Blogging Isn't Cool

2012-02-17T08:01:00.001-08:00

Duke's Claims Questioned
I recently bit he bullet & subscribed to the Cincinnati Business Courier. I have long held that business leads our society & not government, furthermore while the Fishwarp is adequate, it tends to dwell on sensationalism. The TV coverage of our community is nothing but alarmist soundbites and emergency run coverage - cherry picked emergency run coverage ~ Follow the Gun.
While the Friday edition of the Fishwarp announces the groundbreaking of the Cincinnati streetcar project amongst, Stuff video a YouTube hit, Pickup dangles off railroad bridge after riding on tracks, Blake Shelton delivers love songs with an edge, Teen testifies against stepfather in rape trial & Gunman prompts SWAT standoff - the Business Courier actually did some investigation into Duke Energy's inflated utility line movement costs in relation to the streetcar installation."Many communities have utilities located much closer to their streetcar rails – with no problems."

Tim Borchers, owner of Tampa-based City Rail Solutions LLC, said utilities often see streetcar projects as a way to get their aging infrastructure replaced at no charge.
"If you went to Europe and talked about the utility thing, they would laugh"

To find out more, pick up a copy of the Cincinnati Business Courier wherever they are sold or subscribe to get the whole article and many more informative articles about what is really going on the the greater Cincinnati region (besides murder, rape & YouTube news) every Friday. (Actually, one quibble with the rag is that they use the Greater Cincinnati region & simply Cincinnati interchangeably, but most people around here do the same thing anyway, so…..)

2012-02-15T08:47:00.001-08:00

Well, not exactly…

Westwood, not the most welcoming community, has posted welcome signs in Northside. The real border is about 500 feet up the road, unfortunately.
Westwood Civic Association had asked Northside to cede the land in 2011 but the Northside Community Council opted to retain it. Westwood Civic was told explicitly to not place the welcome sign in Northside but with a typically arrogant and cavalier attitude, they have.
WCA has been given til the end of February to remove the sign and place it in the proper place.
Cincinnati neighborhood map

2012-02-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

Ron Paul in Ohio

While the Ron Paul campaign has yet to have an official presence in Ohio, the Fishwarp reports area Tease are setting up support for the candidate.
This is a surprising move since Paul tends not to support their liberty crushing social & domestic security agendas nor their militaristic foreign policy views. Further, they have made a point of supporting mainstream business-as-usual Republicans in most other races - well, in SW Ohio.

In West Chester you can find the Ron Paul Tease at 5430 West Chester Road.
email chris.littleton@ohiolibertycouncil.org for more information

More Ohio supporters here

2012-02-14T05:21:00.000-08:00

2012-02-11T09:38:00.000-08:00

Who Does Council Member Smitherman Represent ?
Cincinnati City Council Members Smitherman & Winburn called for a special council meeting to ~~showboat~~ discuss the streetcar project. There, Smitherman peppered City Manager Dohoney about all sorts of minutiae. Dohoney has been upfront & transparent about this project from day one. What is strange is Duke Energy's assertions of specifications & costs which appear to be a money grab. But Smitherman took their numbers as gospel while even questioning Mr Dohoney when he stated the overall cost would be 110. If Smitherman were really representing the citizens of Cincinnati it seems he would want to direct his questioning at Duke. Instead, his behavior at the meeting indicated he might be representing Duke or residents in Hamilton County outside the city. It's been suggested his roles in the local NAACP might be conflicting with his role as a member of city council. What else is he involved in? He certainly doesn't seem too interested in preventing the citizens of Cincinnati from getting fleeced.

2012-02-10T15:52:00.001-08:00

Lounge Power

2012-02-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

In the late 1800s the East Street Shops industrial complex in Springfield, Ohio was the largest manufacturing facility under one roof in the entire world.
On the morning of Feb. 10, 1902, a wind-whipped fire, the most destructive fire in the history of Springfield, ignited by a chemical explosion, leveled the East Street Shops industrial complex and threatened the city's downtown.
Inadequate water pressure and antiquated fire apparatus contributed to the staggering loss to the city and its economy. Twelve manufacturing plants were in total ruin. The loos came to $406,682 or more than $10,000,000 today.
The businesses hit hardest were the Owen Machine Tool Co., Champion Chemical Co., Springfield Foundry Co., Progress Stove and Furnace Co., Indianapolis Frog and Switch Co., Miller Gas Engine Co., Green Manufacturing Co. and the Krell French Piano Company.

Full story Springfield Fire Journal and Gen Disasters

Bonus info on the Detroit Southern railroad line Michigan Railroads

2012-02-09T20:08:00.001-08:00

8 Feet ?

More from The Monocle

2012-02-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

Economic Indicators
In this day and age I have no idea why housing starts are any indicator of the economy. Heck, it's wild home buying promotions that got us in the pickle we're in today. I understand why housing starts got their clout after WWII but the population growth is sputtering out & a lot of those houses built in the second half of the 20th century were built to last. New housing for some time now should be growing at a pace rivaling M$oft's OS glacial pace of growth. That is - the market is saturated
ScienceFiction.com reports comic book sales had their best January since 2008. Dunno if this should be any kind of economic bellwether - it might just be some kind of ouroboric film / comic book entertainment cycle. Seems as good as using housing to gauge the economy, tho. I mean, what's a house but a place to keep your comic books?

2012-02-08T07:09:00.001-08:00

The Perils of Extremism

How do Conservatives and Liberals See the World? from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

long video

2012-02-07T11:28:00.000-08:00

Councilman's Frivolous Actions Leads To New Rules
In a letter to the editor a Cincinnati councilman complains of new rules that would keep him from wasting city resources with frivolous requests and demands.
This is what happened last time he was in office.

"The memos to the city manager's office come at the rate of about one a day, and sometimes as many as three or four."
"The requests for information are usually no longer than two or three sentences. The answers sometimes take days of staff time to complete."

Fishwarp story here

2012-02-07T05:49:00.000-08:00

Ohio Caverns Expands

Ohio Caverns will offer up tours of areas previously unavailable to visitors this year. They will also be offering limited handicap access.

Noose Son story here

2012-02-06T09:13:00.001-08:00

Driehaus Dominates

Luke Brockmeier, Denise Driehaus and Terry Tranter appeared on Dan Hurley Show on Feb 5 to discuss their bids for Ohio's 31st district.
Brockmeier, with a particularly annoying voice, seems to want to be the perfect Liberal©. Tranter, a Berding DINO who has already tried using the courts to secure his nomination, came off as over medicated. Driehaus totally dominated the room with clear thinking & well articulated ideas & philosophy. One can easily see why Republican gerrymanderers tried to get her out of the picture.

2012-02-03T06:01:00.001-08:00

Glad I'm Not Alone

Glad I'm not the only one to have had a problem reading Atlas Shrugged. Individualism? As Ma Quim pointed out - that must be why there are no children in Rand's books. Just - as I pointed out - a bunch of really unhappy people.
So, I know I'm late but I doubt the sentiment would do any good, Happy B-Day Aynnye.

2012-02-01T18:38:00.000-08:00

Don't Count Your Boobies Until They're Hatched

Damn, I miss Thurber.....

2012-02-01T09:36:00.000-08:00

More Proof - Horror Sells

2012-01-31T22:42:00.000-08:00

New Heartless Bastards On the Way !

Ex-Cincinnati band, The Heartless Bastards are set to release a new album, Arrow, Feb 14. Give 'em your email address & you can download Parted Ways for free. They also have special packages with vinyl & other goodies for $$.

2012-01-31T09:10:00.000-08:00

Reanimating George
If you're freaked out about pentacles in Washington D.C.'s street grid, you probably won't bat an eye at plans to zombify George Washington - with Lamb's blood!
Apparently, William Thornton, physician and designer of the US Capitol had such plans & Washington's request to wait 3 days before burying his body made implementation of Thornton's schemes a definite possibility.
They probably would have been better off shippin' his dead ass down to Haiti, tho.

i09 article here

2012-01-30T20:04:00.000-08:00

2012-01-30T15:49:00.000-08:00

Money Talks
In a move that should surprise nobody, the big guys prevail & the bus driver and her passengers can all go to hell.
Fishwarp story about big media & big gaming throwing Joann Searles (and her passengers) under the bus here

2012-01-30T08:13:00.000-08:00

When Did War Stop Being Funny ?

For years I was bombarded whit the hilarious hijinks of war by the likes of Tony Curtis, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Danny Kaye and more. In the South Pacific, soldiers drank from coconut shells and cavorted with beautiful scantily clad native women and Nazi prison camps were nothing but a party. The Korean War raged on for 10 years as surgeons drank, chased nurses & played one practical joke after another. But as the 70s wore on the Korean war became less and less funny. Vietnam, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Grenada, Kuwait, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq… For some reason - not funny. You would think some of the UN military interventions could generate some humor - at least for the other side.
Some say we lost in Vietnam. Do the Vietnamese have shelves of war comedies? Are there a zillion Afghani war comedies about Russia being considered for remakes substituting America?
Maybe it's because we don't have a draft anymore. Maybe it's the draftees who were the funny ones and our current military is made up of a bunch of David Caruso clones.
Or maybe we're just not confident in the military actions that we take nowadays.

2012-01-27T07:55:00.001-08:00

Looking at Life from the Grave

When most of us think of the undertaker, we probably think of Digger O'Dell, the friendly undertaker we try to avoid. These guys have a unique perspective on life, tho, as they see it at it's end. As the obstetrician sees life at the beginning, we are all pretty equal but at the end, we are all over the place. Sometimes it just looks senseless. Some funeral directors have pushed for healthier lifestyles.
And recently, Detroit funeral directors have targeted violent lifestyles in a way befitting the MC.

2012-01-25T18:23:00.001-08:00

Clifton IGA Still A Ways Off

Apparently everybody's hired but the old building has caused some remodeling delays. Owners hope to know the opening date sometime in February.

WXIX story here

2012-01-25T08:00:00.001-08:00

We Are Not Alone

Cincinnati City Council is battling itself over laws to curb the stealing of metal. People are stealing siding off of houses, copper pipes from plumbing & air conditioners and it's costing property owners thousands of dollars - frequently more than what the thieves get for selling the metal. City council is trying to regulate the sellers & buyers in the city. Problem is, we don't live in a vacuum. People just sell the scrap outside the city limits in Ohio or Kentucky. We need to address this on a state basis & even then, border towns like Cincinnati & Cleveland will need cooperation with Pennsylvania & Kentucky.

Fishwarp story here.

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

MC EScher in Legos

hey, I don't kid about this kind of thing.
BitRebels link here

2012-01-24T05:55:00.000-08:00

Supplement the Budget With TV Game Show Winnings
Springfield, Ohio was recently awarded a police car by the state. Doesn't seem like much as TV game shows frequently give away cars. This got me thinking, tho. With Cincinnati's mayor being a minor reality TV star, a councilman who is a local access cable and radio star and policewomen who are reality TV stars, why not groom city officials & employees for game shows and then have hem split the winnings with the city?
It might catch on. Cities across the nation could compete on game shows. Forbes magazine could use winners and losers for more of their goofy lists. Tourists would flock to winning and maybe even losing cities to see what the hell is going on. Political careers could be made & destroyed. Ambulance chasers could start suing TV networks instead of cities.
I think it's a plan.

2012-01-24T05:03:00.001-08:00

no no no no
Not that SOPA….

2012-01-23T15:48:00.001-08:00

Fiscally irresponsible, COA T endorsed Cincinnati Councilmen propose more big union freebies

Fishwarp story here

2012-01-23T07:40:00.001-08:00

Is Todd Portune Symathtic ?
The Porktown Fishwrap claims Portune has asserted that he's symathtic but I'm not so sure.
Meanwhile the county is blighting a county resident's home in the cause of automotive efficiency.
I say, Death to Symathticism !

2012-01-23T05:35:00.000-08:00

hey, look! It's a ghost sign!

This building had been covered with cheap grey aluminum siding & was adorned with billboards. Coupled with the owner not tending to the lawn & the ugly fencing on the corner lot, it served to blight a decent neighborhood in the vicinity of The Comet.
Recently the billboards were removed along with the siding and faint ghost signs are now visible. Can't make out anything, but.... It was apparently a store but since the siding was practically a wrap it was impossible to tell. Of course the city now has it zoned residential but that's ok as the new owner, a neighbor who bought it because he "was sick of looking at it", wants to remodel it as a residence. The difference between a neighbor owner and some absentee owner can be amazing. I imagine the people next door are ecstatic.
So how much of a snob am I for liking a painted sign over a billboard?
I don't care
NOTE:Since taking these pictures a doorway has been carved out of the wall

2012-01-22T21:01:00.000-08:00

2012-01-22T05:08:00.000-08:00

Springfield, Ohio 1924

2012-01-21T10:30:00.000-08:00

Is This the Best DAAP Can Do ?
When I heard UC art students, Steve Hilton,Joshua Smith and Jake Ogelsby, had been busted for graffiti, I thought, hey, maybe they did some good work? nope - just the typical brain dead tagging you'd expect from some dumbass kid.
sheesh....

WKRC story here

2012-01-21T05:07:00.000-08:00

Romeo and Juliet

Coming soon to an adult video store near you. Romeo & Juliet XXX (SFW). Seriously. And in an effort to make it more accessible to modern audiences, it will be set in present day America (Burbank?). Budget was not a concern, I am sure.
My favorite part about this flick? It's being released 2/7 - just in time for Valentine's Day.
awwwww……
Now if Romeo was a vampire & Juliet was a zombie - that's something I could go for!

2012-01-20T04:00:00.000-08:00

Singin' in Cincinnati
With the coming World Choir Games to Cincinnati and City Council's promoting the town as, "Cincinnati - the city that sings", it seems to me that loosening up the regulations on group singing in the Queen City might be in order.
To sing as an ensemble on Cincinnati streets ain't all that easy. You can find it all in Section 909-3 Loud Noise.
First thing you have to do is decide where you want to perform & find out the zoning designation that applies to that area. You will need a tape measure & sound meter. Fortunately, Hamilton County has a handy whiz bang map with all sorts of dynamic graphic clutter to find the zoning designations. You can find out what the arcane initials mean here. Then, going back to Section 909-3 Loud Noise, you can check the tables to see when & how loud you can perform. The Sunday to Wednesday tables are identical to the Thursday tables except, apparently, public music performances are not allowed in MA (Manufacturing Agriculture) areas on Thursdays.

If the area you desire is PD, HS, UD, IDC, or HD, you need to ask Department of City Planning and Buildings.
The acceptable decibel levels for various zoning designations & times are listed in the tables. What's interesting here is that, at no time can one perform over 75db even though the generally accepted sound of traffic is around 80db meaning the sound of traffic is more acceptable to our society than music nd it is illegal to be heard over the cars that, presumably, would be on the street.
After the tables at Section 909-3 Loud Noise we get to the best part.

The performance of one or two street musicians on unamplified musical instruments between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. or between the hours of 5:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., for no more than a single period of 90 consecutive minutes in the vicinity of a single location and not closer than any of the following: a) 20 feet to a pedestrian crosswalk; b) 20 feet to a street vendor; and c) 100 feet to an open market as such are defined in section 845-3 CMC, shall not constitute a violation of this section.

So, your barbershop quartet can just go to hell. Also, if you want piano accompionment, you will have to haul your upright down to where you want to play (as long as it's not an MA designation on a Thursday) & play because your midi controller, laptop & Crate are criminal in Cincinnati - the city that sings - but only acapella and not between 1-5:30PM.

Cincinnati really needs to move into the ~~21st~~ late 20th century on this issue and with the attention to music coming this summer, now is a great time to address it. The definition of decibel levels & how they are measured is a good first step but the limit to 2 people was brought about in the 90s to accommodate a particular issue in a reactionary way and has never been addressed in a rational, comprehensive way. The ban on amplification is just backwards & frankly kinda classist.

2012-01-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

Quinnipiac Polls Ohio
Quinnipiac pollsters asked Ohioans about abortion, fracking, Kasich, Brown Mandel & Portman and lions & tigers & bears.
Brown & Portman are viewed favorably - Mandel not so much. The Ohio legislature doesn't fare too well. Kasich sucks. A strong majority don't want private ownership of exotic critters. Buckeyes see the merits of gas drilling but want the processes investigated & proven safe. Folks are pretty evenly split on abortion. As usual, the Republicans are opposed to personal rights.

Read the results here.
And these are the full results, not the interpretations the Plain Dealer, Dispatch & Daily News expect you to be happy with.

2012-01-18T18:31:00.000-08:00

One for the anti-Paultards

hey, Murdoch, go fuck yourself!

2012-01-18T07:34:00.000-08:00

Cincinnati Comic Book Expo Expands!

The Fishwrap's entertainment blog reports that the Cincinnati Comic Book Expo will be expanding from one day to two this year with a preview day for VIP ticket holders. This will coincide with Oktoberfest again and the Cincinnati Reds are scheduled to play L.A. that weekend, too.
Event organizer Andrew Satterfield said attendance was up 40% in '11 over the first convention in '10. Last year, of course, comics legend Jim Steranko was the guest of honor.
The 2012 Cincinnati Comic Expo will be September 22/23 at the Duke Energy Center.

Grand Comics Database

2012-01-17T08:36:00.000-08:00

CLOWNS

HT to the Cincinnati Monocle

2012-01-17T07:32:00.001-08:00

The Rise of the Praetorian Class
HT to one of the best named blogs in the world, How the Hell Should I Know?

2012-01-16T08:32:00.000-08:00

Finally, Some Pro Business Legislation Out of Columbus

"A new state law that cuts start-up costs for micro-breweries and makes it easier for a growing number of craft distilleries and brewers to sell to the public will trigger growth and expansion in the emerging industry, promote tourism, create jobs and generate tax revenues, state and industry officials say."
"The law allows small breweries to serve samples and to sell their brews from tasting rooms without buying a $3,900 special permit, and it also allows more small-batch distilleries to open in Ohio and to offer samples of their craft spirits from their own tasting rooms. The legislation known as House Bill 243 sailed through both the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate with unanimous support and was signed into law by Gov. John Kasich in late December. It is scheduled to take effect March 22."

Still, as Eric Zamonski of Oakwood notes, it is not far enough. Ohio's unwieldy fees & regulations have Ohio ranked 32nd nationally for breweries per capita.

Noose Son story here

2012-01-15T07:24:00.001-08:00

Made in Ohio

After some false starts, the NSX is slated to be resurrected right here in Ohio around 2015.
Noose Son story here.

2012-01-14T18:15:00.000-08:00

2012-01-13T05:40:00.000-08:00

Dan, Sheree the CMHA is not "Cincinnati's". It is Hamilton County's. If it was Cincinnati's, it would not have folks from Green Township on the board.
sorry, WLWT didn't have the video online.

2012-01-12T08:07:00.001-08:00

Problems With the Popular Dead
While most of us are aware of the problems of heavy traffic at the Pere Lachaise cemetery with throngs of people visiting the graves of famous people like Jim Morrison, cemeteries like that or Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetery are pretty much set up for a good bit of traffic.
Smaller cemeteries, like Clark County, Ohio's Myers Cemetery in Pike Twp. aren't set up for heavy traffic. After the interment of Clark County Deputy Suzanne Hopper, their gravel roads haven't been able to hold up to the heavy traffic of mourners. They sought relief from the Clark County Sheriff's department and Sheriff Gene Kelly with the Clark County Engineer's office responded providing 4 truckloads of gravel that had been swept off public streets to resurface the roads in the cemetery incurring no capital costs to taxpayers.

2012-01-11T15:56:00.001-08:00

Hey, Gingrich, SHUT UP !

	Iowa	New Hampshire
Romney	24.6%	39.3%
Paul	21.4%	22.9%
Santorum	24.5%	9.4%
Gingrich	13.3%	9.4%
Huntsman	0.6%	16.9%
Perry	10.3%	0.7%

Blogger formatting is weird.....

2012-01-11T07:26:00.000-08:00

THE EDGE OF REALITY

Can you imagine Elvis teaming up with Roky Erickson?
Anyway, I think this song is the new anthem of this blog. This is pretty much the way we dress & light the place at Blogging Isn't Cool HQ, already, so….

2012-01-10T15:48:00.000-08:00

Library Censorship
A reader found a library in Salem, Missouri blocked her access to sites concerning astrology, occultism & Wicca on their public computers. When she asked for permission to access the sites, the librarian told her she could allow specific sites (no blanket access to specific search terms) and that she would also be obligated to inform the police of the reader's actions.
I can get blocking some content to minors, like stuff about drinking blood & maybe sex magic, but astrology & ancient religions ?
heck, the library probably has dusty old books on these subjects sitting around that they don't even know about.
The real scary part about this is the notion that the librarian felt compelled to inform the police about somebody accessing sites about faith, spirituality & history.

The Hill blogpost here.

2012-01-10T05:09:00.000-08:00

Bold Political Prediction #1
After extensive study, the Blogging Isn't Cool staff concludes that Jim Berns will defeat Sandra Queen Noble for the Libertarian nomination for Ohio's 1st Congressional district in March.
Stay tuned.

See and hear the candidates !
Noble

Berns

2012-01-09T05:27:00.000-08:00

COA T Endorsed Councilman Proposes Redundant Government Spending
COA T's junior mule on Cincinnati City Council has proposed the city solicitor provide ethics training for council members. The solicitor already does this but what the heck…
Smitherman claims such training is common in the "professional" world. No matter that city council positions are considered part time (& pay 180% of Cincinnatians median wage). But, just as every initiative COA T proposes, his legislation is aimed at increasing spending & making government more expensive and a greater burden on the taxpayer.

Fishwrap article here

2012-01-08T05:55:00.001-08:00

Blurry Camel-Back Cricket Moon

2012-01-08T05:33:00.001-08:00

2012-01-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

Top Chef Meets Carl's Jr.

yeah, I know it's old but it's the only one in the series with an actual foodie.
and chicks with scars are hot….

2012-01-07T05:30:00.000-08:00

Fun in the 2nd Century
After inspecting the wall at Carlisle, as Severus returned to the nearest guest house not only as victor over die Caledonians but also having established a permanent peace treaty, he wondered what omen would present itself. Just then, a black soldier, who was a well-known buffoon and regarded himself as a bit of a joker, came up to him with a wreath of cypress. When Severus, thoroughly disturbed at being presented with a funeral garland and by someone of the colour associated with death, angrily ordered him to be removed from his sight, the man jocularly remarked, "You have been everything. You have conquered everything, now may the conqueror be a god." When Severus subsequently reached town, and wanted to perform a sacrifice, owing to a mistake on the part of a local soothsayer, he was first taken to the temple of the goddess of war, and then supplied with sacrificial animals that were black. He abandoned the sacrifice in disgust and retired to the local imperial residence, only to find himself, through the negligence of the temple attendants, pursued right to the door by the herd of black cows.

Historia Augusta Severus XXII. 4-7

2012-01-06T05:56:00.000-08:00

Kid Monzel
Profile in Bankruptcy

When Chris Monzel ran for a county commission seat, he claimed the county budget could be met by finding efficiencies in the county's spending.
Since then he has suggested one time fixes of selling assets at fire sale prices which has state & county auditors raising their eyebrows. He has added new bureaucracy instead of streamlining bureaucracy. He has stomped his feet and resisted offers from the city of Cincinnati to cut costs at MSD. He has threatened lawsuits & raised MSD rates.
The guy has nothing. He offers no vision, no leadership and no ideas.

2012-01-05T16:49:00.000-08:00

What's Inside a Blog ?
Stateside Associates named The Cincinnati Enquirer's "Politics Extra Blog" the best local political blog for Cincinnati. But is it really a blog? Or is it more like the old newspaper "Extra" as it's name implies?
Wikipedia points out:

Although not a must, most good quality blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via GUI widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites.

So, technically, it's a blog, I guess, but the lack of dialogue with the authors seriously detracts from it being any kind of "best" blog bigtime. In my book, the dialogue is the most important part. The Enquirer's political blog is one of it's worst blogs along those lines. When the author just tosses out posts in an attempt to stir up the locals, it is just tantamount to Erisean trolling - not good blogging at all. Campbell & Kiesewetter respond to posters, dunno about the sports or arts guys.
Furthermore, the free exchange of thought is hampered as cincinnati.com limits participation to people who are signed up with a 3rd party service that many people don't use for political discourse.
The Cincinnati Enquirer has been able to publish "extras" forever but has opted not to. As it contracts out printing to Columbus printers, that ability will be completely gone. I certainly use the cincinnati.com Politics Extra "blog" feature for information that I post & comment on here but I routinely interact with commenters here. It's a "best practices" kinda thing. For a great example of "blog" interaction along political lines, The Cincinnati Asylum, The Daily Bellwether or, to a lesser degree, Cincinnati Blog are great examples. The Cincinnati Enquirer is still the best news source in town but their political blogging sucks big hairy wet ones.

2012-01-05T09:58:00.001-08:00

Channel 9 Meltdown

In John Kiesewetter's blogpost, Did you see the Ch 9 News meltdown?, he mentions WCPO's Ignite system. Since the guys at cincinnati.com are hyperlink challenged, here's what he was talking about, Grass Valley Ignite.
These systems are pretty intense, you can get your mitts on some low end stuff, sans robotics, at Media Bridges if you want a taste.

2012-01-05T05:43:00.000-08:00

Modern Mall Mayhem

As the spectre of bestial savagery & violence permeates the malls like the piped in music, law enforcement & mall security are rising to the occasion to keep the places safe for consumers.
The Interstate 675 Organized Retail Crime Group (I675ORCG) is compiling data and talking with mall security around the nation to find ways of battling the growing problem.
Are the retailers themselves to blame?

"I don’t quite understand why retailers do it this way because it does create a very dangerous environment when you get so many people lined up to purchase a pair of shoes," Miami Twp. Police Maj. John DiPietro said.

Or is it the manufacturers?
DiPietro has created Power Point presentations for the I675ORCG.
Havoc hankering juveniles use high tech communication devices and state of the art satellite technology to pinpoint exact times and locations for their surreptitious attacks. Highly trained mall security specialists have had some success banning the teen terrorists outright.
But how safe are the parking lots ?

Noose Son story here

2012-01-04T15:59:00.000-08:00

Multilingual Signage

Some folks on Cincinnati city council want to put multilingual signage in the downtown area. A big question is - what other languages should we post? Spanish is becoming more popular around here. The current mayor has been courting China relentlessly. The city has a strong German heritage. On top of that, Cincinnati has sister cities in Zimbabwe, Japan, Ukraine, France & Taiwan. To accommodate all those languages, we're gonna need some big-ass signs.
A better idea would be to license Alien Technology® like what John Carpenter used in the hit movie, They Live so we can just put up one sign & then distribute Alien Technology® sunglasses to the foreign devils.
With any luck they can do color nowadays.

2012-01-04T07:54:00.001-08:00

COA T's witch hunt of Cincinnati councilwoman Laure Quinlivan has netted them a cool $10,000. That is, they have drained the city's coffers of $10,000. The altruism of these guys cannot be exaggerated. What's ironic about COA T's hatred of Quinlivan is that councilwoman Quinlivan has done more to encourage entrepreneurship & create jobs than COA T's mule, councilman Charlie Winburn, who even has his own custom made "jobs committee".
What will this award mean to city services? If another tragedy occurs due to a fire station brownout, it will most assuredly be on Mark Miller's bloody hands.

2012-01-04T06:34:00.001-08:00

Timelines

As the dreaded PhaseBuch rolls out it's new Timeline feature that pretty much nobody likes, Google has decided to kill it's very nice Timeline feature. Beloved by students, teachers, sports fans & history geeks, it apparently had no value for the Google overlords.
The world has gone mad.

2012-01-03T05:07:00.000-08:00

2011 Reading List
What I read last year
or - why this blog sucks....

Over the Rhine When beer Was King
Secret Agent 666
Romania An Illustrated history
Pirates of the Barbary
Vamp - The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara
The Rise and Fall of Downtown
Ridgewood in the Country Club District
Proposals for Downtown Cincinnati
The Constitutional Origins of the American Revolution
Johnny Comet
Hypatia of Alexandria
Reckless Endangerment
Edmund Burke: A Genius Reconsidered
The Teaching of the 12
The Civil War in Kentucky
The Last Frontier - The Roman Invasion of Scotland

2012-01-02T07:19:00.000-08:00

Top 7 Days of the Week
1. - Friday
A kind of cathartic release day. It's really no different from any of the other weekdays but, it kinda is.
2. - Saturday
A whole day to yourself, except, of course, you've put a ton of things off all wek to do on the weekend so it's probably going to be filled with more work than what you did all week.
3. - Sunday
A whole day to do all the crap you didn't do Saturday.
4. - Wednesday
Hump day & I still think it's spelled funny.
5. - Monday
A fresh start to the work week.
6. - Tuesday
Has a fresh youngish, invigorated feel week after week after week….
7. - Thursday
It's almost Friday.

~This one is for the stockholders~

2012-01-01T08:52:00.001-08:00

Nimbys & Numbers
CMHA wanted to spend $640,000 to renovate a uilding on Cincinnati's west side. The building has 12 units. They moved the current residents out & now the usual loudmouths are promoting the demolition of the building saying too much subsidized housing is concentrated in their community.
Nevermind this:

it [Westwood] now has about 1,100 subsidized housing units, or about 6 percent of all it's housing units. That’s less than subsidized housing’s 11.5 percent share city-wide

My question is, why does it cost so much & why move the residents around like cattle? That cost comes out to $53,000 per unit. Habitat for Humanity could build a whole house for that much. People routinely renovate their homes without moving out of them.

The Fishwrap's not very in depth article here

The Bacon's take here

2011-12-31T15:15:00.000-08:00

The Metrics of '11

Looking over the blog stats…..
Repeat visitors (masochists) are up 60% from 10, 300% since 09.
Total visitors (bored office workers & students) are up 23% from 10 & 320% from 09.
In a blog primarily about Cincinnati & SW Ohio, the main cities to hit here are:

Cincinnati
Richmond
Houston
Mumbai
São Paulo
Jakarta

Dayton comes in at #40 behind Waipahu & right ahead of Wroclaw.
Top search terms:

Krampus
Grace Slick
7 of 9
bridge design
Ashley Bulgari

Most of the hits from the middle east are looking for porn.
An image search for "women castrating" somehow leads to a post about a mannequin named Barbe Que that stands in front of a barbecue joint. freaks….
Still one of the top pages: Top 10 Robo-Cyborg Chicks. Guess I should do more lists. I could be the next Forbes!
The vast majority of people get here by clicking "next blog".
IOS, at 0.8%, is right behind Linux, at 1% of hits.
Top browser is now Chrome, followed by Firefox, IE then Safari. Opera coming in with 1.6%.
Didn't sell any Ault Park crap although my Cincinnati Iconography page is the top exit link from here.
Basically, the more crap you throw, the more crap sticks. Still, I think I'll raise advertising rates. Nobody should mind.

2011-12-31T06:02:00.000-08:00

Keeping Up With the Quimbys

Guitar by Howard Roberts
Shirley Quimby was a model featured in (poorly printed) men's magazines and the occasional album cover in the late 50s & early 60s - the pre-Twiggy days.

2011-12-29T09:06:00.001-08:00

The Auburnaires - 12/30 MOTR

Iconic Cincinnati band, the Auburnaires will reassemble Friday, Dec. 30 at MOTR, 1345 Main St in triangular OTR with Los Honchos.

2011-12-28T06:04:00.000-08:00

In Heaven, Underground

I really want to see this movie. I really want to visit this cemetery. Weißensee Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery, was established in Berlin in 1880. After the Nazi pogrom of Jews came the commie occupation of Berlin. While interments continued the Jewish population dwindled & the commies did not care for the place. After 1990 efforts were made to clean the place up. After 50-60 years of neglect it had become a veritable forest.

Weißensee Cemetery

2011-12-27T10:32:00.001-08:00

Save the Chapel

Looking for a charity to unload some filthy lucre onto before year's end? Look no further, the mother of all causes is soliciting donations now.
Save the Evans City, PA Chapel is the work of Night of the Living Dead fans & production staff member Gary R. Streiner to save the little chapel you can see in the opening segment of the seminal zombie epic.
Wouldn't this be a cool place to get married or hold a Brit milah?

Post Gazette story here

Evans City

Images of the cemetery then & now

2011-12-27T08:19:00.001-08:00

Rating Cincinnati
Lonely Planet ranked Cincinnati #3 in their Top 10 Amerucan Vacation Destinations.
Mercer recently ranked Baghdad 221 out of 221 in their Quality of Living Report, safety being a huge factor. Recently a string of bombings in schools & shopping areas in Baghdad killed about 75 people & injured over 100.
Which reminds me of failed mayoral candidate Brad Wenstrup, who was actually stationed in Iraq, saying that he felt safer in Iraq than in Cincinnati.
Are people simply interested in visiting Cincinnati for the challenge?

2011-12-26T15:28:00.000-08:00

2011-12-26T15:11:00.000-08:00

Hell Town
Local noose media guys screwing up Cincinnati neighborhoods is pretty common, so I wasn't too surprised when an article about renovated homes titled From Helltown to City Home wasn't about Hell Town at all but Over the Rhine.
Granted, they are doing some nice stuff in OTR, but as we all know, Hell Town aka Ludlow Station aka Cumminsville is Northside. Read the history here if you don't believe me.
Of course there's some nice stuff going on in Northside homes, too, which is why they have a tour of homes every other year with the next one scheduled for October 2012. Maybe the Fishwrap can run the article they shelved in 2010 (not that the author works there anymore).

2011-12-26T03:55:00.000-08:00

Adding to the Community Conversation
From the Cincinnati Enquirer's Letters to the Editor preface:

The Enquirer receives dozens of letters to the editor each week and because of space limitations, only a fraction of them can appear in print. Here online, we are able to post all of the letters we receive that add to the community conversation.

I sent a letter in online to counter a fairly paranoid letter from a guy out in exotic Butler County concerning government corruption and the Cincinnati Streetcar.
Ed claimed a Federal grant from a government with no money should send up some red flags & that investigative media types should be looking into just who owns the properties along the streetcar route. He asks:

"Could there be holding companies that have purchased a lot of property, who are the owners of the holding companies and just by chance what political groups received election funds along the way?

Not sure how paranoid conspiracy mongering "adds to the community conversation" but my answer apparently didn't. Since Zuckerberg doesn't think I'm a human being, I could not reply directly.
Anyway, you, dear intrepid reader, must remember my post from awhile ago discussing ownership along the route.

Directly on the route there are about 500 properties owned by about 400 entities. Expanding out a block and adding cross streets you can probably add close to 1,000 more properties. Expand further & get even more.

This was the point I made in my letter and added that rehabbing these properties would mean jobs for the lagging housing industry. But, apparently my letter did not "adds to the community conversation".
Vaguely interestingly, a week later the Enquiring folks run an article on The Streetcar's Number 1 Supporter, John Schneider - who owns property along the route. Are they trying to fan the flames of conspiracy & self serving greed?
heaven forbid.

2011-12-25T07:18:00.000-08:00

A Christmas Story

2011-12-24T06:12:00.001-08:00

Illustrators. They're everywhere. You can't throw a stick without hitting one. It's like a zombie invasion.
The Springfield Center for the Arts at Wittenberg University (SCFTAAWU) is showcasing works of Vernon Grant who, besides inventing the snap, crackle, pop guys, did 26 Collier's covers.
Meanwhile, The Dayton Art Institute is showing works of Norm Rockwell who did a gazillion covers for Saturday Evening Post.

More from the Noose Son here.

2011-12-22T06:55:00.000-08:00

Deep Yule Toughts

People have celebrated the winter solstice with fire & light for thousands of years. Over that time, light, other than daylight has been at or below eye level and has been a warm yellowy orange. In less than the past 100 years, however, light has shifted to the ceiling & taken on a cold, yellowy blue/green hue. Has this change in direction, intensity & temperature changed our perception of one another? Has it changed our overall moods?

2011-12-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

Pupi Campo
Pupi Campo of Cuba, died in Las Vegas last week. He was a bandleader who appeared on TV & in films and performed in Vegas for years. He is credited with being one of the first Latinos to appear on U.S. TV.
So what's this got to do with SW Ohio?
Campo had been married to Betty Clooney, sister of Rosemary Clooney with whom she started her singing career & subsequently the aunt of George Clooney who you may remember from the Rosanne show.

2011-12-20T06:35:00.000-08:00

Disappearing Food

Nothing calamitous, just annoying to depressing. One of my Christmastime indulgnces is Nabisco Whatsworth crackers & a tube (midget longhorn ?) of Colby cheese. It's been getting harder to find the crackers & this year… well, it ain't gonna happen. WalMart can't locate them within 100 miles. Amazon has me on a alert list. Kroger, Meijer, Remke - no go.
I recently had to resort to Amazon for Knorr/Lipton instant Red Beans & Rice. hey, I'm a single guy…..
Campbell's soups has discontinued chili beef, pepper pot & now it looks like bean with bacon is on the way out. I read somewhere Campbell's was focussing on novelty kids' soups & discontinuing the soups with "high end ingredients". Tripe & beans?
Hellshire Farms has a hot smoked sausage that goes great in Cajun type dishes. The 4th of July is Jambalaya Day in Quimbob house. Problem is, almost nobody carries that variety of Hillshire's line. I have to go across town, stock up & freeze the stuff so I can have it for summer. Years ago, you could buy the crap all over town.
Then there's the disappearance of canned corned beef.
Don't even get me started on Arriba salsa & Stouffer's Welsh rarebit....
sigh, I fear Porkopolis is becoming a convenience food desert.

FWIW, you can buy Pepper Pot t-shirts on ebay.

2011-12-19T17:21:00.000-08:00

Cincinnati Park Board Goes Insane

not in Cincinnati...
It is now illegal to sunbathe in Cincinnati parks.
You can't make this stuff up.

Fishwrap story here

UPDATE:The park has explained to Fishwrap editors that the latest rule only applies to lying on benches as such action hogs the whole bench. Will sitting in the middle of a bench and sprawling across it be a violation? Will fat people be required to sit at one end and only have 1 butt cheek on the bench?
The park bored ensures us this rule, made in friggin' December, has nothing to do with the Occupiers.

2011-12-19T08:59:00.001-08:00

We Make Movies So We Are Better

Captain America
Hollywood knows better than those douche bag comic book geeks. Heck, just look at how they dress & the cars they drive. Compare Cannes to ComiCon. Where would you rather be seen?
Captain America is just another crappy movie purloining the name & look of a tried and true but not good enough for Hollywood comic book. Of course there was plenty of room for endless Hollywood cliches…..
Tony Stark's dad was an ok addition, but after that - phooey.

2011-12-16T19:19:00.000-08:00

Whoever said Northside aka, "Land Between the Cemeteries", wasn't creepy?

2011-12-16T07:13:00.000-08:00

Support Your Local Animal Welfare Organization

The HSUS has NO affiliation with your local humane society. To support local, donate local. In Cincinnati, see the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) but don't get it confused with the SCPA (School for Creative and Performing Arts).
ugh, it's so complicated…..

2011-12-14T22:54:00.000-08:00

A Study in Contrasts

The West Chester Police Department is continuing to investigate the punk rock concert that resulted in a brawl at a local dance studio Dec. 1.
Police anticipate charges being filed from the fight that resulted in several minor injuries.

story

No charges in Crosstown Shootout brawl
Deters says teams will deal with situation better than criminal justice system.

story
gotta love it

2011-12-14T08:28:00.000-08:00

Springfield Arcade History

Springfield Arcade Hotel Lobby
UrbanUp, a sister site to Abandoned, offers up a history of the Springfield Arcade complete with a bunch of shots of the hotel interior from, I am guessing, about the time the place was demolished in 1988. The article mainly focusses on it's last decade as various attempts were made to both rescue it & destroy it and the egos & visions of various powers came into play. Ultimately, like much of Springfield's downtown before it, it fell to the wrecking ball.
Read the article here
More pictures can be found at the Springfield History site

2011-12-13T06:05:00.001-08:00

Documenting the Southgate House

A short documentary of the Southgate House, Newport, KY. produced by Sara Mahle.
HT, City Beat

2011-12-12T20:12:00.001-08:00

How Important are Tax Rates ?
Interesting look at tax rates over the last century & whether they impact economic growth.
I swear it's got more to do with lifestyle products than taxes. We need a new product.

2011-12-12T15:19:00.000-08:00

The city of Cincinnati ants to know what you think of their efforts to make a more bike friendly city.
Take the survey

2011-12-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

Before there was the Northside Map of Awesomeness, there was the interactive Northside Business Locator Map
Just sayin'…..

2011-12-10T14:03:00.000-08:00

State Auditor Yost, "uh, not so fast, Chrissy, Todd....."
State Auditor cautions county on Drake Sale

2011-12-09T09:34:00.001-08:00

Another Saturday Night ?
Not in alluring Northside !
Starting Friday night in swank Clifton, Holidays in Clifton will be celebrated from 6-9PM with carriage rides, Santa & stuff around the Ludlow Avenue business district.
But I was talking about Saturday in Northside……
Did I mention the Northside Map of Awesomeness ?
Create crafts for kids & families all day long at Happen Inc. They will be working on fixing grub for Santa (my dad always told me Santa preferred beer & chips over cookies & milk).
Starting at 10AM at North Presbo, the Cincinnati Holiday Art Show features locally made arts & crafts til 4PM
Northside Second Saturday runs from 6-10PM with specials from any number of Northside businesses:
Fabricate hosts the opening reception of Natural Logic
There will be new works by Emily Moorhead 6-10PM
NVISION slashes prices 20% on handmade items
Take the Cake will serve dinner til 9PM
The Painted Fish is open late - 3:30 AM
The Vocal Arts Ensemble at St. Boniface present Christmas carols 7:30PM
Revenge Pinata, ShadowRaptr, Majestic Man, Mr. Brown’s Mysterious Sounds will play at Northside Tavern
2 Headed Dog, The Pariahs perform at The Comet
Boozing My Religion at Mayday
There will be music on the 2nd floor of the Hoffner Lodge from 6:30 PM featuring April 8, Laura Linville , Lisak and Rowe & The Hypnotic Jerks
Then, on Sunday, back up to Clifton with Second Sunday Family Showtime at CCAC with a performance of The Gift of the Magi
yup it's all happening on Metro Route 17!

2011-12-09T09:01:00.001-08:00

How Ignorant are the Occupiers ?

While I agree with some of the OWS complaints about crony capitalism & such, I don't like their strategies much & this latest move is so totally fucked up I can't think straight.
Using the image of Guy Fawkes is deranged. Guy Fawkes is not venerated every November 5, he is vilified. The man spent most of his life killing fellow Christians and fighting against religious freedom & tolerance. He represented a church that many saw as autocratic, monolithic, greedy & corrupt and not respecting the needs of the people. Fawkes' solution? Oppress the blasphemers - kill, them, imprison them, torture them.
His final act was a Timothy McVeigh-like terrorist bombing that could have killed hundreds including innocents & his own fellow Catholics. Fawkes, unlike McVeigh, however, was a fuck up & his attempt at mass murder failed.
Is this really who they want to be the face of their movement?
Apparently people have bypassed legitimate makers of the masks so as to screw the rat bastards at Warner Brothers but doesn't this also screw the creatives that might be getting merchandise royalties, like Alan Moore? And should they really be buying from Chinese bootleggers who ignore intellectual property rights? To say nothing of the way laborers in China are treated - the ones who strike & cite Karl Marx as their social guide…
The image at the top of this article is particularly offensive. It was run on a City Beat article. Painting the image of this villain with the stars & stripes of the American flag is disgusting. The US stands for freedom of religion and, while it has been a rocky road, Fawkes was determinedly opposed to such concepts. Were he alive today, he would probably be terrorizing the US.
Occupiers, you really need to rethink this one. Murderous religious terrorists in America do not represent anywhere near 99%

2011-12-08T14:55:00.000-08:00

Going to the Chapel
Cincinnati City manager Milton Dohoney has suggested a $4.4 million upgrade to city Hall to create a place to be rented out to the public for receptions, weddings & the like in an effort to raise revenue.
Seems like an odd business for the government to be in. Seems pretty competitive, too.
Music Hall has, besides the main auditorium rooms for 30 to 1,300 people. The Museum Center (owned by the county) is a pretty cool place for such events. Well, I'm a history geek. Parks & their lodges can already be used - dunno how the money is split between the city & parks departments, tho. The city could probably invest less into Wesleyan cemetery & maybe put a chapelish kind of facility in there for under $4.4 million.
Seems like letting all those people into city hall would freak out the Homeland Security types, too. How about remodeling a section of the convention center to make it kind of "special"?
Or even better - how about sprucing up a part of the subway? Transit center? The old SCPA?

Fishwrap story here

2011-12-08T05:12:00.000-08:00

This guy is having too much fun.
If you were wondering what to get your favorite blogger for Christmas or the solstice gift giving holiday of your choice, look no further.

2011-12-07T07:19:00.001-08:00

Scenic Clifton Mill for the Holidays

Clifton Mill in Clifton, OH (just east of Yellow Springs) is one of the oldest operating mills in Ohio and has for some decades now celebrated the holidays with their Annual light Display. Unfortunately, on 12/6 the flooding Little Miami River, that drives the mills wheel, rushed over it's banks & creamed some of this year's display. Operators canceled events for Tuesday night & hope to be back up & running ASAP. The owners are on the prowl for every strand of lights they can get their mitts on. Dunno if you should stand guard in your front yard or not…

Besides the 3,500,000 lights decorating the mill & old covered bridge, the mill also offers a Santa Claus museum & workshop, a miniature village & hot dogs, soup, cornbread, hot chocolate, cookies, pie & popcorn.

Noose Son story here

2011-12-06T13:08:00.001-08:00

Hubert Sumlin - Blue Shadows

2011-12-06T07:57:00.000-08:00

The Trollope Bazaar
The Fishwrap's "Our History" section, about the only thing worth reading over there has an article aboutThe Trollope Bazaar built by Frances Trollope in 1829, it was later demolished in 1881.
They don't mention it's use as the OMI building which CityKin brought up in this article which included
this pic, that I cannot display.
I cobbled together this model awhile ago but the proportions are off or my people are too big or or or
.
No idea about color either. I am guessing the OCAS guys know what they were doing. I need to hunt down that model. not that I know where mine is anymore..
:-)

2011-12-06T07:31:00.000-08:00

Over 1,400 - Gone

When the Fishwrap announced it would require a FaceBook account to make comments on their site, they received over 1,400 comments, almost unanimously condemning the action.
They are now gone.
Complaints covered fear of reprisal, not wanting a FaceBook account & not wanting to use FaceBook for that purpose.
The Fishwrap said it wanted o do away with the ugliness.
ummmm…..
Is our health falling apart?
Dinkels deny assault claim
Driver killed in rollover crash on I-471
Woman used car as weapon
Homeowner held burglar at gunpoint
Murderer pleads for mercy
Mini crime spree in Colerain
Water, sewer rates shooting up
Priest at council event faced sex allegation
Moody's warns county on bonds
yeah, happiness & sunshine from the people who don't want
"ugliness". Perhaps ugliness begets ugliness?

2011-12-06T04:14:00.000-08:00

Oakley Square Finished - Finally
After almost 2 years, a streetscape facelift in sultry Oakley is finally complete. Last year, this time, business owners asked the city to suspend work so they could actually do some business during the holiday season. This completion came just in time.
But why does it take so daggone long? It took about 4 years to widen a little over a mile of Hamilton Avenue in lofty College Hill. Fortunately there were no small businesses in that area because they generally don't have the finances to go without revenue for very long. Replacing the Ludlow Viaduct in 1991 shuttered a few stores in bucolic Northside. We will need to get the city's butt in gear if we expect to build a streetcar line and not shutter every existing business along the route.

WKRC story here

2011-12-05T07:44:00.000-08:00

Gruss von Krampus !

Yes, it's that time again
KRAMPUSNACHT

yup, on St Nicholas eve, we make way for the fat man's demon, Krampus to scare the crap out of little kiddies all around the world. He seduces young women, tosses kids into streams & ruins the young men.

My kind of guy
While some people will dwell on Christopher Columbus landing in Haiti (that worked out well), true patriots will be out tormenting the wee mags, extracting revenge for the tantrums, barfing, pooping & sacrificed debauchery.

sigh, gotta love this guy

2011-12-04T11:40:00.000-08:00

Weird Worship

Nationally & locally there's been some shake ups in the rituals of the Catholic Church. English translations led to the humorous Fishwrap headline about Mass Confusion and a local priest hammering down on the blasphemy of holding hands while praying seem kinda odd to a guy raised Presbo. But I do remember attending services at Catholic churches and the local Temple and, especially because they weren't all conducted in English, I was frantically playing catch up as people stood, sat, kneeled at seemingly inexplicable times.
Serendipitously, I received a DVD from Shlockbluster, The Rites of Magick.
While I thought I was going to sit down to watch The Rite with Anthony Hopkins, I was actually sitting down to watch The Rites of Magick with Poke Runyon. Not a special effects laden horror melodrama but a documentary / sales pitch from the Order of the Temple of Astarte located in sunny Pasaadena, CA. While initially impressed that Hollywood was quoting Hermes Trismegistus I quicly realized I had the wrong movie.
The movie shows some of the rites & rituals of a neo-Pagan group that follows Phoenician religion & the magickal traditions of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn as well as some Indian stuff previously pioneered by "Uncle" Al Crowley.
It shows a Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, an Enochian Watchtower Opening, a Solstice ceremony & a service that bypasses those pesky language translation issues by having no words. I was aware of all this kinda stuff but had never seen the rituals performed, especially with large groups of people. While these small groups don't have the hierarchy & orthodoxy of large religious groups so how "authentic" their rituals are is surely up to debate. Still, it gives one an idea of what those people do & dispels a lot of hysterical misunderstandings. Dunno about the glittery masks, tho…..
The solstice ceremony particularly interested me as it was a re-enactment in the round of seasonal changes with the seasons portrayed by people & the narrative in English. I hate the rhymy verse stuff but I guess it makes the words easier to remember, whatever. The thing is we have seen, at least through National Geographic, the same type of ritual performed by American Indians & primitive African groups where we cannot understand the language, the dress is totally foreign & the mythology is a complete mystery. In this case, it's a bunch of white anglo-saxon Americans speaking English and it's all pretty clear - the symbolism & mythology all being European in origin. I don't know why we quit this practice in our western civilized world. Maybe Pat knows.
Anyhoo, for a different perspective, here is a humorous review of the movie by a guy who also thought he was going to sit down to a horror movie.