Contagious, Conceptual Terrors - Friday Video Distractions with Mike Norton
The
concept of an idea that overwhelms, of a bit of language or a thought
as a powerful, almost magical thing with possibly grave consequences, is a
notion that's drawn and sometimes haunted me over the years with its possibilities and potential perils.
The loss of control, of meaning and direction, has become more of a palpable horror to me as I consider the threat of dementia. A creeping corruption, binding and obscuring, or simply rotting from within, a person's agency and identity. Best not to go down that particular rabbit hole today, though.
Certainly, the power of language to captivate, enthrall, to pierce and change is known, but that still usually requires a participatory willingness by the reader or listener. It can be enhanced by the quality of voice, by showmanship, cadence and rhythm, but all of this even at its most skilled falls short of the magical concept of true word magic.
(Sights and ideas that can cause madness is a very Lovecraftian concept, woven throughout much of his work. That's more than I want to get into here today, though, and is deserving of more of a spotlight on another day.)
I'll start instead with a short, accessible piece, one I just came across this week.
On Amazon Prime there's an 18 minute film called o.i. (2018, 16+)
It starts with a man walking into a bar, feeling almost invincible as his life has come around to both business and personal success. Wanting to celebrate with others, he soon focuses on the only other patron in the bar, someone who is in anything but a celebratory mood. Setying about finding out why, the man tells him what happened when he began to share an original idea he'd recently woken up with.
Fairly simple and efficiently handled, it's far from perfect and is, after all, only 18 minutes long, so don't expect it to bear up under full weight of examination. It was a nice little find.
Probably the first time I came across the concept, was in a very early Monty Python sketch. There, an accidental discovery is recognized and weaponized in time of war.
The loss of control, of meaning and direction, has become more of a palpable horror to me as I consider the threat of dementia. A creeping corruption, binding and obscuring, or simply rotting from within, a person's agency and identity. Best not to go down that particular rabbit hole today, though.
Certainly, the power of language to captivate, enthrall, to pierce and change is known, but that still usually requires a participatory willingness by the reader or listener. It can be enhanced by the quality of voice, by showmanship, cadence and rhythm, but all of this even at its most skilled falls short of the magical concept of true word magic.
(Sights and ideas that can cause madness is a very Lovecraftian concept, woven throughout much of his work. That's more than I want to get into here today, though, and is deserving of more of a spotlight on another day.)
I'll start instead with a short, accessible piece, one I just came across this week.
On Amazon Prime there's an 18 minute film called o.i. (2018, 16+)
It starts with a man walking into a bar, feeling almost invincible as his life has come around to both business and personal success. Wanting to celebrate with others, he soon focuses on the only other patron in the bar, someone who is in anything but a celebratory mood. Setying about finding out why, the man tells him what happened when he began to share an original idea he'd recently woken up with.
Fairly simple and efficiently handled, it's far from perfect and is, after all, only 18 minutes long, so don't expect it to bear up under full weight of examination. It was a nice little find.
Probably the first time I came across the concept, was in a very early Monty Python sketch. There, an accidental discovery is recognized and weaponized in time of war.
Something I've watched several times over the years, when I would come across it on cable, is the Canadian film Pontypool
(2008, 1 hr 33 min, unrated). Sadly, at the moment, I don't see it
playing anywhere unless one's looking to pay to rent or buy it. I likely
should just buy a copy, as there have been multiple times in the past
several years when I'd have gladly watched it again if it had been
handy.
Centered on a radio announcer at a remote
station in the small town of Pontypool, Ontario, it explores the concept
of language as a virus, as
people in the deep darkness of winter begin to behave strangely. Words and phrases repeated, drained of obvious meaning, by people suddenly doing horrible, inexplicable things. Hopefully I've not spoiled too much, but as nearly all of the negative reactions I've seen to the film have been from people who seemed stung by a perceived bait and switch (they expected it to be a walking dead/zombie film) I thought it best to preemptively take that off the table.
Starring Stephen McHattie as Grant Mazzy (that's a shot of him from the film, way up top as the cover image to this piece), a shock jock style broadcaster whose impulsive choices and alcoholic indulgences have burned most of the bridges behind him both professionally and personally. Once a rising star in major markets, he's become the big fish in a tiny, frozen pond. Relegated to the early morning slot at CLSY Radio, a station broadcasting from the basement of the small town's only church.
The screenplay is by Tony Burgess, adapted from his 1995 novel Pontypool Changes Everything, which is an always reassuring connection given how often third party adaptations tend to change the source stories.
I genuinely feel bad that none of the services I usually look to are playing the film now as a matter of easy, no additional cost, access, especially as it's such a good recommendation for this sub-genre. The closest thing I can offer - with the caveats that it's somewhat abridged, running just under 54 minutes, and delivers a differently-toned ending - is a radio play version cobbled together for CBC Radio using the actors from the movie. Having been so familiar with the film I can't un-familiarize myself from it and so may not be the best judge of how effective it is, but I think it works well in the spirit of theater of the mind. Here's that to listen to, maybe late tonight, sitting in the dark, trying to cool off:
Starring Stephen McHattie as Grant Mazzy (that's a shot of him from the film, way up top as the cover image to this piece), a shock jock style broadcaster whose impulsive choices and alcoholic indulgences have burned most of the bridges behind him both professionally and personally. Once a rising star in major markets, he's become the big fish in a tiny, frozen pond. Relegated to the early morning slot at CLSY Radio, a station broadcasting from the basement of the small town's only church.
The screenplay is by Tony Burgess, adapted from his 1995 novel Pontypool Changes Everything, which is an always reassuring connection given how often third party adaptations tend to change the source stories.
I genuinely feel bad that none of the services I usually look to are playing the film now as a matter of easy, no additional cost, access, especially as it's such a good recommendation for this sub-genre. The closest thing I can offer - with the caveats that it's somewhat abridged, running just under 54 minutes, and delivers a differently-toned ending - is a radio play version cobbled together for CBC Radio using the actors from the movie. Having been so familiar with the film I can't un-familiarize myself from it and so may not be the best judge of how effective it is, but I think it works well in the spirit of theater of the mind. Here's that to listen to, maybe late tonight, sitting in the dark, trying to cool off:
Gabriel was inspired after having read a book on epidemics of the Middle Ages, and how people sought to cure or at least sooth the symptoms of St. Vitus' Dance (a nervous disorder later called chorea, most often associated with rheumatic fever) through prayer, charms and music.
That's nearly all for this week.
As soon as I'm freed from the week's other obligations I'm aiming to settle into the newly-arrived second season of The Umbrella Academy on Netflix. I greatly enjoyed the first season last year, recently rewatching it as I looked forward to rejoining the characters to see where they landed after the first season's apocalyptic conclusion.
As soon as I'm freed from the week's other obligations I'm aiming to settle into the newly-arrived second season of The Umbrella Academy on Netflix. I greatly enjoyed the first season last year, recently rewatching it as I looked forward to rejoining the characters to see where they landed after the first season's apocalyptic conclusion.
The stars in the spotlight for the first seven days are:
- Sat: Barbara Stanwyck
- Sun: Rock Hudson
- Mon: Rita Hayworth
- Tues: S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall
Wed: Ann Miller - Thur: Burt Lancaster
- Fri: Sylvia Sidney
Until next week, stay as cool and sane as you can manage. - Mike
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