ITALIAN UFO NEWSFLASH
ISSUE NO. 380 - 3 JANUARY 2003
by the Italian Center for UFO Studies
(Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici, CISU)
Contents:
- UFO News Stories Hit A Low In 2002
- Crop Circles: New Videos On Newsstands
- Raelians & Clonings... an Appreciation
- Chased By Martians Causes A Car Accident
- Trash Cinema: Award of CISU Prize
UFO NEWS STORIES HIT A LOW IN 2002
News reports related to the UFO argument and published in Italian newspapers
in 2002 reached the lowest point for the last decade.
The number of articles on UFOs appearing in dailies and other periodicals in
Italy, as gathered systematically by the specialized service “L’Eco della
Stampa”
(Press Echo) for the Italian Center for UFO Studies (CISU) came in at a
total of
591 during the year just ended. It was the first time, since 1990, that
the annual
total fell below the 600 items.
In fact, the yearly average for the last decade totaled 955 stories, with a
maximum
peak of over 1,800 news items published in 1997.
It’s worth noting that the number of UFO sightings in Italy had a totally
independent
behavior, exactly opposed to the treatment given by mass media to the subject:
this contradicts the old-fashioned belief that UFO sightings are supposedly
more
frequent the more they are reported in newspapers. On the contrary, the
richest years
of the last decade for sighting reports in Italy were precisely those
(i.e., 2001 and 2002)
where the number of press reports fell below the average.
The month-by-month statistics on UFO press clippings and on filed UFO
sightings
are available at the CISU Website (www.cisu.org).
[Communication by Gian Paolo Grassino]
CROP CIRCLES: NEW VIDEOS ON NEWSSTANDS
Still on the heels of the film "Signs", which linked the circular traces
in fields with the
arrival of alien creatures, the appearance of related books has also been
followed by
video-documentaries.
Appearing on newsstands, as a supplement to the mystery-archaeology
periodical "Hera",
is the videocassette "Crop Circles - Messages Between Heaven & Earth",
produced by
Adriano Forgione and Patrizia Bertolotti (52 minutes), together with a
booklet of the same
title (penned by Adriano Forgione and Alfredo Di Prinzio), comprising the
bound collection
of four articles published in the same monthly (144 pages), at a selling
price of 15.90 Euro.
Available in videostores, meanwhile, is the documentary "The Mystery of The
Crop Circles",
produced by Fabio Borzani, Mario Brevini and Stefano Giacomuzzi (whose
Natrix Publications
published the Haselhoff's book on the subject) and distributed by
Cinehollywood. It runs 50
minutes and sells for 15.50 Euro (also available in DVD format).
Finally, available for purchase by mail order and delivery only, there is
the cassette "Crop
Circles - Silent Knowledge", by Nikola Duper, which is distributed by the
new age bimonthly
"Nexus" for a cost of 17.50 Euro.
RAELIANS & CLONINGS... AN APPRECIATION
It was year-end news, and it was written about and discussed by the mass
media worldwide,
not to mention by countless personalities of science, culture, religion and
politics: the Clonaid
company, owned by the UFO sect of the Raelians, announced the birth of the
first cloned baby.
As a result, we have been hit in the last week by a barrage of interviews
with the biologist and
Clonaid spokesperson Brigitte Boisselier; with her daughter (whose uterus
is offered on lending);
and with various local representatives of the Raelian Movement, not to
mention with the prophet
Claude Vorilhon himself, aka "Rael". And, lest we forget, there were
various stories and in-depth
examinations centering on the genesis, the history and the beliefs of the
Raelians themselves,
not to mention (unfortunately) on their more-or-less direct connections
with the UFO subject and
with Ufology.
It is not our intention to discuss the reliability of their claim, which -
as a minimum result - has
indeed took to an exceptionally successful promotional campaign on a
worldwide scale for
Raelians, which has been ranked among the emerging “new religions.”
Instead, we limit ourselves
to reaffirming - as if still needed - the deep distance and difference
which must be traced and
kept between Ufology (meant as a study of UFO sightings) and these
characters who build a
veritable millennial (and profitable) cult.
CHASED BY MARTIANS CAUSES A CAR ACCIDENT
Still on the line of year-end para-ufological folklore, but on a decidedly
“lighter” note, there also
comes the news making the rounds of the mass media that a 42-year-old
French motorist
broke through a roadblock as a result of being “chased by Martians.”
The incident reportedly took place on Monday, 30 December, on A55 Highway,
near Marseilles,
where traffic police and firefighters had arrived and blocked the road
following a tanker truck
accident. Instead of stopping before the protection barriers, the man
barreled through them,
nearly crushing onto the safety personnel attending to the fire in
progress. Thereafter, he
continued hir run towards the town but was caught and arrested after a
brief pursuit (also
resulting in a minor accident). The driver defended himself by swearing
that he had been
“chased by Martians.” Consequently, he was then admitted to a hospital for
psychiatric
and drug observation (once it had been verified that he was not drunk).
[Reuters, 31 December; Ovni-Livre and Ovni-Sciences, 31 December; Il Nuovo,
1 January;
UFO-Italia, 1 January; report by Alessandro Luč]
TRASH CINEMA: AWARD OF CISU PRIZE
The short film "SHADO - The Last Planet" received the CISU Award for Best UFO
Myth-Inspired Film, presented at the 7th Trash Cinema Festival.
The award ceremonies were held last 22 December in Turin, and the winner
received
a plaque and a UFO-themed painting as his prize, which was awarded (for the
second year)
by the “UFOs & Cinema Project" of the Italian Center for UFO Studies (CISU).
Special recognition was also bestowed upon the film "Garagioz", for its
rich and specific
references to real-life UFO sightings, while featuring an alien invasion in
the small Italian
town of Spilimbergo.
[Collaboration by Fabrizio Dividi and Matteo Leone]
Collaborators on this edition were: Fabrizio Dividi, Gian Paolo Grassino,
Matteo Leone and Alessandro Luč.
- - -
This is the English translation of UFOTEL, a free
phone/Internet information service on UFOs edited
weekly by Edoardo Russo for the Italian Center for
UFO Studies (Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici),
available in Italian by calling +39-011-545294,
or by e-mail subscription, or on CISU website
at
http://www.arpnet.it/ufo/ultime.htm
UFOTEL is a supplement to "UFO - Rivista di
informazione ufologica", published by the Italian
Center for UFO Studies, registered at Tribunale
di Torino, No. 3670, on 19 June 1986.
Director: Giovanni Settimo.
Publisher: Cooperativa UPIAR, Corso Vittorio
Emanuele 108, 10121 Turin, Italy
Translated from Italian to English by:
Gary J. Presto, Freelance IT-EN Translator/Proofreader
1123 Revere Beach Pky., # 12
Revere, MA 02151 USA
Tel.: ++ 1.781.485.1683, Fax: ++ 1.781.485.1684
ICQ: 110502923, E-mail: gpresto@attbi.com
Webpage:
http://www.proz.com/translator/723
- - -
(c) 2002 by: CISU,
Corso Vittorio Emanuele 108, 10121 Torino, Italia
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The CISU is a no-profit association whose aims are:
- to promote the scientific study of UFO phenomena in Italy;
- to help circulate information about UFO phenomena and studies;
- to coordinate national activities of data collecting and studying.
You may reach Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici:
- by mail: CISU, Corso Vittorio Emanuele 108, 10121 Torino, Italia
- by phone: +39 (011) 30.78.63 (24 hours UFO Hotline)
- by fax: +39 (011) 54.50.33
- by Internet e-mail: cisu@ufo.it
- at the World Wide Web URL:
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