October 2008

October 23rd, 2008: "The Biden's Crisis," By Eric 'Renderking' Fisk - "With this campaign season winding to a close and we look forward to a new period of American history - a period that will no doubt be historical in one sense at least if the current polls are correct - we seem to forget that with all this "hope and change" we're promised we also have to keep our guard up for the promised "horror and terror" many of our enemies are preparing for us... One person who hasn't forgotten is Vice-Presidential Nominee and member of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations - Joe Biden. His comments about this issue has raised concern for a lot of us, how those looking to create conflict will react to Barack Obama if he takes the Oval Office... How he reminded us of these concerns is just as frightening." - ... Read More.

Published October 20th, 2008- Pony R. Horton's “Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Skull”  DVD Review - "Well, it’s finally hit the streets: the DVD release of the fourth film in the landmark Indiana Jones film series, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL came out Tuesday, October 14th... Now, as to the film itself, I’ll keep this review brief, as it’s already been done to death by many others on many websites, and there will always be a great deal of disagreement over this film’s merit as an Indy film as well as a stand-alone movie. I liked the film from Frame 1."

Must Read post in the thread: Re: GLOBAL COOLING - You kiddin' me!!! by "Fortune And Glory." - "The problem is that these fear politics, and the politicized science of so called "global warming" is causing us to rush our results and come up with shoddy solutions. There's nothing wrong with being green, but it has to be viable for the average person first. This environment will survive, what we need to do is do the best we can with all our resources NOW rather than exploring only one side of the alternatives."

Published Thursday, October 9th 2008: October 9th 2008: “Guilt By Association, And Execution, Too.” by Eric 'Renderking' Fisk - "I hope that our national and international audience gives me a little slack with this rant. While this might seem to be self-indulgent, events in my state have made me think about what's going on through out the nation - following this fad in the ballot booth could make this sub-prime mortgage fiasco seem like mild compared to things to come..."

Published October 5th, 2008: “Iron Man” DVD Review by Pony R. Horton“Iron Man” DVD Review by Pony R. Horton - "Marvel Studios’ IRON MAN, which stars Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark, Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, Terrence Howard as Col. Rhodes, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, is a modernized look at the iconic Marvel Comics character created by Stan Lee, of SPIDERMAN fame. - Okay, let’s get right to the guts of it: I loved this film!

September 2008

September 30th, 2008: How The Fedora Chronicles (Almost) Bought Office Space in The AIG Headquarters In Down-Town Manhattan... By Eric 'Renderking' Fisk: " I bet you didn't know this, but I've invested in a handful of companies that are involved in insurance, real estate, and in primary and secondary mortgage holders. How this came about is a long story, part of which you've already heard about in the news... Read More.

Remembering Paul Newman. - "To say that Paul Newman lived a full life would be a gross understatement. I have a feeling that he could look back on his years a regret very little as being undone." - N11Pilot, Member of The Electric Speakeasy.

Posted on September 21st, 2008: "IndyGear For Women" goes 'Couture'  - Thanks To Ralph Lauren ? By Eric 'Renderking' Fisk: "In this rant I expose the outrage towards, and then try to explain, Ralph Lauren's "Ready To Wear Shimmer And Sand" Spring 2009 Collection. By no means is this an attack towards the people that I've known and grown to love and respect in the past decade, or openly trashing "IndyGear.com". Fact is, I'm surprised at the amount of angst over what Mr. Lauren presented. Isn't this what we asked for all this time?" Read More.

Press Release - Gay Marriage PSA Campaign: As part of our First Amendment Rights For All Vintage Aficionados And Retrocentrics policy as stated in our Mission Statement, we are posting this press release from "Respect Gay Marriage," a group founded by one of our members on The Fedora Chronicles Electric Speakeasy forum: Pony Horton.

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008 - "Revival at T.F.I." - The Son of Adventure Part 8 by T.R. Willey  - "As Tom observed the group of young Cuban students fidgeting in their chairs and staring off into space he could tell that they understood little to nothing of what was being said by the speakers. During the first intermission Tom asked for permission to speak to the Hispanic students, and was provided with a microphone." Read More Read More...

Posted September 2008: "From Hillary To Sarah - How Did We Get Here?"  -  - By Eric Renderking Fisk. "If I were to tell you a few weeks ago that the first woman to become Vice President would not be a Senator from "New York," but the Governor from Alaska, you would have thought I was crazy. Then Googled to see who I was talking about and what her name is. But for a week now, Sarah Palin has been the talk of the country, if not the world." Read More...

The Electric Speakeasy: Autumn Abstract - What do you like about Autumn and the changes that come with this season? A follow up thread to this article... - August 26th, 2008 - "The Fading Days of A stolen Summer, Into Autumn" by Eric Renderking Fisk "For reasons I've already explained on our forum, the last half of summer for me was ruined by events that were beyond my control and changed our lives through horrible circumstances. As the days grow colder and shorter, I've come to realize yet again that the changing of the seasons are a great metaphor for life and how the things we take for granted are eventually gone. "The Fading Days of A stolen Summer, Into Autumn"

August 16th, 2008 by Eric "Renderking" Fisk: What About This Word "Retarded?" A rant in response to the controversy created by the Ben Stiller movie "Tropical Thunder," - If you're easily offended by words, this isn't the rant for you. If you're looking for an uplifting message about how to deal with small people using big words they don't understand, then maybe this is... Read More...

The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor Movie Review by DLFerguson: "Since I’m a major fan of pulp action adventure there’s very little chance of you getting a bad review of THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR outta me. I think it’s only fair to tell you that up front. Even though I did miss the direction of Stephen Sommers and Maria Bello is no substitute for Rachel Weisz. And yes, the climatic battle between the two undead armies did go on about five minutes longer than it should have and it’s true that Brendan Fraser didn’t have to yell: “I hate mummies!” seemingly every fifteen minutes. But I was willing to overlook all that and just allow myself to enjoy what is essentially a B-movie with an A-budget. It’s not the best of ‘The Mummy’ movies but it does exactly what it’s designed to do and really, that’s all I ask from any movie." Read More...

"New York Story," July 2008 - Kevin Fehlen shares with The Fedora Chronicles his live-changing story in New York City, how he found himself and how he chaised his dream  - July 2008

July 30th, 2008 - Flicks To Hold You Over - "Kiss Me Deadly." "Kiss Me Deadly" is the ultimate Film Noir film. Just as The Maltese Falcon is obviously about a treasure from the past, The treasure everyone seeks or is hiding in "Kiss Me Deadly"  is about the new modern atomic era or an object that's beyond the comprehension of those who have acquired. The object in the suitcase could serve as a metaphor for the fears and danger of the new atomic age and the entire film could serve as a metaphor for what could (and will) happen if science surpasses society's wisdom." Click to read the whole review...

June 22nd, 2008 "Disney's Hollywood Studios: A Throwback to the Golden Era,"  - By Austin Phillips. "When one thinks about Hollywood's history and the incredible Golden Era films that were produced, Walt Disney World is probably one of the last places to comes to mind. However, after recently visiting the park I discovered that Disney's Hollywood Studios (previously titled MGM Studios) is actually a faithful and spirited reproduction of classic Hollywood that manages to touch on some of the themes celebrated everyday here on The Fedora Chronicles."

Crystal Skull Fedora Vendor Discussion

Other Recent Stuff...

My First Viewing Experience: Everyone remembers seeing "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" for the first time, especially Kira Schiavone who just saw it - and the two sequels - this weekend. - "I’m told that Indiana Jones is a retro classic. Since I spend time on a retro forum, my having not seen it was always met with a certain amount of incredulity. Action movies really aren’t my cup of tea to begin with, but when I discovered that they were showing the entire trilogy on successive nights, I decided to watch at least the first one to see what it was like. I found that it was hyped up as a lot more than it is. It is a fairly standard action film, distinguished from the rest by the setting, Indy’s strange ability to morph from professor to action hero in a few seconds, and the supernatural things he gets involved with, but overall relatively ordinary." Read More...

"Is This Not The Perfect Sunday?" A new rant by Eric Renderking Fisk, published June 15th, 2008. "All my life, for as long as I can remember, I've had this ideal. There's this picture in my head of what a perfect weekend morning would be, an uncluttered, uncomplicated time alone with my family. This weekend I think we really achieved that goal, where the reality of the "here and now" matched with the romanticized version in my head. The question is this: how did this happen? How did we obtain this domestic nirvana? It's because something was missing... it's absence was wonderful and joyous. Let me explain..."

The Uninvited is the perfect example of what Independent films get right and what Hollywood gets wrong. The script - written by Fred Robey and Jonathan Pokays - focus is on both the character's development and on the action. Once you see The Uninvited you'll be kicking yourself for all the times you've ever wanted to make a fan-film.

Flicks To Hold You Over: Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. "Well, here it is... the movie many of us have waited a long time for... the third and maybe last sequel of "Raiders Of The Lost Ark." The actual movie that the title of this column here and on The Indy Experience has referred to: "The Flicks To Hold You Over..." all the others reviews were for movies to "hold you over" until this  was finally made and released. It's a surreal feeling, I'm actually writing the review to this film that makes me feel as if this part of our journey together is at an end."  Read The Rest Of The Review...

"Come See The Paradise" - It's hard to look at this film and still feel like an enthusiastic cheerleader for The Golden Era, hoping to revive the style and the substance of those decades and hope that Big Band Swing and fedora's come back into the main stream. At the same time, this motion picture is both stark and beautiful in the way it demonstrates that in the dark times good people can over come hardships and obstacles.

Flicks from The Archive: Across The Pacific: "At least two of Bogart's movie fit in this Category of an American man fighting against a clandestine organization. "All through the Night" and the subject of this review: "Across the Pacific" is both two excellent movies he made under his contract with Warner Brothers during that era. "Across the Pacific" isn't as tongue and cheek as "All Through The Night", but reflects much of the adventure that may have inspired another franchise many of us are interested in."

"Romancing The Stone" "Out of all the movies made to cash in on the Indiana Jones phenomenon after "Raiders of the Lost Ark," there’s really only one that wasn’t awful and quite memorable. ...It’s kind of funny, seeing how “Romancing The Stone” was homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark, while Raiders was homage to Republic serials and other films such as David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia” and John Huston’s “Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”

"The Omen" - Mr. Donner was able to craft a vary human tale from this dark subject matter, and almost 30 years later “The Omen” is still one of the most intense motion pictures of its Genre.

"The Wrath Of Khan" - Both Wrath of Khan and Raiders of the Lost Ark represent a better time for Paramount, a brief hey-day that would later prove to be one of the most successful periods of the Studio’s history.

"The Pianist" - There are strong and powerful scenes and exchanges between Szpilman and the German officer that Illustrate the good a man can do when powered by guilt and shame and perhaps in a search for redemption..."

Walking With Dinosaurs: The Experience. "If you have the chance go to "Walking With Dinosaurs: The Experience," then absolutely go and be prepared - the pictures I took and posted here just don't do this event justice. Review by Eric "Renderking" Fisk.

Pizza Haven: Here I'm going to lay out my argument why you should almost always frequent your friendly neighborhood pizza joint. Not only because you should support non-corporately owned business and support your neighbors who own local restaurants, but because they're simply better most of the time." Review by Eric "Renderking" Fisk.

"Panama Tom" Willey brings us back to Peru and shares with us a story of forgiveness, healing and over-coming a question of faith... "The Long Road Home"

April 22nd, 2008: Eric Renderking Fisk has been working on this rant about how we need to do more to help each other out in The Retroverse and what we need to do to prevent the tragedy that occurs to many different people when one person takes their own life. "Celebrities Of Suicide."

Doug Palumbo visit to Camptown Hats.

Brian Elistar Scott explains the importance of the Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope

Remembering Charlton Heston by Gregg Argonaut.

World Peace - The Ideal Utopia or The Great Satan? - Nathan Lambhead discusses the biblical realities of world peace and it's improbabilities.

New Rant By Eric 'Renderking' Fisk: "What's a Parent's 'Worst Nightmare'?" One of the things they don't tell you before you become a parent is that you'll be plagued with strange dreams about your children for a very long time... much the same way they don't tell you before you graduate from high school that you'll still have nightmares about showing up for class unprepared. - Since becoming a parent, I've had the occasional dream or nightmare about some danger that threatens my boys..."

Austin Phillips (Zoo Station): Did the Writers’ Strike Really Affect Us? What was really gained anything during the Writers Strike that just ended? Who are the winners, and who are the losers?

Jose Brown AKA Whorf23: "A Word on Lynching and Black Attitudes in The American South."

The Fedora Chronicles Motor Club: James' DeLorean: "To me the DeLorean in a very unique vehicle, what other car is made of stainless steel and was originally going to have a warranty on it for 25 years? John DeLorean had a wonderful vision, it’s just sad that it ended so soon."

"Saturday Night Retro: Portsmouth, New Hampshire" A few local members of Retro-Based websites head out for a night of drinking beer and good conversation. Find your smiles, and bring your cocktail umbrellas.

Diary Of A Mafia Moll - Doug Palumbo presents the diary of a real-life wife of a Mafia henchman.

Vintage Threads: "Lids, Hats, Caps, whatever you want to call 'em..." Daryl “Kentucky Blues” Manley explains to us the difference between a hat and a cap, and what makes a good fedora...

"Why Are Victims Our Only War Heroes?" By Captain Roger Lee Crossland, U.S. Naval Reserve. "For some today, the only image they know is of U.S. servicemen and women as victims. That is not right. It cannot continue. Worse still, we risk having our children’s perception become that signing up to serve is signing up to become a victim..."

"The Jena 6": Kira Schiavone tackles the difficult issues about racism that's been brought up in the "Jena 6" incident and does what few have tried to do, look at the facts impartially...

Growing up As A Missionary Kid In 1960's South Africa: I was born in Maine, USA, in the late 50's. The only memory I have of America before I travelled back many years later though, was a large apple tree with many rotten apples on the ground, a kid named Ricky who lived up a long street, and a boat ride (The 'Queen Mary' to England, and The 'Pendennis Castle' to Cape Town, South Africa)..." By Nathan Lambshead.

"Elections Again" - Are National Elections like School Government Elections, or is it the other way around. Kira Schiavone give us first hand knowledge of how running for office can become a spectacle in her school and how it reflects life in the real world...

Relics Of The Lost Sequel: New Page where staff of The Fedora Chronicles posts news items worthy of your time about "Indiana Jones And The Ravages Of Time/Saucer Men/Pearl Of The Merman Prince/City Of Gods/Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull/The Yet Un-Named..." Makers Of The Movie's Fedora Leaked!

Also, There are about 12 pages of "Stuff" in this Press Kit for "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" on DVD. Even if you're not a fan of YIJC - you still have to check this out! - Special thanks go Gater for sending this to us.

On Lake Magic - Lorraine says good-bye to summer as she reminisces about years past and how her memories are tied to her favorite lake..

Living Hollywood - By Austin Phillips: A Plead to Hollywood Writers: Use a Dictionary! "Over the last few decades films have steadily changed, due to technology, popular culture, and public opinion. There’s certainly nothing wrong with this and plenty of great films have been made in this fashion. However, there are other trends that are less appealing and are putting films in a rut that few seem to want to climb out of and trend includes graphic violence, explicit sexual scenes, and foul language. The last item mentioned is the one that has been on my nerves the most lately and, quite frankly, I’ve had enough."

Work In Progress: The Fedora Chronicles Take Manhattan. Read about how Eric Renderking Fisk over-came his apprehension towards New York City and how he and Aaron Gantt found out that Vintage Still Lives in The City That Never Sleeps!

Doug Palumbo reports on the Comics Convention in Philadelphia and offers some in-site on how these things should be done better: Wizard World Philadelphia 2007

Click here to buy vintage posters!

Brigade Quartermasters - ActionGear.com - quite a few of The Fedora Chronicles staff buy their outdoor needs and World War II reproductions. This site has countless items for anyone looking for what they'll need for a weekend of genuine adventure.

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