Of the myriad of guilty pleasures that are mine, one, is for the show on the History Channel called ‘Ancient Aliens’.  If you haven’t see it, it is a show that posits everything about humanity from the pyramids to Stonehenge to the Pythagorean theorem were the direct result of extraterrestrial influences on humanity.  It assumed humanity is nothing but incompetent savages and only from outside influences have we ever moved forward.  All of the fundamental notions of the show I find intellectually vacuous, and largely repellent.  And yet I continue to watch the show.

I am not exactly sure why I watch.  On some level, I watch for the same reason I gawk at a car accident, house fire, barn fire, or a crime in progress.  Part of me wonders what new lower level they will stoop to in assuming the worst about humanity and our ability to advance on our own.  I do find the creative application of adaptive theory while using negation on conventional understanding to be entertaining.  

And then there’s the anti-gravity hair aspect of one of the show’s so-called experts.  I wonder what alien race made that hair style possible more than anything while watching than anything else.  It all combines together to make for marginally compelling television when the other choices are Judge Judy or the Jerry Springer show.

In doing some thinking while watching a new episode, I hit upon an interesting revelation.  My responses to the show are fairly consistent to my responses to true revelation.  By that I mean this, when some conventionally held item is found to be untrue, I tend to respond exactly like I do to the show.  The realization that the concept of a solid is a functional myth of perception caused me to recoil as if I was told it was ‘aliens’.

There are plenty of other examples but the truth is there.  Revelation lays bare conventional wisdom to be fraudulent.  It exposes our ignorance.  It exposes our blindness.  And it causes some of the worst responses possible of the human condition.

It puts is in a binary state in relation to the revealed truth.  We can select to retain our blindness and continue in our ignorance.  Alternatively, we can opt to investigate the revealed truth.  Notice I did not say the word ‘accept’ the revealed truth.  And that was intentional.  Homo sapiens as a species are not capable of immediate acceptance at the point of revelation.

Acceptance requires experience, and experience requires investigation.  We require confirmation from multiple trusted sources before we can enter into the abode of acceptance.  We are much like the water being exposed to tea leaves.  we don’t immediately become tea having been shown the sachet holding the fragrant concoction we typically call ‘tea’.

We have to marinade in our be steeped in the essential nature of the revelation.  It has to into the fabric of our very being.  We have to be changed at a fundamental level before we can accept.  The conventional wisdom that the revelation is meant to replace must slowly be destroyed, deconstructed, and dismantled before revelation can replace it.

Whether the revelation is Pluto is not a planet (something I am still unwilling to accept) or Stephen Hawking’s recent paper on the essential nature of black holes contradicting all of his previous work, reaching acceptance is always a work in progress.  In some instances it is easier than it is for others.  Humanity struggled to accept that the earth was not the center of the universe.  Many scientists were persecuted for suggesting otherwise.  My only hope is that we as a species are doing better at the point of revelation than our ancestors.

Absent the direct action of an alien intelligence I think that our ability to accept at the point of revelation will never happen.  Not that there aren't those out there that believe that can happen.  I mean look at the pyramids.  Human beings could not have possibly done that right?

In the wake of recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, I am struggling to find balance.  My thoughts as it relates to the unrest and the Michael Brown matter as a whole are unsettled.  In cogitating on this matter I come back to basic principles of human decency and propriety.  And end up comparing that to what has taken place in that tiny poor community.  It forces me to come to very negative conclusions about the state of our civil union.

We reside now in a place where facts do not matter.  We reside in a place where the need for instant 'justice' has replaced the need to wait for the truth to be fully exposed.  We reside in a place where people completely untouched by the event feel the need to commit nefarious acts of barbarism and associated crime.  We reside in a place in which one community feels no responsibility for or need to ensure that everyone in their community is comporting themselves in an upright and noble fashion worthy of the blessings of liberty.

It makes me sad that this where we are.  It breaks my heart that we have replaced the need for truth with the need to act now.  It shocks me that looting and vandalism in the name of the aggrieved is the best response we can muster as a people.  It is a far cry from our best aspirations.  It is a gulf from the people we once were, and shakes my faith in the notion that we could ever be that people again.  It forces me to reevaluate my faith in the inherent goodness of my fellow man.

The facts as of right now are these.
1.    The initial reports that Michael was gunned down and shot in the back without provocation have been proven to be false.  
2.     The person responsible to telling those initial tales as it turns out is a person whose credibility is at best suspect.  He has been found guilty of lying and obstructing official investigations in the past.  
3.     The image of Michael as an innocent teen has been shattered.  The images of him throwing gang signs and holding firearms while smoking pot are everywhere now.  
4.     The video of him committing a brazen act of robbery and throwing a convenience store clerk around like a rag doll is everywhere.  

Knowing all of this to be true, I am appalled that a community could rally around him.  I am shocked that anyone could be willing to commit crimes in his name.  I am apoplectic that knowing all of this, this community is still at odds over this matter.

Some of the blame for this resides with the media, not all, but some.  They either did very poor research on the initial story or knowingly built a complete fictional narrative that was presented to the public as the truth.  I want to believe in the essential incompetence of the news media, because incompetence is easier to accept than the alternative.  If they weren't incompetent, then they were very selective in the narrative they crafted.  And they presented a fictional representation of the matter.  

The truth is that they did not present the whole story at all.  Any elements that contradicted their narrative were discarded.  They did not act with any notion of ethical or responsible behavior with this story.  The narrative they told was fiction from the first word, and they were happy to report it.  They were and some outlets still are reporting the initial narrative in spite of all of the evidence that has come out that contradicts it.

That blame honestly only goes so far.  I have come to expect sloppy one sided fictional reporting from the mainstream press.  History tells me that faced with a convenient lie that will drive monster ratings for a few news cycles and holding off on a story for awhile to effectively gather all the facts, that the convenient lie wins every single time.  It is sad, but it is true.  I hope for more from the press that has the responsibility to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth every time, but I have come to expect otherwise.

There are many others that deserve blame in this situation.  And I could go on to list them...  A community police force more concerned with obtaining high grade military hardware than on developing a good relationship with all of the communities they serve.  A focus by the poverty pimps and other charlatans to hold anyone but Michael responsible in this matter.  And a nation as a whole that is focused on blaming the police for the whole situation all share some measure of blame.

I for one had hopes that as I came into adulthood that the dream speech of Dr. King that I had grown up hearing as a boy, either had already been or would be realized in my lifetime.  The events in Ferguson have shattered that faith.  I struggle to reconcile the concept, 'judged by the content of their character' with the desire to never judge anyone by the character, unless they happen to be a cop.  And even then character seems to not matter when it doesn't fit the narrative, so it gets tossed aside in favor of a convenient fiction to justify what some elements of our society already want to do.

This is not the America I wanted to live my adult life.  This is not the America I wanted for my children.  I would say that we have a long way to go, but given that certain elements of our society have no interest in moving forward at all, I am not hopeful as of this moment in time.  We seem to be bereft of any desire to rise above the grievances of the past.  Many seem to believe we are now as we were in the days of segregation.  Many seem to believe that nothing has changed.  And until recently, I thought they were wrong.  Now I am not so sure.

We cannot live as a nation in these conditions.  If we continue along this path we will kill each, or keep killing each other.  An eye for an eye may seem like justice, but it leaves the world blind.  And we end up perpetuating the worst elements of human nature.

We must stand up and say enough.  We need to say that if you are stopped by the police you must be respectful.  We need to say that bad character is bad character.  We need to hold people accountable for it.  We need to say we will not loot or pillage for any reason.  We need to say, we will wait for the facts to win out.

We need to revile the need to exact retribution that is essentially based on a lie.  Or more simply put...  We need to revile acts of violence in retaliation for acts of violence.  We need to be a civil society that seeks truth in all things.  We need to ensure this with all the blood, sweat, and tears we have.  If we fail to do so, the worst pages of man's inhumanity to his fellow man are in our future, a not all that distant future if you ask me.

The real questions we need answers to are fuzzy at this point in time.  I have strong suspicions as to the who, what, where, and how, but I don't have solid facts to support them.  I am willing to wait for the various investigations that are underway to be completed before I come to any firm conclusions.  As we all should.

My review of the latest outing by Michael Bay and company can be summed up in the prophetic words of a co-worker of mine that I will refer to as K.  It was so bad it was good.  

My overall good feeling at seeing this film is the result of several factors.  First, my kids had a blast.  I think I enjoyed watching them laughing uncontrollably more than anything.  Second, I saw the move on half price night at our local multiplex.  This made it much easier to relax and enjoy the movie knowing we spent much less to get in the door than we did at the snack bar.  It is odd for me that my movie expectations at $5 per seat are much lower than they are at $10.  An oddity of the current context but certainly true.

Third, given all the warring between Mr. Bay and the fan base for this property leading up to the release, my expectations were low.  If that sounds like I was pleased that an actual movie ran that had all the required elements and was not replaced by some shrieking infomercial, you are correct.  I was struck think, it could have been a lot worse.  If any of the rumors about what Mr. Bay wanted to do came true, it would have been.

At the outset of this review, I used a word I now want to explain.  It is the word, 'good'.  I explained how this film escaped what should have been withering criticism.  This movie comes up short on a host of levels.  The story, the direction, and on some level the acting all come up short. And by comes up short, I don't mean by a tad, a little bit, narrowly misses the mark.  I mean in the ohmygawdwhatweretheythinking definition of the word short.

On some level though, this movie is good on a couple of levels one expected and one surprising.  As per usual with Mr. Bay's films, the action and the visuals were top shelf.  The action was solidly planned and well executed with top notch special effects and CGI work.  I expected no less.  On the surprising level...  This film was a parody of every Bay film ever made.  Certain actors were cardboard cutouts and archetypes for every other one to proceed them in every other Bay film before.  The turtles could have been alien robots or World War II battleships for that matter.  Megan Fox was well...  Megan Fox.  The only missing element was Ms. Fox running in slow motion.  As a caricature and a piece of unintentional satire it was rather good.

Allow me to be clear, I am done with Mr. Bay and his substandard version of movie making.  I would hope that the Hollywood moneymen realize that the bankable nadir of this so-called director and the steaming fecal lumps of films that he produces is over.  That statement may seem to be contradicted by the recent Transformers box office results.  It shouldn't as that is easily explained.  In terms of actual tickets sold there were fewer of them in number than in previous films.  One could postulate that increased ticket prices had more to do with it than anything else.  The face that it faded fast and disappeared from theaters quickly would seem to confirm this.

If you are considering seeing this film, allow me to humbly suggest you wait for RedBox on this one. Your kids will like it and you won't feel completely mugged of anything but ninety minutes or so of your life.

The court jester of my generation is no more.  By that I obviously mean Robin Williams journey through this life in the curtain of flesh is no more.  Much has been said about this man both positive and negative in the time since his passing.  And there is little I can add to vast array of comments made some eloquent, and some not.

I will say that I always found his comedy to be amazing and always on point, even when I didn't agree with the point.  He was the first comedian in my lifetime to master the constant riff of machine gun styled jabs one after the other.  He was the first comedian that gave me the feeling that he was trying to kill my with laughter.

I was always blessed by his humor.  I found in his work a fresh joy.  His gift for brilliant humor and keen insights into the human condition never failed to lift my spirit.  I realized in his comedy that laughter is a universal palliative for whatever ails you.


I realize that my wish in this regard is totally selfish.  I wish he could have found a way out from the dark place in which he had come to reside.  I wish that he could have found in a reason to remain among us.  I wish he could have regaled us for many decades more with his comedy.  I wish he was still among the living and that the final chapter of the Robin Williams biography had as yet to be written.


I can only say in closing that while I did not know him personally, he was a hero of mine.  And the fact that he is gone leaves the world a darker place that he has gone out from it.  And all I can say to Robin directly if that is possible is thank you.