Civility Is Offensive

I was pleased to see such a massive turnout at Jon Stewart's and Steven Colbert's Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear....
My assumption had been that the event would be a bust, leaving the Glenn Beck/Rush Limbaugh crowd with an opportunity to yammer for weeks about how THEIR rally was so much cooler. Better luck next time, ya chumps.


Now here's the thing -- I honestly do not support either political party all of the time. I consider myself a die hard moderate because I believe that each side is harmful to our country in its own way. Sometimes, the Republicans are wrong, and sometimes the Democrats are. It all depends on the situation. See, I have this really weird thing I do called "thinking," which prevents me from blindly following any particular ideology in all situations, and I am genuinely shocked when I run across someone who's unwilling to admit that both sides in the debate are responsible for our problems.

OK, so maybe the Jon Stewart crowd DOES overwhelmingly lean to the left; but that's still not what the Rally to Restore Sanity was all about. Those of us who actually paid attention to Stewart's speech understood the fundamental message of the event: that this insane trend of demonizing one's political enemies to the point of comparing them to Hitler is not mature or helpful to the country on any level. Paranoia is rampant; the rhetoric is ugly. Punditry is eliminating our ability to THINK. People, things are never going to get better as long as the atmosphere is like this!


So, there was a nice, well-organized -- and by all accounts, FRIENDLY -- rally in Washington D.C. last week to promote this idea and have a few laughs (which, if you ask me, is essential in dealing with ANY situation). Needless to say, the darker elements of American politics were opposed to the whole affair, but they're precisely the people we need to be ignoring.

Anyone who relies on using terms like socialist, fascist, liberal, or conservative as insults to sort out the entire world for himself is too simple-minded to deserve a place in the discussion. Can we not cast name calling aside and focus on reviving this fading republic before it's too late?

(Please?)

No? Being civil is too hard for us??? Ah well, screw it then.

Fine. If we're done for as a nation, then I might as well smirk at the fact that around 200,000 people showed up for the moderate rally to acknowledge our differences, and 80,000 showed up to the "We Can't Spell Our Own Signs" rally organized by Glenn Beck. Suck it, Beck.


Then again, maybe with the changes we saw in this week's elections, things will calm down. I know, I know -- some folks are like, "DUDE, it's gonna get even CRAZIER!" I'm not sure I agree with that. Perhaps lessons have been learned. Perhaps moods will cool down. Here's to hoping that's the case.

Now here's a fantastic horror flick to get our minds on something more pleasant.

The Dark Half (1993)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106664/


Netflix description:
In this creepy tale based on a Stephen King novel, Thad Beaumont (Timothy Hutton) writes terrifying murder novels under the pen name George Stark. Wanting to branch out, the author decides to separate himself from his notorious nom de plume by staging a mock murder of his alter ego. This, however, ignites a string of killings that mirror those described in his books, and soon Beaumont finds himself the prime suspect.

The Dark Half is one of the most underrated horror films I have ever seen. I remember when it was released -- I was in the sixth grade, and saw a small ad for it in The Detroit Free Press. In tiny print, I noticed "Directed by George Romero" at the bottom. It blew my mind that the man behind Night of the Living Dead could have a new film out, and the world wasn't quaking with hype about it.

Turns out that The Dark Half was made around the time that its distributor, Orion Pictures, was going under. The company faded into oblivion, and this film kind of sat in a vault for a few years. FINALLY, it wound up with a very minor release, but no one really remembers it.

Well, I do. And I say it's friggin' awesome.

Based on a Stephen King novel of the same name, The Dark Half is about a writer named Thad Beaumont who leads a secret double life publishing violent crime thrillers under the fake name of George Stark. See, Thad is one of them New England socialist luburul hippy commie elitist types who normally writes about, like, homosexuals that work in abortion clinics; but his alias, George Stark, writes...well, trash. Dirty, gritty, profane novels are Stark's specialty, and boy do they sell. In fact, George Stark is one of the nation's most successful writers. Thad really doesn't want folks to find out that George is fake.

Cue Fred Clawson. He's a sleazy petty criminal from New York who somehow figures out Thad's secret. He tries to blackmail Thad, threatening to go to the press with the true story about George Stark, and Thad just figures, "Screw it." He strikes preemptively, admitting everything to People Magazine on his own. The world gasps, and Thad officially announces that George Stark is "dead."

WELL....

Not long after that, people who know Thad start to turn up dead. Writers associated with the breaking of the Stark story; his agent; the photographer who took Thad's pictures for the magazine article; the dirtbag Fred Clawson -- all dead. And all evidence points to Thad Beaumont being responsible. What the heck is going on?


Without spoiling the whole thing for you, I'll say that it has to do with a twin brother that Thad ALMOST had. CAN Thad Beaumont clear his name and stop these senseless murders? WHO is really behind them?? WHY don't more people know about this movie???

Almost everything about The Dark Half is perfect. I'm blown away by George Romero's ability to take such a complicated story and make it work. Sure, there's no doubt that a lot must have been cut out of the novel to bring this motion picture down to less than three hours, but I'd say that this one is a truly exceptional adaptation of a Stephen King book...probably even the best ever.

Timothy Hutton as Thad Beumont/George Stark is a perfect blend of clumsy nice guy and bad arse sociopath. Who woulda thunk he could be a big meanie? And how about them awesome shots of sparrows filling the sky? Man, Romero does a beautiful job here of setting a creepy Maine In The Fall sort of atmosphere. I love the look of this entire film --you'll find brilliant use of shadow and beautiful shots throughout. Stylistically, The Dark Half may even be Romero's best work.


My only complaint is that the exact nature of what's happening to Thad is not explored to its fullest potential. There's just a kind of basic, brief attempt to explain things thrown in there about three and a half quarters in, right before the film's exciting climax, and the information we're given is quite vague. It's almost like Romero just threw up his hands, and said, "It's too complicated, folks. Let's just drop it." Sure, we GET what's happening (more or less), but the supernatural stuff in The Dark Half had the potential for some real depth, and it's unfortunately not exploited.

Nevertheless, you can't go wrong with this picture. The Dark Half offers lots of scares, intrigue, and thrills. Give this little gem a chance.

4 out of 5.

b.