Monday, March 26, 2012

Actor Yaphet Kotto Alien fans have three to five months to wait for Yaphet Kotto’s Alien Diary. The book arrives after the much-hyped Prometheus a separate story that precedes the events of Alien, but which is not directly connected to the films in the Alien franchise. Prometheus is scheduled to be up and running on June 8. The Alien Diary, a Kotto representative says, it will be scheduled for release in late July or even August. A statement posted on his site this week says testing was extended after feedback from early Alien fans made it "clear that behind the scenes of Alien events were of great interests and it wouldn't be wise to hold back any longer when millions more Alien fans seekers came on to the site." The Alien Diary is supposed to offer e-book editions of “The Obamen” novels, but Kotto representative from the Characters agency in Canada said Thursday that the release date for “The Obamen had not been confirmed. Kotto for years had resisted making his work in Alien available because closeness of his experiences with UFO’s The site opens amid buzz about Kotto's plans to write a tell all novel for Alien and reveal his UFO experiences. No publication date or details were revealed but many fans were visiting his site about the news last week. In addition to of bringing the behind the scene actions for the space fantasy novel Live and Let Die will also be an online immersive experience for which Kotto has written extensive new material — more than 22,000 new words so far — about characters, places and Alien Close Encounters that took place behind the scenes while filming the James Bond adventure. So even if you didn’t see the James Bond classic Live and Let Die, which we doubt you can still enjoy the additional content with a printed book or on its own. “For me, this is a therapeutic way to rid myself of the many UFO experiences I’ve had when making birth Alien and Bond and give something back to Alien and James Bond fans that made my career such in incredible international success,” Kotto said. “I still receive a phenomenal number of letters, drawings and stories from Alien and Bond fans. This is the way for Alien and Bond to live on in a medium that created black action heroes that didn’t exist when I started working extensively in films.” He is considering publishing on his own website, Kotto adds: “I want to guarantee that people everywhere can feel the same experience I did making Alien and experiencing ca close encounter of the third kind at the same time This extremely important for Alien fans many of whom have had these very same encounters. Imagine what this would have done for a man like Barney Hill, a black man who was the first American to be abducted by Aliens. I am lucky to have the internet and face book to reach out to people who are silently suffering. My God, those experiences killed Barney! Alien was a fantastic and unique experience that God gave me now it’s time to take my time and give back what the fans gave me. There is really no other way to do this for the fans and remain in control. Not every actor could do this, but its right for an actor who was a victim of Alien UFO experiences and other abductees. This probably is an extension of what I did in helping to create the Watts Writers Workshop. Besides, it’s a lot of fun to have direct contact with my fans. It may well be a blessing in disguise.”

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Dinosaurs! Today in Africa?

In 1913, a German explorer reported stories of, what the natives called, "Mokele-mbembe," which he had heard while in the Congo. Hearing the reports, a few scientists noticed that the descriptions of the creatures made them sound much like sauropod dinosaurs. Sauropods were the giants of the dinosaurs world, averaging about 70 feet (21 meters) long and standing 12-15 feet (3.7 to 4.8 m) tall at the hips.
In 1932, a British scientist, exploring near the Likouala region where the creatures are said to live, came across some abnormally huge footprints. Later, when he went down one of the rivers in a canoe, he heard strange sounds, but did not see anything. Coincidentally, that same year the world famous zoologist and biologist, Ivan T. Sanderson, along with animal-trader Gerald Russel, were paddling up the Mainyu River in the heart of western Africa when, according to Sanderson's report:
"The most terrifying sound I have ever heard, which sounded like an on-coming earthquake or an exploding, nearby robot, suddenly greeted us from a large underwater cave." While the water of the river was boiling and foaming directly in front of their canoe, a darkish, shining lizard-like head suddenly rose from the dark water. They described the head as nearly the size of the head of a fully grown hippo, which sat on a thick, swan-like neck. The enormous neck was turned towards the two men, and for just a few seconds, although it seemed like an eternity, the monster simply stared at Sanderson and Russel. Mr. Sanderson summed up his thoughts with these emphatic words: "I don't know what we saw, but the animal, the monster, burned itself into my retinas. It looked like something that ought to have been dead millions of years ago. As a scientist, I should have been happy, of course, but this encounter was so frightening, so nasty that I never want to see it again." A Brief Analysis of Dinosaurs sightings NAME: Mokele-mbembe is Lingala, and can mean a variety of things. The word is commonly defined as "One that stops the flow of rivers," but can also mean "one who eats the tops of palm trees," "monstrous animal," or even "half-God, half-beast." Mokele-mbembe is also used as a generic term to refer to other animals like Emela-ntouka, Mbielu-mbielu-mbielu, and Nguma-monene.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: Mokele-mbembe has been described as an animal with a long neck, a long tail, and rounded shape tracks with three claws. The closest known animal that has these characteristics is a sauropod dinosaur.
HABITAT: Mokele-mbembe lives in the pools and swamps adjacent to the rivers of the Likouala swamp region of The People's Republic of Congo on the continent of Africa. It is said to use the lakes as a crossing path to go from one river to another.
SIZE: The body size of each specimen is said to be somewhere between the size of a hippopotamus and an elephant. Its length is reportedly between 16 to 32 feet (5 to 10 meters). The length of the neck, according to various descriptions, is between 5 to 10 feet (1.6 to 3.3 meters). The length of the tail is somewhere between 5 to 10 feet as well, varying slightly.
APPENDAGES: Interestingly, there have been a few reports of a frill on the back of the head. The frill is said to be like the comb found on a male chicken (cock). There have also been reports of a small horn on its head.
COLOR: The color of the skin is predominately reddish-brown with a color range from gray to brown. There are no reports of hair on the animal. If there were, it would obviously contradict the reptilian dinosaur theory.
TRACKS: Tracks possess a significantly rounded shape between 1 to 3 feet (30 to 90 centimeters) in diameter with three claws. The distance between tracks is about 7 to 8 feet (2.1 to 2.4 meters).
SOUND: The predominant belief is that Mokele-mbembe does not create any sounds, though there have been some conflicting reports. This is probably due to the fact that Mokele-mbembe is used generically for other animals and the sound is being confused with Emela-ntouka, a creature which makes a sound like a snort, howl, roar, rumble, or growl.
FOOD: The pygmies, natives of the Likouala Swamp region, report that the essential diet of Mokele-Mbembe consists primarily of the Malombo plant. Since it only eats plants, it is classified as an herbivore. The Malombo plant actually describes two plants: Landolphia mannii and Landolphia owariensis.
BEHAVIOR: Mokele-Mbembe lives underwater most of the time except when it eats or travels to other parts of the swamp. It has as been reported that it does not like hippopotamuses and will kill them on sight, though it does not eat them. According to the pygmies, Hippopotamuses cannot be found where Mokele-Mbembe lives. Here is some recently contributed information by David Woetzel (who has done expeditions in search of Mokele-mbembe):
1.) The older 20-45 ft long creatures live and mate in the Dja and maybe the Sangha rivers. These mature MM's (Mokele-mbembe) have very tough scales, like the back of a crocodile. Also like a croc, their underbelly is much softer. Their coloration is a dulled brownish gray.
2.) The younger creatures live in the Likouala swamp region. Their scales are softer and their colors are a more vivid reddish-brown. They're probably more skittish then their older counterparts.
3.) This sharp contrast in areas by age suggests a migration that only happens once in their lives (although the mother likely goes with its offspring to take them to the swamp).
4.) Their birth instincts are peculiar and vague. The native people say the MM gives birth to live young every 20 years. This is not a trait likely in reptiles, maybe the people their have it wrong because they are not able to find a nest site (some nests have been found) for how territorial these animals are they likely guard their nests very aggressively. They would likely kill anyone that gets close enough to see the eggs.
5.) No matter what, the mother's birth migration probably happens 1 of 2 ways. They either migrate to the swamp and lay eggs (or give birth) there, or they lay their eggs along the river and the mother and offspring go to the swamp together. I'm in favor of that idea because the nests are found along the rivers and the only time more than one MM ishttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif seen is when it is with its mother (according to the natives).
6.) The mother remains with her offspring for about a year (it may use this time to take the baby to the swamp and prepare it for life on its own)
7.) The adult male has a shorter neck but it also has a spiky back, and the female has a longer neck without the spikes.
8.) The young all have dermal ridges.