Welcome to Assateague Island - A National Seashore

Last weekend, I took a drive out to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia. There's a long barrier island, just south of Ocean City, Maryland, that's famous for it's wild ponies - technically horses. This island is technically in Maryland. However, the southern tip of the island is closely linked to another island on the Virginia side of the Eastern Shore. 

This is Assateague Island. 

Assateague Island was originally slated to become an island community in the 1960s - similar to Ocean City, Maryland - but a hurricane put an end to those plans. There are a few remaining bits of evidence of this planned community in the northern part of the island with huge chunks of asphalt and an old ferry landing.

After the hurricane, Assateague Island became a designated National Seashore. There's also a Maryland State Park and a Wildlife Refuge. Each section has hiking trails, beach access, and plenty of wildlife. 

Which brings me the most famous part of Assateague Island - the wild ponies.

 

There are many theories as to how the Assateague and Chincoteague Island ponies came to be on the island. The most popular legend is that a Spanish Galleon wrecked off the Eastern Shore coast and the horses on the ship swam to shore, became wild, and adapted to living on the island. However, the actual origins to the wild horses has been lost to history.

I first learned of Assateague Island and the amazing wildlife there by reading the book Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry in grade school. I was never really into horses as a kid (it was my cousin's thing, so it couldn't be my thing), but the story always stood out to me. It's loosely based on true events and includes the famous pony swim between Assateague and Chincoteague - complete with saltwater cowboys - and explains some of the history behind the famous annual event.

In the 1920s, two fires swept through Chincoteague's tiny town's main street, devastating the area. Chincoteague's fire department were the ones to propose a charity event where they would round up the horses on the southern tip of the island, have them swim between the two islands, parade them to town, and then action some of them off for charity. The event raised enough money to help the town rebuild. To this day, the Chincoteague Fire Department still technically owns the horses on the southern (or Virginia) side of the island of Assateague. These horses are kept in fenced off areas with around 40 in a smaller paddock closer to where people can see them and a larger paddock further north with around 100 horses which is a bit of a hike to get to.

The horses in the north (or Maryland) side of the island have a very different living situation. The wild horses are allowed to roam free, often enjoy prancing on the beach, and occasionally sleep near someone's camp site (the northern part of the island is the only area you are allowed to camp and bring your pets). Though you don't want to get too close to the horses (you'll want to keep about a school bus or 40 feet or 10 meters away from the wildlife), they can come up close and personal to you if you aren't paying attention. 

The only warning my parents kept reminding me before I went to Assateague was that the horses will bite and/or kick if they don't want you near them. In fact, if a horse is seen as being "too aggressive" the horse will be retired to a sanctuary elsewhere in the United States. These are wild animals and should be treated as such.

The two sides of the island are only connected via a hiking trail. You cannot drive between the north and the south. Pets and camping are also not allowed on the southern side of the island as it's a wildlife refuge, while in the north there's a lot of camp sites - including the opportunity to camp on the beach and backwoods camping that can only be accessed by kayak or canoe. There are a lot more hiking trails in the southern area and a really cool Civil War lighthouse that is still maintained by the Coast Guard.

However, both sides are worth a visit. I stayed in Chincoteague, but could have easily camped or stayed in Ocean City as an alternative. 

Assateague Island National Seashore and the Chincoteague Wildlife Refuge are both part of the National Park system. If you have a park pass, you're visit is free! However, you will need to purchase additional permits for camping, off road vehicles on the beach, fishing, and clamming. There are opportunities to rent bicycles, paddleboards, kayaks, and canoes. Beaches do have lifeguards, but they only seem to be available during the typical summer months (Memorial Day to Labor Day).

Wild horses are not native to the United States, however they are common throughout the country. Many western states have wild horse populations such as Arizona and California that were reintroduced to North America via the European colonialization period (mainly Spaniard) - horses had been native to North America, but died out some 10,000 years ago. You can even see wild horses in the western areas of Virginia mountains and the Outer Banks barrier islands.

Assateague and Chincoteague Islands are beautiful and the horses are amazing to see. The Chincoteague Island Ponies (which are really horses) have recently become the state mammal of Virginia. If you're curious about the famous horses, I recommend starting with the fictional story Misty of Chincoteague or one of the documentaries released by the National Parks Service. 

The islands are well worth a visit.

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you like hearing from me.

Welcome to Creativity in Multiple Mediums

 One might say too many mediums.

Yesterday, I was given an hour to talk about my creative projects. My many, many, many creative projects in multiple mediums. I was asked by the leader of the Writer’s Group which I joined in New Jersey and have been able to stay in contact with (after moving several states away) due to Zoom. 

Naturally, I put together a presentation in PowerPoint that I breezed through in 30 minutes. This included my reasons for why I try so many different creative outlets (it boils down to boredom) and some examples of my work. I had a short diatribe on where I post and share my work (i.e. Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Comic Fury, etc.). I even included a slide on transmedia storytelling (the technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies.) - something I have dabbled in, but found overwhelming to do on my own - to show how knowledge in multiple mediums allows flexibility and a layer of interactivity in creativity.

Somewhat coincidently, I went to a meeting of my Art Club earlier in the day. 

Normally, the Art Club I go to is a free time for creative expression. Everyone brings in their work in progress (as long as it’s not too messy, we do meet in libraries) and spends a few hours chatting while being creative. Drawing, watercolor painting, and digital art are some of the more popular artistic choices. However, we have our fair share of knitters, cross stitchers, and collage makers.

Typically, I work on my digital blackout poetry project - turning every page in Jane Austin’s Northanger Abby into a blackout poem (see example not from the collection below).

I'm pretty sure this is an example from the novel Phantom of the Opera

This week, we had a theme. For two hours we took turns posing and being models for figure drawings. The shortest poses were held for 5 minutes, while the longest were held for 20 minutes. I held a seated pose for 10 minutes. Sketch books were out. Some people only used pencils, while others had charcoal, pastels or watercolors. Three of us (myself included) were working digitally - two tablets, one computer.

I still work with physical mediums like canvas and paper. I love turning my pictures into paintings with watercolors and acrylic. However, I’ve also been using digital mediums for a while now. 

Technically, the majority of my written works (including this blog) are in a digital space. I may still outline on pen and paper, but my final short stories and blog posts are created on my laptop or tablet (rarely, but still possible, on my phone). My webcomic started as me drawing in pencil and pen on paper and then scanning onto my laptop to post, but is now 100% done on my tablet.

I'm just not as good at drawing on my tablet, like I am in one of my sketchbooks.

At the beginning of my presentation for my Writer's Group, I stated I wasn't sure why I was given a whole hour to talk - that seemed like too much time. I ran through my slides in 20 minutes and reiterated my thoughts. 

And then the questions and requests came in.

The wonderful people listening and watching my presentation had loads of questions and wanted me to drop links to my social media pages. I showed them my webcomic (The Mighty Detective Mortimer & Lou actually does come up first in my Google search), my food blog (Cooking with Spirits), and my art/poetry Facebook Page (AJ's Corner of Cyberspace).

Needless to say, I filled that hour up.

I also have my cross stitch, knitting, and crochet projects (some of which I need to finish sooner rather than later). 

I admit, having all of these projects is a lot. And difficult to juggle. 

As I've gotten older and busier, I've found that balancing all of the projects is getting tougher and tougher. At some point, I will need to let some of these projects go - especially the long term ones that I've been working on for nearly 10 years (see this blog). It'll be hard and emotional to say good bye to them.

But if I want to keep evolving as an artist and writer, I have to be willing to move on to the next project.

I know I mostly discussed my art today, but I am also an avid writer (see my two blogs - you're reading one of them) and have published several short stories and poems in different literary magazines, zines, and anthologies. I'm not stopping writing any time soon, which adds another level to my creative balancing act.

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

P.S. You may have noticed that I didn't mention anything about video production or music. I have actually worked in the visual medium space and have zero desire to turn it into a hobby (even vlogging sounds like too much work). Music is fun and I can (kind of) play two instruments (my family may disagree) and was in a music sorority in college, however, it is also an expensive hobby that I can't return to for a while.

Welcome to Scary Blossom

 I am a local to the Washington DC area. I spent my formative years within reach of the heart of the city center. I know this city, it’s seasons and it’s moods. 

This past week was the start of our tourist season. Bus loads of sightseers and out of town visitors are swarming the city. Traffic is worse than usual and everyone is driving five miles under the speed limit.

It’s Cherry Blossom time y’all.

Otherwise known as “Scary Blossom”, the DC cherry blossoms at peak bloom are truly beautiful. However, the tourists make navigating the city nearly impossible - even worse than the forth of July and protest season. (Okay the 4th of July might be a bit of an exaggeration because the tourists are also insane, but Cherry Blossom is when the chaos begins).

No more is Washing DC for the locals to the DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia tri-state area). Now, we’ll have bus loads of school children visiting our world famous (and mostly free) museums, monuments, and government buildings. Protests will kick up activity in about a month - though they are easier to navigate. No one will know where they’re going (not just the tourists, but the new construction will create new,  longer routes to get to work).

For an event that lasts about a week (depending on weather, wind, and temperature), the Cherry Blossoms are an important part of DC culture. The original Sakura trees were planted along the Tidal Bain in 1912. These trees were a gift of friendship from the People of Japan to the People of the United States because of a correspondence between First Lady Helen “Nellie” Taft and the then Mayor of Tokyo. The original 3,000+ trees are over 110 years old and one of the icons of the city.

We put these flowers on everything DC related - along with the Washington Monument and Capital Building. Coffee mugs, pins, patches, chocolate bars, and more have pink blossoms and white buildings on a blue sky background.

One of my paintings of the event.

And yes, they are beautiful.

Sakura or Cherry Blossoms are incredibly pretty. When their petals fall, it looks like pink snow swirling through the air. They are the unofficial signal spring has begun and that warmer weather is around the corner. 

And they let the residents of the Washington DC area know that tourists are coming.

It is worth it to see the DC Cherry Blossoms once in your life. The Tidal Basin is a lovely area and the trees frame the backdrop of many of the monuments. My favorite area to see them is around the FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) memorial all the way up to Jefferson. I haven’t done that walk in years, but it is beautiful on a clear day.

Another of my paintings of the Cherry Blossoms

However, I can’t stand the traffic and clusters of tourists standing in the middle of roads and pathways while they decide where to go. Parking is a nightmare and the metro is overcrowded at all times, not just peak rush hour.

I love DC. I love the Cherry Blossoms.

I don’t love the tourists.

But that’s part of the life being a resident of Washington DC.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Welcome to Scooby Doo Meets Batman

 Guys, I have fallen down a rabbit hole and I do not want to dig myself out. I recently learned that DC has been writing comic books and mid-grade level books featuring the Scooby Doo meeting Batman and helping him solve crimes.

These are everything my inner child needs right now.

Cross overs are nothing new, in fact Scooby Doo first met Batman and Robin in the 1972 episode “The Dynamic Scooby Affair” from the show “The New Scooby Doo Movies”. This Scooby Doo series was nothing but crossover episodes with some of my favorite guests being the Addams Family and the Harlem Globetrotters. There were two Batman crossover episodes, but the first one (Dynamic) was the one most often replayed. 

Scooby Doo and Batman are nostalgic for me. Scooby Doo was a popular rerun block on the newish Cartoon Network in the 90s before getting a reboot run in the early 2000s. “What’s New Scooby Doo” was my jam in the 2000s and it coincided with the live action movies that came out in 2002 and 2004 respectively. I’ve somewhat kept up with the more recent Scooby Doo series - “Mystery Inc.” being the standout - and enjoyed watching the characters evolve over time. 

Batman was also an animated series in the early to mid 90s that shaped my understanding of the character. It was released shortly after the 1989 Batman movie. “Batman the Animated Series” along with a few other animated DC superhero (known by fans as the DCAU or DC Animated Universe) shows eventually became “Justice League” and “Justice League Unlimited” (or JLU). The DCAU also had a few cross over episode with my favorites being anytime Static Shock showed up - another standout early 2000s show.

However, Scooby Doo never made it to the DCAU. Though Warner Brothers owned both franchises by the 2000s, it wasn’t until a “Batman Brave and the Bold” movie that Scooby and the gang meet Batman and his friends again. A crossover movie that was released in 2018. That’s almost 50 years of them not interacting.

You may be thinking, but does Scooby Doo fit into the Batman and DC universe. The latest portrayals of the Dark Knight have been dark and edgy - way different from the more lighthearted Scooby Doo universe. Brave and the Bold doesn’t count because that series was for little kids, while The Animated Series and JLU were a lot darker with older teens in mind.

To which I counter: have y’all seen “Zombie Island” or “Witch’s Curse”? Those Scooby Doo movies have a very similar aesthetic as The Animated Series. Yes, Scooby Doo tends to err on the lighter side, but they are still dealing with criminals who dress up in costumes to do crime. Kind of like how super villains dress up in ridiculous costumes and do crimes in the DC universe.

In fact , I would argue that Scooby Doo’s villains fit in well with the villains running around in spandex of the DC universe (particularly the Flash’s Rogue Gallery, but that is neither here nor there). Why wouldn’t greedy land developers try to scare people away in silly costumes, if really bad guys are already terrorizing the general public in silly costumes.

Therefore, Scooby Doo and the Mystery Gang are a logical addition to the DC universe. 

The Scooby gang just doesn’t need to dress up because they don’t have the same tragic backstory Batman does.

Anyway, I bought both volumes of the recently released Batman & Scooby Doo Mysteries along with a mid grade novel that is very easy to solve if you are even fair-weather fan of Batman. They’re a lot of fun and feature a lot of the Batfamily, including Red Hood, Spoiler, Bluewing, Nightwing, Batwoman, and Ace the Batdog. 

However, the timeline is a little confusing. I’m not certain which Robin is in most of the stories. If there’s pants on the Robin it’s Tim or Damian, no pants and it’s either Dick or Jason. I’m pretty sure Jason is the Robin at one point, but it’s hard to tell. Also, there’s a fun “Pup Named Scooby Doo” issue that establishes that the Scooby gang is about five years younger than Batman (even Red Herring gets a mention), but this timeline is tossed out the window because I totally spotted Duke in the Batfamily reunion. Bruce is around 40 when Duke shows up in the current DC timeline, which would make Scooby one really old dog (maybe he too took a dip in the Lazarus Pits or he learned the secret of immortality from Alfred). 

Maybe it doesn’t really matter. Scooby was already an old dog in “Zombie Island”, so I can’t really complain. He’s also a talking dog - magic has got to be involved somehow.

The crossover comic series is a lot of fun and I can’t help but hear Adam West’s voice (despite my preference for Kevin Conroy) in Batman. The latest TV crossover did happen on the Scooby Doo series “Guess Who” in the episode: “What a Night for a Dark Knight” which was the final time Kevin Conroy would play my favorite version of Batman opposite my favorite Joker, Mark Hamel. Sadly, Mr. Conroy passed away in November 2022.

It was Mr. Conroy’s death that prompted me to return to the DC universe. Scoobytopia may have bought my attention to the latest Scooby Doo and Batman crossovers with his YouTube video “When Scooby Doo! Met Batman”, but it was Matt Baume’s video “The Gay Actor Who Bought Batman to Life: Remembering Kevin Conroy” that brought me back to Batman. 

For an entire generation of kids, myself included, Kevin Conroy was Batman. I still have a hard time accepting a different voice actor. We lost him too soon.

Scooby Doo and Batman are a part of American culture. Each decade seems to have a new series on TV or direct to consumer movies to watch. Both have their graphic novel universes and their live action movies. I’m happy that these s characters continue to grow and evolve for the next generation.

And most importantly, that a talking dog is still alive solving mysteries well past the point any dog should still be alive.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Welcome to Game Night Out

When I was a kid, once a week was family game night. One that designated night, the family would order out, pick a board game, and have fun for a few hours. This lasted until I was in middle school - a time when life got busier and more complicated.

Never the less, I found that I really enjoyed playing games with people and found that it was a good way to bond with friends and family. 

During the height of the Pandemic, some of my friends and I started to have virtual game nights. We used Zoom to connect and play Dungeons and Dragons or JackBox instead of the traditional board games. It was a way to stay connected and have some semi balance of normalcy during a very uncertain time.

Now that the world has opened back up and people are out and about, game nights have once again become infrequent. Though, I've still managed to find friend groups to play games like Uno or Exploding Kittens, most of my friends want to go out instead of have a night in.

And that's not a bad thing.

However, a third space has started popping up on my radar that combines the need to go out with the fun of a board game night.

These are known as bar-cades. 

I first came to know the term bar-cade in the mid-2010s. These were bars with arcade games, especially catered to people over the age of 21. These are not Dave And Busters. These are bars that allowed you to play skee-ball or Pac-Man while you get tipsy. These places were typically loud with low light, but a ton of club-like dancing energy (most had some kind of dance floor). I primarily went to these places in D.C. and New Jersey. 

The bar-cades I'm going to now are a little different. They still allow you to order alcoholic beverages, but they might also offer an array of board games for you and your friends to play. I spent a hilarious evening teaching one group of friends how to play Clue while enjoying a more traditional bar like atmosphere - no dance floors in sight. 

Praise to whomever designed this box art.

Most recently, I went to a place that was more of a café rather than a traditional bar-cade (even ones with just board games). This place was in Manassas, Virginia and offered an array of snakes, drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), and games to play. Some of the games are for sale, but there is an entire backwall dedicated to games people can play for an evening and then put back. 

The atmosphere was the most relaxed I'd been to and it was a lot more family and teen friendly than other "bar-cades" that I'd been to. It felt like a safe place for kids looking for a little independence as well as a fun nostalgic hangout for grownups (like me) who don't really like the bar scene. And though the 21+ drink list was comprehensive, there was also a fairly big mocktail menu. Snakes could be small shareables to full blown meals and there was a tiny dessert menu.

This was a fantastic space for a game night.

While I occasionally still want to go to the louder bar-cades with flashy arcade games and dancing, I'm really happy that these quieter spaces are popping up. It's especially nice that some are making an effort to include teenagers and families. I could have easily seen my high school (heck even college) friend groups going to a place like the one in Manassas to have a bit of independence from our parents or other adults. 

Game nights are still a lot of fun and I'm glad that I don't have to stay at home or invite people over to have them. Bar-cades are varied and can range from 21+ spaces to family friendly. I hope that more of these places (especially of the family friendly variety) keep popping up.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Welcome to the Age of AI

 I for one am annoyed by our new overlords.

This week, I watched in real time as the latest craze for tech bros caused serious problems for the Science Fiction publication Clarkesworld. I don't know who told all these people that they could make it big through the short story market (clearly they've never seen our pay scale), but someone said something and now Clarkesworld has had to close their submission portal and figure out a better way to screen for AI submissions without punishing human writers. 

No solution has yet to be found. At least for Clarkesworld.

And yes, the submission page has a little check box stating that the piece being submitted isn't AI generated work. These grifters don't care.

When I first heard about AI merging into the mainstream, it was through the art world. At first I was a bit middle of the road on my reaction. AI could be a cool new tool to make art depending on the programing and programmer. 

Yes, this is art. Mutt signed his name and everything.

I quickly changed my mind. 

A lot of what these AI programs are doing is stealing other people's art and awkwardly changing it. You might think that that's transformative art, people do stuff like that all the time. Except that some of these AI works are including the original artist's signatures and watermarks in their "art". The person behind the AI then tries to pass this new work off as their own original work without any recognition to the originator. The original artists in question are also not giving their permission for their art to be used. 

To make an easier art analogy, it would be like trying to pass off a famous painting like The Mona Lisa as your own work after taking the original canvas and splashing red paint across it. I don't think the Louvre will give you any credit. 

Art forgery has always been a problem and experts are often needed to confirm if a piece is real or not. Digital art is still fairly young (as far as art production goes), so the expertise on how to judge it's authenticity is a lot harder. And grifters are always out to make an easy buck.

That brings us to the latest AI target - literature. 

This is a space I am active in (not just passively like I am with art). Like creating quality art, writing any form of literary work takes a lot of skill honed over years of crafting. Writer's typically have a distinct voice that is consistent throughout their writing. This is something that is difficult for a computer to replicate and makes AI work stand out to a reader.

Recently, there's been a rush to self publish AI generated children's books. I'm not fully sure if this was a legit experiment or turned into an experiment when the creator started getting called out. Regardless, the children's book (called Alice and Sparkle) was a collaborative work by the human Ammaar Reshi and an AI. Both the art and writing were AI generated. It currently has three stars with reviews either raving about the author's innovation or completely bewildered by the lack of plot and strange art design.

It's currently the subject of a lot of mockery on many areas of the Internet. 

Though I haven't read the book, I have seen a few examples of the art work. All I can say is, it's bizarre - almost uncanny. And if that's the art, I shudder to think how off putting the writing is.

I am a writer, not because I think I'll make it big and end up as the next Hunger Games, but because I love telling stories. Even when my work doesn't go beyond my writing groups, I feel great sharing it with others. There also isn't that much money in short stories, self publishing, or even traditional publishing. The vast majority of writers have day jobs. 

Tech bros are trying to get rich quick by disrupting a market they barely understand with technology that can't replicate the creativity and voice that goes into these crafts. They have admitted that they don't care if they have to steal data to improve their technology and don't seem bothered by the real humans who are struggling to make their craft their full time jobs. Ten bucks says that we'll start seeing YouTube videos and expensive writing seminars on how to get rich writing stories and making art with AI in the next couple of months.

They are far more likely to just get themselves banned after trying to submit their AI nonsense. 

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me. 

Note: this is a controversial topic and I reserve the right to delete anyone.

Welcome to Noir Falcons

 Please note that this blog post discusses a book that was written nearly a century ago and a movie that came out in the 40s. If you’re unfamiliar with the plot of The Maltese Falcon, you have been warned.

I recently picked up a used copy of The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. The same Dashiell Hammett who wrote The Thin Man which was an early movie mystery series that had its own fandom.

I could continue on with this tangent, as I am also a fan of the Thin Man movies and book. However, I am meant to be writing about The Maltese Falcon - famous on its own as the pinnacle of noir stories - which came out a few years earlier.

The Maltese Falcon was written in serialized form between 1929 and 1930. It was published as a book in 1930 - just as the Great Depression was kicking into high gear. The movie came out roughly a decade later, in the midst of World War II. Though it doesn’t seem like a long time, the US was a very culturally different place in those short ten years.

Between 1930 and 1941, the United States rebounded from an economic disaster, ended prohibition with the 21st Amendment, entered the Second World War, transitioned from silent films to “talkies”, and implemented the Hayes Code (I promise the last one is relevant). 

My copy of the book seemed to have been modified a bit to better align the narrative with the movie’s timeline. Spade makes a few references to cases in the 1930s that shouldn’t be in the text if it was formally published in 1930. Thus, I don’t know how many other changes may have been made to my copy of the text. 

However, if my copy of the book only has the date changes, then the 1941 movie adaptation is incredibly good (with a few difference that would never get past the censors).

My introduction to The Maltese Falcon and the noir genre in general was through parodies. “Rugrats”, “Animaniacs”, and “Tiny Toons” all had an episode dedicated to noir. The “Rugrats” episode “Radio Daze” even has a “dingus” like the falcon called The Malties Woodchuck (so called because it was hiding malted milk balls). Additionally, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” had a few episodes where Captain Picard role-played as a Detective on the holodeck.

Additionally, film noir heavily influenced the characters Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) and Helga Sinclair (Atlantis). Those two characters helped shape my understanding of what a “femme fetales” was. 

All of these media influences shaped my understanding of film noir and (more importantly for this blog post) The Maltese Falcon. Did my expectations match my experience?

Kind of…

There was plenty of mystery and fast talking, shady characters. Sam Spade is certainly a man’s man of a detective, but he’s also a cad - stringing along his partner’s widow is only the tip of the iceberg. Gutman is the greedy leader of the thieves, but he’s also not as brilliant or violent as I expected. The gunman Wilmer Cook actually has a personality in the book and movie instead of being a nameless, faceless entity. Joel Cairo’s character I mostly new from stills and promotion for the movie. 

But it’s Brigid O’Shaughnessy’s character that surprised me most. She may be smart and devious, but she’s nowhere near as confident as the femme fetales I’d become used to. Honestly, I find her a bit pathetic - likely an act to get Sam on her side, but even her confession and reactions at the end aren’t very strong. She kind of just stands there, teary eyed and trembling as Sam explains how he know she set him up. It’s not the reaction Jessica or Helga would have, that’s for sure.

Despite these breaks in expectations, I do see why The Maltese Falcon is the iconic book and movie that it is and its influence on the noir genre. It’s a good story about very flawed, despicable people (including Sam Spade). Humphrey Bogart bring likability to Sam Spade, but he isn’t a good guy - not in the slightest. 

Honestly, all of the actors in the movie version make the characters a lot more likable than their book counterparts. 

Additionally, there are changes from the book to the movie adaptation. Some scenes are shorten or skipped entirely. A few characters don’t make an appearance at all such as Spade’s lawyer and Gutman’s daughter. There are also a few things that had to either be implied or cut out entirely due to the Hayes Code (I said it would come back).

In the book, there are a few scenes describing naked or semi naked women. At one point Spade forces O’Shaughnessy strip in a bathroom to see if she had palmed $1000 from him. In another short (and stomach turning) scene has Spade finding Gutman’s daughter drugged out of her mind with only a robe on in a hotel room. The Hayes Code wouldn’t have allowed any of that in an American cinema.

And though it’s only hinted at though 40s cinema language, Spade does indeed have sex with O’Shaughnessy in the book. The scene picks up while he’s getting dressed, but it’s obvious they hooked up.

Finally, I need to talk about the other coding in the movie. The Queer Coding.

In the movie, Peter Lorre expertly plays the queer coded character Joel Cairo. In the book, there is no coding. Joel Cairo is called out for being gay right from his introduction. It’s not a flattering portrayal of gay people - Spade is quite awful to Cairo even before he knows he’s a villain. However, it is openly stated.

Additionally, it’s heavily implied that Cairo is in a relationship with the gunman Wilmer Cook. Something that isn’t present at all in the movie.

We can thank the Hayes Code for that omission as well.  This wouldn’t be the first or last time that queer characters would be smoothed out for cinema - this is why we have the term Queer Coding. Nor is it the first or last time that queer characters are used as villains in a story. The Hayes Code helped solidify these tropes and prevented growth for LGBTQIA+ characters in film for nearly all the 20th century.

Overall, I understand the appeal and importance of The Maltese Falcon to American cinema, pop culture, and genre. It helped to establish tropes and characters that are still easily recognizable today. I also find it dated. 

The book is easy to read and follow. The characters leave a lot to be desired, but they are fully realized, complex characters.

It’s a story to be appreciated for its place and time in American culture. It certainly established Bogart as a leading man.

Could it be updated for modern audiences? No idea. There are apparently really bad adaptations (including a romantic comedy in 1935) and a very close 1931 adaptation that included scenes that couldn’t be shown at all to audiences (the strip search I mentioned above). There was also a parody sequel released in the 70s.

And even if it could be adapted for a modern audience, would we want it to be?

I don’t think I would.

Let me know in the comments what your favorite noir (played straight or parody) is. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is probably mine.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you like hearing from me.

Until next week.