Fairy Tales and Zeroes

So, Shelly Duvall has shuffled off this mortal coil. She had just turned 75 years old.

Gilroy said Duvall had been in hospice and bedridden for the last few months due to complications from diabetes. She died in her sleep, he said in a phone call.

"She’s gone after much suffering," said Gilroy, her life partner since 1989. "I can’t tell you how much I miss her.” (source)

My favorite work of hers is Faerie Tale Theatre. This was her live-action retelling of 25 fairy tales (by The Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault and Hans Christian Andersen). Faerie Tale Theatre was, to the best of my memory, similar to the Fractured Fairy Tales portion of The Rocky and Bullwinkle show.

Goddamn, I loved those shows. They inspired me to think outside the box, not accept the prettified, pablumed up Disney versions and laugh at the absurdity of life.

Fractured Fairy Tales prepped me for Monty Python which set me up for Faerie Tale Theater which brought me to Brazil, 12 Monkeys, Delicatessen, The Fisher King, The Truman Show and every movie based on a Philip K. Dick book or short story. I’m sure I’m forgetting some important (to me anyway) flicks here.

One of the things I loved about Duvall was that she was a successful, creative, talented actress who wasn’t a Farah Fawcett/Goldie Hawn smooth, cookie cutter, teevee-pretty, blonde mannequin. (to be fair, these two were fine actors but they were known for their looks, not acting chops) Duvall had dark hair (for most roles), seemed a tiny bit gawky and had dinner plate sized eyes. She looked like a real human, not an airbrushed male fantasy come-to-life. Could you imagine Loni Anderson or Susan Dey playing The Shining's Wendy Torrance?
~~~
Here’s a heartwarming tale out of yesterday’s news—a couple of nudists in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood rescued a person being attacked by a blowtorch wielding maniac.

A video from the scene shows an onlooker snag the blowtorch just before the attacker starts to punch the tourist.
~~~
The naked samaritans—Pete Sferra of San Jose and Lloyd Fishback of San Francisco—were letting it all hang out on a July 2 stroll through the neighborhood when they spotted a “crazy kind of pirate guy” threatening a man with a blowtorch.
~~~
“My buddy Lloyd is a quiet, respectful guy,” Sferra said. “But he didn’t waste any time and nailed the guy with a right hook.” Fishback followed up the punch with an underhand smack to the face, after which the attacker walked away. 

Shirts 0; skins 1. (source)

Zero Triball was caught and, at the time of the story’s post, is in the county jail. Given past judgements, it seems unlikely that anything solidly effective will be done though. 

What can be done to keep the community and its visitors safe from violent wack-a-loons? District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman wants Zero to be placed in a conservatorship. While a conservatorship can ensure that Zero’s money and healthcare needs are taken care of, who would be his conservator? Does he have family or friends who could or would do this for him? Does that person, if they exist, have the necessary financial resources? Short of locking Zero up in Bedlam, how would anyone keep the neighborhood safe from this clearly disturbed dangerous person? Do American versions of Bedlam even exit anymore? Didn’t Ronnie Raygun and his fellow myopic, miscreant Republi/Fascists gut the mental health system 40+ years ago? Yes, yes they did.

Who’s gonna make sure Zero takes his anti-psychotic and calm-me-down meds each morning? Who’s gonna make sure he goes to his shrink appointments? Anyone?

 Having said all this, the image in my head of these two middle-aged nudists, calmly strolling down the avenue, saving a random stranger from a horror show assault, makes me smile BIG.

Not all heroes wear capes (or anything else)!