12 Galaxies Protestor

If you've ever been to downtown San Francisco, you might have noticed a Chinese-American man in sunglasses and a suit ambling down the sidewalk with a protest sign reading "Impeach Clinton 12 Galaxies Conspiracy Mind Altering" or some other seemingly random statement.

An Internet filmmaker, James Dirschberger, has produced an excellent 15 minute documentary about the protester, whose name is Frank Chu, that includes a lunchtime interview in which Frank explains the sign and his reason for protesting.

Frank lives across the Bay in Oakland and makes his way into The City each day to walk up and down Market Street, trying to inform the world of his plight. He believes that the Clinton administration, in league with the CIA and the mysterious "12 Galaxies," used hi-tech invisible cameras to make a movie about him and his family that was subsequently aired in the 12 Galaxies, generating considerable income. Frank's daily protests aim to get his fair share of those movie profits: $12 billion or so.

While we may be tempted to laugh at Frank and his crazy theories, there is an underlying sadness to the film. It's obvious that Frank needs psychiatric help, but his paranoia and fears of government control keep him from taking his medication.

Good luck Frank, I hope you get satisfaction someday.

Senator Andrew Moore, aka Grandpa

I'm in the midst of reading Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick (very gripping, btw), and it's gotten me interested in my own colonial family history.

Many of us have colonial ancestory stories, to be sure, although most are not historically proven. One of forebearers that is pretty well documented is my great-great-great-great-grandfather, General Andrew Moore (1752 - 1821). He was my maternal grandmother's grandfather's grandfather, and was one of the first House reps for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He went on to serve as a U.S. Senator from Virginia between 1799-1804 (though not concurrently), and finally served as the U.S. marshall for Virginia until his death in 1821.

He was a captain in the American Revolution, and served alongside George Washington, who subsequently granted Moore a bunch of land in southwestern Virginia (and what later became West Virginia). Unfortunately, that land is not mine now. Not that I'm bitter. Grrr....

Anywho, as a young man he went on an expedition to the West Indies and was shipwrecked. He and his companions survived on a diet of lizard until their rescue. (This is documented in some history books, and really, could I make something that bizarre up?)

His gravestone, in Lexington, Virginia, reads: "A soldier of the Revolution. A member of the first U. S. Congress. The first senator west of the Blue Ridge. A member of the convention that ratified the Constitution of the United States, and a marshall of Virginia for twenty years."

You can check out his Congressional biography here.

Pretty cool stuff. Do you have any famous (or infamous) relatives?

Blech news/good weekend

Well it looks like the world is seriously going to hell in a handbasket these days. There seems to be no end to the ways that people can find to kill other people, mostly in the name of religion. Bah.

Well, in spite of the depressing news from the Middle East, we had a great, if warm, weekend. Sylvie, Jenny, and I putzed around the house most of the time trying to stay cool, and we also made a trip to the pool yesterday for some much-deserved cooling off.

My band let go of our singer, so we're back to being a trio. I'm singing most of the songs, and the drummer, Stuart, is picking up a couple, Phil Collins style. Honestly, I think we'll be able to move much faster now. I've joked with the guys that our first CD has to be called "Glacial Speed." That or we change the name of the band from My Life On Hold to My Band On Hold. :-)