Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Thanks to fellow Twilight Zone blogger, Craig Beam, I received the 1983 Steven Spielberg interpretation of the Zone. He held a contest for the movie and I won. Boom. Dan Aykroyd is the only actor I recognized. Spielberg, John Landis, Joe Dante and George Miller directed the four segments of the movie.

The first segment is directed by John Landis. He uses influences from "A Quality of Mercy", "Deaths-Head Revisited" and "What You Need".Guy begins offending people with racial slurs. Suddenly, people see him as the people he offended.

Segment two is a Steven Spielberg's remake of, "Kick the Can". Elderly people wish to be young again and a man named Mr. Bloom turns them all into children. They shortly realize there's no one to take care of them and they won't have the people they love. Mr. Blooms restores all except one to their true age.

Awesome Rabbit from "It's a Good Life"

Joe Dante directs the third segment a remake of, "It's a Good Life". This is my favorite segment of the movie. He used awesome 1980s cinematographic special effects. A little boy, Anthony, convinces a woman to take him home where she realizes she is doomed to escape. Anthony controls all aspects of his family and the people he has gained control of, too. At the end, Anthony wishes nearly everything away and goes home with the woman.

Segment four is the remake of the classic, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" directed by George Miller. John Lithgow plays Mr. Valentine. Lithgow's acting made me laugh aloud. He already appears cracked out. It's simply ridiculous to watch. His portrayal or Mr. Valentine is hysterical. Mr. Valentine believes there is a monster on the roof. He goes nuts on the plan, even opens a window and shoots a gun at the monster. When the flight lands, the technicians discover the damage on the plane's wing where Mr. Valentine believed he saw the monster.

One of my first few posts discusses this movie. I didn't like it then and I'm still not impressed. Joe Dante's portion was the best. Also, I enjoyed the fact that Meredith Burgess, Mr. Bemis, recited the classic Twilight Zone opening narration. I give it two stars.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Time's Top Ten Twilight Zone Episodes Disagreement

Lists are fun. Organized. Interesting. Rated. I'm glad to see Time Magazine Online did make a top ten list of episodes but I'm going to have to disagree with them. Sorry guys.

I think the list as a whole is for amateur Twilight Zone viewers. Those people who call themselves fans because they remember the guy with the glasses but can't remember that his name is Mr. Bemis. Or they call the writer, director, creator and host, Ron Sterling instead of the correct, Rod Serling.

Here is my Top Ten list of Twilight Zone episodes:

1. "Two" (1961)
2. "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" (1961)
3. "A Penny for Your Thoughts" (1961)
4. "Nick of Time" (1960)
5. "The Mirror" (1961)
6. "Little Girl Lost" (1962)
7. "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" (1964)
8. "The Masks" (1964)
9. "Stopover in a Quiet Town" (1964)
10. "Nightmare As A Child" (1960)

Don't worry, you'll learn about these episodes soon enough. All in good time, all in good time.

Time's Top Ten Twilight Zone Episodes

Top 10 Twilight Zone Episodes

"There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man." Those words kicked off one of the most storied TV shows of all time, The Twilight Zone. The reliably weird series' first TV run kicked off 50 years ago, on Oct. 2, 1959. TIME takes a look at some of its most memorable episodes

What's Your Top 10?

Drag an Item from the original list on the left into the area on the right to create your list.

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ORIGINAL LIST

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

S.1. Ep. 16 "The Hitch-Hiker"

The nervous, flighty, 27-year-old Nan Adams, played by Inger Stevens, has been driving cross-country to California for days. She is driving through Pennsylvania when her tire blows out and she has to get a mechanic to fix it. While she follows the mechanic to the pit-station, she sees a man. A thin, dark haired hitch hiker, played by Leonard Strong. She drives away, leaving him in the dust. Everywhere she drives, each time she stops, he's standing near, thumb in the air with a blank gaze on his face. Shortly on her journey she runs out of gas. She tries to wake the owner of a closed gas station but he wants nothing to do with her. She begs him to help her because there's a man trying to kill her!

Behind her appears a nameless sailor, played by Adam Williams. He needs a ride to San Diego. She begs him to ride with her and he accepts willingly over and over again. The sailor gets her a can of gas and they take off. As they drive, she asks him if it's possible for a hitchhiker to keep up with her if they keep getting picked up. He agrees her physics questions is plausible. She sees him again and he tries to hit him. The sailor flips out. She tries again and again to hit him. The sailor has enough of this near death bullshit, makes her pull over and ditches the crazy bat.

She stops at a diner to call her mother. Another voice answers and tells Nan that her mother is the hospital due to a nervous breakdown. Nan confused, asks what the voice on the other end means. The voice reveals that Nan was killed in a car accident in Pennsylvania. A tire blew out and the car flipped over, killing Nan. Slowly, she puts the phone down on the receiver and returns to her car. There in the rear window are the eyes of the hitchhiker. "I believe you're going, my way."

SPIN

When I younger, I thought, screw this. I'm running away from my parents and I'm going hitchhike until I find a place that I like. When I was in 11th grade, I read one of my still favorite books, On the Road by Jack Keroauc. He just went. Took off. Said, fuck this, I'm out. He saw his country and its neighbor on foot, in car and by bed of truck. How I wish.

Then as a freshman in college, I watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas adapted from Hunter S. Thompson's book of the same title. Driving.. cross country.. on a mission to find.. the American Dream. YES, PLEASE. This venture is still on my bucket list, however, with gas at $3.50 a gallon, it may simply be a memory of a dream I had when I was 18-years-old.

Now for the news!

This is why you don't stop for hitchhikers.

DeKalb County man shot after picking up hitchhiker

Posted: Mar 07, 2011 1:18 PM ESTUpdated: Mar 07, 2011 1:18 PM EST

DEKALB COUNTY, AL (WBRC) - An elderly man from DeKalb County is recovering at UAB Hospital after being shot during a robbery at a church.

Investigators say a 70-year-old Pete Bailey picked up a female hitchhiker who asked him to pull over at a church. That is where detectives say she shot him before stealing his vehicle.

37-year-old Patty Elaine Westbrook was arrested by DeKalb County authorities. She is charged with attempted murder.

Copyright 2011 WBRC. All rights reserved.

This is why you don't hitchhike.

Regular Photo Size

Hitchhiker beating suspect sentenced

He and his younger brother beat, robbed man

Updated: Wednesday, 23 Feb 2011, 1:07 PM MST
Published : Wednesday, 23 Feb 2011, 1:07 PM MST

SAN JUAN COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) - A San Juan County man has been sentenced to six years in prison for the brutal beating of a hitchhiker nearly two years ago.

Joshua Garcia, 23, and his younger brother Jose picked up Leroy Thompson in Farmington, New Mexico in October 2009 and told him they would take him to Kirtland, but instead, they beat and robbed him.

Thompson survived the attack.

Jose Garcia was sentenced earlier to nine years for his role in the case.

Hitchhiking is illegal in most states. In case you wanna go hitchhiking, please visit this website first: USA Laws to Hitchhike.

S.1. Ep. 15 "I Shot an Arrow Into the Air"

Officer Corey, played by Dewey Martin, and Colonel Donlin, played by Edward Binns, are two survivors of a crew of astronauts who crashed on an unknown asteroid. The hot, dry conditions affect the men nearly immediately. Their supplies are limited to five gallons of water and few guns. As they split up in search of other life, shelter or anything really, both astronauts start to lose their cool. Officer Corey ends up shooting Colonel Donlin because he believes in the survival of the fittest.

As he ventures alone in unchartered territory he reaches the other side of the mountain tops. Before his eyes lies a road, telephone poles and two mile signs; one for Reno and one for Nevada. The ship nor the men ever left Earth. He realizes now that he just committed murder out of desperation.

SPIN

Hot, dry, inevitable fear and killing out of desperation. Reminds me of a place over 1,000 miles south of Nevada. A city build from battle and history. A place now known as one of the most dangerous places on Earth, Juarez, Mexico. This place is where survival of the fittest applies to only the killers. If the innocent don't leave Juarez, they have an equal chance of death. Men, children, women of any age, ethnicity or appearance are all fair game.

Most recently, women have been the most popular targets for cartel assassins. A new term, coined in recent years, femicides, have been occurring more frequently in the war-torn state of Chihuahua. According to Aljazeera, nearly 8,000 lives have been taken since 2008 in Juarez. More and more women seem to... disappear in Juarez.

A shocking blog, shared with me through my journalism professor, titled, "Ciudad Juarez: En la sombra del Narcotrafico" or in English, Juarez City: In the Shadow of Narcotics Trafficking. The author of this blog is a woman, Judith Torrea. She started her blog in 2008 and has reported on the crime in Juarez ever since.

If Benito Juarez could see his city now, he'd be utterly ashamed.

S.1. Ep. 14 "Third from the Sun"

Fritz Weaver, Pittsburgh native, plays Will Sturka. He works at a military base as a scientist, developing Hydrogen bombs for the nuclear war that will occur in 48 hours. His friend Jerry Riden, played by Joe Maross, also works at the military base. Will and Jerry have devised a plan to steal a military space ship to evacuate their planet before the nuclear holocaust begins. Will invites Jerry and his wife over to play cards, a ploy to prepare them for departure. During their card game, Mr. Carling, one of their bosses, arrives at the Sturka home. Carling is played by Edward Andrews. He maliciously hints that he knows the plan Will and Jerry have spent months plotting. After Carling leaves, Will tells the families they have to leave immediately.

When the two families arrive at the base, the signal is given. Will and Jerry believe everything is ready until the signalling light begins to approach them. It's Carling with a gun. Will and Jerry jump Carling and head towards the space craft. The alarm sounds and the whole two guards attack them as they board. They made it.

Will and Jerry are hopeful for their future. The talk about the planet they are headed towards. They're flying to the third planet from the sun, Earth.

SPIN

Intelligent life? In outer space? Like.. humans? NO WAY MAN!

March 5, CNET writer, Chris Matyszczyk published an article based on NASA scientist Dr. Richard B. Hoover's recent findings of bacterial life in CI1 carbonaceous chondrites, meteorites in which only nine exist on Earth. Hoover believes these meteorites arrived on Earth from outer space. The bacteria, Hoover believes, is a fossil of alien life. NASA warns media sites and news conglomerates that Hoover's theories are not always correct. Yet, Hoover isn't alone on the theory of intelligent life existing in outer space.

Last year, Stephen Hawking warned our civilization to fear aliens. According to Hawking, we shouldn't even be attempting to contact them nor go searching beyond our solar system. I can't agree more. Aliens are going to come to our planet and hateeeeee us.

Hopefully, it's like the movie Signs and we can just throw water on them. Splash, splash. Take that! Yeaa, that's right the Earth is 70% water, fools!

The Space Review's Stephen Ashworth wrote an interesting article titled, "What future for intelligent life in space?" When you say it aloud, it sounds kinda douche-bag-ish. Basically, Ashworth's thesis is that we could sustain human life in space if we started building space stations. Not like the International Space Station that only houses about ten people. We need a space station like Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galatica or Zeon, Girl of the 21st Century.

Zeon's Space Station

Like to know more about our first space station? Check this out.

Ten Commandments for Con Men

By Geoffrey James | March 7, 2011

2 Comments

Sales Machine

Geoffrey James

More from Commentary

While I was doing research for the gallery “The Top 14 Financial Frauds of All Time“, I came across a set of instructions, attributed to Victor Lustig, known as the “Ten Commandments for Con Men”. What’s interesting about them is that they’re actually good advice for anybody who’s in sales. Here they are:

Be a patient listener (it is this, not fast talking, that gets a con man his coups).
Never look bored.
Wait for the other person to reveal any political opinions, then agree with them.
Let the other person reveal religious views, then have the same ones.
Hint at sex talk, but don’t follow it up unless the other person shows a strong interest.
Never discuss illness, unless some special concern is shown.
Never pry into a person’s personal circumstances (they’ll tell you all eventually).
Never boast - just let your importance be quietly obvious.
Never be untidy.
Never get drunk.

Good advice, eh? What’s particularly interesting about this is that Lustig died in 1947, long before the advent of “consultative selling.” Apparently, in addition to being one of the world’s most successful con men, he was a visionary of sales technique as well.

S.1. Ep. 13 "The Four of Us are Dying"

Arch Hammer

Harry Townes plays Arch Hammer, a conman who can change his face into anyone he chooses. Arch uses his power to change his face into people who have died in order to mess with other peoples' lives. He turns into three different people throughout the episode.

1. Johnny Foster, played by Ross Martin, a lounge trumpet player who died in a train wreck.
2. Virgil Sterig, played by Phillip Pine, a gangster who was shot and thrown into a river.
3. Andy Marshak, played by Donald Gordon, a boxer who ran away from home. He is the only man who is still alive.

When Arch turns into Andy, he runs into an old man who turns out to be his father. His father freaks out on him and Arch pushes him to the ground. After Arch returns to his hotel room, a detective arrives to arrest him and take him down to the police station. Arch tricks the detective by changing his face back into Andy's face and runs outside. There outside the hotel door is Andy's father with a gun. Arch begins to studder and panic as the older man points a gun in his direction. Andy's father shoots Arch in the stomach. As Arch begins to die, his face changes through the three different faces. All four of them were dying.

SPIN

March 4 in Redwood, Ca. Simon Gann, a known conman, was finally sentenced to 16 months in prison. Fox Reno's online new site published his charges and actions. The 30-year-old pretended to be a millionaire and talked women out of their money. Gann used the name Saleem Dutante and thrived off counting cards at casinos. He has performed his conman act since 2003. The Almanac gives better details on Gann's act.

Facebook is home for many scam artists. Most recently through the Associated Press, scam artists are using photographs of soldiers to lure women into giving up personal information and above all, money. The internet makes con artistry much easier and a lot easier to be anonymous. Always be careful what you sign up for on the internet and never give away any personal information. By 2011, you'd think we should know the basics of the internet.

Monday, March 7, 2011

S.1. Ep. 12 "What You Need"

Steve Cochran plays Fred Renard, a lonely, distraught, angry man. He sits in a bar, alone, drinking the same drink when a short, kind-faced man enters the bar. He's a peddler who somehow knows exactly what you need. He gives a young woman a bottle of stain remover. He gives another man, a former baseball player, a bus ticket to Scranton, PA. Suddenly, the ball player receives a phone call at the bar. It's his old manager offering him a career as a coach.. in Scranton, PA. He has a stain on his shirt and the young woman walks over and takes his stain out with the bottle of remover.

Fred stares at the man the entire time he is giving people 'what they need'. Fred approaches the small man on the street, asking him quite threateningly, what he needs. The man reaches for a pair of scissors and hands them to Fred. As Fred goes to his hotel room, his scarf is stuck in the elevator. He screams for help then remembers the scissors and cuts his way out of death.

Fred stalks the little man for what he needs. But the little man explains that he knows he has a talent but he can only use it sparingly. Fred is upset with this and continues to harass the man.

Late one night, Fred is aggravated that he can't get what he needs and nearly attacks the little

man, who we find out name is, Pedott, played by Ernest Truex. Finally, Pedott tells Fred that he cannot give him the things he needs most. Fred pushed Pedott out of the way and goes through his things. He finds a pair of too small shoes that

have leather soles. Fred hates them but assumes they're what he needs. Pedott tells Fred the

shoes are what he needs. Suddenly, Fred goes to attack Pedott and gets hit by a car.

SPIN

Abraham Maslow wrote an article in 1943 titled, A Theory of Human Motivation. In it, he defined what he believed are the basics of human needs through what is known as Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Click the pyramids for more definitions.

In 2004, the pyramid was amended to fit the natural shift of our generations.

What we need are not materialistic. Most of the time, human beings feel empty inside and try to fill the void with objects, possessions, etc. However, just making someone else happy can fill that void. It's kinda like How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Grinch took everything but when he saw that the Whoo's didn't need things, just each other and a crazy little diddy, he wanted to share the JOY and HAPPINESS, too.

An article on Peak Oil Blue Blog, shares my ideology that our hierarchy of needs have shifted dramatically because the United States economy is dwindling. Maslow's pyramid worked for his time but now it's out-dated. Psychologists now are looking towards Chilean Economist Manfred Max-Neef's theory of American needs. Since we like shapes, we'll call it the Max-Neef circle. The circle gives ten major needs that all human need:

Idleness

Subsistence

Freedom

Affection

Identity

Protection

Understanding

Creation

Participation

Max-Neef states in an interview with Democracy Now! reporter, Amy Goodman, the United States is becoming an underdeveloped nation.

"Greed should be among those who have nothing. No. The more you have, the more greedy you become..."- Manfred Max-Neef

But for us internet nerds, here's our pyramid.

You're always in the Twilight Zone