dear clusterflock
Is it only the internal compass that points true north?
the spiritual brain
Scientists have identified areas of the brain that, when damaged, lead to greater spirituality. The findings hint at the roots of spiritual and religious attitudes, the researchers say.
New research has found that spirituality has a greater effect on the sex lives of young adults — especially women — than religion, impulsivity, or alcohol.
Trailer for El Topo (Alejandro Jodorowsky. 1970)
The strangest movie I’d recommend?
Allen Klein presents an ABKCO Film.
Avatar
Was awesome, y’all.
Scrooge | Lord Buckley
Not to bad-rap the cat’s animation, but if this is new to you, you might want to close your eyes and open your ears to Lord Buckley’s Christmas ding-dong-ding-dong-ding-dong.
You can get with it if you want to. There’s only one way — straight to the road of love.
A Yuletide message from me to y’all.
Michael Kenna’s Hokkaido
Michael Kenna. Fading Light, Furano, Hokkaido, Japan. 2004.
Ordinarily I’d not want to follow so swiftly on Deron’s post about the Andy Goldsworthy documentary, but if I don’t do it now, I might be some time.
A short while ago Phil Bebbington sent me a link to this documentary interview with photographer Michael Kenna. I found Michael Kenna’s Hokkaido calming and beautiful, and I want to share it.
“Even in the midst of a storm, it’s a wonderful place to come to ground, in a sense.”
Edward Cullen is Adam-God
John Granger makes a compelling case for why Twilight isn’t just mindless fluff.*
In a nutshell, Bella is Eve and Edward is the Adam-God of Mormon theology. Their “Fall”—when Bella/Eve/Man chooses the apple from the tray of Edward/Adam/God, although rife with dangers and difficulties, is the beginning of a spiritual transformation culminated by an alchemical wedding with the God-Man. The story is a romantic allegory depicting the roles and responsibilities of the divine and human lovers, but it has the specifically Mormon hermetic twist that sex within marriage is the endgame and the only means to personal salvation and immortal life.
The article is actually quite fascinating, I’ve read it twice. Bonus points: send it to your Christian sister who doesn’t want her kids to read those sexy vampire books.
(*You might find it hard to read if you struggle with concentrating on black text on a white background sans photographs and ads.)
Cast y’all’s votes, y’all.
Should I be the next Oprah?
Brother Blue is gone.
I will try and write about his impact on me. Meantime, this from the Boston Globe.
I drove this one, a couple times
My brother’s ‘78 Z-28. He ordered it new, got tired of making the payments. Sold it. Kept up with where it was all these years. It is in pristinest of condition. The person who owns it now offered it for his friends to drive in the ride commemorating my brother’s passing. Doesn’t that say something about…?
Oh, y’all! I guess I’m still grieving a bit. Will you pardon my meanderings?
Danny and I were in this car once, alone on a nearly forgotten stretch of road outside Pocahontas’ city limits. I popped the clutch and bounced Danny’s head off the headrest.
Had this been the offer, ’stead of the truck, I’d so be on the road to fetch it. (With apologies for the exposure. I don’t have the energy, just now, to correct it.)
My guiding light
henceforth shall be this vision conjured forth by Deron: embrace the oh my fucking god.
clusterflock interviews clusterflock, #2 – Dogville edition
A few days ago Rick asked me:
Q: Andrew, I just finished watching Dogville, the second time. You spoke of “shaking for days,” after seeing it. If you can recall, what shook you?
(I ask because I’m shaking again, or at least, I’m haunted.)
My answer was: Download
He then asked me a follow up:
Q. What have you carried with you, since viewing the film. Were you changed in some elemental way?
And my answer: Download
Edited out were some reflections/impressions on how/why the film reflected America and its foreign relations, but it was, frankly, uncompelling. I also don’t feel like I answered the question really, but I am not sure that that is entirely the point.
clusterflock interviews clusterflock, #2 UPDATED #2
Q: Andrew, I just finished watching Dogville, the second time. You spoke of “shaking for days,” after seeing it. If you can recall, what shook you?
(I ask because I’m shaking again, or at least, I’m haunted.)
A. Download*
*Pardon my p’s**, the pop filter is still in the mail, and the quiet hum of the enormous A/C unit outside my window.
**That is the proper way to punctuate the plural of the letter “p,” right?
Q. The judgement is the thing for me. I might see myself, in the townfolk, as one who might have joined them in their abuse of Grace. For me, it was less about them and more about me, as victim. I more strongly identified with Grace. Where would I stand in judgement upon them? Would I forgive? Or opt for revenge? The thing that shakes me is I’d be hard-pressed in the decision. I think I’d be more inclined to let them have it. So a more satisfying ending for me watching the film. Yet less satisfying for me, morally.
So, the question. What have you carried with you, since viewing the film? Have you changed in some elemental way? Were you changed in your day-to-day living for having viewed it?
Would it surprise you if you knew (if you didn’t already), Von Trier’s vision is an indictment of America?
Any who look, you will have to scroll down to the Dogville entry.
clusterflock interviews clusterflock, #2 -UPDATED #2
Q: Andrew, I just finished watching Dogville, the second time. You spoke of “shaking for days,” after seeing it. If you can recall, what shook you?
(I ask because I’m shaking again, or at least, I’m haunted.)
A. Download*
*Pardon my p’s**, the pop filter is still in the mail, and the quiet hum of the enormous A/C unit outside my window.
**That is the proper way to punctuate the plural of the letter “p,” right?
Q. What have you carried with you, since viewing the film. Were you changed in some elemental way?
Complete Deliverance!
(Via Alberto)
Everything You Need to Know
Figurine. Calcite. Circa 10,000 BCE. (Mesolithic.) Found/acquired: Ain Sakhri. Small cave in the Wadi Khareitoun, south-east of Bethlehem in the Judean Desert.
A clustercommenter introduced me to this Mesolithic figurine, now held by the British Museum. I thought it might get buried in the great midden-heap of commentary, so I reckoned I’d bring it to the surface.
“Awesome and humbling,” says the commenter. I concur.
Diane Benscoter, former Moonie
My friend Shanna did a wildly fascinating interview with Diane Benscoter, a lady who joined the Moonies at the age of 17 and was later “deprogrammed.”
Could you speak a little bit about deprogramming? You were deprogrammed and became a deprogrammer, but it’s a rather controversial practice and many think that it brings up ethical issues relating to free will.
Yeah, I have a lot to say on this topic, but I’ll try to give the main points first. One — involuntary deprogrammings, which I was involved with, aren’t really taking place anymore and definitely not as they were. Looking back on it, I think there are ethical issues there. Still, I totally understand why people did it, why I did it — desperation, not knowing what to do, love of their child. You’re dealing with a problem that hasn’t been defined psychologically, so you can’t lock people in a mental hospital for it.
Now, I had one foot in and one foot out of the Moonies when I was deprogrammed. My faith was already wavering. Also, I had a loving family. But, to pull a belief system away from someone who doesn’t have the correct support system can be very dangerous. It’s like chemotherapy. Chemotherapy many times cures cancer, but it can also kill people. So, I’m not going to say that deprogramming is the way. And that‘s why I’ve gone in the direction of prevention.
Also, some people came to deprogramming more professionally that others. Some made mistakes and some used really admirable techniques. For the most part, in the ones that I was a part of, we just talked to the person and made sure that they ate and slept well. We were trying to introduce rational thought and a healthy mental state. We presented no new philosophy and no desire for them to take up any of our personal beliefs. We simply tried to explain that much of what they had been told was not true and was possibly brainwashing. We based our techniques on psychological theory, especially the work of Robert Lifton.
Mortal Remains
We have been speaking of mortal remains.
This, the tail-end of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”, has always just shredded me.
I take it personally.
I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.
young conservatives rap (n(i)s)*
Enjoy feeling uncomfortable?
“Three things taught me Conservative Love / Jesus, Ronald Reagan, plus Atlas Shrugged.”
*not (intentional) satire.
Green Here Too
Be missin’ y’all this weekend. But ain’t going to be lonely.
Spoken in Tongues II
To etot oe
Dan cingve ryclose
Bar elybre at hing
Alm ostco mato se
Wall tow all
Pe opleh yp not ised
Andt heyres teppin glightly
Han geach nigh tinrapt ure
Backt ob ack
Sac rail iac
Spin elessmo vement
An dawil dat tack
Facet of ace
Sad lyso litu de
An ditsfin gerpop ping
Twen tyf our hours hop pin ginrapt ure
Fabfi vefred diet old meeve ryb odyshigh
Djs spinninares avin mym ind
Flas hisfast flas hi scool
Franco issez fas flas henodo
Andy oudont stopsu reshot
Goo uttot hepar king lot
Andy ouget inyo urca randy oudri vereal far
Andy oudri ve allnigh tandt hen youse ealight
And itco mesright dow nand land sont heg round
And outco mesam anfrom mars
Andy outry tor unbut hesgo tagun
Andhes hootsyo udea dan dhee atsyou rhead
Andt hen you reint hem anfrom mars
Yo ugo outat nigh teatinc ars
Youe atcad il lacslinc olnstoo
Mercu rie sand suba rus
Andy oudont stopy oukeepo neat incars
The nwhent her esnomo recars
Yougo outat nigh tandea tupbars wher ethepe opleme et
Facet of ace dan ceche ektoche ek
Onet oonem antom an
Dan ceto etot oe
Dontmo vetoos low causet hem anfrom mars
Isth rough with carsh esea tinbars
Ye ahwall towall do ortodo or hall toh all
Hesgon nae at emall
Rapt ureb epu re
Takeat ourth rough thesewer
Donts train yo urb rain pain tatrain
Yo ullbe sin gin int herain
Isa id donts top dop unkrock
Wellno wyous eew hatyo uwan nabe
Jus thav eyo urpar tyon tv
Ca use them anfrom mars wonteat upbar swhen thetv son
Andno whesgo neback uptos pace
Wher ehew ontha veahass lewith thehum anra ce
And youhi phopand yo udonts top
Just blas toffs ures hot
Ca uset hem anfrom mars stoppe deat incar sand eatin bars
Andno wheon lyeats guitarsge tup
drop that weapon you will
The Strathclyde Police have the Force on their side:
A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police confirmed: “At the time of the request, 10 (eight police officers and two police staff) had recorded their religion as Jedi.”
From the Church of Jediism website:
Religions base their faith on holy texts such as the bible and the Koran to name only two, but we base our faith on the impartial and highly accessible stories George Lucas has brought to us in both film and book. We obtain this information and rather than creating strict rules to live by we take it as a guide to living a better and more worthwhile life.
Righteous Harmony Society (Boxer Uprising)
I met the Archangel Gabriel
We were in France on holiday and were travelling back from the south to the UK. We decided that an overnight stay in the city of Lisieux seemed perfect. We found a hotel and checked in. We didn’t know at the time but a party of pilgrims or whatever you wanna call them were also staying on their way back from Lourdes. We called for the lift to get to our room. The bell tinged and as the door opened we were presented with a young girl, probably in her mid 20s. She was alone, stood in the centre of the floor, both hands at about chest height forming a cross. She said, “I am the Archangel Gabriel.” With that, the doors closed, and the lift ascended!
President Norris
Chuck Norris wants to be President of Texas, y’all.
“I may run for president of Texas,” Norris wrote Monday in a column posted at WorldNetDaily. “That need may be a reality sooner than we think. If not me, someone someday may again be running for president of the Lone Star state, if the state of the union continues to turn into the enemy of the state.”
The actor claimed “thousands of cell groups will be united around the country in solidarity over the concerns for our nation” and said that if states decide to secede from the union, that Texas would lead the way.
“Anyone who has been around Texas for any length of time knows exactly what we’d do if the going got rough in America,” Norris wrote.