuentro accidentado entre Edna y George en la gasolinera.
Secuencia 5: Viaje a Windermere
Secuencia 6: Disputa
Secuencia 7: Viaje a South Gate.
Secuencia 8: Llegada al cementerio de South Gate
Secuencia 9: George descubre la máquina en la granja que comienza a funcionar.
Secuencia 10: Edna es perseguida por el “vagabundo” muerto.
Secuencia 11: Huida de Edna y encuentro con George y el granjero.
Secuencia 12: Presentación de Martin
Secuencia 13: Martin va a la casita del jardín..
Secuencia 14: Martin discute con su mujer Katie
Secuencia 15: George y Edna perdidos por South Gate de noche.
Secuencia 16: Martin hace fotos en la cascada .
Secuencia 17: Se descubre el lado oscuro de Katie
Secuencia 18: Ataque del “vagabundo” muerto a Katie en la casita del jardín.
Secuencia 19: Huida de Katie a la cascada.
Secuencia 20: Muerte de Martin en la cascada a manos del vagabundo.
Secuencia 21: Rescate de Katie por George y Edna.
Secuencia 22: Presentación del inspector en la escena del “crimen”.
Secuencia 23: George y el inspector discuten.
Secuencia 24: Interrogatorio del inspector a Katie y Edna.
Secuencia 25: Vuelven a discutir Goerge y el inspector en el comedor de Katie.
Secuencia 26: George roba el carrete de fotos de la cámara de Martin.
Secuencia 27: George lleva a revelar el carrete de fotos.
Secuencia 28: Se instalan en el hotel George y Edna.
Secuencia 29: Edna y George acuden a ver Katie al hospital.
Secuencia 30: Ataque del bebe a la enfermera
Secuencia 31: George y el médico se plantean el origen del problema.
Secuencia 32: George y el médico acuden a la granja a ver la máquina.
Secuencia 33: George y Edna recogen las fotos y son pillados por el inspector.
Secuencia 34: George lleva a Edna al cementerio.
Secuencia 35: Llegada y búsqueda del guarda del cementerio.
Secuencia 36: Edna y George quedan encerrados en la cripta.
Secuencia 37: Huida de la cripta.
Secuencia 38: Encerrados en la casa del guarda del cementerio.
Secuencia 39: El policía trata de buscar ayuda.
Secuencia 40: Huida del cementerio.
Secuencia 41: Ataque de Martin al policía que está en su casa.
Secuencia 42: George trata de parar la máquina de la granja.
Secuencia 43: Katie en el hospital.
Secuencia 44: El juez y el inspector tratan de explicar los hechos.
Secuencia 45: Edna acude a casa de su hermana y es atacada por Martin
Secuencia 46: Edna huye.
Secuencia 47: Encuentro de George y Edna en la carretera
Secuencia 48: En la gasolinera
Secuencia 49: George regresa para quemar el cadáver de Martin.
Secuencia 50: El cadáver de Martin llega al hospital de Southgate.
Secuencia 52: Martin ataca al forense
Secuencia 53: Interrogatorio del juez y el inspector a George
Secuencia 54: Huida de George y trata de hablar con el médico del hospital.
Secuencia 55: El médico seda a Edna.
Secuencia 56: Ataque a la telefonista del hospital.
Secuencia 58: Katie y el médico acuden a ver a Edna
Secuencia 59: Katie ataca a Edna.
Secuencia 60: George intenta salvar a Edna.
Secuencia 61: El inspector llega al hospital.
Secuencia 62: El inspector llega al hotel.

CONTEXTO HISTÓRICO:
Para entender el tour de force que Grau hace en este film primero debemos contextualizar históricamente el largometraje. Estamos en los últimos estertores de la dictadura de Franco que sigue siendo el Jefe del Estado, y Carlos Arias Navarro es el Presidente del Gobierno. El ministro de información es Pío Cabanillas Gallas, que era el encargado de la censura cinematográfica.
En el Congreso de Suresnes, elige a Felipe González como Secretario General del PSOE, que sigue siendo ilegal en España. La población mundial alcanza los 4000 millones de personas en ese año. Los países occidentales celebran una conferencia sobre la energía en Washington en la que deciden la creación de la Agencia Internacional de la Energía. India detona su primera bomba atómica, siendo la sexta nación con poder nuclear.
Quiero finalizar con un dato curioso el 1 de octubre de ese año se estrena en EEUU “La matanza de Texas” de Tobe Hooper. “El padrino II” arrasa en la ceremonia de los Oscars, y “El exorcista” de William Friedkind se alza con el Globo de Oro a la mejor película dramática y a la mejor dirección. Y en el festival de Eurovisión gana Suecia con la canción “Waterloo” compuesta e interpretada por ABBA, que por aquel entonces eran unos perfectos desconocidos.

LOS PROTAGONISTAS:
Cristina Galbó interpreta a Edna. Esta actriz madrileña bien puede merecerse el título de scream queen, sólo que en versión cañí, como en la década de los ochenta lo ostentó Jamie Lee Curtis en la industria norteamericana. Galbó gritaba como los ángeles, por eso hizo mucha producción dentro del género, dentro y fuera de nuestras fronteras, es más hasta la eligió Narciso Ibáñez Serrador para su inquietante “La residencia”. Su última película hasta el momento es “Suéltate el pelo” de Manuel Summers, producto a mayor gloria del grupo madrileño “Los hombres G”.

Grau le buscó todo un guaperas italiano para darle la réplica, hablo del actor Ray Lovelock, que da vida George, cumple perfectamente con el arquetipo de héroe del film, y es personaje con el que se identifica la audiencia desde el principio. Posteriormente apareció en producciones italianas del género como “Autopsia” o en otras con presupuesto más holgado y de corte catastrofista como “El puente de Cassandra” de George Pan Cosmatos. Luego acabó en el mundo catódico.

La sorpresa en el casting es, sin duda, que contara con Arthur Kennedy para interpretar al inspector de policia. En aquel momento era muy típico que actores norteamericanos participaran en coproducciones con capital italiano, como por ejemplo Henry Fonda y sus apariciones en los Spaguetti Westerns.

El matrimonio tormentoso integrado por Martin y Katie Madison fueron interpretados por Jeannine Mestre y José Lifante, será casualidad pero sus trayectorias han ido parejas, ya que han sobrevivido a caballo del mundo catódico y cinematográfico, con más fortuna o asiduidad este último, ya que la ultima aparición cinematográfica de Jeannine fue “Incautos” y la de Linfante “La conjura de El escorial”.

Y para finalizar quiero hablaros de unos de los descubrimientos de Grau, me refiero a por aquel entonces un jovencísimo, Joaquín Hinojosa,  que no habla pero angustia un montón dando vida al zombi de la sala de autopsia. Este fue su segundo trabajo, y se haría muy famoso con películas como “Pascual Duarte” o con el cine de la movida madrileña como “Tigres de papel” de Colomo. Sigue activo en la actualidad, y hace tanto productos televisivos como “23 F: historia de una traición” como cinematográficos, su última aparición fue en el film “Salvador”.

UN PRODUCTO ATÍPICO
Se trata de una coproducción entre Reino Unido, Italia y España. La mayoría del metraje está rodado en los estudios de Cinnecitta (Roma), los exteriores iniciales pertenecen a la ciudad de Manchester, y el resto se rodó en los estudios de Cine Arte (Madrid). Podemos decir que es un producto atípico para la época por muchos motivos. Empezando una factura fuera de los estándares españoles del momento, seguido por su estructura narrativa o por la planificación muy al uso de los largometrajes norteamericanos de aquella época, donde el uso del sonido y del fuera de campo juegan un papel importante, sobre todo en la primera mitad del metraje.

El guión es obra de Sandro Continenza y Marcello Coscia, aunque también participaron, a pesar de que no estén acreditados en los rótulos del film, Juan Cobos y Miguel Rubio, y es a mi modesto entender quienes son responsables de la mejor parte del guión, la crítica sociopolítica y a los que debemos que esta obra va más allá del mero homenaje a “La noche de los muertos vivientes” de George A. Romero, porque el resto se trata de un thriller muy a la americana, con todos los arquetipos. Además, se nota que es una película hecha con pocos medios, sin grandes pretensiones, pero dentro de los gustos internacionales de la época, y que no se deja traslucir en su impecable factura, aunque sí un poco en el departamento artístico., muy heredera en algunos momentos del metraje de las típicas películas de terror de la británica  Hammer, sobre todo hasta que se transforma en una cinta gore. Pese a todo, se puede y debe considerar como una pieza clave del género, una obra maestra de nuestro cine de terror.

LOS MIEDOS DEL MOMENTO
El film arranca con exponiendo la tesis central que vertebrará toda la trama y que posee marcados tintes ecologistas. Es por ello que estamos ante todo un alegato contra la polución industrial, contaminación en términos generales, la tecnología, el crecimiento desmesurado de la población y la destrucción del medio ambiente. Temas que ya podíamos encontrar en otros largometrajes del género del momento como “Soylent Green” de Richard Fleischer, que en España se tradujo como “Cuando el futuro nos alcance”, y que se estrenó tan sólo un año antes, en 1973. Así que podemos concluir que Jorge Grau expone los grandes temores del momento de una manera concisa y brillante, resueltos en una única secuencia.

Energía nuclear

Polución

Contaminación industrial

Crecimiento demográfico desmesurado

Daño medioambiental

CRÍTICA SOCIO-POLÍTICA

Este película llegó a realizarse porque se trata de una producción externa, ya que es una coproducción,  y eso le otorgó a los guionistas y al realizador un gran margen de maniobra frente a la censura, sobre todo porque se vendió como un producto típicamente italiano. Los desnudos que se pueden ver en el film en las secuencias 3 y 24, al espectador actual le pueden parecer carente de todo sentido, pero en 1974 lo tenía por completo. Estos desnudos son una manera de reivindicar desde el exterior una libertad de la que no se gozaba en nuestro país, y en aquellos momentos nuestros padres si querían ver uno se tenían que trasladar a la localidad fronteriza de Perpiñán. Por eso no es que se le perdone, sino que se comprende la necesidad de este autor por reclamar una libertad de expresión.

El desnudo injustificado

El desnudo justificado

Pero el film posee más carga socio-política, porque se erige en todo un alegato contra la dictadura, el poder y la autoridad. Estos valores están encarnados en el personaje del inspector interpretado con eficacia por Arthur Kennedy. Frente a él se erige la libertad de expresión y la democracia, que podemos ver representados en el papel de George, que inclusive en la secuencia 1 se le describe como un intelectual, que valora la historia, ya que es un anticuario. Aquí hay que destacar la gran labor del departamento artístico, maquillaje y vestuario, al presentarnos a ambos personajes. El inspector viste de manera sobria, gabardina, y perfectamente peinado hacia atrás. Mientras que con el personaje de George no hacen de él un hippy melenudo al uso. Todo lo contrario, le dan un aire intelectual y racional, con esas camisas y chaqueta de cuero negro. Ambos personajes estén en constante conflicto, como se puede ver en las secuencias 23, 25, 33, 49, 53, 61 y 62.

La dictadura

La democracia

Jordi Grau siempre presenta a lo largo del film tanto a la autoridad como a la justicia siempre ciega ante los hechos y no son capaces de ver más allá de lo que acontece en el momento, interpretando lo que quiere interpretar, siempre desde dentro de su marco de valores y creencias, lo que les lleva a tomar decisiones equivocadas. Esto se puede ver en la secuencia 44, cuando llega el inspector y el juez al cementerio tras la masacre zombi.

Les veremos ejercer su gran poder sobre el resto de los personajes en la secuencia 53, en la que tiene lugar el interrogatorio a George en presencia del juez, por más que explica los hechos, las razones que esgrime no son válidas para la autoridad, y encima le pide el inspector que se confiese culpable de delitos que no ha cometido para acabar con todo el asunto. Lo más curioso tiene lugar al finalizar este momento del film porque la justicia le dice al inspector que desaprueba los medios, y la autoridad le replica que tampoco le gustan los suyos porque el se tomaría la justicia por la mano. Aunque el momento más provocador, sin duda alguna, tiene lugar en la secuencia 33, cuando en la tienda le despide George al inspector con un “Heil Hitler”.

Para muchos espectadores actuales, el largometraje es absolutamente previsible, pero creo que todos se lo perdonamos porque vemos en el una suerte de justicia poética, los guionistas le dan a cada personaje lo suyo, y lo que aparentemente es un final trágico, no deja ser irónico y que deja un gran sabor de boca, sobre todo en aquellos momentos, porque ahora nuestro contexto histórico y político se haya en las antípodas.

HOMENAJES
Tras desarrollar la tesis de la cinta realiza un homenaje a “La noche de los muertos vivientes”, ya que las secuencias 8 y 10 se desarrolla en los mismos parámetros que en la inicial del clásico de Romero. Tenemos a los dos protagonistas, ella sola que ve al muerto mientras él está trata de averiguar como ir a la granja. Es más sus zombis están totalmente alejados de los que nos propone actualmente el norteamericano Zack Snyder, influenciados por los videojuegos. Mención aparte se merecen los actores que los dan vida, todos muy conocidos inclusive en el panorama cinematográfico actual.

Pero también la trama le sirve para homenajear a otro clásico de la ciencia ficción y terror, hablo de “La invasión de los ladrones de cuerpos” de Don Siegel en las secuencias 42 y 49, en la que George trata de advertir tanto a los miembros del departamento de agricultura y al inspector infructuosamente. En ambos casos están rodados al más puro estilo apocalíptico y Lovejoy es una suerte de Kevin McCarthy.

MECANISMOS GENERADORES DE TERROR
Algunos son de la opinión que uno de los fallos del film es que Grau no dirige a los actores. Disiento totalmente de esta afirmación. Se nota que uso indicaciones precisas porque todos los personajes ateinden a las mismas pautas, así que podemos concluir que existe una dirección de actores firme. La técnica usada es que los personajes se quedean paralizados por la sorpresa y el miedo, es ahí donde los zombis de movimientos lentos y toscos generan ansiedad por lo que va a acontecer.
También hay que destacar el uso instrumental del sonido, bien sea el procedente de la máquina, que nos da indicio de que la apocalipsis zombi va a tener lugar, o bien integrado en la banda sonora creada por Giuliano Sorgini a base de respiraciones entrecortadas, sonidos de sintetizador, tan típicos de las cintas de género italianas del momento, aunque todo sea dicho pasa desapercibida gran parte del metraje. Salvo la suite creada para la secuencia 2 que posee unos marcados tintes psicodélicos y tribales, y como no puede ser de otra forma, el violín es la estrella.
De todos es sabido que genera más ansiedad lo que uno no ve, porque la imaginación es más poderosa y rellena la informació. por este motivo en la primera parte del largometraje Grau juega con el fuera de campo, con lo que el espectador intuye porque no se muestra en el fotograma. Así el ataque del vagabundo en la secuencia 20 es un claro ejemplo, inclusive ni en las fotos que se pueden ver en la 33.

EL LADO MÁS GORE
Así la película funciona en términos generales como una cinta de suspense, thriller y terror, y hay que esperar hasta el minuto cincuenta de metraje para ver las verdaderas pinceladas gore del film, es cuando Grau lleva el film al límite de las posibilidades presupuestarias, hablo de la secuencia de la cripta del cementerio, cuando el zombi vagabundo está reviviendo a los otros muertos, allí tiene lugar las escenas más gore del film. Por aquel entonces era difícil ver un plano como el de la traqueotomía con el mango de la pala de cavar, o cuando el policía trata de pedir ayuda es devorado por los zombis en una película española, creando una auténtica orgía carnibal, y es en este momento del metraje cuando podemos ver gore explícito rodado al más puro estilo Romero.