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Chiller Theater

Still, the scariest show I ever watched as a kid.

In the 1960s, I went to bed watching Chiller Theater at 10pm (way past my bedtime), with a craft model of Frankenstein standing atop the black and white TV set in front of the nighttime sky. As much as I prepared for the opening each time I watched, I always got shivers during the opening trumpet blares and Vampyra lurching from the grave.

Chiller Theater was a showcase of black and white horror films of all genres, but not necessarily the bigger studio projects, like Peter Lorre/Boris Karloff/Vincent Price vehicles. Many, if not most of the films shown on Chiller Theater, were made from smaller budget, less well known directors, featuring actors no one would remember today. In their own way, they were as effective a treatment of the macabre story as any other could be. The actors were besides the point. It was all about the atmospheres, the darkness, the slow dialogue and creep of scene after scene until something happened suddenly.

These films, while obscure then and now, were the wellspring that grew the myriad of modern horror genres that came to follow. Few have compared to the often campy plots, but skillfully spare approach of the films from those days. They were under appreciated then, and maybe more so today. I want them back.

 

Audio: Unparalleled horror theme. Scared the sh*t out of me…

Trivia Challenge: What famously (and atrociously) bad 1959 sci-fi movie featured Vampyra’s famous grave yard scene, as well as the orchestral score above?

On Protest Voting and Non Voters

The outcries against Hillary Clinton are loud and clear. Excluding the obvious Trump supporter, Hillary’s most vocal detractors are roughly divided amongst three groups, some of which can overlap.

1) Lowly educated voters, “some” of whom, are racists, misogynistic, and/or, isolationist xenophobes, who have next to zero awareness of who she is, and has been, in her life and career, beyond biased media, conspiracy and hate groups.

2) Mainstream Republicans, Democrats, or Independents, who otherwise understand politics, global and national events, and the responsibilities of governing.

3) Disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters, and all other truly uncommitted voters, who may, or may not, overlap into categories #1, or #2, who do not like any major candidate.

Category 1 speaks for itself. Category 2 has shown a tendency to coalesce in Hillary’s direction, as either a full supporter, or a begrudging one in choosing the lesser of two evils. Category 3 is in play. This group in Category 3 may either sit out the election, or vote for the Libertarian or Green Party candidate who will appear on the ballot.

On Not Voting:

I’m not interested in bullying people to vote if they are so turned off of a candidate they can’t possibly fathom him/her in public office. But, that does not preclude you, the registered voter, and citizen of your country, from doing all you can do to understand what is going in your country politically, should you decide you can’t vote. Speak out. Shout out. Create a group. Build support for your case, instead of musing, or fuming about it to one or two people in your tight circles. In short, if you don’t want to vote, and hate everyone who is running, then try and do something about it. That’s what our forefathers did. That’s how its done. It is not done by not doing anything. It is not done by waiting for someone else to do something. It is done by doing something on your own. Something to demonstrate that you care enough to put some work into your beliefs that you believe are threatened. If you don’t think you have the capacity, nor time to do something like this, and you still do not vote, then I am sorry to tell you that you are shirking your duty, and your obligation, as a citizen of this country.

If you do not vote, you need to do something to make a meaningful step towards changing whatever it is that keeps you from voting. Organizing and speaking out to groups is one of the most effective ways. Politics is the same thing. Its nothing more than a structure of presenting ideas to the masses. The loudest voices, and the boldest ideas, get attention. If you believe in something, this is what you do. If you wait around for somebody else to throw their voice and weight around, and you don’t vote, and you don’t speak out to groups and try to build your own case, your own coalition, you have to accept that you are part of the reason someone else gets there.

Two hundred thousand people died in the American Revolution. Tens of millions more have died since defending it, and fighting what they believed in. Died. They gave their lives. If you don’t like things now, and you don’t want to vote, how about putting in an effort to create a community group to discuss ideas to improve your neighborhood. your town, or city? Put your ideas on paper. Develop your own political ideas platform, and garner support amongst friends, neighbors, and most importantly, doing this outside your immediate comfort zones, and geography. Do something that shows you care about being an American, a citizen of life around you, more than just benefitting from the work of the others.

Political activism need not describe a special category of individual that only pursues aggressive activity in the name of a cause, if you do vote. Voting in itself is a form of activism. Its a minimum, but the mere act of voting says something about you. It says you think about the process, about the candidate, and have made a decision about political leadership, as it relates to who you are, and your values. It may be that you have done this on a bare minimum level, for better or worse, but it does show you care enough to calculate the net result of choosing a particular person for office, to take the time to go to the polls and vote.

On Protest Voting:

This year there are four candidates on the Presidential ballot. Two from one of the major parties who will take power and run the presidency. And two from fringe parties, Libertarian, and Green.

The concept of an expanded party system, whether Independent, Green, Libertarian, or some other, is interesting, and as shown with Bernie Sanders’ successful movement, has measurable potential to affect the national political conversation, and subsequent policy decisions. Conversely, once the nomination process is complete, the idea of voting for a candidate running for public office who has no chance of being elected, as a protest against the other candidates, has to be one of the most boneheaded meaningless moves of any nation’s citizens. I’ll go further. It’s lazy, thoughtless, and irresponsible. It is better to not vote at all, and become a real activist to change the system, if that’s your point. But, if you do that, be prepared to work extra hard as an activist in order to legitimize your stated position, and also live with the potential consequences of having a very poor candidate take office due to your refusal to vote.

In the case of this year’s U.S. Presidential election, a protest vote is outright dangerous because of (pathetic as it is) the possibility of it causing an election of an incompetent, incoherent, inexperienced, lying fraud to the office.

No matter how much you dislike both major candidates who can be elected, if, in the final weeks before election day, all poll results and aggregated information conclude that victory is plausible for a candidate who is considered, by all rational perceptions, if not your own instincts, dangerously unfit for the Presidency, based on an unbiased, verified, current and historical record, you must do everything in your power to prevent that victory.

CLIPPED OUT: Speaking out to groups, or crowds, if you can swing that, as a non voter, has been famously done by George Carlin. George Carlin had a stage, literally, to make his case, but you don’t need to be a celebrity, or a comic to speak out to groups. Still, it takes some effort, just as it did for Carlin to build his career. 

Walking In Nature


Since moving to Connecticut, I have discovered how important it is to take time to escape the stress associated with noise, and unsightly visuals of over-development, sprawl, relentless commercialism, and worst of all, litter, and filth. I discovered the value of nature, hiking trails in the woods, listening to the sounds of animals, trees, the wind, away from the often obnoxious sounds of civilization. Although I may have walked more when I Iived in NYC because the city is built for it, I now walk in nature (unplugged!) with more peace and awareness of life around me, that in many ways, is more magical. I almost can’t go a day without it, and each time it saves another small part of my life.


Read: https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/how-nature-changes-the-brain/

Sugar Industry Paid Scientists To Point Blame At Fat


A newly discovered cache of internal documents reveals that the sugar industry downplayed the risks of sugar in the 1960s. – Luis Ascui/Getty Images


Fifty years of misleading and dishonest research. Imagine how different things might be with public health and education if these bogus research papers weren’t given the credibility they received.

The second to last paragraph from the NPR article below says it all. Funding sources need to be screened for industry research projects and then governed for access to leading journals for publication. It wasn’t done fifty years ago, and it still isn’t done today. Why not? Why don’t leading journal publishers recognize the possibilty of crossing ethically gray territory, and simply refuse to print studies from researchers that are funded from the same industries they are writing about?

The same goes for the researchers. Why do they as individuals fail to exercise any restraint in turning down these projects, based on ethical grounds, even though it’s often so easy to anticipate the dubious results? Are the researchers just too stupid and naiive? I don’t think so. There’s a lot of people who just want to get paid, or make more money, publicize their name on a byline, pad their research dossier, or protect their power, or market position. They may be professionals, but their ethical boundaries often become vague if it means choosing a large research grant. I’m tired of describing this type of human failure. Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

Read the full article> 50 Years Ago, Sugar Industry Quietly Paid Scientists To Point Blame At Fat

The Joke of Donald Trump is Lost on His Supporters


After Trump’s really awkward and 100% phony trip to Mexico, followed by the insufferable speech in Arizona, I have finally reached my personal end point with following the activity of this stunningly incompetent clown! I felt it was important to keep tabs on him just to watch how his mind worked as we get ever closer to the election. Call it due diligence, or the observational journalist in me. No more.

I am so done with this guy. He’s got nothing to say. Nothing but slogans or attacks, and pandering, all day long. “Build the Wall! We’re Gonna Be Great! Crooked Hillary!” Two months from election day, he’s got no substance, or ideas on policy developed on our nation’s issues or challenges, logged online, or distributed to anyone, anywhere. He’s just got nothing.

If he has any ounce of mental forethought, or any sense of awareness of the profound weakness in his political position at this moment in his life, he will do the right thing, and withdraw from the debates, and the race, allowing the RNC to bring in a suitable replacement, before he makes this political year any more embarrassing, than it already is.

I have written here before in posted essays, and in comment threads describing the complexities about how and why this man got nominated. I have given his supporters a break in their judgement due to their exasperated personal situations, and/or, their irreversible cynicism. I have acknowledged that many people in our country are true racists, or bigots, and many of them are Trump people, who will follow him off a cliff, as followers do with a cult leader. I have also stated that many Trump supporters are not these things. It is those people I write to here.

People! Wake up from your haze! Shake it off, and get the hell off the insane bandwagon you are on. I know you all hate Hillary Clinton, and she deserves to be questioned, but she’s not an incompetent empty vessel, who has the political brain and thinking process of a sixteen year old. Trump’s business acumen has nothing to do with political viability. Even so, his so-called business talent has been many times revealed as mostly an exploitative loudmouth and big risk taker, with no solid values of integrity or fair practices. Do some research on this man outside of the slanted orbit of his surrogates’ propaganda. Listen to others beyond his protective family, who have known him, and have had substantive relationships with him in the past. This is all on the record, if you choose to read up on it.

So you hate Hillary. So hate her. Stay home then. Don’t vote. Or vote for Gary Johnson, if you must. (but know that if you vote for Johnson, you’re betraying your entire Trump rationale, which begs the question, WTF have you been doing all this time?) Wait this term out, and cue up for 2020. The point here is anyone who gives reasonable time to analyze and deeply observe what Donald Trump has been about, and is about, can NOT vote for this man to be President of the Untied States. This man is beyond historically incompetent to hold the Presidency. He is a danger to the national security of our country.

It is my position, that those who are not outright racists, who support Trump, have simply not done their homework, or are living in a sealed bubble with no desire to poke through. They have not studied this man outside of his shallow speeches. It is my belief that the vast majority of his supporters have not listened to any other credible, thoughtful, non-network media associated opinions, nor writers, journalists, nor commentators outside the echo chambers of his own acolyte world and Conservative media. They have claimed not to have the time to do anything but watch one cable news TV station-Fox, one conservative talk radio station. They have claimed that every other media outlet but these, are biased, and part of a liberal or Democratic conspiracy.

People! Political partisanship exists. You think its in the media? DUH! Its everywhere! That’s exactly the reason, you, and we, have no choice but to explore as many news and reporting outlets and sources, from both sides, as we can. If for no other time in our lives, then at least, during important election periods. Our country deserves more investment of our time, as citizens, than an easy,  lazy (yes, its lazy.) surrender to one or two, shallow, and yes, “often”, very partisan media sources. You don’t trust media? Fine! I don’t blame you. Don’t trust media. But, that includes Fox News. That includes Rush Limbaugh. So dig deeper! And don’t trust anything, or anybody who is loud and angry before they are anything else. That’s the dead giveaway of bias.If that’s all you want, then reap what you sow. Today, if you’re after more than just echos, you have to work at it more than flipping on a TV or reading the internet’s first search returns.

Truth is out there, if you work the mines to get it out.

As much as I am embarrassed by the support this guy already has, if he goes on to the debates, and stays in this race, he will do nothing but embarrass himself, and this country even more. He will then lose whatever little credibility he still has left. He will get walloped in the election so bad, that even his legendary celebrity status may not recover. I’m actually counting on him to figure this out at the 11th hour, and finally pull out, which ironically, would solidify his mythical stature. That is exactly where he belongs. As a myth. >MB


UPDATE: Trump was elected President. Read more of what happened in future posts.