It's The Followers

I have always been fascinated by history. As a child Egypt captured my imagination with Rome following soon there after. I wondered, as many are doing today with recent discoveries, how their civilizations appeared to rise from nowhere. I realized, as I matured, there were antecedents, cultural organizations designed by their peoples if you will, from past experiences, that formed from a small group to follow a leader that expanded their beliefs and grew in power over time. For Egypt it was when the upper and lower Nile civilizations merged. However, no single man or woman did this, they needed "followers" that believed in their vision to achieve a goal.

A similar event happened in China when the Emperor Qin united the seven kingdoms of China around 210 B.C. into it's first dynasty. He is immortalized with the discovery of the Terra Cotta Soldiers near X'ian, China in 1974, an accidental discovery by a farmer plowing a field. What was a mythical legend became reality in an instant.

My recent epiphany was the realization that no movement anywhere can happen without followers. There would be no Christians, Muslims, political parties, MAGA, sports, Nazi's if these movements didn't have followers. With that in mind, how many movements of one kind or another haven't ripened and matured? And what happens when these same movements falter? I think the case of Elon Musk and Tesla is a case in point. People will follow you or believe in a movement... until they don't.

What draws followers to leaders - political, religious, or social, isn't always logical or policy or even self interest. It's power, presence and the promise of meaning. People will follow those who give them something they want or need, even if they can't artculate it. Often, even when presented with the facts they will reject them especially if it doesn't match their own beliefs or "their" leaders beliefs.

They will follow a leader in times of chaos (in their minds) who offers clear, simple answers. That these answers are often simplified and even wrong, the delivery will sway followers. Hitler, building on an belief the Jews were taking over the world was able to clearly project a simple solution. While he never clearly articulated what that solution was, he convinced probably the most advanced nation on earth the glory days would return to Germany if only he could get rid of the Jews and Communists.

People crave community and belonging. Leaders often form movements that make followers feel part of something bigger. An excellent example would be the Chinese Communist parties constant monitoring of its people that quells anything that threatens "social stability." Many religious entities do the same thing and are unprepared when a threat to it's power occurs. The pedophile scandal has rocked the Catholic church worldwide. They are not alone. Similar events happened in the Baptist Church and Boy Scouts.

When things go wrong, the Great Depression of 1929, the Pearl Harbor attack, 9/11, the people want a strong leader that "leads" them to a solution. They will follow a leader who is strong, confident, who claims to offer truth or salvation. And in following their leader, they often feel they are doing something righteous or patriotic. I wonder.

I just helped a Chinese citizen apply for and become an American citizen. He got a book to study possible citizenship questions, has worked here for 13 years so could read, write and speak English. These are all tested during your interview. While I knew many of the 100 questions answers, I admit I missed a few. I have since asked friends these same questions and most couldn't answer one. This gives me pause. They all can vote. Are they taking the time to read, consider and explore the issues? Or do they just vote the party line? Are they just followers? Is watching endless football games worth more than protecting, no defending, your government? Ancient Rome had the circus. We all know what happened to Rome despite all its achievements. Can it happen here?

Thank you for reading my blog! Please be sure to visit on a regular basis or contact me at KrugsStudio@gmail.com. New blogs are added all the time. In conjunction  with my store I feel that “design” is an important part of our lives. Everything we use or live by was designed by someone. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates design about my blog.

Please be sure to visit my store, KrugsStudio.etsy.com on a regular basis. New birdhouses, craft items, photography and canvas paintings are added all the time. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates local handcrafted items about my store.

OWN or GIFT an original work of art this year!

What Determines An Era of Great Fiction? Are Some Eras Better Than Others?

 

Scary tale!

My daughter sent me a fascinating TikTok a few days ago created by Ann Patchett, an author and owner of a book store. Her TikTok was a reply to an OP-ED by David Brooks of the New York Times moaning about the poor quality fiction being written today. I don't subscribe to the NYT  and I can't read his piece but she made it clear he was disappointed with current fiction quality and she heatedly disagreed!

First off, I'm not especially fond of critics. They are just, in their minds, a higher class of influencers for people who can't think for themselves. Siskel & Ebert come to mind. It seemed the more violent the movie, the more they liked it. When Rotten Tomatoes came out I was fascinated at how often the critics and audiences viewed the same film and had different conclusions.

Current read.

Another critic I disliked was Robert Hilburn of The Los Angeles Times. A pop and rock & roll critic he was forever extolling the virtues of some group or another that quickly passed from view while putting down The Carpenter's. Many years later, after Karen's death, he wrote an apology to her admitting their songs stuck to him where many he liked at the time had faded from view.

When I was in college as a journalism major our director taught us that if stranded on an island or to become a great copy writer (MAD MEN) you only needed three books; the Bible, the works of Shakespeare and the Sears catalog. Why, because the Bible already has all the stories of man. Shakespeare acted on these stories and the Sears catalog described thousands of items in few words but you understood exactly what each item was.

However, today, nearly 60 years later, we have been exposed, at least some of us, to a wider world, cultures and ideas that appear new to us but on closer inspection are as old as time. We are hearing their voices and finding out we are more alike than not.

Patchett goes on to list some quality current best sellers:

THE NIGHT WATCHMAN

JAMES, a retelling of Huck Finn's story that angered me greatly revealing what slavery was        really like

THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS

THE OVERSTORY

PLAYGROUND

NATIVE SPEAKER

THE BEE STING

DEMON COPPERHEAD, a youth's voice on drug addiction in Appalachia 

THE FRAUD

WHAT IS THE WHAT, the story of the lost Sudanese boys

and finally, GRAVITES RAINBOW, Pynchon's masterpiece.

In her mind these all demanded reading and held their own with the classic's. She recalled a book she read many times in the 80's, HUMBOLT'S GIFT by Saul Bellows. Re-reading it recently she discovered it hadn't aged well. Once, however it did. Times change and good fiction often captures that era and provides us with a view of our past. Does TALE OF TWO CITIES have relevance today? THE GREAT GATSBY? There may not be a civil war but conditions for one are ever present. Is WAR AND PEACE irrelevant? Hardly with the Russian-Ukraine War. GOOD fiction has much to teach us whether a tale from today or stories from ancient Greece.

I remember a visit to the Malibu Getty Museum with my 3 or 4 year-old son. My wife was a teacher for LA Unified and her grade was given a field trip there. They also gave free passes to the teachers family as they wanted to show teachers what to expect once there with their classes. My son loved books and I read to him every night for years. After our own tour, we were looking at the books in the gift shop and he pulled out a huge one of Greek myths demanding I read it to him. So we sat on the floor and I read and explained each god. He started talking in full sentences at 6 months so his vocabulary was quite good. Finally, I looked at him and said, "son, I didn't think I'd have to remember all this as an adult" and the room immediately erupted in laughter! I looked up and 30-40 people surrounded us listening to me explain Greek myths. A year or two years later we discovered he had taught himself to read. I was stunned he had read Edgar Allen Poe's complete short stories. After quizzing him I realized he really had.

The sad fact though is how many DON'T read instead getting their news and influences from TV or their phones. I can't imagine a world without books or magazines. When my wife would visit homes to meet with parents she was stunned to see no books, magazines even newspapers. All had however, a large TV.

Here are some statistics on readership:

📊 Books Read Per Year – By Age

Age Group	0 Books	1 Book	5 Books	10+ Books
18–29	~18%	~8%	~20%	~35%
30–49	~22%	~10%	~18%	~32%
50–64	~28%	~11%	~16%	~28%
65	~30%+	~12%	~15%	~25%

📌 Insight: Younger adults (especially 18–29) tend to read more books than older adults. Non-reading rates go up with age.

And it really changes by education level:

🎓 Books Read Per Year – By Education Level

Education Level	0 Books	1 Book	5 Books	10+ Books
Less than High School	~45%	~15%	~15%	~10%
High School Graduate	~30%	~10%	~20%	~20%
Some College	~20%	~8%	~20%	~30%
College Graduate+	~10%	~5%	~20%	~50%+

📌 Insight: Higher education levels are strongly associated with more reading. College graduates are far more likely to be in the 10+ books/year category.

Patchett continued to say that any book you haven't read is NEW to you. 

I think we need to encourage reading as adults, parents, teachers and start kids at a young age. I read fairy tales every night before my 3 month old went to bed. Then we graduated to CARS AND TRUCKS AND THINGS THAT MOVE, then WHERE DID I COME FROM. After my daughter was born we graduated to Colliers 10 volume children's books. They loved a gruesome tale about a dog that lost its limbs going for walks. I had to whisper it as we huddled together so my wife wouldn't hear. She hated the story and the kids loved it!

Reading is how we learn. From it we learn history, romance, relationships, empathy, tragedy and love. When my kids went to college meetings in high school to learn how to prepare for college ALL the speakers looked out at the students and said read, Read, READ! Books are designed to bring us the world; get with it! Carpe diem!

Thank you for reading my blog! Please be sure to visit on a regular basis or contact me at KrugsStudio@gmail.com. New blogs are added all the time. In conjunction  with my store I feel that “design” is an important part of our lives. Everything we use or live by was designed by someone. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates design about my blog.

Please be sure to visit my store, KrugsStudio.etsy.com on a regular basis. New birdhouses, craft items, photography and canvas paintings are added all the time. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates local handcrafted items about my store.

OWN or GIFT an original work of art this year!

Same Blank, Three Different Results!

When I first started "crafting" I quickly learned to do three things at once. I would sketch the same design on three identical raw wood birdhouses then start to paint them exactly the same. Only at close inspection you realized they were all slightly different from each other.  

The $5.00 Aldi bargain that
started it all!

Why? The explanation was actually easy. Each hand drawn outline never was the same and often, along the way, I would change an element I thought looked better. I listed them separately so they couldn't be compared.

The other reason, more importantly, was by the time I got back to 1 (1,2,3), it was usually dry and the paint wouldn't smear. I often get over eager and have to touch-up on smears.

I have read that the world's bee population is dwindling and farmers and scientists are getting worried. Just about everything we eat, grains, fruit and vegetables along with flowers need pollination. The heavy lifting is done by bees pollinating our food supply. What's worse, they are not sure why populations are declining. Climate change seems high on the list of causes.

A raw unfinished tear 
shaped Mason Beehive.

One day, cruising the non-food items at Aldi, I spied a six sided beehive for $5.00. Since it had generous spaces to decorate and I wanted to help bees I bought it. I had just started a Zentangle phase of decorating and created simple bees for the sides and back, added Zentangles and inked away. It is shown upper right.

This is a Mason Bee Hive. They are solitary and don't live in large hives but prefer to live alone. So each beehive is filled with small bamboo poles. That's where they go each night after a busy day of pollinating.

Sadly Aldi had no more 6-sided versions but I found a tear shaped, all bamboo version for a bit more on Walmart's web site. I got three. 

For those of you unsure what a Zentangle is, it's usually a 2D drawing using either fine pens and or pencils on thick smooth paper or card stock. Io create variety several patterns are combined to create a harmonious whole. Since I am using a 3D surface, four sides, a top and bottom it's a bit harder to navigate. The wood is hardly paper or card stock smooth either.

Again the sides and backs were blank, another invitation to decorate. While I used common Zentangle designs each one was pointedly different...and time consuming. I went through a bunch of pens and several long audio books. However, I think the effort was quite nice. My daughter picked one for her home in Memphis. I plan on hanging one on my ugly but prolific lemon tree in my patio.

They are all the same shape use many of the same patterns but are distinct
from each other. And, why not?

I think we need to more creative on many everyday items. Hung near a kitchen window, it can be fascinating to watch then at work. I have a bird feeder hanging right outside my living room window and am amazed at how fast birds can go through 8 cups of birdseed. I may try to hang this beehive nearby to watch bee activity.

Never the same even using the same elements.

While I do have a ton of raw unfitted craft and birdhouses, when I buy again, I will try this newfound philosophy. One good ideas often spawns another. You know what? You'll have another to try it on!!!

Thank you for reading my blog! Please be sure to visit on a regular basis or contact me at KrugsStudio@gmail.com. New blogs are added all the time. In conjunction  with my store I feel that “design” is an important part of our lives. Everything we use or live by was designed by someone. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates design about my blog.

Please be sure to visit my store, KrugsStudio.etsy.com on a regular basis. New birdhouses, craft items, photography and canvas paintings are added all the time. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates local handcrafted items about my store.

OWN or GIFT an original work of art this year!

THELMA

 

    If you're over a certain age have you looked in the mirror and startled yourself with your reflection? Who is that ... "old" person? What's worse you may also realize the changes you've made in your life for that "old" person as well! The things we once enjoyed don't give us the same pleasure anymore.

    I noticed that watching the latest, interminable MISSION IMPOSSIBLE that was more a collection of past hits than new story telling. The plot is long in the tooth now as is the majority of movies coming out of Hollywood today. The strike wasn't long enough!

    Checking out the new DVD's at the Palm Springs Library I stumbled on THELMA. It shows a jaunty grandma riding an electric scooter and being a senior myself thought "What the heck, let's give it a try." I am so glad I did.

    The tale begins with a slacker grandson showing his 93 year grandma (played by 96 year old June Squibb) how to use the internet. She catches on quickly and enjoys games, news even social media.

    This peaceful existence changes suddenly when she receives a call that her grandson has been in an accident that hit a car with a pregnant women. She panics and quickly falls for the scam. They want $10,000 in cash mailed to a P.O. Box to get the grandson out of jail.

    She tries to call her grandson whose still asleep at 10:30 am, can't reach her daughter or son-in-law so walks to the bank gets the money and walks to the post office. After her letter is mailed then they call.

    As a senior I truly wonder why we have phones. No one answers them and if you leave a message they, despite assurances, rarely call back.

Learning the Internet

    The reality of seniors becomes clear when she calls old friend after old friend for a ride home and finds they're dead, don't drive anymore or are in a retirement home.

    Family finally finds her and after a family pow wow where she admits sending the money they all go to the police station to file a report. The police can really do nothing especially since she threw away the P.O. Box info.

    She decides not to give up, returns to the post office the next day, finds her note (which brings to mind how often is the post office cleaned) and is determined to get her money back.

Have scooter ... Will travel!

      The journey begins when she attempts to borrow an old friends fancy scooter and journey from Van Nuys to Encino on it. The friend stops her but says if she's that determined he will go with her.

    Besides Squibb the cast includes Parker Posey, Clark Gregg, Richard Roundtree and Malcolm McDowell using oxygen, a role far removed from CLOCKWORK ORANGE. He is pathetically great as the villain.

    It has a happy conclusion and I don't want to ruin how it all ends. It is a clear warning to seniors to be more vigilant as they are alone and are targets.

    At one of their stops they visit a friend now living alone in a huge two-story house. As Thelma struggles to climb the stairs you wonder does the owner really go up. Thelma straightens things out and finds a cockroach under a plate. Jumping back the friend asks, "A roach?" She nods yes. The friend continues, "You get one and there are 10 more. You learn to pick your battles." I wanted to cry.

I want my money!

    As I said, there are few movies for seniors let alone those, that through humor, show the plight we have or will have soon. As friends die our circles get smaller and smaller. Our children and grandchildren are, in too many cases, the only hope we have.

    It's a thoughtful, funny yet serious warning to us all what it means to be a senior. 

    Squibb is an inspiration to us all. Another Senior film she's in is NEBRASKA that I highly recommend.

    

Thank you for reading my blog! Please be sure to visit on a regular basis or contact me at KrugsStudio@gmail.com. New blogs are added all the time. In conjunction  with my store I feel that “design” is an important part of our lives. Everything we use or live by was designed by someone. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates design about my blog.

Please be sure to visit my store, KrugsStudio.etsy.com on a regular basis. New birdhouses, craft items, photography and canvas paintings are added all the time. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates local handcrafted items about my store.

I Don't Think Most Americans Could Pass The Test!

 

   I went with a close friend yesterday for his interview to become a United States citizen. His journey began when he came to America from China on a student visa. The schooling didn't work out and he eventually had many jobs. He married an American but that marriage soon dissolved. He later met and married his husband in 2012 and they moved to Palm Springs. 

    However, that story didn't end happily. His husband retired in June of 2023 and was shortly after diagnosed with lung cancer. After removing a lung in October it was discovered it had spread to his liver and he passed away in January 2024. He was with my partner and I going to help him and his husband, away for just a few minutes. When we returned he had died.

    This year we were both surprised when he received a letter from The Naturalization Dept. shortly after Trump became president, asking him if he wanted to become a citizen. Since he knew he would never return to China to live again and was a very successful salesman at a store in the Cabazon Outlets, I urged him to apply. I helped him through the entire process and as a citizen myself, realized just what the process was like. Despite having a German father, I was born in Ohio, a citizen by place of birth.

    We filled the application online. Be prepared to spend a few hours. Question after question, something being born here you never see or hear about. We sent in his application form and a credit card payment of $725.00 then sat back and waited for an appointment date.

    Next, we went to Amazon to find the BEST book explaining how to become a citizen that included the background and the questions with answers you would likely be asked about our history and current political affairs.

    When he got the book and began studying, I quickly realized a great many Americans probably couldn't answer these questions. How do I know that? All you have to do is watch questions people are asked on the street and the fact their answers are mostly incorrect. A sizable number of Americans actually don't know where Canada or Mexico are. I listen to friends spout incorrect statements and have learned to never correct them because these are the truths they believe despite what the truth is. Listen to RFK, Jr. and you'll know exactly what I mean.

    We went over the 10 test pages of 100 questions over and over again. I must admit, despite all I've read and know about the U.S. government and our history I missed a few questions. In effect we both learned something about the United States. Like, who wrote the Constitution and in what year? Do you know? I wasn't sure though I knew Madison played a role in it and wrote many of the Federalist Papers using a pseudonym. It was written in 1787 by later president James Madison.

    Saturday, June 14th we got up early and headed out finally leaving around 5:30 am for his 7:15 am appointment (on a Saturday no less). Going through the book one last time I came across clothing instructions. No shorts that he was wearing. After all this IS Palm Springs and it was 109º yesterday so everyone wears shorts! We turned around so he could change and once headed west began asking questions one last time. As he still stumbled I gave him pointers on how to remember the answers. 

    We arrived early, he studied his notes and we finally, after an TSA like check at the door went to the waiting room. Other than officials, I was the only white person there. There were Chinese, East Indians, Latins and a smattering of other groups I couldn't identify. They were all there, on an early Saturday morning wanting and willing to swear allegiance to the United States. It made me feel proud, that despite all the current turmoil. the now frequent ICE raids in California, they were willing to risk all to stay here. Every American citizen needs to experience this and realize they are not to be feared but embraced to our shared destiny.

    He was called about 30 minutes late as it was a busy day already. I was reading IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE by Sinclair Lewis, realizing it COULD happen here and I was living it, when there was a tap on my shoulder. I looked up and there was my friend, back 20 minutes later. I asked, "Do we need to come back?" He smiled and gave me a paper that in a middle box, that was checked, said he was a United States Citizen. We hugged and were told to check in downstairs. They took his paper, giving him another with a small American flag and told to sit down. Everyone else held a paper and flag too.

   

Finally a man came up front and introduced himself, maybe from West African (I was in Peace Corps Liberia), who explained the ceremony and asked them to rise and pledge their allegiance to the United States. He then explained they were getting an official document that said they were now citizens. Sign with blue or black ink and NEVER laminate the sheet or lose it. It would cost them dearly in time and money to get a new one.

    We were done. Everyone lined up to take photos next to an American flag holding up their citizenship certificates.  It was a heartfelt moment for all. We hugged and went to the car. 

    On the way home he pointed out that June 14th, today, was Trump's 79th birthday. I noted what an irony. Today a Chinese citizen, a group he despises, became a citizen of color (along with many others) on his birthday! To me, in this political climate I call them heroes!!!

    The United States has a poor record on how it's treated its immigrants. We need to consider this. How many of our greatest or innovative naturalized citizens have shaped us and made us at some point leaders in the world?

    There is of course Elon Musk. Erratic as he is, he has changed our use of solar energy and use of  EV cars such as we will never go back. Steve Jobs, though adopted, had a Syrian father. Then there's Tesla (Serbia), Einstein (Germany), Sergey Brin (Russia) of Google, Andrew Grove ( Hungary) Intel, von Braun (Germany) NASA, Andrew Carnegie (Scotland) US Steel, Fei-Fei Li (China) AI, Charlie Chaplin and Cary Grant (England), Yo-Yo Ma (Chinese born in France), Mark Rothko (Latvia) painter, and the list goes on and on. Rather than deporting people (granted with a very few exceptions), we should be welcoming people with open arms. When you say we need to make America "Great" again, oftentimes it was immigrants that made that happen! Americans should NEVER forget that. Remember, unless you are a native American who migrated here 18,000 years ago, you and your family came from somewhere else!

Thank you for reading my blog! Please be sure to visit on a regular basis or contact me at KrugsStudio@gmail.com. New blogs are added all the time. In conjunction  with my store I feel that “design” is an important part of our lives. Everything we use or live by was designed by someone. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates design about my blog.

Please be sure to visit my store, KrugsStudio.etsy.com on a regular basis. New birdhouses, craft items, photography and canvas paintings are added all the time. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates local handcrafted items about my store.

Why Is Science Fiction So, Well, Violent?

I love to read. I was late to the party but have since caught up. You see by the third grade, despite good grades, my mother discovered I couldn't read. Oregon public schools in the 1950's taught us to read by sight! Despite being a visual learner letters arranged in patterns taught me nothing. 

So my parents bought phonics cards and night after night in what seemed like forever I learned the sound of each letter and pairs such as th, sh, wh and such. They then took me to the library and I can vividly remember spending the summer between third and fourth grades devouring every book I could get. Years later I did the same thing with my students as a Peace Corps teacher in Liberia. It pleases me that AFTER all these years LA Public schools are finally changing to phonics! Reading scores will jump at long last.

Because I loved comics, Superman, Batman and quite a few sci-fi comics I graduated to Bradbury, Heinlein, Clark, Asimov's Foundation series that stretched to 12 or so books and many, many more.

One book was quite upsetting: THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES. I could never get past the chapter where humans land on Mars, are greeted by Martians, wined and dined then killed in their sleep. I abhor violence and that upset me greatly. I finally, on my third try, just skipped that chapter and read on. Bradbury remains one of my favorites today.

However, that didn't stop me from seeing THE BLOB or THE FLY, MONSTER FROM THE BLACK LAGOON even PSYCHO that I couldn't watch again for 60 years. It seemed at least some of those books offered possibilities for a better future even if the movies couldn't.

I've seen 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY at least 40 times, even the anniversary edition a few years ago. As everyone agrees, Kubrick changed the face of sci-fi forever. No more Buck
Rogers with wispy smoke coming out of his rocket and a cheesy control deck. Every time I hear The Beautiful Blue Danube I conjure up the Pan Am shuttle rotating with the space station as it docks and/or the moon rocket landing on the moon! There was ultimately hope and a warning of the AI we are grappling with today. Remember the HAL 9000? "Open the pod bay doors HAL" as it kills all the slumbering crew.

Before we finally launched a satellite after Russia's Sputnik, we would stay up all night waiting for NASA's Vanguard rocket to launch only to see it blow up time and again. Finally a military Redstone rocket got us into space. And the race was on!

Those were both tense yet heady years.

HAL 9000

STAR WARS, Episode 4, first of a nine part series came out in September 1977. We went to see it in Westwood near UCLA when that was the place to go. Clearly it built on Kubrick's 2001 creating a world as real as ours. However, it was replaced by the drama and strife we see on earth magnified by a thousand different planets and species. The barroom scene in many ways says it all. And this strife was carried on in just about every sci-fi series from then on.

I picked up one of the myriad STAR TREK series at the Palm Springs Library, a series  that seems never-ending. STAR TREK: DISCOVERY started almost out the gate with that old adversary, the Klingons attacking a Star Fleet starship of the Federation. And that's when I asked myself the question, will space

STAR WARS Bar scene

exploration always be violent? Should we meet an alien and will they be our enemy? In Asimov's FOUNDATIONS END humans meet Daniel, the only surviving robot from our era and ask, "Is this the end of space? He answers yes. He has protected the human race the best he could asking, "Didn't you ever wonder why you never saw an alien race? We picked the dimension that was safest for you." They had nothing to say.

A few months ago I saw MICKEY 17, a sci-fi creation of the Korean director who created and directed, the grim movie PARASITE. Since the killer was holed up in the basement of the man he's murdered home, everyone was expecting a sequel. It wasn't.

MICKEY 17 was a name for an "expendable," a man who felt he was of little worth and agreed to have his DNA copied as well as his memories and was given jobs everyone knew would kill him. We meet Mickey in his 17th iteration as he's about to freeze to death in a crevice on a planet his and many others have gone to with a Jim Jones like leader who couldn't get his way on earth. As they wish him well and will see him as Mickey 18 he is resigned to his death. However, he didn't die. 

Creatures on this barren planet no one knew about save him by dragging him to the surface. He makes it back to the base and meets Mickey 18, something that is forbidden to happen. There are issues and violence leading to the leader and his McBethian wife dying and they then face a standoff of the native creatures who arrive to the base by the thousands. The two Mickey's go out to face them and in a twist I haven't seen, in like forever, they agree to live side by side and the colony can move on. Wouldn't that have been nice here in 1620?

Boon Joon Ho took an almost warn out genre giving us hope that "contact" doesn't necessarily have to be violent. Jodie Foster's CONTACT spread a similar message as aliens asked for help that would be repaid.

One of the sweetest sci-fi films I seen in a long time is JULES starring Ben Kingsley, Jane Curtin and Harriet Sansom Harris. Milton (Kingsley) has an alien space craft crash in his back yard. Soon an alien emerges and he takes him in and feeds him. For some reason the alien keeps drawing stick figure cats. The three try to help and keep him from the government that wants alien and machine. Geared for seniors it's a wonderful family movie and again no real violence with a touching, NON-violent ending. 

Do we really know what would happen? It would be nice to consider what the future could bring us benficially without the violence we see around us as each and every day. We hardly need our entertainment making it worse. And yet it does. 

Thank you for reading my blog! Please be sure to visit on a regular basis or contact me at KrugsStudio@gmail.com. New blogs are added all the time. In conjunction  with my store I feel that “design” is an important part of our lives. Everything we use or live by was designed by someone. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates design about my blog.

Please be sure to visit my store, KrugsStudio.etsy.com on a regular basis. New birdhouses, craft items, photography and canvas paintings are added all the time. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates local handcrafted items about my store.

OWN or GIFT an original work of art this year!