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  • Please Don't Bring Merlin Back

    I'm growing very impatient with the Bring Merlin Back groupie thing. I joined to watch what's going on partly out of morbid curiosity, because I have a sociology degree heavily anchored with anthropology and psychology. I've never observed a live cult group before, although I've seen a few from a distance. And I have to say, this one comes as close as any to weird obsession. I have bets on that if someone instructs them to drink the koolaid, a few of them just might.

    In the real world, one fan does not hold the power to make a staff of hundreds of people do his or her bidding. The group leader ~seems~ to understand that millions more dollars would have to be dredged up and a number of lives would have to screech to a halt and go in reverse to get back to an intersect point where they could pick up where they left off. But the group leader also seems to epic fail to see that playing fan politics like this looks like a mental affliction gone wildly awry. To expect the world to behave this way because a very few people (compared to the entire fandom or world audience) 'work hard' to make it happen isn't much different from a toddler throwing a tantrum or a teenager manipulating relationships or an adult refusing to deal with reality.

    I'm not wanting to be mean. I love Merlin so much that I spent good money procuring all 5 seasons, plus a calendar and a t-shirt. There are other fans out there spending much more than I have, buying collectible toys and apparel and traveling to film sites and conventions. IF these kinds of things are what keeps a show from ending, then Merlin would never have ended. Its international success exceeded so many expectations, and most of us feel so lucky to have seen it or been a part of it. But c'mon. Investing one's emotional belief system into remolding a television show via a fan army of swooning believers isn't how the rest of us want it to go. I do NOT want Merlin back if it means a handful of fans become the boss of everyone who ever created Merlin, and I especially do NOT want those fans to be the boss of Bradley and Colin.

    I love the way Merlin ended. I bawled my eyes out, yes. I've seen a lot of Arthurs and Merlins come and go, and this creation was such beautifully crafted story about such a deep friendship, and how that friendship survived through thick and thin and eventually led to the United Kingdoms. We watched a core belief system rebirth through the seasons and in the end came down to a serving girl on a throne because of the utter kindness of her king. THAT is what Albion is all about. Albion is a dream that we are ALL equal, that we ALL matter, and that we treat each other with respect and courtesy, not drawing lines at status. Because Arthur had such good friends, he was a good king.

    I do not want obsessive fans to change that. Arthur dies in all the legends, and I think this version of his death is fantastically beautiful and symbolic. Everything in the last two episodes is very symbolic- Merlin stuck in the dark cave while the battle begins in the dark, brother and sister both dying by swords forged in the dragons' breath, an actual dragon being Arthur Pendragon's pall bearer, and much more. I wept not just for the death of Arthur, but for how absolutely beautifully done that entire last stand was executed in film, how wonderfully uplifting the entire series was, how much it has actually helped me in my personal life to believe in good things during rough times.

    I thank Bradley and Colin very much for being Arthur and Merlin. But I never want to see them do those roles again any other way. I vehemently do NOT want obsessed fans to change what is in MY head by bullying the market with faked email accounts and spamming. I'm sorry those fans need that to hang onto, and I do understand that sometimes we really do need something concrete when our lives need meaning. I don't want to make anyone feel like I am making fun of them, because I'm not. I have observed and not said anything for a long time. But as an American who has watched this 'international' group execute 'actions' to bring Merlin back before some of us have seen season 5 aired in our country (or even season 3 in some countries), I think they do the rest of us fans the discourtesy of not caring what WE want.

    I want Arthur to rest in peace for awhile now. I want to make up my own fantasies about him rising out of Avalon again to join Merlin. I want that sparkling effervescence of 'maybe'. I want to move on and become the sort of person who would also be noble and patient and true like the rest of the supporting characters in Merlin.

    I have been part of a number of fandoms, and while I appreciate that fan support can sometimes bring a show back long enough to bring a little closure, I also understand that sometimes a show really is simply over, at least in the real world. In my mind I carry on to my own amusement, as is should be. Stories give us something to occupy our thoughts while we get through mundane or difficult stuff, and stories can even help us with problem solving our own relationships and decision making. To turn a story into a production on demand taints the joy of those creating the story to begin with (after all, it WAS someone else's idea), and neglects the feeling of pride in their accomplishment.

    I would invite the fans who demand a different sort of closure to create and publish their own stories. Instead of just demanding that everyone else drop whatever they're doing to please them, grow up and put the work into it yourselves. Invest your own money, dedicate your own hours of labor, form your own teams and produce something wonderful for the rest of the world to read or watch. The whole Merlin and Arthur field is wide open, anyone can interpret it any way they want. But don't think you can dare to turn our Colin and Bradley into puppets that you pull the strings on. Not cool. They have so much potential to go on and do so much more, and I want to see them continue to excel in other work. Please accept that they are actors, not dolls, not the real characters, not enamored of themselves as the fans are. They are simply men who get paid to fill roles. And we love them, that's ok.

    I rarely cross post my stuff, but this one is going on multiple blogs I have strewn across the ethernet. Those of you wonderful lurkers who stalk all my stuff, sorry for the redundancy, but this feels important. Thank you for your time.

     

  • Trekkies and Freedom of Expression

     

    POLITICAL STATEMENT
     
    I know that my political ideologies may not agree with all the fans out there.  But I've been having a good think this year, and I think we've got a problem on our hands, a problem that started years ago and is about to turn a scary corner.
     
     
    Our very best scifi has come out of a nation that is practically a democratic Republic. Just something to think about, since 'freedom of speech' and, subsequently, freedom of expression, are coming under fire again.  (Party Line regulation czar)
     

     
     
     
     
    Quite a lot of our scifi expression has had much to say about GOVERNMENTS.  Scifi ideas have helped pave the way for widespread societal acceptance of tolerance and unity of races and their freedoms up against government controls.
     

     
     
     
     
    When our freedom of expression against big government is smothered, will we still dream?
     

     
     
     
     
    We all dream of a 'better world'.  Scifi keeps showing us that a better world is worth fighting for, no matter what the costs, the odds, and how suppressive our governments might be.  It stands to reason that once our media regulation is tightened up, we may no longer be allowed to express how we feel through the arts...
     

     
     
     
     
    Please consider, as in my last post, that there are things happening this year that are more important than whether we 'go green'.
     

     
     
     

  • EMP threat- imminent?

     

    The following attachment was sent to me (and undoubtedly a whole lot of people) from Gary Graham, an actor in Hollywood.  I wrote a post on April 21 in response to seeing a Gary Graham interview on Neil Cavuto's show on Fox News, called Sikes and the Alien Nation.  It was a long-winded silly post, I was pretty sick at the time, and I had NO IDEA that it would be important in any way.  I contacted Gary Graham with the link and told him I appreciated an actor speaking out against the liberals.
     
    What you are getting in the forward is a result of Gary reading my silly little post.  I know he read it because he emailed me back, asking me particularly about EMP pulse bombs after my impertinent question "You know why we watched that North Korean missile launch so closely?" in my post.  Please note that the date in the forward concerning Gary getting information about EMP pulse bombing is from May.  Since then, Gary has been very active behind the scenes (apparently) alerting as many people as possible to this very scary possibility.  And (apparently) someone he contacted must have noticed my post as well (I don't know if he sent a direct link out), since the video at the bottom of the post has now been pulled from youtube.  It sat on youtube for several years undisturbed.  It was really cute, a fan montage of Alien Nation set to the tune of "Stayin' Alive" by the BeeGees.
     
    Glenn Beck has been trying to tell the American people that we have power to affect change.  Even ONE person has power in this country, and he's been showing us that WE can be alert watchdogs.  I believe I have just demonstrated this.  It was nothing intentional on my part, and I'm surprised it's gone so far.  But I would like to encourage ALL of you to keep using the internet AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE ~*before*~ the govt seizes control of it!!!!!!  (Or before we get pulsed bombed to a standstill...)  What you say on a blog CAN make a big difference, and you may not know that someone else saw what you wrote and utterly ran with it and did a whole bunch of cool good stuff because YOU had an idea, a question, a point to make...  I am lucky that I am able to see the result, however indirect it's been.  Most of the internet doesn't show you who has been there, who borrows and shares what they find, etc.
     
    BELIEVE in yourself.  Write what you believe!!!  Even if you are just being silly and entertaining, you can still make very strong IMPORTANT points that affect the lives of others!
     
    And here you go-- What is EMP technology?  And how can it really hurt the United States of America?
     
    -p.s.  You can leave a note for Gary Graham at www.garygraham.com and read more of his essays at Big Bollywood- Gary Graham.  Please pass this on, because if we ever do get pulsed, we won't be able to communicate afterward.
    p.p.s.  This letter will be posted at EMP threat- imminent?
     
    --- On Fri, 9/11/09, Act for America <actforamerica@donationnet.net> wrote:

    Forewarned is forearmed.

    http://www.actforamerica.org/http://www.actforamerica.org/index.php/learn/about-act-for-americahttp://www.actforamerica.org/index.php/act/sign-uphttp://www.actforamerica.org/index.php/local-chaptershttp://www.actforamerica.org/index.php/contact-congress



    The Ultimate 9/11 Attack:

    A Report From the EMPACT America Conference

    in Niagara, New York

    By Guy Rodgers, ACT! for America Executive Director


    Dear Gary,

    Eight years ago today is a day none of us will ever forget. If you’re like me, you recall exactly what you were doing and where you were when you learned that jets had been flown into the World Trade Center.

    This was an act of jihad. This was also an act of asymmetrical warfare, where an enemy with far fewer weapons and the means to attack us was still able to inflict a deadly wound.

    But our Islamist enemies are not content with the amount of destruction caused by that act of asymmetrical warfare.

    Last May we sent you a series of emails announcing our plans to address the threat of an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack on America. An EMP attack can be triggered by just one nuclear weapon detonated above our atmosphere. Optimally deployed, such an EMP attack could knock out as much as 70% of America’s electrical grid. Not just for days – but for weeks, even months.

    Were this to happen, the consequences for America would be devastating. The congressionally authorized EMP commission estimated that millions and millions of Americans would die – of thirst, starvation, disease, and lawlessness. Imagine the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, extended across much of our country, and lasting for months.

    One component of our plan to address this threat was our participation with EMPACT America in its first-ever conference entitled “Protecting America Against Permanent Continental Shutdown from Electromagnetic Pulse.”

    I am composing this email in a hotel in Niagara, New York, while the conference is still underway. I’m doing so, to coincide with the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, because Brigitte Gabriel and I are determined that you, our members, understand and appreciate the seriousness of the threat, that it is the ultimate in jihadist asymmetrical warfare, and so that we can join together to take constructive action to defend ourselves.

    When we sent you the EMP emails in May, some of our members emailed us expressing skepticism about the EMP threat. Some of the emails were, frankly, derisive, accusing us of having been misled by some sci-fi “fantasy.”

    I can understand why some who hear about this would respond this way. The very concept of life ending as we know it is difficult to come to terms with. Not surprisingly, our tendency is to ignore, deny or disbelieve that something so indescribably devastating could happen to us.

    However, if you were sitting here at this conference, if you had any doubts, you would realize, as we do, that this is no sci-fi fantasy (how I wish it were!), and that enemies like Iran are in fact testing the necessary launch technology to detonate a nuclear weapon over our atmosphere. Experts I talked to here believe Iran will have, in as little as two years, both the nuclear weaponry and the launch and satellite technology to literally “drop” a nuclear weapon from a satellite over America, and detonate it above our atmosphere.

    Dozens of experts, and I don’t use that term lightly, from across the fields of science, energy, education, law enforcement, counter-terrorism, and the private sector are here. One of the speakers, for instance, was the winner of the “Lord Kelvin Medal in Electromagnetic Physics.” Another was a former CIA Director…another a former Chairman of the National Intelligence Council…another the former Director of the Defense Nuclear Agency.

    You get the picture.

    These are not people who cry wolf, engage in whimsical fantasies or who put their careers and credibility on the line touting untested theories. They were not provided honorariums as an incentive to come speak at this conference. Some provided information that until the middle of the last decade had been classified by the Department of Defense. These experts are deadly serious about the fact that we are in grave danger – not only from a nuclear weapon-triggered EMP, but from an EMP triggered by solar magnetic storms, and they are doing everything they can to warn us so we can take action before it’s too late.

    There have been prior instances over the past 150 years of solar magnetic storms burning up telegraph lines and causing other damage to the infrastructure that existed at that time. The disruption to society back then was minimal, however, because when these solar phenomena occurred, America was not totally dependent on electricity and electronics as we are today.

    In other words, even if our jihadist enemies were unsuccessful in triggering an EMP attack with nuclear weaponry, natural solar phenomena could well cause the same devastation.

    Regarding our jihadist enemies, Brigitte delivered a powerful address on the ideology of radical Islam – specifically, the messianic vision of Iran’s “mullahcracy” for the return of the “Mahdi,” the 12th imam. These mullahs believe they can help usher in the return of the Mahdi by instigating worldwide chaos.

    What better way to do so, with limited weaponry in the ultimate act of asymmetrical warfare, than with a nuclear-triggered EMP attack? Given their apocalyptic vision they have every incentive to make every effort possible to bring us to our knees through an EMP attack.

    To read a transcript of Brigitte’s general session address, please click here.


    Prior to 9/11, most Americans did not believe something as horrific as the destruction of the World Trade Center could be visited on our nation by Islamic terrorists. The 9/11 Commission concluded that America did not see 9/11 coming because we “lacked imagination.” We cannot afford such a lack of vision when it comes to the prospect of an EMP attack.

    Over the next several weeks we will, when appropriate, provide you additional information and action alerts about the EMP threat. I urge you to pass them along to your friends and family and help us raise the level of awareness – and thus prospects for action – with enough time to spare before the unthinkable happens.

    I would like to close with a question I asked in one of the emails we sent to you in May. If America devotes the resources to defending itself against an EMP attack, and it never occurs, what’s the worst thing that happens? On the other hand, if we don’t, and it does…?


    Guy Rodgers

    Executive Director, ACT! for America

    www.actforamerica.org



    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Make sure you receive all of your messages from ACT for America. Add actforamerica@donationnet.net to your address book as an approved email sender. If you found this message in your "Bulk" or "Spam" folder, please click the "Not Spam" button to notify your provider that these are emails you want to receive.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    ACT for America
    P.O. Box 12765
    Pensacola, FL 32591
    www.actforamerica.org


    ACT for America is an issues advocacy organization dedicated to effectively organizing and mobilizing the most powerful grassroots citizen action network in America, a grassroots network committed to informed and coordinated civic action that will lead to public policies that promote America’s national security and the defense of American democratic values against the assault of radical Islam. We are only as strong as our supporters, and your volunteer and financial support is essential to our success. Thank you for helping us make America safer and more secure.

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