GENERAL COMMENT FROM CARDIN: An economic bleedout or a swift death? I’ve written such an extended assortment of commentary to go with the assembled items below that I’ll let them do most of the talking for me this week. Just scroll through and look for my introductory comments, which are clearly marked. But I’ll pause…
My interview with Stephen Jones in Cemetery Dance #59
My interview with horror editor/anthologist extraordinaire Stephen Jones has finally been given a definite publication date in the venerable horror industry magazine Cemetery Dance. I first mentioned this interview nearly a year ago, in May of 2007, in a post titled “Stephen Jones on the death of reading” that contained a substantial excerpt detailing Steve’s…
The end of the future as we knew it (Headlines from the Meltdown)
GENERAL COMMENT FROM CARDIN: It’s the end of the future as we knew it (and I feel fine) What a week! From food riots to fuel prices to more evidence of financial and economic meltdown, it was one for the history books. But in fact what’s more important to notice than the significance of all…
Food riots in Egypt
Here’s the link and associated description: Global Food Crisis April 9, 2008 In some countries, food inflation is turning violent, with Divya Reddy, Eurasia Group; Victor Lespinasse, GrainAnalyst.com; and CNBC’s Erin Burnett. http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=707473516 The video stream takes a bit of time to load — or at least it does through my satellite Internet connection —…
There’s a new world coming (Headlines from the Meltdown)
GENERAL COMMENT FROM CARDIN: There’s a new world a-comin’ Various life obligations have kept me from composing a detailed comment for this week’s installment of Headlines from the Meltdown, so I’ll let others do the talking for me, including Carolyn Baker, Richard Heinberg, and Eckhart Tolle (see below). But if I were to write up…
Bernankenstein and the Economonster from Hell (Headlines from the Meltdown)
GENERAL COMMENT FROM CARDIN: Bernankenstein and the Economonster from Hell Okay, so that’s a silly title for this week’s comment. But I still like it. For one thing, I’m hugely fond of the Hammer Horror films from Britain’s Hammer Studios back in the 1950s-1970s. All of their horror series started out strong — the Dracula…
Is this “The End”? (Headlines from the Meltdown)
GENERAL COMMENT FROM CARDIN: Is this THE END? We’re all familiar with the stereotypical cartoon figure of the ragged, shaggy prophet wearing a sandwich board with the blaring painted message, “The end is near!” By all rights, that prophet ought to be wandering the sidewalks of Wall Street at this very moment in order to…
A lesson in dramatic structure — and why we’re in the final act (Headlines from the Meltdown)
GENERAL COMMENT FROM CARDIN: We just entered Act Three of a three-act economic disaster movie It’s illuminating to consider the unfolding economic disaster in narrative terms. That is, it’s illuminating to look at it as a story, because although life isn’t stories (an insight that post-modern theory has helpfully established), you can still get your…
Is the new golden age of movies worth it?
I seem to have hit a winning streak with my movie choices lately. So much so, in fact, that I’m really starting to think in terms a new golden age in American filmmaking, or at least in films that are achieving wide release in American theatres. Yes, that might seem to run counter to my…
Primed and ready to blow (Headlines from the Meltdown)
General comment from Cardin: Primed and ready to blow Beware the coming week. If you’ve kept even one eye and ear on any news outlet, you’ve seen a swelling flurry of events and stories indicating that the excrement is starting to sail toward the propeller at high speed in multiple clumps. Several clumps have of…