Emmy-Winner Hugh Fink on The Zigory Show

In another Zigory Show about the art and business of entertainment, I recently interviewed Hugh Fink, a stand-up comedian, television writer and producer who has won an Emmy for NBC’s Saturday Night Live. He has also taught comedy at UCLA. This new episode of The Zigory Show will soon be available for listening and downloading on www.zigory.solidvox.com.

He was the subject of an article in the New York Times on October 17, 2006 about his plan to perform at his alma mater that went awry due to an attempt by authorities to alter his routine. We discuss this incident in the Zigory Show interview.

An article about David Spade’s Showbiz Show, with quotes from Hugh, its creator and producer, appeared in the New York Times on September 15, 2005 (reprinted in its entirety elsewhere on September 28, 2005) and Hugh is also quoted in a Times article about Saturday Night Live on January 2, 2005.

I have known Hugh since our college years at New York University. It was great fun catching up with him and fascinating to hear his views on what makes something funny, what is the most important element in writing good comedy, the different types of humor, what one motivation he believes all comedians have in common, and the steps of his career so far from class clown to stand-up comic to writer-producer. We discuss today’s edgy humor and what value it can have, what are its disvalues when mishandled, and compare it to softer, lighter comedy such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Whether you agree with his opinions or not, he is a knowledgeable, experienced professional in comedy whose comments are of interest to anyone with a curiosity about entertainment and humor.

(To contact Zigory please email me at zigory@comcast.net.)

Kingdom of New York City

King Bloomberg and his Merry Board of Health Fascists now dictate restaurant recipes in all of New York City’s 24,000 food establishments.

What’s next, a gendarme in every home’s kitchen making sure at the point of a gun that you don’t cook with trans fats?

See http://www.nysun.com/article/44691 . Also see excellent comment by Dr. Mark A. Hurt at http://www.nysun.com/comments/3902 .

George Reisman wrote a good blog post on the topic of food-choice freedom at http://georgereisman.com/blog/2006/12/you-cant-have-trans-fats-because.html#links (although his request that libertarians become more like Objectivists is at best futile). He paints a vivid and believable picture of where this trend toward violating freedom of choice is headed — a snapshot of what life may be like one day soon — and what principles must be upheld as inviolable, in order to prevent it.

On my previous blog post topic, did you know that Rudy Giuliani had stepped down from the Baker-Hamilton commission (Iraq Study Group) early on? Here’s a good editorial about Baker vs. Giuliani: http://www.nysun.com/article/44790 . I continue to support Giuliani for President in 2008 unless an even stronger candidate comes along.

Iraq Study Group's Terrible Idea

Today’s bipartisan report by The Iraq Study Group regarding the Iraq War makes the exactly wrong recommendation: Talk to and negotiate with Iran and Syria. In other words, give them credibility.

See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16068589/ .

Iran and Syria’s actions have been purely evil, consistently. Why pretend they will change now? Just “hope” they suddenly turn sane after being psychopaths? They are not simply psychopaths, but psychopaths on principle due to their beliefs! This hoping and wishing for the best is not a good plan if you want to live — or live free.

What could account for such illogical wrong-headedness on the part of supposedly intelligent, wise, accomplished men? It is the influence of their own religious beliefs, specifically its focus on altruism and forgiveness. It is also a long trend of intellectuals teaching moral relativism or equivalence, or the doctrine of diversity, which denies one’s right to make distinctions between cultures, including distinctions between good and evil! We are taught to put blinders on rather than see the full picture with utter clarity.

What To Do In Iraq? Ralph Peters' New View

I haven’t followed Ralph Peters’ columns closely, but I understand he has in the past supported the Iraq war in part because overthrowing a dictator and establishing “rule-of-law democracy” is “noble” (not because it could be in America’s defensive self-interest). On November 2 in USA Today he wrote, “I supported the removal of Saddam Hussein. I believed that Arabs deserved a chance to build a rule-of-law democracy in the Middle East.”

Recently Peters seems to have had a change of heart, and has realized that American self-interest is the priority. In his most recent editorial, he even emphasizes the importance of well-defined terms to aid in thinking logically, and the importance of a well-defined, self-defensive purpose in war.

In his November 30 column in The New York Post, he writes regarding the inaccuracy of calling the Iraq situation a civil war, “In a civil war, you have clearly defined sides struggling for political power, with organized military formations and parallel governments.”

He writes that instead, “the violence in Iraq comes from overlapping groups of terrorists, militias, insurgents, death squads, gangsters, foreign agents and factionalized government security forces engaging in layers of savage religious, ethnic, political and economic struggles - with an all-too-human lust for revenge spicing the mix….No military lexicon offers a useful term to describe the situation in Iraq.

“This matters. We not only speak, but think, in language. To communicate effectively, we must describe things efficiently. Agreeing upon its name is essential to a deeper understanding of any phenomenon. Nouns are the handles with which we grip reality.”

This of course is true. But the words I think he’s searching for are “anarchy” and “altruism” (as in American self-sacrifice). Anarchy results in part from an ineffective government with no Constitutional commitment to defending liberty, and no philosophical basis in the culture for defending individual rights.

So what do we do now in Iraq? To his credit, he does not support Bush’s altruistic idea of staying there, taking no aggressive actions, allowing our soldiers to die or get wounded day after day, until the Iraqi government says they don’t need us anymore.

Peters writes, “The administration and Congress have to face a fundamental question: Which result is more important - preserving Iraq as a unified state with a facade of democratic government, or protecting our own national-security interests?

“The two priorities now conflict. Really taking on our enemies - not least Moqtada al-Sadr and his legion of thugs - would require us to defy the elected Baghdad government we sponsored. To kill those who need killing to pacify Iraq and re-establish our ascendancy would mean that we would again become an outright occupying power.

“Not that it really matters, but doing what it would take to win would also tear up our permission slip from the United Nations.

“On the other hand, the prospect of endlessly shoring up a corrupt, divided Iraqi government unwilling to protect its own citizens, and to do so at a cost in American blood, would be a far more immoral course than ordering our troops to kill the butchers who’ve been assassinating them and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis.”

Note that he uses the term “immoral” correctly; he is saying that altruism and the sacrifice of Americans to a corrupt Iraqi government is immoral. He is calling for our troops to actually take action against the “butchers,” saying it is the more moral course. (It is hard to believe–but plainly true–that our troops are literally prevented from taking such action! They are just supposed to stand there and be targets, apparently.)

Peters begins his conclusion with these words:

“A fundamental problem is that the mission in Iraq remains vague. And vague mission statements are not conducive to military success.

“Generalities won’t do. Let’s tell our troops precisely what we expect of them: Are they there to defeat our enemies, or just to buy time with their lives in the forlorn hope that something will go right?”

In fact, according to President Bush, our troops are there to altruistically assist the democratically elected Iraqi government (that includes Communists and Islamic Theocrats) in any way they want, for as long as they want, because democracy (i.e., unlimited majority rule) is some kind of holy thing, the same holy thing that put into power Hitler in the 1930s and Hamas in 2006.

Peters ends with these sensible words: “And let’s not lose sight of the incontestable fact that, while being liked in the Middle East would be nice, being feared by our enemies is essential…we need to remember that, whatever else our government does or fails to do, its ultimate reason for being is to protect Americans and American interests.

“Saving the dubious Maliki government is a secondary concern, at most. The uncompromising defeat of our enemies is what matters.”

What are the best solutions to the Iraq situation? There are probably a few. One is Peters’ idea of becoming an “occupying power,” and unleashing our military to smash the enemy within Iraq, but also (my own addition) imposing a constitutionally limited government.

Another idea is to juxtapose two actions nearly simultaneously: Withdraw our troops from Iraq and the next day launch massive attacks on Iran, including nuclear facilities, government sites, Islamic fundamentalist schools and terrorist training sites. Overwhelm the totalitarian Islamists. Warn the other nations to shape up or we’ll strike them. Then when the dust settles, give moral and intellectual support–not military support–to a promising group trying to establish an individual rights-respecting government in Iran.

Well worth viewing or listening to is Yaron Brook’s “Democracy vs. Victory” on the Registered Users Page of http://www.aynrand.org/. First register, then see http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=events_ari_events and go to the right side and click on Free Online Video Selections, Registered Users Page.

Brook shows that victory and defending America is not President Bush’s plan at all. As hard as this once may have been to believe, it is made chillingly obvious by Brook.

Chuck McCann on The Zigory Show

My latest interview on The Zigory Show was a delight to conduct, and recommended to you if you have an interest in the entertainment business and especially the history of comedy and the early days of children’s television. My guest was Chuck McCann, and you can hear the interview online at www.zigory.solidvox.com right now!

Chuck McCann is a veteran Hollywood comedian and actor, who created many children’s television shows primarily in the New York area in the 1950s and 1960s, where I first encountered him.

I watched him probably from my birth until he went off the air when I was about 6, as he performed with puppets, played The Great Bombo (an inept magician and escape artist), portrayed a large Little Orphan Annie, Dick Tracy, and many other characters. He was a student and friend of Stan Laurel and has often portrayed Oliver Hardy on television.

A highlight of my conversation with Chuck McCann is his commentary about Stan Laurel the man, and the influence of Laurel and Hardy on later comedians.

He is the voice of numerous cartoon characters including Duckworth on “DuckTales” and The Thing on “The Fantastic Four.”

He directed and performed in a feature animated film called “The World of Hans Christian Anderson” and he played W. C. Fields in the 1982 TV movie biography of Mae West.

He starred in “The Projectionist,” appeared in “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” and several Mel Brooks films, and added his spark to numerous TV commercials. It was a great pleasure to speak with Chuck, and to thank him for being part of my happy childhood memories.

Here is the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) filmography on Chuck McCann: CLICK HERE (over 100 listings!): http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0564841/ .

My interview with Chuck McCann is at http://zigory.solidvox.com .

“Atlas Shrugged” Movie: Whither will Randall Wallace Lead Us?

After I wrote my post about Angelina Jolie being cast in “Atlas Shrugged”, Variety reported that Randall Wallace, writer of “Braveheart” and “Pearl Harbor”, and writer-director of “Man in the Iron Mask” and “We Were Soldiers”, will write and direct “Atlas Shrugged”.

I am only familiar with “Braveheart”, which was decent, and heroic, if somewhat convoluted and ultimately conveying a tragic/malevolent-universe view. I have also heard that “Man in the Iron Mask” was worthwhile. But “Pearl Harbor” was considered mediocre and historically inaccurate by most critics and people I know who saw it. Because of the less than ideal “Braveheart” and the fact that Wallace majored in religion at Duke University, I am less enthusiastic about him than I was about James V. Hart as the screenwriter. For example, I suspect that all of the explicitly atheistic and anti-religion ideas will be removed from the story.

However, James V. Hart is still listed on www.IMDB.com under “Atlas Shrugged” as one of the writers along with Wallace, so perhaps they are collaborating, which may help the overall script quality and faithfulness to the novel.

The good news is that Wallace is as Hollywood “establishment” as they come, more successful than Hart, and with Angelina Jolie automatically makes “Atlas Shrugged” seen as a major motion picture with great box office expectations (by those people who don’t already know how commercial the story is even without famous names attached). The two of them also assure a huge amount of publicity. Wallace’s association with the currently friendless Mel Gibson in two films, and with the highly successful but critically berated “Pearl Harbor”, may bring negative publicity, but publicity the movie will get.

Interestingly, Jon Voight, Angelina’s father, played President Roosevelt in “Pearl Harbor”.

P.S. I just found this quote from co-executive producer Karen Baldwin saying “Atlas Shrugged” may not be a trilogy, and that Randall Wallace was hired to revise the screenplay, but may not be the director:

http://www.dailynews.com/entertainment/ci_4537477

”We’ve hired Randall Wallace (”Braveheart,” “We Were Soldiers”), and he’s going to revise the script, so we’re letting Randy and his writing determine how many movies there will be…Ideally we’d like to have the script so we could be in preproduction in the spring.” She added that a director won’t be confirmed for the Lionsgate project until the script is complete.

I dislike the premise that the decision on one versus three films is at the mercy of Randall Wallace’s desires. This means the producers are giving Wallace the power to make decisions the producers should be making. Clearly a single film is not going to be adequate to convey even a tiny percentage of the story. I think Wallace’s clout will cloud the minds of the producers.

If Wallace wants a bigger payday he will want to write three screenplays, so there is the hope that will be an incentive towards a trilogy.

The World According To The Taliban

Shortly after September 11, 2001, I attended a concert by the prolific and accomplished songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson. He was long ago a major component of the English folk rock band Fairport Convention, along with the late Sandy Denny (”Who Knows Where The Time Goes” is their most famous song). He wrote “Crazy Man Michael” and “Farewell, Farewell”, among others, for Fairport Convention. After leaving the band, his songs included “Valerie”, “Persuasion” and “I Misunderstood” and he recently released a mini-survey of the last 1000 years of popular music on CD and DVD.

At the concert, I was still shell-shocked and wondering if, after buying a home in New Jersey the previous month, I should sell it and buy another one much farther away from New York, so that I could survive any future attacks on New York City by Islamic Fundamentalists (I still am considering that move, but for now we are staying).

During the concert, Richard Thompson introduced a song with comments of sympathy for what we in the area have been going through, and said he had recently written the song to show the Taliban’s view of the world. I found the song to accurately encapsulate the frightening-to-ponder attitude of anti-Western death worshippers such as the Taliban. I was moved by the performance as it was the first satire I had heard and it was an emotional relief to contemplate the evil we face via satirical jabs for the first time. It shows the mystic’s feelings-based rather than reality-and-reason-based philosophy as experienced psychologically by a Taliban. I understand that Thompson considers himself a Muslim, but obviously he doesn’t take the fundamentalist view.

Here are some of the lyrics to that song, which eventually appeared as “Outside of the Inside” on his CD entitled “The Old Kit Bag” in 2003.

A few lyrics from “Outside of the Inside” by Richard Thompson:

“…what’s the point of Albert Einstein
What do we need Physics for? …
Shakespeare, Isaac Newton
Small ideas for little boys
Adding to the senseless chatter
Adding to the background noise
Hard to hear my oratory
Hard to hear my inner voice

Van Gogh, Botticelli
Scraping paint onto a board
Colour is the fuel of madness
That’s no way to praise the Lord
Grey’s the colour of the pious
Knelt upon the misericord.

There’s a message on the wind
Calling me to glory somewhere”

The Zigory Show will make you hungry!

On my latest edition of The Zigory Show, I interview Michelle Steffens, who has been a chef at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill and Bolo restaurants in New York, and who operates her own catering business in New York and New Jersey. She talks about the business and pleasure of food, with anecdotes from her career, and tips on making your own dishes more flavorful.

You may listen to this podcast at http://www.zigory.solidvox.com/ right now!

Thanks for listening!

Angelina Jolie as Dagny Taggart

These are my comments on the news from Variety that Angelina Jolie has signed to play Dagny Taggart in Howard and Karen Baldwin’s movie version of Ayn Rand’s great novel “Atlas Shrugged”. Can Angelina Jolie do the role justice?

I have only seen Angelina Jolie act in one movie, “Girl, Interrupted”. She won an Oscar for her supporting role as Lisa Rowe, a patient at a mental hospital who knows all the angles, in order to manipulate the staff so things go her way. For example, she finds ways to repeatedly escape the mental hospital, view secret files, get away with forbidden activities.

I read Susanna Kaysen’s original, short nonfiction book dealing with her bout with “borderline personality disorder”, and the film expanded rather than condensed the story. In the same way, Angelina Jolie had to create her character’s attitude and mannerisms by studying and integrating the clues from the script, and I think she did an outstanding job with that. There is very little in the original memoir about Lisa.

Some may say Jolie was playing herself, but whatever she did, it is a memorable and vivid performance. Within the mental hospital’s patient society, she is their leader, by being aloof and focused on her own needs (rational or irrational). I can see within this characterization, that Jolie has the potential to be the personification of nonconformity, of individualism, in a rational character as well. I believe what draws her to play Dagny is that aloof independence and driving ambition, that passion to pursue what she wants.

In the character of Lisa in “Girl, Interrupted”, Angelina Jolie was able to convey a type of selfishness, a driven pursuit of what Lisa would consider her values, and also a total disregard for the opinions of others. Yes, the character of Lisa is mentally disturbed, but it is what Angelina Jolie found within that character that I believe motivates her to play Dagny, and shows that she is capable of playing Dagny.

To sum up, based on viewing “Girl, Interrupted,” I can see that Jolie is able to show a driven, selfish pursuit of values, as well as total independence/nonconformity, a complete disregard for the opinion of others.

She isn’t the physical type I would have chosen for Dagny, but she is far from “wrong” for the role.

I’m not saying I expect the movie to be good; I will wait and see. But there is reason to believe it may be decent, even thrilling and worthy of the book, as the screenwriter James Hart wrote the film version of Carl Sagan’s “Contact”, which I thought was a good screenplay, and the producers Howard and Karen Baldwin were involved with “Ray” which I didn’t see yet, but have heard from reliable sources was very good. Both are thought to be films respectful of their source material–in the case of “Ray”, the facts of Ray Charles’ life.

Also, I have heard that the Baldwins are planning to produce “Atlas Shrugged” as a trilogy. This will allow it to have a chance of suggesting the scope of the story. No movie or trilogy will recreate the book word for word, as the book is too long, and no one should expect that.

The only film that I know of that recreated a normal-length novel almost word for word, was the 12-episode miniseries of Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited”.

My Favorite Halloween Movies (A Bit Early)

Elizabeth of the Elizabethan Blog (www.elizabethan.thinkertothinker.com) asks me for a list of good movies for Halloween. Interesting question. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Some of the following I haven’t seen since childhood or my teen years, but I am fairly certain they are all worthwhile. If you don’t mind intelligently scary films, or humorous ones, as opposed to simple shockers full of gore, here are my Halloween recommendations:

1. “Frankenstein” and “Bride of Frankenstein” (don’t see one without the other), directed by James Whale with Boris Karloff. Catch a brief glimpse of one of my favorite character actresses, Una O’Connor, as Minnie, in an early scene.
2. “Dracula” directed by Tod Browning with Bela Lugosi.
3. “The Other” by Tom Tryon, directed by Robert Mulligan (recently released on DVD).
4. “Psycho” directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
5. “Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury (although in the movie they ruined the ending of the novel by deleting the most important scene–the discussion of how to defeat the villain).
6. “Burn, Witch, Burn” a/k/a “Night of the Eagle” by Fritz Leiber and Richard Matheson.
7. “Bell, Book and Candle”.
8. “The Nanny” with Bette Davis.
9. “The Innocents” with Deborah Kerr.
10. “Two on a Guillotine” with Dean Jones.
11. “The Sixth Sense”.
12. TV Special: “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”.
13. “Rebecca” directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
14. “Freaks” directed by Tod Browning, with a cast of real ones, will give you chills.
15. “The Unholy Three” directed by Tod Browning, with Lon Chaney.
16. “The Unknown” directed by Tod Browning, with Lon Chaney. Pointlessly horrifying, but that’s what you want on Halloween, right?
17. “Eraserhead”. To experience a true nightmare as if you are having troubled sleep, no one has captured a bad dream on film as well as David Lynch did with “Eraserhead”. It’s not elevating or enlightening. It’s slow, nonsensical, sometimes boring and awful in many ways, but it gives you the feeling of being asleep and having your worst nightmare ever, if you want that feeling on Halloween.

For a comedic Halloween film, my wife recommends “Arsenic and Old Lace” with Cary Grant, but I haven’t seen it yet. I’ve heard good things about an animated version of Ray Bradbury’s “The Halloween Tree” but I haven’t seen that either. And you can’t go wrong with Rod Serling’s “Twilight Zone” TV series, most episodes of which I have seen and loved.

Also be sure to visit The Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World or Disneyland if you live nearby.

Golden Age Quality Movies Being Made Today

I don’t like much about today’s popular culture, but I find gems in the hay at times, especially because I look for them. On the negative point, looking at the promotional “Fall Preview” specials about the new television season (for example, the special shown by The CW which is the merging of The WB and UPN “networks”), I find that instead of making me eager to see programs being advertised, including ones I may have wanted to see, the promotional preview makes me want to avoid those shows. These TV previews, and many movie trailers that screen in theaters, feature tasteless dialogue or activities, loud music, quick and unintegratable editing, and unappealing, ignorant or pessimistic sarcastic characters. I suspect some of the programs and films aren’t as bad as the previews make them seem. Why the promos are made to send away people like me — an employed, college-educated male in my 40s married with children, with an interest in the beautiful, the thought-provoking, the informative, the dramatic and the delightful in my TV or movie viewing — I don’t understand. One would think I’m in a good demographic.


Meanwhile, turn to TCM (Turner Classic Movies) and you are in another world. The presentation, the introductions by Robert Osborne, the short films and documentaries between features, and above all the movies themselves are elevating, quality experiences. The movies by and large are from the 1940s back to the 1920s, the Golden Age.


Well, today, although there seems an endless stream of films with titles and subjects like Beer League, or the latest horror/slasher series, one can still find films and TV series that would not seem out of place among the classic movies of the 1930s or 1940s.


If you are looking for 21st Century movies that would feel perfectly at home among the Golden Age films, I can recommend two. They have in common that they are period pieces, and that they both coincidentally feature actor Paul Giamatti. One is Ron Howard’s “Cinderella Man” from 2005, and the other is the new film now playing at your local theater, “The Illusionist”.


You can rent “Cinderella Man” on DVD, and see a beautiful tale of a man with consistent honesty and an unshaking faithfulness to his moral code and his deepest values as he struggles to survive in a boxing career during the Great Depression.


“The Illusionist” is the inspiring story of an Austrian magician so brilliant at his illusions that he is the object of a prince’s envy while he is adored by the public and respected by the police chief hired to investigate him. The plot contains some twists that are fun to observe.


Here are some other recent films with that Golden Age quality: “Kate and Leopold” with Hugh Jackman, “Apollo 13″ by Ron Howard, “Schindler’s List” and “The Pianist” for vivid views of the Nazi-perpetrated Holocaust, “Cinema Paradiso”, “The Sixth Sense” and “The Lord of The Rings” Trilogy. Although they have their flaws, the recent Star Wars prequels, especially “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith”, are of Golden Age quality as well. Beyond those, I would add the “Star Trek” films and TV series. Also, although it’s too dark and convoluted, “Dark City” with Kiefer Sutherland is a fascinating and stylized Good vs. Evil tale with imaginative plot ideas, visual effects and settings, a/k/a production design.


On television, what I’ve seen of “Smallville” and “Law and Order” usually impressed me in a similar way. Many have recommended “24″ but I haven’t seen it yet.

Easy To Understand Messages at Islamist Protest Rallies

An acqaintance of mine informed me about these images from an Islamist protest rally in London. These images apparently have been around for awhile but I had not seen them until now, because they were not publicized in American media at all. The signs state, for example, “Be prepared for the REAL Holocaust!” and “Freedom, go to hell!”

http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/muslimprotest.asp
Snopes confirms the photos are not altered.

If it weren’t such an important issue, it would be laughable that the U.S. media refuses to publicize these messages from Islamist protest rallies (so as not to offend with the truth?), and that the Israeli and U.S. governments still haven’t obliterated the terrorist-supporting anti-Western leaders in Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia and their weapons and armies, and their progeny like Hezbollah and Hamas. What more motivation and justification do they need, after the many “we will attack and destroy you” comments of Iran’s President and other Islamic leaders. It’s especially horrible that Israel quit their self-defense war against Hezbollah too soon, simply handing the enemy a “win”. I suspect the United States pressured them, and I know Europe did, for “diplomatic” reasons.

See these links for more:

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49865
Mushroom Cloud on the Way

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40338
Islamic Leader Hails Chechen Attack

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/10/26/
ahmadinejad/index.html

Iran’s President’s comments.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/26/news/iran.php
Iran says wipe Isreal off the map.

I'm A Singer? Achieving Goals.

Last night I auditioned to be a singer in a New Jersey choral group called The Celebration Singers. This is significant because I have never sung in public before (except in a chorus in 8th grade).

Actually, I once did try recording myself singing “Somewhere” from West Side Story at the Karaoke-type recording studio Sound Tracks that used to be at Downtown Disney in Florida’s Walt Disney World. The result was atrocious–which led everyone who heard it to confirm that I cannot sing. But I always suspected that the fact that the Sound Tracks recording engineer played Barbra Streisand’s high-pitched female voice into my headphones while I performed is the reason I couldn’t find the notes as I tried to sing the song as a deep-voiced male.

Plus, whenever I tried to compose songs by singing into a tape recorder, I thought I sounded okay. And as a pre-adolescent, I took a mail-order course in ventriloquism, which taught me how to project my voice, and how to speak from my diaphragm, and do vocal warm-ups, all of which relate directly to singing.

Finally, I found that singing Brahms’ Lullabye with my wife to our twins over the last three years has been good practice and that if I tried, I could sing it–and other children’s songs–fairly well.

So, I courageously showed up at this audition. The Celebration Singers includes professional singers who have a number of serious accomplishments in their resumes. The conductor who auditioned me is an accomplished professional who knows what he’s doing. What was I doing there?

He had me sing back to him what he played on the piano. Then he changed the key, so I sang higher and lower, to see what my range was. Then he asked me to sing an actual song if I knew one. I sang two verses of “Climb Every Mountain” by Rodgers and Hammerstein, a song I remembered word for word, note for note, for some reason, ever since learning it in music class in Fifth Grade (or was it Third Grade?). I had rehearsed it in the car while driving to the audition, since it’s the only place where I could be alone and wouldn’t disturb my family or embarrass myself. I wanted to continue and sing the middle part but he stopped me.

He said I had a good ear and seemed surprised that I had never sung before.

This morning I received a telephone call inviting me to join their next rehearsal!

I had no expectation that I could actually pass the audition but I thought, why not try. I drove to the hall after putting my children to bed, showing up in the last 15 minutes of the audition period. This is how life-changing events take place. It’s always worth trying if you have a desire.

Here is a link to the web site of The Celebration Singers:
http://www.celebration-singers.org

Interestingly, it started out as the company choir of, and funded by, Standard Oil, or Esso (now Exxon). It is now an independent non-profit organization.

Besides this exciting new adventure, I recently drew some character designs that may be used for an animated version of a bear that promotes children’s TV programming at a local station in Pennsylvania. These kinds of creative endeavors are exactly what I wanted my life to include when I planned to be a Renaissance Man (or at least a multi-talented creative person) during my childhood. It’s true, life gets better as you get older; you get to do what you intended to do, as you keep pursuing your interests over time. Eventually you do achieve your goals as long as you keep trying. (And smaller arenas can eventually lead to larger ones.)

I’m also proud of my interviews on http://www.zigory.solidvox.com. I’ve recorded two programs so far. (I would have done more but I have found scheduling times when guests and producer Prodos and I are all available to be unexpectedly challenging.) Unfortunately my music-related interview with M. Zachary Johnson has not yet been put on the site due to a backlog at the Prodosphere, but I expect it to appear soon.

I will apply all this confidence I’m gaining from these achievements to completing my longer and more ambitious writing projects which are still in progress.

Podcastic! My Music Chat With M. Zachary Johnson

I recently recorded an interview with M. Zachary Johnson, composer and music critic for The Intellectual Activist. Deeply inspired by the ideas of Ayn Rand, he is articulate and thoughtful, answering questions with great intelligence. I learned a few things while chatting with him. Topics included what inspired him when composing pieces on his CD “Saxophone Music of M. Zachary Johnson,” the future of Romanticism in music, Ayn Rand’s hypothesis regarding why a series of tones can create emotions, whether serious music is losing its audience, the misleading distinction between popular and serious (classical) music, and how he first discovered classical music.

To hear samples of M. Zachary Johnson’s music, go to http://www.mzacharyjohnson.com and follow the links.

To hear my conversation with Matt Johnson, look for it to appear in a few days on http://zigory.solidvox.com, where it will be available as an MP3 file for listening, downloading or saving to your MP3 player.

20th Century Classical Music I Like

I’m a layman when it comes to Classical music. I don’t play an instrument and I don’t read music, and I have trouble remembering the titles of pieces when they are numbers instead of evocative words.

That said, I love many Classical pieces. I prefer the Romantics and I love creative, lively, and also somber, tonal music, including choral music. Some of my favorites from the 18th and 19th Centuries are Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Beethoven, Verdi, Rimsky-Korsakov and sometimes Schubert.

Here are some composers I like who composed after the Romantic and tonal-music period had “officially” ended:

Other than the 20th Century holdovers from the 19th Century, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev and Debussy (from the latter two I only enjoy certain pieces), there are some less-well-known 20th Century composers I like who were influenced by the Romantics and who composed tonal pieces with structure, lush and beautiful sounds, and uplifting emotions well into the 20th Century. These are: Paul Creston (I enjoy his Symphony No. 1 and No. 2), Randall Thompson, and William Grant Still. I like a few of Henry Cowell’s pieces too. My wife happens to play the flute on some Manhattan Chamber Orchestra recordings of a few of these composers, but that has only led me to learn of the works, not to influence my taste.

On to the 21st Century: Online I have heard samples of new compositions by M. Zachary Johnson (http://cdbaby.com/cd/mzacharyjohnson) and I like what I have heard. He is directly trying to revive the spirit of Romanticism and he may well have succeeded.

Terry Teachout, a music critic, has suggested that a return to tonal music and Romanticism by younger composers, whose pieces are being added to the concert performances of today’s orchestras, is a trend. I hope so.

Here are two essays on the subject by Terry Teachout, “Back to the Future” and “Romantics’ Return”.

http://time-proxy.yaga.com/time/archive/printout/0,23657,996278,00.html
http://www.walter-simmons.com/wilderness/reviews/teachout.pdf

I don’t like (nor have I heard) all of the pieces to which he refers, nor do I necessarily agree with all he says, but I think his heart is in the right place.

In the coming week, I expect to have a new podcast available at www.zigory.solidvox.com that will be related to this topic.

Three Cheers

Three Cheers for Israel, finally taking meaningful action against its enemies (and ours), the purest of pure evil, Hezbollah and Hamas and hopefully also against their supporters, the governments of Iran and Syria. Who could look at the situation objectively and say Israel is in the wrong (except to say Israel is holding back too much)? As Onkar Ghate says in this Op-Ed, and as Ayn Rand first proved, the initiation of force is evil. Mr. Ghate’s Op-Ed, “The Indispensable Condition of Peace,” is a must-read.

Israel has focused on the terrorist groups, their direct threat, but I hope they move on to the leadership of Iran and Syria with the (weapons and intelligence) assistance of the United States. Or the USA should take charge of that enterprise ourselves; see this Op-Ed, “The U.S.-Israeli Suicide Pact” by Elan Journo.

Of course, history is not encouraging. The United States usually tries to moderate Israel, hold them back, even though they are doing our military work for us against our own enemies, by simply trying to defend themselves from the same ones. What they are doing will make the United States safer, and the world safer, not just preserve Israel’s existence for awhile longer.

The United States has consistently treated Israel’s enemies as if they have a right to make demands after relentlessly murdering people, as if they have a right to any consideration at all. They don’t.

For a snappy and clever but more partisan view of the situation, read Ann Coulter’s “Liberals: Born To Run.” It blames Democrats for the United States’ appeasement policy, and they deserve it, but Republicans are just as guilty historically. President Bush is only a smidgen more aggressive than the Democrats. If the ”Two State” solution isn’t appeasement, what is?

Welcome To My Weblog

Hi! You have found Zigory’s weblog (oh, all right, “blog” if you must be vulgar about it).

I’m Zigory, also known as Greg Zeigerson. My blog is also available at www.zigory.thinkertothinker.com. I include here the archives from that site, and will post new blogs as the inspiration hits me.

I've also got a podcast at www.solidvox.com. One podcast is available and my next podcast is still in the works as I write this. I’m excited about the many fascinating guests in varied fields I’m planning to interview! I hope you’ll download and listen when the shows become available. Look for my programs to be fun, educational, surprising, humorous and even inspiring!

To contact me, send an email to gregoryzeigerson@yahoo.com or zigory@comcast.net

My Archives: Older

Here are my older archives, originally published at www.zigory.thinkertothinker.com, in reverse order:


The Wild
April 17th, 2006

Still enthused about our forthcoming Disney World vacation (and not only me, of course: Our three year old daughter is starting to tell strangers that she ’s going there), I went to see the animated movie The Wild last night. It is under the “Walt Disney Pictures” banner, and even rated G, so I expected it to be a picture for the whole family, of which the studio is proud, and that it may help keep me in the Disney mood.

Disappointed am I. It’s mediocre and has just about nothing in common with the Walt Disney legacy. To be sure, it is not unusually offensive (the way the usually superb Ron Howard offended me with his witless and crude destruction of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas). It is just irritating and amateurish in its writing and direction. For those of you who know something about animation, has no one informed the director “Spaz” (his self-chosen moniker) or any of the animators the concept of the “hold”? A “hold” in animation is when the movement stops for a moment to emphasize an expression or an attitude or a gesture. It is priceless when used well (and gives the animator a few frames worth of a break, besides). Perhaps the all time masters of the hold in animation are Chuck Jones (think of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner), Tex Avery, and Bob Clampett during the golden age of Warner Brothers cartoons.

The Wild has a total of zero holds. Everyone and everything is moving twenty-four times every second from movie’s beginning to end. Who can watch that? My eyes just couldn’t take it. The attitudes and gestures were all there. They were just there ten times more often than any human mind could process.

But that could be forgiven if the story was clever, conveyed a meaningful theme and was told with clarity, drama, and humor.

Instead of clarity, every sentence of dialogue was written to sound ironic or sarcastic or “funny” or “witty,” never actually achieving real humor or wit. It’s hard to know what any character really wants if they never express themselves clearly and simply. (I suppose once in a while they did, but that was the exception.) There is no attempt to make the squirrel’s romantic crush remotely believable, and the father-son theme is trite as can be. Finally, there is so much slapstick violence (characters get hurt a lot) that I almost question the G rating. It’s a valid rating but the film is definitely too full of scares (like the far superior The Incredibles) for anyone under age 7. (This is not new in the Disney tradition, as Snow White, Bambi, Sleeping Beauty and maybe Peter Pan are also too intense for the very young).

There is no less artistry required to make a kid’s comedy animation than any adult movie. In fact, more awareness of one’s all-ages audience is required to make it entertaining and meaningful rather than irritating, boring or traumatizing. The theme of The Wild, trite as it is, has potential value but it’s ineffectively communicated.

I think “Spaz” and his crew believed they had a film so full of roll-on-the-floor belly-laughs it would excuse the flimsiness of the story. Unfortunately they were mistaken. This was not a Pixar movie if you didn’t figure that out yet. The good news is, Pixar is back in business with Disney and we can look forward to their consistently superior material, starting with “Cars” for which I have high expectations.

Thoughts on Walt Disney World
April 13th, 2006

When I was a little boy, my mother only took me to Walt Disney movies because she knew they would be good, quality movies, better than other movies for children.

I grew up learning the Walt Disney philosophy that good will triumph over evil, and you will succeed if you try hard enough. Walt Disney movies conveyed a way that things should be, an orderly, correct way parents and children may act, ideally. The movies showed examples of how civilized people behaved. They represented normal childhood (and human) emotions of fear and having strong wishes, and showed that struggling against challenges and villains is normal and is usually rewarded.

Part of the reason this had an appeal was to show me how things could be ideally, how I would someday live (when I grew up and had my own family), in contrast to the occasional turmoil, financial obstacles, and lack of orderliness in the environment of my own childhood. I could live in the Disney characters’ world for awhile, and I could even find things that were like their lives in my own life. If they went skating, I found there was a skating pond near me and I could make a goal of doing the same thing. (A similar effect resulted from my reading Beverly Cleary’s Henry Huggins books). I especially recalled Disney’s “Atta Girl Kelly” TV movie, about Seeing Eye dogs, that took place in Morristown, New Jersey, not far from where I lived. It was nice to see a place closer to my home environment represented in the ideal Disney world.

Since I felt I had the same view of the world as Walt did, and Walt was my ideal father figure when he would introduce his TV show, I really wanted to go to Disneyland but it was all the way on the other side of the country. I felt that it would be so great to meet the characters.
Then when I turned 10, Walt Disney World opened on my side of the country but it was still too far away and too expensive for my parents to afford the trip.Finally I was able to go to Disney World for the first time when I was 21. My mother had received money from a relative and decided to take my brother and me there with the money. To save money we flew down one way on PeopleExpress airlines and took the train back. Epcot had just opened and it was the Christmas season.

Being 21 seems like the wrong age, but in fact to me it was just as good as being a child’s age. I wasn’t as excited to meet Snow White as I would have been at age 10, but I really needed inspiration and fuel. I had just graduated from college and was working two minimum-wage part-time jobs to survive, as it was the recession of 1982 so there were hiring freezes just as I was trying to get my first job in film or TV. I was also struggling to get over shyness in making calls for my job hunt. The fact that no one was hiring made me start to believe that was the way of the world, someone had to die or retire before a new job opening would occur. Of course, later I learned that wasn’t true, that new jobs are always being created. My bedroom in the apartment I shared in Brooklyn with two other guys was cold, the window didn’t close all the way. I rescued a stray cat from the cold winter, but I wasn’t doing much better than the cat. So going to Disney World finally, after asking my mother to go eleven years prior, wasn’t so badly timed.

The Magic Kingdom was one of the few things in my life to that point that was actually better than I had imagined it. It was what I expected but with so many more beautiful, imaginative and fun details.

I remember on my first visit at age 21, how the customer service, the incredible willingness of everyone to help us out if we had any questions at all, was so unexpectedly comforting. Especially compared to the often very poor customer service and even lack of English comprehension in New York City.

I remember the first day we entered the park later than we had intended due to the difficulty of getting the family to work together in a timely fashion, and then it was raining a little. So the day started out with problems. But very soon, the spirit of the place had overtaken all the little obstacles, struggles and squabbles and turned it into a good day. I remember thinking, this is a good message to remember for life: a day (or a life) may start out with challenges and struggles, but if you stick with it, you will enjoy the day (or life) later as you achieve your goals.

All the messages of optimism and hope in Epcot were especially meaningful to me at a time when I could only see that I was working two uninspiring part time jobs for minimum wage and living in a cold bedroom and needed a solution. I remember wanting to work at Epcot, and asking the Kodak lady under Spaceship Earth about jobs there. She explained how to apply and that they promoted from within the company. I felt hope, and that I belonged there. I felt, this is the only company that says what I want to say, that does things the right way, and this may even be my way out of my predicament. Meanwhile I still planned (as I always had) to write books and screenplays on the side on my way to becoming a new Walt (or something like him even if on a small scale).

Even the other people visiting had such a happy, open, friendly demeanor. My family met a family from the Midwest, with a daughter, at an AT&T exhibit. We started comparing notes on the various attractions we had seen and what we recommended to each other, and I exchanged numbers with the girl. She and I visited each other a few years later, and we have remained in touch over the years, and attended each others’ weddings.

I remember having an epiphany at the Mexico pavilion. It was getting dark and the World Showcase was lighting up, we stood on line to enter the attraction and I heard the theme music and looked at the illuminated, fascinating designs in the Mexico architecture. I felt a wave of hope for my life, a wave of total certainty my life would improve and be wonderful.
This happens because Epcot and Walt Disney World are constantly reminding you that life is worth living. You are treated like a VIP by everyone. You are confronted with unexpected delights around every corner. If your days have been filled with drudgery, Walt Disney World reminds you how to play, that not every second needs to be spent working or trying to find a new job, that it’s okay to play with toys for the fun of it, like a child!

I went back to New York and the Disney feeling stayed with me for months. Nothing could get me down. Finally I applied to graduate school so that I would be more qualified for employment.
Graduate school was expensive, and there wasn’t the scholarship money that had paid for my undergraduate degree, so after one semester, I interrupted school and instead went on job searches endlessly. Soon I could do a call or an interview at the drop of a hat. I switched from job to job until I found one that suited me. I even worked at Disney World in 1989, drawing caricatures for guests, and working at their telephone switchboard. It was a great experience but I finally decided to return to my New York office job because the pay was so much better.
Now I am very fulfilled, my job pays decently, I’m doing my creative projects on the side–including self-publishing a comic book, writing scripts, doing a blog and soon a podcast– I’m happily married and I love being the best father I can be to my two children. I get to play with toys with my children every day, and watch DVDs with them of Walt’s Mickey Mouse cartoons and other Disney films. So Epcot did not lie to me, there really is hope even if you think you are in a rut. Just take action and pursue your goals and don’t settle for the unacceptable. And always make time to play and enjoy the sun!

My wife and I visited Walt Disney World every year since the time we first started dating seriously. Every time we go, we have a glow of happiness for a month or two. It reminds us how enjoyable life can be, how good customer service can be, and recharges our batteries to pursue big goals and to make our lives and our home even better. After we had our twins, we stopped going to Disney World, to focus on being great parents. This month, we are finally going to take the twins to Disney World for their first time. They are three and a half, a good first-time age, the same age I was when I briefly saw Mickey Mouse waving while sitting on a sign for “It’s A Small World,” as we sat in the boats entering that attraction at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

Art Teacher’s Suspension
April 8th, 2006

Here’s an utterly absurd situation. How uneducated can educators be? The Middletown, NY, Board of Education has suspended a high school art teacher, Pete Panse, for recommending nude figure drawing classes to his advanced students. He may even be permanently fired after a 25-year career. Any student of art knows the importance of drawing nudes from life–a tradition for thousands of years–to learn anatomy and three-dimensional forms and the elements that make up the beauty of the human being. If this is not permitted, then presumably a pre-medical student also must be prevented from observing the human body. This is the Taliban’s idea of education! This is anti-education!

If a Catholic nun, Sister Wendy Beckett, isn’t afraid of nudes in art, why should anyone be? (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/sisterwendy/about/index.html)

If you want to come to Mr. Panse’s defense against the ignoramuses, there is action you can take.

See: http://www.artrenewal.org/articles/2006/Peter_Panse/case1.asp
and: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Reinstate_Pete_Panse/

Psychics Etc.
April 7th, 2006

Before I get to the main comment, here is a followup to my previous post: I emailed the following comments to comments@whitehouse.gov (with a link to Charles Krauthammer’s Time magazine essay of March 30, 2006 at http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21843):

I would like the White House to take heed of Mr. Krauthammer’s warning and take decisive military action as soon as possible against Iran’s nuclear program as well as its terrorist training camps and its government in Tehran, who are a sworn enemy of the United States and the real, fundamental source of the 9/11 attacks.

On a less serious topic, when I was attending college decades ago, a psychic visited my campus dormitory, and gave a talk in which he “read” the minds of some of the students in attendance. He seemed to pick up detailed, private facts about friends of mine, facts they had not revealed to anyone but which they admitted to the psychic, and later to me, were true.

This one event made me consider the possibility that psychic powers may be real. I could not explain how, though, so I just filed that away as an open question. I don’t see how he could have had spies all over the campus for the amount of time necessary to learn the private thoughts of so many students.

Well, last night on Court TV, a program called “Psychic Detectives” featured that same psychic from all those years ago, named Phil Jordan (http://www.philjordan.com/). Although clearly a program designed to promote a belief in psychics, the story they told indicated that Phil Jordan was able to assist the police in a small town, with his calling forth of impeccably accurate details again and again, until they could locate evidence that would solve a murder case.

If anyone who is logic and science-oriented reads this blog (even if it’s a long time after I write this), I welcome any thoughts on the possibility of psychic powers.


Let’s Get Serious
April 1st, 2006

I work in Downtown Manhattan. Every day since Islamic fundamentalists violently took away the World Trade Center from my neighborhood, murdering thousands in a painful, horrifying, bloody manner, I am passionately angry at them for at least one or two minutes per day.
I’ve been in a state of anticipation. When do we get them, destroy them? Every day, I wait for the intensive retaliation, the destruction of all their mosques, the obliteration of Tehran, the wiping out of all the terrorist training camps and weapons factories in the entire Muslim world. All it takes is some good information and some good bombs. I’m also waiting for every anti-American academic and filmmaker to be arrested for treason, as their words embolden and inspire our enemies to fight us one more day.

I’ve had it. I can only think of one potential president who might do what needs to be done, Rudolph Giuliani. He actually knows and understands the lessons of history. I want to believe we can survive even if he doesn’t run and doesn’t get elected, but it would be difficult to justify such a conclusion. The trouble is, we may not be able to wait till 2009. Our current leaders are unacceptable. They aren’t doing enough, fast enough or furiously enough. We can only depend on the incompetence of our enemies to keep us alive until 2009.

Here are some words that everyone needs to read. Charles Krauthammer’s essay “Today Tehran, Tomorrow the World” is at

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21843

and here is a web site with the important facts to know about the fundamentalist Islamists:

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

Will someone wake up the US government?

Fifty Years Ago and Now
March 31st, 2006

Just to write a lighter post than the one yesterday, here are some happier thoughts.
I enjoy seeing TV and movie stars on 1950s game shows shown late at night on GSN (Game Show Network), and then seeing the same stars, with spirit and verve and personality unchanged, on today’s TV.

For example, (besides their other 1950s programs) Carl Reiner was on The Name’s The Same, Andy Griffith was on I’ve Got A Secret, Betty White was on various game shows in the 1950s and Debbie Reynolds, Carol Burnett, Jane Russell, Paul Anka and Jerry Lewis were on What’s My Line in the 1950s.

In the current decade, mainly in the past year, I’ve seen Betty White on Boston Legal and the Ellen talk show, Carl Reiner on Ellen and The Tonight Show and in Ocean’s 11 (remake), Jane Russell on Larry King, Andy Griffith on Larry King, Jerry Lewis on David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Fox News, and his own telethon, Paul Anka on VH1 and PBS, Carol Burnett in reunion shows with her TV cast, and Debbie Reynolds on David Letterman and other talk shows and documentaries, and in recent movies.

These people have careers spanning more than 50 years. It takes a very special person to achieve that in show business.

And the magic to me is, having not been born yet in the 1950s, those game shows are a time machine. I get to see what life was like in my parents’ time which seemed so very different and more elegant and graceful than my own. Let’s face it, nothing in 1973 looked or felt like how things seemed in 1953 (from the evidence of what has been preserved on film). In contrast, 2006 looks and feels much more similar to 1986 (except for a few great new gadgets). Even looking at my parents’ 1956 wedding films, I can’t comprehend that they lived in that time, the time of Marilyn Monroe and the heyday of Doris Day and Cary Grant, when an effort was still made to make life glamorous, when men wore hats all the time and women wore elaborate dresses or skirts, and everyone flirted, before the hippies and feminists turned us all into unisex blue-jeaned clones.

So hats off to those who have managed to be an important and elevating part of all these different eras in the popular culture. They are very special people.

Hitler, Stalin, Kim Jong Il
March 30th, 2006

Warning: this is an upsetting post.

I finally saw “Children of the Secret State” on Discovery Times Channel last night. I’ve seen other documentaries on North Korea and on its refugees, but this one is the sharpest in its evidence of atrocities, including video images by Ahn Chol of starving orphans heroically photographed at the risk of his execution if discovered. Despite North Korea’s claims of a bumper farm crop in 2005, you can be certain there is still starvation in the rural towns, there are still prison camps where entire innocent families are starved, beaten and killed with long knives (because a father or an uncle spoke words that were not permitted to be spoken). You can be sure there are still “hostels” for orphan children where they are given no food and must escape or die.

Kim Jong Il’s late father, Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea, learned directly from Stalin. It is inevitable under Communism, or any form of Collectivism, where the Individual is officially subordinate to the State or the Group, that the sacred value of the Individual, his right to his own life, is obliterated and replaced by a total lack of respect for any human life or human right except for the whims of the Dictator. People become a drain on the system in a Collectivist, controlled economy, instead of the source of Plenty (for themselves because they are free to act in their own self-interest) that they are in Capitalism. People become expendable.

The food aid the USA sends to North Korea goes directly to the North Korean military and the government. It doesn’t go to the starving people in the small towns.

If you ever said “Never Again” in regard to the Hitler Holocaust or the Stalin Holocaust, well, it’s been happening again for a long time in North Korea. It’s not a racial group as it was under the Nazis. It’s anyone who could weaken the government’s power — by speaking — that is persecuted, imprisoned, tortured. Where else is it happening again? What do we know about the situations for prisoners of conscience in Iran and Syria? And we do know about the horrors in Sudan and Rwanda thanks to their dictators.

While any free country has the right to attack NK, or any other nation that doesn’t respect the rights of its own people to be free, America needs to be careful not to get entangled if it is not in the interests of its own defense. But NK has declared America to be its enemy, and probably has nuclear weapons. NK will certainly assist groups like Al Queda and states like Iran, by giving them weapons parts and technology, and weapons themselves, if America is the target.

The innocent people of NK can only benefit from a self-defense based (ideally aerial bombing) attack by America on the NK government and its nuclear facilities. Even if the prisoners and other innocent civilians die from American bombs, they will be grateful when they start to hear the bombs drop. I know this from interviewing Nazi concentration camp survivors.

We don’t have to set up the new government, we just have to get rid of the dangerous one. If possible we could try to assist a freedom-loving leader in establishing a constitutionally limited, rights-respecting government (with our know-how, not with our own fighting men). The only necessity to protect the safety and future of America (and our civilized, free allies) is that today’s oppressive NK regime is out of power, and their nuclear weapons are destroyed. Starvation won’t end instantly, and lawlessness may abound for awhile. But our priority needs to be to get rid of a dangerous nuclear-powered enemy first. Action is necessary. Eventually the starvation will end as people become free to work for themselves instead of the “Dear Leader”. That will be an indirect benefit to the innocent North Korean people, if we destroy their government for our own self-defense reasons.

We need not worry about the intense immigration into China and South Korea that may result. There are ways for these nations to absorb them. This should not prevent our taking necessary action.

Needless to say it’s just as necessary for us to also take action against the states that create anti-American terrorists, primarily Iran, but also Syria, and possibly Saudi Arabia. If Iran is obtaining nuclear weaponry, it must be stopped, now.

Another problem I wish to point out is that China keeps sending refugees who escape from North Korea into China, back to be punished by the NK authorities. I recommend that everyone put pressure on China to stop doing this including by writing letters to Chinese representatives and to publications.

Anyway, here are some links:
The program Children of the Secret State:

http://www.hardcashproductions.com/recent02.html

An organization that assists North Korean refugees who have escaped:
http://www.northkoreanrefugees.com/

Another site of interest, including information on a pro-freedom march for NK in Washington, D.C.:
http://www.nkfreedom.org/index.php?id=29http://www.nkfreedom.org/index.php?id=1


Forthcoming Walt Disney World Trip
March 25th, 2006

We’re taking a trip to Walt Disney World in a few weeks. This reminded me of how inspiring it can be to see some of the attractions such as the Hall of Presidents and Carousel of Progress (both originally designed for the New York World’s Fair of 1964, where I first saw them at age 3) and Epcot’s Future World.

However, in recent years some of the attractions were revised to their detriment. The Disney imagineers in the last decade destroyed the serenity and beauty of the lovely Enchanted Tiki Room presentation, which had been a work of art supervised by Walt himself, by adding Gilbert Gottfried and a rabble-rousing element to the show and labelling it “under new management”. I refuse to experience it again until it goes back to the original owners.

But more serious is the damage done to The American Adventure program in Epcot.
By the way, there is an Ayn Rand quotation from “The Fountainhead” on the wall directly opposite the front entrance, don’t miss that if you go. The quotation is, “Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision.” It’s part of the same passage that Jerry Lewis (of all people) copied into his little notebook when he read the novel, so he could read it again and again as he pursued his show business career. Sometimes in December they put a Christmas tree in front of it, and I always request that they move the tree so the quotation is visible. But my problem is with the show itself.

As I recall, The American Adventure was quite different when it premiered in 1982. The animatronic portion was shorter and purely patriotic, uplifting, and dealing with principles of freedom as did the opening film.

Then in the 1990s, they added more sequences to the animatronic portion, and changed it into a laundry list of the things that went wrong in American history, including propaganda for “saving” the environment courtesy of Theodore Roosevelt, emphasis on things like the alleged harm done to the Indians, slavery, Prohibition, the Depression, the 20th century persecution of blacks in the South, the Vietnam war protests, to the point where the uplifting emotion about America’s founding principles and its successes, in the opening movie portion (which remained positive and inspiring) and in the original short animatronic program (1982), was to me virtually lost.

It’s almost as if The American Adventure was now the Anti-American Adventure!

Of course, the visual and technical aspects were superb, and were more amazing than in 1982, but the patriotic message became muddled at best.

I haven’t seen it since 2001, so maybe they have changed it again since then. I’ll check it out on my forthcoming trip.

Needless to say, most of Walt Disney World remains a delight and extremely worthwhile. Obviously I have been there many times (I even worked there in 1989) and intend to return many times.

The Objective Standard
March 24th, 2006

I am reading the beautiful print version of the first issue of The Objective Standard and it is outstanding, perhaps worth the price of the whole subscription! It surpasses my expectations. I especially appreciated and will continue to consult (as my children start school) Lisa VanDamme’s article on the hierarchy of knowledge in education.

This is Craig Biddle’s academic journal with an Objectivist viewpoint (http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/). I hope that soon it will be on all the large newsstands and in all the university bookstores, and every Borders and Barnes & Noble store, in the nation (the world?). Craig writes me that one of his goals is that it will be on newsstands within a year.
It is so refreshing to read material by first-rate thinkers. If only everyone knew about this publication — and also The Intellectual Activist (http://www.intellectualactivist.com) and Capitalism Magazine (http://www.capmag.com/) — then many, many people would develop a different, more accurate perspective than they have now under the influence of today’s typically missing-the-point periodicals and broadcast programs.

My Archives: Less Recent

Here are my less recent blog archives, in reverse order, originally published at www.zigory.thinkertothinker.com.

Protecting Children
May 30th, 2006

Well, I just finished taping the first episode of The Zigory Show, my internet radio program (podcast). It was an emotional experience, and a rewarding one. I thank Prodos so much for giving me and others the opportunity to take a crack at broadcasting.

The program should be available in a day or two at http://www.zigory.solidvox.com/ and I highly recommend it. It’s an intense conversation. The subject matter is of interest to all sorts of people, even if they aren’t knowledgeable about Capitalism or Ayn Rand, so if you find it compelling please email all your friends to give it a listen. Here’s my official capsule summary of the podcast:

Protecting Children

On this episode of The Zigory Show, Greg Zeigerson interviews Kip Liles, a former foster parent to over 200 children. She became an activist in the cause of protecting children from harm after one of her foster children was returned to the custody of his mother and stepfather only to be murdered by them.

We explore the role of the police force, the courts, current laws and statutes, and foster parents, in protecting children or failing to do so. Why do some courts make judgments that are not in the best interests of the child? Why are so many abused children returned to harm’s way? For background on the discussion, see the column, “The Death of Bradley McGee” by Michelle Malkin, available here: http://michellemalkin.com/archives/000858.htm

I Have A Guest
May 25th, 2006

Well, I have a guest lined up for my first internet radio broadcast (podcast). We will be recording it in the coming week. The topic will be protecting children from harm: the role of the police force, the courts, the laws, and foster parents. What laws and judgments are in the best interests of the child? Why are so many abused children returned to harm’s way? I will keep you all posted on when the program is available for downloading from http://www.zigory.solidvox.com/ and I will name the guest at that time.


Ray Bradbury’s America
May 19th, 2006

I have to share this moving poem by Ray Bradbury with you. It’s entitled America: An Ode to Immigrants from the May 17 Wall Street Journal.

The final lines are:

Ten thousand wanderers a week
Engulf your shore,You wonder what their shouting’s for,
And why so glad?
Run warm those souls: America is bad?
Sit down, stare in their faces, see!
You be the hoped-for thing a hopeless world would be.
In tides of immigrants that this year flow
You still remain the beckoning hearth they’d know.
In midnight beds with blueprint, plan and scheme
You are the dream that other people dream.


My First Podcast
May 19th, 2006

My first Podcast should be coming up in a couple of weeks. It will be available at http://zigory.solidvox.com/ at that time. You will be able to listen online or download the mp3 file to your Ipod or similar device. The identity of my first guest shall remain a secret to all but Prodos (my Production Assistant, Producer, Impresario, Studio Chief), until the program becomes available.

Meanwhile, listen to Stuart Goldsmith’s interview with Andrew Bernstein on the morality of capitalism, available now at http://StuartGoldsmith.SolidVox.com


Music: Schlegel, and Genesis Reintepreted
May 18th, 2006

Disclaimer: The following is about my personal musical taste, which may not be the same as yours!

Ayn Rand enthusiast Christopher Schlegel wrote a symphony based on Objectivist virtues, called Symphony No. 3, “The Virtues of Man”. http://cdbaby.com/cd/schlegel

On his original recording, he had played it on a limited-range synthesizer and it sounded a bit dated, like Larry Fast’s Synergy records of the 1970s. The instrument’s limitations diffused the emotions and beauty in the composition.

Now he has re-recorded the piece with better instrumentation, although still including a synthesizer. It is far more listenable and enjoyable and I recommend the new version. It has the optimism and joie-de-vivre of (since I was just there, I’ll use this example:) the music in Walt Disney World’s Epcot attractions such as Illuminations.

I’m not sure which version CDBaby is selling, the 1997 original or the improved 2006 recording.

Now on to the topic of Genesis:

I have long found many of the musical compositions by the rock group Genesis, especially in the 1970s, to be inspired, passionate and interesting melodically (and often lyrically — some of the early songs are inspired by the Greek myths, for example). However, some of the songs are a bit too noisy for everyday listening, and some of Peter Gabriel’s singing (before he left the band) isn’t so pleasant (For example, his croaking “Why?” on the otherwise grand if pessimistic song “Time Table” from the “Foxtrot” album makes it hard to listen to it).

Well, in recent years, classically-trained musicians have transcribed the original songs to piano and classical instruments, and some of the original Genesis members have composed and recorded new, melodic music with classical instrumentation. These have been mostly outstanding. The best of the new interpretations really capture, illuminate and even enhance the values of the original compositions that might be lost in the noise of the rock band, and I truly enjoy them as an alternative to the rock recordings.

I especially recommend “David Myers Plays Genesis.”

Myers was the keyboard player for the world-class Canadian Genesis tribute band, The Musical Box, and he transcribed some of the best songs, including “Time Table,” “One For The Vine” and “Firth of Fifth,” to piano with sensitivity and intelligence.

Almost as good is “Genesis for Two Grand Pianos” by two Norwegian pianists, Guddal and Matte.

They have also released a second volume which is excellent.

And there is also a string quartet with piano led by Steve Oakman who recorded a CD called ”A Classic Rock Tribute to Genesis” which I don't recommend. But apparently this classical Genesis thing is a cottage industry!

Meanwhile, Steve Hackett’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Tony Banks’ “Seven” are new classical compositions by original Genesis songwriters.

The Hackett piece is pleasant background music, played with virtuosity, but not quite inspired.

I enjoy Tony Banks’ “Seven” which sounds like John Williams style movie scores.
Steve Hackett has also composed a second classical-style piece, “Metamorpheus,” which I haven’t heard.


Good Essay on Immigration
May 18th, 2006

Here is Dr. Harry Binswanger’s excellent summary of the immigration issue. I agree with him, with one fairly trivial exception. I think there is value in living in less-densely-populated areas than New York City, at least for some people, but I don’t think such places would disappear any time soon. Anyone who has the will and the money could buy enough land to create a low-density population “gated community” anyway.
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4620


My Amazon Reviews
May 18th, 2006

In case anyone is interested, here are my random reviews of books, movies and CDs on Amazon.com. Some of my ratings are inflated because I am enthusiastic when I start to write a review and then realize that 4 or 5 stars is too high a rating, but Amazon doesn’t allow me to revise down the number of stars.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A3CHSGA6EYQBUU/ref=cm_aya_bb_rev/102-9636989-6160124?ie=UTF8

Here is a list of my favorite movies, also on Amazon.com. It’s just a list of some of my favorites and as a part time/former cartoonist, it’s animation-heavy.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/
33F3SOJAPMCB5/ref=cm_lm_pdp_title_full/102-9636989-6160124


More on Immigrants
May 12th, 2006

Remember, Republicans were not anti-immigrant during the Elian Gonzalez episode. They championed the family who wanted to keep Elian in America. But Democrats, who tend to be in favor of immigration, reversed themselves and were so intent on returning Elian to Cuba they sent a SWAT team after the six-year-old boy.

Now the parties have reversed positions again regarding those crossing the American border.
Why is this? Because the two parties are pragmatist parties. They don’t follow essential principles, just whatever will achieve the political goal of the moment.

Although today Ann Coulter is unfortunately siding with the anti-immigrant Republicans, her analysis of the Elian Gonzalez story in her book, “How to Talk to a Liberal,” is sharp as a razor.
First the Clinton administration said, the Courts will decide. Then the Courts decided Elian should stay in America. So the Clinton administration said, the Courts have no jurisdiction, we must follow the law. But “the law” meant whatever Janet Reno’s whim happened to be. She decided to send people with machine guns to capture the boy and send him back to the dictatorship in Cuba. Why? Because the Democrats love Castro. Democrats still think Communism is a noble idea.

The Democrats suddenly discovered “family values” for the first time, as a reason to send Elian back to his birth father. But Elian’s birth father was not married to Elian’s mother when Elian was conceived nor when he was born, nor after that time (only long before). No law gives custody rights to the father of an illegitimate child. So “the law” is not what the Clinton administration followed at all.

What really drove the Democrats to favor Elian’s return to Cuba was their political love of Castro and wish to pretend a Communist dictatorship is a nice place for a boy — perhaps as a step towards their effort to end the US sanctions against trade and tourism activity with Cuba. And what really drives the Republicans’ current wish to send other immigrants back to Mexico, is their fear of immigrants becoming citizens and voting for Democrats. It’s all pragmatism over principle.


Republicans: Hopeless?
May 11th, 2006

Republicans seem hopeless. What the heck are all the Republicans doing being anti-immigrants (or anti-illegal immigrants if you prefer). Have they lost their minds? Whatever happened to the Melting Pot?

The Native Americans were less anti-immigrant than a lot of Republicans seem to be today. Where would most of you be if your ancestors were deported by a (fictional, hypothetical) advanced Native American nation in the 15th through 17th centuries because you didn’t have the proper papers?

Originally I understood as reasonable a desire to protect our borders from terrorists and other enemies of the United States. But that issue is not what all the talk radio guys and gals, and Lou Dobbs, are talking about. They are talking about Mexicans, for heaven’s sake. Even if they aren’t racists, I sure wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking they are!

Remember the 2000 GOP National Convention? How they made it look like the Republican Party has only Black and Hispanic people in it? As silly as it was, I approved the idea that the GOP needs to welcome those demographic groups that historically vote predominantly for Democrats, and explain to those groups why Republicans believe that their principles and policies are just, and in the interests of all individuals, not just a few.

Apparently President Bush does continue to hold this belief, but his fellow Republicans are turning hostile as a result. It makes no sense. All immigrants (except terrorists/enemies/felons) should be considered legal immigrants. Rooting out the terrorist cells and crooks is the job of the CIA and FBI and NSA. If you are afraid of immigrants taking all the welfare money and getting all the freebies, stop giving out the welfare money and freebies. If anything, the large number of immigrants will create a good reason to terminate the welfare-state programs. (Ah, but then there’s the overwhelming fear of violating our sacred moral code Altruism!)

Ayn Rand wrote, “Don’t bother to examine a folly. Ask yourself only what it accomplishes.” (This is written from memory but I think it’s an accurate quote). Rush Limbaugh revealed what the Republicans are afraid of when he said that the pro-immigrant position of the Democrats is really just a way to increase the number of voters in the Democratic Party. Aha! Republicans are afraid all those Mexicans and South Americans will vote for Democrats.

Obviously, they needn’t worry about all the immigrants voting for Democrats if they explained why they should vote for Republicans — the party that is supposed to respect and protect the right of every individual to pursue his own happiness freely, the party that is supposed to cut taxes and spending and regulation and therefore allow new jobs and new businesses to be created, allowing a life of total freedom and productivity and even luxury to those who pursue it — and if the Republicans proved it by following through with action and not wimpiness. But today under the GOP we are witnessing the growth of spending and regulations, the literal imprisoning of CEOs, and only minimalistic tax cuts.

My solution? Speak up and educate the Republicans of their folly. Then, get Rudy Giuliani into the White House. He may fix the whole party.

We’re Back!
May 4th, 2006

Our vacation in Florida was a success. It improved as the week progressed, because we slowly learned the best ways to take three year old twins to Disney World. It’s totally different from the adult vacation experience. Basically, we learned that if they don’t get a nap (our kids can’t nap in a park, only in their beds or the car), at least we need to end the day and leave the parks after 6 to 8 hours maximum (something we didn’t do the first three days).

Also, we knew that we needed to avoid frightening attractions, but we didn’t expect “Mickey’s Philharmagic” to be frightening. None of the travel guide books warned us, but to our daughter the 3-D movie was too real and had scares (really just “Boo”-type surprises) in it that made her jittery about all other attractions thereafter. “I’m under the water with Ariel!” she shouted in horror, but she wouldn’t close her eyes or turn away. Our son thought it was funny and enjoyed it throughout. Eventually she learned to trust us (usually) when we said an attraction isn’t going to be scary. We did know to avoid the frightening-to-toddlers 3-D films “Honey I Shrunk The Audience” and “It’s Tough To Be A Bug” and we even decided to play it safe and avoided the relatively benign Muppets 3-D movie. We also took a day off to just relax after every two days at the parks.

The children especially enjoyed meeting characters and seeing the parades and they experienced plenty of both. The “Chef Mickey’s” breakfast and “Cinderella’s Royal Table” lunch were especially fun for all of us.

By trading off, my wife and I were able to ride the exhilerating “Soarin’” which was new to us (simulating flying over California scenery).

“Turtle Talk With Crush” was truly amazing, an interactive animated character that answers questions and reacts to the audience; it’s apparently instant animation, and of the highest quality. The humorous characterization was true to the movie “Finding Nemo”. The underwater effects were also instant and perfect. This is very high level technology and artistry! It suggests a future of “Live” animated theater or television — like a sequel to “Finding Nemo” could be presented as an animated yet live performance nightly, always spontaneous and different! Naturally the lines were long to enter this show.

The week started out with the parks being far hotter and more crowded than we expected for this time of year but became more comfortable and less populated later in the week.

Reviewing “American Adventure,” it cannot be called anti-American (and I only suggested in my earlier blog that it is “almost” that). It is still a patriotic presentation. But it’s the history of America as told by a mainstream historian of today; i.e., a left-leaning historian. It’s the CBS or ABC News version of history. The events they chose to present were primarily those the Left considers important, with a few bones thrown to the pro-capitalism Right and the patriots. It opens and closes with Benjamin Franklin praising the words of John (”Grapes of Wrath”/pro-socialism) Steinbeck. The only Presidents whose words are heard from their own lips (or an animatronic version of same) are liberal ones (Republican Theodore Roosevelt, Democrats FDR and JFK). You have to search for any Republicans not named Lincoln or Roosevelt. They did include a brief moment of Republican anti-Communist Walt Disney’s face — but then this attraction is located in his “World”.

My Archives: Recent

Here are my recent blog posts, in reverse order, which were originally published at www.zigory.thinkertothinker.com:

The New Colossus July 6th, 2006

It is worth reading slowly and even aloud, this poem which is engraved at the Statue of Liberty’s main entrance. Think about each word, each phrase. This is a poem that is not shy about stating exactly what and whom it is talking about. There is no ambiguity. I believe it’s my favorite poem.

“The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, 1883

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch,
whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning,
and her name
Mother of Exiles.
From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome;
her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame,
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”



Encounters With Socialism
July 6th, 2006

As you may know, my home state of New Jersey’s “non-essential” services have shut down thanks to a budget impasse (Yes! New Jersey is now closer to laissez-faire than it’s been in decades! If so many services are non-essential, why are we forced to pay taxes to support them?). Except for some people who want to gamble in Atlantic City or visit state-run parks, this shut-down has bothered nobody I know. Of course, if it wasn’t illegal, private individuals would readily buy and run the parks, and casinos would happily run their games without the state watchdogs present (and by stopping the gambling, the casinos have been forced to lose millions, but then, the state will also lose millions in tax revenue).

Meanwhile, there are plenty of county and city-run parks to go to and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of people gambling within their own homes. “Closed” beaches are really just beaches that are free instead of costing $7.00 a day for admission. Sure, there are no lifeguards, but I’m sure the same kids would be happy to get back to work if a bunch of beachgoers pooled resources to give them their salaries. Only the absence of the Division of Motor Vehicles is a slight annoyance, since I needed to take care of something there (but only because of the DMV’s own rules imposed on me).

There are still socialistic monopolies in New Jersey even with the beautiful sunny days of freedom this shut-down has created. (Of course I’m expecting that I won’t be taxed for services not rendered. I’m not being naive, am I?).

Besides the horrible socialist monopoly that is the public school system (and New Jersey has relatively good schools by national standards), and the government-run pothole-strewn highways that flood readily during thunderstorms creating dangerous river-like conditions, there is The People’s New Jersey Transit, which runs the buses and trains. I pay for every ride even though NJT is subsidized by the state. It’s getting my money twice. Great system, huh? So what kind of service do I get for all that money?

Well, yesterday, I waited for my bus to New York City. After waiting for 15 minutes, I figured it must have come early and I had missed it. So I walked to another street for a local bus that would take me to another town’s train station where I could connect to a train to New York City. (My town has a train station too, but most trains pass it by; they almost never stop there because….it costs the government too much since the town is small? Not enough tax revenue coming in to pay for the stopping of the train. Train-stopping is expensive?).

As I understood it, that bus was supposed to appear at 2:21 pm. The train station is only a mile away so there was a good chance of catching the 2:29 train. But the 2:21 bus showed up at 2:30…with the 2:30 bus right behind it.

I asked the driver what time this bus was supposed to be here. “I know I’m late,” she said. I repeated, “What time is this bus scheduled to be at this stop?” “I don’t know when it’s supposed to be here,” she said. She added, “You can’t expect the bus to be on time.” All I could do was repeat her words out loud, incredulously.

I got off at the railroad station where I would have to wait an hour for the next train. After I pondered for a few minutes how I was going to explain this to my supervisor at work, and what I would do for the next hour, I walked into the railroad station. On the other side was the bus to New York City, the one I had initially assumed I had missed (it also stops at the same train station). I got in. It was 38 minutes late. But since I allow extra time to get to work, I made it to work on time. No thanks to socialistic transit.

Privatize the transit systems! Make privately-owned commuter vans and buses legal!

Independence Day
June 29th, 2006

As Independence Day approaches, I want to focus on the hope that America has always inspired in people like my Eastern European-born mother, my Ukrainian-born paternal grandmother and other immigrants throughout our history. And further back, the excitement, the thrill that explorers like Lewis and Clark experienced as they embarked on dangerous yet exciting journeys of discovery. To them, exploring the unknown America was the equivalent of our explorations of the far reaches of the solar system. But they did not send unmanned vehicles that sent back photographs. They crossed the forests and mountains themselves, and brought back images of what they found by drawing into notebooks by hand.
But beyond the thrill of exploration there was also the emotion of hope for great possibilities without limit in this new land. There was the desire to establish a great nation, one that would respect everyone’s right to freedom, everyone’s right to pursue wealth and happiness in his own way, to create and trade products and services freely.

When I first learned in my Third Grade class of the Trading Posts of the old frontier, I loved the idea. Everyone brings what he produces, and trades it for another man’s product which he needs. The white settlers and Native American Indians for the most part traded with each other benevolently. It’s a microcosm of Capitalism.

Nowhere was the hope for a great future, a great new nation open to all, and ”with liberty and justice for all,” greater than within the hearts and minds of the Founding Fathers. They had seen the horrors and errors of history, the failings of other nations, and they were determined to create a government that corrected the mistakes of past nations, and held strong against the evils of the past, a government truly by and for the people. They actually succeeded.

Now we only have to beat back the slowly growing encroachments on our liberty of the last 100 years with the “eternal vigilance” the Founders knew would be necessary, and with a philosophy that upholds individual rights inviolably. Objectivism, anyone?


Time In Ayn Rand’s Words/Zigory’s Priorities
June 23rd, 2006

Here are Ayn Rand’s own words about the subject of time, from “Ayn Rand Answers”, edited by Robert Mayhew:

“My view is, in effect, Aristotelian…there is no such thing as independent time or space. The universe is finite, and the concept of time applies to the relationship between entities. Specifically, time is a measurement of motion, which is a change of relationship between entities within the universe. Time cannot exist by itself. It exists only within the universe; it does not apply to the universe as a whole. By ‘universe’ I mean the total of what exists. The universe could have no relationship to anything outside itself: no motion, no change and therefore, no time.”

A couple of thoughts about yesterday’s post: You should know that the situation of cramped apartments and the need to have roommates is typical in New York City, unlike some other cities. Also, I forgot to mention my move to Florida and back after 7 months (because Disney’s salary–and seemingly that of every non-professional job in Florida at the time–was too low to cover expenses).

I don’t regret the priorities I chose over time, and the adventures I’ve had, and now I thoroughly enjoy my new family and home and long-term writing projects (plus the podcasting and blogging). Parenting and teaching my children, being able to share with them and my wife enjoyment of a house and yard in a pleasant park-filled neighborhood, are at the top of my value priorities along with my writing/arts projects. I made the right decision in devoting the time to improving my situation and to searching for the right mate.

Those who start out with parents or uncles able and willing to assist financially do have a great advantage in terms of saving time, but eventually those without such advantages achieve their values as well, in a relatively free society like the United States. But sometimes I imagine how much easier things would be without New York’s rent regulations/controls that effectively keep artificially low-rent spacious apartments off the market (secretly passed along from family member to family member, close friend to close friend, as if a rare treasure–or kept unused rather than relinquished), and incredibly high taxes that turn decent salaries into poor ones.


Time: Metaphysical and Personal
June 21st, 2006

I read a fascinating reply Ayn Rand made to a question regarding the nature of time, in the book “Ayn Rand Answers”, which is a collection of her extemporaneous remarks during Question and Answer sessions after her lectures or classes. Among her points (from memory since the book is not in front of me) is that time is a tool man uses to measure motion, and is only relevant within the universe. One cannot discuss time outside of (apart from/ “before”) the universe, it is only a meaningful concept within the universe. This is an approximation of what she said. She (unlike me, perhaps) made her ideas very clear, even though she was speaking off the cuff.

I have at times in my thinking, wondered, if the universe began at a point in time, then what existed before the universe, and how far back does time go? What could the concept “before time began” possibly mean? (The concept “before” depends on the concept of time, so nothing could occur “before time”). Ayn Rand’s idea that time is simply a conceptual tool used to measure motion within the universe helps to answer these questions.

On a more personally relevant level, time management (within each day, and within a lifetime) is a skill that every productive person needs to address (at times). I have achieved many of my difficult goals over the years, yet some are still ongoing projects. What are the time-users (as opposed to the derogatory phrase time-wasters) that make some projects take longer?
In retrospect, in my life the biggest time-users have been family, romance, illness, moving from home to home, and learning/recreation (books/media/arts). In earlier years of my life, my parents, grandparents, etc. would often schedule difficult-to-avoid events (on holidays, for example) or need difficult-to-refuse assistance. As I got older I became self-sufficient, living on my own, and more able to refuse many of the time-consuming events.

A big time-user before my marriage and children included the seemingly endless search for a soul mate; going out of the house, meeting people, dating, placing and answering personal ads over and over… Even after I met her and dated her, I didn’t realize she was the one until after spending several years apart, during which I had a chance to formulate exactly what qualities my ideal mate needed to have (honesty, a happy outlook–my sense of life–and strong intelligence) and what qualities were not important (almost everything else). If I had been clear about that earlier, I could have saved a lot of time.

Another enormous time-consuming black hole: Living in New York, as my income grew I kept moving from apartment to apartment. I disliked having to live with a roommate, and disliked living in only the smallest rooms or the most inconvenient or unattractive neighborhoods, but by moving frequently, and changing jobs frequently to increase my income, eventually I was able to live in my own apartment, in a nice and convenient neighborhood. Then, when I became the partner of my soul mate, I moved in with her. Then we made the jump from renting to buying a co-op apartment, which doubled in value very quickly, so we finally sold it and bought a house. All of this moving around makes one feel uprooted, it requires packing and unpacking which take up months before and after each move. It’s not conducive to the completion of long-term projects. But I am happy that I didn’t settle for the unbearable, since the qualities of my home environment are very important to me. A certain amount of light, space, security, aesthetics do matter.

Finally, before this blog post gets too long (”before?”), once I hit age 40, it seems that finding and seeing doctors and specialists about the endless series of mostly minor health problems that seem to arise after that age is another major time-consumer. I cannot logically avoid it, yet it is very annoying at times. Not to mention the time taken by the ailments themselves.
I hope that your use of time to read my blog or hear my podcast is time that you find enriching and worthwhile, i.e., a good use of your time. (But if not, please don’t waste your time!) Later!

Various Topics
June 16th, 2006

Some unrelated thoughts:

It seems the hardest thing about doing a podcast can be getting busy guests, who are experts in their fields, to finalize the date and time when they will sit for the interview. I have three such guests in the works.

Don’t believe the hype about the rock band Arctic Monkeys being the next big thing in the USA. They are talented in what they do, but what they do is not likely to gain a large following in America. Does the average American know who Oasis or Blur or The Jam was? Even if they do, do they really care? Did Robbie Williams translate his British superstardom to America? They all have limited appeal here because their style is limited to a specific genre. England is a much smaller country with sometimes very different tastes than the US. (I could be proven wrong if the very young Arctic Monkeys become better songwriters, more varied, less noisy and encompassing more styles and subjects as they practice and learn and grow older).

It’s truly amazing how creative my three-year-old twins can be, in their pretending, as they play with toys or any other object in the house. They tell stories, create characters and situations. And the passion with which they want to understand everything, and their ability to comprehend when we explain something clearly, is also thrilling to watch.

My son loves cars and fire engines and tractors. He has seen commercials for the movie “Cars” and he passionately wants to see it. He was saying for weeks, “We forgot to see the movie ‘Cars’!” before it even came out. I said, “No, they didn’t finish making it yet. When it’s in the theater, we’ll go.” Finally, this weekend we plan to go.

About the Ann Coulter controversy: I admire and often agree with her, although I strongly disagree with those of her opinions that are religion-tainted (re stem cells, abortion, the usual conservative Christian issues). My thoughts about her “widows” comments are that I always would rather err on the side of being rude if it’s a choice between rudeness and lack of honest clarity about an important issue. Sometimes the only way to get across what you mean is by using the sharpest words. On the other hand, it’s best to keep an argument focused on the principles and not the personalities. But in the case of the four widows, their personal circumstances is the issue; they (as agents for the DNC) themselves use their personal situation as if it’s an argument that can have no response.


Never Again?
June 9th, 2006

For those who say about the Nazi concentration camps and the deadly prison camps of Stalin, “never again”, here is some news: it is again, now.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50382

More evidence about North Korea’s concentration camp Haengyong, with its ”Killing Compound” known as Camp 22, is detailed in this article from WorldNetDaily. Political prisoners become the subject of evil experiments here — when they aren’t starved or beaten or killed in gas chambers. Sound familiar?

Yes, it isn’t our job to save everyone, but clearly North Korea is a dangerous enemy of the West and the U.S. in particular, and they have nuclear weapons. The concentration camps make it even more obvious that we need to strike them with no reluctance or restraint. I have heard directly from Auschwitz survivors that while in the camp they welcomed the sound of the bombs getting closer even if it meant they would die too.



Billy news, X-Men, Jane Russell
June 9th, 2006

Kip Liles emails me that she found convincing evidence from an internet source that Billy, the brother of Bradley McGee (see my post about my podcast called “Protecting Children”), is still alive at age 5. But that’s all she knows about Billy.

Meanwhile, I saw “X-Men: The Last Stand” and I thought its plot, while often stretching one’s ability to suspend disbelief, nonetheless was exciting, suspenseful, and contained surprising and satisfying confrontations between characters, unexpected and dramatic events, and surprising yet believable choices made by various characters. I hadn’t read the comic books, I’ve only seen the movies, so it was all new to me. Compared to most fantasy and science fiction films today, this plot was jam-packed with ideas, probably because it was based on many years’ worth of comics written by very talented and imaginative writers who put a lot of thought into the stories (along with their editors). People like Marvel’s Stan Lee and DC’s Carmine Infantino and the late Julius Schwartz are extremely clever and talented people, certainly moreso than many in the film business today.

Speaking of the film business, I see that a star of the golden age of movies, Jane Russell, is performing live on stage in her home town of Santa Maria, California a couple of times a month. Since she wasn’t being hired for film roles, she was bored so she started her own show at the local Radisson. She also long ago created an organization, WAIF, which places foster children into adoptive families. Incidentally, she was and remains a Republican, and has said on the Larry King show during a remembrance of (GOP) comedian Bob Hope that in her heyday of the 1940s most of Hollywood was Republican.

http://www.wic.org/bio/jrussell.htm
http://www.firedupmissouri.com/node/4278
http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/fulldetail/id/192323
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000066/bio

Foster Children
June 2nd, 2006

Last night, there was a moving program on ABC’s “Primetime” with Diane Sawyer, about foster children, which showed some success stories where a few atrociously abused and neglected children started to heal themselves with the help of foster parents and a private children’s care facility called Maryhurst, and some were even adopted — although many remain in limbo.
There is a lot of information on the subject here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/FosterCare/

It seems clear that many of the worst cases occur in households where parents are drug or alcohol abusers. No further proof is needed that clarity of the mind is the essential value and that drug abuse or any other activity which distorts or halts such clarity are the essential evil.