Burning Down the House

Don't Kill Grandpa Until We Strangle the Babysitter (2016), curiosity that it is, is a bizarre short horror film by director Kelly Hughes, that has been picked up by Troma Enterprises and founder Lloyd Kaufman for streaming from their new Troma Now horror streaming service.

JZ Murdock as Grandma's Ghost

Located at Watch.Troma.com, Troma Now is an Amazon Prime type of monthly subscription video streaming service. Troma Entertainment, Inc. are the producers as they like to say, of "disrupting entertainment"; of B- cult classics like the cult favorite, the Toxic Avenger series of films. In case you don't now Troma...

released 1986

Troma Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz in 1974. The company produces low-budget independent movies that play on 1950s horror with elements of farce. Wikipedia

By the way, my own LGN Productions efforts have been continuing to work on the Mea Culpa film. It's an expansion of my original story also contained in, Anthology of Evil and expanded in Death of heaven as a section titled, Vaughan's Theorem. It is to be a ten minute horror short but it's gotten so complex we're first going to shoot a shorter three minute film from our new Garage Tales series. First up, The Rapping, a kind of homage to Edgar Allen Poe. On all that, more to come....

So, about the Grandpa film. Just how did this happen?

If you want to know how the film happened, it just kind of did. In a previous blog I discuss one of Kelly's other films, The Mephisto Box and touch on the Grandpa shoot:

"It's fun that we got to shoot some at my house and around my property in a couple of films now. The first being Kelly's recent short, Don't Kill Grandpa Until We Strangle The Babysitter. In the teaser you can see me as Grandma's ghost while my son pours gas on the fire behind me. Good times."

If you would like to know how I came to know Kelly and his film came to be on this new streaming service, Troma Now....

Back in 2016 I was contacted on Stage32, a site for filmmakers, artists, actors, talent and crew and so on. It was director, Kelly Hughes (the John Waters of Pacific Northwest Horror, as one magazine labeled him). We had both been producers on public access cable television back in the 1990s so he thought he'd reach out and connect. I'm glad he did.

Kelly produced Heart Attack Theatre! for years. Weekly he was producing a half hour horror film and playing it on public access TV in the Greater Seattle area. It was the wild west of cable television back then. Many of his films from then are available as DVDs and as you're seeing, beginning to be available for streaming.

Kelly and I planned to get together at the upcoming Seattle Crypticon horror convention and had a great time. It was my third con, as I'd been to ZomBcon and ZomBcon II.

ZomBcon II was held at SeaTac Hilton where Crypticon was being held so I felt pretty familiar in being there. We had a great time all that day and evening along with actor Jason Hughes (no relation). We stayed in touch,

Kelly now has a new media center, Velvet Underground, in Port Orchard, WA. The next town over from me. Pretty handy. He recently had an established director Steven Boe, teaching a class on film production and there are supposed to be more. I had some things reinforced I already knew and I learned some important things I hadn't even known about.

One day Kelly called to ask if I wanted to be involved in his next short project. He wanted to get back to filmmaking. I did too. So he came over to my house in Suquamish, WA where I had been living for over fifteen years on a couple of pastoral acres in the back woods of Suquamish. I've since sold that house and now live in Bremerton, WA.

Kelly ended up shooting Don't Kill Grandpa Until We Strangle the Babysitter (2016) there. That led to his shooting another film there, The Mephisto Box (2016). A film he has since expanded into a web series. It has some interesting characters as well as the actors in it.

Like Alison Arngrim who played Nellie Oleson  on Little House on the Prairie. I was in a scene with her that was also shot at my house. We even put her up at our house for the night. She was funny, smart and professional and very easy to work with.

During all that as filmmakers tend to do, Kelly submitted Grandpa to regional film festivals. It got the front page mention on the 2016 Portland Film Festival's page on 18 Things to Do and See in Portland Oct. 14-16.

Kelly had been involved with the filmmakers of Grindspoloitation for some time now. So when II came around, he had some new footage to share and they were happy to include it. It's a film that has gotten a lot of mileage out of it for something through to be just a practice run for a bigger project.

So Kelly got Grandpa into Grindsploitation 2: The Lost Reels. Lloyd Kauffman, founder of Troma had given the intro in that first Grindsploitation film and he also shows up in this sequel. One thing led to another and he had this new streaming service starting up so it was an obvious fit.

And there is the connection.

Oh, you're wondering what the Burning Down the House is all about in the title?

I'll just let you check out the trailer for the Grandpa film. That's Kelly behind the camera and me in Grandma's ghost costume. My son handling pyrotechnics. Behind me, as the character, Satan. Very close behind me.

I think it will all be quite apparent.

Cheers! See you at the next viewing.

Where to Invade Next?

Every American should watch documentary filmmaker and very liberal American Michael Moore's, Where to Invade Next. You may know him from his other works like Fahrenheit 9/11 about the Bush administration's travesties, and other documentaries. His film Trumpland was a tour de force, well reasoned and productive in many ways. He went into the heart of Trump supporters and invited them to a one man stage show and filmed it.

He pushes his mostly left wing progressive agenda with facts, and humor. We need people like him, who push the envelope. But where he used to be annoying to many, he has grown into someone who is succinct, lighthearted, and accurate as a sniper's bullet.

I have never before pushed anyone to watch a Michael Moore film. But watch Where to Invade Next. It's on Netflix DVDs and Amazon Prime where I saw it. Ignore your feelings about him and just listen to what people in Europe say about us and how they view us and LET THAT SINK IN! It could be the one thing that saves us.

Do NOT let conservatives, Republicans, capitalists, and those types deny what is possible, deny the potential to make our lives better, deny we can make changes better for people and the country. You will find their lies sound oddly familiar. Because they are the same lies by the rich and powerful who have gotten us to the place. This sad place. America sad? Watch the damn film first before denying. Then we can talk.

Even IF what we see in the film is not possible in America according to those naysayers and soldiers of the status quo, which is at least partially ridiculous, the film most definitely gives you a feeling for an obviousness of how things should be certainly in AMERICA, and yet how they are most prominently, not!

CEOs are asked in the film, why do you give your employees so much? Because we can, they say, because it is right. How much money do you need to make after all, they say. Human dignity and respect. Our employees are healthier, happier. We make lots of money and we take care of our people and they respect and take care of us.

When asking people if they don't work two or three jobs, people are confused by the question. And so it goes in the film, on and on and on again about so many topics. Jurisprudence. Schools. And so on.

Michael's long been known as a liberal nut job. I didn't always agree with him. He seems to be mellowing though, getting more accurate and his documentaries? They are getting better. This one is his best in my view, in one particular way (and his others are pretty damn good too).

His best not because it has the best facts, the most truth, the actual important over what Pres. Trump is dictating as most important. We can't listen to what Mr. Trump says because he tells falsehoods and I believe, actual lies so much, just to get his way, to satiate his emotional status, to inflate his already conflated ego.

I saw this is Michael's best because by the end of the film you have a true visceral feeling for what is wrong in America. How we are not seeing reality around us because we've been lied to for so long by government, corporate and big money interests, and our own sad paradigm through archaic beliefs.

We have all the information in the world and yet, we continue to be the parent who beats their child rather than using newer tried and true methods now used world wide.

Over and over again, those in other countries react to Moore's prodding with looks of surprise, incredulity, and horror at how America does things. Over and over we hear Europeans asking about America, in how we do things. To paraphrase...

Life and government is about the human dignity? Primary is respect for people.

After watching the film, then ask of our new Pres. Donald Trump:

"How again are you planning to make America great again?"

But who cares really, apparently, as he got elected. Still ask what he means by America being made great AGAIN?

Michael's examination of other countries in how it can be in America, of how people can think of fellow citizens in really trying to actually help families and children, not just lip service, is simply not like America.

Try not to get angry while watching the film at how you are treated, how most of us are treated as workers here.

Two months vacation a year? That's just the beginning.

If you're not embarrassed, humiliated, disgusted and depressed by what this documentary shows you about ourselves, then you need to take a really good look at Yourself. It shows how we are not who we should be, who we could be, who we already think we are and, we are not.

It shows us how our understanding of things is warped from reality. How we don't allow cruel and unusual punishment in our prisons, and yet, we have those prisons which are themselves crule and unusual punishment based on 18th century jurisprudence, on punishment and retribution, not rehabilitation and building a better citizen. America prisons, including privatized ones (a truly despicable thing) are a broken, degenerate paradigm that is in itself cruel and unusual.

And we cannot see those things.

We need to wake up. I'll even go this far.

We need to wake the HELL up!

#EverySecondCounts

Trump's New Greater Pledge of Allegiance

Remember the original:

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Later adding "God" into our nation's words was the beginning of a bad path. It sounds good, but it is counter intuitive how it has negatively affected us. Understand, if I were a staunch theist, and a great American, the more I am both of those things, the more I would want to remove "God" from our government, in order to protect all people's version of God, and our nation. If we choose one over others, which we are doing now, it is patently NOT America. 

Comprehend how the current is in practice during a Trump Administration, not in speech....

#POTUS #GOP

Wikipedia:

The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is an expression of allegiance to the Flag of the United States and the republic of the United States of America, originally composed by Colonel George Balch in 1887,[3][4][5] later revised by Francis Bellamy in 1892 and formally adopted by Congress as the pledge in 1942.[6] The official name of The Pledge of Allegiance was adopted in 1945. The last change in language came on Flag Day 1954 when the words "under God" were added.[7]

In 1906, The Daughters of the American Revolution's magazine, The American Monthly, listed the "formula of allegiance" as being the Balch Pledge of Allegiance, which reads:

“I pledge allegiance to my flag, and the republic for which it stands. I pledge my head and my heart to God and my country. One country, one language and one flag.[13]”

In subsequent publications of the Daughters of the American Revolution, such as in 1915's "Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Continental Congress of the Daughters of the American Revolution" and 1916's annual "National Report", the Balch Pledge, listed as official in 1906, is now categorized as "Old Pledge" with Bellamy's version under the heading "New Pledge".[20][21] However, the "Old Pledge" continued to be used by other organizations until the National Flag Conference established uniform flag procedures in 1923.

In 1923, the National Flag Conference called for the words "my Flag" to be changed to "the Flag of the United States", so that new immigrants would not confuse loyalties between their birth countries and the United States. The words "of America" were added a year later. The United States Congress officially recognized the Pledge for the first time, in the following form, on June 22, 1942:

“ I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Happy White American Supremacist Day?

Good morning, welcome.

Happy White Supremacist Day!

Because that's, where we're headed now....

Conservatives gotta be pleased with their take over of the American Government. They've waited so long, tried so hard, and finally got their chance to show us all wrong in our silly beliefs of decency and intelligence over base binary authoritarianism. They do love being told what to do and letting daddy take control. How Republican though.

Shock and awe, now followed by an act of compassion in Pres. Trump attacking the drug companies so his own can say, "See what good and compassionate works he is doing?" But he failed and backed off claiming success as usual.

Yes, we see the shallow ignorance of our ways. Praise conservatives and the Republican party! Hey. By the way, how come so many Republicans are questioning what's going on now as if they didn't see it coming? Well they are good at that. For instance, remember, Flint Michigan? They do.

Tom Countryman put it well, we now have a president and his selected administration of amateurs who are damaging America.

"A policy without professionals is by definition an amateur policy. You have to help make the choices that bring this country forward," Tom Countryman, the outgoing Undersecretary for Arms Control, said in a farewell address at the State Department.

Idaho is supporting Pres. Trump's ban on Muslims.

But then they've been saturated in white supremacist culture for as long as I can remember. In Spokane at the GOP offices someone wrote on their windows yesterday, "refugees welcome Nazi scum". It's being investigated as a "hate crime". Yeah, THAT's what hate is. I get it, but it's intolerance of intolerance, isn't it? And that's the crime? But then, surrealism surrounds supremacist beliefs.

I remember being tricked into a white supremacist compound in the back hills of Idaho in the late 1970s. One of the scariest days of my life. It was surreal. Very nice people, with an ugly doctrine pouring through their veins.

My wife ripped my shirt sleeve at the shoulder that day from hanging onto my arm while smiling to them until we could get the hell out of there. She just kept whispering to me, "Get me out of here, get me out of here...." But we had come with one of them we didn't know was one of them till we got there. We got to listen to their visiting national leader that day in their church.

It was Surreal.

Frightening beliefs. Separatist, superior to other races, an easily proved defective doctrine and delusional belief system of lessors trying to see how to be more than they are.

I'd hate to say that I can't wait until the first extreme vetted Islamist terrorist act, with it being no better than what we have now but, reality does have a way of making things ironic.

This ban is going to be a recruiting boon for ISIS types.

What we had was working, is worked out and we've had no terrorist attacks from people from the banned countries. Fear mongering is the fascist's tool to call fear to what hasn't happened so people have to prove a negative, which is nearly impossible. And stupid.

According to experts, we are now less safe from this ban. People like Mike Morell, Former Deputy Directory, CIA, said last night on Charlie Rose:

"I did not find it surprising that Donald Trump's first butting of heads with his new administration was with the intelligence community.

"Because the fundamental job of the CIA, of the intelligence community is to put FACTS on the table. For a guy who fundamentally doesn't like facts. They interfere with his opinion."

Americans are brave and independent. Or should be to stand up to who we are.

Not brave on a compound and independent as separated from all other Americans. But out in the open with ALL other Americans of every race, creed or color. Nor do we hide behind cowardly authoritarian laws and executive orders that abuse others to protect ourselves.

Make up your mind, American... or fascist?

Fascism - authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. synonyms:authoritarianism, totalitarianism, dictatorship, despotism, autocracy; More: (in general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice.

#POTUS

PS The politics and actions from the White House are making me ill. I need a break. So my blog on Monday will be on creative pursuits and some new and pretty cool news about Troma Pictures new Amazon Prime style of streaming B- rated horror films they are so well known for and, Kelly Hughes and one of his films, Don't Kill Grandpa Until We Strangle the Babysitter (2016).

Cannabis - Up Side, Down Side

It's good to face reality whatever that may be. Good OR bad (as Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has recently pointed out). But this is an article that can be perceived only as bad, bad for the masses, as well as disingenuously good for anti-cannabis groups. What we need is more research, more information. Legalization, not continued abuse. Healthcare, not prison.

This is a time and a climate where we need things like cannabis. Not just for medical issues but also for recreational ones. It is far more gentle on one's system than alcohol, recreational drugs like cocaine, heroin and so on. As for people calling it a schedule one drug, or a gateway to harder drugs, that is pure ignorance and goes against what science shows and we are seeing. They are looking at personality issues there with people, not the actual cannabis itself.

We have a new president now in Pres. Trump. A capitalist and a businessman who has left a lot of damage in his wake in making more and more money. However if he truly is a capitalist and a businessman then cannabis should be legalized by the end of the year, nationally.

Certainly before he leaves office. Which as things are going from his actions, could be any day now. If he is who he says he is in being a capitalist and having such a great mind, nobody has one better, he claims. Then surely he can do anything. Even this.

I'd expect to see by the beginning of 2018, a new and thriving capitalism based, not criminal based, health based not judicially based industry. But we won't. That however is an argument for another time.

There is a new article is talking about people who over indulge on a daily basis, that is to say, actually abuse it, and does not refer to normal or even regular use of cannabis.

Conservative and anti Cannabis types are already gloaming onto this report in droves. It is their Godsend in the realm of anti Cannabis diatribe and potential legislation. They will take this out of context and use it inappropriately as always. Seeing the world as they do in black and white and not the measured grey that it is and how honest people, how adults would normally use information.

It's odd however that this result would be found as cannabis, unlike tobacco, is a vasodialator. Tobacco actually is a vasoconstrictant. Ever know someone who right after sex has to light up a cigarette? HAS to?. It's because in part sex releases chemicals to relax, but they are addicted to nicotine. So while they like the good feeling from the release in the culmination of sex, they crave that tension, that vasoconstrictive effect that nicotine induces. It also explains those anxious people who need to smoke cigarettes. They crave the familiar when really they need soemthing else. But that's the confusion of addiction.

Meaning overall anyway I suppose, that under this study tobacco would be potentially leading to Alzheimer's even more so, yet we haven't heard about that. But apparently not so. Well, kind of. Nicotine has some nasty side effects, and some good ones. However once the body breaks it down into cotinine ....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-201899/Tobacco-cure-Alzheimers.html

"In the case of Alzheimer's, cotinine may share nicotine's ability to improve attention and memory and at the same time reduce or halt disease progression. "One advantage of cotinine is that it could be used long-term with little concern about serious side effects and substance abuse."

Who knew?

"Addiction" is a medical term indicating a physical addition. Cannabis is not physically addictive but can be psychologically addictive. That however is a mental and not physiological defect.

About that..."Marijuana use disorder is a new term introduced by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) used by psychiatrists and mental health professionals for diagnostic criteria."
http://hightimes.com/medicinal/science/pot-matters-marijuana-use-disorder/
The High Times article has a list of eleven elements for the criteria of diagnosing substance use disorders.

Again, the article states (and I'm not disputing this, but it's odd) that:
"Those diagnosed with cannabis use disorder showed a significant reduction in brain blood flow in almost every region."

I think that requires more investigation because of the way Cannabis works on the brain. It doesn't make sense. If this was a conservative anti cannabis article I would call bull on this. As the article itself indicates, this is odd indeed:

"More research will have to be conducted to corroborate this claim. But it’s reasonable that someone who only lights up occasionally won’t have such an issue. This study conflicts with a 2014 preclinical trial, also published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. There, tiny doses of marijuana’s active ingredient, delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) had neuroprotective qualities. It helped ward off Alzheimer’s by destroying beta amyloid proteins which are what cause the disease. So in the end, it may be an issue of dosage. A little is okay, but too much is damaging. But only more studies can tell us for sure."

There does seem to be some support for this report's contentions:
http://www.idmu.co.uk/canncardio.htm
Which says:

"Summary - Cardiovascular effects of Cannabis:

"Cannabis increases heart rate in na•ve users although tolerance develops to this effect.

"Cannabinoids can also reduce blood pressure via arteriollar dilatation in a variety of tissues, although the effect on blood flow varies at a local level, with some organs or brain regions experiencing vasoconstriction, others vasodilation.

"In the withdrawal phase following cessation of chronic use, cerebral blood flow may be significantly reduced.

"Cannabis use has been implicated as a causative factor in a small number of patients suffering strokes or transient ischaemic attacks, and may represent a risk factor to susceptible individuals.

"However cannabinoids, in particular CB1-receptor agonists, have been shown to protect against nerve cell death following stroke, and dexanabinol at an advanced stage of the licensing process as a drug to be administered to victims of stroke or closed-head injuries to minimise the long-term brain damage caused by such events, and to improve survival and recovery prospects."

Conservatives and anti Cannabis types are gloaming onto this report in droves. It is their Godsend in the realm of anti Cannabis legislation. They will take this out of context and use it inappropriately. Seeing the world as they do in black and white and not the measured grey it is.

More to come, I'm sure.

Push Button Mentality

What exactly is push button mentality (PBM)?

It is using concept of "buttons" in the mind, in the mindset, in one's ideology, in one's view of the world. Especially useful if one follows an agenda, a platform, a group or belief system. It is what religion depends on.

It is a binary action. On, change happens. Belief is that you can fix things in this way and if you can't, it is desired. If not demanded. People want easy answers. Simple explanations, easy fixes. It is a short cut for initiating a reaction, or action. It is not a deep evocation, it is a shallow one.

It is how Pres. Trump and the Republican party have found their way into being primary in American politics today. The lowest common denominator.

Education is the antithesis of this.

It is a concept that is especially useful to extremists. It is much used in the conservative movement (and religion) where deep thinking is not desired. Where indeed it is antithetical to it. Where accurate information is counter to its sustainment.

Where education is undesirable and while massive or complex information is highly valued, it is only superficially understood. Highly valued because too much information is the same as not enough to most people. Too much or too complicated information leads to paralysis and then people start to demand the push button answers.

It's odd. An odd behavior. But it relates to fight or flight. Another binary decision. Easy. Effective to either remove your threat, or remove yourself so that the threat remains, but you do not. It has led to the dumbing down of America. But not just America. We're seeing these authoritarian platforms growing world wide.

Even the intelligence community has issues with too much information.

In an age where we have massive amounts of data and information, "intelligence", how does one evaluate it all in order to make use of it? ONE, does not. Because that requires many analysts, computers and programs to do the analysis and serve it up in formats that make most needed data available and actionable.

Those who are informed, who are professionals, are then able to make use of it.

But there is no push button mentality involved there.

Where there is, it widely desired and yet, minuscule functional.

Beware when politicians offer quick and easy fixes. Who say, only they can fix things. Who claim what the problems actually are, are not.

Therein lay insanity. If not...evil.

From "The Man in the High Castle" (S2E5):

"Its intentions were pure. But its methods were cruel."

That says so much too about the republican party and many conservative, especially misguided theistic based beliefs.

The ethically blind cannot see where they step, while those around them who can see, can merely try to warn them of the dangers they are approaching.

It is how faith can be used by those who have no shame, just power, in order to convince their blind followers of the grand stairway before them, yet not warn them of the cliff's edge that is actually there. All to their benefit and that of, the Party.

Open your eyes. See the cliff's edge.

Then push those guiding you toward it to the demise they had planned for you.

America is Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth

Dear Member of the Press,

Please immediately point out whenever the President lies.

You may wait until he's out of the room, but then turn to the camera and just say it:

"Nothing exists to support what the president (or Sean Spicer, or Kellann Conway, or etc.) has just said. It appears simply to be a falsehood."

Start getting sued for libel and defamation. I'm sure the courts will toss it out and you'll be a big hero and achieve many monetary gains at some point. But if not, dude, come on, just toss yourself on the sword. SOME one HAS to!

The President doesn't even want to hear from us.

I suggest you also start having fact checkers in an ear piece working furiously behind the scenes back at the station\network.

You're our last hope. We cannot find Obi Wan Kanobi. it's up to you.

Thanks,
America

#POTUS