Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

I guess I am more of an optimist than a nihilist because if I were the latter I would just say: Dumb-as-a-board American voters deserve Romney. I would listen to my mother's recount of her friends' blasting Biden for laughing at Ryan during the debate (And just who the fuck is this Ryan except a dip-shit acolyte of the now-departed, bat-shit crazy, pseudo-philosopher, Ayn Rand?) and think: Sure, let Romney get in and gut their commie-socialist programs like Medicare and Social Security. Serves them right.

 

But deep under the layers of cynicism which guard my soul, there must be strands of hope because I don't want a Republican president nor Congress. I don't want a gutting of the few social programs we enjoy (How do you like going back to work at 80, Granny?) nor the hammering of women back into a Taliban-West mode of living when decisions about their bodies are once again controlled by the sex-obsessed right wing government.

Maybe we are just a nation of stupid, wanna-be jocks who can remember the plots of reality shows but not recite any article from the Bill of Rights, except Article II of course. Maybe our species is just a more sophisticated, but essentially totally feral mammal. Maybe given speech, dogs would also look at their human masters and say: Fuck you.

 

But I gotta hope that we, as a species, are making baby steps towards active compassion and logical thinking so that perhaps eons from now when those aliens from far off planets (which, if we watch the Sci-Fi channel, we know are observing us) will make a fly-by, look down on earth and say: Hey, these guys might be worth saving.

 

This website is an oldie, but with a new twist:

 

http://bigbraindiscovery.com/GoodvsEvilPainting.html 

 

It's the 2006 Chinese artists' painting: Famous People Painting - Discussing the Divine Comedy with Dante where you click on each person for a Wikipedia bio. It's a good way to get instant history and while Wikipedia should not be the "most trusted name" in information, I think their entries are much better than they once were.

Be sure to scroll down to the this link: **NEW**The Most Evil and Good People in History, at:

 

http://bigbraindiscovery.com/GoodvsEvilPainting.html

 

Here, a lot of the faces were unfamiliar to me. Once again, you're taken to Wikipedia to be enlightened. 

 

Finally:

 

http://iliketowastemytime.com/2012/10/02/rare-historical-photos-pt-2-19-pics

 

Not a painting this time, but pictures from the past with captions to help place them. As you know, I'm fascinated by pictures from the past. After you scroll through this page be sure to click the top links. A sampling of what you get: The aftermath of a snowball fight at Princeton U. from 1893; Joseph Goebbels' wedding with Hitler as best man; photo shopping from Stalin's regime. Fascinating stuff, here.

 

That's it for today. See you next Wednesday.

 

 

 

 

 

  

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Movie Monday

 

I just don't get the undecided voter in this US presidential election. Now, I get if the polled person is asked: Are you going to vote for a President this year or not? and answer: I'm undecided.  

 

Conservatives, who would always vote Republican but think that Romney is not of the "true faith" might say: I'm undecided. Progressives, thinking that Obama has really let them down, might have the same response. But I can't imagine that either conservatives or progressives would be undecided as to whether they will push the button for Romney or Obama. It makes no sense.

 

Even I, liberal progressive which I am, and disappointed in Obama's progressive record, never mused: Say, maybe I'll vote for Romney instead of Obama. I'm undecided.  Romney was never a choice.

 

Is it just an ego-booster for the survey taker to say to the pollster: Undecided, thus announcing to the political world: You'd better woo me? Or are Americans just so wrapped in their cocoon of consumerism and/or jaded beyond redemption because the rich and the uber-rich have raped the country without remorse or punishment for so long that they really don't care who wins this election? Either way, it's scary and sad. 

 

Vampyr, the 1933 German classic, was going to be my review pick today. But I couldn't do it! Now, I've ditched movies because of excessive violence or horrible acting but this is a first: I lasted about 5 minutes before the wallpaper did me in!

 

I can take slow, expressionistic German movies. I can take their slow directorial pace which includes the unnatural slowness in the actor's movements [in the 1930s, many actors still came from the stage (where timing is different) to the movies.] I can even excuse the poor sound and film quality in such old films.

 

Commenter, Stephen, says it best in IMDb:  Shot with little camera movement in a house of small rooms and short ceilings(not the typical horror mansion) where the scariest thing is the fleur-de-lis print wallpaper. 

 

Yes, the wallpaper did me in. How was I going to accept a vampire horror film with that prosaic wallpaper which probably adorned the walls of many, many newly married grand-parents or great-grand parents of today? Because unless you're Red Riding Hood, going to grandma's house is never scary.

 

So I ditched Vampyr for this week, though maybe weakness will get me and one day soon I'll watch this public domain movie on my computer. If only I can get past those walls!

 

But, once again, Sunday night pulled my fat out of the fire and I got to see a reviewable movie: That Guy... Who Was in That Thing (2012)

 

Now while I watch far too many movies, I have never understood how actors can bare their souls. I'm creative in that I knit stuff and I guess you could shatter me by saying of my work: That's a piece of crap. But you're insulting my work, a separate object from me. With actors, when they get rejected they have no such buffer. Unless they build up a thick skin and very strong ego, rejection at an audition tells them: You're a piece of crap. I would never be brave enough to hear such rejection over and over again.

 

That Guy... Who Was in That Thing  is a documentary where 12 pretty recognizable character actors talk about their profession. This is not a rags to riches documentary: "And they all worked very hard and look where they are now." This documentary pulls you into the hand-to-mouth existence of approximately 96% of actors. They talk about not having an audition for 1/2 a year and not working for two years. Even the ones you will recognize from hit movies are left rudderless when the movie ends and have to scramble for more work. These are not your stars who walk the red carpet. These are your yeoman actors who so often steal the scene in their minor roles but whose name you can never quite remember. They talk about supporting families in tough economic times where acting jobs are drying up as is the actor's pay. They talk about the audition process (hate it), the luck factor in acting and the presence of very supportive wives. The anecdotal stories they tell don't always have a happy ending.

 

You listen to riveting ramblings about so many aspects of the acting profession. Behind everything they say, is the creative drive which keeps them plodding along. What sounds like hardship and heartache to the listener must give them moments of bliss which makes practicing this insane profession worthwhile.

 

I can't say I came from this movie thinking: Now, I understand why people act but this is a "must see" acting documentary. Although this is definitely an all-talking film, I was still ready for more when the credits started rolling. You won't be disappointed.

A 10/12/12 Knitting Friday Correction

Because editing posts after they are published is such a bear, I'll just add a short post with a correction to the 10/12 Knitting Friday.

Picture #2 of the Advent Scarf shows one full pattern and then a piece of another pattern under it. The full pattern does not have any added twisted stitches; these edge stitches look like they are part of the pattern. However, the pattern under it does have a twisted stitch edge. It also looks like Picture #3 has the twisted stitch edging.

I couldn't see this until I published the post and clicked to enlarge the picture.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Knitting Friday

#Before tinking

 Well, I guess it could be worse. The sweater on the left from last week has been tinked to before the armholes. What did I learn: When you are adding sleeves, be sure to make the yoke deep enough. As you know, I usually make sleeveless pullovers and wear them in cotton in the summer over camis and in wool in the winter over long sleeved tees or blouses. (Interesting aside: you can get a lot of very good bargains on winter outwear in small sizes. However, if you wear a long sleeved sweater with them they are much too tight. Wear a wool sleeveless pullover over a long sleeved tee instead and you can save a lot of money in outerwear.) 

 

The yellow pullover above is in wool for winter but I made the yoke width about 5.5 inches. OK, for summer wear when you don't have sleeves. If you're adding sleeves, you should go about 7 to 8 inches before you bind off for the armholes. Notice in the picture above that the sleeve is awkwardly attached to the body.

For some reason, I didn't see that until I tried on the almost finished sweater (I must have had love blinders on!) The sleeves were wide enough and the body was wide enough but the sleeve was set so awkwardly it pulled the entire bode section out of kilter. I felt like I was wearing my first knitted sweater all over again. In its new reincarnation, this top will be just another sleeveless pullover in the toke stitch. 

 

 Scarf Modifications:

 

First, if you want to make the 2011 Advent Calendar Scarf, go to:

 

http://www.von-stroh-zu-gold.de/muster/ 

 

and scroll down for the pattern. You may want to make copies of the patterns soon since Wolkistchen (her Ravelry name) has announced an Advent Scarf for 2012 and she may take down the 2011 one.

 

#2 2011 Modified Advent Scarf

 

Last Friday, I showed a scarf which was developing from my pattern stitch swatches and mused about using better yarn and making a Pattern Swatch Scarf. I mentioned that I had made the 2011 Advent Calendar Scarf/Shawl in different patterns but also I had used 56 to 58 stitches for the patterns, not the recommended 90+ stitches.

On the right (#3), you can see one of the patterns used (you work 4 rows of garter between each pattern) and you can see two stitches on the right side (and on the left but you can't see that) which I added to make the stitch count right.

On the left (#3), is another pattern with extra border stitches. 

#3 2011 AS another border stitch

I just found my notes from this project (I can't believe I was that organized) and I start out writing: At this point, only Day 6 is problematic since with the original pattern you need 59 sts (the most so far.) I listed all the days I was working. It looks like I worked 15 days, not becomes of problems with modifications but because it was getting too long - 96".

I must have first gone through all the patterns I was using and marked off the pattern repeat sections and worked out a list:

Day 1: 13 st rep, 56 sts CO

Day 4: 8 st rep + 4 + 4, 56 st CO, Eliminate 1st K st in the patt.

Day 6: 14 st rep + 17; 59 sts (or three 14 st patt repeats [42 sts] + 6 twist sts [12 sts] = 54 sts CO)

 

The list goes on but you can see that I worked out Day 6 which was originally a problem.

 

While I doubt, even with these notes, I could sail through making this modified scarf again, I do get the whole modification concept now and probably could work myself back into the particulars.

 

From the pictures above, it looks like I used two different types of extra border stitches but my notes say I used the twisted stitch. Now, the twisted stitch in usually just knitting in the back loop of the stitch. Not here, it isn't. Unbelievably on Day 18, I wrote:

 

TS = twisted st: K 2nd st on needle in BL (back loop) then K 1st st in FL (front loop)

 

So every twisted stitch in this pattern is really two stitches each side. I guess I was OK with at least extra 4 stitches in some patterns but if you only wanted to add 1 extra stitch each side (= 2 total) you could work a single, lonely seed stitch up the edging.

 

The bottom line is: You can drastically modify a scarf or shawl pattern if it has no increases or decreases. You just have to work out your game plan ahead. One more thing: Don't skimp on the edge stitches on a scarf. This Advent Scarf used an edging of only 3 K sts. Way not enough to prevent curling.

#4 Crocheted neck band

And finally: Every time I knit with black yarn, I say: never again. Of course, then I proceed to knit with black yarn. What you see on the left is a crocheted neck band which started life as a cardigan. But after only 2", I had made so many mistakes (lace in black is not fun) that I frogged the whole thing.

But I like the concept of crocheting the neck band, so: 

1. Leaving a long tail, with DK yarn and an I hook, chain 6. 

2. Using the last chain as a chain one, turn and work 5 single crochets (sc) into each chain across. 

3. *Turn. Chain 1 and work 5 sc across.* 

4. Work *...* to your desired length. 

5. Once there, turn and using the needle size you'll be using in your garment, pick up x number to stitches (I usually get 70 to 80 stitches.)

6. Join and add a marker.

7. Working only from the right side now, increase the number of stitches you want for your yoke. (I go from 140 to 160 depending on yarn used and needle size.)

8. Then just work your top-down pattern as usual.

9. Use the long tail of yarn to join the collar. (Or you could leave it and join it with an attractive button.)

10. This joining point will be the right or left side of your neckband.

Next week, I'll post a picture of this top. It's in stockinette this time. See you then. Happy knitting.

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

OK, I survived the dentist. Once again, I grew more bone than needed (it covered the implant) so he had to chip away. Lovely.

 

Have to be up and out early this am; plus I spent the evening ripping out the yellow sweater I was making (Why did I ever decide to add sleeves? More on this Friday.) so I'm in an "awake, moving and jumpy" mode. Let's get going!

 

http://www.partiallyexaminedlife.com/podcast-episodes/ 

 

The Partially Examined Life also has a blog (click Home or Blog) but I've been fixated on these philosophy podcasts.  It's three guys with philosophy degrees who discuss a whole bunch of philosophers and their theories. 

 

Sounds stuffy? It is definitely not stuffy.

 

Scroll down the page for the entire podcast selection. I've gone through Descartes and Freud, while knitting, of course. The podcasters are informed and amusing communicators. You really can't go wrong here. It's a good way to pleasurably discover the panoply of philosophies which helped shaped Western society for better or worse. In fact, I'm so engrossed in this stuff, after hearing the podcast on Freud's Civilization and Discontents, I downloaded a free online course on the subject. I am psyched! P.S. They also discuss MLK, DuBois, Cornell West, and No Country for Old Men. These guys are cool.

 

And also, there's:

http://www.plan59.com/av/av_08.htm

 

Plan 59.com. And just what were Plans 1 through 58?

 

You knew I wouldn't leave you without a picture site. You get all sorts of ads from the 1950s here when everyone was so well-dressed and white. Don't forget to click on More on the bottom of each page for a greater glimpse of a long-ago age which, unfortunately, is still very comfortable to an influential segment of the US population. I could do a PhD thesis from these pages alone. They are a treasure trove (never used that phrase before, I'm sure) of social history. Take a look at the people at fun and the people at business. Notice the expressions never changes and I challenge you to find a piece of litter. Can you imagine living in such a stilted society? This may be Mormon heaven on earth!

 

Be sure to click everything at Plan 59; like on their Home page, click Enter for more amazing ads from the time in the USA when people of color were the invisible men. You can also look at their blog page but it's not up-to-date.

Gotta go. Enjoy.

 

  

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Movie Monday - The Adventures of Tintin (a mini review)

 

I go to the dentist in a few hours so I'll use that for an excuse to rush. Big day, my gums get cut open and the titanium rod gets added. Really looking forward to this!

 

Usually, I might discuss politics on Mondays or Wednesdays but I didn't see the first presidential debate (not that this would stop me). DH did and said Obama blew it and Romney lied. Not too surprisingly since they kept intoning that Romney was going to be terrible that he just had to appear in a good suit to win. (Like getting 200 points for just putting your name on your SAT.) 

 

Whatever. I'm voting for Obama, the lesser of two evils since he is much more the protector of capitalism as we practice it here in the USA than a progressive leader concerned about social and economic ills. However, Romney would just be a catastrophe because he and his party reside and pontificate from an alternative reality rather than where the vast majority of mankind lives. Though, until we modify the brand of capitalism practiced in the US and use its profits for social good, I give the future very modest hope A stupid, greedy giant is the worst elephant in the room and that is what we are.

 

And moving from those cheery thoughts to movies ----- what the hell is happening to my movie package? Talk about dross leading dross. This week, I had the choice of reviewing The Muppets or V/H/S. I took an instant pass on The Muppets since I have seen way too many Muppet opuses to sit through another.

 

V/H/S was part of the HD Net channel's sneak previews before they hits the theaters. I only lasted a few minutes on this one. Could it be that I'm just too jaded to sit through another mindless blood soaked horror flick? Directed like the documentary style of The Blair Witch Project, a group of young people are paid to break into a deserted house to retrieve a valuable VHS tape. Soon they are wandering the house and watching disturbing videos as they go from room to room. When I say "disturbing" I mean that the one I popped in on, turned to blood gushing horror in seconds.  Box Office Mojo says V/H/S made $40,000 on its opening weekend. Case closed.

 

Then, just this morning (what is it with these finds in the wee hours of Monday morning?) I discovered we were getting the Epix channel as a freebie. And I got to see the end of The Adventures of Tintin. The positive: I loved the cute, white Scottish terrier; but I'm a sucker for dogs. The negatives: There was so, so much CGI tear-up-the-scenery action and violence. This time everything was performed by CGI characters such as Gollum was (Peter Jackson produced) except this time they were not ugly as he was - and wore more clothes.

 

Now The Adventures of Tintin is probably perfect for the kiddies but I'm getting a little tired of CGI action and violence just because you can push the envelope. Fellas, just because you can, doesn't mean you have to: More and bigger is not always better. Of course, Tintin made almost $400M so who cares what I say? However, if you read the "Hated it" comments on IMDb user reviews, it's not just passing criticism but there is a very deep dislike of the movie in these reviews..

 

But I'm going to leave you with a great movie link and promise for next week.  First the link:

 

http://www.empireonline.com/500/ 

 

Click and get 500 films which Empire Online says are "the greatest movies of all time." Believe that or not, it's a fantastic list of movies. Click the "read more" below each mini review and you get a complete review by an Empire writer with a neat, short "Verdict" summary at its end. Plus, scroll further down the page to read other reviews by "real people.". You'll be busy for hours, days, months........(This link should definitely make up for my paltry reviews today.)

 

And the promise? As I type, I'm taping two movies for next week. One is a classic vampire flick (no, not Lugosi, but so appropriate for the Halloween month) and the other is a before-its-time noir. So, if nothing appears worthwhile in my movie package this week, I'm still prepared.

 

That's it for today. Got to start thinking: dentist, drill, oh, no! See you next Monday.
 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Knitting Friday

 

Can you believe it? I have sworn to behave myself and not buy any yarn until I create a serious dent in my stash but then Knit Picks has a new yarn sale and I'm over at the site looking for just that perfect yarn within my price point. I didn't find it but you can't say I didn't try. I have no shame!

 

Discussing my diet would be appropriate today because unless I "stay the course", the 5 skeins of 181 yards each of Patons True North  DK I'm using for this:

#1 Will I have enough yarn?

 will not be enough. You're looking at 1 skein used and two more partial skeins being used for the body and one sleeve; I have two full skeins left. I stopped knitting the body and worked the sleeve just be to sure that I could make sleeves with 1 skein each. The sleeve shown reaches my elbow so I can stop there if I have to though I may be able to make it longer. That is, unless I have to use that sleeve skein for the body since, while it looks like I've worked the body to a few inches below the underarm, when I tried it on it was barely below the underarm. 

 

Which is where the diet comes in. I need to lose another inch around my chest. Well, I have started to use the treadmill for 40 minutes a day and added an incline. Let's hope that helps. This is going to be very tight yarn-wise (size-wise, however, it seems OK.) I have two bearish alternatives if I don't have enough yarn. 1: Begin again from the bottom up where I would go from knitting 112 stitches for the body to less then 100 for the yoke, as opposed to the 140 sts in the yoke and 112 sts in the body now. Just the few extra rows I get that way may do the trick, or 2: I could just eliminate the sleeves and make a vest pullover. However, making either change would be the pits.

I did have good intentions when I pulled out this yarn (at least it's 50% wool so it splices) because I'm using my entire stash of it; no partial skeins left only good for a variegated blanket I don't need.

The pattern comes from the knit-in-the-round The Enchanted Pullover: 

http://waggledancing.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/free-pattern-for-friday/

 

I just used the toke stitch lace, not the pattern. I was looking for a lace stitch which was not my usual lace. I really like how it's working up but it is a very non-ergonomic pattern. That is, the third row is a *P1, (K and P in one stitch), bring the P1 over these 2 stitches.* This may work more smoothly with continental knitting but it's a lot of wrist, hand movement  the way I knit. The only good thing is if you forget to do the P stitch pass over on Round 3, on Round 4 you're looking at a clump of 3 stitches (there should be a clump of 2) and you can do the pass over from Round 3 there just before you work those 2 stitches for Round 4 (a P1, K1). 

 

I'm using the hole in my KP needle to make lifelines as I go along.

 

Starting this pattern brought to mind a tip: Don't waste your swatch stitches, make them into a scarf.

 

I got this idea because while I don't swatch for size (I know, me bad), I do swatch for patterns. That is, if I read an interesting pattern stitch, I'll cast on about 20+ stitches and work about 10 rows. 

 

#2 A swatch scarf?

That's how I got picture #2 which consists of a lot of stitches I considered for the yellow top. I think the toke stitch is the third pattern up but I just kept adding patterns until I realized I might have an idea here.

The Swatch Scarf (or if you're adventurous, The Swatch Shawl)

Equipment: US 10 needles, sport weight or light DK yarn, a counter

Note: It would be nice to use the same number of stitches for each pattern but unless you're using all patterns which are multiples of 2, that won't happen. You can move between patterns differing in one or two stitches without worrying. However,  if you go from a 28 stitch pattern to a 22 stitch pattern you have to "flesh out" the 22 stitch pattern or your scarf width will look wonky. You do this by adding an interior border on each side of the pattern of:

*K1 back loop (bl), P1* 

or 

*K1bl, P1, K1bl*

 or even just:

*K1bl*

which would give you 6, 4 or 2 extra stitches.

So a 22 stitch pattern would become a 28 stitch row this way:

K1bl, P1, K1bl - 22 stitch pattern - K1bl, P1, K1bl - for 28 stitches

To start: Gather about 2 to 3 pattern stitches to begin and decide on your number of cast on stitches. (see Note). Add 10 stitches to this number for 5 seed stitch border each side.

1. Cast on X stitches. Within 1 to 2 stitches, this number doesn't change.

2. Work 5 rows in seed stitch.

3. Start your first pattern row working: 5 sts seed - pattern - 5 sts seed

4. At the end of your first pattern (work as many repeats as you like), end on the right side and work 4 rows of seed before the next pattern. (Always do this after each pattern.)

5. If the next pattern differs by more than 2 stitches, work an interior border mentioned in the Note this way: 5 sts seed - interior border - pattern - interior border - 5 sts seed.

 

Final Note: This pattern is really just a template. You can change the number of border stitches, the seed stitch rows between patterns in number or even use another pattern stitch, etc. You could work knit and crochet patterns throughout the scarf. Let your imagination fly.

This can be a "back burner" project which you add to periodically or you can assemble patterns from the get-go and finish it quickly. One thing I can promise, you won't be bored with making this scarf.

Next week: I'll post a picture of my Advent Mystery Sampler Lace Shawl where the assigned cast on was 96 stitches and I wanted to reduce that to 56 stitches. That's how this interior border idea was started. We were given 24 patterns and I think I was only unable to modify one of them. Happy knitting!

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

I did see the video of Bill Marriott, chairman of that hotel chain, introducing his best bud, Mitt Romney, at a fundraiser with the anecdotal story of when Bill took his grand kids across the lake in his yacht (he didn't say yacht but "wink, wink, nudge, nudge") for ice cream and found the dock was full. So the kids jumped off and poor Bill was left with no one to handle the ropes. Not exactly a rescue at sea scenario but trusty fellow Mormon, Mitt, was johnny on the spot to save him from "death at sea at the end of the dock." And as, Bill reminded his audience, Mitt will save the country.

 

As Daily Kos says: This stuff writes itself. 

 

A lot of people are paralleling the insouciance of the rich to the time of the French Revolution. They're forgetting the whole period of the late 1800s in the US with the robber barons and the building of places like Newport, Saratoga Springs and Tuxedo Park on our east coast. Back in those days of the robber barons there was this concept of the Protestant Ethic where the rich Protestant was told he had a obligation to help those less fortunate. (Like telling a kid: Honey, I'm giving you 30 pounds of candy, be sure to share.) This was back in the time when "good form" counted (remember Bruce Ismay's fate after the Titanic which I mentioned on Monday?), so perhaps for every 20 rich trinkets acquired by a rich man, the workhouse got a donation.

 

But I'm really interested in the comparison to the French Revolution with its underlying meaning that is: Like back then, those rich snots are riding for a fall. For, except for the fact that once again in history we have a very, very rich minority ruling over the poorer majority and establishing an economic system which will always favor these rich, there really isn't a comparison at all.

 

France, before the revolution of the 1790s had centuries of kings backed by (and hindered by) a rich elite minority who made their fortunes off the backs of a much poorer population. In the US, even though our Constitution is more a business document helping to keep fortunes rising up and not down, for a long while we had real social and economic programs which helped the less fortunate and did pull them far out of poverty.

 

So it's really not a comparison we should be making between now and pre-French Revolution but a question we should be asking: How did the US come to this? 

 

I'm afraid I'm not starting with a "fun" site:

http://www.interesno.dn.ua/interesting-photo/interesting-all-photo/14-interesting-all-photo/238-interesting-photo

 

but these pictures haunt me. Obviously, they are pictures from WWI and WWII and almost all of those pictured are long dead. It's just amazing to see this slice of history. It's slice of brutal history because war is probably the most ultimate horror our species created and still revels in perfecting. 

 

OK, I may get limited interest with this one:

http://fabyoubliss.com/

 

Well, maybe not because men looking for gift ideas might find some won't-break-the-budget ideas here.  Fab You Bliss calls itself: a lifestyle blog which focuses on DIY crafts, fashion, cooking, weddings, photography & inspirational topics.

 

I usually don't go with fashion/beauty sites but I liked the combination of fashion hints and make-it-yourself projects here. This site has a warm, welcoming aura. Whether you're drooling over her recipe for carrot cake, getting ideas for hidden storage space or looking at some very attractive and sensible fall fashions, you get the feeling that this site was well thought out to make it fun, informative and practical. Take a look.

 

Don't miss:

 

http://www.trekearth.com/ 

 

I love Trek Earth, probably because I'm so lazy and, sitting at my computer, it takes me around the world but not in the touristy way. Trek Earth's mission is: TrekEarth is dedicated to fostering a global community interested in photography from around the world. TrekEarth members strive to provide engaging photographs and useful critiques for each other and the entire internet community. So, while it's primarily geared to photographers, the rest of the world, looking over TrekEarth shoulders, gets a visual treat and a global education.

Americans travel a lot but I would bet that most of the tourist dollar is spent on the "safe" attractions around the world. You'll get your Eiffel Tower at TrekEarth but more importantly you'll get a Slovenian morning, Vietnamese girls in beautiful indigenous clothes, and the Ramnath Devasthan Mandir in Goa. Each photo is accompanied by the photographer's words.

 

OK, I'm done for today. I don't think I'll be listening to the US presidential debates tonight. No one should have to suffer through the one-line zingers Romney is apparently preparing. Oh, the horror! See you next week.

 

 

 

     

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday - On Propaganda

I lost everything I typed! I meant to check another site for information and I clicked this site and just "moved on"; that is, a blank posting screen appeared and all my previous golden words were lost.

Oh well.

I came to this Monday with very little until 2 am this morning when I caught the opening credits of the TCM Sunday foreign movie pick. It was Titanic, the 1943 German version which Goebbels approved with a big budget but then forbade German distribution because he felt the destruction of the Titanic too depressing for a German populace which was being subjected to allied bombings.

The Titanic is only the McGuffin for this interesting piece of anti-British, anti-capitalism screed but it's still a very well-done movie with much better plot points than Cameron's 1997 touted opus. Technically and thematically, the Germans made a tight, well-flowing movie. Their propaganda is "in your face." The capitalists, the rich, the British are really bad mothers in this movie and the only good rich woman becomes so after she loses all her money. What's unusual is that the director (the first director was removed from the film for anti-German navy remarks and found hanged in his cell) was able to do this without making the rich into stick figures. It's obvious that you're supposed to hate them but the skill here is keeping them from falling into the mustache-twirling villains of the silents. You get your love interest, your stock manipulation, your steerage class strum and drang but there's none of the wallowing syrup found in the 1997 American version.

If the propaganda is heavy-handed in the German Titanic, just 15 years later you get a more subtle propaganda in another well-made Titanic movie; this time the British version, A Night To Remember. Here, the put-down of the rich is in the undercurrent such as an early scene where all the children from the work house stand outside the manor house and wave on the lord and lady as they leave for the voyage. One servant riding on the top of their carriage says to another: They want to be sure of their Christmas turkey. It's a throw away scene, but the message is there.

Once on board the ship, the emphasis of each movie is very different. The German version spends time on the desire for speed in order to break records and bring profit, and a sub-theme of manipulating Titanic stock; the English version spends its time on the the sinking and the "evil rich" theme is buried. (Though in both movies, Bruce Ismay, the White Star line chairman, is a villain.)

Which brings me back to propaganda: in-your-face vs. subtle. After seeing both movies, I have to say that the former is much more effective. A Night To Remember may take the more sophisticated approach to the manipulation of feelings but the German Titanic leaves no room for doubt of feelings. If you're going in for propaganda you really have to use what works.

However, because the Germans used such a broad brush in their movie, their ending has Ismay exonerated by the Titanic disaster inquiries. That may be factually true, but Ismay became society's piranha (Edit: Of course, I mean pariah though piranha is a nice touch.) and lived the rest of his life in obscurity. Unlike today when as the journalist, Mikael Blomkvist says in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: Bad behavior is rewarded.; "good form" mattered in 1912 among certain classes. Ironically, Ismay's reputation may have been saved if he had died on the Titanic.

It probably won't be easy to get a copy of the 1943 German Titanic but it's a very suitable addition to the WWII film propaganda mill and should be seen for that reason.