Jing-reed's Musings from Thailand

The Sad, Sad Tale of Olive Thomas

The Poisoner’s Guide to Story Telling

"So let me tell you the story of a suspected murder, a real one, the irresistibly tragic tale of a beautiful young actress of early 20th century Hollywood, the adventure-loving heroine of one successful film after another: Madcap Madge, The Flapper, and – what would turn out to be her last picture – Everybody’s Sweetheart.

The actress, Olive Thomas, had the look of a charming child, with a shining bob of dark, curly hair, big violet-blue eyes, and a pale, heart-shaped face. It was a look that launched her career, starting in 1914 when she’d won a “Most Beautiful Girl in New York City contest.” And it launched her marriage to a member of Hollywood’s inner circle, Jack Pickford – younger brother of screen star Mary Pickford.

The couple rapidly developed a reputation for wild behavior, intense partying, intense quarreling, usually over his numerous side affairs – he’d developed syphilis as a result of one of them.  They separated, reunited, separated, tried again, delighting the gossip magazines. In early September 1920, the couple flew to Paris, reportedly on a reconciliation holiday. They checked into the Hotel Ritz and whirled off to enjoy time in a Prohibition-free city. At the end one particularly drunken spree, Pickford and Thomas staggered into their hotel room at nearly three in the morning.  As Pickford told the police, he was floating in a whiskeyed haze, when Olive began screaming, over and over, “Oh my God, my God.”

He stumbled into the dimly lit bathroom, where she was leaning against the counter. Mistaking it for her sleeping medicine, she had picked up a bottle of the bichloride of mercury potion that he rubbed on the painful sores caused by syphilis, poured a dose, and chugged it down. As the corrosive sublimate burned down her throat, she had a moment to realize her mistake. He caught her up and carried her back to the bed, grabbing the phone and calling for an ambulance. “Oh my God,” she repeated, “I’m poisoned.”  


And it’s at this point, that I hope I’ve gotten you caught up in the story so that you’ll continue read on as I pause to tell you something about the poisonous element mercury – its history, its chemistry, its use in everything from thermometers to medications, it’s rather insidious poisonous effects......"


Olive Thomas [Wikipedia]

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Battle Los Angeles

It must be more than obvious to the rest of the world that Americans really love war, and of course war movies.  Seems only natural since they appear to be the most militarized society the planet has ever experienced - and Hollywood seems to pump out war flicks at a prodigious rate.  However most of them are lacking in the writing department; once you get past the special effects there just isn't much substance.    Many even win Oscars, though I sort of doubt that this one will garner much attention.

Battle Los Angeles: Alien Life

"Angry aliens invade Earth in the new movie Battle: Los Angeles. And once again it's up to us to stop them. But what could life out there really be like? Jorge Ribas talks to SETI astronomer Seth Shostak to find out."

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Official Trailer

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"It's Time"

A touching story told without dialogue.

The "It's Time" Australian marriage equality video has received more than 2.9 million views on YouTube since it debuted a week ago, making it arguably the most effective marriage equality video of all time.

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Out Of The Blue Documentary

"Narrated by Peter Coyote, OUT OF THE BLUE is widely considered the best documentary ever made about UFOs. The producers traveled around the world to investigate some of the most famous UFO events on record. Through exclusive interviews with high-ranking military and government personnel, this award-winning film supports the theory that some UFOs are of extraterrestrial origin."



This documentary is thought provoking and compelling.

First of all, everything is up to date and there is excellent footage of UFO's and modern computer simulations where video of sightings are not available. Forget the blurry blobs of the past. Feast you eyes on relatively sharp images and clear shapes in colour.

Secondly, it makes use of old footage of statements made by Government officials during the late forties and fifties to great effect. Each statement on it's own seems insignificant but when many such statements are seen together it soon becomes clear that something "funny" is going on. By the end you'll realise that the government position is a joke. How stupid do they think we are?

Thirdly, this documentary is suitable for skeptics and those who know little about the subject. You will be informed about the origins of the "flying saucer" phenomenon and where it's at now. A case will be presented in which the evidence cannot be denied. Only a fool would persist in saying there is nothing to it. People who believe in the existance of extra-terrestrial life will get a lot out of it as well. You may feel like shouting "See - I told you so!".

Another interesting point is that this documentary covers the religious aspect and interviews two theologians to great effect. What they have to say is fascinating.

This is easily the best UFO documentary I have seen and I commend its creators. They have presented the evidence in a professional and exhaustive manner.

Many years ago I worked for the Stanford Research Institute [South Pasadena office] and was amazed to learn that they had been threatened by the Pentagon.

Stanford Research Institute, Senior Policy Analyst, Dr. Alfred Webre

"I worked on the 1977 Carter White House Extraterrestrial Communication Project. It called for creation of central and regional databases under independent control on UFOs and EBEs – that is Extraterrestrial Biological Entities. The full management staff and the research institute had signed off knowingly on the proposal….I flew back from my meeting with the White House, at which this final approval had been given. And when I arrived back at my offices at SRI (Stanford Research Institue), I was called back into the office of the senior SRI official. The project was to be terminated. They had received direct communication from the Pentagon that if the study went forward, SRI's contracts would be terminated. These contracts were a substantial part of SRI's business at the time. The senior Pentagon liaison stated that the project was terminated because, "There are no UFOs." Here we have a President of the United States who came to office under a pledge to open up the UFO issue, and an open study in the White House, and that was squelched.  pp.  441 – 446. See also Dr. Webre's website at http://www.exopolitics.com"

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Orwell Rolls in His Grave

"Could a media system, controlled by a few global corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices, be able to turn lies into truth?" Yes it could, as Director Robert Kane Pappas emphatically documents in this cult documentary. Completed on a bare-bones budget, Pappas presciently moves back and forth between passages from George Orwell's “1984” and the corporate interests of the modern mass media.

British TV Channel 4 wrote of “Orwell Rolls,” upon its initial showing, “The assembled wise men gradually explain how deregulation has actually helped ensure that the American media becomes increasingly restrictive as large right-leaning corporations (often headed by leading Republicans and even Bush family members) have swallowed up the competition and proceeded to distort their reporting with Orwellian double-speak and outright lies - right down to the myth that the American media is supposedly controlled by a 'liberal' elite.... A serious and intelligent documentary. Low on fireworks and surprises, but the steady flow of cogent argument and unpleasant truths is enough to keep anyone riveted - and thoroughly depressed (unless, of course, they're a Bush partisan).”

As the Murdoch scandal reveals, along with the ongoing “conventional wisdom” frame of mass “journalism” – particularly television “news” – things have only gotten bleaker since “Orwell Rolls” was released during the Bush administration.

“Orwell Rolls” explores the dark underside of international corporate media conglomerates, whose goal is profit and power, not the dissemination of accurate news. The implosion of the Murdoch empire that we are currently witnessing is just the tip of the iceberg.

“We falsely think of our country as a democracy when it has evolved into a mediaocracy – where a media that is supposed to check political abuse is part of the political abuse,” NYU media professor Mark Crispin Miller says in “Orwell Rolls.” “Goebbels said that what you want in a media system – he meant the Nazi media system – is to present the ostensible diversity that conceals an actual uniformity.”

     Orwell rolls in his grave  1/11

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K-PAX

Spent yesterday evening watching some favorite films from the past.  K-PAX was the winner.

If a visitor from another planet appeared among us in human form and told the truth about his origins, no doubt he would be treated like Prot, the hero of ''K-PAX,'' who finds himself locked in a closed ward of the Psychiatric Institute of Manhattan. He might not, however, be as lucky as Prot in his psychiatrist. ''This is the most convincing delusional I've ever come across,'' says Dr. Mark Powell, and his voice toys with the notion that Prot might not be delusional.

Based on a novel by Gene Brewer ['K-Pax Omnibus'], the film K-PAX works best as an adult drama of self-discovery, blessed by the talents of costars Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey. Bridges plays Manhattan psychiatrist Mark Powell, who thinks he's seen it all until he's assigned to analyze Prot (Spacey), a psychiatric patient who claims to be from a distant planet called K-PAX. Powell is convinced that Prot is "a convincing delusional," but his cynicism turns to open-minded fascination as Prot's case reveals a combination of otherworldly insight and all-too-human trauma, prompting an earthbound explanation for Prot's allegedly alien origins. As directed by Ian Softley this curiously engrossing drama allows Spacey to create a provocative and humorously eccentric enigma, while Bridges superbly conveys his character's compassionate empathy. Their finely shaded performances raise K-PAX above the forced ambiguity of its ending, which is both thought-provoking and vaguely anticlimactic

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Jorge Luis Borges

I can't remember when I first encountered the works of Jorge Luis Borges, since for countless years I have felt that they have always been a part of my being. As much as I am me, Borges and his incredible writing is an integral part of that persona. 

He was Argentina’s favorite son, one of the great South American writers of the last century (along with Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carlos Fuentes, and Mario Vargas Llosa), and the winner of 46 national and international literary prizes.

Borges was the master of the postmodern short story.

"The Garden of Forking Paths" (1941) presents the idea of forking paths through networks of time, none of which is the same, all of which are equal. Borges uses the recurring image of "a labyrinth that folds back upon itself in infinite regression" so we "become aware of all the possible choices we might make."[65] The forking paths have branches to represent these choices that ultimately lead to different endings. Borges saw man's search for meaning in a seemingly infinite universe as fruitless and instead uses the maze as a riddle for time, not space. [Wikipedia].

By the late 1950s, he had become completely blind. The irony of his blindness as a writer and lover of the written word was expressed in 'Seven Nights':
   
    Nadie rebaje a lágrima o reproche
    esta declaración de la maestría
    de Dios, que con magnífica ironía
    me dio a la vez los libros y la noche.

          No one should read self-pity or reproach
          Into this statement of the majesty
          Of God; who with such splendid irony,
          Granted me books and blindness at one touch

Borges was born in 1899, and to celebrate his 100th birthday (though he died in 1986), Philippe Molins directed the documentary, Jorge Luis Borges: The Mirror Man.

The film’s major strength is that it’s a bit of everything – part biography, part literary criticism, part hero-worship, part book reading, and part psychology.  But most importantly, it is Borges.

   Jorge Luis Borges: The Mirror Man - 1/6

 

The Modern Word, a favorite site for browsing, has a large section devoted to Borges.

Roger Ebert Film Reviews

I will readily admit to being Roger Ebert's number one fan of countless years.  Occasionally he includes reviews written by correspondents from around the world. This is a review penned by Michael Mirasol, a fellow in Manila, and one of the most thoughful that I have encountered.  [Also great stills in the review.]

A great love story: "Brokeback Mountain"

"What's the last great love story you've seen on film? I don't mean your typical "rom-coms" with contrived meet-cutes that rely heavily on celebrity star power. I'm talking about a genuine romance between two richly defined characters. If your mind draws a blank, you're not alone. Hollywood, along with much of the filmmaking world, seems to have either forgotten how to portray love affairs in ways that once made us swoon. Whatever the reason, be it due to our changing times or priorities, we might not see any significant ones for some time.

If there is any love story of this kind worth revisiting, it is Ang Lee's BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, which just might be the most moving tale of star-crossed lovers for the past decade.

Not many people will remember the film this way, as its two lovers were hardly the kind seen before in major movie romances. Indeed, a story of two cowboys discovering a deep love for each other was bound to cause controversy. Who would dare take on such a subject? Were its motives exploitative? Political? A gimmick? Add in Ang Lee, the celebrated Taiwanese-born director known for ushering the new age of Sino-Cinema to Hollywood, and expectations could not possibly grow further.

But grow they did. Once the film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, a prestige not taken lightly in film circles, interest surged. Countless raves and recognitions seem to follow, which should have been reassuring to the thoughtful moviegoer. But to many who still hadn't seen it, one could only wonder: Could a gay cowboy movie really be that good?

. . . There will always be people who will no doubt criticize "Brokeback Mountain" as having a homosexual agenda, forever labeling it "the gay cowboy movie." But they're missing the point. It cares much less about promoting gay rights than about telling the sad tale of two people who have discovered each other, that they're not alone, and that they can't live without each other. They just happen to be men. If that isn't star-crossed, I don't know what is."

 


"Pair this imagery with Gustavo Santaolalla's guitar score, and you have the makings of an emotional reservoir. His twangs are spare, but with the movie, they are nothing short of sublime. You can almost listen to his notes echo through the mountainside. I didn't realize how affected I was until the day after. I purchased the soundtrack, and in the shower while listening to "The Wings," remembering Jack and Ennis, I wept."

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"Rango"

My Burmese/Thai buddy Jumraht, currently on TDY in Malaysia, showed up unexpectedly yesterday with a DVD gift, "Rango". 

"Rango" is an animated film made for adults, with enough action for kids — and not just any adults, but rather film-savy adults. 

A motor mouthed, couch-potato chameleon [Rango / Johnny Depp] gets stranded in the desert, at which point a spaghetti western of epic proportions begins.  Naturally it is peopled with a gigantic cast of the most wildly exaggerated animals ever collected, many in ten gallon hats, with imaginative dialogue and allusions to countless excellent films of the past.   Imagine a 'Star Wars' chase in a desert revine on giant Road Runners, animal outlaws riding giant helicopterish bats in a nod to 'Apocalypse Now' [complete with Wagner], a brief 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' episode and on and on it goes for two delightful hours.   Even includes an armadillo mystic and giant pill bugs used as golf balls  however the most important element is the recurring Greek chorus composed of Mariachi owls. 

This is not the usual Hollywood animated flick, but rather a ready-made cult classic.
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Oscar Winners and Historical Accuracy

And the Oscar for most historically inaccurate film goes to . . . all of them!

"The King's Speech" might take home the Oscar for Best Picture on Sunday, but judging from the criticisms it's receiving, it won't win any awards for historical accuracy.

King George VI didn't really stammer that badly, we've been told. Critics have also pointed out that Winston Churchill didn't actually think it necessary for the king's brother, Edward VIII, to abdicate the throne before marrying a divorced woman. We've also learned that Churchill was not nearly as fat as Timothy Spall portrays him (he was fat, of course, just not that fat, maybe a little pudgy) and that King George was far too plain and short to be played by the tall, handsome Colin Firth.

The criticisms are right - but they nitpick a good story to death. Historians see a film and ask how accurate it is. Filmmakers ask: How accurate does it have to be? Part of what makes historical movies Oscar-worthy is precisely their myth-making. "The King's Speech" does what such movies should do: use facts to create drama. It's happened before. It will happen again. And it's not necessarily a bad thing.

The Oscar voters have often favored historically faulty movies, with the inaccuracies ranging from minor details to outright fiction. In "Patton," 1970's Best Picture, Axis and Allied powers fought each other in the same kind of tanks - American ones, manufactured after the war. "Braveheart" in 1995 put Mel Gibson in a kilt, even though his character, William Wallace, was a lowland Scot (and only highlanders wore kilts). Ridley Scott's "Gladiator," honored by the Academy in 2000, killed the Emperor Commodus in the gladiatorial arena, when in fact he was offed in his bath. . . . . "