Ray's X-Blog

One rant, two different takes. My rant [ http://xrayer.blogspot.com/2014/08/feedback-feedback.html ] about formatting my zine any way I wanted produced some interesting reactions. Robert Jennings, Editor of Fadeaway zine (29 Whiting Rd.,Oxford, MA  01540-2035) (FabFicBks[at]aol[dot]com), emailed: I would suggest that criticisms about the appearance of your zine by readers are not malicious, but are probably intended to be constructive in nature.  Yes, its your publication to do anything you want with it, any way you want, but producing an end product that is comfortable to read and is visually agreeable makes a better impression and helps get whatever message you are writing about across more easily.  I know several people who produce fanzines, and I’m sure you do as well, who may have interesting or worthwhile material to offer, but whose format is so jumbled or cramped that most people won’t even give it a fair chance.  I don’t think your mag falls into tha...

If you prefer my blog posts in a zine format check out Ray's X Zone where you can view and download recent issues. I just uploaded Ray X X-Rayer #103 , the White Space Issue.  Here's a link to view it directly. I'm down to a handful of paperzine subscribers and I'm debating whether or not to drop the entire zine format both in print and PDF.  Or I might drop the blog and just do an email newsletter.  This would eliminate some duplication of effort.  Any feedback from out there?

And on the subject of a (non)fiction TV series covering eXtraordinary events (see previous post)... Over at his site, Blue Blurry Lines [ http://www.blueblurrylines.com/ ], Curt Collins has been looking into the Cash-Landrum incident.  In a recent blog post he takes to task the UFO "documentary" series, Close Encounters , on a few points with its report on the incident. If you're unfamiliar with the Cash-Landrum case: December 1980.  Evening.  Texas, a country road.  Three people in a car (two adults and a child) encounter a hovering diamond-shaped object emitting heat, flames spewing out from its base.  Days later the three witnesses seek medical attention at a hospital, suffering from symptoms suggestive of radiation exposure. In his post, Cash-Landrum As Seen on TV: Close Encounters ,  [ http://www.blueblurrylines.com/2014/08/cash-landrum-as-seen-on-tv-close.html ] Curt provides a list of thirteen inaccuracies he noted from one viewing of th...

Since I'm supposed to be writing about topiX instead of my health problems and zining irritations... I don't have cable TV so I miss out on the "good" stuff like the (non)fiction series UFO Hunters that originally aired on the History Channel from January 2008 through October 2009. Instead I've been making do with — and sometimes struggling through  — UFO Hunters by William J. Birnes, a companion book to the series, courtesy of my local public library.  (I'm careful with purchases with my limited budget.  Of course, there is spending time on a book but I digress.)  Birnes, former publisher of the late UFO Magazine , gives behind-the-scenes insights into the filming of the docudrama series. While skimming through this tome that covers topiX of dubious value like Bob Lazar, I came across a brief reference to a bovine-human fetus. But no more details were provided.  I notice that the tome is designated "Book One," meaning that I have to read ...

I do appreciate feedback but sometimes I have to respectfully disagree. One reader was disturbed by my ranting in a couple of posts.  Hey, I'm not into that happy hippie shit.  Readers who have been here from the beginning know that I don't hold back eXpressing myself.  Rants are part of the great zine tradition. And speaking of zine tradition one person said it looks unprofessional to loosely format my zine, i.e., if it only takes 2 1/2 pages to fill an edition then I'll leave the white space. Zine = professionalism? I have more important criteria whether or not a zine neatly fills each page like Time magazine.  I think easy-to-read type and layout is more important. It was suggested I should fill in the white space with an illustration, making it as large or small as needed.  This reminds me of the old days of newspapers where the editor would throw in a pithy fact or quote - a filler - to avoid the dreaded white space. With my blog I'm not worrie...

In this case "break" doesn't mean taking a rest from blogging and other activities.  The correct synonym would be crash. I've been recovering from a severe viral infection that has lasted for weeks.  Before I was hit I wasn't that motivated to write, mentally tired.  Compound that with physical lethargy and my blog remains quiet. I'm doing OK but it will be a while before I'm up to speed again.

If you're not a blog fan you can read my posts in zine format at  https://sites.google.com/site/rayxzone/ .  With each PDF file you can view an issue online or print it out and read it later.

Image: http://bit.ly/1obARkP (C) 2014 Ray X I've always been lousy at conformity. In a previous post I mentioned that I don't like the works of Shakespeare.  To most writers that's outright heresy. I also don't like professional sports.  "Did you see the game last night?" No, I have an active independent mind. I've seen attempts to make sports palatable to sci fi nerds.  One experiment was a 1960s comic book series called Strange Sports Stories .  It featured plots like this: a wimpy kid eats a mysterious berry and becomes a super high school athlete; a man playing golf on Mars who stops an alien invasion; a future society where playing sports is outlawed because it's too dangerous.  That last one involved some rebel athletes who save the day and have sports legalized again.  A very depressing ending. My anti-pro-sports viewpoint doesn't mean I'm against exercise or anyone going out and playing a friendly game of softball.  The ...

By Ray X After bingeing during my younger years I hardly read comics books, especially those way overpriced floppies from the Big Two.  It's the same stuff recycled ad nauseum.  How many more times will Galactus threaten to pig out on planet Earth after promising never to do it again? I find reading about the business of comic books and related media more entertaining. Disney owns Marvel, Warner Brothers owns DC.  And between the two corporate competitors WB is the worst. Let's face it: too many corporations have idiots in key positions.  As in know-nothing idiots.  They make decisions without taking the time to learn the product or service they're providing. Ergo, crap reigns. Like the time a comic book fan/film director was pitching a Superman movie plot to the guy who made the final decision.  The fan/director was going on about how he would tell Kal-El's story. The studio exec was puzzled.  He asked: "Who's this Kal-El character?"...

(C) 2014  Ray X "Did you see Star Trek last night?  Spock was horny!" Standing in line, waiting for lunch outside the junior high school cafeteria, when I hear one of my adolescent "peers" give his erudite review of the episode, "Amok Time," from the original ST TV series. For those of you unfamiliar with Star Trek in any of its incarnations Spock is the half-earthling/half-alien science officer aboard the starship Enterprise in the 23rd Century (Earth time).  He struggles with his human side which at times is in conflict with his logical Vulcan upbringing.  Vulcans value unemotional rational thought above all else. But as the episode "Amok Time" reveals even Vulcans deal with irrational and violent impulses when it comes to mating time - pon farr.  Every seven years Vulcans have to knock boots or eventually die like a female ferret with intact virginity at mating season's end. I knew one woman who liked the character of Spock...

(C) 2014  Ray X And another paper zinester drops the dead tree format. In the case of Dale Speirs and his zine, Opuntia , it was the jump with postage rates, in his case Canada.  I was surprised when his final print edition appeared in my snail mail box with its announcement that future issues would only be available through www.eFanzines.com . Opuntia has always been an interesting read, a mix of SF book reviews, short examinations of scientific articles, personal stories, whatever interests Dale.  Unlike me Dale would always create a packed edition each month, 16 pages of material. I understand why Dale has decided to abandon paper for photons, especially with the drastic increase with Canadian postage.  With my very short list of paperzine traders - no subscribers - my expenses with postage and printing aren't that onerous.  Also, there's not that many pages with each edition. Some papernetters are loathe to abandon snail mail distribution: they ...

IMAGE: http://www.wallpapercasa.com/yellow_biohazard_radiation_symbol-612311.html   (C) 2014 Ray X Over at an independent Montana news site, Last Best News [1] , a reader suggests a novel defense for a politician who was arrested for his alleged irrational and violent behavior. Shades of the Twinkie defense! November 1978: A former San Francisco city supervisor, Dan White, kills the mayor and another supervisor.  When the case goes to trial White's lawyers use diminished capacity as a defense, i.e., White's bad diet of junk food and sugary drinks were symptomatic of a physical problem, ergo, his actions were not premeditated. While Twinkies were not mentioned during the trial a reporter used the term "Twinkie defense," a term that soon caught on.  White's lawyers said that they did not claim their client's bad diet was a cause, only one symptom of White's depression. "Twinkie defense" became synonymous with any dubious legal defe...

I’ve been lax with listening in on the Liberty Net crew at www.3950.net .  The last time I noted anything worth noting was a discussion about Bitcoin, the digital currency/peer-to-peer payment system. Part of the discussion was how the National Security Agency was spying on everyone online, an actual conspiracy, unlike some of the Illuminati stories they repeat. One Libnetter was advocating Bitcoin as an alternative to paper money, a way of working around the control of the Mega-Conspiracy.  But another participant said that maybe Bitcoin was really part of the Mega-Con, maybe a front for the NSA to keep track of you. So the first speaker went from advocating Bitcoin to wondering if it was indeed an Illuminati honeytrap. Life is damn rough when everything is a conspiracy… 

I just returned from a brisk nighttime walk to the post office to drop off the latest edition of my paper zine, Ray X X-Rayer #100 .  My walk was brisk not because of excessive energy on my part: quick movement was required because it's freakin' 10 degrees F/-12 degrees C outside. Back in February 1994 – I don’t remember the eXact date – I launched my zine.  (I pick Groundhog Day as an arbitrary date for the first issue.)  Twenty years and 100 issues later and I’m wondering how I managed to keep it going for so long. Over time my writing shifted from zining to blogging this stuff first, then slapping together some posts into a paper format.  I’ve almost given up along the way – that’s why my output isn’t prolific.  I think what helped me was not deciding to published on a definite schedule; I decided to write when inspiration struck me.  Ergo the long gaps between zine editions and posts. The fun of zining – and even blogging – has faded.  Ma...

UFO researcher Curt Collins has been revamping and updating the web site, James W. Moseley, Remembered –  http://www.jimmoseley.com/ .  Jim Moseley was there at the beginning of ufology and for decades published a personal, sometimes controversial, newsletter covering the scene.  His zine went under a few name changes until he settled on the title Saucer Smear.   The memorial site provides good sources of information for anyone researching ufology (and its related sub-domain, what Jim called ufoology. I still miss my nighttime phone conversations with Jim.

Orthon, where art thou?  (C) 2014 Ray X We've been waiting for a long time. Why haven't the benevolent space brothers revealed themselves and offered to directly help mankind?  Back in the 1950s contactees like George Adamski said that they met with benevolent ETs who looked like handsome godlike humans.  These space brothers passed along messages of great import like don't blow up your planet with a global nuclear war, ya morons. Orthon must have had second thoughts about helping us out.  Why? I think I've uncovered the answer.  The space brothers are miffed that we portray them so unfavorably in our media. I recalled an animated drive-in intermission spot from my childhood that featured an alien visiting the snack bar during intermission.  For you uninformed young 'uns out there a drive-in was once a popular medium for movies, an outdoor theater with a parking lot facing a towering screen that displayed the movies.  The spaces were a...

By Ray X Five decades ago Arthur C. Clark predicted the present decline of print publishing, books and newspapers.  This disruption would be caused by a new communications medium: satellites. Besides SF Arthur C. Clarke also wrote nonfiction, extrapolating about future inventions based upon scientific and technological developments at the time.  His book, Profiles of the Future (Bantam edition 1964), includes portions of articles  previously published in magazines like Science Digest during the late 1950s - early 1960s. Chapter 16, Voices from the Sky , discusses future changes in the delivery of media via satellites.  How far advanced was such technology when Clarke was extrapolating?  Check out this footnote: " This chapter was written before the launching of Telstar. "  (You young non-nerds will have to Google Telstar.) Relay satellites would bring the world together, he wrote.  Information could be transmitted to any spot on the glob...