Click image to enlarge.
31 July 2012
21 July 2012
whip me beat me make me write checks on insufficient funds / have fun at college sweetie / bodice-rippers / my Harlequin moment / filth / smut / vile books
read books to engorge
1st Day Issue: Postalo Vleeptron
USA Public Libraries
"I want to read that."
So anyway there were these 2 young & perky roommates in the dorm at college, and one of them was the editor of the college newspaper, but she had a bad cold and asked her roommate to please interview this Rich Famous Guy that she had scored an interview with. The rich famous guy's name was Grey.
So she did, she went to interview the Grey guy, proobably in his fancy hotel room, and one thing led to another, and at the parts where she was supposed to scream "No!" she didn't, and they did stuff she didn't even know French or Italian words for, and they did it so much and so often that it became a New York Times No. 1 Best-Seller (fiction).
And then they did it some more, and the next two books got on the Best-Seller List too.
I was just innocently wandering down the book and magazine and Summer Picnic Supplies aisle of the Stop & Shop when these naughty books leapt into my face. I was SHOCKED! SHOCKED! I tell you that they sell this kind of filthy smut at the Stop & Shop! I go in there for mustard & ketchup, not for Sodom & Gemorrah.
One time I went into this wonderful 100-year-old teeny-tiny public library, The Lily Library in Florence, Massachusetts (a block or 2 from the beautiful Sojourner Truth statue) and I noticed they had an Erotica Section. At the checkout desk i made a little joke about it.
But the young woman librarian was not amused.
"Our patrons have the right to read whatever they want to read," she said with an icy stare. This librarian babe was Serious.
My town's even teenier-weenier public library has a big sign on its website:
The library maintains an open,
unbiased environment and upholds
the public’s right of access to information.Some local weirdo hides in the bushes with a smartphone or a laptop and spies on the library's free wi-fi and on what the library patrons are looking at on the library computers.
FILTH! SMUT! SEXUAL CONTENT! WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE! CAKE RECIPES!
... and he complains loudly and self-righteously to the Town, demanding that this Wrong Looking stop immediately and forever.
... and the Library tells him to blow it out his ass, because it's none of the Library's business what its patrons want to surf on the library computers.
Oh yeah, the itty-bitty public library bought the Shades of Grey books. And they are enjoying a brisk circulation, neckties, masks, handcuffs and all.
Woo-woo! Hubba-hubba!
In the book trade, most of this stuff is called Bodice Rippers. Soft-core porn in which hot-blooded heterosexuals (strictly 2 at a time) who are of legal age but aren't married Fool Around a Lot and steam up the car windows.
About 15 years ago -- a few years BEFORE 9/11 -- the FBI called upon the USA's public libraries to notify the FBI if a library patron was reading Strange Books with Un-American Ideas and Recipes for Making Explosives.
The American Library Association told the FBI to blow it out their ass and go fuck themselves. (That might not have been the ALA's exact wording.) No warrant signed by a judge? Tough shit, no info about what the patrons like to read.
Well, anyway, as you can see from the stamp, the publishers of the "Shades of Grey" book have paid me the honor of asking me to write the 4th book in the series, so there it is in the lower right corner.
In this new book, Grey doesn't use a condom as he's tying up the pretty college girl with his fancy necktie, and she gets pregnant, and they have a baby, and they have to change its diapers all the time, and get its DPT vaccination, and it screams all the time, and they're never getting any sleep, and they're too tired to tie each other up and do smutty stuff to one another anymore. Watch for it to show up on the NY Times Best-Seller List any day now.
Once upon a time a very funny writer got herself a date and an interview with Fabio, the big Italian hunk-ola who used to be the model hunk-ola of all the covers of all the paperback Bodice-Rippers.
At the appointed moment, Fabio enters the room and sits down across from her.
She wrote: "My bosom heaved."
Borzh Moi!!! Moscow babe band facing 7-year gulag gig
turn speaker volume to 11
click HERE
The Associated Press
(USA newswire)
Friday 20 July 2012
Anti-Putin feminist punks
on trial in Moscow
by Laura Mills, Associated Press
MOSCOW (AP) -- A Moscow court on Friday launched the trial of three feminist rockers who face a possible 7 years in prison for performing a "punk prayer" against Vladimir Putin from the pulpit of Russia's largest cathedral.
The case of the three members of the band Pussy Riot has deeply divided Russia, pitting advocates of openness against the forces of order and the powerful Russian Orthodox Church. The three had been held in jail for more than 4 months without a single court hearing.
The February stunt, two weeks before the election that returned Putin to the presidency, was designed to offend. Five members of Pussy Riot — wearing brightly colored balaclavas and miniskirts — briefly took over the pulpit at Christ The Savior Cathedral, chanting "Mother Mary, drive Putin away" and high-kicking can-can-style.
What happened after security guards seized the five was extraordinary — even for a country whose leaders have shown little patience for protest. Three of the band members, two of whom have young children, were thrown into jail and face charges of hooliganism that could bring them seven years if convicted.
Supporters of the three say their jailing and charges are a draconian demonstration of how the church holds heavy sway in the government.
At Friday's preliminary hearing, prosecutors asked that the women — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, Maria Alekhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29 — be held in custody for at least six more months as the trial progresses. Defense attorneys have repeatedly asked for them to be released, in particular so they can take care of their young children.
The Khamovniki District Court building on Friday was surrounded by dozens of riot policemen, along with the band's supporters and critics. The court proceedings were closed to the public.
Amnesty International said on Friday that it considers the three women to be prisoners of conscience "detained solely for the peaceful expression of their beliefs." The organization renewed its call on Russian authorities to drop the charges of hooliganism and release the band members.
The church says the women deserve to be prosecuted for their "blasphemous" performance from a place near the altar on which no lay people are allowed to stand. But thousands of believers have signed a petition urging the church to forgive the band.
Although church and state are separate under Russia's constitution, the Russian Orthodox Church has claimed a leading role in setting moral guidelines for society. Its growing prominence has caused concern among followers of minority faiths and nonreligious Russians.
The case has particularly rattled the Russian intelligentsia. In late June, over 100 artists and intellectuals — pro- and anti-Putin alike — sent an open letter to the state, calling for the women's release.
In a poll by the independent Levada Center and released by the prominent newspaper Kommersant on Friday, 50 percent of Muscovites said they did not support a criminal trial for the members of Pussy Riot, with 36 percent supporting the trial.
Pussy Riot gained notoriety about a month before the arrest by performing a song titled "Putin Chickens Out" from a spot on Red Square used in czarist Russia for announcing government decrees. Videos of their performances became instant Internet hits.
On Wednesday, the chairman for the parliamentary committee for Family, Women and Children issues Elena Mizulina, called for authorities to look into earlier alleged misbehavior of the three women, who were participants in Voina (War), an art-protest group.
Among the group's most noted outrageous acts was the drawing of an enormous phallus on a drawbridge in St. Petersburg. Tolokonnikova was among the participants in a 2008 obscene "fertility rite" at Moscow museum, mocking Dmitry Medvedev, who was elected Russian president the next day. Alekhina released a video for the group in which she masturbated in a grocery store with a chicken leg.
The three women face criminal charges for "hooliganism." The language of both state officials and the prosecution has been more moralistic than legal.
"This is only the small, visible tip of an iceberg of extremists," Mikhail Kuznetsov, a lawyer representing church security guards, said in an interview with the newspaper Moscow News on Thursday. "They are aiming to destroy the 1000-year-old traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church, to provoke a schism, and to deceivingly bring the flock not towards God, but towards Satan."
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
- 30 -
20 July 2012
Ramadan Kareem! Ramadan Mubarak! Vleeptron wishes all a Generous and Blessed Holy Month of Ramadan, in year 1433 AH (Anno Hegirae)
Click image to enlarge.
Filched image this year. Because I'm slow and lazy, but most of all because I'm a pathetic, wretched, talentless artist with no skills in Arabic calligraphy.
There's a pretty good chance this particular Ramadan greeting comes from Pakistan.
In most places, the first day of the holy month of Ramadan begins 20 July 2012 in the Western Gregorian calendar. It's 1 Ramadan 1433 AH -- Latin for anno Hegirae, or year(s) after the Hijra, the Prophet Muhammed's flight from Mecca to Medinah in Arabia.
As always, I sincerely hope I get most of these things reasonably correct.
And as always, because I can't read a word of Arabic, I deeply hope the image wishes all a generous Ramadan (because charity is incumbent on all Muslims during Ramadan).
* * *
Would Vleeptron seem more silly than usual if we added a personal wish?
In this month to come, and in this year to come, Vleeptron hopes all women and men and boys and girls of ALL the great Ibrahimic faiths take action to bring about peace, love, respect, safety, friendship, spiritual prosperity.
Let us all resist all temptations of hate, of violence, let us all overcome our groundless, politically-goaded fears.
Because surely the same God has no desire for His children to bring harm to each other. What father wishes his children to kill each other?
* * *
In Murfreesboro, Tennessee USA, this is a particularly special Ramadan, a celebration of Ramadan, and a triumphant celebration of the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of worship to all in the United States of America.
* * *
The Los Angeles Times
(daily broadsheet California USA)
Wednesday 18 July 2012
Federal judge sides
with Tennessee mosque
in time for Ramadan
by Laura J. Nelson
County officials in Tennessee must inspect a newly built mosque immediately, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, which could allow Muslims to begin worshipping there before Ramadan begins at sundown Thursday.
Rutherford County must issue an occupancy permit for the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro before Thursday evening, provided that the mosque passes a building inspection, Chief Judge Todd Campbell of U.S. District Court in Nashville ruled. If the mosque does not pass, the judge wrote, the county must let mosque supporters fix any problems, then reinspect it.
Mosque supporters went to federal court Wednesday seeking a temporary injunction to let worshipers in before Ramadan, a holy month of prayers, fasting and purification. The mosque’s occupancy permits had been stalled by a lawsuit from some of its neighbors.
The [federal] Justice Department filed a separate suit Wednesday, siding with mosque supporters.
“If the building complies with applicable codes and regulations, the county shall issue, on or before July 19, 2012, the certificate of occupancy for the mosque," Campbell wrote.
He said he was granting the injunction because harm to the Islamic center would be "irreparable" if worshipers could not use the mosque, while harm to the county would be minimal.
The controversy began two years ago when the Islamic community in Murfreesboro started construction on the mosque just outside town. The local planning commission had unanimously approved the building permit.
The congregation of 300 families had outgrown the mosque they'd used for 30 years, attorneys said. Men squeezed into a 1,200-square-foot room with poor ventilation. Women, who worship separately from men under Islamic law, watched the imam in a converted garage on closed-circuit TV.
But some neighbors objected to the new center, and harassment began. First came menacing phone calls. Then a construction vehicle caught fire. Someone scrawled “Not welcome” in violet spray paint on a coming-soon sign. A bomb threat in September 2011 resulted in the federal indictment of Javier Alan Correa, 24, who is awaiting trial.
Opponents sued to block the mosque. Among their contentions: The planning commission did not follow proper procedure; Islam was not a real religion; and its devotees had no 1st Amendment right to religious freedom.
“It’s pretty clear what was going on,” Hannah Smith, a lawyer with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told The Times. “They simply didn’t want this mosque in their town.”
Smith is representing the mosque, along with local civil rights attorney George Barrett.
Last month, a local judge of the Chancery Court voided the mosque’s building permits and blocked an occupancy inspection, ruling that the county should have given more notice of the public meeting where officials approved construction because of "tremendous public interest."
As Ramadan approached without a solution in sight, mosque supporters went to federal court, contending that the local judge's ruling violated the Constitution and federal law. In the last seven years, at least 20 churches had been constructed in Murfreesboro without any objection, mosque supporters said.
“They didn’t want to bring this litigation, but they were forced into it because it is the only way that they can get into their new mosque in time for Ramadan,” Smith said. “It’s unfortunate that they’ve been backed into this corner.”
County attorneys did not oppose Campbell’s order. Attorneys representing mosque opponents could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
Campbell's temporary order will allow worship inside the mosque for 14 days. It is unclear what will happen after that.
In the longer term, the Islamic community’s attorneys have filed a complaint in U.S. District Court asking for a permanent injunction against the Chancery Court decision that blocked the occupancy permits.
Mosque supporters were ecstatic after Campbell's ruling.
“The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro is delighted by the judge’s decision,” Ossama Bahloul, imam of the Islamic center, said in a statement. “We look forward to celebrating Ramadan with our neighbors.”
- 30 -
18 July 2012
gotcha!
Click photo to enlarge.
Reuters (UK newswire)
Wednesday 18 July 2012
Hungary detains man, 97,
accused of torturing Jews
in World War II
by Gergely Szakacs
BUDAPEST -- Hungarian prosecutors on Wednesday detained a 97-year-old man accused of whipping Jewish prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp during World War Two and helping to deport them to Auschwitz concentration camp.
Nazi-hunters from the Simon Wiesenthal Center had named Laszlo Csatary, a Hungarian national, as their most wanted war crimes suspect.
Prosecutors in Budapest said he had hit Jewish prisoners with a dogs' whip when he was a police commander in the Nazi-occupied town of Kosice, which was then part of Hungary and is now in Slovakia. He has denied the accusations.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center says it provided Hungary with evidence that in 1944 Csatary helped to organize the deportation of around 16,000 Jews to the Auschwitz death camp from Kosice.
"Today the Budapest Prosecution Office has taken Laszlo Csatary into custody and has questioned him on suspicion of war crimes," prosecutor Tibor Ibolya told a news conference.
Ibolya said Csatary, who was in good physical and mental condition for his age, was co-operating with investigators.
Prosecutors accuse Csatary of "war crime committed by unlawful torture of human beings," which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
In a statement, they said Csatary was in charge of a camp based in a brick factory where close to 12,000 Jews were deported from the town's surroundings.
It was not immediately clear why the Hungarian figures differed from those provided by the Wiesenthal Centre earlier.
Prosecutors also say Csatary was involved in the deportation of the nearly 12,000 Jews in Kosice to death camps, most of them to Auschwitz. The English-language statement said Csatary was present and involved.
In one specific incident in June 1944, the prosecutors said Csatary has refused the request of a Jewish prisoner, crammed in a wagon with nearly 80 other people, to let air in.
At a hearing in Budapest, Csatary was put under house arrest for 30 days, his lawyer, Gabor Horvath, told reporters.
"We have appealed this decision and a higher court will decide whether this stands or not," Horvath said about the house arrest.
Csatary did not speak to reporters when he left the prosecutors' building, surrounded by relatives who ushered him into a car.
The case is expected to last several months.
Another suspect, former Hungarian gendarme officer Sandor Kepiro, died aged 97 in September in Budapest after a court cleared him of involvement in killing more than 1,000 civilians in the Serb city of Novi Sad in 1942.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than/Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)
- 30 -
========
COMMENTS
========
ajzhotrodz wrote:
hes 97 why now its to late let it go many people did evil things back then its awful but its been 50+ years its time to move on
Jul 18, 2012 12:37pm EDT
Ira.D.Generit wrote:
Will we start arresting the Zionists who enabled Hitlers war machine to grow? Or the Jews who abused the people of Germany after WW1 and caused the Nazi movement to begin?
Anyone ever wonder why Jews cant get along with any nation in the history of the world, or do we dismiss that as every nation in the history of the world are all Nazis?
Jul 18, 2012 1:44pm EDT
RedBear57 wrote:
I do not know the whole story, but the worst charge I see in the article is he whipped people?
It seems to me that a statute of limitations ought to apply at some point. It would be different if he were a high level person directly involved in the extermination, but I do not see what is to be gained by prosecuting a 97 year old man for essentially committing assault after 68 years…
Jul 18, 2012 2:19pm EDT
Brazilian1 wrote:
The passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the killers.
A few facts:
Between 1941-1944, Csatary a senior police officer, beat, brutalized and sent 16,000 Jews to their deaths in the Ukraine and Auschwitz. He perpetrated his evil deeds in thecity of Kosice, where, in 1944, Hungarian authorities transferred thousands of Hungarian Jews to German control and transport to the Auschwitz death camp. Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Final Solution, personally visited there in late April 1944 to supervise the campaign to destroy Europe’s lost Jewish community. The total hopelessness is mirrored in these desperate words from a Kosice Jew awaiting his death enroute from Hungary to Auschwitz:
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE CASE:
· In 1948, Csatary was convicted in absentia in Czechoslovakia for war crimes andsentenced to death
· He escaped to Canada and lived under an assumed identity working as an art dealer
· He fled Canada when he was discovered in 1997 while the Canadian government was building a case for his deportation
· He was discovered in Budapest almost a year ago after SWC Chief Nazi Hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff received a tip through ‘Operation Last Chance’
Jul 18, 2012 2:59pm EDT
Reuters (UK newswire)
Wednesday 18 July 2012
Hungary detains man, 97,
accused of torturing Jews
in World War II
by Gergely Szakacs
BUDAPEST -- Hungarian prosecutors on Wednesday detained a 97-year-old man accused of whipping Jewish prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp during World War Two and helping to deport them to Auschwitz concentration camp.
Nazi-hunters from the Simon Wiesenthal Center had named Laszlo Csatary, a Hungarian national, as their most wanted war crimes suspect.
Prosecutors in Budapest said he had hit Jewish prisoners with a dogs' whip when he was a police commander in the Nazi-occupied town of Kosice, which was then part of Hungary and is now in Slovakia. He has denied the accusations.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center says it provided Hungary with evidence that in 1944 Csatary helped to organize the deportation of around 16,000 Jews to the Auschwitz death camp from Kosice.
"Today the Budapest Prosecution Office has taken Laszlo Csatary into custody and has questioned him on suspicion of war crimes," prosecutor Tibor Ibolya told a news conference.
Ibolya said Csatary, who was in good physical and mental condition for his age, was co-operating with investigators.
Prosecutors accuse Csatary of "war crime committed by unlawful torture of human beings," which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
In a statement, they said Csatary was in charge of a camp based in a brick factory where close to 12,000 Jews were deported from the town's surroundings.
It was not immediately clear why the Hungarian figures differed from those provided by the Wiesenthal Centre earlier.
Prosecutors also say Csatary was involved in the deportation of the nearly 12,000 Jews in Kosice to death camps, most of them to Auschwitz. The English-language statement said Csatary was present and involved.
In one specific incident in June 1944, the prosecutors said Csatary has refused the request of a Jewish prisoner, crammed in a wagon with nearly 80 other people, to let air in.
At a hearing in Budapest, Csatary was put under house arrest for 30 days, his lawyer, Gabor Horvath, told reporters.
"We have appealed this decision and a higher court will decide whether this stands or not," Horvath said about the house arrest.
Csatary did not speak to reporters when he left the prosecutors' building, surrounded by relatives who ushered him into a car.
The case is expected to last several months.
Another suspect, former Hungarian gendarme officer Sandor Kepiro, died aged 97 in September in Budapest after a court cleared him of involvement in killing more than 1,000 civilians in the Serb city of Novi Sad in 1942.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than/Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)
- 30 -
========
COMMENTS
========
ajzhotrodz wrote:
hes 97 why now its to late let it go many people did evil things back then its awful but its been 50+ years its time to move on
Jul 18, 2012 12:37pm EDT
Ira.D.Generit wrote:
Will we start arresting the Zionists who enabled Hitlers war machine to grow? Or the Jews who abused the people of Germany after WW1 and caused the Nazi movement to begin?
Anyone ever wonder why Jews cant get along with any nation in the history of the world, or do we dismiss that as every nation in the history of the world are all Nazis?
Jul 18, 2012 1:44pm EDT
RedBear57 wrote:
I do not know the whole story, but the worst charge I see in the article is he whipped people?
It seems to me that a statute of limitations ought to apply at some point. It would be different if he were a high level person directly involved in the extermination, but I do not see what is to be gained by prosecuting a 97 year old man for essentially committing assault after 68 years…
Jul 18, 2012 2:19pm EDT
Brazilian1 wrote:
The passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the killers.
A few facts:
Between 1941-1944, Csatary a senior police officer, beat, brutalized and sent 16,000 Jews to their deaths in the Ukraine and Auschwitz. He perpetrated his evil deeds in thecity of Kosice, where, in 1944, Hungarian authorities transferred thousands of Hungarian Jews to German control and transport to the Auschwitz death camp. Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Final Solution, personally visited there in late April 1944 to supervise the campaign to destroy Europe’s lost Jewish community. The total hopelessness is mirrored in these desperate words from a Kosice Jew awaiting his death enroute from Hungary to Auschwitz:
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE CASE:
· In 1948, Csatary was convicted in absentia in Czechoslovakia for war crimes andsentenced to death
· He escaped to Canada and lived under an assumed identity working as an art dealer
· He fled Canada when he was discovered in 1997 while the Canadian government was building a case for his deportation
· He was discovered in Budapest almost a year ago after SWC Chief Nazi Hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff received a tip through ‘Operation Last Chance’
Jul 18, 2012 2:59pm EDT
17 July 2012
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIM BITE ME U DEAD OLD FREAK
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
(daily broadsheet Pennsylvania USA)
Tuesday 17 July 2012
Plane banner sends message
to PSU brass about Paterno statue
by Mark Dent, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
JULIAN, PENNSYLVANIA -- From about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., a plane towing a banner that read "TAKE THE STATUE DOWN OR WE WILL" flew above State College, apparently sending a message to the Penn State administration about the Joe Paterno statue outside Beaver Stadium.
The plane is owned by Air America Aerial Ads, a limited liability company based in Toledo, Ohio, according to its Federal Aviation Administration registration.
Before the tail number could be identified by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Air America owner Jim Miller said the plane did not belong to him. Later calls to Miller and a company spokesperson were not immediately returned. Miller's company has flown sports-related banners before, including an anti-Tiger Woods banner at the 2010 Masters [professional golf tournament].
The pilot of the plane declined to identify himself, his company or to speak about the flight. The plane took off and landed at Ridge Soaring Gliderport in Julian.
The gliderport's owner, Tom Knauff, said his airport had no knowledge of what the banner said when the plane took off and that banner towing companies often use his airport.
"We just thought this was a routine 'Happy Birthday Jim' thing," Knauff said.
- 30 -
16 July 2012
Bob rants, snorts, fumes and calls for the NCAA Death Penalty for Penn State football
Click image to enlarge.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
(daily broadsheet, Pennsylvania USA)
Sunday 15 July 2012
Opinion:
The way forward
To the Editor:
"The love that dare not speak its name" is not (as Victorians whispered) homosexuality, nor is it pedophilia.
At Pennsylvania State University, the love that dare not speak its name is NCAA football. To preserve and keep milking this public university's most sacred cow, eight boys (verified by law enforcement to date) were raped or sexually abused in a period of 14 years, and no Penn State officials in or above the football program took any action to safeguard children or bring their abuser to justice.
A merciful old-age death and a handful of resignations and dismissals have sufficiently fixed these awkward embarrassments, so Penn State can now move on and prepare for next season's Nittany Lions kickoff and homecoming.
But if the point is to protect children from sexual predation -- and for all decent adults, that must be the point -- then there is only one solution for Penn State: to stop playing NCAA football for a minimum of six years.
After that, the entire university community, and the greater victimized and jeopardized community, can decide if football can be resurrected and children can be scrupulously protected.
Nor is the love of money "the love that dare not speak its name." Since biblical times, it has been recognized aloud as the root of all evil. To understand the love of Penn State football, and the perversity it has concealed and protected, just follow the vast amounts of Penn State football money.
Bob Merkin
Chesterfield, Massachusetts
14 July 2012
resistance is futile / prepare to be assimilated / do what you promised schnellst / don't make me blog my LTE
PUBLICKE WARNING
IF THE PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE DOES NOT PUBLISH MY LETTER TO THE EDITOR LIKE THE NICE YOUNG WOMAN ON THE PHONE WHO CALLED ME SAID THEY WOULD, I WILL BLOG IT HERE ON VLEEPTRON.
YOU HAVE 24 HOURS TO BE TRUE TO YOUR PROMISE.
IF THE PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE DOES NOT PUBLISH MY LETTER TO THE EDITOR LIKE THE NICE YOUNG WOMAN ON THE PHONE WHO CALLED ME SAID THEY WOULD, I WILL BLOG IT HERE ON VLEEPTRON.
YOU HAVE 24 HOURS TO BE TRUE TO YOUR PROMISE.
PRINT-JOURNALIST UP!
I REALLY MEAN IT THIS TIME.
DON'T MAKE ME DO IT.
IT'LL BE YOUR FAULT.
DON'T MAKE ME DO IT.
IT'LL BE YOUR FAULT.
Cleveland City of Light City of Magic / Vleeptron (& OhioMemory.org) waft youse back to northern Ohio 1937 / Vleeptron is a documented kosher/halal bona fide Research Institution / Case Western Reserve, & what 2 whack professors did on the train track / Burn On, Big River / Custer Car Speedway / Dennis Kucinich's Loser's Punishment
Painstakingly filched in 6 hextants from the digital archive of the Ohio Historical Society (OhioMemory.org)
Online access is provided for research purposes only.
[Vleeptron is a registered, certified, genuine, authentic, kosher, halal, honest-to-goodness Research institution, and organic greengrocer. For appropriate documentation, CLICK HERE.]
======================
This souvenir booklet for the 1937 Great Lakes Exposition in Cleveland [Ohio, USA] includes lists of exhibitors, entertainment, concessions, and exhibits. It also provides practical information about the exposition's lost and found, first aid station, stroller rental, and post office.
The 67-page booklet measures 5.75" x 8.75" (15 x 22.5 cm).
The exposition grounds spanned 135 acres along Cleveland's lakefront from Public Hall to Municipal Stadium east to 20th street.
The fair opened to the public June 27, 1936 and ran for 100 days. It opened for a second season in 1937, drawing more than 7,000,000 visitors in the 2 seasons despite the hardships of The [worldwide] Great Depression.
Attractions included the "Streets of the World" where visitors could sample food, entertainment, and goods from 40 countries, and the Hall of Progress, which included the "television theatre."
The midway offered dozens of rides and amusements, such as "Ripley's Believe it or Not Odditorium" a photograph gallery, Venetian boat swing [?], and the "Custer Car Speedway [?]." The 1937 season featured Billy Rose's Aquacade
[Broadway & Vaudeville & Hollywood producer and showman Billy Rose was the 2nd husband of Broadway comic star Fanny Brice, whose 2 "Funny Girl" biopics starred Barbra Streisand]
a water music and dance spectacular starring Olympians Eleanor Holm and Johnny Weismuller, star of the Tarzan movies.
===========
Everyone is White! Everyone is Young! Everyone is of proper height and weight and BMI! Everyone has hair! No Baldies!
No one is Old or Fat, or an amputee (even though 1937 was just 19 years beyond the end of World War I, the Midway would have been generous with one-armed one-handed one-eyed and blind gassed-wheezing one-legged men, now nearing or a bit older than 40).
No Negroes or Colored People, you betcha!
They're harvesting delicious appetizing fruit from Great Lakes orchards!
Ohio in 1937 was definitely SOMEBODY's vision of SOME KIND of Paradise.
I'm pretty damn certain those two topless hunkola loxes are certified heteros/breeders. One of them -- maybe both of them, I've seen that MGM musical and that Leoncavallo opera -- might be mildly flirting with The Young White Girl Next Door, who is mildly but age-appropriately receptive. (In the opera, she was Very Receptive.)
(If you want to know some real sleazy True Stuff about County Fairs & State Fairs & the Carnivals they employ, Leave A Comment, maybe I have to slip you this in pvt e-mail. This is Hot.)
The modeling agency would have insisted on some kind of proof or solid evidence, at least something to stick in the file cabinet in case of subsequent litigation.
One nickname for Cleveland, beloved of its inhabitants, is "The Mistake on the Lake."
HERE is a song about the Cuyahoga River, which flows through Cleveland and empties into Lake Erie, whose southern shore is Cleveland's waterfront.
Mnemonic for The Great Lakes:
Huron
Ontario
Michigan
Erie
Superior
3-(or 4-)Dimensional Newtonian Space and Time were suddenly and forever smashed and ruptured and destroyed and rendered False & Unreliable along a long straight flat stretch of railroad track in Cleveland, Ohio USA in 1904. For scientific details of this unexpected catastrophe, CLICK HERE.
(But we got a Nobel Physics Prize, our very first, for it anyway.)
If your precious child or grandchild or beloved waif has any kind of Scientific Bent, don't be shy about sending Snookums or Tifani to Case Western Reserve, they do some whack shit there.
The Vleeptron Ministry of Prophesy (VMoP) predicts that at least one human on our first Personed Partially Not Robotic Mission To Mars will be a Case Western grad or post-grad. Low-Orbit Earth Space is lousy with Case Western t-shirts and baseball caps, it's like one of their hangouts.)
(N.B.: This requires the child to dwell in Cleveland for 4 or 5 or 6 years or more. Leave A Comment.)
US Marginal Occasional Democratic Party Ultra-Liberal Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich used to be Mayor of Cleveland, and then made the big-time leap to Member of the House of Representatives (the lower house of the USA bicameral parliament). Dennis alas was not elected President of the United States (I voted for him in a primary, maybe I had to write in his name), but HERE is his Consolation Prize. One pundit suggested Kucinich may have been the first politician in history to announce he was leaving a political race to spend more time with his wife and family, and be telling the truth.)
PIZZAQ! [1/2 slice plain with Kraft Cheese Single]: Dennis is a graduate of Guess Where University in Cleveland?
Dennis also loudly demanded that the USA adopt Single Payer / National Health / Canadian-style / Depraved Failed Debauched Euro-style / Castro-Che-Style health insurance to assure full health coverage for all, regardless of ability to pay.
No evidence exists -- Fox/Murdoch hasn't found any yet, anyway, maybe Glen Beck or Donald Trump know some stuff -- that Kucinich ever belonged to a known Communist Cell (like the one Herb Philbrick joined) or Terrorist Non-State Actor.
One of Mayor Kucinich's Worst Days Ever was when he was negotiating an extremely sensitive, fragile Big Cash Loan with several Ginormous Banks and Federal Agencies to prevent the city's on-the-brink-of bankruptcy -- the day his addicted brother unhappily chose to rob a small branch of one of the banks Dennis was trying to get a big public loan from.
consolation prize / red ribbon / 2nd prize / loser's punishment / also she has drop--dead aristocratic highly educated English OxBridge accent
Click, she gets easier to see. (Bur you should hear her talk!!)
Germany promises to protect Jewish and Muslim infant male circumcision
The Wall Street Journal
(USA financial-oriented daily broadsheet)
Friday 13 July 2012
Berlin to Protect Right
to Ritual Circumcision
by Vanessa Fuhrmans
BERLIN -- Germany's government pledged Friday to pass a law to protect the ritual circumcision of young boys, seeking to calm a fractious debate over the religious rights of the country's Jews and Muslims that has erupted since a German court ruled the practice amounted to illegal bodily harm.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief spokesman called such legislation "a matter of urgency" after a district court in Cologne ruled in late June that a child's "fundamental right to physical integrity" superseded his parents' rights to carry out a religious practice. Because a child could decide later whether to have the circumcision on his own, that religious freedom wouldn't be unreasonably impaired, the court ruled.
The ruling has since unleashed an outpouring of criticism from Jewish and Muslim groups at home and abroad. The backlash has landed with particular resonance in a country still sensitive to accusations of religious intolerance as a result of the atrocities Nazis committed against Jews during the Third Reich. At an emergency meeting of the Conference of European Rabbis in Berlin earlier this week, its president called the court decision the "worst attack on Jewish life since the Holocaust."
Were the ruling to set a precedent, "there would be no future for most of the Jewish community in Germany," said Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the body's president.
On Friday, the government sought to quell the uproar and move to clarify the legal uncertainty that the court decision has triggered. "For everyone in the government, it's completely clear: We want Jewish and Muslim religious life in Germany," said Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said. "Circumcisions carried out in a responsible manner must be possible in this country without punishment."
Germany is home to some 4,000,000 Muslims, many of them originally from Turkey, as well as approximately 120,000 Jews, part of a community that has steadfastly rebuilt itself here since its near-obliteration during World War II. While Germany has sought to help re-establish its budding Jewish community and address its concerns, it has struggled, like many European countries, to integrate its swelling Muslim population.
The June 26 ruling stems from the case of a four-year-old Muslim boy who had been circumcised by a doctor at the behest of his parents. After complications developed and the boy was taken to the hospital, local prosecutors became aware of the case and took legal action against the doctor.
The lower court's ruling isn't binding on other jurisdictions, nor do legal experts anticipate it to set much of a precedence given court's position in Germany's judicial hierarchy. Still, the ruling has created a lot of legal uncertainty, and already had a stifling effect.
The German Medical Association earlier this week said the decision poses a legal quagmire for doctors and advised them not to perform such operations because of the risks of being prosecuted. The court ruling "isn't about banning religious rights," he said. "It's about delaying a religious act to ensure that children's rights are also protected."
Its president, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, warned the court's decision also could threaten children's health. One hospital that already has stopped performing religious circumcisions is the 250-year-old Jewish Hospital of Berlin. Last year, it performed roughly 300 circumcisions, on Muslim and Jewish boys. Since the Cologne court's ruling, though, the hospital said it has had to cancel five planned procedures.
"There is now the danger that laypeople will carry out the procedure instead, and that that will lead to considerable complications from the often unhygienic conditions alone," Dr. Montgomery said.
Holm Putzke, a German law professor from the University of Passau whose writings have played an influential role in Germany's legal debate over ritual circumcision, however, called the government's plans for legislation a "hasty reaction" that risked running afoul of Germany's constitution. Protecting the bodily harm of a child as a religious act opened the door to sanctioning other, more controversial practices under the guise of religious freedom he said.
A version of this article appeared July 13, 2012, on page A9 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Berlin to Protect Right To Ritual Circumcision.- 30 -
10 July 2012
Episcopal Church votes to introduce blessing rite for same-sex couples
The Associated Press (USA newswire)
Tuesday 10 July 2012
Episcopal Church approves
same-sex blessing rite
by Rachel Zoll, AP Religion Writer
Episcopalians approved a churchwide ceremony Tuesday to bless same-sex couples, the latest decisive step toward accepting homosexuality by a denomination that nine years ago elected the first openly gay bishop.
At the Episcopal General Convention, which is divided into two voting bodies, about 80 percent of the House of Deputies voted to authorize a provisional rite for same-sex unions for the next three years. A day earlier, the House of Bishops approved the rites 111-41 with three abstentions during the church meeting in Indianapolis (Indiana USA).
Supporters of the same-sex blessings insisted it was not a marriage ceremony despite any similarities. Called "The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant," the ceremony includes prayers and an exchange of vows and rings. Same-sex couples must complete counseling before having their unions or civil marriages blessed by the church.
Other mainline Protestant churches have struck down barriers to gay ordination in recent years or allowed individual congregations to celebrate gay or lesbian unions. However, only one major U.S. Protestant group, the United Church of Christ, has endorsed same-sex marriage outright.
In a separate vote Monday, the full Episcopal convention approved new anti-discrimination language for transgendered people that cleared the way for transgendered clergy.
"I believe the Episcopal Church will continue to evolve on the issue of marriage equality and look forward to joining our UCC brothers and sisters in being a headlight instead of taillight on marriage equality," said the Rev. Susan Russell, an Episcopal priest and longtime gay advocate in the denomination.
Under the new policy, each Episcopal bishop will decide whether to allow the ceremonies in his or her local diocese. A provision dubbed a conscience clause bars any penalties for Episcopalians who oppose its use.
Six states and the District of Columbia have legalized gay marriage and three more states could do so this year, while 30 states have passed constitutional amendments limiting marriage to unions between a man and a woman.
Episcopalians had already blazed a trail -- and caused an uproar -- in 2003 by consecrating New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican world. While Robinson went on to become a powerful symbol for gay rights, the Anglican Communion began splintering, and has continued to do so ever since.
The New York-based Episcopal Church is the U.S. body of the 77,000,000-member Anglican Communion. Episcopal conservatives responded to Robinson's ordination by creating a rival denomination, the Anglican Church in North America, under the guidance of like-minded Anglican leaders overseas. Anglican leaders had asked Episcopalians for a moratorium on electing another gay or lesbian bishop as the communion struggled to stay together. Episcopalians agreed, but three years ago voted to lift the temporary ban.
A spokeswoman for the leader of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, said she would not comment Tuesday.
During the debate Tuesday, opponents argued that adopting an official liturgy amounted to an endorsement of same-sex marriage with no theological justification for doing so. Episcopal church law and Book of Common Prayer still define marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
"It is being seen as a marriage rite even though I was told that is not intended," said the Rev. Sharon Lewis, from the Diocese of Southwest Florida delegation.
The Rev. David Thurlow of the Diocese of South Carolina, which has withdrawn from some councils of the national church in protest of its theological direction, said the church was "marching off not only completely out of step with, but completely out of line with, the faith once delivered to the saints."
Yet, with the departure of many Episcopal conservatives from the denomination, even critics of the resolution acknowledged that they were unlikely to stop the measure.
In one of several emotional appeals for passage, Pete Ross, a lay delegate from the Diocese of Michigan, described an earlier hearing on same-sex blessings when a man spoke about his lifelong male partner, who had recently died.
"He told us the anniversary they celebrated in their relationship was when they signed their mortgage," Ross said, choking back tears. "It's time for our church to honor these lifelong commitments."
The official liturgy for same-sex blessings has been in development since 2009, when it was authorized by the last General Convention. Some bishops had already created rites for the ceremonies for use in their own dioceses. But the prayers approved Tuesday are the first such official prayers for use by the entire church, which claims just under 2 million members.
The liturgy can be used starting December 2, the first Sunday in Advent.
On the Net:
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/gc2012/
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.- 30 -
Tuesday 10 July 2012
Episcopal Church approves
same-sex blessing rite
by Rachel Zoll, AP Religion Writer
Episcopalians approved a churchwide ceremony Tuesday to bless same-sex couples, the latest decisive step toward accepting homosexuality by a denomination that nine years ago elected the first openly gay bishop.
At the Episcopal General Convention, which is divided into two voting bodies, about 80 percent of the House of Deputies voted to authorize a provisional rite for same-sex unions for the next three years. A day earlier, the House of Bishops approved the rites 111-41 with three abstentions during the church meeting in Indianapolis (Indiana USA).
Supporters of the same-sex blessings insisted it was not a marriage ceremony despite any similarities. Called "The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant," the ceremony includes prayers and an exchange of vows and rings. Same-sex couples must complete counseling before having their unions or civil marriages blessed by the church.
Other mainline Protestant churches have struck down barriers to gay ordination in recent years or allowed individual congregations to celebrate gay or lesbian unions. However, only one major U.S. Protestant group, the United Church of Christ, has endorsed same-sex marriage outright.
In a separate vote Monday, the full Episcopal convention approved new anti-discrimination language for transgendered people that cleared the way for transgendered clergy.
"I believe the Episcopal Church will continue to evolve on the issue of marriage equality and look forward to joining our UCC brothers and sisters in being a headlight instead of taillight on marriage equality," said the Rev. Susan Russell, an Episcopal priest and longtime gay advocate in the denomination.
Under the new policy, each Episcopal bishop will decide whether to allow the ceremonies in his or her local diocese. A provision dubbed a conscience clause bars any penalties for Episcopalians who oppose its use.
Six states and the District of Columbia have legalized gay marriage and three more states could do so this year, while 30 states have passed constitutional amendments limiting marriage to unions between a man and a woman.
Episcopalians had already blazed a trail -- and caused an uproar -- in 2003 by consecrating New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican world. While Robinson went on to become a powerful symbol for gay rights, the Anglican Communion began splintering, and has continued to do so ever since.
The New York-based Episcopal Church is the U.S. body of the 77,000,000-member Anglican Communion. Episcopal conservatives responded to Robinson's ordination by creating a rival denomination, the Anglican Church in North America, under the guidance of like-minded Anglican leaders overseas. Anglican leaders had asked Episcopalians for a moratorium on electing another gay or lesbian bishop as the communion struggled to stay together. Episcopalians agreed, but three years ago voted to lift the temporary ban.
A spokeswoman for the leader of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, said she would not comment Tuesday.
During the debate Tuesday, opponents argued that adopting an official liturgy amounted to an endorsement of same-sex marriage with no theological justification for doing so. Episcopal church law and Book of Common Prayer still define marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
"It is being seen as a marriage rite even though I was told that is not intended," said the Rev. Sharon Lewis, from the Diocese of Southwest Florida delegation.
The Rev. David Thurlow of the Diocese of South Carolina, which has withdrawn from some councils of the national church in protest of its theological direction, said the church was "marching off not only completely out of step with, but completely out of line with, the faith once delivered to the saints."
Yet, with the departure of many Episcopal conservatives from the denomination, even critics of the resolution acknowledged that they were unlikely to stop the measure.
In one of several emotional appeals for passage, Pete Ross, a lay delegate from the Diocese of Michigan, described an earlier hearing on same-sex blessings when a man spoke about his lifelong male partner, who had recently died.
"He told us the anniversary they celebrated in their relationship was when they signed their mortgage," Ross said, choking back tears. "It's time for our church to honor these lifelong commitments."
The official liturgy for same-sex blessings has been in development since 2009, when it was authorized by the last General Convention. Some bishops had already created rites for the ceremonies for use in their own dioceses. But the prayers approved Tuesday are the first such official prayers for use by the entire church, which claims just under 2 million members.
The liturgy can be used starting December 2, the first Sunday in Advent.
On the Net:
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/gc2012/
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.- 30 -
08 July 2012
Cahiers du Vleeptron reviews "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" / You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll kiss 12 bucks goodbye / why the Confederacy waged war to preserve African slavery
Cahiers du Vleéptron wishes sincerely to apologize for earlier calling Disney's "John Carter of Mars" (starring Taylor Kitsch) the biggest piece of pop-o-phonic X-treme Dolby Quad 3D shit ever digitally projected on the giant summer blockbuster screen.
It was bad. For an hour and a half I was deeply ashamed to realize I had pissed away U$12 on this loud, talentless, boring crap from the Red Planet.
Fortunately there were only 2 other ashamed customers in the theater, they left before the movie ended, and a week later Disney fired its President of Feature Film Production, and began exploring current USA bankruptcy protection statutes.
"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" (this time the mega-industrial turd factory was Fox) is worse.
Much worse.
"John Carter of Mars" was just real silly, and, with time, the human soul can get over and maybe even forget real silly.
"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" was not only silly, it was profoundly offensive and insulting -- on a scale so epic that citizens of the United States of America -- from above or below the Mason & Dixon Line -- will never be able to hang enough air-fresheners to purge the vile stench of this 3D perversion of our national history from their nostrils.
SPOILER ALERT
(like it matters, sue me if I ruin this fine film for you):
"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" finally answers many mysteries people in the USA have had about the Lincoln and Civil War era in the century and a half since those tragic days.
Why was there so much depraved, vile, morally bereft African slavery, and why did the Southern states cling to slavery so dearly that they were willing to wage fratricidal civil war to preserve it?
Well, now we finally know.
It turns out that Vampires (immigrants from depraved, debauched, Satanic Europe) were using African slaves as a huge regional blood bank, and the Vampire conspirators made a secret deal with Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, to wage war against the northern Abolitionists, and preserve the Southern states as the Vampires' huge permanent blood bank.
How did the North prevail against the superhuman, supernatural powers of world Vampiry?
Well, it turns out that a fiendish vampire had exsanguinated and murdered little Abe Lincoln's mom, and he vowed to grow up and have his revenge someday.
He met and apprenticed himself to a frontier Vampire Hunter, who taught him all the tricks he'd need to slay Vampires (with his big axe -- Abe was real good with an axe, but sort of sucked with firearms).
Tim Burton had something to do with this monumental pile of offensive puke, but that didn't help much.
This movie reminded me most of the horrified, revulsed faces of the opening-night audience watching "Springtime for Hitler," the Broadway flop a theatrical scam artist produces to get rich selling 10,000 percent of the show to sucker investors. (Unfortunately -- Broadway audiences being notoriously perverse -- "Springtime" became a huge smash, the investors demanded their profits, so the producer ended up in fraud prison.)
Who knows? Maybe "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" will surprise everyone and become a smash hit.
Tim Burton had something to do with this monumental pile of offensive puke, but that didn't help much.
This movie reminded me most of the horrified, revulsed faces of the opening-night audience watching "Springtime for Hitler," the Broadway flop a theatrical scam artist produces to get rich selling 10,000 percent of the show to sucker investors. (Unfortunately -- Broadway audiences being notoriously perverse -- "Springtime" became a huge smash, the investors demanded their profits, so the producer ended up in fraud prison.)
Who knows? Maybe "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" will surprise everyone and become a smash hit.
It could be big in the South, because it explains that Southern human beings weren't the driving force behind African Slavery at all -- it was really all a Vampire thing.
There were synthetic and false moments of emotional manipulation and heart-strangulation that would shame a used-car dealer, or the Big Pharma sales department, or the publishing staff of "Seventeen" magazine.
There were synthetic and false moments of emotional manipulation and heart-strangulation that would shame a used-car dealer, or the Big Pharma sales department, or the publishing staff of "Seventeen" magazine.
Well, that's really all Cahiers du Vleeptron can say about this 3D Fete du Merde at this time. We are seeking psychiatric counseling to try to get the thing out of our brains, so far with little success.
But there's more!
======================
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
======================
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (film)
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov
Produced by Timur Bekmambetov
Tim Burton
Jim Lemley
Screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith
Based on Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by
Seth Grahame-Smith
Starring Benjamin Walker
Dominic Cooper
Anthony Mackie
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Rufus Sewell
Marton Csokas
Music by Henry Jackman
Cinematography Caleb Deschanel
Editing by William Hoy
Studio Bazelevs Company
Tim Burton Productions
Dune Entertainment
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
USA Release date: June 22, 2012
Running time 105 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $69,000,000[2]
Box office $49,106,376[3]
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a 2012 American action fantasy horror film based on the 2010 mashup novel of the same name. The film was directed and co-produced by Timur Bekmambetov, along with Tim Burton. The novel's author, Seth Grahame-Smith, wrote the adapted screenplay, and Benjamin Walker stars as the title character. The real-life figure Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States (1861–1865), is portrayed in the novel and the film as having a secret identity as a vampire hunter. Filming began in Louisiana in March 2011 and the film was released in 3D on June 20, 2012 in the United Kingdom and June 22, 2012 in the United States.
Plot
In 1818, Abraham Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) lives in Indiana with his parents, Nancy (Robin McLeavy) and Thomas (Joseph Mawle), who works at a plantation owned by Jack Barts (Marton Csokas). There, Lincoln befriends a young African American boy, William Johnson (Anthony Mackie), and intervenes when he sees Johnson being beaten by a slaver. Because of his son's actions, Thomas is fired. That night, Lincoln sees Barts break into his house and attack Nancy. She falls ill the following day, and dies shortly afterwards. Thomas tells Lincoln that Barts poisoned Nancy.
Nine years later, Lincoln decides to get revenge against Barts. He attacks Barts at the docks, but Barts, who is actually a vampire, overpowers him. However, before Barts can kill him, Lincoln is rescued by Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper). Sturgess explains that vampires exist, and offers to teach Lincoln to be a vampire hunter. Lincoln accepts and, after a decade of training, travels to Springfield, Illinois. During his training, Sturgess tells Lincoln that the vampires in America descend from Adam (Rufus Sewell), a vampire who owns a plantation in New Orleans with his sister, Vadoma (Erin Wasson). Sturgess also tells Lincoln of the vampires' weakness, silver, and presents him with a silver pocket watch.
In Springfield, Lincoln befriends shopkeeper Joshua Speed (Jimmi Simpson), and meets Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Though Sturgess warned him not to form any close relationships, Lincoln develops romantic feelings for Mary.
Lincoln successfully finds and defeats Barts. Before dying, Barts reveals that Sturgess is also a vampire. Lincoln confronts Sturgess, who reveals that, several years ago, he was attacked and bitten by Adam. Because Sturgess' soul was impure, he became a vampire, and that prevented him from harming Adam or any other vampire (since "Only the living can kill the dead"). Sturgess has since been training vampire hunters, hoping to destroy Adam.
Disappointed, Lincoln decides to abandon his mission. However, Adam learns of his activities and kidnaps Johnson to lure Lincoln into a trap at his plantation. Adam captures Lincoln and tries to recruit him, revealing his plans to turn the United States into a nation of the undead. Speed rescues his friends, and they escape to Ohio.
Lincoln marries Mary and begins his political career, campaigning to abolish slavery. Sturgess warns Lincoln that the slave trade keeps vampires under control, as vampires use slaves for food, and if Lincoln interferes, the vampires will retaliate. After Lincoln's election as President of the United States of America, he moves to the White House with Mary, where they have a son, William Wallace Lincoln (Cameron M. Brown). William is later bitten by Vadoma and dies.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis (John Rothman) convinces Adam to deploy his vampires on the front lines. Lincoln orders the confiscation of all the silverware in the area and has it melted to produce silver weapons. Speed, believing that Lincoln is tearing the nation apart, defects and informs Adam that Lincoln will transport the silver by train.
On the train, Adam and Vadoma, who have set fire to the upcoming trestle, attack Lincoln, Sturgess, and Johnson. During the fight, in which Speed is killed, Adam learns that the train holds only rocks. Lincoln reveals that Speed's betrayal was a ruse to lure Adam into a trap. Lincoln uses his watch to stab Adam, killing him, and the three escape the train before it explodes. Meanwhile, Mary and the ex-slaves have transported the silver to Gettysburg through the Underground Railroad.
The now leaderless Confederate vampires stage a final, massive assault and are met head on by the Union. Armed with their silver weapons, the Union soldiers destroy the vampires and eventually win the war.
Nearly two years later, on April 14, 1865, Sturgess tells Lincoln that the remaining vampires have fled the country. Sturgess unsuccessfully tries to convince Lincoln to allow him to turn Lincoln into a vampire, so that he can become immortal and continue to fight vampires. That night, John Wilkes Booth kills Lincoln.
In modern times, Sturgess approaches a man at a bar in Washington, D.C. as he once approached Lincoln.
Cast
Benjamin Walker as Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States.[4]
Dominic Cooper as Henry Sturgess, Lincoln's mentor in vampire hunting.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Mary Todd Lincoln, Lincoln's wife.[5]
Anthony Mackie as William Johnson, Lincoln's valet and friend.[6]
Jimmi Simpson as Joshua Speed, Lincoln's friend and assistant.[7]
Rufus Sewell as Adam, the leader of an order of vampires and the movie's main antagonist.[8]
Marton Csokas as Jack Barts, a plantation owner and the vampire who killed Lincoln's mother.
Joseph Mawle as Thomas Lincoln, Lincoln's father.
Robin McLeavy as Nancy Lincoln, Lincoln's mother.[9]
Erin Wasson as Vadoma, Adam's sister.
John Rothman as Jefferson Davis
Cameron M. Brown as William Wallace Lincoln, Abraham and Mary's son.[10]
Frank Brennan as Senator Jeb Nolan
Jaqueline Fleming as Harriet Tubman
Alan Tudyk as Stephen A. Douglas, an American politician from Illinois.[9]
Production
The film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was first announced in March 2010 when Tim Burton and Bekmambetov paired to purchase film rights and to finance its development themselves. The book's author, Seth Grahame-Smith, was hired to write the script.[11] In the following October, Fox beat other studios in a bidding war for rights to the film, having made a detailed pitch about the film's production, marketing, and release.[12]
In January 2011, with Bekmambetov attached as director, Walker was cast as Abraham Lincoln. He beat Adrien Brody, Josh Lucas, James D'Arcy, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen for the role.[4] Additional actors were cast in the following February.[13][5][7] Filming began in March 2011 in Louisiana.[4][13] The film had a budget of $69 million and was produced in 3D.[14]
Release
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was originally scheduled to be released in 2D and 3D on October 28, 2011, but was later pushed back to June 22, 2012.[14][15] The movie premiered in New York City on June 18.[16] Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter also made an unconventional debut with a screening for troops deployed in the Middle East. The movie was screened to over 1800 sailors aboard the Navy aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln, which is stationed in the Middle East. Several of the film's stars attended the screening, including Anthony Mackie, Erin Wasson and Benjamin Walker, who dressed in character as Abraham Lincoln. The screening marks the first time that a major motion picture made its debut for United States servicemen and women.[17]
Reception
[NOTE: Cahiers du Vleeptron's critique is not included in the following survey.]
As of June 24, 2012, Rotten Tomatoes reports a "rotten" approval score of 35%, based on 154 reviews, with an average score of 5.0/10. The consensus reads that the film "has visual style to spare, but its overly serious tone doesn't jibe with its decidedly silly central premise, leaving filmgoers with an unfulfilling blend of clashing ingredients." Emanuel Levy of EmanuelLevy.com wrote that "Though original, this is a strenuous effort to combine the conventions of two genres."[18] The movie also garnered a "mixed or average" score of 42 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 28 reviews.[19]
Richard Corliss of Time magazine elaborates, saying that "The historical epic and the monster movie run on parallel tracks, occasionally colliding but never forming a coherent whole."[20] Christy Lemire of Associated Press meanwhile, comments on the film's tenor and visual effects, saying "What ideally might have been playful and knowing is instead uptight and dreary, with a visual scheme that's so fake and cartoony, it depletes the film of any sense of danger," awarding the film a rating of 1.5 out of 4.[21] Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal agrees, saying, "Someone forgot to tell the filmmakers ... that the movie was supposed to be fun. Or at least smart."[22]
Joe Neumaler of New York Daily News gives the film a rating of 1 out of 5, writing, "This insipid mashup of history lesson and monster flick takes itself semi-seriously, which is truly deadly."[23] The title is praised by Manohla Dargis of The New York Times, who adds, "it's too bad someone had to spoil things by making a movie to go with it."[24] The title is further commented on by Barbara VanDenburgh from the Arizona Republic, who says, "The problem with movies based on a single joke is that a single joke is rarely funny enough to sustain the running time of a feature-length film".
Positive response meanwhile, came from Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has heart to spare, and the occasional silvered bayonet to run it through."[25] USA Today reviewer Scott Bowles remarks, "A stylish slasher of a movie, a monster flick that does its vampires right, if not their real-life counterparts," giving the film 2.5 out of 4.[26] Further acclaim came from Joe Williams of St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who calls it, "The best action movie of the summer," and praising the film for presenting "a surprisingly respectful tone toward American values and their most heroic proponent", calling "the battlefield scenes [...] suitably epic" and finally commending leading star Benjamin Walker, "a towering actor who looks like a young Liam Neeson and never stoops to caricature."[27]
Box office
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter debuted on June 22, 2012 in the United States screening at 3,108 theaters. It grossed $6,300,000 on its opening day, domestically[28] and $701,000 at its midnight showings and ended up grossing $16.6 million over the weekend in third place behind Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Disney Pixar's Brave.
As of July 6, it has made a domestic total of $32,106,376 and $17,000,000 at the international market for a total of $49,106,376.[29]
Home media
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is set to be released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2012. [30]
Soundtrack
The soundtrack to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter as composed by Henry Jackman was released digitally on June 12, 2012 and set to be released physically on July 3, 2012.[31][32] In addition, Linkin Park's song "Powerless", from their 2012 album Living Things premiered in the official trailer to Abraham Lincoln and is reportedly set to be played over the closing credits.[33] However, the song was not featured in the soundtrack.[34]
No. Title Artist Length
==================
1. "Childhood Tragedy" Henry Jackman 0:54
2. "Vampires" Henry Jackman 3:06
3. "What Do You Hate?" Henry Jackman 1:15
4. "Power Comes from Truth" Henry Jackman 2:29
5. "You Are Full of Surprises" Henry Jackman 1:15
6. "Mary Todd" Henry Jackman 1:56
7. "The Horse Stampede" Henry Jackman 3:15
8. "Henry Sturgess" Henry Jackman 0:55
9. "Adam" Henry Jackman 1:28
10. "Rescue Mission" Henry Jackman 1:15
11. "Inauguration" Henry Jackman 1:52
12. "All Slave to Something" Henry Jackman 2:49
13. "Emancipation" Henry Jackman 0:45
14. "Haunted by the Past" Henry Jackman 3:00
15. "Battle at Gettysburg" Henry Jackman 0:49
16. "Forging Silver" Henry Jackman 1:40
17. "80 Miles" Henry Jackman 1:52
18. "The Burning Bridge" Henry Jackman 3:41
19. "Not the Only Railroad" Henry Jackman 1:38
20. "The Gettysburg Address" Henry Jackman 2:22
21. "Late to the Theater" Henry Jackman 2:00
22. "The Rampant Hunter" (iTunes exclusive) Henry Jackman 5:30
See also
Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies
Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter
References
^ http://www.bbfc.co.uk/CFF288134/
^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=abrahamlincolnvampirehunter.htm
^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=abrahamlincolnvampirehunter.htm
^ a b c Abrams, Rachel; Oldham, Stuart (January 27, 2011). "Ben Walker is Abe Lincoln, 'Vampire Hunter'". Variety.
^ a b Abrams, Rachel (February 17, 2011). "Fox finds Mary Todd Lincoln for 'Vampire Hunter'". Variety.
^ Zeitchik, Steven (March 2, 2011). "'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' star Anthony Mackie: Our movie will be educational". Los Angeles Times.
^ a b Kroll, Justin (February 25, 2011). "Jimmi Simpson joins 'Vampire Hunter'". Variety.
^ Abrams, Rachel (April 12, 2011). "Rufus Sewell to play villain in 'Vampire Hunter'". Variety.
^ a b Sneider, Jeff (March 17, 2011). "Alan Tudyk joins 'Vampire Hunter'". Variety.
^ url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4377062/
^ Siegel, Tatiana (March 2, 2010). "Tim Burton to produce 'Abraham Lincoln'". Variety.
^ McClintock, Pamela (October 4, 2010). "'Abraham Lincoln' logs film rights sale". Variety.
^ a b Abrams, Rachel (February 10, 2011). "Dominic Cooper stakes key role in 'Abe Lincoln'". Variety.
^ a b McClintock, Pamela (October 29, 2010). "Fox's 'Vampire Hunter' to open in 2012". Variety.
^ "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Trailer Hits the Web". Retrieved February 15, 2012.
^ ""Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" Holds NYC Premiere". Retrieved June 19, 2012.
^ http://www.ontheredcarpet.com/Abraham-Lincoln:-Vampire-Hunter-screens-film-for-deployed-troops/8702993
^ Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Movie Reviews - Rotten Tomatoes
^ Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More - Metacritic
^ Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Movie Review: Four-score and Seven Corpses | Entertainment | TIME.com
^ Review: `Abraham Lincoln' a murky, joyless hunt - KansasCity.com
^ Brave | Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter | To Rome With Love | Pixar Plays It Safe | Film Reviews by Joe Morgenstern - WSJ.com
^ ‘Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter,’ with Benjamin Walker, is not a bloody good combination - NY Daily News
^ [http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/movies/abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter.html ‘Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter’ - NYTimes.com
^ Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Film Calendar - The Austin Chronicle
^ 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' finely dices history – USATODAY.com
^ Honest Abe slays demons in 'Vampire Hunter'
^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=abrahamlincolnvampirehunter.htm
^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=abrahamlincolnvampirehunter.htm
^ http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Abraham-Lincoln-Vampire-Hunter-Blu-ray/45774/
^ "iTunes - Music - Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Henry Jackman". Retrieved June 19, 2012.
^ "Amazon.com: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter: Various Artists: Music". Retrieved June 19, 2012.
^ "Linkin Park’s 'Powerless' Featured in Trailer for "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" Movie". Retrieved June 19, 2012.
^ "ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER Soundtrack Cover Art And Track Listing". Retrieved June 19, 2012.
External links
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter at the Internet Movie Database
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter at Rotten Tomatoes
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter — Music Trailer on YouTube
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
