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| Syd |
 Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 7:31 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12890
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Outside of European wolves, hippopotamuses, bears, leopards, hyenas... |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 8:03 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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Crocodiles, large sharks, snakes, spiders...and, most deadly of all, mosquitoes
I believe that there are some rare cases of big cats actually becoming so-called man-eaters, i.e. they chose to hunt humans as opposed to just eating a person who got in their way. In such instances, there probably is a case for killing them. Although the number of deaths may be small, man-eating is not a behaviour that should be allowed to go unchecked or to be learned or inherited. |
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I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 5:23 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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bartist wrote: Joe Vitus wrote: Billy, any animal that kills a human should be killed in turn. It is that simple. Perhaps you need to be enlightened yourself.
Saying your assertion is simple doesn't lend it any persuasive value, for me. Actually, ethics seems to run towards the complex and messy. What about any human that kills a human? Same simple rule? I'm not searching for consistency here, just wondering how widely you want to apply the "kill the killer" rule.
To be more concrete, it seems to me that animals do not attack with lethal force unless they are abused in some way or have their personal space invaded in a way that makes them fearful. When humans do this, we call it "self-defense" and tend to seek a lighter penalty.
Joe--Read and reread. Couldn't have said it better. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 8:19 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6945
Location: Black Hills
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jeremy wrote: Crocodiles, large sharks, snakes, spiders...and, most deadly of all, mosquitoes
I believe that there are some rare cases of big cats actually becoming so-called man-eaters, i.e. they chose to hunt humans as opposed to just eating a person who got in their way. In such instances, there probably is a case for killing them. Although the number of deaths may be small, man-eating is not a behaviour that should be allowed to go unchecked or to be learned or inherited.
Clearly. I should have put, parenthetical, that there are exceptions. I was primarily addressing our treatment of cetaceans (which started this exchange), which involves a history of killing and exploitation of creatures that were not any threat to us or, as Whiskey scenario'd, leaping from the water and dining on us like a fat man at Golden Corral. AFAIK, whales didn't start ramming boats until the boats started shooting harpoons at them. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 3:05 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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| This is perhaps not the place to go into any detail, but, as far as the natural world is concerned, we are living through and perpetuating a major disaster. For all man's achievements, in geological terms, maybe the lasting marker of the Anthropocene age will be the mass extinction of other species. |
_________________
I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 3:26 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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jeremy wrote: This is perhaps not the place to go into any detail, but, as far as the natural world is concerned, we are living through and perpetuating a major disaster. For all man's achievements, in geological terms, maybe the lasting marker of the Anthropocene age will be the mass extinction of other species.
Are you perhaps thinking of the danger to the Great Barrier Reef in your part of the world? I heard on the news this morning that plans to double Australian coal exports could cause irreparable damage. I worry about elephants and tigers and wolves, but the sea dwellers seem to be in even more peril these days. (Who would think, when looking out at the vast ocean, that humans could turn it into a garbage-filled toxic pond?) |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 5:44 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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A few giant ocean garbage vortexes never hurt any planet ...
Working my way into a Warner Bros. 8 films noir set.
Phenix City Story is pretty powerful and gripping if a little preachy. A corrupt town where even the police are in on it.
Dial 1119 (1950) is a pretty potent film about a criminally insane killer on a mini-rampage, even if the emergency number lacks the snappiness of 911. A small-scale film that keeps a tight focus on our unhinged escapee.
Both good films, but Cornered (1945) is a real gem. Dick Powell, following up on his tough guy role in Murder My Sweet, is a Canadian fly-boy who learns that his French war bride was murdered by Vichy collaborators. So he goes on a worldwide vengeance spree tracking down the man responsible. Much of the film takes place in Argentina with an international cast of duplicitous, deceitful folks hiding behind money and good manners.
Powell is quite good here, but Walter Slezak steals the film as an unctuous middleman calling to mind Sydney Greenstreet in Maltese Falcon. And throughout, Cornered reminded me of elements of other films, such as The Third Man (the villain is reported dead, but Powell is pretty sure he's still alive), Gilda (Argentina harboring questionable folks with pasts to hide), The Maltese Falcon as mentioned above, etc.
Hell, I was even reminded of the much later Alphaville, in the way that Powell completely defies social conventions, steamrolling his way through situations, as though he's come from another film
The tension is kept high. It's unclear who to trust, but pretty clear none of them isn't a bad guess. There's plenty of snappy cut-to-the-chase dialogue. I like how things are convoluted and our hero only has hunches and feints to play on his murderous quest. Only slowly do things begin to resolve themselves and actual identities get flushed out.
I thought this was entirely terrific, and look forward to watching it again. My only disappointment was that I put it on too late the night before and had to turn it off mid-film and then continue watching it the next night. Get a hold of Cornered, if you want to see a classic noir that next to nobody recalls. Directed by Edward Dmytryk, who also made Murder My Sweet. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 6:25 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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Carrobin,
The problem with the coal exports is the hard to understand decision to allow dredged materials to be dumped on the reef. The state government in Queensland seems to have a similar mindset to certain groupings in America, whereby they almost feel obliged to do there worst in a reaction to what they regard as environmental scare mongering.
That said, the the main issues with the reef are not coal exports, but agricultural and other run-off (fertilisers mainly) pollutingthe seas, global warming/rise in ocean temperatures and acidification.
if rich countries like Oz and the US can't get there act together, I am profoundly pessimistic that the world will be able to take any meaningful, concerted action to save the dwindling wildernesses (especially the free-for-all, over-fished Oceans). We are creating a lesser world. |
_________________
I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 10:16 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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Unfortunately, I agree with you, Jeremy. There's too much profit in pollution and too little financial incentive for pulling back. I think most people are willing to try to clean things up and keep the planet going, but there's a powerful minority of greedy individuals and corporations that care about nothing but short-term results.
On the happier subject of war noir--I've seen "Cornered" a couple of times on TCM, and agree that it's a compelling film. The other night I saw a very good spy adventure, "Man Hunt," with Walter Pidgeon as a British hunter who takes a shot at Hitler in Germany just before the war, is captured, escapes, and is pursued by elegantly evil George Sanders to London and the wilds of Lyme Regis. The plot would never work today, but it's fun for the period. (It ends with Pidgeon on his way to try again--in the middle of the war, that must have been encouraging.)
Also, it was directed by Fritz Lang, and has some wonderful black-and-white cinematography. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 10:57 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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| I've heard good things about Man Hunt, and been wanting to see that for a while/ |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 5:16 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Revisited Romancing the Stone on Netflix streaming. Though it's not as wonderful as I remembered (the far-fetched storyline is less appealing than it seemed originally), a couple of sequences constitute movie magic. The unexpected mudslide which brings Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner into physical contact for the first time and the wildly sexy dance in the village square which leads to their first coupling are both quintessential.
The sequel The Jewel of the Nile was the essence of a sequel that should never have happened. However, I forgive this misstep because it produced my favorite movie promo of all time. This video makes me grin from ear to ear and is truly feel-good. It also makes me adore the celebrities involved in a way I would have thought impossible. Watch and let me know if you agree!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIxUKbV0UEM |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 7:32 am |
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Yes, that promo was something else. I not only smiled from ear to ear but laughed. The back-up singers perfect.  |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 11:33 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed May 07, 2014 11:59 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Rolling through the WB Film Noir 5 set.
Crime in the Streets (1956) was pretty interesting. Sort of the Bowery Boys/Dead End Kids updated to the moody disaffected 50's. John Cassavetes is the brooding dangerous gang leader (yet often wears a sweater and even calls the man he hates Mr. McCallister since it still is the 50's afterall). A young Sal Mineo provides support. Mark Rydell rounds out the trio and plays a kind of loopy psychopathic teen. There's a social worker who tries to contain the problems and rage, and I was struck by how much it was a Spencer Tracy role, handled here by James Whitmore (another film in this set also had a Spencer Tracy role as well).
Don Siegel keeps things at a boil -- opening with a gang brawl and moving on to a plot to kill a neighbor who calls the police on them. The girls in the film have nothing to do -- though there are shades of West Side Story bubbling under the surface. I liked how the film showed a good deal of Cassavetes family life, and even the exposition was edgy and reasonably dramatic. A solid mid-50's rebellious teen/gang film. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 10:21 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12890
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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The Flat: When Armon Goldfinger's grandmother died around 2010, Goldfinger decided to make a documentary about cleaning out her apartment. His maternal grandparents were Zionists who managed to make it to Israel before the Holocaust. While cleaning out the apartment, he comes across an anti-Semitic newspaper about a Nazi SS officer who accompanied his grandparents to Palestine, and finds evidence that they were friends before the war, and, surprisingly, after the war. This officer, Baron von Mildenstein, was head of the Office of Jewish Affairs (his successor was Eichmann, who may have been his protege) was travelling to Palestine for the same reason as Goldfinger's parents: they both wanted the Jews out of Germany. Goldfinger insists on digging out the past, meeting and interviewing Mildenstein's daughter, who fondly remembers Goldfinger's grandparents and mother, and doesn't believe her father was involved with the darker aspects of Naziism. It's not clear to me that Mildenstein was either, although he certainly had guilty knowledge.
Fairly interesting film. Very interesting if you're an Israeli: the film was a big hit there. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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