Peeking at Christmas

Music Machine - 'Talk Talk'

We don’t need another “Star Wars” movie!

We don’t need another “Star Wars” movie!

By Alex Schomburg

Carolyn Jones

The Butterfly Room TRAILER 1 (2012) - Erica Leerhsen, Ray Wise Horror Mo...

Babs Steele, still wicked after all these years.

America the Horror Show - Clusterfuck Nation

America the Horror Show - Clusterfuck Nation

This sort of grandiosity -- the wish to project supernatural powers -- is exactly what you get in boys who have not developed competence in any reality-based, meaningful realm of endeavor

William Shatner 1966 Incubus

The world's greatest Esperanto love scene

Spartacus and the "Old Mole"

In the waning days of the Year of the Dragon I eagerly await the final season of the Grand-Guignol retelling of the 3^rd Servile War, Spartacus: War of the Damned. No mystery how it will end. In Howard Fast’s novel the end is revealed at the very first mention of the hero:

"Is that Spartacus?" Claudia asked foolishly, but the fat man found patience for her. …

"Hardly Spartacus, my dear."

"His body was never found," Caius said impatiently.

"Cut to pieces," the fat man said pompously. "Cut to pieces, my dear child.

Tender minds for such dreadful thoughts, but that's the truth of it—"

Howard Fast, Spartacus (1951)

Tender minds have never been the audience for this story. But the audience has, it seems, undergone important changes in the passage of this legend from Fast’s novel and the Universal Studio’s film adaptation of 1960 to the Starz series scheduled to finish in 2013.

The novel and the film come in the near aftermath of the Popular Front period with a working class politically conditioned both by the disaster of the First World War and the energy of the Russian Revolution. Specifically, they occur at the point where the blacklisted American remnants of that current were struggling to survive and to reengage their reactionary opponents, as before, in an alliance with the liberal New Deal. Fast’s novel was universally refused publication forcing him to self-publish with, as it turned out, great success. Kubrick’s film was another step in that process, deliberately attempting to break the blacklist with the employment of Dalton Trumbo as screenwriter.

To be considered a success and to adequately engage the legend of Spartacus the film needed to attain unprecedented dimensions. Budget, stars, length and scope were all enormous. Sustaining that in the political climate of 1960 U. S. inevitably required compromise and was the subject of painful reflection by Trumbo and disavowal by Kubrick. According to Trumbo’s memoir there was a constant battle between the story’s ideological guardians and its financial sponsors over the depiction of the slave army’s campaigns:

“Despite the vigorous objections of Douglas, Kubrick, and Trumbo, Universal’s unwillingness to confront the prevailing political myth of the inevitable failure or degeneration of social revolution resulted in the elimination of nearly a dozen dialogue and action sequences which fostered the hope that Spartacus’s rebellion might actually have succeeded in destroying Rome.”  

Who Killed Spartacus? – Duncan L. Cooper

Although some edits were restored in 1991 these battle sequences are known to have been destroyed. What did survive and is clearly part of Kubrick’s vision are a number of beautiful scenes of the masses in movement, working autonomously, joining and organizing spontaneously.

The present iteration of the legend occurs in a very different environment. The working class political currents of the early 20^th century which nourished the post-WW2 Spartacus are gone. They are, undoubtedly, still to be found soaked into the soil. But they are gone as traceable bodies of flowing water. In this landscape the current production has none of the constraints of its predecessor. Of course Rome is eternally the image of empire and nothing can remove Spartacus’ claim as champion of revolt against the empire from below. So, even as its producers deny the political heritage of what they are doing they cannot completely escape and, no doubt, wouldn’t want to, the resonance of revolution inhering in their subject.

There is no blacklist to break but the subject still requires some cover if it going to reach a wide audience with the scope and resources it deserves. In this new production the cover is provided by sex and gore, the strategy of the Grand-Guignol. The fan response, and here I know only what I can gather on Tumblr, is clearly keying on these elements, both of which were significantly more constrained by censorship and audience sensitivities in 1960.

The sources on the 3^rd Servile War are bare and sometimes contradictory. To create drama from what is a historical period that had it in abundance requires a license to flesh out the story from the point of view of the defeated, where the sources are silent. Fast did this above all with the love story of Spartacus and Varinia. It provides a thread of hope in a narrative of cruel defeat and illuminates the contradictions which were tearing at the Roman republic from within. It also provided Steve Reeves with his final 'sword and sandal' role as Il Figlio di Spartacus.

But Varinia and Spartacus’ slave origins are not found in the sources where the only personal history mentioned depicts him as a free man and married before capture and sale as a slave. The producers of the series on Starz are binding themselves more to the historical record for their story and bringing in the fantasy elements in their visual presentation, hand to hand combat clearly drawn from the world of animated games. Their additions to the story come from the least documented part of the Spartacus legend: his career as a gladiator at Capua, the backstory of the lanista, Batiatus, and the circumstances and motives for the initial revolt.

What remains to be told in the final season is the course of the war itself, the story that was largely removed from the film. It is not surprising, however, to learn that the network has lost some of its interest in the franchise at the stage where it is dealing with an army of slaves in a position to threaten the emblematic Roman empire (and incurring the rising costs for doing so). The ten episodes this winter will be all we will have of the time that Spartacus and his cohorts stood at the center of history.

Although dispensing with the character of Varinia the series keeps close the theme of love which she introduced to the novel and film. Persisting through the 60 year course of this legend is passionate attachment among the slaves and its absence among the Romans. Having cut their connection to work the slaveholding citizens of the empire are left with only a pattern of sexual machinations for their beds and bitter envy of the love found among their slaves. Spartacus is no longer the center of the love story as the revolt progresses. Instead, his loss of love becomes the motive driving him to leadership in the revolt.

So what has passed in our world as this story has been transformed from a novel to a serial fantasy? In 1960 there was still the memory of an international workers movement, a movement that had provided both energy and the fence containing the working class within world capitalism. From 1968 to 1989 we saw the erasure of that memory. What has emerged since, in the face of the collapse of global capital is, of necessity, something new. It is something still undefined, yet to fully emerge. But it can only be the “old mole”. There is no place else it can come from than labor and no extent adequate to its needs other than worldwide.

What have I been reading and watching while I wait?

Spartacus – Howard Fast, 1951, self-published

Spartacus – directed by Stanley Kubrick, screenplay Dalton Trumbo, Howard Fast etc. 1960

Spartacus – directed by Robert Dornhelm 2004

Spartacus: War of the Damned

Il Figlio di Spartacus - 1960

The Civil Wars – Appian

Who Killed Spartacus? – Duncan L. Cooper

Life of Crassus - Plutarch

Plutarch on Spartacus

http://www.livius.org/so-st/spartacus/spartacus.html

Spartacus to the gladiators at Capua – E. Kellogg

Spartacus - a real representative of the proletariat of ancient times – Alan Woods

The class struggle in the Roman Republic – Alan Woods

The Famous National Money Game

The Famous National Money Game, a photo by Link.n.Logs on Flickr.

THE CARNABEATS - WHEN I WAS YOUNG

Cugat!

Happy Birthday, Louise!

Moon Nazis Are Coming!

Again, the lovely Gabrielle Drake

Remember to Vote on Nov. 6

Häxan (Witchcraft Through the Ages), 1922

Dracula Cha Cha Cha

Bruno Martino - Dracula Cha Cha Cha

Ruta Lee - Johnny Staccato

Resistance is Futile!

The Colonel first unboxes Kommissar, The People's Game. Said to be a sort of communist Monopoly without Free Parking or buildings or rent or an end.


Everybody equal. Nobody wins. Nobody loses. In theory here you can win by cashing in 500 rubles and flying out of the socialist homeland. In fact everybody sticks right around the 300 rubles they start out with. It took massive cheating on the part of the comrade game kings to throw the game to this capitalist roader.


Humbug.


Cold War nostalgia gives way to 3 dimensional wackiness as we crank up the It from the Pit.


Pure mechanized plastic goof.


Attrition is high as the treasure hunters hug the chasm wall in fear and trembling.


Survival of the most purple.


Then the evening's existential entry.


Our four bogus dicks pry the clue cards loose.


You know, Kommissar looked like it had never been game tested and this one looks like it wasn't censored.


Alfie is trying his best to ignore the proceedings.

The Spider's shake

Musik for the Kitchen - Blitzkrieg Bop

What is to be done with Big Bird?

I noted, when Ryan was raised to the ticket, that the question of socialism would be central to the campaign (Lessons to be Learned). How, then, does this momentous topic find itself boiled down to the figure of Big Bird?

In selling himself to the mass voter, as during the debate, the Republican candidate is tasked with dissembling. While avoiding discussion of the disassembly of the social insurance network he is permitted, for the purpose of demonstrating his reactionary bona fides, to attack some isolated target or other. PBS has long been a favorite of the Republicans because of the intersection of ideology and public funding. It is, moreover, well outside the front lines of the current political-economic crisis where the real money is at stake.

Meanwhile, the President is left out of our little puppet show. As the Republican candidate observed, “High-income people are doing just fine in this economy. They’ll do fine whether you’re president or I am.” The citizens of Sesame Street, like their comrades around the world, need to come up with their own strategy for the days ahead.

Ancient Egyptian dice

Ancient Egyptian dice, a photo by dmmaus on Flickr.

Both parties have a similar problem

Both parties have a similar problem. At their core they are servants of the ruling class. But, to survive, they must find votes among the masses. Traditionally this has been done with patronage. To some extent that is still the case. But the scale of an American presidential election exceeds any hope of getting more than a framework from patronage. To succeed in this arena the parties must each create their own dream state for their mass voters.

 For the Republicans this is becoming simpler each cycle. They have only to enroll those members of the working class who have abjured the political program of their own class. This is not false consciousness, This is inverted consciousness. It is the belief that the greatest danger to themselves is the political program of their own class.  Its source is a will to submit. It is no accident that a surrender to Jesus is so often also a surrender to the GOP.

Democrats will often profess confusion and astonishment at repeated Republican cannonades against creeping socialism, seen as advancing on all fronts, and now embodied in a Marxist-Leninist president. But in this, I’m afraid, there is more clarity on the right side of the chamber. If the main enemy of the present system is the revolutionary working class then all attempts at compromise with the program of that class, even such venerable institutions as Social Security, are subversive.

 The Democrats have a more complex task. They must collect the votes of a working class which is not revolutionary but which, nevertheless, is aware of its interests. It does this by the proposition that the class interests of its voters must be subordinate to the party’s ability to contend each election. This is not a tactic. It is the substance of the party. The political, economic structure of the world is unchangeable. The contending classes must, therefore, compromise.

And so the two blocks of working class votes are corralled by two tendencies within the ruling class, by the contradiction within capitalism itself. On the one hand it cannot escape its dependency on human labor to produce and reproduce value. On the other it cannot deny the antagonism between ownership and labor.

My first animated gif - My Aunt Marilyn

Lighthouse Checkers

Lighthouse Checkers, a photo by Link.n.Logs on Flickr.

I Like My Cigar

I will never understand the fascination with "liking" something. It all reminds me of what Groucho told a guy with a big family: "I like my cigar too but I take it out once in a while!" 

It's an abstraction from consumption, like derivatives abstract from investment. In a situation of chronic overproduction capitalism responds by pushing both investment and consumption into more distant orbits, further removed from reality. Consumption is anaemic due to falling wages so capital becomes obsessed with inclination, the possibility that someone somewhere might someday be able to take out a loan to actually buy something. Meantime, because it must track something with numbers, it counts wishes. With enough data it can actually match up the cloud of wishes to commodities.  What it cannot predict is actual consumption. That leaves an overhang of desire matching the over extension of the credit system. Crash. But the crash is still hidden. So folks go merrily along investing in their dream avatar. The more they are impoverished in reality the more they invest in dreams. Well enough of that. I need to get back to Facebook.

The Delta Rhythm Boys - Gimme Some Skin My Friend

Chapters: a Novel

Mr. Slator has crafted a tumbling sort of adventure mostly in the direction north by north east from the studious roosts of dinkytown u.s.a. to the great northwoods proximate to Canada. There we uncover a crime of two score years and finish our saga, time wise, at the end of the second century of our declared independence. Part Bildungsroman, part Bowery Boys the storytelling is deft, the staging is good and the author’s asides give it, along with the time shifts, a pleasing rhythm in all. As for footnotes in a novel, you know, footnotes in a novel. As a coeval of the author I can testify that he has been faithful to his time/space continuum. Exchanging south side for north side, parochial delinquency was much the same and completely necessary. Congratulations to Mr. Slator on “Chapters” with eager anticipation for his epic of the Iron Horse. A solid recommend to all.

Chapters: a Novel - Brian M. Slator

BrowseTheStacks, A-1 Comics Automobile Accident At A-1 Comics...

BrowseTheStacks, A-1 Comics Automobile Accident At A-1 Comics...

Lessons to be learned

The selection of Paul Ryan to the Republican ticket brings socialism into the debate foreground. A campaign sagging under its own tepid assumption that the opposition can win, regardless of its history or countenance, just because times are tough and it is the opposition, elects to rally around the banner of explicit capitalism. The shallowness of its position can be perceived in Mr. Ryan’s ever so slightly dissembled philosophical roots, Atlas Shrugged. Unnecessary to recap or refute or even insult such a book. It functions as a secret handshake among a social caste to privately signify what is publically muted; that the concessions made to the working class movement in the 20th century, and labeled the welfare state, can and should be revoked at the requirements and discretion of the ruling estate.

These views are popular among the progeny of the elect, such as Messrs. Ryan and Romney, but they are known to upset the body politic. For that reason they are usually confined to doyen of the Federal Reserve and places where the discussion is off the record and among friends. It is not only fear of being overheard by the wrong sort of voter which keeps Ms. Rand away from the podium it is the objective situation of capital in the modern era. Social insurance and the prominent economic role of the state have been inscribed in capitalism since overproduction became a permanent feature of the world market in the late 20’s of the previous century, alleviated only by the devastation of WWII.

But the inscription has been rubbed shallow. And the political fortunes of its guardian party have suffered a similar erasure. The loss of stature by American manufacturing and the decimation of its organized ranks have left the welfare state exposed politically. Historically and materially institutions such as Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, and Medicare are born from the socialist political program of the working class. But the compromises negotiated between capital and labor from the 30’s through 60’s re-baptized them as part of the panorama of capitalist progress. As long as the good times rolled.

Now, everywhere, political parties, ruling and opposition, subscribe to the credo of austerity and are faithful only to the overlords of finance. In the U. S., once upon a time, the Republican Party could balance its reactionary numbers with a large dose of fealty to the post-war Keynesian consensus. Its shift to the South has changed this but not as much as the general erosion of this consensus. The magnitude of world over-production, generating crises in the credit system as well as in global climate, has narrowed the range and magnified the costs of Keynesian tinkering to the point where the Republicans have escaped its hegemony entirely and the Democrats have turned gun shy.

Which leave the Democrats alone masters of the entire field of generally agreed upon economic principles, from cut to the bone to spend like there’s no tomorrow. And nowhere is there shelter from the storm. While the Republicans are freed to partake of any fantasy that can find funding from among the many and varied pools of crackpot wealth and which can avoid offending the upper crust as a whole.

But John Galt will win no general elections. The only tactic available to the GOP as it stands accused of the theft of grandma’s Medicare will be to dissemble. Its cover story of benign tolerance towards long established working class achievements looking nothing but threadbare it will be forced to attack the Democrats on the same ground; their acquiescence to the slow but accelerating squeeze of the working majority and their failure to take effective action in the face of economic disaster. 

It should not be forgotten that in 2008, with the global economy on the verge of locking up, both parties waited politely in the corridor as the titans of capital divided the public purse amongst themselves as they saw fit. At that time I commented that this was a lesson they would rather not be teaching. Now, in 2012, we will have a graduate seminar taught by competing lecturers. Do not think that everyone will be sleeping through the course. 

MC5 - Ramblin Rose

Toy Dolls - James Bond lives down our street

Time Travel

Jimmy Fallon: 'The Dark Knight Rises' Trailer with Pee-wee Herman Voices

Choose the perfect board game

GQG

Fez x 5 & martinis

Tiny Tim - The Other Side

best-frozen-treats • andy7seven: The Other Side - Tiny Tim Tiny Tim...

Competing Tendencies of Aggression and Escape

Heat and Criminality

Around 80 degrees Fahrenheit, assault rates started to fall, a trend that dovetailed with a hypothetical explanation for heat-induced violence in which being uncomfortable provokes competing tendencies of both aggression and escape. At low to moderate levels of discomfort, people lash out, but at high levels they just want to flee.

Into the cauldron of a major midwestern railroad hub, in the midst of the worst wave of heat since, uh, last summer, we return again to the Game Night HQ for the usual mayhem.



Nothing for it but to unravel the motives, the opportunity, the usual suspects.



Yes, but, why?



Intermission: Dr. Kirby affirms his reality.



Tell us about it, man.



I think I have one of those black coats of the forgotten ones.



Cornering the ring in Tirad

Now, what about the connection between heat and insanity?

Psychedelic Times at Game Night

The Avengers and the Culture Industry

Unemployed Negativity: Avenge Me: The Avengers and the Culture Industry

One could take this a bit further and argue that the film's central tactical political debate, should threats be dealt with by group of highly skilled individuals or by superior technology and firepower, can be understood as some afterimage of military strategy post 9/11. However, I was too distracted by the Hulk smashing things to really follow that logic. 

No dialectic without dialogue

Divide and Conquer in Wisconsin and Beyond | Ted Rall's Rallblog

Mitt Romney Addresses Cthulhu And Other Supporters At A R'lyeh Fundraiser

Goblinbooks: Mitt Romney Addresses Cthulhu And Other Supporters At A R'lyeh Fundraiser

The board.n.room unexpurgated tumblr playlist

trntbl - boardnroom

Tobacco Road - The Lords (auf deutsche)

Jet Flash Drive • Tobacco Road - The Lords

Interview: Zombina and the Skeletones | MusicReview

Interview: Zombina and the Skeletones | MusicReview

Louise has a Coke

Astronomic Josh | HiLobrow

Astronomic Josh | HiLobrow

When Joshua, that warrior bold, said to the sun, “stand still,”
And hypnotized the frisky moon with a forensic trill;
Astronomy was not embraced within his mental girth,
Or he would have addressed his spiel to the revolving earth.

***

Unsigned poem, titled “Astronomic Josh,” from The Philistine (“A Periodical of Protest,” November 1908)

Kate

Catherine Schmidt - 1952/2012

A beautiful friend and a noble indulger of the Game Night

Missed now and always

The surprisingly complicated legacy of Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee - Grantland

Decently written recap of "Stan Lee"

The surprisingly complicated legacy of Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee - Grantland

Nel mezzo del cammin

Nel mezzo del cammin, a photo by Link.n.Logs on Flickr.

Hank wonders what the hell he's into here.

Mom Partridge

Mom Partridge, a photo by Link.n.Logs on Flickr.

Happy Mothers Day from the Game Kings