Alfred T. Lehmberg Is Real?
Is Alfred Lehmberg an actual entity? Or is he just a fictional character, a complex put-on?
Once upon a time there was a comic book opinion column written by a Mr. Sidney Mellon. Sidney was an enthusiastic young lad who had a unique style when it came to logic. For example, how can you decide which comic book is the best? Well, Sidney, a big fan of The X-Men, had a simple method. The title that sold the most copies each month had to be the best. Of course, that meant The X-Men had the most artistic merit. QED.
Sidney Mellon was a put-on created by an adult writer (a somewhat jaded writer, of course). I quickly realized that it was a joke, but one of my friends didn’t get it. I had to point out certain passages that indicated that Sidney was too good – I mean, too bad – to be true.
Me, I use a pseudonym and I do joke around, but for the most part I am real. What you see – in this case, read – is what you get. My put-ons are usually obvious – well, at least to me.
But this Alfred Lehmberg… I never heard of him until I started reading Paul Kimball’s blog, The Other Side Of Truth. On occasion Paul would briefly mention Mr. Lehmberg, implying that the man was a bit opinionated at times.
Recently Paul has decided enough is enough and announced that he was dropping the sidebar link on his site to Lehmberg’s homepage. Paul felt the link was acting as an “endorsement” of Lehmberg’s viewpoints.
What galled Paul in particular was Lehmberg referring to Paul as a “dilettante” filmmaker who has “repudiated” his films. I never seen Paul at work or even viewed one of his documentaries. But from what I can tell, this guy works his ass off on his projects. I’m a bit familiar with what goes into a television or film project; unless you have many underlings doing the grunt work, you have to sweat every detail, physically and mentally.
As for the repudiation part, Paul says he is still proud of his films, such as Stanton T. Friedman Is Real, and any statement to the contrary is “misleading hogwash.” (Please, Mr. Kimball, such language!) This is why he has de-linked Lehmberg.
The de-linked Alfred Lehmberg responded with a few comments on Paul’s blog. Let me eXcerpt one of Mr. Lehmberg’s comments as an example of his writing style. He is directly addressing Paul Kimball:
“Naw – you’re transparent down to your penny loafer [sic] … You’re not fooling anybody, hoss. The street’s got your measure… Some folks might be irritated with your insouciant slap and tickle at sensibilities suffering shock and awe, you know?”
This is somewhat typical of Lehmberg’s style. Grumpy great-granddad ranty. A tendency towards run on sentences, words flying from the brain to the fingers, sometimes writing with old-fashioned, somewhat stiff phrasing. Maybe he’s channeling the spirit of a dime novelist or a pulp magazine writer?
Before the dustup, Paul had a post on his blog about a quiz that determined what kind of superhero you were. Lehmberg indicated that such a fun pursuit was beneath him; he sniffed: “...Credulity is, indeed, strained...”
Hey, you got to be careful when straining credulity. Mental hemorrhoids, you know.
Sorry, I’m not falling for it. This “Alfred Lehmberg” has to be a joke. It’s that trickster Sidney Mellon, just older and mean.
CORRECTION: As Paul Kimball explains in his comment on this article, he added a link to Alfred Lehmberg's site for only a couple of weeks as a "light-hearted rejoinder" to Mr. Lehmberg's comments about him. As I've mentioned before, I came late to this controversy and I'm not familiar with all the details. I had assumed that Paul had included the sidebar link for some time now and then decided to drop it. I stand corrected.
Where I stand with Alfred Lehmberg -- well, he's still un-real to me.
7/21/06
Comments
Whatever else he may be, Alfred Lehmberg is real. My friend Don Ledger has actually met him.
As for the "endorsement", I think you missed the point. I only put it up there for a couple of weeks as a light-hearted (but pointed) rejoinder to Mr. Lehmberg's description of me as a "dilettante filmmaker" a while back (it takes me a while to get around to some things). The purpose was to show that, when Mr. Lehmberg thought I agreed with him, I was a "serious filmmaker". When he discovered that I don't always agree with him (an understatement), I suddnely became a "dilettante filmmaker". Not because my work had changed, but because his perception of my views had changed. That's hypocritical.
As for the repudiation stuff, it was, is, and always will be hogwash (sorry for the strong language). I'm proud of all the films I make, to varying degrees - they have all done what they set out to do, within the budgetary constraints with which I had to work at the time.
So, yes, Mr. Lehmberg is real. His point of view, on the other hand... well, that's a different story. :-)
Best regards,
Paul
I added a correction to the bottom of my post; I did miss the point of your "endorsement." Thanks for clarifying that detail.
I've done a little bit more research into Alfred Lehmberg after writing my article. I still find him to be un-real. But I did come acrosss an item that he suffered a stroke a while back. While a physical problem doesn't give someone the license to lie about or trash another person, it can be a factor in how one views the world. I have a couple of chronic health issues (fortunately I never had a stroke) and such issues can color your judgment. From what I've gathered so far, Mr. Lehmberg was something of a curmudgeon to begin with and so his stroke might have tinted his worldview all the more.
But just because I have health issues doesn't give me the right to only tolerate those who completely accept my viewpoints. In some ways Lehmberg reminds me of the late William Cooper who would tell people not to believe him but check it out for themselves. So if someone checked it out for himself and ended up disagreeing with Coop, he would brand them as part of The Conspiracy, calling them a CIA agent or a Illuminati traitor.
Besides William Cooper, Lehmberg also acts like Harlan Ellison -- but he doesn't have Harlan's charm. [G]
Best,
Ray
Go to UFO Updates, and run a search on Mr. Lehmberg's name. If you sift through all the posts (a time consuming task, so try searching Lehmberg & Velez, or Lehmberg & Hall, etc), and you'll see that, at some point or another, he's pounded on just about everyone. It's who he is.
I don't take it personally anymore, simply because it provides my friends with endless amusement, so it serves a purpose!
Paul