Sammy, The Sociable Seal

From Reader's Digest, Animals You Will Never Forget, 1969. Artist unknown.

Mysta of the Moon - Chapter 7

Planet Comics #42 from May 1946 depicts Mysta of the Moon in a not so favorable light as she is forced to make tough choices. It appears that Mysta is making tough choices and at this point is the de facto ruler of humankind. The machines that humanity used were not so much destroyed when Mars, the God of War attacked, but the knowledge required to use and maintain them was lost and only Mysta has the smarts required to keep humanity from entering another stone age. Mysta, aiding in rebuilding a civilization that was nearly destroyed is ensuring that all the reclaimed knowledge is released to humanity at a pace civilization can safely apply. It may be that her decisions are sometimes not popular as industrial leaders and politicians are probably chomping to exploit regained sciences only to be interfered with by Mysta. After all, you don't let people fiddle with the settings of the Star-Snuffer if they are not fully trained. And you just know that in the future, mankind will build a machine to turn off the sun just because they can.

When a scientist with the touch of death refuses to stop meddling in banned science Mysta resorts to some draconian measures and comes off as pretty cold and frightening. The way Mysta parcels out or allows knowledge to be re-discovered or used could mean she is either insane with power, misguidedly believes only she is fit to rule or else is terrified that humanity will destroy themselves and fall into barbarism.

Guess who didn't get a tip?

That's right. I held back my green because the restaurant didn't hold theirs. I asked the server not to include any garnish or parsley with our meals. They included it anyways. Look at that horrible waste. It isn't like the parsley was taking up space on the plate that could have been occupied by real food as it was completely buried under my french fries and my wife's salad. Yes, the house salad included a garnish that was found under the lettuce.

Somewhere, a family of gun-toting Marylanders who always have plenty of money for bullets and beer but not soap or meals are staring at their empty food stamps envelope wishing they had something to nibble on. This parsley, added to other sprigs collected from all over the nation could have made a horrible if nutritious yet possibly health-threatening soup. Somewhere, a pasta sauce is denied little bits of green floating in it that might be basil or not. Or gnats, depending on if the kitchen window was open during food preparation.

Save the planet and Hold the Green!

True Horror, Part 2

French HIV awareness posters for an AIDS prevention campaign from several years ago.

Respect yourself. Take care of yourself.

Posted here a long time ago, and go here for the larger photos.

True Horror, Part 1

There is the impossible, fantastic, supernatural horror that thrills and excites and then there is the cruel, callous evil of bastards who know better whose actions and lies have real world implications of death, pain, misery and despair.

DDT sprayed from a TIFA (Todd Insecticidal Fog Applicator) around model Kay Heffernon to supposedly demonstrate it won't contaminate her food (a hot dog and coke), Jones Beach, New York. (Photo by George Silk, 1948)

From Google TIME-LIFE archive.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Orange Nut Roll R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

"In his house at R'lyeh the Orange Nut Roll waits dreaming." From H.P. Lovecraft, The Cult of C-Rat.

Where ever armies have marched and where ever crazed survivalist rednecks have squatted there remains behind scenes of devastation and horror. One of those horrors is the Orange Nut Roll.

A variety of nut rolls have long been a part of the soldier's meal while on the march. Historically they were a tasty treat to consume after eating the giant can of beef stew offered in C-Rations. The nut rolls were favored enough that they largely made a successful transition from the larger canned military rations to the lighter and more compact MRE or Meal, Ready-To-Eat of modern field supplies.

Anywhere a group of soldiers have gathered the evidence of their meals is left behind and used by the local population. The MRE was designed to be 100% useful in the field. The boxes, filled with sand or dirt, are packed tightly in a case and can slide into a sleeve. The packaging is water-resistant and filled with sand can be used to make bunkers, furniture and in some places in the world entire living quarters. The plastic pouches are used for storage and shingles on a roof. The cans are used for cooking or beaten down into knives or other useful items.

The exception being the Orange Nut Roll. The ONG is dry and has the consistency of a shoe. The taste resembles not so much an orange, but the wooden crate the oranges may have originally been shipped in. Fire that melts an 81mm mortar leaves the Orange Nut Roll unharmed. Insects, vultures and other opportunistic scavengers ignore and treat a found Orange Nut Roll as they would a piece of slate or length of bark they came across while wandering the forest. In places where the local population eagerly, desperately receives the leftovers of a soldier's meal either in food to feed their families or the useful packaging to build shelters the Orange Nut Roll is thrown away or refused. Entire rebellions have arisen in native populations because all they are given to win their hearts and minds are Orange Nut Roll packages from visiting soldiers. Give an Orange Nut Roll to a starving homeless person in any metropolitan city and they will sneer and possibly assault you.

There are beaches in Subic Bay covered in slowly rusting cans of discarded Orange Nut Rolls. Oddly shaped, orange hued rocks cover the sand and ocean floor in the region as Orange Nut Rolls tumble free from cans that disintegrate against the forces of nature. But the eternal majesty of the sea and wind are unable to breakdown the Orange Nut Roll. Like lava builds new land off the shores of Hawaiian islands so do Orange Nut Rolls serve as the foundation for reefs and future land bridges across the water. So imagine what one of those things, either in the old rounded or newer yet still inedible flat toaster pastry forms will do to the insides of a human.

Future archeologists will undoubtedly use as provenance of ancient battlefields the layers of uneaten Orange Nut Rolls that like ancient honey found in Egyptian tombs, will show no signs of rot or decomposition. Unlike 5000 year old honey though, the Orange Nut Roll is largely inedible as it comes fresh off the production line.

Boy God

Roco, Ang Batang Bato (aka Stone Boy, Boy God) from 1983.

Sheer Horror

You couldn't pull any of this off in the new rebooted Trek universe. Not because it is dated and silly, but because if the Space Hippies took over the new universe cafeteria they'd get the crap beaten out of them on principle and dumped out an airlock into the void.

Mysta of the Moon - Chapter 7

Planet Comics #41 (March 1946) is the first issue with Mysta of the Moon specifically featured on the cover. Her humanoid robot servant also makes an appearance on the cover. As is typical the cover has almost nothing in common with the interior story. In this case the only similarity between the cover and story is the robot crashing through the wall.

This chapter of Mysta continues the back story of mankind rebuilding their society after the War-God/Alien Mars nearly destroyed civilization. The villain is again deformed and evil and has the goal of destroying everything he can while using his weird fetish to accomplish destruction. This time the weapon of choice is worthy of a Clive Barker story and has less to do with phallus shapes as shown on the cover and more with reanimation and horror.

Line 7

Saturday I risked life and limb to photograph this sign of mall rules at the Fashion Valley mall in San Diego. Line #7 prohibits photography without prior written authorization from the mall management. Well, since this is still America I made sure to photograph each similar sign I came across as I wandered around all day shopping spending money.

By the way I did get permission to photograph what ever I felt like pointing a camera at but it was not from mall management. I went over their heads. The document I used was from James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom had the foresight to get the paperwork started on giving me permission to take photos in public way back in 1791.

Beware of the dog that thinks

Baxter (1989).

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

Czech New Wave cinema from 1970. Kind of gives a new understanding to the Steve Winwood song. And that flower? Ick.

October: A Month of Horror

Like most blogs October will be focusing on all the spooky things.

While the next Mysta Monday will feature a tale worthy of a Clive Barker tale readers can expect many lazy video posts, some more disturbing than others.

If you really want to be entertained though, go over and see Bully the Little Stuffed Vampire Slayer. He's keeping an eye out for the evil shenanigans of the Riverdale Hellmouth!