Ted White's Screw-Up:
In the March, 1970, the then editor of Amazing Stories, Ted White, wrote the following note in response to a review by Dennis O'Neil of Michael Crichton's book The Andromeda Strain:
"Crichton made three earlier forays into our field by which one may attempt to assess
him. As "John Norman" he wrote Tarnsman of Gor, Outlaw of Gor and Priest-Kings of
Gor for Ballantine Books. He has also written mystery novels under the pseudonym of
" John Lange," the name in which the Gor books are copyrighted."
This is pretty interesting since when you look up John Norman, the pseudonym of a philosophy professor named John Lange, you will see that while Lange has written books other than the Gor books, none of them wee mysteries. While Crichton did write mystery novels under the name of John Lange, it was simply a coincidence that a man whose name really was John Lange was writing the Gor books under an assumed name. In other words, White really messed up insinuating that the notoriously pornographic Gor books were written by the then 27 year old Crichton who was already one of the hottest sci-fi writers around so much so that its a dead certainty that The Andromeda Strain has sold more copies that all of Ted White's novels combined have.
From what I can determine, White has failed to acknowledge this error, let alone apologize for it.
Question to Kate Paulk:
One little problem with your concept of fandom as being a monolith under the domination of the Social Justice Warriors (SJW's) is that Laura J. Mixon won the Hugo largely because of her take down of the arch-SJW Requires Hate. If the evil cabal that you see dominating fandom really has the kind of power that you say it has, then Best Fan Writer would have been No Awarded. How then do you explain Mixon's victory?
Note: I posted the above to Kate Paulk's blog and this time the comment got through. However, Paulk herself has failed to answer the question. Hopefully, she will eventually see fit to answer it either on her blog or in the form of a LOC sent for publication here.
Movie Reviews:
Mark of the Vampire (1935)
Mark of the Vampire is a significant flick in that it was one of director Tod Browning's last movies. It was also the movie that showcased what was arguably Bela Lugosi's finest performance of all time. The most significant role that Carroll Borland ever had was also featured in this movie.
Mark of the Vampire is a good example of a B feature flick. At 60 minutes long, it was meant to be the centerpiece of a matinee bill that typically consisted of movie short(s), cartoon(s) and a chapter of a serial. Caroll Borland was a most interesting actress. She got her start because she was a kind of Bela Lugosi groupie. She contrived to meet Lugosi backstage when she was only a teenager. Lugosi took a liking to her and got her the role of Luna Mora in this movie. She then became his understudy. Borland created the costume, look and make-up of the Luna Mora character all by herself. As such, she created the iconic vampiress. Despite the fact that Borland played this role to perfection, complete with fantastic vampire stares and looks like a goth punk of today, this proved to be the most significant role that she would ever play in a too-short acting career. One can only wonder just why she was unable to get more roles as a vampiress. Mark of the Vampire begins with the discovery of the corpse of Irena Borotyn's father. His body was drained of all its blood through two holes on his neck. Was this the work of vampires as the common folk believe? Or is it something else? A year after the murder, the deceased man is seen wandering through the woods at night. Hysteria grips the countryside while the authorities struggle to make sense of it all while at the same time maintain basic law and order. Meanwhile, there is a creepy old Count Mora and his strange daughter Luna hovering about the scene. Inspector Neumann from Prague is called on the case, but all he can get from the local folks is superstitious talk about vampires. The best aspect of Mark of the Vampire is the atmosphere. It is positively sturated with cobwebs, dust, fog, howling wind, shadows and Gothic architecture. The sound effects are eerie. The black and white cinematography is excellent. The whole movie plays against a musicless background, just like Browning's previous film "Dracula." The acting in this movie is first rate starting with Lionel Barrymore as the elderly vampire stalker, Professor Zelin. Unfortunately, Barrymore was already afflicted with the rheumatism that forced him to be seated in most of his post-1930's movies. This limited his character's mobility in the flick. Elizabeth Allan is great as the menaced young Miss Irena Borotyn. Lionel Atwill contributes a memorable turn as Police Inspector Neumann. Donald Meek does well as the frightened Dr. J. Doskil. Ivan Simpson makes for a fine butler of the manor while Leila Bennett contributes some memorable screams as a hysterical maid. Another notable aspect of Mark of the Vampire is the twist at the end that leads to a surprise ending. At first the ending seems rather unreal and nonsensical, but when you get right down to thinking about it, it all makes sense. Mark of the Vampire is on a par with Browning's earlier movie "Dracula." Mark of the Vampire features both a strong cast and a spooky atmosphere suitable for a horror flick. As such, Mark of the Vampire would make a great double feature with Tod Browning's 1930 movie "Dracula." |
Super 8 (2011)
Super 8 is a ripoff by its writer/director, J.J. Abrams of some of
the movies made by its producer, Steven Spielberg. A more charitable
reviewer would call it a "homage" or a "pastiche." Basically, it is an
act of blatant sucking up carried out on celluloid at the audience's
expense. Just about the only redeeming aspect of this flick is its
state-of-the-art special effects. Like so many other science fiction movies, it puts the
monsters and the explosions before the characters. It is clear from
watching this movie that neither Abrams or Spielberg understand that action and
mayhem have meaning only when an audience cares about the characters in the
movie.
Basically, Super 8 is an exercise in nostalgia for those who, while
growing up during the late 1970's & early 1980's, were inspired by the big
budget high box office grossing special effects festivals that were marketed as
being movies. Often kids who saw those flicks were inspired to borrow their
parents's Super 8 camera and messed around with making a movie. For a movie
supposedly set in 1979, it misses the mark in terms of the attitudes, clothes,
music and other aspects of the popular culture of the time.
The plot of Super 8 concerns half a dozen or so teenagers who are
in the wrong place at the wrong time. These youngsters are engaged in making a
zombie movie that they think needs to be made at midnight to achieve
"authenticity." They get together at a train station where they think they
can make their flick without parental interference. All of these
teenagers are the usual cliches in Hollywood flicks. Just when everything seems to be
going well for the poorly thought out film project, disaster strikes. There
is a train derailment, causing a big mess. It appears that there is more to this
derailment than meets the eye given the fact that troops under the command of one
Colonel Nelec (Noah Emmerich) swarm over the area. There is also a
mysterious creature seen moving around the area.
One lesson that Abrams has obviously learned from Spielberg is that
when it comes to seeing the monster, less is more. Throughout most of
the movie, you see only a few glimpses of the creature. Even in the scene
where the monster attacks a bus, the camera avoids lingering on the creature.
With Spielberg's first blockbuster, Jaws, this was an accident, necessitated
by the fact that the fake shark had numerous mechanical problems that made it
impossible to show it too often without the movie going over budget.
Super 8 is an obvious "homage" by the apprentice Abrams to his master
Spielberg. This is not a good movie and as such, it is not worth your time or money.
