European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 21, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Forte an times the world s by the new York times Bigfoot has yet to Grant an interview but the Forte an times a British journal of eccentric Phenomena has been tracking his movements for More than 20 years. It has also been keeping tabs on the abominable snowman two headed cows and flying a cats. A a a Quot Quot it but the Magazine published every two months does not see itself As a supermarket tabloid even if it is the Only publication to offer its readers a free Quot alien defense kit Quot guaranteed to Flash red at the approach of extraterrestrial beings the Forte an times reports on what it Calls paranormal happenings and scientific oddities wherever they might occur from outer space to the murky Depths of Loch Ness. But it also provides room for scientists and others to express their doubts about the reports a and it never takes itself too seriously. Quot we try to keep a sense of humor about All this Quot said its founder and editor Bob Rickard. Quot we present the material without forcing our own Agenda. We want to urge people to keep an open mind but not it As the phrase goes so open that your brain Falls  from its Start in 1973 As a Small newsletter the Magazine now has a worldwide circulation of More than 30,000. It carries Little advertising. Like its american counterpart the info journal a publication of the International Forte an organization the Magazine draws its inspiration from the work of a new yorker named Charles fort who spent a lifetime researching reports of vanishing tribes flying saucers and what he called Quot mysterious precipitations from the sky. Fort who died in 1932, always wanted the scientific world to take itself with a Grain of Salt. Editor Bob Rickard does research for a recent Issue of the Forte an times. Not Quot every science is a mutilated octopus Quot he once wrote in a typically vivid style. Quot if its tentacles were not clipped to stumps it would feel its Way into disturbing  today Rickard and co editor Paul Sieveking carry on fort s work in the pages of their Magazine bringing wit and erudition to outlandish subject matter. Quot chinese mouse takes revenge Quot reads one headline. Quot ufos spotters not insane a official Quot proclaims another. Recent issues reported on flying goats and giant penguins. Quot we see ourselves More or less As cosmic clerks Quot Sieveking said Quot a sort of information Clearinghouse for this Type of  this summer to Mark the 21st birthday of the Forte an times the staff played Host to a two Day Celebration of the strange at the University of London. The event Drew about 1,000 people from As far As Japan and the United  a a a. A / a a Quot it s something we be wanted to do for some time Quot Rickard said. Quot these people have never been gathered together in one place  the participants Many of whom Call themselves Forte ans swapped stories about poltergeists and the Bermuda Triangle. They also attended lectures on topics like alien abduction and spontaneous human combustion a but sceptics were also Given their say. Quot i d have been disappointed if they brought in Only the True believers and proponents Quot said or. Joe Nickel i a member of the committee for scientific investigation of claims of the paranormal. He cheerfully assumed the role of debunker in the human combustion debate. Quot they struck a fairly healthy balance Quot he said of the session. Tolkien lives a in minds of russian dreamers by the associated Pressie might seem that Russia has had enough Battles and plenty of heros villains and fools. But russian fans of English fantasy author . Tolkien say they re just getting going. They gather by the dozens each week at Twilight in a wooded Park called nes Kuchny sad or pleasure Cardens overlooking the Moscow River. Quot we have no sources few books. We re just starting out like it probably was in America 20 or 30 years ago Quot said Konstantin Asin Olov a regular at the gatherings. Tolkien s imaginary universe Middle Earth has inspired such dress up games in Many places but he is a relatively recent obsession for russians. The lord of the rings trilogy published in the West in 1954-55, was t published in Russia until 1982. There Are a few groups of Tolkien Sti a Moscow entered on Moscow state University. Many prefer to be called Tolkien uti which carries a hint of craziness Many in the mostly Young Long haired Bookish group stand around the columns of an 18-Century House comparing identities and insights into the Hobbit the lord of the rings and other Tolkien books. Others offer theories on Why the a mythology based fantasy has struck a chord. Quot a lot of people say it s catching on Here because life is so hard and people need to escape to a prettier life Quot said Andrei Kachanov a lanky 16-year-old. Quot but for me it s just an interesting and wild  Asmolova said Russia is going through a time of troubles a period of anarchy famine and foreign invasion in the Early 17th Century. Quot in  troubles a lot of charlatans appear and there s a desire for magic he said. Tolkien s stories and characters fill that need. But two women leafing through a copy of the lord of the rings weren t interested in theorizing. Quot i Don t know Why people come Here Quot said one who wore a Blue Cape Over her Street clothes an Amulet and a Gold ribbon around her. Forehead. Quot we re not people. We re  subject making Money by making Over Ossis by Denis Staunton London observer service almost five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall germans from East and West have Little difficulty telling each other apart. A Vossis a or easterners Are usually paler and thinner than a we Sis a or westerners and although most Ossis have discarded their pre unification synthetic sweaters few feel comfortable in the smart suits that dominate the streets of Hamburg and Dusseldorf. Those Ossis who have Learned to dress like westerners can still betray their origins by speaking with a Strong regional accent or by using words and phrases Peculiar to the former East Germany. Others Are recognizable by the Way they walk with the apologetic round shouldered shuffle of the oppressed. Perched behind a Black kidney shaped desk in and tinkering with his Apple Mac Torsten so Klingelhof looks like the embodiment of modern Western Man Well dressed and self assured. He is from Weimar in the Eastern state of Thuringer and now runs atm Eum a Berlin a image consultancy Quot specializing in preparing Uncertain East germans for life in the new Germany atm Eum has advised 500 people since it was set up in february 1992,90 percent of them women and almost three quarters from former East Germany but so Klingelhof is defensive when its suggested that he a turning a los Sis a into  Quot East and West is not a concept we re interested in Quot he says. Quot what happens is that someone decides to present themselves More attractively and in a More self assured Way and they then decide they like themselves like  so Klingelhof and his colleagues a a former fashion Model a clothes designer and a makeup artist a advise clients on clothes hair etiquette and deportment. Most of the women who come to atm Eum Are in their 30s, and Many Are banking on a new image and physical makeover As their Best Chance of getting a Job in a Region with twice the National average unemployment level. A a. Quot Many of the people who come Here Are extremely competent workers who have very Good references and can to understand Why they never do Well at Job  says so Klingelhof. Quot they have to realize that competence is not enough nowadays you have to be Able to present yourself Well  so Klingelhof teaches easterners How to behave like their new Bosses arid he admits to helping clients standardize their accents yet he claims to be an apostle of  re helping people to make the leap out of the collective. The collective used to be everything Here and now the individual has to take care of himself. Nobody s going to hold your hand in the Job Market and you now have to take charge of your own destiny in a Way that was t the Case in East  so Klingelhof s Creed of self Reliance Hasni to gone Down Weli in the resolutely a gentrified Eastern Berlin District where atm Eum has had its Swanky premises for the past two years. Unreconstructed Ossis have urinated in the doorway smashed the windows and even attacked so Klingelhof. Atm Eum is moving soon to a Villa in Pankow a prosperous suburb where Many East German officials had their Homes until 1989. So Klingelhof is hoping to concentrate less on individual customers and More on entrepreneurs who have opened Ultra modern businesses in the East and feel that their dowdy staff is failing to live up to the decor. Scripps Howard news service 20 the stars and stripes wednesday september 21, 1994