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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Oct 23, 2012 10:29:20 GMT -5
Who is this person? The reason I ask is because HE miraculously turns into these more familiar chaps: It's from the director's cut of Anthology, and I think it could be a pretty blatant example of hidden in plain site. Watch it here, and notice that the original, let's call him......Beatle ADAM, has Paul's raised right eyebrow: Could this be what QUADrophenia was referring to Were they literally four aspects of the same person? As in clones, and Nazis, and Mengele, oh my? P(D)enny La(i)ne, are you referring to the director's cut of The Beatles Anthology, and if so, which episode? The video you posted has long since been removed. Thanks!I just remembered that clip of the four Beatles emerging from a single proto-Beatle can be seen in this video @ the .47 second mark.
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Oct 6, 2012 10:48:35 GMT -5
;D
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Sept 5, 2012 14:07:11 GMT -5
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Aug 29, 2012 10:22:52 GMT -5
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Aug 26, 2012 8:59:51 GMT -5
Apollo C Vermouth wrote something about "Bill" being the hand that's never seen, while the Beatles were the fingers. Perhaps he represents "Bill". P(D)enny La(i)ne wrote: But while we're at it, I've always found the confusion in this discussion of Golden Slumbers to be really odd.---------------------Is this the video you meant to post, P(D)enny? I didn't hear a discussion of Golden Slumbers in it. Shit. I posted the wrong video. Here's the correct one.
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Aug 22, 2012 15:31:10 GMT -5
Who is this person? The reason I ask is because HE miraculously turns into these more familiar chaps: It's from the director's cut of Anthology, and I think it could be a pretty blatant example of hidden in plain site. Watch it here, and notice that the original, let's call him......Beatle ADAM, has Paul's raised right eyebrow: Could this be what QUADrophenia was referring to Were they literally four aspects of the same person? As in clones, and Nazis, and Mengele, oh my? P(D)enny La(i)ne, are you referring to the director's cut of The Beatles Anthology, and if so, which episode? The video you posted has long since been removed. Thanks! Sorry, but I don't remember which episode, and I can't find it now. But while we're at it, I've always found the confusion in this discussion of Golden Slumbers to be really odd.
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Jul 24, 2012 11:28:33 GMT -5
Fasten Your Seat Belts--It's Gonna Be A Bumpy Night The Wrong Way Wizard Friday, July 20, 2012 Yesterday, news agencies report that The Going to the Sun road in Montana is closed due to a mudslide. This particular "road" is famous far beyond its natural dignity thanks to its use in the opening sequence of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. The Shining is set in Colorado. Aurora is a form of Shining. Early this morning, there is a terrible mass murder at a midnight advance screening of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, in Aurora, Colorado. The perpetrator has self-identified as The Joker, which at least one excellent interpreter ties straight into the Jared Loughner/Gifford shooting by way of the homophone Lough/Laugh into the meta-pun of Joker. Also in the news, Rush Limbaugh makes an open faced conspiracy theory of the appearance of Bane as the main villain of Nolan's Dark Knight. Bain is the name of a multi-layered hide-and-seek conglomerate founded by Mitt Romney. It is worth noting that the internet chatter about the movie, going way, way back, is uniformly confused and disappointed about Nolan`s choice of the obscure Bane as Batman`s final foe of this cycle. Just in: American flags ordered to half -mast to honor victims of Dark Knight shooting. Here is exposed the complete nature of this synch. First, some explanation of Kubrick's prophetic The Shining. During the opening credits, filmed on the Going to the Sun road, we hear a version of the Gregorian Chant called Dies Irae, which means Day of Wrath/Atonement/Judgement. The version presented is altered from the original, changing the flow of each musical phrase by breaking up longer notes into shorter repetitions of the same note. The effect thus produces a larger number of note attacks than found in the original chant. Found in The Shining, the Dies Irae is broken into five phrases. The first two phrases have 20 and 13 note attacks respectively. The third phrase has 20 note attacks. The last two phrases repeat the first two with 20 and then 13 note attacks. The complete string of attacks is 20-13-20-20-13. The sum of these terms is 86, which means to nix or to cut out or to destroy. 8/6 is also the date of the first nuclear attack on Japan in 1945. Aug. 6, 1945. The complete interpretation of the note attack sequence is as follows: 2013 is the year of Judgement. I have done a great deal of background on this matter and two researchers in particular must be acknowledged. Both Johnny53 and mstrmnd, two of the most comprehensive researchers of The Shining, conclude that the movie contains a code related to the Mayan calender and other matters related to Mayan imagery. The work of these writers is massive, but the conclusions that I have represented are accurate. The Mayan countdown calender is commonly attributed to expire on the close of 2012. The fantastic purity of the research of Terrence Mckenna`s Timewave Zero reaches a likewise measure. So, if The Shining does indeed encode a Mayan countdown, and I think it does, then the strangely phrased uses of Dies Irae makes alot of sense. We have the year 2013 stated twice, bracketing a lone 20. Good researchers (Jason Barrera in particular) have already forged a strong connection between Kubrick and Tarot, so I won`t try to prove this point. 20 is the Tarot designation for Judgement. This position is solid, regardless of the Tarot sequence one might prefer. Thus: the 2013-20-2013 phrasing of Dies Irae is a plain cypher that for the year 2013, from beginning to end, Judgement will fall upon the People of Earth. Does it mean that the event is a certainty: no. But there is no doubt in my mind that the fix is in. The code is as clear as day. The question that remains is: is it a predictive event programming, or a legitimate alignment of cosmological magnitude? Consider the mudslide that closed the Going to the Sun road, just a day before the events in Aurora, Colorado. My interpretation of this code is that the door is closed, the doorway to the Sun/Son is closed and that all who remain must endure a tribulation--a Dark Night. In my sometimes Christian mask, I see this value as that of "the refiner's fire", which operates to expurgate the evil nature that has attached itself to the soul of humanity since the fall from grace. It is called original sin and it is a fact. All of us have blood on our hands. Dominoes, falling one by one, regardless of their natural dignity, do not avoid the transmission of the original motion. We all fall down. The Aurora movie theater is called Century 16 Cinemas. Century 16 produces 1600 which reminds at once of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, the address of The White House. As much as we may despise the antics of Limbaugh, is it possible he is on to something here? I think that there is a code contained in the term Bane as WolfsBane. WolfsBane is a medicinal herb taken by Vampire Hunters as protection against their foe. In theaters we have Abe Lincoln, resident of 1600 Sylvania fighting Vampires. The term Mitt Romney contains the lexigrammatic value of Admit One. A recent Google Doodle Movie celebrating the age of the Drive-In Movie has many clues. The movie is a Vampire Thriller. Notice the reversal of values. The girl in the pink sweater does the old first-date-arm-stretch. The boy in the pick-up appears terrified, not the red-headed girl. I do not celebrate the paternal values of the last 2000 years, but remind that a complete and sudden shift in any system is cataclysmic. Think Titanic. At the very least we have a massive predictive push for Mitt Romney Vampire Hunter as the next American Prez. This is where things get thorny. During the Obama 2008 campaign there is a massive metaphorical mystery devised to conflate the image of Obama with that of JFK. The key features are Obama's speech at the Berlin Pergamon of Zeus, also called The Altar of Zeus and his acceptance speech, in which he stands at the focal point of a long, curved, modern pergola, which is a straight out copy of the much smaller pergola found on the infamous grassy knoll at Dealy Plaza, Dallas. Pergola and Pergamon. Obama and Kennedy. Now, the obvious implication of an Altar notwithstanding, I note the well known link between the planet Jupiter (Zeus), and the computer called Deep Thought, from the fiction of Douglas Adams. Deep Thought is situated near Jupiter. The great answer given by Deep Thought is 42. The number 42 is cross hatched not only in in the name Deep Thought (D=4 and T =20 giving 420 or 42), but also in the common alchemical glyph of the planet Jupiter. In his book Dreams From My Father, Obama discusses a terrible dream of a fierce Leopard. He relates that for him, this dream is indicative of a certain destiny. In the Apocalypse of St. John, we are told the servant of the Beast, called The Leopard will reign for 42 months before being cast into the abyss. In the first few moments wildfire viral called I, Pet Goat II, you will note a gold coin beneath Obama's foot. A bead of sweat rolls down his forehead. A moment later, we see the American Flag torn in half (half-mast). Some have interpreted this coin as that of the 2012 London Olympics, which is scheduled to begin at the exact ending of 42 months of Obama's office. No wonder he's nervous.
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Jul 11, 2012 9:08:14 GMT -5
From WFMU's Beware of the Blog. May 27, 2012 Examining the "Paul is Dead" Rumors in 1969 (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 29)Listen here. I was 16, in 1976, when I first discovered the availability of bootlegs. After written requests to addresses in the back of a magazine, a few different catalogs arrived in the mail, and I stocked up on things like The Sweet Apple Tracks (still a favorite), The Beatles Christmas Album and a host of other Beatle related products of varying quality, from priceless to dubious. One catalog promised something a bit different - reel to reel tapes featuring spoken word content involving or about the Beatles or the individual members. There were collections of Beatles press conferences, excerpts from the "Lennon Remembers" interview with Jann Wenner, a copy of a promotional interview released for a George Harrison album, and so forth. And so, long before I started deliberately collecting ephemera on this most magnificent of recording formats, I sent away for a half-dozen reels, perhaps the first reels I owned that were not pre-packaged releases from record companies or home-recorded tapes from my family's own collection. The one that intrigued me the most promised to hold a radio documentary about the "Paul is Dead" rumors of late 1969. Every now and then I've thought about this tape, especially after a different program on the rumors was posted to the first 365 days project, several years ago. This program is hosted by Christopher Glenn, who later went on to be the voice behind the iconic Saturday Morning "In the News" programs for kids, as well as the voice of the CBS World News Roundup, until just months before his death in 2006. The show features some of the early "clues", an interview with one of the people who broke the "story", other "expert" insight, and a lot of speculation. I've always found the Paul is Dead stuff really fascinating - Iwhile don't believe for a moment that The Beatles were in any way behind the rumors, the sociology of it is quite compelling, and the lengths to which people went to imagine some of the clues is amazing. You can do the same thing with a lot of different ideas - I knew someone who came up with dozens of clues to show that The Beatles were trying to let us know that John had gone blind, just to show how easy it was to make unrelated lyrics and photos seem to mean something more important, and of course Charles Manson went in yet another direction with what he was sure was hidden in the lyrics. But that this particular group of clues spread so quickly and so completely is really something. There is no indication within the program, as heard on the tape, as to its source, and the tape box was completely generic. But this program appears to date from very early in the spread of the rumors - I'm guessing late October or early November of 1969 - because many of the more obscure "clues" which were later taken as central to the "hoax" are not mentioned, and don't appear to have been "discovered" yet. What's interesting here is the almost complete acceptance of the exceptionally unlikely idea that The Beatles were involved in the hoax, on the part of everyone who is heard on the show. Also interesting is that, despite being put together by a talented, respected newsman (and no doubt at least a few researchers), this program repeats the assumption that Paul wrote the music and John wrote the words, a description of their partnership that was never true, let alone by 1969. And finally, where would the report have come from in late 1969 that "The Beatles are known to be working on a new album"? By the time Abbey Road was released, John had quit the band, although this had been hushed up quite effectively, and although Let It Be was still awaiting release, no one at that time would have been reporting that the Beatles were recording together.
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Jun 28, 2012 10:38:03 GMT -5
Worlds in Collision is a book written by Immanuel Velikovsky and first published April 3, 1950. The book postulated that around the 15th century BCE, Venus was ejected from Jupiter as a comet or comet-like object, and passed near Earth (an actual collision is not mentioned). The object changed Earth's orbit and axis, causing innumerable catastrophes that were mentioned in early mythologies and religions around the world. The book was met with a very hostile reception by the scientific community at the time of publication. The book proposed that around the 15th century BCE, Venus was ejected from Jupiter as a comet or comet-like object, passed near Earth (an actual collision is not mentioned). The object changed Earth's orbit and axis, causing innumerable catastrophes which were mentioned in early mythologies and religions around the world. Fifty-two years later, it passed close by again, stopping the Earth's rotation for a while and causing more catastrophes. Then, in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, Mars (itself displaced by Venus) made close approaches to the Earth; this incident caused a new round of disturbances and disasters. After that, the current "celestial order" was established. The courses of the planets stabilized over the centuries and Venus gradually became a "normal" planet. Link
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WTF?
Jun 22, 2012 15:54:10 GMT -5
Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Jun 22, 2012 15:54:10 GMT -5
There was nowhere else to put this monstrosity, so I figured a WTF? thread was called for.
Enjoy.
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on May 7, 2012 12:43:32 GMT -5
Inside The LC: The Strange but Mostly True Story of Laurel Canyon and the Birth of the Hippie Generation Part XXIMarch 19, 2012 “Why people even said Dr. Crandon committed illegal operations on little children and murdered them.” ~ Mina/Margery Crandon On April 29, 1911, Houdini debuted his famed Chinese Water Torture Cell escape in Southampton, England, though he had perfected and copyrighted the act well over a year earlier. The inherently dangerous stunt caused quite a sensation: “Just the sight of the apparatus was enough to give you shivers and make you believe, as one critic noted, that you were about to witness a ritual sacrifice.” Around that same time, Houdini was, for reasons unknown, busily buying mothballed electric chairs at auctions across the country. In 1913, Houdini’s beloved mother passed away, which apparently resulted in Harry learning some deep family secret. Following her death, Houdini sent the following cryptic note to one of his brothers: “Time heals all wounds, but a long time will have to pass before it will heal the terrible blow which Mother tried to save me from knowing.” The meaning of this rather provocative note remains a mystery. Houdini, by the way, was in Denmark when his mother died, and he requested a delay of her funeral to allow himself time to return to the States. Despite strict prohibitions in Jewish law, the entertainer’s request was, of course, granted. In December 1914, just a few months after the staged provocation that allegedly triggered World War I, Houdini was summoned to the nation’s capitol for a private audience with then-President Woodrow Wilson. It is anyone’s guess what business the two men discussed, but it probably had little to do with stage tricks. A year-and-a-half later, on that most notorious of dates, April 20, an estimated 100,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C. to watch Houdini perform a straightjacket escape. Other than for a presidential inauguration, it was said to be the largest crowd ever assembled in downtown Washington. One year later, in April 1917, the US declared war on Germany. For the duration of the United States’ involvement in the war, Houdini spent a considerable amount of time aiding the war effort, both through fundraising and by frequently visiting the front lines, where he ostensibly went from camp to camp providing entertainment for the troops. Houdini’s Hollywood career also began just as the US was entering the war. It has often been said that one of his first credits was as a special-effects consultant on the Mysteries of Myra cliffhanger serial, though others have claimed that Houdini had no involvement in the production. Curiously, the real consultant for the project is said to have been occultist/intelligence asset Aleister Crowley. Houdini’s first feature-length film, The Grim Game, opened to rave reviews. Ensconced in Hollywood, Houdini quickly made friends with mega-stars Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, both of whom would soon be caught up in scandals – a career-ending one in Arbuckle’s case. The fledgling actor next began work on Terror Island, filmed largely on Catalina Island. Unlike his feature debut, Island opened to poor reviews, leading a discouraged Houdini to launch his own production company to create his own starring vehicles. Just after completing Terror Island, in December 1919, Houdini was involved in yet another curious incident. Having injured his ankle performing the water torture escape, he paid a visit to a doctor who examined the performer and pronounced him in imminent “danger of death.” Houdini nevertheless lived on for several more years; the doctor, meanwhile, turned up dead within two weeks. More
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on May 7, 2012 12:41:26 GMT -5
Inside The LC: The Strange but Mostly True Story of Laurel Canyon and the Birth of the Hippie Generation Part XXMarch 13, 2012 “What struck both of us was that there were huge gaps in Houdini’s life story and some puzzling inconsistencies. So we embarked on a journey to discover the real man. Early on, we discovered an important connection that most biographers seemed to miss.” ~ From the Introduction to The Secret Life of Houdini, by William Kalush and Larry Sloman, 2006 As noted earlier in this series, there is considerable debate over the question of whether Harry Houdini ever lived in the Laurel Canyon home known locally as the “Houdini House” (the History Channel’s Brad Meltzer’s Decoded recently aired an episode on Houdini that included a segment filmed at the site, which was unreservedly identified as the former Houdini estate; the series, however, doesn’t appear to be overly concerned with accuracy). Even if Houdini did live in the home that now lies in ruins, his story would seem to have little relevance here. After all, Harry Houdini, widely considered to be the consummate entertainer of his era, reached the peak of his career long before there was a Laurel Canyon – before there was even that magical place known as Hollywood. What then is there to gain through an examination of the life of Harry Houdini? Quite a bit, as it turns out. What are generally claimed to be the basic details of Harry Houdini’s life can be found in countless published biographies and web posts. Born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary on March 24, 1874, he was the fourth of seven children born to Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weisz and the former Cecelia Steiner. The family later changed the spelling of their names and Houdini became Ehrich Weiss, known by friends and family as “Ehrie,” which ultimately became “Harry.” His stage surname was an homage to famed French magician Robert Houdin. In mid-1878, Rabbi Meyer, with his five sons and pregnant wife in tow, set sail for America, arriving on July 3, 1878. The family first put down roots in Appleton, Wisconsin before later moving, in 1887, to New York City. Four years later, Houdini launched his career as a magician, at first performing basic card tricks. He had little success and at times would make ends meet by performing in circus freak shows. In 1893, he met singer/dancer Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner, known as “Bess,” who would become both his wife and lifetime stage assistant. The pair though, performing as “The Houdinis,” continued to find success an elusive goal. To say that Houdini’s fortunes changed in 1899 would be a bit of an understatement. As recounted by Kalush and Sloman, “Within months, he had gone from cheap beer halls and dime museums to the big-time – vaudeville. In one year’s time, he had gone from literally eating rabbits for survival to making what today would equal $45,000 a week.” After finally hitting it big, however, Houdini then did something rather inexplicable – he abruptly sailed off to England to begin a lengthy European tour. More
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on May 5, 2012 9:42:06 GMT -5
This is as good a thread as any for this video, which is long, but well worth your time.
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Apr 25, 2012 14:20:06 GMT -5
I'm not starting a whole new thread for this, so I'll just stick it here in the Strange Fruit thread. Beatles' First American Show Coming to Theaters Rolling Stone April 25, 2012 8:50 AM ET The Beatles' first full concert in the United States at the Washington Coliseum in Washington, D.C. will be screened in movie theaters next month, Deadline Hollywood reports. The Beatles: The Lost Concert will be shown in a limited engagement at theaters across the United States on May 17th and 22nd, with a special premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater in Manhattan on May 6th. The concert film will be proceeded by a documentary on the early rise of Beatlemania in the United States. This portion of the movie will feature new interviews with concert attendees, journalists, historians, assorted Beatles associates and contemporary stars such as Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Chuck Berry, Mark Ronson and Strokes members Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi. Read more: www.rollingstone.com/music/news/beatles-first-american-show-coming-to-theaters-20120425#ixzz1t57PeMtW
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Apr 25, 2012 9:07:03 GMT -5
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Apr 25, 2012 8:59:12 GMT -5
Strange Fruit, The Beatles' Apple RecordsWhile Radiohead wasn't the first band to break free of the corporate machine and drop an album on their own terms, they were easily the most promiment. And while this was par for the course for underground artists and bands through the '80s and '90s who thrived within a specific independent framework (that was arguably co-opted by the mainstream post-Nirvana, but that's another discussion), the release of In Rainbows opened the eyes of acts of similar stature, proving that they didn't need to rely on the expensive machinations and iron clad contracts of a major record label to survive. And in fact, they could sell less records and earn more money by striking it out on their own. Nowadays, if a band isn't founding their own label, they're at least setting up vanity shingles under corporate umbrellas, and taking a stronger say in how they conduct their careers. But all this might not have been possible were it not for The Beatles. "Strange Fruit -- The Beatles' Apple Records" is a deeply comprehensive account of the Fab Four's attempt to break free from EMI and set up what they dubbed a "Western communism" approach to releasing music and supporting artists. But this was both a pragmatic and idealistic endeavor. At the time it was founded, The Beatles were not only unhappy with their current contract with EMI (who, incidentally, would still own their recordings, even those they released under Apple), the band was facing a crushing tax bill, but if they invested their money in a business venture, a good portion of that burden would be alleviated. That said, they used the opportunity to try and create something truly holistic, with a goal to champion artists that wouldn't ordinarily be sought out by mainstream labels as well as develop a larger cultural imprint through a boutique chain of stores, films, electronics and more. To say it was a bold move would be an understatement. You have to remember that in 1968, music was essentially entirely a corporate machine from top to bottom, with a handful of major labels controlling manufacturing, publishing, distribution and even what was played on the radio. But, the name of The Beatles has the kind of pull that few artists -- or even companies -- have, and perhaps Apple could have made a bigger impact rather than becoming, ultimately, a curious note in Beatles history. But with the band starting to crumble only a year after the label was founded, and formally dissolving by 1970, it never had the focus or energy of all four members at any one time. And this lack of attention led to a number of artists -- David Bowie, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Grace Slick -- slipping through the net, signing with other labels and moving on to massive success elsewhere. But, when they had the right combination of talent and attention, they knew how to score a hit. Paul McCartney and George Harrison were easily the most effusive and energetic folks behind A&R early on. After being tipped to McCartney by Twiggy, who saw her perform on the talent program "Opportunity Knocks," Mary Hopkin became the first star for the label (outside The Beatles) with her single "Those Were The Days/Turn Turn Turn" becoming a smash hit, in addition to her full album proper, Postcard. McCartney was instrumental in choosing the songs she performed and in producing them, and his magic touch certainly was a big factor in her success. Billy Preston, Jackie Lomax, The Iveys (who would later become Badfinger) and James Taylor (who left after his debut album) also signed in the first year, showing that A&R had a keen eye for talent. But again, the fractious relationship between band members and a naive sense of the business also worked against them. Apple released their first four singles simultaneously -- The Beatles ("Hey Jude"/"Revolution"), the aforementioned Mary Hopkin disc and efforts from Jackie Lomax and a split by John Foster & Sons Ltd. & Black Dyke Mills Band -- a move which ultimately cannabalized the latter two efforts. In those days -- and even now -- DJs had to be carefuly to balance their playlists between labels, so they couldn't play four songs by Apple artists in an hour long show. So, The Beatles would be a "must play," while Hopkin would likely get a spin, leaving the other two artists unpromoted as DJs had to play something else to keep things fair. And this inexperience (coupled with a slight ignorance) in how to play the marketing game manifested in other ways. By this point in their career, The Beatles had pretty much stopped performing live, and by extension, not much effort was made to give their artists a chance to gain a following on the road, with an emphasis placed mostly on studio recordings and the hope that releases would become hits on the radio. Meanwhile, for the black artists on the label like Billy Preston and Doris Troy, Apple's unfamiliarity with the urban marketplace and how to turn acts like these into crossover sensations also resulted in muted receptions for those singles and discs. And that's not to mention that much more out there acts like Brute Force, modern composer John Taverner and Radha Krishna Temple who were uncommercial out of the gate (though, they did live up to the original spirit and goals of Apple in terms of signing artists that wouldn't get exposure elsewhere). And then there was Allan Klein. The infamous and ruthless manager was hired by the band in 1970 (much to the chagrin of Paul McCartney who was outvoted 3-1) to look over The Beatles' finances, and with Apple hemorraging money, he drastically cut half the staff in two months, and put a number of projects on hold while everything was sorted out. This led to a handful of acts amicably parting ways; the band forced Allen to let the acts go with no strings attached, something that was unheard of both then and now. The Apple Electronics division along with other shingles under Apple Corp were shuttered, and generally speaking, releases moving forward tended to favor Beatles-affiliated or approved artists only (rather than signings through the label's A&R department). But most importantly, the label's most active member Paul McCartney (who was responsible for some of Apple's biggest hits), furious with the hire of Klein and by John Lennon's wish to contractually dissolve the band, led him to retreat from any invovlement. And while Apple continued issuing records, the combination of Klein's contract ending in 1973, and EMI's in 1976, eventually found the label folding without much fanfare. Though stamped with a warning -- This Film Is Not Sanctioned By Apple Records Or The Beatles -- 'Strange Fruit' is a remarkably comprehensive (running two hours and forty minutes, phew), year-by-year, artist-by-artist, blow-by-blow account of Apple. What it lacks in talking heads, and feedback from people higher up the food chain (only two actual people who worked for Apple are interviewed with none of the famous names from the roster or band participating) it makes up for in detail and knowledge. This is largely provided by Beatles expert Chris Ingham, author and journalist Mark Paytress and Apple biographer Stefan Granados who do an excellent job of contextualizing nearly every move the label made in the course of its history. It makes for a truly fascinating account not just of the inner machinations of the label, but also of a band falling apart at the same time. And the filmmakers (oddly, there is no credited director) find the drama contained within, and boost it with a tremendous wealth of great archival footage, featuring performances, artwork and pretty much anything you might want. But that's not to say the documentary is perfect. The same few interview subjects, combined with a rigid structural framework, can make watching 'Strange Fruit' feel episodic to the point where it's probaby best advised to split up your viewing to keep it from getting too monotonous (even with all the great info that's being provided). One also wishes others at least from the industry of the time would've offered additional context. And we would've loved to at least learn what the Apple Electronics vision was hoping to cook up, and even more, an exploration of some of the bonkers projects Apple Films put together (Alejandro Jodorowsky's "El Topo" is mentioned briefly, but strangely, Allan Klein effectively sitting on it along with "The Holy Mountain" for over three decades is omitted) would have been nice. And it would've been great to hear a bit more about the person (or persons?) who put together the advertising for the label, much of it which was highly creative, and seemingly ahead of the curve with an approach that still seems quite modern. A lot of it is great to see, and some word on who put it together and what the guiding philosophy behind it was, would've been a nice additonal layer. But those are minor quibbles for a documentary as exhaustive as this. Pleasantly surprising in its detail, "Strange Fruit -- The Beatles' Apple Records" should sastisfy the die hard fans of the Beatles, as well as more casual music enthusiasts looking for balanced, informed account of the last throes of the band and their risky, curious venture of running a label.
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Mar 26, 2012 13:26:21 GMT -5
Random Thoughts at the Dawn of the Year 2012By Dave McGowan February 13, 2012 I thought I’d begin this rant by sharing some of my thoughts on the historical figure known as Jesus of Nazareth. I think we can all agree that, unlike some of the other subjects I have weighed in on in the past, this is one on which people do not tend to have strongly held points-of-view, so there is little chance that I will offend and alienate readers right off the bat. So let’s jump right into it then with observation #1: When the likely outcome of an unwed pregnancy is death by stoning, people can be really creative liars. Nothing in the least bit controversial about that … right? Let’s move on then to observation #2: It is fully understandable why the lie was told, and even why many people in that era might have believed it; what is more difficult to understand is why tens of millions of people around the world still believe it 2,000 years later. I doubt that I’ve lost anyone yet, so let’s quickly move on to observation #3: Jesus was initially described as coming from a line of men who worked with their hands, which was later interpreted to mean that he was a carpenter. Given though that the primary building materials in the land of his birth were sand and rock, it is far more likely that Joseph and his sons were stone masons. Just saying … Observation #4: Jesus of Nazareth’s real father was undoubtedly a Roman citizen. Some have speculated that he was the product of rape by one of the notoriously ruthless Roman storm-troopers, but his later actions suggest to this completely impartial observer that it was more likely a consensual coupling and that the father was someone of considerably more importance than a mere soldier. Observation #5: Jesus was very likely a controlled Roman asset. Just as, nearly two thousand years later, the obviously controlled asset known as Jesse Jackson replaced the slain Martin Luther King, and the equally controlled asset known as Louis Farrakhan replaced the eliminated Malcolm X, so it was that Jesus was maneuvered into position to replace the executed John the Baptist, who had, I’m guessing, become a bit of a problem for the Roman overseers. The message that the emergent messiah delivered to those living under the brutal hand of those Roman occupiers was, by any rational analysis, exactly the wrong one. It was a message brimming with advice about loving neighbors and turning cheeks … a message that constantly reinforced the notion that it was better to be poor and oppressed than wealthy and powerful, for the poor, you see, were going to spend all eternity in the glorious ‘Kingdom of Heaven,’ while the rich were going to burn in the fires of Hell (unless they were somehow able to steer their camels through the eye of a needle, or something like that). It was, in other words, a belief system seemingly designed specifically to suppress any thoughts of rebellion amongst the unwashed masses. And the beauty of it was that no one would find out if the fabled Kingdom of Heaven actually existed until it was too late for them to get a refund. I know what you’re thinking here: “But Dave, didn’t the Romans execute Jesus, and do so in a horrifically brutal and sadistic manner – you know, like in that Mel Gibson torture-porn flick?” Maybe they did and maybe they didn’t. Even if they did, that would not necessarily prove that Jesus was not a covert Roman operative. Most all assets are expendable if they become more valuable dead than alive. And it’s pretty clear that for the last couple thousand years, Jesus has proven his value as a dead martyr. But was he crucified? I tend to doubt that he was. Consider that Mr. Nazareth was alone by choice when apprehended. He had supposedly wandered into a garden to gather his thoughts, or some such thing, allowing Roman authorities to conveniently apprehend him quietly and without incident. It was almost as if he had turned himself in, knowing that he was in safe hands. The most likely scenario is that he was replaced with a look-alike at the private palace of Pontius Pilate, where he was taken to supposedly be tried and convicted (so to speak). Bear in mind that whoever had the misfortune of resembling Jesus needn’t have been all that close of a double. By the time he was beaten, whipped and outfitted with a custom crown of thorns, the battered, bruised and bloody body would undoubtedly have been all but unrecognizable. And following the crucifixion, as we all know, the body, uhmm, disappeared. Because it was, you know, resurrected from the dead. Or because it had to be disposed of before anyone caught on that it wasn’t really Jesus. More here.
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Mar 20, 2012 15:02:49 GMT -5
Out of all the videos, the one with Ringo seems to be the only one with "actual" proof. His voice can't be imitated, I don't think anyway. I mean, I don't know, iamaphoney videos are terribly confusing. But hey now, that's just me.. Maybe someone like P(D) would know wayyyyyyyy more about this than me.
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Mar 14, 2012 9:41:58 GMT -5
Red Ice - Troy McLachlan - Hour 1 - The Saturn Death Cult: The Polar ConfigurationJanuary 19, 2012 A British national brought up in New Zealand, Troy McLachlan earned a bachelor’s degree in Asian and American politics before embarking on an advertising and television/film industry career in both New Zealand and later in Hong Kong where he was a resident for fifteen years. Fascinated by the cosmology of the Electric Universe hypotheses and its ability to provide rational and natural explanations for the mythological record, Troy recognised that a discussion of the model’s implications and their affects on the practises of prevailing occult belief systems was largely missing within Electric Universe literature. Recognising that the god Saturn plays an important role in some of the world’s more deviant esoteric traditions he wrote the website and kindle-book ‘The Saturn Death Cult’ as an attempt to forge a link between the implications of ‘Saturn Theory’ and its detrimental effect on the beliefs of certain Saturnian-based occult groups and agendas. The Saturn Death Cult is an investigation into ancient planetary upheavals that heralded the birth and destruction of a fabled Golden Age. It attempts to trace how, following the demise of this Golden Age, mankind then degenerated into the obsessive pursuit of wealth and power through the perverted horrors of slavery, child sacrifice and mass-murder rituals. Red Ice - Troy McLachlan - Hour 1 - The Crimes of The Saturn Death CultJanuary 22, 2012 Troy McLachlan returns to Red Ice Radio to finish up the program series on "The Saturn Death Cult". Our focus shifts from the mechanics of the Saturn system and the polar conjunction to the crimes of the Saturn death cult. Troy outlines his theory that explains why today's frightening sex-murder cults and secret societies are nothing more than a twisted, yet deadly legacy of a time when people yearned for the rebirth of the planet Saturn as our original sun and source of life and light. This is linked to the ancient practice of money lending and the consequences of this practice for today's international financial crisis. The conclusion is reached that there is a disturbing occult connection to the planet Saturn and its influence over a perceived worldwide collective march towards fulfilling a terrifying elitist agenda of 'justifiable' global genocide. "The Saturn Death Cult" discusses the existence of a worldwide malevolent occult culture that is fundamentally flawed to its core by an erroneous understanding of the ritualistic and mythological traditions surrounding the planet and god Saturn. This subsequently casts certain Saturnian-based occult groups and secret societies in a vastly different light where their trans-humanistic agendas are exposed for the fraudulent, yet dangerous nonsense they are - a set of rogue belief systems completely devoid of all legitimacy in their claims and ambitions to seek influence over the affairs of mankind.
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Feb 13, 2012 14:45:18 GMT -5
@ 2:11...
"We all know why John can't be here, and I'm sure he would be, and it's hard really to stand here supposedly representing the Beatles ... it's what's left, I'm afraid, but um, we all loved him so much, and we all loved Paul very much."
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Feb 5, 2012 22:33:03 GMT -5
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Feb 2, 2012 10:05:44 GMT -5
Hopi-Tibetan Prophecy:
"In the latter half, psychotherapist Kymberlee Ruff shared the Hopi-Tibetan prophecy, a separate and distinct prophecy created from the similarities of the two culture's prophecies. The first activation of the prophecy began when a Tibetan Lama came to Hopi lands in Arizona in 1974, and the second activation had to do with Ruff's son, who was visited by Tibetan Lamas in Santa Barbara in 2001. They told her he was a reincarnation of one of their Lamas. Tibetan Ven. Bhakha Tulku Rinpoche gave her son a rock with ancient writing on it. Later, she delivered the rock to the Hopi Indians' Grandfather Martin Gashweseoma, the "Keeper of the Sacred Tablets of the Fire Clan," she recounted. The message on the rock, written in Sanskrit, loosely translates as "compassion," which is the key to the Hopi-Tibetan prophecy, she said. Bringing this "dharma" to the Hopis, helps "restore the amazingness of the Hopi so they can set the tone for the world," she explained. As we approach Dec. 21, 2012, "it's going to get more and more intense," but after that date, things are going to turn around and get better..."
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Jan 29, 2012 10:37:33 GMT -5
Cracking the Code in ‘Heeere’s Johnny!’By ROBERT ITO Published: January 25, 2012 New York Times WHEN “The Shining” was released in 1980, many viewers, including the critic Pauline Kael, left theaters mystified by what they had just seen. Expecting a standard frightfest based on a Stephen King best seller, they got an unexplained river of blood surging out of hotel elevators, a vision of cobwebbed skeletons in tuxedos and a weird guy in a bear suit doing something untoward with a top-hatted gentleman. Three decades on, scholars and fans are still trying to decipher this puzzle of a film directed by Stanley Kubrick. To them it’s only ostensibly about an alcoholic father, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) going more than stir crazy while his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and son, Danny, try to cope in an isolated hotel, the Overlook. Mr. Kubrick was famously averse to offering explanations of his films — “I have found it always the best policy to allow the film to speak for itself,” he once wrote — which has led to a mind-boggling array of theories about just what he was up to. The hotel’s hedge maze, many Kubrick authorities agree, is a reference to the myth of the Minotaur; others have drawn convincing connections between the Overlook’s well-stocked pantry and the confectionery cottage in Hansel and Gretel. The more one views the film — and many of these scholars admit to viewing it hundreds of times — the more symbols and connections appear. “Room 237,” the first full-length documentary by the director Rodney Ascher, examines several of the most intriguing of these theories. It’s really about the Holocaust, one interviewee says, and Mr. Kubrick’s inability to address the horrors of the Final Solution on film. No, it’s about a different genocide, that of American Indians, another says, pointing to all the tribal-theme items adorning the Overlook Hotel’s walls. A third claims it’s really Kubrick’s veiled confession that he helped NASA fake the Apollo Moon landings. When Mr. Ascher first began discussing the project with his friend Tim Kirk, who would later become the film’s producer, the two were simply hoping to find enough fans and theories to flesh out a series of short films, maybe something to post on YouTube. “On paper it seems like a very specific niche,” Mr. Ascher said, speaking at the oldest standing Bob’s Big Boy, in Burbank, not far from a campus of the New York Film Academy, where he teaches a class in editing. “The Secret Meanings of ‘The Shining’ — we should be able to wrap that up pretty quick. But the thing kept growing and growing.” By the time the two were done, “Room 237,” which had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, was nearly two hours long. What they had stumbled upon was a subculture of Kubrick fans that has been expanding over the last several years. The group includes professors and historians, fanboys and artists, many of whom have posted their theories online accompanied by maps, videos, and pages-long explications pleading their cases. The Liverpudlian filmmaker Rob Ager’s video analyses of “The Shining” have garnered hundreds of thousands of YouTube hits; the voluminous online essays of Kevin McLeod, a k a “mstrmnd,” range from the film’s marketing materials to its many uses of artificial light. “The initial reception by journalists of most of Kubrick’s films was negative,” said the film scholar Julian Rice, author of “Kubrick’s Hope: Discovering Optimism from ‘2001’ to ‘Eyes Wide Shut.’ ” “But as time went on, his films were taken more and more seriously, and now people are redefining him in terms of all of the contemporary postmodern theories. Many of the current critics think in different terms than Kubrick thought when he was making those films. They think in a different vocabulary, and they have different concerns.” Among the topics of discussion are the many liberties, large and small, that Kubrick took with the original novel. Mr. King, who declined to comment for this article, has never concealed his dislike for the film and the way the director changed and discarded scenes, themes and details. In the book Jack’s Volkswagen is red; in the film it’s yellow. No big thing, until one discovers that King’s red VW actually did make it into the film, crushed underneath an overturned semi. But that’s not the only kind of symbolic moment “Shining” buffs are interested in; they have much bigger themes in mind. To one of the subjects of “Room 237,” Geoffrey Cocks, a history professor at Albion College in Michigan and author of “The Wolf at the Door: Stanley Kubrick, History, and the Holocaust,” the film is full of references, some subtle, some less so, to the Final Solution. There are the film’s many references to 1942, the year the Nazis began their extermination of Jews at Auschwitz: a 42 appears on a shirt worn by Danny; “Summer of ’42” is playing on the Torrances’ television; Wendy takes 42 swings with a bat at Jack. And then there’s that gusher of blood. “That’s as good a visual metonym for the horror of the 20th century that has ever been filmed,” Mr. Cocks said in an interview. When Bill Blakemore, a veteran ABC News correspondent and another “Shining” theorist in the documentary, noticed cans of Calumet baking powder emblazoned with an Indian chief logo in “The Shining,” he knew immediately what Kubrick had in mind. “I told my friends, ‘That movie was about the genocide of the American Indians.’ ” In 1987 Mr. Blakemore wrote an article for The Washington Post, noting the film’s use of Indian decorative elements (in one scene Mr. Nicholson hurls a tennis ball repeatedly against an Indian wall hanging), the Calumet cans and the Overlook’s location on an old Indian burial ground. “It’s about ghosts and memories and how we put together our sense of what has happened in the past,” Mr. Blakemore said in an interview. “ ‘I think a lot of things happened right here in this particular hotel over the years, and not all of ’em was good.’ He’s talking about the way the human race does it, and has done it over and over again.” The documentary’s biggest leap of faith comes with Jay Weidner, who posits that Mr. Kubrick helped NASA fake the Apollo Moon landings, then used “The Shining” to both confess his involvement — and brag about it. Mr. Weidner is at work on a DVD about the Kubrick-Apollo connection, his second, and cites as evidence a sweater worn by Danny with “Apollo 11” on it, and the hexagonal design on the hotel hallway carpet pattern, which he argues is a dead ringer for the aerial view of the Apollo launching pad. “The entire substory of ‘The Shining,’ ” Mr. Weidner said in an interview, “is the story of Kubrick making the Apollo footage and then trying to hide it from his wife, and then her finding out about it.” Despite the scope of the film, which uses scenes from the 1940 “Thief of Bagdad,” “Spellbound,” Creepshow” and F. W. Murnau’s silent “Faust” to illustrate different hypotheses, Mr. Ascher said he only scratched the surface of the vast number of “Shining” theories. Why so many? The film “is a compelling work of art that acts as a kind of mirror, especially for thoughtful people, who see aspects of themselves that are among the most precious things they have experienced,” Mr. Rice said. “That’s in the best sense. In some cases it might also be a paranoia that they want to expurgate in some way.” “Room 237” — the title is a reference to a haunted room in the hotel — ends with no clear consensus on just what “The Shining” actually means. How could it? But there’s no denying the filmmakers had a pretty serious, cerebral bunch to work with. “This isn’t ‘Trekkies,’ ” said Mr. Kirk, referring to the 1997 documentary about the glorious excesses of “Star Trek” fandom. “We don’t have guys having ‘Shining’ weddings, or driving around in yellow VWs with ‘ROOM 237’ license plates. There were no conventions to go to.”
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Jan 23, 2012 15:23:08 GMT -5
That's kind of amusing, but appropriate. The magician and the devil are close in appearance:
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Jan 19, 2012 11:05:30 GMT -5
Keef says happy happy!
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