Super Sunday Night Tired. Running on three hours sleep from last night. Used to it by now, but still tired. Good singin' in church, though, so it's always worth it to make the sleep sacrifice. Having finished the Peter Levenda book yesterday, I immediately began the Michael Salla book today. Did I mention him yesterday? I think I did - that his books seem to be half fascinating and half hogwash. I have just begun his second book about the Secret Space Program here in the United States, which is very much real and can be read about in other books besides Michael Salla's. But I am reading his book, and it is called "The U.S. Navy's Secret Space Program & Nordic Extraterrestrial Alliance". The book starts off with a very interesting eyewitness description of the semi-famous "Battle Of Los Angeles" UFO experience in February 1942. The eyewitness is a now elderly WW2 Navy Veteran, who was a 17 year old kid who lived within sighting distance of the UFOs at the time of the incident.
I'm too tired to go into a long description of what he saw, but I will say that - after reading his description - that it has The Ring Of Truth. This man is now 91, so what possible reason would he have to invent a story at this point in his life? It is documented that he was in Naval Intelligence.
The bottom line is that one of these Los Angeles (Santa Monica/Long Beach to be more precise) UFOs was shot down and captured by the United States Army Air Force a full five and a half years before the Roswell Incident. The man's testimony rings true.
What blows my mind about this book - even though I do not fully trust Dr. Michael Salla as an investigative researcher, because he promotes the obviously phoney Corey Goode story - is that he goes into detail about Obscure Stuff that would not cause most readers to take notice, but which strikes a resounding chord in me.
For instance, he goes into detail about a secret research and development program at San Diego Naval Air Station that was begun in the early 1940s, to try and reverse engineer one of the two Battle Of Los Angeles UFOs that were captured in February 1942.
Most writers - actually nearly all writers on the subject - write about Roswell or Sorocco as the start of the UFO Phenomenon (which was the title of UFO's first album, haha). But Michael Salla, for some reason - he being the author who is not to be fully trusted - writes about The Battle Of Los Angeles and San Diego Naval Air Station.
The rest of this blog might read as a bunch of gibberish to you, of whatever classification of gibberish you wish to ascribe to it, but :
I developed a fascination with San Diego Naval Air Station twenty years ago, in 1997. My Dad had taken me there in the mid-1960s, when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I would guess we went maybe a half dozen times. We toured battleships and subs, even an aircraft carrier.
But that's not why I was fascinated with the place.
I was fascinated, to a degree of permanence (meaning that it won't go away), to a point where, when I first went online, when I first went on a computer in 1997, I started to write a series of Really Weird Blogs about things that were based on what I will call "pre-childhood" memories, and in my case many of them had to do with military.......things.
You can call them "visions", or "dreams", or anything you might wish to call them. You can even use derogatory terms if you would like. It's no problem.
But the thing is that - these things, which seemed to be memories, came out of nowhere. And they mainly had to do with the military.
And for some reason I became fixated on San Diego Naval Air Station, beginning in 1997.
I wrote about the place when I first went on the internet, a year later in 1998.
And last year, before I ever read Michael Salla's book, I made some of my Crude Pencil Drawings with references to San Diego Naval Air Station.
So apparently it is a place of Great Psychic Import for me, because I have been thinking about it for a long time.
Salla also mentions Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, which is a Whole Nuther Story.
I know that nearly everyone who would read this would have no idea what I am talking about, but I feel the need, all the same, to write it down anyway.
Because these things are real.
Monday, August 7, 2017
Sunday, August 6, 2017
Shakespeare By The Sea + "Sinister Forces"
Went again this evening to watch the gang from Shakespeare By The Sea, this time at Los Encinos Historic Park in (where else?) Encino. That's the park on Ventura just past Balboa that has the Adobe built in 1849, second oldest in the Valley after the Andres Pico Adobe in Mission Hills. It's a great setting for Shakespeare, on the lawn in back near the old blacksmith's shop. I have been attending the SBTS shows at Los Encinos since 2014, and they always draw a good crowd, several hundred I'd guess.
What can I tell you about Shakespeare By The Sea, except that I love these guys. They really put the joy and creativity of Shakespeare's world into each performance. I know I probably said exactly the same thing two nights ago, but it is always true for every show. The highest compliment I can give this group is that - for the approximate two hours running time of each play - I am 100% immersed. Not only in the story and the acting and the whole show, but in that world. I have not a thought nor care of anything else when I am watching them. It's like time travel. That's how good they are.
If I was wealthy, I would fund them. That's how good they are.
Well anyhow, that was the local shows for this Summer. A possibility remains for the Beverly Hills show next week, which will depend on the timings of my work schedule.
No other news to report, except for a hike at Santa Susana this afternoon. Fairly hot (93 degrees), but as I said the other day, we are not having a particularly hot Summer. More like middling so far. 2014, when I first began hiking, was truly hot, which probably helped to hook me in the first place.
Tomorrow's anthem for church is pretty easy, a Contemporary Christian song called "Here I Am To Worship". I'm not a huge fan of that genre, but what can you do?
I finished my Peter Levenda book : "Sinister Forces (with a long subtitle)". It was "Book One" in a trilogy, and I have already ordered Book Two. You know how the other day I told you to read "Rule By Secrecy" by Jim Marrs? Well, if Book One is any indication, this series by Mr. Levenda is another Absolute Must Read if you really and truly want to know What's Going On.
If you want to get a half-measure of what's going on (lower case lettering intended), you can stick with NPR, and Amy Goodman, and phoney baloney liberal and right-wing so-called "alternative news" media.
And if you want to be Entirely Deluded as to What Is Going On (meaning intentionally disinformed), you can continue to watch the mainstream news media; CNN and MSNBC and FOX and all that other stuff that mesmerises you and keeps you Amped Up.
But if you want to know what is Really Going On, you can read books.
Books written by researchers of exceptional ability. It takes time to read books, I realise. Myself, I try to read 30 pages per day, which takes me about 90 minutes give or take. I am not a speed reader, and anyway this type of material deserves to be patiently digested. But if I stick to that daily allotment, then at the end of each month (or every 30 days) I have read 900 pages - the equivalent of two 450 page books or three 300 page books.
You can do that every single month, just by reading for an hour and a half per day. But even if you only have time to read ten pages a day, you should still do it. Better you do that then watch "The News".
Check my books listing on Facebook for books I highly recommend. Recently, they would include the works of Phillip F. Nelson, Joseph P. Farrell, Wendy Painting and Peter Levenda. But there are many, many more.
One day, I am gonna find myself a researcher. A really good one. One of the best.
And then I am gonna find out what happened to me in 1989.
And then I will know the truth, which is important to know, and which is evil to conceal.
What can I tell you about Shakespeare By The Sea, except that I love these guys. They really put the joy and creativity of Shakespeare's world into each performance. I know I probably said exactly the same thing two nights ago, but it is always true for every show. The highest compliment I can give this group is that - for the approximate two hours running time of each play - I am 100% immersed. Not only in the story and the acting and the whole show, but in that world. I have not a thought nor care of anything else when I am watching them. It's like time travel. That's how good they are.
If I was wealthy, I would fund them. That's how good they are.
Well anyhow, that was the local shows for this Summer. A possibility remains for the Beverly Hills show next week, which will depend on the timings of my work schedule.
No other news to report, except for a hike at Santa Susana this afternoon. Fairly hot (93 degrees), but as I said the other day, we are not having a particularly hot Summer. More like middling so far. 2014, when I first began hiking, was truly hot, which probably helped to hook me in the first place.
Tomorrow's anthem for church is pretty easy, a Contemporary Christian song called "Here I Am To Worship". I'm not a huge fan of that genre, but what can you do?
I finished my Peter Levenda book : "Sinister Forces (with a long subtitle)". It was "Book One" in a trilogy, and I have already ordered Book Two. You know how the other day I told you to read "Rule By Secrecy" by Jim Marrs? Well, if Book One is any indication, this series by Mr. Levenda is another Absolute Must Read if you really and truly want to know What's Going On.
If you want to get a half-measure of what's going on (lower case lettering intended), you can stick with NPR, and Amy Goodman, and phoney baloney liberal and right-wing so-called "alternative news" media.
And if you want to be Entirely Deluded as to What Is Going On (meaning intentionally disinformed), you can continue to watch the mainstream news media; CNN and MSNBC and FOX and all that other stuff that mesmerises you and keeps you Amped Up.
But if you want to know what is Really Going On, you can read books.
Books written by researchers of exceptional ability. It takes time to read books, I realise. Myself, I try to read 30 pages per day, which takes me about 90 minutes give or take. I am not a speed reader, and anyway this type of material deserves to be patiently digested. But if I stick to that daily allotment, then at the end of each month (or every 30 days) I have read 900 pages - the equivalent of two 450 page books or three 300 page books.
You can do that every single month, just by reading for an hour and a half per day. But even if you only have time to read ten pages a day, you should still do it. Better you do that then watch "The News".
Check my books listing on Facebook for books I highly recommend. Recently, they would include the works of Phillip F. Nelson, Joseph P. Farrell, Wendy Painting and Peter Levenda. But there are many, many more.
One day, I am gonna find myself a researcher. A really good one. One of the best.
And then I am gonna find out what happened to me in 1989.
And then I will know the truth, which is important to know, and which is evil to conceal.
Saturday, August 5, 2017
Could Have Slept In + Whitney Canyon + "Outer Limits" Brain Episode
Tired tonight. Yeah, I know......."when am I not tired"? The answer is "most of the day", actually. I am only tired when I have to get up early in the morn, and then late at night like everybody else. I got up early this morning because Pearl's cleaning lady was supposed to come, but then she didn't end up showing until 12:45 pm.
Coulda slept in. But didn't know. No biggie.
I don't think anyone is reading this doggone thing anymore. But still I write, for that one person from Malaysia or Poland who happens upon this blog by accident and then clicks away to another site after perusing the contents here for several seconds.
I went to Whitney Canyon in Newhall this afternoon for a 50 minute hike. Hot and humid out, not 100 degrees, but close. Humidity very high. The hike was nice, but felt perfunctory because the Vibe wasn't there. Whitney has more of an Autumn vibe to begin with. Think of bent trees, birds flitting between them, maybe a deer around the next bend. Long shadows, and no one on the trail but you. This time though, it was all kind of "beat up" looking. There was a lot of debris on the trail, rocks strewn around and tree branches and twigs fallen and piled haphazardly. I think this was all due to the heavy weather last Winter, and then the extreme drying out in Spring and Summer. Lots of overgrown brush, but messy looking and without the Usual Magic of Rustic Summer Colors and Very Still Shadows.
Still, a good hike all in all, if only because it is Summer, and it was Whitney. And I got 3 miles in.
Tonight, an episode of "The Outer Limits" (season two 1965), called "The Brain Of Colonel Barham". This was right up there with the best of the Brain-related sci-fi movies and tv shows of that era, the 1950s and early sixties, up to about 1965, maybe 66. Once the Hippies took over America, nobody made great sci-fi with Brains as protagonists anymore. But this episode was really good. In it, the military (and not NASA, for some reason) is getting ready to send a robotic probe to Mars. But the General and Scientist With An Accent, probably a Paperclip scientist haha, feel that the computerised brain of the probe will not be able to adapt fast enough to the possible situational changes which may present themselves on The Red Planet. A computer cannot think like a human, plain and simple.
And so they decide that a Human Brain is needed to power the probe.
Luckily for them, they have an astronaut at their disposal, Col. Barham of the title, who is not only possessed of a brilliant mind, but is also fortunately dying of an unmentioned disease.
They talk him into donating his Brain to be used for the Mars probe. A surgery is performed, and It Is Done. His body goes the way of all flesh, and his Brain is being prepared to go to Mars.
But then, the Rules Of Science Fiction take over, as they must.
The Colonel's Brain has been put in a large cylindrical glass jar, electrodes protruding, ghostly white light eminating, and.........as always.........The Brain Becomes Arrogant.
This happens in every Brain Oriented movie, without fail.
In this episode, the Brain (sitting in the jar with ethereal lighting) starts ordering everyone around. First, it's wife. Then, the psychologist who was preparing it for the journey to Mars.
The Brain uses Mind Control to make Zombies out of some of the scientists.
The main setting is A Laboratory (pronounced Lab-bor-a-tory) with all the requisite bubbling beakers and fluttering needles on meters, measuring the intelligence outgrowth of the disembodied but rapidly adapting Brain.
The Brain keeps growing, getting bigger, bullying everyone around it, until.....
The Laws Of Science Fiction take over, and the Humans fight back with wits and emotion.
The Brain can't do much at this point, because it is still sitting in a jar.
But it doesn't matter, because - Holy Smokes - it's a show about A Brain.
What more can you ask for? :)
That's all I know for tonight. A Shout Out to the person in Malaysia or Poland who is reading this. :)
Coulda slept in. But didn't know. No biggie.
I don't think anyone is reading this doggone thing anymore. But still I write, for that one person from Malaysia or Poland who happens upon this blog by accident and then clicks away to another site after perusing the contents here for several seconds.
I went to Whitney Canyon in Newhall this afternoon for a 50 minute hike. Hot and humid out, not 100 degrees, but close. Humidity very high. The hike was nice, but felt perfunctory because the Vibe wasn't there. Whitney has more of an Autumn vibe to begin with. Think of bent trees, birds flitting between them, maybe a deer around the next bend. Long shadows, and no one on the trail but you. This time though, it was all kind of "beat up" looking. There was a lot of debris on the trail, rocks strewn around and tree branches and twigs fallen and piled haphazardly. I think this was all due to the heavy weather last Winter, and then the extreme drying out in Spring and Summer. Lots of overgrown brush, but messy looking and without the Usual Magic of Rustic Summer Colors and Very Still Shadows.
Still, a good hike all in all, if only because it is Summer, and it was Whitney. And I got 3 miles in.
Tonight, an episode of "The Outer Limits" (season two 1965), called "The Brain Of Colonel Barham". This was right up there with the best of the Brain-related sci-fi movies and tv shows of that era, the 1950s and early sixties, up to about 1965, maybe 66. Once the Hippies took over America, nobody made great sci-fi with Brains as protagonists anymore. But this episode was really good. In it, the military (and not NASA, for some reason) is getting ready to send a robotic probe to Mars. But the General and Scientist With An Accent, probably a Paperclip scientist haha, feel that the computerised brain of the probe will not be able to adapt fast enough to the possible situational changes which may present themselves on The Red Planet. A computer cannot think like a human, plain and simple.
And so they decide that a Human Brain is needed to power the probe.
Luckily for them, they have an astronaut at their disposal, Col. Barham of the title, who is not only possessed of a brilliant mind, but is also fortunately dying of an unmentioned disease.
They talk him into donating his Brain to be used for the Mars probe. A surgery is performed, and It Is Done. His body goes the way of all flesh, and his Brain is being prepared to go to Mars.
But then, the Rules Of Science Fiction take over, as they must.
The Colonel's Brain has been put in a large cylindrical glass jar, electrodes protruding, ghostly white light eminating, and.........as always.........The Brain Becomes Arrogant.
This happens in every Brain Oriented movie, without fail.
In this episode, the Brain (sitting in the jar with ethereal lighting) starts ordering everyone around. First, it's wife. Then, the psychologist who was preparing it for the journey to Mars.
The Brain uses Mind Control to make Zombies out of some of the scientists.
The main setting is A Laboratory (pronounced Lab-bor-a-tory) with all the requisite bubbling beakers and fluttering needles on meters, measuring the intelligence outgrowth of the disembodied but rapidly adapting Brain.
The Brain keeps growing, getting bigger, bullying everyone around it, until.....
The Laws Of Science Fiction take over, and the Humans fight back with wits and emotion.
The Brain can't do much at this point, because it is still sitting in a jar.
But it doesn't matter, because - Holy Smokes - it's a show about A Brain.
What more can you ask for? :)
That's all I know for tonight. A Shout Out to the person in Malaysia or Poland who is reading this. :)
Friday, August 4, 2017
"The Taming Of The Shrew" + Jim Marrs
"The Taming Of The Shrew" was a total blast. I got to Warner Park at about 6:45, found some lawn space up close to the stage, and sat down to enjoy the show, which began shortly thereafter. I have been attending the local Summer shows of Shakespeare By The Sea (who are based out of San Pedro, hence their name) since 2014, so this is my fourth season. So far, I have seen "Hamlet", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Tempest", "Othello" and tonight........"The Shrew". It is quite a raucous play. The Shrew in question is a real harridan at the beginning, punching and kicking servants and suitors, abusing her kindly sister. The play is a comedy, so this is all done with a wink and a nod, and it's actually very funny, especially as played by the young woman in the lead role. SBTS always have the most talented, expressive troupe of actors, many of whom I have seen for four years now. But the lead was a new actress, and she was great. I can't imagine that "Shrew" would be altogether politically correct in some circles today, but the heck with that. If you really pay attention, you will see that Shakespeare was highly attuned to the dueling willpowers of the Battle Of The Sexes, and he represents both the feminine and masculine viewpoints equally.
That was his whole point: Equality. William was ahead of his time (which goes without saying).
After all the struggles, love results. In that respect, "Shrew" has a lot in common with "As You Like It", which we saw last year.
I have gotten much better at understanding the rapid and voluminous Shakespearean dialogue over the years, and tonight I was able to follow it all the way through, for the most part.
The actors are so good, and what I like most about the SBTS troupe is their vibrancy. The words really come alive, and you find yourself "inside the play". And when you do, you want to remain a part of Shakepeare's World. In that way, he has a lot in common with Walt Disney, our modern Icon Of Imagination. When you go to Disneyland, you never want to leave.
Shakepeareland, anyone?
I think I just invented a new theme park. :)
If I did, I would have these young actors as my first choice cast. ////
I neglected to mention a night or two ago the passing of Jim Marrs. He was most famous for writing a book called "Crossfire", about the JFK assassination, which became the prime source material for Oliver Stone's 1991 film "JFK". With that movie, Stone introduced the world to the multitude of players that were likely involved in the murder of the President. But it was Jim Marrs who initially researched the connections and the intrigue by which these people all fit together in a previously incomplete puzzle.
As far as JFK goes, Marrs connected a lot of dots that had been presented by previous authors. Such was his expertise as an investigative journalist. Upon his passing, Dr. Joseph Farrell (probably my most highly regarded researcher) cited Marrs as his major influence.
Jim Marrs once wrote a book called "Rule By Secrecy". I think it came out about 12 years ago, give or take. If I had to pick one book - just one - to explain what has happened to America, and by extension to the world at large, I would choose "Rule By Secrecy".
It changed my life, because it opened my eyes to the workings of Those Who Really Call The Shots.
Others have written such books, about The Illuminatti, or the Bilderburgers or whomever.
Ho hum, in most cases, because most authors do not have the ability to put the Whole Show together.
Jim Marrs put it all together, in "Rule By Secrecy".
I am pretty sure I said this when I first read it, in some blog or another, but I will repeat it now for good measure.
If you want to know what is really going on in the world - how the world really works - read "Rule By Secrecy". More than any other book, read that one first.
When you read it, you will stop paying attention to the distraction of what is called "The News", because you will have a greater understanding of why "The News" exists. You will understand how things came to be in our modern system of living, especially our economic system.
Jim Marrs taught people to really think about things, and he did not just present surface level investigative reporting, as so many so-called "popular" journalists do.
He went for The Real Story, he went for The Jugular, he went for The Truth.
What more can you ask for?
Thank You, Mr. Marrs. ////
That was his whole point: Equality. William was ahead of his time (which goes without saying).
After all the struggles, love results. In that respect, "Shrew" has a lot in common with "As You Like It", which we saw last year.
I have gotten much better at understanding the rapid and voluminous Shakespearean dialogue over the years, and tonight I was able to follow it all the way through, for the most part.
The actors are so good, and what I like most about the SBTS troupe is their vibrancy. The words really come alive, and you find yourself "inside the play". And when you do, you want to remain a part of Shakepeare's World. In that way, he has a lot in common with Walt Disney, our modern Icon Of Imagination. When you go to Disneyland, you never want to leave.
Shakepeareland, anyone?
I think I just invented a new theme park. :)
If I did, I would have these young actors as my first choice cast. ////
I neglected to mention a night or two ago the passing of Jim Marrs. He was most famous for writing a book called "Crossfire", about the JFK assassination, which became the prime source material for Oliver Stone's 1991 film "JFK". With that movie, Stone introduced the world to the multitude of players that were likely involved in the murder of the President. But it was Jim Marrs who initially researched the connections and the intrigue by which these people all fit together in a previously incomplete puzzle.
As far as JFK goes, Marrs connected a lot of dots that had been presented by previous authors. Such was his expertise as an investigative journalist. Upon his passing, Dr. Joseph Farrell (probably my most highly regarded researcher) cited Marrs as his major influence.
Jim Marrs once wrote a book called "Rule By Secrecy". I think it came out about 12 years ago, give or take. If I had to pick one book - just one - to explain what has happened to America, and by extension to the world at large, I would choose "Rule By Secrecy".
It changed my life, because it opened my eyes to the workings of Those Who Really Call The Shots.
Others have written such books, about The Illuminatti, or the Bilderburgers or whomever.
Ho hum, in most cases, because most authors do not have the ability to put the Whole Show together.
Jim Marrs put it all together, in "Rule By Secrecy".
I am pretty sure I said this when I first read it, in some blog or another, but I will repeat it now for good measure.
If you want to know what is really going on in the world - how the world really works - read "Rule By Secrecy". More than any other book, read that one first.
When you read it, you will stop paying attention to the distraction of what is called "The News", because you will have a greater understanding of why "The News" exists. You will understand how things came to be in our modern system of living, especially our economic system.
Jim Marrs taught people to really think about things, and he did not just present surface level investigative reporting, as so many so-called "popular" journalists do.
He went for The Real Story, he went for The Jugular, he went for The Truth.
What more can you ask for?
Thank You, Mr. Marrs. ////
Thursday, August 3, 2017
Leery Of Leary + Shakespeare
Slow day, nothing much to report. More Monsoon weather, heavy clouds & humidity. Not as hot, though, low 90s. Except for a few sporadic bursts of triple digits beginning in late June, maybe ten days worth from then til now, we really haven't had a very hot Summer. Mostly low 90s, like today.
Bring on the heat already, so it will feel like Summer. Hot and dry is the best.
I miss writing to The SB. I am pretty sure she doesn't even read this blog anymore, and I am still wondering what happened, but anyway - Elizabeth, on the off chance that you do read this, I hope all is well. I did see you today, a couple of times, in the right hand column on FB, of people who are online. But still no posts, for a couple of weeks now, and really only a few for a very long time. I miss seeing your concert photos, too, so I hope you are still shooting all of your bands at shows. Your professional website looks great; and it looks to have been recently updated (with the Artistry In Advertising motif), so I suppose all must be going well in the scheme of things. I hope it is. I miss you, SB. :):)
No movie tonight; instead, Grimsley came over with a tape he wanted me to hear, of various recordings of Timothy Leary speaking, reciting his poetry and generally pontificating. Grim knows I am not a big Leary fan, and wanted to play me the tape just to "nudge" me. I mean - yes, I have taken LSD in my life, the last time being around 35 years ago - but I was never into the philosophies of spaced-out "gurus" like Leary, who spouted feel-good aphorisms about drugs that sounded very naive and childish, not only in retrospect but even at the time, back in the 70s when I first heard him. Leary's whole approach sounds like Mind Control, with gullible Hippies as his subjects, and having read the many books I've studied on the subject of the CIA and MK-Ultra, I wouldn't be surprised if Leary was associated with The Agency in some way. And after all, it was the CIA that introduced LSD to America. That's a fact.
At any rate, Leary influenced a lot of people, including John Lennon, who wound up getting killed by the same kind of "lone gunman" that we see in all the other assassinations from the 1960s up to the early 80s, including the attempts on Reagan and The Pope (that guy used a knife, but he was still a "lone nut").
I have no idea where I am going with this tangent, but one thing that drives my thinking each and every day of my life is my intuition. It is powerful, usually in the Ballpark Of Being Correct, often Right On The Money, and overall Quite Powerful. I would not have made it through life without my intuition.
And I never thought Timothy Leary was a good guy. Anyhow - end of tangent.
Tomorrow night I will go to Warner Center for the return of Shakespeare By The Sea. I love those guys, and I have been going to their shows since 2014, so this will be my fourth season. They will be performing "The Taming Of The Shrew", which I have not seen, so I am super looking forward to it! It will take me about 20 minutes or so to get the hang of the language, as always, but it's so much fun to get into the spirit of it. This troupe of actors is so good that you get hooked, and then you come back every year like I do. I will also be seeing them on Saturday night at Los Encinos, the park with the Adobe that is second oldest in the Valley. That's my favorite setting for the Shakespearians. I will sit up close, because then you are almost part of the action. "Taming Of The Shrew" will be performed both nights. They are also doing "Macbeth" this season, but unfortunately no performances near me.
That's all I know for tonight.
SB? Are you there?............
Bring on the heat already, so it will feel like Summer. Hot and dry is the best.
I miss writing to The SB. I am pretty sure she doesn't even read this blog anymore, and I am still wondering what happened, but anyway - Elizabeth, on the off chance that you do read this, I hope all is well. I did see you today, a couple of times, in the right hand column on FB, of people who are online. But still no posts, for a couple of weeks now, and really only a few for a very long time. I miss seeing your concert photos, too, so I hope you are still shooting all of your bands at shows. Your professional website looks great; and it looks to have been recently updated (with the Artistry In Advertising motif), so I suppose all must be going well in the scheme of things. I hope it is. I miss you, SB. :):)
No movie tonight; instead, Grimsley came over with a tape he wanted me to hear, of various recordings of Timothy Leary speaking, reciting his poetry and generally pontificating. Grim knows I am not a big Leary fan, and wanted to play me the tape just to "nudge" me. I mean - yes, I have taken LSD in my life, the last time being around 35 years ago - but I was never into the philosophies of spaced-out "gurus" like Leary, who spouted feel-good aphorisms about drugs that sounded very naive and childish, not only in retrospect but even at the time, back in the 70s when I first heard him. Leary's whole approach sounds like Mind Control, with gullible Hippies as his subjects, and having read the many books I've studied on the subject of the CIA and MK-Ultra, I wouldn't be surprised if Leary was associated with The Agency in some way. And after all, it was the CIA that introduced LSD to America. That's a fact.
At any rate, Leary influenced a lot of people, including John Lennon, who wound up getting killed by the same kind of "lone gunman" that we see in all the other assassinations from the 1960s up to the early 80s, including the attempts on Reagan and The Pope (that guy used a knife, but he was still a "lone nut").
I have no idea where I am going with this tangent, but one thing that drives my thinking each and every day of my life is my intuition. It is powerful, usually in the Ballpark Of Being Correct, often Right On The Money, and overall Quite Powerful. I would not have made it through life without my intuition.
And I never thought Timothy Leary was a good guy. Anyhow - end of tangent.
Tomorrow night I will go to Warner Center for the return of Shakespeare By The Sea. I love those guys, and I have been going to their shows since 2014, so this will be my fourth season. They will be performing "The Taming Of The Shrew", which I have not seen, so I am super looking forward to it! It will take me about 20 minutes or so to get the hang of the language, as always, but it's so much fun to get into the spirit of it. This troupe of actors is so good that you get hooked, and then you come back every year like I do. I will also be seeing them on Saturday night at Los Encinos, the park with the Adobe that is second oldest in the Valley. That's my favorite setting for the Shakespearians. I will sit up close, because then you are almost part of the action. "Taming Of The Shrew" will be performed both nights. They are also doing "Macbeth" this season, but unfortunately no performances near me.
That's all I know for tonight.
SB? Are you there?............
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Wimp + "Phantasm"
I can't believe I wrote all that emo stuff last night about my personal life. It probably makes me sound like a big wimp, but so be it. What is written is written. Sometimes I get off on a tangent and get carried away, and I guess I am pretty emo, truth be told. It's just that, unlike guys who are in Emo Bands, I am outwardly stoic. You won't see me joining Weezer anytime soon. But on the inside, I am emo, or to be more specific, I am a romantic. I think, and hope, in idealised terms.
But anyway, just so we are clear : Marine Corps on the outside, hearts and flowers on the inside. That's me. Sorta.
Monsoon weather is back, just in time for the start of August, which is really when our Summer begins in Ernest. Not earnest - Ernest. Today we had 75% humidity to go with the 102 degree temperature, so it was good hiking weather. I went up to O'Melveny for an hour's trip down the trail and back.
Last night I watched "Phantasm 2", which I had seen once before when it was released in 1988. I found it at Porter Ranch Libe, where I had stopped before yesterday's hike at Limekiln. Horror fans know the original "Phantasm", which came out in 1979, to be a fairly original entry in the genre of that era, which mostly consisted of Slasher films. "Phantasm" was instead about a really creepy and supernatural Mortician called "The Tall Man", who went around digging up graveyards in order to enslave the Dead. A weird premise indeed. And he had at his disposal these shiny silver spheres, which he would send swiftly through the air toward anyone challenging him. The spheres had tiny saws inside, which would work their way through various parts of bodies, usually skulls.
What made the "Phantasm" movies so much fun was that they had a couple of Regular Dudes as their protagonists, one of whom was a kid (who was the first one to see The Tall Man, in dreams), and the other an older guy in his 30s who drove an Ice Cream truck.
I mean, who would think of all of these obscure details, right? So that's why these movies were so entertaining. The 80s was the decade of Teenager Horror, of teens getting butchered by wackos and psychos of all stripes, usually at parties or camp-outs or sleepovers. As opposed to classic horror from the 30s through the 50s, when the Hero Protagonists all wore suits and fancy dresses, the teenagers of 80s horror wore street clothes, the same jeans, t-shirts and Reeboks that the kids in the audience were wearing. So I guess the inference was that the audience would identify with the victims. I never did, and I think the same is true of a lot of horror fans. We always wondered why these particular teens, in any given movie, never ran away from the scene. They always went back for more, even when it was clear that the Psycho who was after them was Superhuman......
I think that, for me, Horror Movies from the 1980s were a lot like Metal Bands in the 80s.
I was never a fan of either genre overall, didn't simply "love" all Metal, just because it was Metal, nor did I love all Horror. And it's funny, looking back, how important Metal and Horror were at the time (and still are, doggonitt!). But to get back to the point, I didn't "love" Metal; I loved a few bands, and that is because those bands wrote and played good music.
Same with movies.
For myself, with Horror, I always went for the Extreme. This began with "The Exorcist" when I was 13. And it continued with "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and the original "Hills Have Eyes" a few years later. Those three movies are The Pinnacle Of Horror as far as I am concerned, because they seem real.
There were other realistic horror films in the 70s, like "Don't Answer The Phone", and a few more that were low-budget and somewhat cheesy, though no less terrifying. My friends and I went to every one.
That was in the late 70s, and as Horror progressed into the 80s, it became much more teen-and-party oriented, more fantasy and less realistic.
But it was still a blast, and I had fun re-watching "Phantasm 2" for the first time in almost 30 years. So much so, that I went and searched the library database to see if they had the original "Phantasm"...
And they did! So I ordered it, and will be watching soon. /////
But anyway, just so we are clear : Marine Corps on the outside, hearts and flowers on the inside. That's me. Sorta.
Monsoon weather is back, just in time for the start of August, which is really when our Summer begins in Ernest. Not earnest - Ernest. Today we had 75% humidity to go with the 102 degree temperature, so it was good hiking weather. I went up to O'Melveny for an hour's trip down the trail and back.
Last night I watched "Phantasm 2", which I had seen once before when it was released in 1988. I found it at Porter Ranch Libe, where I had stopped before yesterday's hike at Limekiln. Horror fans know the original "Phantasm", which came out in 1979, to be a fairly original entry in the genre of that era, which mostly consisted of Slasher films. "Phantasm" was instead about a really creepy and supernatural Mortician called "The Tall Man", who went around digging up graveyards in order to enslave the Dead. A weird premise indeed. And he had at his disposal these shiny silver spheres, which he would send swiftly through the air toward anyone challenging him. The spheres had tiny saws inside, which would work their way through various parts of bodies, usually skulls.
What made the "Phantasm" movies so much fun was that they had a couple of Regular Dudes as their protagonists, one of whom was a kid (who was the first one to see The Tall Man, in dreams), and the other an older guy in his 30s who drove an Ice Cream truck.
I mean, who would think of all of these obscure details, right? So that's why these movies were so entertaining. The 80s was the decade of Teenager Horror, of teens getting butchered by wackos and psychos of all stripes, usually at parties or camp-outs or sleepovers. As opposed to classic horror from the 30s through the 50s, when the Hero Protagonists all wore suits and fancy dresses, the teenagers of 80s horror wore street clothes, the same jeans, t-shirts and Reeboks that the kids in the audience were wearing. So I guess the inference was that the audience would identify with the victims. I never did, and I think the same is true of a lot of horror fans. We always wondered why these particular teens, in any given movie, never ran away from the scene. They always went back for more, even when it was clear that the Psycho who was after them was Superhuman......
I think that, for me, Horror Movies from the 1980s were a lot like Metal Bands in the 80s.
I was never a fan of either genre overall, didn't simply "love" all Metal, just because it was Metal, nor did I love all Horror. And it's funny, looking back, how important Metal and Horror were at the time (and still are, doggonitt!). But to get back to the point, I didn't "love" Metal; I loved a few bands, and that is because those bands wrote and played good music.
Same with movies.
For myself, with Horror, I always went for the Extreme. This began with "The Exorcist" when I was 13. And it continued with "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and the original "Hills Have Eyes" a few years later. Those three movies are The Pinnacle Of Horror as far as I am concerned, because they seem real.
There were other realistic horror films in the 70s, like "Don't Answer The Phone", and a few more that were low-budget and somewhat cheesy, though no less terrifying. My friends and I went to every one.
That was in the late 70s, and as Horror progressed into the 80s, it became much more teen-and-party oriented, more fantasy and less realistic.
But it was still a blast, and I had fun re-watching "Phantasm 2" for the first time in almost 30 years. So much so, that I went and searched the library database to see if they had the original "Phantasm"...
And they did! So I ordered it, and will be watching soon. /////
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Me
The SB is MIA once again, though perhaps she is working on music or getting ready for her trip to Iceland. Or she could be all done with me, I dunno. It's not easy to decipher. In any event, I am kinda twiddling my thumbs over here, just because this blog has been specifically written to her for the last five years, or at least with her in mind on the previous occasions when she wasn't around.
I have found it very difficult in my life to find someone with whom I really and truly connect. I have never been a person who goes on dates, or does the Social Thing - hanging out at bars or wherever in order to try and meet people. That is basically because I am an introvert, and find it near impossible to break the ice, and even then - had I the ability to do so - I am not comfortable with small talk.
Thus I have not met a lot of people in my life, nor been on any dates. I have literally never been on a single date in my life. Quite an admission, eh?
However, whatever I lack in an ability to break the ice and chat people up, I make up for inwardly.
I have an extremely strong sense of interior connection, you might call it. I haven't had a lot of relationships in my life, but the ones I have had have come about because of this Interior Connection.
It's part psychic, part spiritual. The psychic part comes first, then the spiritual.
And when that happens, I know I have found someone I can make a real connection with.
It's way too detailed to try and describe now, late at night when I am tired.
But I have a set of beliefs regarding relationships, and - for me - they do not include dating : because I am not gonna find anyone that way. That's like buying a lottery ticket and expecting to win the jackpot. It ain't gonna happen. And my beliefs do not include doing the Social Thing, simply because I am not that social a person. Now, that does not mean I am anti-social. Far from it. If you were to meet me, and we hit it off, you would find me a very good conversationalist, and you might even think, "my goodness, is he ever gonna shut up"?, lol.
But I guess that the bottom line is that I have never been interested in one night stands, even if I had the type of personality to create them. A guy like Warren Beatty comes to mind. I'll bet he has had a lot of fun in his life. But God made me in a way that is 180 degrees opposite. I don't wanna be with hundreds of women for one night. I only ever wanted to find one woman to spend my entire life with.
I've been that way since I was 17, when I first recognised the emotional settings inside myself that were calling out to be fulfilled.
One thing that should be noted about a shy person such as myself - it doesn't always mean that the person is a Nervous Nelly, or awkward, or lacking in confidence or fearful of other people. Sometimes it just means that the shy person has such an inner dialogue going with whatever is compelling him, that everything distracting is tuned out. Only the Meaningful is received. That has always been the case with me - got my Mars-in-Pisces to thank for that one, among other things - and I am always thinking on an Eternal basis for things rather than a temporary one. Hence my desire to find someone to share my life with, a quest that began when I was 17.
I could go much deeper than what I am describing to you, but I will not.
What I will say is that, even when I was 17, my inner dialogue was with God. I didn't know "what" God was (nobody does), I only knew that I felt God inside me, and all around me, and I knew that God was the only One who could understand me. Later on, in my 40s, this connection was personified in Jesus Christ, very specifically, through the Holy Spirit. But as a teen, all I knew was a generalised sense of God, and this was because of my introversion. I was not outward - making a lot of friends and going on dates - I was inward, listening to an inner voice I knew as God, and perhaps my own voice mixed in.
I always wanted to meet the right person, the right woman for me, and I always asked God to make that happen, because I knew I could not make it happen myself. I mean, I knew I could "take over" once God handed me the opportunity, but I had to leave it up to Him to initiate the deal.
I have always wanted to connect and bond with someone on the Spiritual Level - literally, as that is the only way I am able to do it. I know that many would say as much, in fact most people would want such a result I think.
But for me it is even different than that. Which is why I won't try to describe it.
It has taken me a long time to learn to communicate in a way that I have hoped might lead to a lasting bond of love.
I have had my faults in life, for sure, but I have always wanted to develop that communication ability, because as I discovered the use of words, in my mid-30s, I began to realise their magic. I thought that if the right words were used to express oneself, in the deepest possible way, then the gateway to the heart would be opened. Of course, we all know that life cannot be Hearts & Flowers at all times; during the course of day to day life we are probably, for the most part, not as deep. In the communication of any given day, we are practical, information driven, humorous, playful, light hearted, and towards the other extreme we are melancholy, depressed, etc. I believe that communication can avoid that other extreme.
God, after all, certainly does not want people to be depressed. Depression comes from losing one's connection to God, and especially to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. If you are not Christian, you can call it whatever you want to. But the important thing is to feel it, to feel that connection.
I suppose I have rambled on long enough. I am very tired, as usual. I probably am on "Green Light - Go!" too many hours in each day.
But I have a deep need to express myself, because I am trying to get to the bottom of things in my life.
I can't live on The Surface, just doing Superficial Stuff. I mean, don't get me wrong : I Love Superficial Stuff......
Just going shopping, for instance, or talking about sports, or whatever.
But I've gotta engage the Deeper Stuff first. My brain runs 24/7 on it.
It can't be spoken, it's just the way I am. And I've been hoping to find someone who is just like me.
Maybe I already have.
I have found it very difficult in my life to find someone with whom I really and truly connect. I have never been a person who goes on dates, or does the Social Thing - hanging out at bars or wherever in order to try and meet people. That is basically because I am an introvert, and find it near impossible to break the ice, and even then - had I the ability to do so - I am not comfortable with small talk.
Thus I have not met a lot of people in my life, nor been on any dates. I have literally never been on a single date in my life. Quite an admission, eh?
However, whatever I lack in an ability to break the ice and chat people up, I make up for inwardly.
I have an extremely strong sense of interior connection, you might call it. I haven't had a lot of relationships in my life, but the ones I have had have come about because of this Interior Connection.
It's part psychic, part spiritual. The psychic part comes first, then the spiritual.
And when that happens, I know I have found someone I can make a real connection with.
It's way too detailed to try and describe now, late at night when I am tired.
But I have a set of beliefs regarding relationships, and - for me - they do not include dating : because I am not gonna find anyone that way. That's like buying a lottery ticket and expecting to win the jackpot. It ain't gonna happen. And my beliefs do not include doing the Social Thing, simply because I am not that social a person. Now, that does not mean I am anti-social. Far from it. If you were to meet me, and we hit it off, you would find me a very good conversationalist, and you might even think, "my goodness, is he ever gonna shut up"?, lol.
But I guess that the bottom line is that I have never been interested in one night stands, even if I had the type of personality to create them. A guy like Warren Beatty comes to mind. I'll bet he has had a lot of fun in his life. But God made me in a way that is 180 degrees opposite. I don't wanna be with hundreds of women for one night. I only ever wanted to find one woman to spend my entire life with.
I've been that way since I was 17, when I first recognised the emotional settings inside myself that were calling out to be fulfilled.
One thing that should be noted about a shy person such as myself - it doesn't always mean that the person is a Nervous Nelly, or awkward, or lacking in confidence or fearful of other people. Sometimes it just means that the shy person has such an inner dialogue going with whatever is compelling him, that everything distracting is tuned out. Only the Meaningful is received. That has always been the case with me - got my Mars-in-Pisces to thank for that one, among other things - and I am always thinking on an Eternal basis for things rather than a temporary one. Hence my desire to find someone to share my life with, a quest that began when I was 17.
I could go much deeper than what I am describing to you, but I will not.
What I will say is that, even when I was 17, my inner dialogue was with God. I didn't know "what" God was (nobody does), I only knew that I felt God inside me, and all around me, and I knew that God was the only One who could understand me. Later on, in my 40s, this connection was personified in Jesus Christ, very specifically, through the Holy Spirit. But as a teen, all I knew was a generalised sense of God, and this was because of my introversion. I was not outward - making a lot of friends and going on dates - I was inward, listening to an inner voice I knew as God, and perhaps my own voice mixed in.
I always wanted to meet the right person, the right woman for me, and I always asked God to make that happen, because I knew I could not make it happen myself. I mean, I knew I could "take over" once God handed me the opportunity, but I had to leave it up to Him to initiate the deal.
I have always wanted to connect and bond with someone on the Spiritual Level - literally, as that is the only way I am able to do it. I know that many would say as much, in fact most people would want such a result I think.
But for me it is even different than that. Which is why I won't try to describe it.
It has taken me a long time to learn to communicate in a way that I have hoped might lead to a lasting bond of love.
I have had my faults in life, for sure, but I have always wanted to develop that communication ability, because as I discovered the use of words, in my mid-30s, I began to realise their magic. I thought that if the right words were used to express oneself, in the deepest possible way, then the gateway to the heart would be opened. Of course, we all know that life cannot be Hearts & Flowers at all times; during the course of day to day life we are probably, for the most part, not as deep. In the communication of any given day, we are practical, information driven, humorous, playful, light hearted, and towards the other extreme we are melancholy, depressed, etc. I believe that communication can avoid that other extreme.
God, after all, certainly does not want people to be depressed. Depression comes from losing one's connection to God, and especially to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. If you are not Christian, you can call it whatever you want to. But the important thing is to feel it, to feel that connection.
I suppose I have rambled on long enough. I am very tired, as usual. I probably am on "Green Light - Go!" too many hours in each day.
But I have a deep need to express myself, because I am trying to get to the bottom of things in my life.
I can't live on The Surface, just doing Superficial Stuff. I mean, don't get me wrong : I Love Superficial Stuff......
Just going shopping, for instance, or talking about sports, or whatever.
But I've gotta engage the Deeper Stuff first. My brain runs 24/7 on it.
It can't be spoken, it's just the way I am. And I've been hoping to find someone who is just like me.
Maybe I already have.
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