Reg Hartt: Hell's Kitchen, The Public Enemy, The Cineforum

Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, wants this country to assimilate the people to whom we have long made many promises few of which we have kept.

The Ocean
Lord Byron (1788–1824)

(From Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage)

ROLL on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean, roll!   
  Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;   
  Man marks the earth with ruin; his control   
  Stops with the shore; upon the watery plain  
The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain            5
A shadow of man’s ravage, save his own,
When, for a moment, like a drop of rain,
He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan,
Without a grave, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown.

His steps are not upon thy paths; thy fields            10
Are not a spoil for him; thou dost arise
And shake him from thee; the vile strength he wields
For earth’s destruction thou dost all despise,
Spurning him from thy bosom to the skies,
And send’st him, shivering in thy playful spray,            15
And howling, to his gods, where haply lies
His petty hope in some near port or bay,
And dashest him again to earth: there let him lay.

The armaments which thunderstrike the walls
Of rock-built cities, bidding nations quake,            20
And monarchs tremble in their capitals,
The oak leviathans, whose huge ribs make
Their clay creator the vain title take
Of lord of thee, and arbiter of war,—
These are thy toys, and, as the snowy flake,            25
They melt into thy yeast of waves, which mar
Alike the Armada’s pride or spoils of Trafalgar.

Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee:
Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage, what are they?
Thy waters washed them power while they were free,            30
And many a tyrant since; their shores obey
The stranger, slave, or savage; their decay
Has dried up realms to deserts: not so thou,
Unchangeable save to thy wild waves’ play;
Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow;            35
Such as creation’s dawn beheld, thou rollest now.

Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty’s form
Glasses itself in tempests; in all time,
Calm or convulsed; in breeze or gale or storm,
Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime            40
Dark-heaving, boundless, endless, and sublime,—
The image of Eternity, the throne
Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime
The monsters of the deep are made; each zone
Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone.            45

And I have loved thee, Ocean! and my joy
Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be
Borne, like thy bubbles, onward: from a boy
I wantoned with thy breakers; they to me
Were a delight; and if the freshening sea            50
Made them a terror, ’t was a pleasing fear,
For I was as it were a child of thee,
And trusted to thy billows far and near,
And laid my hand upon thy mane, as I do here.

“Man marks the earth with ruin; his control   
  Stops with the shore; upon the watery plain”  

Byron was wrong. In the last century we have not only poisoned the streams, rivers and oceans of the world we have also poisoned the rivers of our bodies.

Ours is a world plunging fast towards death. The changes we have wrought were not thought out beyond the moment the thought we could do this first rose in our minds.

In the culture of the people we would assimilate a man was asked to think about the effect of his action seven generations ahead. One who does that will do very little. What he does will be rooted in eternity. It would be better for the planet if the people we met when our ancestors first came here were to assimilate us.

Listen to these words of Chief Seattle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=e9a70fz6420#!

“Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as the swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than your, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch. Our departed braves, fond mothers, glad happy hearted maidens, and even the little children who lived here and rejoiced here for a brief season, will love these somber solitudes and at eventide they greet shadowy returning spirits. And when the last Red Man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall become a myth among the White Men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe, and when your children’s children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude. At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled them and still love this beautiful land. The White Man will never be alone.-Suquamish Chief See-Yahtlh (Seattle), 1854 (as recalled by Dr. Henry A. Smith).

I probably have more software on the computers here for working with video than anyone else in the city.

I just got a program that can take a low pixel image and raise it to 1080p. Right now I am using it to prepare high quality dvd versions of several silent films I have on vhs so that I can offer them in my program. The first is Erich Von Strheim’s GREED which looks gawdawful when projected from vhs but great when converted. I also have a RONDO HATTON program in the works (The Rondo Awards are named after him but most of us have never seen his films. Now I have the key ones).

VHS images degrade horribly over time. If you have tapes you want converted from vhs to dvd get in touch. I will put them through my system using all the bells and whistles I can to get them at their best for posterity.

This includes your collection of vhs movies as well. Send me an email (rhartt4363@gmail.com).

Below are posters for films with Rondo (The Creeper) Hatton which will be coming soon to The Cineforum.

One more than one occasion I have been told by someone who has seen me posting flyers for my ongoing programs, “No body reads those.”

They assume that because they do not no one else does.

I have also had more than a few people tell me how badly they are designed.

I walked into a party full of people like that once. A woman at the party, seeing my flyers, asked who designed them.

Knowing what every one there thought of them I admitted I was the guilty party.

“They are excellent,” she said.

“NO ! THEY ARE NOT!” everyone else shouted.

“I teach graphic design at York University. I know excellent when I see it,” she said.

Ted Martin (http://visualhumor.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/going-to-the-dogs-part-iii-ted-martin-and-pavlov/ ) is a comic artist who once had a gallery in Toronto. I used to drop by it often. One day he asked who designed my flyers.

I was taking a lot of heat from people close to me who were divorcing themselves from me about how awful they were.

“Do I really need one more person telling me how bad these things are?” I said to myself. Then I thought, “How much harm can one more person telling me these are awful do?”

“I do,” I told Ted.

“I taught graphic design for two years at Sheridan College,” said Ted adding, “Your work demonstrates an intuitive sense of perfection.”

When I returned the first words I heard coming through the door were, “Your posters are lousy.”

Gordon Bowness (http://www.intorontomag.com/index.php/art-a-entertainment/itemlist/user/67-gordonbowness,  http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/gordon-bowness/5b/6a9/142 ), when served as arts editor for Toronto’s queer newspaper XTRA! wrote of my presentations, “Reg Hartt talks and talks and talks and talks and talks and talks and talks and talks and…”

In fact most people who write about my work warn people that they will have to listen to me speak before the program.

Shortly before her death Jane Jacobs (author of THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES, DARK AGE AHEAD and much more, one of the most important thinkers of our time, told me over a beer in her home, “The best party of what you offer is what you have to say.”

Now, as full of himself as Gordon Bowness is (and that is very, very full) I think even he will admit he is not in the same league with Mrs. Jacobs.

At the start of her career as an actress the very young Katharine Hepburn was invited to join New York’s prestigious GROUP THEATRE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_Theatre_(New_York) ).

“I want no part of the group dynamic. The group dynamic by nature is always second rate. I will be a star,” she told them. She was skinny, spoke with an accent and had a face full of freckles. She was hardly, in their eyes, star material.

She became one of the great stars of the theater and the motion pictures.

My point is not to complain about being poorly treated.

My point is that as Oscar Hammerstein III put it, “Being knowing and blase is really the sign of a very unsophisticated person. The most sophisticated thing one person can say to another is, ‘I know nothing about that. Please tell me.’”

We can’t get grapes from thistles.

There are a lot of folk out there who are thistles. The more we are our self the more convinced they are that we are not of value.

“Civilized life lies in doing well what has been done before. Doing the expected is the highest value–and the second highest is like it: receiving the appropriate admiration of one’s peers for doing.”–Thomas Cahill, HOW THE IRISH SAVED CIVILIZATION.

Jean Cocteau was, as well as an artistic paragon, an out homosexual when most homosexuals were hiding in the woodwork.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Cocteau

“Whatever the world condemns you for, make it your own. It is yourself,” he said.

Why should I be angry at Gordon Bowness? He has let me know what I am doing right.

“You have the wrong attitude entirely. If you leave this school today you will starve in two weeks,” said my high school principal to me one day.

I left that instant.

Had I not left I would have starved.

In his book TRUE AND FALSE David Mamet writes, “Invent nothing, deny nothing, speak up, stand up, stay out of school.”

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds,” said Albert Einstein.

It is a given that most folks are mediocre.

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/mediocrity .

They are not, however. The given is wrong. Said Ellis Marsalis to his sons Branford, Delfeayo and Wynton, “Most teachers say you should go to school to get your degree to have something to fall back on. Aside from being a huge lie, that also creates a very high level of mediocrity, because nobody who really believes that is going to take the leap of faith required to be a serious artist. Stay out of school.”

Wrote NAKED LUNCH author William S. Burroughs,“The child sees more clearly than the adult (who has already decided what he will and will not see).”

Or as Jesus put it, “Unless you be as a child you can not enter the Kingdom of God.”

“Mediocrity recognizes nothing higher than itself,” wrote the creator of SHERLOCK HOLMES, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

So let the mediocre say God does not exist.

We fools know better.

Jean Cocteau, “When the tools of the cinema become as inexpensive as pencil and paper it will finally become an art form.”

Jean Cocteau was an out homosexual when most homosexuals were trembling in fear of discovery. “Whatever the world condemns you for, make it your own. It is your self,” he said.

“It is good taste not bad taste which is the enemy,” said both Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. Good taste demanded that over time The Fool in The Tarot wear pants. The civilized always want to cover up that which they see as shameful thus making themselves prisoners of shame.

Bruce Simpson was living on the streets of Toronto when his friend Vince Morisette asked Reg if he could find room for him. “Sure,” said Reg. “What is the best thing to do to get a career in animation?” Bruce asked. “Stay away from the animation schools. Find a studio that needs people and will train them on the job. Earn while you learn,” said Reg.
Bruce went out that morning and came back with a job that afternoon at one of Toronto’s best studios.
Two weeks later Reg ran into Bruce’s boss. He said, “I had a kid in my house who asked what the best course is to follow to build a career in animation. I told him to stay away from the schools, find a studio that needed people and would train them on the job, to earn while he learned.”
“That was good advice,” said Bruce’s boss.
“Yes, and he took it. He got a job at the best place in town.”
“Where is that?”
“Your place.”
“Who was it?” asked his boss, Greg Duffell of Lightbox Studios.
“Bruce Simpson.”
“God, that kid is good,” said Greg.
Stay out of school. Earn while you learn. You can learn more about Bruce here: http://www.brucesimpson.tv/achievements.htm
I am very proud of him.

Academy Award winning animation director Friz Freleng came to Toronto in 1980 as a guest of Reg Hartt. While here he taught young animation artists about how to stay active in the art and business of animated cartoons.

Reg Hartt caricatured by Nik Ranieri who was a regular at Reg Hartt’s cartoon fests while growing up in Toronto. Nik became one of the key artists on the character of roger Rabbit in WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT and his work includes Lumiere, the Candlsticvk in Disney’s Beauty and The Beast. Great as that work is it is surpassed by the films Nik made himself as a youth in Toronto.

Shamus Culhane remains one of the unsung creative heroes of the animated cartoon.

From a post on: http://greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.ca/

Bob Clampett traveled with his color cartoons though he had some of the black and whites.

I first saw him when he came to Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario with his wife, Sody.

I was so impressed by him that I decided if I ever brought any one up from Hollywood he would be the first.

He came to Toronto for a week in August of 1979. We dealt with his career and work at a depth no one before or since has done with a film maker. Those sessions were audio-recorded. I wanted them video recorded but few knew Bob’s role and fewer valued it.

At one time we could buy legitimate 16mm prints of films the same way we now find them on dvd. Through publications like CLASSIC IMAGES and THE BIG REEL I found many sources for not so legitimate prints. There were also a few people locally. Television stations were supposed to junk their 16mm libraries. Most often someone rescued the titles from the dump. My own interest in Hollywood animation was sparked by the deluxe FILM COMMENT issue on THE HOLYWOOD CARTOON. I went to the local libraries for Warner’s, MGM, Paramount, etc.. It was the same story everywhere. The cartoons and shorts cost more in paper work than they made off rentals. They did not stock them. After I began my programs people got in touch wanting to know if I wanted to buy their father, brother’s uncle’s collection. It was always guys who had these. I’d say, “How much?” Then I gave them what they asked for without haggling. Did the same with the underground dealers who began to appear. They often told me I was their favorite client as I always paid what they wanted. I wanted their enthusiasm. As a result I wound up with a huge archive of 16mm prints of classic cartoons which I have since passed on.

During my ANIMAFEASTIVAL event with Bob Clampett I showed the black and white films. Bob, in his presentations, showed the color ones. Toronto people had sniffed their noses at meeting him (a not uncommon thing here in Hogtown. It is, however, the same everywhere). Through David Mruz’s publication ANIMANIA (formerly MINDrot) in which I advertised the event I was able to pull people from as far away as Japan and Russia. Reviews for the event are posted on here.

That is Bob’s real hair, by the way. Bob knew things all of us could profit by learning.

Bob was surprised by how well the black and whites went over. I loaned him some of my titles so that he could have copies made.I would imagine that, from then on, he included them in his presentations. I was fortunate in that I had people like Greg Duffell, Mike Barrier, Greg Ford, Mark Kausler and John Canemaker, Kim Korkis, Jerry Beck and others who inspired me through what they wrote about the films in various publications.

Through Bob I brought motion picture sound pioneer Bernard B. Brown (who I took over to the local Warner Brothers’ office to their delight–Brownie had recorded the sound on THE JAZZ SINGER), Grim Natwick and Friz Freleng to Toronto. Through Grim I met Shamus and Juana Culhane. Again the local film buffs sniffed their noses in the air (especially the academics and film teachers) but I was not doing it for them.

PORKY IN WACKYLAND is a stunner. So are many of Bob’s black and whites. It is a thrill to see them now being made available in copies which do them justice. We have come a long way since 1975 when I first began seeing more value in animated cartoons than I had realized was there. Heck, one dvd or Blu-ray costs less than a 16mm print of a cartoon did and offers more titles and better quality.

Anyone interested in hearing Bob Clampett speak at greater depth about his work than any animation artist ever did should get in touch. I have cds and dvds of all the presentations. It took me five years to transcribe the Bob Clampett tapes for publication. Doing that I listened to them again and again so that I know them like the back of my hand.

Painting By Reg Hartt. NOSFERATU.

Kid Dracula at Cineforum Toronto: A review by Dylan Berryman

Reg Hartt is what living in a metropolis is all about. He personifies the city as a meeting place of ideas, as a feast of experience and discussion and debate, as a triumph of the original and provoking over the banal and soporific.

– Michael Valpy, The Globe and Mail on Cineforum Toronto

If you have spent any time in downtown Toronto, you are aware of Reg Hartt, even if you have no idea who he is. He runs the Cineforum out of his living room on Bathurst and has since 1992. Reg Hartt is one of those local weirdoes/legends who people either love or hate. Since my first experience at the Cineforum, I have hated him. Actually, hate is a strong word so allow me to correct and explain myself.

I’ve always loved Reg Hartt’s posters and can’t imagine downtown Toronto without them. They’ve provided a sort of consistency in a constantly changing city, even if I’m not a fan of what is advertised. It’s very much like those “this lamb sells condo” ads with the guys face on the lamb body that were around years ago. They both provide a much needed mind fuck on an otherwise normal day.

My first time going to the Cineforum was in summer of 2003 and they were presenting a Stanley Kubrick film festival. I wanted to see Clockwork Orange on the big screen; not knowing it was in a guy’s house. 2003 was a very different world then 2013: there hadn’t been a black P.O.T.U.S, Chicago had just won the Oscar Moulin Rouge deserved, and I thought Mel Lastman was the worst mayor Toronto could have ever had. Those weren’t simpler times; I was just ignorant.

When I arrived I decided to attend, even though I was off put by the reality of the theatre. To be fair there is a warning above the door, “Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter.” I was early and Reg offered me soup that he was making. I declined and waited on the front porch.

The chairs in the theatre were those padded black chairs that high school teachers use while you have a shitty plastic chair even though you are seated for the same amount of time as the fucking teacher. So basically a less comfortable set up that I could have gotten at a friend’s house, with the same DVD quality I could have rented (pre-torrent times) and not even that big of a screen.

Back then, Toonie Tuesday at Rainbow Cinemas was a reality, and $10 was a lot to see a movie with a smaller screen than Rainbow. Movies were generally much cheaper then, and there was a Sugar Mountain across from Paramount Scotiabank Theatre, which provided cheaper alternatives to popcorn. I vowed never to go back to Cineforum, because it didn’t seem worth the money and felt sketched out by the whole experience.

Generally, it seems the Toronto film community is pretty dismissive of Reg Hartt; a statement I’m basing on zero research.* (Insert by Reg Hartt–THE CINEFORUM is listed  in THE LONELY PLANET, the world’s number one travel guide, as among the top places to see in Toronto: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/canada/toronto/entertainment-nightlife). He’s not seen as a respectable archivist because even though he has a vast collection, they are mostly consumer quality. I grew to hate Cineforum because of a holier-then-thow bandwagon mentality that exists in any art community.* What starts as genuine hate becomes force of habit after a while. It had been a decade, so it was time to give it another try.

I decided to see Kid Dracula, a mashup of the classic silent horror film Nosferatu and two Radiohead albums. I wanted to see this in high school, but didn’t because of reasons stated earlier. At the time, I did see Shadow of the Vampire, a fictionalized retelling of the production of Nosferatu in which Count Orlok was played by an actual vampire. Willem Defow received an Oscar nomination for the role and remains the only vampire character nominated for an Oscar. The film was direct by E. Elias Merhige of Begotten fame. You know, the film that makes Eraserhead look like Ernest Saves Christmas.

Most of the problems I had the first time at Cineforum were gone. The teacher chairs had been replaced with rolling office chairs and the screen was much bigger then I remembered. It’s a surreal experience to return to the same place after a decade and it’s bigger. Even though I was the only person attending the screening, I took full advantage of his BYOB policy. It’s such a rare occasion to get an entire theatre to yourself; much like really wide lanes on a highway, it’s needlessly luxurious.

Before the feature, they played Frankenstein from 1910, a once lost silent short film produced by Thomas Edison. I’m not sure if this is part of the regular presentation or a spontaneous choice on Reg’s part, but it was a pleasant surprise. The film is worth seeing for the monster creation scene.

***

Nosferatu is a film that has been written about in greater detail by better writers then me. It’s one of those classic films that’s almost impossible to have an opinion on because of how influential it is. You watch it to appreciate it, and any criticism comes with an understanding of that. It’s also difficult to see this as a “scary movie” because of how old it is. Today’s audiences are far more desensitised then the audience during the silent era. That being said some parts of the film remain truly creepy. The black and white and lack of camera movement lend to the eerie nature of the film. The old school special effects aren’t trying to do anything too special but they know their limitations and work well within them. Also Count Orlok’s make up and body movements are straight out of a nightmare.

Nosferatu has no dialogue so nothing is lost with the new soundtrack over. Kid A for the first half works far better then Ok Computers. While both albums are very atmospheric and melancholy something about Kid A makes more sense. I prefer Kid A, so I am biased in that respect. The infamous scene in which Count Olaf first attacks Thomas Hutter syncs up to “Idioteque” beyond perfectly and adds to the terror in way I was not expecting.

The synchronicity of the film and album only exists in our minds and will work with any album and film. If you don’t believe me, put on any Weird Al Yankovic’s alternative polkas and Tex Avery cartoons, after while you’ll see that I’m right. Our minds want to see the synchronicity so we notice what matches and forget what doesn’t. (Not true. Try playing Vienese waltzes with NOSFERATU. RADIOHEAD was a deliberate choice because the ambiance of the combination of film and music takes the experience in an entirely new and exciting direction).

As the lights came up at the end of the film, I noticed a poster for Clockwork Orange on the wall of the theatre, giving the night a weird sense of closure. Despite what I thought for the last ten year, I will go back to the Cineforum. It really is a unique experience that is worth the money. I recommend everyone see Kid Dracula at the Cineforum; something I would have never said years ago.

Dylan C. Berryman

***This is not the actual version of the film; find it if you can it’s pretty cool. I am not a search engine.

http://outsideworld.ca/TO/2013/05/23/kid-dracula-at-the-cineforum-toronto-a-review-by-dylan-berry/

 *There is not a trace of a “holier than thou” attitude about The Cineforum nor myself.

*Opinions based on zero research are not worth anything tho they are common as dirt. THE CINEFORUM has a HUGE archive to draw on including probably the largest collection of animated cartoons in Canada, the most extensive collection of 3D films in Canada and much, much more. In addition I sponsored symposia with several great animation artists and directors including Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, Grim Natwick and Shamus Culhane. Motion picture sound pioneer Bernard B. Brown was also a guest. His career went back to playing first violin thru 365 performances of THE BIRTH OF A NATION (as THE CLANSMAN) for its initial run at Clune’s Auditorium in Hollywood.

As for myself, I have a pretty good standing with people who matter as these letters from the late Jane Jacobs bear witness:

My work has also received extremely favorable critical press over the years:

In 1978 Reg Hartt invited Warner Brothers legendary animation director Bob Clampett to Toronto to share what he had learned with a new generation of young Canadian animation artists. No government funds were used.

Academy Award winning animation director Friz Freleng came to Toronto in 1980 as a guest of Reg Hartt. While here he taught young animation artists about how to stay active in the art and business of animated cartoons.

This letter led Ottawa’s TOWNE CINEMA to book my presentation of Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS with my score. I suggested they book my animation program. “We don’t have an audience for cartoons,” they said. “You will for this program,” I told them. Because I refused to give them METROPOLIS without booking this program they agreed. We did well on METROPOLIS but we packed the place and had to turn people away with the cartoon fest. Said one of the partners, “This is the first time we have filled this theater since we opened it.”

Our Mayor Robert Ford now at the center of a hurricane of gossip, has practically been accused of murder by the vicious tongue waggers.

That is one rumor that can get laid to rest:

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2013/05/31/rob_ford_crack_video_scandal_anthony_smiths_killing_was_street_level_stuff_sources_say.html .

Ivor Shapiro, Ryerson journalism guru. “Men are born ignorant not stupid. It is education that makes them stupid,” said Bertrand Russell. This man is living proof of those words. I would think that a member of a people that saw millions murdered through the use of innuendo and outright lies would be among the first to denounce what is happening to Mayor Ford via the media. I would be wrong.

Ivor Shapiro, Ryerson Journalism guru, tells us why gossip matters (http://www.thegridto.com/city/people/ivor-shapiro-journalism-guru/). The worst part of this is that the silly people believe him.

A while back some Ryerson journalism students interviewing me asked, “What do you think is the value of a Ryerson journalism, degree?”

By chance Max Allen was walking by (http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features.html ).

I have known Max since the late 1960′s.

I said, “Instead of me answering that question why don’t we have my friend Max Allen who is one of the top producers at the CBC answer it?”

I called Max over.

“Max, these are some Ryerson journalism students. They want to know the value of a Ryerson journalism degree,” I said to him.

“Less than zero,” said Max who then stopped and explained to them why they were wasting their time.

I love synchronicity.

Of course, the students did not know who Max is and did not believe a word.

Max Allen is one of the most important journalists in Canada. With Simon Waegemaekers he created THE MUSEUM FOR TEXTILES in Canada.

Robert Fulord is one of Canada’s premier journalists. Bob welcomed the legendary Blacklisted Outlaw Journalist Al Aronwitz to Toronto for me.

Bob briefly taught at Ryerson. I asked him why he stopped. “The students don’t want to learn,” he said.

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/robert-fulford.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Aronowitz

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/02/AR2005080202209.html

http://www.blacklistedjournalist.com/

My ROGERS email account has been hacked.

All of my contacts have been deleted. My emails going back to 2011 have been deleted. Obviously, I have changed the password.

This is the email that was sent:

Seems my Rogers email account has been hacked. Pay it no mind:
Hello,

I am sorry for reaching you rather too late due to the situation of things right now.My family and I had a trip visiting Manila Philippines,everything was going on fine until last night when we got attacked by some unknown gunmen. All our money,phones and credit cards was stolen away including some valuable items, It was a terrible experience but the good thing is that they didn’t hurt anyone or made away with our passports.

We have reported the incident to the local authorities and the consulate but their response was too casual, we were ask to come back in 2 weeks time for investigations to be made proper,But the truth is we can’t wait till then as we have just got our return flight booked and is leaving in few hours from now but presently having problems sorting out our bills here and also getting a cab down to the airport,Right now we’re financially strapped due to the unexpected robbery attack, Wondering if you can help us with a quick loan to sort out our bills and get back home.All we need is ($2,850), I promise to refund you in full as soon as I return hopefully tomorrow or next. write back now to let me know what you can do.

Thank You.

REG.

DO NOT SEND ANYONE A DIME.–Reg Hartt

I guess my standing up against this public lynching has really pissed someone off.

The words of THE NEW TESTAMENT were written to be read aloud not in privacy.

Kurt Vonnegut, an atheist, when asked why he cared for people so obviously beneath his station, replied, “The Sermon From The Mount.”

Christopher Isherwood, a homosexual, said, “One does not have to believe in God to believe in the Sermon From The Mount.”

For those who want to hear those words I will be reading them 2 pm Sunday, June 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30th at THE PUBLIC ENEMY, 463 Bathurst below College across from The Beer Store.

These readings are for atheists, agnostics and non-Christians.

After all one does not have to be a Christian to believe in The Sermon From The Mount.

I will be commenting where I feel it required to better understand the context.

For example most translations of Romans 2: 14-15 render it thus: When the Gentiles, who have no knowledge of the Law, act in accordance with it by the light of nature, they show that they have a law in themselves, for they demonstrate the effect of a law operating in their own hearts. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%202&version=PHILLIPS

My father’s brother, Douglas Hartt, had studied to be a priest before entering the civil service where he became Director General of Public Works Canada in the government of Pierre Trudeau. From him I got a much more powerful translation of THE NEW TESTAMENT that gave those words thus: “When the gentiles who know not Christ live the life Christ teaches THEY ARE CHRIST.”

Conventional Christians tell us that unless we become a Christian we are damned.

Peter, however, who is the rock upon which Jesus built his church said, “I see the Lord is not a respecter of person but that in all lands those who love God and do good are loved by God.”

Conventional Christians lie. Most of them don’t know the word they preach [Just as most who call themselves Marxists seem not to know or (worse) knowing it ignore that Karl Marx said, "You can not have a socialist state for then the state becomes the capitalist."].

A lynching, any lynching, is wrong. That is exactly what GAWKER, THE STAR and THE GLOBE AND MAIL are doing their best to achieve.

There is due process for dealing with everything. When it is applied mistakes can be and sometimes are made.

The rush to judgement and to condemnation is swift and always wrong.

The pipe described by THE STAR reporters, as I have said before, is NOT A CRACK PIPE.

It is a pipe used for smoking CRYSTAL METH.

Crack can not be smoked in a crystal meth pipe.

No one who smokes crack slurs their speech. They become AWARE, PARANOID, and SHARP.

The paranoia, when the phone rang, would have caused that person (especially a highly placed official)  to seize it at once, not to say, “That phone better not be on,” and to let it pass. Such a person would have known at once what was up. That person would have seized the phone and destroyed it.

The picture that accompanied the story was not from the video. After first publication very few noted that in print. As I said, the rush to judgement ALWAYS leads to error.

Now it is one thing for Gawker and Toronto Star reporters not to know the difference between a crystal meth pipe and a crack pipe as well as not to know that Crack does not produce slurred speech and quite another for drug dealers (Somali or otherwise) not to know that.

This is the pipe described in THE STAR. It is used for smoking crystal meth. Crack can not be smoked in this pipe.

This is what a crack pipe looks like.

As well, as the stories about all this have stated, these folk are supposed to have more than one client who is highly placed.

To blackmail one client (especially such a high profile client) is to threaten them all.

The “dealers” with the alleged video are guys on the chain. Their action not only imperils their clients but also their suppliers who depend on the trust of their clients to stay in business. More than one client and more than one supplier is threatened by their action.

Were they themselves crack users they would never have hatched this scheme.

Natives in South America take a bit of cocaine when hunting because it sharpens up their senses.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes used cocaine to sharpen his senses (a fact deleted from the movies).

The people behind this are not sharp. They are copulating DUMB.

Gawker and THE STAR have been played.

We also know that ads appeared on the web for someone who could pass for Mayor Ford to appear in a video.

This is one of several ads that appeared on the web looking for a Rob Ford look-a-like.

Rush to judgement if you choose. I can’t stop you from doing that. THE GLOBE AND MAIL, THE STAR and GAWKER have seen their chance to bring down a man they loathe. They have grabbed it.

Take yesterday’s report in THE STAR about the police visting Mayor Ford’s office. Every word was emotionally tinged to make the reader believe bad stuff is going on. THE STAR has been against Ford from the get go. THE STAR simply can not be trusted.

Contrast that with the report on the same thing in THE NATIONAL POST.

Jane Jacobs said to me of THE STAR, “I HATE THAT PAPER.”

Every day why she said that becomes increasingly clear.

From THE WAY OF THE TAO by Lao Tze to The Sermon on The Mount we are told that good men keep the lid on scandals and move with great caution because they care about the damage not doing that will bring on while evil men (THE I CHING calls them inferior men) ALWAYS rush to expose, to damn, to judge, to condemn and they do this for their own evil purpose.

THE STAR and THE GLOBE AND MAIL are specious.

They and the people who align themselves with them want us to rush forward. They want us to lynch Mayor Ford.

Jane Jacobs was my friend. She taught me to believe in no system. She also taught me to speak up when I see something being done which is wrong. This is as wrong as it gets.

Once upon a time I had a whole audience shouting angrily that I was a liar. Mrs. Jacobs was in that audience. She rose and said, “He is telling you the truth.”

In THE BIBLE God says to his prophets, “If these people do not listen to you I will punish them. But you, if you do not speak, I will kill.”

I don’t need God to kill me if I keep silent. For that silence when I know the truth would make me a coward. A coward is a dead man walking.

In closing:

1. The pipe described by the STAR is not a crack pipe. It is a pipe used for smoking crystal meth.

2. Cocaine sharpens the senses. A person on crack is paranoid. If a phone rang as described in the report that person would not say, “That phone better not be on.” That person would seize it and destroy it.

3. GAWKER and THE STAR are being played. They hear what they want to hear.

4. The people offering the video are not drug dealers. They are amateurs who can’t tell a crack pipe from a meth pipe.

Now sober up folks, slow down, reflect and then cancel your subscription to THE GLOBE AND MAIL and THE STAR.

They are playing us for their own purpose.

It would not be the first time and sure won’t be the last.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnKzN0WsO9g

A dedication to Gavin Hamilton Esq

Expect na, sir, in this narration,
A fleechan, fleth’ran Dedication,
To roose you up, an’ ca’ you guid,
An’ sprung o’ great an’ noble bluid;
Because ye’re surnam’d like His Grace,
Perhaps related to the race:
Then, when I’m tir’d – and sae are ye,
Wi’ mony a fulsome, sinfu’ lie,
Set up a face, how I stop short,
For fear your modesty be hurt.

This may do – maun do, Sir, wi’ them wha
Maun please the great folk for a wamefou;
For me! sae laigh I need na bow,
For, Lord be thankit, I can plough;
And when I downa yoke a naig,
Then, Lord be thanket, I can beg;
Sae I shall say – an’ that’s nae flatt’rin -
It’s just sic Poet an’ sic Patron.

The Poet, some guid Angel help him,
Or else, I fear, some ill ane skelp him!
He may do weel for a’ he’s done yet,
But only – he’s no just begun yet.

The Patron (Sir, ye maun forgie me;
I winna lie, come what will o’ me),
On ev’ry hand it will allow’d be,
He’s just – nae better than he should be.

I readily and freely grant,
He downa see a poor man want;
What’s no his ain, he winna tak it;
What ance he says, he winna break it;
Ought he can lend he’ll no refus’t,
Till aft his guidness is abus’d;
And rascals whyles that do him wrang,
Ev’n that, he does na mind it lang:
As Master, Landlord, Husband, Father,
He does na fail his part in either.

But then, nae thanks to him for a’ that;
Nae godly symptom ye can ca’ that;
It’s naething but a milder feature,
Of our poor, sinfu’ corrupt Nature:
Ye’ll get the best o’ moral works,
‘Mang black Gentoos, and Pagan Turks,
Or hunters wild on Ponotaxi,
Wha never heard of Orthodoxy.
That he’s the poor man’s friend in need,
The GENTLEMAN in word and deed,
It’s no through terror of Damnation;
It’s just a carnal inclination.

Morality, thou deadly bane,
Thy tens o’ thousands thou hast slain!
Vain is his hope, whase stay an’ trust is,
In moral Mercy, Truth, and Justice!

No – stretch a point to catch a plack;
Abuse a Brother to his back;
Steal through the winnock frae a whore,
But point the rake that taks the door;
Be to the Poor like onie whunstane,
And haud their noses to the grunstane;
Ply ev’ry art o’ legal thieving;
No matter – stick to sound believing.

Learn three-mile pray’rs, an’ half-mile graces,
Wi’ weel-spread looves, an’ lang, wry faces;
Grunt up a solemn, lengthen’d groan,
And damn a’ Parties but your own;
I’ll warrant then, ye’re nae Deceiver,
A steady, sturdy, staunch Believer.

O ye wha leave the springs o’ Calvin,
For gumlie dubs of your ain delvin!
Ye sons of Heresy and Error,
Ye’ll some day squeel in quaking terror!
When Vengeance draws the sword in wrath,
And in the fire throws the sheath;
When Ruin, with his sweeping besom,
Just frets till Heav’n commission gies him;
While o’er the Harp pale Misery moans,
And strikes the ever-deep’ning tones,
Still louder shrieks, and heavier groans!

Your pardon, Sir, for this digression,
I maist forgat my Dedication;
But when Divinity comes cross me,
My readers still are sure to lose me.

So, Sir, you see ’twas nae daft vapour,
But I maturely thought it proper,
When a’ my works I did review,
To dedicate them, Sir, to You:
Because (ye need na tak it ill),
I thought them something like yoursel.

Then patronize them wi’ your favor,
And your Petitioner shall ever
I had amaist said, ever pray,
But that’s a word I need na say:
For prayin I hae little skill o’t;
I’m baith dead-sweer, an’ wretched ill o’t;
But I’se repeat each poor man’s pray’r,
That kens or hears about you, Sir.

“May ne’er Misfortune’s gowling bark,
Howl thro’ the dwelling o’ the CLERK!
May ne’er his genrous, honest heart,
For that same gen’rous spirit smart!
May Kennedy’s far-honour’d name
Lang beet his hymeneal flame,
Till Hamiltons, at least a diz’n,
Are frae their nuptial labors risen:
Five bonie Lasses round their table,
And sev’n braw fellows, stout an’ able,
To serve their King an’ Country weel,
By word, or pen, or pointed steel!
May Health and Peace, with mutual rays,
Shine on the ev’ning o’ his days;
Till his wee, curlie John’s ier-oe,
When ebbing life nae mair shall flow,
The last, sad, mournful rites bestow!”

I will not wind a lang conclusion,
With complimentary effusion:
But whilst your wishes and endeavours,
Are blest with Fortune’s smiles and favours,
I am, Dear Sir, with zeal most fervent,
Your much indebted, humble servant.

But if, which Pow’rs above prevent,
That iron-hearted Carl, Want,
Attended, in his grim advances,
By sad mistakes, and black mischances,
While hopes, and joys, and pleasures fly him,
Make you as poor a dog as I am,
Your humble servant then no more;
For who would humbly serve the Poor?
But by a poor man’s hopes in Heav’n!
While recollection’s pow’r is giv’n,
If, in the vale of humble life,
The victim sad of Fortune’s strife,
I, through the tender-gushing tear,
Should recognise my Master dear;
If friendless, low, we meet together,
Then, Sir, your hand – my FRIEND and BROTHER.

—Robert Burns.

Lynchings are led by fiends masquerading as men of virtue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqbXOO3OiOs