Life is a series of stages. Those stages, for me, are about being a different “X Guy” at different times. In high school, I was ‘that weird guy’ or ‘that Kafka guy’ because of my love of SFF and deep obsession with the works of Franz Kafka. I even had a T-shirt from the local Barns & Noble.
As life went on, I became different guys. “That cyberpunk guy.” “That film guy.” “That werewolf guy.” “That writer guy.” “That anime guy.” “That tradecraft/spycraft guy. (Who still keeps a variant of the Moscow Rules on him at all times). Lately, I’ve been “That noir guy.” And I can’t say it’s been unearned.
Just ask anyone who recently followed me on BlueSky (@andrian6.bsky.social) only to be inundated with #NoirAlley and #Noirvemberchallenge posts. Or my lovely wife, who lost me for a day while the Noir City DC film festival was on. I can’t complain – I’ve been on two WorldCon panels because of my noir-esque stories and background. One person even asked me if I worked for the Film Noir Foundation – alas, no, but I do support their work rescuing lost films from the classic era. And it got me invited as an anchor author on the NOIR anthology.
And it led to an idea for my blog. Some days on the #NoirAlley feeds I’d be watching along with others and a particular bit of dialog would catch me. Take this quote from Nightmare Alley – “I think you’re a perfectly normal human being. Selfish and ruthless when you want something. Generous and kindly when you’ve got it.” I’d cite it and say “A bit of #NoirAlley philosophy from Lillith Ritter.”
I also found myself doing this for bits of dialog in my favorite Cyberpunk related medium. Especially Max Headroom. I can hear Breugel saying, “Business is our business!” and fitting into a 40’s noir film. And, let’s be honest, cyberpunk’s immediate grandparent is hard boiled fiction/film noir. Case and any Richard Widmark character are relatives. Seriously, watch Night and the City and think about the beginning of Neuromancer.
Because I like peanut butter with my chocolate, I’m going to be taking my “#NoirAlley Philosophy” and applying it to my favorite neon-soaked media as well. I’ll try to show how a lot of these films and tv shows still have something to say. And, who knows. You may pick up a few things. Like the expression I’ve got for next time.
“We had egg in our beer…”
Biomechanoid Blues 