Ohhhhhhhh, the OUTRAGE!!!
I was doing some reading, and ran across the makings of a "Rest of.....the stoREEE" goody.
It's about a politico who said one thing, and did something else.
(Oh, say it ain't SO!!)
He had dark hair.
He had a predilection for occult secret societies, especially ones with ummmm, selective memberships. Very pale memberships.
He was also uncomfortable with adherents of a Certain Ancient Mid-Eastern Religion, and effectively removed them from the airwaves.
I love screamingly obvious things like this, because, of course, the answer to this barely-a-conundrum is...IS....
Alabama Governor Bob Riley.
Yessss, my brethren and sistren...
Brother Bob, of course, ran on a "taxes are EEEEE-vil" platform, and won, wherupon he immediately pushed for a two billion dollar tax increase. The Pee-pul roundly rejected it.
Brother Bob is a Mason. His Grand Masonic Lodge has a whites-only membership. Welcome to the Twenty-First Century; now where's my rocket pack?
The really FUN part, though, is that he- or his Dark Forces- pushed to have Russ and Dee Fine
fired from their morning talkshow on the Crawford Broadcasting 101.1 FM-The Source in Birmingham. In case you haven't sussed it out, "Fine" is NOT an Irish name. Russ and Dee have been gadflies (and I mean that in the best possible way!) of the power brokers, political elites, and mentally challenged in what passes for Public Service here in Alabammy. They have been relentless in exposing the hypocrisy and inaction of Our Servants as regards "the business interest backed illegal alien invasion" and "the threat of Islam and its Muslim followers who seek to destroy the United States and all "the infidels" (which is every Christian and Jew and remaining non-Islamic 'unbelievers' in the country)". Add a generous helping of criticism of the guv and his contrarian policies, and you have an informative, exciting, and hugely provoking program. Russ and Dee have also put their money where their mouths are, holding Alabama Tea-Party rallies, and personally helping those in need. They are not mere political shock-jock drive-timers. They encourage ACTION, and action is an abomination to the Entrenched Powers. So Billy-Bob Riley and his cronies have forced the only Jewish talk radio couple off the air in Ber...Birmingham.
And they have been silenced. For now. Bookmark and crawl their website which they are maintaining, and will continue to update. Pray good things for these guys, and that they will get a new voice. In the short run, I would encourage their doing true webcasts, just as though they were still doing the normal morning show. I'll kick in toward the bandwidth.
(Just to be clear, they are not in penury. Russ is a tenured med prof at UAB.) This ain't Queen for a Day.
There's an obscure reference for you whippersnappers.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
Friday night, and I just had church!
Well, no revivals or gospel meetings in sight.
Lily-white, two of my ancestors signers of the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession, I ran across BET. Yeppers, Black Entertainment Television. I saw Steve Harvey.
His show-stopper finale, "How he would introduce the Prince of Peace" had me jumping up and down in the kitchen with my hands in the air, shouting praises to the King.
There is real wisdom in much of the funny in the show. Brethren and sistren, if you have the chance, see it. You will laugh, you will be blessed, you will see Jesus' work in another imperfect believer.
Like you, and like me.
Well, no revivals or gospel meetings in sight.
Lily-white, two of my ancestors signers of the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession, I ran across BET. Yeppers, Black Entertainment Television. I saw Steve Harvey.
"Don't Trip ... He Ain't Through with Me Yet"
Let me tell you, not a "blue note" in the show; a paean of faith and wisdom.His show-stopper finale, "How he would introduce the Prince of Peace" had me jumping up and down in the kitchen with my hands in the air, shouting praises to the King.
There is real wisdom in much of the funny in the show. Brethren and sistren, if you have the chance, see it. You will laugh, you will be blessed, you will see Jesus' work in another imperfect believer.
Like you, and like me.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
dragonCON redux
As promised....the REST of.......................the stoRY.
As to heroes, whilst I DID see Adrienne Barbeau (breathed several of the same molecules, I did!)
and brethren, I strongly suspect that she has a Special Oil Portrait hidden in an attic somewhere, so good does she still look, she does not qualify. I got an autograph from Don S. Davis (Gen. Hammond of Stargate) and as gentlemanly and folksy as he is, neither does he qualify. Ralph Malph, Potsie, and Joanie were all there, and lo, THEIR Special Oil Portraits perished hideously in a fire. No heroes there, nor Rip Taylor, nor yet Mickey Rooney (he is small, and infinitely old, and is likely kept in cryo-sleep between signings).
I speak of the Wolff. Michael. Comic writer, Starlog commentator and reviewer, maintainer of the Sacred Flame of Things Supercar, and even Tom Swift and crew. He is discipling me somewhat in my fiction writing, and ably. He and his sweet wife broke bread with Mr. McLeod and me, and had a glorious evening. I have known him online for several years, now, and it was just neat to meet him, and talk shop, plan conventions (maybe), and reminisce about fandom Back in the Day. I have met his partner in crime Kez Wilson, the artist of the duo. They both tried to resurrect the Supermarionation franchises through the graphic novel. The first Supercar comic was released, with a toy line, and there were plans for a Fireball XL5 and a UFO series of comics. Alas, the reception was less than what was expected, and let's say fortunes were lost. It was a case of the System not responding. The interest in the Gerry Anderson series was at a fever pitch, but advertising and distribution were disastrous. (The comic industry has been moribund since the mid-nineties.)
Michael continues to write, and well. When permitted, I shall provide links.
I met and it made the rest of dragonCON worth it.
I'm looking forward to next year!
As promised....the REST of.......................the stoRY.
As to heroes, whilst I DID see Adrienne Barbeau (breathed several of the same molecules, I did!)
and brethren, I strongly suspect that she has a Special Oil Portrait hidden in an attic somewhere, so good does she still look, she does not qualify. I got an autograph from Don S. Davis (Gen. Hammond of Stargate) and as gentlemanly and folksy as he is, neither does he qualify. Ralph Malph, Potsie, and Joanie were all there, and lo, THEIR Special Oil Portraits perished hideously in a fire. No heroes there, nor Rip Taylor, nor yet Mickey Rooney (he is small, and infinitely old, and is likely kept in cryo-sleep between signings).
I speak of the Wolff. Michael. Comic writer, Starlog commentator and reviewer, maintainer of the Sacred Flame of Things Supercar, and even Tom Swift and crew. He is discipling me somewhat in my fiction writing, and ably. He and his sweet wife broke bread with Mr. McLeod and me, and had a glorious evening. I have known him online for several years, now, and it was just neat to meet him, and talk shop, plan conventions (maybe), and reminisce about fandom Back in the Day. I have met his partner in crime Kez Wilson, the artist of the duo. They both tried to resurrect the Supermarionation franchises through the graphic novel. The first Supercar comic was released, with a toy line, and there were plans for a Fireball XL5 and a UFO series of comics. Alas, the reception was less than what was expected, and let's say fortunes were lost. It was a case of the System not responding. The interest in the Gerry Anderson series was at a fever pitch, but advertising and distribution were disastrous. (The comic industry has been moribund since the mid-nineties.)
Michael continues to write, and well. When permitted, I shall provide links.
I met and it made the rest of dragonCON worth it.
I'm looking forward to next year!
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
Oy. The Dobsonoids -I have been one in the recent past- are at it again. The poor unfortunate loser Kimveer Gill shot up Dawson College, and vidya games are taking the heat. Shoot, may as well say that being on an emo loser vampire web community made him try to cleanse the college- wait, they're saying that, too, most likely.
I didn't take logic, and I have regretted it, but even I can recognise the logical fallacy here.
"Ooooooh, he played that EEEEEEEEEE-vil shoot 'em up game about Columbine, and it TRAINED him to shoot up his school." There are evangelical lawyer-types here in the South making a career of appearing at churches, conferences, and conservative chat shows "proving" the link between violent games and real-world violence. The logic displayed is as disingenuous as that usually displayed by the doubtable Nancy Grace.
After a thing, therefore, because of a thing.
Here's the deal: This guy -and guys like him- have Predilections and Tendencies. These influence Interests and Appetites. He likes violent, disturbing things, therefore he does violent disturbing things. He liked the Columbine RPG because it was violent. He was not violent because of the game. I am tired of people on "my side" (believers) acting like asses' heads to promote a book or scheme, when their logic is so fallacious.
May as well toss the Bible out of the window, with free will. B.F.Skinner, anyone?
Oy. The Dobsonoids -I have been one in the recent past- are at it again. The poor unfortunate loser Kimveer Gill shot up Dawson College, and vidya games are taking the heat. Shoot, may as well say that being on an emo loser vampire web community made him try to cleanse the college- wait, they're saying that, too, most likely.
I didn't take logic, and I have regretted it, but even I can recognise the logical fallacy here.
"Ooooooh, he played that EEEEEEEEEE-vil shoot 'em up game about Columbine, and it TRAINED him to shoot up his school." There are evangelical lawyer-types here in the South making a career of appearing at churches, conferences, and conservative chat shows "proving" the link between violent games and real-world violence. The logic displayed is as disingenuous as that usually displayed by the doubtable Nancy Grace.
After a thing, therefore, because of a thing.
Here's the deal: This guy -and guys like him- have Predilections and Tendencies. These influence Interests and Appetites. He likes violent, disturbing things, therefore he does violent disturbing things. He liked the Columbine RPG because it was violent. He was not violent because of the game. I am tired of people on "my side" (believers) acting like asses' heads to promote a book or scheme, when their logic is so fallacious.
May as well toss the Bible out of the window, with free will. B.F.Skinner, anyone?
Monday, September 11, 2006
The Aardvark's Award for Extreme Thoughtlessness
A young friend, Aaron, relates that a couple of kids started crying in school today. With all of the 9-11 celebrations and scab-pickings today, the Local Powers chose to test the Alert Sirens ranged across the county.
Today.
No warning, no thought. Students and teachers caught bad cases of "the yitters" (Dr. Lao fans, take note).
So the Award goes to the local Emergency Management crowd. We've had the scab picked from the wound today, so let's make it BLEED....
A young friend, Aaron, relates that a couple of kids started crying in school today. With all of the 9-11 celebrations and scab-pickings today, the Local Powers chose to test the Alert Sirens ranged across the county.
Today.
No warning, no thought. Students and teachers caught bad cases of "the yitters" (Dr. Lao fans, take note).
So the Award goes to the local Emergency Management crowd. We've had the scab picked from the wound today, so let's make it BLEED....
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
dragonCON
First off, let me say that the rule of thumb at Chez Aardvark is: no more Sci-Fi cons.
We started doing SF conventions in 1980, selling The Dread Dormomoo's custom airbrushed t-shirts ("Airbrush by Lanie"...remember?), and my fantasy leather belts and buckles, along with whatever other fannish doodads we happened across. We added screenprinted shirts of her fantasy designs in the late '80s. It was never terribly profitable, but was an additional income stream. A trickle here, a trickle there...
We began our own screenprinting operation in 1991, and much of our own work was SF oriented, especially Trekkish stuff. We kept doing SF cons, again, not terribly profitably, but hey, it's what we did; part of our paradigm, as 'twere.
Then we discovered anime (an-u-MAY, for the uninitiated...). Our household began to enjoy the Japanese cartoons that we came across (readers of the Plumbline have doubtless recognised my fondness for Miyazaki's work like "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Nausicaa") and ultimately decided to try out an anime convention. We developed some general-interest designs, and lo, our business changed overnight. (One medium sized anime con grossed $750 in the first hour of business. Sci Fi cons would often not exceed that for a weekend.) Happily business coincided with our personal interests, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Well, this weekend past, we did DragonCON, a media convention boasting 25,000+ attendees.
We were placed in the Exhibition Hall, in the OTHER con hotel, and were the best-kept secret in Atlanta. We consistently heard "We didn't know this was here!".
Sigh.
I made three attempts to get the Powers That Be to announce the Exhibitors' mere existence at panels and suchlike, to no avail. They were DragonCON, and in their mouth was all wisdom, all power...and no help. Thankfully we broke even...maybe...but we only did 15% of what we reasonably expected based upon per capita sales ratios from other conventions.
Sigh. I rolled a critical failure, this time.
NEXT- How I Met My Hero, And Thus Did Not Sink In The Slough Of Despond.
First off, let me say that the rule of thumb at Chez Aardvark is: no more Sci-Fi cons.
We started doing SF conventions in 1980, selling The Dread Dormomoo's custom airbrushed t-shirts ("Airbrush by Lanie"...remember?), and my fantasy leather belts and buckles, along with whatever other fannish doodads we happened across. We added screenprinted shirts of her fantasy designs in the late '80s. It was never terribly profitable, but was an additional income stream. A trickle here, a trickle there...
We began our own screenprinting operation in 1991, and much of our own work was SF oriented, especially Trekkish stuff. We kept doing SF cons, again, not terribly profitably, but hey, it's what we did; part of our paradigm, as 'twere.
Then we discovered anime (an-u-MAY, for the uninitiated...). Our household began to enjoy the Japanese cartoons that we came across (readers of the Plumbline have doubtless recognised my fondness for Miyazaki's work like "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Nausicaa") and ultimately decided to try out an anime convention. We developed some general-interest designs, and lo, our business changed overnight. (One medium sized anime con grossed $750 in the first hour of business. Sci Fi cons would often not exceed that for a weekend.) Happily business coincided with our personal interests, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Well, this weekend past, we did DragonCON, a media convention boasting 25,000+ attendees.
We were placed in the Exhibition Hall, in the OTHER con hotel, and were the best-kept secret in Atlanta. We consistently heard "We didn't know this was here!".
Sigh.
I made three attempts to get the Powers That Be to announce the Exhibitors' mere existence at panels and suchlike, to no avail. They were DragonCON, and in their mouth was all wisdom, all power...and no help. Thankfully we broke even...maybe...but we only did 15% of what we reasonably expected based upon per capita sales ratios from other conventions.
Sigh. I rolled a critical failure, this time.
NEXT- How I Met My Hero, And Thus Did Not Sink In The Slough Of Despond.
Monday, September 04, 2006
This is really kind of weird. I guess that there is life after puppets
Wonder why Mary would choose a name like "Greta van Susteren"?
Maybe avoiding typecasting?
Wonder why Mary would choose a name like "Greta van Susteren"?
Maybe avoiding typecasting?
Transformation and hogwash.
While at dragonCON this weekend (more on that later) I met an interesting fellow, tallish, heavyset in the manner that brings gravitas, not slovenliness, clad in a navy pinstriped suit.
He inquired as to our shirt that proclaims "The Philosophers Stone is people". I explained the darker nuances of "Fullmetal Alchemist" the anime series, and how we waggishly allude to "Soylent Green" as well.
He seemed disappointed.
He hoped that it would convey a deeper message, because, said he, "Alchemy is about personal transformation, not transforming base elements into gold."
Ri-i-i-i-i-ght.
The primary historical understanding of alchemy has been that of proto-chemists who sought to transform lead and such into precious metals, as well as seeking the Elixir of Life. Philosophy and theology entered in as well, but come on, turning lead into gold was a bigtime goal. As with any occultish endeavors which seek tangible results and fail, the redactors are hard at work making it all spiritual. "Personal transformation" indeed.
I guess the TRUE Fullmetal Alchemist is Tony Robbins....
While at dragonCON this weekend (more on that later) I met an interesting fellow, tallish, heavyset in the manner that brings gravitas, not slovenliness, clad in a navy pinstriped suit.
He inquired as to our shirt that proclaims "The Philosophers Stone is people". I explained the darker nuances of "Fullmetal Alchemist" the anime series, and how we waggishly allude to "Soylent Green" as well.
He seemed disappointed.
He hoped that it would convey a deeper message, because, said he, "Alchemy is about personal transformation, not transforming base elements into gold."
Ri-i-i-i-i-ght.
The primary historical understanding of alchemy has been that of proto-chemists who sought to transform lead and such into precious metals, as well as seeking the Elixir of Life. Philosophy and theology entered in as well, but come on, turning lead into gold was a bigtime goal. As with any occultish endeavors which seek tangible results and fail, the redactors are hard at work making it all spiritual. "Personal transformation" indeed.
I guess the TRUE Fullmetal Alchemist is Tony Robbins....
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
I wanted to share this most excellent news with you.
Go get this film. Really.
If you like cops and robbers, you will LOVE this.
If you enjoy great animation, well, this is a feast.
If conspiracy stuff is your bag, then put on your aluminium-foil hat and break out the Jiffy-Pop - which has its own tinfoil turban!
Romance? This is your movie.
Heroics and derring-do? This is it!
Adventure and hair-breadth escapes? Lupin (loo PAHN) is your man!
Martial artistry and gunplay? You can bet your NRA card that you will love this.
Egregious cinematic disregard of the laws of physics? Get ready to kvetch and whine...but you'll STILL enjoy the movie!
All this, and it's pretty, too!
Press Release
"...One of the Greatest Adventure Movies of All Time..."-- Steven Spielberg
FROM THE OSCAR™-WINNING DIRECTOR OF “SPIRITED AWAY” --
IDT ENTERTAINMENT’S MANGA ENTERTAINMENT OPENS THE
“CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO” SPECIAL EDITION DVD
Chicago, IL -- Before he enthralled audiences all over the world with such magical animated features as Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke and the 2001 Academy-Award™ winning Spirited Away, renowned Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki held audiences spellbound in 1979 with his first feature-length animated film, The Castle of Cagliostro. Now, Manga Entertainment, an IDT Entertainment company, proudly presents The Castle of Cagliostro Special Edition DVD, digitally remastered with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, available August 29th at the enchanting SRP of $24.98. Pre-book is July 19th.The Castle of Cagliostro (also known as Lupin III: Cagliostro No Shiro) spins the fantastic tale of master thief Lupin III, traveling to the European province of Cagliostro (pronounced “Cal-ee-os-tro”) to pull off a huge job. When a chance encounter with the Princess Clarice, engaged to the evil Count Cagliostro, distracts him from his original plans, he also stumbles upon a secret kept for over 500 years and now struggles to keep one step ahead of Cagliostro. Torn between his professional objectives and his increasing affections for Princess Clarice, Lupin is locked in a race to solve the mystery of a fabulous hidden treasure, dating back to the Renaissance...
Filled with Miyazaki's trademark rich animation and imaginative storytelling, The Castle of Cagliostro Special Edition DVD takes the experience even further with a treasure chest of bonus features including: