Jodorowsky’s Doom

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desert
Photo by Amine M’siouri on Pexels.com

The MSN stalker bots do their job well and today I was easily hooked with a well-baited article entitled The Greatest Cult Movie Classics of All Time.

All the usual suspects are on the list of course: The Big Lebowski, Plan 9 From Outer Space…

And of coure The Rocky Horror Picture Show tops the list. That’s a no brainer. I have fond memories from my wily teenage years of rounding up rolls of toilet paper and heading to the local theater for the midnight showing of it on many occasions. I’m sure my sister, who was said theater’s manager at the time, does not have quite as fond of memories of the show with all the mess and hoopla it inspired.

So yeah, I’ve seen many of the pictures on the cult classic list, pretty much all of the ones I wish to see. Typically when I hear cult classic I cringe inside because, let’s face it, one person’s cult classic treasure is another person’s cult classic trash.

I was surprised not to find Highlander and Weird Science on the list.

One movie I wish had a large enough cult around it to be even considered for the list is Henry Fool, which happens to be one of my all time favorite movies. Chances are you haven’t heard of it. I don’t know how I stumbled upon it so long ago… probably some obscure bin in some obscure long expired video store. I managed to snag a VHS copy of it somewhere, a copy of which I still have. Unfortuanly, I no longer have a working VHS player. You can imagine how happily surprised I was to see it popping up on Prime. I dare you to watch it. If you do, please report back.

What I was surprised to find on the list was Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo.

El Topo has been on my Mubi watchlist for a long time (It’s currently not showing on Mubi but if you speak Spanish, unlike yours truly, you can watch it over on the Internet Archive. Useless FYI: I am a watchlist=creator-aholic. And typically, even if I watch a movie from the list I will leave it on the list for historical reference purposes, a la this lengthy blather.)). I actually did start watching El Topo when it first popped up on Mubi; unfortunately, right away it begins with Jodorowsky’s son parading around naked in the desert so I decided to take a pass on it at the time. To me, exploiting a child in such a way is not cool, even if it is for outlandish foreign arthouse cinema of the early Seventies. So yeah, I was surprised to find the flick on the list.

But when I got to the end of the list, I understood why it was included. They had to showcase at least one of Jodorowsky’s movies just so they could justify giving him an honorable mention for a film he never even made… but almost did.

And that of course is Dune.

And we know this because of the amazing documentary about the failed project entitled Jodorowsky’s Dune, and which is currently available on Max.

I have been going through a Dune phase ever since the trailer for Dune 2 was released. I loved the first iteration and I can’t wait to see the second. Although, I’m not much of a theater goer these days because, you know, people, so I guess I can wait for it to hit one of the streamers.

Now I’m no science fiction fanboy, particularly of the literary pursuasion; but I am always willing to give a sci-fi flick the benefit of the doubt, especially for Dune. And especially for Star Wars when I was a twelve-year-old kid watching it with unmitigated amazement in the aforementioned theater, sans toilet paper.

Dune the movie made me do something I have never done before, and that is read Dune the sci-fi novel.

And yes, I now understand why it is the best selling sci-fi novel of all time.

And why the author Frank Herbert was so pissed off at George Lucas for ripping off so much of Dune for Star Wars.

And I also understand now why Jodorowsky was so inspired to make a movie about it.

Unfortunately, he was too inspired… and too weird for the Hollywood producers of the time, or any time probably.

Which is why David Lynch ended up with the project. While Lynch’s weird does not take a back seat to anyone’s, not even Jodorowsky’s, he had just proven that he could direct a serious film in The Elephant Man, which was nominated for eight Oscars.

Now I am a huge fanboy of Mr. David Lynch and I would never call any work of his bad, not even his attempt at Dune. Perhaps I would call his Dune a bit misunderstood though. Yeah, okay, it’s bad. But I think it’s bad in a good way, like most of the greatest cult films are.

Anyway…

Jodorowsky was so into making Dune, he was devastaed when it was taken away and given to Lynch. And watching the documentary, I felt crushed for him and feel it is a shame we never got to experience it. I really feel that had he been able to create his vision, there would never had been a need for a Denis Villenueve Dune, which also would be a shame had it not been created, but then we never would have known to miss it.

But the movie was taken away for Jodorowsky and as he tells it, it pretty much ruined his life…

And his son’s, you know, the naked tike from El Toro. He was slated to play Paul… hopefully clothed but we’ll never know.

Long story short, watch Jodorowsky’s Dune and see for yourself what the passion of a truely inspired artist looks and feels like.

And if all you know of David Lynch’s work is his Dune, then you really need to get out there and watch his entire ouevre. Start with his short film The Spider and the Bee. You won’t regret it.

Oh, and by the way, two of Lynch’s flicks were on the list* if anyone is keeping score. I’m sure you can guess at least one of them…

*having written the word “list” so many times in this endless blather, I’m reminded of this classic SNL skit…

Should he stay or should he go?

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President Trump Returns from New

Anyone who has spent even the slightest miniscule of moment in time around here knows what I think about that question…

However, after listening to most of the Supreme Court hearing yesterday (yeah, I know, I know… I need to get a life obvs) but be that as it may, it didn’t take long for me to realize that it isn’t even going to be close as to how the Supremes are going to decide — Trump will not be denied ballot access by them. Even the left of center Supreme ones were unable to contain their skepticism of the argument before them, either of that argued by the lawyer representing those heroes bringing the suit, or of that by the one arguing for the state.

Justices across the ideological spectrum expressed skepticism about several aspects of a ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court that Mr. Trump’s conduct in trying to subvert the 2020 race made him ineligible to hold office under a constitutional provision that bars people who have sworn to support the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection.

Supreme Court Justices Appear Skeptical of Arguments to Kick Trump Off State Ballots, New York Times, February 8, 2024

Actually, I do have ever so slightly mixed emotions about the argument myself, especially since Trumpadump was never convicted of insurrection by a court as far as I know; although, he was certainly convicted by his words and deeds in the court of common sense, at least the one governed by yours truly.

What miffed me most about yesterday’s hearing, besides the fact that the ruling will not go the way of common sense, was “Justice” Alito’s argument, or line of questioning, concerning his concern that if the Supremes were to rule that Trump is to be denied ballot access nationally, that the ruling could cause serious national strife (my words poorly paraphrasing his).

For one, as long as Trump continues to breathe, he will cause strife, nationally and beyond, just by continuing to breathe, so what’s a little more on his account, especially when it’s for such a worthy cause?

For two, why should such a concern even be considered in regards to the constitutionality of the case before them, or of any case for that matter?

I mean, if we allow such emotional concerns to govern our rule of law, if we are concerned that a constitutional ruling might cause harm, then obviously the parent(s) of a family struggling below the poverty line should be allowed to steal from the local X-Mart to feed their malnourished children, right?

I mean, now there’s some strife that is being faced by far too many families nationally, yet if a parent were to be caught stealing to feed their family as often as Trump has been caught for all his countless illegalities, then 9 times out 9, that parent will go straight to prison – even more so if race is factored in. Right?

Right?!

Anyway…

#joestrummersghostforpresident

Post-Donald

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gray tombstone on grass in yard
Photo by Juan Vargas on Pexels.com

You know how it goes: every once in a while someone will ask: knowing what you know now, if you could, would you go back in time to assassinate Hitler? Or something to that effect.

To be honest, I’m a lover not a fighter so I would probably defer the time travel assassin role to someone a bit more inspired than I. But I’m pretty sure if I could go back in time I woud take a mulligan and redo high school and not be as lazy and unmotivated as I was the first go around. Such lost potential there, that’s for sure.

Anyway, why we’re on the subject of maniacal dictators, I can’t help wondering more and more if some time in the future we won’t be asking the same, unsatisfying time travel question about Trump.

I hope not. I pray not. I hope and pray that an act of God takes out the Hitler wannabe before there is even the chance he’s “voted” back into office. I mean, how many Big Macs does one have to eat before the plumbing finally clogs up for good?

And if those hopes and prayers aren’t answered, as a back up I hope and pray that as a nation we are smart enough, and motivated enough (although at this point in time I don’t have much confidence in either), to not vote for him in such numbers that even as big a liar and a cheat as he is that he feels so demoralized that he doesn’t even try to claim the election was rigged.

Yeah, I know, I know… wishful thinking.

Speaking of wishful thinking… now while of course I do not condone assassination or murder of any sort, except through due process of the law obviously, but I can’t help also wondering, as hated as The Donald is by so many people around the world, and as extreme and unpredictable as we humans have become, if there isn’t someone out there right now planning on taking the self-loving, disadvantaged-people loathing wannabe dictator out so as to not allow another Hitler to terrorize the planet.

Do you think?

Just wondering…

Not condoning…

Or hoping or praying or wishing…

And I promise I wasn’t crossing my fingers either when I typed that…

Or my toes.

Anyway…

Regardless of all the hopes and prayers and wishful thinking, there will indeed come a day when we live in a post-Donald world (assuming he vacates an oxygen-breathing state before one of the narcissistic billionaires discover a “cure” for aging and death like they are trying so hard to do), I can’t help but wondering yet again if there is anyone out there megalomaniacal enough to curry enough favor with all the whacky cultists to assume The Donald’s role as King of the MAGAtes.

It seems like his daughter has evolved into a semi-state of sanity and is no longer interested in throwing her diamond-studded tiara into the despotic ring.

How about Junior, the Cocaine Kid, does he have what it takes to be as world-destroying as his father? I’m guessing not, despite any sincere effort he may make.

EriK? LOL, am I right!

Or maybe it is that The Donald is just a one-off? And that when he goes, so goes the threat to the world’s oldest democracy…

And to the rest of the world.

I hope so anyway…

And pray…

And wish…

#votelikeyourlifedependsuponit

#becauseitdoes

William Gay is a genius

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Image courtesy of Nashville Arts

A literary one at least.

The deceased author William Gay, that is, not the former professional football cornerback William Gay.

Well, William Gay the cornerback may also be a literary genius, I’m just not aware of it.

But I am aware that Nic Pizzolatto is too a genius, at least of the screenwriting variation, as is evidenced by his hugely popular HBO series True Detective.

I watched season one of True Detective as soon as it was released, what… nearly ten years ago now.

I liked it. Maybe not as much as many seemed to have at the time, and certainly not as much as I like season two (I know, I know… I’m woefully in the minority on this one – I have never been much of a fan of Woody Harrelson’s acting, and I thought Matthew McConaughey’s character was a bit over the top), but I liked it enough to dig into the particulars of its development.

Which is when I discovered Nic Pizzolatto.

And which is when shortly thereafter I discovered Thomas Ligotti…

As this highly misanthropic madman (both literally and literarily) genius author was a huge influence on NP and his creation and development of MM’s forlorn and highly misanthropic character Detective Rustin “Rust” Cohle.

TL is so down on humanity he wrote a hatefest about it in a less-than-joyful book called The Conspiracy Against the Human Race.

Come to find out there is an actual philosophical movement, however slight (hopefully), that actual believes that, for the sake of humanity, I guess, humanity needs to be disappeared.

Apparently, NP was so influenced by Tl that some/many believed he plagiarized the immensely pessimistically nihilistic author for much of MM/Cohle’s dialogue.

I can understand why (while imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, I do not condone plagiarism of any stripe), TL’s short stories are some of the most awesomely horrific stories I have ever read/listened to, and I truly appreciate NP for turning me on to the human depressant…

Although, to date, I have not yet been able to make it all the way through his anti-humanity book. It’s too depressing, simple as that.

Incidentally, during Joe Rogan’s last interview with Elon Musk recently, I was surprised to discover, seeing how well informed they both always seem to be, that neither of them seemed to be aware of TL or of his influence on NP or of the whole down with humanity philosophy as they first heard about the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement in a less than recent New York Times article entitled Earth Now Has 8 Billion Humans. This Man Wishes There Were None.

Rogan probably has heard of it before but as much dope as he smokes and as old as he’s getting to be, he probably burned out the brain cells responsible for recalling that information.

Anyway, long story short…

Or have I missed that bus already?

Anyway, for some reason I forget, a few weeks ago I mentioned to my son that I enjoy season two of TD much more than season one.

(Season three isn’t even in the discussion as it is immensely forgettable. And from what I’ve seen of the upcoming season four, it looks equally immensely forgettable.)

My son was shocked at my (poor) taste and went on to pan season two and praise season one, as do most.

So, I figured, since I’ve already watched season two three times, I might as well give season one another shot, seeing that it’s been nearly ten years since I last watched it.

And I recently finished rewatching it.

And I still enjoyed it, probably more because this time around I was familiar with TL and his work and the insight from it was appreciated.

And though I still prefer season two, I still liked season one enough once again to once again look up ol’ NP to see if he has been up to anything new.

Didn’t really discover anything new by NP that interested me, but I did discover this old Buzzfeed article that interested me greatly, as it lists all the literary influences of NP’s that went into the development of season one.

And it was from this article that I discovered William Gay.

The author, not the cornerback.

And I cannot believe I have never heard of this good ol’ boy literary genius before.

And by good ol’ boy, I mean that was one dude whose neck was severely reddened. Crispy, if you know what I mean*.

The good ol’ boy literary genius

I just finished listening to his collection of short stories called I Hate To See That Evening Sun Go Down.

Never had I read/listened to a collection of short stories where ever single story is as completely fantastic as these are. Especially in a collection written by just one author.

Because my eyes are shot because of the side effects from my bone marrow transplant of so long ago, I listen to books now more than I read them.

Consequently, I have a pretty good ear for great narrators. Great as defined by me anyway.

The narrators for this collection are Christine McMurdo-Wallis, Tom Stechschulte, Pete Bradbury, and Richard Ferrone, and they all are pitch perfect for their respective stories.

Tom Stescschulte has been a longtime favorite of mine and this to me is the best work he has ever done.

So, yeah, once again I must thank NP for turning me on to yet another amazing author.

And I hope I’m wrong about season four. I’m a fan of Jodie Foster so I hope she pulls it off.

So, that’s the short story long of it.

Oh yeah!

Since I’ve already missed the short bus, let bring up one last thing…

I’ll make it fast – punctuation be damned.

If you are a fan of audiobooks like I am but are not a fan of Audible’s expensive subscription like I am – the only reason I started my subscription back up recently is because I was offered and I accepted a one-month free promo (which they are betting I will forget to cancel but which I marked my calendar so to hell with them I won’t fall into that expensive trap) – then you must be estatic like I am that Spotify is now offering audiobooks for those who are subscribed with a premium membership like I am and all the books I have on my audible wish list are available on spotify as are many many more and my TBLT (to be listened to) list is so long now I probably won’t finish it until I’m in my eighties, which, sadly, is almost as close as my forties are far away…

Yeah…

*Apologies for the stereotype but, dagburnit that dude is one countrified dude. Not that it’s a bad thing, it’s just, well, you know how the stereotype goes…

The Last of Us Ended Me

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mushroom on a meadow
Photo by malkocoglu.raw . on Pexels.com

My Johns Hopkins oncologist once told me that if he had twenty patients with lung GVHD, aka bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome, as bad as mine, he would have 20 dead patients within the year. Of course, he didn’t tell me this until many years after my initial diagnosis when it was certain I was not going to abide by those fatal odds, odds which were significantly more fatal than what my NIH doc told me.

He also told me that if I ever got pneumonia, it would be game over for me.

Well, I got bacterial pneumonia a year or so ago and, well, here I am.

Only the good die young and all that, you know how it goes.

Well, after I was cleared to re-enter the game of life at full speed and contact, my doc clarified his game over remarks.

He meant to say, or, according to him he did say and I just don’t remember, that if I ever get fungal pneumonia, then it is game over.

Well, well, well…

That has upped the game’s stakes quite significantly.

And now I wished I had never watched that damned terrifying show that was adapted from that damned terrifying video game.

Of course it wasn’t nearly as terrifying until put into the context of my doc’s prediction.

And which is why my heart ever so slightly skips a beat whenever I see one of the evermore present fungal superbug spreading headlines.

Headlines like this one from today:

Fungus ‘superbug’ cases rise to highest levels in Nevada

In October, there were 57 new clinical cases of the drug-resistant, potentially lethal fungus that can invade a person’s bloodstream, brain, heart or other organs, according to Nevada Division of Behavioral Health data. In the same month, 123 cases of colonization were reported in which individuals typically have the fungus in the folds of their skin, invisible to the eye, yet are not sick. Those people can still transmit the pathogen.

The fungus can spread from person to person and also from contaminated surfaces and equipment with transmission occurring most often in healthcare settings. Patients who have been hospitalized for a long time, or have a central venous catheter or other lines or tubes entering their body, are at highest risk for infection, public health authorities say. Healthy people usually don’t develop an invasive infection.

Fortunately, I do not live in Nevada…

But, the way things are going, I doubt it will soon matter where one lives.

The only bright side to all this for me is, like I’ve already said…

Only the good die young.

And I am a long, long way from young.