John Carpenter scared me smart.....

Halloween is my favorite time of year. I love the crisp weather, reminds of playing football, wearing hooded sweatshirts and best of all the Fall TV season has just started. Beyond that my birthday is on Oct 30Th. All Hallows eve. When your birthday falls on Halloween eve the holiday, scary movies and your birthday all get mashed together.Unlike having a birthday on say Christmas where you special day can be lost in the sauce having a birthday on Halloween simply enhances the experience. I have eatin many a home made (by mom) Birthday cake while sitting in a Spider man Halloween costume watching The Fog on TV. Which brings me to the subject of this post. The movie Halloween and it's director John Carpenter.

When I turned 12 NBC decided to air the first broadcast of Halloween on the 30Th. My mom, knowing my love for movies and TV had gotten me a subscription to TV guide so I was well aware that Halloween was coming on TV. The very same weekend it's sequel "Halloween 2" was premiering in theaters and my older brother, who was a Junior in high school at the time was going with friends to see it. I had no idea at the time how this weekend would impact my life, my love for movies and horror movies in particular.

That night myself, next door neighbor Steve Trame and my dad sat in our sun porch and watched Halloween. It scared the bejesus out of all three of us. Actually it did more than scare me, it ignited my 12 year old minds fascination with movies, how they are made and why they affect us like they do.

Halloween was not John Carpenters first movie, (that was Dark star) it was not even his first studio picture (that was Assault On Precinct 13) it was his first straight up horror movie and jump started the slasher craze. The story was so simple...little kid for no reason murders his sister on Halloween night. Years later he escapes from the loony bin and stalks 3 babysitters and their boyfriends killing them as the night goes on. The story was so simple and straightforward, which I feel is the lesson in John Carpenter movies: keep it simple. For a measly budget of Three Hundred Thousand dollars Halloween grossed Fifty Million, made Carpenter, Debra Hill and Jamie Lee Curtis stars and started the slasher era in films. It was not the first slasher (Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Black Christmas predate Halloween) but it was the most well made and well received slasher.

Halloween was the first movie that at age 12 made me want to know what a cinematographer does. It made me aware of framing a scene, what wide screen, POV shots and jump scares were and the importance of music to establishing mood is (the score to Halloween was not only one of the first songs I learned to play on the piano, it has become instantly recognized as the most influential piece of music in cinematic history, beyond the genre of horror even.) Even the way Carpenter shoots his characters is telling. Their is such a detachment, almost documentary way he presents his cast. It is impossible to tell how Carpenter wants us to feel as an audience, or he feels as a director about his charades by the way he shoots them. Very objective which enhances the horror: anything can (and will) happen to anyone at anytime. Having no money the picture is heavily influenced by German expressionist pictures of the 30's...long shaded shots with barely visible action in the distance, Carpenter makes full use of the screen, your eye is constantly scanning the background for danger, the lighting and cinematography of the Legendary Dean cundy is so effective you almost don't even realize what its doing to you. Of course having a vet like Donald Plesance and the like able new comer Jamie lee Curtis doesn't hurt but this was truly john Carpenters movie.

So I watched Halloween and my 12 year old mind was blown away. I then started to follow John Carpenter movies and it was really during his golden age. He followed Halloween with 3 more classics in short succession: The Fog, The Thing and Escape from New York. All of these movies once again featured Carpenters keep it simple filmaking, pov and long tracking shots as well as his signature score.Beyond that what caught my attention even as a kid was that unlike other horror movies of the time JC's movies featured intelligent and resourceful black characters. The hero from assault on Precinct 13 is a black man, a cop who not only survives the entire movie but is smart and brave. He is not the sidekick or the comic relief. Subsequent carpenter films (The Thing, They Live to name a few) also featured black characters who were not stereotypes and not killed off 5 mins into the pic as cannon fodder. I was aware of this on a conscious and subconscious level as a kid.

John Carpenter single handily, in my opinion took a sub genre of horror, the slasher pic and infused it with intelligence and style. All the slasher (well most) that followed simply copied his formula (group of kids get picked off one by one by crazy man) but copied none of his style. Friday The 13th and their breathen are Dead Teenager movies, not really horror movies and while I do enjoy them, its kinda like liking McDonald's fries as well as liking fillet minion. Both taste good but one is going to upset your stomach later on that night.

So thank you John Carpenter for not only making Halloween, The Fog and The Thing, 3 of my all time favorite movies but for infusing a genre known for exploitation with class, style and intelligence. You made me love the art of filmaking.

Haddix Road...a great place to be a kid

Yeah I know i go on and on about going to High school in a cornfield and rednecks yelling nigger out of pick up trucks as I played with my Micronauts in the front yard, I got my angry black guy shtick down pat.....but in fairness and if I'm going to be honest with myself their was another side to growing up in the country.

As an adult, like most of you my relationship with my parents can drive me crazy. As a teenager, at times it sucked beyond the telling of it. I don't think I was alone or odd in those feelings, but personally speaking as a kid, a kid under 13? My street, my neighborhood, my parents? Not too many people had it better than I did.

My folks were old fashioned (still are). Dad worked full time, mom stayed home and raised the kids. My parents did not drink, smoke, abuse us or each other and they didn't run around with other people. Weirdo's right? My mom cooked us dinner every night, was class mother for all my various choir practices, plays and track meets. I thought my parents were the most old fashioned, boring, predictable people I knew. At the time I thought that was lame. In hindsight I realize how lucky I was. Because my parents were so busy being responsible parents, it left me time...to be a kid. I never wondered or worried if my dad was coming home drunk (he wasn't) I never wondered if my mom would ignore or abuse me (she wouldn't) I never pondered whether my folks would stay together. These were givens in my family. It gave me time to be a kid. It allowed me to play superheroes with Becky and Laura, wiffle ball with Steve and John Trame and learn to shoot 8mm movies with Jerry and Heidi. My parents "squareness" which I used to loath and lament included raising me in an enviorment where we could sleep outside in the front yard in sleeping bags, go fishing in the creek and sled riding over on Blake's Hill. In my neighborhood all the adults were parents to all the kids, if Mr Trame said no, it was no and because my neighbors shared my parents values we never had to worry about creepy parents or tainted Halloween candy. We just didn't.

When I got older I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet my biological family. Another mom, another dad and 9 new siblings. I would not trade knowing them for the world but along with all the love also came a lot of revelation. Most of my siblings who I was not raised with did not have it so easy. Some of them had to become parents to THEIR parents at age 12. Some had to deal with (still deal with) family situations that I can't even imagine dealing with. Because I never had to worry about food, or getting burned with ciggs or ignored my 8 year old mind was free to wander. I wrote, I played, I created, I developed a sense of humor, a creative mind and open soul that serves me every day of my adult life. And at times I think i don't appreciate why I have these things. Its because I was allowed to be a kid. Not a black kid, not a poor kid,just...a kid. Thank you Mom and Dad and Mr and Mrs Banks, Trames, Durst, Frylings, Buddelmeyers, Wunders, Leists and all the other adults who by simple virtue of keeping their lives in order, gave me and my siblings and my friends real, genuine childhoods. Of course when I turned 14 it all went to hell but those first few years were awesome. Suicide Lane, Marco Polo with Becky and Laura, Guns in The Woods, Karate Lessons from Jerry and jogging with Heidi. That might not mean anything to you, but it means the world to me.

Ok that’s it I have fucking had it. If you’re the type of person that gets offended easily, if your sensitive to people talking about racial injustice or you want us to just “all get along” I suggest you stop reading now. I have had one too many discussions on this matter today, I have heard one too many ignorant statements on the matter of race so now I’m going to say everything I have always wanted to say but didn’t because I didn’t want to offend my white friends and my white side of the family. Hope I’m still in the will.

#1“Why are black people allowed to call each other nigger but when a white person does it he is escorted from the building by human resources?” I get asked this question by white friends and family a lot. My first thought is, boy I sure do have a lot of idiots in my life. Second response is this. If your so ignorant to American History, if your so ignorant to human nature that you really don’t “get” why its ok for me to say ‘what up my ni99a” to a black man but its not ok for a white person to call me a nigger than you frankly are too stupid to be my FB friend anyway and I suggest you rent Blue Collar comedy DVD’s, that seems more your speed. I understand why my female co-workers can talk to each other and say “Bitch you crazy as hell” but I would NEVER say “bitch you crazy as hell” to a female. Because I GET IT. Because I have common sense. Nigger is a word that has been used to divide and marginalize a group of people in this country by white folks for years. You can’t fucking say it to me. I can. Get over it. (by the way a lot of black folks don’t agree in using the N word, that’s a debate for us to have, you get no say so.)

#2 “Greg, your mom is white and your dad is black. You were adopted by white people and your skin is light. Why do you consider yourself black?” If I had a dime for every time I have been asked this by a white person. Answer is simple. When I was adopted not everyone on one side of my family was cool with the idea. In fact they decided that I would not be allowed into their home because of my skin color. I stood outside a few places with my Mother while my siblings and cousins exchanged gifts at Christmas time ect…because I was black. When I was in grade school some of my friends parents did not allow me into their homes, (this was the 80s; even) because “My mom doesn’t allow niggers in the house” and I quote. They didn’t say “we don’t allow mixed people in our home” they didn’t yell “Bi-racial” out the window. They called me a nigger. The reason why my high yellow white mother having ass considers myself a nigger, is because I was treated like one. No not everyone was mean and racist to me but it was a normal part of my life. Even after all these years there are still friends and family members who don’t deal with me, not because I’m crazy or crude, or have been to jail or gay….but because I’m black. I learned to own it if you haven’t noticed.


#3 Why can’t black folks get past racism and stop using it as an excuse to be lazy?’ It’s so funny when I hear white folks say that slavery was YEARS ago and that they personally didn’t own a slave. The simple facts are these. The normal way of doing business in the United States from its inception up until around 1969 was to be able to legally treat black people one step up from animals. If my black father lived where I live 40 years ago he would not be able to sit where I am sitting now because of the color of his skin. I’m not talking 1800’s I’m talking in my lifetime. So a country that for hundreds of years was ok with the idea of owning blacks, marginalizing blacks and abusing blacks all of the sudden in less than 30 years has changed the fabric of their souls? Really? Racist white policies were not challenged because white folks were all of the sudden “enlightened” we black folks and some good white folks had to FIGHT for to march for to die for the right to be treated as equals. We had to fight for it. What does that tell you about the United States values at the time?
So please sensitive white people, my brothers and sisters and friends and parents the next time you start to feel annoyed that you feel a black person is playing the race card, the next time you hear a black person say something that you know if you said it you would be attacked, the next time you feel slighted or resentful because something doesn’t seem racially fair please do me a favor..shut the fuck up and deal with your got damned guilt. It was your countries policies and prejudices and acceptance of racism that made people like me the way we are. If I play the race card its because you have been dealing ity to me from the bottom of the deck.

Just when I think i'm out...she pulls me back in

Sooo...making fun of and criticizing Sarah Palin is getting passe...or so I thought. Now I don't mean to brag but the day after her speech at the Republican National Convention I blogged on this site right here that I did not like nor trust her. This was still during the week and a half love affair the media and America had with Sarah before she was forced to talk without a script and we saw what an idiot she really is...but I digress (burp) excuse me, but I digest. Anyhoo, this woman refuses to leave the spotlight, and now everyone has jumped on the bash Palin bandwagon. Not that I don't agree with a lot of it but it's getting boorish. Its like when an old white dude starts saying "for shizzle my nizzle" I know not to ever say shizzle again (that was dead 4 years ago by the way. If your not Snoop just don't)

Sooo...Palin has been in the spotlight of late usually talking about how she is trying to stay out of the spotlight, that she is not a quitter thus she must quit her job ect, so I thought I would in the interest of fairness attempt to find something about her I like and or admire (and no the fact that she can shoot a moose from a helicopter doesn't count. Let me see her take a moose down bare handed and we will talk.)

Sooo...I need some common ground with Ms Palin. I know it wont be sexuality, because I'm gay and she belongs to a church that attempts to pray gay out of people.I have seen the video! By the by when you attempt to pray gay out of people what you end up with is Clay Aiken. Gay as hell but annoyingly swears he is straight for the first 5 years of his career. Creepy. Anyhoo I knew Ms Palin and I were not going to bond on sexuality, or global warming or anything else that required intelligent thought. We are on two different levels, she is a accomplished politician and college grad who almost became co-leader of the free world. I have GED and a bus pass. The fact that I'm the pragmatic intellectual who understands science and she is the flighty Jesus freak that thinks a spirit from heaven will cure you of something that requires no cure other than a boyfriend is an irony that is lost on people.. anyway...I digress (burp) sorry I digest.

Sooo....I thought how about race? I'm black maybe just maybe I can find somethings to admire about SP concerning race. We can bond! So I started looking. The very first thing that popped up in my initial search was SP's Acceptance speech. Thinking I'm going to see something positive, a quote from Martin Luther King Jr maybe? An endorsement of Rosa parks but not, Ms Palin, that earthy folksy just like you and me soccor mom said this: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity", she then cryptically attributed that statement to "a writer."

Of course the writer of that deceptively divisive comment was none other than Westbrook Pegler. If you don't know who that is, he was a Pulitzer winning journalist who gained even more infamy later in his career when he denounced the civil rights movement, embraced anti semitism and made the famous statement when referring to JFK "Some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow flies." His views became so extreme and racist that he was asked to leave The John birch Society as he became a sort of folk hero to racist and antisemitic everywhere.

Sooo....Ms Palin decided to quote this person, while accepting the nomination for VP at the Republican National convention. I already felt her "small towns are where the real Amerasians at" rhetoric was passive aggressive and divisive but to quote a super bigot like Peglen shows she is either really really racist or as stupid as I thought. Either way my final attempt to connect with this woman who just wont go away, even as she announces she is um..going away ended in revealing to me what my spirit already knew. I tried.