Troy

Pioneer, that is funny I'm an Aries as well As far as dead people -- feel free to joke. What is the point. if we can't poke fun at each other once in a while. :-) Del yeah when my knowledge of astrology was limited to the daily horoscope published in the papers, I completely dismissed it as rubbish. After taking a class and seeing the results of a few readings I'm not so quick to dismiss it. I'm not saying I believe it completely I just don't completely reject it. Now that Pluto as been demoted from a Planet and we know there are other objects that exert an even larger influence than Pluto what has this revelation done to the astrological community? As far as psychic readings, I've had a few and know one ever said anything that was particularly compelling. Nothing that could not be divined through careful observation or plating the odds. I do them for fun, curiosity and the remote chance I discover someone with undeniable psychic ability (something I have not experience) I did have one reading, my first one, in the mid 1980's. The psychic said my I would be breakup with my girl friend, and that I would be relocating. I did not have plans to do either. Both happened within 1 year.

Pioneer, I will check out Grindhouse. Have you seen Reservoir Dogs (I believe Tarantino's first flick). I like that Reservoir Dogs more than Django, but less that Pulp Fiction. The best part of Django was Samuel Jackson. i would not be surprised if he is nominated for an academy award. The Klanmans' hood scene was funny (but too long). I think if the film ran another 30 minutes my head would have exploded.

Hi Pioneer of course I’m focused on your reasoning as your conclusions are a direct consequence of it. Using your calculator analogy; if you were trying to calculate, say the volume of a sphere, but used the wrong formula, the calculator would give you the right calculation but the wrong answer. Pioneer you are missing my point – even if I agreed with you based upon my own experiences I would never then jump to the conclusion that the observations applied to any other Italians than the ones you and I have observed. As a result, based upon what you have told me I would not assume you are right – regardless of my observations. If you are restricting your observation to ONLY Italian Americans, then that would certainly bias your observations almost completely on culture. OK let revisit what you wrote: "Any AfroAmerican who has lived, worked, or spent any reasonable about of time around Italian Americans can't help but to notice some of the behavioral and even physical similarities between them and us more so than other White Americans." I’m African America and have spent time with Italian people. I have not noticed the similarities you suggest (spicy food, loud clothing*). Now that my observations are in direct opposition to your what happens to your theory? Black people, white people, Italian Americans are such a diverse community of people, within their own demographic, comparison with folks of a different demographic is virtually impossible with being very methodical. Drawing conclusion without doing is just an anecdotal observation – true for you but not, necessarily true in general. ________________________ *Black people liking spicy food and loud clothing is a stereotype.

Del I've heard of Goswami, but I'll review the material you've provided. It will take a few days. When I was a kid my people in the south used to always tell stories about dead people. Recently an aunt in her late 80's told she would see AND hear my descended grandmother walk through the house open and close cabinets, etc. Someone I know really well said they saw a young girl walking in their apartment -- just a plain as day. They knew she was an apparition, a ghost of some form, and left on her own. I've heard many similar stories. The mind is a funny thing. I think it is more likely these people where hallucinating than seeing actual spirits. Cynique, whenever I think about someone -- out of the blue I almost always here from them within a day. This happens so often I don't even question it anymore. In fact it happened this morning. Sometimes I feel like I can tell when someone is thinking about me. But I think there are simpler explanations like coincidences. Cynique I always wanted to learn how to play bridge.

Pioneer I don't have to met any Italians to know your reasoning is flawed. Again, just because YOU observed something does not make it true outside what you've observed. Again, if who want to extend your observations to an entire group of people go ahead. Just don't be surprised if others, like myself, are astonished by your methods for drawing conclusions. In terms or how large a sample you need and how much data should be collected, measured and evaluated would require a courses. I would however start by looking at Italians native to various regions in Italy -- this might help eliminate of the cultural bias you may be observed in New York.. How many Italians in Italy have you observed and evaluated?

Pioneer, Spike Lee has not seen the movie -- forget what he has to say, the media is just stirring up some BS. You loved the film -- wow! You did not feel it was too long at all? You did not find the shoot outs over the top with the blood splatter? That last scene reminded me of a video game. You did mind the spurious characters that served no purpose like the woman with the bandana over her face? You did not mind the complete break down of the Django partner (he was a different character by the end of the movie)? I agreed the actors were very good. Foxx was fine in his role. Jackson of off the chain -- he does really well with Tarantino's writing. Did you ever see Pulp Fiction? How would you rank Pulp Fiction versus Django as a film? Someone described the affinity Black people had for the film being derived from the fact that so many white people where slaughtered by a Black superhero. Would you put yourself in this category Pioneer?

Pioneer I'll checked out the Project Star Gate site briefly there is too much for me to try to consume right now. Would you be kind enough to summarize the findings or provide a link that does.

Yeah I like him too Pioneer. Here is typical Tyson reasoning (Alien vs. Human Intelligence) make me appreciate his reasoning and humor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxfJfv9tirU

There has been quite a bit of discussion about the paranormal lately as it relates to inspiration. A number of people here and in conversations I've had with others say that they are inspired by the universal consciousness, departed family members and other sources through non-verbal communications, typically while sleeping or, for the more sophisticated, during a meditative state. My personal beliefs are nearly as black and white as I may have expressed in a couple of conversations here. I was raised a Christian (Baptist), but I've read about a variety of things particularly as if relates to the paranormal. While I find the possibilities and subject fascinating I remain highly skeptical -- it is my nature. I've actually taken a course in Astrology and found it very interesting. I've actually hosted a Tarot Card reading party. Delano, a new participant here actually did the readings (Del and I go back over 20 years). This evening I'm a taking intro course in Transcendental Meditation. I'm also very fascinated by all the relatively recent discoveries in Quantum Physics. The idea of the Higgs Field which permeates everything, and concepts like Quantum Superposition and Entanglement boggles my mind. I'm not in a hurry to assume any of the discoveries or theories in quantum mechanics is proof of God despite the use of terms like "The God Particle" the media is fond of using in relation to the Higgs Boson. I never heard any of the scientist involved in the field make a connection between quantum mechanics and God or anything paranormal. I say all this to say that the idea of mental telepathy, while fascinating and I believe within the realm of possibility is not something I personally believe has been accomplished by anyone in such a way that it can be proven. I also realize people are capable of believing anything. I also realize an open dialog is a waster of time as these beliefs are a matter of faith, or brainwashing -- simply not open to debate. Despite that I'm open to try... Delano, you mentioned you had two friends that could read you mind. What where they able to do to convince you that they were actually reading your mind?

Del I'm going to start a new conversation regarding telepathy....

Dr. Neil deGrass Tyson Interview: thoughts on Writing, Mars, Curiosity, and the Higgs Boson Author Sandra Kitt, who I believe is Kensington's first Black romance author, who also worked with Dr. Tyson for 2 decades has generously agreed to provide me with an exclusive interview with Dr. Tyson. My schedule, unfortunately would not allow me to record the interview -- Tyson is hard to nail down with a schedule that make me look like I'm standing still. Kitt was one of the 1st authors profiled on AALBC.com and she was written, I'd guess, about 40 books or more by now. I recently connected with her for the first time in over a decade at our last Black Pack Party. Thanks again Sandra.

In an AALBC.com interview with Trey Songz about his role in Texas Chainsaw 3D of course his love interest is not Black Again I'm not forcing this issue it is just the reality of movie relationship coming out of Hollywood. The only exception recently was Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington in DJango. I guess at the end of the day Black on Black heterosexual love is not marketable to a large audience unless there is severe dysfunction.

Admin=Troy Yes I'm almost 21 years past 30 Pioneer. I have no recollection of speaking with someone who has died. Sure I've dreamed about people living and dead, but I never assumed this had anything to do with actually interacting with these people -- especially the dead ones. I've had dreams that I could l fly too -- but I don't assume I was actually flying. Of course I've read about people who have experienced the same thing, but claim they can control it and experience actual events, thousands of miles away. Until this is proven in a experiment (a very easy one to setup) I don't believe this either.

Hi Pioneer, your statement is the definition of a stereotype. Your observations only means something to you and can not, by extension, be ascribed to everyone else in the group you are stereotyping. No you don't have to meet every woman in the world, and while you may have met 1,000's of women, you can not associate your observations to the other 3.5 Billion woman. Your sample set is just too small and your way of making the determination of relative self-consciousnesses about appearance is flawed. That is you have not meet enough women, and you are not skilled enough to determine self-conscientiousness. Or maybe you just roll in an environment where self-conscious women are abundant -- do you see my point? It is like the cop cruising in Harlem that assumes every Brother with a nice car is a drug dealer, because he has arrested a few. Or the teacher who assumes every Black boy she teaches is not as smart as the white boys in the neighborhood she lives in. Of course the teacher, with 25 years experience, in a poor neighborhood, who may have taught a couple thousand kids, may be completely convinced her conservations must apply to all the other Black kids in the world -- even places she has never been. When in reality, her conservations aren't even valid in the sample of her own students - but she is too biased, racist, and prejudiced to see it. These racial biases are magnified in a racist culture, so much so that I'd be willing to bet, in their hearts of hearts, White people believe Black boys are just dumber on average than anyone else. The manner in which we are educated just reinforces the stereotypes to reflect this bias --and the resulting outcomes create a downward spiral... Stereotyping, while apparently natural, can lead to some disastrous decisions.

Pioneer, I think the prospect of getting caught and being punished right here on earth is a much greater deterrent for most people than "the divine" or some "innate sense that ultimate justice beyond this world". Obviously God is not deterring, or even a factor in Obama's decision to use flying death machines "drones" to kill people "sustain collateral damage" in the Middle East. Sure, I believe telepathy is possible, I just have not seen any evidence of it. Even Del's description of his experience is rather nebulous. I don't count people who "claim" they can do something as proof. I don't, for example, believe that anyone can communicate with the dead. Sure it is quite lucrative to convince others, willing to believe, but I don't think anyone has managed the feat. So while anything is possible, some things are very unlikely. Of course understanding where one's inspiration originates a worthy goal, so that you can get more of it whenever the mood strikes you. I just don't think the odds are very high inspiration comes from your recently departed aunt Gladys, or Zeus.

Pioneer1, what your are describing are classic stereotypes and are not based upon anything more than the observations of a subset of people, which does not mean much when you try to extend it to an entire group of people.. Some of what you describe in terms of behavior, dress, etc would be better attributed to social class of just being brought up in a similar environment.

Pioneer1 I assume this was written in jest....right? Del, what?!

I honestly agree with Cynique. Del is it your communications device that is forcing you to post each sentence on a different line, or are you doing that for effect? In any case if you could avoid that it would be helpful. Del when you communicate Telepathically does one personal biases disappear too. Cause I doubt I could handle the complete thoughts of those closest to me.-- and I sure would not want to share mine

This eNewsletter is numbered 197, but I've published well over 200. I only have them archived going back to February of 2001. I guess it never occurred to me to save them. I guess I never thought I'd be creating them for so long... http://aalbc.it/newsdec12 Let me know what you think good or bad -- seriously. I've been doing this thing for almost 15 years and there are things I can still learn. At the top of my wish list is an editor, I could also use more fiction book reviews too. There no fiction book reviews in this issue that may have never happened. Book review writing It is a dying art, but so desperately needed. So many reviews I read are simply promotional copy written to benefit the author -- or haters doing the opposite. I see you can get some positive "verified" Amazon reviews written for 5 Bucks over at Fiverr. Indeed reviewers especially for a film will review a movie more favorably than it deserves in order not to lose access to future films or to the principals involved. Would you believe we have lost access to an individual for slamming a film. Reviewing is a corrupt, petty business. Without independent entities with the willingness to tell the truth and ask hard questions we are all being lied to. That is one thing I miss about Thumper he never pulled any punches you could disagree with him but if he did not like your book, that fact would be plain as day -- the same was true if he liked it -- authors and readers appreciated his honesty, nothing political just his honest opinion. I've begun to solicit subscribers to pay a modest $7.99 annual fee to receive the enewsletter. Thank you Cynique and any other lurkers here who may have paid for their subscriptions. The money will help pay book reviewers and the overhead to produce the eNewsletter. I started to drop a few thousand subscribers names from my mailing list to save some money. The bigger your mailing list the more it costs to maintain with these 3rd party services. I ran some queries to identify people who had not opened an eNewsletter in over a year and figured I'd drop them and save some money. But I ran into a couple of snags because unless people down load the images in my eNewsletter, which is optional in programs like MS Outlook, I can't tell if they actually opened the email. The email contains an very small image which tells my system the email has been opened, so if they only read the text or can only accept text, I can't tell if the opened the email. I got too many email from people who said they read the enewsletter when I'd flagged them for deletion. It looks like I'm not going to save any money dropping subscribers - I can't risk dropping people who actually read the eNewsletter. I got an email from someone who wrote they would pay for a subscription if I did not cover Urban Fiction. This is not an uncommon sentiment. I wanted to say go "F" yourself, but I tried to show how I cover all types of authors. I knew I was wasting my time as people like that are really not interested in really understanding a different perspective... I get emails all the time from authors asking if I can review their book or cover them in an eNewsletter. None of these author have paid to subscribe to the eNewsletter. Of course this is not a requirement... I'm just saying. Jayne Cortez, passed a few days ago. More people should have been aware of her work. Frank Yerby, who I included in this month's eNewsletter is perhaps the highest grossing African American author who ever lived, but I don't think anyone knows who he is. Shoot a lot of people don't know who Alice Walker is... Today everyone knows Spike Lee does not like Django, but know one knows the title of Spike's last movie. Maybe if Tarantino would trash Lee's next movie publicly some buzz would be generated. Over the years, it seems to me that Black people know less and less about their culture as time goes on. This is just based upon what attracts people's attention as viewed from the narrow lens of my eNewsletter and website activity. i had no intention of writing all of this. I was just going to post a notice that I'd pubbed a eNewsletter. I guess i needed to vent , before going out an drinking too much for my own good tonight. Happy New Year Everyone!

I just published Kam's 100 Favorite films for 2012. He ranked Django, amazing, 3rd in the big budget film category: http://aalbc.it/bestfilmsof2012 Kam and I rarely agree on movies I re-watched Root within in the last few years and it seemed innocuous by today's standards...

Yeah it is interesting how the conversation went quickly from where do we get your inspiration to one of life's most fundamental questions, what is the nature of the universe and where do we fit in it. I guess, fundamentally, the answer to that big question is indeed the answer to the original question; Where Does Your Inspiration Come From? At various readings and lectures I've heard writers say their inspiration comes from the Lord, Our Savior, Jesus Christ, or spirits who speak to them or just the desire to make more money. Religious folks will say religion was inspired, if not outright brought to us by a divine spirit. A Supreme Being or Ominipotent Force are indistinguishable to their God, or Gods, or for some, ourselves.. We all have some belief system. Some believe it is perfectly perfectly OK to kill someone else for something they have, that you want. Others believe this is evil. Some entities, like governments, say something is evil, but take direct actions exhibiting exactly what they said was evil. Of course people do this too, but governments get away with it more. If there is a universal truth -- it is anything but universally accepted, known or understood.

My reviewer Kam liked Django: http://bit.ly/django2012

Pioneer check out this short video where several physical are asked a simple question: Do you believe in God? I'm not suggesting that these responses should be extended to the entire population of scientist, but their reasoning would be useful. Also I think FAR more people, lie about believing in God than the other way around.

Great recommendation Nah'Sun! THIS is why we need independent, Black owned websites AND Black bookstores! I learned about the 1st Hidden Colors, this Summer, in a Bookstore in Virginia Beach, VA, Positive Vibes. I asked them to show me the most popular thing in the store It was the 1st Hidden Colors. I knew the 2nd one was coming but had not heard anything about it until now. The Black people bitching about Tanrantino or what Spike thinks about a movie he has not seen need to be talking about Hidden Colors 2 Nah'Sun, I really can't recommend what people should do about going to see DJango. They will need to make there own decision. For people with a similar sensibility to me, I would recommend waiting for Netfix. But if you want to be part of the conversation, you may not want to wait that long. My wife felt the same way I did, perhaps more negative. My daughters who are 19 and 20 enjoyed the film. Though the 19 year old admitted dozing. It was a long film that felt longer.

You may here Jamie speak here: http://aalbc.it/jamiefoxx2012 and Tarantino here: http://aalbc.it/qt2012