When in October paranormalist/ufologist Chris O’Brien saw a studio screening of James Fox’s The Phenomenon, he was “completely blown away.” Thus Chris in Billy Cox’s Revisiting Ruwa ’94, as we reported on November 18. Having seen the trailer for the upcoming The Phenomenon, Miguel (“Red Pill Junkie”) Romero is not so blown. RPJ sees the film as just an “amped-up” contemporary version of previous ETH-centric stuff. But RPJ does hold out a sliver of hope, and coincidentally it’s furnished by the very item that so moved O’Brien. Stay tuned. Bryan Sentes has some cogent comments about idiots in “the UFO community” and high praise for the preeminent UFO folklorist as Thomas Bullard Reviews M.J. Banias’ The UFO People. Dr. Bullard’s own book The Myth and Mystery of UFOs is perhaps the seminal work on how UFO experiences are perceived, reported, and translated into social belief, and should be in every serious researcher’s library. Bullard’s review of Banias’ book in The Journal of Scientific Exploration is accessible at The UFO People: A Serious Culture. Bullard himself concludes that for The UFO People: A Curious Culture Banias “earns our thanks–and a reading”; we would agree. Echoes of points made in all the prior works in this post may be found in Curt Collins’ The Future of Ufology: A Plea and a Warning. In one sense this is a stark reminder of Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr’s 1849 observation that “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” And yet, are there some recent glimmerings in attitudes of opinion-makers, power-brokers, and academics that perhaps movement is occurring? (WM)

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