Yes, the "I am right and you are wrong" sonnet lives under everybody's bonnet.
In families and in nations.
Posts by Terry
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11The dangerous species: The True Believer
by Terry inthe age of enlightenment is worth a good look.
(the rise of reason, science, art, philosophy replacing superstition and 'belief.
")for millennia emperors and popes enforced compliance in our world.
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Terry
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11
The dangerous species: The True Believer
by Terry inthe age of enlightenment is worth a good look.
(the rise of reason, science, art, philosophy replacing superstition and 'belief.
")for millennia emperors and popes enforced compliance in our world.
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Terry
The Age of Enlightenment is worth a good look.
(The rise of Reason, Science, Art, Philosophy replacing superstition and 'belief.")
For millennia emperors and Popes enforced compliance in our world.
How? Propaganda backed by armies and Inquisition.
The Enlightenment sought to purify.
"Get the corrupt rascals out!"
Reform!
Revolution!
Good intentions!
Good intentions led to the THIRTY YEARS WAR.
Alas, we live in a Post Enlightenment technocracy.
Who has replaced Emperors and Popes?
Propagandist sociopaths and corporate narcissists.
Who will SAVE us? It's still some "LEADER" who promises exactly what we want to hear.
Democracy is voting.
Democracy is "two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for supper."
It's out of our hands, folks. Don't kid yourself.
Our conduit of factual evidence is choked off and polluted by money-grubbing news venues corporately poisoned.
(Pick and select your independent news sources v-e-r-y carefully!)
The best "choice" is always a "lesser of two evils." Right?
(Hint: you always end up with evil.)
I do not fear the future because I've read so much history.
Revolutions and Reformations are really house-cleaning good intentions run amok
as blood runs in the streets and propaganda drunk children leading the charge.
Good intentions and true believers are willing to destroy in order to "improve".
True Believers (in just about anything) are the most dangerous species on earth.
WHAT IS A TRUE BELIEVER?
The one who won't let you speak because you don't say
the "right words".
The people who shut you up, label you, marginalize you, and shun you are dangerous to civilization.
Always let an idiot and bad guy speak.
If you remove the rattle from the rattlesnake - you are in greater danger than ever.
How do you defeat Bad Ideas?
Not with censorship but with BETTER ideas.
A fair hearing has been disappearing for the last decade. S-l-o-w-ly.
In fact, it is all but extinct.
All of us here on the Jehovah's Witness Discussion forum lived under such mentality and power for way too long to not be able to recognize it in secular society.
Politics is filled with self-righteous Puritans.
Ideologues are Elite. The Elite simply know they are better and smarter than others.
Why let "ignorant" people speak? They surely have nothing worthwhile to offer.
Yes, it sounds so reasonable. But it is the knell of the bell at the crack of doom. -
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Another Hollywood Memory
by TerryWalstrom inanother hollywood memory____________________“thanks for the pink chablis, marta.
who’s that singing?
sounds familiar.”.
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Terry
I just heard Michael Franks song Popsicle Toes and once again my thoughts turned
toward Marta and this little story I posted.
Wherever you are, my dear, I wish you all the best. -
11
How a young Jehovah's Witness found an escape and a Teacher suddenly appeared.
by Terry inhow a young jehovah's witness found an escape and a teacher suddenly appeared._____________.
1974____i escaped texas in my mid-20’s -- a fugitive of my own life--fleeing westward into california with a dream of- i know not what.i knew nothing useful - it was only bible knowledge.what i did know, i was full of in the same way foie gras is made.
(in france, ducks are force-fed until their liver bursts.
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How a young Jehovah's Witness found an escape and a Teacher suddenly appeared.
by Terry inhow a young jehovah's witness found an escape and a teacher suddenly appeared._____________.
1974____i escaped texas in my mid-20’s -- a fugitive of my own life--fleeing westward into california with a dream of- i know not what.i knew nothing useful - it was only bible knowledge.what i did know, i was full of in the same way foie gras is made.
(in france, ducks are force-fed until their liver bursts.
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Terry
1. Why did you use the stamp with Godzilla on it?
In a sort of Carl Jung way, I think Godzilla is the Japanese Monster from the id (Forbidden Planet reference). It represents the result of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
It is a way of confronting mindless destruction and wrangling with it consciously, then transforming it into a commercial win. (The enemy, Godzilla has become beloved.)
The very fact the Japanese have created a stamp commemorating the atomic beast is really (to me, anyway) interesting as symbol of turning defeat into victory.2. Why did you think using it would arouse condemnation ?
We live in a time when trolls practice outrage on behalf of others by labeling things and weaponizing words and ideas just for the sake of creating a platform for virtue signaling. It's self-empowering in a twisted way.
I'm really quite pleased at this Ex-JW community's maturity and ashamed of my own false sense of a need to 'brace myself' for being deliberately misunderstood. Thanks for asking. -
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Once Upon A Time In ... Hollywood (My review)
by Terry inonce upon a time in... hollywood my review.
i rode my bike through 3-digit temperature and watched quentin tarentino’s new film.the title harkens back to sergio leone’s trilogy titles.. i wanted to see it for personal reasons.
the time span covered is the background to much of my life.
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Terry
My grandparents (who raised me) were movie goers. My Mom and Uncle were too.
Between the lot of them, I saw every movie released throughout the 50's.
In the 60's I never missed a movie opening. I was completely indiscriminate.
Looking back to that era I, of course, see the differences in that time and now.
Only the Big visual spectacles can tear people from their supersize TV's and home theater viewing.
Video on demand means you can't really "miss" or even risk missing any film at all.
As Box Office receipts ebb and autonomous technology surges in popularity and availability, I think movie theaters will have to scramble to lure an audience.
The Movie Tavern franchise makes a good stab at it. Being able to nosh and sip suds is an inducement. But, ordinary movies just aren't worth the trip, the ticket price, or the frustration at ill-mannered people surrounding you with talking and text messaging.
I have fond memories of that whole movie era in the Golden and Silver Age of Motion pictures. But alas - everything changes. -
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How a young Jehovah's Witness found an escape and a Teacher suddenly appeared.
by Terry inhow a young jehovah's witness found an escape and a teacher suddenly appeared._____________.
1974____i escaped texas in my mid-20’s -- a fugitive of my own life--fleeing westward into california with a dream of- i know not what.i knew nothing useful - it was only bible knowledge.what i did know, i was full of in the same way foie gras is made.
(in france, ducks are force-fed until their liver bursts.
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Terry
Theonlyoneleft:
Great stories. Have you ever thought of writing a book? If not... you should
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Thank you. I have written three books. The last one will publish by the end of the year.
The other two are available on Amazon. -
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How a young Jehovah's Witness found an escape and a Teacher suddenly appeared.
by Terry inhow a young jehovah's witness found an escape and a teacher suddenly appeared._____________.
1974____i escaped texas in my mid-20’s -- a fugitive of my own life--fleeing westward into california with a dream of- i know not what.i knew nothing useful - it was only bible knowledge.what i did know, i was full of in the same way foie gras is made.
(in france, ducks are force-fed until their liver bursts.
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Terry
I was worried my use of the Godzilla stamp would arouse condemnation.
Apparently I was wrong. It didn't even arouse interest :) -
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Once Upon A Time In ... Hollywood (My review)
by Terry inonce upon a time in... hollywood my review.
i rode my bike through 3-digit temperature and watched quentin tarentino’s new film.the title harkens back to sergio leone’s trilogy titles.. i wanted to see it for personal reasons.
the time span covered is the background to much of my life.
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Terry
I can understand this film not being everybody's idea of a good time.
It doesn't follow a beaten path.
I got the same sort of vibe from films by the Director Robert Altman (particularly
NASHVILLE and Pret - a - Porter.)
My eldest son (who has his own Podcast, Entertainment Landfill) urged me to see it and
his was a positive review.
I'd say the word "catharsis" is applicable and accurate to express my exact feelings at
seeing the Manson killers extinguished before the holocaust we know as actual history.
What a different world for those few minutes! -
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Once Upon A Time In ... Hollywood (My review)
by Terry inonce upon a time in... hollywood my review.
i rode my bike through 3-digit temperature and watched quentin tarentino’s new film.the title harkens back to sergio leone’s trilogy titles.. i wanted to see it for personal reasons.
the time span covered is the background to much of my life.
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Terry
Once Upon A Time in... Hollywood MY REVIEW
I rode my bike through 3-digit temperature and watched Quentin Tarentino’s new film.
The title harkens back to Sergio Leone’s trilogy titles.I wanted to see it for personal reasons. The time span covered is the background to much of my life. As a kid, Western movies were mother’s milk. I knew all the actors.
Further, I was a real movie Nerd. Not unlike Tarantino himself.I also moved to California and was on the edge of the fringe of Hollywood as a young man.
In other words, knowing the Director would be faithful to the essential feel of the decades in question - I’d be reliving part of my own life.
Self-centered enough reasons for you?
Okay. With that out of the way …The title of this film is important.
Nothing about Hollywood has ever been real.California’s fine weather and generous sunlight magnetically sucked in legions of actors, Directors, dream seekers, and self-promoters from the get-go.
HOLLYWOOD OR BUST pretty much sums it up.
Most aspiring folks end up disappointed, used, abused, or - worst of all - simply drunk on what a little fame and exposure does to create a bubble of charisma. This leads to a complete nightmare distortion of reality.
For instance ...You may not know the Brad Pitt character (Cliff Booth) is based on Hollywood stuntman and (later) director Hal Needham.
Needham was a man of steel in his heyday. That’s how he met Burt Reynolds (also a wannabe actor and stuntman).Leonardo DiCaprio is a pastiche of fading Western actors from the 50’s TV obsession with cowboys. He is a chain smoker (back when smoking was “soothing”), hard drinker, non-intellectual who must confront something truly terrifying: his FUTURE.
There are some fun Zelig moments but unless you are an old geezer - they will go over your head.
The difference between overconfidence and self-doubt demarks (Rick Dalton’s) his career.
He’s still a BIG DEAL to other celebrities on their way up. (Actors are just as coo-coo over other actors as small town rubes on a tourist binge).In Once Upon A Time …
We are dropped into a time and place (familiar as hell to me) where we meet our two protagonists and ‘hang out’ with them as voyeurs.
It doesn’t take long for an audience to realize something rather shocking:
Standard storytelling will not be visiting your local movie theater.
This time we are required to shut up and watch the way a reporter might do a “drive along” with cops on their beat. You strap in and stay out of the way.You either adjust to the PACE of this film or you do not.
This is a visit to a museum. There is no ticking clock.
Well, maybe there is and maybe there isn’t.
We are teased gently toward a grisly and horrific historic event not unlike the old writer’s trope: “If an author at any time shows you a gun in a drawer - sooner or later it will be used.”
I’m talking about Charles Manson and his hippie commune of misfits and mind-controlled automatons.As we glimpse the unmajestic lives of a former Big Star and his sidekick and best buddy stunt double, the golden ring turns our finger green.
If Rick can’t pull it together and learn his lines he’d rather be dead.
As an audience member, I wanted to stage an intervention for these people to SNAP OUT OF IT! Take care of yourself why don't you?How many stars simply fade slow, slower, slowly until we read their obituary in the newspaper? Most? Some? Too many.
____***SPOILER ALERT****SORT OF***
I was dreading the slow buildup to the Charles Manson event which was approaching little by little.
That crescendo is handled like a fine Italian horror film.
I would expect nothing less from Q.T.And that’s when it happened to me!
An unexpected emotional response seized me and I couldn’t do anything about it.
I can’t explain it.You see … when you KNOW what’s going to happen … it’s just a matter of technique as to how it will be dramatized. Right?
WRONG!
I started crying in the theater and if you were sitting next to me you’d absolutely think I was a flippin’ idiot.
Why?
Tarentino did me a huge favor and made me inexplicably happy.
Huh?
That’s right. He made me so happy I couldn’t help but cry.I assure you - this won’t be your reaction.
For me, it was a vision of a much better version of a world I lived in.
A gift.If that puzzles you - well - go see the damn movie. Just don’t expect it to be like any other Tarentino film. It isn’t.
I mean, it sorta is sometimes.
But not.