Jonathan Heatt's Blog: Teaching Snapping Turtles, page 4

Amazon book reviews

Once I finish writing my book Teaching Las Vegas I'm creating a website start-up company. Until then I write blogs pointing out the obvious flaws in other websites so I don't make the same mistakes. Let's start with Amazon.

I'm an author who publishes ebooks and print books on Amazon. I admire their adherence to freedom of speech, yet they lack any sort of rational book review structure. They allow fake reviews. It's hard enough to sell books, but it becomes impossible when Amazon allows fake negative reviews.

For example, my book AnonMan was bombarded with fake reviews from a cyber bully who scammed me on eBay. The psycho stalker threatened me that he would get everyone he knew to leave me bad reviews. And for what? Because he scammed me on eBay for a Silkk the Shocker CD and when I reported him he did a quick Google search on my name then left me negative reviews. This is a clear example of Cyber Bullying. And it hurts the chances of my book being sold, and be put into libraries. Amazon should consider some guideline changes to thwart Cyber Bullying of this sort. Shouldn't only verified purchasers of the book be allowed to leave reviews?

I contacted Amazon customer service reps and they deleted the first negative review, but wouldn't remove his second review. Amazon allows reviews by people who are not verified purchasers. This seems counter-productive to sell products, especially when my book is only available on Amazon.

To make matters worse, my Mom bought my book and tried to leave a review, but they removed it because of "bias". She bought that right! But a cyber bully who didn't buy the book can post a fake review?

For real, Amazon? Is this the policy? Buy a book, and be banned from leaving a review, but let some fake creep post a bogus review?

AnonMan is a tight book, I don't need any reviews because I will continue to write books, but it's only good business practice to let verified purchasers to leave reviews. So what if my Mom wanted to leave a review? She spent money on your website!! Isn't that the point?

Without a change in guidelines Amazon book reviews will become just another outlet for deranged anonymous individuals to scrawl their hateful graffiti...which is what most of the internet is now.

Age

our dreams & shadows
run from us
the day we realize
they are gone.

Future Projects

It's the new year. Resolutions and bucket lists have been devised and revised. It's no different for Heattwave Productions. The AnonMan short movie has been submitted to 20 film festivals. That was just the 1st wave of submissions. There are many more to come in 2017.

Here are the future projects for Heattwave Productions:

-AnonMan novel: will be packaged with the short movie, and taken to the 2017 AFM.

-Highway of Tears: screenplay, shooting schedule, budget, and shot list are ready. A found footage horror movie set in Canada. Plans for a trilogy.

-Silver Fang graphic novel: graphic novel script and panel outlines are ready, just looking for the right artist. Screenplay is ready also. Franchise potential.

-Website startup company: the best ideas are the ones that withstand time. A couple years ago I had a great idea for a website to benefit humanity, and 2017 is the year it finally begins.

2016 was a productive year as I directed my first professional short movie. 2017 will be even better. We only have a finite amount of time; might as well be creative.

Creativity is the only thing that gives this farce called life any meaning. I gauge success with achieving goals. Surviving 365 days each year are a series of successes blended with creativity. Each day is a stepping stone to create something worthwhile.

Happy New Year! I hope everyone creates in 2017. Everyone has talent, now is the time to use it.

Even Flow

My first job was at Cedar Point at the age of 15.

I didn't want it.

My Mom barged into my room with threats and nunchuks, and made me apply. I was huddled under covers, and she poured kerosene on them and threatened to light it unless I got a job at Cedar Point.

So I blew out the match of immaturity...

And I liked it. I took the ferry across Lake Erie to my job. I felt special, and I was.

I was young. Naive. and shy. And the only guy in the burger stand.

The women had a bet who could fuck me first. None collected. I was just trying to figure out work, a mop without spilling grease, a pretzel without burning, and a burger without raw meat. Pussy was something outside of my understanding. I could barely mop up the kitchen.

I remember standing at the counter, and the woman manager (in college) leaning against me and touching my lips. she whispered, "that's a sexy freckle on your lip."

My bullshit reply: "I've never seen it"

I am the champion of turning down tail.

I may not be Magic Johnson or Wilt Chamberlain, but the even flow keeps me young. These memories. Which motivates me.

These memories spring up occasionally.

[Stoli provided the memories today while AnonMan is edited.]

Post-production on a movie is like several claws of several paws. But the difference is I hold them all.

Politicks As Usual

The disappointing 2016 presidential election is between a corrupt DNC and a rich blowhard with mothballs for brains. Clinton vs Trump. Dynasty vs Duck Dynasty.

Our Aristocratic Democracy is a Monarchy. Vote for your favorite Big Money honey. Pay the ticket, and get rode.

I'll think I'll pass. Better yet, I'll "write-in" Bernie Sanders or vote for Jill Stein. People tell me that's a vote for Trump. So be it. I'm done voting for the crooks in the 2 major parties. Sometimes the only way to fix something is to break it. And the 2 party system needs to be broken.

If Trump wins, which is a possibility that the Democrats deserve, then he will be such a colossal failure that changes will be made. Or maybe not, according to Ralph Nader acolytes. But I never had an input in the Primary election process because the Dems rigged it for Hillary. And that is why they won't be getting my vote this November.

If the Dems didn't want Trump to win, then they shouldn't have shafted their liberal progressive base. Hillary's VP choice is a big middle finger to progressives. Well, let's see them win the election without us.

We never had a choice to begin with. How is that a real democracy? It isn't. It needs to be created out of the ashes of the Trump hellfire burn of the Republican party, which has gone so far right that the Democratic Party has taken its place, leaving a void for Progressives.

How can Progressives (especially NV Progressives) vote for Clinton with a clear conscience? After Warren Buffett bought Nevada Energy he swayed the utility regulators to increase rates for solar customers. Then this past Monday, Buffett appears at a Hillary Clinton rally. How can I vote for her? I won't.

There should be an anti-trust suit filed against the Republicans and Democrats for abuse of monopoly power. They pick the shitty candidates that we have to vote for. Not us. So why vote for them? That just encourages bad behavior. The Dems deserve to lose, and the Republicans deserve to fade into Whig Party irrelevancy.

The last two elections I voted with a clear conscience for Obama. But his candidacy was born out of the mire Bush jr created. Maybe a Trump presidency would result in a 2020 multi-party presidential race that best reflects what Americans want.

Sure, some people want Trump, and they will vote for him. Others don't want Trump, and they will vote for Hillary. And yet, a small but powerful minority possessing integrity and foresight will vote their conscience, and choose the candidate that best reflects their values.

Values are something one holds dear, not a commodity to be sold.

The Summer of '16

We live in a society of snuff films.

If he's gay, kill 'em. If he's black, kill 'em. If he's white, kill 'em. If he's a cop, kill 'em. If he's breathing, kill 'em. If he's not breathing, kill 'em again!

This is the mindstate of the psychopaths running through our country's streets. Horrible way to live in America this gun-spasm summer of 2016. We are split apart, and the only thing we can agree on is packing heat. Yee-haw!

Our frustrations have become blisters of violence that rival the turbulence of the 60's & 70's. This is the most violent American summer of the past 30 years, culminating in a Sam Peckinpah Straw Dogs of an election that will leave everyone needing a shower. To wash away the blood, sweat, tears, prejudice, and regret.

"Normally" there's one horrific event that takes America by surprise in the summer. But there is no normal any more. There's multiple stories cascading into our crumbling consciences.

First nightmare was the most deadly mass shooting in America. Orlando trumped Charleston. Hate is spreading, and gaining ground to ruin our society.

Then a black man got shot in Baton Rouge, and another black man shot in Minnesota. Then a "Black Lives Matter" protest in Dallas resulted in 14 cops getting shot, and 5 died. No lives will survive this shit.

I'm regurgitating facts. All you have to do is type an American city in Google then type shooting, the stats come up. This past 4th of July weekend in Chicago 62 people were shot and 4 killed.

Let's run down all the stats: AR-15s, AK-47s, SKS, AKA, BSBS, and FU! The scary part is that the summer is not over yet.

Both races, white and black, are full of shit. A cop shoots a black man. Outrage. A black man shoots cops. Outrage. But no dialogue. Just ignorant self-righteous point the finger twittering. If the pinnacle of our society is Twitter then maybe we deserve the Dinosaur fate.

I understand hate and rage. If you were a black person and some white person came into your church and shot your grandma, then how would you feel? If you were white and your brother worked at Lee's Liquor Store and some black person wanted to rob the safe and shot him in the head, then how would you feel?

The important thing to feel is this: Not every white person is bad, and not every black person is bad. The only way to fight hate is love.

The good people outnumber the bad.

Growing up on Pipe Street, a black family lived next to me. There were 2 sons, and we would play A-Team in the backyard. We got along. We didn't know there was a difference in race. Until other people taught us.

Who teaches it? And why do we still learn it? Because we learn with our eyes? or our hearts?

Gun Violence has defined this unfortunate summer.

I use the word "unfortunate" because we're the unfortunate ones.
the NRA makes a fortune with guns
They spend the sums
while holding our civilization for ransom.

"It's gonna get worse before it gets better."
is a bullshit phrase.
It's never gonna get better until we make it better.

Life floods us with pain
but we still swim.

Compreapprehension

Too many superstitions, too much trouble
No bubble for the common man
Natural Selection
has become a C-section
A's and B's are rare,
Mutated beliefs ping-ponging at a rapid pace
creating a rabid base
of people.

we are sick & twisted
around gauges, and gears,
and grease, and hair-trigger tempers
Semper Fi
is no different than allah akbar to the NRA
so long as they both die
by guns.

We will never become one
people
so long as we cater to evil.

Evil is that
envy, jealousy,
bigotry,
religious zealotry.

We are all one
nation under the sun
The only day
we're different is when
we pray
on Sunday

Out of Touch Oscar Weiners

The Oscars haven't been culturally relevant for the past decade, but now some people want to complain about them because they weren't nominated.

There. That one sentence could accurately sum up the nonsense noise cascading through social media, and the news.

Instead of complaining about real issues (the Flint Water crisis, climate change, gun violence, etc.) these 1% nimrods have their silk panties in a twist over a celebrated circle jerk.

Will Smith wasn't nominated so he's taking his football and going home to eat sour grapes. Smith earns millions of dollars making movies, but he's still not happy with the unjust society that loves him.

Tyrese made a public plea to Chris Rock not to host. Yeah, that makes zero sense. Why wouldn't you want a black host? Tyrese makes Fast & Furious movies, and was in Ride Along 2. And he wonders why those movies weren't nominated? Dude has a Benihana in his backyard yet he's outraged over the Oscars. Miss me with that noise.

These people are so out of touch with reality. They make more money in one movie than most Americans make in a decade. Plus, they're tone deaf to real issues that matter. Not even a week after a tearful Obama conducted a news conference calling for gun control, Ride Along 2 commercials aired with the Ice Cube punchline to Kevin Hart "I'll shoot you in the face if you call me your brother-in-law again." That movie was #1 at the box office opening week, which is a moral indictment against our braindead culture. If anything, people should be boycotting that shitty movie!

George Clooney had the nerve to chime in, yet how many black people are in Hail, Caesar? Better yet, how many black actors are in the movies he directs? Hypocrisy disguised as concern.

I understand Spike Lee: he's employing the carnival barker strategy to raise awareness for his latest movie. But don't buy into his bullshit and cry for him, because he'll be courtside surrounded by other 1%ers watching a dreadful Knicks game Oscar night. My only problem with Spike is that he basically stated white people have no flavor, which is sort of a racist statement if you think about it.

I don't give a shit about the Oscars, but this "controversy" just feeds into the fiction of White Privilege. This so-called privilege has eluded me thus far, but there have been Bigfoot-like sightings of it on Twitter. Just once I would like to experience it. My Mom busted her ass for over 30 years as a postal carrier so she could provide for her family and afford a home. And had the Privilege to endure 2 hip replacement surgeries as a result of the physical demands of her job.

And now I'm busting my ass just to make a short movie. Nobody's giving me anything, I'm working to raise the money. Yet these Hollywood people who make millions and have successful careers are whining, and social media is in an uproar about White Privilege. I remember having the Privilege of my film school professor hate on me because of my gender and race. If this is white privilege then I want no part of it.

Rich Privilege does exist. It is the privilege to complain about irrelevant award shows instead of real issues. Both black and white people are suffering in Flint, Michigan. Both black and white people suffer from gun violence everyday in America. Dividing the races with White Privilege mythology, and sham Oscar boycotts, only strengthens one group of people: the rich 1% who run this country.

Making movies seems insignificant compared to the real issues affecting millions of Americans every day. I only have one question for the Hollywood whiners: do you make movies for the Oscars, or do you make movies because you love it?

Making movies should be its own reward.

Suspense Thriller

The most important genre of all American literature and art is the Suspense Thriller.

Thrillers are morality tales. Cautionary tales...that warn us to think twice before making a fatal mistake. And that mistake is selling our souls.

Sounds cliched, but true. The only thing we have in this life of any real value is our soul. When you sell that, there's nothing left.

Why do people sell it? Money, fame, lust, etc. There are more reasons than souls to sell. And what are the repercussions? Dreams become nightmares.

Suspense Thrillers will never go out of style so long as people have problems. A betrayal of one's beliefs and morals is the universal quandary that everyone can relate to...self-imposed or not.

Thrillers reinforce a moral truth: you only get one soul. protect it. nurture it. embrace it. no one can take it from you...unless you let them.

ABC Season's Greetings!

What better way to celebrate Christmas than to watch violent movie trailers on TV?

Normally I like to watch NBA games on Christmas while cooking in the kitchen, especially when the Cavs play the Warriors, but this year I had to turn off the TV before halftime. The horribly violent movie trailer commercials failed to add anything festive to my mood. Forgive me if I don't want to see Deadpool "sharing bullets" on the holidays. Or the gun-infested H8ful Eight. Or the gun-slingin' fools in Ride Along 2. Or the Michael Bay movie of war & violence.

Just this past December there was a mass shooting, terrorist attack, and random acts of assorted violence in America, only a sick culture would promote the glorification of fictitious violence on its most sacred Holiday. And only a brainless depraved audience would be entertained.

The only sane alternative to this brutish spectacle is to keep the television off. And so I pulled the plug before my Holiday spirit was ruined. I replaced the noise with music.

Music has the power to uplift the soul, whereas ABC tries to crush it.