Vibrations from the Black Hole

Various / checking in

2011-07-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

When I wrote here last, I had briefly believed it could get no worse in these United States: HOW WRONG I WAS. The Tea Bagger insanity has continued apace and the ugly chickens are coming to roost in the GOP hen house with their manufactured 'debt ceiling' crisis. It makes one wonder when and if the powers-that-be in the GOP will conduct their own version of June 30, 1934 ("The Night of the Long Knives"), as their tea bagging brown shirts are no longer taking orders from the Repug country club set (Koch brothers excepted).
A brief light of hope has occurred though: the rapidly mushrooming News Corporation hacking scandal, which is at three countries (U.K., USA, & Australia) and counting. If the politicians who allowed Rupert Murdoch to become the media Frankenstein who cows and owns them all have half a brain and microscopic 'nad, they would be well advised to take this all too rare opportunity to permanently cripple News Corp. (talk about an Orwellian name) lest the rest of us continue to suffer their depredations anew under James Murdoch (who is even more of a tool than his father). If any reader did not think that prior, the latest development, that News Corp. did the hacking that produced the 'Climategate' e-mails should strongly persuade the doubters of the need to knee cap the most dangerous media company on the planet; for they made common cause with the sociopathic economic drug pushers who threaten life on this planet for their own greed...the fossil fuels businesses. Unfortunately, it does not appear as if the world's English-speaking political class has yet arrived at this conclusion...and they need to soon, for the present opportunity will not be around for long.

Hello Corporate Feudalism

2010-01-21T18:42:00.000-08:00

As expected, the United States Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, opened the floodgates for unfettered corporate money into federal elections. With this radical ruling, the SCOTUS has made the corporate feudal nightmare presciently portrayed in the 1975 version of "Rollerball," a much more possible reality. The "Great Lurch Backwards" to redux of the Robber Baron era, initiated by Grandpa Caligula (Ronald Reagan) and continued in one way or another to varying extents by every administration since, is for all intents and purposes, now here.
If this is not addressed and challenged immediately and effectively, the "We the People" of the USA will become "We the Corporations." In fact, the rest of the would do well to be on their guard, as the prospect of a corporate dominated government controlling the US military is truly scary -- think the Iraq fiasco done worldwide. It would not surprise that in my old age, the rest of the world gangs up on the USA to prevent a similar corporate take-over in their own countries. If that happens, I plan to be of aid of those fighting the corporations in any way possible. The last thing this planet needs is rule by a small oligarchy of greedy elites who's psychopathic tendencies makes the Mafia look like choir boys.

More stuff

2010-01-19T15:42:00.000-08:00

Hola All!
While it has been a sort-of while since I wrote last on this forum, I have not been idle. In addition to the two web comics I put out: E.I. (www.wunderman-comics.com) & Time Corps (www.time-corps.com), I had been adapting a screenplay by my personal trainer, Nate Noggle, into a comic book script at his request. I brokered the artwork, and later this week, the first four page web episode will make it's debut on the WEB. Of course, the journey from the typed words to images was not instant.
First was adapting the screenplay. I initially recommended after reading the source screenplay (which was 109 pages), that the comic be 48 pages. That did not occur as Noggle could only afford a 32 page comic, which triggered much storytelling sausage making. The comic script was written with a serial structure in mind (four page web episodes released every other week), which obviates a final image that has a degree of cliff hanger in it. Also required was the mashing up of separate dialogues into one (encounters between characters as well). Several other story tweeks happened as well (framing device at start and end of story, fleshing out the character of a couple of the baddies, etc.), and we have a script ready to send to the art team.

Next time: the experimental art method for Indestructible Will.

It's been quite a while

2009-12-16T20:16:00.000-08:00

Since I wrote here last, I have endeavored to put up another web comic, www.time-corps.com. It is my second web comic, and like my first, is sci-fi in subject matter. Like E.I., I wish to write challenging genre bending fiction that touches upon many bases and is a platform for me to express myself via my art.

Another disturbing trend

2008-09-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

Considering the upside down age we live in, this should not be surprising, but it is disturbing nonetheless. Anti-Semitism is finding a new home amongst the Left, particularly in the USA and Europe.
A combination of factors is making this happen. First of all, as Israel's main protector has veered hard Right, so to has the main lobbying organization for Israel in the USA; AIPAC (which for all intents and purposes, is an American auxiliary of the Likud Party). Add in the disturbing fact that a significant portion of the Protestant Evangelical community has embraced the "End of Days" myth (which calls for an Israel to be around when Jesus is supposed to come back). That means they support Israel as a means for the Rapture to come about. It should be noted before the Pentecostals (whom are relatively new phenomenon) came on to the Evangelical scene, Protestants, following their founder's (Martin Luther) example, were quite anti-semitic. As the wacko Rapture nuts have taken center stage in American Protestantism, anti-semitism has been replaced by a cynical attitude of support to make their insane scenario happen. Not aiding Israel's cause has been the Jewish state's even more cynical acceptance of the aid from the Rapture nuts; where the calculation is to accept their aid and secretly laugh behind their backs at their "quaint" beliefs.
Needless to write, these Rapture nuts are some of the more formidable and successful enemies the Left has encountered in many years. The only portion of the Right still hanging on to their anti-semitism are those who hate NAFTA & the WTO, are hardcore Nazis, or Catholics who have rejected Vatican II (Mel Gibson belongs to this sect), which removed the idea of collective guilt of the Jews as "Christ Killers." This crowd used to be relied upon to spew the "Jewish conspiracy" bile in line with that infamous Czarist forgery, "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion."
The Jewish conspiracy ranting has moved to the fringes of the Left, as that political belief has a strong element of those whom harbor conspiracy theories. Adding to this is a natural sympathy for the underdog, as the Palestinians have skillfully managed to paint themselves as since the Yom Kippur War. It has not hurt the Palestinian cause as they have begun to underplay their religious dogma (which is an anathema to any Leftist) while they curry favor in a manner not unlike the way the Israelis play the Rapture nuts. Conspiracy theories also provide the intellectually weak an all encompassing way to explain complex multi-layered problems in a neat manner.
Jews would be well advised to steer themselves away from the nuts of the Right, as they are a generation and half removed from being those who actively worked to obliterate the Jews. After all, the majority of the pogroms carried against Jews were carried out by those in their day could easily be characterized as right wing.

They can't be serious?!?!

2008-08-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

This blog entry is about the deluded group calling themselves PUMA (not the German sport goods company). According to the Corporate News Media, they are the disgruntled former supporters of Hillary Clinton who are going to vote for John McCain despite the fairly obvious fact that McCain is almost completely opposed to their politics. There is one word to describe this: PIQUE. Demographically, this group is mostly white suburban females 50 & over. To write that they are incensed that their putative standard bearer, Clinton, lost the Democratic primary, is overstating the obvious. They are so angry that their reason has been completely subsumed to the point that they are ready to support a mortal enemy who will screw them in so many ways should he get into power as to give a bad acid flashback.
The Corporate Media has been stoking this story along because it gives them something to fill airtime with. For the neo-fascist lackeys at Fox Noise Channel, this is a lifeline in a general situation where they are seeing their influence wither by the day as their calumnies pile up against them.
This brings me to the question of why. It is as simple as a parent who tries to fulfill that role with their adult children even though it is the children who have a much better handle on what is going on. Of course, such behavior elicits a "I'll show those young whippersnappers!" reaction. And considering the aforementioned demographic of aggrieved Clinton supporters were stupid enough to buy the Republican Kool Aid in 1980 & 1984 by largely voting for Grandpa Caligula (Ronald Reagan), their generation (Baby Boomers) has not exactly gained wisdom with age. Instead, they will be a party to enabling their enemies another four years in power where they trash the future for their descendants.

Soccer -Galaxy's latest travails

2008-08-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

Long periods of inactivity followed by short burst of frantic action. Not quite, but somewhere within the ballpark when describes my posting habits to this blog. It makes me really respect folks like Bob Mould (late of one my fave 80's punk rock bands, Husker Du), who as far as I know, posts every day! Anyways, on to what prompted me to share my thoughts in cyberspace for folks to pay attention to or ignore at their leisure.
It would appear as if the Ruud Gullit experiment @ LA Galaxyland is over, with the Dutchman jumping ship before he was pushed. The first serious sign that things were amiss was when the LA Times celebrity home sales column let slip that Gullit has sold his recently purchased home in Southern California. Add in the rumor that the "golden child," Landon Donovan had not reacted well to Gullit's old-school European style coaching methods: which includes pointing out a player's faults (particularly a star as way of "speaking" to the entire group) in practice, in front of the entire team, usually in a loud tone (perhaps it "inspired" a bad flashback to Donovan's experience at Bayer Leverkusen). Gullit also cited "family issues," which usually means the wife and kids are quite homesick. Add in Gullit's frustrations with the unique conditions of coaching in MLS: no unlimited player acquisition budget, media obligations, and the uneven quality of players available, plus the expectations coming from the AEG executive suite (that's a whole other matter), and it is not surprising this has come to pass.
Included in the corporate bloodletting was the long overdue handing of a pink slip to Galaxy President and General Manager, Alexi Lalas. Lalas had been thrust into the role well before he was ready due to the untimely death of his predecessor, Doug Hamilton (the "plan" had been for red haired one to learn at Hamilton's side for several more years). It should also be noted that Lalas' prior two executive tenures at AEG teams: San Jose and New York, had not been roaring successes, though there are mitigating factors in both situations. In San Jose, the handwriting was on the wall for the team to move, while in New York, that franchise's curse afflicted Lalas as well. With the Galaxy, it had appeared as if Lalas' celebrity factor protection had finally worn off with the suits at AEG.
The most egregious "villains" in this sordid soap opera lies with the suits at AEG, with the lead villain being AEG's Los Angeles head honcho, Tim Leiwieke. During their ownership tenure, AEG have managed to preside over the slow on-field decline of the main product, the soccer, in a manner that long suffering Los Angeles Kings fans are all too familiar with. Simply put, AEG would be well advised to follow the example of another MLS owner who also owns another sports team, Robert Kraft. Kraft hires people who know the sports side, let's them get on with the job, and worries about the business side. Judging from past actions of Leiwieke & Co., that seems highly unlikely. What is curious to see is who will take the poisoned chalice that is the Los Angeles Galaxy head coach position.

Wow, its' been a long time

2008-08-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

As the title line reads, it has been a long time since I've randomly written for this forum amongst the multitude that inhabit the web. I'll just try to ease into it.
The comics are coming along to the point where I have been putting up 4 page web episodes of the redux of E.I. #1 on my web site (see link). E.I. #2 is in the can and ready to be released via the web as well. E.I. #3 is being colored and lettered. My other project, "Time Corps," the artwork for #1 (48 pages) is complete and I am now in the process of obtaining a colorist (I have a good candidate) and letterer (that is still in search mode). I find the artistic satisfaction of doing my own comics quite fulfilling. Now if only I could get a wider readership!
As for the upcoming election, it is quickly turning into the slime fest that was presaged by the slash and burn end game practiced by the Hillary Clinton campaign as it was headed for its' defeat in the manner of a Greek tragedy where the characters struggle mightily in vain against what the Fates have decreed and the audience knows the result. They are just there to see how much the actors can ham it up for their amusement. That a loud minority of Hillary supporters would vote for McCain (who is completely against their politics) out of pique is disappointing and not surprising. That generation (Baby Boomers) did largely vote for their mortal enemy, Grandpa Caligula (Ronald Reagan) in the 80's. So it appears as if wisdom does not necessarily come with age.
That's all for now, perhaps I'll be back. This blog is the top link on my site.

Thoughts on Belgium

2007-12-06T11:45:00.000-08:00

I am back after somewhat of a hiatus on this platform. One only tends to have a limited amount of writing energy and most of mine has devoted to writing E.I. & Time Corps, plus my column on www.comicnews.info, "From Day Dreams to Comics." In the meantime, things have continued apace on the planet & I have decided to comment upon the following: the current turmoil in the land of my birth, Belgium.
For those who don't know, the political class have been unable to form a government following the elections of this past June. There are two main villains here: the Vlaams Belang & Walloon politicians.
Let's first start with the Walloons. They are not joining up because they want the state to continue with subsidies to their region even though it is long past being the economic engine of the country and is now a rust belt zone that rivals the Midwest or the former Eastern Bloc for decrepitude. Said politicians, instead of leading their region through the painful but necessary task of retooling and revitalizing their region, have instead been sucking off the government tit like a puppy who refuses to be weaned. Of course, this pisses off the the portion of the country that is now the economic engine, Flanders, who's taxes funds this. Lest anyone mistake that I completely side with Flanders, I take this moment now to dissuade them of this notion.
One of the main drivers of Flemish aggressiveness is Vlaams Belang (the "legit" evolution of the Vlaams Blok). One of their main aims is the break up of the Belgian state. They also have some very nasty skeletons in their closet. Quite a few of their numbers come from that part of the Flemish community that actively and enthusiastically collaborated with the Nazis. In fact, one of their state stances is the remission of legal sanctions that the Belgian state imposed upon collaborators. There are certain crimes that are unforgivable and actively working with the most evil regime in the history of man is one of them. All those who worked with the Nazis deserve to die in shame. The second unsavory aspect amongst the many of the Vlaams Belang is their connections with the American corporate right wing such as the Heritage Foundation, among others. Naturally, they parrot the Heritage Foundation line that does not want a strong European Union. A strong European Union is not as dependent upon American military might as years past, which the Heritage Foundation does not want. In fact, the American right wing wants a divided Europe in need of a big brother America to come riding to the rescue. The Vlaams Belang plays their part in promoting that agenda like an obedient lap dog.
A third part of the Vlaams Belang agenda would probably get laughs even in front of Flemish audience: creation of a "Greater Netherlands." Let me get this right, you want Flanders to unite with the Kase Kopfs (I don't see the Dutch wanting anything to do with the Flemish either). All I've got to say about that is this: what are you smoking and where can I get some?

Soccer - Another season comes to an end without playoffs

2007-10-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday saw the last time the 2007 Galaxy took the field in MLS action. The result was one all too familiar, the Galaxy on the wrong end of a 1-0 score. Thus for the second year in a row, the Galaxy will watch the MLS playoffs on television. Many questions linger about the team, with the prominent being the fate of Head Coach Frank Yallop. The team's two stars, David Beckham and Landon Donovan, have both expressed public support for Yallop. The question seems to be whether or not Yallop wants to return to the circus that is the Los Angeles Galaxy. It is at this point that I should mention that whenever a frustrating season comes to an end, the immediate urge to return is generally not there. A breather of around a month is usually enough for a coach to recharge his or her batteries. It would appear as if this is what Yallop needs. Hopefully, the suits at AEG realize this and Yallop is on the Galaxy sideline and practice pitch next season.

Not again!?!?

2007-10-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

It would appear as if the Dubya crime family has decided to do what it wants to do, damn the consequences to whoever it may effect. This includes members of their own party. What I am refering to is the redux of the drum beat towards war, this time with Iran. It doesn't matter to this creepy incompetent crew that our armed forces are already over-stretched with the misadventure in Iraq and the uncompleted & now under resourced struggle in Afghanistan. With what forces precisely does Dick Cheney & his ne'er do well idiot poodle (otherwise known as Dubya) intend to attack a nation of 80 million plus that has the oil purchased resources to equip a modern military? One is almost drawn to the comparison of the waning days of a delusional and insane Hitler in the bunker ordering offensives from forces that exist only on a map and his drug-addled imagination (considering all the cocaine the idiot-in-chief has done, its' not too much of a stretch to come to the drug damage conclusion). Simple logistics mitigates against any sort of serious action, but then this crew has never had any tolerance for that sort of talk: ask sacked General Eric Shinseki about that one. It would appear that this bunch are so narcisstic that they intend to drag the country down with them and force the next several presidents to clean up their mess if they dare. Not only should the next president clean up their mess, but hold all those precipitated this mess to account in a Nuremburg-style proceeding. It is the only way to ever prevent this mess from ever happening again.

Another topic I wish to touch on is the Blackwater mess. If there is ever an example of an out-of-control corporation who's misdeeds rival those of other private ventures in foreign lands (such as when the Congo was King Leopold II's personal possession), this is it. In fact, a comparison of Blackwater's mercaneries and the Force Publique is apt. What makes Blackwater even more obnoxious is that their head honcho, Eric Prince, is evangelical nut who funnels gobs of money to Dubya & Co. His company's rewards come from the taxpayer tit. In fact, Blackwater belongs in the same category as Messerschmidt, Krupp, & Mitsubishi. If any readers have any confustion regarding these company names, one merely needs to read or watch histories of the Axis militaries.

Soccer - Why isn't the 'Hood down with the Beautiful Game

2007-09-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

It is a question that vexes serious American soccer fans. Why isn't the 'hood down with the beautiful game? Soccer and the poor have an enduring love affair on the majority of the planet. One of the noteable exceptions to this is the USA. Both the sport and the athletic talent that abounds in America's disadvantaged neighborhoods are the poorer as a result. The beautiful game loses out on an abundant bounty of talent that is largely directed towards gridiron football and basketball, and said aforementioned sports does not fully employ said talent because both sports have daunting physical requirements (size being the main one) that mostly preclude those of average height. Whereas soccer is a sport where all sizes of athletes have a place on the pitch. Another inducement for the poor American athlete is one of numbers. The NFL has only 1696 (53 man roster times the number of teams, 32) player jobs available every year. The NBA and other professional basketball leagues has more jobs available, but height is a daunting prerequisite. Professional soccer meanwhile has many more jobs available across the planet. It also has the added benefit for those with the outsized ego whom feel the need to proclaim to the world that they are "the best in the world" that their boast will have been proven or not in a sport that has actual world reach (that is partial at best with basketball and certainly not the case with gridiron football).
Part of the answer can best be laid at the door of culture. Soccer is simply not on the radar of the native-born American underclass. You do not see rappers wearing soccer jerseys in their videos (even though the opportunity was there for Snoop Dogg to do so for his "Beautiful" video, which was partially shot in a Brazilian favela; he wore NFL jerseys instead). This despite American rap being ubiquitous in the locker rooms of professional soccer teams in Europe and South America, not to mention the larger media landscape. The wider media landscape is not a part of the lifeways of the poor though, as poverty world-wide tends to have a provincalizing effect: how many times has one heard from poor athletes the eye-opening effect sof leaving their 'hood? Add in the particularity of American soccer being the province of the suburban elite (whom more than likely would not welcome the competition, as their resistance to the inclusion of American Hispanics into the mainstream of the sport shows), and the picture presented is not encouraging.
Barring a media figure along the lines of the aforementioned Snoop Dogg or 50 Cent adopting soccer as part of their iconography, soccer is more than likely to remain an unknown amongst an audience that both could profit from.

Those whom fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it

2007-09-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

Another dog and pony show has hit Washington D.C. & the noise class (formerly the press) are busy with their sturm und drang. I am refering to the Congressional appearance of General Petreaus. What is going mostly missing here is an acknowledgement that the error of the post-WW1 breakup and reconfiguration of the Ottoman Empire must finally be allowed to be undone. Said re-ordering, the largest since the Congress of Vienna after the Napoleonic Wars, has directly led to two of the more sorry episodes of recent history: the breakup of the former Yugoslavia & Iraq. A bit of history review is called for at this point (especially if the reader is the typical clueless Fox viewer whom has no idea of what has happened in the last five minutes...let alone the last five hundred years). Iraq and Yugoslavia are former Ottoman dominions. The Ottoman Empire consisted of South Eastern Europe, the Near East, & a good part of the Middle East for roughly six hundred years (that's longer than the Roman Empire). The Ottoman Turks (who's descendants are the majority of modern day Turkey), though a minority in their own realm, ruled with an iron fist over a vast state encompassing many peoples: Arabs, Armenians, Kurds, Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, & Albanians are amongst those who filled the ranks of whom the Turks called "the Herd." One of their strategies to retain control the Ottomans used was divide and conquor. This created intense rivalries and hatred between the component peoples of the Ottoman Empire that continue to this day. Thus when the inevitable hit the Ottoman Empire and the structure came down after WW1, the Allies were left to parcel out former Ottoman territories. Among the "solutions" that were engineered was the creation of two states that were multi-ethnic and carved out by outsiders, not the people's of the affected countries, Iraq and Yugoslavia. In fact, during Ottoman times, the territory that made up those two countries respecitively were merely neighboring provinces. They were subsequently thrown together and told, "You're a country now." It didn't matter to those decison makers that the peoples thrown together despised each other. It is no surprise that eventually Yugoslavia would implode...and Iraq is next. As long as Bush & Co. continue with their stupid fantasy of keeping the artifice of Iraq as a central unified state, the misery will go on ad infinitum. The inevitable result is the eventual break up of Iraq...and it looks like it will be the Middle East's version of the Yugoslavia implosion. Let us name the first concentration camp set up in Iraq after the igniter of this misery, Camp Bush. Other of his accomplices should not fret, there will be plenty others where their guilty monikers can be attached to these places.

Soccer - Post mortem of a debacle

2007-08-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

The Los Angeles Galaxy's eerie parallels to the Pele-era Cosmos came into sharper focus this past Thursday night at the Home Depot Center. The Beckham-led Galaxy turned in one of their worst performances of this current season: certainly the worst with Posh Boy on the pitch. If one recalls Pele's first season with the NASL Cosmos, that team did not make the playoffs either. It took the addition of suitable players around the Brazilian superstar to make the Cosmos a winner. It appears as if that may also be necessary for the Galaxy. What remains to be seen is if the Galaxy brain trust has the will, money, and acquiesence of the MLS mucky-mucks for such an undertaking.
The defining moment of the game was first half extra time rucus caused by Chivas midfielder Jesse Marsch's fairly crude tackle of Beckham. The respective red cards issued to Galaxy midfielder Kevin Harmse and Chivas defender Alex Zotinca had opposite effects: Chivas was energized, the Galaxy let down. Considering Harmse did a lot of the midfield water carrying for Beckham, it was not surprising that during the second half, Chivas played like the home team.
As the Galaxy's fading playoff hopes become more remote, two questions begin to loom large. Will Frank Yallop and his staff be there next season? Who amongst the current roster will be in a Galaxy uniform next season? Considering the stakes, how these questions are answered is fairly important.

Of Dogs and Class

2007-08-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

Blogging twice within 36 hours, whoa! All right, it was triggered by the Micheal Vick mess. To recount would merely be adding to media noise already proceeding apace. Instead, I wish to address what is being unsaid. Part of the discussion going on is the reaction of a significant portion of the black population to this. Said portion feel Vick's treatment is manifestly unfair. Said portion of the population has not too many problems with dog fighting. At this point of the blog, I should state that I find dog fighting to be completely reprehensible. It belongs in the dustbin of history along with bear baiting & gladitorial games.
What is being left unsaid is the issue of class. The class of people who enjoy dog fighting are primarily poor. Because the USA has this weird prism that views minority status & class as virtually the same thing while promulgating the myth of a "classless society," (which partially explains why poor southern whites fought and died in vain during the Civil War to preserve a system that produced their circumstances...and continues in a form to this day where the vast majority of Republican supporters vote contrary to their interests). Througout history, activities such as what Vick was doing has been the province of poor people (cock fighting has a similar demographic profile). Left out of the media noise is the issue of class. Why is that so? Could it be that it could provoke a larger more ranging conversation that the elites whom largely control the nation's mass media do not want out there? Throughout history, proverty has always had a brutalizing effect on the people it afflicts. It is sad that this necessary portion of the Vick discussion is being left to outlets such as this blog.

Soccer - Beckham headlines a barn burner

2007-08-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Something unusual happened this past Saturday night at the New Jersey Meadowlands. An MLS match exceeded the hype. What made it that more extra-ordinary was that it occured when the stage was set. Considering the Galaxy's historical proclivity to under-perform at the big occasion (shrinks call it performance anxiety), to say nothing of the "not ready for prime time" past of MLS' most cursed franchise, the New York Red Bulls (the late unlamented MetroStars). What was produced must have brought huge grins from the MLS mucky-mucks from Don Garber on down. Last Saturday's 5-4 win for the Red Bulls was an all to rare instance of disparate forces coming together to create a moment of sporting glory at the right time. What remains to be seen is if the planets can align again to propel soccer in America forward.
Those of us whom remember the 1996 beginning of MLS were mostly warmed by what happened. The game we love is slowly moving forward despite many obstacles: only the most obdurate of American sportswriters disagrees with the notion that MLS has replaced the NHL on the North American Pro Sports totem pole. This was mostly due to the NHL's own strategic mistakes than MLS nimbleness. Soccer fans should be happy that the soccer powers-that-be did not bumble this situation a la the Bush administration in Iraq & New Orleans.
As for the play of Beckham, the tattooed one provided something long missing since the salad days of Mauricio Cienfuegos, a midfield playmaker of vision and passion. Though his arrival maybe too late to get the Galaxy into the MLS playoffs this season, his play augers well for the future if Beckham is able to play out the entire length of his contract with AEG. In fact, the Galaxy maybe better served if they do not make it into the post-season...as long as Frank Yallop is retained as Head Coach. One can only hope that Galaxy General Manager Alexi Lalas will be patient with his first head coach hiring and resist the calls for a change. Considering the Galaxy backline has resembled a M.A.S.H. unit rather a defense, to fire Yallop would be unfair. Unfortunately, unfair comes into it all too often.

Decompress from Comic Con & other events

2007-08-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

I do not even know where to begin because there are so many thing I want to touch on. It does not help that I have been rather remiss in posting as well. C'est la vive!
Comic Con 2007 was first and foremost a learning experience. I definately have some ideas as to what I will do differently the next time I set up a table or booth at a comic book convention. Attention grabbing display materials beyond the actual merchandise is certainly on the list. Second is a give-away of some sort: I'm thinking the magnets is good. Thirdly, if I hire help, it will be someone who is a salesman. My next step will be to produce said display materials and have them ready for the Fall and Winter convention season. As for next year's Comic Con, I've already downloaded an application for next year's event.
Meanwhile, progress on producing issue #2 of E.I. and issue #1 of Time Corps is proceeding apace. I am still searching for a colorist / letterer for Time Corps.
Another intersting development was I actually met the Diamond Comics minion who dung E.I. #1. I was able to get more information regarding specific instances that he objected to in terms of the coloring on the revised edition of E.I. #1 (which has yet to see the published light of day). His basic advice was to start again from scratch in terms of the coloring. Unfortunately, that is not free...and I have other items that I need to pay out first. Anyways, I have a contract with Fontes to produce issues 2 & 3 of E.I., so I'll resubmit to Diamond when they are ready.
In totally other news, the Cardinal Richelieu of the Bush regime, Karl Rove, has announced his resignation. It could not have come soon enough. Rove will probably now cash in his infamy and go back to what drew him to the Bush crime family in the first place: republican operative with specialty is dirty tricks. My fantasy is that he brought to justice in a Nuremberg Trials type proceeding where he sentanced to life without the possibility of parole. He would then become a prison bitch (though rumor has it that would actually enjoy that) & rue the day he met our ne'er do well idiot who occupies the White House. Perhaps if there is a Hell, that will be his fate. It is no less than he deserves.

Open letter to a comic fan

2007-06-07T13:39:00.000-07:00

So it took a bar mitzvah present to David Machov of Minneapolis, Minnesota to get me to compose another entry. For that, I thank him and the gift giver, Jann Meyers. I know Jann via the Santa Monica Dog Park system: her dog, Haley, and mine, Chopper, are great friends. She asked me several weeks ago if I would sell one of my comics from my stock and autograph it (I also threw in a promo poster). Of course, I agreed. I am in the business of selling my comic books and related merchandise.
Jann also shared that David is quite the comics fanatic and is contemplating a career in the art form (Yes, it is an art form!). Via the ensuing conversation, I offerred to write a note to David beyond the short blast on the comic and poster and publish it on my blog so he can share with whoever he desires. If as a result I get a few more visitors to the wunderman comics web site (www.wunderman-comics.com), so much the better. So here goes the promised letter from a creator to a young fan.

David,
I am encouraged to hear that you desire to carry forward your passion for comics beyond just reading them. When I was younger, I also had that dream. It just took me quite a few years and some detours to be able to present the products of my imagination to the world. I do not exagerate when I write that it is quite a daunting task, even with the aid of computers (it was worse before). It requires a complex set of skills: story telling (written and graphic), management (people and things), and plain old fashioned perseverance (people you know and love will try to dissaude you at one point or another, especially once they discover comic books' daunting economics). To create, write, and publish a comic book is truly a labor of love. You have to love your creation and be determined to get it out there despite the obstacles. To add to the struggle is that until recently, the art of creating comics was a mostly hidden one. Until the reletively recent publication of some good how-to books (recommended reading will listed at the end of this blog entry), comics was very much a learn as you go enterprise. It should also be pointed out that even the good books can not possibly cover all the issues you will run into during the creation process. You will simply have feel your own way through them and resolve them via the painful process of trial and error. If after considering the aforementioned and unmentioned factors, you still want to create comic books, good for you. Remember this, despite all the travail, very little compares to seeing the fruits of your imagination on paper and available for the public to either ignore or pay attention to. It moves one from the innumberable ranks of the aspirant and wanne-be to the much smaller number of author with the satisfaction of never having to live with the words, "What if..."
Reading List for aspiring comic creators:
Eisner, Will Comics & Sequential Art
Eisner, Will Graphic Storytelling
McCloud, Scott Making Comics
Caputo, Tony How to Self Publish Your Own Comic Book

Comic update

2007-01-16T16:23:00.001-08:00

The move to my just-purchased condo is complete. Now comes the onerous task of unpacking the office. It is a task I approach with dread. On the other hand, my comics projects continue. I've sent out my contracts to my art team for "Time Corps" and awaiting their return. I am psyched to see how this project, which will be challenging on several counts, turns out. The idea of creating my own comics really excites me. I have been a fan of the form from its' three major centers (USA, Western Europe, & Japan) for most of my life & know that I can add to the body of work out there.
As for "E.I.", the redux after Diamond declined is finished. I will soon be sending in the redux for solicitation to be included in their catalogue. I am much more hopeful this time out...as the work is much more professional looking. I am also in the midst of writing issues 2 & 3. Of course, I've fallen behind...as I promised my penciler that a completed script for issue #2 would be done by the end of the month (I've only reached page 10). Writing good dialogue has proven to be the biggest challenge for me. What has been easy is the "big picture" of the series, the backstory of the characters, and the arc of the series as a whole. Anyway, I'm confident I can come up with something good by the deadline (I usually do), but may have to really hump towards the end of the month.
As for issue #3 of "E.I.", I still have yet to come up with a good name for a new human antagonist (a gung-ho military type who's also a bible-thumping wacko who buys completely the fundamentalist idea that God granted exclusive stewardship of the Earth & its' creatures to do as they like). I'm thinking something Southern or Hillbilly.
Hasta!

Soccer - Beckham comes to Los Angeles

2007-01-11T11:05:00.000-08:00

What had been rumored has finally come to pass. The golden boy of soccer, David Beckham, is coming to Los Angeles to "grace" us Angelinos with his presence on the HDC pitch in Galaxy gold & green. Of course, this happened after Real Madrid pulled their latest contract offer off the table whilst Spice Boy was taking too long for their liking. Perhaps, he also finally realized that he would never put on an England jersey while Steve McClaren is coach. The rumors of Posh house hunting in Malibu and Bel Air had been rife through out West LA since this past summer. Real Madrid Head Coach Fabio Capello relegating him to the status of highly paid bench warmer crystalized his decision.
The next operative question is how will the Galaxy incorporate him into their current line-up. Posh Boy's favored position is right midfield. He is also a defensive liability at this stage of his career, thus forcing the right back to stay at home a lot more. The Galaxy's current right back of choice is Chris Albright, who is most dangerous when he pushes up from the back. Thus the presence of Posh Boy could blunt the best part of Albright's game. Posh Boy is also not that great at holding the ball in the center of the park, thus Beckham addressing another of the Galaxy's long time needs, a central playmaker, is a non-starter. Another solution, puting the du jour formation of European soccer, the 3-5-2, is problematic in MLS. The physical nature of the league has shown that the old standby, 4-4-2, is the way to go. If I am an opposing coach playing the Galaxy next season from June 30 on in, I would attack down their right side (or whatever side Posh Boy is playing on) all night long.
The "star" aspect remains to be seen too. I suspect there might be a curosity factor for awhile, but unless the product wins over enough newbies, crowd levels could go back to their currentl level...which would be real embarrassing with Posh Boy on the payroll. It has happened in Galaxy history before, when three Mexican starts in a row, Jorge Campos, Carlos Hermosillo, & "El Matador" failed to draw the holy grail of American soccer, the expatriate Mexican soccer fan. I expect the Brits to stay away too.

Thoughts too late...

2007-01-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

Wow. This is the first time in quite a while I've blogged twice in the same week. Perhaps this is a resolution I will keep.
Though this is well past due, I can not resist the "temptation" to share my opinion regarding an aspect of the Iraq debacle. Mainly, how those who "thought" it up actually believed it would work. If one reads the various papers put out by the Project for the New American Century, they have a very academic mien to them (i.e., not too grounded in real life). In fact, I had read this sort of tripe before. It read like a Master's Thesis that was graded a "C" (if the instructor was feeling generous) with the following remark, "Sounds good in theory, but does not account for facts on the ground that could easily derail the whole thing." The writer's reaction would be to cry that the instructor is a Liberal with bias against conservative students and ideas. Instead of re-examining their thesis and taking important details (such as a country's history and culture) into account, they "sulked" off to various right-wing think tanks (what a contradiction in terms!) and produced this tripe for the consumption of the likes of Dick Cheney et al. Now this nation has been led down the road to a disaster that will out do Vietnam in terms of the damage done to the United States internationally. What we can hope for is that the public has finally learned from this and will not let history repeat itself...though I am not too certain about that one.

A New Year...maybe better blogging habits

2007-01-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

Hola to all who bother to read this.
One of the resolutions I made this year was to be better about keeping this blog current.
One thing different since I wrote last is that E.I. got reviewed (www.indycomicreview.com) & it was mostly positive. Even the negative comments were right on the graphic part of the critique. One thing I must state to all artists out there: if you do not like your work critiqued...don't put it out there! Know that if you wish for your art to be seen, then it must run the gauntlet of critics.
I am also moving forward with my second comic book series, Time Corps. Like E.I., it will combine several genres to tell timeless tales in a 21st century manner. It will be challanging on several fronts, but I am exicited to tell the tales.
www.wunderman-comics.com

Soccer - An ignominious season comes to an end

2006-10-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

I am sort of glad that I am no longer covering the Galaxy on a regular basis. This past season would have an exercise in coming up with metaphors relating to failure. For the first time in their brief history, the Los Angeles Galaxy have not made the MLS playoffs. Despite a decent pick-up in form upon the hiring of Frank Yallop, the 2-8-1 start under the shaky stewardship of Steve Sampson was too much to overcome. In this just-completed season's wake comes a long overdue clearout and revamping of the Galaxy roster (which was well past due during the endgame of the Sigi Schmid era).
The two more obvious needs for the men in green and gold is a proven goal scorer (they traded Carlos Ruiz to make room for the golden child, Landon Donovan) and a midfield maestro. Both such positions are amongst the hardest to fill and talent at those positions come at a premium. For example, the Galaxy have never truly found an adequate replacement for Mauricio Cienfuegos during his salad days. Another problem will be finding personnel that maximize the golden child's talents. Said golden child performs best as a withdrawn forward in a 3-5-2. The current crop of Galaxy midfielders look quite unable to fulfill that requirement.
Yallop has already stated that only the golden child and defender Chris Albright are safe...and that everyone else will now be playing for their job. It will be interesting to see what shakes out during the off-season.

2006-08-18T07:30:00.000-07:00

Below is a letter that I e-mailed to the letters page of the LA Times commenting upon an opinion piece by OC Weekly editor Nick Schou this Friday August 18, 2006 about the Gary Webb "Dark Alliance" story.

The recent piece by Nick Schou regarding the shameful treatment of Gary Webb by his supposed media collegues after he uncovered another example of this nation's out-of-control & capricious intelligence apperatus is long overdue and too little, too late. Schou's piece aimed at the proper targets, the alledged news media that went into a Fox News like spin fury to discredit a story that they were scooped on and who's petulant ire was on display for all who cared to watch. Among those was L.A. Times Managing Editor Leo Wolinsky (whom was quoted at the end of the piece). Wolinsky appeared on the Channel 13 News as the story gained mainstream traction, obstensibly to discuss the story. Prodded by sympathetic and teleprompted news models posing as anchor people, Wolinsky proceeded to savage the entire story as not even worthy of journalism. That Wolinsky now utters supposedly sympathetic words in support of Webb without a mea culpa for his role in the Webb witch hunt is disengenious at best, certainly hypocritical, and sadly reflective of how degradged the state of American jouralism is at present.

Nate Wunderman
www.vibrationsfromtheblackhole.blogspot.com
Santa Monica

It's done...at least the creating & printing part

2006-07-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

Since this past Thursday, I have had the pleasure to hold printed copies of my comic book, E.I. #1. Going from thought to reality was a rather long and at times painful process. Despite what is written in some books on the subject ("How To Self-Publish Your Own Comic Book" by Tony Caputo was the one I used most often), there are more little details that can bog you down even if you're paying attention. The two things one must have in order to see one's comic come to print is determination & money. Also having the quality of being of "Say what you mean & mean what you say" is quite helpful. Paying on time and what you say you will is also a really good idea. From here on in, its' about writing issue #2, getting my other ideas out of head and on to paper, and promoting the hell out of E.I. #1.
The website: www.wunderman-comics.com

Soccer - World Cup post-mortem

2006-07-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

The orgy is over and it is time to clean up the debris. Italy managed to overcome perhaps the worst match-fixing scandal in the history of the game to win their 4th World Cup. On the local front, Team USA showed they are not quite ready for the next step up the world soccer ladder. Head Coach Bruce Arena was able to take them to a certain place, but no further. The squad itself was manifestly unready for the level they encountered. Add in a couple of questionable team selections: defender Eddie Pope & midfielder Ben Olson (both are Arena favorites), and a pathetic display from forward Landon Donovan that validated the German soccer establishments' assessment of him. The display produced was not all that surprising.
What remains is what the Sunil Gulati et al will do about this. The obvious to hire Jurgen Klinsmann as the new US National Team coach and give him a free rein. The other neccessary steps requires the agreement of MLS: participation of the US National Team in Copa America & of MLS teams in Copa Libratadores. It does not take a brain surgeon to note that American players do not play enough "games that matter" outside of their domestic league schedule. This conclusion was the obvious one back after the disastrous World Cup '98 experience. It was not acted upon then & looks like it might not be be now. Until the American soccer powers-that-be realize what their Mexican counterparts have: World Cup qualifying does not properly prepare their team for the World Cup tournament, American soccer fans can look forward to more frustration.

Try again

2006-07-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

Hola All who care to read this,
I know I've written this before, but I will try to maintain a more regular posting schedule. Since so much has gone on since I added prior...to attempt to catch up would be mostly futile. Therefore, I'll just have to start up and gain traction as I go along.
The event that has been dominating my focus is the World Cup. It has been exciting and frustrating at the same time. By the time of this writing, the fate of the US team is known. Their exit is not all negative though. This time around, people who normally do not follow soccer were discussing it & were pissed. Considering in years past, most folks simply didn't care means that progress has been made.
On the comic book front, the comic I've been working for what seems like a decade (seven years since I wrote up a mini-treatment & mailed it to myself, creating a pocket copyright), is approaching the point of finished ready for public sale status, bumps in the road aside. It is a work that I am proud of.
That's all for today. Check back again later.

Soccer - Doug Hamilton R.I.P.

2006-03-13T15:58:00.000-08:00

I had been procrastinating to put something up, but all the stuff that's been happening with US Soccer & MLS in general & the Los Angeles Galaxy in particular, I can not resist.
The most immediate item is the sudden and untimely death of Galaxy President & General Manager Doug Hamilton. To say that Hamilton's loss is both tragic and worrying is understating the case. Hamilton was a rare jewel amongst the rocks that have passed through the corriders of Galaxy-land. He was an almost unique combination of soccer guy & competant business manager. Having met & spoken with in one form or another all of his predeccessors (Danny Villanueva Jr., Sergio Del Prado, Tim Luce) in my former capacity as the Galaxy beat writer for the various internet soccer sites I wrote for, Hamilton was finally the right guy for right job. It is seriously doubtful that any of his predecessors would have had the 'nad to fire former Galaxy Head Coach Sigi Schmid (though that firing was at once nine months too late & premature). Hamilton had the sole distinction of presiding over a profitable season in MLS.
This reminds me of two antectdotes that I wish to share (what they mean is up to the reader to interpret). Just after his arrival, the Galaxy organized a press luncheon with the beat writers where we would be free to chew the fat, then question him on the record. Hamilton arrived unbeknownst to me, while I was in the midst of an animated conversation where the general gist was the lack of competant refereeing at the high school level. As a former high school soccer coach, I had plenty of grist in my mill that caught Hamilton's attention. When it came time for questions, I had to go with one of my favorite themes, money. I had been made aware of a study conducted at the USC Marshall School of Business that concluded in order for an MLS franchise to start making money, they have to average 21,500 attendance. At that point (the Galaxy were still playing at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena), he shot me a dirty look, then poo-poo'ed the question. Needless to write, I now challenge anyone to check the average attendance figures in that season that the Galaxy made money, 21,658). Hamilton had played his part here...no good corporate warrior ever admits publically to financial specifics.
The other took place at Titan Stadium at Cal-State Fullerton. The Galaxy were playing Cruz Azul. The long-rumored move of defender Greg Vanney to FC Bastia was nearly completed. To confirm that move, I looked up the L'Equipe website...and loe and behold, there a short blurb confirming that fact. I shared this with the assembled beat writers. Later on in the evening, Hamiltion was cruising through the press box and sneaked up behind me. He saw that I was still online and asked if I had been shopping. I related that I had been on the L'Equipe website & they were reporting the Vanney move. Understand this, L'Equipe is the foremost French language sports newspaper on the planet. I asked Hamilton if he could confirm this (it would allow myself and the other writers to include that in our game stories). Hamilton went straight into denial mode. The punchline here is that during the post-game question and answer session with Schmid, the ex-UCLA headman confirmed that Vanney had moved to Bastia.
I understand well that disinformation dealing is a standard part & parcel of the sports business...and Hamilton did it pretty well. It was a reflection of his overall competance. I fear that any replacement will be nowhere the disengenuator that Hamilton was. Considering that soccer in these United States is still far from a permanent fixture in the sports media scene, his loss really hurts.

1984 Redux

2006-02-06T10:39:00.000-08:00

They're at it again. The Bush Mob are in their best Orwellian mode as they attempt to pull the wool over the American people's eyes. Dubya's legal lap-dog (sorry to insult canines with that asperation on their character), Alberto Gonzalez is doing his best to justify the warrentless wire-tapping they've been up to. Their perversion/undermining of the US Constitution is the latest outrage to eminate from the same creepy crew that also gave us Iran-Contra (one of who's plan details envisioned giving white supremecists police powers & having them run "detention camps" for political dissidents) & Watergate. Considering who these folks are: unapologetic corporate fascists who desire to pull the USA back to the late, unlamented Robber Baron era before the passage of the Sherman Anti-Trust Acts, it is not surprising. The only surprise must be theirs...as they are being forced to publically justify this. I imagine that in their hubris, they thought they could get away with this until the Constitutionally sanctioned end of King George II's reign (though it would not surprise me if they try to get around that one too...Karl Rove is enough of an evil genius to try to pull that trick).
Before the ascension of King George II, the USA had been the most fortunate nation in the Western Hemisphere. We were fortunate enough to have the right leadership in place when great crises' hit: Washington during the Revolution, Lincoln during the Civil War, FDR during WW2, Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Now comes a challenge equal to those great struggles...and the American public has been hoodwinked into having Dubya occupying the Oval Office. Now I guess I know how the citizens of the other nations in this hemisphere feel regarding having the wrong men in power at the wrong time...they are the unfortunate citizens of banana republics.

Sorry I was gone for so long

2006-01-17T10:22:00.000-08:00

Any readers can blame my absence on plain old klutziness. My particular browser (AOL for Mac X) doesn't allow me to type while in the compose mode, but in edit html. If I get around to it, I'll let the support types know about this odd little bug. Perhaps their zeal to offer the best product possible will compel them to fix it.
Since I blogged last, a whole laundry list of stuff has happened. The most important thing is that my thesis has proved out: Bush & Co. are an incompetent bunch that if they actually worked in the corporate world...they would've been fired a long time ago. They have all the hallmarks of bumbling third world dictatorship, who's sole thing they are good at is staying in power. Think "Keystone Caudillo's."
In other developments, those who know me personally know I've been working on comic book for quite a few years. Its' inching towards publication, as the interior art & cover are complete. A few details remain to be completed.
Putting the comic book together (E.I.#1), has been a learning experience...to say the least. I read quite a few books about the subject, but they only covered at best a third of what I ran into: MIA artists, colorist using RGB instead of CYMK, lettering errors that you need a fresh set of eyes to catch, keeping artists motivated via phone and internet. When my comic site is ready, I'll provide a link.

Soccer - 2nd LA classico is in books

2005-05-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

2nd LA Classico is in the books
By
Nate Wunderman

What a difference several weeks makes and not. Several weeks ago, the Los Angeles Galaxy “hosted” CD Chivas USA in the first ever edition of the LA derby and beat the goats 3-1. This time around, even though Chivas were now the “hosts,” the score was 2-0 in the Galaxy’s favor. What is different is that with this current MLS season one-third of the way through, the respective teams’ fate has come into clearer focus. The fate of the Galaxy appears as if they will be fighting FC Dallas for the Western Conference crown. As for Chivas USA, unless they hit a vein of adequate form, will have the ignominious “distinction” of surpassing the 1999 Metrostar’s pathetic record of 7-25.
Going into the match, the Galaxy had the appearance of a team who could be had. Injuries and national team call-ups have decimated the men in green and gold. Seeing starting first team action for the first time this season was Costa Rican defender Pablo Chinchilla. Chinchilla would make a good case for more playing time during the classico. Unlike the prior season, so far the Galaxy bench has shown itself capable. In fact, the Galaxy has shown a knack for getting results despite less-than-adequate performances on the pitch. This knack was conspicuously absent last season.
Unfortunately for the goats, the “mandated” move of replacing rookie goalkeeper Brad Guzan with veteran Martin Zuniga has actually “helped” the Chivas USA defense regress. This is somewhat understandable given that the respective keepers are completely different and thus the defenders in front of them have to adjust their play accordingly. Guzan is tall and physically dominant, plus his defenders had begun to show signs of familiarity with their net-minder. Zuniga is average-sized and relies upon quickness and experience. His defenders relative unfamiliarity with resulted in five goal shelling at the feet of FC Dallas. It should be mentioned that both keepers cannot rescue their team every time their defenders lose their concentration (which they do too often to tread water in MLS).
What is starting to become apparent is that the Chivas powers-that-be underestimated badly the level of play in MLS and how much physical play American referees allow. Another factor adding to their misery is how motivated the other MLS teams are to “put Chivas USA in their place,” especially considering the mouthing off Vegara and Co. did predicting almost instant success merely by having their “farm team” show up. Judging the comments emanating from the Chivas USA executive quarter, they have begun to realize that. Another item of concern is the anemic attendance that ESPN analyst Eric Wynalda predicted would happen if the team got out to a poor start. That has come to pass and does not appear to be getting any better as long as the product on the pitch continues to stink it up. Expect some front office shake-ups if the attendance woes continue.
Meanwhile outside the world of American soccer: the bold words about soccer becoming the second sport on the American team sports totem pole may actually come to pass due to the actions of the sports immediately above it. The NHL continues to stab itself in the foot, as their labor problems show no sign of being resolved anytime soon. The NBA is also starting to slide down the slippery slope of labor trouble. A prudent course for soccer would be to try to knock off one opponent at a time. A chance for a great leap forward might emerge next year though. If both the NHL & NBA were out of commission, sports media outlets such as ESPN would almost be forced to cover soccer simply due to the need to fill time. Especially when all that’s going on is baseball and World Cup 2006.

Time to write about soccer on this blog

2005-05-24T11:55:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, your writer has an extensive history of writing about "soccer in general and the Los Angeles Galaxy in particular." My most recent stop had been www.hitchhikersguide.us. Unfortunately, for the last two weeks, my usual method of turning columns (e-mailing them to my editor, who would then post them) has not worked as I have gotten back e-mailer daemons indicating "delivery failure." And he has continued to post work, so I can only assume he no longer desires that my work appear on the site. Therefore, unless I hear otherwise, I will be posting my columns to this blog.

The new dirty nine letter word: Evolution

2005-05-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

"Give 'em an inch and they take a mile." That is the apt description of the mass looney tune army that is doing their damnest to impose their irrational world view on the rest of us. If you are still in the dark as to what I am refering to, it is the movement to replace the empirical scientific method with such unmitigated horse crap as "intelligent design." Not this struggle is anything new: it began in Western civilization when such figures as Plato & Aristotle argued for observation of the natural world as it is. There were powerful figures back then that prefered the explanations provided by the religion of the time, and they forced Plato to drink hemlock. Another prime example was Galileo's travails when he "dared" to publish scientific proof over official superstition. Not that the powers-that-be necessarily believed what they were pushing, but their hold on temporal power depended their being seen as the "holders of the truth." Flash forward to present day and all across the USA, the minions of fundamentalist Christianity are trying to bully their hogwash upon the public body politic. To let them do so would constitute a great leap backwards at a critical time in the history of human life on the planet Earth. They just can not accept that the empirical case for Darwin's theory grows every year, while the case for their Biblical version grows weaker to the point where the case for extra-terrestial life visiting this planet is stronger. It is well past time that they put aside their childish notions, just as the majority of the first world no longer believes in polythesism.

A punk rock tragedy

2005-03-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know its' been quite awhile since I blogged last. Various lame excuses are to blame. I will try to avoid that in the future, but offer no guarantees.
This posting will differ somewhat as I will instead pontificate upon a controversy less well known than the ones I had touched upon prior. It is though a subject closer to my heart...and therefore more sad: the Jello Biafra vs. the rest of the Dead Kennedys conflict. I will decline to re-state ad nauseaum the chronology and facts of the case. A visit to the parties respective web sites: www.deadkennedys.com & www.alternativetentacles.com, will provide plenty of grist. For outside comment, merely google "Dead Kennedys lawsuit." All this blog entry will be is my take on the whole thing.
Flash back to March 1986: the Dead Kennedys are headlining a bill at the Olympic Auditorium (just south of Downtown LA, across the street from LA Trade Tech). Its' what will be the band's last appearance ever in Los Angeles. It does not take a shrink to see that the band is ready to implode. Jello is so angry that he takes to reading passages out of the Bible, screaming "Bullshit", then ripping it out. Meanwhile, the band plays on with studied indifference (especially East Bay Ray...who would later become the main actor driving the suit versus Jello). Two months later, the band announces its' dissolution.
Time passes by and the internet becomes the creature it is. Eventually, both Jello and DK's discussion groups pop up. This blogger subscribes to both. Interested parties (friends & employess of Jello, etc.) begin to read. Inspired by the example of the Grateful Dead (who periodically release the best of their archieves for their audience to consume), I started several discussions urging Alternative Tentacles release the best of what is in their live show archive (Dead Kennedys made it a practice to record every live show off the sound board once they reached a certain point)for two reasons. One was for the fans who had been lucky enough to see those shows to relive the excitement (i.e., nostalgia), two was for those who had not seen the band themselves to get a taste of what a great live band they truly were. What was extant, the Target Video documentary of the closing of the On Broadway, was it and the set list was omitted quite a few faves: "Holiday in Cambodia","Chemical Warfare", & "This Could be Everywhere", amongst others. If a fan wanted to acquire a live recording other than the aforementioned, they were prey to what was on offer from bootleggers (always an unsavory option in more ways than one).
I admit to the Quixotic quest of badgering Alternative Tentacles to release the best of what was in their Dead Kennedys archive, but they would decline. The reason offered would be familiar to anyone who has seen Jello: anti-nostalgia punk rock dogmatism ("...don't be nostalgic, create something of your own"). Unfortunately, that arguement assumes those supplicating for the releases are all of a certain younger age...which was not the case. Nostalgia also afflicts those who were lucky enough to be at the Dead Kennedys show back in the day. Thus, the legacy of the Dead Kennedys was one mostly of fading memory. That was until the filing of the lawsuit in 1998.
The uggliness begins and gets worse as both sides trade charges that would merely be tiresome to repeat now. In the end, and due to better lawyers, the ex-Dead Kennedys win possession of all the band's recordings & begin to tour. Reading interviews with all involved during the case, one could not avoid the impression that the three ex-members were partially motivated by revenge. During the band's heyday, Jello was the undeniable star of the show. Though the band made music that was certainly several cuts above run-of-the-mill punk rock, it was Jello's showmanship that put them into punk rock's elite. That he came up with the majority of the band's song ideas only cemented that state of affairs (the altering of song writing credits after the court case notwithstanding). Their resentment was close to the surface.
The "incident" that ignited the lawsuit, the lost Levi's Ad opportunity, was about the band's legacy. Jello has stated repeatedly that the others have cheapened the band's legacy for money...and Jello is right on that score. The ex-Dead Kennedys have cheapened and damaged the band's legacy almost beyond any repair: mostly through their inept handling of the band's catalogue & archives. The first sign of this was the release of an album of live material, "Mutiny on the Bay." Initially, I was heartened by this. Finally, live shows would see the light of day. Then the details came into the play. The aforementioned collection spanned four years and at least five different shows...a truly bad sign.
The ex-Dead Kennedys had failed to recognize an intergral part of what had made them great: context. When the Dead Kennedys played your town, they knew where they were. A strong part of the show would be Jello's commentary on what was going on at the moment, connecting events with the band's songs. During these interludes, the band would play creepy backing music that would build to a crescendo when the song began. The "Mutiny" release ignored this part of the band's act entirely (not too surprising considering their attitude towards Jello), and accomplished something difficult, lurching the Dead Kennedys towards mediocrity.
Making the whole thing even worse was seeing this travesty live at the Palace (now the Avalon) in Hollywood, with Brandon Cruz (who later quit) singing. Those who had seen the original (and better) Dead Kennedys were few and far between, but were greatly disappointed. Almost everything that Jello said they would be was correct.
Where Jello was wrong was in his dogmatic and amatuerish handling of the Dead Kennedys catalogue. He was too swept up in punk rock purity to realize some basic facts of a musician's life: very few are ever lucky enough to get involved with something that became something like the Dead Kennedys. Most of them do their "music thing," then move on to drab lives where making ends meet is a struggle. For the lucky, the "music thing" of their youth becomes an annuity. As any competant financial advisor will tell you...never mess with someone's annuity. The ex-Dead Kennedys felt their annuity was messed with...and they were able to win the point in court.
So DK's fans from back in the day now have the tawdry spectacle of the band playing around like a bad karaoke act; emphasizing every time they play this absolute truism...there is no Dead Kennedys without Jello Biafra singing. If there are any readers of this blog out there who are contemplating seeing the current version of the Dead Kennedys...DON'T! You're better off buying pre-lawsuit records & any good bootlegs out there.

The Big Lie

2005-01-07T09:14:00.000-08:00

"They hate our freedom." So intones King George II when he goes about attempting to lamely justify the Iraq quagmire, or to explain why a large amount of the Muslim world is determined to see harm come to the USA. Nothing could be further from reality. What the great majority of the Muslim world despises is American government policies that concerns them: aid to Isreal and supporting the ubiquitious corrupt local governments (who's only skill is in repressing their own people & looting their countries) in exchange for oil and / or other considerations.
What makes the big lie necessary is that the vast majority of the American people do not consider the narrow interests of the oil industry worthy of their blood. So therefore the whole sorry affair needs to given an Orwellian "newspeak" spin in order for enough of the American public to go along. So instead the American public was fed lies, exaggerations, and progaganda posing as news (Fox News was the acme of this).
A great amount of it was repudiated, but the Republican Noise Machine managed to brainwash enough of the American public to forge on anyway. So while most of the rest of the First World looks on with a combination of horror and amusement, the USA continues to make a fool of itself while simultaneously hiking up the danger level for the West (Nukes, chemical & biological weapons are well within the reach of Islamic terrorists).
After September 11, 2001, the Bush administration had a historic opportunity to combat terrorism with the majority of the world on its' side (even a good amount of the Islamic world included). Instead, they spectacularly pissed it away on George II's pathological need to make good King George I's biggest foreign policy error: ending the Gulf War too early, then letting Saddam's Republican Guard put down the post-war revolts amongst the Shiites and the Kurds (after George I had urged them to "rise up").
George I forgot some very basic lessons of statecraft that any reader of material such as "The Prince" by Machiavelli knows well. If you need to do something unpleasant: do it in one swift stroke and as soon as possible. Another is to take advantage of any opportunity fate throws your way, it will likely never arrive again...and making the objective so at a later point in time will usually be a harder task. The Bush Dynasty is able to get away with bumbling statecraft because just enough of the American public has been hypnotized by the Goebels-like repeatition of the big lie. "If you repeat the big lie enough, the masses will believe it." Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

The Bible: unalterable "word of God" has been altered many times, idiots!

2004-12-27T09:03:00.000-08:00

Anybody stepping out on the street, watching television, or reading the newspaper has seen them. The "blessed" proclaiming with the certainty of the hypnotized that the Bible is "the unalterable and unfallible word of God." If you take these Christ robots at face value, they spout that the Bible's every word is the same as when the All-Mighty proclaimed them. Not quite.
I don't hate to break it to you, but the Bible has been altered (deliberately and unintended) many times since complete versions containing both the New and Old Testament came out in the 5th century. In fact, when the first complete editions came out for usage in Roman churches, the Bible had already been substantially altered from it's original source material. The reasons are varying: mistranslations, the testimonies of the four apostles had been in spoken form for several hundred years before they were written down (oral histories become more inaccurate with the passage of time), and politics. Then the devations multiply once the Bible starts being translated from Latin into other languages, or re-written for domestic political reasons (the King James version, which is the most popular Protestant Bible in current usage, is a prime example of this).
The first question to deal with is "what exactly is the Bible?" It is composed of two major books: the New and Old Testament. The Old Testament is essentially the Hebrew Torah. It has the least amount of devations due to the fact that the source material is still extant. Even this has been the cause of confusion; with the most famous example being the old folk fable being the misconception that Jews had horns (the most spectacular manifestation of this is the statue of Moses in the Sistene Chapel). This is no joke, this belief carried well on into the 20th century.
So how did this misconception come about? A mistranslation is to blame for this one. Moses means "Great Light" in Hebrew. The forces of history were such that Aramic Greek became the language of commerce and government in the Eastern Medditerrean by 250 BC. In Aramic Greek, the word for light also means horns. Thus by the time the demand came around for translation of the Torah into Latin, the versions used to translate from were the Greek texts, not the original Hebrew. Thus Latin Bibles had Moses exuding great light and horns. Thus came about a common folk fable that was earnestly believed by a great amount of the "faithful" for over 1500 years.
Meanwhile, the New Testament is essentially the oral histories of four of Jesus' apostles. Due to the fact that for the first 300 years of its' existence, Christianity was a periodically persecuted cult. Thus the resources necessary to commit the four apostles testimonies to writing was generally not available. In fact, they were not until the Emperor Constantine made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire (something that evangelical Christian community of the USA wants to do now). Even then, it took the newly legitimized Catholic Church over fifty years to reconcile all the versions of the gospels flying around the Empire; which was the subject of furious debate that at times turned into street riots. Needless to write, political considerations (kissing up to the Roman state and legitamizing the edict that the Bishop of Rome was the undesputed leader of the Christian World) came into it and out came the first version of the Latin Bible.
Around this time, a political development within the Roman Empire laided the groundwork for the split between Orthodox and Catholic Christianity. Emperor Constantine's move of the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople. Thus the Bishop of each respective city claimed that they were the "true" head of the Church. This split remains unsolved to this day.
The other great Biblical "muddying of the waters" was the Protestant Reformation. The translation of the Bible into the respective languages of the lands in which it was being preached opened a can of worms that the Catholic Church had been trying to prevent for centuries. Before this, the Church had claimed (and still do) they they were the sole interpretors of the Bible. That's no suprise, clerics of most religions across the globe claim this vital and lucrative power for their own as a matter of course. The Reformation allowed the powers-that-be at the time to alter the "word" for their purposes.
The most clear example of this is the King James Bible. It was re-written specifically to be spoken from the pulpit, thus sounding authoritative to the masses of 17th century England. Anyone who has ever translated anything knows how dillutive such work is. The Bible is no exception.
Thus whenever I hear from some self-rightious Bible-thumper that the "Holy Book" he or she is holding is the "unaltered word of God," I am reminded that the book that person is holding has been translated at least four times from four different languages, and re-written at least three times to fit the political whims of the day. Whenever I have bothered to point this out to the "faithful", all I get is either a blank stare followed by an afirmation of blind faith, or am called any variation of "blasphemer!" Not once has any of them attempted to engage in a rational debate of the facts regarding the origins and evolution of the Bible. Perhaps they don't want to face any sort of doubt regarding their faith. After all, blind faith is a lot easier than the uncertainity of how and why we are here in the first place. "If God did not exist, it would be necessary for man to invent him" Voltaire.

Here I go!?!?

2004-12-26T08:47:00.000-08:00

Welcome. I have decided to add my two cents to whatever I feel like writing about & put it out there for whomever cares to read it. I suspect some of you might find the name of this blog, "Vibrations from the Black Hole," a bit familiar. You would be correct. It is also the name of a column that I have written about "soccer in general & the LA Galaxy in particular" for quite a few web sites: MLS Review, Soccerspot, The Hitchhiker's Guide, etc., over the years of MLS' existance. I do not plan to discontinue that endevor.
I just desire for a forum to expand upon what I did in those past columns without editorial oversight or the need to stay within the confines of soccer. As for the potential for confusion, please allow me to offer the following: stay informed and up to date and the confusion stops. It will also allow to touch upon subjects that prior editors (ten and counting) doing their job in protecting the site's interests would not allow me to deal with. I have more interests than soccer, but that is the majority of my writing that is out in cyberspace; and I wish to expand the subject matter.
When it comes to my writing, I am a complete ham and absolutely enjoy reading my words out in public space. Anything that I feel like writing about is fair game; and I know that what will come out will enrage a substantial portion of the readership. That's fine, if you don't like and don't want to read it, click off! Don't try to ban it as way too many Christian fascists (they would be Muslim if I was writing from the Middle East) are presently emboldened to do as their as poster boy currently occupies the White House.
Among the subjects that I plan to cover is: politics, music, dogs, comics, relationships, history, religion, society, and the ways obvious and not in how they intersect, plus any other stuff that comes to my attention and demands that I blog about it. It should be fun.