TerryWalstrom

Joined

• started 313 topics
• posted 1,550 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by TerryWalstrom

• 
  18

  Common phrases which are disappearing during my lifetime

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  many common phrases i've used all my life have been made obsolete by technology advancements.

  "roll up the window" (car windows don't roll up any longer with a hand crank.).

  "hold your horses.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  TerryWalstrom

  Many common phrases I've used all my life have been made obsolete by technology advancements.

  1. "Roll up the window" (car windows don't roll up any longer with a hand crank.)

  
  

  2. "Hold your horses." (How about "hold your horsepower"? 　

  
  

  3. "Like a broken record." (Lp's skipped)

  
  

  4. "Rewind". Videos and cassettes are extinct.

  
  

  5. "Don't touch that dial." From the pre-remote control era of TV.

  
  

  6. "Hang up (the phone)". Remember black, bulky telephones with those cradles?

  
  

  7. "Running out of steam" Good Lord! Only Geoff Leonard will know what this means!

  
  

  8. "Dial that number." Old fashioned telephones once again.

  
  

  9. "Kodak moment." This may hang around a bit longer due to a resurgence in interest in Polaroid cameras.

  
  

  10. "Drop a dime" on somebody. (To snitch to police using a payphone from the 1950's).

  
  

  11. "On the flip side." Another LP or 78 rpm record reference. 45's with an A /B side.

  
  

  12. "I've been through the wringer." Washing machines of my grandmother's era had hand-cranked rollers called wringers used to squeeze water out of washed clothes before drying by hanging the items outside on long clotheslines using clothespins.

  
  

  13. "Nothing to write home about." (Remember cursive? Snail mail?)

  
  

  14. "Close, but no cigar." Carnivals at Fairs instead of a cheap teddy bear whose stitching barely lasts to the end of the day, cigars were the prizes. When someone playing the game almost won but didn't (because of course they didn't) the carnival attendant would taunt, "close, but no cigar." 15. Counter-clockwise. (Kids today can't tell time using an analog clock.) Can you think of any others?
• 
  20

  Action Music (in movies) in the past VS the present

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  understanding action musicin the past vs the present______.

  in the golden and silver ages of hollywood, composers with classical, romantic era training created action music out of thematic (tuneful) motifs.

  these catchy 'tunes' were used as 'bricks' whilst the orchestral techniques of arranging and orchestration were the 'mortar' binding and building the overall structure towering above mere image+sound effects.the result gave an audience something i will call "an intellectual access" to onscreen "meaning" in the story.what's that?a "tune" is an organizing principle.a tune has a beginning, middle, and end.a tune "tells" us something.what remains is "the way it is spoken.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  TerryWalstrom

  Morpheus: "You glossed over John Williams..."
  ___________
  
  I mentioned John Williams in passing as the exception.

  To wit:
  CONCLUSION
  In today's movies, for the most part (with the exception of animated films) composers (who aren't John Williams) rely on percussion tracks and slabs of tutti (everybody playing) stabs and swirls of NON-TUNEFUL --sound--for sound's sake.
  ____
  He's the one composer almost everybody on Earth knows :)
• 
  20

  Action Music (in movies) in the past VS the present

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  understanding action musicin the past vs the present______.

  in the golden and silver ages of hollywood, composers with classical, romantic era training created action music out of thematic (tuneful) motifs.

  these catchy 'tunes' were used as 'bricks' whilst the orchestral techniques of arranging and orchestration were the 'mortar' binding and building the overall structure towering above mere image+sound effects.the result gave an audience something i will call "an intellectual access" to onscreen "meaning" in the story.what's that?a "tune" is an organizing principle.a tune has a beginning, middle, and end.a tune "tells" us something.what remains is "the way it is spoken.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  TerryWalstrom

  Understanding Action Music
  in the past VS the present
  ______

  In the Golden and Silver Ages of Hollywood, composers with classical, Romantic era training created action music out of THEMATIC (tuneful) motifs.
  These catchy 'tunes' were used as 'bricks' whilst the orchestral techniques of arranging and orchestration were the 'mortar' binding and building the overall structure towering above mere image+sound effects.
  The result gave an audience something I will call "An intellectual access" to onscreen "meaning" in the story.
  What's that?
  A "tune" is an organizing principle.
  A tune has a beginning, middle, and end.
  A tune "tells" us something.
  What remains is "THE WAY IT IS SPOKEN." i.e. shouted, whispered, through gritted teeth, etc.
  ____
  EXAMPLE:
  Below I'll have you listen to 2 pianists playing Franz Waxman's RIDE TO DUBNO from the Cossack film, TARAS BULBA.
  The purpose of the scene is to illustrate what would otherwise be pretty boring: joining of fellow Cossacks on a ride with the central hero to engage in whatever follows.

  A 4 note tune is introduced. Instantly catchy and memorable.

  As Waxman handles these 4 notes in varied rhythmic and harmonic variants, a sense of genuine excitement develops at a gallop.
  The second version I'll have you watch is the FULL orchestral movie version. With the carefully selected instrument groups adding color and dynamic texture, an overwhelming emotive force lifts the audience's pulse and attention---all the while hanging on to the 4 note 'tune.'
  ++++
  CONCLUSION
  In today's movies, for the most part (with the exception of animated films) composers (who aren't John Williams) rely on percussion tracks and slabs of tutti (everybody playing) stabs and swirls of NON-TUNEFUL --sound--for sound's sake.

  My thesis? There is not much of intellectual interest in modern action music because the melody content is gone.
  You can't walk away whistling or humming the tune and carry away the imprint of the emotional 'sense' of what you've seen.

  SEE BELOW:
  First, the piano duo.
  THEN:
  The orchestral version.
  
  __________
  PIANO DUO: (begins 24 seconds in)
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x9WwQvwEF8

  __________
  ORCHESTRAL VERSION:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV6MHik9Lsg
  
  
  
  _______
  FILM VERSION: (The end is truncated)
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8G6S6fQQ4I
  
  _________________
  
  In this scene from THE BIG COUNTRY, the music performs a similar emotional boost as, once again,
  men on horses decide they love their boss and cannot allow him to ride alone to his death EVEN THOUGH they despise the feud he's fighting to no purpose.
  The Major has decided that a showdown with the Hannassey's is unavoidable and sets off to finish things for good. When it becomes apparent that he and his men will be riding into an ambush, the Major turns to Steve for support. However, this man has had his bellyful of mindless violence and says so. The Major rides off alone to meet whatever fate awaits him. Steve has looked on this man as a surrogate father all his life and you can see the anguish etched into his features as he watches him depart. He mounts up, and the camera moves to the mouth of the canyon and the lone figure of the Major. As Jerome Moross' spine-tingling score slowly builds the angle shifts slightly and Steve gallops into view, drawing level with the Major he looks back to see the rest of the ranch hands come one by one around the rim of the canyon. There's not a word exchanged between Heston or Bickford but the flickering glances and quickly concealed smiles speak volumes. To me, this is cinema at its purest, where visuals, score, and subtle expression tell the viewers all they need to know about the nature of a relationship, and in this case what masculinity is about - the importance of loyalty, affection and sheer guts even when good sense should dictate otherwise."
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SDYkONnfCw

  The tuneful nature of the theme adds intellectual "meaning".
• 
  143

  Good Guys VS Bad Guys: Facts Nobody Wants to KNow

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  facts we don't want to know.

  the purpose of war is to kill humans.. .

  which humans?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  TerryWalstrom

  UNTHINKABLE thought for the day.

  The “worst man-made humanitarian crisis of our time...” has been identified by United Nations officials.

  Where?
  Do you know? Do you care?
  The answer is YEMEN
  But wait--there's more!

  The man who created the worst humanitarian crisis has been celebrated by titans of government and Silicon Valley recently.

  Who? Mohammed bin Salman.
  The Saudi Crown Prince who was Saudi defense minister in March 2015 as the New York Times has reported, “took the lead, launching the war… without full coordination across the security services.”

  Yes, cluster bombs. Banned under international law continue to be used against Yemen.
  The de facto ruler of one the richest countries in the Arab world has been bombing and besieging the poorest country in the Arab world for the past three years

  Who is celebrating this fellow?

  Major Hollywood bosses like Brian Grazer and Bob Iger,
  Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
  Tech titans of Silicon Valley like Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos and Evan Spiegel, to the heads of Harvard and MIT.

  Also, “liberal interventionists,” such as Bill Clinton and John Kerry, to liberal capitalists, such as Lloyd Blankfein and Michael Bloomberg.

  But ALL THESE PEOPLE demand we bomb Assad in Syria.
  So?
  Here is our UNTHINKABLE THOUGHT for today:
  Our leaders of industry and political heroes are simply bald-faced HYPOCRITES.

  Why? He's tall, charming, handsome, rich and calls himself a "reformer". Oh--and starting this June, he'll ALLOW WOMEN TO DRIVE in Arabia. But--only with a male guardian present.
  Oh, and only for certain hours of the day.

  Yippee!
  
  
  (https://theintercept.com/2018/04/24/mohammed-bin-salman-mbs-saudi-arabia-yemen-war-crimes/)
  
• 
  143

  Good Guys VS Bad Guys: Facts Nobody Wants to KNow

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  facts we don't want to know.

  the purpose of war is to kill humans.. .

  which humans?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  TerryWalstrom

  Let me try being pithy :)
  
  Politicians don't know what's going on unless they are BRIEFED by the "Intelligence Agencies".
  Agreed?
  The "Intelligence Agencies" are by nature non-transparent. Black ops. Black box. Hidden.
  
  So the dog who wags the tail is C.I.A., F.B.I. N.S.A. and a dozen more acronyms.
  It doesn't take five minutes to compile a list of outright LIES issued from this alphabet soup of agencies.
  Right?
  
  Conspiracy is what?
  More than one person secretly planning things which subvert the law. Right?
  LIARS are in charge. These LIARS have their own agenda for their own reasons and nobody can stop them.
  
  The Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses is a lot like these "Intelligence Agencies" issuing statements which prove (ultimately) false. They too must be believed. Their inner workings are non-transparent. They have their own agenda and are not held accountable for their "sources" (i.e. Jehovah is a construct).
  
  Bottom line? GOOD INTENTIONS are no excuse.
  Korean "Rocket Man" is inflated by the press into an "existential threat" one minute and the next minute he is in talks with South Korea and planning to get rid of his Nuclear arsenal.
  It is all cotton candy.
  Trump is a madman but both parties vote huge funding for the red button under his thumb.
  "We Are the Opposition" is bullshit.
  
  In other words, why do we take newspapers, television, politics, "Intelligence agencies" or the Governing Body seriously? They are exempt from reckoning.
  
  Our job as citizens is to fight with each other and posture morally while the people at the top enrich themselves, lie, send young men and women to die.
  Business as usual.
  
  There is no solution...and that is why I never vote.
  

  
  
• 
  21

  Beard update

  by Coded Logic in

  1. social
  2. physical

  so it's been over a month since i decided to grow a beard.

  the mustache and chin have come in fuller than i ever imagined - while the cheeks leave me wondering if i'll ever grow enough hair to make it not look so wildly unkept and patchy (if anyone has any advice here it'd be much appreciated).

  but in the mean time i'll give it another month and see how it goes.. .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  TerryWalstrom

  
  
  
  
• 
  17

  49th Anniversary of my PAROLE from Federal prison

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  today is the 49th anniversaryof my parole from federal prison.

  in french, "parole" means 'word of honor'.in effect, a prisoner promises the authorities they will be honorable.. in 1967, i violated the u.s. military training and service act.about 25,000 draft age americans simply ran away to canada.i did not run.

  i stayed and gave my 'witness.".

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  TerryWalstrom

  Thanks to all for your comments.
  I just posted some follow-up thoughts on WAR in general.
  No matter which group we find ourselves in, it generally comes down to
  Good Guys VS Bad Guys and listening to leadership and believing what we are told.
  
  In the long run---we discover which side we were on and if the "Truth" we were assured was moral high ground really was so.
  
  The history of the Watchtower religion is fortunately riddled with testable and falsifiable statements of "Truth" from a Divine source.
  The result? LIES.
  Believing and acting on a lie is certainly problematic--isn't it?
  
  Doing the wrong thing while believing you are wholly in the right is one of the
  most troubling states of being.
  
  If only. If only. If only I could point to something actually achieved during my stay in Federal Prison. But no.
  I taught myself to play the piano. Well, Yippee for me.
  I memorized "significant dates" in history. (Total bullshit dreamed up by Fred Franz.)
  I wrote many letters filled with bromides and holy balderdash.
  I made "friends" with 39 "Brothers" who never stayed in touch.
  

  I didn't kill anybody. That doesn't make me moral. It is better than killing and thinking that the orders I followed exempt me from culpability. Yeah.
  
  But! I could have worked in a hospital and done somebody some good.
  Could have but it was remarkably disallowed!
  I hang that on the GB and the Jehovah monster.
  
  
  
• 
  143

  Good Guys VS Bad Guys: Facts Nobody Wants to KNow

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  facts we don't want to know.

  the purpose of war is to kill humans.. .

  which humans?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  TerryWalstrom

  FACTS WE DON'T WANT TO KNOW

  _____

  The purpose of war is to kill humans.

  Which humans?

  Declared enemies. BAD GUYS.

  Ah, but who declares and identifies the enemy for us?

  Us, the GOOD GUYS?

  _____

  Pick any year since 1776 and there is about a 91% chance that America was involved in some war during that calendar year.

  
  

  The Good Guys dropped Atomic Weapons on civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The acute effects of the atomic bombings killed 90,000–146,000 people in Hiroshima and 39,000–80,000 people in Nagasaki; roughly half of the deaths in each city occurred on the first day.

  
  

  Say what you like or believe about that.

  Innocent people died and bad guys died.

  
  

  So-called Military Intelligence INFORMS these wars.

  Deliberate lies are told to Congress and the American people and especially to whoever is President at the time.

  
  

  The C.I.A. has a horrendous record of meddling in sovereign countries and overturning democratically elected leaders.

  ______

  
  

  HOW is it we think the U.S. has a MORAL HIGHGROUND to go to war against any other country considering our own history?

  
  

  Guys my age who fought in the VIETNAM WAR were honest people, courageous, and patriotic. What exactly did they achieve? 58,220 U.S. military fatal casualties seem to mean absolutely NOTHING.

  
  

  They followed orders. They achieved nothing. They died.
  
  (I have no moral superiority to the men who fought or died.
  I refused military service.
  I achieved nothing as well and I was "serving Almighty God" which means, i.e. believing something lying assholes told me was true.)

  ______

  BELIEF
  
  

  Do you believe your President? Do you believe your F.B.I.?

  Do you believe your C.I.A.?

  Do you believe your news outlets?

  ARE WE THE GOOD GUYS? Do we have a Moral standing to inflict death on
  foreign countries as superpower heroes?

  
  

  The Democrats and the Republicans are Both parties of WAR.
  
  

  Newspapers owned by corporations in the weapons business get to write the talking points.

  
  

  ARE WE THE GOOD GUYS?

  
  

  Obama ran as a peace president. America dropped 26,171 bombs in 2016. What a bloody end to Obama's reign!

  Is there a disconnect?

  
  

  ____
  

  Behind all the wars you'll find BELIEF in leaders. Leaders with Advisors. Advisors whose motives and foibles are not transparent. "Intelligence Agencies" free to do as they please with no accountability. NO MORAL HIGH GROUND.
  
  We can only see the effects of their policies. Death. War. Blame. Fear.
  Rinse and repeat.
  ___
  Why do you believe what you believe anyway?

  These are FACTS NOBODY WANTS TO KNOW.
  ________
  
  
  
• 
  17

  49th Anniversary of my PAROLE from Federal prison

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  today is the 49th anniversaryof my parole from federal prison.

  in french, "parole" means 'word of honor'.in effect, a prisoner promises the authorities they will be honorable.. in 1967, i violated the u.s. military training and service act.about 25,000 draft age americans simply ran away to canada.i did not run.

  i stayed and gave my 'witness.".

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  TerryWalstrom

  crazyguy: Please share again how the local leaders of the cult basically blamed you for going to prison at some later date? I don’t remember the details.

  ___________
  In a conversation with an active JW (who saw fit to actually speak to me even though it should have been obvious I was DF'D) I was told I CHOSE to go to prison and could not blame the WT.
  
  I asked him if a robber put a gun to his head and said, "Your money or your life"--would he turn over the money?
  "Of course." He replied.
  
  I said, "Same thing. Same coerced "choice."
  
  He wanted to argue the point.
  
  The point is not philosophical in the least, IMHO. Undue influence happens when somebody uses their power and position to impel you to act AGAINST your own best interests. Often, it is for some "greater good."
  
  Without climbing into Ayn Rand territory, acting against one's own best interest is something each individual has to be clear about before any clear "choice" is really uncoerced.
  
  Where I really went astray was in REGISTERING for the draft in the 1st place. I registered when I graduated High School in 1965. May I remind you, this was PRE-COMPUTER. Everything was analog with few exceptions.
  Computers were big, dumb, glorified adding machines.
  
  Had I NOT registered, I'd never have appeared on the Federal Government's radar unless I got a driver's license. And then, only possibly. I didn't start driving until I was 23. Three years before President Nixon abolished compelled registration for the draft.
  
  Getting a JW to understand the coercive nature of the SHUN GUN is a tough struggle. NO matter what, the GB is never attributed responsibility for undue influence using fear of disfellowship (or death at Armageddon) as a weapon of intimidation.
  IT IS!
  Further, this JW told me I was just trying to save my own ass and didn't really love Jehovah.
  That pissed me off.
  "If I were trying to save myself--I would have taken Alternate Service as a civilian--you dumb ass!"
  That pretty much ended the colloquy.
• 
  17

  49th Anniversary of my PAROLE from Federal prison

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  today is the 49th anniversaryof my parole from federal prison.

  in french, "parole" means 'word of honor'.in effect, a prisoner promises the authorities they will be honorable.. in 1967, i violated the u.s. military training and service act.about 25,000 draft age americans simply ran away to canada.i did not run.

  i stayed and gave my 'witness.".

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  TerryWalstrom

  Today is the 49th Anniversary
  of my PAROLE from Federal prison. (1967-69)

  In French, "parole" means 'word of honor'.
  In effect, a prisoner promises the authorities they will be honorable.

  In 1967, I violated the U.S. Military Training and Service Act.
  About 25,000 Draft age Americans simply ran away to Canada.
  I did NOT run. I stayed and gave my 'witness."

  Historical fact:
  in the early days of Christianity, military service wasn’t a moral issue because Jews (and by default, Jewish converts to Christianity) weren’t permitted to join the imperial Roman army.
  During World War I, pacifists were imprisoned in places like Fort Lewis, Alcatraz or Fort Leavenworth, or classified as mentally ill.
  Not until 1940 were Conscientious Objectors who refused to be part of the military as non-combatants finally offered alternate service as firefighters in Washington State or in menial jobs in psychiatric hospitals.
  I was sentenced to work in a psychiatric hospital.
  My religious leaders privately counseled me to refuse.
  Consequently, I was imprisoned.
  IRONICALLY, in Seagoville Federal Correction Institution, I was assigned the duty of FIREMAN.
  I also did on-site construction (i.e. destruction of rocks), worked in the Dental Clinic, the Chief Mechanical Services as a draughtsman along with 40 other JW's.
  _______________
  49 years later, I have lost touch with every single one of my fellow JW's. Probably most are dead, disfellowshipped or still faithfully waiting on Armageddon.
  I've become an anti-Witness activist and wrote 2 books concerning mind-control in religious cults.
  Today's Anniversary is a day of solemn reflection for me.
  _____

  (Shameless self-promotion:
  Amazon book titles: I Wept by the Rivers of Babylon
  The Monorails of Mars by Terry Edwin Walstrom)