The Men Who Stare At Goats

"Welcome to those who will dare to think the unthinkable, the awakened warriors, and you evolutionary scouts. You are in good company..."

--Jim Channon

The Men Who Stare at Goats opens November 6, 2009.


Starring George Clooney, Keven Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor and of course the goat, this quirky dark comedy is based on the book written by Jon Ronson.

At first it was hard to believe this movie was based on a real life story about a top-secret wing of the U.S. military. I found out that there was also a documentary released in 2004 by Ronson that ties into the book. Ronson talks to Jim Channon, Albert Stubblebine, Guy Savelli and other figures associated with a secret US Army unit founded in 1979 called the First Earth Battalion.

I have learned much since being sucked into this wormhole opened up to me by a simple movie trailer. There is much much more I have to learn and I'll be glad to drag a few million movie goers along for the ride.

If you'd like to learn more, you can begin your journey where I started, over at First Earth Battalion.

According to Channon the following will be scrolled at the end of the movie:

"Thank you to Jim Channon Cmdr First Earth Battalion and the military mavericks of the FirstEarthBattalion.org who to this day help keep our hardworking militaries focused on creative service to our planet."

Be Wonderful!

Spice Up Your Coffee

Coffee is a good diversion and with a few ingredients found in most cupboards and refrigerators, the varieties are endless. Recently I've been spicing up my coffee in an attempt to use less sugar. It took trial and error to get it just the way I like it, but I am pleased with final product; at least until I get bored with it and move on to something else. The trick for me was to get the blend of spices so none of them over power the other. If you try this, it make take some time to adjust it to your particular tastes. I don't use any one type or brand of coffee, just off the shelf canned ground to drip.

Ingredients

Cup of your favorite coffee
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Ground Red Pepper
Hot Chocolate Powered Mix
Sugar and cream per your usual

Add the creamer, sugar, a spoonful of chocolate mix and the spices into the cup first.

My preferences are a good dash of cinnamon, a tiny pinch of nutmeg and a small dash of red pepper.

Mix up all the dry ingredients. Add coffee and still well.

It should give your coffee a clean after bite. You don't want the nutmeg to be immediately noticeable, as in "wow, that's got nutmeg!" You want it to mingle with the initial sweetness of the pepper.

Let me know what you think or if you have any recommendations.

November is National Novel Writing Month

"Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap."


November is National Novel Writing Month. It is a "fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30."

The website NaNoWriMo is packed with well organized information, support and inspiration. There are FAQs and a forum for peer support. Groups are set up by region, and you will even have the chance to meet with fellow writers in your area.

The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel by November 30th. Quality does not matter. Quantity is key. This website's goal is to motivate writers to write every day, no matter how they feel or how busy their lives are. It helps to push writers out of editing and rewriting and fussing over the details such as flow or plot consistency. A writer is his or her own worst critic. Him-hawing over the finer points can be done at any time, but if there isn't enough to him-haw over there will never be that novel you've always been meaning to write someday.

Make someday this year!