Yacht-Noir: A Guide

Freddy Reno Went Missing (Vol. 1) is out now in paperback! The graphic novel is described as yacht-noir, but what exactly is yacht-noir? Yacht-noir exists at the intersection of the hard-boiled world of neo-noir and the smooth, seaside aesthetic of 70s/80s yacht-rock. To celebrate the release of Freddy Reno Went Missing, let's take a look at classic films in the yacht-noir milieu. 

Cutter's Way (1981)   

Dir. Ivan Passer

Long before Jeff Bridges became an off-beat-neo-noir legend with his turn as The Dude in The Big Lebowski, he starred as gigolo and boat salesman Richard Bone in Cutter's Way.  John Heard keeps everyone on edge as the titular Alex Cutter, a paranoid Vietnam veteran and amateur sleuth in this frantic, ocean-adjacent thriller.

Fletch (1985)

Dir. Michael Ritchie

The Chevy Chase vehicle based on the Gregory McDonald series of novels is a sun-soaked classic in the comedy-noir subgenre and adequately smooth, as evidenced by the theme by Stephanie Mills. 

Absence of Malice (1981)

Dir. Sydney Pollack

1981 was a good year for yacht-noir and its second entry on our list might be the most yachty. Legendary human being Paul Newman stars as Miami liquor wholesaler and avid sailor Michael Gallagher, a man beleaguered by runaway journos intent on defaming him in the papers, hiding behind anonymous sources. Hot-shot reporter Megan Carter, played by Sally Field, has a change of heart once aboard Gallagher's sweet yacht, Rum Runner.

Night Moves (1975)

Dir. Arthur Penn

Gene Hackman is Harry Moseby, retired football player turned private detective, in this seminal neo-noir from the golden era of the genre. Night Moves combines the traditional missing girl detective narrative with a nautical caper involving sunken treasure.

The Long Goodbye (1973)  

Dir. Robert Altman

One of the all-time great neo-noirs is unsurprisingly one of the best examples of yacht-noir. Elliott Gould's man-out-of-time take on Philip Marlowe contrasts the rumpled hard-boiled detective with sunny, seventies Hollywood.

OGMD Ind. Q2 Update

A Message from Management

It's an exciting time here at OGMD Ind. The website received a minor refresh and the team continues to make improvements to the online experience. The mobile functionality is greatly improved (only a decade late) and the blog is better integrated to the site. Look for more utilization of this platform in the future.

On the content front, OGMD Ind. broke new ground in Q2, running a long(ish) read, non-fiction story for the first time, read it here. We hope to bring you more original articles in the future.

Also out now is Chapter 4 of the groundbreaking graphic novel, Freddy Reno Went Missing. Buzz is growing around the "yacht noir." The comedy-thriller was recently featured on our hosting site, The Duck Webcomics, where it was hailed as a "compelling and addictive piece of work." Improvements to the first three chapters are underway, touching up the art and enhancing the yacht noir experience. An an all new print edition, collecting the first four chapters of the comic epic, is coming soon. Look for it online and in stores this fall.

Check back here for more updates and quality content.

Selling the American Dream One Square Inch at a Time

 

In a first for Or Give Me Death Industries, we have a piece of real news. Head over to the main page for a deep dive on a classic comic book ad (pictured).

http://www.orgivemedeath.com/one-square-inch.html

We hope to bring you more features like this in the future.

Vertical Intergration

 A NOTE FROM MANAGEMENT:

The company takes a great leap forward today as we have seized the means of production and become a true, independent publisher. Due to global supply chain stresses and issues with unnamed printers, there will no longer be a middleman between the reader and OGMD Ind. when it comes to comics (reliable ol' Amazon will keep churning out the books). We now ship direct, passing the savings on to YOU.

This also means Freddy Reno Went Missing is now a limited run comic, so get them while they last. The much anticipated fourth installment of Don M. Patterson's magnum opus is said to be over budget and experiencing production delays. The expected release has been pushed back to 2022.

Or Give Me Death at Fifteen

[Cue bed music]

​Fifteen years ago, a pick-up truck was spotted in an El Paso parking lot with a bumper sticker reading “GiveMeLiberty.com”. The aspiring, phony publisher who saw the sticker for the rambling and seemingly illegal political fundraising operation immediately wondered, “is the other half taken?” It wasn’t. And while financial constraints stalled the acquisition of the proper domain until 2008, OrGiveMeDeath[.blogspot.com] officially launched on September 15, 2005.

GiveMeLiberty.com is long abandoned while OrGiveMeDeath.com now celebrates its crystal anniversary. Fifteen years makes us a “legacy” website akin to Google, Twitter, or GeoCities. The internet was a different place in 2005. In that short and undeserved era of the blog, Or Give Me Death separated itself from the field of earnest logs of perspective by making up fake news - something far less controversial at the time. The site was inspired by that true institution of fake news and satire: The Weekly World News. Truly, we lost a piece of America when we stopped receiving Bat Boy updates at the grocery check out.

To date, the most read piece on the site (and likely the most read thing ever written by this author) was a fake news gem from 2008: “1884 Adult Film Now Earliest Known Motion Picture.” That story continues to draw clicks as it shows up in search results for the earliest known motion picture; now that’s fake news with results!

When the fake news wells went dry, management pivoted to the even more saturated market of publishing. In 2012, the reborn Or Give Me Death Industries released its first print offering, a tight novella, Rhodium. Readers like you have helped make this cryptic book the 2,612,671st best selling book of all time on Kindle. Good work, gang.

After a couple of hit or miss fake news offerings came the first true book in the OGMD Ind. catalog, 2016’s Sierra Blanca by award finalist author Don M. Patterson. Released to some critical acclaim, the thrilling novella continues to be a selling book on the internet.

And now, Or Give Me Death Industries takes another blind leap into an overdone market, well past peak profitability: comic books. Freddy Reno Went Missing Issue no. 1 is available online and will be available in print.

Who knows what lies ahead for Or Give Me Death Industries? There is an honest to goodness novel on the way and a strong probability the Reno series will be finished. Or, maybe I’ll just do nothing. This site has a proud tradition of going on hiatus. Maybe I’ll start a podcast in 2030. Until then, buy and read all of the merchandise available on this ad-free website.

UPDATE

Just checking in so they don't shut me down.

Check out the new stuff: OrGiveMeDeath.com

Moving On

We've moved into some sweet new digs for 2017.  Check out Or Give Me Death Industries' new home at the same address:  www.orgivemedeath.com

New flashy site, same old inactivity.