principle09 :: this is it / this is me

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Updated Principles page with 09 :: this is it / this is me:

I'm not aspiring to anything other than continuous progression and improvement at my chosen art: this site, the newsletter, and the zine are, until they are otherwise, my chosen, wholly independent delivery systems for whatever I think, ponder, and create. The expressions and experiments and explorations shared in these spaces are neither aspirations nor stepping stones for anything bigger: I've spent more than half my adult life caring about things out of my control and, as I enter the back half of same, I've little interest in continuing down the same path. This space is – and these spaces are – for better or for worse, the truest expression of myself in this moment; whatever the next moment brings will be dealt with when it's time to deal with it. Until then, this is me, and I'm good with it.

THE BLACK CAT (Edward G. Ulmer, 1934)

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(Directed by Edward G. Ulmer from a script by Peter Ruric "suggested by"* the story by Edgar Allan Poe; starring Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners, and Jaqueline Wells. Released 07 May 1934; watched 2023w41 via Criterion Channel)

"Suggested by" = not at all similar but the name is a nice touch.

While mostly forgettable until the last third, wanted to mention Lugosi's performance here: a rare turn as one of the good guys (ok, a vengeance-driven, cat-killing (via throwing knife, I believe), Karloff-flaying good guy but hey) that makes his Dracula typecasting all the more tragic. Sure, the accent could be limiting (something of a Schwarzenegger-before-Schwarzenegger situation), but he brought genuine presence and nuance to the role – unlike the good guy-good guy, David Manners, who, as in all of his appearances, made total lack of charisma a calling card.

Maybe this one was done a disservice by how closely I watched it to THE OLD DARK HOUSE, which - minus the Satanist cult angle that popped up in the rather excellent last third - delivered a similar narrative with far more panache and better performances all around.

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Seem to have this week's Shard where it wants to be. Pleased that these experiments are not only excellent exercises in letting go and embracing resounding imperfection, but a way to keep me working on fiction all through the week. Love doing the newsletter, but two+ work blocks spent in a communicative status update / synthesis document are simply too much. A great way to create a modicum of balance and progress.