A Mooooving Experience

The next hybrid you read about might not be an energy-efficient car.

It might be a human/animal hybrid embryo, designed for scientific research purposes.

"It does seem a little abhorrent at first analysis," said Newcastle University's Doctor Lyle Armstrong, who helped to create the world's first cloned human embryo in 2005.

"But you have to understand we are using very, very little information from the cow in order to do this reprogramming idea.

"It's not our intention to create any bizarre cow-human hybrid, we want to use those cells to understand how to make human stem cells better."

Okay, first those wacky aliens were stealing our cows. Now those wacky scientists are combining those poor cows with humans. What’s going to happen next?



Mooooooo.

There's No Place Like Home

There's no place like home. Unless you don't have one.

Simba, here, a sweet teddy-bear chow mix is looking for a home. He currently lives at the Seal Beach Animal Care Center, in Southern California, and he would really appreciate a loving home. This 8-year-old sweetheart is hoping to find his new best friend.

To meet Simba and or Hemingway, one of his friends, stop by the Seal Beach Animal Care Center, 1700 Adolfo Lopez Drive, Seal Beach, or call 562-430-4993.

Because every alien is looking for home. Even if that alien looks like a dog.

This One's a Complete Shocker

Your Career Type: Artistic

You are expressive, original, and independent. Your talents lie in your artistic abilities: creative writing, drama, crafts, music, or art. You would make an excellent: Actor - Art Teacher - Book Editor Clothes Designer - Comedian - Composer Dancer - DJ - Graphic Designer Illustrator - Musician - Sculptor The worst career options for your are conventional careers, like bank teller or secretary.

What's Your Ideal Career?

This explains it. In between my current job as an magazine editor and my last job as book editor I took a temp job as a mortgage assistant. Oh my gosh, I thought my brain was going to turn into mush. It was awful. I seriously thought I was going to fall asleep right in the middle of filing.

One More Superpower

Your Superpower Should Be Mind Reading

You are brilliant, insightful, and intuitive. You understand people better than they would like to be understood. Highly sensitive, you are good at putting together seemingly irrelevant details. You figure out what's going on before anyone knows that anything is going on! Why you would be a good superhero: You don't care what people think, and you'd do whatever needed to be done Your biggest problem as a superhero: Feeling even more isolated than you do now

What Should Your Superpower Be?

I cruised over to Becca's site and found out she has this super cool, super power. She can manipulate FIRE. So what do I get? A weirdo parlor trick.

What card am I holding?

The five of clubs.

Oh, you are so smart!! Do it again!

NO.

Oh, please, please. Just one more incredibly pointless card trick to save the known universe.

Fine. You're dog's name is Joshua, you eat a burrito for lunch almost every day, and you are hopelessly addicted to sci-fi and fantasy . . . wait. That was me.

I think I liked it better when I was a yellow crayon.

Impossible Possibilities

“Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”--Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass

Magical thinking has become quite popular in recent years, the belief that thinking something can actually make it happen, or that wearing a “lucky shirt” can make your favorite team score that winning touchdown. We’ve all probably succumbed to it at one time or another, although admitting it in public is another thing entirely.

While saying it doesn’t necessarily make it so, thinking it is definitely the first step. No structure would stand today if an architect, somewhere, hadn’t thought of it beforehand; if he hadn’t spent time dreaming up the design and imagining the materials. The best changes in our world take place when preceded by contemplative thought, when that thought is then frequently and abundantly watered by faith.

You aren’t going to fly across the ocean, Amelia Earhart style, unless, somewhere deep down inside, you believe you can.

On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Within hours the levees were breached. The landscape of our country forever changed on that day, homes swept away, loved ones lost. America is a live organism, larger than one community or city—yet when even one neighborhood is ravaged, the aftermath leaves a scar the entire nation can feel.

Magical thinking, for all its quasi-supernatural allure, isn’t going to fix the devastation Katrina left behind. It isn’t going to bring back the homes that have been lost, isn’t going to cut through the political red tape, and certainly isn’t going to protect us from the next natural disaster.

Should we shake the dust off our clothes, glad that the tornado/hurricane/fill-in-the-natural-disaster-of-your-choice-here didn’t wreck our house? It was our neighbor’s home, after all; it was the lady down the street; it was that man in the newspaper who lives 25 miles away.

Or should we do something?

I know we can’t solve the problems of the world in a heartbeat. But I do believe we have developed a form of disaster ADD. We flip through the television channels, focus for a brief minute on each ensuing tragedy, and then hungry for more, flip to yet another station.

I’m as guilty of this modern day apathy as the next person.

It could be time to make a collective vow, to make a difference—in our home, in our community and in our world.

I’d like to pose a rhetorical question: If you really could do six impossible things, what would they be? If you could imagine a different beginning and ending to the story that is called your life, what would it be?

Now, are you absolutely sure it is impossible?

Custom Cut Your Blog

I know. I know. You're all blogging geniuses and I'm still figuring it all out. But, just in case any of you are way back at Square One, like me, here's my blog tip for the day.

If you would like explore Alien Dream in a new, fresh and slightly bizarre way (and isn't that what everybody really wants? Well, that and a cabin in the mountains), here's my suggestion:

Let's say you're in the mood for something funny, light, almost goofy. Then slid your mouse over to the right, to the section called "Labels" and click on the section called "Monkeying Around." All silly stuffy. Guaranteed.

"Aliens in the News" is another laugh-fest. A chuckle at an alien's expense is like a chuckle in the bank, I always say.

Okay. Maybe you want something more esoteric. What? Pardon me, my inner voice just jumped in there. She can cause havoc if I let her out too often. Well, EXCUSE me. Yeah, whatever. Esoteric. Writer-ific. Then click on "Writing."

You wanna know how the aliens have been messin' with my head? Then click on "The Abduction." And help me plan some revenge.

You want to know what I like, for no apparent reason because you don't know me anyway and probably don't care? Well, then, click on "My favorites."

"He blinded me with science" is a regular expose on what those wacky scientists have been up to.You know. Goofy, super-smart scientific stuff. Inventing things like flying cars and invisible-cloaking-device-thingies. Just like the Jetsons, but not so 2-dimensional.

Because that's our mission statement here at Alien Dream.

Just like the Jetsons. But not so 2-dimensional.

They Did It Again

The next issue of Residential Aliens is up and ready to read. Locked and loaded.

It's got everything a sci-fi lover ever wanted and more: stories by Rick McQuiston, Gerry Sonnenschein, Stoney M. Setzer, Dan Devine, Alex Moisi, Thomas Blakemore, and art by Frida M. Bergholtz.

This is a talented team, one and all.

One top of that, Residential Aliens is having a Flash Fiction Contest.

The way I see it, in this world you're either a reader or a writer, there may even be two or three of you who fall into both categories. Any way you look it, Residential Aliens should be at the top of your TO DO list of things to check out this week.

Be there, or be oh-so-alien-square.

The Secrets of the Universe

Well, today is the Big Anniversary: Alien Dream is one month old! Yippee! [Applause, crowd cheering, the unrivaled effervescence of Diet Coke cans opening all across the jam-packed coliseum.]

Below are some of the shocking and yet intriguing statistics.

Some of the Google searches that led my bewildered, yet hopefully, appreciative audience to this site:

1. Aliens and monkeys
2. Shocking video
3. Monkey shocking video
4. Old testament space
5. Sell my DNA
6. Scary story seacreature
7. How is the old testament like a bookshelf [that one is my favorite]
8. Alien dream
9. Dream pirates
10. Abduction by alien dreams
11. Alien abduction heartbeat

Hmmmm. Interesting.

The countries where those visitors live:
[Please note: none of them are from Mars. Yet.]

U.S., Brazil, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, Morocco, Belgium, India, Germany, UK, Australia, Spain, South Africa and El Paso.

Wait. I think El Paso is in the U.S. It might even be in the fearsome STATE that has been invaded by monster spiders and the legendary bloodsucking Chupacabra.

And depending on which program I use, here are the low-down-and-dirty numbers:

SITEMETER STATS:
Visits: 543
Page hits: 1,258

HISTATS STATS:
Visits: 569
Page hits: 1,612

Congratulations, Alien Dream, all readers near and far, all four legged creatures (because they are almost always cute), and all aliens (because without them, where would I be today? Without a blog, most assuredly.)

Thanks for dropping by and please, be sure to wipe your feet on that small dwarf alien in the corner. It makes him feel like he's part of the family.

The Abduction Revealed

I finally figured out where those dratted aliens took me last week. A slew of unexplained photos showed up in my friend's camera, and at first we were both baffled.

But it didn't take us long to figure it all out.

Yosemite. Those alien mongrels dragged us up into the mountains. It was kinda funny, because there just happened to be a writer's conference up there at the same time.

So, when in Rome . . .

A Robot With Personality And Purpose

Tomorrow's the BIG Day

Watch out, alien lovers near and far. Tomorrow Alien Dream will officially be ONE month old. Stay tuned for some fun stuff!

Is This The Mythical Bloodsucking Chupacabra?

Phylis Canion discovered this bizarre creature and believes it may have killed as many as 26 chickens on her Texas ranch in the past few years. She thinks the blue-gray skinned beast may be a legendary Chupacabra.

"What tipped Canion to the possibility that this was no ugly coyote, but perhaps the vampire-like beast, is that the chickens weren't eaten or carried off — all the blood was drained from them, she said."

Between this and the recent spider invasion, I'm glad I don't live in Texas.

What Color Crayon Are You?

You Are a Yellow Crayon

Your world is colored with happy, warm, fun colors. You have a thoughtful and wise way about you. Some people might even consider you a genius. Charming and eloquent, you are able to get people to do things your way. While you seem spontaneous and free wheeling, you are calculating to the extreme. Your color wheel opposite is purple. You both are charismatic leaders, but purple people act like you have no depth.

What Color Crayon Are You?

It sounds nice, but I wanted to be an Aqua Crayon. Colorful sigh.

How Intuitive Are You?

You Are 72% Intuitive

You are a very intuitive person. And luckily, your intuition is normally right. You're wise enough to know that relying on intuition alone can be dangerous. When your intuition seems really off, you tend to ignore it - and look at the facts instead.

How Intuitive Are You?

Don’t Drop That Box

Okay, I can see a new movie in my head, sort of Night in the Museum-esque. Starring Ben Stiller, of course.

A very precious exhibit is traveling around the world. It arrives, packed in peanuts, at Stiller’s museum. He tries his best to unpack it, but he accidentally spills his coffee and hastily attempts to clean it up. In the process, however, he leans too close to the precious box.

A lit cigarette in his mouth catches the box on fire, but he doesn’t notice until it’s too late.

Stiller then grabs a fire extinguisher and sprays it on the box. All the peanuts and oh-so-precious skeleton fragments fly across the room and get mixed up with another exhibit.

He has to piece it all back together before the Big Unveiling that evening.

Later, the museum fills with news reporters and over-dressed socialites. They gather around the exhibit—this is the first time this phenomenal archaeological find has been in the U.S.

Strangely, they discover that Miss Lucy is now half-human, half-wolf. A whole new meaning is found in the term “Missing Link.”

The Safe Zone

I’m back in the safe zone again, the beginning. Where everything makes sense, where all the words flow like liquid silver. I like it here. I wish I could stay. But I have to go back, to the unknown frontier. That place where the universe falls off the end of a blank white page, where there are no more black and white word-markers to guide the way.

I like it here, at the start, that brittle-deep beginning, where the characters are fresh. But the fabric of their existence folds and unfolds in my hands. It can’t lay still or it will turn into a moth-eaten garment, a thing of no value.

I must continue weaving their story, splaying their passion and their peril with my words.

Right now, the whole world balances on that space between my fingertips and my keyboard.

Clarity

Flying through space, the ultimate cowboy, music my wings. I pause as I pass each planet, spinning round and round. There’s no sunlight in space. Only eternal, unending night. Cold and steal-your-soul emptiness. Me and a million billion miles of nothing. Sometimes I’m not even sure if I’m here anymore, if I’m real.

Maybe I melted in the solar wind, somewhere back around Mars, or maybe Jupiter. Maybe I’m just a memory of who I was once. A long time ago. Mind bending space. Vacuous.

Traveling at the speed of sound or the speed of light? I can’t remember anymore.

How about the speed of an equation...one plus one equals the other side of the universe. Heaven, eternal bliss. Two minus one equals the edge of hell. Dark fire, choking smoke.

Life on the edge. Nowhere to go. No one to care if you never come back.

One minus one equals the end; death; a one-way trip to the other side.

Life reduced to its simplest, most basic elements. In outer space, it all comes down to the raw relationships that you left behind.

Why I'm So Boring

If anybody wonders why I've been so boring lately, and why I haven't posted very often this week, here's the reason: I have a bad cold.

[A chorus of "Ooooh, poor Merrie."]

Yup. I know I caught it from those aliens who abducted me last week. By the way, my memory has been coming back in bits and pieces. An image here, a piece of conversation there. I have a feeling that in a couple of days I will know where I went.

And look out, because when I remember, I'm tellin'. No alien is going to drag me off like that again.

Spiders and Monkeys and Spider Monkeys, oh my

I should have expected an invasion. I mean, I did go after the monkeys and the aliens and the spiders. What a combo. Imagine if they all came after me at once. Wait, that really is too much to fit into one image, way too creepy. An alien with a monkey body and a spider head; a monkey with spider legs in a spaceship; a time-traveling spider that talks like a chimpanzee.

All of the above: ugh.

Back to the original plot line. After I posted about the monkey-spider-alien invasion last night, I went into the bathroom and what was waiting for me? A giant spider. But this guy had a death wish. He wanted to die. And I was more than happy to help him out.

By-by, spider monster.

So bring it on, spider-monkey-alien boy. I’m waitin’ and ready.