We occasionally do get missives and postings on our postings. As with everything email, I make the assumption that all communications are intended to be taken in the best possible light. It's not so much about being 'up with people' as it is in preserving my remaining sanity. Or not hauling off on people who actually mean no harm, or are making an honest observation, or are asking an innocent question. And it keeps me from coming off as a bigger ass than I actually am. I hope. We recently received the following comment:
Norvell was my grandmother's brother. Thus, he's my great uncle. I
know some things you do not. I met him in the late 1970's in NYC.
You base a great deal of info on hearsay and have some early facts wrong. Oh, my
grandmother's maiden name WAS Troupo. My mothers married into a prominent
Southern family , and we abhor gossip and people who speak ill of the
dead. I have some great photos of Norvell with some of those stars you say
he duped. What about that copyright matter? You might have
unveiled his closet known living relatives. One of my several degrees is in
English and another in Theatre...my little recessive gene might just activate
and I could resume the lecture circuit and put my acting skills to good use.
Hummmmm...LOL! JWTIV
I did respond, but that doesn't mean I did it well. I suppose this makes me heartless: The saints didn't get to be saints just by dying. No virtue is due Capone, Hitler or your drunken Uncle Steve just because they are now worm food. In my cosmology, if you want to be thought well of after you go, do well, repent, be redeemed--or at the very least don't make a huge smudge mark out of your life.
I blundered into Norvell when I was doing research on Ideal Magazines and then kept tripping across his name. Not only did Norvell appear on a genre of pulp magazine (Movie Fan Magazines) but also seems to have penned a pulp or two himself. I really didn't know anything about him until I started digging--and in no way was I expecting what I found. As was the case with Courtland Young, they all aren't happy stories. For the most part, however, I consider people like Norvell outside of the scope of this blog.
I blundered into Norvell when I was doing research on Ideal Magazines and then kept tripping across his name. Not only did Norvell appear on a genre of pulp magazine (Movie Fan Magazines) but also seems to have penned a pulp or two himself. I really didn't know anything about him until I started digging--and in no way was I expecting what I found. As was the case with Courtland Young, they all aren't happy stories. For the most part, however, I consider people like Norvell outside of the scope of this blog.
Which is to say that I am kicking astrology, self help, dream books and other predictive tracts out of Pulp Fiction. As it is, I am far more inclusive of what constitutes "pulp" than the fine folks at Adventure House are. (Not that they are wrong.) Although astrology and its kin are fiction, as in that they are not true, they fail to be fiction in the literary sense. There is no character, no building of drama. Even though our pulp publishers sometimes produced this stuff by the skid load, it's more a time waster product like crosswords than it is a derivative of the pulp magazine, such as comic books, true crime or movie magazines. Or maybe I am being a snob?
There is no doubt that fresh drek is being pumped out daily. As with astrology, I am assuming the people writing these tracts KNOW that they are lying. To them it's probably just another gig paying at a set set rate performed to meet the rent and produced because there is a demonstrable market for the stuff. And this makes it different than stock market predictions and shows like Mad Money in what way? No doubt it is a genre of claptrap, but is it a genre of fiction? Fiction is, or should be, more than just lying. In any case, if there's some sort of fandom for these things let it be blogged about elsewhere. (Or I should handle it like a defective consumer product, given that I have branched out to that.)
***
Just as I was in the middle of composing this, a very good pal of mine made the statement that there was such a thing as "Bullet-Proof Monks", ie people good enough at meditation or whatever to literally be able to deflect, dodge or ignore the wounds from real honest to goodness firearms. When I reminded him of the monks China's Red Army mowed down by the score, this did not shake his faith.
Sigh.
I also have a good pal who believes that anti-grav has been available for years, but that the government won't take the lid off it because they fear drunk drivers plowing their flying cars into people's houses.
So, there you have it. I am unable to convince even the people in my immediate proximity that the fantastic is just that.
My war is lonely.
***
No Love For Mitt Romney***
Just as I was in the middle of composing this, a very good pal of mine made the statement that there was such a thing as "Bullet-Proof Monks", ie people good enough at meditation or whatever to literally be able to deflect, dodge or ignore the wounds from real honest to goodness firearms. When I reminded him of the monks China's Red Army mowed down by the score, this did not shake his faith.
Sigh.
I also have a good pal who believes that anti-grav has been available for years, but that the government won't take the lid off it because they fear drunk drivers plowing their flying cars into people's houses.
So, there you have it. I am unable to convince even the people in my immediate proximity that the fantastic is just that.
My war is lonely.
***
"Why People Don't Like Mitt Romney?" has now graduated from a theme amongst talking heads to an actual whole issue of Time Magazine. If Mitt wasn't such a hedge fund trader, I might worry about the damage to his self esteem. But Mitt is a hedge fund trader, so no worry need be wasted. In case you've missed it, the latest blather goes something like this...
Romney is a much better candidate than he was in 2008. He has focused on the issue where Barack Obama is most vulnerable–the economy. He has shown his mettle in the Republican debates. He seems more solid, and presidential, than any of his opponents, a slapstick lot, perhaps the most inept collection of presidential candidates in history.
And yet, he's losing to a collection of hand puppets. Mean hand puppets, at that. The type that play to audiences who shout out "Let them die!" during health care debates. There are, I think, two problems going on here--and only one of them is with Mitt Romney.
Since Mitt, and his lack of something, is the cause of the moment, let's start with the man himself. Mitt's a decent sort of fellow, the type of person you've probably worked for at one time. He is a little Jesuit-trained: the type who asks questions he already has the answer for and then leaves while you are in the middle of giving your answer. (I know he's a Mormon, but it's the same thing.) He's presentable. Has a nice handshake. For bonus points, he may even on occasion admit mistakes and, during a blue moon, take one for the team. I'm saying he's at least that good.
And that good will get you plenty far in life. Just on skills alone, Mitt is going to do well. But Mitt didn't get where he is, did not acquire his Fancy Dan skills, on his own. In fact, he would have NOTHING WHATSOEVER had he not popped out of the right gilded womb. Nothing wrong with that at all. But he's hardly his own man, and hardly a great man. And a President of the the United States has to be one of the two. Our current president, like him or not, is both.
Sadly for Mitt, memories of failed Presidents, both named Bush, who were neither great men nor their own men, are still pretty fresh in everyone's memories. And everyone includes Republicans, which brings me to the second problem...
The Republican Party stands for Whom? It's not really a question of what, but whom. Who does it cater to? Rich white people and religious white people. For outreach they have invented a philosophy called Conservatism. This philosophy has an attraction, but in application it has proven to be both malleable and fairly hollow. What the current crop of candidates has been preaching is not Conservatism (as it is understood by historians of the movement), but Utilitarianism--the philosophy of Scrooge and Atlas Shrugged. The appeal is negligible to anyone but the most unconscious of the HAVES.
If the party (which I consider MY PARTY) continues down its current demographic track, it will wind up appealing to a diminishing minority of eligible voters. There always has been something backwards about the movement, but it was something more than just pointing out how odd the liberals are. This is not the Conservative movement of Alex Hillman and the rest. (Who told Ayn Rand where to shove off in spades.) This is nothing at all. You need to have something in order to offer an alternative.
As it stands, the current Republican party will spit out a candidate who may very well lose 40 plus states. And that very well may be the end of them.
***
You Burn Me, I Make You Internet Famous
My current new place has a functional oven and a not so functional microwave. Long story short, the place came with a microwave. The microwave I brought sort of blew up with smoke and everything the first time I plugged it in. (It had been in storage.) The remaining microwave is kinda hacky and not really suited for making meals in--
--That and my sister contends that putting things in the microwave destroys their food value. She actually has some proof on this. (Enough to convince me.) Since my microwave sucks to start with, I have been using the O-V-E-N to make my food. Shocking, I know.--
--You have no idea to what extent I had previously gone to avoid oven use or actual cooking. I once even had a Toaster Oven. What an incredible tin-plated FRAUD those things are. As if I need help setting things on fire!--
--Which is to say that I have gone through all of the evolutionary steps needed to actually use an oven, except for the learning how to cook portion. I am still reliant upon what are called Ready To Eat Deliverables, mostly frozen meals, few of which have much to recommend them by. But I am a veteran frozen food user, so my expectations are extremely low. It takes quite a bit of ineptitude to actually get my attention on this score. But my attention has been caught (mangled) by a particularly egregious thing attempting to pass itself off as Chinese food, itself a fairly low thing on the totem pole to pass for. But FAIL it did.
Pagoda Express Shrimp Egg Rolls
Of course I am adult enough to know that the picture on the box is almost never of the product inside. In no way was I expecting this thing to be bursting forth with whole shrimp goodness nor goodness or wholeness of any kind. In fact, I was expecting the usual micro cube stucco bits of shrimp/pork found in so many similar products. Maybe I was expecting just a little bit more of such since Pagoda Express Egg Rolls are so much larger than the thing that doubles as a pizza puff or egg roll with other brands--and the fact that it cost three times the price.
In keeping with the fact that it did cost nearly what I would pay for take out (and the factors listed above) I prepared the rolls in my oven as per the box's instructions. May I state that there was not a thing wrong with the heating instructions. The rolls came out perfectly warm and not at all burnt. This is one of two perfections that this product sports.
The first thing I noticed is that it gave my entire abode "cabbage whiff", a thing which I was not expecting and has not happened since, even when reheating real egg rolls. I soon discovered the cause of this smell.
It seems the Pagoda is chock full of pre-boiled cabbage. And that's all, folks. I cut open all three of the things and found not another single ingredient. No little carrot dices. No other green things. Not a speck of shrimp or other meat like thing. Not a speck of anything that wasn't really soggy pre-boiled cabbage. And both the cabbage and the roll's shell were PERFECTLY WITHOUT TASTE. It had a texture, but that was about it.
Our Rating: Total Fail
***
PULP LIVES!
There are currently more neopulp offerings on your drugstore newsstand than I can keep up with. This latest one from Conde Nast (owner of The Shadow) is the most in keeping with the old form. Good shlock never dies.
***
(Pictured are three examples of very oddly named Love comics that I ran into. Since the Love field seems so poorly accounted for, I may make that the topic of my next research project. A new flat bed scanner is on my 'To Get' list, so we may soon have more scans from Midnight.)
By the way, Christmas In The Pulps is back up on the HIL-GLE (dot) com website, all new and updated.
***
Google has updated its blogging system and, for the most part, the modifications have been a real improvement. However, until I master them thoroughly, my typography is going to suck. Sorry about that.
If the party (which I consider MY PARTY) continues down its current demographic track, it will wind up appealing to a diminishing minority of eligible voters. There always has been something backwards about the movement, but it was something more than just pointing out how odd the liberals are. This is not the Conservative movement of Alex Hillman and the rest. (Who told Ayn Rand where to shove off in spades.) This is nothing at all. You need to have something in order to offer an alternative.
As it stands, the current Republican party will spit out a candidate who may very well lose 40 plus states. And that very well may be the end of them.***
You Burn Me, I Make You Internet Famous
My current new place has a functional oven and a not so functional microwave. Long story short, the place came with a microwave. The microwave I brought sort of blew up with smoke and everything the first time I plugged it in. (It had been in storage.) The remaining microwave is kinda hacky and not really suited for making meals in--
--That and my sister contends that putting things in the microwave destroys their food value. She actually has some proof on this. (Enough to convince me.) Since my microwave sucks to start with, I have been using the O-V-E-N to make my food. Shocking, I know.--
--You have no idea to what extent I had previously gone to avoid oven use or actual cooking. I once even had a Toaster Oven. What an incredible tin-plated FRAUD those things are. As if I need help setting things on fire!--
--Which is to say that I have gone through all of the evolutionary steps needed to actually use an oven, except for the learning how to cook portion. I am still reliant upon what are called Ready To Eat Deliverables, mostly frozen meals, few of which have much to recommend them by. But I am a veteran frozen food user, so my expectations are extremely low. It takes quite a bit of ineptitude to actually get my attention on this score. But my attention has been caught (mangled) by a particularly egregious thing attempting to pass itself off as Chinese food, itself a fairly low thing on the totem pole to pass for. But FAIL it did.
Pagoda Express Shrimp Egg Rolls
Of course I am adult enough to know that the picture on the box is almost never of the product inside. In no way was I expecting this thing to be bursting forth with whole shrimp goodness nor goodness or wholeness of any kind. In fact, I was expecting the usual micro cube stucco bits of shrimp/pork found in so many similar products. Maybe I was expecting just a little bit more of such since Pagoda Express Egg Rolls are so much larger than the thing that doubles as a pizza puff or egg roll with other brands--and the fact that it cost three times the price.
In keeping with the fact that it did cost nearly what I would pay for take out (and the factors listed above) I prepared the rolls in my oven as per the box's instructions. May I state that there was not a thing wrong with the heating instructions. The rolls came out perfectly warm and not at all burnt. This is one of two perfections that this product sports.
The first thing I noticed is that it gave my entire abode "cabbage whiff", a thing which I was not expecting and has not happened since, even when reheating real egg rolls. I soon discovered the cause of this smell.
It seems the Pagoda is chock full of pre-boiled cabbage. And that's all, folks. I cut open all three of the things and found not another single ingredient. No little carrot dices. No other green things. Not a speck of shrimp or other meat like thing. Not a speck of anything that wasn't really soggy pre-boiled cabbage. And both the cabbage and the roll's shell were PERFECTLY WITHOUT TASTE. It had a texture, but that was about it.
Our Rating: Total Fail
***
PULP LIVES!
There are currently more neopulp offerings on your drugstore newsstand than I can keep up with. This latest one from Conde Nast (owner of The Shadow) is the most in keeping with the old form. Good shlock never dies.
***
(Pictured are three examples of very oddly named Love comics that I ran into. Since the Love field seems so poorly accounted for, I may make that the topic of my next research project. A new flat bed scanner is on my 'To Get' list, so we may soon have more scans from Midnight.)
By the way, Christmas In The Pulps is back up on the HIL-GLE (dot) com website, all new and updated.
***
Google has updated its blogging system and, for the most part, the modifications have been a real improvement. However, until I master them thoroughly, my typography is going to suck. Sorry about that.
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