Star Wars Alerts, Incidents, and Security

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened widely on Friday, December 18, 2015. The film had limited showings earlier in the week, and some events have caused alarm.

Even before the new Star Wars movie was nationally released in the US, the widest, most discussed level of theater security every reported has been noted by the media. Some theaters installed metal detectors, banned backpacks and costumes, and allowed patrons with nothing more than lightsabers to cos-play. In the wake of the Aurora theater shooting of 2012, the Lafayette movie shooting in July 2015, the attack at a performing venue in Paris a few months ago, and the San Bernardino terrorist shootings of last month, the Star Wars movie was considered a major target for trouble.

There seems to have been some, but the media appears to have quieted what is really occurring. And the security is high.

There have been hints of a few instances that have bothered theater owners this week.

In an incident Wednesday night [December 16, 2015], two men in their 20s who were “Middle Eastern in appearance” and “spoke with a heavy foreign accent” entered a theater inside a mall in Tempe, Arizona, without tickets, and one of the men began recording video of the theater with his cellphone “in one slow swooping motion,” according to documentation of the incident obtained by Deadline. When asked what they were doing by theater security, the men replied they had “just wanted to see the restaurant,” pointing to the concession stand, and then exited the theater to a patio, where both men made phone calls.
In a separate incident last week, a man reportedly drove up to a theater in Southern California and began asking suspicious questions including, “When are the most people here?” and “How crowded is it going to be this weekend?” before driving off in a car with no license plates. A second man reportedly drove up to the theater and asked similar questions, before again driving off in a car with no plates. ~ Source.

The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) then sent a notice out to its members about these suspicious incidents, on Thursday, December 17, 2015, to be alert, aware, and heightened security.

One film buyer who has the film booked on the majority of their screens said they have five security guards employed at each theater. “We’ve hired security at every location to be safe,” the buyer said. “We will have five (guards) posted and reserve the right to check (customers’) bags. We will not let anyone walk in with a backpack or anything larger than a purse, and whatever they are carrying will be checked.” ~ Deadline. 

The incidents continued Thursday, December 17, 2015:

Moviegoers were evacuated from the Pacific Theatres at The Grove after a fire alarm was pulled on Dec. 17, 2015. (Credit: Michael Drake)

Hundreds of moviegoers were briefly evacuated from the Pacific Theatres at the Grove in Fairfax on Thursday evening. The evacuation occurred after a fire alarm was triggered inside the building, said Officer Norma Eisenman of the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations Section. There was no threat to the theater or "anything else of that nature," she said.Several disgruntled movie fans took to Twitter and Instagram after the incident, which prompted a response from the Los Angeles Fire Department.Showings of the much-anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens were interrupted, according to witnesses."As soon as the previews were over and the movie was about to start -- fire alarm. They evacuated the whole building," said an exasperated Andrew Gouch, adding that he had purchased his Star Wars tickets two months in advance."My kids want to still sit in there but … I don't know," he said. "I don't drink; I may start."The screenings resumed after firefighters determined that no fire had occurred and the building was safe. ~ Source.

A more serious threat occurred on Friday, December 18, 2015:

A showing of the new Star Wars movie was interrupted Friday in New Jersey after a theater was abruptly evacuated during the show. Friday night, police in Freehold Township announced that they had arrested a Middletown man and charged him with making a pair of bomb threats at the AMC Theater.
22-year-old Jesse Carroll of Middletown is charged with two counts of second degree Public False Alarm. He is currently being held in the Monmouth County Correction Institution on $200,000 bail with no 10% option.
On Monday evening, Dec. 14, and again on Friday afternoon, Dec. 18, notes were found in the men's room of the movie complex containing threats to either the theater management or specific threats of bombs inside the theater. One note on Friday afternoon read: "I'm coming for blood; 4pm bomb, 6pm empty mag in guests." ~ Source.

How widespread are these security measures? As of December 17, 2015, Disney (who owns the Star Wars franchise after George Lucas and Lucasfilms sold it to them) ceased the sales, display or brandishing of Star Wars blasters and any other type of toy guns as part of enhanced security policies.

There are also new metal detectors at the entrance of California's Disneyland and Florida’s Disney World. Furthermore, there is now a ban on individuals over the age of 14 wearing costumes or masks on the properties. Similar measures are going in place at Universal theme parks across the nation, reportedly. Random more extensive checks will now occur too, in addition to the bag checks that have been taking place at the parks for years.

Predictions, prevention and preparedness appear to be working.  Sometimes paranoid is really total awareness.

Antioch: A Prediction Comes To Pass

I wrote the following on this blog, early on the date of August 4, 2015:

On July 20, 2015, I made a prediction of a potential movie shooting on August 5, 2016....But then, a mere three days after I wrote that overview on the exact anniversary of the Aurora shooting, a gunman shot up a theater on Wednesday, July 23, 2015. In what even Wikipedia now calls the "2015 Lafayette Shooting," America was surprised again, and I and others discussed some of its sync links; see, "Fayette Factor Hits Movie Theater."

...Time moves along on many fronts.
We are coming up to the two-week anniversary for the Trainwreck/Lafayette shooting, always a dangerous window. The date for that anniversary - Wednesday, August 5, 2015.
People should watch out.

I have made predictions before (see here). Dangerous Minds even called me "The Man Who Predicted The Aurora Shooting."

On August 5, 2015, my recent forecast came true. Two-week anniversaries are significant. (And four-week, one month cycles, are, as well. That upcoming date is Wednesday, August 19, 2015. Predictive future forecasting is simple. What people do with it, remains problematic. At least, the copycat effect is now not disbelieved, as it was a mere dozen years ago when I wrote my book.)

A few individuals on social media noticed. Wade Ridsdale's sent along a comment that summarized what many wrote: "Damn Loren, you nailed it."

And Andrew West Griffin said, "Looks like Loren Coleman was right."

Johanna Lenski wrote: "Damn, Loren is getting good at this predicting thing."

The predicted theater incident occurred exactly two weeks after a shooting at a showing of Trainwreck in Lafayette, Louisiana. The hatchet attack and air pistol shooting resulted in the death of the attacker and the injury of three patrons of the theater.

The movie that was playing at the time was Mad Max: Fury Road.

 =

The Dark Knight Rises' Bane (Tom Hardy) plays Mad Max's Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy). (For more on the meanings behind tridents, please read here. For more on the twilight language within The Dark Knight Rises, google it.)

Mad Max = Pontifex Maximus (Hierophant of the Roman Church), considers Jason Barrera.

The 2015 event took place at the Carmike Hickory 8 Cinema in Antioch, Tennessee, around 1:15 p.m. The gunman at the Hickory Hollow Cinema, Vincente David Montano was allegedly armed with a hatchet, pepper spray, an Airsoft gun, and a fake bomb. He reportedly was wearing a surgical mask. He was shot dead by a SWAT team as he exited through the theater's rear door.

It happened on Bell Road, a power name mentioned here often. See also here and here.

The attacker's name, Vincente David Montano:

Vincente (from the present participle of the Latin verb vincere, "to conquer or win"),

David ("beloved"), and

Montano ("from the mountains," "mountain dweller").

Besides, Bell Road, the theater was also located at the crossing of Mountain View Road.

The counties are Davidson and Rutherford.

The Carmike Hickory 8 Cinema and Hickory Hollow Cinema are references to Andrew Jackson. See more here.

Antioch is a community in southeast Nashville, Tennessee.

The community takes its name from Antioch, Turkey, an ancient city in Anatolia. As recently as the 1960s Antioch was a small community catering to the needs of area farmers with amenities such as a feed mill. Adjacent to Bakertown (a similar small community) it was located on the banks of Mill Creek, a minor tributary of the Cumberland River that rises near Nolensville, several miles to the southeast. This area has become less important over time as zoning restrictions forbidding further development on a floodplain have limited the construction of more businesses in this area, which had started to become congested.

Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient Greek city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. Its ruins lie near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey, and lends the modern city its name.

Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch's geographic, military and economic location, particularly the spice trade, the Silk Road, the Persian Royal Road, benefited its occupants, and eventually it rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the Near East and as the main center of Hellenistic Judaism at the end of the Second Temple period. This and more historical notes can be found via the summary on Wikipedia.

Especially noteworthy is that Seleucus founded Antioch on a site chosen through ritual means. An eagle, the bird of Zeus, had been given a piece of sacrificial meat and the city was founded on the site to which the eagle carried the offering. Seleucus did this on the 22nd day of the month of Artemisios in the twelfth year of his reign (equivalent to May 300 BC). Antioch soon rose above Seleucia Pieria to become the Syrian capital.

Agrippa and Tiberius enlarged the theatre, and Trajan finished their work. Antoninus Pius paved the great east to west artery with granite. A circus, other colonnades and great numbers of baths were built, and new aqueducts to supply them bore the names of Caesars, the finest being the work of Hadrian. The Roman client, King Herod (most likely the great builder Herod the Great), erected a long stoa on the east, and Agrippa (c.63 BC – 12 BC) encouraged the growth of a new suburb south of this.

The Greek hippodrome was the basic model for both the Roman stadium and the Roman circus. It will be recalled that the term "stadium seating" comes from the Ancient Greek "circuses" (like Antioch) and evolved into theater seating (like in modern movie theaters and sports stadiums).

Correspondent Travis Vaughn made the observation that in 256, Antioch was suddenly raided by the Persians, who slew many in the theatre.

Outside Antioch, Greece, on October 22, 362, a mysterious fire destroyed the Temple of Apollo at Daphne.

The name Antioch populates modern incidents of violence.

An Antioch, California woman, Layla Trawick, 34, used a butcher's knife and a carving knife to attack the victims in a Target store in West Hollywood, California, Monday afternoon, May 3, 2010. She used both blades at the same time — one in each hand, like in the movie Psycho, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

The Yellow Springs, Ohio, campus of Antioch College – specifically the haunted Glen Helen - was the site of a supposed report of a gunman, probably a hoax, on June 27, 2013.

The Taco Bell in Antioch, California, decided to close on September 18, 2014, because of rumors of a "fight club" there in which students had broken into brawls the previous week.

h/t Travis Vaughn, Ar S, Wade Ridsdale, M. Bell, Johanna Lenski, 

Chris Woodyard. Andrew West Griffin, Jason Barrera.

Hickory Again, Ax Again, Clown Again

The name "Hickory" has been associated with three violent outbreaks this summer. Axes and hatchets are being more frequently involved. And, of course, clowns are nothing new to readers of this blog.

(1) On July 16, 2015, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez opened fire on two military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He first committed a drive-by shooting at a recruiting center, then traveled to a U.S. Navy Reserve center and continued firing. He was killed by police in a gunfight. Four Marines were killed immediately. This all occurred near an area named Hickory Valley. The Derby Downs Subdivision off of Hickory Valley Road in Chattanooga placed its neighborhood flag at half mast and lined the entrance way with small American flags, as an act of respect for the four Marines who lost their lives.

(2) On August 5, 2015, a predicted theater incident occurred exactly two weeks after a shooting at a showing of Trainwreck in Lafayette, Louisiana. The Mad Max: Fury Road hatchet attack and air pistol shooting resulted in the death of the attacker. That incident took place at the Carmike Hickory 8 Cinema in Antioch, Tennessee. The gunman at the Hickory Hollow Cinema, Vincente David Montano was allegedly armed with a hatchet, pepper spray, an Airsoft gun, and a fake bomb. He reportedly was wearing a surgical mask. Later reports said he actually was dressed up as a clown.

Another clown?

(3) Now comes word of an incident Friday, August 7, 2015, from Hickory, North Carolina. A woman living in the 1300 block of 20th Avenue NE in Hickory, reported to police that at 4:32 a.m. Friday a clown with an ax knocked at her residence. The suspect then began swinging an ax and attempted to cut the victim. The clown was wearing a mask and a multicolored wig. She was able to remove his mask and recognized him as an acquaintance before he left, according to the Hickory Daily Record. An arrest warrant was issued. The suspect, still at large, is Jimmy Daniel Raybon (pictured above) and he has an outstanding warrant for the charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

(4 - Not Hickory-related) Eight people were found dead inside a home in north Houston on the night of August 8, 2015. Police officers entered the home after receiving a call asking them to perform a "welfare check" on the residents. Harris County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) deputies entered the home after seeing a dead child lying on the floor when looking through the windows of the home. The murders happened at 2211 Falling Oaks Road in Houston, Texas. Another tree-related, oak-related mass slaying. Five adults and three children were found dead. The suspect was arrested with a Batman shirt on. See more here.

(5 – Not Hickory-related) Meanwhile, in another theater related incident, on Saturday, August 8, 2015, in Newport Beach, California, three moviegoers were injured as panicked patrons fled a screening of the psychological thriller, The Gift, after someone opened an emergency exit door and began to shout while starting a handheld leaf blower above their head. Authorities received multiple 911 calls about a disturbance at the Edwards Big Newport 6 movie theater complex in the 300 block of Newport Center Drive beginning about 10:51 p.m. Saturday, the Newport Beach Police Department stated in a news release. The callers reported that at least two men had entered a theater with the loud machine.


Why Hickory?

The naming of some locations is related to the hickory tree, but for others, a more Masonic origin is directly involved. The name game for Hickory is linked to the nickname for Andrew Jackson, the face of the president on the U.S. twenty dollar bill.

Andrew Jackson's service in the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom was conspicuous for bravery and success. When British forces threatened New Orleans, Jackson took command of the defenses, including militia from several western states and territories. He was a strict officer but was popular with his troops. They said he was "tough as old hickory" wood on the battlefield, and he acquired the nickname of "Old Hickory." In the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, Jackson's 5,000 soldiers won a decisive victory over 7,500 British. At the end of the battle, the British had 2,037 casualties: 291 dead (including three senior generals), 1,262 wounded, and 484 captured or missing. The Americans had 71 casualties: 13 dead, 39 wounded, and 19 missing.

During the 1832 campaign, the Democratic presidential candidate was Andrew Jackson and the National Republican Party candidate was Henry Clay; both were well-known Masons. The Anti-Mason party ran William Wirt of Maryland and Amos Elmaker of Pennsylvania. Jackson was a Freemason, having been initiated at Masonic Lodge, Harmony No. 1 in Tennessee; he also participated in chartering several other lodges in Tennessee. He was the only U.S. president to have been a Grandmaster of a State Lodge until Harry S. Truman in 1945. Jackson's Masonic apron is on display in the Tennessee State Museum. An obelisk and bronze Masonic plaque decorate his tomb at The Hermitage. Andrew Jackson Masonic Lodge No. 120, in the Jurisdiction of Virginia, is named for him.

Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh President of the United States of America (1829–1837).

There are many locations in the United States of America directly named for Andrew Jackson. Some others are named in his honor, via his nickname and homestead, and include the following:

Hermitage, Pennsylvania (formerly Hickory Township), after his homestead
Hermitage, Tennessee, after his homestead
Hickory County, Missouri, after his nickname, "Old Hickory"
Old Hickory, Tennessee, after his nickname
Old Hickory Lake and Dam, Tennessee

The Hickory, Shelby and Oak name games and the Fayette Factor seem very hot this summer. The common denominator in all of these names: trees. Hickory = obviously, hickory tree. Falling Oaks / Oak Creek = oak trees. Shelby = willow trees, from willow groves and willow farm. Fayette/Lafayette = little fairy, little enchantment, the fairy tree. But more than that, the beech tree, literally, the "fairy tree," la fayette, is historically lexilinked to Joan de Arc.

Hickory Tree

Oak Tree

Willow Tree

Beech Tree

Are tree-linked locations worth watching for future risks?

What's next? What happens tomorrow? Or more likely, on August 19, exactly four weeks after the July 22nd Trainwreck shooting? That fits into the copycat effect pattern, specifically.

h/t Enki King, Travis Vaughn, and Chris Woodyard.

Red Dawn (2012) Review

Red Dawn was neither Pearl Harbor nor Tora! Tora! Tora!

I guess it has taken me so long to write down my thoughts on Red Dawn (2012) because I found it to be such a horrible movie. I respect filmmakers for trying to do their best, and actors for their craft. But sometimes, motion pictures do miss the mark.

First thing that happened when I went to the opening week's showing is that it won't begin. It took the theater about 15 minutes to get the blank screen to reveal the images. That's never a good sign. Then the middle-aged man behind me kept kicking my chair. I finally had to give him a look that said "Stop it."

Okay, then I suffered through the film.

A lot has been written in reviews of Red Dawn (2012) about the move from the original setting in Colorado to Spokane, and the supposedly more urban surroundings. There also is the change from Chinese as the invaders to the North Koreans. It is almost as if the film was rather spineless before it even began. Those kinds of things tend to not work out too well in remakes.

Other reviewers have discussed the illogical aspects of the "occupation," such as why are some people put in the internment camps and why are others walking around. Several things in the movie seem not thought out clearly.

The preamble with the news footage of Obama, Biden, and Clinton just didn't make much sense either. The reasoning for this war was incomprehensible.

I found other little things bothered me. Like what happened to all of the dogs that would be roaming around, homeless, and looking for food, in the aftermath of an invasion? No feral pets wild in the streets? There was a sterility about the landscape.

How did the youthful guerrillas, the Wolverines, get food to survive? Yes, there was one moment of humor, when a Subway was taken over briefly by the Wolverines. But almost immediately, it felt like product placement, especially since the partner company, Pepsi, turned up, here and there, too.

Who would you want fighting for the USA? The 1984 rugged Wolverines or the 2012 seemingly prep school crew?

The choice is an easy one.

Why was that HHR (a Chevy product made entirely in Mexico) prominently in frame (in the new Red Dawn), near the prisoner camp, is beyond understanding. Was it a nod to the 1978 Chevrolet K10 Cheyenne in Red Dawn (1984)?

The new Red Dawn film had a midweek, Thanksgiving week release on Wednesday, November 21, 2012. Almost immediately, there was a theater incident.

In Rhode Island, a man was arrested on November 21, 2012 (n.d. JFK assassination anniversary is November 22nd, remember) for using threatening language in an East Providence movie theater.

Law enforcement officers were called to the East Providence 10 Theater around 6 p.m. on that Wednesday night, after a distressed moviegoer told them that a man standing in line ahead of him was talking to himself about shooting people and buying weapons.

According to police, Carl Butler, 41, of Central Falls, had just finished watching a movie (it has never been identified) and was standing in line to purchase tickets for another movie (also unknown). Three people standing in line overheard him muttering to himself that he wanted to shoot people at a motel he was planning on staying at.

Butler was inside one of the theaters when police arrived. Police say about a half-dozen officers arrived and evacuated the building for 45 minutes.

Police quickly located Butler and took him into custody. Butler was wearing a large jacket. He was searched, and police found no weapons on him, according to police. Butler allegedly told police that he thought nobody heard him and that saying such things "wasn't a big deal."

Some moviegoers were visibly agitated by what Butler said.

Butler was charged with disorderly conduct.

Enki, who sent along the tip about Butler, wrote:

The individual who was using threatening language is named Carl Butler. Carl = man, and Butler = server.
I am reminded of the classic Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man," which was based on a story by Damon Knight. In this episode, the secret agenda of seemingly benevolent aliens is discovered when an alien book called To Serve Man is translated. The ending is memorable: "Don't get on that ship! The rest of the book To Serve Man, it's...it's a cookbook!"

And later:

There is a name game link to the {November 30th} SSA building bombing suspect Abdullatif Aldosary.  The name Abdul Latif is an Arabic name. In Arabic the meaning of the name Abdul Latif is: "One who serves a kind man."

Red Dawn (1984): Jennifer Grey and Lea Thompson

Red Dawn (2012): Chris Hemsworth and Adrianne Palicki

Red Dawn (2012, above, and 1984, below): Why was the original remade?

Red Dawn (2012) may have taken advantage of "something in the air," 

but they certainly didn't bring it home.