Robot Jazz

If you are familiar with Stanley Kubrick's Cold War black comedy masterpiece Dr. Strangelove , you might recall the character of Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, expertly played by comedy legend Peter Sellers. Mandrake had the unfortunate responsibility of being the executive officer to Sterling Hayden's quite insane Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper (😁), the delusional commander of Burpelson Air Force Base, a home for nuclear-armed B-52 bombers.  Convinced that the communists were engaged in a conspiracy to corrupt Americans' "precious bodily fluids" via such perfidious means as putting fluoride in the drinking water ( does that ring a bell ?), he locks down his airbase and sends his contingent of B-52s to bomb the Soviet Union.   I used to take delight in watching Sellers (who, ironically, was as mentally ill as Ripper in real life) portray the befuddled Mandrake. Now, though, I don't because I see myself in his performance. It was easy to laugh when the stake...

  This is an entry I've been avoiding for some time because it will be an emotionally charged exercise for me. After all, it is not an easy thing to anticipate the end of your country. Ever since the re-election of Donald Trump - after the self-profession of sexual predation to Billy Bush (who laughed like a hyena), after the botched COVID response that killed tens of thousands, after the felony convictions, and after the insurrection that put 130 capitol police in the hospital and almost ended the Republic - I knew America was headed for the precipice because, as the ancients tell us, no society has survived long when its people have lost their political virtue.  The question was only one of time. How long would it take?  💀💀💀💀💀 Now that 2025 has concluded, I can look back and say, yeah, that went as poorly as I expected. Actually, no. It was worse  than I expected. I anticipated a repeat of Trump's shambolic first year of his first term: chaotic staff assignmen...

  One of my favorite science fiction shows is The Twilight Zone . Despite being some sixty-five years of age, it remains one of the most fascinating exercises in televised speculative storytelling. With its iconic scripts - many penned by the giants of the pulp science fiction scene - and brought to life by a 'who’s who' of A-list talent, the series remains a landmark of television history, perpetually rediscovered by subsequent generations of viewers. The Twilight Zone also possesses a curious tendency to intrude into the real world, much as it did for its cast of characters. Consider the myriad times you have heard someone proclaim, 'I felt as though I were in an episode of The Twilight Zone !' Today, for me, was one of those days. This morning, I tuned in to Pluto TV to seek sanctuary from the stale, post-holiday news lineup being endlessly regurgitated by the increasingly irrelevant cable networks. It so happened that the episode airing was 'Static.' Writt...