Reality

What do I know from Reality.

I don't know.

I said I'd talk about it.

I don't really get drunk like I used to. Because then I'd talk reality for you.

Real versus dream. Dream versus dream. Dream versus real.

It goes on. We default on things. Maybe that's why Werner has so many circular images in his movies. Not because life is circular. But because we can't do anything but either go in circles or be mesmerized by them.

This talk isn't over yet.

RIP

Bob Moog. 1934-2005.

One thing that pisses me off about the Bob Moog movie and the mainstream press is all the shit about how he influenced rock. I relent, Pete Townsend did some good stuff. Not great, but good. But enter down the dark path of progressive rock and, well, let's say that I'm not such an anti-progger like I used to be, but the less I know the better.

Look: Bob Moog didn't invent electronic music. But he made accessible instruments readily available and cleverly marketed and distributed it all. His instruments were great products; beautiful sounding devices.

Synthesizers did a lot of damage to rock. My rock knowledge is in no way comprehensive, but from my perspective synthesizers were one of the things that killed music in the early 70's. Besides Brian Eno, the Krautrockers, and Bowie's Low, of course. And if were talking Kraut, were talking Kraftwerk. Take a few buckets of brilliance from a Mr. Bernie Worrell of Parliament and that gets you to unageable Detroit Techno, Juan Atkins, Derrick May et al. But then comes the sludge techno years--even most of the Warp stuff gets you only so far. Exceptions like Black Dog and Speedy J and other notables. And then the crap that you hear booming on radios out of cars rolling by.

Then enters the sampler.

Public Enemy never needed a synthesizer. Though technically their 808's and other drum machines were synth driven.

Don't get me wrong. I love synthesizers. LOVE them. That's why I HATE their misuse. (Same goes with piano.)

My dad borrowed a Moog (Despite the fun to be had saying Moog rhymes with Rogue, I always say Moog because it's more fun to say,) from a friend and made some very creative music with it. I wanted desperately to use the Moog, and he said I could use it if I took piano lessons. And then the rest of my life happened.

Now all the synths are inside the computer. They don't go out of tune. They are tinny. M83 uses this to great effect. There's some great drum'n'bass out there too. But it certainly is a whole different world of sound. End of an Era. Like the switch to Digital Video.

Rest in Piece, Mr. Moog. Watch out for Bach, he'll probably give you a punch in the lip for inspiring that bitch Wendy Carlos. (Note, Wendy/Walter's soundtrack to Clockwork Orange including his/her rendition of the 9th is perfect for the movie. But s/he has made so much crap that even Jean Michel Jarre and Tomita must blush at the thought of it. Snowflakes are Dancing.)

Repo Man is Always Intense

I will now present a series of sloppy pronouncments. Official sloppy pronouncements, 'cause I have been endeavoring upon quite a few sloppy pronouncements ever since I have begun this blog. But now they will be official announcements, albeit sloppy.

Just having watched Cassevettes' A Woman Under the Influence, and previously Faces and Shadows, I bring you official sloppy pronouncement number one:

John Cassevettes is the single greatest American film director of all time.

This is of course sloppy because, least of all, I have not seen every Cassevettes film, much less every American film ever made.

I can't quite go into how I came about this. Off the top of my head the closest contender is Orson Welles. But Welles somehow seems like a fluke of genius, while Cassevvettes seems infinite. His movies make you cry and laugh at the same time. Orson was all magic (F is for Fake). Perhaps the greatest magician our country has ever seen in the modern age. But ultimately Orson's world is a dream. Allegory. Whilst Cassevettes' work emerges as something that doesn't even seem like film. His movies are not movies, they are miracles of time and space. His movies are canvases, upon which he spills the paint of life.

In some way I want to say it is sort of the difference between Kurosawa and Ozu. I guess because Ozu was concerned with domestic and cultural minutae and inexplicable mysteries of human interactions to an exacting detail, and Kurosawa was taking the sweep of Tolstoy's War and Peace up on the screen. Kurosawa was a miracle/tragedy maker. Ozu saw the miracle/tragedy of the everyday. (Like Chekhov, I guess.)

Of course Cassevettes' oover differs so drastically from Ozu that the comparison only works to a point. Cassevettes' films are disturbing and bleak. Though with many moments of beauty.

The depiction of children in Woman Under the Influence was particularly striking (As they are in Ozu. Sloppy Pronouncement number two: Ozu was the greatest director of children the world has seen. Although SP#3: the Punch and Judy Scene in Truffaut's 400 Blows was probably the greatest filmed scene of children in the history of children. But one must not forget Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali. SP#4 (though not exactly sloppy): Pather Panchali is the greatest single film about a young boy and his slightly older sister. SP#5 Bunuel's Los Olvidos is the single greatest movie about vagabond children. I would like to rein in the sloppiness of these pronouncements at a later date.

But back to Woman Under the Influence. The thing that fascinates me about children on film is that they do not act. Or at least they do not act in the sense that adults act on film. There is something akin to this as Werner Herzog exploits in many of his movies in using unprofessional actors. But even unprofessional actors "act" unless they are caught on camera unawares. Children don't give a damn about the camera. Or before the video age, at least. They are like animals, the director can't exactly give explicit instructions. A director can say, "Okay Timmy, go Wa-wa-wa, I love you mommy!" But the kid will probably just say it in a not so nuanced way; Maybe the kid will say it rather convincingly. Maybe he will say it in a way that the director obviously directed him to say it, and it seems corny. In the past, before I became as severe of a film snob as I am presently, I said "Kids in film suck." It's not true at all. Kids can be wonderful in film. But they can be awful. If there's an Arnold Schwarzneggar film (and I imagine there will be one again one of these days,) he has a cute little boy will shoulder length hair Arnie can muss up and almost invariable the child is appelated with the obnoxious name of "Danny." Little Danny come give Daddy a kiss before I go blow up the dark-skins. But anyway, Cassevettes, in Woman Under the Influence (which I find a problematic, dated title) skirts a fine line between maudlin Hollywoodism and outright exploitation of the child-actors. The kids are wrested around heedlessly by their alcoholic parents. The children are props at times, and more human than their parents at others. It is emotional wrenching to witness. There were reaction shots of the children that made me want to instantly cry.

That shit is intense. I have one more post before I go to bed. Hopefully it won't be a long one, but it deserves its own space.

Relative Insanity

I had a crazy weekend in Santa Barbara. It was great to see all the relatives. But there were many surreal moments. I don't even know where to start. I can't start. I can't write about it. These people are crazy. And I was one of them. I was acting crazy. Crazy crazy crazy crazy.

Anyhow, I noticed that I'm getting a lot of blog spam lately, and I wonder if that means more people are reading the blog, or the blog spammers are just becoming more productive. I don't care about it right now. I have only one life to live and it's not worth increasing my blood pressure about a couple of pointless comments on my blog. It's all pointless (though some is more real than others.)

Also, the blogger toolbar/dashboard has a "flag" for content now. Sitting on the plane today--I flew a United flight from Denver to La Guardia (It was just a layover in Denver, no time to see mom, though I called her)--and I was determined not to watch the stupid movie (it was "Monster In-Law") but I finished reading my book halfway through the flight. So I put on the headphones and trawled the audio streams on the United Radio. I listened to a nice little MOzart Piano concerto movement, and then they played some crappy James Galway pennywhistle theme by Henri Mancini. From Mozart to Mancini? Geesh. So I switched stations, and I heard some piece of crap pop, some piece crap pop country, some piece of crap nu-metal hard rock, and then another station was playing some old jazz. It was a good tune. I don't know who the players were, I thought maybe it was Art Blakey, but I really have no idea. But it was good. Then when the song stopped some lite jazz song started playing. I clicked the channel after about three seconds and listened to the talk radio--it was some show about computers and the guy was talking about spyware and popup blockers and I thought it was informative and distracting until I realized it was a freaking INFOMERCIAL. After the movie there was an NBC "In-flight News" program that basically was an hour long commercial for NBC's latest TV shows. I wanted to PUKE. And I thought, what I wouldn't give to get on the INTERNET. Because I can go wherever I want on the internet. I still have to see stupid pop culture ads on the sidebars and whatnot. But I can click away or whatever. If the corporations had their way we'd have corporate logos inscribed on the backside of our eyeballs so we'd be looking at advertising even when we closed our eyes. No Exit. So flag me for inappropriate content. I'm sure I've said something offensive. Or now I will:

Google sucks.

Google sucks.

Google execs can lick my ass.

Any day now The Church of Scientology will merge with Google. (No offense to scientologists. We expect YOU GUYS to be parasitical.)

Cyclebears

The Grizzly Man was fantastic. I think it changed my life. You must see this movie. I cannot be objective about Herzog's work. I thought White Diamond was life-changing as well. But for some reason I feel that Grizzly Man touched my DNA as few works of art have. I think it is partly because I have a sentimental part of me that reacts to scenes of mountains and forests, akin to the Rocky Mountains, and I've forgotten that internal aspect of myself, living in a metropolis as I do. But Herzog is investigating what life is, as he always has, with astounding consistency.

What exactly is that consistency? I don't know. Herzog films from his gut. But it is an exceedingly complex and focused gut. A gut that was tempered by his upbringing in the backwoods of Bavaria, and an ecstatic religious experience at the age of 14. He is not interested in the world as much as he is interested in the mind. That is why he changes the details of the facts—conforming them to his idea of truth. (This gut is also funneled through his mind, a mind of extraordinary conviction. A mind that was “fortified by philosophy.” What philosophies these might be, I don’t know. He has never gone into specifics. They may be his own. In that case it is the idea that there is no harmony in the universe. That “the only harmony is the harmony of overwhelming and collective murder.” As a younger Herzog despairs to the camera in the documentary Burden of Dreams. He literally reiterates this philosophy in Grizzly Man.)

There is some stuff to talk about. About the idea of some things being more real than others. This involves Herzog, Keats, and maybe Thomas Bernhard. (For me? For you, does the idea of some things being more real than others work for you? Or is all reality equally real? Or is it all a dream? Or is it both? (In angryandsloppy-land, if you think it’s all equally real or all a dream, then you’re wrong. I’ll explain why later.)

Temple, Crucifix, Cyclebear, knife.

I'm searching for clip art because I have to make flyers and things. There is some strange assemblages out there. This page has four images, and it is either the most arbitrary assemblage of images or least arbitrary images I have ever seen. The referring page is a poem:


Flowers. Apple. Flowers in a vase. Pumpkin. Maple Leaf. Flowers and Herbs. Christmas Tree.

Bear, Cabin, Swords, Eight Ball.
Barn, Cabins.
Trade Towers, body builders, Clown.
Flowers, Pestal, Stallion.
Sorcerer, Rubber Duck, Salesguy, buoy.
Mans face, Dog, People, stapler.
Lion, Polar Bear, Stop Sign, Glasses.
Buffalo, Bull, Elephant, dancers, lightbulb.
Doghouse, Presents, Mailbox, Vietcong.
House, Spider, Apple, Texas, Matrioshka.
House, Barn, Mother & Baby.
Eagle, Wolf, Rose,Corvette.
Temple, Crucifix, Cyclebear, knife.
Checkered Flag, Hat, Car, Truck, School house.
Tent, Wizard, Wolf, Superman Emblem.
Motorcycle, Deer, Duck.
Dogs Meeting, People Meeting, Baseball catcher.
Unicorn, Scales, Lady of Justice.
Hawker Hurricane Airplane, Chicken, Duck.
Greatful Dead Dancing Bears, Rocket.
Maid, Bear, Flowers, Key.
Uncle Sam, U.S. Seal, Soda can, hammer.
Battle Axe, Lab puppy, pendant, potpourri.
Dragons, Anime Girl.
Valentlines, Crown
Dogs.
Marilyn Monroe, Doll, Fat Guy.
Desk, Chair, Mouse.
Bed, Bookcase, Toy box.
Lighthouse, Sail Ship, screwdriver, coffee cup
Tyrannosaurus Rex, Guy on a couch, CD.
Warrior. Dragon, Bombs, Missile.
Teapot, Pencil, School Bus.
Mexican Man & Woman, candle, Tow Truck.
Ballerina, Golfer, Yoda.
Pumpkin, Jack O Lantern, Ghost, Frankenstien, Witch.
Harley Davidson Fat Boy, New York State.
Roman Chariot, Wizard.
Horse, Chef, Tiger.
Angels.
Champagne, Glass & Cork, Kachina.
Champagne Bottle, Baby New Year.
Father Time, Beethoven.
Piano, Candleabra, Giraffe.
Musical Notes, Satan.
Man's Face, Hearts, kittens.
Superman, Eagle, Roger Ramjet.
Bathtub, Maple Leaf, Cowboy.
Pot of Gold, Batman vs. Superman, Tanks.
Thumbs up, spacestation.
Men's Faces, James Dean, Clark Gable.
Flowers and Herbs, Underdog.
Fish, skate, DodgeRam.
Easter graphics, Rabbit, Baby Chick, Pig.
Spiderman, Fisherman, Bullet Holes, Motorcycle.
Knight, Native on Horseback.
Kangaroo, Whale, Seahorse.
Evil Clowns, Waiter.
barn, hillbilly, outhouse.
phone, jacks, girl.
shopper, vampire, turtle heads.
female warrior, King, Semi, House.
Santa, Christmas Tree, candy canes, Elf.
Womens Faces, Women.
Butterflies, Fish, Elvis.
Rocky, Bullwinkle, Boris, Natasha.
Teddy Bears, Clown, Wizard.
Girl,Betty Boop.
Zodiac Symbols.
Indian on Horseback.
Classic Car, Coach/wagon.

GOOD OLD FASHIONED LEAD

Wow. If there is a God his favorite TV show is Southpark. Good Lord. Good old fashioned dismemberment. Wave that Red White and Blue, especially the Red.

Product Testing

This blog, like my life, has had vague to completely diffuse focus; this post included. Today I'm going to give you the results of an extensive review of so-called mp3 players. I have tried Windows Media Player, the iTunes player, and finally WinAmp. First, let me say, that I don't have an iPod, but I like the idea of having copies of a lot of music on my computer so that when I'm chilling in my un-AC'd room I can listen to a wide range of music with little effort. Essentially, my computer is my iPod that I can't take anywhere. That's fine. When I'm going places, when I'm on the subway or whatever, I like to read and listen to other people's conversations. I have a little mp3 player that can hold 4 or 5 albums worth that I got free with my digital audio card, but it runs out of battery-juice really quickly. It was fun but the novelty has worn thin. Anyway, I have tons of CD's, but many of them I never listen to because I just get bored of them if I listen to the whole album. Such as the Germs' MIA, or X's Los Angeles, or my Pussy Galore CD, and other stuff I hardly ever listen to like Tribe Called Quest, but stuff I still would like to hear every once in awhile. Also some of my box sets, like Datapanik in the year Zero by Pere Ubu that has tons of great stuff but also tons of throwaways, also the Nuggets. So I uploaded tons of stuff on my computer to play on the Microsoft Windows Media player, little realizing that it was converting everything to WMA format, not the MP3 format. But I uploaded like a hundred albums because I was excited about hearing a random mix of a billion different things. Unfortunately the Windows Media Player messed up the indexing of a lot of the different tracks, especially anything that I had burned off of other people. For instance, I have burns of all of the Metallica albums because I'd never pay those thugs any money, but I still want to hear their jams. And early Sleater-Kinney, I love, but I don't think I'd pay for that either. (sorry girls.) And my Joy Division cd, which I REALLY should buy, but I haven't gotten around to it. So anyway, the Windows Media Player sorted about 95% of the tracks correctly, but moved stuff it didn't recognize into random Unknown folders. I got sick of moving them back. My room is a mess, but I like my audio files tidy. So after a month of this nonsense I decided to look for an alternative. Enter iTunes. So I loaded iTunes and it converted ALL of my files into some wacky Apple audio format. But the filing seemed to be more straightforward. All of the Unknown stuff still was Unknown but everything else could be tidily sorted by album, artist or even genre. And it has a pretty wicked visualization thing (I can watch it for a very long time without getting sick of it.) Anyhow, I didn't like the fact that iTunes seems even less album-oriented than Windows Media. You can't really choose an album to play--or if you do, it doesn't seem to want to play the songs in the right order. (It doesn't display the album art either, which is another disappointment. Not classy, Apple. For shame.) What a pain in the ass. I guess Albums are becoming an antiquated concept--and who am I to complain because I wanted to make random mixes anyway. So I asked around, and somebody said that WinAmp was the best. And so I loaded WinAmp and it didn't do any funny conversion. But it made me notice that I have two copies of every tune that I have on my computer, one in Windows format, one in the Apple format, and then a dozen or so albums that are in the mp3 format. (To my ears they all sound tinny, anyways, maybe I should just forget it all and become a vinyl geek.) So here is the conclusion I have come to. I am sick of all the players. Each one is stupidly designed, or designed for people who don't care, who just want to play the latest Britney Spears or 50 cent single over and over again. But if I had to choose one, I would choose the WinAmp, one reason being that it doesn't do any converting (digital proselytizing), seems to be able and willing to play any kind of audio track, and, most importantly, when you do the random mix it tends to play better songs than the Windows Media Player or iTunes player. Something to think about. One time I downloaded a trial version of MixMeister, and it was really great. It does automatic mixes with intelligent cross-fading--it was a really really cool piece of software. But it costs 50 dollars if you want to use it for more than 30 days. I don't know if its worth it. Of course, that's cheaper than becoming a vinyl-geek.

A Wee Little Corruption Problem

Iraq has got.

60's New Millenium Style

Woodstock 2005

(thanks to The Errorist.)

Culture of Death

For those of us who recognize and accept death as a part of life, maybe we should go to the September 24-26 protests in Washington D.C.

I've got a great IDEA

They shouldn't inject someone with poison based on their IQ score. They should base executions on Emotional Intelligence. Or if we elect Tom Cruise, based on their emotional tone scale. Or maybe we should base it on the degree of their faith. Why execute an atheist? We're going to hell anyway.

Oh, don't kill him! He's too dumb. Are they mad? We should kill all the dumb fuckers. Haven't they heard of a thing called Hitler?Darwin? We're trying to PURIFY the species. If he's smart, don't kill him!

(And, yes, I am employing my particular brand of angry and sloppy sarcasm.)

I watched TV tonight!

I watched Arrested Development. I couldn't stop watching. They had 2 hours of it. It was really funny.

Time to be angry

I can't fucking believe we still execute people.

Life is Beautiful

I quote:

A Virginia jury decides a man with learning disabilities on death row is intelligent enough to be executed.

Things that look like other things

From my mama.

Be the link you wish to see in the world

This is fascinating. A super-wealthy genius funding rightwing extremism who manages to stay invisible:

I don’t think for Bruce there is a distinction between ideas and action.

Slow day in the office.

One way of looking at things

And maybe it's the only sane way:

"Create your own values of culture and put it against the values that you do not like... Just don't complain, don't lapse into the culture of complaint—roll up your sleeves and create your own art, create your own values, create your own cultural values, that's what going to change things."

via this

Things that make life worth living

The Grizzly Man movie comes out soon, and I guess it's getting a wider release than White Diamond and Wheel of Time. That's pretty exciting, though I wished that more people had seen White Diamond.

And, on August 16, the Film Anthology Archive series is playing one of my very favorite Aki Kaurismaki movies, LA VIE DE BOHÈME. A film that every practicing/aspiring artist should see.

It smells like shit

War war war. Blood and carnage. I'm damn sick of it.

We need more protests. No Mr. Tubbs is going to come down from the sky to take us to a better place. We are stuck in this mire of shit.

We need more protests. Is anybody planning a protest?

Should I buy a crate and go stand on it?

There's a lady who yells no to animal abuse in my neighborhood.

I pounded a snare-drum once, and then the cops came.

I'm tempted to go pound the snare drum again.

If there are any protests in the works, let me know about them. I want in.

Or if we've decided that they don't work anymore, tell me why the hell not? What will we tell our damn children?

Reality of the Mind

Hackers invented the 10th planet.

Explanations of Darkness

The ever-emerging and festering and suppurating of evangelical fundamentalist wackoism is indeed a scary thing. But within the mythos there are some beautiful ideas--there is a beauty to religion and the arguments therein that science and post-structuralism can never touch. This page is a treasure trove of creationist rationale that beats the hell out of clam-fed scientology craziness. There is so much to love. For instance, how do creationist explain stars? The fact that the universe is only a dozen thousand years old, or whatever they say, and so how do scientific-creationists explain light from stars millions of lightyears away? It's also interesting to note that the explanations aren't all from Christians too. (You mean there are wacky religio-Jews too? Who would've known!)


Best line:

Like Billy Graham, Morris seems to think that UFOs are actually angels -- evil angels.

Hypocrisy of the shipping industry

Sure, when a couple of cuddly-wuddly kittens are looking for a cheap means of transport they get a little rub behind the ear and:

The 3-week-old kittens were taken to Addison County Humane Society in Middlebury, where they met Hazel, a black domestic cat whose kittens had just been weaned. Hazel is a now a surrogate mother to the kittens, providing a steady diet until they can eat solid food, said Jill Tucker, executive director of the Humane Society.

Whilst a fully sentient man who loved his father so much but didn't have the cash to buy a plane ticket to visit him endeavored upon one of the only truly great adventures of our scam-mall of america late-late capitalist age, he gets issued a summons.

For the curious

Right-wing psychology.

Remember

Like this

Apparently it is not a parody!

Via This Modern World.

Sources of Information

A reader of this site asked me where I get my information, links. I sometimes don't cite because the links are on really popular sites, usually atrios. Another site I get stuff that I don't cite is cursor.org. The first blog I ever read was Tom Tomorrow's site--a site that is particularly good now because the greatest political blogger ever, Billmon, posts on it now. Though Orcinus is great too. Sometimes I just look up random things on the internet, though. Like kidney transplants, or broccoli juice or whatever. (Don't you like it when you think you come up with something creative, like broccoli juice, and then you realize you heard the phrase "broccoli juice" on The Simpsons previous night? Damn TV ruining my imagination.)

Emily Soule

I just found about someone who I worked with in Seattle died. She was was a workstudy in the office, and she was killed by car while crossing a street. I guess she was recently married. She was just a lovely, really nice, intelligent person. It is so senseless. I can't believe she's dead. Writing these words seem surreal. I didn't even know her that well. Here's a link. I guess everybody goes through this grappling at some point.

It is interesting to see how different people react.

She told me that Brothers Karamazov was better than Crime and Punishment.

I think she was right. (Was.)

Doctors are leaving Iraq

And there's no hope in the near future. I think conditions will take 20 years to improve.

Who said zip codes weren't fun?

Be sure and click the ZOOM button.

Like Bill Hicks Said

If you work in Advertising, you should kill yourself.





...err....sorry, that's my morbid cynicism showing through.

The Big Wide World

Here's an interesting quote from the The Iranian, taken completely out of context:

The reason for my nausea in the optimistic shinny-happy nature of the herd who believes that by leveling the pyramid from the bottom up, and by radically violating the rights of the stronger in the interest of the mediocre caught in the center of the bell-curve, they can be just, or right, or righteous is that it is essentially a pragmatic lie as an instrument in the hand of word-mongrels who hope to come to power through a sophist-icated advert designed to fool the eye-candy-addicted populace in the year of election. But I do recognize the need to go easy on the pubescent when attempting to tell them about the birds and the bees, or enlighten them, and in that sense, I am absolutely for a slow-moving reform. In that vein, if the name Republic makes it go down easier, then I am all for rationing and rationalizing the truth in small doses and I respect and begin to talk to you as an equal with that in mind.

Beer Garden

If you read this, you should go to the Beer Garden this Saturday at 5:00 p.m.





For beer.

25,000 civilian deaths in Iraq for the past two years

Though, rest assured, that only 37% we are directly responsible for.

9% insurgents. Then another third was from criminal activity (you know, that guy with the vase must have dropped it on some kid a couple of thousand times.) Speaking of which, one-fifth of the total is women and children.

The Plot Against Harry Potter

The Rules of the Game...
might be the greatest movie ever made. I saw it for the first time on DVD.

I am nearing the end of The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, but my Harry Potter book came in the mail. I can't really decide if I need to immediately read Harry Potter or finish the last 40 pages of The Plot. The Plot is getting pretty exciting. But I know Harry Potter will be exciting start to finish.

Why am I sitting here at the computer and not reading? Because it's too damn hot to move. The Humidity is death.

I'm thinking that my blog should start being more

personal

and less

not personal

.

I'm sweating.

I need a haircut.

Maybe I should start an anonymous blog and write really really personal stuff. I will do that now. I am going to name it a great name, and I will write just very physical things. This isn't my main blog gig anymore.

Find my real blog gig...

Chickens

"This is because Iraqis are like chickens and nobody cares about the killing of a chicken, but the British are the lords of this world."

Also, Palestinian Gandhis, via empirenotes, as well.

My thing was, I just wanted to come home.

This is a story of heart. Real heart. Not faked. Not the sham heart of usual shown on television. Pure heart.

Eyes in the Box

	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE		DALLAS, TEXAS
	CONTACT: 214/659-8707 www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn		SEPTEMBER 10, 2003
	FEDERAL CHARGE FILED AGAINST MAN WHO SHIPPED HIMSELF IN CRATE U.S. Attorney Says More Charges May Be Forthcoming United States Attorney Jane J. Boyle announced that a federal complaint charging Charles D. McKinley, age 25, with Stowaway On Aircraft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2199 was filed today in Fort Worth, Texas. According to the complaint, on or about September 5 and 6, 2003, McKinley, intending to obtain transportation, did board, enter, and secrete himself aboard an aircraft in Newark, New Jersey, without the consent of the owner, charterer, or person in command of such aircraft, and did remain aboard after the aircraft left there and arrived at the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport. While an arrest warrant was issued for McKinley, arrangements will be made for McKinley to be turned over to federal authorities. It is anticipated that he will make an initial appearance on this misdemeanor charge before United States Magistrate Judge Charles Bleil within the next few days. McKinley has been in state custody since his arrest on Saturday, September 6, 2003 in Desoto, Texas. U.S. Attorney Boyle said, "This office is taking swift action on this case through the immediate filing of the most readily apparent federal violation against this individual, which is the "stowaway" charge. Rest assured, we are thoroughly investigating all potential charges and will move forward, if warranted under the law, with additional charges." The affidavit filed with the complaint states that on Saturday, September 6, 2003 DeSoto, Texas police officers arrested Charles D. McKinley at a residence in DeSoto. The officers had gone to the residence in response to information provided to them by a driver for Pilot Air Freight who advised that he had been in the process of delivering a large crate to that address that morning and had seen a pair of eyes looking out from inside the crate. The driver advised that slats on the side of the crate were kicked open and a person got out of the crate and entered the residence. After arrival at the DeSoto residence the officers made contact with McKinley and asked him if he had shipped himself by air freight to the residence. McKinley responded that he had taken a passenger flight from New York to Kentucky and, with the help of a friend whom he identified by name and whom he claimed was a pilot for United Parcel Service, had then been shipped by air freight from Kentucky to the DFW Airport. McKinley provided the DeSoto officers with New York identification card. The DeSoto officers determined that there were outstanding local warrants for McKinley's arrest and took him into custody. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) conducted an investigation into the shipping records relating to the crate in which McKinley had been transported. Those records reflect that the crate was loaded onto Kitty Hawk Air Cargo flight 2863 which departed Newark, New Jersey at 11:53 P.M. on September 5, 2003. After an intermediate stop in Buffalo, New York, the flight proceeded to Fort Wayne, Indiana. After arrival in Fort Wayne, the crate was transferred to Kitty Hawk Air Cargo flight 1912. This flight departed Fort Wayne at 5:10 a.m. and arrived at the DFW Airport at 7:00 a.m. on September 6, 2003. The crate was then turned over to the delivery service which then delivered the crate to the DeSoto residence. The shipping documents reflect that the contents of the crate were represented as a computer, a monitor, and clothes. The investigation and search of TSA pilot records reflected that there was no person with the name given by McKinley who holds any pilot's license. On Monday evening, McKinley admitted to federal agents in a written statement that he had shipped himself in the crate from New York City to the DFW Airport and that he had charged the shipping expense to a UPS account which he had set up. He stated that he did not intend to pay UPS once he got home. "Congress and the Department of Justice are examining the issue of cargo safety. We hope that through our investigation, they will be provided more information on cargo vulnerabilities," Ms. Boyle stated. U.S. Attorney Boyle praised the investigative efforts of the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the DFW Airport Department of Public Safety, and the DeSoto, Texas, Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frederick M. Schattman.

Charles McKinley: The Hero with eyes that dared to look over his shoulder towards the flickering emanating from the back of Plato's Cave.

Reminder what it's all about

From CNN:

Man shipped from New York to Texas in crate

Wednesday, September 10, 2003 Posted: 5:02 AM EDT (0902 GMT)

Charles D. McKinley, 25, of New York City is shown in the handout photo from the Dallas County Sheriff's Office. Story Tools VIDEO Charles McKinley wanted to go from New York to Dallas, Texas, so he crated and shipped himself. CNN's Patty Davis reports (September 9) PLAY VIDEO

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal officials are investigating how a man managed to hide inside a crate that was flown by a major cargo carrier from New York to Dallas, Texas.

Charles McKinley wanted to go to his father's house in Dallas and decided to "ship himself rather than pay for a ticket," said Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Suzanne Luber.

McKinley secured himself in the crate, apparently with some help, along with his computer and some clothes.

The incident highlighted a potential hole in aviation security.

McKinley shipped himself through cargo carrier Kitty Hawk Inc., which said it was told by the shipping firm, Pilot Air Freight, that the crate was loaded with computer monitors.

The crate, marked as containing computer equipment, was picked up at a company called Metrotech in the Bronx, New York, and driven to John F. Kennedy International Airport, and then to Newark, New Jersey, where it was placed on a Kitty Hawk cargo plane, she said.

"The plane actually went to Buffalo. From Buffalo it went to Fort Wayne, Indiana. There was a change of planes onto another Kitty Hawk cargo plane, and he ended up at DFW [Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport]," Luber said.

He was then driven to the intended address, which was his father's house in De Soto, a suburb 14 miles south of Dallas.

Carl Smith, assistant chief of the De Soto Police Department, said that when the deliveryman went to remove the box from the truck he noticed a person inside.

Authorities believe Smith had moved something he had been using to cover himself, so the driver was able to see him through a slit in the crate.

"At that time, the young man kicked one side of the crate out, crawled out, got his box, and walked around to the back of the house," Smith said.

The driver contacted police.

McKinley is being held at the Dallas County Sheriff's Department, Smith said. Authorities have not released his age, but news reports said he is 25.

Luber said authorities detained McKinley on outstanding warrants for theft of a check and a traffic violation. The TSA is working with the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office to investigate and determine if there are any federal charges for this incident.

"We've made significant improvements in cargo security, but we do have more, more to go," Luber said. TSA teams have examined cargo carriers and the airport facilities they use to load packages "to determine strengths and weaknesses in cargo security," she said.

The TSA has a cargo security advisory committee that is expected to provide recommendations for additional security as early as October 1, she said.

"The bottom line is just like passenger security there's not just one single silver bullet," Luber said. "We're taking a layered approach.

"Should Congress ask us, we are ready to train cargo pilots as federal flight deck officers." Federal flight deck officers are armed with guns in the cockpit.

Richard Phillips, chairman and chief executive officer of Pilot Air Freight, said his company rigidly adhered to TSA procedures, keeping the crate off a passenger plane and placing no travelers at risk.

"It is unfortunate that one individual would choose to flaunt air regulations," he said.

A spokesman for Kitty Hawk Cargo added, "This is a very unusual incident."

CNN correspondent Patty Davis contributed to this report.

Grapefruit

Who knew?