Scroll down to read this post.

 

I am now in the final week of my July fund-raising campaign for Behind the Black, celebrating its 14th anniversary. Thank you all, from the people who have donated small amounts to those who have given large sums. I cannot truly express how much your support means to me.

 

The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.

 

Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.

 

In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.

 

Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.

 

You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:

 

1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
 

3. A Paypal Donation:

4. A Paypal subscription:


5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
 
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652

 

You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.


The Black Stallion

An evening pause: The central sequence from the 1979 movie, The Black Stallion, when the shipwrecked boy Alec succeeds in taming the shipwrecked Arabian horse. The combination of Carmine Coppola’s music and Caleb Deschanel’s photography in this sequence is unmatched.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. Or you can buy it directly from the author and get an autographed copy.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

One comment

  • MICHAEL MILL

    I am happy to see that someone else also has the highest regard for The Black Stallion, but we agree on so many things (libertarian, conservative electronics engineer)that I shouldn’t be surprised.
    As you say it is unsurpassed and probably the Best for the match of pure visual wordless beauty, with music (bravo to pappa Coppola).
    Carroll Ballard (director) seems to know how to capture the magic;
    [see also “Never Cry Wolf” with music by marc isham, and “Wind” just for fun]. Most people don’t know of it or take it seriously..a kids movie!.
    But for visual beauty also…have you seen “The Duellists”…ridley scotts first amazing film, again with beautiful music by Howard Blake! Or John Frankenheimers beautiful and stark black and white first film “The Train”.
    Also “Days of Heaven” by Terrence Malick has many such moments.
    It is wonderful when films can capture visual/musical “magic”.

    Along these lines of beautiful or haunting imagery can i offer a list of favorite films/directors (I’ll bet you will also know/appreciate these)

    david lean:lawrence of arabia (probably the overall best film realized so far…)
    ridley scott:alien,bladerunner, the duellists, legend(faery tale)
    carroll ballard:black stallion,never cry wolf
    john frankenheimer:the train, black sunday, grand prix
    steven speilberg:E.T., close encounters, jaws
    james cameron:terminator,aliens,the abyss,avatar

    also
    william wyler:roman holliday, big country, freindly persuasion
    fred zinneman:the day of the jackel, the sundowners
    william friedkin:the french connection, the excorsist
    sydney pollack:jeremiah johnson, day of the condor
    robert mulligan:to kill a mockingbird

    Do you know of any other such films that capture that visual magic?

    I appreciate your website…be well,
    Michael D. mill

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

 

However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.

 

Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *