Just a quick thought, since my new computer is a tiny little Linx operated toy- until I adjust to it's tiny key pad, I am only going to have quick thoughts to jot down.
I love that show, "Flight of the Conchords" because it's brand of humor celebrates and creates, rather then makes fun of society and life. Plus it's not crude and desprate for laughter. Maybe it's the absence of the ever annoying 'laugh track'.
It is so easy to laugh at what is wrong. It takes a brilliant mind to laugh at what is right. I favor creation.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Paranoid Coming Attractions...
Two blogs in one day, and neither is fit to print. Articulation is coming in a few days.
My next blog is on Project MKULTRA.
MKULTRA is a CIA based project that was initially employed in the 1950 and 1960 to create Manchurian Candidates (as one example.) I fell upon this information while watching a segment on the History Channel on the death of Bobby Kennedy. There was a theory that the man who assassinated him, Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, may have been one of these test subjects.
Until I write more on this subject, check out the Wikipedia link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKULTRA
My next blog is on Project MKULTRA.
MKULTRA is a CIA based project that was initially employed in the 1950 and 1960 to create Manchurian Candidates (as one example.) I fell upon this information while watching a segment on the History Channel on the death of Bobby Kennedy. There was a theory that the man who assassinated him, Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, may have been one of these test subjects.
Until I write more on this subject, check out the Wikipedia link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKULTRA
More William Blake Mythology
I will go to battle to obtain some juicy knowledge. And battle it was to obtain the information in this blog. No need to thank me, but believe me, it was unpleasant. The professor who specialized in William Blake is getting old and cranky (or cranker then before, which was bad to begin with.)
One quick example of his mental state: He recently brought home a cat he named, "Squeak", because (as the professor insists) the cat, "was born without a voice box". When I met his new cat I had never heard such excited purring. The professor is going deaf! The cat has a purr box and uses it whenever possible.
Recently the professor was forced into retirement. On a lonely vacation in the mountains of Northern California, we roasted marshmallows at his lakeside cabin, he smoked weed, and I manically scribbled the following notes on Blake:
-Please note that there are probably many spelling mistakes. Also the accuracy of some minor facts may be in question. I did my best to stay true to this informal lecture.
There are four Zoas that make up God:
1.)Urizen
2.)Tharmas
3.) Luvah/Orc
4.)Urthona/Los.
Excuse the blue color please!
These Four Zoas correlate to the body as follows:
1.) head
2.)heart
3.) lions
4.) imagination (paramount to William Blake's Mythology)
Each Zoas creates a conflict in us.
Refer to the previous blog on Blake to compliment this one.
After God created another in his image but female, he was so overwhelmed by her beauty that he fell to his knees and shattered into a billion little fragments that fell to earth. The 'Big Bang' in human history is the process of the zoas aligning in peace with one another.
Unlike Christianity, Blake's explanation is that God's life began After the fall. After this shattering and falling to Earth. Christians believe the opposite, that creation began before this big bang and the start of Adam and Eve. Blake believed it started after God and his female creation shattered and fell to Earth. We are all shattered fragments of God trying to align our 'zoas' and be at peace.
A few facts about life 'after the fall'
1.) When God shattered and fell, his genitals overpowered his mind.
2.) The fall equals creation.
3.) The ONE-NESS you had in you before the fall can be repaired with one's imagination. Imagination is the most important of the zoas. Unity and the Power to create fit into this zoa.
------------------------------------
You can really tell that the information was hard to organize. In my notes I have something about, 'specters' 'Jerusalem being some metaphor for unity and reason overthrowing lust. So this blog is just a rough draft. I'll print it out and have the professor add more. Hopefully his mood will have improved enough for me to not want a bottle of Valium just to be in his presence.
-------------------------------------
More notes (very rough draft notes):
Jerusalem is a woman and a city. She stirs in her sleep from the nightmare about "The Fall". The Earth is magnetised with Eros- sexual energy surrounds all of us.
When God spoke, his WORD created human history (English majors, eat it up!). His words created the world.
-------------------------------------
After the fall human love contained sexuality. We get love back by our imagination. Love kills sexuality, and makes us innocent again.
One quick example of his mental state: He recently brought home a cat he named, "Squeak", because (as the professor insists) the cat, "was born without a voice box". When I met his new cat I had never heard such excited purring. The professor is going deaf! The cat has a purr box and uses it whenever possible.
Recently the professor was forced into retirement. On a lonely vacation in the mountains of Northern California, we roasted marshmallows at his lakeside cabin, he smoked weed, and I manically scribbled the following notes on Blake:
-Please note that there are probably many spelling mistakes. Also the accuracy of some minor facts may be in question. I did my best to stay true to this informal lecture.
There are four Zoas that make up God:
1.)Urizen
2.)Tharmas
3.) Luvah/Orc
4.)Urthona/Los.
Excuse the blue color please!
These Four Zoas correlate to the body as follows:
1.) head
2.)heart
3.) lions
4.) imagination (paramount to William Blake's Mythology)
Each Zoas creates a conflict in us.
Refer to the previous blog on Blake to compliment this one.
After God created another in his image but female, he was so overwhelmed by her beauty that he fell to his knees and shattered into a billion little fragments that fell to earth. The 'Big Bang' in human history is the process of the zoas aligning in peace with one another.
Unlike Christianity, Blake's explanation is that God's life began After the fall. After this shattering and falling to Earth. Christians believe the opposite, that creation began before this big bang and the start of Adam and Eve. Blake believed it started after God and his female creation shattered and fell to Earth. We are all shattered fragments of God trying to align our 'zoas' and be at peace.
A few facts about life 'after the fall'
1.) When God shattered and fell, his genitals overpowered his mind.
2.) The fall equals creation.
3.) The ONE-NESS you had in you before the fall can be repaired with one's imagination. Imagination is the most important of the zoas. Unity and the Power to create fit into this zoa.
------------------------------------
You can really tell that the information was hard to organize. In my notes I have something about, 'specters' 'Jerusalem being some metaphor for unity and reason overthrowing lust. So this blog is just a rough draft. I'll print it out and have the professor add more. Hopefully his mood will have improved enough for me to not want a bottle of Valium just to be in his presence.
-------------------------------------
More notes (very rough draft notes):
Jerusalem is a woman and a city. She stirs in her sleep from the nightmare about "The Fall". The Earth is magnetised with Eros- sexual energy surrounds all of us.
When God spoke, his WORD created human history (English majors, eat it up!). His words created the world.
-------------------------------------
After the fall human love contained sexuality. We get love back by our imagination. Love kills sexuality, and makes us innocent again.
Friday, July 17, 2009
American Slavery with a New Face
Before I get into this blog, I have to get something off my chest. For a while there was a gap in contributing to this site, for a few reasons. One is that there are way too many Internet personalities exploiting themselves for reasons amounting to nothing more then vanity and self indulgence. I don't need to feed my ego in some passive aggressive way, and hiding behind a computer screen serves that type of coward (and/or narcissist) well.
I am trying to do some good; spread some knowledge that I would like to know myself. And this blog is an example of just that: revealing civil rights issues (as one example) so that people can learn, then act.
I took an American History class recently at the college level. My high school history classes were a waste of time. The unstable racial environment from my near inner city high school made it difficult to talk about issues of inequality. The mention of such a powerful topic could ignite the class in fighting. In college, they don't shield you from reality.
The idea of owning people for free labor never ended. That's a fact. It morphed into a different form, in a new free labor system with a euphemistic name: Prison. And with racial profiling and institutional racism (ex: crack cocaine carries a longer jail sentence then cocaine) sadly one can still say that racism is barely dying in our modern society. But this blog's focus is not racism; it's focus is on free labor. Forcing another human being to work against his will.
The abolition of slavery result was very similar to the days when it was legal. In the absence of a function people come to depend on, new methods of achieving the same result will surface. In this case, slavery's end created a surge in prison populations. Directly following this surge, giant corporations made deals with these prisons facilities for free labor. Prison is little more then systematic corporate slavery. It's a business in itself.
If you want to find out more on corporate involvement in the American prison system, ask a professor of history (or sociology). Our history lesson skimmed this issue, and everything in the lecture I put in this blog. Since I don't want to embellish or state incorrect information, this is all I know on the subject. I know that corporations pay a fee to the prison systems for free (or extremely low cost) labor. I know that after slavery was abolished the rate of crime skyrocketed to meet the quota of labor. Criminals are the new slave. And in our modern society it's more then barbaric. It's pure greed. Our 'capitalist' country is capitalising on the mistakes of the poor to increase their wallet size.
America's prison system is corrupt. Now that we know this problem exists, lets think of ways to abolish this new slavery. Money should never be generated in sweat, from the back breaking work of less fortunate people.
I am trying to do some good; spread some knowledge that I would like to know myself. And this blog is an example of just that: revealing civil rights issues (as one example) so that people can learn, then act.
I took an American History class recently at the college level. My high school history classes were a waste of time. The unstable racial environment from my near inner city high school made it difficult to talk about issues of inequality. The mention of such a powerful topic could ignite the class in fighting. In college, they don't shield you from reality.
The idea of owning people for free labor never ended. That's a fact. It morphed into a different form, in a new free labor system with a euphemistic name: Prison. And with racial profiling and institutional racism (ex: crack cocaine carries a longer jail sentence then cocaine) sadly one can still say that racism is barely dying in our modern society. But this blog's focus is not racism; it's focus is on free labor. Forcing another human being to work against his will.
The abolition of slavery result was very similar to the days when it was legal. In the absence of a function people come to depend on, new methods of achieving the same result will surface. In this case, slavery's end created a surge in prison populations. Directly following this surge, giant corporations made deals with these prisons facilities for free labor. Prison is little more then systematic corporate slavery. It's a business in itself.
If you want to find out more on corporate involvement in the American prison system, ask a professor of history (or sociology). Our history lesson skimmed this issue, and everything in the lecture I put in this blog. Since I don't want to embellish or state incorrect information, this is all I know on the subject. I know that corporations pay a fee to the prison systems for free (or extremely low cost) labor. I know that after slavery was abolished the rate of crime skyrocketed to meet the quota of labor. Criminals are the new slave. And in our modern society it's more then barbaric. It's pure greed. Our 'capitalist' country is capitalising on the mistakes of the poor to increase their wallet size.
America's prison system is corrupt. Now that we know this problem exists, lets think of ways to abolish this new slavery. Money should never be generated in sweat, from the back breaking work of less fortunate people.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Shine Her Ever-Loving Light on Me
Today I stopped by a bookstore on the Plaza (in Arcata.) This bookstore is always empty, with the same old man sitting behind the counter. I can always count on emptiness and his face when I walk by his store through years of living in Arcata. I wanted to give him business, so I asked for a copy of "Hells Angels" by Hunter S. Thompson. Did not have it in stock. Since shopping local makes me feel like I've done my small part, I asked to order a copy and pay in advance, giving him much needed business. An interesting conversations started while he ran my ATM card.
When I asked if he had liked Thompson, he said that I should be reading "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." He began to speak of the authors of the time period, and the name Ken Kesey came up. I know his life from reading, "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe (the only book I've read by Wolfe, which I highly recommend). I told the book store owner that I am always sceptical when an entire generation of drug addict/young college kids rave about certain writers. Yet I read, "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest" by Kesey and it was awesome. In that book, Kesey taught me that prescription cough medicine with codeine and a little alcohol as a chaser is a wonderful high. Thank you Ken Kesey for that great advice.
From there we talked about Kesey's other book I have yet to read. My next read: "Sometimes a Great Notion." And the conversation turned to the blues singer who wrote the song the titchler line of that novel refers to. Leadbelly's song, "Goodnight Irene".
The store owner sung the lyrics to me:
Last Saturday night, I got married,
me and my wife settled down
Now me and my wife are parted,
I'm gonna take another stroll downtown
Sometimes I live in the country,
sometimes I live in town
Sometimes I take a great notion,
to jump into the river and drown
I love Irene, God knows I do,
I'll love her till the seas run dry
But if Irene should turn me down,
I'd take the morphine and die
Stop rambling, stop your gambling,
stop staying out late at night
Go home to your wife and your family,
stay there by your fireside bright -Leadbelly
The conversation turned to the life of a man (Leadbelly) who sang so well that the warden of the jail pardoned and released him from his murder conviction, according to the bookstore owner.
Here is what I know about Leadbelly. Kurt Cobain covered his song, "Where did you sleep last night" on his acoustic album. Bob Dylan covered Leadbelly's, "The House of the Rising Sun." And everyone knows the song "Midnight Special."
The origins of the song 'Midnight Special' are not so happy; though many a drunken night at a bar has this song been sung in unison, happy and carefree.
Leadbelly was a murderer. He killed a family member. The 'Midnight Special' he refers to is the name of a train he can hear while confined to his cage, in prison and in torment over the crime he committed. His time is owned by wardens and prison guards; he was not free in any sense. The line, "shine a light on me" represents his heart, soul, struggle and prayer for salvation. It's a gorgeous metaphor. Freedom from his prison cell. Freedom from his mind. Leadbelly's anguish is absent in the cover song that Credence Clear Water Revival raped, packaged and sterilized for you to walk down the grocery aisle singing along to while contemplating cheese-its or donuts with dinner. The Midnight Special train and it's origins go as deep as the imprisonment of the singer in all his pain and darkness. Leadbelly was the real deal. He is one of the greatest song writers/musicians I have ever heard. I salute the light in him, even if he knew darkness like a mistress, he sang from his cage like a bird.
When I asked if he had liked Thompson, he said that I should be reading "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." He began to speak of the authors of the time period, and the name Ken Kesey came up. I know his life from reading, "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe (the only book I've read by Wolfe, which I highly recommend). I told the book store owner that I am always sceptical when an entire generation of drug addict/young college kids rave about certain writers. Yet I read, "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest" by Kesey and it was awesome. In that book, Kesey taught me that prescription cough medicine with codeine and a little alcohol as a chaser is a wonderful high. Thank you Ken Kesey for that great advice.
From there we talked about Kesey's other book I have yet to read. My next read: "Sometimes a Great Notion." And the conversation turned to the blues singer who wrote the song the titchler line of that novel refers to. Leadbelly's song, "Goodnight Irene".
The store owner sung the lyrics to me:
Last Saturday night, I got married,
me and my wife settled down
Now me and my wife are parted,
I'm gonna take another stroll downtown
Sometimes I live in the country,
sometimes I live in town
Sometimes I take a great notion,
to jump into the river and drown
I love Irene, God knows I do,
I'll love her till the seas run dry
But if Irene should turn me down,
I'd take the morphine and die
Stop rambling, stop your gambling,
stop staying out late at night
Go home to your wife and your family,
stay there by your fireside bright -Leadbelly
The conversation turned to the life of a man (Leadbelly) who sang so well that the warden of the jail pardoned and released him from his murder conviction, according to the bookstore owner.
Here is what I know about Leadbelly. Kurt Cobain covered his song, "Where did you sleep last night" on his acoustic album. Bob Dylan covered Leadbelly's, "The House of the Rising Sun." And everyone knows the song "Midnight Special."
The origins of the song 'Midnight Special' are not so happy; though many a drunken night at a bar has this song been sung in unison, happy and carefree.
Leadbelly was a murderer. He killed a family member. The 'Midnight Special' he refers to is the name of a train he can hear while confined to his cage, in prison and in torment over the crime he committed. His time is owned by wardens and prison guards; he was not free in any sense. The line, "shine a light on me" represents his heart, soul, struggle and prayer for salvation. It's a gorgeous metaphor. Freedom from his prison cell. Freedom from his mind. Leadbelly's anguish is absent in the cover song that Credence Clear Water Revival raped, packaged and sterilized for you to walk down the grocery aisle singing along to while contemplating cheese-its or donuts with dinner. The Midnight Special train and it's origins go as deep as the imprisonment of the singer in all his pain and darkness. Leadbelly was the real deal. He is one of the greatest song writers/musicians I have ever heard. I salute the light in him, even if he knew darkness like a mistress, he sang from his cage like a bird.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Air that I breathe
There is a scene in Doctor Zhivago where a thoughtless soldier kills a young boy in battle. Doctor Zhivago looks at the beautiful, dead youth, turns to the murdering soldier and asks, "Haven't you ever been in love before?" The soldier replies, "Well, I have three children and a wife."
The point is, of course, that the murdering soldier Doctor Zhivago addresses knows nothing about the lusts of life; he is unconsciously living; a wife and children are incidental; secondary to a life of following protocol down to government sanctioned paradigms of Russian war; and duties to men in power he serves without knowing, or WHY he does any action. What this solider knows of love is superficial at best.
This scene is so powerful because of the two world views of the opposing men and the horror committed by one. The answer follows, "Have you ever been in love?" to show the ultimate thievery involved in murder of a political sort. To take a man's life is taking away any chance they have of love. Contrast the love in Doctor Zhivago's world to this non thinking military servant with a weapon. He robbed that youth of love. There is nothing greater to live for in this world.
Doctor Zhivago many not be faithful to his wife, but in a time of war he finds lovers in overcrowded trains, makes poetry from desolate landscapes, and celebrates each passing day. In the frozen world of political collapse and in the confusion of a senseless war (an oxymoron) Dr. Zhivago finds his own happiness. His cup overflows with love against the most desolate backdrop he blossoms. There is nothing greater to live for then love. The heart was meant to beat for others. Zhivago means life.
The point is, of course, that the murdering soldier Doctor Zhivago addresses knows nothing about the lusts of life; he is unconsciously living; a wife and children are incidental; secondary to a life of following protocol down to government sanctioned paradigms of Russian war; and duties to men in power he serves without knowing, or WHY he does any action. What this solider knows of love is superficial at best.
This scene is so powerful because of the two world views of the opposing men and the horror committed by one. The answer follows, "Have you ever been in love?" to show the ultimate thievery involved in murder of a political sort. To take a man's life is taking away any chance they have of love. Contrast the love in Doctor Zhivago's world to this non thinking military servant with a weapon. He robbed that youth of love. There is nothing greater to live for in this world.
Doctor Zhivago many not be faithful to his wife, but in a time of war he finds lovers in overcrowded trains, makes poetry from desolate landscapes, and celebrates each passing day. In the frozen world of political collapse and in the confusion of a senseless war (an oxymoron) Dr. Zhivago finds his own happiness. His cup overflows with love against the most desolate backdrop he blossoms. There is nothing greater to live for then love. The heart was meant to beat for others. Zhivago means life.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
My Buddy and me Tour America
Of all my siblings the only one who I relate to in every way was my dear brother Ambrose. One of our favorite things to do was take a CD, get in his car, and drive. Amby loved to travel. There was something about motion that made us feel so alive. In motion we had no responsibilities and we could analyze life without letting it touch us.
When I was sixteen and he was twelve we drove to California. In my grand mother's home there is a picture of all of us, me holding Katlor, with the mountains of Wyoming behind us. That was our first major adventure together. I remember taking a long nap on that trip, during the two day boredom of cornfield backdrops, and waking up in the middle of the mountains of Wyoming. In all my life I can never believe that I could think or talk or catch my breath at the initial sight of that beauty.
How do people swallow those scenes and resume their lives? Make war or protest it? Fall in love or mend their hearts? It's humbling to be so small amid the force of nature.
Music is the language of the heart, and music was Amby's therapy. I still have a mixed CD that he left for me, with an eclectic mix of rap, classical, and surreal songs. I've worn it out, way before Amby said good-bye. We would listen to those songs and drink coffee and drive. We drove from San Francisco to Arcata. From Redding to Eueka, all the time talking about life. Laughing and complaining and sharing our secrets. One trip the topic turned to drugs. Ambrose was in a stage in his life where he was completely against them, because, as he said, they made him see the worst parts of life. And for him they did.
The only good thing about his military job was that, in his words, it allowed him to have his car. During weekends he would (illegally) leave his military base and pick me up, and together we would talk and talk, about everything. We covered everything on those trips.
The day came when he was in a bad accident that ruined his car and without his escape pod he lost his freedom. Being idle and dealing with a full time job is not in our DNA. Being tied down with the world's responsibilities makes our family go crazy. We were so innocent in the motion of travel.
I dearly miss Ambrose, this being the last month of the last year I had my friend in my life. But instead of being sad I am so internally grateful: so very grateful and blessed that I have those memories to carry me through the rest of my life. I miss my friend, but he did exist for 24 years and I am so very blessed to have known him. Instead of grief I have the joy of those memories of us: happy, together, and crystallized in eternal youth. It was awesome to know him. The world will never know another like him.
When I was sixteen and he was twelve we drove to California. In my grand mother's home there is a picture of all of us, me holding Katlor, with the mountains of Wyoming behind us. That was our first major adventure together. I remember taking a long nap on that trip, during the two day boredom of cornfield backdrops, and waking up in the middle of the mountains of Wyoming. In all my life I can never believe that I could think or talk or catch my breath at the initial sight of that beauty.
How do people swallow those scenes and resume their lives? Make war or protest it? Fall in love or mend their hearts? It's humbling to be so small amid the force of nature.
Music is the language of the heart, and music was Amby's therapy. I still have a mixed CD that he left for me, with an eclectic mix of rap, classical, and surreal songs. I've worn it out, way before Amby said good-bye. We would listen to those songs and drink coffee and drive. We drove from San Francisco to Arcata. From Redding to Eueka, all the time talking about life. Laughing and complaining and sharing our secrets. One trip the topic turned to drugs. Ambrose was in a stage in his life where he was completely against them, because, as he said, they made him see the worst parts of life. And for him they did.
The only good thing about his military job was that, in his words, it allowed him to have his car. During weekends he would (illegally) leave his military base and pick me up, and together we would talk and talk, about everything. We covered everything on those trips.
The day came when he was in a bad accident that ruined his car and without his escape pod he lost his freedom. Being idle and dealing with a full time job is not in our DNA. Being tied down with the world's responsibilities makes our family go crazy. We were so innocent in the motion of travel.
I dearly miss Ambrose, this being the last month of the last year I had my friend in my life. But instead of being sad I am so internally grateful: so very grateful and blessed that I have those memories to carry me through the rest of my life. I miss my friend, but he did exist for 24 years and I am so very blessed to have known him. Instead of grief I have the joy of those memories of us: happy, together, and crystallized in eternal youth. It was awesome to know him. The world will never know another like him.
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