God's Angry Man and Other Eccentrics

The USA has a rich tradition of religious eccentrics, crackpots, and pop-style entertainers, especially since the advent of TV ministries (or are they mini-series?). Evangelical leaders can be funny, aside from their evident hypocrisy and sometimes heinously Puritanical political impact. They are paid to entertain their flock much like any other celebrities. If people want to send them money, what the hell, what the heck? As long as they don't force people to join them, whatever.

I had a grandmother and an aunt who sent money to support their chosen man of God. It provided them comfort in a dodgy world. Who can say these people aren't doing some good?

I used to love watching Eugene Scott (8/14/1927-2/21/2005), or Dr. Gene Scott as he preferred, on his 24-hour "University Network." My parents, living in the country, had satellite TV, so I could watch this compellingly flamboyant cigar-smoking dude at odd hours. There's a fine documentary about him, too -- Werner Herzog, God's Angry Man (1980) -- that gets up close and personal with Scott. He's very open with Herzog, who empathizes with his charisma and drive, his sheer nuttiness.




Living in North Carolina at the height of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's popularity in the 1980s, I watched them occasionally, too. One of my brothers-in-law once suggested they add a "Christian rodeo" to their TV PTL Network programs for extra pizzaz -- Jim could lasso and round up some camping buddies. PTL, in case you didn't know, stands for Praise the Lord (and pass the money). Their Heritage, USA Christian theme park and center operation near Charlotte, N.C., fell apart due to a sex scandal involving Jessica Hahn; there were also allegations of Jim Bakker (originally from Muskegon, Michigan, by the way) "frolicking in the steam room" with other Christian men. He ended up in jail and was later released. Tammy Faye Bakker is the subject of a sweet, droll documentary called The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000). Sadly, Tammy Faye is dying. She was one of the more innocent of these characters -- plus she was married to Jim Bakker. Isn't that punishment enough? I hope she gets another great TV show in the sky, and angels sing.



Sex scandals go with the territory. Jimmy Swaggart was very sorry he was taped visiting hookers, poor man. He was just trying to Walk With Jesus, after all, and understand the downtrodden better. The Buddha might have done the same out of sheer compassion for the much-maligned prostitutes. Who knows?

As for Ted Haggard, he said to a cameraman (you can see this watching Jesus Camp, 2006): "I think I know what you did last night. If you send me a thousand dollars, I won't tell your wife." I guess such things were weighing heavily on his mind.



Today's Rune: Fertility.

Dr. Gene Scott, RIP.

The Iraq War: Known and Unknown

Reported November 3, 2006:

BAGHDAD – Three Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers died at approximately 2:15 p.m. Thursday when the vehicle they were riding in was struck by an improvised-explosive device in eastern Baghdad.

The names of the Soldiers are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq - One Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 died from injuries sustained due to enemy action Thursday while operating in Al Anbar Province.

The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense.

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq –Three Marines assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 died Nov.2 from wounds sustained due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province.

The names of the deceased are being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense.

Reported November 2, 2006:

Lance Cpl. Minhee Kim, 20, of Ann Arbor, Mich., died Nov. 1 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Forces Reserve’s 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Lansing, Mich.

Cpl. Gary A. Koehler, 21, of Ypsilanti, Mich., died Nov. 1 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Spc. Ahmed K. Altaie, 41, of Ann Arbor, Mich., has been unaccounted for since Oct. 23 in Baghdad, Iraq, at about 4:30 p.m. GMT. The soldier is assigned to the Provincial Reconstruction Team Baghdad.

Verbatim Source: U.S. Department of Defense, November 2-3, 2006.

Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - - the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.

-- Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld at Department of Defense news briefing, February 12, 2002.

Today's Rune: Harvest.

William Styron: Lie Down in Darkness

The death of William Styron (b. Newport News, Virginia, 6/11/1925-d. 11/1/2006, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts) throws my mind back to my high school years in Durham, North Carolina.

Given that every English teacher I've ever taken classes with has ranged from eccentric to outlandish and sometimes outrageous, Mrs. V. stands out as a moody mix of them all, only with a very Southern twist. Hailing from Mississippi, she taught an outstanding class called "Southern Writers." Mrs. V. loved her people and championed their work, had met Faulkner, the master, and had us read his novels, plus Tennessee Williams' plays, Flannery O'Connor's writings, Carson McCullers, Walker Percy, and also her friends Eudora Welty and Reynolds Price (who came to class once). Anne Tyler was in the mix somehow, too. For a special research paper, I was given William Styron's The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967), which I found alternately absorbing and nauseating, and certainly memorable.

Styron was an intense guy, masking depression with various addictions I suppose, but also, perhaps, because of his sensitivity, perceptiveness and depth. After attending Davidson College, he graduated from Duke, with stints in the Marine Corps before and after. Before he died yesterday, he completed five novels (including Sophie's Choice, 1979) and three other books, including Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (1990).

I thank Mrs. V for making me read Styron early. I don't remember a Mr. V, but she had a son who suffered from a wasting disease. In class, she alternated between fussy propriety to whispered enthusiasm at "Freudian symbolism" like cigars, hot lava, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Mrs V. refused to ever mention General William Tecumseh Sherman's name ("that awful man") because of Vicksburg and Atlanta, and always referred to the American Civil War as "The War of Northern Aggression" or "The War for Southern Independence." Since I was born in Yankee Pennsylvania, I found her observations highly entertaining and a bit Mississippi crazy. In her mind, very little of importance happened in the world since "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." Except, of course, for Southern writers -- America's saving grace in the twentieth century.

Today's Rune: Journey.

Adieu, William Styron.

Notes on a Scandal

Stories that mix education and scandal always make for a wild ride -- in real life and in art. I'm happy to report the imminent arrival of Notes on a Scandal (2006), based on the superbly rendered 2003 Zoë Heller novel (in the USA, also called What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal). Starring Cate Blanchett as Sheba Hart and Judi Dench as Barbara Covett, its limited American release date is set for December 25, 2006. Richard Eyre directed, screenplay by Patrick Marber, and soundtrack by Philip Glass. The book skewers the elite school system in England; Heller's wickedly sardonic take could easily be made on a very similar private school culture in the USA.


Another withering look at social interaction in a secondary school setting is Tom Perrota's 1998 novel, Election, and the 1999 movie version that came hard on its heels -- both excellent, if cringe-worthy for educators.

School for scandal, college level, can be found in J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace (1999). The movie version is slated for a 2007 release.

For truly old school style, there's Der Blaue Engel / The Blue Angel (1930), with none other than Marlene Dietrich in the title role as Lola Lola; it's based on a novel by Heinrich Mann. A remake was made in 1958. A fantastic variation of the original story, which it incorporates, is Blue Angel, the 2000 novel by Francine Prose. I read somewhere that Randy and Evi Quaid had optioned the movie rights. Evi directed The Debtors (1999), which has been blocked from release for legal and financial reasons but was well-received in Toronto. Hopefully they'll have better luck with Blue Angel, if the option stories are true.

One more film mixing students and scandal: To Die For (1995), directed by Gus Van Sant with excellent performances by Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, and Joaquin Phoenix.




Today's Rune: Partnership.

Cheers, then!

The Lathe of Heaven

There's a cluster of films that capture something about modern times -- maybe the "malaise" of the Jimmy Carter years, maybe also the spiritual yearning still in evidence today. Four of them are dreamy, quirky, low rent and thoughtful by Hollywood standards. They are also entertaining, interesting, memorable, and it's time to bring them forth again:

Wise Blood (1979, based on the 1952 Flannery O'Connor novel); Brave New World (1980, based on the 1932 Aldous Huxley novel); Guyana Tragedy (1980, based on the life of Jim Jones); and The Lathe of Heaven (1980, based on the 1971 novel by Ursula K. Le Guin).

The Lathe of Heaven revolves around George Orr, who seems to be crawling in ruins caused by an atomic war, slowly dying of radiation poisoning. He dreams his way back into life -- is he truly dreaming or is this really happening?

The plot thickens as he receives psychiatric treatment from Dr. William Haber for sleep disorders. Together they discover he can change reality through his dreams, and Haber tries to make "improvements" to the world, resulting in a series of unexpected twists.

If you could change three things in the world, what would they be? A Miss America contestant might say, "I want to bring peace to the world, end starvation and help old people."

Haber opts for trying to end racism, for one -- but when Orr dreams it away, he wakes up to find everyone has turned gray. And then there are the aliens, and the ice cream stands. And that stubborn apocalypse. What's going on?

Remember the Gypsy Curse: May you get exactly what you wish for.

Dr. Haber: You know what they say, neurotics build castles in the sky, psychotics live in them.

Heather: Psychiatrists collect the rent.

Besides death, bills, trouble and taxes, what is reality?

Today's Rune: Fertility.

Happy Halloween Dreaming!

High Plains Drifter

Now that Clint Eastwood has been brought up again, it's time to name some of his movies that work best as stories and works of art -- yes, works of art. I haven't seen Flags of Our Fathers (2006), but I do know that my Eastwood preferences are mostly old school.

Let's start with the Spaghetti Westerns: Per un pugno di dollari (1964) / For a Fistful of Dollars (1967); Per qualche dollaro in piu (1965) / For a Few Dollars More (1967); and the most compelling of these primal macho existential classics, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo / The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1967). It may have been the Summer of Love in San Francisco, but not in Vietnam, and not on the big screen.

The next cycle of Eastwood classics came out in the early 1970s. Play Misty for Me (1971); The Beguiled or "A Painted Devil," an interesting working title (1971); Dirty Harry (1971); and Magnum Force (1973). And, of course, High Plains Drifter (1973).

Although 76-year old Clint Eastwood (b. May 31, 1930) has had a very successful career ever since, these are still my favorites by far. Mystic River (2003) is very well directed among his more recent film productions.

Today's Rune for Devil's Night: Strength.

Go ahead, make my day.

Max Frisch: The Firebugs

The helicopters already patroling the East Side tonight are a pithy reminder of tomorrow's Devil's Night. As is a copy of Max Frisch's The Firebugs / Herr Biedermann und die Brandstifter (1958), a surrealistic play about arsonists. This is existentialist Theatre of the Absurd, akin to Samuel Beckett's En attendant Godot (1952) / Waiting for Godot (1954) and Eugene Ionescco's Rhinoceros (1959). All three of these plays were widely read and well-respected when I was a student.

(A large boom outside as I compose -- this isn't a time warp to July Fourth, is it?)

The Firebugs story line is also a metaphor for letting evil in, even helping spread havoc and destruction -- thanks as much to the complicity and apathy of the general populace as direct action by agents provocateur. In this, it is a parable of the fascists and Nazis coming to power in the 1920s and 1930s in Italy and Germany respectively. Luchino Visconti's The Damned / La Caduta degli dei (1969) provides a more literal if operatic version; films like Aguirre, The Wrath of God / Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972) and High Plains Drifter (1973) also allude to the banal powers of evil. In all cases, some in the status quo grasp what's going on but figure they can channel the encroaching powers into their own schemes. In all cases, they are proven wrong. One cannot sup with the Devil at any level and expect much good to come of it.

From Mordecai Gorelik's 1963 translation:

Useless, quite useless.
And nothing more useless
Than this useless story.
For arson, once kindled,
Kills many,
Leaves few,
And accomplishes nothing.



Today's Rune: Signals.