The monsters of Jedwabne

The film is called AFTERMATH. The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER is reporting about the film today.. It perhaps may be one of the most important movies ever made, and since it is about actual events that some have chosen to forget, will be controversial too..

It details some horrible series of events that happened on July 10 1941.. It premiers in the United States this week.. 

If you want to know how controversial this movie may be, consider just the opening paragraph of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER story:

On July 10, 1941, half the residents of Jedwabne, a Polish village 85 miles northeast of Warsaw, murdered the other half. The mob, led by the mayor, were Catholics; their 1,600 victims were Jewish, slaughtered over several nightmarish hours with bats, knives, rifles and other improvised weapons. Those who survived the massacre were then rounded up in a barn donated by a local farmer, which was then set ablaze. A plaque erected at the site blamed Nazis for the massacre, but, in fact, Nazis had only authorized it. Locals walked by the plaque for half a century, knowing the truth, but saying nothing 

The story of Jedwabne is not the typical one taught in American high schools. As a matter of fact, most people may not even know of the dreadful story.. They will this week, at least those who hear of the movie.. 

In 2001, a book called NEIGHBORS explores the death of the 1,600 people.. While I never read it, this may be as good a time as any to reflect on history that mostly has gone unnoticed in the United States.

God fearing Catholics..armed with weapons of little destruction, killed their neighbors … 

One part of the story, also that may come as a surprise to those who are not aware, the Poles actually asked their new rulers, the Nazis, if it was permitted they kill the Jews. When they got the greenlight, they went overboard—so much so that the Nazis actually told the Poles to keep one family of Jews from every profession.. the Poles said no thanks, as they continued their bloody rampage..

There are still a few resources online that re-tell the story and offer images from the atrocity.

Those resources and information sources are set to increase with the movie AFTERMATH.

Consider this review from the VILLAGE VOICE.

This movie is important to understand, watch..and ponder.

Like the MONSTERS OF MULLBERRY STREET of fiction, this movie based on reality can teach a lesson. A lesson that, as sadly timeless as it may be, atrocities can happen where and when you least expect them… 

Why Cut Processed Food - 100 Days of Real Food

This article sort of goes without saying. Or does it??

CUT THEM OUT.

ONE INGREDIENT UP YOUR LIFE.

Why Cut Processed Food - 100 Days of Real Food

People biologically take pleasure in the pain of others

At one time we watched people get hanged in town squares.. Before that we put people on the rack.. Burned witches… So on and so on…

But now we have proof that we like watching people get soaked by taxis …

Did we really need a study to prove the deepest and darkest secrets about the human mind?

People biologically take pleasure in the pain of others

Samhain set: Witches are the most popular costume in 2013, princesses for kids. Not making the list: The TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES. I frankly think they were the most popular this year, since we could not find any for my son in a 100 mile square radius. I guess the best gauge for that will be so see if any heroes in a half shell end up joining Ayden in night life trick or treating..

Facebook knows when you’re going to break up |

Mark knows more about you than you do about him.

But does Facebook know when you’ll break up with Facebook?

Facebook knows when you’re going to break up |

21-Year-Old Man Killed Execution-Style Inside North Philadelphia Grocery Store

Welcome to the city of brotherly hate.

21-Year-Old Man Killed Execution-Style Inside North Philadelphia Grocery Store

Government mining Social Media for Information on Health Behavior

Does this bother you?

Government mining Social Media for Information on Health Behavior

Now this is scary: Chubby American military personnel are getting liposuction to pass Pentagon's body fat test

Now this is scary: Chubby American military personnel are getting liposuction to pass Pentagon's body fat test

Tonight's DARK MATTER with Art Bell should be quite interesting.. Bell interviews John McAfee

Tonight's DARK MATTER with Art Bell should be quite interesting.. Bell interviews John McAfee

The best book covers ever—-and some of the best books ever, too. I remember being frightened of these imaginative stories as a child—some have stuck with me ever since. 

There was a yearly ‘book fair’ that would show up in my grade school. I went to a Catholic school, so nice child-friendly books were proudly on display. But if you looked hard enough, you can find these books there.. I bought it sneakily, as though I was doing something bad, and tucked it away in my bookbag until I got home. I’d read it at night, and covered myself with blankets when I heard the house squeak….

They were scary stories to tell in the dark…

And if I’m not mistaken, they still exist somewhere in my house. I just have to find them…

When I do my son will inherit the treasure..

The Obama administration was given stark warnings just one month before launch that the federal health care website was not ready to go live, according to a confidential report obtained by CNN.

A news alert from CNN just in..
The plot thickens. And …
Healthcare.gov still works worse than Tumblr.

The mystery of yeast

I pride myself in being a decent cook.. someone who can put a little love into something and end up with something tasty..

So in my “one ingredient diet"  recently, I planned the big one: Baking my own homemade bread. The concept itself was beautiful in my mind.. in practice? Well..

I’ve not reached three homemade loaves of bread that were crusty, heavy, and didn’t quite ‘rise’ the way I wanted. I have never really used yeast before, and figure my misunderstanding of yeast is my roadblock..

This bread thing? It’s like a science project.. I actually feared that my yeast would rise too much and my house would suddenly take on the appearance of a 1950s rerun of I LOVE LUCY. But alas, it was not meant to be.

The loaves had decent flavors.. but once they got cool, they turned into rock hard entities, things that look like they’d look better as a garden decoration than a food product..

I need more fluff.

More yeast? Less?

A house of bread would be better than a rock hard insult.

I will persevere, though! This dough ain’t got me down.

INCOMING!

breakingnews:

Asteroid due to fly in between Earth and the moon

SPACE.com: NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program says a small asteroid will fly in between Earth and the moon on Tuesday, with its closest pass to our planet occurring around 5:45 p.m. ET.

The asteroid was first discovered on Oct. 25. During its closest pass, the space rock will fly by Earth at a distance of about 176,000 miles. It’s estimated to be between 39 and 89 feet wide. 

Photo: This illustration shows the trajectory of asteroid 2013 UV3, in blue, as it flies by Earth. (NASA/JPL)

There sure have been lots of weird anomalies in the sky in recent days. 

Good thing FEMA REGION 3 is ready for anything.. right?

A haunted history of Halloween.. 

This is a behind the scenes image from the setting of Kubrick’s THE SHINING. There are lots of other images in this treasure trove, and you can see them all at http://imgur.com/a/Ur9Zo#TakkNne

I think Jack Nicholson looked even scarier when he’s not in the role..

From the History Channel, the history of Halloween

Haunted House by Gene Simmons

A frightening image from SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK by Alvin Schwartz. .The artwork by Stephen Gammell.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKNIqG9J2KU?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=http://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=374]

Only a few more days to Halloween.. silver shamrock.

This YouTube video is a conglomeration of scenes from HALLOWEEN 3, the Season of the Witch.

I fondly remember old times gone by, gathering together with friends in a house of our choice, firing up the colortini, and watching the waves of Halloween flow through the air. 

Actually, what we did was a high-school type version of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000. We’d make comments and jokes, mock the film, and laugh throughout.. We did it for more than just Halloween 3, it was for many horror flicks. Our favorite character, as a group collectively, was Doctor Loomis. We coined a term “Loomicide” that would one day go on to become my late 1990s and early 2000s AOL screen name.. 

Oh, those good old days!

But in hindsight, dare I say, Halloween 3 is sort of a classic. I may have been met with scorn for that comment last century,  but I think people are rediscovering the awfulness and also amazingnenss of Halloween 3.

Sure,  the acting is terrible.. yes the scenery is awful.. and by all means, the flow of the movie is choppy and sloppy—but isn’t that what sort of makes it good in a sense?

However, think of it this way: Halloween 3 may have been the BEST of the entire series.

Sure, it didn’t feature the SHAPE, Michael Myers, donning the Shatner mask.. and no, it had no mentions of Laurie Strode.  There was a scene though where the tied up main star was forced to watch the original Halloween…

There were also some other lessons to be learned from Halloween 3, some cautionary tales to remember.. 

For instance: Bad parenting. The child who gets his head eaten by snakes and worms had really awful parents, they just seemed to want to be rid of their child.. they were selfish and had little skill in containing their son, who ran wild without attention. 

Another lesson: The overuse of television. In that time, the boob tube had antennas. Today, there’s no need with handheld devices and Twittering from all ends of the earth. Maybe, though, the fact that kids were glued to TV and almost slaves to it should be a lesson for all of us.

Something else: How powerful media is. And how many times influential hidden messages can be tucked into our shows. In this movie, kids were told to get home by 9 o’clock too put their Halloween masks on, and then eventually succumb to a massive amount of worms, snakes, bugs, and other things that would eat their brains.. Pretty scary if you minus out the acting of the movie. Maybe John Carpenter was actually trying to show that subliminal messages are alive and well, and that they could maybe make us do things against our will..? That or he just wanted to come up with an idea that was different. 

I tried contacting the legend, John Carpenter, for this, but his associate said he was not able to comment on Halloween 3 at this time. Understandable. I think he’s a little busier than me at the moment.

So in that sense, we need to look to past interviews to see what exactly John Carpenter intended on doing in THE SEASON OF THE WITCH. It’s worth remember that Carpenter really didn’t want to do any more Michael Myers related films. They actually envisioned that a fourth Halloween would have been a ghost story. Instead, since H3 flopped, the fourth was the RETURN  OF MICHAEL MYERS. And then there was a 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, … bla bla bla.. John Carpenter told Aint it Cool news that he didn’t understand why fans of Halloween hated the third installment so much.. He said, “Hey, man, I don’t know. I like HALLOWEEN 3. I like the story, especially weird evil Irish industrialists. It’s hilarious.” 

And it was hilarious .. It was awful. Wonderfully awful.

I go back now and think to myself that Debra Hill and John Carpenter touched on a number of themes that are actually quite scary. Yes, teenagers can mock it, just as I did with friends back in sultry summer night parties in the late 1990s… But maybe I have developed a renewed appreciation for this movie..

What could be scarier for a child that having your mom and dad buy you a mass produced mask because you were convinced by a commercial with an annoyingly catchy theme to do it.. and you jump on the bandwagon with millions of other American kids… and you wear your mask, at the same time as them, at 9pm on Halloween night.. and have your brain eaten by bugs?

Now that is scary for a kid.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

NEW YORK TIMES hits: The White House response on Monday to the expanding disclosures of American spying on foreign leaders, their governments and millions of their citizens was a pathetic mix of unsatisfying assurances about reviews under way, platitudes about the need for security in an insecure age, and the odd defense that the president didn’t know that American spies had tapped the German chancellor’s cellphone for 10 years.

NEW YORK TIMES hits: The White House response on Monday to the expanding disclosures of American spying on foreign leaders, their governments and millions of their citizens was a pathetic mix of unsatisfying assurances about reviews under way, platitudes about the need for security in an insecure age, and the odd defense that the president didn’t know that American spies had tapped the German chancellor’s cellphone for 10 years.