The energy attacks I've described in previous notes escalated in the months of December, January and February making it impossible for me to post notes on this site. They're still at a high level, but I'm managing to cope.

Movies sometimes offer a location away from home where I can escape my attackers. I don't know why attacks are lower in theaters. Perhaps it's because it's a public location.

Timing often requires me to pick a random film and just disappear into a theater. In the last few weeks, when I needed this solution, I discovered that Hollywood is not making many films about humans

Screen shots from the alien comedy Paul.

Are Alien Films a New Genre?
Did Hollywood invent a new film genre? Peter Hall, who writes for a film culture blog called Cinematical, compiled a "Complete Guide to Alien Invasion Movies" in August, 2010. He said he had not noticed all the alien films until his editor asked him to compile a guide. The following 11 films are covered in Peter's blog:

• Monsters
• Skyline
• I Am Number Four
• Battle: Los Angeles
• Paul
• The Thing
• Cowboys and Aliens
• The Darkest Hour
• Super 8
• Iron Sky
• Battleship
• Men in Black 3D

Here's a list of several more films to add to the list (I consider vampires, sorcerors and other supernatural entities to be aliens):

• Apollo 18
• The Adjustment Bureau
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (2011/2012)
• Priest
• Your Highness
• Alien 5
• Area 51
• Predators 2
• Avatar 2
• Cloverfield 2
• District 10

I Thought a Comedy Would Be Tame
Last weekend, an attack episode made me choose Paul, a movie about two vacationing British nerds who attend San Diego's Comic Con, tour the Southwest's UFO hotspots in an RV and meet the title character, a Grey alien who drives (and crashes) a car on a desert highway. When Paul meets Graeme Willy (Simon Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Nick Frost), Clive faints and Paul relays his story to Graeme.

Paul's wearing a tiny pair of cargo shorts and says he's been on Earth for 60 years -- held as a prisoner by the U.S. government. When he learned that the government is after his body parts, he escaped and says he needs to reach Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming to rendevous with a ship that will take him home (the film contains traces of other alien films including E.T., Star Ways and Close Encounters of the Third Kind).

Graeme and Paul lift Clive into the RV, and by the time Clive wakes up, the RV is headed in the direction of Wyoming.

First Slam Comes at an RV Park
At an RV park called "The Pearly Gates," Graeme and Clive meet Ruth Buggs, a young woman with an eye patch who helps her stern, rellgious father manage the park. Paul hides in the RV's bathroom as Ruth steps inside the vehicle to talk to Graeme and Clive. Ruth's T-shirt, containing an image of Jesus shooting Charles Darwin, sparks a conversation about Darwin's "blasphemous" theory. When Ruth says that we're molded in God's image, Paul responds through the bathroom door:

If your God made us in his image ...

then how do you explain me?

Ruth faints and the duo take her with them (for fear that she'll call the police). When she wakes up, she sees Paul at the front of the RV in the passenger seat and calls him Satan. Note: If writers Simon Pegg and Nick Frost understand that ENKI is a Reptilian whose nickname is Satan, then this is an inside joke (See: "Pegg and Frost Describe Themselves as Athiests"). Paul "apologizes" for shaking her faith and says, "Reality doesn't negate religion, ... just the monotheistic ones." He explains that advanced civilizations have outgrown the concept of God--at least a Christian God.

Paul Shows Off Supernatural Powers [and Earth Habits]
Along the road trip, Paul heals Ruth's deformed eye, brings a dead bird to life, makes himself invisible, transfers thoughts to his traveling companions, drinks beer, smokes pot and encourages a customer in a comic book store to steal a magazine with a Grey alien on the cover.

Paul's Powers Convince Ruth to Give Up Creationism
Within minutes after her eye is healed, Ruth is transformed from a fundamentalist Christian into a foulmouthed pot-smoker who says, "I'm going to do a lot of fornicating" [the film's vulgar language may have been what caused movie reviewer Rene Rodriguez at The Micami Herald to call the movie "A Close Encounter of the Worst Kind"].

Final Slam at the End of the Film
Most of the road trip to Wyoming is spent avoiding government agents who are trailing close behind. Ruth's father, who the film ridicules as a jerk, joins the chase with his gun and accidentally shoots Graeme when they reach their destination. Just before the other ETs arrive, Paul heals Graeme of what would have been a fatal wound in the middle of his chest. When Ruth's father says, "God sent a healer..." Paul brushes off his comment with a smirk and a "Yeah, whatever."

Pegg and Frost Describe Themselves as Atheists
When I read that writers Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have been called "masters of parody," [for previous films they co-wrote], I checked their Wikipedia bios and discovered that both have declared themselves atheists.

Mary Jo