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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Historical Markers: State Violence Incites Rioting




:

On July 20th, 1877, striking railroad workers in Pittsburgh successfully stopped trains from leaving the freight yard in the Strip District. The sheriff was called upon to clear the tracks by railroad officials, anxious to regain control of their lines. Already, many local police and militia had joined the crowd of friends and neighbors in support of the strike. Knowing that local militiamen would not use force against their own community, the sheriff requested assistance from the Philadelphia militia. 


Philadelphia's troops had just returned home from service in the Reconstruction South. Tired, hungry and missing their families, these men were sent to Pittsburgh to defend the interests of businessmen who were losing money for every hour their trains stood idle. As the crowd showered the troops with insults and stones, the Philadelphia militia opened fire. The massacre ignited a full-scale riot, which left dozens dead and countless wounded. 

The Great Strike of 1877 is thought to mark the first use of federal troops to defend a corporation's "right to run a profitable business." These action have since set a precedent for state violence against labor movements and legislation that favors the rights of corporations over the safety and well being of working families.

Location:
21st Street, Pittsburgh, PA

Historical Markers: Vandergrift


Text: 

Hailed by historian Ida
Tarbell as America's "most
important industrial 
town" with homes owned
by the workers. Founded
1895 by Geo. G. McMurtry,
president, Apollo Iron &
Steel Co. Named for Capt.
Jacob J. Vandergrift and 
designed by the firm of
Frederick Law Olmsted.

Location:
Vandergrift, PA.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

A Ghost Story...

...of a different sort. I really don't keep the fact that I have had a myriad of jobs a secret. My predominate work now is with a tour company here in Pittsburgh, where I guide my guests throughout the city and visit various paranormal hot spots, finally finishing up in the cemetery of the Trinity Cathedral, which goes all the way back to 1795 (technically even further, since it was a Native burial mound prior to that.) In the cemetery, we finish up the evening with an abbreviated haunting investigation.

I could tell before the day even began that tonight was going to be different. Due to various factors out of my control, the tour was scheduled to begin an hour later than normal, so that instead of finishing at 11 p.m., it would instead be midnight. Tonight was also a full moon.

I saw the beginnings of my group were plenty early, and was surprised to find not one, but two separate paranormal investigation groups represented. Each one focused on differing methods, the first group more scientific with plenty of gear, and the second more intuitive, with someone who was an em-path, or sensitive (someone who can sense spirits more easily.)

The tour ran fairly normally, with the group laughing at the jokes, learning some of Pittsburgh's history, and hearing the ghost stories. The only thing I had to keep a watch on was the Sensitive, who I could regularly see tearing up, cringing like she was in pain. I quietly approached her about it, and she said that it was perfectly normal for her, that it only mean "they were paying attention tonight."

Finally, the night finished at the cemetery. After breaking out the dowsing rods for the group, the first paranormal team swung into action, deploying an impressive array of electronic gear. Most of these devices (cameras, voice recorders, even spirit boxes) I had seen before, but tonight was my first time seeing a MEL-meter. This is a device that creates a small electromagnetic field, and then sounds an alarm if that field is interrupted. The device also measures sharp swings in temperature (on a balmy July night, this was not a problem)

The devices were deployed, that one particular meter close to the cemetery fence. As soon as we opened up for contacting any residual beings with the dowsing rods, the MEL-meter began to go off. There was no one near it within a space of 15 feet, well beyond the range of the device. Simultaneously, all of the dowsing rods on the group began to swing in the direction the meter was, and another member of the group said that he "thought he might have captured some orbs" on camera.  After all that, I made sure that no one temporal or otherwise, followed me home.

The most poignant moment for me had come much earlier on in the tour. I quietly approached one of the guests, as he wasn't looking too well, and needed to sit down when I stopped for a story. He explained to me that he had cancer, and that he was feeling pretty weak. I then told him "I understand completely, my father just finished up a round of chemo. If you don't mind me asking, what type do you have?"

He responded "Liver with mets." This meant it was Stage 4, the same as my father. He continued: "I just had six months of chemo, and it didn't do anything for me. I got an appointment for a scan, and then he'll see what I can do. I might be seeing you all again next year on the other side, haunting you guys."

"Well..." I said after processing exactly what I had said for a moment "I hope to see you next year...but I expect that it will be right about where you are right now, walking on the tour. You are doing absolutely great for what has been going on. Keep fighting, okay?"

To that he smiled and said: "I have a little girl. I'm not giving up yet."

So to that end, I have this: a ghost story I don't want to see happen. Good luck, my new friend. Keep fighting.

Friday, June 20, 2014

The Marvel-Tarantino Connection: Connecting the Universes.

Once upon a 2 a.m. dreary, as I ponder weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious collection of pop culture lore...

As of late, I have been thinking very much about the nature of how interconnected things are in disparate films, like the fact that E.T. and Star Wars exist in the same universe, and how that applies to the creation of a complete storytelling galaxy.

To be fair, there are two major masters of this, one being Marvel, and the other being Quentin Tarantino. Marvel's contribution is, of course, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which references characters and events in:


  1. Iron Man (2008)
  2. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
  3. Iron Man 2 (2010)
  4. Thor (2011)
  5. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
  6. Marvel's The Avengers (2012)
  7. Iron Man 3 (2013)
  8. Thor: The Dark World (2013)
  9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
As well as the upcoming films:
  1. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
  2. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
  3. Ant-Man (2015)
  4. Captain America 3 (2016)
Not to mention the Marvel One-Shots:
  1. The Consultant (Referencing Tony Stark, Abomination, and the Incredible Hulk, as well as the Avengers Initiative, 2011)
  2. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer (Refers to...Thor... That transition could have been better, 2011)
  3. Item 47 (Which deals with the fallout in from the Battle of New York in The Avengers, 2012) 
  4. Agent Carter (Captain America and the founding of S.H.I.E.L.D., 2013)
  5. All Hail the King (Justin Hammer from Iron Man 2 as well as the Mandarin from Iron Man 3, 2014)
And, of course, the television series, both present:
  1. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
And upcoming:
  1. Agent Carter
  2. Daredevil
  3. Luke Cage
  4. Jessica Jones
  5. Iron Fist
  6. The Defenders
Bear in mind, these are just the projects that have been completed or announced within a period of eight years, from 2008 to 2016. Cohesively, these form a universe that has a complete origin story, as well as thousands of years of history. 

Quentin Tarantino's filmography connections are much more simple by comparison, but still very well executed.

For example:
  1. Vincent Vega (Pulp Fiction) and Vic Vega (Mr. Blonde, Reservoir Dogs) are brothers.
  2. Mr. White (Reservoir Dogs) talks about his former partner, Alabama, who appears in True Romance.
  3. Mia Wallace (Pulp Fiction) talks about a show pilot which bears an uncanny resemblance to the plot of Kill Bill.
  4. Lee Donowitz (True Romance) is the son of Donnie Donowitz (Inglorious Basterds.)
  5. Red Apple cigarettes (a fictitious brand) appear throughout Tarantino's work.
Therefore, it is fairly easy to see that both the works of Quentin Tarantino form one universe, fairly well defined, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe is an entirely deeper level of origin myth. That being said, I believe the two universes are connected, and here is my proof:


This is the tombstone shown for Nick Fury in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The epitaph read: "The Path of the Righteous Man..." Ezekiel 25:17. This is conclusive proof that the Bible in both the Pulp Fiction and Marvel Universes is the same, as Ezekiel 25:17 in our world reads:

"I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know I am the LORD, when I take vengeance upon them."

This is differentiated from the Marvel/ Tarantino Bible, as in that text, Ezekiel 25:17 reads:

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."

As you can see, in the opening words "The path of the righteous man" only appear withing the Ezekiel passage from the Marvel/ Tarantino Universe, they simply are not anywhere within the scope or context of what is considered the contemporary Bible.

On its own, this is admittedly rather thin evidence for connecting two cinematic universes, but the dialogue concerning Jules' plans at the end of Pulp Fiction also backs up this theory. Specifically, Jules tells Vincent "First, I'm going to deliver this case to Marcellus, then, basically, I'm just going to walk the Earth." He also tells Ringo soon after "I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd" when he upends his own quoting of Ezekiel 25:17. Furthermore, we already know from the beginning of the film that he uses aliases, as he goes by the name of "Pitt" during Brett's interrogation. 

This then leaves us with a trained assassin, who is comfortable both with casual killing as well as a wide variety of spy trade-craft, including the crafting of alias. He also has what he considers a cosmic debt, and intends to become a force for good, as Jules said he planned to be "like Caine in Kung Fu walk from place to place, meet people, have adventures." My theory is that Jules Winnfield left the diner at the end of Pulp Fiction,  and over the course of fourteen years, and losing an eye in the process, transformed himself into the highly unorthodox head of S.H.I.E.L.D., making his first public appearance in Iron Man as Nick Fury.




Wednesday, June 18, 2014

How to Raise the Forces of Darkness in 3 Easy Steps

Another recent project that I was finally able to complete and get off my workbench due to a convenient day off.

One ceremonial/ ritual skull, used for raising the forces of darkness and binding them to your will. Caution should be used when working with this, as well as other ritual objects. Side effects may include, but are not limited to phenomenal cosmic power, a growing sense of megalomania, nausea, heartburn, and the occasional bleeding from the nose, ears, and eyes. In some extreme cases, demonic possession or awakening of the Old Gods may occur. If this happens, you are beyond all hope and you should pray for a quick and merciful death immediately. Brought to you by the makers of Dr. Frankenstein's Rejuvenating Elixir and other fine products for the discerning occultist.




Monday, May 26, 2014

Preparing to Sail the 7 Seas


The musical A Pirate's Tale is slowly preparing for its premiere, and (at least for me) one of the most important parts of that is making the properties that all of the pirates need. First, on a ship there are many things, and since the show takes place in 1740, all most nothing can be considered contemporary. The second challenge is that there are 14 pirates in the show. Historically, pirates would often carry ALL of their weapons and valuables at the same time, so as to have everything close at hand. For the weapons, that might include the usual cutlass, or perhaps a small-sword. Then things start to become more serious and might regularly include a dagger, or at least a knife, and a variety of pistols. This is due to the fact that at the time, pistols fired one shot, and then had to be reloaded. Pistols also commonly mis-fired, and in the heat of battle became useless. The point to the preceding paragraph is that outfitting a crew of pirates, whether in real life, or in a show is usually an expensive proposition. That is where these two pistols came into play:


As you can tell, they do not look particularly realistic or impressive, and are in fact the least expensive pistols that I could source, having come from the Dollar Tree store. The first issue was to take the guns apart completely, and then fix the triggers and hammers into place. Once that was done, the pistols were reassembled and primed. The next step was to actually paint the pieces, and the fist part of this was to completely paint the guns silver. The grip plates were painted with a very light brown to resemble a hardwood color. Once the initial color fields were laid in, I was able to use gold leaf and dry brushing to bring out the details on the barrel and frame, resulting in this:


These could serve as props, but in order to add that final dose of realism, age needed to be added to the guns, in this case through liberal application of a black wash over the guns to both distress it, and to bring out details. The pieces were then given a coat of gloss sealer in order to protect their paint finishes over the course of the show. And the final product, ready for the stage:


Friday, May 23, 2014

A Pirate's Life for Me...

While going through a trunk that was mysteriously buried about 10 feet down in the backyard, under a suspicious pile of bones, I found this pistol. It appears to be of English make, from about 1730. It was also found with a map that leads to somewhere near what is now Point State Park, but may in fact be tied to some of the early incursions to the area by the British during the construction of Fort Duquesne by the French. 


Just kidding. In reality this is a former squirt gun now turned into a prop for a musical I am working on called A Pirate's Tale which will take place on the Gateway Clipper Fleet. For me, this is a combination of two firsts: my first show involving Pirates, and the first time I have done a show on a boat. 

One of the tasks is to come up with a variety of armaments for a cast of 14 pirates. To that end, I have also learned that pirates carried a lot of weapons with them. As a result, the director, the fight choreographer and myself came up with the solution of cheating with some of the weaponry,  which has resulted in my task to transform inexpensive toys to presentable props. Right now, this pistol is my favorite. I am also very glad that this piece gets featured nicely during the show. That being said, one pistol down, many more to go.




Friday, February 28, 2014

In the Field

Like I said yesterday, I was out in the field today, specifically learning how to install drapery at a hotel in West Virginia.


Tomorrow promises to be another long day. 

As I sat on that fountain, taking a moment to relax, I realized how much the process of "making" is like meditation to me. It lets me focus what might otherwise be a wandering mind. I would type more, but I am utterly exhausted. Tomorrow is a new day.