Our old friend Mark Pilkington is in town, on a visit from London.  We had planned to organize a second film festival, and show some of his film work, with other material.  However, his planned talk at that fine institution, the Observatory at Proteus Gowanus, has been canceled, due, as you might guess, to the hurricane.

So, we’re turning the afternoon over to him, to talk about his book Mirage Men, and his research into the ways that military and intelligence operators have shaped and exploited the UFO culture.  It will be at 2 pm, Sunday, Nov. 11, at The Jalopy Theater, 315 Columbia St., Brooklyn.  Departing from our usual practice, we will charge $10; we’ll turn it over to Jalopy for their hurricane relief fund.

Here’s more from Mark:

In his book Mirage Men: An Adventure into Disinformation, Paranoia and UFOs, author Mark Pilkington details his experiences in the UFO community, and his discoveries of the ways in which military and intelligence operators have shaped and exploited beliefs in UFOs, ghosts, monsters, vampires, and elements from folklore and conspiracy theory to create an armory of supernatural weapons of mass deception, capable of manipulating consciousness on a grand scale. He traces the inspiration for these toys, tools and techniques to a range of sources which include fiction, cinema, stage magic, advertising and occultism, and uncovers the ways in which they have–for many of its intended and unintended targets–altered their very perception and understanding of the world around us.

Mark Pilkington is the author of two books – Mirage Men: An Adventure into Disinformation, Paranoia and UFOs and Far Out: 101 Strange Tales from Science’s Outer Edge and has written for Fortean Times, the Guardian, Sight & Sound, The Wire, Frieze, The Anomalist and a host of other magazines and journals. Mark also runs Strange Attractor Press, editing and publishing its occasional Journal, and organizing events and exhibitions.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)