Welcome to TREKKING WITH CLIPPINGS 2022!

Yup, all this month I'll be sharing stuff out of my three-volume scrapbook set.

The above squib is from Frederik Pohl's 1979 book  The Way the Future Was.

This is from the February 4, 1981 newspaper insert This Week.

The above jibe is from the January 25, 1992 TV Guide, which (like most of us) whines when we don;t get new product.

See you on Monday!  Don't worry about running out of stuff, we have several HUNDREDS of clippings yet to trek!

  

Another of My Heroes!

This all-too-brief survey of comedy god Mel Brooks is from the April 22, 1974 Newsweek.  Its excuse is the success of Young Frankenstein.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out the misspelling of my favorite pop in the first image.  "Dr Pepper" has NO PERIOD, you East Coast effetes!  On the other hand, "intentionally graceless" is a characterization to which we should ALL aspire (at least some of the time).

You might say that the salute to Busby Berkeley musicals is a foreshadowing of "Do the Inquisition" in History of the World Part 1.  But that kind of shibboleth-bashing is just part of Brooks's character.

Mine too!  See you Thursday.  We'll probably spend September TREKKING WITH CLIPPINGS!

 

Blame the Crash Test Dummies!

Yup, here's another example of perfect logic, from the government who blames most UFOs on swamp gas!

Of course, if you already believed the government's explanations that Japanese fire balloons or a weather balloon (at the same time) are reasonable, then why not go three-for-three?

SOURCE:  The Oklahoman, June 25, 1997

See you Monday.  

  

Need More Mystery in Your Life?

Then check out some of these tomes from my lurking, loony library!

The above 1979 chronicle of Betty Andreasson's multiple weird encounters starts out in a semi-objective way, but soon the weirdness of Andreasson's visions --- and that's what they were IMO, NOT actual, physical occurrences -- breaks down Fowler's defenses.  Read this book and see if you can blame him! 

Coming out only a few years later, this book covers a broader swathe of cases.  Fowler comes down squarely in the nuts-and-bolts, government-coverup-conspiracy camp.  This century, he discovered that those mean alien critters have snagged him too!

This book is a credulous chronicle of those wild, perhaps trans-dimensional types of UFOnauts.  Lots people loved this book, but to me it is of a piece with many others which take a dichotomous view -- either the "aliens" are from other planes of existence with important cosmic knowledge, or they drive mechanical saucers you could bounce a Frisbee off of.  Or both? 

There's no guessing where ol' "Raphael" is concerned, it's Space Brothers all the way!  This is the most vacuous tripe you can imagine, similar to all those mediums of the 19th century who solemnly passed on greetings from Uncle Wally.  It sounds profound if you haven't heard this kind of jaw hundreds of times before, from other folks proclaiming that they are THE ONLY TRUE conduit for messages from the Great Beyond.

In the interests of free thought, investigate these tomes yourself!  See you Thursday!

   

How Many Super Videos Have YOU Seen?

That's what this article from the February 29, 1988 issue of Amazing Heroes is all about.  Of course, a few more titles have appeared since then!

In Atom Man vs Superman, I love the weird accent that Lyle Talbot uses under the Atom Man helmet.  He imbues "I will destroy ... Soooperrr-mannn!" with such cheesy, delicious menace!

And don't you love the Electrolux vacuum-cleaner disintegrator used by the Mole Men?

Yes, I have seen both Super Pup and the Superboy pilot.

And the Ruby-Spears cartoons have been released on video.

Helen Slater was beautiful, tentative, charming, and resolute as Supergirl.  Too bad the movie STINKS!

What are your favorite Super Videos?

  

My Kids Drew Scary Things!

Our middle kid was four and a half when she presented me with the following sketch:

She only told me it was "a man."  But I think it's an alien invader!

Like this guy.

A few years later, our youngest came up with the following gem:

She was almost three.  She assured me this was Batman.

What do you think?  Are my kids amazing abstract artist, or literalists who saw things no adult can ever encounter ... and live!???

  

Another Lost Treasure of OKC -- I Remember Lute's!

I discovered Lute's Bookstore in downtown OKC around 1980.  I enjoyed browsing all the tons of stuff.  I was impressed with the thick art or reference books, but mainly shopped in the niche of UFO-Bigfoot-Paranormal paperbacks.

Here are a couple of articles about Lute's.  I retyped them from The Oklahoman.

The above came from the March 16, 1987 paper.

The above came from October 25, 1996.

I haven't gone through all of my own hundreds of paperbacks recently.  But I was able to find this bookmark to share with you.

Keep reading, friends!  See you Monday. 

  

I'm a Marxist, Number 4

I cadged this profile of Groucho, my idol, from the February 1973 Reader's Digest.

Who was your idol in high school?  Think about it until we meet here again on Thursday.

   

Okay, It Got Here. Now What?

I was one of the many folks thrilled by the news that movie wunderkind Steven Spielberg was backing a new gosh-wow TCV show.

Yup, 38 years ago this week, Amazing Stories was pumped.  This article appeared in the August 1, 1984 Tulsa World.

You'd think a savvy guy like Spielberg would have enough sense not to promise what he couldn't deliver.  There's NO WAY that even a handful of his stories could be "amazing," even if he snagged the retro title from a pulp magazine.

Yup, I watched (and videotaped to rewatch) the show.

I must admit that the opening credits are lotsa fun, evoking their time with the high-tech CGI.

Do you have fond memories of Amazing Stories?  See you Monday!

  

Framed! I Was Framed, I Tell Ya!

That's what Superman would say about these supposed works of art. This article is from Amazing Heroes #140, dated May 1, 1988.

Huh!  And the artsy-fartsy types say comics ain't art!  See you Thursday!

  

The Secret Origin of Red Kryptonite!

... At least, according to this "Ask Mr Silver Age" column in the January 5, 2001 Comics Buyer's Guide!

PS you can read the REAL lowdown on Red Kryptonite in this 2006 post on this hyar Super Blog!

See you Thursday!

  

Strange TV Cameos!

Since this article was published in the June 1984 Video Review, there must have been plenty more "weird" or strange ones.

See you on Monday for something less strange ... perhaps!

  

Are You in the Hobbit?

In college I came across this article from the September 1966 issue of Esquire, about the writings of a certain writer of our acquaintance'

As a hobbitual offender, I had to share with you.  See you Thursday!

   

Secret Identity -- Who Ain't Got One?

This article is from the June 1, 1986 Amazing Heroes.

After you've finished yukking it up, you can read a REALLY TRULY good article I shared on this blog several years back.  Originally intended for the same mag, it would have fit into the same "Ten of a Kind" format as Waid's article above.

AN OPEN SECRET, part 1

AN OPEN SECRET, part 2

AN OPEN SECRET, part 3

AN OPEN SECRET, part 4

Go forth and read "An Open Secret," so you too can be hep the next time a Kryptonian tries to pull the wool over your eyes!  See you Monday.

  

Alternative Histories

These were devised at short notice for SoonerCon 30 in June 2022.  Feel free to weave your own stories or catastrophes based on these things that didn’t happen!

Alternate History Lines

 ·         2800 BC.  Mesopotamian junior lieutenant Gilgamesh dies at age sixteen from a fall, after a loose nail shakes loose from his horse’s shoe.

·         1804.  German composer L van Beethoven discovers that Napoleon Bonaparte has crowned himself Emperor of France. Beethoven tears up his recently completed Symphony 3, originally dedicated to Napoleon, and commits suicide.· 1910. British emigrant William Henry Pratt, working on a Canadian farm, dies of sepsis after piercing his own foot with the tine of a pitchfork.

·         1910.  Struggling artist Adolph Hitler meets struggling actor Robert Wiene.  Wiene convinces Hitler to submit sketches to some producer friends.  Hitler’s designs for The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, released in 1920, establishes Hitler as a surrealist of the first order.  He is awarded the first Academy Award for art direction in 1929, for his work with Fritz Lang on Das Reich der Dr. Mabuse.

·         1934.  After receiving funding from JP Morgan to develop his “defensive” particle-beam weapon, Nikola Tesla sneezes as he throws the switch at its first demonstration.  Earth immediately splits in half, killing all life.

·         1942.  Small-time musician Jim McCartney, conscripted as a fireman during World War II, dies in a burning building.  His amateur-scientist son, James Paul, dies in 1962, likewise by fire, experimenting with asbestos clothing.
·         1955.  In an fistfight over script credit for the in-development film Moby Dick, director John Huston and author Ray Bradbury stumble into a Hollywood street, where both are flattened by a steamroller.
·         1963.  TV producer Gene Roddenberry is killed at a Christmas party by the jealous husbands of three actresses.
·         1963.  After a brief meeting with Pope Paul VI in 1963, President John Kennedy resigns and enters a monastery.  Soon thereafter, now-President Lyndon Johnson loses an arm-wrestling match with Nikita Khrushchev.  Due to a bet made before the event, Germany is signed over to the Eastern Bloc.
·         1965.  Martin Luther King defeats George Lincoln Rockwell in a brutal twelve-round boxing match.  Rockwell honors a pre-fight agreement and dissolves the American Nazi Party, using its assets to fund scholarships in poor neighborhoods.

·         1966.  Star Trek, a new TV sci-fi TV series starring Lloyd Bridges, Martin Landau, and Paul Fix, airs for six episodes and is quickly dropped.  Variety describes its leading character, Bridges as Captain Robert April, as “acting like he's underwater.”
·         1971.  During a secret trip to China, Henry Kissinger is caught in flagrante delicto with the daughter of Premier Zhou Enlai.  He is immediately executed, and in retaliation President Nixon sends Captain Manhattan to destroy the Chinese capital city.
·         1974.  An Ethiopian dig looking for human ancestries is cancelled. In a related story, the dog belonging to paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey dies after choking on a bone.
·         2005.  The success of the action sci-fi series Laser Cats, starring Andy Samberg and Bill Hader, prompts George Lucas to film an all-feline version of Star Wars, provoking protests when Han spits first.
·         2022.  An embarrassed Vladimir Putin goes on a worldwide TV linkup to announce withdrawal of all forces from Ukraine.  “It’s all a mistake,” he says.  Unveiling a tabletop model of a skyscraper, he explains,  “I wanted to get a NEW CRANE.”

See you Thursday, if the timeline doesn't split!