View Obscura

Over the past few months I have been really getting into podcasts. I have been listening to all different kinds of stuff from sports and history to national politics. From these programs I have learned a lot of interesting information. On the flip side of that I have learned a lot of things that truly scare the crap out of me. Today's episode of The Truth with Lisa Boothe was one of those eye opening and bone chilling podcasts. Today Lisa interviewed Maximo Alvarez, a Cuban refugee who migrated to USA during the early days of Fidel Castro's communist takeover of Cuba. During the interview Alvarez details how the Soviets were able to influence the Cuban people into accepting the ideas that would pave the way for the Castro regime to gain power. The scary part is that Alvarez sees the same tactics playing out here in America today. I would take time to outline the points that Alvarez talked about but I believe that his own words have a more powerful punch than anything I could ty...

From Dynamite Entertainment One of the oldest and most iconic couples in genre fiction reunite once more this summer in Dejah Thoris vs. John Carter of Mars by sci-fi superstar Dan Abnett! Kicking off this July from Dynamite, Abnett (Guardians of the Galaxy, Aquaman) opens a new chapter in the storied history of Barsoom and its charismatic couple. Serving as a perfect jumping-on point for new and returning fans, while also continuing threads from Abnett's previous tales, the love of Dejah Thoris and John Carter will be tested by a grave new threat and cataclysmic planet-wide war. "Now that John Carter has returned, is he still the legendary hero they all respect?," said writer Dan Abnett. "And are he and his beloved Dejah still working to the same ends? It's a tale of swords, sorcery, space gods and true love, an interplanetary romance in the true sense of both those words." Barsoom has been in crisis, wracked by freak weather seemingly signifying a coming i...

I'm surprised that I missed this ... From IDW Publishing I DW and Toho International, Inc. are proud to announce a multi-year publishing program that will bring Godzilla and dozens of monsters from the Godzilla live action films to a wide selection of publications and merchandise. Beginning in spring 2021, Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and dozens of kaiju will stomp their way across IDW’s line of comic books, graphic novels, trade collections, art books, coloring books, journals, tabletop games, and puzzles. Furthering IDW’s company-wide mission to expand the most beloved story worlds across all mediums, the publishing program — available in print and digitally — will represent a comprehensive range of content, delivering city-stomping entertainment to young readers and adult audiences. “We’re very excited to work with Toho to build a comprehensive array of stories and products that Godzilla fans everywhere can enjoy,” says Nachie Marsham, IDW’s publisher. “Their library...

I think that it is safe to say that every horror and monster movie fan has heard of the Universal classic 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' and it's two sequels 'Revenge of the Creature' and 'The Creature Walks Among Us'. Yet how many of you have ever heard of the 1955 horror classic 'Return of the Creature?' Anyone? ... Anyone? ... Anyone at all? Well that's actually not too surprising considering that it was only seen once and then was subsequently forgotten for over fifty years. Let me explain, way back in 1955 while Jack Arnold and his crew were slaving away making 'Revenge of the Creature' at Florida's Marine Studios. Several of the crew members thought it would be a hoot to film their own creature spoof on their days off. The result of their amateur movie making was entitled 'Return of the Creature' a twenty minute parody of the Gill-Man's cinematic exploits which was shown at the wrap party for 'Revenge' to t...

 The state of New Mexico is literally covered in well preserved dwelling places that were once inhabited by ancient cultures. Last week we featured the amazing Gila Cliff Dwellings, this week we are spotlighting a possibly even more spectacular site, the Bandelier National Monument.    The Low-Down:   Bandelier National Monument is a 33,677-acre (13,629 ha) United States National Monument near Los Alamos in Sandoval and Los Alamos counties, New Mexico. The monument preserves the homes and territory of the Ancestral Puebloans of a later era in the Southwest. Most of the pueblo structures date to two eras, dating between 1150 and 1600 AD.   The monument is 50 square miles (130 km2) of the Pajarito Plateau, on the slopes of the Jemez volcanic field in the Jemez Mountains. Over 70% of the monument is wilderness, with over one mile of elevation change, from about 5,000 feet (1,500 m) along the Rio Grande to over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) at the peak of Cerro ...

Sometimes We Need Help Putting Out The Fires In Our Lives - A Helicopter Tries To Put Out A Forest Fire Near Wrightwood, CA - Photo By Ken Hulsey  Recently our church (Journey Church in Pineville, LA) launched a new outreach ministry tapping one hundred members to go out into the community and provide one on one help to those in need. To provide resources to aide in this outreach the church launched a new website help4hurts.com . The site provides scriptural insight on these topics: Abortion Abuse Addiction Adultery Adversity Anger Anxiety Body Image Bullying Conflict Resolution Crisis Cutting Dating Depression Discouragement Divorce Eating Disorder Failure Fear Finances Forgiveness Grief Life Change Living Together Loneliness Making Godly Decisions Marriage Parenting Pornography Problems Rejection Salvation Stress Suicide Worry Here is a message from Pastor James Greer: In addition Pastor Greer writes: Practical Application for Everyday Life W...

 Way back in 1942 cinema audiences were treated to 10 minute Superman cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios. One of the best of these animated features entitled The Artic Giant in which the Man of Steel fought a prehistoric creature the looked an awful lot like Godzilla.  The titanic Tyrannosaurus is discovered by scientists frozen in Siberia and is transported back to civilization. The creature is being kept frozen by a giant refrigerator unit, which of course short circuits unleashing the monster to step on a bunch of people before Superman can subdue it. If the writers of the cartoon obviously drew inspiration from King Kong (1933) and The Lost World (1925). In that film a captured Brontosaurus is brought back to London where it escapes and again does a lot of property damage.  I found it uncanny how the scenes of the Tyrannosaurus stomping through Metropolis resembled similar scenes in the movies The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and Gojira (Godzilla, 195...

 Since I began this musical journey back and time about a year ago I have realized just how bad a lot of old music videos really are. Everyone back in the day used to laugh at the video for the Journey song Separate Ways because it was so unimaginative. Just the band and the pier watching a pretty walk by. It was a great song with a horrible video.  Well Journey didn't have a monopoly on great songs with bad promotional videos as todays entry from Go West called Call Me will prove. There is a log of jerky dancing, people flipping through the air, people on the ceiling and yellow paint falling from the ceiling. In fact there is a lot of kooky stuff going on up there.  The only redeeming thing about this clip in the whole Attack of the 50ft Woman reference, which unfortunately is way to brief and underexplored. Go West was possibly the greatest 80s group that you have never heard of. Their self titled debut album was one of the best collection of songs produced that decad...

 Honestly I don't know why this popped into my mind this morning.  Way back in the innocent 1980s there was a syndicated exercise program called 20 Minute Workout. The program featured three lovely ladies doing exercises on a rotating platform to synth music. Though the show was marketed as a ladies fitness program it was in actuality softcore erotica targeted towards men. It hard not to watch an episode now and not see that the creators of the show were targeting a male audience and they weren't shy about it. The way the camera was positioned, being at just the right angle when the ladies would bend over or spread their legs was not in any way accidental. As was the way the models would look into the camera and smile, wink and flirt. Come on man! When you have three hot women on a spinning platform bending over and gyrating it's not physical fitness it's to make men loose their minds. And they did and how. Even now, four decades later, the program still has a following...