Another Sign Of The Apocalypse: Super-Crazy QAnon Conspiracy Book Selling Like Hotcakes

The idiots of Qanon prove that there are zillions of suckers
born every minute. 

These are the kinds of stories that just make me want to give up.

A book called, "QAnon: An Invitation to the Great Awakening" was a big boffo seller on Amazon, at least earlier in March.  

QAnon, for those who mercifully haven't heard about it yet, is probably the most bonkers conspiracy theory in history.

The basics of the conspiracy are that the world is run by a Satanic cabal headed by Hillary Clinton. She and other prominent Democrats also supposedly run a child sex ring in the nonexistent basement of a Washington DC pizzeria.

Moreover, according to this wild and stupid conspiracy, Donald Trump and Special Counsel Robert Mueller are secretly working together to destroy this evil cabal.

As NBC reported in March , the book was at No. 9 in all books about politics and No. 1 in all books about "Censorship."

Apparently, "QAnon: An Invitation to the Great Awakening" is full of garbage that comes at you willy-nilly.

NBC describes it thusly:

"On one page, the book baselessly claims that the United States created AIDS, polio, Lyme disease, some natural disasters, two Indiana Jones movies and the Pixar movie Monsters Inc."

Wow, that's some busy government we have doing all that! I wonder why this secret cabal took the time to make these movies?

NBC's report goes on helpfully:

"The book posits that Monsters Inc shows off a government plan to collect children's blood 'that gives (government figures) some form of high or youthful look."

Oh. But then why doesn't Hillary Clinton not exactly look like a spring chicken? Oh, sorry, we're not supposed to question the logic of these insane conspiracies, are we?

The reason that this weirdness is doing well on Amazon has to do with the old, sad fact in America: There is a sucker born every minute.

Social media has been playing wack-a-mole with these whackadoodle conspiracies. NBC quotes conspiracy theory research Mike Rothschild saying YouTube recently changed its algoritms to make it more difficult for the grifters pushing Qanon to make monetize their video creations.

So, Rothschild said, these grifters are no dummies: "They absolutely exploited flaws in Amazon's algorithms." The book, Rothschild said is "a bold new step in the endless grift at the heart of Q."

In an earlier article from last August NBC tried to explain why people fall for conspiracy nonsense that is batshit crazy.

People have always thought that many things don't happen by chance. There's an underlying reason. That's how conspiracy theories are born.

I get the NBC story on why people believe conspiracy theories, but I'm still struggling with how people get to that state of mind.  According to this article, people who are generally anxious and feel like their life is not fully in their control anymore, gravitate to conspiracy theories.

Alright, so I get it how people believe in things like a conspiracy over the assassination of JFK, even if the theories are pretty off. But how do people get to insane things like Qanon?

What's really dangerous is the people like Alex Jones who peddle conspiracy theories to the masses.  I'm sure he doesn't believe the crap he spouts. He knows he can make money off it because of all the gullible people out there.

As thoughtcatalog.com points out, these gullible people are willing to believe the global elite are planning to murder 80% of the world's population, that children killed in the Newtown, Connecticut massacre were just crisis actors that were part of a "false flag." Jones had a guy on his show and demonstrated support for the dude who was claiming that the 2,000 children that go missing everyday are being sold to Mars as sex slaves.

There we go again. The strangest conspiracy theories involve sexual crimes against children. I'm glad people are fighting back. Jones is being sued for his terribly harmful antics, and it's not going well for Jones at all. 

The best explanation for Qanan and its popularity that I've seen came from columnist Clarence Page.

He writes:

"The Qanon theory, whatever its origins, sounds tailor-made for core Trump supporters who need supporting arguments for the alternative scenarios spun by the White House, conservative media and other Trump allies.

Qanon is scary partly because its promoters want it to be. 'Triggering the libs' or 'owning the libs' - i.e doing things specifically to upset liberals - is its own reward to many on the right. But paranoid politics can pop up on all political sides - and often does."

Unfortunately, the game of "owning" the other side, the enemy, has become more important than facts in this world. The most dangerous part of all this is that when we ignore facts for fun and profit, those facts always come back to bite us on the ass. Often with tragic results.

Are You Ready To Be Emotionally Manipulated, Er, I Mean Watch Super Bowl Ads?

A scene from "The Most Manipulative Super Bowl Ad Ever"

I admit I get into this every year around this time:  The Super Bowl ads appear, and you have all these images that tug at your heart strings, like the soldiers coming home, the Budweiser Clydesdale horses saving the day, or whatever.

I get sucked into all this, and I end up liking some of these ads. And sharing them. Which of course is what the sponsors of these ads want us to do.

I'll probably get so taken in by these ads I will end up sharing them with you in this here blog thingy. But oh, well.

Stephen Colbert has gotten us ready for this onslaught by airing an ad he and his team invented, called the "The Most Emotionally Manipulative Super Bowl Ad Ever." It's got everything: America, homecomings, puppies, tragedy, pride, warmth, people on the job, dedicated people. And of course the corporate product at the end.

To prepare yourself for the Super Bowl ad season, here's the clip from The Late Show With Stephen Colbert:

Dark, Emotional German Ad Puts New Twist On Christmas Heartstrings

Scene from the controversial Christmas ad
from the German gorcery chain Edeka. 

Christmas ads are all designed to pull at the heartstrings, and really manipulate your emotions, more so than advertisements other times of year.

Some of these Christmas ads are quite good, as I've noted in past posts. Most of the ads are terrible.

Now, pointed out to me by the web site Mashable, here's an ad from the German supermarket chain Edeka that, at least for the most part, is much darker than most rosy holiday ads.

The characters in the ad are also very manipulated, but seem surprisingly willing to forgive the manipulator for it

As Mashable notes, the manipulation depicted in the ad might not be the best way to do things, but oh well.

I also don't know how the ad advances the cause of buying groceries, but oh well.  The ad is interesting and provocative.  It was just posted on YouTube on November 28 and already has gotten 30 million views  and counting fast.

Many people love LOVE the ad. "Very powerful ad that highllights an important issue for many older people: loneliness," tweeted Jeff Tijssen, according to the New York Daily News.

Others hate it.  During a Today show segment about the ad, co-host Savannah Guthrie said. "That is the worst thing I've ever, ever seen.....Oh, it's morbid."

In this television advertisement, we see a lonely old man in December, who gets phone calls from all his children, all saying things have gotten too busy and they can't make it for a Christmas visit this year.

We then have clips of the old man eating alone in dim light in his house near a Christmas tree, interspersed with scenes from the frantic lives of his adult children.

Then the adult children get the news right before Christmas itself: Their lonely father has passed away. The busy kids, now grieving, interrupt their lives and head to their father's home town to make arrangements for the funeral.

And then......Watch the video, and see what you think of this one:

Some Incredible Photo Manipulation: Artist Shows How It's Done

Very often I hate photoshopped images.

A really cool photo manipulation by Erick Johansson.  

It seems like when people excessively use photoshop, they're hiding reality, without doing anything creative visually.

It's as if they're saying,  "Let's make the world prettier, or at least my version of prettier, than it really is.

The exception, of course, is when artists are not trying to create reality. They're creating fantasy based on reality. When they do it well, the results are awesome.

Maybe the best examples I've seen is from photographer Erik Johansson, who was recently featured in a Mashable article. 

Says Mashable:

Can high tension electrical wires be musical?
In photographer Eric Johansson's world, maybe.  

"After sketching out and planning an idea, Johansson collects his material, without the use of stock photography. (he wants to feel as if he's creating everything himself). Then he puts all of the photos together, a process that can range in time required from a few days to several weeks. 

'This part is like a puzzle,' Johansson writes on his website. 'I have all the pieces. I just need to put them together.'"

On his web site, Johansson said he is self-taught in both photography and retouch. He said since he acquired his first digital camtera in 2000, he has enjoyed manipulating photos.

As you can see in the photos on this pag and on Johansson's web site, he takes ordinary situations and makes them extraordinary.

A consrructton site version of tic tac toe?
Too bad this is one of Eric Johanssons photo
 manipulations, and not the real thing. 

A guy on a road who is creating the road as he walks, a musical take on high tension electrical wires, a playful take on tic tac toe at a construction site.

Johansson desribes his works as "surreal ideas realized in a realistic way with a touch of humor maybe."      

It's totally worth going to Johansson's web site and looking through many more examples of his work.

You can buy prints from his web site, too.  If I had the space in the house to buy some of his work, I would. Johansson is totally worth checking out.

Play Dolly Parton's "Jolene" At About 3/4 Its Normal Speed And You Get Awesome

Dolly Parton's "Jolene" seems to be awesome
played at any speed.  

Dolly Parton's classic 1973 record "Jolene" is awesome. Moody, desperate, passionate.

Now, get this. Somebody thought to play the 45 rpm record on an old turntable at 33 rpm. So you hear it at roughly 73.3 percent of its normal speed.

Hat tip to BoingBoing for clueing us into this

The first to the two videos below is "Jolene" by Dolly Parton, done at the speed and familiarity we're used to with the song.

The second video is the 33 rpm, 73.3 percent rate. It sounds like a guy, losing out in a same-sex relationship. But it's totally, TOTALLY awesome.

Listen to both of them. Absolutely worth it.

First: Normal Dolly Parton:


Now, the 33 rpm version of Parton singing "Jolene." Which do you think is better?

Sarah McLachlan Can't Bear To Watch That Tragic ASPCA Ad Featuring Her Song, Either.

I get such a frustrating jumble of emotions at just the thought of that ASPCA commercial.

Sarah McLachlan in that emotionally painful
ASPCA ad. Even she says she can't bear to
watch it, no matter how admirable the fundraising goals.  

You know the one. As you hear Sarah McLachlan's sang song "Angel" play, we're subjected to abused and lonely dogs and cats who just need you to adopt them into your warm, loving, safe home. 

(If you don't want to become a puddle of emotion, don't click on the above link to the ad)

Like millions of other people, especially animal lovers, the second the commercial starts, I change the channel. I can't bear to subject myself to those sad, beautiful and deserving animals.

Then I get angry. That TV ad is so manipulative.  How dare the ASPCA play on my emotions with such a blunt instrument to get my donations?

Then I feel guilty. Of course the ASPCA is trying to manipulate me. That's Advertising 101. We're supposed to be manipulated into doing what the advertiser wants. That's effective advertising.

Let's face it. No matter what we feel about the ad, we can't blame the dogs and cats that need our help. Of course, we can't give all our money to the ASPCA and we can't take in every pet that needs a good home.

Which leaves us frustrated.

All these jumbles of emotion are what make us change the channel when the ad comes on. Actually, I don't think the ASPCA is particularly worried that we change the channel, come to think of it. Just the act of having to do that gets us thinking about them, and the dogs and cats that need help.

The ad does its job without us even having to watch it.

That means it's a helluva effective commercial.  According to the New York Times, the ad raised $30 million for the ASPCA in just the first two years after it began airing in early 2007.

Which brings us to Sarah McLachlan.  (Her new album is out this week!)

McLachlan, too, says she changes the channel when the ad comes on, as it's too much to bear. 

To me, that gives us permission to change the channel. The important thing is we do what we can to keep animals safe and protected and loved.

If you and I do that, I'll declare us all off the hook.

Fascinating: What Would Rock Legends Look Like Now If They Were Still Alive

I recently found a cool concept put out by Sachs Media Group, which teamed up with the photo restoration and manipulation compnay Phojoe to re-create photos of famous, deceased rocks stars to show us what they might look like if they were still alive today.

Janis Joplin, how she might appear today
at age 70.

I've often wondered what kind of music such greats as Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and others would be making now had they survived.

We'll never know, of course, but now we can see a glimpse of what they would look like if they were on television today, promoting their latest work.

Some images are in this post, click on this link to see more. 

John Lennon, imagined today at
age 73. 

Kurt Cobain, what he might look
like in 2013 at age 46.