Jason McClellan's first book "Only Weirdos See UFOs" is available now.
Punk, ska, UFOs and beer-what's there not to like about Jason McClellan? McClellan is the author of the book "Only Weirdos See UFOs," a writer for Rogue Planet, a pod-caster, an expert connoisseur of beer and a friend of punkrockandUFOS.com.
Recently, McClellan launched a new podcast dedicated to his loves in life: punk/ska, space and pets with his co-host space historian Amy Shira Teitel called the "Punk Rocker Moon Stomper Pawcast."
" 'The Punk Rocker Moon Stomper Pawcast' is an idea that started as a joke," McClellan said. "My buddy Amy Shira Teitel (author, TV/YouTube personality, spaceflight historian) and I were talking about all of our shared interests--namely punk, ska, space, beer, and animals. And I half-joked that we should incorporate all of these topics in a podcast. That's all it took."
McClellan is also busy finding stories to post on Rogue Planet and filtering through the daily dose of joke stories to avoid.
"There are plenty of sensational tabloids and shitty blogs out there that publish crazy stories without citing any sources, and when they do cite a source, it's usually a source known for hoaxing UFO photos/videos or making unsubstantiated claims," said McClellan. "I look for stories that have substance, and that come from legitimate media sources. They're not always the sexiest stories, but it it's not my job to fabricate news or make a story seem more exciting than it is."
Before Tom DeLonge launched To The Stars fully and began his "Sekret Machines" project, he had a small site "Strange Times" dedicated to hosting stories about weird news. At the time, McClellan was aggregating stories for UFO media group "Open Minds," and "Strange Times" would pick up on them, which led to McClellan collaborating with the early To The Stars team. "Strange Times" eventually shifted to a fiction young-adult series centered around the paranormal.
"I read manuscripts for several of the company's upcoming books, including the first 'Strange Times' novel," McClellan said. "Tom explained his grand vision for that property then, as well as the other rad properties developing at TTS. Tom is crazy in the best possible way. He's a visionary whose mind never stops racing with ideas."
With summer approaching, McClellan suggests this is the best time to possibly site a UFO due to people simply being outside more. He's also closely monitoring what is going on with Saturn.
"At least for me, the biggest UFO/ET-related story has been the added evidence suggesting that the subsurface ocean on Saturn's moon Enceladus has all the right elements to sustain life as we know it," said McClellan. " I'm an astrobiology geek, so stories about the search for extraterrestrial life and habitable worlds are incredibly exciting to me."
If you follow McClellan on social media, you will now beer is another one of his interests. With a vast array of UFO-themed beers on the market, which is the best?
19 Likes, 1 Comments - Jason McClellan (@acecentric) on Instagram: "Concluding a day of house hunting the right way--with #beer. Lots of beer."
"Sadly, most of the UFO-themed beers I've had are absolutely awful, but I do love Harpoon's UFO line," said McClelan. "I was turned on to that beer when I lived in New York. It's really good beer with a brand that obviously speaks to me, but they don't have distribution in Arizona, so I don't get to enjoy it that often."
Maybe some day McClellan can help solve this problem of lackluster UFO beers and produce a "Rogue Planet" IPA or something like that. While the idea of a "perfect beer" is different for all, if McClellan had his dream of crafting his own beer what would it be like?
"I think my idea of a perfect beer changes regularly, " McClellan said. "My preference isn't going to be the same when I'm freezing and huddled by a fire as it is when I'm on the beach staring at the ocean. That being said, I gravitate towards the interesting characteristics of sours, goses, and wild ales. I guess if I had my own beer, I'd call it 'To Boldly Gose.' It would be a smooth sour beer with just the right amount of tartness (with) citrus from limes and spiciness from jalapenos that would make this a great year-round beer."
Sign us up.
-By MIKE DAMANTE