Bring me Cordelia! (review of "Bright-Sided")

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Positive thinking has become so integrated into the value system of our modern culture, it might seem somewhat odd to find an argument against it. And yet that is exactly what Barbara Ehrenreich does. The release of this book, which was published as “Smile or Die” in the UK has corresponded with the publication of more bold books, willing to challenge the power of positive thinking. A little while back I read Steve Salerno’s unrelenting attack on the self-help movement, “SHAM: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless” and since then we have had “The Art of Failure: The Anti-Self Help Book” by Neel Burton. Even the great psychologist Richard Wiseman has taken positive thinking to task and looked at the real science behind self-help in “59 Seconds”, which came out the same year as “Bright-Sided”. This book was not an overt criticism of the self-help movement but rather a genuine attempt to use case studies, raw data and proven psychological methods to help people improve their lives. However, in keeping to the science Wiseman highlighted just how much of the self-help movement was bogus and even damaging. His first chapter, “Happiness”, began with a total debunking of positive thinking and revealed that far from being innocuous at worse, these techniques endorsed by the vast majority of the self-help movement could actually be harmful.

Debunked! (Book Review)

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Pseudoscience, conspiracy theories and superstition hits the general public at many different levels. However, despite a growing amount of excellent books used to argue the case for rationalism, logic and freethinking, they are easily outnumbered in the populist section of any bookstore or newsagent. So although the Michael Shermers, James Randis and David Aaronovitches of this world might be just about holding their own with middlebrow readerships and above, it is unlikely that your average reader of “Nuts” or “Heat” is going to be interested in their work. Even “Counterknowledge” by Damien Thompson and “How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World” by Francis Wheen seems more like short intellectual distraction than books intended for a typical undemanding readership. It is here where Richard Roeper truly triumphs with “Debunked”.

The Christmas Movie Tradition

The Christmas movie is a big tradition in the USA. We get them over here, but they are often American films for that very same reason. Nevertheless, I grew up amid the excitement of new films being released on the cinema and plenty of old greats being shown over the holiday period. However, as I grew up I became more cynical about it all. There is an overwhelming side to Christmas that is enough to put you off the whole idea altogether. It is more than commercialism; rather it is a desire to be unashamedly tacky, sickly sweet, incredibly drunk and sanctimonious. People, particularly families, often become aggressive in their desires to “be together” or “enjoy themselves”. Therefore, it wasn’t long before I started to realize that most Christmas films, like most Christmas songs, are pretty awful. "Elf" has to be one of the most over-rated family films of all time and my high hopes were severely dashed with "Bad Santa". Most Christmas films are shown through the narrow eyes of North Americana and feel a desire to self-righteously show us “the true meaning of Christmas” via Santa Claus and miracles.

Below are my choices for the best feature films made with a Christmas theme. What constitutes a Christmas film you may ask? It is certainly a question I put to people when I name some of my choices. It seems to me that many people are either overly conservative or liberal in their selections. The conservative lot seem to regard only films that have Christmas in the title or feature Santa Claus or bang on about the holiday spirit to be the only movies to make the definition. Others refer to the huge expanse of films that are traditionally shown over the Christmas period on TV. I cannot remember a Christmas of my childhood that didn’t pass without “Superman”, “The Great Escape”, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” or “Star Wars” being shown on TV.  So I take the middle line with my sometimes alternative and sometimes mainstream selection of Christmas movies.

Gremlins

“Gremlins” is the perfect anti-Christmas picture. I am shocked by the common reaction to most people I say Gremlins is one of my all-time favourite Christmas films. Most people don’t seem to consider it a Christmas movie. This is despite the fact it is set over the whole Christmas period, never stops referencing Christmas, has well-known Christmas songs on its soundtrack, has most scenes featuring snow or Christmas decorations and the whole story is based around the theme of the irresponsible giving of pets as Christmas novelties. “Gremlins” is savage in its comedy, sending up the consumerism and the excuses people use to go wild over the festive period. The Scrooge character, Mrs Deagal, gets no chance of redemption at the hands of these evil little green monsters that fire her straight out of her window after messing with her electric stair lift. The film is also laced with the bitter side of Christmas via Phoebe Cates’s Kate character who reminds us that the suicide rate goes up over this time of year and reveals a dark story of how she discovered there was no Santa Claus.

Young Sherlock Holmes

Again, the title doesn’t immediately evoke thoughts of Christmas, but it works so well as a winter holiday movie for the family. From the opening titles with its chirpy upbeat score following the shocking death of the film’s first victim via Jim Henson puppetry into the wonderful narration of Michael Hordern (perhaps one of the best voiceovers in cinematic and television history), the film just seems to hit all the right places for some Christmas escapist fun for all ages. Sherlock Holmes is synonymous with the Victorian era, perhaps the historical time most associated with Christmas. Young Sherlock Holmes is certainly a departure from the usual Sherlock Holmes affair, being an imaginative “What if Sherlock Holmes met Dr Watson at School?” story rather than an attempt to adapt any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work. Nevertheless, it provides all the usual fun and frolics of an Amblin film (the production company that brought you Gremlins) and a Chris Columbus (first two cosy Harry Potters) script.

The Muppet’s Christmas Carol

Sadly Jim Henson had passed away by the time this film was produced but it did his memory proud. This is perhaps the best Muppet movie made and also one of the best adaptations of Charles Dickens’s famous story. Of course, despite a peculiar creepiness that I have always felt was present with the Muppets, this picture largely diminishes the sense of ominous threat that was present in all adaptations prior to this one. However, it more than makes up for it with an excellent performance by Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, some brilliant songs and the general wacky genius that makes the Muppets so enjoyable to watch. 

Scrooge – A Christmas Carol (1951)

This is the standard that all adaptations of “A Christmas Carol” were and still are judged. Despite being a flop at the cinema in the US it quickly became a TV favourite in the 1960s. It is as much a tradition in many households as Christmas trees and decorations. Alistair Sim made the role of Ebenezer Scrooge his own, so much so that a good number of actors who took on the role afterwards seem to be inadvertently imitating him. This was later reinforced when Sim leant his distinctive voice to the character of Scrooge again in the 1971 Oscar winning animated adaptation. Michael Hordern also reprised his role of Jacob Marley/Marley’s Ghost. Hordern seems to regularly crop up in many of my Christmas choices. Here he is as intimidating as any villainous sidekick when playing the living Marley and darkly oppressive when he plays the spectral harbinger of doom. The film changes only a little of Dickens’s story, but it is a welcome addition, helping to better explain how Scrooge and Marley emerged through greed and cold-hearted opportunism. There is also a believable performance by George Cole as the young Scrooge. He doesn’t physically resemble Sim much, but his interpretation of the character is spot on.  

The Nightmare Before Christmas

It’s amazing to think that this stop-motion animated film was originally released over Halloween. Now the Christmas angle just seems to have eclipsed the whole concept that the main characters come from Halloween Town. This was the film that Disney apparently wanted Tim Burton to make and even financed his pet project “Ed Wood” into the deal. It is full of great songs and really establishes the Burton look of child-like Gothic. However, not nearly enough credit is given to the film’s actual director, Henry Selick. It is arguable that although Burton wrote and produced the picture, the stylization of it is as much Selick’s. For proof of this see “James and the Giant Peach” and 2009’s darkly wondrous “Coraline”. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” still seems edgy and there is easily enough on offer to satisfy the adults in the family as well as the children.

Rocky

Several of the Rocky films (Rocky, Rocky IV, Rocky V and Rocky Balboa) are based around the Christmas period and heavily reference it. I don’t know if it is a Philadelphia thing or Stallone was playing with the idea of miracles, but it works. Rocky IV, the campiest and most financially successful of the whole series, even stages the final scene, Rocky’s match, on Christmas Day in snowy Russia. However, the first film, which is stands alone as a true cinematic classic, delivers exactly the right type of Christmas tale Americans audiences love. The final scene and match in this instance happens on New Year’s Day, and the fact that Rocky doesn’t win makes it all the more poetic.

Trading Places

Christmas is a time for fairy tales. Disney knows this and so do the traditional British pantomimes. So how about an adult rendition of the Prince and the Pauper? Set over the Christmas period, the film is layered with enough examples of Dickensian themes: gaps between the classes and the juxtaposition of 1980s greed (it was made in 1983) with “salt of the earth” compassion. Actors/comedians Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy not to mention director, John Landis, are at the top of their game in this picture. There is also memorable supporting performances put in by Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche as the villainous US aristocrats, Mortimer and Randolph Duke and Denholm Elliott is wonderful as the ever-loyal Coleman. However, the star of the show is undeniably Jamie Lee Curtis. I have worked with Ms Curtis on the film “Fierce Creatures” and there is little getting away from her larger than life personality, which makes most of her performances memorable. Before this picture she seemingly typecast as a scream queen. Here she played the best “tart with a heart” caricature ever seen on the silver screen. The humour comes thick and fast without descending into semi-spoof territory and the film’s ending is fulfilling in a 1980s sort of way without becoming too cheesy.

Life of Brian

This is one of the best comedies ever written and will make that list for sure. Hell, if they can put “Jesus Christ Superstar” on over a festive season, when it is technically more of an Easter musical, I can have the pinnacle of Monty Python’s greatness. The film begins with the birth of Christ and his next door neighbour, Brian. Okay, we all know that 25^th December date was stolen from other pre-Christian religious festivities, so this is the only film that remarks on the nativity without featuring the celebration that now surrounds it. If most films that centre on the life of Jesus focus on spirituality then this is a wonderful counterbalance that sends up humanity as a whole and revels in all its ageless mortal flaws.

Arthur

This film seeps class. It is considered by many to be one of the funniest comedies ever made, it won John Gielgud, in one of his most memorable roles, an Oscar for best supporting actor and it features a collaborative theme song that is a mainstay on many easy listening radio channels. Like “Trading Places” it deals with the 1980s US aristocracy and contrasts it with the working classes. Much of the story is set over the Christmas period and Arthur’s perpetual drunkenness helps to remind us of another less savoury tradition of the holiday period.

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Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com

Related articles

• The Best Christmas Movies for Children (brighthub.com)
• The New Christmas Canon: Gremlins At The Music Box (chicagoist.com)
• Watson's Top 10 Christmas Films (superdps.wordpress.com)

Another night, another pay cheque

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I am currently in the process of trying to combine a review of Ian Mortimer's extensively researched and detailed reappraisal of Henry V, "1415: Henry V's Year of Glory" with the warrior king's entry in my icon series. It's taking some time what with all my other commitments. Anyway, today's entry is not the sort of subject matter I normally put up on this blog, but it does have bearing on my interest in history...

"Night at the Museum 2" - A Review

The decline of history

Those of you have read a lot of my rants, ramblings and articles in recent times will notice a certain bent towards combatting pseudohistory. History, unlike science, doesn't have a straightforward testable system to establish "truth". However, it does have a fairly sound methods for researching, investigating and establishing facts. The historian acknowledges famously touted expressions such as the one found in the novel "Roots" that "The winners write history" and Napoleon's famous line that "History is a set of lies agreed upon", but he understands by the value of such methods as Occam's Razor, use of empirical evidence and the objective study of various primary source material that he can arrive closer to the truth than the speculator, the fantasist, the propaganda merchant, the conspiracist, the hyperdiffusionist, the extreme postmodernist and other examples of the pseudohistorian. Such opposition to this propagation of false history led me to read such excellent books as "In Defence of History", "Counterknowledge", "Real Enemies", "Reclaiming History" and "Denying History", which are brilliant guides for anyone who feels a little overwhelmed by the attitude that all accounts of the past are equal.

Nevertheless, as much at it vexes me to see another Dan Brown novel being promoted left, right and centre I need to acknowledge that there is perhaps a far larger problem happening. A good friend of mine once advised me to avoid "them versus us". It was a sound observation. I come from a minority culture - circus people - and a minority subculture - martial artists - and therefore I am no stranger to the feelings of having a siege-like mentality. Rather than just opposing pseudohistorians I need to understand what is happening in our society. Some of the above books provide excellent insights into the psychology of populist movements influencing the way we look at the past. However, perhaps there is something else behind the paranoia evoked by the Freedom of Information Act or the academia of postmodernism. Perhaps there it is simply a case, as Dominic Sandbrook muses in his fascinating article below, that as less and less history is being taught in schools in favour of vocational work, the demand outside continues to grow.

The big fight for those who believe in history is to keep history!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/6190569/Once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-subject-called-history-.-.-..html

Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com

Golden Nemesis has arrived!

At long last my friend, Heather Vallance has released "Golden Nemesis", a provocative and thought-provoking historical book.

"Golden Nemesis: Manifest Destiny Between 1800 And 1900 tells the story of how 19th century American and British capitalists sponsored international terrorism for their own purposes and consequently shaped the patterns and course of the 20th century.

The following bookstores have Golden Nemesis available online which means that copies can be ordered at your local branches as well.

In many cases shipping is free and there is a discount for new releases if you order online.

BRITAIN
BLACKWELL http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/id/Golden_Nemesis/9781601458766
WATERSTONES http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=6856503

IRELAND
EASON BOOKS http://www.eason.ie/look/9781601458766/Golden-Nemesis/Heather-Vallance

SOUTH AFRICA
EXCLUSIVE BOOKS http://www.exclusivebooks.com/display.php?PHPSESSID=qj7vng0sgk56v47c8kh8nku660&ean=9781601458766

UNITED STATES
BARNES and NOBLE http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Golden-Nemesis/Heather-Vallance/e/9781601458766/?itm=1

As always, check out the comparative costs of shopping through the Booklocker.com. It may just be cheaper! http://www.booklocker.com/books/4133.html "


Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com

Cor-Chat - The Fighting Art of the Circus

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Cor-chat is the most closely guarded secret of the travelling circus. Loosely translated from circus language the name means “Fight Thing”. For three centuries it was a style that was taught exclusively to circus people and passed from one generation to the next for the purposes of self defence. The life of a travelling performer is a hazardous one. When a community moves to a new site or “tober” they are immediately strangers and not always welcome. This prompted the creation of a system of self defence to deal with would-be attackers and practiced in accordance with circus custom. The lineage of the main schools of cor-chat can’t be traced back to a single circus family, although it is believed that Phillip Astley, the father of the modern circus, introduced various techniques taken from his military experiences. Phineas T. Barnum is also credited with influencing a more deceptive style of cor-chat in the USA. Some say that the famous fraudster’s line “never give a sucker an even break” had a hidden reference to the savage joint-locking techniques found in cor-chat.

The art was practised covertly and training was often hidden in the various acts performed in the circus. Certain techniques hint towards these acts. For example, a low sweeping attack is named the clown’s shoe. Training in cor-chat traditionally takes place on a sawdust covered ground, inside a ringed area and in a training place known as the Big Top. New students from the outside are known as jossers and are rarely taught unless they pass the cor-chat initiation trials. Much of these initiations include a series of gruelling exercises known as “building up” and “pulling down”.

When performing a technique, the attacker is often given the term “anti”. Cor-chat is a brutal system that includes a devastating array of techniques designed to confuse and destroy an antagonist. Methods are both unarmed and armed. Armed methods make extensive use of incidental weaponry, including coupling pins and there is a seemingly inexhaustible list of methods for using bailing string. Like all good martial arts systems, cor-chat teaches evasion techniques that come under the title of “scarpering”. Unlike many traditional martial arts there is no set custom or greeting term before starting a training session, however, after training students ritually use the term “nanti palari”.

Today the art has been made available to the general public for the first time. Schools are opening up all over the country and worldwide. These include intensive instructor programmes and long-distance learning plans. Training in cor-chat is a positively enriching experience. You will find this when you begin to teach. In line with circus lore, the cor-chat instructor works for a mysterious commodity known as dinari. It is the objective of any life long cor-chat instructor to accumulate as much dinari as possible. Lack of dinari is often accredited to the lows faced by many circus people.

Cor-chat is a system trained by many different cultures against a myriad of threats. It is a time-tested martial art with a history that goes back three centuries and practiced by many top circus fighters. Now you can also learn this devastating art.





Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com

Martial Arts Scepticism: Martial Appeals

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“There's a mighty big difference between good, sound reasons and reasons that sound good.”
- William E. Vaughan

The world of martial arts is full of arguments based on irrelevant appeals. From advertising campaigns that argue their style of martial art is the best because it is practiced by a certain country’s elite military to teaching techniques a certain way because this is the way they have been taught for centuries. They are arguments that do not provide evidence to support their claims, but instead use information designed to make you feel inadequate in your questioning. I shall now take you through some examples of the way appeals arguments, “Martial Appeals” if you like, are used as a method of one-upmanship from one martial arts stylist to another, as a form of persuasive marketing or to simply keep control of the way a student thinks.

Appeals to Antiquity or Tradition

The age and durability of an idea is not always an accurate indicator of its value. However, it is very common for a martial artist to somehow connect the antiquity of their system or style with practical efficiency. The reasoning goes something like this: if these moves or practices didn’t work then they wouldn’t have survived. This is nonsense. There are plenty of reasons why impractical and illogical practices are still being carried out today. Many people cling to rituals out of a sense of national or cultural pride. Traditions are often kept so that people feel they have a link to the past. Some people even have their own personal rituals and in extreme cases these can be strong indications of different types of mental and neurodevelopmental disorders. People also fear change, as it presents the prospect of the unknown. Tradition and the illusion of not changing make us feel safe.

An example I once saw was the historical evidence that martial arts have often been linked to magic. This is not surprising, studies have shown that the closer people come to the presence of death the more superstitious they become. In this particular example, the argument was made that even the most sceptical person must concede that there must be something practical in this connection since there is such a long tradition of it happening. This is a classic example of a jump from one set of information - valid historical evidence linking the belief in magic with martial arts practices – to another – therefore it is possible that magic is a part of martial arts. The first set of information does not provide evidence for the latter. There are very long traditions of the belief in monsters found in most cultures, and fairly often different and completely unrelated cultures come up with very similar monsters. This is not evidence that the monsters existed, but probably has more to do with the limitations of human imagination and common innate fears and the superstitions we create around those fears.

The age of a martial arts system is often held in disproportionately high regard despite the obvious advancements made in combat technology. We know old ideas are not always good ideas otherwise we wouldn’t have any progress. In a relatively short amount of time there have been major advancements in what we know about human anatomy, the way the human brain functions, human behaviour and human potential. We also have the hindsight of history to determine how an old idea might not work. It is far more productive and sensible to question why an old idea has persisted than to make positive assumptions about its validity.

Appeals to Authority

As one would expect those who often use the appeal to antiquity or tradition are those in positions of authority. However, often a person of authority is presented as the actual justification for an argument: Hanshi so-and-so said this is the deadliest of all martial arts therefore this must be true. Like the appeal to antiquity or tradition argument, if we just took the words of experts as gospel we would make no progress. Science constantly questions and advances the work of its great innovators understanding that their work needs updating. It is also worth keeping in mind that someone might have more knowledge on a certain subject than their critic, but their method for applying that knowledge might be deeply flawed.

The other issue regarding appeals to authority is when the authority is not an authority on the topic of the argument. For a long period it was common for most martial arts schools to specialize and, even with the advent of more liberal and open dojos, dojangs, kwoons and gyms most schools still do. However, I recall seeing a journalist asking a boxing coach’s “expert” opinion on a mixed martial arts bout. Unsurprisingly the coach’s response was negative and despite the bout being regulated by strict rules, clearly watched over by an experienced referee and a medical team on hand, the boxing coach compared it to a street-fight. Nevertheless, this authority was a respected and qualified boxing coach running a high performing boxing club. His validity for teaching his sport is not in question, however, his opinion on something that he had little knowledge on had about as much relevance as an ice skating coach discussing the form of a champion skier. Now, if the person being consulted on the mixed martial arts bout was an experienced doorman who had seen thousands of street-brawls and made the same comparison that would have been a different matter.

Appeal to Popularity

By the time the 1980s started the “Kung Fu Boom” was over, however, martial arts had clearly taken root in the public consciousness and a corporate side slowly began to emerge. As this spread and more organizations and governing bodies began to pop up all over Europe and the USA, the marketing machines picked up pace. This was more than a few clubs being affiliated to a foreign authority now; whole associations broke away in the western world and grew into their own entities. It wasn’t long before this corporate image was used as part of the advertising gimmick and, as always, size mattered. Clubs, instructors and individual students were encouraged to join the association with the most members. Popularity has a strong appeal. In military and political thinking we can see an obvious advantage of being on the side with the biggest numbers. Popularity is also at the heart of fashion and retail. However, just because an idea is popular it doesn’t mean it is right.

Popular opinion can, and often is, swayed by charismatic and persuasive personalities. History has certainly told us this many times. In martial arts we have seen many trends promising much and often delivering little. Talk to any long term martial arts magazine editor and they will tell you plenty about the various phases and sub-phases of martial arts. In hindsight a craze in a certain martial art often had little to do with the art’s efficiency, but rather the way it was being sold to the general public.

Appeal to Novelty

The opposite of the appeal to antiquity or tradition is the appeal to novelty. The newness of an idea does not automatically make it the superior of what has gone before. There are many new martial arts systems springing up all the time. Not everyone likes to cling to tradition or popular systems, many like the idea of being up-to-date or being different.

One argument here is that this martial art is new therefore it will provide me with information more applicable to the modern world. Just because the system is new it doesn’t make it better suited for the modern world. It could endorse pseudoscience or have no proper basis on efficient training methods whatsoever. There are plenty of new bogus martial arts popping up all over the place, often promoted by the technology that is synonymous with our era: the internet.

Another argument is that a certain martial art is different and therefore better than more conventional martial arts. A key appeal of the oriental martial arts in the western world was their sheer exoticness. Therefore it should be no surprise that within the martial arts world there is always a strong attraction towards more unusual martial arts. However, many previously unheard of martial arts have little historical evidence to back up their lineage or even their validity. There are some societies that are unashamedly resurrecting extinct martial arts and honestly doing their best to interpret these old training methods out of historical interest. There is nothing wrong with these practices. However, there are still others that exploit the gullibility of enthusiastic martial arts tourists and those members of martial arts subculture who have a natural disposition towards learning something that is marketed as being “forbidden” or “forgotten” or simply out of the mainstream.

There is no rational basis in arguing that just because something is new or different that it is any better than what is old or commonplace. In fact, in all rational fact-finding disciplines from science to history the burden of proof is always placed squarely on the shoulders of the new or unusual idea.

In conclusion, if we are to get the best out of the martial arts we can do better than appeal to irrelevant information. By recognizing these types of arguments not only in others but also in ourselves we can focus more on addressing a problem or question than trying to win a debate or live in denial. Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com