The Danielverse

"Each of you is his own universe, and your inner and outer realities regularly form your very own Hall of Mirrors."  ~The Reconnections.

December, 2008

Quote of the Day (click here)

SNOWFALL IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST! 

We must have been dreaming.....of a White Christmas......

Juanita Beach, Washington.  Two Days Before Christmas.  Slippin' and a Slidin'!!!!

Taken in and around the Neenster's House.

_____________________________________

 

What was THAT?  Yow!

Such Stuff Happening This Month.......Man, O Man.......

"Illinois:  Where Our Governors Make Our License Plates"

 

Farewell Forry! Moving On to Glory.....

THE GRAND OLD MAN OF SCI-FI PASSES ON

By JOHN ROGERS – 12/5/2008

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Forrest J "Forry" Ackerman, the sometime actor, literary agent, magazine editor and full-time bon vivant who discovered author Ray Bradbury and was widely credited with coining the term "sci-fi," has died. He was 92.

Ackerman died Thursday of heart failure at his Los Angeles home, said Kevin Burns, head of Prometheus Entertainment and a trustee of Ackerman's estate.

Although only marginally known to readers of mainstream literature, Ackerman was legendary in science-fiction circles as the founding editor of the pulp magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland. He was also the owner of a huge private collection of science-fiction movie and literary memorabilia that for years filled every nook and cranny of a hillside mansion overlooking Los Angeles.


"He became the Pied Piper, the spiritual leader, of everything science fiction, fantasy and horror," Burns said Friday.

Every Saturday morning that he was home, Ackerman would open up the house to anyone who wanted to view his treasures. He sold some pieces and gave others away when he moved to a smaller house in 2002, but he continued to let people visit him every Saturday for as long as his health permitted.

"My wife used to say, 'How can you let strangers into our home?' But what's the point of having a collection like this if you can't let people enjoy it?" an exuberant Ackerman told The Associated Press as he conducted a spirited tour of the mansion on his 85th birthday.

His collection once included more than 50,000 books, thousands of science-fiction magazines and such items as Bela Lugosi's cape from the 1931 film "Dracula."

His greatest achievement, however, was likely discovering Bradbury, author of the literary classics "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Martian Chronicles." Ackerman had placed a flyer in a Los Angeles bookstore for a science-fiction club he was founding and a teenage Bradbury showed up.

Later, Ackerman gave Bradbury the money to start his own science-fiction magazine, Futuria Fantasia, and paid the author's way to New York for an authors meeting that Bradbury said helped launch his career.

"I hadn't published yet, and I met a lot of these people who encouraged me and helped me get my career started, and that was all because of Forry Ackerman," the author told the AP in 2005.

Later, as a literary agent, Ackerman represented Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and numerous other science-fiction writers.

He said the term "sci-fi" came to him in 1954 when he was listening to a car radio and heard an announcer mention the word "hi-fi."

"My dear wife said, 'Forget it, Forry, it will never catch on,'" he recalled.

Soon he was using it in Famous Monsters of Filmland, the magazine he helped found in 1958 and edited for 25 years.

 

 

Ackerman himself appeared in numerous films over the years, usually in bit parts. His credits include "Queen of Blood," "Dracula vs. Frankenstein," "Amazon Women on the Moon," "Vampirella," "Transylvania Twist," "The Howling" and the Michael Jackson "Thriller" video. More recently, he appeared in 2007's "The Dead Undead" and 2006's "The Boneyard Collection."

Ackerman returned briefly to Famous Monsters of Filmland in the 1990s, but he quickly fell out with the publisher over creative differences. He sued and was awarded a judgment of more than $375,000.

Forrest Ackerman was born in Los Angeles on Nov. 24, 1916. He fell in love with science-fiction, he once said, when he was 9 years old and saw a magazine called Amazing Stories. He would hold onto that publication for the rest of his life.

Ackerman, who had no children, was preceded in death by his wife, Wendayne.

More OBITUARY NEWS (click here)
 

 

 

Forrest J Ackerman on Morning Show, 1986

A Tour of the Ackermansion

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

DJ says:  "Forry Ackerman was quite special to me.  I was an avid horror-sci-fi buff when I was 13-15 years old.  And I've remained a fan of all the movies. Some friends and I put on a Convention in my home town of Long Beach, California back in the 60s. Forry was there, as was Robert Bloch and Bert Gordon (Director of "The Amazing Colossal Man"). It was a blast. I got to be "Master of Scarymonies."  A few months later, I visited the Ackermansion in L.A. (see the above You Tubes)   What an amazing place!  Inspiring, really.  Forry was a legend, and will be greatly missed.

I still have a letter from Bela Lugosi, Jr., politely declining my invite to join us at the Convention.  And one from Carol Borland, too (Mark of the Vampire).  Bela Lugosi was my favorite horror actor back in those days.  I still have my scrapbook with all the Convention "Stuff" in it.  A really fun time in my life.  Rest in Peace, my friend.  Or as FORRY would say:  "Rest in Pieces!"   (He was a real punster, that guy)."
 

THE CONTRAPTION:  What Retired Engineers Do. . .

 

Click HERE

Terrorism Strikes Mumbai, India

From The Reconnections. . . .

"We will give it to you straight.  These attacks, and others like them, are not the result of a breakdown in national security.  Nor are they (necessarily) the beginning of the end.  They are incisions---the steady hand of a Universal Physician--- that are being made into the Mass Consciousness, awakening and activating all who might sleep through the rising tides of energy that are forming in and around your planet.  
 
The specifics surrounding the players in these dramas sting terribly.  But faces and causes will change regularly within the next few of your years.  The effect, however, will always be the same.  You all will begin to feel, and you will learn to heal.  The activation of your compassion and sense of personal connection will balance this harsh idealism, with its over-emphasis on being the Hunter-Gatherer.   
 
What is Terrorism?   It is idealism that acts without feeling.   It is nurturing a daily habit of depersonalization, being driven by some inner focus, right past the faces of humanity that are pressed up against the window of your soul.   

There will always be "sides" and struggles.  It is the nature of things.  The Montagues have been warring with the Capulets all across time. Different names, different faces........the same numbed-out hearts.  Now is Mercutio slain.  Tomorrow the sword will be chasing Tybalt.   And all have become "fortune's fool."  
 
This process is but a dream, and you are the Dreamer.  Go inside.  0wn it, be with it, feel it.  The soldiers on the front line will do their work.  Be sure that you do yours.  Awareness is the only healing that is necessary.  It's always been with you, you just have to reach out and claim it.  When you own the rage, the hunger, the madness as self........the children will begin to be fed and loved again.  
 
Can you see?  It is ALL but a reflection in the stream of your consciousness.  Go.  Look.  Recognize your face and take what you see into the center of your being.  We are speaking about Open-Heart Mergery, My Friends.  Healing on a Global Scale.  But, before that comes to pass, it must all be about just you.   You must make it personal.   



Now go.  Be with what we have shared.  The "marching orders" will be issued when you are upon the road.   Be done with this Terrorism.  Be done with numbness and repose.  Let the Captains of the World rattle their sabres, even as your inner work shakes them right down to their core. 
 
Armaggedon is, indeed, being fought............ not with swords, or on ANY one nation's soil.........but in the fields of the human heart.  They can either be "killing fields"........or they can bring forth a bounty of love and splendour.  The choice is yours.  The time for decision is now.  
 
We love you all."
 
<end transmission>  

   

September 20, 2001

FIGHTING THE INNER WAR

SHADOW CHALLENGE: PLANET EARTH

Another Rival to Join the Team

WATCH: Obama Unveils National Security Team

From the Reconnections:  "A Circle of Rivals"

December 1.   I wrote one of my rare e-mails to CNN today.  I had been listening to Campbell Browns' "No bias. No bull" segment on the early Evening News.  Apparently, someone had asked Obama to explain the divergence between the comments he made about Hillary Clinton's Diplomatic Expertise (during the campaign) and his current nomination of her as Secretary of State.  In response to the reporters' questions, the new President-Elect chuckled.  He said:  "All right, all right, I understand that the Press is having fun right now---calling attention to statements made during the heat of campaigning."  And really, that was all he said. 

Apparently, Campbell Brown and CNN took exception to that.  She went on and on about the obligation of the Press to "Keep them honest".......and "if President-Elect Obama has changed his mind about Hillary's abilities, he should just say so."  Normally, I am a Campbell Brown fan.  I see her as one of the rising stars on CNN.  But frankly, I felt embarrassed for her.  It seemed like someone had decided that it's time to pick a fight with our new leader, and "teach" him the power and place of the press in public life.  In my eyes, all she did was look pseudo "righteous" and ridiculous, and I told CNN this. 

There will be plenty of things to "pick apart" in days to come.  And the News Team at CNN is usually on point with that process.  David Gergen is my favorite, but I identify with many of the opinions I hear there.  But this bogus issue was not worthy of taking up Obama's time.  It only stands to reason that ANYONE who could rock the Democratic Primary like Hillary Clinton did this year could pretty much write her own ticket.  Obama has called a powerful former "rival" to be part of his Transition Team.  The time of campaigning is over.  There are no more slams, talking points, racial or gender slurs, promises or excuses.  Now is WORK TIME.  Let's not sharpen our knives too soon, okay?  If ever there was a time to give an Incoming Administration the benefit of the doubt, it's now.   

DJ.