Conrad Johnson's Blog, page 21

William Shatner and Chaos on the Bridge (a Netflix documentary review)

The Netflix release, William Shatner Presents: Chaos on the Bridge, is a must see for Star Trek fans, especially Next Generation ones. In it, Shatner candidly interviews many players who were instrumental in recreating Gene Roddenberry's brainchild from the original sixties TV show. The series almost never left the ground, so to speak, because of a production power vacuum that existed during the first two seasons. Although Roddenberry's vision and relentless drive carried the momentum during the franchise's infancy, it wasn't until the third season when head writer Michael Piller took the reins from frustrated Maurice Hurley that the series solidified.

Shatner congenially evokes anecdotes and memories from the cast and crew like only an insider into the Star Trek legacy can do. His presence, no doubt comforting to the interviewees, generates a fond reminiscence of what otherwise sounds like a tortured and chaotic beginning to a project that was always one chop from the cutting room floor. The animated vignettes of Roddenberry and others who butted heads at that time are well suited to the documentary's overall purpose--to inform as well as to entertain. In fact, there's even one clip that shows sausage being made in order to describe the frantic pressure put on writers to produce scripts that would sell the audience to a new, bloodless type of Star Trek, one with less 'fighting and fornicating' (as one writer put it) than the original series. Piller was able to make things gel in ways that Hurley couldn't and Shatner gets a last jab at the latter at the end.

Probably the funniest story was the fact that Patrick Stewart had to have his toupee flown to Hollywood from England in order to read for the part of the captain because nobody imagined a hairless commander at the helm, but as Roddenberry reportedly quipped, "Hair won't matter in the 24th century."  And so it goes. The genius behind Star Trek didn't live to see the awards and popularity and spin offs that the franchise created, like a whole slew of comics and paperbacks, many of which were created by New York Times best selling author, David Mack, who I interviewed twice on this blog, here and here, but rest assured, if Gene, the Genius, is looking down at us somewhere from the Delta Quadrant, he'll be smiling that his vision has baldly gone where no man has gone before.
Blessed are the peacemakers... a white cop, a black kid Arnold Penxa is a white cop from black Detroit, Michigan determined to save the lives of children no matter the cost, no matter the color. He is an ex war veteran and retired Detroit policeman, now working for a private school security firm,and he sniffs out a conspiracy for a multiple school shooting. The problem is that nobody wants to believe him except for a few close friends, so he's forced to act mostly alone to bust up the plot. Forget the usual suspects. This is the Mad Motor City where the line between common sense and criminal behavior is never clear. Get the book HERE at SMASHWORDS
Click and PURCHASE NOW at Amazon
Buy in paperback from Barnes & Noble

Donate to the Officer Down Memorial Fund

Donate to the NAACP to support education for economically challenged blacks 

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El Norte (a blast from the past movie review)

The 1983 film, El Norte, directed and written by Gregory Nava, has never been more timely than it is today, given this sobering news report from KRGV.com in Brooks County, Texas about
the remains of illegal immigrants found on private ranches.

The movie is about peasants escaping "mindless labor and a murderous Guatemalan government" with the desperate hope of finding a better life in the U.S.A. I blogged recently about the Kevin Cline film, Trade, and how it connects to the recent report that many women flee from cartel sexual violence and slavery to seek refuge directly from U.S. Border Patrol guards. This may be the best time to reconsider our priorities regarding the American migrant crisis at our Southern border and to acknowledge the fact that the issue won't go away but will only escalate further into chaos and disorder--a fundamental law of physics and, now, sociology.

What's most compelling about El Norte is the loyalty and love portrayed between actors David Villalpando (The Mask of Zorro) and his fictional sister, Rosa, played by Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez. Their dream is simple: Get to the States and find a job as a waiter for Villalpando in a classy restaurant and be respected for an ordinary job extraordinarily done. However, deception, disease and death wait for them along every step of the way on their journey to "el norte" resulting in a nightmare of recurring horror. Poverty and oppression not only accompanies them on their tragic journey, it mocks them into a demeaning submission that is no where near the lesser of two evils. If you've already hardened your heart to the Central American refugee crisis in America, than this film is not for you, but if you're still hoping to find an unvarnished, unbiased drama of the secret life of desperate dreamers, than open your eyes to El Norte. 

You can watch El Norte FREE on YouTube 
HERE>https://youtu.be/tiuRrsgMoME


Blessed are the peacemakers... a white cop, a black kid
Arnold Penxa is a white cop from black Detroit, Michigan determined to save the lives of children no matter the cost, no matter the color. He is an ex war veteran and retired Detroit policeman, now working for a private school security firm,and he sniffs out a conspiracy for a multiple school shooting. The problem is that nobody wants to believe him except for a few close friends, so he's forced to act mostly alone to bust up the plot. Forget the usual suspects. This is the Mad Motor City where the line between common sense and criminal behavior is never clear. Get the book HERE at SMASHWORDS
Click and PURCHASE NOW at Amazon
Buy in paperback from Barnes & Noble

Donate to the Officer Down Memorial Fund

Donate to the NAACP to support education for economically challenged blacks 

Conservative Black Leaders Thank God for NRA (gun control is black people control)

Arnold Penxa is a white cop from black Detroit, Michigan determined to save the lives of children no matter the cost, no matter the color. He is an ex war veteran and retired Detroit policeman, now working for a private school security firm,and he sniffs out a conspiracy for a multiple school shooting. The problem is that nobody wants to believe him except for a few close friends, so he's forced to act mostly alone to bust up the plot. Forget the usual suspects. This is the Mad Motor City where the line between common sense and criminal behavior is never clear. Get the book HERE at SMASHWORDS
Click and PURCHASE NOW at Amazon
Buy in paperback from Barnes & Noble

Donate to the Officer Down Memorial Fund

Donate to the NAACP to support education for economically challenged blacks 

Trade-a movie review about sex slavery in America

Today's post in The News & Observer about this month's unprecedented increase in migrant traffic at the U.S/Mexican border brings to mind the 2007 film, Trade, starring Kevin Cline, because as the article states: 

"Many of the migrants are women and children fleeing vicious gangs and endemic sexual violence in Central America who are hoping for asylum in the United States. Rather than hiding from Border Patrol agents they often try to find them, to ask for protection and start the long legal battle to remain here."

Trade was a departure from Cline's traditional comic or cerebral roles and presciently highlighted what has seemingly become an incurable epidemic that has metastasized invisibly in our society. Can anyone explain why this horrific and institutionalized crime is not covered more rigorously by the media? Can anyone that has a young daughter or knows someone who has a daughter turn a blind eye to this festering plague upon innocence? 

Here is one of two plot summaries of the film from the IMDB link above that I repost here for the reader's convenience:


Adriana is a 13-year-old girl from Mexico City whose kidnapping by sex traffickers sets in motion a desperate mission by her 17-year-old brother, Jorge, to save her. Trapped and terrified by an underground network of international thugs who earn millions exploiting their human cargo, Adriana's only friend and protector throughout her ordeal is Veronica, a young Polish woman tricked into the trade by the same criminal gang. As Jorge dodges immigration officers and incredible obstacles to track the girls' abductors, he meets Ray, a Texas cop whose own family loss to sex trafficking leads him to become an ally in the boy's quest. Fighting with courage and hard-tested faith, the characters of Trade negotiate their way through the unspeakable terrain of the sex trade "tunnels" between Mexico and the United States. From the barrios of Mexico City and the treacherous Rio Grande border, to a secret Internet sex slave auction and the final climactic confrontation at a stash house in suburban New Jersey, Ray and Jorge forge a close bond as they give desperate chase to Adriana's kidnappers before she is sold and disappears forever into this brutal global underworld, a place from which few victims ever return. - Written by Production
The film is not for the faint of heart nor the full of turkey this Thanksgiving Day weekend, but unspeakable evil never sleeps even if many still choose to do so during these dark and desperate days.  May I be so bold as to suggest that instead of one more trinket for under the Christmas tree, you donate to the Women's Refugee Commission or another charity that aids women and children who are victims of endemic sexual abuse. Also, if you have a few more minutes, please listen to this archived Writers Alive podcast with Donna Carbone, founder of Feel No Shame, a non-profit dedicated to raising awareness of female rape victims.


Arnold Penxa is a white cop from black Detroit, Michigan determined to save the lives of children no matter the cost, no matter the color. He is an ex war veteran and retired Detroit policeman, now working for a private school security firm,and he sniffs out a conspiracy for a multiple school shooting. The problem is that nobody wants to believe him except for a few close friends, so he's forced to act mostly alone to bust up the plot. Forget the usual suspects. This is the Mad Motor City where the line between common sense and criminal behavior is never clear. Get the book HERE at SMASHWORDS
Click and PURCHASE NOW at Amazon
Buy in paperback from Barnes & Noble

Donate to the Officer Down Memorial Fund

Donate to the NAACP to support education for economically challenged blacks 

Ziauddin Yousafzai and The Malala Fund (don't all girls deserve a good education?)

Before she won the Nobel Peace Prize, before a book and movie about her life, even before the Taliban tried to kill her, Malala had a dream to see all girls around the world go to school.And now her dream is beginning to come true.  Watch the new video to learn about the Malala Fund and meet some of the girls we are helping.As a father, I can't help but feel so much pride to see my daughter's vision come to life. I share with you my sincerest gratitude for supporting this work and for fighting for girls' education with Malala, me and the entire Malala Fund movement.Our fight is not yet won. With every person who stands #withMalala, shares our message with their friends or supports the Malala Fund ? we come closer to realising Malala's goal.Watch the new video to see how the Malala Fund is fighting for a world where every child has an education that allows her to have dreams as big as my daughter's.Thank you from the bottom of my heart,
Ziauddin Yousafzai

Get the book HERE at SMASHWORDS
Click and PURCHASE NOW at Amazon
Buy in paperback from Barnes & Noble

Donate to the Officer Down Memorial Fund

Donate to the NAACP to support education for economically challenged blacks 

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.--Matthew 25:40

Laquan McDonald and the NAACP (because doesn't education level the playing field?)

Laquan McDonaldCareer ended October, 2014
Please donate to the NAACP, one of America's most respected and established educational charities by clicking HERE

"Blessed are the peacemakers..."



 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.--1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Turkey Shoot in Syrian Skies Upsets Vladimir "Puppy Hands" Putin

Just in time for Thanksgiving: what with all the hoopla and cheering coming from disgruntled Americans about Obama's perceived failure in dealing with the Syrian war and Putin's macho complex muscle flex of bombing the region, now might be a good time to take a look at the man and the country behind the media madness.

Vladimir Putin achieved modest success as a KGB Stasi, paper pusher and keyhole Peeping Tom in East Germany during the Cold War. His superiors regarded him as unremarkable and rather flawed yet his devotion to duty kept him in good favor. Arguably, his best political move was to jump on the bandwagon and renounce Communism after the collapse of the Iron Curtain and ride, then Russian president, Boris Yeltsin's populist wave of democracy in the early 90's, fatefully allowing him to assume leadership when Yeltsin resigned in 1999. Although he 'won' an election soon afterwards, many dispute the fairness of that campaign. In September 2011, following a change in the law extending the presidential term from four years to six,Putin announced that he would seek a third, non-consecutive term as President in the 2012 presidential election, an announcement which led to large-scale protests in many Russian cities. In March 2012 he won the election, which was criticized for procedural irregularities, and is serving a six-year term. This is the man some Americans cheer today as standing up for the free world in the face of Islamic State militants in the Middle East--a politico thug and opportunist cut from the same cloth as Stalin himself, who slaughtered millions to retain power indefinitely.
But what's his track record at home economically? Has he made life for the Russian people really that much better despite the fact that some can now afford ill fated trips to Egypt for holiday? Let's see what the business magazine, Forbes has to say about this:
Russia’s GDP is expected to contract by 3.8% this year and grow by maybe 0.7% next year.  But considering sanctions and the negative sentiment on Russia over the last few years, this may be as boom as it gets. 
There's no doubt that the Russian 'middle class' has seen some improvement since Putin has been in power but that is marginal at best and, compared to other industrialized nations, really very insignificant. Apart from the privileged few who used their former Communist connections to cash in on capitalism and to strike it rich, the average Russian still lives a harsh life filled with economic uncertainty,rampant poverty and crime in many cities and fear of an oppressive, censoring government which Putin and his cronies know very well how to manipulate having learned their lessons from former Communist KGB days. Is this really the Russia that frustrated Americans want to emulate? Look at the images of Russian poverty today easily available on the Internet and decide for yourselves. Plus the collapse in global oil costs, which Russia relies heavily upon for GDP, will only make things worse in the near future. With the seemingly impossible-to-cross gap between rich and poor in the country, Russia still qualifies as a Third World country with no viable middle class and, given the current declining global economy, dropping bombs in the Middle East doesn't seem like a wise option for improvement, only a rallying cry for the truly clueless.
Psycho Sam Uhl tells how to kill your literary agent in this comedy of horrors
Download the eBook now at Amazon (Click Here) or Barnes & Noble Nook Store or at Smashwords HERE for any device

Will you help stop a cop killer from being released from prison?

Police Officer Michael Janson Barwick
End of Watch: Thursday August 29, 2002
Just copy, paste and print the following letter and then sign and mail it before December 15, 2015. Or go to Officer Down Memorial Page's website and generate your own. CLICK HERE.


Kimberly Evans, Victim Services Coordinator Missouri Department of Corrections
3400 Knipp Dr
Jefferson City, MO 65109
Re: No Parole for Stepphion Sutton (inmate #1099780) To Whom it May Concern,
I respectfully ask that you DENY PAROLE to Stepphion Sutton, inmate #1099780. This inmate is responsible for the death of Officer Michael Janson Barwick of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (MO) in 2002.
Officer Michael Barwick was killed in an automobile accident during a vehicle pursuit of a car stolen by inmate #1099780. The pursuit started after Officer Barwick and his partner, Officer Jenna Christian, spotted the stolen vehicle and attempted to stop it.
A collision during the pursuit caused Officer Barwick's patrol car to go airborne, land on its side, and burst into flames. Other units stopped and pulled Officer Barwick and Officer Christian from the vehicle. Both officers were transported to a local hospital where Officer Barwick succumbed to his injuries.
As a concerned citizen and in the interest of public safety, I again respectfully ask that you DENY PAROLE to inmate #1099780. Justice demands that he be made to spend every remaining day of his FULL SENTENCE in prison.
Sincerely, 

Ex Machina (a good, short review of a bad, long movie)

Trending now on Amazon Prime, the science fiction film, Ex Machina, directed by Alex Gardner and starring Domhnall Gleason, Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac is severely overrated by viewers who probably don't recognize the obvious Artificial Intelligence tropes and worn out rebel computer memes that date way back to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not only is the simplistic use of vertical line, compartmentalized imagery so insulting, but the overtly feminist theme of men-always-do-things-to-women is beyond boring and not worth the time sitting through all the two dimensional performances by every actor in this travesty of a film. Even Gleason's character who is set up to 'save' these poor, wretched female robots who are man handled by the stereotyped, computer mad genius, Oscar Isaac as Nathan, will clue you in as to why this very badly slapped together composite of worn out  patterns doesn't work. If you've never experienced  a science fiction movie that deals with artificial intelligence before, than you might like Ex Machina. But if you've watched one badly behaving robot and unoriginal director giving and taking life on the screen, you've seen them all so keep looking for the singularity somewhere else because it's not in this film. If you're really interested in what the future holds for practical minded techies regarding AI, then check out this article from MarketWatch: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/say-goodbye-to-the-screen-2015-11-23?dist=beforebell