Fred and Loathing on The Internet

The Venture Bros. is not the only TV show that is about ‘change’. That term is such a broad topic, yet it’s usually one of the prerequisites for qualifying as ‘literature’. Apparently for a story to elevate above mere amusement and into the glorious category of ‘art’, the story needs an element of lasting change. Childish stories of adventure, crime, or super heroics are simply tawdry tales and not full blown literature because in those pulp novels, B-movies, and comic books, everything is restored to how things were before the story began.

Something has to be different than how it started if the story is to be considered holding literary value. The story’s settings, the whole cast of characters, the themes itself, anything. The protagonist is the likely candidate for this change. I think that’s what separates the ‘novel’ from just any long fictional story recorded on to printed pages bound together at the spine. That a story will end with the protagonist changed, or the setting has changed because of them. Either way, the story concludes in a different place than where it started.

Television productions have become a cinematic home for these novel length or multi-book stories. Dramatic series that spread their narratives out over one hour episodes. Sometimes cut into thirty minute episodes, if the writers are economical. I find novels into TV series to be a fitting transition. Charles Dickens would adapt well to the television production schedule of a...

Seeing how the precedent has already been set for blog posts being dedicated to an actual person rather than a media object, we might as well keep going in that direction. We have more to say than just reviews seeking out the nostalgia of forgotten sitcoms, action movies or GOP presidents (and failed presidential candidates). Let’s do a blog post about an inanimate object. Let’s write not about a person, nor a place, but a thing.

The book that brought this ‘thing’ to my attention is American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 by Cameron McWhirter and Zosha Elimson. A publication from 2023 that has stirred the item in question out of the recesses of my nostalgic musings and into the forefront.

The rifle itself is the item. Or I suppose the ‘AR’ weapons platform. That’s what is getting the blog treatment. Well unofficially. This was a somewhat fabulous book that presented a lot of new information on the development of the rifle. A whole lot about how unliked the lightweight small caliber AR platform was by the military and gun manufacturing elites. I prefaced my qualification of the book's fabulousness with the word ‘somewhat’ because I don’t have my full confidence in the new stuff I learned from this book. There were a few things I did know about prior to reading this book that did come out slightly wrong. At least from how I’ve heard it told in several other non-fiction books. Seeing these gaffes made me reconsider every new thing I learned from this...

It would be a waste to devote a whole blog post to Rochelle, Rochelle. It has few redeeming qualities, even for its genre. There are far too many other European erotic tales told on screen that should come first if we were to dedicate a whole blog post to just one. Any single entry in that genre of cinema is not something the writing staff here at fredlambuth dot com is prepared to pontificate professionally in this publication.

Don’t get us wrong, we love the stuff. Each and every film of this type we’ve seen has been delightful. The Italian produced ones are the crowd favorite amongst the office screenings. As much as these films are enjoyed here, none of us feel we could come up with a few thousand words to describe what we liked or did not like about any one particular movie. Talking about what was well done or what was poorly executed rarely applies for these types of films.

There are not many artistic choices in a European movie that was made just to have on-screen nudity that are worth bickering over. Arguing about the merits of each facet of these movies would almost come down to demonstrating one’s preference in on-screen nudity. Rather than an argument about how the movie could be improved. No, I’m afraid there is not any one particular Eurotrash film that any of us feel capable enough to meet the challenge with the right acumen. We have strict standards here at the blog. However, we can go broader!

In the subject matter, not in how...