Looking Back in Horror at 9/11

The horrible date has come again, the 16th  anniversary of the cowardly attacks on the World Trade Center by a handful of hate-filled religious maniacs.

I am once again reprinting my blog of remembrances of the sickening – and inspiring –events of that day, as someone who was trapped in midtown Manhattan at the time. We must never forget…

I was awakened by an airplane early on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. No, it wasn’t one of those jets; it was just a passing low-flying plane, the kind that zoom toward Westchester County Airport all the time. It was before my alarm was supposed to sound, so I tried to get another 15 minutes of sleep. When I did finally get up and venture outside to drive to the train station, I distinctly remember marveling at what a beautiful day it was: The sky was clear and such an amazing deep blue that I actually noticed it. The temperature was comfortable, with a light breeze, and I was sorry that I would have to spend such a gorgeous late-summer day in an office in Manhattan. I actually thought it was one of the most beautiful days of the year. How wrong I was…

The train I used to take arrived at Grand Central Terminal every morning at 8:35. With time before my shift started at Soap Opera Weekly magazine, I strolled through GCT, browsing the magazine racks or somesuch. Around 8:55, I realized I had lollygagged a little too long, and I had to get to the office. When I stepped out onto 42nd Street, I saw a gaggle of police officers – both street patrolmen and bicycle cops wearing shorts. They were talking animatedly. Suddenly a van pulled up and several of the bicycle cops clambered in the van. I remember the van pulling away while one guy was still trying to jump in. The uniformed patrolmen jumped into cars, and all the vehicles took off, lights flashing and sirens wailing. I had paused to watch all this action and wondered what was up. Over the ensuing decade, I have often wondered how many of those brave officers I saw rushing to help survived that day.

Joss Whedon Returns to Save the World!

It’s been a long 19 months since Joss Whedon favored the world with His wisdom on social media, so of course when He returns it’s got to be for a great reason. And what could be better than saving the USA — and, by extension, the world?

So his Jossness gathered a few friends to help impress upon the citizens of the USA how important it is to vote on Election Day, which is Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Get out there and vote on Nov. 8.

You don’t have to vote for Hillary Clinton; just don’t vote for Donald Trump.

As Martin Sheen says, “We cannot pretend that both sides are equally unfavorable.” Hillary is not equally as horrible as Trump. Trump is proudly opposed to everything that truly makes America great, and he’s trying to fool the credible among the electorate into voting for him.

Don’t be fooled by the man who is not a successful businessman (four bankruptcies), not a billionaire (that’s why he’s hiding his tax returns), not a charitable giver, admires world dictators and is not a nice guy.

#StopOrangeMuppetDictator

Donald Trump and the Nine Republican Dwarfs

Just time for some quick, off-the-cuff observations about the first Republican primary debate, held tonight in Cleveland and moderated by Fox News.

Overall, the show was entertaining — but not as fun as I hoped it would be. Of course it did not even remotely resemble an actual debate; all modern political discourse consists of acknowledging the question asked and then quickly pivoting to talking point. I was impressed by the speed and grace with which all the candidates deflected the issues raised by the moderators and got to the serious business of reciting their scripts.

I do not think any completely ruined his chance to win the nomination — pretending for a moment that more than a handful of them actually have a chance to begin with — but I also do not feel like anyone distinguished himself, either.

HOUSE OF CARDS Season 3 Streams Today!

Today is the day! It’s the first day of the Underwood Administration.

And, just in case you’re not entirely caught up on seasons one and two, check out this remarkable video from the Fine Bros.

Are you going to download HOUSE OF CARDS?

Coloring Outside the Lines — With Satan!

Meet the newest hero of the First Amendment: a coloring book.

More accurately, The Satanic Children’s BIG BOOK of Activities.

The children’s amusement book was balanced against the Bible in a pitched battle in Florida’s Orange County school district — and made the book some consider holy back down.

In honor of Religious Freedom Day in January, the school district had regularly allowed the Christian group World Changers to distribute Bibles to students. (The board allowed the Central Florida Freethought Community to hand out atheist materials last year after the group won a lawsuit.) But when The Satanic Temple wanted to hand out coloring books, the school district delayed Religious Freedom Day in order to rethink its policy.

BBC Snips Swordfight in Tomorrow’s DOCTOR WHO

Barbaric recent events in the Middle East have compelled the BBC to edit tomorrow night’s episode of DOCTOR WHO, “Robot of Sherwood,” to remove a beheading from the story’s climactic swordfight between Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham.

The powers-that-be are concerned that the fantasy sequence – which was filmed back in February, long before anyone in the West had heard of ISIS – might seem insensitive in light of the beheading of American journalists James Foley on Aug. 19 and Steven Sotloff on Sept. 2 by Islamic extremists representing the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Kate Mulgrew Denounces Geocentrist Documentary

Former STAR TREK: VOYAGER star Kate Mulgrew took a lot of flak recently for narrating a purported documentary that supports the long-discredited and demonstrably false idea of geocentrism: the belief that the Earth is the center of the universe. Even worse, the creationist-geocentrist garbage doc was produced by notorious Holocaust denier Robert Sungenis, who runs a fringe-Christian ministry out on the edge of sanity.

But Mulgrew has finally come out against the crackpot documentary — which I refuse to name because the lunatic fringe does not deserve any more free publicity — denouncing it for being… well, garbage:

“I understand there has been some controversy about my participation in a documentary called The Principle. Let me assure everyone that I completely agree with the eminent physicist Lawrence Krauss, who was himself misrepresented in the film, and who has written a succinct rebuttal in SLATE. I am not a geocentrist, nor am I in any way a proponent of geocentrism. More importantly, I do not subscribe to anything Robert Sungenis has written regarding science and history and, had I known of his involvement, would most certainly have avoided this documentary. I was a voice for hire, and a misinformed one, at that. I apologize for any confusion that my voice on this trailer may have caused. Kate Mulgrew”

More New DOCTOR WHO Christmas Snapshots

The latest batch of photographic teases from the BBC include two things we’ve never seen before: a Cyberman made of wood, and a new character called Tasha Lem. And then there are the usual Daleks and some regular Cybermen.

Tasha Lem, played by Orla Brady, is rumored to be someone from the Doctor’s past. Since he has quite a long past, she could someone totally new — but a lot of fandom is hoping she turns out to be the Rani (originally personified by Kate O’Mara). It seems to be a bit of wishful thinking (since show-runner Steven Moffat once vowed never to bring back the Rani) — however, someone clawed out of that Gallifrey Falls painting alongside Clara in “The Day of the Doctor,” and it certainly appeared to be a female hand. And Moffat lies. (Does he ever!)

And I certainly hope the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) doesn’t perish in that ridiculous caped get-up, waving that Dalek eye-stalk like a deranged Harry Potter wannabe!

We will all know soon enough: 9 p.m. on Christmas Day on BBC America.

Card Won’t Profit From ‘Ender’s Game’ Movie — Not Directly

If you feel like you really, really, really, really must see the movie adaptation of Ender’s Game but don’t want to hate yourself afterward for supporting the work of the vile, hate-spewing troglodyte who wrote the original novel, here’s something that might make you feel slightly — but only slightly — less self-loathing about buying a ticket: author Orson Scott Card will not be getting a dime from this movie.

According to TheWrap.com, when Card sold the movie rights to his novel a decade ago, the deal included no backend. None. So the author doesn’t see any additional money, no matter how much (or how little) the movie rakes in at the box office. Not a penny. The Wrap cites film distributor Summit Entertainment, visual effects company Digital Domain and the rights-holder of the book, OddLot Entertainment, all as saying Card has already been paid everything he’s ever going to see from this film.

However…

Hit-Girl Chloe Moretz Hits Back at Jim Carrey

You probably recall that Jim Carrey — he of Dumb and Dumber fame — has announced he would not promote Kick-Ass 2, which opens Aug. 16, because the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre made him fear the film is too violent.

Well, Hit-Girl herself, 16-year-old action star Chloë Grace Moretz has a message for co-star Carrey — and anyone else stupid enough to think kids (or anyone) can be mind-controlled by movies (violent or otherwise):

“It’s a movie. If you are going to believe and be affected by an action film, you shouldn’t go to see Pocahontas because you are going to think you are a Disney princess. If you are that easily swayed, you might see The Silence of the Lambs and think you are a serial killer. It’s a movie and it’s fake, and I’ve known that since I was a kid…. I don’t want to run around trying to kill people and cuss. If anything, these movies teach you what not to do.”