F3 End of an Era

            I looked hard at the circled day on the calendar. It was hard to believe another year had gone by. It didn’t seem that long ago.

            The painter scraped a blade along the glass, taking away the names.

            “This is it, Matt.” Max said, pouring me a shot of his disgusting vodka. “We are no longer Stein & Allen. I go back to being plain old Max Stein Investigations.”

Women in Noir

            Okay, really, this is the end (for now) I have been giving a lot of thought to women within noir stories, and there are two major camps. The one side claims that women are further objectified, relegated to sex objects when not pursuing criminal activities.

            The other camp is firmly entrenched in the camp that says women are empowered by allowing them to have power over men and act as agents for themselves. A woman as a criminal has agency and pursues her own goals.

M3 Vampire Traits: Charisma

            The vampire’s charisma, which branches out to mesmerization and even telepathy, is a staple of the mythos. Nearly every vampire story will make mention of a vampire’s eyes, and how the gaze is inescapable. This charisma is part of what makes them attractive and romantic figures, but its roots are in the vampire’s predator nature.

F3 Snow Cannon

            It was July in Tornado Alley, and I was bored. I wasn’t hot because I kept myself at altitude in the clouds most of the time. And today was a particular scorcher over Garnett, Kansas, southwest of Topeka.

            I had cloud surfed to the top of the cumulonimbus anvil, and now gathered up the cloud material, condensing it on itself and using a modest wind to keep it aloft as it transformed from cloud, with minute ice crystals, to snowflakes. I gathered all that snow together in a circulating flurry until I had enough.

Noir Thoughts: Conclusion (I think)

            I was right. Harry was the last piece. But I needed to examine The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep in detail to cement my thoughts. They all work in, along with a fair bit of Chandler’s essay “The Simple Art of Murder.”

M3 Vampire Traits: Immortality

            Immortality is a trait usually reserved for the gods. This trait is a statement as to the vampires’ overall level of power within the mythological pantheon. However, immortality for a vampire is not the same as it is for the gods. There are a number of fine print clauses that have been attached to this status.

F3 No More Hopscotch

            Flynn watched the processed visual feed on the main display. The ship’s computers filtered the incoming light and updated every couple of seconds in order to give an approximation of what occurred, and that was a consequence of travelling at two point four light years per hour. The amount of light information was staggering. Without the processed feed, it would be nothing but white light in front of them and impenetrable darkness behind.

Noir Thoughts: Other Big Sleep Characters

            I won’t rehash the last four characters with their destructive chain of events. But the other major (and one minor) character deserve the same treatment, and they are every bit (if not more) the noir characters as those of Sam Spade’s supporting cast.

M3 Vampire Traits: The Dark Side

            The idea of temptation and sin leads naturally to the idea of corruption, which captures the true essence of a vampire more than any other word, and in more ways than one. Vampires tip the scale at anywhere between four to all seven of the Seven Deadly Sins, making them as close to pure as evil as a creature can be.

F3 Insurance Coverage

            I did my best to remain conscious through the soul-deadening music and occasional pert voice instructing me to use the company’s website, but after half an hour, I had difficulty maintaining.

            “Thank you for holding, how may I help you?” a monotone man’s voice said.

            “Wow, an actual person. My name’s Matt Allen, and I’m a current customer. I’d like to increase my insurance coverage.”

Noir Thoughts: Destructive Chain

            Like The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep is replete with unsavory characters. I think these characters are even more depraved in Chandler’s book than in Hammett’s. I’ll get into the rest of the characters in another post, but I wanted to highlight four characters that Chandler gives. They chain together, responsible for the destruction of the next character, and themselves. This is only tangentially related to the central premise of the book. Their plots and lives simply intersect with what is ultimately the mystery of who killed Rusty Regan.

M3 Vampires and Religion

            Vampires are a worldwide phenomenon, but the Western vampire, based out of Eastern European myth and legend and popularized by authors like Bram Stoker, is predominant, and the one people most typically think of when they hear the word. The Western vampire is also tied inextricably to religion, namely, Christianity.

F3 Opening Statement

            “Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury,” Maleficent’s husky voice drew the attention of every eye in the court room. “My client has been wronged and suffered grievous harm. She was promised her Prince Charming after a grand ball. What did she receive instead? Shoddy workmanship. The glass slipper, instead of bearing her weight, shattered, lacerating her foot.