I dreamt of the hell to come if I didn't wake up and run

[sovay]

My poem "The Great Fire" has been accepted by Not One of Us. It's about chronic illness and politics; it's the first poem I've written since December. I am very happy about it. I had nightmares about packing for a fancy, long-planned trip with friends and not being able to get enough medications to travel, so you can tell what's been on my mind.

We have been hit by the second nor'easter in as many weeks, this one wintry enough to drop tree-breaking weights of wet slush and snow and not just city-flooding rain, although we got plenty of that yesterday, too. The town in which my brother lives is entirely without power. My mother has heat and needed the assistance of a neighbor's truck to get out of her driveway. The afternoon looked like it was clearing, but now there's new flurries of snow swirling through the overcast. Quantities of public transit have fallen over, I need not say.

The correction at the bottom of this New York Times article has been making the rounds and well it might, because it's glorious: "Because of an editing error involving a satirical text-swapping web browser extension, an earlier version of this article misquoted a passage from an article by the Times reporter Jim Tankersley. The sentence referred to America's narrowing trade deficit during 'the Great Recession,' not during 'the Time of Shedding and Cold Rocks.' (Pro tip: Disable your 'Millennials to Snake People' extension when copying and pasting.)"

I have no idea where this clip fits into Pacific Rim Uprising (2018), but since it features Hermann Gottlieb hugging Newt Geiszler after they take out an elevator full of inimical-looking dudes, I am looking forward to finding out. Of course Hermann has a rule about public displays of affection. Of course.

Courtesy of handful_ofdust: Boris Karloff shirtless. Nice eyebrows, too.

Comments

[asakiyume]

Very, very glad about the poem.

How on earth did you find that Pacific Rim Uprising clip so FAST? There were only like 20 views when, on your prompting, I went to look.

[sovay]

Very, very glad about the poem.

Thank you.

How on earth did you find that Pacific Rim Uprising clip so FAST? There were only like 20 views when, on your prompting, I went to look.

I saw part of it as a gifset on several different Tumblrs and threw something elegant like "Gottlieb Geiszler Pacific Rim Uprising" into a search engine and this is what came up!

[moon_custafer]

Also like how Hermann makes a more effective weapon of his cane than Newt does of a gun (makes sense, really – with a cane, you can adapt the force of your attack to the situation).

[sovay]

Also like how Hermann makes a more effective weapon of his cane than Newt does of a gun (makes sense, really – with a cane, you can adapt the force of your attack to the situation).

Hermann is not someone I would want to cross generally, but in an elevator you couldn't get away.

Nice icon.

[davidgillon]

I once had to use one of my crutches to hit someone (he'd decided it would be funny to throw me to the ground). They make a pretty good weapon.

[drwex]

Good general rule - within two arm's lengths a melee weapon is almost always better than a gun, unless the gun-user already has it in hand and is trained, and not encumbered in using lethal force.

[gwynnega]

Congratulations on the swift poetry sale!

That New York Times correction is wonderful.

I suspect Karloff's good looks would have been more widely recognized if he hadn't made his name playing the Monster. (Then again, if he hadn't, he might well have remained a relatively unknown character actor.)

[moon_custafer]

There’s an old Charley Chan novel*, The Black Camel, in which (spoilers) a phony Hollywood psychic turns out to be a stage magician working undercover to investigate the murder of his movie-star younger brother. The character was played my Lugosi in a movie adaptation, but I’ve always pictured him as Karloff – not sure who I like as the brother – we’re told the two bear the sort of family resemblance that’s not noticed unless you see them (or their photos) side-by-side, but then it’s impossible to overlook.

* The novels are probably still problematic, but in my (admittedly white) opinion, less so than the movies, in that you can mentally cast an actual Chinese actor in the role, and Det. Chan’s dialogue, though grammatically idiosyncratic, is less stereotypical than in the adaptations.

[sovay]

a phony Hollywood psychic turns out to be a stage magician working undercover to investigate the murder of his movie-star younger brother.

That is a great hook.

The character was played my Lugosi in a movie adaptation, but I’ve always pictured him as Karloff – not sure who I like as the brother – we’re told the two bear the sort of family resemblance that’s not noticed unless you see them (or their photos) side-by-side, but then it’s impossible to overlook.

So who looked like that with Boris Karloff? (I am afraid my brain screams "RAYMOND MASSEY," but only after Peter Lorre's been at him.)

[moon_custafer]

Well, in the book he was killed a couple of years earlier, so we never actually see him. Chan gets suspicious when he discovers someone’s gone to a lot of trouble to eliminate all photos of him in the vicinity. From the description he kind of comes across as an Errol Flynn type, though.

[sovay]

Congratulations on the swift poetry sale!

Thank you!

That New York Times correction is wonderful.

The New Yorker has a running marginal feature of amazing newspaper corrections. I fully expect to see this one in next week's magazine.

I suspect Karloff's good looks would have been more widely recognized if he hadn't made his name playing the Monster. (Then again, if he hadn't, he might well have remained a relatively unknown character actor.)

And I'm glad he did not remain obscure, but I take your point. Publicity of the time, too. Doug Jones has made his name playing monsters, but thanks to social media his fans are well aware that he's adorable.

[moon_custafer]

Oh, there’s an adorable anecdote about Karloff — one time there was a drought, so he used to rush home from the studio to water his garden as soon as shooting was over every day. Sometimes he didn’t stop to have his Creature makeup removed. ?No idea if this is a true story but I do hope it is.

[sovay]

No idea if this is a true story but I do hope it is.

Agreed.

Then I hope Karloff's fans circulated shirtless photos of him, because he deserved it.

[yhlee]

Congrats on the poem sale!

[sovay]

Congrats on the poem sale!

Thank you!

[davidgillon]

Congrats on the sale!

After checking out that Pacific Rim clip I found https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYsEFh8l-mk which has that and several more. I love the chibi-Jaeger two minutes in.

[sovay]

Congrats on the sale!

Thank you!

which has that and several more. I love the chibi-Jaeger two minutes in.

That looks very much like it was built in somebody's garden shed and I really hope it was.

(Thanks for the link. I have no more idea of the plot of the movie, but it looks very nice.)

[rosefox]

SO SHINY

[choco_frosh]

Man, I want that web-browser extension.

[ethelmay]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/05/26/this_chrome_extension_replaces_the_word_millennials_with_snake_people.html

"If nothing else, Millennials to Snake People is good for a laugh or two. But if you install it, be warned: You may need to ask a snake person how to remove it from your browser."

[sovay]

"If nothing else, Millennials to Snake People is good for a laugh or two. But if you install it, be warned: You may need to ask a snake person how to remove it from your browser."

I am delighted this is a real thing.

[jesse_the_k]

Congrats on the sale!

I couldn't breathe for a minute there after reading the NYT correction. My only regret is that "Regret the Error," the fabulous column on journalism correction ethics and practice, is no longer published. This would have been an excellent reason to resurrect the blink tag.

[sovay]

Congrats on the sale!

Thank you!

My only regret is that "Regret the Error," the fabulous column on journalism correction ethics and practice, is no longer published. This would have been an excellent reason to resurrect the blink tag.

Seriously.

[kore]

Something pleasing? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/arts/rome-subway-archaeological-marvels.html

[sovay]

Something pleasing?

Yes! Thank you.

[kore]

Also someone alerted me to this - Emily Wilson on the sexualization of the sirens, specifically "lips" v "mouth" https://twitter.com/EmilyRCWilson/status/970406691375378432

AND
ELSA LANCHESTER AUTOBIO REPRINTED
https://www.amazon.com/Elsa-Lanchester-Herself/dp/0912777834/ref=la_B001H6QRE4_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1520602510&sr=1-1

http://meetthelady.tumblr.com/reprintelsa

[sovay]

Emily Wilson on the sexualization of the sirens

YES THANK YOU. [edit] There may be broken links because it was three years ago now, but here's me on the Sirens.

[kore]

NICE!

[cyphomandra]

Congratulations on the sale!! And the poem, although not the inciting events.

I am very excited about Pacific Rim Uprising.

[sovay]

Congratulations on the sale!! And the poem, although not the inciting events.

Thank you!

I am very excited about Pacific Rim Uprising.

We saw a trailer for it before Annihilation last night. It looked great!

[selkie]

Congratulations! Your work is something of which the world needs more.

[sovay]

Congratulations! Your work is something of which the world needs more.

Thank you.