Some more Artwork

(Horse...and Mountain)

Some Artwork

These are a few pieces of art work (Dresser..., and Swiss Army Knives)

Journal Pages

These are (in order) a few unedited and scanned pages from my journal about American technological expertise and our place in history. (Sorry about the horizontal blotch down through the middle, scanner malfunction)

Silent Running

"Silent Running" is a 1972 science fiction film that takes place sometime in the future, probably within one hundred years. In outer space there is roaming giant American Airline spaceships containing numerous forests from Earth, the last in the solar system. A man (Freemen Lowell) has been involved with the program for 8 years is the only one among a group of 4 that passionately wants to preserve and save the forests, "all that beauty" as he puts it. When I read the blurb on On-Demand I thought it might turn into a sort of action science film movie but it turned out to be more philosophical and about ideals.
In describing Earth and the Universe he says "on Earth it is always 75 degrees and temperate, there are no new frontiers to be explored, it is dull." He exists in a place where he loves nature but is also very technologically satisfied and grows an attachment to two robot drones who take care of the ship, to perform repairs and maintenance tasks. He changes their programming so they respond directly to him, and creates programs that allow them to perform surgery, play poker, and take care of the forest. His names for them are Hughie and Dughie and they sort of act as placements for the other three people he had to kill to save the forest. It is interesting to me how he operates so smoothly in two worlds, nature (the forest) and the technologically advanced spaceship.
Though one of the crew said in the beginning that Earth has "eliminated poverty and everyone has a job" this future can be considered a dystopia as Lowell considers it. When he is leading on a superior officer in the beginning he calls Lowell "one hell of an American" and after the transmission he says to himself, "I think I am." A boring, controlled future would be bad with no more nature and lack of diversity.

Li'l Bush

Li'l Bush is a Comedy Central show which acts as a satirical, animated view of the Bush administration. It is not only funny, interpreting the absurd actions of cronyism advocates but also other members of society not connected to politics get made fun of, such as Al Gore. In the most recent episode Li'l Rummy took the fall for Li'l Bush's actions as the hall monitor, mirroring and particularly criticizing Rumsfield's resignation, “Somebody's gotta take the fall, right?”. I am not sure whether Li'l Rummy has been banished from the show for all time or whether it is yet another show rampant with incontinuity. I am not saying that is annoying, except to the perfectionist, but rather obvious and, at times, distracting. I recommend it on the basis of what Comedy Central has done before with the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, events have gotten so ridiculous, the only opportunity to criticize it and expose obvious flaws and mistakes is through a comedic Television show.

Review (?) of Gilligans Island and Hogans Heroes

This is the first of my articles in a series about Old Television shows

Gillians Island and Hogans Heroes have been pathways to escapism at some point in my life of the past few years. They have provided a unique form of it, one that resides in complete escapism. They donut take place in conventional places and don't revolve around large casts and many areas. They are isolated, the former on a deserted island and the latter in a German POW camp during World War II. Both are comedies, which I have been especially keen on for awhile now, and both frequently explore far-fetched plots and outlandish scenarios, the essence of golden-age television you could say. More recently, my passion for Gilligan's Island has tapered off and I haven been able to finish the most recent season I purchased, but my love of Hogans Heroes has never dissipated and is alive as ever.

On the whole HH is the more quality show whereas Gilligan's Island, most of the time, leaves much to be desired. It has a lot of silly lines and cliché reactions and situations. It may have an imaginative plot, being stranded on a deserted island, but it still manages to fit neatly into a genre. Hogans Heroes on the other hand exploded and broke into genres never before explored. For one, it prominently featured an African American as Hogans second-in-charge, something never before seen. Though it took place in a German POW camp, it was not run by Nazis but by the Luftwaffe, and never mentioned the slaughter of six-plus million Jews and more. Concentration camps were the never the target of sabotage by Hogan and his commandos. Wilhelm, a Jewish actor who portrayed Kommandant Klink, reportedly accepted the role on the terms that Hogan always win their escapades. The actors who played Schultz and Le Beau respectively, were also Jewish. Ironically, Hogans Heroes re-runs have proved to be extremely popular in Germany and included a maid that was mentioned but never seen.

It could be argued that both series's have a fairly equal role in popular culture consciousness, perhaps Gilligan's Island has a slight edge because of the romantic setting and catchy theme song. Also Hogans Heroes is probably more infamous because of Bob Crane's (Hogan) pornographic film endeavors and mysterious murder, a renown Hollywood murder. As I said earlier HH is my favorite of the two. I have always had an interest in World War II, especially Germany.

The idea of Hogans Heroes that has molded itself into popular culture is the use of a secret tunnel. In Family Guy, a popular Fox animated comedy, an episode with Chris, Peters son, involves him having a job at a golfing range and while picking up balls the owner appears out of a secret tunnel from under the ground. He says to Chris, "Yeahs, it a secret tunnel, like in Hogans Heroes, wanna fight about it?" And in The Simpsons Homer envisions in his mind Klink as a gaurdian angel, Wikipedia mentions these as testaments to HH's popularity. I use these shows as examples because they are very popular in American and abroad culture. 

Hogans Heroes (Wikipedia)

Imdb

Our love/hate relationship

Americans have a love and hate relationship with cannabis, it seems, sometimes, in equal measurements. Of course it can be considered to be involving Americans of various types. All people are different, even within their own countries, towns, and villages. This is especially true with the United States of America, whose Civil War took a heavier toll on its people than any other war they have engaged in since. In recent wars the causality rate has gone down, due to advanced technology, body armor, etc. To put it succinctly, Americans differ on numerous topics within. In the case of marijuana, it goes as far back as to its colonial days, in a way even to its first president, George Washington. In his journals he refers to growing hemp, the product of cannabis that has very low THC content. He even encouraged other farmers to grow it, as the rope product is very strong and hemp is easy to grow in many environments. It was not used for psychoactive or medicinal purposes however, as far as we know.

After that, word about cannabis seemed to taper off until it resurfaced in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. It started to appear as an ingredient in various medicinal concoctions going around. It was prohibited by Harry J. Anslinger, at a time prohibited mind-altering substances was in fashion. After World War I America was enjoying considerable prosperity, like it never had before. Perhaps people in power decided what is good and what is not good for the masses, taking it upon themselves to make the decision. It is now understood as a method to keep Mexicans and other immigrants from South America out of our country.

It appeared on the Beat scene, in the early 50's by iconic figures Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, among others. Since the days of slavery, forms of cannabis have been used to help creativity flow. With slaves toiling in the fields, they would smoke cannabis to reduce anxiety, thus the roots of blues music. It is believed one of the first instances that cannabis appeared in the New World, was slaves brining it over from Africa in the slave trade. Along with heroin, the most popular illegal drug being used by musicians was marijuana. Especially in the genres of Blues and Jazz. Later, via the Beats and Hippies, it was used by Rock musicians, strongly influenced by blues music. Allen Ginsberg can be used as a guide to the cultivation and usage of marijuana, and nearly every important anti-war movement, hippie sit-in, and rebellious groups during the 50's and the 60's. Some of his articles are some of the best pro-marijuana documents ever written. Here is an article by Lester Grinnspoon which talks about Ginsberg's relationship with cannabis. And here is the most famous article about marijuana written by Ginsberg.

Key figures like Ginsberg and John Lennon are prime examples of Americans perspectives of marijuana. Despite Lennon being an Englishmen, he was essentially kicked out of America for smoking weed. Ginsberg was kicked out of almost every country he visited in the mid to late 60's, including the former Czechoslovakia and Cuba. Another big figure of the time was Timothy Leary, who was able to convince congress to revoke an old law about marijuana and stamps. It implied that if you want marijuana, you must declare it but in the act of declaration, you can be arrested for possession, Leary said that was unconstitutional and he won. The government has always had a very anti-pot viewpoint, therefore it has been exceptionally popular with counterculture.

Certain Americans passion for cannabis has resulted in the perfection of the mind-altering capabilities of the magical plant. This is evident in its best in Amsterdam, where marijuana has been decriminalized and you can purchase it at places called coffee shops. You can choose from numerous strains, all of which are based on the original strains of sensimilla cannabis developed by Americans, primarily in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California in the late 80's. Once again Amsterdam is the place to be if you have a passion for a particular plant, before it was the Tulip, now it is Cannabis. A marvelous article written by Michael Pollan, a regular contributor to the New York Times, in his book Botany of Desire. America is both responsible for the marvelous sensimilla and its being prohibited in most of the world.

1. Michael Pollan, Botany of Desire (book, specifically sections titled "€œTulips"€ and "€œCannabis")

2. Lester Grinnspoon, Allen Ginsberg and Mary Jane (article, Marijuana Uses)

3. Allen Ginsberg, The Great Marijuana Hoax (article, Marijuana Uses)

4. Carl Sagan, Mr. X (article, Marijuana Uses)

5. Erowid Cannabis Vault (good overall web resource)

Lo's business

Victoria crater, credit NASA

Mars, former alien civilization?

Scooter Libby

This whole scooter libby thing is not very good. Everyone is covering it. I hope this marks a drastic way in coverage by the media and action by the powers that be in order to protect the freedom of future generations. I admit I am not the most informed but I desire to be. I have everyones good will at my heart. I am thinking about the us and not the me. Their is no I in teamwork. I implore everyone to spread democracy in its purest form, whatever way possible. Lets restore the checks and balances of the system and re-establish true democracy, the one that has worked so often in the American past. Now we must progress to "connecting the citizenry" using the Internet. Create a true democracy, not a "representative" democracy or actually republic, but one where everyone participates, not just those who were voted in to reperesent but all people, to have their so. Only recently has this ability been realized, achieved technologically, and we should embrace it and prevent wrongdoing in the future. 

"The future is what you make it"     - Doc, Back to the Future III