And then somehow… Somewhere… That wonder began to fade, and we began to grow up.

I’m not just speaking of each of us moving from childhood to adulthood. I’m also speaking of humanity as a whole. Even as the world was coming together for the great conflict of WWII, for most everyone the world still held wonder and mystery. There were still places to be explored. Wonders to discover. But it wouldn’t last.

Technology was burgeoning. Television, radio, rocketry, satellites, etc., etc., etc.. Each bit of it making the world smaller, less mysterious, less… Wondrous. Don’t get me wrong. Technology is great. It’s done so much to make lives better. Given us almost instant access to pretty much any kind of information we want. And often  information we don’t want.

One of the most regrettable aspects of all this is the effect it’s having on kids.  Things are moving so fast these days. The sheer volume of information flowing at kids today is mind boggling. I don’t envy them. They simply don’t seem to have a chance to relax and enjoy some quiet time. The idea of just sitting down in a quiet spot with a book. No tv, cell phone, tablet, mp3 player.. It’s almost foreign to most of them. Mind you, I’m speaking of kids in the more affluent, developed countries. I realize what I’ve described is far from the norm for the more impoverished.

I just wish…. Well I wish there was a way to put the brakes on a bit. Let the world find some balance. It’s like we’re all on this massive treadmill rushing headlong to who knows where. And while we all agree the ride is, for the most part, a fun one. We haven’t had much chance to get together and reach a consensus as to where we’re going. Then again if we actually did all sit down to ponder it, I kind of doubt we’d reach an agreeable consensus.

I know this post is a bit rambling. Consider it more as a stream of consciousness than a formalized thing. The main point I’m trying to make is that while I love all the new wonders technology has brought us in the past 60-odd years. I also regret the inevitable loss of innocence it has engendered in both our kids and society as a whole. And unfortunately innocence, like trust, is very hard to re-acquire once lost…

So, I have here some of the end for you to look at. Keep in mind, the mechanics have not addressed anything. Copyrights are mine.

“Twists of metal that spiraled down the corridor, Uric could see the iris door at the end. The lights had not turned on and yet he could see. The starlight shined in through the portal windows on each side as if by design they were suppose to give light. Pipes of communication stream next to the metal twist like Christmas lights wrapping down a banister.
“Lights,” he said to the computer moving forward. It had been a long time since he had walked anywhere. Put on board in stasis like the others, he was supposed to be the first to awake. It was planned and yet…Uric looked out on the stars through the portal and wondered. The sun reflected off the planet below. It reflected a yellow tint in the corridor through the windows.
The lights flashed for a moment and suddenly the corridor was too bright for him to see. “Computer, please cut the lights to half,” he barked. It wasn’t necessary to be polite or nice to the computer, people just did it. The lights lowered to half the intensity and, after a moment, he thanked the computer.
Uric moved on and began to revive the flight crew. The ship carried a flight crew and fifty marines. The best anyone could tell, the planet, the one the Phalanx took orbit around, was under attack. The debate to answer the call for help was long and heated. For the first time in man’s history, there was an entire planet asking for anyone to help. Men argued every aspect of this mission – most said it was doomed; nevertheless, the marines were there.
The Phalanx took orbit on Friday. It was Friday only because the ship’s clock said it was. It could have been Saturday, no one would have cared. The crew awoke slowly with no enthusiasm for their situation. One would think that being on a long mission to a foreign planet would be exciting. Like sailors of old arriving in a foreign port, not knowing what they would find. Not this bunch. Uric wasn’t sure he saw one face with a smile on it for the first three hours after they were awake.
But, as Uric knew, they were there to answer the call.
“Commander, take us to a higher orbit, I wouldn’t want to appear on someone’s sensors without notice,” Jordan Stehl said. He was the captain of the Phalanx. He commanded ten crew members, all of which made sure there was a ride home.
The Phalanx had no armament, but it did carry four attack ships that looked like six legged insects. These were heavily armed and took two crew members for each vehicle. They also could carry fifty marines and a light load of bombs. These were tactical nukes with a small yield warhead on each. They were more like missiles than bombs as they had the ability to correct their trajectory as they fell from the attack carouser.
That was what the attack ships were called, “Carousers”.
In this mission, there were four medics, four navigators, four pilots and an assortment of gunners, jumpers, commanders and soldiers – all total there were 50 military personnel on the Phalanx.
“Mr. Reynolds, please contact our host and see if we can establish communication,” said the captain. People hurried around with reports and data as the ship seemed to hover far out in space waiting for an invitation. The first few hours after stasis, men generally need to recover, but flight crews were awakened in stages so someone was always on the bridge.
The marines were in the cargo bay recovering and preparing.
Several attempts were made to establish communication with the planet. The captain put the ship on alert and called the military commander to the bridge.
“Pete, we can’t raise anyone on the planet. What do you want to do?” Jordan asked Captain Peter Harris, commander of the soldiers.
“Sergeant, gather a patrol and prep Carouser 3 for excursion,” Pete immediately said out loud. “I suppose we should go down and take a look,” he replied to the captain.
Twelve men assembled at docking bay 3 as a muscular sergeant walked around them looking each person over.
“Recon 3, we will not be doing anything stupid…will we?” he asked. They all answered with, “Sir, no sir.”
“We will be light and image stealthy. We will be blazing a path for those to follow.” There was a pause. The sergeant stopped at three female soldiers who were looking over one of the weapons. “Do we have a problem – ladies?”
“Sir, warhead will not secure to matrix – sir,” said one of the soldiers. This was an invite for near all of the soldiers to examine their weapons and their status. The sergeant looked at it for two minutes. “Trade it out.”
In all, forty five minutes passed before green lights pulsed on the walls indicating it was time to load up and to deploy. The sergeant, yelling how important it was to remain seated, walked up and down past the soldiers repeating the same marine sayings that had been said countless times before.
There was a sudden rush of G force as the ship was released from its mooring clamps and the pilot took over. The navigator and pilot sat in the nose of the ship. They could see everything before them as they descended into clouds. The forward glass was wet with rain as Carouser 3 dropped into a rain storm.
The pilot banked to the right moving the ship out of the rain.
“Fifteen minutes,” the pilot announced.
“Take us on a small tour before we set down,” the sergeant said. Back ground communication chatter seemed irrelevant to the smooth break into sunlight. It was sunlight just like that on Earth. The pilot dipped the nose down as the ship dropped in altitude. A vast city opened before Carouser 3.
“We have visual on buildings and infrastructure. I am holding back on our rate,” the pilot said and the ship slowed its decent.
Suddenly, two warning systems lit up on the pilot’s instruments. “We have track!” yelled the pilot. The navigator adjusted the stealth, but could not shake the lock. “We are locked on!” yelled the pilot.
“Get us out of here!” the sergeant yelled back. By then the pilot was already pulling up hard and everyone knew he was climbing at full speed. A third warning indicator flashed.
“We have in-coming – brace yourselves!” yelled the pilot as the navigator deployed a tactical counter measure. A dozen drones scattered across the sky as the ship immediately changed its imaging and turned violently to the right. There was a bright flash as some weapon exploded on one of the drones.
The attack ship took a position high over the city. The warning board was clear for the moment. “What are your orders?” the pilot asked.
“In your opinion, can we move faster than the armament we just encountered?” the sergeant asked. He looked at his men and women; they were amazingly calm given the last event.
“Yes, we can drive around them if you want. I have tactical data downloaded into the system, we can probably even land with computer assist maneuvers,” replied the pilot. “Nav, do you concur?”
“Yes.”
“Set to computer assist and take us back down. If they are in a battle, we might have just found the enemy,” said the sergeant.
The attack ship descended towards the city. This time there was no tracking of the ship, the stealth was adjusted by the computer as the light and image system rendered the ship near invisible.
As they drew near, port cameras delivered video of vast skyscrapers with two and three level travel ways between them. And roads connected to huge highways with some sort of rail system between them. The pilot pulled back and took a position not more than five hundred meters above the surface.
“I am holding here – you need to really look at these images,” said the pilot.
The data was being shared with the Phalanx so everyone could look at the video feed. Yes, there were vast skyscrapers and huge highways, but there was no activity. No vehicles traveled on the freeways. At a very high zoom level, there were no beings of any sort seen in windows, on walk ways or by the roads. It was like all of the beings were gone.
“Let’s hold on here. The city is deserted – maybe they had to take refuge outside of the city,” said Captain Stehl. Carouser 3 sat over the city for a while as it slowly turned allowing the cameras to view as much as they could. Over an hour of time, everyone could see the only thing moving was bits of white, presumed to be paper.
“This is like something out of an ancient movie series like…” the sergeant stopped as he tried to think of the name of a very old video. “Twilight Zone,” someone finished for him. “Yeah, that’s it!”
There was discussion on what to do next. Protocol was to establish communication, but there didn’t seem to be anyone to talk to.
“This doesn’t make sense, we were fired on,” someone said.
“Probably an automated response…anything coming into sensor range would be locked onto and fired upon.”
“If that is the case, then that would mean this area was under attack or was abandoned due to pending attack. We should move out from the area of the city and check the countryside,” said Captain Harris.
Carouser 3 immediately banked up and to the left heading away from the city. It moved slowly allowing the cameras to record the transition from the complex metropolis to rolling countryside. Soon there were two lane roads across areas of houses – houses that looked like houses people would live in.
Yet still there were no signs of inhabitants. More interesting was a lack of battle scars. The ground was not scorched from fire or explosions. There were not destroyed buildings or signs of quick abandonment as they were expecting. Piles of cars in a road would have been a beginning. There didn’t even appear to be over grown vegetation.
“There is something wrong. I look and see everything except people. If there were people in the center of this little, one stop light town, I would say it was a normal day. I mean the damn grass hasn’t even grown a week’s worth!” exclaimed the pilot.
“Maybe we should land.”

It goes on from there – but you will have to buy the book to see how it ends.

Space and time are not relevant! The word editor on this sucks in any continuum. I can not get the spaces to remain.

******

End Transmission

Enter Freddy Coats pushing a shopping cart filled with cans down a busy urban sidewalk. It’s not a name his parents gave to him or one that he spread himself. People in the neighborhood call him Freddy Coats because even with the heat being what is today he won’t be spotted without at least three coats on. Nobody really knows Freddy’s real name, and nobody can exactly remember when they started calling him Freddy Coats. He just simply appeared one day with the moniker. They could have called him Freddy Cans or Freddy Shopping Cart, but one can agree these are not as loveable names for a tramp.

He was the kind of homeless guy that didn’t really bother anyone and whose presence was accepted as the inevitability of living in the city. Every day he walked the same streets, the same cart, and the same Styrofoam change cup jingling in his hand. As a staple of the environment people would walk by him without much apprehension, donating cans or change if they could. They’d say ‘Hi Freddy,’ and he would simply nod. Nobody has ever heard him say much more than ‘thank you,’ or ‘please.’ With him lumbering around six feet tall with scraggly unkempt hair and sun darkened umber skin, he was, out of context, a very imposing figure. It goes to show just how courteous he was, and  much he kept out of the goings on of the city.

Today is different though. Today Freddy Coats has a sign on his shopping cart. The cardboard sign says in bold sharpie letters, “Will listen to your complaints or secrets for $1.00.” It’s the kind of sign that could pull in a few extra bucks, or as in the case of Freddy Coats, spawn a series of events that would bring him to the brink of madness.

While walking down the main stretch pushing his cart, he received more glances than normal, even a few smiles, but for the first half of the day he didn’t receive any more change than normal. But as the lunchtime bustle began, and Freddy took a more stationary position to escape the heat of the swarming masses. He went to the park and sat under an oak tree so thick the concrete sidewalk cracked and bent around the base of its trunk. It was cooler under here, of course, and Freddy liked having the sun out of his eyes for a bit. He watched as people hurried past him, and began to notice the effect his sign was having. It wasn’t long before the oddities began to appear.

After 15 minutes of sitting there his first donation appeared from out of the blue. She was young and taller than the average white lady. She was wearing a rather normal Walmart novelty shirt and a pair of deliberately faded Old Navy jeans. was standing in front of him with a dollar. As she reached to put it into his cup she looked around and whispered, “I wish I had a family.” Then she promptly walked away. She couldn’t see, but behind her Freddy nodded. He’d almost forgotten what those words really meant. Later, another lady appeared, this time older and dressed in pink sweats. She was black lady in her forties with straightened thin hair, she too put money in to confess. “I wish I weren’t so scared all the time.” Freddy nodded, grimacing to share her pain. She smiled at him and went on her way. By the end of the day, Freddy heard it all.

People complained about their jobs, about their loved ones, about their life, about the lives of others and most of all the heat. People went on about the heat like whoever complained the loudest won a free air conditioner. Freddy just smiled, waved and occasionally nodded to vary up his response. Taking a look at the few coins and dollars he earned, he decided tonight he would buy himself a beer to go along with his dinner. A fitting end to such a hot day of listening to the woes and wishes of people with jobs and lives to live.

…

As the days are hot, so the nights must be as cold. Tonight is a particularly chill one, and Freddy Coats, no dummy to the city at night, is sleeping tightly beneath layers of newspapers, warm wool, and a thick knit cap that hugs his face in his slumber. His dreams are of home, wherever that was, and of family, whoever and wherever they may be now. The alley in which he has chosen his refuge tonight is his home, and lit by a single light over a seldom used restaurant kitchen door. He is laid up against a brick wall and behind a dumpster to block the wind. The cold air dampens the smell at night and he can sleep somewhat peaceful. Or so he believes. It is with a start that he awakes. An alertness that only the streets at night can provide strikes him as he is prodded on his shoulder. His face snaps to a figure outlined in ambient light. He expects the police. He expects a voice to tell him to hurry up and move along, but a deep monotonous voice tells him to be calm. A mix of anxiety splinters on his face as his eyes begin to adjust. Nobody says to be calm when everything is fine, only when something terrible happens.

“I’ll give you a hundred dollars to wake up, Freddy Coats. I’ll give you another hundred before I leave if you listen to me.” The voice says. Freddy Coats, who says not more than five words a day sharpens his gaze, and nods. It’s a man in a gray suit, holding a hundred-dollar bill. He doesn’t say anything. Maybe he’s still dreaming. The man’s face is fat but long with a dull pale white tone when illuminated by the orange light. He’s kneeling uncomfortably close, but wrapped so tightly in his little nest, Freddy doesn’t bother to move. The man is smiling as he lays down the hundred-dollar bill by his Freddy’s face.

“Now there,” he whispers as he puts the bill down ever so gently, “I don’t have a name, but I do have a story, and being around your kind makes me need, every so often, a touch of interaction. It wasn’t like that before. Before, when I was just a little babe, my mom birthed me into this world in the way all of my kind come to be in these worlds. Using your limited imagination you could say I was dropped down a long hole. Down, down, down, like Alice of your tales.

“I came to rest in the backyard of home not far from here. There were trees and animals and I might not have lasted very long were it not for a little girl who came and picked me up. She thought I was cute. I was but a little nestling pod, and she gathered me up, took me to her room and hid me in a shoebox.” At this the man’s smile grew, but he continued whispering on as Freddy eyed the bill and then him again. “I fed on the loving care with which she kept me and eyed me. Her curiosity and mothering, even at such a young age caused me to grow very quickly. My kind is a very empathetic species. What you have yet to learn to measure is the very essence with which we feed on at such a stage. My pod grew as I did. She hid me under her bed, and watched in amazement as day by day my cocoon bulged. I laid under her bed until I felt like the whole of my world began to suffocate me. You could compare it to being trapped in blankets, if you could imagine such a thing.”

He gave a coy smirk at that and leaned in, “I knew the time was coming for me to come into the world. It just so happened it was at night, Freddy, when all the world was sleeping. I emerged from my cocoon slowly and silently. I crawled from under her bed looking much what a baby looks like to you. She had made me this way with her curiosity and love. I was freezing, Freddy, and I climbed into bed with her. My first sight of her was an odd one, not at all what my mind was telling me she would be. She was about six years old with curly brunette locks, laying under pink plush covers. As I climbed into bed with her, my surrogate mother in this lonely world, she began to wake. Her eyes stilled half closed with the Sandman’s sleep recognized me almost on a maternal level. Maybe, she thought, that pods were where babies come from. She was wrong.”

‘You hatched,’ she said. Not knowing the language at the time I responded in the only way I knew how to the sight of a mother. I ate her. Pulled the flesh from her face and body as easily as you would peel an orange. You don’t remember your first meal because it is in your nature to forget those first moments of being, but I remember every strand of her. Her body came into me like strings of silk, Freddy. As I took in her flesh I grew, and my mind was filled with the knowledge of everything she once knew. I was filled with the health that she once had. I consumed her utterly, leaving only a small pitiful pile of bones on between her covers.”

Freddy’s eyes open wide. In all his years of not saying anything he had almost forgot how to put words together. He simply lays there, with a face frozen with shock. The man leans in further, continuing in spite of, or maybe because of Freddy’s frozen face, “With her knowledge I knew next where I had to go. I was as big as her and knew that I could find her parents in the next room over. Silent as night I tip toe’d to their room where they slept as quiet as logs. I climbed into their bed just as the little one would, and the father pulled me between them, with a comforting arm over me. He said that I was getting to old for this, but in a dreary manner, that was not much more than playful scolding.  But even in his sleep he could feel that something was not quite right. I wasn’t as perfect as his daughter was. I was misshapen, hair not fully formed, skin cold and scaly to the touch. He open his eyes long enough to see crush his throat completely. There could be no screams with no throat. I might have broken his spine with my jaw for he didn’t even move after that. He was blinking, and I could feel as his life ebbed away such wondrous torrents of terror. I ate him quietly as his wife slept beside us, and it wasn’t until I was done with him several minutes later that I began on her. She was a sound sleeper, and I don’t even think she woke up before she was gone. I laid in their bed a long time, getting rest from such a busy night.

“I awoke with their skeletons in the morning. I awoke with their knowledge. I could envision their daily routine, their fears, desires, and most importantly their understanding of this world. It was this that was most important. I could see the world in my mind’s eye, and I knew then how I would have to continue my life, as to not be stamped out. I weaved myself into a reasonable adaptation of what you’d call normal, took the man’s clothes and walked out into the midday sun a new man.”

“Wha-what? Why?” Was all Freddy could manage to stammer. How word’s would always fail him, must have been one of the thoughts hiding behind all that fear. His body was completely out of his control, and laid frozen to the ground.

“Why am I telling you this? Well, simply to communicate. It is so hard to hide what you are when you become more and more human every day. With each new mound of flesh, and each new mind I take in I find it harder and harder to go without company, Freddy. It’s your condition, the human condition, to need company, and I become more like you every day. Every time.”

“Please, don’t hurt me.”

“But dear Freddy, pain, fear and meat are my life you see?” The man is so close to Freddy’s face that he can look into the pale-faced man’s eyes, they are cold and blue with large black pupils that seem to dislodge from the center of his eyes. His mouth opens, and within is row after row of jagged teeth that curve inward towards a hole of flesh that wiggles in anticipation. There is an audible popping noise as his jaw begins to un-hinge from the rest of his skull. Freddy closes his eyes, praying for this nightmare to end, but it doesn’t. The man’s tongue splinters into a thousand long cords like thin porcupine needles. “Like strands of silk, Freddy.” A guttural noise can be heard as they snap into his face like tiny needles! Freddy opens his eyes and screams as he sees tiny strings of red flowing into the maw of the creature before him! Freddy’s world dims and like being dropped into a pool of ink, ripples into blackness.

…

The day begins anew and by 7am the city is already bustling with people on their way to important jobs, meetings and school. Everyone is very much the norm for the city and everyone is talking about just how hot it’s going to be again today. When so many people are in a single area the sound could be sometimes called a cacophony, but this was more of din. Almost like walking in a hall filled with people talking with the sounds of horns and engines overlaid. If it wasn’t for how blood curdling his scream was, nobody would even notice Freddy Coat’s running out of the alleyway.  In a manner of speaking, he is beside himself with absolute horror. In a fit of fear induced frenzy he grabs passers-by screaming into their faces wild warnings about a killer loose on the town. All the while his eyes lit, wide and frantic with an impassioned hellfire. The pedestrians shout and scream as he runs up to them yelling. His face is so badly marred he looks like he got into a fight with a street cat. The cuts are so deep and fine, his yelling actually opens the wounds leaving little streaks of blood free to fall down his cheeks.

Across the street, an old black shopkeeper was sweeping in front of his store. “Well, old Freddy Coats finally cracked up,” he remarked to his friend who was sitting at a table next to him reading a newspaper. The other man barely gave a glance before going back to reading his newspaper.

“Crack,” he said, “All the homeless people are on it these days.”

“Such a shame.”

The old man watched as a police car pulled up. An officer came out and immediately did what policemen do in this situation. He handcuffed him and tried to calm him down. When that failed he stuffed him in the back of his car. The last words, and probably only words ever heard from Freddy Coats  other than ‘thank you’ was something strange about the Silk, before he was muffled behind a squad car door. As he was carted away he looked out the window and caught a glance of a gray suit, and sunglasses. Freddy could feel the horror rising up and out of him, and he knew as long as that was in the world, he would never be safe again.

Exciting news!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We just booked our rooms at a hostel in Cairo! So at least we have a place to stay for our first 10 days. Still have to see about an apartment. Wow! This is getting really real. A bit anxiety inducing, actually. And yet so so so exciting, fantastic and (dare I use the most annoying word ever?) awesome!

We are going to do our goals today because we may not be able to tomorrow. So here we go…

Kiki:

Sadly, I have gone back to my old ways. The only goal I accomplished this week was number 2: watch a movie. Actually, true to form, I watched several movies. I sat through Mrs. Winterbourne (saw it when it first came out in 1996 during my Brendan Fraser phase). I also rectified one of my great failures as an 80s child, which is to say I finally saw St. Elmo’s Fire. And here’s a fun SEF fact: Andrew McCarthy isn’t just love obsessed Kevin he is also a very decent travel writer. Other movies watched this week because apparently I have no life: Serenity, Stealth, South Pacific and The Birds.

Oh. I studied a little Arabic. I can recite the alphabet and the words “pretty” “coffee” and “hotel.”

New Goals:

1) Read a novel and a book relevant to my trip 2) Call the visa people 3) Watch a movie 4) Not Panic 5) Finish 1984 

Rachel:

I didn’t do too hot on my goals this week. Shockingly I have not read a single book this past week! Very uncharacteristic for me! Instead I watched season 4 of Enterprise (Worst season finale ever! Very unsatisfactory and I am unhappy with the outcome for one of my favorite characters) and played Skyrim. I also watched two really crappy SciFi (I refuse to spell it with Y’s) original movies: Dinocroc VS Supergator and Malibu Shark Attack. They were supposed to be B Horror but it was more like D Horror! I applied for two positions so 50% accomplishment there. Finally I have not posted new photos but I have some I need to upload so expect that for the future.

New Goals:

1) Read a book 2) Watch a movie 3) Upload photos for the blog 4) Blog about GLBTQ issues as per the request of a follower

Joint Goals:

1) Study Arabic 2) Get Vaccinated

“He never stood a chance,” a second voice agreed.

The detective looked up to see a young man in his twenties standing over him. The youth wore a striped hooded sweatshirt and tight, faded jeans. His hood hid his face.

The detective stood.

“Can I help you?” he said.

The two men were in a small hospital room. Adjacent to them was their host; a scrawny, whithered up cocoon of a man draped and penetrated with tubes and needles and wires. It was clear that the various monitors and mechanisms adjoined to him were his sustenance.

His machines beeped and then waited and then beeped again.

Above the detective was a thin-screen television mounted to the wall. Its syndicated programs illuminated the otherwise dim room.

The young man said from inside his hood, “I can’t believe he’s dying.”

“He had it coming… The way he was… It was bound to happen sooner than later.”

“I s’pose,” replied the hooded man.

He continued, “but who’s next? You or me?”

“How do you mean?” the detective asked.

That was when the young man removed his hood, revealing his face. It was a mirror. The detective stared in amazement as he examined his obvious doppleganger.

“Haven’t you looked at his face, Jason?” the young man said to the detective.

The detective moved toward the dying man in the hospital bed. Beaneath his whithered skin, sunken eyes, and pale complexion, he recognized the man.

Then the intermittant beeps of machines evolved into a consistent whine as the man in the bed exhaled his final breath.

Jason and himself watched as Jason died.

After a moment, the whine of Jason’s flatline subsided, the room went dark, and silence prevailed.

Then the TV said, “…How many you look back at you when you’re staring in the mirror?  Do you like them all?  Deal with one or more with Halozyne.  New nasal spray applicator makes it quick and simple on the go.  Has your mind suffered a break?  Is your drug, gambling, sex, or other addiction controlling you, ruining some part of your life?  Take a wiff of prescription strength Halozyne and let the magic happen.  Your addiction centers will melt away and with it will disappear that pesky you you’ve been battling with.  Never again will you get in your way.  So, next time you’re in a slump, make a bad decision, or find yourself generally unhappy, take Halozyne, ‘cause let’s be honest, things couldn’t be any worse.”

Gelaran musim 2011/2012 TV Series telah usai, banya serial yang tamat, dihentikan dan dilanjutkan. List berikut adalah list serial-serial baru dari tiap TV Network di Amerika yang siap menghiasi layar TV Amerika (atau sebut saja mengurangi space HD anda, dan menambah kuota download internet). It’s time for CBS.

PARTNERS

Casts : Michael Urie (Ugly Betty), David Krumholtz (Numb3rs), Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill), Brandon Routh (Chuck), Elizabeth Regen, Lucy Davis (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip)

Creator : David Kohan, Max Mutchnick (Will & Grace)

Genre : Comedy

Premise : Dua sahabat sejak kecil. Berbeda orientasi seksual, satu rumah, satu profesi harus beradaptasi dengan kekasih-kekasih mereka.

First Thought : Melihat trailernya sepertinya akan menjadi serial komedi yang menarik dengan tema yang cukup baik. Ini seperti Happily Divorced hanya saja dua karakter utamanya adalah sahabat.

Prediction : Dipasangkan bersama How I Met Your Mother, 2 Broke Girls dan Mike & Molly secara berturut-turut semoga bisa melanggengkan season pertamanya. 2 Season, tops.

First Air : September 2012, Monday (US)/Tuesday (Indonesia)

VEGAS

Casts : Dennis Quaid, Michael Chiklis (The Shield), Carrie-Anne Moss (Chuck)

Creator : Greg Walker, Nicholas Pileggi

Genre : Action, Drama

Premise : Tahun 60an saat Vegas masih berkembang, seorang sheriff mengamankan kotanya dari segala kejahatan baik kecil maupun besar.

First Thought : Vegas adalah perpaduan Justified, The Playboy Club, Boardwalk Empire dan Mad Men.

Prediction : Bisa jadi serial ini sebagai serial penyeimbang dari serial serupa yang ditayangkan di Cable. Premise-nya sederhana namun bisa kuat karena aktor-aktornya lebih dikenal di film ketimbang di serial. Tapi bagi saya pribadi, ini akan sangat sulit mengingat west story plus tahun 60an.

First Air : September 2012, Tuesday (US)/Wednesday (Indonesia)

ELEMENTARY

Casts : Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone), Lucy Liu (Southland), Aidan Quinn (Prime Suspect)

Creator : Rob Doherty

Genre : Action, Drama

Premise : Sherlock Holmes in New York. That’s enough premise?

First Thought : Meh!, It was like cheap version of Sherlock (BBC UK) came from the trailer. But, just wait and see.

Prediction : Saya kemudian harus membandingkan dengan Sherlock versi UK yang brilliant dan luar biasa. Dan versi Amerikanya ini sedikit mengecewakan mengapa lebih memilih Joan Watson ketimbang John Watson.

First Air : September 2012, Thursday (US)/Friday (Indonesia)

MADE IN JERSEY

Casts :  Janet Montgomery (Entourage), Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks), Erin Cummings (Spartacus: Blood and Sand), Felix Solis (The Good Wife), Toni Trucks (Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 2)

Creator : Dana Calvo (Franklin & Bash)

Genre : Drama

Premise : Pengacara muda bekerja di sebuah firma hukum terkenal dengan segala keunikannya.

First Thought : Kayak nonton Fairy Legal atau Legally Blonde. Wanita cerdas di antara laki-laki arogan.

Prediction : Akan menjadi menarik jika tidak melulu di court room dengan debat kepanjangan dialog nan membosankan.

First Air : September 2012, Friday (US)/Saturday (Indonesia)

bersambung….

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Title : Men In Black III | Year : 2012 | Genre :  Action, Comedy, SciFi | Cast : Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Emma Thompson, Michael Stuhlbarq, Mike Colter, Nicole Scherzinger, Bill Harder, Jemaine Clement | Director : Barry Sonnenfeld| Rate :

Agent J (Will Smith -Pursuit of Happyness, Hancock) dan Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones -The Company Man, Captain America : The First Avenger) kembali beraksi. 40 tahun beraksi bersama organisasi Men In Black, Agent K merasa bahwa hidupnya sudah sangat cukup bahagia meski sendiri, hingga kemudian dia lenyap dari dunia atas akibat Boris The Animal (Jemaine Clement -Rio, Despicable Me), musuh utama Agent K di tahun 1969. Untuk menyelamatkan Agent K, Agent J diutus oleh Agent O (Emma Thompson -I am Legend, Love Actually) untuk kembali ke masa lampau, menyelamatkan agent K muda (Josh Brolin -W, No Country For Old Men) sekaligus menemukan jawaban atas pertanyaan yang ada di benak agent J selama hidupnya.

Film ketiga dari rangkaian seri Men In Black ini bisa dibilang tidak lebih baik dari film pertamanya namun jauh lebih menghibur ketimbang film keduanya. Perjalanan menembus waktu kemudian memperbaiki masa depan adalah hal yang menarik yang bisa diberikan oleh Etan Cohen dan Lowell Cunningham sebagai penulis skenario film.

Tak ada yang menyangsikan bagaimana Will Smith dan Tommy Lee Jones berakting, mereka sudah sangat tepat dengan chemistry yang sudah terbangun di film sebelumnya. Namun kemudian muncullah Josh Brolin yang menambah nilai tambah untuk film ini. Men In Black III jelas adalah film aksi yang menghibur meski terkadang ada beberapa bagian yang terasa absurd. Namun begitulah cara Will Smith berkomedi.[73/2012]

I watched the poly-carbonate-silicon wafer spray a fine mist of protein into the air. Tendrils of electricity bloomed from its microscopic circuitry, clinging to the protein particulates and freezing them in place. Then the bromine lights above turned on. Slowly the mist coagulated, turning a deep, blood-red atop the gray conveyor belt. The tendrils of electricity disappeared behind the thickening, red surface. Once it solidified entirely, the conveyor belt activated. It hummed quietly as it transported the red mass across the room. As it passed below the high intensity thermal coils, it was heated and its edges charred. Then it was gone. It had moved through the small hole in the wall and into the dining room.

On the other side of the wall I heard Jack, “Order seventy-one ready! Filet mignon. Dine-in.”

My take on it is a little different. Remember the Ewoks think C3PO is a god and wouldn’t risk harming the Rebels. However there are a lot of dead Storm Troopers lying around. What do you think they were really eating at that celebration at the end the film? After all, they did make drums out of their helmets. I wonder if one of them said, “Hey, if crack these things open there’s meat inside!”

Just say’n. Storm Trooper stew doesn’t sound all that far fetched.

Here’s a bonus episode of Life As They Know It, not seen anywhere else except this post! I painted this using just three colours and two children’s painting sponges (a lion and a dolphin). I was going to try to say my little niece did this, but then I decided nobody would believe me. It’s just too bad…

CHHHHRRRRR….

The walls shake and the lights flicker. Everyone cowers and looks upward as if they would find something other than concrete and steel.

KARTHUNNNK!!!!

“–It’s powering on.”

At the far end of the hallway, a man is grabbed by the ceiling. Instantly, he vanishes as he’s pressed thinly across the sheet metal.

“They said no metal; implant, plate, pins, jewelry or otherwise. He must’ve been hiding something. The first to turn on is the magnets. That’s what they told us. Then the crystal vibrates.”

VREEEEEEEEEE…

Everyone drops to the floor. They hold their hands tight over their ears. Those with children suffer through the high-pitched shrill, clambering to protect their offspring. After ninety, long seconds it stops.

“Then, if it works, adiós Earth and hello Kepler Solra New-Genesis Colony.”

….

Corporal punishment of children; institutionalized segregation; institutional corruption; women and ‘blacks’ forbidden to vote; schoolyard bullying as rite of passage; the “color line”; drunken driving as the only recourse for getting home; police corruption; “spare the rod, spoil the child”; the “one-drop rule”; intra-family violence of innumerable kinds as an accepted part of life; religious clergy passing down sexual torture to generations of men who not only are forbidden to discuss it, but quite often likely to transmit it; women not allowed to play sports or pursue the sciences; men not allowed to show or cultivate sensitivity; women being traded as property, which is more like ‘traditional marriage’ than a lot what the ‘religious right’ will ever tell you; ALL KINDS of people being traded as property under numerous other guises; clothesline tackles and playing with multiple concussions in football; fighting as an integral part of hockey culture; nepotism; caste societies in all their forms; torture as an instrument of foreign policy; “golden parachutes” in finance; germ warfare; “man up”; “MK ULTRA” (no, seriously, google it); the Millgram Experiments and the stanford Prison Experiment; cigarette companies deliberately spreading addiction to slow and painful deaths; police riots; draft riots; “race” riots; entrenched poverty; enormous gaps between rich and poor; “omerta” (google that one, too, it’s a doosy); “the thin blue line”; glass ceilings; the glorification of suffering in silence; did I mention bullying, segregation, institutional violence + corruption and the glorification of meanness?

So then, to those who brought us, and hearken back to, the good old days, I say: thanks for nothing, and if a time machine’s finally invented, feel free to jump on in and see how you like a world where your odds of full citizenship are practically nil–and even if you’re lucky enough to be a citizen in full standing, you get to be born into a world where violence, cruelty and unfairness are collectively unspoken about–and the wish for greater kindness and gentleness is mocked. You hearken back to a past that has poisoned us all, and whose influence we’re all crawling out from under. Which it takes force of will, or good luck, or a combination thereof, not to continue to unconsciously replicate in all the little things we do. Most of today’s problems can be traced to problems handed down to us from the past–or are just reallocations of pre-existing problems, only someone else has to suffer from them now (to which I say, payback’s a bit-h–yes, another lovely expression handed down to us from our glorious past. See, I’m a product of it, too.)

Yeah, thanks for all that. Nice world you gave us. Once they invent time travel, you can line up for the old world.

PW

Artist Jeff Thomason just presented this amazing portrayal of a crucial scene from the opening of the first Jak Phoenix novel. It is a beautifully rendered illustration of Jak and Baxter facing off against an unexpected foe in the sands of Scoparia. If anyone out there is looking for artwork for your project, I urge you to visit www.skyfitsjeff.com and contact Jeff. He’ll be more than happy to bring your ideas to life with his unique graphic style.