Blackmoor Vituperative

The US Supreme Court Monday handed the entertainment industry a major win in its ongoing battle to destroy the public domain and control all information everywhere.

In the MGM vs. Grokster case, judges voted unanimously that software companies may be sued when consumers use the service to share music and movies, overturning an earlier ruling that sheltered peer-to-peer services from frivolous lawsuits from the multi-billion-dollar entertainment industry.

Thanks to the Stepford Court and media brigands like MGM, you can’t create a device or technology that can be used in a way which will open the door to frivolous lawsuits, or you will become a target yourself. Thanks to Disney and the idiots in Congress, nothing ever written down, drawn, filmed, or recorded will ever enter the public domain again. Thanks to the software robber barons like Apple and Microsoft, even obvious applications of prior art will be licensed and controlled. Creativity will vanish, and gradually every form of expression will either be forbidden or will involve extortion money paid to the media brigands.

Make no mistake: this is the end of the world. It will get worse before it gets better.

We spent the last couple of days seeing people we haven’t seen in 20-something years. It was our 20-year reunion of the Menchville High School class of 1984. Initially, I didn’t want to go. Not that I was actually opposed to going, just that it didn’t particularly interest me. Why spend two days socializing with people who are, effectively, strangers? With one or two exceptions, I still keep in touch with anyone I actually cared about in high school. I didn’t really see the point of spending money to go hang out with people just because we happened to attend the same school when we were kids. I don’t feel any emotional attachment to my high school. But Susan talked me into it, so we went.

The first night was casual and social: hors-d’oeuvres, a cash bar, and unstructured socializing. The second night was semi-formal: eight or so to a table, a sit down dinner, a band, and some people danced (although the music was too loud for me). I enjoyed the first night better than the second. I got to talk to people I hadn’t seen in years, hear interesting stories, and tell a few stories. That was more difficult to do on the second night. The stories I heard were much more interesting than the ones I told: my life has been wonderful to live, but it is probably pretty dull to hear about. Other people’s stories were far more entertaining. To my surprise, I did actually run into several people I’d like to see again. A few of those do not live nearby, but perhaps we will run into each other again some day. West Virginia, at least, is fairly close by.

The funniest thing was that I saw my best friend from high school, whom I’ve not seen since 1991, when he attended our wedding. What is funny about that is that he had not been listed on the web page for the reunion, so I had tried to get in touch with him to see if he was coming. I searched Google, and I called people with his name across the USA, leaving no stone unturned (except one), and never found him or anyone who knew of him. It turns out that he works in Virginia Beach and lives in Norfolk, probably no more than twenty minutes’ drive from where I live, and that his parents still live around the corner from Susan’s parents in Newport News. I hadn’t even tried asking them where he might be, because Susan’s mother told us that his parents had moved several years ago. That was the one stone I left unturned, and wouldn’t you know it, that’s where I would have found him, had I looked.

Would it surprise you to know that I was a private investigator for a while around ten years ago? It just goes to show that you lose skills if you do not keep practicing them. Also, always verify your facts, no matter how trustworthy the witness seems. (And, in case you are curious, being a PI is nowhere near as much fun as it looks on TV. It mostly consists of looking up public records, sitting in cars at odd hours, and being underpaid for your time.)

Susan and I took a few pictures each night of the reunion. I’ve uploaded them to Night Gallery. They aren’t labeled: I do not remember everyone’s name, so I’d rather leave them all unlabeled rather than offend anyone by getting their name wrong. If they want to identify themselves, they are welcome to do so. I have to say that I was really surprised at how good everyone looked. The women were gorgeous, and the men, other than having big heads, looked pretty good, too. Not too shabby for people pushing forty.

There was talk about having another reunion in five years (or four years, I guess, since this one was technically a year late). I’m not sure I’ll be up for that. This one was really a lot of fun, and the organizers did a great job, but that seems really soon to me. But I’ll definitely be at the 30 year reunion, assuming that I’m still alive in 2014.

I imagine that you’ve heard of PETA, the group that would prefer to kill animals rather than allow them to live as pets? Oh, yes: you heard me right. The funny thing is that I used to support PETA, back when I thought they cared about animals. Then, in the late 1980s *(see note below), I learned the truth: that PETA is a radical organization that fosters vandalism and even terrorism against legitimate medical research laboratories, and that they don’t even care for the welfare of animals all that much. They are just as likely to kill animals as they are to find good homes for them.

Hmm, let me re-phrase that. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, and I’m being sloppy with my facts. It is not true that PETA is “just as likely” to kill animals as they are to find good homes for them. The fact is that PETA is over five times more likely to kill animals as they are to find good homes for them. PETA kills thousands of animals every year, animals which could have gone to good homes if PETA had just left them where they were. Not counting those that PETA held only temporarily — for spaying or neutering — the group killed over 85 percent of the animals it took in during 2003.

In 2003, PETA euthanized over 85 percent of the animals it took in, finding adoptive homes for just 14 percent. By comparison, the Norfolk (Va.) SPCA found adoptive homes for 73 percent of its animals and Virginia Beach SPCA adopted out 66 percent.

(from The Center for Consumer Freedom)

As I said before, this isn’t new. PETA has euthanized animals for years, and they are still at it. In Virginia last year, the activist group euthanized 2,278 animals, sterilized 7,641 and found homes for 361.

Of course, if killing animals by the truckload is your thing, or if you get a kick out of dumping animal carcasses into dumpsters by the dozen, then PETA might be the group for you. I happen to know that they’re hiring (those dead pets aren’t going to dump themselves).

* (Note: that was when I still lived in California, before I moved to Norfolk, VA — which is, oddly enough, the location of PETA’s headquarters.)

What you have heard is true: Batman Begins is a very good movie, and Christian Bale is too cool for school. I won’t bother repeating what everyone else has said, though: there are plenty of reviews on the web if that’s what you are looking for. But here’s something you may not have seen:

• How the Batmobile works
• How the Batsuit works

What I really love about Batman Begins is that it’s real: none of that crappy computer generated cartoon bullshit (let’s play Jeopardy: “Why did the last three Star Wars sequels suck, Alex?”). The Batman standing up on a gargoyle in Gotham City is a real guy (a stuntman). The Batmobile is a real car (several of them, actually). The fire that comes out of the jet is real fire. As How Stuff Works puts it:

The Batmobile is real. Every single time you see the Batmobile in the movie, you are seeing a real, physical object, not a computer-generated graphic. Whether it is driving on city streets at 100 mph, landing in the Batcave or pulling up to the scene of a crime, what you’re looking at is a real car. When the Batmobile flies 30 feet through the waterfall to land in the Batcave, what’s landing is a real, 5,000-pound vehicle. The Batmobile is so real that it actually served as the pace car for a major NASCAR race held in June 2005.

Now that’s just cool.

King Kong ain’t got nothin’ on this guy:

Peasant farmer Daniel M’Mburugu was tending to his potato and bean crops in a rural area near Mount Kenya when the leopard charged out of the long grass and leapt on him.

M’Mburugu had a machete in one hand but dropped that to thrust his fist down the leopard’s mouth. He gradually managed to pull out the animal’s tongue, leaving it in its death-throes. (Reuters)

A couple of hours ago, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the government can take your property at any time with any justification it deigns to provide. In a startling and surprising victory for corrupt governments everywhere (and those which aspire to corruption), the Court ruled that local governments may seize people’s homes and businesses for any reason, such as selling it to land developers to build hotels so that the city will gain more tax revenue. What you own is not yours. Your land is not yours. Your business is not yours. You have no property. You have no rights. You are a serf.

I hope for your sake that no one at City Hall covets anything you think you own.

That’s one more Amendment down, and only three to go. The 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, and 10th Amendments are all either dead or so horribly mutilated that death would be a mercy. Oh, well.

Incidentally, you sometimes hear about one of the Amendments in the Bill Of Rights “granting” this or that right. They do not. They merely recognize rights which all adults have. The rights, or the infringement thereof, exist with or without the Bill Of Rights. The reason for spelling them out in the first ten Amendments is so that those in the three branches of government could not claim ignorance when they violated those rights, as the Supreme Court has just done.

This is a good time to refer you to one of my favorite science fiction novels, Atlas Shrugged. It deserves a place next to such classics as Lord Of Light, 2001, and Dune as one of the great works of the genre.

Atlas Shrugged is a prophetic cautionary tale, one which grows closer to becoming reality with each passing year. In the world of Atlas Shrugged, society has become increasingly regulated, and the people are burdened with ever greater restrictions on what they can do. The ultimate purpose of this regulation is not to make society safer or more secure — its purpose is to make bureaucrats and their cronies richer and even more powerful.

Eventually, the oppressed begin to rebel by withdrawing from the society of their oppressors, and the stagnant society they leave behind slowly destroys itself.

It’s a long book. If it were published today, it would probably be released as a trilogy. Nonetheless, the plot, characterization, and writing are enthralling, and keep one’s attention from beginning to end. Atlas Shrugged is one of the truly great examples of 20th century science fiction. And if you do not see any parallels between the society Rand describes and the society the USA is turning into, then you simply aren’t paying attention.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Microsoft (along with Yahoo, Cisco, and Google — et tu, Google?) is helping the Chinese government oppress its people.

“Reporters Without Borders has been able to check that, as reported by several news agencies, when a Chinese blogger attempts to post a message containing terms such as “democracy”, “Dalai Lama”, “Falungong”, “4 June” (the date of the Tiananmen Square massacre), “China + corruption”, or “human rights”, a warning displays saying, ‘This message contains a banned expression, please delete this expression.’

Generally, “subversive” messages are displayed on Chinese-hosted forums and blogs but the banned words are automatically replaced with blank spaces.

The Chinese version of the MSN portal, along with the blog tool, were launched as a joint venture with a local state-controlled company, Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd (SAIL).”

Okay, so Microsoft is helping Big Brother oppress the people by censoring what they may read and write. So? That’s nothing new. Microsoft has always been happy to get into bed with the government, and use as much power as the law will let it get away with (such as using the police in Kenya and Brazil to prevent students from studying its code, or preventing competitors from starting new companies). I think it’s only natural that Microsoft would want to get on the good side of one of the most successful dictatorships on the planet.

Jason And The Argonauts was last night’s installment of the Doctor Madblood Presents. Ray Harryhausen considered it his best film. Personally, I prefer the various Sinbad movies, but it was still a lot of fun. Everyone talks about the skeletons, but for me the best scene was with Talos, the enormous bronze statue. The folks at Madblood Manor haven’t picked the movie for the next installment yet. Keep an eye on the NARO Expanded Cinema (757-625-6276; 1507 Colley Avenue, Norfolk, VA 23517) for more information.

It’s that time again: Fantasmo Cult Explosion at the Chesapeake Central Library:

Coming July 1st – Chesapeake Central Library, 298 Cedar Road – Fantasmo Episode 4: The Films of Tobe Hooper

While the name Tobe Hooper may not be as familiar as those of George A. Romero, John Carpenter, or Wes Craven, he still ranks as one of the most influential horror directors of all-time. While the casual viewer will be familiar with his more prominent films, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Poltergeist, Hooper was responsible for a number of innovative horror and sci-fi movies during the 1980’s. Although a string of high-profile box-office misfires eventually relegated this great director to working on straight-to-video obscurities, Team Fantasmo invites you to spend an evening discovering two of this underappreciated maverick’s finest epics! In addition to the spectacle of seeing two classic Hooper films on the big screen, Team Fantasmo is also pleased to welcome as guest host John Kenneth Muir. Mr. Muir is the author of THE definitive text on Tobe Hooper, Eaten Alive At A Chainsaw Massacre: The Films of Tobe Hooper.

The evening’s schedule is as follows:

7:00 p.m. – Meet the Author & Book Signing

7:30 p.m. – Author Talk

8:30 p.m. – The Funhouse (1981) – Team Fantasmo’s favorite Tobe Hooper film. Four teens decide to spend the night in a traveling carnival’s funhouse. Bad idea. This funhouse just happens to be inhabited by a deranged, mutant killer (isn’t that always the way). Hooper injects the 80’s slasher genre with a dose of creativity and atmosphere, creating one fun and unique rollercoaster of a movie! (Note: This film is Rated R and may be inappropriate for our younger Fantasmo fans).

10:30 p.m. – Invaders From Mars (1986) – Our second feature is a remake of the 1953 alien invasion classic . . . Tobe Hooper style. Featuring a great B-movie cast and top notch effects from John Dykstra (Star Wars) and Stan Winston (Jurassic Park), this update is non-stop action from beginning to end. Although it bombed at the box office in the wake of James Cameron’s Aliens, this underappreciated classic was meant for the big screen! Don’t miss this rare chance to see it as it was meant to be seen! Rated PG.

Be sure to join us for what promises to be a very special evening – if you attend one Fantasmo this year, make this that Fantasmo! See you on July 1st!

Tavmjong Bah is writing A Guide To Inkscape. Inkscape, in case you did not know, is an excellent open source drawing tool with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, and CorelDraw, which uses the W3C standard scalable vector graphics format (SVG).

Check it out.