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Posts for October 2009
Martian tripod in Woking, England,
site of the initial invasion in
H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds"
(Photo by Nick Richards) |
In today's hyperkinetic speed of the internet and the 24-hour
news cycle, the life of a hoax
lasts only as long as the next news feed. But in 1938, with radio in its relative youth, Orson Welles broadcast a
version of the H.G. Wells
novel "War of the Worlds," that convinced some people that little green Martians were invading the
Earth.
Welles, enfant terrible and auteur of such films as "Citizen Kane," was never one to
shrink from controversy. On the night of October 30, 1938, he used the power
of a new medium to blur the boundaries between art and life.
With Bernard Herrmann and CBS studio musicians
playing the part of the "real" act of Ramon Raquello and his orchestra, Welles interrupted
the broadcast with a report of a strange metallic craft landing in a field in
the sleepy hamlet of Grover's Mill, New
Jersey. Phony reporters, played by Mercury
Theatre actors Frank Readick, Kenny
Delmar and Ray Collins, then went on to describe to horrified listeners
the appearance and advance of sinister aliens who vaporized weak
earthlings with death rays.
Although the extent
of the hysteria has been exaggerated, a number of people did frantically
call their neighbors or flee with their belongings. The panic, as it was,
lasted until listeners turned to other channels and heard announcers debunking
the hoax.
The aftermath of the broadcast brought a fierce public
debate about the role and responsibility
of the media -- one that continues to this day. Welles, ever the enigma, never could be pinned down on whether the broadcast was designed to elicit
the reaction that it provoked.
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
War of the Worlds Broadcast, Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, Orson Welles, H.G. Wells |
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Archived under: Aliens, Literature, Orson Welles, Radio, Science Fiction, Technology, War of the Worlds |
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Stalin, prior to death and relocation |
You know you're a bad guy when people don't want your body around, even after you're dead. Our case in point is Joseph Stalin, who was kicked out of his resting place on October 31, 1961. After his death, Stalin's embalmed body had been put in Lenin's tomb, but eight
years later, Khrushchev gave
him the boot. As part of the new leader's De-Stalinization campaign, Stalin's corpse was moved to a burial ground outside the walls of the Kremlin.
Stalin wasn't the first controversial person to have his corpse moved from its original resting place. In one of the more bizarre cases in history, John Wycliffe's body was dug out of its grave, burnt, and the ashes deposited into the Thames River in 1428 -- over forty years after he died. This posthumous condemnation was designed to prevent Wycliffe's Protestant supporters from using his body as a
relic. People sure did get their knickers in a twist about religion back then:
Wycliffe’s biggest offense was translating the Bible
into English.
As for Stalin, the removal of his body has spawned a generation of fantastic Soviet
jokes, which I learned from Emil Draitser's book, "Taking
Penguins to the Movies: Ethnic Humor in Russia." My personal favorite
regards a conversation between an ethnic Russian and an ethnic Georgian, who's
just noticed that Stalin's body has disappeared (note bene: Stalin was Georgian):
"Listen, comrade! What's happened to such a handsome
mustached man, his decorations all over him, who was lying over here? Where is
he? Where did you take him?"
In order not to embitter the Georgian, one of the
guards begins to explain: "Well, you know, his relatives came over…They took
him away."
"They took him away?! Can it be? And what about
him?" He points to Lenin, "Why didn't anyone take him away? Is he an orphan, or what?"
Indeed, Stalin is gone from Red Square, while Lenin
remains, even 50 years later. If you have a hankering to see the body of
somebody who died in 1924 (an odd memorial, if you ask me), you can still pay
your respects. You may, however, have to wait in line.
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Joseph Stalin, 20th Century Soviet Leaders, 20th Century Soviet History, The Cold War |
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Archived under: 1920s, 1950s, 1960s, Dead Celebrities, Death, History, Joseph Stalin, Russia |
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The frenzy is beginning to pick up for "New Moon," the first sequel in the immensely popular Twilight series, which is set for release on November 20. This time around werewolves get some facetime; vampires, apparently, aren't the only ones who can be angsty.
Werewolves making an appearance in a vampire series -- how appropriate. Werewolves are those classic monsters that, these days, only find themselves as interesting tangents in a story arc focused on other, more attractive, denizens of the dark underworld. Rarely are they centerstage ("An American Werewolf in London," "Ginger Snaps," "Blood and Chocolate," "The Howling"). Today there is deluge of books and movies populated by either sexy vampires or grotesque zombies: the stars of the horror scene. This is a world where werewolves find themselves desperately snapping at the scraps of side characters and tangential plotlines
But it was not always this way. The werewolf, believe it or not, might just be our oldest nemesis. Maybe in our modern, urban lives we have distanced ourselves from a time when nightfall did not signal the start of fervent activity out on the town or comfort on the couch. There was a time when nightfall meant only a feeble campfire and the gathered darkness of unknown wilderness all around us. It was a time when only the howling of some distant wolf pack could be heard from within the protective warmth of our campfires.
Even then we had dogs. But they must have also trembled, like their masters, at the sound of their wilder, more dominant cousins. Maybe this is one of the reasons for man's deep (some would say primal) fear and hatred of these animals. We kept the docile ones that would obey us and seek our affection. Wolves represent their evil doppelganger: the violent, untameable side of animal and man alike.
For that the wolf has become a legendary figure of evil, like the great Norse wolf Fenrisulfr. And from legends such as these came the werewolf. The legend of the Wolf of Magdeburg and the real-life Beast of Gevaudan, among other legends, were precursors to our modern ideas of what it means to be a werewolf.
Vampires get a lot of attention and they love it. They mope about to the strains of depressing emo music, complain about their superpowers, and strike modelesque poses at every opportunity. Werewolves have none of that. They get right to the point of blood and gore. No emo music: it's all thrash metal and ripping out throats. To illustrate: in the opening scene of the movie "Silver Bullet" there is no lengthy dialogue, no make-out scene, just a werewolf decapitating a man. That's what werewolves are all about, and that's why they deserve a return to the spotlight.
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Werewolves, Wolves, Horror Movies, Full Moon Superstitions, Folklore |
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Archived under: Animals, Horror, Monsters and Creatures, Movies, Mythology and Folklore, Vampires, Werewolves |
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When I was a kid, we were the family that put up a homemade Halloween display every year, each more elaborate than the last. My dad built dummies out of junkyard scraps and old clothes, and animated them with small motors, pulleys, and fishing line. My mom and I designed tombstones bearing terrible puns and my friends' names in cheesy rhyming epitaphs. For most of October, our house was lit by garish green floodlights, and we dramatically increased traffic on our little dead-end road. We even made it into the local paper. I'm sure the neighbors were thrilled. The more charitable ones probably called us The Addams Family; the less charitable -- well, I'm sure they had a nice party when we moved away.
If only we'd had the Internet for advice and inspiration we could have really annoyed the neighborhood! Thanks to some thriving online communities of Halloween fanatics, home haunters can now put together props and decorations that rival the ones at professional haunted houses. They can pick up theatrical special effects tricks, get advice on getting the audience to suspend their disbelief, and get instructions for their very own flying ghosts, bottomless pits, and even ghoulish Santas.
Best of all, a haunter doesn't need to spend, er, an arm and a leg, getting fancy decorations from the local party shop or Halloween store. The best props are homemade, because they're unexpected. After all, neighborhood trick-or-treaters have probably seen the motion-activated screaming skull in someone else's yard, but they won't be ready for a DIY rotten, lurching scarecrow!
Our homemade haunt was far from professional. By day the paper mache heads, curtain ghosts, and wooden tombstones wouldn't fool anyone, but by the light of the moon, they were surprisingly effective (especially when we sat among the dummies wearing masks and suddenly jumped up to greet guests). I always knew the display was good if I got up during the night, glanced out the window, and felt a jolt of panic at the crowd of hunched, misshapen figures gathered on the front lawn. Waiting for the adrenaline to wear off before going back to sleep was a happy Halloween tradition -- for my family, if not for the neighbors.
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Halloween Displays, Haunted Houses, Halloween, Halloween Activities and Crafts, Stagecraft |
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Archived under: Crafts, DIY, Decorating, Halloween, Holidays, Home and Garden, Homemade |
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Halloween enthusiasts of all ages like to get creative and crafty with costumes. But this holiday also brings out the artist in many who will use the pumpkin as their canvas. People are starting their jack-o’-lantern projects online, searching for ideas and inspiration, as well as patterns and instructions.
On Halloween night, countless pumpkins will sit in front of homes with their classic, old-fashioned faces. But their triangular eyes will be staring jealously across the street at the fancy pumpkins -- the ones with elaborately carved faces, elegant stencils, and ferocious demeanors.
If you'd like to try your hand at pumpkin carving, check out some galleries of images for ideas. Looking at all the amazing creations can be intimidating, but there are designs for all styles and skill levels. There are also a number of tutorials out there.
For those of us who wish to decorate pumpkins but aren't allowed to handle knives, an apple corer can produce some great effects. If you are squeamish about stabbing your pumpkin at all, you can paint it. Or you can do the humane thing and display them in all their natural glory.
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Jack-O'-Lanterns, Halloween Activities and Crafts, Halloween, Pumpkin Carving Tips and Templates, Pumpkin Carving Supplies |
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Archived under: Arts, Autumn, Crafts, Halloween, Holidays, Home and Garden, Jack-O-Lanterns, Pumpkins |
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