Thoughtful Preparations: Media Spin Blog

In case you are looking for the link to the Allen Ginsberg page, it is here. The photos are from a taping of Leon Varjian’s “The Vern and Evelyn Show” on WISC-TV Madison, WI where Allen gamely made a appearance on a local home spun comedy show. Ginsberg referred to this as “jackanapes” after seeing the theatrical video nonsense we were performing.

Sooner or later I’ll get around to adding more to this thread, such as Leon where the hell are you?

This book is John Crawford’s own true story in his words, written while stationed in Iraq as a member of Florida’s National Guard, The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell : An Accidental Soldier’s Account of the War in Iraq. I have not read the book, but listened to Terry Gross’s NPR interview with him, which is down to earth and funny in the way young Crawford offhandedly describes the bloody, stinky details of living through war time. He mentions that accessing too much phone and internet communication back home was a psychologically frustrating problem for many soldiers, that perhaps it would have been better to just disappear for a year.

And so John now appears on The Jon Stewart Show, which I unfortunately missed, but there is a clip on the Comedy Central web site.

This is an average soldier’s story, a guy who ends up in Iraq pretty much for mercenary reasons, in return for the National Guard paying his college tuition. In Iraq his buddies took steroids for combat and valium to stay cool. Kids from unpriviliged backgrounds (“I Ain’t No Fortunate Son”) who watched out for each other.

A tragic lesson learned is from the recent abduction and murder of freelance writer Steven Vincent and his Iraqi translator in Basra, Iraq. His book In The Red Zone accounts “his daring solo expeditions through post-Saddam Iraq… a vivid, frank, and unforgettable portrayal of the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people…” Going it alone at great risk, without a team, you could be attacked by any gang who doesn’t want you hanging around any more. In Steven Vincent’s blog, “In The Red Zone” his final entry, “The Niave American” and writings in the N.Y. Times pointed out corruption in Basra’s local politics.

Yeh, some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
And when you ask them, how much should we give,
oh, they only answer, more, more, more, yoh,

It ain’t me, it ain’t me,
I ain’t no military son,
It ain’t me, it ain’t me,
I ain’t no fortunate one,

It ain’t me, it ain’t me,
I ain’t no fortunate one, no no no,
It ain’t me, it ain’t me,
I ain’t no fortunate son, no no no,

– John C, Fogerty

An interesting thread about U.F.O. sightings was recently started up on a computer graphics forum populated by many practicing professionals and students, CGTalk part of CGSociety.org. (You may need to join this to view the thread. CGTalk Forums are still available without fees.)

The discussion kicks off with member “socool” asking if this video is a real UFO sighting or CG special effects. See either http://www.aboutrealstuff.com/video/real_ufo.jsp or http://www.zippyvideos.com/214500292671265.html.

Most had the opinion that it is a clever fake, and knowing what we know of state of the art of visual effects in today’s movies, why would anyone believe it to be real? Many contributed their own photos and videos. Knowing these photos have been submitted by visual effects artists, casts serious doubts on them.

The last two the artist has Rich Cabrera included “hoax” in the filename.

Trying to get away from hoaxes and to the bottom of all this are organizations such as UFO Evidence and The Disclosure Project. Dr. Stephen Greer of The Disclosure Project is making valiant attempts to clear away the carnival atmosphere associated with UFO research, and speaks throughout the country, including the National Press Club Conference (see video). His work appears to get into the X Files intrigue of big government and media cover ups.

Photo by Carolyn Cole, Los Angeles Times, Newspaper Photographer of the Year 2004.

Working above and beyond the political posturing, opinions, rhetoric and editorials, many photojournalists risk their lives to shed a little light on some very dark places. Photojournalism is raw photography on the jagged edge of survival. Red hot as in risk-your-life endangerment, not Frederick’s of Hollywood hot. No photo retouched beautification allowed in Iraq, Liberia, The West Bank, Afghanistan or Guantanamo Bay. Witness the true stories at The Best of Photojournalism 2004.

“When any country says it’s going to go to war, these are the kinds of things that we can expect,” reflects photojournalist Chris Hondros as he narrates The Orphans of Tall Afar on the tragic events he witnessed and photographed. During a routine night patrol through the streets of Tall Afar, Iraq, as is customary after curfew U.S. soldiers ordered a car to stop. When the car failed to slow down, soldiers fired directly into the front seats. After the shooting was over, in the back seat were six crying children instantly orphaned.

While exploring the many uses of the online community photo web site Flickr, stumbled across this group sharing their best, “Do Your Worst” face. These photos will test those seeking careers in medicine or dentistry.

The book 100 PEOPLE WHO ARE SCREWING UP AMERICA by Bernard Goldberg is a simple and cute idea. The American Film Institute has their 100 Greatest Films lists, there’s the easy reading 100 Naked Girls which could lead to 100 Promises to My Baby.

By pointing a finger at living people the author disapproves of, this catchy title smells a bit like the intolerance of the Hollywood Blacklist, made amidst anti-Communist hysteria in America in the 1950’s. Stay tuned for many magazine and hastily published copy cat and follow-up 100 Lists, each with their own spin.

Everyone has an opinion about this concept, and it makes for interesting brain scanning while one is idlely waiting for hours at an airport or painting a house. An equally interesting, and perhaps more helpful book would be 100 PEOPLE WHO ARE HELPING IMPROVE AMERICA, but perhaps that would be too Reader’s Digesty or just too difficult for Bernard Goldberg to research. It’s easier to criticize than to create, and we live in rootin’ tootin’ times when folks find it more convenient to shoot first and ask questions later. Or as the “screwed up” Michael Moore says on his web site, it’s easier to investigate steroid use in baseball, than to investigate CIA leaks.

Here is a link to the complete list at progressive U. I am happy to see on the list the bizarre radio mouth, Michael Savage, as well as the hooker lovin’ preacher Jimmy Swaggart. And yet the list is benign, as if Goldberg omitted the best and brightest investigative journalists, truth tellers, muckrakers such as Seymour Hersh, in favor of folks who are better known and in many cases retired, thus being ineffective at screwing up America. So, beware of the horrible Anna Nicole Smith and Harry “Dayo!” Belaphonte! And that do gooder Jimmy Carter, he may just pump up another dangerous charity such as Habitat for Humanity and cause property values to plummet!

While avoiding these screw ups in the Entertainment world, you can work on a list of 100 Screw Ups in the U.S. Goverment, such as Abu Ghraib prison commander, General Janis Karpinski and her band of photo happy prison pranksters, Staff Sergeant Ivan L. Frederick II, Specialist Charles A. Graner, Private Lynndie England, and four others. Following a chain of command of government officials and the contractors they hired, it would be very easy to make a list of 100. Not a book that many proud Americans would care to buy and display on their living room coffee tables.

Following up on a previous entry, “Education In Terrorism”, apparently George Clooney is seriously taking notes on the thought provoking and intriguing historical stories within these books. He is filming “Syriana” an adaptation of the story of Middle East CIA operative Robert Baer based on his book,
See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA’s War on Terrorism.

Most likely I’ll only see “Wedding Crashers” when it goes to DVD. Those who need summertime head-in-the-sand escapism, then take heart. Newspaper reviews cheer…

• FUNNIER THAN “ANCHORMAN!”
• HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE “DODGEBALL!”

Hey man, that sounds great. I’ll bet it’s even funnier than “Million Dollar Baby” too. Unfortunately some real unhumorous critics, probably liberal gay marriage soreheads wrote…

• RECYCLED “PORKEY’S” ERA GAGS.
• UNLIKE “OLD SCHOOL” and “STARSKY & HUTCH.”

Geez, the competition is tough. The bar gets raised higher every day, dammit!

Have to admit I’ve grown weary of Owen’s poo poo lips face. This may be Wilson’s Jim Carrey turning point where in his next movies he will be curled up in a fetal ball questioning his existence. Can’t he stand up for something real, like Scientology, which looks like 1950’s repackaged Vedanta Yoga… or is he just trapped in a swampy Butterscotch Stallion controversy?