Monday night was the most fun I’ve had since I saw Scott Horton debate and defeat war-monger Harvey Kushner.

Anyway … the reviews are in … below are some of the local media’s take on the event. Video to follow soon.

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CITIZINE - Community Political Forum Tonight at Spiderhouse

TOLL ROADS — TAXES — TASERS!!
Before you vote, join the debate!

Click the image to see the full-size poster

COMMUNITY POLITICAL FORUM
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28
Forum begins at 7:00 p.m.
Spiderhouse Cafe
2908 Fruth Street
Austin, TX 78705
Suggested donation: $5.00

CITIZINE and Texans for Accountable Government (TAG)
present a panel representing a wide spectrum of political parties.

• Constitution Party - Erica Grignon, Travis Co. coordinator
• Democratic Party - Andy Brown, Travis County chairman
• Green Party - kat swift, Co-chair, Green Party Texas
• Independents - Debbie Russell, local coordinator for Nader/Gonzalez campaign
• Libertarian Party - Wes Benedict, candidate for Travis County Commissioner, Precinct 3
• Republican Party - Don Zimmerman, candidate for Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector

Moderator: Scott Horton of Antiwar.com.
Arrive early to submit questions to the panel.

* * * * *

www.CitizineMag.com

CITIZINE - News, Music, Politics, Interviews in Austin, Texas

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Loren Coleman posted an item over at Cryptomundo today about an art exhibit at St. Edward’s Universtity, here in Austin, TX.

Jeff Wilson’s Cryptozoology photo exhibit, running through November 5 at the St. Edward’s University Fine Arts Gallery (map), is described as photography that “subtly insinuate(s) the existence of the mythological, mysterious and unexplained in everyday life .”

While, as Loren notes, the description of cryptozoology used in the full text of the promo material is flawed, I’ll reserve my judgement until after I’ve had a chance to look at the exhibit. I was also intrigued by the fact that the next exhibit, opening after Cryptozoology, is the Alchemy. (Granted this is art from David Mack’s Marvel icons book Kabuki, and not related in any way to historical alchemists or alchemy, but the Fortean in me couldn’t help but leap a little at the juxtaposition of the shows and their titles. Plus its the juncture of high art and comics! What’s not to get excited about there?)

For more information about both shows, and other events, visit the St. Edward’s University: Art Program website here.

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Some time ago I bought Kenn Thomas’ PARAPOLITICS book and discovered that I’d become a published photographer … though uncredited. It was a still picture of John Judge from a video I’d shot at the COPA conf in Dallas in 2002 (below).

Yesterday I heard part of Alex Jones’ interview with JFK researcher Bob Groden.

And what do I discover at InfoWars.com today … they used my still shot from that same 2002 COPA conference.

“Alex talks with Robert J. Groden, author, photographer, and JFK assassination expert. Groden’s books include JFK: The Case for Conspiracy, The Killing of a President: The Complete Photographic Record of the JFK Assassination, and The Search for Lee Harvey Oswald: A Comprehensive Photographic Record. Alex also discusses the issues of the day and takes your calls.”

You can find out more about that interview here and there is a free mp3 archive of the interview available online as well. 

I’m sure it won’t be there much longer since they undoubtedly have new guests lined up for today, Friday. But what the heck. I’ve grabbed it with a screen capture for posterity.

And at least they sweetened the pic with some color tweaks.

- SMiles Lewis

Professional (though uncredited) Photographer.

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Stephen Romano’s Shock Festival: STARCRASH

Rated PG; 92min; Director:Luigi Cozzi  

Location: Alamo Downtown

This show is a part of the Celebrity Guests Signature Series, Click to See More

Acclaimed author/screenwriter Stephen Romano (MASTERS OF HORROR) invites you to the world premiere of his brand new book Shock Festival, a tribute to exploitation film, featuring ONE HUNDRED AND ONE of the most awesome drive-in/grindhouse flicks YOU’VE NEVER SEEN! Why haven’t you seen them? Because Stephen made ‘em all up! Shock Festival is a wild ride through the twisted back alleys of a Hollywood Babylon that never was (think SPINAL TAP meets GRINDHOUSE), and tonight we’re celebrating its arrival with a rare screening of the most awesome outer space drive-in classic of the seventies: STARCRASH! Laser battles! Intergalactic cavemen! A space fortress that looks like a big blue hand! The most beautiful leather babe that ever kicked ass in thigh-high boots! The worst special effects ever seen! All this- and David Hasselhoff!? Yep, you heard us right! DAVID HASSELHOFF. And he’s got a lightsaber, too! This Italian schlock classic was the inspiration for Romano’s book, and we got our hands on a widescreen 35mm Dolby Stereo print just for the occasion! And to do it up right, we’re also presenting TONS of swell drive-in movie trailers from just about every genre of “psychotronic” film! It’s a celebration of fringe exploitation cinema like no other, so come ready to be “blasted beyond the blackness of a hundred million nights!”

Kid Policy: 18 and up; Children 6 and up will be allowed only with a parent or guardian. No children under the age of 6 will be allowed.

Screenings (click on a show time to buy tickets):

• Tuesday, October 21, 2008
  • 9:30p

www.ShockFestival.net

www.MySpace.com/ShockFestival

www.MySpace.com/DoctorTheatre

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema - Stephen Romanos Shock Festival: STARCRASH

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In a recent forum discussion (Triangle ufo at Rigorous Intuition forums) someone brought to my attention video of an alleged triangular UFO that shoots a red beam of light. The video is posted online at several websites: Zwamneus Report, YouTube, LiveLeaks and others.

(”weird black triangle UFO with red lights” - YouTube)

The information posted at these video links alleges that the footage is connected to the recent article posted at the Irish Independent News website headlined We’re not alone . . . politician and pilot spot UFO that states:

“Footage, filmed on a camera phone at 10.35pm on August 3 near Dunboyne was also played and replayed to over 70 delegates who attended the fifth Irish International UFO conference in Carrick-on-Shannon.

The triangular shaped image, with lights at each point, which appeared to send a red laser-type light towards earth, drew gasps of amazement from the 70 or so delegates who attended the world premiere of the footage.”

The above quote does sound a lot like the footage in the video at the cited video sites. But the text at the YouTube link (recently updated) makes the claim that the footage was “found along a trail near the North Carolina / Tennessee border. It was found before the Irish video was announced. I only put it up when I heard about that one because it sounded like the same thing.” The poster goes on to say that he has given the camera and footage to a “UFO / Paranormal” researcher and that they will be posting the full, higher quality video online this weekend. [As of this weekend, it has indeed been updated to confirm our suspicions.]

Somehow I serendipitously came across the website for the Hoax Research Center and when I clicked through the headline UFOs: Phoenix Lights Effect Reproduced I (re)discovered the Annual Speaking of Strange UFO Experience and Fake UFO Contest organized by paranormal author, researcher and radio personality, Joshua P. Warren. And what should I see on that page but a picture of Jeff Wilson’s First-Place Winning UFO from last year’s 3rd Annual Speaking of Strange UFO Experience, which looks strikingly similar to the video in question:

(Photo by Sarah Harrison of the AshevilleParanormalSociety.com)

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The Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy has added archaeologist Kathy Moskowitz Strain to the list of speakers for their upcoming conference, October 18, in Jefferson Texas. Strain will be discussing her new book Giants, Cannibals & Monsters: Bigfoot in Native Culture.

We here at Anomaly have received a review copy of Giants, Cannibals & Monsters, and while we haven’t had the time to give it the proper, in-depth review it deserves, our initial impressions are positive. The book is gorgeously illustrated, and worth the price of purchase for the photographs alone. Nearly every page features amazing archival photography of the native peoples whose legends are discussed; including turn of the century candid shots of them going about their daily lives, participating in ceremonies and dances, and pausing to pose for gorgeous portraits.

The stories selected also seem to run the gamut, from clearly legendary tales with a tenuous connection to the subject of Bigfoot, to simple and straightforward accounts of hairy bipedal animals and their home ranges. Strain keeps the editorializing to a minimum, letting the stories stand on their own merits. While much has been made of the mythical aspects lent to hairy giants in some native tales, mainly by those attempting to discredit these stories as a legitimate source of pre-20th century bigfoot accounts, it’s worth remembering that coyote, spider, and raven all feature prominently in various Native stories, and all are also real creatures (as are the fox, tortoise, hare, and other creatures employed to great effect in the fables of Aesop and others).

Even if you do not believe in the physical reality of hairy bipeds roaming the forested hills and secreted valleys of the modern landscape, Strain’s book serves as a very nice catalogue of legends and I expect it to be invaluable to me in years to come as a reference for placing our modern bigfoot stories in a context of developing American mythos of the wild man legends and in comparing Native American stories to other wild man stories from around the globe.

Kathy Moskowitz Strain will be in Jefferson Texas the weekend of October 18 to discuss her work and book.

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Dorothy Sisk, a homeowner whose beachfront property near Caplen, Texas was destroyed by Hurricane Ike, discovered this football sized tooth that Lamar University paleontolgist Jim Westgate identified as belonging to a Columbian mammoth. The tooth will likely be displayed at the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin.  AP story here.

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That last post about Sarah Palin’s involvement with Pastor Thomas Muthee got a lot of us talking about witchcraft, the ongoing belief in, and fear of, witches in various parts of the world, and the consequences of mob rule and even legislating faith and morality. I’ve recently been reading “Passport to Magonia” and I’m sure the various writings of Jacques Vallee, no doubt, could place this in a greater historical context than I could hope to do in a simple blog post. The fact remains though, that occurrences that most of us would attribute to happenstance, coincidence, or, if it were something truly spectacular, maybe even to UFOnauts or extra-dimensionals, are still interpreted as witchcraft by others (and not just in far off, exotic locales like Kenya, although reports from Africa are more common, either because the media ignores such claims in the US press, relegates them to the “strange news” queue, or because social pressures keep more people from discussing their beliefs openly).

At some point in the future, I may even tell you about some of my own family’s stories regarding contact with malignant spirits they attributed to witchcraft (for instance my late grandmother Bailey always attributed misplaced objects in the home to “those little imps”, a clear ideological descendant of the brownies, boggarts, and house sprites her Scots and Irish ancestors would have believed in), but for now, we’ve got witchcraft links.  Below you will find several links to news stories discussing witchcraft in these various forms.

On the political front we have Palin blessed to be free from witchcraft.

In the cultural differences department, we’ve got African albinos persecuted as witches and witchcraft rumors sparking a soccer riot.

We’ve got a little of both, a smattering of xenophobia, and that legislation of faith and morality we discussed, with a witch trial in Saudi Arabia.

Finally we come full circle, and back to our concerns about separation of church and state, and legislating faith (an issue that concerns me, too, as that rare beast, a progressive, liberal Christian) with this commentary on, and video of, Pastor Thomas Muthee praying for Sarah Palin to help tear down the barriers that separate church and state. (Also embedded below.)

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