Whatcha reading, listening to, thinking about?

[Red]

To start it off, I'm reading American Trickster by Ru Marshall. It's a biography of Carlos Castaneda. It's dense, it doesn't pull any punches, and it's already pretty bonkers and I'm not that far in. I'm about halfway into Chameleo, and had to give it a break because it's unhinged in a "it's making me feel a little paranoid here" way. I've been listening to the Stuff They Don't Want You Know podcast and some non-murder-y true crime podcasts, one of which is Love Trapped, which I would recommend.
I've been teaching myself to grill this summer and I'm enjoying it. So I spend a good chunk of the week thinking about food. LOL

 

[Randall]

 

[Burnt State]

Currently reading a lot of short fiction that is very intense and bizarre: Joy Williams, Joyce Carol Oates, Raymond Carver, David Means, Yoko Ogawa.

Paranormal Land: for a couple years now I have been listening almost exclusively to first person accounts of encountering Sasquatch. I find Bigfoot narratives to be endlessly fascinating and very strange. While the Patterson Gimlin film may have recently been proven to be a fake (which entirely makes sense to me as I've never felt we could ever get visual clarity on anything paranormal and that it would just look like a blob of light, or foggy or the cameras won't work.) but the abundance of first person witness events to Bigfoot up close and personal reaffirm for me a certain enchantment that still exists in the world.

I thought almost all of the "Our Strange Skies" podcast was excellent for well researched tales of the UFO, and recently I've been listening to "Stories Lost" which relies heavily on little known Nordic, Russian and Asian UFO stories - very good stuff. I just started listening to Six Degrees of John Keel - it has some unique insights into being an experiencer. Sasquatch Chronicles is my go to for whenever I need to mainline a good Bigfoot story or two before bed.

I've been thinking a lot about a parallel existence, home to all things paranormal and strange, that is lurking all around us, right under our noses, but not always accessible. I think it very much has to do with the right person right place - set and setting defines these experience imho. Perhaps we sometimes fall through a weord doorway without knowing it when we are surrounded by strange circumstance.

 

[Randall]

• The Hinge of History That Was 2020
• Anthony Fauci: The Man Who Thought He Was Science
• https://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Robert F. Kennedy Jr - The Real Anthony Fauci.pdf

 

[Red]

I've been thinking a lot about a parallel existence, home to all things paranormal and strange, that is lurking all around us, right under our noses, but not always accessible. I think it very much has to do with the right person right place - set and setting defines these experience imho. Perhaps we sometimes fall through a weord doorway without knowing it when we are surrounded by strange circumstance.

Have you listened to the podcast Penny Royal? Your musings above immediately brought it to mind.

I can relate to being endlessly fascinated, but my fascination is with the deception in UFO spaces, like Mirage Men, Project Beta, etc.

 

[Randall]

Have you listened to the podcast Penny Royal?

Here's the link to listen for free:
Penny Royal Podcast – A New Podcast of Magic, Mystery and High Strangeness On The Penny Royal Plateau.

 

[Burnt State]

Have you listened to the podcast Penny Royal? Your musings above immediately brought it to mind.

I can relate to being endlessly fascinated, but my fascination is with the deception in UFO spaces, like Mirage Men, Project Beta, etc.

I listened to the first Penny Royal season and loved its bizarre dive into folklore, local legends and strange paranormal histories. It is superior to the Hellier material, that I put up alongside The Blair Witch Project as a construction and manufactured narrative.

Mirage Men was a brilliant piece of investigation necessary for all UFO fans to watch and understand the powers that are working behind the UFO mechanism.Project Beta is also necessary reading regarding manipulation of the "disclosure witness" to better recognize all these ridiculous hearings we are having recently.

As for Mr.Bishop, he was just in town recently for a conference and I got to go out for lunch with him talk about his latest projects. He told me that Radio Misterioso will be rebooting soon.

 

[Red]

I listened to the first Penny Royal season and loved its bizarre dive into folklore, local legends and strange paranormal histories. It is superior to the Hellier material, that I put up alongside The Blair Witch Project as a construction and manufactured narrative.

Fun fact, I have a great great grandparent who came from a county adjacent to where most of Penny Royal takes place.

Mirage Men was a brilliant piece of investigation necessary for all UFO fans to watch and understand the powers that are working behind the UFO mechanism.Project Beta is also necessary reading regarding manipulation of the "disclosure witness" to better recognize all these ridiculous hearings we are having recently.

Right? I'll probably purchase the Saucers, Spooks, and Kooks documentary this winter when things slow down a little.

As for Mr.Bishop, he was just in town recently for a conference and I got to go out for lunch with him talk about his latest projects. He told me that Radio Misterioso will be rebooting soon.

Excellent news. I've been at a loss for podcasts to listen to. Most of the ones I've tried veer into woowoo territory with a lack of discernment I find troubling.

 

[Randall]

Currently reading:



The media said the Canadian truckers were Russian agents, controlled by Vladimir Putin.
Justin Trudeau called them extremists. And the government put the country under martial law to stop them.

But what’s the real story?

For the first time, the woman at the heart of the trucker convoy speaks out. Tamara Lich: passionate organizer; loving mother and grandmother; proud Metis and proud Albertan; and defiant political prisoner, jailed for daring to criticize the government. Her new book "Hold the Line: My Story from the Heart of the Freedom Convoy" is the inside scoop of what really happened. You’ve heard from the media and the convoy’s critics. Now hear the truth from the woman who inspired the world . . .

 

[Randall]

Rewatched — Johnny Mnemonic
The precursor ( along with Dark City ) to The Matrix

​

From Data Courier to The One: How Johnny Mnemonic Shaped The Matrix

When the Wachowskis were pitching The Matrix to Warner Bros. executives in the late 1990s, they faced a wall of skepticism regarding their complex, high-concept cyberpunk narrative. To bridge the gap, they pointed directly to Robert Longo’s 1995 film Johnny Mnemonic. The Wachowskis essentially promised to fulfill the cinematic potential that the earlier film had missed. Rather than just inspiring The Matrix, Johnny Mnemonic served as a vital proof of concept, a visual blueprint, and a cautionary tale that allowed the Wachowskis to revolutionize sci-fi cinema.

The Negative Blueprint: Learning from Creative Failure

Johnny Mnemonic, based on William Gibson’s seminal short story, was plagued by studio interference that watered down its dark, counter-cultural core into a chaotic action vehicle. However, this failure provided the Wachowskis with a precise roadmap of what not to do.

Where Johnny Mnemonic faltered with exposition-heavy dialogue and campy pacing, the Wachowskis realized that cyberpunk philosophy required a disciplined, slow-burn revelation of its world. They took Gibson’s core concepts—which Johnny Mnemonic struggled to articulate—and grounded them in a tightly paced narrative where every piece of world-building served the action, and every action scene reinforced the philosophy.

 

[Burnt State]

View attachment 1000015367.mp4
It's concert season so I've been very fortunate to go with my brother to see a lot of brilliant live music. Any chance I get to see Jack White I'm there and he was just in town with Angine De Poitrine - space aliens Klek and Khn who only speak in their alien language at concerts and in interviews. No one knows what the hell they are talking about, but they've taken the planet by storm. I'm not really a fan of their micro tonal music. But wow - do they have a cult following! People of all ages from 5 to 75 dress in their polka dot alien regalia at shows.

However, Jack White still has his ongoing deal with Satan to be the best blues, live rock and roll.guitsr player on the planet. His band is insanely good and his ability to shred on a dime is unparalleled.

But, seeing Rush again was really a stellar treat - especially with seats so close to the stage. The last time I saw them I was in high school and now decades later here they are still phenomenally meticulous progressive rock musicians who are still capable of putting out a three hour show with just full on rhythmic genius.

Many Rush fans are drummers because of Neil Peart's incredibly complex approach to running the time signatures and syncopation of this band. Anika Niles is more than up to the challenge, and I even saw a number of fans wearing an Anika shirt in the classic Rush font.

Only Bruce Springsteen played a longer show - we clocked him at 3.5 hours in length. But this show was just sheer fun and a great revisit of some music that really had me hoping through high school, but was just a little too complex for our band to master with enough quality for live jams.

If you get the chance to see them on tour it is well worth it. I doubt they'll be back again. We ran into people who were travelling from all over the world to see them. But if that's too pricey then go see Jack White - lovers of hard rock and blues will not be disappointed. One can only hope he will revive his Raconteurs band - best live band in the history of the genre.

 

[Tyger]

Okay, Campers, cleaned up - except for the very end when it becomes a 'cooking thread'. This thread was majorly hi-jacked - whew!

@Red or @Burnt State If you want a cooking thread start one and I'll move the last posts over to it. Let me know when you do it.

 

[Randall]

Okay, Campers, cleaned up - except for the very end when it becomes a 'cooking thread'. This thread was majorly hi-jacked - whew!

@Red or @Burnt State If you want a cooking thread start one and I'll move the last posts over to it. Let me know when you do it.

Hijacking: Topic Diversion — Commenting to start a completely different conversation that ignores the original question.

Moving content ( whatever it is ) to existing threads of the same theme makes some sense — but let's be clear. This thread wasn't "hijacked" — certainly not by me anyway. I used it exactly for what it says it's for. Just because the complainers don't like it doesn't make it "hijacking". There's a fine line between housekeeping, content moderation, and censorship.

Personally, I think all content from here should be moved to other threads after a few days. It's a great place to quickly drop something when you don't have time to search out an existing thread dedicated to the subject at hand. That would put maintaining it squarely in the houskeeping category — no bias about what can and can't be posted here.

 

[Randall]

Emperor Penguins, Antarctic Fur Seals Now Endangered Due To Climate Change . . .​

Emperor penguins and Antarctic fur seals are undergoing significant population reductions because of the impacts of climate change on their habitat and food supply.The International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ) now categorises both species as endangered.

 

[Red]

Okay, Campers, cleaned up - except for the very end when it becomes a 'cooking thread'. This thread was majorly hi-jacked - whew!

@Red or @Burnt State If you want a cooking thread start one and I'll move the last posts over to it. Let me know when you do it.

Tyger, thanks for your hard work. It's much appreciated. I just started the food/recipe thread. If you need to delete this response to keep the threads clean, please do so.

 

[Randall]

Tyger, thanks for your hard work. It's much appreciated. I just started the food/recipe thread.

Does it include how to make brownies

If you need to delete this response to keep the threads clean, please do so.

Oh yes — please do

 

[Tyger]

This thread wasn't "hijacked" — certainly not by me anyway. I used it exactly for what it says it's for. Just because the complainers don't like it doesn't make it "hijacking". There's a fine line between housekeeping, content moderation, and censorship.

Well, by my standards it was. For you it would be a different call. Okay. It's a sensitive issue for me because I recall back-in-the-day when threads I started could be easily derailed with side conversations, completely smothering the discussion I was hoping for by starting the thread.

Bottom line, the person who starts the thread is the one who decides what a thread is intended for. If they feel their thread has gone off the rails, it's their call and should be addressed. That's how I see it.

If you ever think I'm censoring you, let me know. I'm hoping the 'In the Huddle' thread will eventually clarify the guidelines I'm working with.

 

[Tyger]

Tyger, thanks for your hard work. It's much appreciated. I just started the food/recipe thread. If you need to delete this response to keep the threads clean, please do so.

Thank you for your kind comment. Much appreciated. I won't remove the post unless you want me to. I find the 'little bits' humanizing.

Personally, I think all content from here should be moved to other threads after a few days. It's a great place to quickly drop something when you don't have time to search out an existing thread dedicated to the subject at hand. That would put maintaining it squarely in the houskeeping category — no bias about what can and can't be posted here.

I think the title of the thread is pretty obvious. People shouldn't have a problem figuring out what they are currently reading. Moving everything about defeats the purpose of the thread. Plus - and this is a big one for me - I'd be the one having to do all that moving about - meaning, more work for me. Nope.

 

[Tyger]

Cleanup completed. @Red If you have any issues with how your thread is progressing give me a heads-up.

 

[Randall]

I think the title of the thread is pretty obvious.

Ya like — "Whatcha reading, listening to, thinking about?" ( duh — that could be virtually anything )

People shouldn't have a problem figuring out what they are currently reading.

I had no problem at all. I posted what I was actually reading and thinking about, then was attacked as a conspiracy theorist and falsely accused of hijacking the thread.

Moving everything about defeats the purpose of the thread.

I disagree. The thread implies current content.
After it's no longer current, and it would be more appropriate on an existing thread.
Otherwise the thread itself is totally redundant in the first place.
And if it's fair, there should be no exceptions based on who posts, or what the content is.

Plus - and this is a big one for me - I'd be the one having to do all that moving about - meaning, more work for me. Nope.

If you didn't want the work — why'd ya bother at all? To me it looks like favoritism for vaxxer complainers who falsely accused me of hijacking the thread — and all you've done is made them feel justified. I give up — that should l make 'em even more happy and be even less work for you.