click to enlarge
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Monday, April 18, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Happy 50th Birthday, Space Needle
Today is not only the birthday of one of my favorite friends, but also the birthday of the Space Needle. I remember when they were building it. Happy Birthday to The Needle!
click to enlarge - This file is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Photo by Joe Mabel
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"Trying to convince birthers that Obama is a legitimate citizen. . ."
"Trying to convince birthers that Obama is a legitimate citizen rather than a closet jihadist is like trying to convince a terrified child that there’s no monster under the bed." - Kathleen Parker, in a NY Times editorial.
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Saturday, April 16, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Drawing: Faces No. 200 by Jack Brummet
Faces No. 200 - The Numbered, By Jack Brummet
[Analog-->Digital. The drawing (pen and ink on 24x24" surplus muslin drawcloth) was scanned and then numberfied in PhotoShop]
[Analog-->Digital. The drawing (pen and ink on 24x24" surplus muslin drawcloth) was scanned and then numberfied in PhotoShop]
click to enlarge
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Thursday, April 14, 2011
Alien Lore No. 198 - Dark Skies released on DVD!
By Jack Brummet, Paranormal and Unexplained Phenomena Editor
One of my favorite television shows ever has finally been released on DVD, some sixteen years after it first aired. Yeah, you could find boots, and I did, but they were rough (although far better than not seeing the show again). But here it is at last. It even includes some great "bonus material" (which I usually barely watch), including audio commentaries, interviews, a behind-the-scenes documentary, network promos, and studio sizzle reels.
Right up there with The Sopranos, Hill Street Blues, Deadwood, and a very small handful of other TV shows...is Dark Skies. Dark Skies aired in 1996/7 and detailed the Greylien "history" that has accumulated (like tartar) over the years. Unlike other shows, Dark Skies established an elaborate mythology and framework for the grey lore, built through research of the voluminous outpouring of writing and reporting on alien-related topics.
Bryce Zabel and Brent Friedman developed an amazing five year plan for the show, ranging from the early 60's to the millennium, all grounded in historical events. Each episode details the impact of The Hive on historical events. Harry Truman, The Beatles, Ed Sullivan, Jack Ruby, William Paley, Hubert Humphrey, JFK, Bobby Kennedy (in a recurring role), Timothy Leary, Jim Morrison, Jerry Rubin, Carl Sagan, and others all appear on the program. The "lookalike" actors are outrageously over the top and campy...which adds a note of bent humor to the proceedings. The Greys, it seems, are merely hosts for the real aliens, called the Hive. The Hive is far more dangerous and insidious than the Greys. The Greys, in fact, are a race not particularly warlike until they are taken over by The Hive.
"Dark Skies" was set in the '60s, and, as such, it has aged well. It still looks like the 60's! They actually took a lot of care in 1995 to recreate American streets of the 60's, and the locations, wardrobes and cars are all spot on.
The Hive, in the form of The Greys, has stealthily infested America, and the world. The awful truth is kept from the American people by Captain Frank Bach, the leader of a super-secret government organization called Majestic-12. John Loengard and Kim Sayers are on the run from the alien Hive and from the Government. Their travels lead them all around the country as they learn more about the massive infestation of The Hive, and Majestic's efforts to control it at any cost.
It's never clear in the show whether the cure is worse than the illness. Dark Skies seamlessly put together science fiction, UFOlogy, and past political events and social movements that took place during the 50's and 60's. Unlike the X Files, Dark Skies was a one trick pony--it was about aliens, and UFOs, and nothing else.
Just the titles of their one season tell you much:
The Awakening
Moving Targets
Mercury Rising
Dark Days Night
Dreamland
Inhuman Nature
Ancient Future
Hostile Convergence
We Shall Overcome
The Last Wave
The Enemy Within
The Warren Omission
White Rabbit
Shades of Gray
Burn, Baby, Burn
Both Sides Now
To Prey in Darkness
Strangers in the Night
Bloodlines
In a lot of ways, the story is better than ever. It is, with all that has happened and become known in the last fifteen years[1], it is, perhaps, more plausible than ever before. . .
[1] Several governments, including ours have admitted they did withhold information, generally when they they were stumped...to avoid panic. France, Russia and other countries have begun in the last two years to release massive amounts of their once secret files on UFOs and aliens.
One of my favorite television shows ever has finally been released on DVD, some sixteen years after it first aired. Yeah, you could find boots, and I did, but they were rough (although far better than not seeing the show again). But here it is at last. It even includes some great "bonus material" (which I usually barely watch), including audio commentaries, interviews, a behind-the-scenes documentary, network promos, and studio sizzle reels.
Right up there with The Sopranos, Hill Street Blues, Deadwood, and a very small handful of other TV shows...is Dark Skies. Dark Skies aired in 1996/7 and detailed the Greylien "history" that has accumulated (like tartar) over the years. Unlike other shows, Dark Skies established an elaborate mythology and framework for the grey lore, built through research of the voluminous outpouring of writing and reporting on alien-related topics.
Bryce Zabel and Brent Friedman developed an amazing five year plan for the show, ranging from the early 60's to the millennium, all grounded in historical events. Each episode details the impact of The Hive on historical events. Harry Truman, The Beatles, Ed Sullivan, Jack Ruby, William Paley, Hubert Humphrey, JFK, Bobby Kennedy (in a recurring role), Timothy Leary, Jim Morrison, Jerry Rubin, Carl Sagan, and others all appear on the program. The "lookalike" actors are outrageously over the top and campy...which adds a note of bent humor to the proceedings. The Greys, it seems, are merely hosts for the real aliens, called the Hive. The Hive is far more dangerous and insidious than the Greys. The Greys, in fact, are a race not particularly warlike until they are taken over by The Hive.
"Dark Skies" was set in the '60s, and, as such, it has aged well. It still looks like the 60's! They actually took a lot of care in 1995 to recreate American streets of the 60's, and the locations, wardrobes and cars are all spot on.
The Hive, in the form of The Greys, has stealthily infested America, and the world. The awful truth is kept from the American people by Captain Frank Bach, the leader of a super-secret government organization called Majestic-12. John Loengard and Kim Sayers are on the run from the alien Hive and from the Government. Their travels lead them all around the country as they learn more about the massive infestation of The Hive, and Majestic's efforts to control it at any cost.
It's never clear in the show whether the cure is worse than the illness. Dark Skies seamlessly put together science fiction, UFOlogy, and past political events and social movements that took place during the 50's and 60's. Unlike the X Files, Dark Skies was a one trick pony--it was about aliens, and UFOs, and nothing else.
Just the titles of their one season tell you much:
The Awakening
Moving Targets
Mercury Rising
Dark Days Night
Dreamland
Inhuman Nature
Ancient Future
Hostile Convergence
We Shall Overcome
The Last Wave
The Enemy Within
The Warren Omission
White Rabbit
Shades of Gray
Burn, Baby, Burn
Both Sides Now
To Prey in Darkness
Strangers in the Night
Bloodlines
In a lot of ways, the story is better than ever. It is, with all that has happened and become known in the last fifteen years[1], it is, perhaps, more plausible than ever before. . .
[1] Several governments, including ours have admitted they did withhold information, generally when they they were stumped...to avoid panic. France, Russia and other countries have begun in the last two years to release massive amounts of their once secret files on UFOs and aliens.
---o0o---
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Mixed media assemblage: Ungawa!
By Jack Brummet
[22" x36" on interlocking cedar planks with acrylic, pen and ink, an old reusted saw blade, a red cross sticker, two acrylic door pulls, a lightning bolt car ornament, a metal "owner will maintain" sign, a bolt and locking washer, instructions from a Vietnamese ammunition pouch, and a "boneless" meat package sticker]
[22" x36" on interlocking cedar planks with acrylic, pen and ink, an old reusted saw blade, a red cross sticker, two acrylic door pulls, a lightning bolt car ornament, a metal "owner will maintain" sign, a bolt and locking washer, instructions from a Vietnamese ammunition pouch, and a "boneless" meat package sticker]
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Bobby Kennedy lays down the truth in his April 1968 speech on "the mindless menace of violence"
Like many of Senator Kennedy's speeches those last months, this is just beautiful and heartfelt, I wish they had not used music or some of the partisan images, but this is well worth listening to, as almost all his speeches from that spring are. . . [posted by Jack]
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Tuesday, April 12, 2011
The world's tallest man meets the world's shortest man
A few years ago, the world's tallest man met the world's shortest man. As it happens, they both live in the same region of China's Inner Mongolia. The world's tallest man, Bao Xishun met He Pingping who claims to be Earth's shortest. Bao Xishin stands 7 feet, nine inches tall, and He Pingping is two feet, four inches.
Read the original story in the Mail Online here.
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Alien Lore No. 197 - An interactive map of 15 years of UFO sightings.
By Jack Brummet, Paranormal & Unexplained Phenomena Editor
A few months ago, Slate published an interactive map detailing fifteen years of UFO sightings as collected by the National UFO Reporting Center. NUFORC was located in Seattle, but has now moved to a former Intercontinental Ballistic Missile base in eastern Washington. The article includes some fascinating data and maps. NUFORC has, over the years, collected accounts of of over 30,000 close and not so close encounters with, well, something. Read the article from Slate here.
Recent Alien Lore articles on All This Is That:
Alien Lore No. 196 - The Nation of Island and UFOs
Alien Lore No. 195 - The Krill Papers & the tenth planet, or some other armada
Alien Lore No. 194 - The first UFO visit, and the first UFO crash 114 years ago?
Alien Lore No. 193 - Poem: When Aliens Land, Or, The Return Of The King
Alien Lore No. 192 - UFOs over Jerusalem
Alien Lore No. 191 - Four UFO sightings in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood
Alien Lore No. 190 - A new Wikileak that reveals a U.S. v. UFO war near Antarctica
A few months ago, Slate published an interactive map detailing fifteen years of UFO sightings as collected by the National UFO Reporting Center. NUFORC was located in Seattle, but has now moved to a former Intercontinental Ballistic Missile base in eastern Washington. The article includes some fascinating data and maps. NUFORC has, over the years, collected accounts of of over 30,000 close and not so close encounters with, well, something. Read the article from Slate here.
Recent Alien Lore articles on All This Is That:
Alien Lore No. 196 - The Nation of Island and UFOs
Alien Lore No. 195 - The Krill Papers & the tenth planet, or some other armada
Alien Lore No. 194 - The first UFO visit, and the first UFO crash 114 years ago?
Alien Lore No. 193 - Poem: When Aliens Land, Or, The Return Of The King
Alien Lore No. 192 - UFOs over Jerusalem
Alien Lore No. 191 - Four UFO sightings in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood
Alien Lore No. 190 - A new Wikileak that reveals a U.S. v. UFO war near Antarctica
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Monday, April 11, 2011
Julian Assange: I pitch, I don't catch
In his first formal public appearance since being arrested on rape charges, Julian Assange told reporters that he planned to sue the Guardian--for libel!--over a book two of their writers published. The book quoted Assange as saying that if informers were killed due to his WikiLeaks disclosures, well, then, "they had it coming to them."
It's fascinating to see this champion of open-ness in government and the press now resorting to using the libel laws to go after his detractors. There are a lot of things you can say about this, like "If you can't take the heat..." or "Beware when you spit in the wind, because the wind blows it back," or probably most accurately, borrowing a phrase from Tennessee Williams, "I pitch, I don't catch."
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