Frankenstein or Modern Science?

This was culled from a review by Tim Dirks. The transcript is very accurate as I know it by heart,almost.
The most compelling thing about the Frankenstein tale is the forecast of the human condition. This easily could be the scientists working on Cloning, Genetic Experimentation, Abortion, Stem Cell Research, Etc...
But for now, more Halloween Haunts. If you never have seen the movie, give it a try. For 1931 the effects are haunting and the story as immortal as the Creature itself.
Get a bowl of popcorn,your favorite beverage, a fire in the fireplace. Lock the doors and draw the drapes. Turn the lights down and ......
Well I warned you......
The next scene opens with a close-up of a framed picture of Henry Frankenstein with a flickering candle burning closeby. A maid announces a family friend visitor: "Herr Victor Moritz," followed by a close-up of Victor Moritz' (John Boles) face. Frankenstein's fiancee Elizabeth (Mae Clarke) greets him in the wood-paneled, high-vaulted, Victorian style parlor of the Frankenstein manor. She is concerned, worried, and uncertain about Henry, and wondering if he is emotionally disturbed. Anxious about her marital partner, she explains how Henry's most recent letter, the first she has had in four months, makes no sense. He has shut himself off from the outside world, working to the limits of his endurance with his experiments in an isolated, abandoned watchtower that serves as a laboratory. The mysterious letter reads:


You must have faith in me, Elizabeth. Wait, my work must come first, even before you. At night the winds howl in the mountains. There is no one here. Prying eyes can't peer into my secret...I am living in an abandoned old watchtower close to the town of Goldstadt. Only my assistant is here to help me with my experiments.
She explains that Henry told her about his strange experiments at a significant time - just before they became engaged and he retreated to his mountain laboratory away from her:


The very day we announced our engagement, he told me of his experiments. He said he was on the verge of a discovery so terrific that he doubted his own sanity. There was a strange look in his eyes, some mystery. His words carried me right away. Of course I've never doubted him but still I worry. I can't help it.
Victor saw Henry three weeks earlier, when he was walking alone in the woods, and was told that no one was allowed to visit him in his laboratory: "His manner was very strange." He suggests going to see Dr. Waldman, Henry's former professor and paternalistic mentor in medical school. Victor also reveals that he is a rival lover with affectionate interest in Henry's future bride:


Victor: Perhaps he can tell me more about all this.
Elizabeth: Oh Victor, you're a dear.
Victor: You know I'd go to the ends of the earth for you.
Elizabeth: I shouldn't like that. I'm far too fond of you.
Victor: I wish you were!
Elizabeth: (she turns away) Victor.
Victor: I'm sorry.
With Elizabeth's insistence to join him, they leave the comfortable, secure surroundings of the living room area, and go together to discuss their concerns with Dr. Waldman. The scene at Waldman's office at the College, already in progress, shows a row of skulls positioned on one of the shelves of his bookcases. On his desk is a row of test tubes and another grinning skull. Surrounded by symbols of death, Waldman is also troubled by their news: "Herr Frankenstein is a most brilliant young man, yet so erratic he troubles me." Frankenstein's research in "chemical galvanism and electro-biology were far in advance of our theories here at the University" and had reached dangerously advanced stages. His experiments to recreate human life, and his demands for corpses "were becoming dangerous":


Waldman: Herr Frankenstein is greatly changed.
Victor: You mean changed as a result of his work?
Waldman: Yes, his work, his insane ambition to create life.
Elizabeth: How? How? Please tell us everything, whatever it is.
Waldman: The bodies we use in our dissecting room for lecture purposes were not perfect enough for his experiments, he said. He wished us to supply him with other bodies and we were not to be too particular as to where and how we got them. I told him that his demands were unreasonable. And so he left the University to work unhampered. He found what he needed elsewhere.
Victor: Oh! The bodies of animals. Well, what are the lives of a few rabbits and dogs?
Waldman: (leaning forward ominously) You do not quite get what I mean. Herr Frankenstein was interested only in human life - first to destroy it, then recreate it. There you have his mad dream.

Haunted!

It's that time of year and the zombies, ghosts, werewolfs(there wolf)etc. are haunting Libbys Lair.
I have always had a fascination with "Monster" movies, horror stories, ghost tales.
Why? I don't know. As said on previous blogs I loved watching Monster Movies with my Dad.
I walk through the wood any time unafraid, unarmed (sometimes!)I am not easily upset or alarmed. I still love thrills,however.
What is it about being shocked or scared that drives us into theaters? Rent Horror movies? Tell Ghost Stories around the campfire?
These are two of my scarecrows and holiday decor. I love this stuff. I would show more, but I would be indicted and questioned about my connections to Rove and Cheney.
Halloween has become a big thing recently, for better or worse. I keep in mind, it's good to understand the evil imbodied in horror to understand the good.
Selected Watchings:
1) (favorite) Frankenstein (1931) Boris Karloff
1a) Bride of Frankenstein 1935 ( Elsa Lancaster )
2) Van Helsing
3) 1968 Night of the Living Dead
4) 1931 Dracula ( Bela Lugosi)
5) Hammer Films of the same genre (gory)
6) Lon Chaney jr. Wolfman films
The best were the earlier, before you got to see the chainsaw actually cut the head off...
Hitchcock was a Master.
The Birds.
Rebecca, while a love story, is chilling in the coldness.
View from the rear window...
Yet my favorites are the books.
Read Mary Woolstonecraft Shelley,
Bram Stoker,
folklore.
Have you ever heard of the Bearwalk
You will.
Close the curtains...
Pull down the drapes.....
Cozy up to the telly....
and get ready to be AFRAID!!!!!
(courtesy Sir Graves Ghastley!!!!!)

Open Thread

No Pic, No opinion, No hassles.
Post to your hearts delight. Please keep it clean.

10 Ways to avoid Bird Flu

With all the disasters, cataclysms,and human suffering the last thing we need is an airborne assault by fowl. Although this is a very VERY serious issue, Libby has taken it upon himself to give a little insight to the new plague.
"EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou has warned that the EU should be ready for a potential human flu pandemic.

The H5N1 strain has killed more than 60 people in South East Asia since 2003. However, of those only one is suspected to have died after catching the virus from another human"
Ten ways to avoid the Bird Flu:

1) Ask your bird to cover its beak when coughing or sneezing.

2) If your bird has a high temperature, don't send it to school. This will only spread the illness to other birds.

3) Aspirin should not be given to young birds for fever. This could cause them to develop Reyes Syndrome.

4) Have your bird wash it's talons after using public restrooms.

5) Feed a fever, starve a bird.

6) If your Thanksgiving Turkey is in it's coop with a thermometer in it's beak and a cold compress on it's head, have Ham.

7) A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, but if your bird has the flu it's BUSHS FAULT!

8) Be monogamous with your bird, contrary to current philosophy, prophylactics don't afford protection. They suffocate the bird.

9) Luckily the food chain prevents the spread of this disease. I.E.: Cats eat birds, but people don't eat cats, except in Asia (OH SHIT I'M ON TO SOMETHING HERE!!!!!)

10) If your bird is acting a little fishy and may be infected, do the humane thing and flush it down the toilet.

Working on the Railroad

Made a little progress on my trackwork. After completing the inner loop (the one the steam engine is on), I need to start adding spurs and the outer loop. I plan on finishing the track and have it completely tested before scenery is begun. This whimsical scene just came to mind and is not permanent. Work ground to a halt when the Railroad construction crew found the WWI ammo dump. I do have HO scale military equipment and had thought about modeling a WWII base. This would give my 1940's era train equipment something to do.
So far I have assembled small tables in various sizes out of 1X4's and 1/4 luan plywood. They are attached together to form the entire table (approx 9X11 feet) on 4 foot tall legs. The center is open and accessible from outside for maintenance and operation. I covered this with 1 1/2 inch pink insulating foam. Topping that is 2X4 foot ceiling tiles glued upside down. Reason for this is carving out below grade scenery, hills and mountains will grow out of the same materials. These get carved,covered in drywall mud,painted and scenery. Kind of a combination of new techniques and conventional construction.
This scene is the beginning of the "Branch Line". This twisting,rural track will serve Whiskey and Branch Water (The towns, not the drinks, YOU LUSH!)
I will be able to run two trains on the main loops continously, parallel or opposing. On the branch line I can operate independently, switching cars into spurs and assembling trains. Train layouts fall into disrepair after they are completed (NEVER!) and become boring. Some of the kits behind the Engine are in line to populate the railroad, providing a reason to run it when it is operational.
The Great Northern Steam engine is my new favorite. It is digitally remote controlled and has an Awesome sound system. It was common for Lionels to have the " Bells and Whistles" but it is relatively new to HO scale (1 foot on the model equals 87 feet in real life). More to come, soon.

My day as a Liberal: Part 1

Xray of my temporary insanity by Dr. Jay D. Dyson, Sacred Cow Burger Doctor and Director of the Institute for the Mentally Well.(sacred cow burgers.com)
I had my telescope out the other night checking out the crater Tycho on Earths only natural satellite. A strange pain ripped through my upper shoulder and I found a small wound. Applying Bactine(™)I discovered a bat bite. I figured rabies would have to wait for the morning and sloughed off to bed.

The alarm went off and for the first time in my life I hit the snooze button. This continued for three hours. When I awoke I staggered to the bathroom grudgingly. I noticed my hair was matted and about ten inches longer. I also looked like I hadn't shaved in two weeks. Small white things crawled through the new found growth. Somehow this did not bother me.
My boss was leaving frantic messages on my answering machine, but my PS2 needed more attention. Finally I found refuge by going to my parents house and checking out the old basement. Solice! Nice dark and damp. Mind bending urges to score some sillycyben or cannibas were the only push to leave.
I found a totally cool Rastafarian knit cap on the side of the road and it now adorns my flowing greasey locks. "Maybe I'll get some cornrows" muttered I.
Now dude I like passed by this clinic offering free reproductive (wow man that's like a polysyllabic word dude!)care to like peeps and stuff. I jauntered in and asked for some. The heavy set chicky poo with the sawed off hair says like "yer a dude, dudes don't get no sex ed 'K!". I figured I'd give 'er a less or two so we hit it out back by the dumbster.
Sweaty and swarthy I set off to score sum more. I checked this homie in a van down by the river and WOW dude! Some awesome spectral aurora type crack man! Sky lit up.
Staggering away I wandered 'pon a strike like scene. Peep all upset cause their Evil Rich Bosses stopped paying them like $32.00 an hour. Crimes to humanity! These burger flippers were cool dudes! Man, out of work how where they gonna score that high grade hydropo? Things weren't cool. I got in a pigcops face and made it clear. "Jawl on 'da rong sod 'da law, like dude!"
Luckily a raving Union stew(ha ha I said stew)ard caught the cop off guard with a belly blow by picket sign. Half digested Krispy Kremes spewed everwhere! I t was like a well dude, ya know.
I sauntered off into the College campus.
This totally hip Prof type guy introduced him to myself and me to himself. We like hit it off. I was astounded by the intelligence this man exposed as he tried to expose himself."The Man is bringing both of us down big time". He explained how everything bad that had ever happened from the beginning of time was President Bush's fault. He also showed me the President Bush was not a Bush but a Noxious Weed. I like Noxious Weeds I say, Not he, He say.
Later after multiple attempts to see some planet of mine out past Saturn I told him "I gotta go, buzz is wearing off".
I passed a left over election sign from the last New York Senate race. Wow dude what a hot looking chick! If she only got into the lez thing, man she'd be mine! Suddenly I had an urge for bacon or ham. WONDER IF SHE BAKES COOKIES?
My odor was quite distinct by now, but still not troubling. I was hoping the local Government would have seized my home and leveled it before I found my way back. Maybe construction crews would be building a new 'Just a Touch' video store so I could see old friends. Phrases like "lil pink bunnbbula bumbula ..... and Love ,
kept coming to mind. I screamed " It was a personal matter between that fat cow and Clinton and his fat cow wife!!!!!!!"
tired,wretched and filthy I found my home.
A hot shower and a long nap.
would I ever be the same..........?