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Mid-way through podcast “Animal Talk Naturally” listen to me talk about animal naturopathy:

This show was aired on August 17th 2012:

My Guest tonight is Michaelbrent Collings a bestselling novelist, screenwriter, and WGA member, martial artist, and has a killer backhand on the badminton court (’cause he’s macho like that).

He published his first “paying” work – a short story for a local paper – at the age of 15. He won numerous awards and scholarships for creative writing while at college, and subsequently became the person who had more screenplays advance to quarterfinals and semifinals in the prestigious Nicholls Screenwriting competition in a single year than anyone else in the history of the competition. Two of his produced screenplays are set for release in 2012.

He has written numerous bestselling novels, including Apparition, The Haunted, Billy: Messenger of Powers, RUN, The Loon, and Rising Fears. In addition, he has also written dozens of non-fiction articles which have appeared in periodicals on several continents.

www.michaelbrentcollings.com

I thought I’d put my 2 cents in on the opening ceremony of the London Olympics. Well, being of British descent myself, I have to say I was very disappointed with Danny Boyle’s concept of British culture. The ceremony opens with this Hobbit-looking country-scene of milk-maids and peasants, and then suddenly it’s immediately replaced with this hideous display of smoke stacks, sweaty men slaving under grinding wheels and furnaces, while elite gentlemen strut about in top hats & bowlers proud of turning England into a pit of black soot, child labor, and debtor’s prison. Of course, me English mum defends this scene by saying Britain’s Industrial Revolution brought us into the modern times. Yeah, mom, pollution is something to be proud of. As a matter of fact, the pollution was so bad in the Midlands from coal mines and steel mills the area was called the “Black Country.” I wonder what Charles Dickens would have to say about his 19th century Industrial Age? Then you had actor Kenneth Branagh dressed up as Isambard Kingdom Brunel, but he looked more like a stunted Abe Lincoln. And, let me not forget the stinking smoke of sulfur engulfing the stadium. What the hell was Boyle thinking? A descent into hell?

Next, the scene switches to dozens of nurses and hospital beds filled with children. What da’heck was that all about? When you think of England do you think of sick children? I hope not. And, if there wasn’t a narrator I wouldn’t know what was going on. Now, the children are tucked into their beds and are awaken by images of a nightmare. Oh, what a lovely idea (snark). The only saving grace of that episode was watching dozens of Mary Poppins descending from the sky.

Next is a confusing scene starring two teen actors from some obscure TV show that nobody except Brits would even know about —I believe the narrator said it had something to do with the internet and texting on iphones, like that has anything to do with the UK. Supposedly, Boyle was trying to show British pop music from the 60s 70s 80s etc., but I didn’t get it. The Brits were best known for the British Invasion of the 60s with the arrival of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, & the Yardbirds, etc., and in fashion it was the mini-skirts, Carnaby Street, and the Mod Look of Vidal Sassoon, Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, and also films starring Julie Christie, Michael Caine, and anyone in the Lyngrave clan. Anything that came after these folks is just residue.

If I could suggest how to do the Opening Ceremony, I’d have done a more up-lifting pageantry. Perhaps I’d start with Stonehenge. Can you imagine what you could do with an ancient artifact like that? Dancing naked pagans, a light show with the sun aligning between the monuments! How about King Arthur and his knights? Avalon? And, if they want magic & wizards, instead of Harry Potter demons, lets have Merlin & Morgan la Frey materialize in a hologram. There could be a dramatic moment where Excalibur is pulled from a stone. Or, we could have Knights jostling, or riding on horses draped in elaborate armor…the costume design would be marvelous. What about Henry the 8th and all his wives…followed by an executioner with an axe? (I’m joking, that might be too snarky). How about Monty Python? Boadicea fighting the Roman invaders? Or, all the great British literature like Peter Pan & Wendy? We could have them fly through the stadium, or Alice in Wonderland (instead of all those stupid puppets lets turn the stage into a Wonderland, or a Neverland). Or, Charles Dickens, or HG Wells? (I’m surprised Boyle didn’t do an alien invasion scene, or the Black Plague). There is so much in British history Boyle could have chosen from that the rest of the world would immediately recognize. But, no, his interpretation of Britain are these dark obscure references that must only mean something to him.

I’ll end on a positive note: The lighting of the Olympic Torch was impressive, except for one major flaw. The cauldron was lit in the pit of the stadium; its supposed to be up high where it can be seen outside from afar. Didn’t Boyle consult with anyone? The music was nice; I did like the Blue Man-like drumming from the deaf composer Lloyd Coleman. Oh yes, & the fireworks were pretty.

This interview is from June 26th, 2006. It is one of my first podcast on Blog Talk Radio. It was kinda interesting, & funny, to hear one of my old shows. The interviewer is Sandie.

My guest is VIRGIL who is a southern Root Worker & Hoodoo/Voodoo practitioner & he will discuss using these practices in spiritual work.

On Friday, September 9th 2011, I was invited down to NASDAQ by my friend retired NYPD Det. Rich Miller for the Ringing Of The Closing Bell. Here, they did a dedication and a remembrance for the victims of September 11th, 2001.

This video was uploaded on Youtube by Brian Luenser. This is what Brian has to say: This is the aftermath of a pretty brutal thunderstorm in Fort Worth Texas on May 10, 2011. It was taken from my balcony on the 34th floor of a building in Fort Worth. Though I thought we were at war or was terrorism, it was a massive series of downed 12,470 volt power lines. As I took it with my 70-200 2.8L IS lens, it is farther away than it looks. (it is 5 miles away) That is why there are not explosion sounds. This was a very well documented event. I was on my balcony to take lightning pictures (Yes, not smart) and this started happening in front of me. I turned my camera (Canon 5d MkII) to video mode and let it roll.

I think this video speaks for itself.

The sound editor did a great job synching the music to the action in the film. He should get a job as a foley in a sound studio. Oh, and, by the way, the music is from the film Predator. How appropriate. LOL

My mother discusses her childhood during WW2 in London, England.

This podcast originally aired on March 11th, 2011:

Robert E. Graves is the author of the book “The Art Of Psychic Dice.” He conceived this book in 1973. By 1976, Robert had spent hundreds of hours playing craps, testing theories,and researching psychokinesis. He then shelved the project to major in film at San Francisco State University. He has penned screenplays, movie reviews and articles. Robert is a writer and consultant in the San Francisco Bay area.
www.artofpsychicdice.com

Since March 11th I’ve been watching closely the events in Japan. The disastrous 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that struck the northwest coast of Sendai has been declared the worst disaster in Japan’s history since World War Two: So far, 7,653 dead, 12,000 missing, and over 500,000 people displaced from their homes. But what was most frightening to watch were the desperate attempts to control the fires and radiation leaks in the six damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Fears of a catastrophic meltdown escalated each passing day as we watched on TV the explosions of smoke and steam from one reactor after another, and the evacuation of people in a 12 mile radius of the plant, while the US military in the area pulled back 50 miles. Then there was the daily confusion over whether the radiation levels in the environment were high, or not, and this alarmed the Japanese public, and foreigners living in Japan, and a mass exodus of Tokyo flooded the airports.

On the internet, some fool posted a bogus map showing a deadly plume of radiation from the Fukoshima nuclear plant heading to the west coast of the USA. This panic sparked a rush on potassium iodide pills (KI), and geiger counters. Amazon.com and other sites, pharmacies and health food stores, were clogged with orders and within hours manufacturers were sold out of the thyroid-protecting KI pills. There was even a seller on ebay who was selling the $5 a box of 24 pills for $300. It was crazy, like someone yelling fire in a crowded movie theater (FYI, there was no “plum” from the Fukushima reactors, plus there’s 5,478 miles of ocean between Japan & California, so even if there was radiation drifting eastbound by the time it reached the US the amount would be minuscule). NOTE: On March 18th, California reported a trace amount of radiation was detected in the environment.

But what has awed me the most are the 50 workers who stayed behind at the Fukushima nuclear plant. In Japan, they are being hailed as the “Nuclear Ninjas” or “Samurai Warriors.” The group, whose identities remain a mystery, stayed at the plant after 700 of their colleagues fled when radiation levels peaked at lethal levels. Of those who decided to stay, five are known to have already died. Two others are missing—possibly swept away in the tsunami, and at least 21 others have been injured. In addition, 180 firemen and Self-Defense Force personnel have used water drops from helicopters, and a “super-pump” to move seawater directly to an unmanned fire truck stationed in front of the reactor, allowing for an uninterrupted jet of water.

The bravery of these workers remind me of the three men who volunteered to swim to their deaths to save Russia during the Chernobyl disaster on April 26th 1986. Engineer Alexei Ananenko and soldiers Valeri Bezpalov and Boris Baranov suited up in scuba-gear and swam through the radioactive waters of the flooded chamber to release the gate valve and allow the trapped water to drain out. In addition, many firemen and rescue workers from Fire Station No. 2 also died from radioactive contamination after rushing to the scene to help. One of the survivors, fireman Anatoli Zakharov, said 20-years after the disaster, the firefighters from Fire Station No. 2 were aware of the risks. “Of course we knew! If we’d followed regulations, we would never have gone near the reactor. But it was a moral obligation—our duty. We were like kamikaze.”

When I watch the Fukushima-50, and the firemen in HazMat suits, risk their lives to save Japan, I wonder if I was in their shoes would I volunteer for a suicide mission like that…a mission that would save millions of lives? Many of us don’t really know what we’d do in an extreme emergency. Often times, it’s in a dangerous situation we learn for the first time what qualities of character we have that we didn’t know we possessed. But I have a feeling human altruism would kick in. A friend of mine, who is Chinese, told me a story that when he was in the Chinese army, heavy rains overflowed a river and flood waters were heading to a town. The soldiers were ordered to lock arms and use their bodies as a dam, and thus they saved the people from drowning.

Maybe this type of bravery isn’t so unusual. Maybe it’s logical the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few—or, the one.