Two Mac-Toons from the Vaults!

Two of the many drawings that fill Mac's sketchbooks - thanks Dana!

A Dynamic Duo: Binnall and Kimball (plus UPDATES)

Paul Kimball has just announced a sequel to his acclaimed UFO documentary, "Best Evidence" - which featured interviews with a number of top researchers in the field, up to and including our very own Mac Tonnies - in a new post on his blog, The Other Side of the Truth, and directly on this The Redstar Films Unlimited page.

"Beyond Best Evidence: The UFO Engima" will be an independent film co-produced by the fantastic team of Paul Kimball and Tim Binnall, and promises to take the UFO theme light years beyond the vague, mainstream nonsense we've all grown accustomed to, by finally fulling exploring the various hypotheses and possible explanations for the phenomenon.

That being said, the film's existence might depend upon your support, so, check out his post and spread the word!

Meanwhile, for those of you who haven't seen "Best Evidence", Paul has graciously posted the 48 minute film in its entirety on his blog, and it can be found here.

Thanks, Paul, and best of luck to you and Tim!

***

While you're over at The Other Side of the Truth, you might also check out this post. included are several video clips from the 2011 Global Competitiveness Forum held in Saudi Arabia, which featured a panel about ET life ("Contact Learning From Outer Space"), from a number of different perspectives. 

If you were a fan of Posthuman Blues, you'll be familiar with the roster of speakers presented here: Stanton Friedman, Nick Pope, Michio Kaku, Zaghloul El Naggar, and Jacques Vallee.

The Land of the Rising Sun Rises Again

Pink Tentacle is back in business and I, for one, am relieved and so very happy to see it!

There are several posters featured in the most recent announcement - "Japan is in our Hearts" - created by Japanese underground artists, and offered for sale in support of the ongoing earthquake disaster relief efforts.

My favorite one is the design above... created by Oliver Kroa Cramm.

Mac Tonnies' Flickr Pages Restored!

Image: "Greeter" Copyright 2006, Mac Tonnies

Property of the Estate of Mac Tonnies - All Rights Reserved

I am most happy to announce that Mac Tonnies' photostream has been restored to its original volume! At one point I was dismayed to find that Mac had lost his Flickr "Pro" status and his wonderful collection of shots had dwindled to a mere 200. Now, mysteriously, they're back - over 760 of them - in all their enigmatic glory! An example is the one above: "Greeter".

I am not sure how this came about, but thanks to whomever was responsible! It was a most welcome surprise!

Happy Chinese New Year!

February 3, 2011 marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar Year of the Rabbit. Among those born in previous rabbit years were Albert Einstein, Johnny Depp, and... Mac Tonnies!

What a perfect excuse for Bugs Bunny! Below are two cartoons wherein Bugs deals with two Fortean issues... cryptozoology and alien invasions... with some robotics thrown in for good measure!

Why does this not surprise me?

"Wik-Bee Leaks: EPA Document Shows It Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees"

Headline to an article found at Fast Company. Read and weep.

This is a follow-up to my post from July of last year, In Memory of Bumblebees.

(Hat-tip to Regan Lee at Octopus Confessional)

On the Trail of the "Paranormal Rat-Pack"

Mac Tonnies' former good buddies and co-conspirators are popping up on the net.

There's an interview with Paul Kimball by Richard Thomas over at UFO Mystic.

Greg Bishop and Nick Redfern, on the other hand, have a nice long podcast chat with Tim Binnall which can be found here.

BoingBoing Takes Note

David Pescovitz, over at one of Mac's favorite cyber-haunts, BoingBoing, posted yesterday about Rob Walker's NY Times article. If you haven't seen it yet, it can be found here.

Of Note

This just in: Mike Clelland over at Hidden Experience has just posted a link to an article written by Rita J. King for the Atlantic in response to the recent NY Times article: Finding Time: A Response to Rob Walker on the Digital Afterlife.

Love Letters from LatteLand: "Chair"

"What happens in LatteLand, stays in LatteLand."

- Tacked on a LatteLand wall by Mac Tonnies

***

Anyone who knew Mac Tonnies knew of his passion for coffee. And, anyone who knew Mac also knew that he was often found - day or night - in the various coffee-shops in Kansas City, MO. He'd often email me at these times - from places with names like "Central Perk" and "The Daily Grind". I always tried to picture him in those cafes... especially at night, with visions of Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks" going through my head. I never really got the coffee "trend", though. When I lived in Manhattan in the 80's, the same purpose was fulfilled by the local bar. But then, I came from the tail end of the previous generation - whatever Mac's peer-group was trying to remember, my peer-group was at great pains to forget.

During the last months of his life, Mac found solace in the company of a group of Kansas City "LatteLand" regulars, kindred spirits who appreciated his humor, his perceptions, and his quirks. One of them, Lane Van Ham, an English teacher at the local Community College, was inspired by Mac to start a small LatteLand-themed magazine, in the autumn of 2009, entitled "Chair".

Mac's response? "Perfect, that's the first thing you do when you come in: look for a chair."

In the second (May, 2010) edition's introduction, Van Ham continues: "The contents are fitting tributes, depicting and celebrating Mac's many facets. Of course, they are bound to come up short, for Mac's prodigious curiosity evaded summary judgement and, even now, resists confinement to a single place. That untamable abundance still effects all of us who knew him. I am certain, therefore, that if and when future issues appear, they will somehow be infused with his presence."

Below is an exuberant, very "beat" memorial essay - in its entirety - penned by one of the LatteLanders, David Peeples, whom some of you may remember from a Radio Mysterioso show with Greg Bishop commemorating Mac this past October.

***

MAC “Attack” TONNIES

by

Tucson Phoenix Peeples

Came walking down like some tornado spiral straight line aiming for, honed in on, laser precision with black boots, loose denim jeans, black leather jacket, black hat blowing stream line flowing by, whoosh on his way to who knows where, maybe Eden on his mind with eggplant lasagna with extra grated Grana Padano Parmesan, You Dig. Ain't no time to dilly-dally with the willy-nilly when you need a bite to eat, Okay. This dude is on a mission no doubt, a precision unlike the rest of us watching an anomaly in action, no hesitation, no desperation, no friction applied, resistance denied. This phenom could motate, Man. This man could move, and a mind on light speed mode. You can't move fast enough to keep up with his snappin' synapses, No Way! And all the time, “The Cats of B-2” in charge, running the show, arranging the game, calling the shots. Who knew? Yet there was that sense of “Other” in Mac's eyes, that disparate dissonance in his voice, that verbal labyrinth he nimbly negotiated, manipulated, applied with such ease. He appeared to be going somewhere, yet he was already there, here, there, and everywhere. I have no doubt about that. Looking back on it now, it's almost as if, almost a dream.

Sometimes convergence happens, certain planets align, magnetic fields stretch out across light years time, harmonics occur, transformation blossoms, evolution transpires, fungus emotes, root-beer floats, what can I say. And once every now and then, you get a genetic anomaly showing up seemingly out of nowhere, like spontaneous combustion, out of distant horizon comes walking, out of the shadow-land, beyond the borderland, the parallelogram, the continuum, You Dig? Comes walking, gliding, floating like a vapor, a mist, a fog, a pale glowing ribbon, a mystery of history bundled in an entity, with tentacles spiraling off in radiance lightness, “Who goes there?” or “Who was there?” or who knows where it goes or for what purpose propose, like an invisible man transpose, I suppose. Sometimes that otherness comes, communes for a time, then goes too soon, you might say, or assume, before it's time, who knows. Each spirit charts it's own path, time traveler, unravel-er, mind baffler, then fade from view, leaving me, leaving you, imprinted, touched, nothing but a whisper left, echo bereft, memory's breath. “Hey, Mac, where you be, out in that galactic sea, watching sea beams glitter off the shoulder of Orion, memories forgotten in time, like tears in rain, then it's time to die.” Been here, then gone, Sunset to dawn, natures pawn. That we could all go out in full stride.

Darkness shut me down, went scampering for a safe haven, watch out for the black Raven. “Go where the lights is”, they said, “Where the peoples is.” So I did, down to the light show, to the Feine Machine, the Scene Machine, where the drama peaks early and over with by 6:00 PM most days. I'm here to write, though I often end up in conversation. Maybe it's best for the time being, ease the shock of the thing. Spiritual willy-nilly times, my head contains all sides, outlandish and divine. Living is not memorizing scripture or some ridiculous litany, not a group event, but an inner trip, full of characters vying for time to bend my inner ear, sometimes severe. Always adjusting, re-evaluating, redefining, outlining, altering, thrusting, pulsing, revulsing, digesting, reinvesting, trying it on to check out the fit, altering or rejecting it, Get My Drift. Oh, Baby, it's a troubling thing, always flying, on the wing. Who knows where it ends, down some alley way, or dead end, like a blind man against the wind, walking a spiral labyrinth, spin spin spin, “The answer, my friend, is a blowin' in the wind,” or blowin' out whatever.

So I was sittin' down for a meal the other night, television on one of my favorite programs, “Bizarre Worlds”, and static began affecting the screen, thinking it might be the cable, when a face began to emerge in the static, and to my great surprise, shockingly so, Mac's face appeared.

“Hello, Tucson,” it said.

“What's this”, I heard myself whisper.

“Hello, Tucson. Please talk to me.”

“Mac,” I heard myself say, “Mac, is that you?”

“I'm not sure. I remember Mac Tonnies, and everything about him.”

“Mac is dead!” I replied.

“All Mac really was is still a part of me,” the face said.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“I don't know why. I think to say good goodbye. Do you still go to the Feine Machine?”

“Sometimes,” I replied.

“Is it still a great place to go?” he asked.

“Sometimes.”

“I'm glad,” Mac said. “Goodbye, Tucson.”

“Hey, Mac. What's the deal?” I spit out.

“Goodbye, Tucson,” he said. “I'm already there.”

“I don't understand,” I mumbled.

“Something is going to happen, and I wanted to say goodbye.”

“What's going to happen, Mac?”

“Something wonderful”, then his face faded, faded, then disappeared, and “Bizarre Worlds” came flickering on again, and here I was frozen in place as though waking from a trance, not sure if I was dreaming or staring blankly at the screen, blanked out or blanked in. I looked to see what time it was, though I don't know when I had sat down to eat, yet it was dark outside, Moon high in the western sky. I sat there for some time, face fixed in a glazed state, staring at the screen. Then the next thing I knew I was brushing my teeth.*

I remember having long and interesting talks with Mac about many concepts, 4th dimensions, 5th, 6th and 11 Dimensional Space, Parallel Universes, Quarks, Quarts, Quirks, Jerks, Event Horizons, Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Fanatics, Quantum Hispanics, Quantum Fantastics, Quantum Germanics, Fabric Softener, Stool Softener, Fool Softener, stuff like that! Broadband Webery, Strawberry Alamogordo Arie, Worm Holes in Redwood Trees, String Theory, String Bean Query, whatever and whichevery, Cyber Space, Hyper Space, In Your Face, whatever! You can't say too much or too little about Mac, maybe just think it, see it, be it, whatever and however a Cryptoterrestrial might communicate, the subject of Mac's latest and last book. I would not be surprised to discover that Mac was a Crypto himself, living more fully and faster in his seeming thirty-four years than the rest of us. Thirty-four years for a Crypto could be three-hundred-forty years to the rest of us, You Dig? And if you don't, Why Not? Be there or be square-or-y! It's a the-or-y!

I loved Mac's sense of humor, off center, like mine! While talking, we could easily slip off into some scene dialogue of the movie “Blade Runner”, one of our all time favorite movies, without skipping a beat, makes as good sense as most conversations I have had in my life, making life more fun! One example of Mac's humor is one cool Autumn evening, he came walking briskly into the Feine Machine, wearing his baggy blue jeans, black boots, black leather jacket, black rimmed transition glasses and black hat, carrying a long, black umbrella like a shotgun, pointing it at Michael behind the cash register, pumping the umbrella like a pump action shotgun, like he was there to hold up the place, fired off a shot into Micheal's chest. Little did he know, that that very morning, the Feine Machine store on State Line Avenue had been held up, the manager locked up in the back office. Actually, the joke was on him as well as the rest of us. He was much apologetic when he found out, but we all got a good laugh afterward. Then the paddy wagon came and hauled him away.

Another, even better example of Mac's humor is printed in “The Cryptoterrestrials”, page 34, and the paragraph starts like so: “In paranoid moments---and there can never be enough of them-----”. Paranoid moments indeed! Nothin' like them to make a my day worthwhile!

Some time later, in 2012, to be exact, at dinner once again, watching some program on the Science Channel about, of all things, “Bling and Fashion Theory”, the screen went white and a voice began to speak, a deep, gravely voice with, perhaps, something of a British accent:

“Umm, people of Earth, this is Prosteticvogan Geltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council. As you are probably aware, plans for the development of the outlying regions of the galaxy involve the building of a hyperspace express route through your star system, and your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The plans have been available for viewing at the Galaxial Planning Center for some time, so you should be well informed in advance of this action. So, So long, and thanks for all the fish.”**

* based on a dialogue from the film, "2010"

** actual dialogue from the film "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

***

My thanks go out to Dana Tonnies who kindly sent me this issue of the Chair, and to Lane Van Ham and David Peeples who allowed me to post the excerpts.

***

Update: Dana Tonnies has just informed me that there are actually two "LatteLands" in KC. The quote I had of Mac's - since deleted - and the photo I had on the sidebar (also deleted) were, apparently, in reference to a different location than the one sited in the post. Sorry.

NY Times Magazine Article

Over the past several months many of us who knew Mac Tonnies and shared the goal of keeping his online legacy alive and intact were approached by journalist, Rob Walker, regarding an article he was writing for The New York Times Magazine. The article in question explored the little-discussed issue of online legacies and what becomes of ones internet "property" in the event of ones untimely death.

The article, "Cyberspace When You're Dead" is a no-holds-barred expose of the topic, which sites Mac and his followers (including yours truly) within that context - happily, as a, more or less, positive example of what may occur.

I don't suppose any of us intended or foresaw ourselves becoming "news" but news we are! The article will be published January 9th in the Sunday New York Times, but is available online today and can be found here.

***

Note: Just to set the record straight, the quote attributed to myself in the NY Times article was abbreviated just enough to take it slightly out of context. I was never so presumptuous as to declare that this blog was "a road-map to Mac Tonnies". I believe my full statement was in reference to the links provided by Post-Mac Blues as "a road-map to Mac's online presence".

Ah well, that's journalism for you!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Holiday...

...and may 2011 prove most fortunate for all of us.

(This tune should be familiar - in the case of the video, played on mandolins by the Mandolin Man - but the haunting progression of notes in what is now known as "The Carol of the Bells" was originally an ancient Ukrainian folk chant for New Years Day which was thought to have magical properties. Eventually it became Shchedryk - a folk song about a little swallow who goes from door to door bearing good fortune - before it was transformed into the Xmas song known today.)