The letters below were compiled from several issues; all concern Issue 13: Vertigo.
The importance of being Ebert
Any publication that reveals the Borgesian structures in the X-Files ["Vertigo Rush" by Matt Goldberg, issue #13] is OK by me. I wouldn't be so sure, though, that the creators of the show have never read the Master! I also liked the whole concept in #11/12 of a close definition of camp—nailed by Chris Fujiwara's "MST3K" slam. Here's Roger Ebert on Camp, during an interview I once did with him for Requestline.com:
REQUESTLINE: What about the other samples of '60s-style dialogue [in Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls]? ("This is my happening and it freaks me out!" "Come on, man. I doubt if you'd recognize a hippie. I'm a capitalist, baby. I work for my living, not suck off somebody else.") Was all of it intended to be campy, or does it just seem that way if you can't remember 1970?
EBERT: The entire movie was intended to be funny... I do not consider it campy. Camp would involve an elevation of acting style, but these actors were carefully briefed by Meyer to play it absolutely straight. He believed (correctly) that satire and parody do not work if the actors know they're supposed to be "funny." So they acted completely sincerely, after long, deep discussions about motivation, background, etc.
Tim Cavanaugh
San Francisco, CA
Nothing's not good enough
Thanks, Josh Glenn, for taking Sartre to task for his nihilism in "Vertigo: An Introduction." It's true: He is no hero!! Though I love Nietzsche, I tend to agree with Heidegger that Nietzsche's philosophy does not escape nihilism but merely completes it by never dropping will-to-power and human instrumentality out of the picture. Not to indulge in a play on words, but I think the fact that, as secure educated fairly fortunate 20-30 year olds, "nothing" threatens us very closely. No wars on our soil, poverty not too close at hand, material possessions somewhat available... and so what is there to protect or be or stand for? We define ourselves negatively, always against something we don't want to be... but what are we?
P.S. Loved "Subvertigo: The Treason of the 'Verts" [issue #13] by Sam Pratt, too.
Jill Stauffer
San Francisco, CA
Evel expert
Got Hermenaut #13 the other day—naturally I read the Evel stuff ["Pure Evel" by Dan Reines] first, which just reaffirmed to me what a cantankerous old bastard he really is. I'd be scared of him too. Don't really wanna bother trying to interview him myself anymore, 'cause everybody else is doing it anyway, from Sports Illustrated to Popsmear, and Evel always gives the same tired, rambling answers to everything he's asked. But I'd still like to meet him face-to-face before he dies, just to bring things full circle. Anyway, too bad you didn't get an actual interview per se, but I still liked Reines's first-person story a lot, especially Evel's "What the fuck company do you represent?" As for the review of Evel Knievel: Last of the Gladiators [by Chris Johnson], that was allright too (loved the graphics), but it should be noted that it's a reissue that was originally filmed in 1986. The part where he's walking along the beach holding hands with his wife is a joke: That same year he was arrested in Kansas City for soliciting sex from a prostitute! I could ramble on and on about Evel some more, but that's what Heinous [Mandich's excellent zine about Knievel, the Human Fly, and more—ed.] is for. I dig that Slotcar Hatebath, too, but to be honest, trying to get thru some of the other "heady philosophy" stuff makes me feel like an uncultured, uneducated slob. I do have a high school diploma, though... Allright, Xena is on TV now, running around with her big medieval boobs. I gotta go.
Steve Mandich
Portland, OR
Baudelaire who?
Dan Reines' "Pure Evel" was definitely my favorite feature in Hermenaut #13: eye-opening! I always figured the stage name was just for show but now I've come to the conclusion that the man is in fact an Evil Evel. The Baudelaire essay was great too, I learned from that one. I'd never even heard of him before! Good stuff.
Bob Kronbauer
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Vertiginous Ventura
The cover of Hermenaut #13 is the best looking one yet, for what it's worth. Did you know the "man in black" to whom Mulder is speaking (in that picture in the X-Files article) is none other than Jesse "The Body" Ventura, of WWF wrestling fame (at least famous to those of us who actually watched WWF, particularly in the classic 1981-1985 years—remember Cyndi Lauper hanging out with Captain Lou Albano?). Jesse's X-Files appearance was the coolest cameo I've seen since Andy Warhol was on The Love Boat.
Ben Pomicter
Boston, MA
Ben, who wrote us before Ventura was elected Governor of the great state of Minnesota, wins a T-shirt for being such a TV addict.—ed.
Chip thinks fast
While I enjoyed Dan Reines' piece on America's favorite daredevil ["Pure Evel"], it took too damn long to get past his pontificating about how he got into Evel's house. The only "I" in the story of Evel is the one in Knievel! It's about time somebody wrote a good history of the zoom ["Zooming Through Space," by Chris Fujiwara], and I liked "A Swimming in the Head" by Fujiwara, too. "Motley Cruise" [review of Pam and Tommy Lee: Hardcore and Uncensored by Ingrid Schorr], however, was riveting. I've seen that tape and I have to agree that the sex is the least interesting part of it. My wife watched it with me and it's edited in a way that there's a birthday party or something and then suddenly there's Tommy's massive cock. My wife turned to me in astonishment, then cried "I shouldn't have married so quickly!" (I told her that it was the zoom, and to get over it.)
Chip Rowe
Chicago, IL
