Jesse Walker triple feature

Clifford Irving. Source: Official website.

(1) Jesse Walker notes the death on Dec. 19 of Clifford Irving, the author of Fake: the story of Elmyr de Hory: the greatest art forger of our time and also of a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes, and also posts the complete video of Orson Welles "F is for Fake" for Reason magazine's Friday A/V Club. As Jesse notes, Robert Anton Wilson wrote about the movie in Cosmic Trigger 3. Jesse writes, " As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the best movies anyone has ever made, and I can't think of a better way to bid Irving farewell than to watch it." He also notes, "People keep saying we live in a "Post-Truth Era," but I have yet to find any evidence of this Truth Era we've supposedly left behind."

(2) If you have a gift certificate you got for Christmas burning a hole in your pocket, you can read the Reason Magazine 2017 gift guide edited by Jesse for ideas on how to spend it. The contributors are in alphabetical order by last name, so Jesse's contribution runs last, and his last sentence may make you smile.

(3) Scott Santens lists the top 10 basic income articles of 2017, and a piece by Jesse makes the list.

Jesse also is doing his annual "best movies" lists. 

A Discordian Christmas

Adam Gorightly has assembled several Christmas items from the Discordian Archives, including a Cinema Rio Christmas card (pictured.)

Merry Christmas and/or Season's Greetings to everyone.

Season's Greetings from RAW

From Martin Wagner, who says this is Robert Anton Wilson's Season's Greetings to Timothy Leary.

"No date given, but the text on the backside is the summarized message of Leary's Starseed Transmissions from CT, which was written and published 1977," Martin says.

Thanks and Fröhliche Weihnachten to Martin. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Winter Solstice to all of the readers who take time to read this blog.

The FINAL secret of the Illuminati: They like tacos!

My favorite television commercials these days are the Taco Bell spots featuring the Illuminati, the powerful secret society that enjoys American style Mexican food. Lots of jokes, including George Washington making a pyramid with his hands. No idea whether the folks at the ad agency are RAW fans or just have a sense of humor.

There's a couple of different spots. I've posted my favorite, but the other one is pretty good, too, available by searching "Belluminati" on YouTube. Seems like a lot of Illuminatus! lore is referenced in a couple of brief spots for cheap fast food.

Discordian double feature

His royal highness, Emperor Norton. 

A couple of different Discordian items:

(1) An "Emperor Norton's 200th Birthday Bash" has been scheduled for Feb. 7 in San Francisco.

"Tonight we’re going to party like its 1859! Join us for cake and a glass of bubbly to celebrate the 200th birthday of Joshua Abraham Norton, the San Francisco businessman who one day in 1859 proclaimed himself Emperor of the United States and (in 1862) Protector of Mexico ... This event is part of Emperor Norton at 200, a series of exhibits, talks, toasts and other special events organized by The Emperor's Bridge Campaign, in partnership with Bay Area institutions, to mark the bicentennial of Emperor Norton's birth. To learn about other events in the series, please visit http://www.EmperorNortonat200.org."

More here.

(2)  Digging deep into the Discordian archives, Adam Gorightly tells us about a hitherto obscure Discordian figure in his latest Historia Discordia posting, "Love is Alive and Well: The Stan Jamison Files."

You'll just have to read the article, which is a bit difficult to summarize; somehow, we get to nude models who were supposed to wear body paint dedicated to a language provided by a "little green spaceman."

Another 'new' look

A few days ago, I unveiled a new look for the blog. After some tweaking, I was pleased with the new, more contemporary appearance.

Unfortunately, I discovered via emails that (1) People using Adblocker could not see the site and (2) A lot of you use Adblocker. I don't understand why Google would use a template that drives away so many people. But then, there's a lot of things about Google I don't get. At this point, I feel locked in to Blogger — moving the blog would require a lot of work — but while there are aspects of Blogger I like, there are downsides, too.

If hardcore readers of the blog who knew me well were emailing me to complain, I had to assume that people who did not know me and might not have my email address handy also might be having problems. That could be a lot of people. So I felt I had to make a change, again.

I want everyone to have access to the blog, so I've gone to yet another layout, one that's rather similar to what I had before. It will require some further tweaking, but from what I can tell so far, everyone can access it.

I apologize both to the folks who enjoyed my new look and will miss it, and to those who were inadvertently locked out by the new design. Regular blogging will resume soon.

Wilson and Shea in Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal, one of the largest circulation national newspapers in the U.S., had a reference to Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson in the Wall Street Journal Monday.

Here is the first paragraph of "The Google-Facebook Duopoly Threatens Diversity of Thought" by Mark Epstein, published on the editorial page Monday:

"A monopoly on the means of communication," Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson wrote in "Leviathan," their 1975 novel, "may define a ruling elite more precisely than the celebrated Marxian formula of 'monopoly in the means of production'." Bear that in mind when you hear this next statistic: In 2017 Google and Facebook have accounted for 84 percent of all digital advertising outside China, including 96 percent of its growth, according to an industry forecast this month, from Zenith, Magna and GroupM.

The rest of the piece develops Epstein's argument that the duopoly threatens freedom of communications. Michael Johnson's 2011 censorship hassles from Google suggest there is something to Epstein's complaint.

Here is a book review which explains more of Epstein's views.

Hat tip, @advantardeodus on Twitter.

Flying Lasagna Enterprises launches

The RAW Trust has launched Flying Lasagna Enterprises, an emporium to sell Robert Anton Wilson related merchandise. Check it out. 

There are T-shirts, coffee mugs, candles and so on, but the signature product highlighted in the announcement about the site are pendants that replicate Robert Anton Wilson's spiral ring. (See illustration above.)  From Rasa's announcement:

"The sterling silver pendants are beautifully crafted and include all of Bob's original 'karmic impressions.' Each unique pendant is hand-stamped on the back with the word "maybe" and the number of the pendant – 1 through 100. The price is $123 – including Free USPS Priority Flat Rate domestic and international shipping. The pendants will be sold in sequential order. In the future, after we sell these pendants, we look forward to making more pendants and replicas of Bob's ring itself. We'll keep you posted on our progress!"

There is also a mascot of sorts for the RAW Trust — Lumi, based on a drawing by Robert Anton Wilson. Rasa asked his panel of advisors for a name for the drawing, and the winner was a suggestion from Michael Johnson, who wrote, "Hey look everyone! It’s Lumi, the Friendly All-Seeing Eye of the Illuminati! Hi Lumi! Don’t tell Lumi what you think: he already knows!"

Monday links

The Pentagon's UFO research program.

Largehearted Boy's list of 'Best Books' lists. 

RAW double in Twilight Zone episode?  

Maybe John C. Calhoun isn't a big influence on libertarianism after all.  And also see this, although apparently evidence doesn't matter to many people in the debate over Democracy in Chains.

"Emperor's Bridge Campaign Marks Bicentennial With 'Emperor Norton at 200' Series."

Climate change contributed to the fall of Rome. 

New look

I've tried to freshen up the blog with a new look to make it more contemporary. I've also taken the opportunity to update the "Feature Articles and Interviews" section and rearrange some of the elements on the sidebar. (If you are new to the blog, note that there's a lot of articles to explore, such as my interviews with Robert Anton Wilson's book editors). Credit for image used on the new design: Photo by Sorasak on Unsplash.

I've also used an image from Unsplash  to illustrate this blog post: A cropped version of "Love in the Stars " by Matt McK. Visit Unsplash.com for beautiful photographs that can be used without copyright restrictions.

More on Bobby Campbell's new book

Bobby Campbell's RAW gif illustrating his new article. 

To celebrate and explain the publication of his new Hilaritas Press book, RAW ART: The Illustrated Lives and Ideas of Robert Anton Wilson, Bobby Campbell has penned a brief memoir for the Hilaritas Press website, explaining how Robert Anton Wilson's writing (and later, contact with RAW himself) helped turned Bobby's life around. A key moment:

That same entirely excellent Indian Philosophy Professor recommended a book to one of my roommates, who in turn passed it on to me. On a particularly lovely Friday afternoon, I found the block-like tome of Illuminatus! beckoning imperiously from my nightstand, by Sunday evening I’d read all 800 pages.

The U of D library has a surprisingly robust collection of RAW books and I devoured them all. It felt like coming home. RAW was the last of the modern psychonauts that I discovered. I’d already found Leary, Crowley, Lilly, Watts, and McKenna, but it wasn’t until I found RAW that everything began to cohere.

You can also read my 2014 interview with Bobby, although no doubt it is out of date in some respects.

A word on the new book: There are two editions, a paperback that is $11.23 and a Kindle that is $6.66. (Obviously, the publisher is having some fun with the pricing). I actually bought the Kindle. Of course, it's nonsense trying to look at Bobby's artwork on the grey-white screen of a Kindle reading tablet, but with a Kindle reading app, Bobby's color artwork and comics displays nicely on a smartphone or a tablet. On my phone, Bobby's new tome is an art book I can carry with me everywhere I go.

More news from Bobby Campbell.

Haven't had time to do a proper posting today, but see this special offer from Bobby Campbell. 

Moody Blues enter Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Moody Blues in 1970. Creative Commons photo from national archives of The Netherlands. 

Most of the bands inducted Wednesday into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland have no connection to this blog (although one, The Cars, is a personal favorite of mine), but one of the inductees, The Moody Blues, deserves a mention.

The British band, after all, did a rather good song, "Legend of a Mind," about Timothy Leary. Some of the lyrics:

Timothy Leary's dead
No, no, he's outside looking in
Timothy Leary's dead
No, no, he's outside looking in
He'll fly his astral plane
Takes you trips around the bay
Brings you back the same day
Timothy Leary, Timothy Leary

I always kind of wondered what Timothy Leary thought of the song, so I queried two Leary biographers on Twitter. No word from John Higgs, but R.U. Sirius wrote back:

"So I think Tim was pleased to hear the song as I recall. There's this story that was told in Rolling Stone by some Moody Blues members that people thought it was some heavy message and they were actually 'taking the piss out of him'  Tim was the only one who recognized that and they had a good laugh together over it..."

("Taking the piss" is not a common American expression, so here's Wikipedia: "Taking the piss is a Commonwealth term meaning to take liberties at the expense of others, or to be joking, or to be unreasonable. It is a shortening of the idiom taking the piss out of, which is an expression meaning to mock, tease, joke, ridicule, or scoff.")