Welcome to the Fortress of Markitude! #4

NOTE:  all of these pictures were taken a few years ago when the place was less cluttered.  All text is in the present tense anyway.

             Here we will travel along one wall of the Fortress, beginning with the back of the entrance door. 

            This Superman figure was picked up at a thrift store before I started living in them.  He’s stitched together pretty cheaply with a screen-printed face.  He’s got no tags or identifying labels.  This was probably part of a lot of hundreds of “toys” that were illicitly manufactured in bulk somewhere and destined to be prizes at carnivals or some such.

             The name placard dangling around ole Supes’s neck has an interesting history.  It hails from April 1987, when NOSFA (the Norman Oklahoma Science Fiction Association) held its first convention, a one-day affair on April 18, called PseudoCon.  I quote from The STAR OKC Chronicles:  On April 18, NOSFA holds its first PseudoCon, aided by STARs Claire Stephens, Mike Hodge, Syd Henderson, Larry Nemecek, “Mike” [actually Mark] Alfred, and later STAR Karen Dorrell. One of the day’s highlights is a panel, “The Ersatz Vulcan vs. the Reel McCoy,” in which Mark A. as Spock and Larry N. as McCoy indulge in an hour’s worth of verbal wrangling and blustering.

 

            This placard hung around my neck, and Larry Nemecek’s said of course “Larry Nemecek ‘McCoy’,” or something in that vein.  I can still remember how long it took for the spirit gum (holding my latex ear tips on) to dry.  Good ol’ Larry stood behind me in the Student Union bathroom waving a hair dryer at my ears for a while.

            Above the door (on which you can see stuffed Superman hanging) are a series of plastic lunchboxes.  The blue one on the left is from Star Trek: TNG and the rest are Super-related.

 

            Blocking the bottom half of the Superman doll thing is one of those bouncing saucer things.  It’s a plastic ring, in the middle of which is an inflatable ball just like a smaller version of those red textured-rubber dodge balls we had in grade school.  The ring is sitting on top of a couple of metal file-card drawers, sitting on a metal file cabinet that contained mss. of various songs, poems, novels-in-progress (only one completed but with rejection letter), and other writings.

            On the wall above all this is a plate shelf with various Star Trek and Super plates.  That lime-green thing is an inflatable carnival-type prize, bearing clip art from Superman: The Animated Series.

            The books in the shelves in the middle ground are from when I had my books dis-integrated -- that is, grouped separately as “Mysteries,” “Media,” and general stuff.  You can tell the category by a couple of the spines (recognizably DC Archives) that you can spot with your eagle eyes.

            Now, at the center of the tallest shelf you can see the yellow front of a stuffed dog in a super costume.

 

            This is a photo of one of these little guys for sale.  Now, mine has no tag, but is otherwise the same.  It’s a promo for the Mighty Dog brand dog food, from the 1980s.  One of my drivers at the thrift store came across this in a donation.  Randy knew that I was a Superman fan, and he tossed it to me.  He said the “MD” on the chest stood for “Mark’s Dog,” which was a pretty good spur-of-the-moment confabulation!

 

            At the closest to the camera are the shelves holding audio cassettes.  All these are gone now, dubbed and donated.  The actual wood-grained shelves bearing the cassettes-in-plastic-drawers are originally from the convenience-store trade.  They were merchandisers for cartons of cigarettes, and originally had clear plastic barriers across them.  They wanted people to see (and want them) but not be able to snatch-n-steal them.

            Now sitting atop these shelves you can see the edge of a metal kids’ TV tray with a picture of Mr Spock at his science console from ST:TMP.

            The most important “thing” in the photo is the farthest away from the camera -- that’s Joyce far away on the right of the shot, “upstairs” in the kitchen.

 

 

            Now here is a close-up of the plate shelf glimpsed in the middle left of the previous panorama.    At the far left edge of this photo is that lime-green Superman inflatable I mentioned, below which are an alarm clock with a Superman background, and the edge of a plastic Mighty Mouse lunchbox.

 

            The leftmost plate features the same art of Superman as was used on the cover of the Filmation VHS releases in the 1980s.  The two smaller items on either side of the center Star Trek plate are part of a 1980s-era kids’ eating set.  The art for both look like Jon Bogdanove art, or at least in his rawboned, big-jawed style.

             The central, biggest item is one of the Franklin Mint Star Trek sets. It has an interesting history in that about 1986, when my oldest Matthew was two or three, he was goofing around and banged into the wall where this plate was originally hanging.  It fell down to the floor with a crash, and several small pieces cracked off the edge.  Matthew started to cringe and cry.  He knew his Grandma (my mom) had given me the plate and that it was a special gift.  He was afraid that I was going to spank him until he couldn’t walk straight.

 

            But I explained to Matthew that I wasn’t going to spank him.  I told him he should have been more careful, but that I knew it was an accident.  He should be more careful.  I told him, “People are more important than things.”  I sure hope he remembers that forever!

 

            On the far right of this shelf is a Bakelite-style plate copyrighted 1967, with a Wayne Boring Superman swooping across it.

 

            In the foreground you can see that Superman bouncy-ball thing.

 

            Leaning against the plate rack, behind the bouncer, is an adaptation of Monopoly I made based on STAR OKC. Someday I’ll do a STAR OKC blog post about this…I made something specialized to STAR OKC’s history for every property and every Community Chest and Chance card.

 

 

            This is a four-sheet Star Trek color-your-own poster set.  According to this website, this came out in 1976 but it seems to me that it must have been sooner than that.  I had these posters on my walls before I graduated high school in 1974, it seems to me.

 

 

            Of course, some day in the future I will have to unpack this set, scan them, and post them.  In the frame are all four posters and the (flattened) box.  As you can see from my photo, I've colored all four of the posters.

 

            Well, that’s stop four in our tour of the Fortress of Markitude.  Hope you found something interesting.  Feel free to comment and share some of your own memories or reflections!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Conspiracy Theory in America by Lance deHaven-Smith

 

            This is a very even-handed book, even though I'm pretty sure that the author and/or a lot of his friends, at some level, feel like me when I think there is lots of evidence for a particular conspiracy theory.

 

            I feel like jumping up and down and screaming, “Don’t you guys get it?!?  _____ got away with ___ and you must be blind if you can’t see it!”

 

            The book starts with an examination of the modern concept of “conspiracy theory” as a label.  You see, it is an historical fact that many times political change has occurred as the result of a small group of planners implementing a series of actions that brought about a change that had a big effect.  Do the words “et tu, Brute?” ring any bells?

 

            Yep, insider actions for various reasons have been around a long time.  De-Haven-Smith (what a nuisance to type!) compares and contrasts the  views of three thinkers, Karl Popper, Leo Strauss, and Charles Beard, regarding “Political Perspectives on Conspiracy Theory,” a section beginning on page 82.  As with many deep things, it made sense to me as I read it, but I would have to re-read and think about it before I could repeat it to you and make sense.

 

            Suffice it to say, political conspiracies have been around a long time.  Some are undertaken for the benefit of a few in power; some are supposedly to benefit an entire nation.  However, all are wrong in that they subvert the informed will of the people!  Taking a secret action and then hiding it, or setting up another to be blamed, is not what we want members of our government to be doing -- at any level!

 

            It’s for this reason that de-Haven-Smith proposes the acronym SCAD, standing for State Crimes Against Democracy.  If you Google the acronym or the phrase, you will learn a lot about some proposed SCADS that you may or may not agree with.

 

            It also interests me (but doesn’t surprise me) that the framing of “conspiracy theory,” in the general consciousness, as the belief of a whacko, came from the CIA in its attempts to undermine the credibility of Warren Commission opponents.

 

            That belief is certainly true nowadays, vide the 1997 Mel Gibson film of that name.  I think a big part of how this framed opinion, that conspiracist = unbalanced loon, is also more easily accepted by people who don’t want somebody rocking the boat of the “we’re-the-good-guys” worldview.  I know that I, at least, fervently wish for our government servants to take our founding ideas seriously.  But being human, sneaky people seek and find ways to subvert the individual rights intended by our founders.

 

            A big example is the Fourteenth Amendment, which was passed in 1868.  Specifically, part of it gives corporations the same constitutional protections as persons.  This isn’t right!  A company is NOT a person.

 

            There is a lot of discussion and theory here.  I encourage anybody interested in free will, our government, or “conspiracies” to read the book.  As I said at the top, some of the SCADs that the author sees, I may not agree with.  But to his credit he frames a broad discussion without emphasizing the things he sees as most egregious or harmful.

 

            One description of a SCAD, from page 11, is that “it refers to a special type of transgression: an attack from within on the political system’s organizing principles.” I would agree, wouldn’t you?, that such a thing is wrong!

 

            It’s one thing to steal an orphan’s money; it’s a lot worse when the thief is the banker in charge of the account.  In the same way, the fact that such offenses are instigated by people in power is what makes them even more outrageous than “ordinary” crimes.

 

            I encourage you to read this book and start to take the idea seriously.  Scoundrelism DOES occur at high levels.  Sometimes, in my opinion, it takes the form of murder.  The more we realize that crimes such as these  DO occur, the less likely that the crimes can be covered up for long.  In parting I leave you with two examples that YOU may or may not agree with.

 

            “I DID NOT have sex with that woman … It depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is.”

            “I am not a crook.”

 

            Read the book and learn about SCADs.

Superman Activities for Kids - Guest Post!

Here is a little tale from a new friend of mine named Ryan.  He had some suggestions for parents who want to help their kids feel a little more SUPER!  I added the illustrations.

Super Activities for Kids!

            Before Superman grew up to become the ultimate hero, he was just an otherworldly kid with some special powers.  With activities ranging from dressing up to obstacle courses and candy, your children can change into their Kids of Steel personas faster than a speeding bullet and have an amazing Superman- themed day.  Here are five ideas to get them started…

 

1.      DRESSING UP

There may be no quicker way to get into the Superman spirit than by dressing up like the hero.  Once your kids look like the Man of Steel, they may be more enthusiastic and ready to start on the activities.  Depending on your budget, skills and resources, dressing up can be as simple as throwing on a pair of Superman pajamas and using a red towel for a cape, or as complicated as sewing your very own costume.  Either way, once the kids are dressed for the heroic theme, it may make it easier for them to become completely absorbed by the activities.

Julie (left) and Melissa (right) -- two girls made more SUPER by their attire

 

 

2. IT’S A BIRD… IT’S A PLANE… IT’S A…. SUPERMAN PAPER PLANE?

While he has inhuman strength, x-ray vision, and incredible speed and stamina, Superman is probably best known for his ability to fly.  In this activity, kids not only may have a great time creating their own Superman-themed planes – they can exercise a little arts and crafts, test their throwing skills, and even learn a bit about physics.

 

            The little heroes can start off by folding their best paper planes.  These planes can be of their own design, or they can look up instructions online.  Once they have them all folded, it is time to start customizing them.  For example they can make their planes resemble a spacecraft from Krypton, or just stick to the tried and true Superman theme, adding his insignia (or one for their own name) and keeping the color scheme red, blue and yellow.

 

 

            Once everyone has folded and decorated their planes, it is time for the true test of skill and heroism: who can throw their planes the furthest and most accurately?  To make the competition more exciting, you can hang  “Kryptonite laced” hula hoops that the planes will need to pass through without touching, or provide target where Superman needs to fly to right away – for example, an overturned toy car that needs rescuing.  Whichever child can fly through the most hoops and come closest to the target wins.



            Find some great patterns at Amazing Paper Airplanes.

3.      SUPERHERO SKILLS TEST

Superman’s flying skill is not always enough to save the day.  Sometimes he needs to use his strength, precision, and other abilities to get the job done.  By creating a Super Hero Skills Test, your kids can show off their otherworldly skills.

 

            Set up the test in your backyard or a nearby park.  One of the obstacles can be buildings (cardboard boxes) that kids will need to leap over in a single bound – without touching them.  You can set up a series of these buildings at heights that match the athletic abilities of the kids.

 

 

            So they can show off their laser vision, you can also create a test of their finesse and accuracy.  To do this, freeze other Justice League Action figures in blocks of ice.  Then, load water guns with warm water.  The kids will shoot these in lieu of heat rays (unless they actually happen to have heat vision) to rescue their heroic compatriots by melting them out of their icy tombs.

 

(These ice cubes are a little TOO big, though)

 

            Finally, they can demonstrate their X-Ray vision and accuracy by trying to throw their planes at a target while blindfolded (a Lex Luthor figurine can make a good target). Let the children take a few practice shots at the target with their normal vision and then blindfold them and make them rely on their super senses.

4.      KRYPTONITE CANDY

While Superman’s weakness is Kryptonite, a kid’s weakness is often candy.  There are a number of ways you can combine the two of these, using Pop Rocks!  Green Pop Rocks can be mixed with lime sherbet to make a great snappy summer treat, or with green drinks like limeade to make a fun and bubbly concoction. 

 

 

 

You could also bake Superman cookies, either in the shape of his flying silhouette, or in the shape of his signature S emblem.  Then, decorate them with frosting, and add red, yellow and blue pop rocks to the appropriate areas to make it more exciting and crackling.

 

 

 

 

5.      MOVIES AND COMICS

Once you’ve built up the stock of Superman candy, now is a perfect time to relax and unwind.  Whether your kids want to hang out on the couch and watch Man of Steel, or kick back and read a few of their favorite comics, after a Superman-themed day of dressing, acting, and baking they should be ready for a little downtime.

 

            Before Superman was a man, he was a kid.  With a little fun and imagination, your kids can also experience what it would be like to have a variety of superpowers, make some delicious Kryptonite candy concoctions, and even have a Superman-themed plane to remind them of the awesome day.

 

 

 

See you next Monday, and thanks Ryan!



Welcome to the Fortress of Markitude! #3

NOTE:  all of these pictures were taken a few years ago when the place was less cluttered.  All text is in the present tense anyway.

 

As promised, here is a closer look at that Superman Record Player, copyright 1978.

Here’s a view of the top.  The top right-hand corner is the same pose & art used for the Action 340 pin-up.  The bottom right is Neal Adams’ art used for the cover of Superman 233, with “Superman Breaks Loose!” “Kryptonite Nevermore!” and other exclamation-pointed statements.

 

The bottom left corner has a redrawn image of the cover art from Action 1.

 

I’m pretty sure that the central image of Superman bursting to us through a wall is also Neal Adams art, but I can’t tell you its original appearance.

 

 

The main image inside the top is wonderful Swanderson (Curt Swan inked by Murphy Anderson) art originally from 1973’s Amazing World of Superman (Metropolis Edition).  The smaller image is the same art I see on my Superman night light. (Someone else’s is shown below).

 

 

The actual record player works (as of 7/01/2013).  The white knob at top right of the base is the on/off-volume dial.  The white tab-looking thing sticking out at the seven-o-clock position from the turntable is the speed selector with three settings: 45rpm, “N” for neutral, and 33rpm.  As was standard from the 1950s to the 1980s with record players of this type, there is a larger pup-up cylinder in the center, so you can play 45rpm records.  The holes between the turntable and the tone arm are speaker holes.

 

 

When you close the record player, this is the edge where the handle is.  As you can see, we have part of the Superman curriculum vitae.  The art running across the bottom, from Amazing World of Superman (Metropolis Edition) is another gem from the Swanderson team.

 

 

 

In the above image you can see the handle to the left, so you know which side this is.  Another panel from Amazing World of Superman (Metropolis Edition).

 

 

Now you know that this was made in the USA by the Dejay Corp.  I’m pretty sure this was a play on “deejay,” as in Disc Jockey.

 

Here we have the rest of that dynamic phrase.  Note that, unlike the Kirk Alyn serial, THIS Superman only needs one hand (one pinkie?) to stop a train.  And comic-book magic keeps the train from plowing forward another fifteen feet with a Superman-Pinkie-Finger hole in its front.  Art from Amazing World of Superman (Metropolis Edition).

 

 

 

 

Here’s what the bottom of the record player looks like.

 

 

The first panel is Wayne Boring’s.  I don’t know if this version of Supes’s origin is from a comic or magazine … it IS NOT from the 1973  Amazing World of Superman (Metropolis Edition).

 

However, it was also used in 1978 for a Pepsi place mat, a series of which also included Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Batman, and this guy.  I think these place mats were originally from Pizza Hut (which is owned by PepsiCo).  They are laminated.

 

You can see part of the Captain Marvel place mat at the bottom (I have two copies, so I’ve got each side showing).  It’s called “Shazam!” because at the time Marvel Comics wouldn’t let DC use the name of their own character because Marvel was using it for their own different character of the same name.  Of course  that’s why the 1970s DC series was also called not by his name but by what he shouted to change.

 

Anyway,  that’s the 1978 record player.  Another time we’ll see front-and-back scans of the place mats.

MA-67 - U.N.C.L.E. Themes A-Go-Go

It's wild, cat!  It's with it, man! It's ...

 

U.N.C.L.E. Themes A-Go-Go!

Here at the Go-Go we've got mixes and blends, baby!  We've got versions of the U.N.C.L.E. theme, we've got references to the U.N.C.L.E. theme in other works.  Man, we've even got songs that refer to U.N.C.L.E. WITHOUT using the U.N.C.L.E. theme.

Like, here are the songs ...

01. Man from U.N.C.L.E. Promo - NBC, 1965 (0:14)
02. Harlem Shuffle (live) - Open Channel D (5:25) 1983
03. Twiggy Twiggy - Pizzicato Five (4:08) 1991
04. Lucid Dream - Meat Beat Manifesto (2:12) 1996
05. Une Very Stylish Fille - Dimitri from Paris (3:17) 1996
06. Dirty Larry - Dimitri from Paris (7:25) 1996
07. The Legend of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. - Paula and the Jetliners (2:14) 1966
08. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - The Ventures (1:46) 1966
09. Illya Kuryakin - Bobby Ellis & The Crystalites (3:20) 1967
10. Napoleon Solo - The Jokers (2:40) 1967
11. The Man from Thrush - Parris Mitchell Strings with Brass (2:36) 1967
12. Illya's Walk - Wyncote Records (1:59) 1967
13. The Thrush Tune - Wyncote Records (2:26) 1967
14. Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. Promo - CBS, 1983 (0:29)
15. April Dancer - Birdmen of Alkatraz (2:59) 1989
16. The Rock from U.N.C.L.E. - Doctor QE (2:48) 1994
17. My Friend Illya - The Ulterior Motive Orchestra (2:53) 1996
18. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - Santiago Tamura (2:53) 1998
19. The April Dancer Affair - The Monochrome Set (4:23) 1999
20. Napoleon Solo - The Specials (3:07) 2000
21. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - The Illuminoids (2:53) 2007
22. A Martini Built For Two (live) - Robert Bruce and the Mellowtones (3:41) 2008
23. Meet Mr. Solo (live) - Robert Bruce and the Mellowtones (2:14) 2008
24. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - Revolution for Dogs (2:38) 2008
25. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (live) - Tokyo Sexwhale (1:38) 2009
26. The Case of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - The Vulcans (1:43) 2011
27. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - Robert Short (2:07) 2012
 Also included are liner notes for the erudite.

New link, January 2015.



 

Check Out The Illuminoids!

The surf-guitar band The Illuminoids is a bunch of great guys.

The Illuminoids play a broad spectrum of melodic surf guitar instrumentals.  I contacted one of their members regarding permission to use one of their tracks and they've been more than kind.

I even got asked to do the graphics for their new release!  Yep, that's my "graphic design":

 

You can buy this single from their website for $7, including shipping.  It's a great deal.

Their other full-length releases are great examples of the surf-rock genre that are flavored with eclecticism and a sense of humor.  Please support them by checking their music out.  Then buy it! 

See you Monday.
 

He's Been a Model Citizen

I didn't have this one, the instructions came from good friend Ed Porter.

Take a god look at this setting.  What better illustration for TREK's description as "Wagon Train in space"?  Here we have the lead drover drawing a bead with his trusty six-shooter on that pesky rattlesnake that reared up and scared the calves.

 

And here we have a Romulan Bird of Prey.  And you thought these things were Klingon!  Nope, my theory is that when somebody typed "Bird of Prey" in an early draft of the STAR TREK III script and then filled it with Klingons, the typer had forgotten that the designation "Bird of Prey" applied to ships from the Romulan Empire.

 

So now we had various TREK apologists having to concoct a theoretical Klingon-Romulan alliance to explain the use of the term "Bird of Prey" in regards to a Klingon not Romulan ship.  Sheesh!

Book Review -- Hit List by Richard Belzer & David Wayne

READ  THIS  BOOK

for some truths

 

 

Great Summation of Research -- Improved Easy-to-Follow Format

 

This book is a follow-up and intensification of the topics from the authors’ 2012 Dead Wrong.  Whereas that book’s usefulness and readability was hampered by tables, sidelights, and charts that interfered with the nonfiction narrative and actually made the book harder to figure out, this volume is a model of conjectural word-flow.

 

The book is a brief examination of the deaths of fifty people who were witness either to the JFK assassination or to parts of its surrounding events and cover-up.  Some deaths are open homicides, some are accidents whose timing seems odd, and some are supposed suicides that are a little hard to believe (a guy wrapped himself with fishing weights and jumped from a boat, shooting himself in the head in midair before hitting the water?).

 

The point is, the idea of so many people with knowledge about the JFK hit and its aftermath all dying (most by questionable causes) is mathematically and actuarially unlikely.  Of course, everybody dies!  But these folks meeting the Grim Reaper in such a high percentage when compared to any other Joe Schmoe is highly suspicious.  Many died just before being compelled to give testimony to congress or in other legal proceedings.

 

The deaths whose timings kick up as suspicious but who still seem coincidental to the JFK assassination are listed that way.  Not all of these fifty deaths appear related to the crime or cover-up, but their timing kicked them onto the list of possibles.

 

Possible WHATs, you ask.  Say it:  Many people appear to have been killed because they knew that JFK’s death was not a lone-nut crime.  There were US intelligence elements, and organized crime elements, and individuals related to the sub rosa struggle against Cuba’s government.  While I don’t go so far as to agree that LBJ was a willing foreplanner, he certainly knew some folks with their fingers in this horrific pie.

 

Let me cite the few mistakes and quibbles I have with the book.

 

Page xiii, the first page of text, opens the book with a heading quotation from Jim Marrs’ 1989 book Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy.  Then the authors write, “Thus began the promotion of the 1973 film Executive Action ….”  No, the producers of a 1973 film DID NOT quote a book from 1989 that was still at least 15 years into the future.

 

On pages 155 and 157, the authors misspell the name of one of the FBI agents present at the JFK autopsy.  The agent’s last name is given as O’Neal, when the correct spelling is O’Neill.

 

Twice in the bottom paragraph on page 224, the word “rogue” (as in a rogue or runaway agent) is misspelled “rouge” -- quite a different meaning!

 

On page 247, we are told about the way to short-circuit the JFK administration’s pressure on organized crime would be to not attack Attorney General Robert Kennedy, but his boss and brother, JFK.  The authors meant to say that removing President Kennedy from power would “defuse” Bobby’s efforts.  However, they use the word “diffuse,”  which means to thin out or dissipate.  Both words could be technically accurate, but I bet they wanted to de-fuse the powder keg that was Bobby Kennedy, not “spread him over a large area.”

 

On page 317, after a handy chart-type listing of all the deaths covered in-depth in the earlier chapter, there are several mentions of how you could add this or that person to “the list” or “the original list.”  But the names given are already on the list just given over the previous pages.  It’s unclear which list -- this book’s list or a list from somebody else -- is referred to.

 

Pages 319-320 ends the book with another table of people who were covered in previous pages.  Why give their names again when they were just talked about in earlier pages?

 

As you can see, these are minor quibbles and easily remedied in a later printing.  This book is a solid entry to stack up against the silly people who set aside or try to explain away the many recorded occurrences that make the simple Oswald-did-it storyline impossible.

 

If that “lone nut” killed the President and was bumped off by an over-reacting Kennedy family sympathizer (Jack Ruby), why would this cause the switching out of the rifle originally found for the one history now accepts as “the murder weapon”?  Why is there evidence of somebody pretending to be Oswald running around Dallas at gun ranges and taking test-drives (Oswald couldn’t drive)?  Why was evidence messed up and switched? 

 

If it was only a crazy guy with a rifle, how could that “truth” have caused the government’s own photographs of the autopsy to NOT MATCH UP with the government’s own x-rays supposedly taken at the same time, of the same head with the same wounds?

 

And on and on we could go.  But we are faced with the apparent fact that fifty years ago our government was changed by taking the choice away from the American people (they voted, you know) and letting that choice be made by various people who didn’t like the guy who was in charge.  It may not have been a simple process of (like in STAR TREK’s Mirror Universe) “kill the captain and we all move up in rank,” but it was wrong and it was a denial of every democratic and republican (lowercase letters) principle that our country has tried to live by.

 

You can trace nearly the entire soured-mistrust-of-government of the past five decades to this open wound of history, whose first cut was the murder of the president.

 

This is a valuable book, and it’s put together well.  It synthesizes years and generations of findings to make the point that things shouldn’t have happened the way they did.  Not without help from some bad men.  The fact that some of these bad men tried to justify their murders by justifying them with spy babble or face-saving rhetoric only makes their personal foulness and depravity stink all the more.

 

People who had not been given the right -- they decided to change the government of our country.  How dare they! 

 

Amos 5:24:  “But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”  Read this book and find your righteous anger fueled.



Welcome to the Fortress of Markitude! #2

NOTE:  all of these pictures were taken a few years ago when the place was less cluttered.  All text is in the present tense anyway.

 

This view is the first thing you see if you are brave enough to stick your head in.

 

The grey file cabinet contains issues of magazines like Scary Monsters, Famous Monsters of Filmland, MAD, Enterprise Incidents, UFO Universe, and the like.  STARLOG issues are boxed up in the attic, several hundred of ’em.

 

Atop the file cabinet is a DC Wonder Woman figurine diorama, a boxed Superman figure, and a small (kiddie) safe, made of metal, with the caption “Saving is powerful!” embossed below the Superman art.

 

On the right side of the file cabinet (the side you can see) is a poster from Burger King advertising their Superman The Animated Series kids’ meals.  (In the attic is a life-size animated Superman cardboard stand-up from the same promo)

 

At the back of the file cabinet, stretching towards the blue wall, is a shelf unit with some of my  (presently) 1152 CDs.

 

One of the things atop the shelves is the Superman Record Player.  It’s copyright 1978 (to cash in on Superman: The Movie, I’ll warrant).  Our next instalment of “Welcome to the Fortress of Markitude!” will feature this record player.

 

At the far right edge of the photo you can see the east entrance to the Comics Closet.  (On the left side of the photo you can see the west door.)  Above the two doors, about sixteen feet in length, is a continuous row of shelving holding action figures, glasses (the drinking kind), Thermoses, etc.

 

Below that shelf, between the two doors into the Comics Closet,  is a fishnet holding (via bent paperclips) various unopened action figures, a Viewmaster page or two, and the like.  Below the fishnet and mostly hidden by the grey file cabinet is the stereo rack.

 

Sticking out from the back wall (as a  mirror leg to the shelves/grey file cabinet leg) is a double-sided shelf that holds paperbacks.  This wooden shelf was present in a Salvation Army thrift store about five blocks from home and when they began to close down, I offered 25 bucks and they took it.  I stained it and added a bottom edge that sits on the floor.

 

On the front edge (facing us) of the paperback shelf are, top-to-bottom, a Darth Vader Halloween mask; a Cylon face that came with the Battlestar Galactica complete series DVD set ( I mean THE REAL Battlestar Galactica); and a ten-inch-tall Superman figure -- hollow, made from an injection mold.  He’s hollow because he needs to be -- his shoulders are attached to strings running to a parachute made of filmy plastic.  You fold up the parachute and wrap it around his waist; toss him into the air; and wait for the thing to unfold as he sails gently to the ground -- often in a neighbor’s tree or a nearby roof.

 

Atop the paperback shelf, at the end nearest to us, is a clear plastic case that once held pastries at a convenience store, now containing some die-cast metal Star Trek ships, another Viewmaster reel, and the like.  Some other knick-knacks are in between, but on the far end of the top of these shelves is a double yellow-plastic shelf bearing other memories, such as a finger bowl from Beverly’s Restaurants (Google “Chicken in the Rough” to know more); a teacup of the golden harvest wheat pattern that came as a premium in laundry soap in the 1960s; and other stuff.  Unlike the photo below, I don't have a saucer for my teacup.

 

 

Between the paperbacks shelf and the fishnet-covered wall is a book spinner for DC graphic novels, bought from Oklahoma City Atomic Comics owner Jerry Wall for ten dollars.

 

Against the outside wall on the far left are more bookshelves.  Sitting atop the books is a Dr Pepper cooler. The black box-shaped thing on the wall in the corner close to the ceiling?  That’s a SPEAKER, children.  I know that most of you don’t know what that is, but it’s from a time when you heard music in the air.

 

Left from that and a bit closer to us is another bookshelf crowned by a wonderful bit of technology, whose designation is a Sony CFD-S39.  It’s a CD-player/cassette-player boombox, with a clock inside, and a remote control.  This thing was made in 1999 and is still a workhorse and a jewel.  It’s my alarm clock.  When I was opening a store for my employer around 2003, an eight-foot tall metal upright post (http://www.rxshelving.com/catx/catxdisplay_part.cgi?partkey=33) for gondola shelving fell across it. I imagine the thing weighed 15+ pounds.  The pole fell across this boombox and glanced off.  The top plastic of the boombox is cracked, but it’s otherwise unscathed!

 

 

To contrast, two or three years earlier an identical pole fell across my right foot.  It broke my big toe knuckle and required surgery to remove bone chips.

 

On the wall above the Boombox of (Figurative) Steel are two fan-art works of mine, a copied panel from the Batman story that flashed back to Joe Chill’s murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne (the story that named Joe Chill and was reprinted in Batman 198).  You can see the panel I imitated on the cover in the below repro of that comic-book cover.

 

 

Below that is my version, in pencil and black-light paint, of Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Brain Salad Surgery album cover, from 1973.

 

Hanging from the AC vent in the ceiling -- toward top center -- is an eight-panel spinner of Alex Ross art from 1998, also courtesy of Atomic Comics.  And from it, a foam-filled plastic pillowy thing plugging Superman The Animated Series.

 

Whew!  That’s enough for now.  See you next week!