The entertainment world continues to watch the movies of the famed Nikki Finke.. She posted an update on her site only a few days back that she has made a decision on her future plans and ‘big changes’ are coming.. What those changes are, however, are not being revealed.. instead she went on to boast about her surging Twitter follower numbers.. We have been following her site since the legal battle began with DEADLINE.. Quite frankly, I miss Nikki Finke and she needs to do something. Soon.. MORE HERE: http://nikkifinke.com/advisory-readers/
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PRICE IS WRONG: RIGHT model keeps her job despite the fact she gave away a cart by accident.. But it made for great TV, unscripted moments catch on.. And this may be the first time the PRICE IS RIGHT is getting this much attention since Bob Barker left. No doubt they kept her, and they can use this mistake to their benefit. What you see on TV is never real.. Perhaps even those… unscripted moments. Food for thought.
Tweets are not permitted by prisoners unless they have specific approval.. Bradley now Chelsea Manning must have received this special attention. So in prison for exposing national security secrets?
And now suddenly being given the ability to tweet to the masses from prison?
This does not make sense in my tin-foil protected mind.
Sorry.
WAR.. what is it good for.
Al-Shabab PROMISES another bloodbath in Kenya.. This promise came before the body parts were cleaned and the blood was dry at the University that saw the mayhem and murder. Almost 150 were dead, many more injured.. Christians were targeted .. the terrorists, in this situation, seemed to have struck a mighty blow against the fabric of Kenya and the safety of the nation.. Another article: Somalia’s Shabab promises to turn Kenyan cities red with blood..
The friend of my enemy is my friend’s enemy’s friend who is my enemy. Confusion over YEMEN. Whose side is anyone on? In the Mid East, it’s a constant chess match that normally turns into checkers when one player decides to blow things up .. In the matter of Yemen, we are fighting alongside of people who are fighting in other nations.. We are friendly there with people we are not other places. We are simply setting ourselves up for failure.. This experiment of constant war needs to end.
And the Schuylkill Mall, one I have been talking about on this site for some time, is most likely going to be having some numbered days with anchor stores abandoning it..
“‘It seems like it’s happening to all the malls around here, they’re all closing, the Schuylkill Mall, there’s pretty much going to be nothing left,” said Mandy Galdi of Pottsville. With more money issues and less shopping options, Gladi said there’s only one thing to do: “move, I’m moving.”
..…the location for the house, during shooting, I chose because it had a strange and unnecessary field that the houses of this particular community were built around. And we found – throughout production – that we had persistent and repeatable equipment field only on that strange plot of land. For instance, lights that could turn on anywhere else in the neighborhood would blow out the second you’d try to light them on this plot,” he added. “Also, I used a lot of aerial drone photography in the film, and the drone-pilots were never able to lock in the GPS signal in this field. We would have to move 10 feet away to launch the craft.
I was too afraid to find out what the land used to be. We filmed outside of Toronto, somewhere between Buffalo New York and Toronto, Ontario, in a town called Hamilton
But forgive me for dumping some doubt on these paranormal tales..
First off, the original POLTERGEIST is known for creepy rumors and urban legends that surround the production—there are tales that the clown used in the original film actually had a moment where its seemingly tried strangling Oliver Robbins.. There’s also the creepy and tragic factor of Dominique Dunne and Heather O’Rourke passing away after completing production.. There are lots of other weird and strange rumored paranormal possibilities that you can read in depth there..
But as far as this new movie? I have a problem with the remake already. The trailer looks ridiculous. It looks forced.. I said a few months back that this may be a remake I am okay with. The more I contemplate it the less I’m okay, as a matter of fact, the more it’s just, in my humble opinion, a remake that will be chalked up as a blip on the radar of horror..
And these comments offered by Kenan are a little offensive. I think the filmmakers are trying to push a paranormal ‘reality’ to the film to give it some form of ghostly street cred—almost to overshadow the original film’s nostalgic and paranormal feel..
Nothing will beat the original POLTERGEIST. And quite frankly, there is nothing ‘haunted’ about where this new remake was shot.
But the scary thing is the possibility of a flop.. therefore Gil and company are trying to push some false narrative to employ your most fearful imaginations about this new movie.
I also read comments on several horror related message boards.. Most are chalking these Gil Kenan remarks up as fiction.. and BS..
People need to be careful when walking on the gravesite of past actors who may have truly been affected by a movie curse (though that is still a stretch, too, some would say) .. But even more, directors and movie makers need to be extremely cautious in over-hyping a movie that will most likely bust like a balloon loosing air.
The faithful never leave us without something to do, unless we hide in our offices or go out in our cars wearing sun glasses. There is a good and healthy tiredness. It is the exhaustion of the priest who wears the smell of the sheep… but also smiles the smile of a father rejoicing in his children or grandchildren. It has nothing to do with those who wear expensive cologne and who look at others from afar and from above. Do I know how to rest by accepting the love, gratitude and affection which I receive from God’s faithful people? Or once my pastoral work is done, do I seek more refined relaxations, not those of the poor but those provided by a consumerist society? Is the Holy Spirit truly ‘rest in times of weariness’ for me or is he just someone who keeps me busy?
All the world’s a buffet for the POPE..Pope Fat-cis: According to new reports, Pope Francis is being told to lay off the pasta for a while.. There Pope recently made news for having a pizza delivery man give him some grub while moving through town in his Pope Mobile.. Now a massive weight gain has apparently caused eyes to widened by Francis as his scale tips.. New linens must be ordered! Get a bigger frock. Francis is the incredible enlarging pope..
It was ten years ago today that Pope John Paul II died .. What started today in 2005 was a strange odyssey of prophecy and paranoia.. Pope John Paul II was made pope during an eclipse.. His funeral took place during an eclipse, as well..
But I recall one strange and often neglected bit of history that made news at the time: He became the decomposing Pope. At the time, people who were attending days worth of a viewing for the Pope were horrified at the sight. Some even complained of a smell.. Pope John Paul was only ‘lightly’ embalmed ..As a report from the AP said in 2005:
"For a four-day viewing, injections of formaldehyde and other preserving liquids are necessary," Signoracci told The Associated Press, cautioning that he could not be certain what had been done without examining the body. The Vatican has said John Paul’s body was not embalmed, only “prepared” for viewing by hundreds of thousands of mourners, refusing to elaborate on the procedure used. John Paul died Saturday, and his remains were put on public view two days later, through Thursday. His funeral on St. Peter’s Square and burial beneath the basilica took place Friday. Maria Campos Guereta, a 29-year-old banker from Jerez, Spain, was among the last mourners to file past the body Thursday. “Truth be told, he looked really haggard,” she said.
The entire world was watching, on live TV often, the Pope decomposing as the process of death overtook his body.. It was actually quite a creepy sight to behold, and one that our minds perhaps have tried to purposely forget..
For those who don’t remember the events of ten years ago or just weren’t paying attention due to age or place in the world, Pope John Paul’s death was a big deal.. It was earth-moving, and policy shifting.
But for me, what I will never personally forget, is the harbingers that occurred before his death—the white doves circling his head weeks before he died.. The thousands who gathered outside of the Vatican waiting for his passing… the election of Ratzinger.. The would be assassin calling himself a spiritual brother of John Paul..
And….that horrific sight of the pope decomposing before the eyes of the world’s population.. lightly embalmed and on display, rotting away.
April 2, 2005.. April 2 2015.. Ten years later, the news of the bizarre and strange continues.. Two more Popes since, and some would say a furtherance of prophecy..
The headline of the ‘news’ article laughed a bit at the noises and said ‘it could be a UFO’ in a mocking way.
Actually it’s simply a continuation of booms and noises that are being heard throughout the world and the United States.. it all started in Kiev with trumpet sounds a few years back..
Just yesterday we linked up an article about how people in Berkeley California can’t sleep because of loud booms and bangs almost nightly..
Though I think these noises are serious, there was on comment on the article that did made me chuckle.. It was this:
Was Governor Christie in town? It sounds like it could be his stomach grumbling!
One quote: “If you were a Christian, you were shot.”
I keep thinking about this weekend, today is Holy Thursday on the Christian Calender. This Easter will see a blood red moon and an eclipse.. Yes indeed, there are reasons to be creeped out by all of this.
I am happy April fool’s day is almost. Since childhood, I hated the day. The fake humor.. the not so clever jokes.. the phony nonsense that people think is laughable but instead it just an annoyance..
But recently, really with the internet, I avoid news in general on April fools. Because everyone wants to get into this act of outdoing each other.. real news agencies report false stories, for fun.. Real outlets of information think they are being more clever than the next guy..
Some Christians believe the blood moon lunar eclipse tetrad could be connected to Jesus’ return — or signify a world-changing event about to take place. According to the King James Bible, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord comes,” (Joel 2:31).
The end of the world.. Armageddon.. There has been lots of end times before, so I’m not going to pack my bags yet. I think we’ll be here for a while. But that’s not saying things won’t stay scary.
This story comes from the UK.. the video shown was the beading of 22 coptic christians.. here in America we just put a woman into jail for showing THE ABC OF DEATH to high schoolers, and I opposed that punishment .. in that light it would hypocritical of me to say this priest should face punishment .. and quite frankly, Holocaust imagery is just as brutal. We should not start banning real events.. sadly these teenagers and all across the planet will soon be entering adulthood and their fellow adults can often be monstrous.. perhaps the sooner they know that the better..
I was sent a video tonight .. After a quick bit of searching, I realized it has been making the rounds on conspiracy sites online for a few days.. It’s a drone video which, we are told, shows ‘blood stains’ on the top of the Georgia Guidestones.. You can see the video here in full:
I just want to throw a bit of cold water on this theory before it gets rolling too far.. First off, I am not a fan of the Guidestones.. Let’s clear the air on that first. But the part of the video that gave me pause was about 3 minutes and 19 seconds into it .. check it yourself: There is a moment where you see the reflection of the drone taking this video in the blood, indicating that is fresh liquid and it still in its reflective nature.. A screen cap of what I see at this moment of the video:
Yes, indeed.. I am casting doubt no this video. For all of those who never believe a word of mainstream news, use the same discretion in your alternative sources as well.. Just because someone is not mainstream is not an indicator that they are 1) telling the truth or 2) an expert in anything …
Use discretion. Discernment. Judgement.
IF you buy into this video, ask yourself why the pool of red is still wet.. and how someone just discovered this after the fact..
Megan Fox releases the thumbs!! She knows you don’t think she’s smart.. But there’s lot of reasons she doesn’t really care..
From her BAZAAR interview, snippets worth thumbing through:
I would say most people assume that I’m not very smart or educated or earnest, because I have this image that I’m sort of narcissistic, chasing attention, and wanting people to like me,” she says. “It makes me laugh because I’ve done plenty of interviews and when you read the article from beginning to end you can see that I’m not your typical music video model.
And this
In Transformers I was a kid, I had no idea what I was doing. There was nothing for me to do [in that movie], but then I did nothing and that was my own call.
On the charge she was eye candy in TRANSFORMERS:
I don’t take it personally because in some ways I acknowledge and agree. But at the same time, both established comedians and Quentin Tarantino have come up to me and said, ‘I really liked Jennifer’s Body, you were really good in that.’ The people whose opinions matter liked it, so I’m okay with that.
Heavy geyser activity at Yellowstone, March 30 2015..
Incidentally, there was an official scientist or the like from Russia who said that they should bomb Yellowstone to induce an earthquake and cause an American collapse. I suppose neo-cons exist even there..
As far as this video, no reason to panic.. Just to take notice. Watch carefully. And as always, hope for a quiet best and nothing more..
As wretched a this image is, it’s the artistic representation of what Terri Shiavo looked like as she lived her final moments on earth, deprived of food and water by a judge’s orders 10 years ago.
This is a delicate subject.. and still as divisive today as it was then. My position then and today was that her death was wrong..and that the only person who benefited from it was her ex-husband. I still believe I am right.. I also understand the vast amount of people who think differently than me. But regardless of what anyone thinks, the description (graphic, beware) of her final hours needs to be documented for history books. Lawyers at that time were not completely honest about her “beautiful” death ..
And yet, Schiavo’s attorney falsely told the public during a press conference, just days before Terri’s death, that she looked “beautiful”. This is what they want you to believe, not the harsh truth about the madness of what we permit in the rooms of hospitals, nursing homes and hospices every single day across this country. These are the hard facts my family and I will have to live with for the rest of my life: After almost two weeks without food or water, my sister’s lips were horribly cracked, to the point where they were blistering. Her skin became jaundice with areas that turned different shades of blue. Her skin became markedly dehydrated from the lack of water. Terri’s breathing became rapid and uncontrollable, as if she was outside sprinting. Her moaning, at times, was raucous, which indicated to us the insufferable pain she was experiencing. Terri’s face became skeletal, with blood pooling in her deeply sunken eyes and her teeth protruding forward. Even as I write this, I can never properly describe the nightmare of having to watch my sister have to die this way. What will be forever seared in my memory is the look of utter horror on my sister’s face when my family visited her just after she died.
I believed in 2005 that this was not a case of a ‘right to die’ patient despite that current thought that it was.... Instead I believed there to be ulterior motives to the man who was requesting her death. It may be unfair to be a judge of character .. and I know this post may find some people who disagree with me. Fair enough.
But fair game: The truth about her final moments on the planet.. During a full moon in Florida, March 31, 2005.
This is one reason I hate reporting on any stories as they are in a breaking news phase.
And when it comes to plane crashes over the past year, the storyline certainly changed about 100 times before we closed the books—and the books closed are still unanswered questions…
Makes sense.. I call it Google muscles but I also contend that a search engine university would be a far better way of learning than the traditional university system. One day I’ll explain that theory further , especially if I get an investor ;)
This is silly and inane. It’s comedy.. the same people offended by this would have an annuerism if they heard the Martha Stewart segment from the Justin Bieber roast… he’s a comedian not a candidate. And good comedians have always pushed the the envelope further than the particular current generation was comfortable with..
IF this is true , a big if, it’s chilling.. and it does make sense it could be true, as we know people film everything … if someone did film this I wonder if they thought they’d live to sell it or just wanted to document a tragic demise of a metal cylinder filled with human lives….
…..even if you delete your account. I said yesterday that privacy is dead. This is the very thing privacy activists warned of a decade ago and the world laughed. And joined the Matrix, forever.
People should have listened to the tin foil crazies years ago.. they may have had some stronger sperm about now.. eat organic or have less kids I suppose..
Northern lights? Asteroids? Military strikes? the possibilities seem endless but there’s got to be an explanation as to why mystery lights are popping up all over Russia..
But what about the other land masses that have fallen below the ocean level…
Monday, March 30, 2015
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These were TIME covers from the late 90s and early 2000s..
How times changed.
Judging from those news stand editions, you know that the people of the time, those crazy humans, cared about privacy and wanted to protect their information. Fast forward to the modern age.. Privacy is so 2000 and late.
Now people tell researchers that aren’t worried much about government eavesdropping or their digital life being known to the world.. As a matter of fact, the common consensus is, if we’re not doing anything wrong, why worry? Why so serious..
Americans - more than Web users abroad, experts say - have come to accept a semi-public digital life. Private businesses make billions of dollars from sweeping up the crumbs of information digital users leave behind. In exchange for all that secret data, private businesses offer a relatively seamless and low-cost Web experience most consumers prefer.
Privacy software can be expensive and is almost always clumsy. And the government wants in: Citing security concerns, the authorities seek “backdoor” access to email accounts and phone records.
So privacy experts are stepping up efforts to convince consumers of the need for digital privacy. A fundamentally private Web won’t be a reality, they say, until ordinary Americans demand broad protection from government and business intrusion into their phone and computer use. "If anyone in society is going to have privacy, then everybody has to have privacy," said Alan Fairless, CEO of SpiderOak, a company that offers encrypted data storage for consumers.
Some early-adopting digital-savvy consumers have started to seek out and invent privacy protection tools, he said. That work may eventually trickle down more broadly to less tech-handy cellphone users and Web surfers.
Mainly: Why was nothing mentioned of Katie Holmes?
All logical questions… The documentary was a strong declaration of truth against Scientology.. But there are still a number of things people would love to know. Including these burning questions listed in the link..
FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — 12:20 P.M. A senior defense department official says the two men who tried to ram their sport utility vehicle through a gate at the National Security Agency were dressed as women. The official says Defense Secretary Ash Carter has been briefed on the situation, which is being investigated by the FBI. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is still developing. FBI spokeswoman Amy J. Thoreson says the scene is contained and that it does not appear to be linked to terrorism. Authorities say at least one of the men in the car has died.
This, to me, is the most promising therapy I have seen in my career, period
From a distance, we have a perfect story. A mentally unstable pilot breaks up with his girlfriend a day before—the same girlfriend who now says he had dreams about planes crashing. Then he locks out his fellow pilot and he crashes a plane, murdering 150 people, into a location in the Alps he supposedly enjoyed visiting as a child.
There is no letter, though. No motive. But we do have a great set of audio files of people screaming and a pilot using an ax, we are told, to chop away at the door while screaming “My God” … The crash takes 8 minutes. Scratch that. Eighteen. Wait. No. Seven. . Well, pick your own on that.
It glides into the hell on earth, leaving behind a dead metal cylinder of humanity. A tragic story. But we have a villain.. An evil pilot who was hellbent on killing all the innocent souls that day.
This is the flight audio recording, we are told, that finishes this story and gives us the inside view of what occurred.
There is another piece of the puzzle, however, missing. And it’s a big piece that provides the scientific and industrial evidence as to how the plane crashed: The flight DATA recorder was found. But it was missing a memory card. AS The AP reported last week:
Confusion surrounded the fate of the second black box. French President Francois Hollande said the casing of the flight data recorder had been found in the scattered debris, but was missing the memory card that captures 25 hours’ worth of information on the position and condition of almost every major part in a plane. Jouty refused to confirm the discovery.
The BEA has yet to hold a follow-up briefing on the investigation and it fell to the European Cockpit Association to remind the world that investigators have yet to find the aircraft’s flight data recorder, analysis of which could prove vital to confirming the facts.
Was the memory card taken? How was it missing? We haven’t gotten much more word on this.. Instead we have seen the public trial and verdict on the pilot..
I am not arguing that he did not do it. I am not saying he is an innocent patsy.. I am not pretending that people didn’t die.. I am not attempting to begin a conspiracy theory. I am adding a little bit of cold water to a burning hot public feeding frenzy.. that is it.
And I will also add this:
If a pilot was going to intentionally crash a plane, there are two things that don’t make sense. 1) He would have had to crashed the plane while being alone.. the notion that he was alone only occurred since the co-pilot had to urinate. Are we to believe that if both pilots would have stayed put that day, this crash would not have happened? And 2) If a suicidal pilot was going to crash a plane, would have truly have done it by doing a steady descent into the alps for over ten minutes? Or wouldn’t he have just ..well..crashed the plane?
To me, these are perplexing questions that, in the heat of the moment, few are asking and none are addressing.
Instead, we have the tale of Germanwings Flight 9525.
Trickling Springs Creamery overcame many obstacles since its inception in 2001. The small business made it through the recession, distributing now to 14 states. “Today, we ship from Florida to Connecticut. And, as far west as Ohio,” Trickling Springs Creamery Marketing Manager Joe Miller said. Facebook fans of the company first noticed the hack March 7, when Miller was on a work trip to California. “Well, that’s the first thing that goes through your mind. It’s like, “What in the world is going on? Why would they target us?’” Miller asked. “It made us aware that even a small company like ours has to be aware of the security on our website.” Trickling Springs Creamery asked its vendor to take the website offline. They added security measures to make it harder to hack again. “Of all the turmoil going on in the world, you don’t think of any of that. It’s very peaceful [here in Chambersburg],” Miller said.
CounterPUNCH has an interesting article running about the THREE MILE ISLAND anniversary.. and some disturbing historical facts that often go unpublished, even with 20/20 radioactive hindsight.. Such as this,
David Lochbaum of the Union of Concern Scientists estimates between 40 million curies and 100 million curies escaped during the accident. President Carter’s Kemeny Commission estimated about 15 million curies of radioactive gas was vented from the containment building, including 43,000 curies of krypton-85 [2] — which stays in the environment for 100 years — and 15-to-24 curies of radioactive iodine-131. [3] (A curie is a huge amount of radiation — 37 billion disintegrations per second.) The NRC later admitted to several “deliberate but uncontrolled releases” of the cancer-causing gases. Estimates of these airborne releases are mere guesses, because half of the outside radiation monitors were not working, and of those that worked, a large number of them went off-scale.
And this
Approximately 400,000 gallons of highly radioactive cooling water leaked from the reactor into “containment” areas. This water was secretly dumped into the Susquehanna River, a source of drinking water for nearby communities. [5]Later, about 2.3 million gallons of radioactively contaminated cooling water were allowed to be “evaporated” into the atmosphere.[6]
And finally,
On the third day of the venting and dumping, half the population within 15 miles — 144,000 people — fled the area. By this time the bulk of the airborne radiation gusher had already been spewed and was drifting on the wind. Yet the Kemeny Commission ignored all data on the effects of wind-borne radiation, even though the wind blew 6-to-9 mph toward upstate New York and western Pennsylvania. [7]
The Counterpunch article points out that in 1980, (the year of my entry into the world) Pennsylvania State Health Department authorities reported a sharp rise in hypothyroidism in newborn infants in the three counties downwind from the reactor. And this: “The data actually shows more than a doubling of observed cancers in areas near the partial meltdown, including lymphoma, leukemia, colon and the hormonal category of breast, endometrium, ovary, prostate, and testis. For leukemia and lung cancers in the six-to-12 kilometer distance from TMI, the number observed cases was almost four times greater.”
This has also been my problem with anniversary shows and remembrances.. The truth of what occurred that day is rarely presented in a true light. Sure, it was a problem that came from no where and became a crisis within minutes.. and yes, perhaps, who can be prepared for that.
But that argument is not solid.. Who can be prepared?
If you build a number of nuclear reactors near big population areas and major water sources, you should have a plan to be ready. And also officials should be honest about the very real dangers to the living conditions after a crisis like this does happen..
And we sure should hope nothing like this ever happens again.
Clark McClelland was allegedly part of a team based at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, when he spotted the extra-terrestrial humanoid.
And not only a ground incursion, but a regional war .. and I still say World War III of sorts. It just won’t play out in the same fashion the other two did.. And quite frankly it may already be occurring. So much of this theater is just that.. a big chess game that we are told is checkers..
The co-pilot Andreas Lubitz who steered an airline with 150 people on board into a French mountainside had been dumped by his girlfriend the day prior to the crash and was undergoing treatment for depression from a doctor, according to reports Saturday.
But we are just finding out so much about Lubitz so quickly, aren’t we? The problem I have with all of these stories is that unnamed people are being quoted and we are not finding the true source of the information. Where does it come from? Family? Friends? The EX? I am not trying to cast too big a shadow of doubt—I believe in conspiracy but also know that not everything is one, so i am trying to be cautious but sensible. But here is a quote from the FOX NEWS story that gets me into the caution zone:
The New York Post reported that the German newspaper Bild quoted an ex-girlfriend saying that Lubitz “would wake up in the middle of the night screaming, “We’re crashing!” “When I heard about the crash, one thing that he said kept going through my head: ‘One day I’m going to do something that will change the whole system, and everyone will know my name and remember it.’ ” the woman told the paper, according to the Post. “I didn’t know what he meant, but now it makes sense,” the woman added. The Post also reported that French TV channel iTELE reported Lubitz and another girlfriend of seven years shared an apartment in Dusseldorf and planned to get married next year. However, the channel had said Lubtiz’s fiancée ended the relationship the day before the crash.
So how convenient. Suddenly when a big crime is committed, we are told by this EX that she broke up with him a day prior.. And we also have been told as a child he loved this area of the ALPS. And we also know that he was DREAMING about crashing a plane now.. All of this added up together sure sounds like the perfect story book beginning and ending …
I think this girlfriend story is a little sketchy. Don’t get me wrong, again, I am not trying to create rumors where there are none.. but I would think investigators should be asking more about this EX.. asking why the breakup happened. If it did. Asking more about those dreams. If they did..
And if someone is speaking about ‘doing something everyone will remember,’ or something of the like, the partner usually queries a lot more about that than this girlfriend apparently did.
And now pilots are going to have to sign away their medical information on a regular basis to a corporation to ensure something of this nature will never happen again.. I guess Andreas Lubitz will be remembered for that…
….but I keep pondering the ‘we’re crashing!!’ dreams, and they are peculiar. I have reservations about buying into the storyline at this point—at least as it is being presented by the supposed ex-girlfriend of 24 hours.
And let me ask something more.. in our information age where everyone tweets and tumbles and Facebooks into the night, where is the social media presence of Lubitz? Or this girlfriend?
Given history, I suppose it’s amazing I even got the chance to read SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK when I was a kid in the 90s. I was doing more reading on the upcoming documentary being made on this and learned something I never quite knew previously: This was among the most banned book of the 1990s..
The interesting thing that I have been encountering as I begin to talk about this documentary is the question of how I can “bill” the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series. It is listed as the most banned book between 1990-1999 and remained at #7 in 2000-2009. It was #1 on the list for several years in the 1990s. In the 21st Century there are a number of other books that have taken the mantel for most frequently banned… Harry Potter is often up there, and recently the book And Tango Makes Three is often high on the list because of the presence of a homosexual couple (animals though they may be). So although Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is no longer top on the list, for the last 25 years that the American Library Association has been compiling a list, it has been a major title on the list. The original books are over 20 years old at this point, and yet they still show up on the lists amongst more widespread and known books such as Harry Potter and Huckleberry Finn. That says something.
I remember the moment I got my first SCARY STORIES book.. it was during grade school when a book fair truck came and set up in the school gym.. I found this black book with a skull on it and somehow was attracted to the concept and stories.. It became a treasure for me and then, with each new one, I would buy them up for the collection.
The most amazing part, given history of book bans, is that I bought my SCARY STORIES book at a Catholic school book fair! The same Catholic school that suspended me for a day for bringing a fake Freddy Kreuger glove to class in fourth grade for our field trip..
I suppose the school’s nuns couldn’t be aware of every book that was sold. And even more, I ponder if the book seller was secretly trying to fight the pop culture movement at the time to hide these books from kids.
If it wasn’t for the SCARY STORIES books, my appreciation of the paranormal and even love of drawing perhaps would never have blossomed. I bet there’s a lot of 90s kids in the same boat as me because of this series..
