Things That Have Vanished From the World: #1 Stars in Dark Night Skies

50 years ago, you could look up at the night sky and see stars.

The sky was black. B L A C K

And the stars were bright white.

You could see LOTS of them. Including the Milky Way.

Now, you can only see a sort of amorphous fog with a glint of something that might be a star fighting through the misty mush.

Mass Transporation: Salvation for America

The destruction of mass transportation in the United States throughout the last 50 years of the 2oth Century is undoubtedly a key factor in the decline of that country. Only its restoration and reinvention will bring back desperately needed and healthy cities.

Putting aside the folly of white-flight from the inner city to the suburbs, and noting soberly the contribution of the automobile (and its promise of freedom and mobility) to the creation of suburban sprawl, the loss of light rail (trolleys and trains) and reliable and regularly running interlocking bus systems is central to the isolation of the suburban dweller, to the oil and fuel crises that grip the world, and to the disintegration of community.

Only fifty years ago, neighborhoods across North America contained all the necessary businesses (groceries, hardware, movie theaters, shoe makers, specialty stores) within walking distance. Those that were not quite within walking distance could be reached quickly and easily with light rail systems that ran regularly and between all the adjoining urban areas. Only New York City, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., San Diego, and San Francisco contain vestiges of this functional and benevolent system. Some might classify the NYC system as different from true "light rail," but for these discussion purposes they are interchangeable. Fragments exist elsewhere: Los Angeles, Buffalo, NY, Portland. Wikipedia claims only 20 U.S. cities have significant light rail.

Europe and Asia contain hundreds of such systems. Rail is everywhere, carrying passengers between urban districts and other countries cheaply and swiftly. The automobile is a luxury and, to a great extent, an indulgent inconvenience.

New York City's transportation system offers "carless" transportation to virtually anything within Manhattan and the major boroughs. There are those who take Taxi cabs, but it is a curious luxury, a convenience to the disabled, and often less efficient than subways (though usually faster than buses.) The commerce of Manhattan would fail without the rail systems. Through a combination of walking and riding, visitors and residents can get anywhere they want to in very short periods of time.

Los Angeles, by contrast, has become a 24/7/365 rush hour with wall-to-wall cars carrying single passengers through grueling and time-consuming trips for essentials that could once have been purchased at a corner store or supermarket and that now have to be retrieved from huge food stores that are often 10 miles away. Without a car, people would -- literally -- starve.

It affects culture as well. The city of Buffalo, NY, like many others, was filled with wonderful neighborhood movie theaters. Within a five or ten block radius, residents could take a leisurely walk to one or more single-screen movie houses any time they wanted. That city is now dominated by 14-20 screen multi-plexes that lie four to six miles (or more) from any suburban neighborhood. It's no wonder that film-going has declined nationwide: it's far more convenient to stay home and watch television than to travel those distances for an expensive treat (accompanied by even more ridiculously expensive food). People remain at home -- isolated from large social groupings -- entertaining themselves with home theaters, the internet, video games and other solitary pursuits.

Only churches, sports events, special movies, and occasional rock concerts bring large groups of people together in most smaller cities and suburbs. New Yorkers (for better or worse) are surround by people constantly and shop amongs hundreds of fellow human beings. This is, without a doubt, a contributing factor in the "melting pot" effect of life in large cities. Europeans and Asians experience a similar mixing and crowding daily.

Recent discussions of high-speed rail are extremely promising. New York State is a great candidate for this as is California between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Either of those routes equipped with high-speed trains would eliminate inefficient and often unprofitable short distance plane service. With New York City as a hub, all of the North Eastern United States (and Eastern Canada) would be linked easily with a radial high speed system connecting Washington, Philadelphia, NYC, Boston, Montreal, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Toronto and Chicago and all the points in between. The train ride from Chicago to NYC which now takes about 12 hours would become a 5 hour trip. NYC to Albany would take less than an hour by train. At those lengths, trains become a far more attractive alternative to crowded, uncomfortable planes.

There seems to be no feasible solution for the plague of pollution, fuel shortages, non-existant community cooperation until mass transportation is restored. None.

Rendezview

Rendezview:

To get together to watch a movie (or movies).

Snapple Real Fact #114 Bottle Top

The oldest known animal was a tortoise, which lived to be 152 years old.

USDA Organic Bottle Top Wisdom

"If you are going through hell, keep going."

Winston Churchill

The CCCC Principle

An interesting quotation follows.

" Science reinforces my manager's notion with something called Krause's Hypothesis or the CCCC Principle ("Complete competitors cannot coexist). Howard Ensign Evans in Wasp Farm explains it this way: "The theory behind is that if two species do in fact do everything alike--live in the same place, feed on the same food, and so forth--one of them is bound to do something very slightly better than the other and will, over a period of time, completely eliminate the other."

Here, you'd better open your notebooks, because Mr. Evans goes on with a piece of advice to beleaguered species, and if you're having a little trouble you may wish to note it down: "But if in fact they impinge on their environment just a little differently in some respect, they can coexist indefinitely."

There is a world of useful advice for all of us in that sentence. If, for example, you are a welterweight fighter who is being completely eliminated, you might think about taking on lightweights. If you are an actor who finds too many living in the same place and feeding on the same food, you might try directing or producing or becoming, as one actor did, the governor of California. "

A Studied Madness by Heywood Hale Broun, Second Chance Press, 1979, Pages 266-7

Wikipedia and Me. Some Kind of Affair, but is it Love?

Through the kindness of strangers some fragments of what you might vaguely describe as my life have found their way onto Wikipedia.

This has not been without incident, however, as those wonderful nameless editors seem to constantly pick at the facts based upon their Googling of the vast depths of the internet. Unfortunately, those depths are not as deep as real life, and often they catch no fish because the objects of their desires are buried not in cyberspace, but in books, magazines, archives and personal recollections.

In the wake of an announcement that Wikipedia will begin to fuss with the biographies of living people and since, as near as I can tell, I'm still living, I can only assume that they will want to fuss with me as well. They've done it before and I expect them to do it again.

I'm posting below the current Wikipedia entry for myself with the positive assertion that to the best of my knowledge it represents (albeit in a rather skimpy form) things that really happened in my life. I've been astonished to find that -- having read this -- total strangers have gotten in touch with me because they, too, recall the people, places and events recounted on Wikipedia. One point for them.

This may not be the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, but it is the Edward Summer Seal of Approval. Everything you read below is true as far as it goes. There's much more to it of course and perhaps there is some way for me or someone to fill it in better.

It's all very flattering that it exists and it's posted here with embarrassment in order to affirm its validity.

Feel free not to read it.

Edward Summer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edward Summer has been an award winning painter, motion picture director, screenwriter, internet publisher, magazine editor, journalist and science writer, comic book writer, novelist, book designer, actor, cinematographer, motion picture editor, documentary film maker, film festival founder, and educator.
Among his better known works are the ground-breaking collection of Carl Barks stories Uncle Scrooge McDuck: His Life and Times, the Dinosaur Interplanetary Gazette (one of the pioneering online magazines), the first motion picture based upon Robert E. Howard's character Conan The Barbarian, the novel Teefr, and a prequel The Legend of Teddy Bear Bob.

Contents [hide]
1 Early Work
2 Theater
3 Motion Pictures
4 Comic books
5 Magazines
6 Digital Nitrate Prize
7 Constructive Living
8 Filmography
9 References
10 External links
[edit]Early Work

Born in Buffalo, New York, Summer studied painting at the Albright Art Gallery (now called the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Albright Art School, and with the noted water-color painter Sandra Chessman. He was also acquainted from childhood with another noted water-colorist, Robert Blair.[1]

Charles Summer, his father, was an amateur photographer who owned a then uncommon Exacta single lense reflex camera. The world-famous photographer Milton Rogovin was a family friend and early on exposed him to fine-art photographs.
At fifteen, Summer had a special one-man exhibit of his drawings in a group show at the Buffalo Museum of Science.
[edit]Theater

Studio Theater (now called Studio Arena Theater ), Buffalo, NY. appearance in Many Moons, based on a James Thurber book, choreographed by Michael Bennett. Director: Roberta Sharpe circa 1961.

Worked with Fred Keller and Neal Du Brock as actor and stage manager. Also Joe Krysiak founder of Project Artaud. [2]
[edit]Motion Pictures

Encouraged by experimental film maker Peter Adair, Summer ultimately attended the first year of the New York University School of the Arts (then under the NYU School of Education and called the School of Television, Motion Pictures and Radio). Haig Manoogian, instrumental in starting the career of Martin Scorsese by producing the film "Who's That Knocking at My Door" headed the school and was one of the main instructors.

At NYU, Summer continued painting and studied with, among others, acclaimed photo-realist Audrey Flack. Harry Hurwitz, director of "The Projectionist" was also an instructor and personal friend.

His student film "Item 72-D, The Adventures of Spa and Fon" not only won multiple awards, but was shown worldwide at many film festivals. It was the first film shown at the now famous Film Forum movie theater in New York City when the Film Forum was only a tiny loft space on West 88th Street in Manhattan. Hervé Villechaize, then unknown was one of the stars of "Item 72-D, The Adventures of Spa and Fon" Villechaize went on to fame in The Man with the Golden Gun and as a recurring character in the television show Fantasy Island. A co-writer of the film, John Byrum went on to write and direct numerous other films. Both Manoogian and Scorsese were advisors to the project.

Other early films included: Solstice (1968) - Film Editor High in the Wind Rivers (1970) - Cinematographer, Film Editor Street Scenes 1970 (1970) - Cinematographer, Sound Recording, Film Editor

As a fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts, Summer received a grant to produce a documentary about the history of American Comic Strip and Comic Book art. This unfinished film covered, among other people, Jack Kirby, Milton Caniff, Carl Barks, Chuck Jones, Ray Bradbury, Dick Huemer and Ralph Bakshi.

He worked with CBS Camera Three on a two-part series covering the history of comic books and comic strips.

In 1975, Summer helped his friend Brian De Palma re-do all of the promotional materials for Phantom of the Paradise. As a result, producer Edward R. Pressman approached Summer for other projects. The result was Conan The Barbarian which took nearly seven years to bring to the screen. The original treatment/screenplay was written by Summer with some collaboration by Roy Thomas who had written and edited the Marvel Comic Book series.

2003 Founded The Buffalo International Film Festival.
[edit]Comic books

Gold Key Comics Several science fiction adaptations for Starstream. Born of the Sun. Shaka
Marvel Comics Plot Red Sonja Issue One. Red Sonya and the Unicorn. This story largely defined Red Sonja's personality and "inner nature."
Plot: The Invaders Involving the revival of the Golem to defeat the Axis.
Plot: Conan The Barbarian The Devourer of the Dead Story about origin of Egyptian pyramids.
Editor: Superman the Movie Magazine, DC Comics
Summer was instrumental in beginning the process that resulted in Shuster and Siegel receiving lifetime financial benefits from their creation of Superman.
[edit]Magazines

Founding editor and co-publisher: The Dinosaur Times
Contributing writer: Written By, Time Magazine, New York Times, Circus, Films in Review, The Perfect Vision, The Absolute Sound, Home Theater Magazine, Skeptical Inquirer, Skeptical Briefs, The Monster Times.
[edit]Digital Nitrate Prize

In 2005, Edward Summer founded The Digital Nitrate Prize in order to encourage the research necessary to properly transfer and preserve the worlds motion picture heritage using the developing digital media. Based upon the X Prize, the Digital Nitrate Prize will offer a cash prize for the first individual, group or corporation which is able to exactly duplicate the look of nitrate film (nitrate motion picture film) using digital transfer and digital projection.
[edit]Constructive Living

Edward Summer is a certified instructor of Constructive Living.[3] He studied with David K. Reynolds in Los Angeles, New York, West Virginia and Tennessee.
[edit]Filmography

1968 - Solstice - Producer, Editor
1968 - DeFeet - Producer, Director, Cinematographer
1970 - Item 72-D: The Adventures of Spa and Fon - Producer, Director
1970 - Street Scenes, 1970 - Director/Cameraman, Editor
1970 - High in the Wind Rivers - Director/Cameraman
1982 - Conan the Barbarian - Associate Producer
1989 - Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland - Screenplay
2005 - Silent Music - Producer, Director (In Production)
2005 - The Magic of Magic - Producer, Director (In Production)
2006 - Clicker Clatter - Producer
2007 - Sirens - Producer (In Production)
2007 - Calvin of Oakknoll - Executive Producer, Consulting Director (In Production)
[edit]References

^ Conan The Phenomenon by Paul Sammon, Dark Horse Books, 2007.
^ Interview with Edward Summer http://artaudsf.org/Archives/EdSummer.html.
^ A Handbook For Constructive Living by David Reynolds.Morrow, 1995, page 266.
Partial Comics Bibliography
[edit]External links

Edward Summer at the Internet Movie Database
The Dinosaur Interplanetary Gazette
The Buffalo International Film Festival
Summer Stuff Blog
The Digital Nitrate Prize Website
Article: Richard Williams: The Animator Who Never Gave Up
Library of Congress: Orphan Works Legislation Advocacy
Articles in New York Daily News
ZoomInfo Profile
References
Categories: Living people | American comics writers | American screenwriters | American film directors | American film producers | American film editors | American magazine editors | American online publication editors | Writers from New York | People from Buffalo, New York

Life as a Catalyst

It occurs to me far too often how little I've managed to accomplish over decades of eating, breathing and sleeping.

And yet, an awful lot of interesting things have gone on around me.

I'd like to think that some of them would not have happened if I hadn't been in that spot at that particular moment.

There's some consolation in it.

Not easy to prove, of course, but I can make a case for it....

Summer Stuff: If It's Not in Google, Does It Really Exist?

Summer Stuff: If It's Not in Google, Does It Really Exist?: "http://www.answers.com/topic/digital-nitrate-prize"

The Eternal Baby

Human children exert an uncontrollable charm upon other human beings, especially their parents and other vulnerable adults.

It's been said that it's a good thing that kids are so cute, because otherwise we'd all want to strangle them in their less than charming attempts to learn about the world.

Kids, however, grow up. In the process, they lose that special baby beauty.

Nature, however, has connived to keep replacing toddlers with other younger and upcoming toddlers.

It's a kind of replaceable part with planned obsolescence.

Baby born.
Baby cute
Baby grows up
Baby no longer cute.
New baby born.
New baby cute..

and on and on until our species wears itself out.

The new replacements are eternally beautiful. They're nameless as they are wheeled past in a perambulator, carried by in some sort of baby sling, and just wobble along the sidewalk in search of novelty.

It's that child with no label that we all love. Just the mystery of where they come from, where they go, and why they are so incredibly appealing and beautiful.

Transformers 2

Any eleven year old boy who loves explosions should already have pitched a tent in the closest theater showing Transformers 2.

In the first two hours of this pyrotechnic epic, more things are blown up than have been immolated in the past century of motion picture history. It is almost inconceivable that this much dynamite could possibly exist to begin with.

And just when you think that no building or military vehicle or villain is still standing and operational, the filmmakers find dozens more things to blow up!

Creativity like this must be acknowledged. Our hat is (blown) off to them! Alfred Nobel would be proud, and, indeed, perhaps it is time for the Nobel Committee to recognize quantity of explosions as a new category of world accomplishment.

Summer Stuff: The Coming Golden Age of Stereoscopic 3D Movies: A Revolution, or "Oh Grandpa, I don't want to see those dumb "flat" movies!"

Summer Stuff: The Coming Golden Age of Stereoscopic 3D Movies: A Revolution, or "Oh Grandpa, I don't want to see those dumb "flat" movies!"Publish Post

Womb Graduates

One morning I woke up and actually remembered something I had dreamt.

It was the phrase "womb graduate."

Seems like a useful concept to me (unlike most dumb things I remember when I wake up).

Most people view "birth" as "the beginning." But it 'taint so.

After all, we spend about 9 months in a womb, swimming and churning and listening to inner body sounds. It is like a little in vitro nursery school. So, when we get born, it's like graduating from Pre-School to Kindergarten.

Womb is stage one. Getting born is stage two.

So, too, there are "egg graduates" including chickens and eagles. Baby amoeboe are 'fission' graduates, aren't they?

We ought to get diplomas for "womb graduation" instead of a slap on the ass.

Why do MacIntosh Owners Feel Obligated to Convert You

MacIntosh Computers are just fine.

I don' t own one, but I've used them and -- except for the fact that most of them still have a one-button mouse which is kind of like riding on a unicycle instead of a two-wheeler -- they work just the way they are supposed to, and I can get stuff done.

What I want to know is why people who own them are endlessly and incessently telling everyone who doesn't own one how wonderful they are? Or posit Mac vs (whatever other kind of computer)?

It's kind of like Episcopalians telling Presbyterians what's wrong with them.  Or trying to figure out if Hulk can beat Superman (or Spiderman take Batman) (Or Wonder Woman whup Red Sonja).

Which afternoon was it that owning a particular computer became an article of faith, a mode of getting into heaven or acheiving salvation and not a tool for getting letters written or drawing pictures?

I don't get this kind of conversation about Nokia cellphones: only about Iphones.  I've had IPhone users shove them in my face and show how cool the little video games it plays are. Well, they're right: they are cool.

But.

They don't help me to make phone calls. They don't make the other person's voice clearer. They don't do the things that I expect a telephone to do. They're not cute and cuddly like puppies or kittens either.

Now kittens. They purr! Puppies chase balls and wag their tails when they see you.

I haven't seen a MacIntosh Computer do that yet.

Oh crud. Now someone will invent a purring Mac and tell me what I'm missing out on by not buying one.

It will remind me with a cute voice or a text message every five minutes: "Vibrations sent by I-Purr."

Maybe I shouldn't have written this.

Just ignore the man behind the curtain.

No Snowmen

It's been snowing off and on for weeks in Western New York State.

I've been walking and driving all over the area and so far, I haven't seen a single snowman!

Given that there don't seem to be kids outdoors anymore, this is not completely surprising.

But it's something like Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.  

Life is vanishing outdoors.

The less people venture out into the winter, the colder the cold seems to be. It's like the reverse of air conditioning: The more refrigerated you are in July, the hotter and more unbearable the sun seems to be.

There are no snow forts either. Or snow balls.

Something is seriously missing. The world is a colder place.

Snow but no Kids

It has been snowing this winter. More than usual. But I noticed something missing. Kids.

There were no kids outside playing. None.

I'm pretty sure that all the children in this neighborhood didn't go away on vacation for three weeks over Christmas. No, I think they were home.  And indoors. Watching TV. Playing video games.

What happened to sleds and skis and cross-country skis and snow boards and snowballs and snowmen and snowforts and snowcones and skating and... ?

I guess it's warmer to ski using your WIIIIIII.

Just this evening, I noticed that Harbin China holds an ice festival. Apparently they've been doing it for 25 years. It's cold there. I mean C O L D. 19 below zero? (Don't know if that's C or F, but either way, it's cold.) 

There, they build huge ice scultures that are all lit up. And they have fireworks displays (in the cold), and there are LOTS of kids and other people running all over the place oooohing and aaaahing at the amazing ice sculptures. In fact, there are more than 800,000 of them enjoying themselves in the freezing weather. Not sure if anyone dies there of exposure, but given the warm snow suits that kids were wearing, I don't think so.

Have American Mommies given up on putting their kids into snow suits? Putting on the mittens and wrapping scarves so tightly around their kid's head that she can't breathe? I guess it's easier to park them in front of a Nintendo.

The good part was that when I took a walk in the snow, there was no one else around. There were no footprints, no tire tracks, just several blocks of nice white, clean smooth snow with my breath frosting in the air.

But I miss the kids screaming and laughing.

Maybe they'll come back next time it snows. Or maybe I'll have to go to Harbin, China to see children outside in cold weather.