Ledger, not the first nor the last Hollywood icon to succumb to "James Dean Syndrome"

Whenever I hear of Hollywood icons and musicians’ untimely ends at such young ages, as a result of their excessive alcohol and drug use, be it illegal or prescribed substances, the one word I come up with that best describes such people is “Loser” with a capital L.

There ought to be a medical name for celebrities with such ailments, like “James Dean Syndrome.” The latest star to fall into the category is Oscar-nominated actor Heath Ledger. His death Jan. 22 at the age of 28 was the result of an accidental overdose of painkillers, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety medication and other prescription drugs according to the New York City medical examiner.

To quote the phrase: “Live fast, love hard, die young and leave a good-looking corpse.”

I didn’t always feel this way.

A few days after actor John Belushi was found dead, as the result of a drug overdose in March, 1982, I found the comment one of my classmates made about the 33-year-old comedian to be rather cold. I will not publish his exact words but to put his comment in my own words, he said how much of an idiot Belushi was for giving into drugs, thus ending what was a promising film career.

I can understand where he was coming from. I did not, for example, shed tears for former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith when she passed away last February, the result of an overdose on prescription medications. She brought her downfall on herself. If Smith was deeply concerned about her newborn baby, she would have done everything in her power to stay healthy. If anything, I felt worse for her one-year-old daughter, Dannielynn Hope, who would now grow up without a mother.

I have never understood how people with such talent, who have everything they could want in life, could be so insecure with themselves that they need illegal or prescribed chemical substances to battle their inner demons.

The list of troubled celebrities seems to be growing daily starting with Britney Spears but not limited to Lindsey Lohan, Mischa Barton, singer Amy Winehouse, Gary Collins, Rebecca De Mornay, Tom Sizemore, Kiefer Sutherland and most recently Sean Young.

The sad fact is that behind all the blockbuster movies, television shows and rock albums is a small group of individuals who have either a hard time coming to grips with their sudden stardom, think they are invulnerable to everything, or are unhappy.

This seems to be the case for Heath Ledger, if you believe the comments in People magazine who said the star had been depressed and was not himself in the weeks prior to his death last month. Recently he had been spotted partying until the early morning hours.

“He looked like he was going through a hard time,” said one source on a movie set. “It really looked like all the traveling, filming and the separation from Michelle (Williams) and his child was really taking a toll.”

As in the case of the untimely death of actor River Phoenix in 1993, I did not want to believe the possibility that Ledger’s end was the result of drug use, even if it was all prescribed medications.

I did not care for the gay subject matter in “Brokeback Mountain” (2005) but I admired Ledger’s courage for taking the role, which earned him his first Oscar nomination, and tackling an issue that even today, despite growing acceptance, is still stigmatized by Hollywood.

Ledger had been working heavily during the past year shooting the Bob Dylan biopic, “I’m Not There.” He reteamed with director Terry Gilliam on “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” whose production is now suspended and was in the process of directing his first feature film next year.

Upon the completion of his role as the villainous Joker in the highly anticipated Batman sequel, “The Dark Knight”, due out this July, Ledger described the role first made famous by Jack Nicholson back in 1989’s “Batman”, as “a psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy.”

As a result of working non-stop, the actor admitted to The New York Times back in November that he had had trouble sleeping, saying that even two Ambien pills was not enough.

"I couldn't stop thinking,” he said. “My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going."

The day after Ledger’s passing, one of my coworkers said you would think today’s rising stars would learn the harsh lessons that ended the lives of actors Belushi, Phoenix, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin and most recently actor Brad Renfro and musician Ike Turner.

That lesson will continue to fall on a lot of deaf ears in the entertainment industry, despite warnings that comes from Ledger’s father Kim through the actor’s publicist on the day the toxicology reports were released.

"While no medications were taken in excess, we learned today the combination of doctor-prescribed drugs proved lethal for our boy. Heath's accidental death serves as a caution to the hidden dangers of combining prescription medication, even at low dosage."

Heath Ledger is not the first, nor will he be the last celebrity to succumb to “James Dean Syndrome.” The Associated Press already has Britney Spears’ obituary ready to go to press should she be next.

Ledger’s sudden departure, like so many others before him, is just another grisly tabloid case in which a promising young career is cut short. All that grieving fans are left with are small bodies of their work dwelling on what might have been.

©2/4/08

Registration can be horror for first time student

Most anyone who is a new student attending a new school probably has a horror story to tell about how something went wrong on their first day of class. In my case, the horror story has to do with my trying to register for classes.

At the same time, the complaint I have heard about newspapers, yes, college newspapers as well, is that there is not enough good news to report.

Well, I’m offering both: A horror story about my experience at a new college campus and how members at that community college made the experience less painful than it could have been.

In December, I registered for a continuing education class, which was due to begin Jan. 14 for certification in medical coding. For the first time in many years of taking college courses, I was excited about pursuing this field and could not wait to begin, if for no other reason, because I wanted a new career path.

The trouble would have really started if I hadn’t shown up on campus a few days before the 14th for a meeting with the campus newspaper staff. I needed verification for an online class orientation which would take place Monday morning at 9 a.m.

To my surprise, the schedule time on my receipt was wrong and the orientation happened on Jan. 12. When it comes to online classes, information about the class is either posted on eCampus under your account on either the day of, or a few days before the course begins. As of the 12th, I was not able to access that information. eCampus was telling me I was not enrolled in any courses.

Moreover, the system said I was not enrolled in any courses, period, when I pulled up my schedule.

I paid no attention to this because I already had a paid credit card receipt that told me otherwise and the paperwork to prove it.

I learned at orientation from the instructor that my name was “blocked” on his roster and I would have to contact the continuing education department or admissions for further assistance.

By this point, I said the same thing I most always say in situations like this. “It’s always something.” Nothing ever goes right and when it does, something else happens that ruins my day.

There was not a whole lot I could do until Monday the 14th. So, I emailed the admissions coordinator for Health Professions on Saturday with the knowledge I was not going to hear anything via email or phone until the first day of class.

I decided to call the technical helpdesk for eCampus Monday afternoon. I have to say I was impressed with their courtesy despite the fact I had to explain the situation to the helpdesk operator several times after being put on hold while they investigated the problem. At least the operator apologized for having to put me on hold every time.

The helpdesk told me they would have to forward my issue to another department and would contact me via email in the next 24 hours or sooner. I received an email from them two hours later saying I had been dropped from all classes when I never initiated a drop for any.

About the same time, I received the email, I got a call from one of the administrators in charge of the medical coding program who forwarded me to admissions. The time, however, was after 7 p.m. when I finally spoke to someone who said nothing more could be done until Tuesday.

I was not looking forward to waiting in line at admissions for half-a-day Tuesday, especially since it was my day off from work. I took a chance and spoke to someone in admissions Tuesday morning who verified I was dropped from all my classes. My credit card was in fact credited $240, though I had yet to receive the billing statement. Apparently when I dropped some other courses, the system dropped me from everything.

I was expecting the admissions person to tell me the only thing I could do was go to admissions and register again for the class or talk to the admissions people in the continuing education department to see if I could be enrolled back into the course. Either way, it meant I would have to come to campus which is almost 40 minutes from where I live.

Instead, the admissions person brought up my student account, asked for my credit card number and enrolled me back into the course. This was the moment I was impressed with how they managed my situation.

The real kicker, however, came later when the health professions coordinator called me that afternoon saying although she forwarded my problem to another administrator, he took the time herself to figure out what the problem was.

I have never, ever, had anyone go the extra mile for me in my life when it came to customer service. I have always believed the idea of an employee going above and beyond the call of duty to help a lowly paying customer to be the stuff of legends.

I was wrong. Turns out there are people out there, the folks at this community college in particular, who are concerned with their students encounter problems with registration. Stands to reason, despite the fact community colleges are two-year campuses, it is still a business and we, as students are the paying customers.

If we are not happy, other than voicing a complaint to the powers-that-be, there are plenty of other community colleges, four-year universities and technical vocational schools who would love to have our business.

As a new student here, I may only be taking online classes, but thanks to certain people here on campus, they made an irritating situation into something that was resolved within a few days.

©1/29/08

The 9/11 epic TV drama Mickey Mouse won't let you see

The timeline for any made-for-tv/cable drama to arrive on DVD is usually months after its debut on television. Not so in the case of ABC’s controversial five-hour mini-series, “The Path to 9/11”, that aired on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks in 2006 and was nominated for several Emmys winning one.

Cyrus Nowrasteh, who wrote the screenplay based on “The 9/11 Commission Report”, and books, “The Cell”, by John Miller, and “The Relentless Pursuit”, by Samuel Katz, was quoted in a Sept. 5, 2007 article from the Los Angeles Times, saying he was told by a top ABC executive that the reason for the DVD’s absence, is out of fear it might hurt Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton’s chances for president.

If true, I have a feeling that may not be the “only” reason.

The mini-series ignited a political firestorm weeks before its debuted-on Sept. 10, 2006, in what could be described as a successful right-wing hatchet job to former President Clinton and his administration. Nowrasteh’s script laid much of the blame on the Clinton Administration (1992-2000) who had eight years to capture or kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and failed versus the eight months President Bush’s administration had prior to 9/11.

Among the supposed inaccuracies former President Clinton had with the film, which he outlined in a letter from his attorneys that he sent to ABC on Sept. 7, 2006 according to an online article on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Path_to_9/11, was the assertion that while in office, he was too busy worrying about the Monica Lewinsky scandal to fully concentrate on going after bin Laden.

Another scene in question according to the same article was the film’s notion that his Secretary of State Madeline Albright tipped off Pakistani officials that a military strike to wipe out the al-Qaeda leader was coming, that in turn gave bin Laden and his people a chance to escape.

"The content of this drama is factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate and ABC has the duty to fully correct all errors or pull the drama entirely," the four-page letter said.

Actor Harvey Keitel, who played FBI agent John O’Neill, on whom the screenplay was largely based, also had issues with the film in a Sept. 10, 2006 transcript interview with CNN.

“When I received the script it said ABC history project, I took it to be exactly what they presented to me – history and that facts were correct,” Keitel said. “It turned out that not all the facts were correct, and ABC set about trying to heal that problem – in some instances it was too late because we had begun.”

The trouble in reading the transcript is not once did Keitel cite any examples as to what scenes he had issues with. When asked by CNN if he felt anything should be changed, the actor’s answer seemed cryptic.

“This is a tough issue because we do not want to throw the baby out with the bath water. There are also quality issues raised in the film that our citizens should see and should be discussing amongst themselves. If we are putting together certain facts and umm an untruth evolves from that then that is wrong. You can compile certain things if the truth remains the truth. You can’t put things together, compress them and then distort the reality.”

In the Sept. 5, 2007 article from the Los Angeles Times, Nowrasteh who describes himself in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Path_to_9/11 article as “probably more of a libertarian than a strict conservative” was told by Disney the film’s expected DVD release date was set for Jan., then April, then summer, and then ironically moved to Sept. 11, 2007 before being pulled from the release slate entirely.

"Whatever anyone may think about me or this movie, this is a bad precedent, a dangerous precedent, to allow a movie to be buried," Nowrasteh said in the LA Times article. "Because the next time they'll go after another movie. The Bush administration may go after a movie. The next administration may go after a movie. No matter who it is, they may go after a movie. This town needs to stand up."

Even director Oliver Stone (“World Trade Center”-2006) is unhappy with the decision.

"This is a shame; it's censorship in the most blatant way," Stone was quoted saying in the same article. "I'm not vouching for its accuracy -- it's a dramatization -- but it's an important work and needs to be seen."

Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh had more damning comments about Clinton’s criticisms of the film saying the news coverage “has been treated more as The Path to the Clinton Legacy” in a transcript found on http://journalsmith.blogspot.com/2006/09/rush-limbaugh-comments-on-path-to-911.html.

“...if there were no other cherry picked scenes that brought on the wrath of Clinton and the rage of the left, you still would have seen actual footage of the real Bill Clinton as a leader ill-equipped to lead,” Limbaugh said on the transcript. “What we saw in this movie was the real Bill Clinton: awkward, hesitating, unsure, faking resolve, and that, folks, is the real story behind the story. The image, the years of a crafted image has been laid bare for all who watched The Path to 9/11 to see.”

The film dramatizes O’Neill’s years in law enforcement beginning with the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and his attempts to stop another terrorist attack from happening only to be met with roadblocks from his own agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and President Clinton’s administration when it came to getting the chance to either kill or capture the al-Qaeda leader. His story alone could stand as a case of tragic irony. Upon his leaving the FBI Aug. 23, 2001, O’Neill took over as head of security for the World Trade Center and perished along with close to 3,000 others in the collapse of the twin towers, which included those lost aboard the four hijacked planes, the Pentagon and the 19 hijackers.

Controversy or not, “The Path to 9/11” effectively portrays how this nation’s government and law enforcement agencies failed the American people.

“Despite all the red flags, no one is taking terrorism seriously,” Keitel’s O’Neill says upon his retirement in the film. “Political correctness rules the day. I have given my life to the bureau – everything else came second. For me and my country to be in danger, I have spilled blood to help try and keep it safe. We’re not safe yet and no one seems to care.”

The thought that Disney will treat this film in the same manner the way they have refused to release their other controversial animated title, “Song of the South” (1946), because of that film’s evoking stereotypes of African Americans, on DVD churns my stomach.

“The Path to 9/11” has not been seen on network television or cable since 2006. I got more respect for the studio executives at Universal Pictures who had the balls to weather the pointless firestorm of protests from religious fanatics when they stood behind director Martin Scorsese for making “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988) than I do for the folks at Touchstone’s Mickey Mouse corporation Disney.

“The Path to 9/11”, like so many other historical subjects Hollywood has taken creative liberties with since the days of the silent film era, is only a movie and a dramatization, not a factual one.

Controversy sells as demonstrated by the 25 million viewers who tuned to watch the mini-series on both nights.

For now, the only place you will ever see this film, until the Clintons and high-level ranking members of the socialist Democratic Party get it pulled from the Internet completely, is on YouTube where if you are lucky, some patriotic user will have the mini-series available on their channel for upload.

©1/20/08

Darth Stumpo's Ten Most Unnecessary News Stories of 2007

Every December as the year ends, several popular weekly publications and newspapers give a rundown of “The Top 10…” things that happened over the past 12 months. The lists used to always be the 10 best television shows, movies, books, music, and plays. Now it seems publications come up with not just a few but perhaps more than a dozen “Top 10” lists that are enough to take up either an entire magazine issue or a whole section of a newspaper to the point the lists would have to be split into a series.

I have had quite a hard time over the years to be able to come up with what I thought were the ten best movies. Half the stuff I have seen Hollywood churn out the past few years, I have been lucky to see even one four-star film.

I am proud to say though that in 2007, I had no trouble coughing up what I thought were the year’s most unnecessary top stories the “Drive-by” liberally, biased news media gave excessive coverage to. Face the facts people. Ninety percent of the stuff being reported as so-called news is nothing more than pure entertainment tabloid fluff while the remaining ten percent, if that much, is focused on more important issues.

Darth Stumpo's Ten Most Unnecessary News Stories of 2007

1. The California Wildfires: The “Drive-by” media had such high hopes the California wildfires started by arsonists last October that cost millions in property losses would be another Hurricane Katrina-like disaster. They hoped several lives would be lost and once again, local city, government, emergency agencies and oh yes, President Bush would all be to blame. I had to laugh when ABC news anchor Charles Gibson compared one of the neighborhoods threatened by the wildfires resembled “Wisteria Lane,” the fabled street of ABC’s popular Sunday night soap opera, “Desperate Housewives”. I guess the only way today’s news anchors can get viewers to tune in to what they think is the day’s most important top story is if they reference a fictional television show dimwitted viewers can relate to. Seems more people today can name the street, not to mention the four fictional attractive-looking homemakers who live on Wisteria Lane than they are able to name of even one Los Angeles suburb affected by the wildfires. Sad.

2. The Continuing Misadventures of O.J. Simpson: What would a year be without any news about The Juice? This year it was O.J. and his tell-all book, “If I Did It”, which details how he might have murdered his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. Take out the “If” and the title becomes “I Did It.” There was O.J. and a couple of his merry band of outlaws asking for his sports memorabilia back at gunpoint in Las Vegas. And there was O.J. pleading not guilty in a Las Vegas court of law. Stay tuned to the upcoming sequel due out in 2008 when the case goes to trial.

3. “The Sopranos” series finale: When HBO’s long running made-for-cable mob series aired its final episode June 10, it was not just the 11.90 million faithful viewers or perhaps I should say “suckers” who wanted to know what mob boss Tony Soprano saw in that diner before the scene faded to black. Did he get whacked? Would the adventures of America’s second most popular dysfunctional crime family (the first being The Corleone’s from The Godfather trilogy) continue on the big screen? The press felt a story needed to be told here. The climax, however, was no more different than some of the much ballyhooed and often, disappointing series finales that left viewers either hanging or going “huh” like when Jerry, George, Kramer, and Elaine got sentenced to a year in jail for being selfish pricks on “Seinfeld” (1990-1998). Or when viewers learned that six seasons of the medical drama, “St. Elsewhere” (1982-1988), took place in the mind of an autistic child or that the comedy series “Newhart” (1982-1990) was nothing more than a humorous eight season long nightmare dreamt up by Bob Newhart’s psychiatrist from his other long running comedy series from the 70s, “The Bob Newhart Show” (1972-1978). Talk about making a big deal about nothing!

4. The Fall of and Immediate Return of Don Imus: I have never listened to Don Imus, but I am well familiar with how a few of the things he said on the air over the years got him into trouble. Was what he said on his morning radio show last February calling members of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hos” racist? You must be a complete idiot, and even racist yourself if your answer is no. Should he have been penalized for it? Yes. But was it enough to finally put an end to the radio shock jock’s on-air rants? No. Imus returned to the airwaves December 3 on WABC. So much for the Rev. Al Sharpton’s attempts to silence free speech.

5. The Virginia Tech Shootings: The first couple days were about the 32 victims, many of whose promising young lives were only just beginning before being senselessly snuffed out by an angry young loner (would the word “loser” be inappropriate?) that cold Spring Monday morning last April. The story shifted from being about the victims to being all about this Grim Reaper the minute the media and the world learned the identity of the vengeful coward who turned the gun on himself as law enforcement agents closed in. I, for one, am glad I cannot recall his name, much less pronounce it if I did, nor will I waste words mentioning it here in this column. Lest I also be found guilty of the same thing the media did, which was giving the monster the 15 minutes of fame he so craved. As a result of unexpectedly being put in the spotlight, Virginia Tech students spoke what everyone else in America would have liked to tell the press days after the shootings in the form of a sign posted on campus grounds. “VT Stay Strong. Media Stay Away.”

6. All Anna All the Time: The Death of Anna Nicole Smith: Feb. 8, 2007, must have been a slow news day for CNN for the top story was the sudden news that the 39-year-old former Playboy playmate and reality show star was found dead in her home of what we’d all eventually learn was a drug overdose. Her short life and tragic downfall was all we should have learned but an obituary that should have taken news outlets a couple days to write about expanded into weeks of overblown coverage with ongoing stories of autopsy results, paternity suits, battles over who would get custody of Smith’s 1-year-old daughter, burial services and embarrassing interviews showing the Marilyn Monroe look-a-like drugged out and in some cases barely able to form as much as a complete sentence. Her life was nothing more than a sad commentary on the idea of “Hey, everyone look at me!” and the press, the entertainment media, in particular ran with it.

7. Oprahmania: We have seen celebrities’ stump for presidential candidates before. Today’s liberal media are praying that Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama now has a chance to being America’s first African American elected president thanks to the full backing of daytime talk show diva, Oprah Winfrey. It is not Hillary Clinton conservatives have to worry about now. My advice to those hoping a Republican will get in the White House in 2008, “Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.” Can her support help get Obama into becoming the latest resident on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? One thing is certain. More people like Oprah than they do singer Barbra Streisand, who is lending all her support to Hillary Clinton.

8. NBC News Anchor Brian Williams hosting “Saturday Night Live”: No, I did not see the anchor’s comedic debut, but I saw clips that aired on NBC Nightly News the next day. I admit some of the clips were humorous like dropping coins on morning show hosts Al Roker and Matt Lauer from the top floor during their telecasts. But is this what broadcast journalism has stooped to with highly paid good looking talking heads not only anchoring the news but guest hosting a long running comedy show? Granted, former longtime celebrity anchors CBS’ Dan Rather, NBC’s Tom Brokaw and “the James Bond of Broadcast Journalism” ABC’s the late Peter Jennings may have come on as guests at the behest of late-night talk show hosts but not once were they ever asked to host a comedy sketch series or those educational “More You Know” commercials on NBC.

9. Lisa Nowak and The NASA Love Triangle: Viewers would never hear about a mother of three kids making a 900-mile trek from Houston, Texas to Orlando, Florida wearing adult diapers and armed with a BB gun, a knife, a mallet, and rubber tubing to confront a romantic rival for stealing her man on the nightly news. That is unless the mother of three happens to be a NASA astronaut who has flown on a shuttle mission.

10. “Mom! It’s not right.” Do not cry for Paris Hilton: I am willing to bet several people convicted of driving with a suspended license would have welcomed the 45-day jail sentence socialite Paris Hilton received last May. Not so for this Chihuahua loving party girl who could barely do a week. Five days into her jail sentence last June in what became misinformation between the judge and law enforcement authorities, the millionaire heiress was allowed to do her remaining time at home, only to be dragged back to the courthouse balling inside a black and white police car as helicopters flew overhead and angry little Chihuahuas barked away on the ground. To quote her own words, “That’s hot.

I am willing to bet several of you reading this could not get enough of this kind of trivial coverage the media churned out over the past year. It reminds me of the scene in “Broadcast News” (1987) where Holly Hunter’s Jane Craig warns the staff during a speech about how today’s news networks are getting away from covering the more important stories and giving the public more fluff. Her audience applauded when she showed them a segment of the Japanese Domino Championships.

My response is exactly the same as hers and the bad news is if you haven’t noticed it already, you are going to get lot more of these kinds of stories just like it.

Here’s to what will likely be another unnecessary tabloid filled New Year.

©1/1/08

My Personal Worst Films: The Mist (2007)

The Mist «
R, 127m. 2007

Cast & credits: Thomas Jane (David Drayton), Marcia Gay Harden (Mrs. Carmody), Laurie Holden (Amanda Dunfrey), Andre Braugher (Brent Norton), Toby Jones (Ollie Weeks), William Sadler (Jim Grondin), Jeffrey DeMunn (Dan Miller), Alexa Davalos (Sally), Nathan Gamble (Billy Drayton). Written and directed by Frank Darabont based on a novel by Stephen King.

If "The Mist" were not based on a short story by Stephen King, I’d have figured the plot was thought up by a group of studio executives desperate for an instant box office hit no matter how lousy the idea is executed.

On the list of movie star ratings, four meaning superior and one star meaning poor, "The Mist" is an average two-star horror film that’s really a one-star movie in disguise thanks in part to the unexpectedly shocking climax that left me disgusted, disturbed, and irritated. I cannot remember a film I had seen that left me more upset.

It wouldn’t have been enough if those studio executives had come up with the idea about a deadly mist that leaves a group of local townspeople trapped inside a supermarket for days. Since the story was thought up in the mind of Stephen King, this is a movie that literally defines the phrase, “I am going to throw in everything but the kitchen sink.” Now that I think about it, I believe there was a sink somewhere in the back of that supermarket.

To quote the line John Belushi’s Jake Blues said in "The Blues Brothers" (1980) as he and his brother evaded the Chicago Police recklessly driving through a shopping mall, “This place has got everything,” so too does "The Mist." We are treated to sights of what could vaguely be seen as giant tarantulas, huge fireflies with noses and stingers as long as a 12-inch ruler, and a pair of large tentacles that we never quite find out what they are attached to.

Trapped inside the supermarket are a group of townspeople that include a God-fearing woman (Marcia Gay Harden) who among many things religious, talks of how they have a Judas in their midst. Amongst them is a devoted father and movie artist (Thomas Jane), who along with his son, (Nathan Gamble), just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We meet a skeptical neighbor (Andre Braugher) who is willing to accept their situation as anything but God’s wrath. Last but not least is a nerdy grocery clerk named Ollie (Toby Jones) who it just so happens, knows how to fire a gun and has all the best lines when the situation warrants it.

“You can’t convince some people there’s a fire even when their hair is burning,” he says. “Denial is a powerful thing.”

"The Mist" could have been the equivalent of those silly big budget star-studded disaster movies ("The Swarm"-1978, "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure"-1979 to name a few) of the 1970s producer/director Irwin Allen churned out which steadily got worse as the decade wore on. Screenwriter/director Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption"-1994) proves he is above all that. He delivers a screenplay that is about as serious as a near fatal heart attack as the characters discuss notions about the end of the world and make unsettling suggestions of human sacrifice in hopes God will let them live for just one more day.

Yet, however, I cannot help but laugh at some of the lines said. In a time where most people are concerned with such useless movie trivia as wanting to know the final body count of those killed or how many times the four letter “F” word is said, "The Mist" goes down as the first horror film where I want to know how many times the phrase or the word, “the Mist” is uttered. Cases in point are these lines: “The end of times has come. Not in flames, but in mist.” “What do you know about this mist?” “David, there’s nothing out there. Nothing in the mist.”

When I saw "The Mist" opening day before Thanksgiving last November, the auditorium for the first noon showing was almost packed to the point there was plenty of audience participation. I could hear people “oohing” and “ahhing” at the sights of all these creatures, none of whom we ever get a very good look at thanks to “the Mist.”

They often laughed and cheered for much of those two hours when some of the type-casted, self-conceited characters met particularly grisly deaths. I almost felt like joining in. I could not believe, for example, that for a group of townspeople trapped inside a local supermarket as a result of a deadly mist, not one of them considered using a few cans of Raid to fend off the giant fireflies.

That all came to a crashing halt in the film’s final ten minutes, which I won’t reveal. I know those who embraced the film though will attempt to argue that the point of the climax to this bleakly depressing production is the idea of, “If only” one had waited just a few minutes longer, then things would have turned out all right.

I don’t mind movies that end on a sour note. I have seen plenty of pictures over the years that briefly left me emotionally distraught like "Schinder’s List" (1993), "Titanic" (1997) or "The Perfect Storm" (2000). Almost every film, however, I have seen that ended tragically, I have always found something positive to be drawn from it. The 9/11 passengers for example all perished when they tried to wrestle their hijacked plane from the terrorists at the end of "United 93" (2006). But on a positive note, the passengers may have saved hundreds more lives.

I go see movies to be entertained. When it comes to horror films, it’s to encounter the thrill of being scared. There is nothing entertaining or scary about "The Mist." One person was so visibly upset with the climax she walked out. Everyone else was just dead silent as the end credits rolled. That is quite a drastic change for an audience who for almost two hours often cheered and laughed.

©11/27/07

Appreciation: Greg Hehn (1944-2006)

I have worked with a lot of interesting people during my ten years as a computer support helpdesk analyst. Part of the reason I enjoyed my job to an extent had to do with the people I worked with. It was a lot like that television show you liked watching because all your favorite characters were on it.

A great number of those coworkers have either since quit, transferred to other departments, gone off to better paying jobs in the IT industry or were fired. The last in that group of colorful characters O knew was a guy named Greg Hehn.

Greg was the “grandfather of the crew” you might say because at 55, he was the oldest of everyone who worked in our IT department.

Everyone else, me included, are either still in college, already have college degrees or are older people who have had prior experience working at other helpdesks. What made Greg unique was he was the only person there, with the obvious exception of management, who absolutely loved his job.

Then again, Greg had worked in worse places, so he appreciated answering phone calls and troubleshooting computer hardware and software problems. He worked at Sears years before and was laid off. Prior to getting the IT job five years ago, he worked at 7-Eleven. He kept his 7-Eleven name badge posted on his cubicle wall to remind him (and everyone else) that there were worse places to be employed at.

To Greg, his cubicle was his second home.

“Every cubicle defines someone’s personality,” he once told me in response to my workspace, which had nothing, though at one time I did have my newspaper articles plastered along the walls. One wall of Greg’s cube was a bulletin board of pictures featuring him in many of his party going moods with his wife, sons, and two dachshunds, of which he was the proudest.

Greg made booklets for every single piece of hardware we trouble shot. Sometimes he even drew the covers that included one of him sleeping, which he sometimes did around two or three in the morning. Everyone would know it because we would hear snoring coming from his direction.

That was not all he added to the job.

He was his own disc jockey when it came to music. The entire department would be filled with the sounds of recording artists that included Bob Marley, Billy Joel, Elvis, Led Zeppelin, Neil Diamond, classical music, movie soundtracks, and tunes from the 1950s and 60s on weekends. The only artists he would never play were the ones he was forced to listen to as a kid because his parents liked them such as Frank Sinatra, Lawrence Welk, and Andy Williams.

Greg always kept up on the latest technology.

On his business card was the saying, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” He would buy a computer every year except for Apple, though if he had another kid, he would buy them an iMac. He wouldn’t, however, embrace DVD players until the recordable ones cable out or buy an HDTV (high density television) until the $5,000 price tag went down.

Greg was also an avid reader of books and read everything from the Clive Cussler adventure novels to murder mysteries written by obscure authors I had never heard of. He did not care much, however, for Tom Clancy, whose epic novels went off on tangents describing military technology and how government works, and he despised author James Michener. He told me once how he attempted to read Michener’s books, “Hawaii: A Novel”, and threw it down after reading the first twenty pages which talked about nothing but the sand and trees.

Greg had an excellent work ethic. When he was there, he was there to work and not fool around. He took about as many calls, if not more, as the rest of us.

When it came to customer service, Greg was the one who knew how to put out most of the fires. If someone on the night shift was ready to lose it when they were on a call, Greg was always there to take over.

He was the most outspoken of anyone on the weekend night shift. If everyone on the shift had a bad attitude, he had let us all know it and threaten to email management. He never did though.

“Still tongue makes a wise head,” he once told me.

He enjoyed talking with the store managers sometimes telling them stories about his younger days living in Hawaii (his family located often because his father was in the military) while the person on the other end of the phone was trying to trace a cable.

When there were no calls to answer during down times, Greg and I would talk about movies, television shows, and current events from the Elian Gonzalez controversy to gun violence in schools. Sometimes he’d talk about the wild dates he had with some of the women he dated in high school, which are either too graphic or too long to write about here.

It was Greg who convinced me to get back into writing again in 1998 after he read several of my film reviews I sent him via email. Until then, I was officially out of writing for newspapers because I had had enough of trigger-happy editors doing hatchet jobs to my reviews and columns leaving only the first two and last paragraphs and cutting out the rest.

I was looking forward to hearing his opinions on what he thought of my negative review of “What Lies Beneath” (2000) and if the Concorde jet crash in France marked the end of supersonic travel the week he unexpectedly left in July 2000. That never happened.

There are no more personal stories to hear now as Greg reveals to someone on the phone an interesting little tidbit about his past.

No music or snoring can be heard from where his “home” used to be. No more discussions about movies, television shows, women, or current events to help pass the time.

No one to put the fires out when someone loses it while trying to get a person on the phone to trace a cable.

The day Greg Hehn left was like seeing your favorite television show begin a new season without the character/actor who made the series worth watching.

Things haven’t been the same since.

©9/20/06