…a fellow in a dream told me “He who dies…” but I woke up before he could finish what he had to say.
Tonight I finally heard the end of that phrase thanks to Boardwalk Empire.
So there’s that.
(Best show on television, by the way.)
…I think the iTunes Match service is a miss. It only uploaded or matched a small percentage of my total library. And it completely borked up the playlists and synchronization on my iPad and iPhone. A rare miss, but a miss nonetheless.
Google Music, on the other hand, had no problem with my library. It even grabbed all my podcasts. And it keeps synchronizing. But I’ll have to rebuild my playlists out there, though.
So, at this point, it’s Google Music for the win. Between that and Spotify, I’ve always got something good to listen to.
To be fair, I still use iTunes as my media hub. Music, movies, television shows, audiobooks, podcasts, apps . . . they all live there. Google just lets me access it over the network. And Spotify is just damn awesome for discovering new music, sharing with friends, etc.
(For what it’s worth, I still really like LastFM as well.)
…that is easily identified. You see it for what it is right away. In fact, you kind of enjoy it for what it is. It’s a guilty pleasure that you indulge in from time to time. But, soon enough, the irony starts to fall away and you find the crazy strangely compelling.
Soon enough, it doesn’t seem so crazy. At all.
For me, Conspiracy Theory is that kind of crazy. In fact, I don’t even like to refer to it as crazy. So many theoretical conspiracies have turned out to be true over time that, on some level, I don’t want to dismiss things outright just because they go against the conventional wisdom.
And, having said that, I recognize I’ve slipped over the boundary once again.
“Welcome back to Crazy Town, Mr. Camp. Let me stamp your passport. Don’t forget to visit the gift shop.”
Reading this post on the mind control meta-messages in the movie ‘Labyrinth’ at the Vigilant Citizen website is a great example of this in action.
At the outset of the article, I was a bit “Oh, I don’t know…” about the premise:
Like many other fantastic tales, the movie conceals within its symbolism an underlying meaning and, in this case, it is rather disturbing. Labyrinth describes the programming of a mind control victim at the hands of a sadistic handler.
Yeah. I have trouble believing Jim Henson is, intentionally or not, providing material for the MK-ULTRA program.
But it’s an entertaining read. The Vigilant Citizen always adopts a reasonable, even academic tone that sets them apart from other conspiratorial bloggers…
But like many of these delightfully twisted fantasy movies, there is more to Labyrinth than meets the eye. By understanding the occult symbolism and references in Labyrinth, the movie becomes a big allegory for mind control, where each scene refers to a particular aspect of the process. What appears to be a young girl’s quest through a Labyrinth to find her baby brother becomes a metaphor for the internal world of a mind control victim that is being programmed by a handler.
…and by the end, I’m not merely on a happy day trip to Crazytown. I’m meeting with the local realtor…
What appears to be the defeat of Jareth is actually a victory as he successfully programmed Sarah’s internal world. It can be used, in her words “every now and again in her life”.
Yeah. Sarah’s not the only one who’s been reprogrammed, pal. Thanks.
I’m going to have to take a much closer look at Elmo in Grouchland now.
(For what it’s worth, the photos of Bowie drawing the Tree of Life and posing in Crowley-esque Egyptian garb was where I felt my mind shift into going “Oh. Yes. I can see it all so clearly now.”)
Unfortunately, my next book The Cradle has been delayed somewhat.
I’m doing my damnedest to have it available in time for Christmas. But it’s going to be tight. I’m not entirely sure I can make it.
Until things get sorted out, you can read or listen to the first twenty pages or so here.
This video is very much NSFW — in fact, depending on your sensibilities, it’s very likely not safe for anywhere. If you’re not sure if you can handle it then you probably should click here as fast as you can to avoid it.
Seriously. The video has naughty bits in it. And a naked lady. And pomegranates.
It’s also amazing.
Here’s Sovereign Syre in “Persephone Eats” (directed by JM Darling).
Persephone Eats from JM Darling on Vimeo.
(If you are offended, you only have yourself to blame. I warned you.)
Alan Moore on Harvey from Estate of Harvey L. Pekar on Vimeo.
(Guess what I just bought me’n the missus for Christmas…)
There’s a longer blog post brewing in the back of my mind right now, something about the Gods and the movies that hate them.
But for now, I’ll stick to saying how I’m disappointed, though not surprised, to hear that Tarsem’s latest film “Immortals” is an awful mess…
Here’s everything you need to know about Immortals, the new movie from director Tarsam Singh [sic] that’s (extremely) loosely based on Thesus [sic, again], the hero from Greek mythology: At one point, Zeus gets super mad at Apollo for interfering with the humans, so he blasts him through a stone wall. It’s built up as this huge moment for Zeus that shows how dedicated he is to allowing mankind to forge its own destiny rather than be shepherded by the gods, and clearly meant to be a big, pivotal moment for the film.
And then we see that the blast has left a perfectly Apollo-shaped hole in the rock as if he were a Looney Tunes Character. That’s Immortals in a nutshell.
(From the Comics Alliance review)
For the record, I love Tarsem’s The Fall. It’s a gorgeous, heartfelt piece of cinema that few other movies can match. I’m told that he had absolute control over every aspect of that film, from script to final cut . . . which might explain a lot.
I’d been planning on going to see “Immortals” in the theaters — a bit of a luxury these days, with a young toddler at home — based on the subject matter and Tarsem’s involvement.
Not anymore. I’ll probably be happier staying at home and watching episodes from the excellent Clash of the Gods or Jim Henson’s The Storyteller series instead.
…just started up iTunes Match. I’ve got almost 14,000 tracks in my iTunes library (not counting audiobooks) so this will be an interesting test of the new system and features.
My expectations are pretty high. Here’s hoping that the extra time they took to launch was to get it right.
Between a networked song library and my Spotify account, I’ll be one happy little fanboy.
