Veterans Day – An Interview with a Vietnam Green Beret

Green Beret David Christian was unquestionably a war hero in the Vietnam war and as he says, fought valiantly on behalf of the USA. My team and I conducted more than 200 interviews in 1989 from people who had lived through the 1960s and had strong feelings about what they had witnessed and lived through, not only during the war, but in the 1950s growing up and in the time since that war has ended. David Christian was wounded 7 times receiving 7 purple hearts as well as the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism. When he returned from the war, he worked as he does today, to help Vietnam veterans. Bill Ehrhardt, who presents his story in my very popular video clip, “Magnificent Storyteller Soldier” shared his personal experience. Many of my subscribers have reacted to it. I feel that David Christian is an equally powerful storyteller whose war perceptions and experiences were quite different. In this video he reflects on his early upbringing in the 1950s, his Catholicism, his powerful relationship with his mother, his experiences with college protesters in the antiwar movement, his return to America and his battles to help his fellow veterans deal with PTSD, job opportunities and other issues that they have confronted. His story evolves during the interview as he expresses more and more deeply, how he felt and what he saw and how he dealt with it. – Filmmaker David Hoffman

Update: David Christian’s Distinguished Service Cross citation is here.
[h/t Dan Patterson.]

Stuff I Do When I’m Bored

All previously posted elsewhere. Bottom image: Inverted color version of storm clouds photographed by Sol R. Land who is living somewhere in the bush with his dog.

2022 & 2021 Grumpkins

The missus butchered this year’s Grumpkin in record time, and not a single tricker treater showed up last night. On the plus side, we have about month’s worth of Reese’s and I know where they’re hidden.

For some reason, our last year’s Grumpkin butchery was never posted, so here it is:

Previous years’ Strutts  Grumpkins here.

¡Feliz Día de Los Muertos!


Pillco Canto Ritual (Bolivia), Los Folkloristas (2014)

[Source images here and here. More in the Día de Los Muertos Archive.]

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Boogie Family Paper Doll Printable Victorian Goolies.

Nictitating Hot Links

Jungle, The Nite Cats (1962) No information about this group, but the song is suitable for Halloween ambient neighborhood music. The Nite Cats recorded this wonder on the CPM (Consolidated Music Publishing) Records label, and it appears in several “jungle rock” compilations. The flip side of the 45rpm is Skip School Flu.

A Prayer.

踊ってみた

Dog gets it.

Reeperbahn.

Biddy Boys 1972.

Do the monster mask.
[h/t Mme. Jujujive]

Funeral greeting cards.

Halloween Safety (1977).

Someone ran over a bird.

Throat singer on the intercom.

A day in the life of a Twitter employee” is NOT a parody.
[h/t Bunkerville]

[Top image: No idea what that’s all about but I like it. Might be a still shot from a Netflix series that I haven’t watched. Found here. h/t Charlene.]


From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago.

Saturday Matinee Halloween Edition – Rebooted, David Lynch, Tom Waits & Alabama Black Snakes

“It’s not easy for a movie-star to age – especially when you’re a stop motion animated skeleton monster. Phil, once a terrifying villain of the silver-screen, struggles to find work in modern Hollywood due to being an out-of-date special effect.”

Article with “the making of” video here.

David Lynch does the creepo.

Who needs Halloween music when you got Tom Waits.  Little kids wouldn’t come near our house once they got within earshot of Bone Machine.

Alabama Black Snakes fit in with the theme.

Gonna be some pumpkin sacrificin’ around here, even if Halloween comes on a Monday this year. Have a good one, see you tomorrow.

The .Gif Friday Post No. 754 – Eyebollard, Nightcat Zoetrope, Driving Mr. Boney & A Rorshach Crow

[Found here, here, here and here.]

Vintage Creepo

[All found in here.]

 

Goons and Goblins

He lives here.

Pix2Pix is a simple fun A.I. to mess around with. Fairly intuitive, it creates grotesque images via a basic mouse- or pen-controlled paintbrush, with options for faces, scenes, facades, cats and shoes. Some examples:

One drawback: There’s no “undo” function, so either stop while you’re ahead or you get to start over. Be sure to screen cap your work if you want to save it.