The John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection has been released

President Donald Trump is making good on his promise to release all the documents pertaining to the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963.  This has been a LONG time coming for many, many people.  It bothered me in high school when I realized how much my government was holding back and it made a lot of my classmates mad too (this was right at the time the movie JFK was out).

But after sixty-two years since this collection began to coalesce, we're finally getting a look at it all.

Here's the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection's main page at the National Archives.  A lot of stuff had been made public already.  But what you're probably most interested in is what has been released because of Trump's executive order.  That stuff started getting dumped a few days ago: more than thirty-three thousand pages across nearly twelve hundred PDF documents.  Here's the link to that newly-released material, and word on the street is that there's more still to come.

What do I think so far?  I've only had time to peruse a little bit of it but there is some interesting stuff in there, a lot of it having to do with anti-communist activities on the part of the American government in the early Sixties, especially in regard to Cuba.  I found one document describing how a ballerina dancer was actually a communist agent.

But most people are going to want to home in on the meaty stuff pertaining to the assassination.  And they are finding some interesting things.  Among the more fascinating come upon so far: Gary Underhill, a CIA agent who stated the day after the killing that there was a clique within the agency that was responsible for carrying it out.  A few months later Underhill was found dead, it was ruled a suicide.  Just one more mystery among the pile of the biggest enigma in American history.

Back in 2016 when I was traveling across America with my dog Tammy, we spent a few weeks in Texas and during that time I got to visit Dealey Plaza in Dallas.  This was it: the most analyzed patch of land in the annals of man.  This is where all the theories span out from and where many more converge again.  And after a lifetime of wanting to see it for myself I was finally there.

Here are some of the pictures that were taken...

Behind the picket fence atop the grassy knoll.  This is the spot that several witnesses said they heard the sound of gunshots coming from.

Tammy and me atop the grassy knoll.

The spot where Kennedy was when the fatal shot hit is marked by a small white X on the road (click to enlarge)

The former Texas School Book Depository, from a window on the sixth floor of which is where Lee Harvey Oswald presumably fired the shots as the presidential motorcade passed by on the street below.

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This was today's verse on the Bible app...

 

How often do we ask God for things like money, or mere things like cars?  Or even healing?  Then He doesn't give us that, and we get angry and embittered.

That's not what God promised us though.  He can grant us those things in His time.  But He gives us wisdom EVERY time we ask for it.  And really, isn't wisdom more often than not what we need the most?

It's ironic: wisdom is one thing we can be sure God will give us but yet it's seemingly something we very rarely want.  I would even say that the desire for wisdom is at an all time low.  And that's a tragedy.

I would do well to take this verse to heart, especially.  I don't seek after wisdom nearly enough.  I've become frustrated with God, especially when it comes to having bipolar disorder.  I get upset at Him for not taking it away or alleviating it even a little.  When I should really be asking Him for wisdom to live in spite of my diagnosis.  God gives us wisdom and strength to face our obstacles, and I need to rely on Him even greater.

But mostly, when the verse popped up on my Bible app, it made me think about how wisdom is such a neglected virtue in this time and place as ours.  We could certainly be in a better place spiritually, and culturally and even politically, if we sought wisdom more.

God can give us that.  All we have to do is ask for it.

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Fiftieth anniversary of "Genesis of the Daleks"

It was fifty years ago today, on March 8th 1975, that the BBC transmitted part one of the Doctor Who story "Genesis of the Daleks".

It has since gone on to be regarded as one of the very best Doctor Who tales in the history of the franchise and one of the greatest science-fiction stories ever committed to the visual medium.  "Genesis of the Daleks", written by Terry Nation, packed a lot!  The part that I most often think about is when The Doctor (the Fourth, played by Tom Baker) is agonizing over the choice that is his to make: to either destroy the Daleks before they can become the universal menace he knows them to be, or to save them and let history run its course.  It was pretty strong stuff for a show still considered to be made for young audiences.

So it is that today is the fiftieth anniversary of the debut of Davros, the genius-but-insane creator of the Daleks.  Personally, I think that Davros is one of the greatest villains in fictional history.  When you consider that he has only one hand but that hand is stained with the blood of trillions of innocent lives... that is incalculable evil.

And to celebrate, here is a video that I discovered many years ago that someone very brilliant compiled and posted to YouTube. This predates Davros's appearance in the series that has been running since 2005, so it's almost all from the classic productions.

Here is "Davros Versus The Universe":

EDIT: 03/10/2025:  A reader of this blog has informed me that the complete "Genesis of the Daleks", all six episodes, is available to watch on the official Doctor Who YouTube channel!

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What might be the best way to end the war in Ukraine (that I can see)

 C'mere. Siddown.  I've got something to say.

One person has accused me of siding with Putin.  And that's one person too many.

To this person and others who think that of me: "***** you".  Because I am the FURTHEST thing from being a Putin apologist.

NOBODY'S hands are clean in this affair.  Not Russia.  Not Ukraine (as much as many of us want to believe otherwise) and not the United States.  We are involved too.  We sent a LOT of money and war materiel to Ukraine, and it's been questionable whether it was used by that country to fight Russia or if it was diverted and sold to other interests.  It's quite possible that some of the arms we sent wound up in the hands of drug cartels in Latin America.  I love the people of Ukraine, but the matter remains that they allowed their country to be one of the most corrupt in Europe and ultimately that's on them.

What do I think the U.S. should have done?  America should have led international sanctions against Russia.  In time I believe those would have had an effect.  Russia isn't playing nice by the rules of polite international behavior and they should suffer for that.

But that is not what we did.

Ukraine is not Afghanistan.  Afghanistan has defeated invaders for thousands of years.  It is perhaps the worst geography on Earth for an army to come in and try to control.  Alexander of Macedonia learned this.  So did the Soviets.  And in time so did America.  During the Afghanistan conflict with the invading Russian the U.S. did provide the Afghans with Stinger missiles, among other things.  In time that aid did did compel the Soviets to give up and go home.  But the Afghans had the layout of the land, the mountains of their home turf, on their side.  There is no such advantage that Ukraine has.

If we try to do with Ukraine what we did with Afghanistan, we are going to widen the war into something beyond the confines of Eastern Europe.  Zelensky came to the Oval Office yesterday and made clear his ultimate demand: that American armed forces and personnel be brought into Ukraine.  And that would be a terrible, terrible mistake for us to commit.  If we did that we would be turning Ukraine it into a quagmire far worse than Vietnam was.  And this time there will be a belligerent with his finger on a nuclear button.

What do *I* see in these circumstances?  What does Chris Knight the American citizen, the historian, the man just trying to do the right thing, perceive in this matter?

The last thing that Robert Christopher Knight wants to see is any one die.  Scrape everything else away from him and that's what you're left with.  And right now I don't see Ukraine's leadership being serious about that.

So it's left to a third party, someone other than the two sides in the conflict, to try to negotiate something. Right now the best party to do that is the United States.

There are three suggestions I would make, if anyone's interested...

1.  The U.S. and Ukraine should agree to the minerals deal.  The one that was about to be signed yesterday before the dipolomacy fell apart with all the world to see.  Enacting the minerals agreement would result in an active American presence in Ukraine *without* bringing United States armed forces into the war.  Russia would hesitate - and tremendously so - to endanger lives of American civilians.

2.  Work out a deal between Russia and Ukraine to end hostilities.  End armed conflict.  Stop the killing, by both sides.  They have each drawn blood.    Ukraine has also, by way of its drone aircraft.

3.  Negotiate the borders between Russia and Ukraine.  There are many areas in Ukraine that are ethnic Russian and have long expressed a desire to be within Russia.  If Putin wants to prove that he's true to his word he will agree to annex these areas.  But Russia is going to have to give over some territory to Ukraine also.

I have never been a fan of Putin.  I think he is a despicable excuse of a supposed leader.  His soul is a dark one, no matter how much George W. Bush looked into his eyes and claimed to see a good man.  Putin wants a return of the old Soviet empire.  He has never stopped being KGB at heart.  The day he finally dies will be a good one for the world, unless he repents of his wrongdoing and tries to make right what he has done.  But that's between him and God.

But neither have I been a wholehearted fan of sending hundreds of billions of American dollars - that we can't really afford - to Ukraine, without accountability for how it's being used.  Zelensky is not the squeaky clean leader of his country that many of us want to believe he is.  He did not come into office honestly and he has demonstrated many times that he turns a blind eye to the corruption in Ukraine.

So what are we to do?

The three suggestions I just made, provided that the United States pushes them forward, is the best alternative to prolonging the war that I can see.  It's NOT perfect.  It's NOT what either Ukraine or America wants.  In a perfect world Russia would be forced to withdraw and have to make reparations.  But it's not a perfect world and the United States did play a part in exacerbating the situation.

That's the best deal that I see us making that will end the war and stop the killing.  It's the only thing I can imagine will finally end this conflict.

But don't ANYONE dare declare that I'm a supporter of Putin.  Because that only demonstrates how much of a fool that person is.

Just my .02

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I watched the meeting between President Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky

And I mean I watched the entire meeting, not just the final ten minutes that descended into diplomatic chaos.

(Here it is if you want to see it for yourself.)

The war in Ukraine is perhaps the damndest Gordian Knot of foreign relations that I've seen in my lifetime.  I am and always have been against Russia's aggression into what should be a sovereign nation recognized as such by all.  I despise Russian dictator Vladamir Putin as much as anyone can.  The sooner he dies or is somehow overthrown will be a happy day for the world.  He had no right to plan and execute the invasion of Ukraine.

But what can be done about that?  More to the point, what should the role of the United States be?  We've already given hundreds of billions of dollars in funding and war materiel to Ukraine.

It's now an open and very serious question: what has become of all of that support that our politicians in the past few years have cheerfully given Ukraine?

Russia isn't going to withdraw from Ukraine while Putin sits in the Kremlin.  It's doubtful that if and when the war ends that Russia is going to cede over the territory they've won back to Ukraine.

I believe that President Trump is trying to make the best of the situation in the best interest of America: end the war and stop the loss of life.

Back to the matter of yesterday's meeting between Trump and Zelensky and their respective delegations in the Oval Office...

For the first forty minutes things are going as well as this kind of thing could.  Trump is being very gracious to his guest.  In fact, it could even be said that things are going in Zelensky's favor.  And then right around the forty minutes mark Vice-President J.D. Vance breaks in from where he's been sitting and brings up what is, I think so anyway, a good point: that on Joe Biden's watch the official United States rhetoric didn't match the United States's actions.  That there was never any real attempt at diplomacy on the part of the United States government.  Instead the U.S. became something that pumped billions upon billions of dollars into Ukraine's war effort and apparently this was not good enough for Zelensky, who Vance accused of not being thankful enough.

It's pretty clear that Zelensky wants something that the United States and other countries in Europe cannot provide without bringing about a larger conflict with Putin's Russia.  And Zelensky isn't budging about that.

I've had time to contemplate what happened yesterday and the larger scope of things.  And from where this blogger is sitting, it does seem as though Trump's strategy is the best one.  I'm not saying it's the most likable.  But it will bring about an end to hostilities sooner.  The minerals deal that was almost signed yesterday at the White House, before relations broke down between Trump and Zelensky, wouldn't put "boots on the ground" in Ukraine.  But it would put American interests firmly in place in that country, something that could be just as effective at giving Putin pause about furthering his aggression.

It's not a solution that makes anyone happy.  It certainly does not me.  In my perfect world Ukraine would kick Russia out on its ass, retake the captured territory and sue for reparations.  There would be international sanctions against Russia for invading a sovereign country.  But that perfect world does not exist in real life.

Maybe someday, after Putin is gone, there can be a return to Ukraine's intended borders.  Perhaps a Russia without leadership hellbent on bringing back the glory days of the Soviet Union's vast empire will be fully ready to join the family of nations.  But that day isn't in the foreseeable future.  We've got to take what we can get.  

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This is freaking my friends out on Facebook

In the past few days there's been something of a challenge on Facebook: post a picture of yourself at age 17 along with a photo of what you look like now.  It just so happened that I had my high school senior pic in storage a short distance away from where I was sitting.  Juxtaposed with a modern photo and it's startling a number of people.

At left is me in August of 1991.  At right is a fairly recent pic of me from late 2023.

Not that much change at all!  Well, I try to live healthy.  I don't smoke and I only drink once a year, when I honor Dad's memory with his favorite wine.  I exercise moderately.  I try to maintain a cheerful disposition.  Wherever I go I like to make people smile, and maybe there's something to that too.  I do feel older though.  I feel mature, it's hard not to feel that after life has thrown so much at you.  But I've done my best to keep a childlike spark alive, too.

I guess I should be thankful.  I'm still alive, despite everything that has happened along the way.  A lot of people don't get to come so far.  Things could be much better in my life but I have reasons to be grateful, too.

But if I still look like this at age seventy, that's going to be downright spooky.

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In memory of Gene Hackman

The sad news came out this morning that Gene Hackman and his wife were found dead in their home in New Mexico.  An investigation as to what happened is underway.

My first exposure to Hackman was his portrayal of Lex Luthor in 1978's Superman: The Movie.  I've seen most of his films.  My favorite film of his was the 1992 western Unforgiven: he played the evil sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett and it earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

A few years ago I watched The French Connection - the winner of the 1972 Academy Award for Best Picture among many other prizes - for the first time.  All I knew about it going in was that it starred Hackman and that it was about drug smuggling.  If anybody had told me beforehand that I was going to be screaming my lungs out while watching it, I would not have believed it.  But that is indeed what happened.  The scene where Hackman's Popeye Doyle (which snagged him his first Oscar win) commandeers a car and goes off in pursuit of a train is one of the most terrifying spectacles committed to film that I've ever beheld.  It's just CRAZY.  It might be the best chase scene in the history of American cinematography.

So I thought that to honor the memory of Gene Hackman, I would share that scene.  A fine actor at his very finest.

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Popcorn Sutton: A Hell Of A Life is now on YouTube

The legend of Popcorn Sutton lives on.  The man was already larger than life when he was with us.  Sixteen years after he tragically passed away, Sutton seems even bigger than ever.  Not long ago I saw a guy wearing a shirt with Popcorn's image on it.  And memes featuring him continue to populate the Internet.  I am forever going to regret that I never got to meet him in person.  But I am thankful that his legacy continues.

Filmmaker Neal Hutcheson has made a number of documentaries about Popcorn and the world of Appalachian culture for over two decades.  A few years ago he released Popcorn Sutton: A Hell of a Life and it gained considerable attention. This past week his production company released the film on YouTube, free for viewing by anyone.  I watched it yesterday and it definitely captures and conveys the essence of Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton and his life and times.

For anyone else enchanted by Popcorn and his unique persona and especially his craft at brewing moonshine, this will surely delight you.  Thanks for the great work Neal!

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It's below freezing here in South Carolina...

 ...and Tammy is staying warm with three blankets.

She is as snug as a bug in a rug :-)

We had a dusting of snow in the past two days but nothing significant.  My friends and family in North Carolina got enough to cover the ground and cancel school.  I doubt those of us in the Upstate are going to get any more at this point in the season.  But I've been wrong before.

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Welcome home Sergeant Hardy

Came upon this obituary on the website of a funeral home that is back where I'm from originally.  I find this fascinating, on so many levels.

---

 

Official Obituary of

David Eugene Hardy

November 1, 1928 ~ February 28, 1951 (age 22)

SGT David Eugene Hardy was born on Nov 1, 1928 and died on Feb 28, 1951 as a POW at Camp 5, Pyoktong, North Korea.  Under Operation Glory his remains were exchanged in 1954.  The Central Identification Unit at Kokura, Japan was unable to associate remains with Sargent Hardy and the remains were sent to Honolulu for burial as Unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1956.  In 2019 his remains were disinterred and sent to Hickam AFB for analysis.  SGT David E. Hardy was ultimately identified on 27 September 2024.

David's father and mother were the late John and Mary Hardy.  David's brothers were the late James (died June 14, 1944 Normandy France), Willard, George and baby Hubert.  James, Willard and George all served during WWII.  David's sisters were the late Cleria, Lessie, Mary Sue (Sudy), and Bobbye.  David is survived by nieces, nephews and children of his cousins.  

Military Services for David will be held on March 8, 2025 at Citty Funeral Home, 308 Lindsey Street, Reidsville North Carolina.  Visitation will begin at 10:00 am and the service will begin at 11:00 am. The interment with full military honors will follow at Danview Cemetery in Eden, North Carolina.

Veterans who are able are welcome to attend the services.  We honor all veterans, first responders, and active military.  Thank you for your service.

The family would like to acknowledge the dedication of the United States Army Repatriation Division for their work to identify fallen soldiers and return them home to their families.  It is work of the highest calling.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Tunnels to Towers 2361 Hylan Boulevard Staten Island, NY 10306 in David's memory are appreciated.

Citty Funeral Home is assisting the Hardy family.

---

Welcome home, David. It's been a long time, but now you can be at peace.

UPDATE: Television station WFMY in Greensboro, North Carolina has an in-depth story about David Hardy.  He was indeed from Reidsville.  The story goes into his army career, the circumstances of his being taken prisoner, and how he was identified by DNA.

I'm almost tempted to drive out to Reidsville for the service.  We aren't related so far as I know, but this is the kind of thing that merits paying respect.

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J.D. Vance is right: Europe is becoming totalitarian

Okay, I watched Vice-President J.D. Vance's speech at the Munich conference.  And he was absolutely spot-on.  

The same European countries we fought for and lost lives for are now becoming as oppressive as the Soviet Union was.  There is for all intents and purposes no more freedom of speech in places like England and Germany.  Dare to speak against the government and you're declared "far right" and subject to arrest and imprisonment.  Even posting a meme on X/Twitter is grounds for prosecution.  Say something about the massive problem with criminal migrants coming into the countries and that's also considered "hate speech".

And then there are the people who have been arrested for the "crime" of praying in public near abortion providers.

Europe has taken a terrible, terrible turn for the worse and is becoming the very nightmare that George Orwell warned about.  Why should the United States tolerate this kind of behavior from its supposed greatest allies?

This seems to be something that's got a lot of people hot and bothered (I can't believe the CBS reporter who suggested that the Nazis weaponized freedom of speech... what the hell planet did she drop in off of?).  The German leadership is especially honked-off that a hillbilly boy from Ohio just told them to their faces that they have apparently learned nothing from their own history.

(Vance is fast becoming the most proactive and vigorous vice-president that I have seen in my lifetime.  Maybe even the lifetime of any living American citizen.)

I'm working on an op-ed piece about this, suggesting that the United States turn off its support of countries that don't really give a damn about democracy and basic human rights.  It's time to use that "big stick" that Theodore Roosevelt spoke of.

If the countries of Europe want to be totalitarian regimes, they can do it without our help.

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After backers burned by Mythic, Privateer Press has news about Monsterpocalypse

Over the years I've expressed my fondness for Monsterpocalypse: Privateer Press's game of giant kaiju battling it out in cities that players put together before thrashing them to smithereens.  It's an awesome game that has a lot of appeal and when it first came out a decade and a half ago it enjoyed quite a dedicated fan base.

Then some decisions were made.  And they weren't necessarily for the better.  In its original iteration Monsterpocalypse was a "blind box" game that you bought a package of without knowing what was in the box.  The idea was that you could trade game pieces with others.  Some of us filled out our factions by purchasing the wanted pieces on eBay.  That in itself was sort of a fun pastime "game within the game".  That wound up being replaced by traditional packaging that let you see what you were getting.  And then came the movie rights getting optioned by Tim Burton, and that put the game in a holding pattern of sorts.  A few other things happened too that impacted Monsterpocalypse.

And then came the Kickstarter for the board game edition.  The one that licensee Mythic Games promised the fans.  It was basically the same game as the regular miniatures game, but with a few things like the game maps upgraded to sturdy stock as well as the pieces being higher quality plastic.  It was a project that launched on Kickstarter: the premiere platform for crowd-funded games, books, music albums and even movies.  The Monterpocalypse board game Kickstarter revved up on November 2nd, 2021 and by the time it ended it had pretty much met all its stretch goals.

And then for whatever reason, Mythic Games went bust.  There was going to be no delivery of the game.  Many people - and I was one of them - went "all in" on the project: backing the core game itself and all the miniature sets.  It was a few hundred dollars investment (but I had saved up from the COVID "stimulus checks" that the government had handed out).  Anyone who invested in the board game wound up all out of the money they had pledged.  Meanwhile Mythic seems to have split the scene entirely, and I don't think anyone got their dough refunded.

Here's my write-up about the situation, from October 2023.  That post got a lot of attention from all over the place.  Maybe what I'm about to post this time will be as widely read, for other reasons.  It's not a complete salve for the wound but it's at least something...

A few weeks ago on January 30th Privateer Press published a massive update on the state of Monsterpocalypse, with an especially strong emphasis on what went down with Mythic.  Privateer Press has expressed a lot of regret about what happened with the Kickstarter, and I believe we should take them at their word.  What happened was completely beyond their control.  But it looks like they are taking steps to make right that situation.

So going forward, Privateer has announced that they're shifting their production to make it "made to order" for Monsterpocalypse.  And that furthermore, those who got left high and dry by Mythic are going to be given the STL files that will allow players the option of 3D-printing the various monsters, units, and buildings.  There is also something of an authoritative book in the works, and Privateer is hinting that there may be other things coming down the pike for the franchise.

Personally, I think that Privateer is playing it safe, maybe too much.  The game started out solid and there's no reason why it can't be solid again.  The pieces don't have to be fully painted: just produce them the old-fashioned way with plastic molds and they will sell well in the brick-and-mortar stores.  All it needs is some marketing to help get it past the King Kondo-size gorilla in the room: the Mythic fiasco.  I for one would certainly invest a little in putting together a complete army for my favorite factions (especially the Lords of Cthul).

For anyone else with an interest in Monsterpocalypse, there may be reason to be of good cheer.  The franchise is back firmly in the hands of its creators and they are paying attention to what has happened and are doing something to win back the fans.  That's a lot of responsibility they're assuming and I think, again, we should take them at their word.

(Maybe I'l be able to once again play on my self-designed map of Reidsville, North Carolina!)

UPDATE 02/26/2025: Privateer posted a progress report a few days ago on February 21st.  Looks like they're going full-bore with their intention of making the 3D-printable files available to everyone who invested in the Kickstarter.  They get bigtime props from this blogger for that.  As you can see from the report if you were in on the Kickstarter, you can go to MyMiniFactory.com and create an account with the e-mail address you used with your Kickstarter account and that will get you on the way to (soon) getting the STL/LYS files.

I know very little about 3D printing at home other than it requires STL files to work from.  So if you have a printer perhaps this will all make sense to you :-)

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I'm starting to feel like this guy...

And hey, I've got a dog too.

The Tramp.  Charlie Chaplin's classic character.  Seemingly forever making his way from one set of experiences on to another.  A life of un-sedentary misadventures.  And that's where I've wound up once more, also.

I've had to find out the hard way that my training and experiences in regard to working with adults in the mental health field, do not necessarily translate into something that can also work with some children.  And neither is my academic background as a student of secondary education pedagogy, plus time spent teaching middle schoolers, very adaptable toward helping young people with severe special needs.

There is much more that could be said about what happened but I'll keep those thoughts to myself.  I believe that I was giving it my best, and I can hold my head high about that.  I'm a very hard worker, I always give something not less than my greatest effort.  A lot of people will attest to that.  But as friends have reminded me in the past two days it's not a perfect world.  I have to try to remember that.

In the meantime, I'm trying to keep hold to my faith.  Trying to cease questioning myself about if I am not thankful enough, because I truly believe that I was thankful and still am.  Is all of this some kind of test from God?  Is He wanting to see how well I hold up under the pressure of it all?  Is He entertained, by watching me holding on by my fingernails for the past few years?

I know.  What I'm going through right now isn't peculiar to me.  A lot of people in recent years have had to struggle.  Many are having it even worse off than I'll ever know.  There again, I should be thankful.  For the time being I still have a roof over my head.  I'm not feasting every night but neither am I starving.  I have my beloved dog Tammy (who is lately determined to drive me batty with her new ball that she keeps getting stuck underneath everything!).  Mental issues aside I am in very excellent health for someone who will be 51 next month.  Some don't get to say such things.  So I suppose on a level playing field, I'm doing all right, more or less.

I just wish that I could once again have a career with meaning and purpose that would provide for my needs.  I'm not interested in being "wealthy".  It doesn't take much to make me happy.  And I'd seriously love a real crack at having that.

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Movies I've Never Seen finally returns with EVENT HORIZON!

Almost exactly ten years ago I launched a new series on The Knight Shift: Movies I've Never Seen.  It's just what it suggests.  I would watch a movie that until now I've not beheld before and write about it.  It would be an attempt to fill in the many gaps that exist in my personal motion picture database.  It would be contributing to the cultural dialogue.  And it would be a lot of fun.

Well, that new series until now has had one... and only one... entry: my viewing of The Big Lebowski.  And then like with so many other things at the time the wind was just lacking in my sails.  It was a few months after Dad passed and I was still reeling from that.  I was also trying to maintain some income as a freelance technical writer.  And failing miserably at writing my book (which was only completed in the past two and a half months).  Writing about movies that until now had escaped notice enough to finally view them was something I very much wanted to make a regular feature out of.

Maybe things have gotten better enough that I can commit some time toward that.  It's rare that I find myself enjoying a new movie anymore.  Perhaps doing this will be a good thing for me in other ways.

So in rededication of Movies I've Never Seen, here is the the second film in the series.  A motion picture that I have heard various things about over the past few decades...

Event Horizon (1997)

Fifty years into the future, the rescue ship Lewis and Clark is dispatched from Earth to investigate the sudden reappearance of the Event Horizon.  The massive starship vanished seven years earlier after embarking on humanity's first attempt to venture out beyond the confines of the solar system.  Now it has been discovered, in orbit around the planet Neptune.

Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) and his crew have escorted Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill) - the engineer who created the Event Horizon - to the wayward vessel.  They are tasked with finding out what happened to the ship and its personnel.  Weir explains to his colleagues that the Event Horizon was an experimental ship designed around a gravity drive that would fold spacetime between two distant points: where a normal spacecraft would take tens of thousands of years to reach neighboring Proxima Centauri, the same voyage with such an engine would be able to be accomplished in a matter of days.

But things went wrong on the Event Horizon.  The people who made it envisioned the starting point and the end point but unfortunately they didn't seem to consider what was between the two.  Where the craft was going to be traveling through.  And that's where the ship went to and is now back from and as the crew of the Lewis and Clark come to discover, the Event Horizon didn't return alone.

This movie is all over the place.  I can understand why it has become a cult classic, for the most part.  But it's too disjointed for me to really say that I love it.  I like the general premise of Event Horizon the film: that a spacecraft has gone to nowhere less than Hell itself.  But there was a lot missing in the execution that keeps it from being a true horror classic on par with The Thing and Alien.  I did like the performances by Fishburne (before his iconic role in The Matrix and there is a little bit of Morpheus peaking out from his portrayal of Captain Miller) and Neill, still on a crest following Jurassic Park.  The film also stars Sean Pertwee, who has become an actor I appreciate.

The real star of Event Horizon however is the titular spaceship.  It evokes some reminiscing about the U.S.S. Cygnus, the gigantic vessel from 1979's The Black Hole. Each of these ships is in a subgenre all its own: the "haunted house in outer space".  When done right it could be amazing.  Unfortunately I can't think of any examples where any film has stuck the landing on that particular milieu.  But design-wise the Event Horizon is certainly imposing enough of a superstructure to darken the thoughts of any who would dare trespass aboard her deck plates.

Now a few hours after having watched it, I find myself thinking that Event Horizon is a high-concept film that misses the mark.  I won't say that I can't recommend it however.  It's worth catching at least once, and who knows: it may interest others enough that they would want it in their own personal library of movies (please Lord let physical media last a long loooong time still, I am not ready to have everything streamed from a remote server).  Director Paul S.W. Anderson swung for the fences with this movie, and it shows.  And that's also admirable.  This plot and execution needs a bit more finesse though.  Maybe in another few years the time will be ripe for a remake, because it's certainly a notion worth visiting anew.

I believe that every film should be judged by the standards of the time it was released in, as much as anything else.  As it is, 1997's Event Horizon is a model example of Nineties sci-fi filmmaking, and there is some respect to be had in that.  So for anyone who considers himself or herself a scholar of that era, I will heartily suggest Event Horizon as something to complement your broader knowledge of that decade's culture.

One last thing: I had heard, several times in fact, that Event Horizon could serve as a distant-era prequel to the Warhammer 40,000 franchise.  Having finally seen this movie, I can say that I absolutely understand why!  Maybe Anderson needs to be extended an invitation to direct something from the upcoming Warhammer 40K projects in production at Amazon.  If that happens, I definitely believe he could nail it.

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How Elon Musk and DOGE did it (and are still doing it)

The past three weeks in American life have been extraordinary, to put it mildly.  There hasn't been this much history made in my lifetime since the collapse of communism.  In some ways there are parallels between the two.  The Soviet Union fell because of Gorbachev's reforms in the face of that country's unsustainable bureaucracy.  And what some are calling American Revolution 2.0 is now transpiring as a consequence of even worse bureaucracy in the United States at last being made accountable to its people.

What President Donald Trump and his administration, and especially Elon Musk and his crack team of boffins at DOGE, are accomplishing just might be the second most dramatic "kicking over the tables at the temple" ever recorded.  There will be volumes written in years and decades to come about the winter of 2025 and the shaking up of the American government that has transpired in less than a month.  It's been a beautiful thing to behold... and I am of the mind that it's going to get even better.

A writer calling himself Eko over on Substack has published an intense account of what transpired in the wee hours of the Trump years just less than 21 days ago.  "Override" reads like a William Gibson cyberpunk novel as envisioned by Ron Paul.  Eko's write-up begins thusly:

The clock struck 2 AM on Jan 21, 2025.  

In Treasury's basement, fluorescent lights hummed above four young coders. Their screens cast blue light across government-issue desks, illuminating energy drink cans and agency badges. As their algorithms crawled through decades of payment data, one number kept growing: $17 billion in redundant programs. And counting.

"We're in," Akash Bobba messaged the team. "All of it."

Edward Coristine's code had already mapped three subsystems. Luke Farritor's algorithms were tracing payment flows across agencies. Ethan Shaotran's analysis revealed patterns that career officials didn't even know existed. By dawn, they would understand more about Treasury's operations than people who had worked there for decades. 

 

This wasn't a hack. This wasn't a breach. This was authorized disruption.

It's a helluva read, well worth recommending to anyone with even a passing interest in information technology or constitutional government. 

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I started a new career today!

Over the two decades of this blog's existence there have been times when I've landed a new job.  Sometimes, like the TV master control operator and the vocational instructor and the mental health peer support specialist, I've shared about here.  Guess I couldn't resist holding back on the good news.  Other jobs (like the part-time one I had recently that... nah, nevermind) were quietly not mentioned.  That part-time job was mostly supplemental to being an artificial intelligence trainer: something I really enjoyed doing but the work had petered out more or less.

So for the past several months I've been hanging on by my fingernails.

But today, there is cause for rejoicing.  There has been a change in fortune.  God is being very good to me lately and I need to share that thankfulness.  Today I started training for something that I think is going to be a real career.

What is it?  I am now a behavior professional at a place that works with autistic young people.  I'm going to be guiding them toward how to better communicate with others.

It's going to be a very challenging position.  But also very rewarding, personally and otherwise.  I'm going to get to use my training and experiences as a mental health professional, along with what I've gained along the way as a teacher, especially my training in college.  It's the most technological job I'll have ever had.  Among other things today at orientation they issued us each a new iPad.  They're on lanyards to wear around our necks!  I look like I'm wearing official Apple bling.  But that iPad is going to see some heavy use, maybe even more than my personal iPad Pro.

I can't fully describe how wog-boggled I am by this.  In a good way.

I may make a post every so often about it.  I can't talk about much, given various regulations like HIPAA compliance.  But a general sense of where I am and how far I'm going (hopefully far) will be befitting this blog's mission of chronicling the human condition, just as it has for the past more twenty-one years.

I'm so excited!!  Things are really turning around.  And I'll be able to continue writing too.  Maybe at odder hours but that's okay.  I don't think this job is going to be as draining as the past few I've had since leaving the mental health department over two years ago.  Some of those nearly killed me.

This new job is going to be different.  It's going to lift me up.  It's going to be the kind of challenge that makes me a better person.  And I am very thankful for that.

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Book status for early February 2025

It's been over a month and a half or so since I've posted an update about the manuscript I spent a decade of on and off work on, that I finished writing a few days before Thanksgiving.  As with a lot of other things in my life since I began this blog, some chronicling is in order.  Because this site is all about documenting the human condition and also for sake of anyone who might come across it and find themselves likewise wanting to write a book.

I guess the biggest thing (pun intended, maybe) is that it's occurred to me that I have not written a memoir, but a full-size autobiography.  Or perhaps it's two or three memoirs bound up cohesively with one another.  A memoir is supposed to be a personal reflection about just a few or even only one situation in a person's life.  That is not what my book is and I don't honestly know if what it became could have really been avoided.  My life today is the product of fifty years of many bad things as well as quite a few good things, and that is a tapestry from which removing even a few threads diminishes and even destroys the work entire.  I could have written an entire book about the swindling operation episode, or made it about pop culture as seen through the eyes of someone who was at the cutting edge of fan-driven Internet activity, or a how-to manual about running for public office.  My life has enveloped all of those things and so many more.

This may make pitching the book to a potential agent considerably more difficult.  Autobiographies by people who aren't established celebrities can be a tough thing to sell, no matter how colorful their lives may have been.

Then there is the lingering issue with the inherent nature of the book.  I may have written something that per the marketplace is nigh on unpublishable.  It's too Christian for strictly secular audiences and it's too secular for more spiritual readers.  One example: there is a point later in the book where I drive to a cemetery to conduct a ritual at the stroke of midnight.  What sensible Christians are going to approve of my doing such a thing as that?  And it may rub others the wrong way, also.

Other than those matters, I've been editing and revising and shifting elements around.  I've also been letting a few trusted friends read parts of it.  Recently I shared the prelude, which is an account of my first attempt at suicide.  Many told me that it was especially powerful and that it drew them in to wanting to read more.  I guess it's nice that something good came out of that experience after all.  I just don't ever want to be in that kind of place again.

I'm not giving up on my dream of seeing this on a store's shelf.  Dad believed in me and so have a lot of other people who have asked for a book about my life all these many years.  But I'm also having to accept the reality that this is going to perhaps be more difficult to bring to market than most other books are.  And I'm discovering that it is a hard thing indeed.

Perhaps next time I'll be able to post something more upbeat.

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