Archives for 2013

If you’ve spent more than one minute in public or watching TV in the last year you have probably noticed that racism, thought to be on the wane in years past, has been making a roaring come back. Or, to be more accurate, it is not going quietly into the good night. As the racial makeup of America skews darker each year there are those who cling painfully to a past that never was. And if their vitriolic screed injures another that is a price they seem far too willing to pay. Yet, as odd as this sounds, I find this whole thing slightly heartening. You see, these losers and xenophobes are no longer lurking in the shadows where they could do real harm and have for centuries. Instead they are out in the open and we can easily spy them. We know not to breed with, or encourage, them in any way. Also, now, when they do do something hateful or harmful society is more likely to hold them accountable. Slowly but surely humanity is bending towards justice for all. Not as some hoary phrase but as something being put into actual practice. But, boy oh boy, do we have a long way to go.

Pre-Christmas, 2011, I wrote an article about racist holiday traditions. Because nothing says “Happy Birthday Jesus!” (a dude born in the middle east) like belittling someone of a different race. Well, now, no longer satisfied to be a Dutch holiday tradition, the adherents to Sinterklaas have set up a Facebook page to celebrate wearing black face with giant red lips and try and make it a global tradition.

A Dutch Facebook page seeking to preserve the country’s fall “Sinterklaas” festival exactly as it is — including clowns in blackface makeup known as “Black Petes” — has received nearly a million ‘likes’ just 24 hours after it was created.

The swift growth of the ‘Pete-ition” page reflects the depth of emotional attachment most Dutch people feel to the tradition, and their annoyance at outsiders who judge it without understanding it.

On Tuesday a U.N. expert condemned the tradition as racist.

In the festival, St. Nicholas arrives in mid-November accompanied by a horde of helpers — the Black Petes, who also have red lips and curly hair. Opponents say they are an offensive caricature of black people; supporters say Pete is a figure of fun whose appearance is harmless.

Ahem. The “Black Petes” are based on the Dutch tradition of having Moorish (a/k/a black) servants to jolly old St. Nick hand out gifts at Christmas time. Since the Dutch East Indian Trading Company not only shipped tea, they also shipped slaves, you can guess where those Moorish servants came from and how they got their meager jobs. They are universally portrayed as not very bright. So you have white people wearing black face and pretending to be stupid. Yeah, I can’t imagine why anyone is offended.

Now, let’s look at this next photo.

That is from an African themed party in Australia. It was hosted by a young lady who wants to teach English in Africa. You have to read the rest to believe it.

As Halloween approaches it was only a matter of time before racially insensitive photos hit the web of people dressed up in blackface. This time, however, it’s connected with a young woman’s 21st birthday party rather than a Halloween themed gathering. Buzzfeed brought the offensive photos to our attention.

The Tumblr user “BlackInAsia” was alerted to the photos through one of his followers and shared them with this context:

Attendees were all asked to wear “African themed” clothing to depict the continent and this is what resulted… blackface, elephant and gorilla costumes, warpaint, native American headdresses (?!) and more…. I’m at a loss for words.And yes, this is from 2013.

The girl posted the pictures proudly and flatly refused to take them down when confronted by another individual about how they were racist apparently. Pictures were reported to facebook weeks ago and they still have not been taken down.

Wow.

In case you ever wanted to know how white folks saw us black Africans… here you go.

The girl, known as Olivia Mahon, lives in Australia and wants to teach English in Africa one day. Shortly after the photos were shared on Tumblr, she posted an explanation for the photos (where she also refers to Africa as a country).

“In fact as you can tell from the photos I dressed up as cleopatra, whilst MAJORITY of my guests came as animals, that can be found in africa or wore traditional african clothes or even dressed up as famous people who come from africa. If anything this was to celebrate the amazing country and people. “

You can read her full clarification on BlackinAsia’s Tumblr page.

The birthday girl planned the party using a Pinterest pinboard, where she pinned photos with captions like, “Though now in Africa you also have people who live in modern day houses like us. The woman tend to dress more traditionally and the children play outside and go to school.” She also highlights “beautiful” African woman, safari-themed cupcakes and inspiration for her Cleopatra outfit.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this. In recent history, there was the “African Queen” editorial in Numero Magazine, with a white model in blackface; University of California-Irvine produced a video featuring a member in blackface, and two students from Beta Theta Pi fraternity at the University of Florida attended a party donning blackface last year.

Two students from Northwestern University made headlines in 2010 for attending parties in blackface. A similar situation happened at Lehigh University. The “Compton Cookout” hosted by members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at University of California-San Diego is another incident that sparked outrage.

And this latest party making headlines is yet another example of what not to do when hosting a party.

Just in case you were asleep that year they busted out the world map, Africa is a continent, not a country. I would have thought that a college student might know that little fact, but it appears I was wrong.

Also, just FYI, they have cars and indoor plumbing in Africa too.

Closer to home we have the fun story of Trayon Christian, a black man who bought a belt.

A college student from Queens got more than he bargained for when he splurged on a $350 designer belt at Barneys — when a clerk had him cuffed apparently thinking the black teen couldn’t afford the pricey purchase, even though he had paid for it, a new lawsuit alleges.

“His only crime was being a young black man,” his attorney, Michael Palillo, told The Post.

Trayon Christian, 19, a NYC College of Technology freshman from Corona, went to the Madison Avenue fashion mecca in April to buy the Salvatore Ferragamo belt after saving up his paychecks from a part-time job at the college.

But as soon as he exited the luxury department store, undercover officers grabbed Christian and asked “how a young black man such as himself could afford to purchase such an expensive belt,” according to the suit, filed Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

A Barneys clerk, who had asked Christian for identification when he bought the belt, called police claiming the purchase was a fraud, the suit says.

Plainclothes detectives hauled Christian off Fifth Avenue and into the local precinct.

There, Christian produced his identification, his debit card from Chase and the receipt with his name on it, the suit states.

“In spite of producing such documentation, Christian was told that his identification was false and that he could not afford to make such an expensive purchase.”

A belt similar to this one was purchased by Trayon Christian at Barneys.

Cops eventually called Chase, which verified that the card belonged to Christian, and they let him go.

Police sources said Christian has no arrest record.

Christian told The Post he returned the belt out of disgust over his treatment by the world-famous clothing store.

“I didn’t want to have anything to do with it,” he said, adding that he was first inspired to buy the accessory by Harlem rapper Juelz Santana who wears the Italian designer’s duds.
Christian said he’ll never shop at Barneys again.

He is suing both Barneys and the NYPD for unspecified damages.

Barneys did not immediately comment.

A spokeswoman for the city’s Law Department said she would review the claims once she received the suit.

So now we can add “Shopping While Black” to the list of actionable offenses. While this is appalling as is, I almost cried when I heard someone I know say “Well, how were they supposed to know that black kid had a job?”

Did I mention we have a long way yo go? Yes, I believe I did.

In the meantime we have this gem. It seems that young lady was fired from Hooters for not being black enough.

When will the foolishness and hoopla around black people’s hair stop? Over the past year we’ve had to hear about a little girl being kicked out of school for wearing locs, an Ohio school banning a list of natural hairstyles and let’s not forget meteorologistRhonda Lee who was fired for defending her right to rock her natural hair on TV.

Now comes news out of Baltimore that a black woman has allegedly been fired from her job because of her blonde highlights.

Farryn Johnson told Maryland’s CBS News affiliate that she was let go from her job as a waitress at Hooters due to ‘”improper image” after the 25-year-old refused to remove blonde highlights from her dark brown hair.

“They specifically said, ‘Black women don’t have blonde in their hair, so you need to take it out,'” Johnson told CBS.

“I didn’t see that it would be a big issue just because there were a lot of other employees working at the restaurant of other races with color in their hair. For instance, there were Asian girls with red hair and Caucasian girls with black hair and blond streaks so I didn’t think it would be an issue for the little piece of blond highlight in my hair.”

Johnson has reportedly filed a racial discrimination complaint with the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights.

“The law is clear that employers can’t have two separate unequal sets of rules—one for African-Americans employees and one for everybody else, and yet that’s exactly what Hooters did here in firing Miss Johnson, an African-American employee solely because she’s African-American. They targeted her because of her hair solely because of her race,” Johnson’s attorney, Jessica Weber, told CBS.

Hooters has declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

I work in the burbs. As such there are Hooters everywhere. I went to one recently, just for the wings you understand, and our waitress was a pale young lady with neon pink hair. I am pretty sure, as a fan of genetics, that was not her natural color. Simply put I doubt that the curtains match the carpet, if you catch my drift.

Speaking of the suburbs, a recent study took a look at how black youths assimilate into predominantly white culture. The results aren’t all that surprising, but they are kind of sad.

Many studies have focused on young African-American boys and their experience in school. From gender biases in teacher grading that start as early as elementary school to blaring disparities in disciplinary practices, black male youth seem to be at a perpetual disadvantage in academic environments.

However, two studies that examined programs aiming to increase diversity by bussing minority students to primarily white schools revealed an area where black boys reportedly engaged with relative ease. According to an article published last year by Megan H. Holland, a professor at the University of Buffalo, minority boys reportedly have an easier time fitting in with their white peers at suburban schools because of stereotypes about their athleticism or “coolness” that give them greater access to activities that increase positive interactions with white students, like sports and social clubs.

On the contrary, another study conducted by Simone Ispa-Landa at Northwestern University found that black girls were comparatively seen as “ghetto” or “loud” when they exhibited behavior that was usually socially rewarding for their black male counterparts.

Ispa-Landa’s study showed that “as a group, the boys were welcomed in suburban social cliques, even as they were constrained to enacting race and gender in narrow ways.” However, these urban signifiers resulted in the opposite result for black girls, who were seen as “aggressive” and undesirable, with neither the white nor the black boys showing any interest in dating minority girls. In short, playing out racial stereotypes worked in black boys’ favor, while doing the same was detrimental for black females.

Excluding Oprah, Mrs. Cosby, Mrs. Obama & Whoopi, can you name a positive black female image in popular media? They are few and far between. The fact that I had to put Whoopi on that list shows you how thin the pickings are.

Well, I did say we had a long way to go. But, at least, we’ve begun the journey.

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We are humans. As such we have senses and social histories that color our world view. No matter how hard anyone tries to be impartial it’s just not truly possible. Unless you’re a fictional TV character or a robot. And even then I’m not so sure since both are created by fallible folks like you and me. Yesterday I wrote a brief update on an article I’d done a while back about Atlantis and then I went into the research on Yetis, which took an odd turn towards reality. Several people wrote to me that the scientists in both cases were wrong since their research did not support the known facts. Actually, in both cases that is patently untrue. It’s just that the research does not support the many myths surrounding each. Which brings us back to perceptions. Some of the best scientists I know admit their biases and make sure to note them so when their work is peer reviewed they can be accounted for. Well, they do that to the best of their abilities. Still, science muddles on and gets enough right to keep me interested.

Well two stories popped up today to truly drive home my point. First we’ll join Tia Ghose on a trip 2,600 years back in time to see sexism first hand.

Last month, archaeologists announced a stunning find: a completely sealed tomb cut into the rock in Tuscany, Italy.

The untouched tomb held what looked like the body of an Etruscan prince holding a spear, along with the ashes of his wife. Several news outlets reported on the discovery of the 2,600-year-old warrior prince.

But the grave held one more surprise.

A bone analysis has revealed the warrior prince was actually a princess, as Judith Weingarten, an alumna of the British School at Athens noted on her blog, Zenobia: Empress of the East.

Etruscan tomb

Historians know relatively little about the Etruscan culture that flourished in what is now Italy until its absorption into the Roman civilization around 400 B.C. Unlike their better-known counterparts, the ancient Greeks and the Romans, the Etruscans left no historical documents, so their graves provide a unique insight into their culture.

The new tomb, unsealed by archaeologists in Tuscany, was found in the Etruscan necropolis of Tarquinia, a UNESCO World Heritage site where more than 6,000 graves have been cut into the rock.

“The underground chamber dates back to the beginning of the sixth century B.C. Inside, there are two funerary beds carved into the rock,” Alessandro Mandolesi, the University of Turin archaeologist who excavated the site, wrote in an email.

When the team removed the sealed slab blocking the tomb, they saw two large platforms. On one platform lay a skeleton bearing a lance. On another lay a partially incinerated skeleton. The team also found several pieces of jewelry and a bronze-plated box, which may have belonged to a woman, according to the researchers.

“On the inner wall, still hanging from a nail, was an aryballos [a type of flask] oil-painted in the Greek-Corinthian style,” Mandolesi said.

Initially, the lance suggested the skeleton on the biggest platform was a male warrior, possibly an Etruscan prince. The jewelry likely belonged to the second body, the warrior prince’s wife.

But bone analysis revealed the prince holding the lance was actually a 35- to 40-year-old woman, whereas the second skeleton belonged to a man.

Given that, what do archaeologists make of the spear?

“The spear, most likely, was placed as a symbol of union between the two deceased,” Mandolesi told Viterbo News 24 on Sept. 26.

Weingarten doesn’t believe the symbol of unity explanation. Instead, she thinks the spear shows the woman’s high status.

Their explanation is “highly unlikely,” Weingarten told LiveScience. “She was buried with it next to her, not him.”

Gendered assumptions

The mix-up highlights just how easily both modern and old biases can color the interpretation of ancient graves.

In this instance, the lifestyles of the ancient Greeks and Romans may have skewed the view of the tomb. Whereas Greek women were cloistered away, Etruscan women, according to Greek historian Theopompus, were more carefree, working out, lounging nude, drinking freely, consorting with many men and raising children who did not know their fathers’ identities.

Instead of using objects found in a grave to interpret the sites, archaeologists should first rely on bone analysis or other sophisticated techniques before rushing to conclusions, Weingarten said.

“Until very recently, and sadly still in some countries, sex determination is based on grave goods. And that, in turn, is based almost entirely on our preconceptions. A clear illustration is jewelry: We associate jewelry with women, but that is nonsense in much of the ancient world,” Weingarten said. “Guys liked bling, too.”

She is 100% right. Ancient Egyptian males, several African tribes, ancient Chinese and many others had males who wore as much, if not more, jewelry than their female counterparts. Furthermore, history is jam packed with examples of female warriors and leaders. To use modern sexual mores is not a good idea.

Actually, it never was and never will be.

But, as you can clearly see, even the best minds can succumb to social prejudices.

Another form of perception is wishful thinking. Cadell Last asks an interesting question; if the theory is that an advanced civilization would actually use a star as a fuel source, not just solar panels but actually tap into it, and that such fuel sources would show erratic orbits, can you imagine being the guy who looked at the data and asked “Hey, guys, is that what I think it is?”

Cadell talks to that guy.

Philosophy and the physical sciences have a long and interesting past spanning the entirety of human history. Philosophers have played the role of logically deducing the existence of certain physical phenomena that were untestable. Physical scientists have then either empirically confirmed or refuted the philosophical speculation proposed when the necessary technology and/or method were developed.

Sometimes the philosophical speculations failed to describe the nature of reality, like the Ancient Greek proposition that the heavens were composed of a fifth element: aether. However, on several occasions, the philosophical speculations turned out to be quite exact. For example, in the 4th century B.C.E. philosopher Democritus deduced that the universe was composed of indivisible units of matter known as “atoms.” This belief wassubstantiated over 2,000 years later by the theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (you may have heard of him).

A similarly impressive academic partnership manifested when the Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno read the On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres by astronomer Nicholas Copernicus. Bruno found Copernicus’s heliocentric model of the solar system ground breaking (which it was), and logically deduced that all stars in the night sky were fundamentally similar to our own Sun, and that they had worlds gravitationally bound to them. He famously stated that:

This space we declare to be infinite, since neither reason, convenience, possibility, sense-perception nor nature assign to it a limit. In it are an infinity of worlds of the same kind as our own.

Of course, we now know that Bruno was more or less right. Most stars seem to exist as systems with at least one exoplanet.

In the modern world some believe that this ancient relationship between philosophy and the physical sciences is dead, or dying, or functionally redundant. But I most certainly disagree. Last week I had a chance to meet with philosopher (and systems theorist)Clément Vidal (@clemvidal). Vidal has pointed out that there are certain binary star systems that astrophysicists have had difficulty explaining with conventional astrophysical models. These binaries are semi-detatched stars that exhibit an energy flow that is irregular, but not out of control. Vidal argues that instead of an astrophysical model, we need an astrobiological model to describe these strange systems.

In essence Vidal is claiming that these systems are not typical binary stars, but rather civilizations that have advanced well passed a Type 1 civilization on the Kardashev scale and are now actively feeding on their parent star. He calls these hypothetical civilizations starivores. And if he is right… then there are approximately 2,000 known starivores in our galaxy alone.

Surely this idea is worthy of scientific attention and empirical testing. Democritus’s speculation was tested after the introduction of the special theory of relativity. Bruno’s speculation was tested as our telescope technology improved. Is there any theoretical model or technology we could use today that could validate or refute Vidal’s speculation?

Perhaps, the necessary test is related to understanding the nature of the binary systems “metabolism.” Metabolism is one of the fundamental and necessary conditions for complex living systems because it allows them to draw and sustain order from the surrounding non-living chaos. So if these binary systems are actually intelligent civilizations feeding on their parent star then we should expect a degree of energy flow control that cannot be described by the laws of physics alone.

This idea may come as a shock. Over the past 50 years scientists have been disappointed by data indicating that we are alone in the Milky Way. Physicists like Max Tegmark have even gone so far as to suggest that we are  the first intelligent civilization to arise in the entire universe. And he might be right… but he might be very wrong as well.

Major breakthroughs in the sciences can come from ideas that at first seem bizarre… even impossible. But the universe has also proved to be stranger than we ever imagined. In my opinion Clément Vidal has called our attention to an interesting phenomenon that our current theories cannot describe fully. I strongly suggest reading his Ph.D. thesis discussing the possibility of starivores (Chapter 9 — PDF here). And if you are a researcher interested in putting his speculation to the test, the Evo Devo Universe community has just announced the creation of the High Energy Astrobiology Prize. The community is interested in receiving a research study that can either positively or negatively test the starivore hypothesis.

I’m interested to see what we discover!

I sincerely doubt we are alone in the universe. Heck, I doubt if we’re alone in our galaxy. There are just too many opportunities for life to develop.

Or, to be more blunt, do you really want to live in a universe where I’m the most evolved being you know?

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Bert and Ernie conduct themselves in the same loving, discreet way that millions of gay men, women and hand puppets do. They do their jobs well and live a splendidly settled life together in an impeccably decorated cabinet.
– The Real Thing by Kurt Andersen, 1980

Bert and Ernie are two grown men sharing a house and a bedroom. They share clothes, eat and cook together and have blatantly effeminate characteristics. In one show Bert teaches Ernie how to sew. In another they tend plants together. If this isn’t meant to represent a homosexual union, I can’t imagine what it’s supposed to represent.
– Reverend Joseph Chambers on his radio show, 1994

Yes, there really is a Muppet Wiki site and, yes, this is on it. To be fair I should note that the makers of Sesame Street have continually denied that Bert and Ernie are meant to portray gay men. It sounds to me like someone’s in de-ni-al.

That being said, it seems that America’s beloved poofs aren’t the only gay puppets in the world. The Israeli government has long used two, Sheka & Teka (Plug & Socket in English) to promote clean energy. Tia Goldenberg, at ABC, notes that now that the puppets have adopted an unnamed child they have spawned a debate on gay rights that no one saw coming.

Before you make you kosher jokes you should give this a a read.

The goal was merely to promote clean energy in Israel — but television ads starring a pair of male puppets called “plug” and “socket” have instead unleashed a debate about gay pride.

The puppets, named Sheka and Teka in Hebrew, have appeared in ads for the state-owned Israel Electric Corp. for more than a decade. Israelis have long playfully questioned whether they might be gay. But the arrival of a baby puppet in the new campaign set off fresh speculation about their sexual orientation.

The ads highlight a striking paradox of the Holy Land: Although religion holds great sway and there is no civil marriage, gays have gained a widespread acceptance that is increasingly noted around the world. Gay activists demand the ad characters, who have a close but ambiguous relationship, officially come out of the closet.

Some gay rights advocates accuse the company of being intentionally ambiguous about their sexuality in a cynical publicity ploy.

“This should weigh on the conscience of everyone who worked on this campaign, who will come home and ask themselves whether they would want to raise a child in a country where the electric company says: ‘Hide, don’t be proud,'” wrote Dvir Bar in nightlife magazine City Mouse.

Sheka and Teka have drawn comparisons with another famous puppet pair: Bert and Ernie, whose sexuality also has come into question in pop culture. Sesame Workshop, which produces “Sesame Street,” has declared that the two are just good friends and they “remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.”

In their latest ad, Sheka and Teka are seen in a living room, talking to a pinkish baby puppet with a tuft of orange hair. The scene then flashes back to a hospital nursery, where the baby is sucking on a pacifier and Teka congratulates Sheka on the birth of his child. It’s unclear who the mother is.

Later in the ad, the duo sits on a park bench with the child. They breathe in the fresh air the electricity company suggests is made possible by cleaner energy production. Teka sniffs and suggests that the baby needs a diaper change.

Other ads have seen the two on a shaded paddle boat in the Dead Sea, driving a red convertible in crisp black suits and sunglasses, and lounging on the couch in their pajamas. They have also been seen sharing a room with single beds. Many of the ads are public service announcements, warning children about the dangers of climbing electricity towers or getting too close to space heaters.

The Israel Electric Corp. says it does not understand the fuss over the campaign. It says the puppets, who have been on the air since 2002, are merely delivering the company’s messages.

“They represent the concerned Israeli, who is really worried about the air quality he is breathing and the environment he lives in. The baby that was born now represents the next generation,” said Oren Helman, a senior vice president who is behind the commercial. “There are no hints or ambiguities here.”

Although sections of Israeli society — especially ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arabs — remain conservative and often deeply opposed to homosexuality, Israel is seen as one of the world’s most progressive countries in terms of gay rights.

Gays serve openly in Israel’s military and parliament, and the Supreme Court has granted gays a variety of family rights such as inheritance and survivors’ benefits. Gays, lesbians and even a transsexual are among the country’s most popular musicians and actors.

Officially, there is no gay marriage in Israel, primarily because there is no civil marriage. All weddings must be carried out through the Jewish rabbinate, which considers homosexuality a sin and a violation of Jewish law. But the state recognizes same-sex couples who marry abroad, although they are not granted all the rights extended to heterosexual married couples.

Gay adoption is allowed in certain circumstances but activists say same-sex couples are discriminated against during the process. Surrogacy or adopting abroad is also an option and the partner of a parent can adopt the child of his or her partner, at a court’s discretion.

In a column on the Walla website, writer and blogger Nir Hoffman lambasted the ad.

“As long as the policy of ambiguity continues, Sheka and Teka are preserving and perpetuating a situation in which there is something strange, funny and mysterious in homosexuality that must be hidden and should not be spoken about,” he wrote.

Gil Kol, a spokesman for the Israeli national LGBT task force, an advocacy group, said the criticism was far-fetched and that his interpretation of the pair’s relationship was clear.

“Sheka and Teka have represented the Israeli Electric Corp. for years and have been gay for years. Having kids and expanding the family seems to be a natural stage in the evolution of the story. That pretty much represents what is happening in the LGBT community,” he said.

The majority of the ads, some of which can be found on You Tube, can be interpreted individually in many ways. But, when taken in the aggregate, those puppets have never met a women they’d like.

Also, just FYI to headline writers, saying that these puppets “electrified the debate” because they represent an energy company is slovenly work.

Let’s look at it this way, Bert and Ernie have been together coming up on 30 years. Sheka and Teka have been together for 11. They’re all doing better than either of my marriages. We should be lauding their commitment to loyalty, love and friendship.

Everything else is their business.

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As stalkers around here know, I am friends with a young lady who works on the left coast and is involved in possibly, maybe, doing pre-production for the new Justice League movie. Which is GUARANTEED to come out in 2017 ….. maybe. I say “maybe” since Warner has yet to green light a Flash or Wonder Woman film. Nor have they decided what to do about Green Lantern. Do they Thor him? That is, ignore the first movie, use him in the assembly anyway and then make a 2nd real movie that people won’t hate. Or do they start over? In other words, they have 2 films to make and then a third to ignore or remake before the JL saga can begin. Granted they have taken the first step by agreeing to make the Superman / Batman feature film. And I still say that if Heath Ledger were still alive Christian Bale would have been cast. Can you imagine that film? I’ll wait until you take a cold shower and return.

Okay, cool, welcome back.

Well, while that film can never be made, and the Supergirl / Power Girl love story should but never will, there are still a variety of films that have had money tossed at them and then disappeared.

One such film is Superman Lives. Meant to star Nicholas Cage and be directed by Tim Burton it died barely a year into the making. My buddy, Jon Schnepp, is making a documentary about it called, cleverly enough, The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? Here’s a bit from Jon on why he is making the doc.

As news slowly bubbled out, news buzzed around about Rainbow Robot Outfits, Brainiac Skull ships, Superman not “flying”, Fighting a Giant Spider, Polar Bears guarding the Fortress of Solitude. It all sounded so crazy, so weird, so different, that I honestly was hoping that they would actually make it, just so we would have something different from what had come before.

Okay, maybe I can see how that one got left on the cutting room floor. Then again, he’s right about one thing, it would have been different and, sometimes, different is good.

Thomas Mentel, from the Wall St. Cheat Sheet, says there are 8 more that should see the light of day if there were any justice in the world.

Click on the movie titles to see related artwork in a new tab.

With the news of Warner Bros. (NYSE:TWX) greenlighting the production of Superman & Batman for release in 2015, the seemingly impossible quest to get the two superheroes in the same film appears to finally be happening. If plans for a Justice League film follow in 2017 like Warner Bros. says, that will be two films that movie-fans everywhere had become convinced would spend an eternity in development and never see the light of day.

But while Superman & Batman looks poised to break the cycle of development limbo, there’s still a wide variety of exciting films just waiting for the opportunity to break free.

Here are 8 interesting films, in no particular order, that are stuck in development hell for a variety of reasons.

1. Ghostbusters 3

While fans of the Ghostbusters franchise have been clamoring for a third film in the series for years, the hold-ups for Ghostbusters 3 have come from seemingly every direction, starting with the script. Dan Aykroyd originally wrote a script that revolved around the original group of Ghostbusters getting transported to a hell-like version of Manhattan, but according to Harold Ramis, “no one was motivated to pursue it,” and the script ended up being used as the basis for Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

Then, Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, writer-producers on The Office, wrote a script that introduced a new group of young Ghostbusters with the old ones appearing in a mentor role, according to Ramis. However, the failure of their comedy Year One then put that version of the film in jeopardy. As if the story situation couldn’t get any more complicated, Aykroyd appeared on Larry King Now in May and said, ”It’s based upon new research that’s being done in particle physics by the young men and women at Columbia University,” seemingly giving out concrete story elements.

However, Aykroyd has never exactly been the person to ask about the status of the film, having said the film was on the verge of production on various occasions for a decade. And then you have potential Ghostbusters 3 director Ivan Reitman, the director of the first two films, telling Slash Film in July, “we’ve been thinking of alternatives, and we’re actually making some real progress, and we’ll see what happens. That’s the most honest answer I can think of.” So who knows what’s really going on with this film on the script level since even the filmmakers can’t give consistent answers.

Script problems aside, one of the biggest issues with a potential Ghostbusters 3 has also been that actor Bill Murray reportedly isn’t interested in returning — which is probably the only consistent factor in the history of Ghostbusters 3’s development. “I would love to work with him again. I’d hope that he could be in this film. He could be, he might not be, I really don’t know,” Reitman told Slash Film. The lack of Murray’s Peter Venkman in a potential third film begs the question as to whether there’s even a point in trying to figure out this decade-long train-wreck.

2. Halo

The story of Halo’s attempts to reach the big screen start in 2005 when Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) hired screenwriter Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine, Dredd) to adapt the hugely popular game franchise for the screen. When the script was completed, it was sent to all the major studios where most studio-heads balked at Microsoft’s asking price of $10 million against 15 percent of the gross.

Then, 20th Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA) and Universal (NASDAQ:CMCSA) decided to partner up for the film. Soon after, Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) was attached to be executive producer along with director Neil Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium), who at this time had not directed a feature film.

D.B. Weiss and Josh Olson were later involved in rewrites of Garland’s script while arguments over profit-sharing reached a standstill, causing the studios to pull the plug. Blomkamp and Jackson went on to collaborate on District 9 soon after — but not before Blomkamp’s seven minute Halo movie demo hit the Internet and galvanized fans.

At this point, the rights to Halo have reverted back to Microsoft, but all the signs point to the film being made at some point. In 2009, Steven Spielberg expressed interest in making a Halo film and Blomkamp said this past April, “I still really love the world and the universe and the mythology of Halo. If I was given control, I would really like to do that film.”

3. At the Mountains of Madness

At the Mountains of Madness would have been based on the famous horror novella of the same name written by H. P. Lovecraft. The story follows a group of explorers in Antarctica who discover the remains of an ancient, alien city, eventually finding that the creatures were once the creators of all life. The explorers also find out that they’re not alone, discovering six-foot tall blind penguins that serve as livestock for something much, much worse.

Director Guillermo del Toro and screenwriter Matthew Robbins wrote a screenplay based on the novella in the mid-2000’s and immediately ran into trouble trying to finance the project due to the dark nature of the story. But in 2010, it seemed like Del Toro had finally gotten the go ahead; it was announced that not only would the film be moving forward starring Tom Cruise and in 3D, but James Cameron would be producing. The (linked) picture (click on the movie title) is from Del Toro’s personal journal sketches from the film (go here to check out some of Del Toro’s other sketches).

Then, in March 2011, which was only months before Del Toro had believed he was to start filming, Universal refused to greenlight the film due to Del Toro’s insistence that the film be R-rated. Del Toro then tried to shop the film around to other studios without any luck.

However, Del Toro said in January that he’d like to give the film one more shot and that Tom Cruise is still attached. “Once more into the dark abyss. We’re gonna do a big presentation of the project again at the start of the year,” he said.

4. Akira

Akira is one of the most famous Japanese manga series, which was later turned into one of the most famous animated Japanese films of all-time. The story depicts a dystopian version of the future as a teenage biker Tetsuo Shima begins to discover his psychic powers and threatens to unleash the imprisoned psychic Akira. Tetsuo’s friend, Shotaro Kaneda, is then forced to go on a mission to save his friend from his destructive powers.

Warner Bros. acquired the rights to Akira in 2002 and has been trying to get the movie made ever since. Around 2010, the film came as close as it’s ever been to being produced, with Leonardo DiCaprio attached as one of the film’s producers and Albert Hughes attached to direct; however, Hughes later dropped out over creative differences. Jaume Collet-Serra was then brought on to direct before the film was shut down for the fourth time.

The sheer amount of actors rumored to be involved in the film seem endless; DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon Levitt, James Franco, Michael Fassbender, Justin Timberlake, Joaquin Phoenix have all been considered at one point for one of the two leads — and that’s only a fraction of the actors who have been considered.

Recently, Jaume Collet-Serra entered the project once again as director and it looks like the film might actually get made this time around.

5. The Tourist

The Tourist is a science-fiction screenplay that’s been making the rounds since 1980. Written by Clair Noto, the script initially caught the attention of Quadrophenia director Franc Roddam along with well-known production designer HR Giger. The website io9 describes the film as “a darker, sex-charged Men In Black.” More specifically, it “revealed a secret alien world in Manhattan, including a secret alien club called the Corridor, where various aliens from all over the universe meet, have sex, and commiserate about being stuck on Earth.”

The film began its 30 plus years of development hell at Universal, but was immediately met with creative differences and personality clashes, according to io9. The structure of the script was influenced by the New Wave and director Brian Gibson and writers attempted to revise the script into a more conventional structure. At the same time, HR Giger was brought in fresh off the success of Alien and asked to design the aliens of the Corridor.

When the process stalled, Noto was able to use a rare clause in her contract to shop the script to another studio. It found it’s way to Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studio for a brief moment, with director Francis Roddam showing strong interest, but financial issues at Zoetrope caused the project to stall once again. Universal then came back for the screenplay rights and the project simply hit a dead end.

So where is it now? Well, Universal still owns the rights to the script, but it doesn’t appear that the film is any closer to making it to the big screen today than it ever was. As io9 laments in the title to their article on the project, The Tourist might be the greatest sci-fi movie never made.

6. Blood Meridian

Cormac McCarthy’s dark western Blood Meridian has often been referred to as unfilmable for many different reasons, but it hasn’t stopped directors from trying — the most recent being James Franco. Blood Meridian follows a teenager referred to as “the kid” and his experiences with the Glanton gang, which was a historical group of scalp hunters who massacred Native Americans and others in the United States-Mexico borderlands between 1849 and 1850.

If the synopsis doesn’t tip you off to one of the biggest problems, let’s make it clear: this book is unbelievably violent. In fact, it makes the violence in McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men seem tame in comparison. While McCarthy’s lyrical prose almost makes the violence in the book bearable, a film wouldn’t have the benefit of that beautiful prose — what you see is what you get. And what you get is violence that rivals and surpasses even a film like Hostel.

Of course, someone will figure out the key sooner or later and make a film of it despite the violence. Franco supposedly reached the point of shooting test footage with actors Mark Pellegrino, Scott Glenn, Dave Franco, and Luke Perry, but now he joins Todd Field and Ridley Scott as directors who have tried and failed to get this film on the big screen.

But with All the Pretty Horses, The Road, and No Country For Old Men all having been translated to award-winning films, it’s only a matter of time before Blood Meridian does the same.

7. The Dark Tower series

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger is the first book in a series of eight novels by Stephen King, which are often referred to as his magnum opus. The story revolves around the gunslinger Roland Deschain and his pursuit of “the man in black” and his eventual journey to the titular Dark Tower.

Talk of a film adaptation of The Dark Tower started to gain momentum when J.J. Abrams was briefly attached to direct in 2007 before removing himself from the project, calling the adaptation “tricky.” Ron Howard then became attached to the adaptation, along with partner producer Brian Grazer, and the film has seemingly been on the verge of production ever since.

Universal and Howard were supposedly close to a deal at one point before the studio backed out due to Howard’s scope being too ambitious at a time when Universal was trying to cut costs — the very same reason the studio backed out of Del Toro’s At the Mountains of Madness. Warner Bros. later came close to a deal before backing out for similar reasons.

Most recently, Howard and Grazer were able to secure funding from Media Rights Capital to produce a single movie based on The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger with Russell Crowe set to star as Roland Deschain. Another option is an offer for funding from a ”mysterious Silicon Valley investor” who has offered to finance the full realization of the project, including three films and multiple TV mini-series which would air between films.

King fans likely have their fingers crossed that it’s the real deal this time.

8. Rendezvous With Rama

Written by Arthur C. Clarke, the writer of 2001, Rendezvous With Rama tells the story of an alien starship that enters the Earth’s solar system and the group of explorers who journey to it in order to discover its secrets.

Actor Morgan Freeman has been the strongest driving force to get a film adaption of Rendezvous With Rama made, and he’s been trying since the early 2000’s. It nearly went into production in 2003 with David Fincher slated to direct, but the production later fell apart, and in 2008, Fincher said, ”It looks like it’s not going to happen. There’s no script and as you know, Morgan Freeman’s not in the best of health right now. We’ve been trying to do it but it’s probably not going to happen.”

However, as recently as 2012, Freeman said that the film is still moving ahead with Fincher in the director’s chair. The only thing they need is a good script.

One film that never gets mentioned is Clark’s Childhood’s End, not to be confused with the Minneapolis based, soft core porno, about being a teenager.

Clark was embarrassed by the book in later years due to his use of a Ouija board as a plot point. I can understand that but the book is epic storytelling on a level rarely attained by anyone. Also, unlike most other alien invasion books this one has no violence, no paranoid governments (although it does have some paranoid people) and it does have a very moving story about what mankind could become. In the right hands it would be legendary.

Sadly, I know that studios are now run more by accountants than film makers, it’s the same in the music industry, so the skew on what the studios will and will not accept is heavily tiled to the mundane.

Maybe producers should follow Jon’s lead and just do a Kickstarter campaign.

La ∇ille Des M⊗rts from HOT POSSIE on Vimeo.

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