Monday, February 15, 2010


The Councillor And The Fatally Flawed Timetable


"The ramifications of getting this timetable wrong
to our people and elected politicians who are not in the loop
would be as quick as shit going through a goose."
-- Adrian Hicks, "Judgement And Democracy" speech.



One day in 2004 Adrian Hicks witnessed a female ET walking penguin-like down High Street in the city of Winchester, England. Employed as an orthopaedic technician at a local hospital where he set broken bones, he could tell from how her limbs moved that while she appeared basically human at first glance, she was really from another world. Her oversized slightly pinky eyes were also a giveaway.

This bizarre incident inspired Hicks to run for office. Not mentioning the ET encounter during his campaign, he became a city councillor as a member of the Liberal Democrats. In March 2009 he could no longer remain silent about what he had learned about the presence of aliens on our planet.

In his speech entitled "Judgement And Democracy" -- there is a link to it on his website, http://www.councillorhicks.co.uk/ -- he explains that an organization known as Majestic has concealed the ET presence since its formation after an UFO crashed in Roswell, New Mexico back in 1947. Originally Majestic was composed of only twelve members, America's most senior scientific experts and politicians.

Besides keeping under wraps the recovery of the crashed UFO and its occupants at Roswell, Majestic was also mandated by then-President Harry Truman to establish contact with ETs visiting our planet. Contact was made in the early 1950s with a variety of alien civilizations, both benevolent and non-benevolent.

Hicks mentions the book by Colonel Philip J. Corso, Retired, "The Day After Roswell," which purportedly documents how the technology from the Roswell crash was back-engineered, giving the world such discoveries as lasers, integrated circuits, fiber optics, and electro-magnetic propulsion.

Majestic grew from a small organization to a becoming a colossal satellite government under the administration of President Richard Nixon.

Hicks praises Majestic -- now the US Space Command -- for at first keeping the ET presence secret to avoid panic among the people of earth. But he adds that the timetable for disclosure is fatally flawed.

He finds it "morally repugnant" that the ET presence is still under wraps. The world has changed since 1947; this is a different generation that can handle the revelation that we're not alone in the universe.

The reason why the disclosure timetable is fatally flawed is because the story is getting out despite the continued secrecy. If a formal announcement isn't made, then the revelation will be made informally, causing a public reaction that its elected officials are "the scum of the earth" and "arch deceivers."

So what lead to Hicks witnessing a female ET waddling around in public back in 2004, a sighting that lasted ten minutes?

Apparently a military base commander with a sense of humor allowed a visitor out on a "jolly" for a stroll up High Street on that fateful day.

Hicks wraps up his speech with these inspiring words:

"To those of you who have listened to my open speech, who have come to realize where we're at in our history, but perhaps who are saying, 'Why us? Why me?' The answer is: 'Because we're here. And it's now. And it's time.'"

This is one patriot talking to the patriots of US Space Command. Please hear me. I am yours respectfully, Adrian Hicks."


Saturday, February 13, 2010


The Councillor And The Tutued ET


Councillor Adrian Hicks of Winchester, England,
paid an artist to recreate the alien
he spotted on the street back in 2004.



If you're going to see an alien wearing ballet shoes and a tutu it might as well be on High Street.

It happened one Saturday afternoon in 2004, maybe in late January or early February, Adrian Hicks doesn't remember the exact date. He was near a bookstore on High Street in Winchester, England, when he spotted the humanoid woman attired in an outre ballet outfit. She could pass for human, he stated, despite her large oval eyes, twirling arms and waddling gait.

In one video interview Hicks returned to the spot and recreated for a journalist the alien's penguin-like walk and twirling arms.

Hicks waited until March 2009 to publicly talk about the encounter. Why? Politics. Employed as a orthopaedic technician for 35 years, he decided to run for city councillor and didn't want the bizarre event to affect his chances of winning. The same event that motivated him to seek office.

After winning his seat, Hicks decided to speak out about the sighting of the tutued blonde ET. He said the street was busy that day and others also saw the strange figure as she waddled down the street. In fact, someone took photographs and he has asked that person to come forward with those images.

Hicks believes in the "Cosmic Watergate" theory promoted by UFO researcher Stanton Friedman. In videos available via his web site and You Tube, the councillor claims that the shadowy organization Majestic has been covering up the presence of aliens on this planet.

What happened to Hicks on that strange Saturday back in 2004? Could it be that an ordinary human with a wild SF bent for performance art was just screwing around?

I've done some digging through Google and so far I haven't found anyone who has claimed to have perpetrated the ET on the street occurrence. People who know him, according to one UFO researcher, say the middle-aged Hicks is an ordinary "sound" man.

Hicks belongs to the Liberal Democrat party. In an article that appeared in The Daily Echo newspaper, a Lib Dem leader stated: “Adrian is an excellent councillor and works really hard for his constituents. His UFO beliefs are his beliefs and have nothing to do with the Liberal Democrats.”

This situation leaves open all sorts of questions. If it was performance art or a hoax, then why haven't the other people on the street come forward and say they saw it too? Or maybe Hicks was the victim of another kind of trickster, one that put on the special event for only the councillor, no one else.

Maybe somewhere in another dimension a ultraterrestrial being is enjoying the joke he pulled one day on the appropriately named High Street.


[ Hat tip: I first heard about the tutued ET sighting through Rick and Carol Hilberg's Flying Saucer Digest zine. 377 Race St., Berea, OH 44017 ]

Links:

Daily Echo: "Strange case of the councillor and the friendly alien wearing ballet shoes" By Andrew Napier 25th March 2009

Daily Echo: "Cllr Adrian Hicks demands answers over extra-terrestrials" By Ash Bolton 5th November 2009

Councillor Adrian Hick's Official Web Site

"UFOS and crop circles in Southern England - A long and entangled story. Putting the pieces together we get a 'message'." By Colin Andrews

Saturday, February 06, 2010


Aku Woo And The Matrix


On the surface planet Aku looks like any other world populated by terran-type humans. The Aku inhabitants have created a super-scientific civilization, suggesting what the planet Earth might become in the future.

But appearances are deceiving. The entities living on Aku's surface are phantoms, thought-images projected from corporeal bodies in suspended animation underground.




Of course, the world Aku isn't real. It only exists in the pages of a Green Lantern comic book story called “The World of Living Phantoms,” published in GL #6 in 1961. Back in the days when a comic sold for a mere 10¢. The price was plainly displayed on the cover with big type. Compare that to today's comics that hide the price in tiny print, outrageous sums like $3.99 / 4.99 / the-sky's-the-limit.

Besides the large price box, there was also a seal stamped on the cover in the upper right-hand corner: Approved by the Comics Code Authority. After parental hysteria in the 1950s that tried to connect comic books with juvenile delinquency, impaired eyesight, sexual deviancy and other evils, comic book publishers formed the CCA to make sure their publications were wholesome (i.e., bland), thus assuring no governmental oversight.




But getting back to Aku and its sleepers with phantom bodies. Now this SF concept sounds familiar. Ever see the movie The Matrix?

Maybe The Matrix was inspired by this story; who knows? If you dug back far enough you might find the sleepers-with-phantom-bodies concept in some old "scientifiction" pulp magazine.

Unlike the humans in The Matrix, the people of Aku have willingly put themselves in suspended animation to live longer, experiencing life through a projected reality.

But one day an alarm goes off. The projected Doppelgangers acquire independent thought, they become evil. The living phantoms set out to destroy the original physical humans but are stopped by a superhero from Earth, Green Lantern.

After defeating the evil phantoms, Green Lantern uses his magical power ring to examine the mental switchboard that creates the thought images. He discovers that two of the sleepers, Cosmo and Alyshha, are causing a short circuit that allowed the phantoms to act independently. Unlike the other sleepers, the Aku couple want physical bodies to express their love, so GL releases them from suspended animation.

As the reanimated couple walks away, hand in hand, GL thinks: "So now there will not only be thought-phantoms moving about the strange world of Aku -- but also a real flesh-and-blood living pair. And who knows... but some day a whole new race -- not of sleepers but of real people -- may spring from this."

Then Green Lantern flies off to take care of a menace on another world.

But wait a minute -- this whole physical body/virtual reality situation leaves open some big questions.

Aku phantoms can't engage in physical contact or at least the simulation of it? With their advanced science Aku sleepers can't add virtual sex to the mental switchboard? Or virtual pregnancy and procreation?

Granted, this GL story was written back in 1961 before terms "virtual reality" or "The Matrix" became common -- but for some reason the whole issue of physical/phantom sexuality was glossed over.

Curse you, Comics Code Authority!


Wednesday, February 03, 2010


Bring Back Chiller-Diller!


Your comic book is in trouble when the monster is more interesting than the super hero.

To be fair, writer John Broome was working in a different era when he penned the early adventures of Green Lantern starting in 1959. A story had to be wrapped up in 6-12 pages. That didn't allow much in the way of character development. And any characterization was hemmed by the strict Comic Code Authority of those days.

But as a young reader I didn't notice the lack of three-dimensions with the two-dimensional characters on the comic book page. Now as an adult the lack of depth bugs me.

The Hal Jordan/Green Lantern character comes across as a bland mannequin with a magical power ring. His shtick -- firing power beams and creating various objects with his ring -- is the main thing that differentiates him from other cut-outs like The Flash.

I've been rereading the early GL stories in the collection, Showcase Presents Green Lantern, Vol. 1. Unfortunately the stories are in b&w. To read the original versions in four colors would mean an outlay of a few thousand dollars, so I'm stuck with b&w.

One story, "The Leap Year Monster," caught my attention. Briefly, socialite Carol Ferris is pursuing Green Lantern, marriage on her mind. Since it's leap year, that gives her the right to ask GL to marry her. So he has to somehow squirm out of the marriage question. Of course, a real he-man super hero would tell her to "Flake off" (or maybe use another F-word) but GL is such a nice guy.

GL is sitting on a park bench, trying to distract Carol from popping the question. Acting like a ten-year old sneak, he surreptitiously uses his power ring to create a giant humanoid monster -- what he calls a "chiller-diller" -- so that he has to an excuse to fly off and ditch her.

But after creating the monster, GL is knocked out, allowing his creation to wander off. Unlike most monsters, Chiller-Diller isn't evil or mean, he's just a misunderstood goof.

Walking down a city street, the towering Chiller-Diller terrifies all the people down below. He thinks to himself: "Strange... I know I'm a 'Chiller-Diller' but what that means... or what I'm supposed to do... I don't know. But this place is full of odd-looking creatures.”

Near-sighted and clumsy, he bumps into a building, damaging it. Does he roar in pain and anger? No, he just says: "Oops."

Later on he backs into a statue, breaking it. Not an act of vandalism -- he is just distracted from all the noise from the screaming humans.




The military is called out and they start blasting at Chiller-Diller, but with no effect, of course. Shrugging off the explosions, he thinks: "How do these little creatures stand this noise--?"

Then Chiller takes a bath when he finds that he can't walk on “liquid matter” (AKA river water). Gee, what part of the word “liquid” doesn't he understand?

Unfortunately Green Lantern recovers his senses and shows up to uncreate the bumbling but entertaining Chiller-Diller.

Then GL figures out a way to dodge Carol and her marriage proposal. But I could care less. All I'm thinking to myself is:

"More Chiller-Diller!"


XR #69


Finally. It's been formatted, printed, collated, stapled, stuffed into envelopes, and dropped off at the post office.

Why can't a hardcopy zine be as easy as a blog post, just some typing, proofreading, and with a touch of a button, it's published and distributed?

When I started the Ray X X-Rayer it was a lot of fun. But I'm spoiled by blogging, especially when I don't have to worry about so many pages to be filled, margins, lay out, all the restrictions I have with paper. The main restriction I have online -- a self-imposed one -- is trying to be concise, keeping my posts around 500 words.

This time around I took a somewhat different approach. Instead of just reprinting blog posts into a zine format, the latest XR is semi-original. Some of the material is new and the rest is re-written as needed. This makes it easier to fit my stuff into the confines of a hardcopy format.

XR #69 is available as a PDF file over at www.xrayer.com . So you can read it onscreen or print it out.

Now it's time to write about the Uncommon and the Unusual, instead of bitching about hardcopy zining or computer problems.