HORROR SINKS TO NEW LOWS

FORBES: The Scary Future Of The Hollywood Horror Film »

2014 has been a pretty lousy year for theatrical horror films. Is it merely a fluke of the calendar, or a sign of things to come?

Maybe a sign of things to come if things to come don’t improve, moviewise.

It’s been a bad year all around for films .. in general. Not just horror, but drama, action, family.. You know the genre and I’ll name the flop, or the film that underperformed at the box office. At least in the United States.

There are a few cultural things happening. China and other nations increasing in wealth are fast becoming the target audience for many movie companies. That’s why China’s censors get such ability in choosing what should be cut from certain films. Even more than that, independent films are just better lately. More imaginative and fresh, less confined and restricted by the red tape and bureaucracy that Hollywood offers filmmakers.

But .. as far as horror itself, Scott Mendelson is correct in his FORBES story.. Horror is taking a hit.

There may be one external factor causing that..

Over the past 12 or so years, movies have ramped up the blood and gore, almost making that the central point of a movie overtop of even the actors or dialogue. And with news headlines and real life events being a hell of a lot scarier than any fiction on the screen, people just aren’t buying it ..  What does sell, though, are paranormal tales of demon possession, haunted houses and haunted dolls. The CONJURING did well. I think ANNABELLE will, too..

The audience is evolving, as it does every ten or so years.

This may have becoming a tired saying on my part, but I argue that horror movies and professional wrestling speak volumes about our pop culture at any given time you look at it. In this instance, our world is violent and bloody. So gore doesn’t scare people much more anymore, they frankly are tired of seeing it. What does scare them? The idea that someone dark and sinister is present in the world.

If movie makers can key in on that fear and create new and exciting movies, then it will be a hit.

Finally, I’d dare say that if some movie maker out there created a big studio version of SLENDERMAN, a new series would be born.

Until then… it’s no go for bad movies.

Tis the season for ghosts on camera, fa la la la la, la la la la

Police Officer: I captured ghost on camera »

A police officer from Espanola, New Mexico, says he captured a ghost on camera while on duty.

The video is quite convincing actually.

Police are notorious for being a little paranormal…. sometimes sitting in their squad cars late at night, listening to talk radio, especially Coast to Coast AM, letting the bumps in the night rattle them a bit.

But even with that said, the video that this police office thinks contains a ghost clearly does contain.. something. And it’s not a person, or a moth, or anything much with a form. It’s … a light. Or a figure.. or something.

Or a ghost.

Tis the season…October is here.

And paranormal is in the news again.

Breathing uneasy

The New York TIMES reports on the respiratory virus hitting the US: An outbreak of respiratory illness first observed in the Midwest has spread to 38 states, sending children to hospitals and baffling scientists trying to understand its virulent resurgence. »

Even more information shows that this virus, when it hits towns and cities, is causing an influx of child patients with breathing problems—an influx that often far outweighs the resources of the facility..

From the Catherine Saint Louis article:

“Parents would love to know why this virus is causing severe disease and why there are more cases,” said Rafal Tokarz, an associate research scientist at Columbia University who has studied the virus, “but we won’t be able to answer that until a lot more research is done.”

From Aug. 18 to Sept. 24, roughly 3,600 children were treated at emergency and urgent-care facilities at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Most were sent home, but roughly 10 percent were hospitalized because they needed continuous breathing treatment, supplemental oxygen, or even to be placed on a ventilator in the intensive-care unit.

The hospital has had a “bed crunch” and is struggling to maintain supplies of albuterol, a rescue medication used by asthma sufferers, said Dr. Christine Nyquist, the director for infection prevention and control.

Oh yes.. albuterol was a friend of my own family throughout the first year and a half of my son’s life.. He had some very bad cases of somethings—something that could not be really explained by doctors.. We made some ER trips late at night throughout my son’s first and second years of life.. Each time we’d be sent home with a diagnosis of ‘something’.. At one point asthma was blamed, but he does not have that.. however albuterol and a nebulizer were purchased and are always on standby for the next necessary night.

Last night, it was reported that the virus has spread to Maryland..

There are some common sense ways to protect yourself.

And finally, as reported yesterday, it would appear that the children being hit hardest by EV-D68 are the vaccinated.. 

And this tonight:

Health officials are investigating nine cases of muscle weakness or paralysis in Colorado children and whether the culprit might be a virus causing severe respiratory illness across the country. »

This is getting intense—and pretty scary to be perfectly honest.

This from the AP news dispatch tonight..

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday sent doctors an alert about the polio-like cases and said the germ - enterovirus 68 - was detected in four out of eight of the sick children who had a certain medical test. The status of the ninth case is unclear.

Polio-like!?

And the AP goes on to report:

Investigators don’t think it’s polio - eight of the nine children are up to date on polio vaccinations

…Okay.. take a breather, but I am going to re-re-remind you of something  have linked to for days now: The vaccinated are being hit the hardest by this illness. 

I am not a doctor, an expert.. just an observer. And I am observing something really bizarre happening concerning this virus..

FIREBALL ALLEY

There have been four fireballs seen in the Eastern United States in just the past 24 hours. 

The info:

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  Event #2305-2014 was seen at approximately 1:11 local time (EDT) in FL and GA.

  
  


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  Event #2306-2014 – Over 77 witnesses from MI, IL, OH, IN, ON WI, PA, NY and KY reported a bright fireball over Michigan around 21:55 local time.

  
  


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  Event #2307-2014 – 29 witnesses from TN, AR, AL, MS, MO and KY reported seeing a fireball over Tennessee at approximately 20:30 local time

  
  


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  Event #2308-2014 – 42 witnesses in CT, PA, NY, NJ, MA and MD reported seeing a bright fireball in North Easter Pennsylvania near 20:47 local time.

  
  

This has not been the first rash of fireballs sightings. It seems like the pink stars have been falling for some time. Even I have seen a few over the past weeks, some that seemingly were only witnessed by me and a handful of others. Last week, there was one in Florida that was reportedly visible by parts of the entire state as it traveled the sky and left earth’s orbit.

Makes you wonder and ponder the chances that PLANET X is close.. or just way better reporting with the AMS’ website being the focal point for all observations. And they are good at what they do, tracking the fireballs lightning up and blazing through night skies across the nation..

But four major fireballs in one 24-hour period? Interesting.
Isn’t that how TRANSFORMERS started?

STOP! The traffic light on Mars!?

There’s been the Mars rat. The Mars face. The Mars figure walking.. the Mars arm.. leg.. You name it.

And now this: Photos of the red planet are intriguing for people looking close. Now apparently, some would so happen to claim, a street light has been found!

This random rock formation has become a phenomenon online. And it’s fun.

But I don’t think Martians would have street lights. I really don’t. That’s too earthly. And anyway, that light clearly looks like it had four bulbs, nothing like us Earthlings’ types.

THURSDAY HEADLINES

Some quick hits for your Thursday morning reading displeasure..

News from coast to coast, around the world, and back again.

Here’s an interesting story from the world of technology.. Why does every website you visit look exactly the same as the last one? What this article does not point out is the popularity of the same exact theme on many Wordpress or the like type sites.. Users pick the default for blogs. For big name sites, they are all taking the minimalist less is more approach. Mobile is the new friendly..

I remember back when the only people who talked about pole shifts were kooks were on the Art Bell radio show. Now it’s real science that is saying there is about to be a magnetic shift on the planet earth.. It happens every 780,000 or so years. So the newest reversal could be in 2000 years..

People who don’t believe in the paranormal are those who just didn’t have it happen to them yet. Andrew Evans from NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC writes about his meeting a ghost in Louisiana..

Wells are running dry in a California town..

REPORT: Air strike in Syria kills six children and zero ISIS members..

The new norm: Low wage jobs, high levels of college debt, and working through retirement until the day you die a tired death. Welcome to the new world ..

Can Ebola survivors safely care for the sick?
United States hospitals are not prepared for Ebola waste..

Sorry to that person who wrote me hating me for posting vaccine stories.. here comes two more for your displeasure:
Meet two more MMR whisteblowers, Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski.. They’re two former Merck virologists who filed a qui tam suit against Merck, the manufacturer of the very same MMR vaccine in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.. On September 5, the Judge gave the green light for the lawsuit to move forward.
And this: You know that really bad ailment, EV-D68? Apparently VACCINATED children are more vulernable than those not..

UKRAINE IS BROKE AND WINTER IS COMING..

Here’s one from the left field of conspiracy theory: Some claim that Pope Francis is guilty of child abuse and murder, saying he belonged to the Ninth Circle Satanic Child Sacrifice Cult…read on.

Some North American monsters who need their own horror movie..

Taking the low road

DAILY MAIL reports: Online revenge: U.S. State Department tweets pics of dead ISIS jihadis »

After Tuesday night’s airstrikes against ISIS in Syria, the US government tweeted photos of four dead jihadis on an account that already distributed pics of airstrike gunsights and rocket launches.

The hashtag is #thinkagainturnaway.

I am thinking again. Someone else should be, too…

Couldn’t it be argued that United States is resorting to the same game that ISIS does: Tweeting images of the dead.. I am not sure how comfortable I am with this.. as a matter of fact, it makes me downright queasy to contemplate. Shouldn’t we be better than this?

Night of the living dead: Ebola patients coming back to life?

Alright.. here comes some potential hardcore science fiction. Or amazingly scary science fact..

The “New Dawn Liberia” is reporting that two Ebola patients have risen from the dead!Their report can be read in its entirety here..

Quote from the report:

Two Ebola patients, who died of the virus in separate communities in Nimba County have reportedly resurrected in the county. The victims, both females, believed to be in their 60s and 40s respectively, died of the Ebola virus recently in Hope Village Community and the Catholic Community in Ganta, Nimba.

But to the amazement of residents and onlookers on Monday, the deceased reportedly regained life in total disbelief. The NewDawn Nimba County correspondent said the late Dorris Quoi of Hope Village Community and the second victim only identified as Ma Kebeh, said to be in her late 60s, were about to be taken for burial when they resurrected.

Other sources are also reporting on this interesting development in the Ebola virus world..All Africa is one of them.

A few points to keep in mind:

1. People don’t rise from the dead. Some say Jesus did. Others don’t think he existed.


2. Ebola has about a 70% death rate. People don’t rise from the dead after dying from Ebola.


3. The chances are these two patients may not have been dead.


4. There are good chances that this urban legend online will become some sort of science fact in many places. If these two women actually exist, perhaps they will begin a brand new religion..

And the most intriguing thing to consider .. soldiers (who are now in Africa helping in the aid of Ebola patients) trained to go there by shooting fake zombies. 

I say the story is either a hoax or an urban legend gone wrong.. BUT..

News today is too close to fiction..

But… what if this conspiracy theory holds true: That government knew for a decade that a disease would mutate and become the real life zombie apocalypse.. ? If these weird stories from Africa have any grain of salt of truth, then all of those warnings and training seminars involving zombies may finally pay off..

And… just today, Kansas started prepping for the zombie invasion.

Get your Twinkies ready. The game may be about to change.

Good luck world.

A zombie movie with a fresh start

The HORROR REPORT interviewed Chris Eilenstine, the director of a zombie flick named THE SOULLESS.

The movie looks amazing, and the storyline is fresh and inventive..  Eilenstine was kind enough to take some time and discuss the movie and his background.

The HORROR REPORT will have a full story about this, and feature some interesting back story on what makes Eilenstine tick..

Watch for that in the coming days.

Instagrabbing

The internet, simply being what it is, is still a wild west of sorts.. maybe now there are more names and less anonymity.. perhaps more privacy shedding has allowed for an interface of all seeing–or preying eyes–on our every movement.. But it is still filled with odd and sometimes downright frightening fads.

Enter the latest, as reported by Fastcompany.com: A new community on Instagram exists.. In it, users steal other users’ baby photos and children off of the net. And then they role play.. In one incident as reported in the article, this:

Sometimes they create entire fake families. Others then interact in the comments of each photo, role-playing as they virtually feed, burp, swaddle, and even reprimand these virtual children. Some Instagrammers even portray themselves as virtual adoption agencies, where followers can request specific babies and toddlers they’d like to adopt–“Looking for a two-year-old girl with blonde hair, green eyes, and who is feisty”–and the adoption agency then finds a photo, usually without permission. Role playing ensues.

This is weird, creepy.. and perverse in some deeply disturbing way.

The most precious cargo a parent can carry is their own child. Any other worldly concern falls to the bottom of the list when compared to the safety and happiness of their own kith and kin. And that is why this is so bizarre and harsh to contemplate.. someone stealing your child, in a virtual sense. The kidnapping of an identity.. role playing and creating a brand new world for the baby who simply wants to learn, discover, and laugh.  That is chilling..

The world is scary, as are people..

Maybe a few things should be in order before you post.. As people can pry. For example, check your settings. Maybe not allowing just anyone to view your information would be a prime thing to think about. That or maybe even screening friends. .and finally, the fact of the matter is this: You are not a star. I am not a star.. I write on a website. But I can be clicked on and forgotten in seconds, I get that.. perhaps a few customers of my information will stick around. But I certainly will not. I am food for worms, as are you. And often, your photos and opinions does not matter regardless of how many times you bellow it out on the social media platform of your choice. Maybe there comes a time and place for a few photos of your child–I know I have done it. But for the most part, the pictures I take are private. I keep them safe, I don’t upload them to the cloud, and I have a grand plan to get them all printed out in an old fashioned 20th century way. Time is rarely on my side, though, and that has been a long delayed personal project.

Perhaps also the people who do these role playings should be evaluated for mental health. If you know someone who role plays, that’s fine. I have some friends who masquerade on weekends on Civil War and Medieval reenanactors, and zombies. Thus far they haven’t shown me signs that they really believe they are what they pretend they are. But we all need to be careful,.

Staying grounded in the real world–or as real as we perceive it being–is often tough. As nightly news issues its latest blood torn press releases, we often want to fly away into a pretend land where nothing is painful and life lives on forever. But it does not. The real world is now.. you are simply typing letters on a keyboard or reading words on a screen.. The photos of your dinner last night will not impress anyone beyond the second it will take for someone to ‘like it.’ And it does not matter how many followers you have, because there’s  a good chance they really don’t follow anything you say.. The real world, my friends, is dark and dingy.

That being said, it’s still amazing to be alive.
Your own life..
Not the innocent life of a child who has parents and a family.. don’t steal that. That’s the most important thing someone owns. Don’t be an Instaphile, people.

Monday night news

Developing news: The United States and allies launched airstrikes against Sunni militants in Syria early Tuesday, unleashing a torrent of cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs from the air and sea on the militants’ de facto capital of Raqqa and along the porous Iraq border...

Washington POST: Airstrikes begin.. Obama thrusts the United States into Syria's civil war..

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After a weekend of break in attempts and fence hoppers, the White House will now begin locking the front door..
Welcome to the rest of America..

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The WHO warns: 1 million cases of Ebola by 2015..

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Hulu and J.J. Abrams to Adapt Stephen King’s JFK Assassination Novel.. Looking forward to this..

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Joseph Gordon Levitt to play Edward Snowden in Oliver Stone pic..

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Slenderman makes a magazine! The newest issue of PARANOIA features him no the cover..

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GOTHAM review: A city drowning in villains.. *And me kicking myself for forgetting it was on tonight..


Meanwhile UNDER THE DOME ends its season. And hopefully its series. This dome may be intact, but the storyline is a wreck.. it collasped after the pink stars fell all over it.
I really don't know if CBS will bring it back---They have yet to confirm... but this season took entertainment to a new low. It may have been one of the most poorly written and acted television programs ever on the TEEE VEEE set.

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A new study claims that drinking wine is better than going to the gym.. First off, they are saying this because of resveratrol... resveratrol is also found in dark chocolate.. Secondly, does anyone with common sense think that drinking wine for health translates into drinking an entire bottle or more a night? That weight you think you'll be losing will pack on faster than snow during a Christmas blizzard..

And speaking of stupid medical stories and common sense: More 'breaking news' today of what men can do to avoid heart attacks. Get ready: Don't drink, smoke, and don't have a giant stomach the size of an extra person.

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The Georgia Guidestones get an update: 2014..

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Journalism 2014: What does human meat taste like? Apparently this question is best to be asked after news like this: London chefs cooking up a burger than will supposedly taste like people.. But what do we taste like you ask? Hence the investigative article..

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700 years together, holding hands still.. A show of love .. from a time long ago.
Who says chivalry is buried..

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Fall begins. Summer returns..

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When we don't want to go.. the near death experiences we really fear

There is something very raw about the death of a human .. Very emotional, very real. When you’re up close, often in the presence of someone who lose the final battle to whatever ailment or frailty making the suffer, the heavy weight is apparent.. Even those who don’t subscribe to a higher power battle deep questions within.. I think we all wish the soul travels to a better place. Some of us have faith that it does. Others don’t. The rest of us simply don’t know–even though we read warnings that the light is  trick and trap, we all tend to gravitate towards it anyway, according to accounts of near death activities..

But there is one type of death that is a little more weighty.. a little more sad.. a little more real.

So many people who succumb to the end are scared to go.. They often are aided by hospice workers or family in the final moments, almost with some persuading them to go down that path to the tunnel of light in the distance.. Other people are fully ready to go. They exist in their final moments between the here and the there, the veil is thin and they happily travel between two realities. Whether the brain is tricking us into thinking there is something more or there really is, some people seem profoundly ready to find that answer..

There are some people, though, frail and losing a battle with endless pain.. fighting like hell to stay alive. But why, we would ask? Wouldn’t they realize that the lack of pain on ‘the other side’ or six feet under is much better a result than the one they are suffering through?
Maybe it’s not.
Maybe, for them, staying alive is very personal.

Many people want to live to see family be welcomed into the world, or see a son or daughter graduate. They want to see the conclusion to a mission.. or hell, maybe even a movie premiere that they’ve been waiting for all of their lives.

Because no matter the pain and misfortune on this planet, there are still some good days. The silver lining, perhaps.. or the tree growing green in the middle of a vast wasteland. Signs of hope always abound.. even if the planet loses all of its humans through some epic shedding of blood, life will be born over again. New life.. amazing life..

And some out there who are meeting the maker just want to stick around.. a few more hours, sometimes, until family gets there to say goodbye. Or a few more days, sometimes.. or months. Or maybe even longer, if they could choose to stick around.

The desire to stay alive is not necessarily a narcissistic endeavor. It’s a human trait. We fight to survive, always.  Even as the body dies, the brain sends a wave of chemicals through the body in one last attempt to just breathe and keep a heart beating.

At this point–we think–there’s no way to stick around forever. We can edge closer to the cure to death, or perhaps buy some time with medical marvels.. but the body still dies.

Right now, there’s a chance that you are seeing someone die who does not want to.
I am.
And it’s an incredibly painful thing to see.. knowing that they see the ending of a book and simply yearn for one last chapter..

A Sunday morning headache free sidewalk

On any website I have ever owned and operated, I have often called the Sunday update the 'Sunday morning sidewalk' ... It's best if you listen to SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN, your favorite version, as you read.. I am listening while I write.
I fondly recall being a child in the town of Centralia, PA (look that if you don't know anything about it), racing up and down the street on a Sunday morning on my awesome three-wheeler.. My father in the house loudly playing that song .. my mother yelling out to keep it quiet because Church next door was in session. Those were the days...So long ago but yet somehow to close in the mind.. as though I could reach out and grab the past to bring it back in..
And some may think that Johnny Cash is the only one capable of singing that song with perfection. I disagree.. Chris Kristoferson does a fine job. As did a few others who covered it. So your favorite does not have to be that of the deeply mellow Cash. Though for some reason, that song brings a deeply mellow feeling to my soul..

But there are things happening around the planet.. news of importance and some not.. It's all another day.
Another Sunday.
Another Sunday morning sidewalk.

It's going to be a beautiful late summer day in New York City.. The perfect day for a climate change march.. While I don't take any scientific side on this issue for the purposes of this news update, I say only this: The ice caps are not gone as some predicted they would be by 2014.. But climate change is real. Weather is altering in many places. However, it happened before. And will again.. The what extent human beings are destroying the planet? The evidence for our own ruin can be seen in oceans. Plastic heaps. Dumps. And fish are eating.. we are eating fish. We are plastic. Even more so perhaps than the plastic faced clowns of Tinseltown. I have a deeper concern over the GMOs and chemical modifications than I do about carbon emissions. .. Because in my opinion, there is direct evidence that we are destroying ourselves with what we eat..

TURNING TO IS ISIL IS news..(What are we officially calling them these days?) A history of ISIS beheadings--and a training manual of US sponsored Syrian 'pro-democracy' freedom fighters.. Good read.  Another interesting but yet chilling read: A Lebanese television channel recently aired a special on child soldiers. They quoted one young 12-year-old as saying that when he is a sniper and shoots soldiers, he doesn't 'feel anything.' Even more, he says he has gotten used to being a sniper..

Dateline Texas.. a Texas hospital has exposed 700 infants to TB.. As scary as that news is, it is very real. The hospital named in El Paso: Providence Memorial Hospital.. 40 employees were also exposed along with the innocent young babies.. Letters have been sent to the parents of the children.. These potential dramatic numbers of exposure-maybes come after an employee was infected with the disease. That employee, in some weird horror-movie like twist, worked in the hospital's nursery..
DOWN IN THE WEST TEXAS TOWN OF EL PASO,
I WAS EXPOSED TO TUBERCULOSIS..

News today that the Secret Service is launching an investigation into the man who ran the White House grounds and actually gained entrance through the front doors. They should investigate. Heads should roll. No pun intended--the pun being formed by news that the man who was running the lawn actually was equipped with a knife in his pocket.. No word from any official that this was a form of a terror threat, but the threat of the President being taken down by some lunatic with a knife is a clear and apparent danger, apparently: The President was boarding his helicopter four minutes prior.. That's not much time. There are some bizarre facts coming out about this incident, as well.. As mentioned, the intruder had a knife. His name is Omar Gonzales. He is 42 and from Coppers Cove, Texas. The official police affidavit says that he carried the knife and claimed that he needed to talk to the President about the atmosphere collapsing.' He also did three tours in Iraq..
No criminal history. Drug test negative.. So either he's a lunatic with a three-and-a-half-inch Spyderco VG-10 black, serrated folding knife .. or he noticed, as we all did, that the gates of hades have opened..

Some quick hits of news for your viewing displeasure:
Columbia: A weird illness plagues girls.. it's being blamed on the HPV virus vaccine. First their hands and feet feel cold. Then they go pale and cannot move. Some convulse and fall to the floor..

Timing is everything: Al Gore's mic fails at a weird moment..

The vaccine debate has reared its head again (not referring to the ongoing CDC whisteleblower scandal, but another one): New study claims to show a link between widespread use of fetal cell vaccines and an upsurge in autism..

Why has the year 2014 been added to the Georgia Guidestones?

The best spokeswoman ever: JOAN RIVERS is still promoting the iPhone 6..

Kate Hudson sees dead people.. Read here.