Baron Giallo

@theworkingdead.bsky.social

Twin Peaks, horror, books, psychotronalia. He/him.

Read this about the week leading up to the filming of Frankenstein. Carl Laemmle jr. is portrayed as a young visionary fighting against the staid values of his father. It’s is a triumph for the future of Universal. Funny in retrospect because Jr. basically bankrupted the studio in five years.

Cover of Its Alive! By Julian David stone.

Art deco spotlights against a greyscale background. A lightning bolt strikes behind the title.

Yesterday was my last day at Microsoft. I'm so proud of the work I accomplished with so many great people in the email division, but am proud to announce that today I started a new position at the FAA.

For your veteran’s day viewing pleasure, might I recommend The Americanization of Emily? A WWII romantic black comedy about American officer James Garner falling in love with British widow Julie Andrews. Came out as US ground involvement in Vietnam was ramping up. just as relevant today. #Filmsky

Poster for The Americanization of Emily. James Gatner kissing Julie Andrews’ forehead, various shots from the movie, a hand pulling the image down like a zipper to reveal the quote ‘one of the most controversial pictures of the year, and one of the best!’Quotes from Americanization of Emily;

Lt. Cmdr Charles e Madison: I don’t trust people who make bitter reflections about war, Mrs. Barham. It’s always the general with the bloodiest records who are the first to shout what a hell it is. It’s always the war widows who lead the Memorial Day parades.

Emily barham: that was unkind, Charlie, and very rude.

Lt. cmdr. Charles e Madison: we shall never end wars, Mrs. Barham, by blaming it on the ministers and generals, or warmongering imperialists, or all the other banal bogeys. It’s the rest of us who build statues to those generals and name boulevards after those ministers. The rest of us who make heroes of our dead and shrines of our battlefields. We wear our widows weeds like nuns, Mrs. Barham, and perpetuate war by exalting its sacrifices.Another quote.

Lt Cmdr. Charles e Madison: war isn’t hell at all. It’s man at his best; the highest morality he’s capable of. It’s not war that’s insane, you see. It’s the morality of it. It’s not greed or ambition that makes war: it’s goodness. Wars are always fought for the best reasons: for liberation or manifest destiny. Always against tyranny and always in the interest of humanity. So far this war, we’ve managed to butcher some ten million humans in the interest of humanity. Next war it seems we’ll have to destroy all of man in order to preserve his damn dignity. It’s not war that’s unnatural to us, it’s virtue. As long as valor remains a virtue, we shall have soldiers. So, I preach cowardice. Through cowardice, we shall be saved.

I’m loving Red Dead Redemption so much that, even though I’m near the end, I keep ignoring the main story to complete challenges and explore every pocket of the map. I don’t even fast travel! But also, these challenges have me playing the game as a true sociopath.

Stacy Keach. We keep losing the greats. He was in a lot of low-rent stuff but i never saw him phone it in. I just watched him in Survival Skill, a no budget oddity in which he’s sitting behind a desk 95% of the time, but even then he was giving a real, honest-to-god great performance. RIP

Stacy Keach, probably in the 70s. Wearing a tux and sporting a well groomed mustache that extends into his cheeks.

#NowWatching The Baron of Arizona (1950) The movie is fine, but it’s a great role for Price. I’ve been meaning to rewatch this since reading a book on the true story earlier this year. Settling in for this highly sensational account of a man who tried to swindle Arizona from the US govt. #Filmsky

DVD boxset of The First Films of Samuel Fuller, with the copy of Baron of Arizona pulled out. Vincent price in the cover in a fancy suit and wide brimmed black hat.

Lazy Sunday today, no movies for now, checking out this bbc show. #NowWatching Life After Life (2022) I love this book, which affected me greatly when I read it a decade or so ago. Love Kate Atkinson’s books. Had no idea this was made into a miniseries until this week.

Promo image for Life After Life. A woman with her eyes closed, the image of her head is doubled and looks like a yin yang symbol.