Is the act of sexual congress funny, or what? In, out, repeat if necessary, goes an old joke. All lifeforms are at a very vulnerable state when engaging in procreational activities. The very act of creating new life often ends it for the creators. Flowers die, prey animals often are so distracted that they end up on the value menu, predators, at great peril, continually have to fight for dominance and even the lowly amoeba, when dividing, can expose itself to danger. All life pays a price. Of course there are exceptions to this vulnerability. My soon-to-be ex-wife, for example, could tell me the ceiling needed painting while engaged in sex. No vulnerabilty there, huh?

Humans are no exception. Why do we pay such a dear price for sex. Many studies have been done on the subject and, guess what? It feels good, dammit. Yeah, sometimes we do it to start a family but, I wonder how eager we would be if the sex act were painful instead of providing pleasure? I can just hear it now; "God, what an awful night. The wife and I want to start a family but, I just didn't realize what a toll it would take on me to engage in sex!"

The sex drive is one of the strongest forces on earth. Humans give up safety, money, position, relationships and many other advantages for a thirty second orgasm. Tell me God has no sense of humor!

Yeah, it's true. Men have nipples too.

Tom Vickers

In an ill-spent youth, I used to hang out a lot in bars and taverns. One of these was Ma'Ha's Short Snorter. Ma'Ha's was not your mahogany-paneled, brass-railed, Manhatten Ice Tea type of establishment. Ma'Ha's was a red-eye whiskey, Stroh's Bohemian Style Beer kinda' place. Cheers it was not, nor, did it wish to be. It was one of those places where "everybody forgot your name", assuming they knew it in the first place. It was very entertaining, though. It was like belonging to a "Fight of the Night" club. But, I met some very interesting people there and, that's the subject of this post.

One of those folks was Sally. Sally was a Caterer by trade. She "catered" to the sexual desires of all who had the itch and the jingle with which to scratch. I met her when she sidled up to me at the bar and said, "Mister, for fifty dollars I'll do anything you want"! So, I asked her to paint my house. She threw back her head and laughed, filling Ma'Ha's  with that rich, whisky-stained voice. She allowed as how she'd never been asked to do anything quite that kinky but, maybe I'd buy her a drink while she thought it over. I did. She declined.

Sally had lost her left leg in an automobile accident and wasn't the least bit self-conscious about it. It never seemed to hurt her trade either. This was one happy hooker. I got to know Sally (not as a customer) and she makes my top 25 list of people to admire. She accepted life as it was presented to her. Was her choice of occupation unfortunate? I don't know. All cultures put value on a woman's sexuality. We seem to get queasy, though, when that value is expressed in money. She was not the "whore with a heart of gold", she was just another person providing for her family. Quite well, thank you.

God bless you, Sally.

Tom Vickers

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

Any of you guys raised on guilt? My parents were survivors of The Great Depression, WWII and the Cold War. How many times did I hear, "Tom, you didn't finish your green peas. Children in Asia are starving!" My offering to airmail green peas to Asia was not met with much amusement, but I often overestimated their sense of humor. "Tom, you can't use that old shirt as a rag. Somebody can still get good use out of it," I've heard a time or two. Yes, healthy or not, I do respond to feelings of guilt.

My old Ford Pick-Up was just about eligible for Social Security, so I recently bought a new vehicle. It's a GMC Envoy with the Denali package: V-8, 4x4, heated leather seats, wood dashboard, adjustable pedals, power everything, Bose sound system and came complete with a combined 15 MPG EPA rating. I know, I know! It's an expensive truck and gas prices are outrageous, fossil fuels in limited supply and the planet is reportedly heating up. What in the hell are you thinking, Tom? I can hear Mom now, "You could have bought four Dodge Neons for the same price and saved over $1,200.00 a year in gas!"

I no longer argue with my Mom. She's 85 years old, and as far as I'm concerned, she is allowed to speak her mind. She's earned that right. The thing is, I no longer have to argue with her. I can carry both sides of the arguement in my own head.

I bought a GMC Denali! By God, I'm going to enjoy it! Uh, sorry Mom. I really didn't mean that. Ok, Ok. I'll pray for forgiveness!

Can you keep a secret? It's a really cool machine, but don't tell my Mom.

Tom Vickers

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

The Talmud says, "If one word is worth a coin, then silence is worth two. If silence sits well with those who are clever, then it should sit even better with those who are stupid". Nothing supports idleness so much as empty talk. Two things can reveal faulty thinking: to be silent when you should speak, or to speak when you should be silent. To paraphrase Mark Twain, "I can be silent and be thought a fool, or I can open my mouth and remove all doubt". Count Leo Tolstoy advises us, "Words are great things. You can unite people, or separate them. You can create love or animosity". Both great loves and great wars are created by words. In an arguement, truth is almost always the loser.

I rarely get in trouble by keeping my mouth shut. I often do by speaking.

Tom Vickers

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

I grew up in a household where we went to church almost every Sunday. My dad was the Sunday School teacher for the adult class at our local Methodist Church. We were not Holy-Rollers or hard-core "believe as I do or you'll go to Hell" folks. It's just what people did on Sundays.

At the age of twelve or so, I started having serious doubts about what I was hearing on Sundays. Why would a God who loved me so much ever allow me to go to Hell? Why would God even allow a place of eternal damnation to exist? Why would God give mankind "free will" then place a "Tree of Knowledge" in the Garden as a temptation? If this knowledge was so dangerous, then why expose mankind to it? God made sure that Adam had dominion over the carniverous animals. The lions didn't eat him, did they? It seems very inconsistant to me. My experience with people is that, something denied becomes very attractive. Tell me I can't do something and I'll be more than a little tempted to do it.

I just don't understand this God at all. Being omnipetent, he should have forseen the consequences of HIS actions. Religious people always answer that, "God has a plan!" I think a little better planning is in order.

Tom Vickers

Thus, all that great work is lost to society forever. Sorry about that.

O.J. Simpson found guilty, faces life sentence

Exactly 13 years after being acquitted on charges he killed his ex-wife and another man, a jury in Las Vegas has found O.J. Simpson guilty of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers.

Simpson rolls snake eyes in Vegas

Today's poem:

Epitaph On Holy Willie
1785
by Robert Burns

Here Holy Willie's sair worn clay
Taks up its last abode;
His saul has ta'en some other way,
I fear, the left-hand road.

Stop! there he is, as sure's a gun,
Poor, silly body, see him;
Nae wonder he's as black's the grun,
Observe wha's standing wi' him.

Your brunstane devilship, I see,
Has got him there before ye;
But haud your nine-tail cat a wee,
Till ance you've heard my story.

Your pity I will not implore,
For pity ye have nane;
Justice, alas! has gi'en him o'er,
And mercy's day is gane.

But hear me, Sir, deil as ye are,
Look something to your credit;
A coof like him wad stain your name,
If it were kent ye did it.

(link with glossary)

The Devil is an Englishman

An Englishman

An Englishman

The Devil is an Englishman

He wears a suit and tie

The Devil is an Englishman

He lives abroad

On stolen land

He'll flatter you and shake your hand

Then stab you in the eye

The Devil is an Englishman

He'll smile and say

He understands

Then pay your wage in Krugerands

While he will take the Pound

The Devil is an Englishman

He'll keep you in

The manner grand

He'll serve you tea and apple flan

And always stand his round

But when it comes to sharing out

He'll change the rules and make you shout

You'll never know what it's about

Until it's in the can

'Please don't forget, we had a deal'

He'll turn the screws until you squeal

And see the darkness in the real

Heart of an Englishman

The Devil is an Englishman

He went to school in Cheltenham

He's come to watch the natives hang

'It's the only way they'll learn'

The Devil is an Englishman

So please avoid him if you can

For the only time you'll know his plan

Is when he smiles

And says come in

I quite forgot

There's one more thing

Just step this way

I must be stern

It's

Time

For

You

To

Burn

When I went on a trip to see my dad in England, he introduced me to a legendary parody in my book. A DVD called "God, the Devil, and Bob" It is about God coming back with the devil, and the funny part about that is that, you would think that if the Devil and God were together, it would be nonstop fighting, but the funny thing is, that the devil and god have polite conversation walking down the street. And I got you a video off of youtube, just as a little sample of the hilarious parody, take a look:

There you have it. Now go through my link and it will bring you to a lot of other video options for God, The Devil, and Bob! :)

God, The Devil, and Bob

devil
devil

wheeEEE

Harlan's comment sent me back to my ee cummings collection for the first time in awhile, so I've had it around, and for Nat's birthday I put these lines, from that weird gyrating poem that I think is called "Hist Whist," into her lunchbox. (I did it from memory and want to keep it that way for some reason, hence no smartly researched hyperlinks.) I hope she wonders why this devil is green, and dancing, and I hope she wonders if all devils are the devil, and why the narrator or the devil or both shout in joy at the end . . . I just like the sound, and I have a thing for repetition, rhythmic or contextual or, I guess, any kind at all as long as it works magic.

And the reverse is true.  There are concepts easy to imagine, but difficult to make real, like a perpetual motion machine.  Easy to imagine, but so far, zilch.

Unless you consider that the male of the human species is a perpetual sex machine?  And at least in my case, it's pretty much what I'd have to consider myself.  As long as I have sufficient food, I'm going to make sweet love...  And there are no details that need worrying about, and sometimes I hear ghawd's name spoken with reverence, even enthusiastic reverence.

Those of you with religion, why do you think ghawd programmed us to get so horny at times, so horny that despite every sign in the world that the last thing you should do is have sex with that person, you still do?

Regarding the last half of the headline, I don't answer such questions.  An atheist would, but not a Laztheist. 

Ask an Atheist if there is a ghawd and you get some type of response in the negative.

Ask a Laztheist if there is a ghawd and you don't get a yes or no answer, you get a 'no comment' or a 'move on to the next subject' response.

I first heard of the movie THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER (1941) when I was a kid of 12 or 13, when Stephen Vincent Benet's O. Henry Award winning source story (first published in 1937) was included in the 1971 omnibus The Ghouls.  Getting my hands on this anthology was a pivotal moment in the life of a horror writer to-be.  Editor Peter Haining included Benet's tale alongside the likes of Bram Stoker's "Dracula's Guest," Nikolai Gogol's "Vij," Ray Bradbury's "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms," Robert Lewis Stevenson's "The Body Snatchers" and other short works that inspired (directly or indirectly) classic horror movies.  The Ghouls may be the first book I ever read, cover to cover, without adult supervision or prodding. 

I didn't see William Dieterle's film version of THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER until this year, courtesy of the DVD from the estimable Criterion Collection.  It was well worth the wait of over 30 years, as the film remains a wonderfully creepy (but just as often amusing) New England fable based on the myth of Faust by way of Washington Irving's "The Devil and Tom Walker," which was collected in Irving's Tales of a Traveller (1824).  Benet changed the story to make the protagonist a farmer (called Jabez Stone) rather than a miser and his deal with the Devil (nicknamed Old Scratch) a matter of agricultural prosperity rather than meer profit.  Made at RKO during the 1940s, the film uses its once upon a time setting (1841, to be exact) to explore problems in American life between world wars while also telling a timeless tale of desperation, temptation and redemption. 

I really don't want to review the movie, as such, but point out some of the intriguing ways that THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER was ahead of its time.  As you may or may not know, the production was somewhat troubled.  Thomas Mitchell had been cast originally in the role of Daniel Webster but was injured during filming and replaced by Edward Arnold.  Even the finished film was not without its own plagues.  Previewed under the incongruous title HERE IS A MAN, the film was tinkered with by the studio, re-edited and reissued as ALL THAT MONEY CAN BUY and then cut again and re-released as THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER and DANIEL AND THE DEVIL.  None of these variants produced much in the way of boxoffice for RKO and the various versions of the film lingered in the vaults for decades.  A laser disc release in the 1990s was the shorter ALL THAT MONEY CAN BUY with the cut scenes offered as extras; only now is the original THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER available to be seen as audiences (however small and under-appreciative) first saw it in 1941.

Used in the preview cut of the film, HERE IS A MAN, were several almost subliminal cutaways from the protagonist's Job-like misfortunes to flashes of Walter Huston as Old Scratch (above), printed in negative to give his sudden manifestation an otherworldly flourish.  Seeing these in 2008, I was instantly reminded of the almost subliminal cutaways William Friedkin used of the demon Pazuzu in THE EXORCIST (1973)...

Scratch is an amusing old boogey whose constant popping up into the business of Jabez Stone (James Craig) might qualify him to be cinema's first meta monster, commenting on the proceedings as if he were a color/commentary talking head or even a horror show host like Zacherle or Ghoulardi.  With his funny little hat and horsey grin, he reminded me of both Bugs Bunny (who premiered around the same time - Old Scratch even steals a carrot at one point) and Freddy Kruger, the undead villain of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) and its sequels and countless imitators...

To obtain Jabez Stone's immortal soul with a minimum of effort, Scratch employs a comely spectral helpmeet in THE CAT PEOPLE's Simone Simon, who entices Jabez away from his earnest and sweetly pretty wife (played by no-that's-not-Olivia-DeHavilland-it's-Ann Shirley) through a barn dance that goes from being folksy to freaky as Scratch saws away at his fiddle...

... commanding "Faster... faster..." (a la Dave O'Brien in REEFER MADNESS) ...

... as the coquettish Belle (yeah, from Hell!) swings with every man but Jabez...

... arousing considerably more than his desire.  The wages of dancing with the Devil are illustrated in a later scene, in which town miser John Qualen is literally danced to death in Belle's arms.

Horror movie fans seeing this for the first time may well flash on a similar scene...

... in Herk Harvey's CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962), although another instance of weird dancing (photographed in a similarly chiraroscuric fashion) was seen a couple of years earlier...

... in John Llewellyn Moxey's CITY OF THE DEAD (US: HORROR HOTEL, 1960). 

Stephen Vincent Benet's original story climaxes with a court battle between Scratch and the eponymous Daniel Webster, patterned after the actual legislator but mostly a fictional construct.  Although the Devil agrees to a jury trial, he gets to pick the members... from the bowels of Perdition.  The use of a damned jury ("Dastards, liars, traitors, knaves...") would recur in television and film throughout the years, in movies such as 1969's THE WITCHMAKER (where the undead are used to lard out a Satanic cult) and on such TV shows as STAR TREK (the third season episode "The Savage Curtain" doesn't feature a jury, per se, so much as competing teams of historical figures) and THE SIMPSONS' 1993 Halloween episode, in which Homer sells his soul to the Devil for a donut; a jury is called up from Hell, including John Dillinger, Richard Nixon and the starting line-up for the Philadelphia 76ers, but the court is forced to rule in the plaintiff's favor when Marge produces a wedding photo inscribed by Homer, who has pledged his eternal soul to her, nullifying his contract with Satan.

THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER is great fun and good pre-Halloween viewing, safe for the whole family.  Edward Arnold and Walter Huston are wonderful adversaries, the photography of John August (THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME), the expressionist art direction of Van Nest Polglase (KING KONG, CITIZEN KANE) and the classic score by Bernard Hermann (PSYCHO) work in spooky concert to deliver an unforgettable 100 minutes of entertainment for which you don't have to sell your soul.

The devil will play tricks on your mind, he will oppress you until you become paralized with fear. Until you can no longer move. The Devil will find your weaknesses and exploit them. He will use every small crack in your mind, your body and your soul to weaken you. He inspires fear, sin, greed, coveteousness, etc.

Recognize when the devil is trying get a hold of you. Write down your weaknesses and keep track of them. See what it is that triggers it? Keep an eye on it for a while and see if you can recognize some patterns that are happening, this will enlighten you to a whole new level!

The devil is very sneaky. He'll make you go around in circles, make you feel lowsy about yourself. If he knows where you are weak, he'll try to destroy every part of it. Every part of you. You need to know when the devil is attacking you and tell him he is not allowed in your life.

Try to practice these things see how it goes? Don't let fear dominate your life, you will just give the devil control , and we all know the devil is not in control. God is and always will be.

Matthew 4:1
[ The Temptation of Jesus ] Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

2 Timothy 2:26
and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will

So in answer to that question, what think ye? Who/what is the devil/satan? I have some basic thoughts on this topic, but would love to hear yours.

Let me share with you a recent testimony to the truth of sanctification. I bought a couple of songs on iTunes last week - "Hard to Concentrate" by Red Hot Chili Peppers and "Oh Yeah" by Housse de Racket. I tell you, both are very catchy. I drive a lot with my job, and usually spend a lot of time listening to sermons and music. It's amazing that when these songs played, it made me think about different parts of my past, before I was a Christian. Even though the lyrics to the songs were not "explicit" by RIAA standards, look what what the text says: "be not conformed to this world." I was stripping myself of the freedom of the new birth and preventing my mind from being renewed by wanting to have a little bit of the world in my music. When I came back to my normal dose of Shai Linne, Misty Edwards, and Timothy Brindle, my thoughts returned to Scripture, holiness, the awesomeness of God, my duties as a Christian, etc.

The effects of music that don't praise God in some way vary from person to person, I'm sure. I'm not advocating that every true believer of Jesus should throw away all of their CDs that aren't praise and worship. Personally, I have nothing but Christian music (some theologically based, some worship) and lots of sermons on holiness, the gospel, repentance, and salvation. What's so EXCITING about this playlist is that I love listening to these things! It's not a chore, it's fun! That's because I am a new creation by Jesus Christ's work on my behalf, to take the punishment I deserve for my sins and by faith in Him being raised to life! Yay!

My encouragement is, to consider the verse above and examine any area of your life that threatens to knock you off the Way of Holiness. Remember, don't give the devil a foothold (Eph. 4:27). It's good to know that God has granted me repentance concerning this area of my life at least three times I can count this year alone! Now if I can only repent from watching more football than I spend time in Scripture! He can do it - please pray for me in this area.

Copyright (c) 2008 derekclontz.com/4-Page Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

A terrified photographer snapped a picture of Satan's evil face hovering over the U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Friday night as congressional leaders and mega-bankers played partisan politics with America's future, squabbling like schoolchildren as the nation's economy slipped down the tubes.

It's unclear whether the picture snapped by European News Service photographer Danielle Delacourt depicts a random and meaningless image in the play of light and shadow in a passing cloud, or it if is, in fact, as one FOX News producer put it, "the g--damn Devil himself" orchestrating the madness unfolding under the Capitol Dome.

As Delacourt, 53, told derekclontz.com: "What is it? Are you kidding me? How can I answer that? I don't know what it is. It looks evil. It looks like the Devil. That's all I can tell you. The ... thing, whatever it is, was there for just a few seconds right after sunset.

"I was scared. I was shaking. But I had my camera and I just pointed and pushed the shutter button.  Then, it was gone. If I hadn't gotten the picture, I would be questioning my sanity right now.

"But I did get the picture. It's scary as hell. Something's gone terribly wrong in America. Something evil is in the air. You can feel it. I'm getting on the first jet back to Paris. I out of here."

Congressmen and their spokesmen have declined to comment, with an aide to Sen. Barack Obama only letting this slip: "Nobody's going to talk with a reporter. The country is in enough trouble without bringing Satan into it."

What do YOU think?

- Is Satan in Washington, D.C.?

- Is life as we know it coming to an end?

- Are we witnessing the fall of the American Empire?

-  Are these the End Times?

- Has God turned away from Americans because Americans have turned away from Him?

- Can America and Americans be saved?

We want your thoughts - and so does the world. Write to us via the comment box on this page and we'll post your thoughts and ideas for everyone to see.

Don't be shy - the times and developments are too important to ignore, and if you don't speak out - who will?

La película Antique bakery, basado en el manga de Fumi Yoshinaga, que también tiene su versión televisiva con el drama japonés Antique Cake Store (que está traduciendo Kame fansub) y animada, está a punto de estrenarse.

Los protagonistas, Joo Ji Hoon, Yoo Ah In, Kim Jae Wook y Choi Ji Ho ya están preparados para empezar la promoción y ya se han publicado los carteles y el trailer.

La película, dirigida por Min Gyu Dong, cuenta la historia de 4 hombres que trabajan juntos en una cafetería: Joo Ji Hoon es el dueño de la pastelería, un perfecto "vendedor" que se camela a la clientela gracias a su forma de hablar; Kim Jae Wook es un genio de las tartas quen siente una irrefenable atracción por su jefe; Yoo Ah In es un boxeador convertido en ayudante; y Choi Ji Ho es camarero de la pastelería. Todo rematado con la aparición de Kim Min Seon, la ex-novia del jefe.

Será una historia de amor y amistad entre los 4 hombres que mientras tanto se esfuerzan en sacar adelante la pastelería.

El debut de Joo Ji Hoon en la pantalla grande podrá verse en Corea el 13 de noviembre.

Está claro que, en el trailer, lo más sorpredente es ver cómo Kim Jae Wook se lanza sobre Joo Ji Hoon con cigarrillo incluido y luego besa al "extranjero"... Por otra parte, Joo Ji Hoon sale realmente guapo (en mi opinión, desde The Devil el chico ha ido mejorando y mejorando). ¿Quién se resistiría a su espalda?

Parece divertida... y realmente dulce. Me gusta. Otra que me apunto a la lista.

Noticias relacionadas:

• En otoño, el cine es para los jóvenes.
• Lo más destacado del cine coreano que está por venir.

Today I am using the Tarot of Imagination which is one of my favourite story decks. The artist, Ferenc Pintér, has an immediately recognizable style. I like artists like that.

My husband and I were discussing the infamous British artist Damien Hurst this morning. Neither of us respect his work because he makes millions, yet we could not look at a sculpture of an animal preserved in formaldehyde, and recognize it as his. It's a pickled cow with symbolic doodads and gold leaf. Take it out of a chi-chi art gallery or Sotheby's art marketing milieu and would people recognize it as **his** artwork? Nope.

The Tarot of Imagination is subtitled "Fragments of perception" which is wild.

THE DEVIL XV

Speaking of cloven hooves. . . .Satan gives the age old finger to the world and watches carefully for reaction. The world withers all around but he lives and changes cloaked in passion, temptation, originality, carnality. Odd that originality, which I think of as an extremely positive thing, can here be associated with The Devil.

It depends on what source and impact your originality has. Serial killers, liars, sadists, pedophiles, and artists can all be original, but if the world withers from their dark eye and twisted fingers, then originality becomes an eternally devilish hell.

From The Book of Silk today. . . .

"Documents of this period mention 'kinkob', a term adapted from a Chinese word, 'chin', designating gold-woven silk."

Tied in with The Devil, the maxim "All that glitters is not gold" comes to mind. It's odd how we tend as humans to tune out little homilies like this. We hear them so often and become disdainful. I didn't start out to mention art or artists, but I pulled out Ferenc Pintér's art and gasped with delight, and the dichotomy of originality reared up.

I get discouraged in my own art quite frequently, particularly when sensationalism makes millions and I don't sell a fresh and lively original necklace, or when another artist tells me I shouldn't outline an illustration when I already have, because that's my style, but there is also a story in that today.

People talk about us and we talk about other people, too. We are, simultaneously, connected and divided by our talk with others. What remains of me after I have a conversation with you is out of my control. Who I become for you is decided by you and through those conversations you have with other people. We arise out of what we do and out of of how we are perceived by self and others. Our name, our own special flavor, slips from our tongues and onto the tongues of others. It is a virus. "Reputation" is that slippery wraith, which we must wrestle with, from which we cannot escape.

E.M. Cioran, from his essay "Fame: Hopes and Horrors," writes, "Just as each of us, in order to 'make a name for himself,' strives to outstrip the others, similarly in the beginning man must have known the vague desire to eclipse the animals, to affirm himself at their expense, to shine at any price (108)." For Cioran, this tendency toward, what could be called "personal branding" or "reputation" is not a recent phenomenon, but is rooted in our very being, in the everydayness of our "minding" of the world. That is to say, this desire toward recognition and reputation, while perpetually settled in front of our eyes as something as natural as falling snowflakes, comes from a suspect source: the Serpent's kingdom. Nonetheless, us humans like to shine, to be in the "spotlight," to be seen, to increase our visibility. More than "like," we crave it.

Cioran continues, "Man alone, in the state of nature, wanted to be important, man alone, among the animals, hated anonymity and did his utmost to escape from it. To put himself forward, such was and such remains his dream. It is difficult to believe he has sacrificed Paradise out of a simple desire to know good and evil; on the other hand, it is easy to imagine him risking everything to be Someone (108)." The shift that occurred from selflessness to selfhood, is something that we cannot know, by virtue of our ability to be knowledgeable about the world and about ourself. But, a faint glimmer of selflessness remains, can flourish if nurtured, can, at times, overcome the Beast of Fame.

To be anonymous in a Web 2.0 world is to not exist, to fall off the map of the social media grid. Take away the technological connections from our life and we are once again in confrontation with the raw presence of ourself and those immediately present to us. Nonetheless, give us a sandbox and we will build profiles, vanity sites, products, commercials, microblogging clients and ten thousand other things. Why? Simply put, to be someone. "Personal branding" involves shifting the focus from the Other to oneself. The network that one chooses to be a part of shapes the image, helps build a sense of self and gives the Other a context from which to form an opinion about someone. Our name itself becomes more than a name, but a brand, a logo, a marketable representation of our greatness, of our strive toward fame.

"When one cannot save one's soul, one hopes at least to save one's name (109)." In our everyday experience, the soul seems to flee from us as we engage in various tasks. That elusive thread follows behind us, throws itself in front of us and projects itself onto us, faint and wispy. The name, on the other hand, is ever present, it is who one is to others (and to oneself). Reputation and name are intimately connected, are two sides of the same coin. The character in the old Western film declares, "Mah good name was a slandered." In Japan, the family name is the first name you give when introducing yourself. The family name is the larger unit from which you came, to which you are still joined: your most precious circle. In American culture, the first name is one's skeleton key to a world of unabashed self-creation and individualization. The way of the name may differ from culture to culture, but the value of the name does not. The name is conjoined with the human world, the soul sits between this world and another, the place before birth; it arises from the place of pre-birth.

On the "mania of reputation," Cioran concludes, "If this mania were to seize any animal in its grips, however "retarted" that animal might be, it would press forward and catch up with man (109)." Thus far, no other animal has strived for the kind of otherworldly sense of reputation that us humans possess. We are the kings and queens of the imagined world, of the creation of our self and the responsibility to be someone. So, who are you?

E.M. Cioran - "Fame: Hopes and Horrors" from the book "The Fall Into Time."

• Cioran + Morita + Crowley
• Indifference and Once-Occurence
• The web is buzzing about personal branding
• Exercise: Identifying a personal brand

…there appeared in the shape of a man in black cloaths and blackish cloaths about 5 weeks past, and bid her good-morrow, and shee asked what his name was, and he said his name was Blackeman. 

Jane Wallis

17th century English witch

In his book, Inventing Witchcraft, Aidan A. Kelly mentions another book, The Witch Cult in Western Europe, written by Margaret Murray, and published in 1922 by Oxford University Press. According to Kelly, Murray argues that there was a Pagan religion that existed having survived Christianity's attempt to eradicate it and that this religion was the reality behind the infamous witch hunts of early modern times. She claims that this "old religion" could be traced back to pre-Christian times and "appears to be the ancient religion of Western Europe, though she doesn't provide any evidence to support her claim.

Also, according to Kelly, in this book Murray focuses largely on the God of the witches, and on the man they believed to be the living incarnation of that God. He often wore animal skin or costume, and often dressed entirely in black - and hence was called the Blacke Man. 

Also from Murray's book is this, There was no fixed hour or day for the Esbat [though probably] one day of the week was observed… The Devil let his followers know the time, either by going to them himself or by sending a message by the officer…

While these are not the only references I've found, as far as I'm concerned, this is extremely significant to my search for the truth behind this story. April kept talking about a "dark man, in dark clothes, and a black trench coat," who harassed her throughout the psychometry session she was trying to do for me. I've said this many times before in this blog but again, as far as I'm concerned, it's worth repeating. 

I did not say anything to April about the supposed history of the skull, and it's supposed connection to the witch trials of Salem. In fact, she didn't know I was going to bring a skull for her to read until I brought it out. I don't know how she would have gotten this unless she was, in fact, seeing this spirit during her readings that night. 

I'm not saying that this proves that whoever this person was did, in fact, have anything to do with the Salem trials or that he or she was even a witch who lived in Andover, or that he or she knew Martha Carrier, let alone teach her "witchcraft."  

What this does mean to me is that this search is worth pursuing, and so that's what I'm going to continue doing.

Stumble It!

When I received the skull it was covered with paper mache. I can't say for certain, but I'm sure that I'm pretty sure that's what she was referring to when Ruth Ann talked about "butcher paper." I assumed it was to keep the pieces of the skull together and I thought I would just leave it as it was. Today I decided to remove most of the "wrapping." I left about 30% of it on. 

I started from the bottom of the jaw and worked my way up. There were springs connecting the jaw to the skull. I was especially surprised by this because I thought that the paper mache was supposed to serve this purpose. Seeing the springs though encouraged me to remove the rest of the paper. 

When I started taking the paper off, I was relieved to see that if nothing else, the skull is real. It reminded me of the skulls you see in medical classes. The top of the skull was cut off, the way it would be in an autopsy in which the brain is removed and weighed. I could see little holes which would allow clamps to keep the top of the skull connected to the bottom. The eye sockets, and other parts of the skull were painted black. I couldn't help but wonder why. 

Okay, so now I'm having even more serious doubts about the story behind this skull. What little credibility I gave it was shredded even more. But how do I explain, at least to myself, April's reading? I didn't tell April the supposed connection between the skull and Martha Carrier, and the Salem Witch Trials. As I mentioned in a previous post, I knew very little about the Salem Witch Trials; what I did know came from sources such as The Travel Channel, and The History Channel, so if April was reading my mind … well, let's just say it would have been a very short read. 

Beyond that, she not only said things that corroborated some of the story Ruth Ann wrote to me, but she kept talking about "dark man, dressed in dark clothes." When April talked about being harassed by a dark man in dark clothes, it meant nothing to me. She said that whoever he was he was attached to me. 

When I listened to the recording of the session, I could hear evps, which didn't surprise me. In many of my sessions with April, the recordings had evps, some of them seeming to validate what April was telling me. Not only that, but I caught what may have been two evps yesterday in response to questions I asked based on the idea that the story may be true. The answers I received seemed to validate Ruth Ann's claim to at least some degree. 

Going back to April's initial reading of the skull, I didn't mention this before, but a couple of minutes after she told me that this "man" was attached to me, she also told me that I shouldn't have the skull in the first place. I was still reeling from the idea I've got some dark guy in dark clothes attached to me when she hit me with this one. Even though I didn't think he had anything to do with the skull since, for one thing, she was complaining about him long before she ever handled the skull, I still found myself thinking, "No kidding? You think?"

She told me that the reason why I shouldn't have it was that she sensed it was used on an altar at one point as part of a worship service. Hmm … a "dark man in dark clothes," trying to discourage April from reading the objects. Then I find out that people back in those days referred to the Devil as either "the dark man," or "the man dressed in black." Witches supposedly entered into pacts with the Devil, and worshipped him as well. 

I'm thinking that my next step is to start researching the man in black. As well as doing more evp and automatic writing experiments.