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Cinerama: Winning the West
How The West Was Won couldn’t be made today in its original form, either technically or creatively. That’s a shame. It’s not like America was in a state of perfect harmony in 1962, but we were a proud, confident nation back then. With breathtaking Cinerama photography, audiences saw primordial America as a natural paradise. Small bands of native tribesmen and white traders were a modest burden on that land. As the timeline progresses (roughly 1835-’85) there’s awe for the thrilling struggles and physical achievements of the settlers and our young nation. Yet there’s also a sad nobility about the defeat of the native American that’s not sugary, not faked; it came from the heart of a nation that was mature enough to understand both sides of history’s truth.
That both-sides attitude would be almost inconceivable in today’s culture. This was 1962, so to be sure, it was slightly liberal for its day. Hollywood was going through one of its periodic (justified) fits of conscience about being “fair to the Indians”. By today’s standards, this epic falls far, far short of that standard. But by the standards of its time, it depicts the inevitable, tragic parts of the conquest of the American west in terms that seemed fair for ‘62, a step forward for Hollywood’s standards of historical honesty.




I spent my first year after high school at a local community college where I took a drama class. I didn’t audition for the first fall production,
An instructor at the school directed the play and cast himself in the plum role of Malvolio. I’m pretty sure that was the entire reason the play was chosen that season. I was cast as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, the greatest fool in a play full of fools. In the last century, Alec Guinness, Christopher Plummer, and Paul Scofield, all played the role on stage, and Richard E. Grant in a film adaptation. I, um, wasn’t as good as those gentlemen. I may have done as poorly in the part as anyone who has ever attempted the role.
Melanie Mooney is an EMT in rural Indiana when she comes across an unusual accident scene while going home after a shift. Thinking it a downed experimental military jet, and being who she is, she renders aid to those inside. They prove to be space aliens straight out of a supermarket tabloid.



Patrick Bet-David did an interesting podcast recently with Neil Howe (see video at end of this post). Lots of interesting stuff here, but one part really caught my attention. Bet-David described a concept from a book by Lawrence Miller which went something like this: Every company/corporation goes through a similar life cycle. You have a founder, with a great idea. A sort of prophet, who inspires others to follow his lead. And this leads to a predictable chain of events:


